EQG: Sword Art Online - Aincrad

by Mindrop


Episode 2 - Anneal Blade

Floor 1
November 7

When they woke up a few hours later, there were even more people in the city.

“Team up in pairs and look for quests,” Astro said as they ate breakfast. “They are major boosters for players. Especially starting out.”

They spread out, and searched around for a bit. Bladescape teamed up with Diemond and they entered a two story house. A woman was stirring a pot. She claimed all she had was water to give. Diemond suggested they accept the water so Bladescape said, “Water is fine.”

The Quest, Secret Medicine of the Forest, started.

They had to hunt those Little Nepenthes outside the town until a special one spawned with a flower on top. Killing it would get them the flower, and then they could bring it back so she could make medicine for her daughter. The reward was a one handed sword. They went back to the others with the information.

“Then, we need to activate the quest two more times,” Knightstar said. “I could use it and so could Thunderborne.”

“Then we set up in three parties,” Bladescape declared.

“I call Astro!” Thunderborne exclaimed. “The two of us can handle them.”

“Alright,” Bladescape said. “Diemond and Doombunny can come with me. Knightstar, Backbreaker, and AFCK can be the third team.”

“It’s going to have a low spawn rate,” Astro warned. “But I suggest we stay together in the area. And before we go, we need to go to that shop and have our gear repaired. As soon as one party gets the flower, we can adjust our parties back to fours.”

It was back out to the forest to the west of the city to hunt those nightmarish plants.

“RAAAGH!” Bladescape yelled as she severed the stalk of yet another beast. They had been been doing it for two hours and not a single plant had flowered. They all had leveled up to Level 3 and they had almost been swarmed a few times and killed. There was a third variation of the Little Nepenthes. It had a sack on the top. If you popped it, it spread a gas that attracted all the others in the area. After the first mistake, they were a lot more careful. Thankfully it had a low spawn rate.

Diemond and Backbreaker were useless outside of their shield. Their weapons were not very effective against the monsters. The same for Astro’s spear. Thunderborne’s Sprint skill was the only reason the two of them were doing so well.

A new Little Nepenthes spawned on the fringes of Bladescape’s vision. She noticed it because of her search skill. On it was the flower they needed. It was through the trees a bit more.

“Doom,” Bladescape yelled. “Finish those two with Diemond. I see one. I’ll get it while you two distract them.”

Bladescape dashed off through the bushes over to the flowering monster. One of the branches lashed out in a deadly strike. Bladescape slid along the ground, under the jab. She set her sword in the position for Horizontal as she came out of the slide. Her sword glowed and connected perfectly with the stalk. The plant reeled and Bladescape was able to drive another one home before she had to jump back out of the way.

Two more spawned in the area and She blocked another stab with a branch.

“AAAAARGH!!!!” Diemond yelled as she rammed her shield into the flowering plant.

Doombunny rolled out from behind Diemond and made three quick slashes at the stalk. The plant’s HP was almost gone. Bladescape leaped in and swept her sword a third time where it destroyed the last bit of HP left. The Little Nepenthes exploded in a burst of colorful polygons.

As Bladescape got the notification the flower dropped into her storage, Diemond was blocking another Little Nepenthes. This one had the deadly pouch off it.

“POISON SACK!” Bladescape yelled. “DON’T HIT IT!

Bladescape let the two of them handle that one while she faced off against the second. She deflected a stab by the vine and activated Horizontal. It was a clean strike to the weak point, scoring critical hit points against the plant.

A burst of polygons exploded behind Bladescape. She glanced back, checking that it wasn’t Diemond or Doombunny. Doombunny was crouched low in front of the burst. She had slipped in and done major damage with the knife. It was good to see her growing a backbone. She was going to need to be assertive to survive.

Bladescape took a vine stab full force. She had stopped paying attention. She watched the HP at on top of her vision slip into the red as her body hit the ground. The pain was quite real now that this was a game of death. One more hit and she was dead.

The plant pulled back and drove another stab at her.

THUD!

Diemond was leaping over Bladescape when the vine had connected with her shield instead of finishing off it’s target. Doombunny slid up to Bladescape.

“Oh Sunset, don’t worry. I’ve got you.” Bladescape got the vial to her lips with help from Doombunny and drank it down. Doombunny’s First Aid skill was only good for herself, but it still helped to have someone administer the potion to Bladescape. Her HP would slowly recharge. It wasn’t an automatic restoration.

“A little help here darlings,” Diemond said as she took two more heavy strikes on her shield. “Speed things up will you!”

All three of their health bars were in the yellow. Bladescape could see them in the top left hand corner of her vision because they were in a party.

“I’ll go right, you go left,” Bladescape ordered Doombunny.

Bladescape stumbled up and moved to the left. Doombunny had moved to right behind Diemond. Bladescape drove a solid Horizontal into the Little Nepenthes.

“Switch!” Bladescape called.

Doombunny was already in motion. She dashed out low, ducking under another strike from the leafy vine.

“AAAAHHH!!!” Her knife glowed purple and She cut across the stalk in a near perfect strike. Almost immediately it glowed again and she sliced backwards against in scoring a critical strike. Three more times she viciously slashed the stalk until it burst into polygons.

“Dang, Fluttershy,” Bladescape stammered. “You are earning your name.”

“You really think so?” She asked in her usual meager voice. It didn’t fit the ferocity they had just seen.

“Absolutely darling. You are not letting fear control you.”

“I keep asking myself what would Angel Bunny do? It’s why I named myself Doombunny. You know, a little extra umph along with bunny. He steered me in the right direction.” Doombunny froze. “Oh no! What will my animals do without me.”

“That’s what we are doing,” Bladescape said, putting her hand on Doombunny’s shoulder for support. “We are fighting hard to escape this game so you can go back to them. Family and friends will take good care of them while we are here.”

Doombunny took a deep breath in and exhaled sharply. “I will not stay in here for a day longer than I have to. I will become the strongest player for them! You know, if um, that’s okay. Because Rainbow Dash and Applejack want that.”

“Darling,” Diemond said pulling Doombunny in for a hug. “We all will become the strongest we can be in our own, individual, and special way. As much as those two will make it into a competition, its not so long as we stay together and support each other. We will become the strongest we can together, as a guild.”

“Enough sentimentality,” Bladescape said. “We need to get back to the others and support them. Diemond and Doombunny, go help Astro and Thunderborne. I’ll join the others.”

“Good plan!” Diemond exclaimed. “Even Dash has to be getting tired right now. I certainly am.”

They charged off to where there friends were fighting. Bladescape saw that Knightstar was fighting a Little Nepenthes on her own, using her shield and sword combination tactic to her own advantage. Backbreaker was holding off another with her shield and AFCK was hopping around, hacking a third to pieces. Even in game, her ability to bounce around was amazing. It was second nature to her. All three of them had low HP as well.

Backbreaker was focused on blocking her friends from getting swarmed. Knightstar wasn’t doing so well on her own, focusing on her shield too much. And AFCK could use a little more focus on attacks, rather than hops. When the plant in front of her exploded in a burst of polygons, Backbreaker was shocked. Relief set in when she saw that behind it was Bladescape.

“Go help Knightstar! I’ll deal with AFCK!” Bladescape said before dashing off towards her hopping friend.

“PINKIE!” Bladescape yelled. “Focus!”

“What! Oooooh, sorry. I keep forgetting this game, isn’t a fun game anymore.”

AFCK slid to a stop and parried the attacking vine. Bladescape took the opportunity to dash in with another Horizontal. The Little Nepenthes focused on her.

“SWITCH!” AFCK giggled as she hopped in and drove the axe home on the stalk’s weak point.

It exploded and the two of them rushed off to help Knightstar and Backbreaker. Backbreaker switched with Knightstar as she deflected a strike. Backbreaker’s war hammer connected with the stalk of the plant. It wouldn’t deal as much damage as a cutting strike, but it was enough to knock the last of the HP off the plant.

“Drink potions,” Bladescape said. “We need to bring our HP up while we have this lull. Then let’s go help the others.”

They heard the cheers of their friends as they moved out.

“WE GOT ONE!” Thunderborne announced to her friends, unsure of where exactly they were in the forest.

They all gathered around, and the others drank potions as they reorganized themselves into two parties of four. Their equipment was taking a beating, but they could hold out for a little bit longer.

“We leveled up,” Thunderborne said.

“So did we,” Bladescape added. “I think we all did, to Level 4. Doombunny is earning her name, for her animals she can’t protect and care for because she is trapped here.”

“Yes! I will become the strongest I can! I’ll do my best to be better than Dash and AJ. Oh, I mean Thunderborne and Backbreaker. If that’s alright?”

Thunderborne crossed her arms with a cocky smile. “Come on, Doombunny, we welcome the challenge. From all of you. Right, Backbreaker?”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way, y’all,” Backbreaker said, trying to tip her nonexistent hat.

They all laughed at her failure. More of the beasts spawned in the area, ending their break.

“We need to cut down as many as we can,” Astro said. “Fight smart, work together, but we have to be aggressive.”

“I estimate that their flower variant spawn rate percentage is 1% or less,” Knightstar said. “But we got two of them. We can get this third in the next two hours if we work on it correctly.”

Bladescape was working in a pair with Knightstar while Backbreaker and AFCK were watching their backs. Bladescape and Knightstar were soon switching in and out in a good rhythm. They were dealing with a sack version and getting tired. Bladescape jumped back and got her blade in between her and the vine's strike for a rudimentary, unassisted, block. With a yell Knightstar switched in, finishing the plant.

“FLOWER!” Diemond yelled.

Bladescape nodded to Knightstar and they ran to where Diemond and Doombunny were working. “COMING!” Bladescape yelled back.

With the four of them they easily took down its HP. Diemond got a strong hit in right before Knightstar finished it off.

“RETREAT!” Bladescape ordered.

Everyone but Thunderborne and Astro joined them. Those two were beset by four beasts and were unable to retreat. They had been trying to fall back for a while, but they were pinned. Two of the Little Nepenthes had sacks. At least they had a stand of trees at their backs for security.

“WONDERCOLTS! CHARGE!” Bladescape ordered.

Their yells drew the aggro of two of the plants. With two less paying attention to them, Thunderborne quickly dispatched one with the sack and then eight on three immediately turned to eight on zero.

“Let’s go!” Bladescape panted. “No time to wait. We need to get back to the village’s safe zone.”

They followed Bladescape. Her search ability helped them avoid almost all of the beasts until they were back to the safety of the village.

“Ah, so good to be out of those woods,” Thunderborne panted. “I thought we were finished back there. I was solidly in the red.”

“Same,” Astro added.

They headed over to the woman who gave the quest. One by one they turned the flowers in. Each time she mixed it into the medicine she needed for her daughter and took it upstairs to her. The break was nice. In the end, Bladescape, Knightstar, and Thunderborne all had the Anneal Blade, a low level special sword with the ability to have 8 Enhancements added. Enhancements would require a strong enough smith to add them.

“It’s late,” Astro said as they exited the hut. The sun was almost gone. “We need to fix our gear, restock health potions, eat, and then head to bed. Besides, this place is getting busy. With eight of us and those new blades, we can move to the next town. There we can find new quests and higher level monsters.”

“I think we did pretty good for Col and XP,” Thunderborne said, looking at her menu.

“So do I, y’all,” Backbreaker added.

“We didn’t do badly,” Knightstar affirmed. “And their drop items were not shabby. But Astro is right. We need to move on as soon as we can. We did well taking out these monsters. The next will be tough, but with eight of us, the safety margin is decently high. And these Anneal Blade swords will certainly carry the three of us up quite a few levels.”

They got two rooms in the inn before they were all rented out. Dinner was meager. They bought the last of the potions available and then repaired their gear. It was another crammed night in the rooms. But it felt safe being together in the same room.

Bladescape (SS): Lvl 4 – One-Handed Sword - Search
Knightstar (TS): Lvl 4 – One-Handed Sword - Shield
Thunderborne (RBD): Lvl 4 – One-Handed Sword - Sprint
Backbreaker (AJ): Lvl 4 – Shield – One-Handed War Hammer
AFCK (PP): Lvl 4 – One-Handed Axe - Parry
Diemond (R): Lvl 4 – Shield - Mace
Doombunny (FS): Lvl 4 – Knife – First Aid
Astro (PS): Lvl 4 – Short Spear - Purchase Negotiation