//------------------------------// // Episode 35 - Second Arrival // Story: EQG: Sword Art Online - Aincrad // by Mindrop //------------------------------// Floor 57 April 6 – Year 2 The 58th Floor Boss meeting was about to happen. The Wondercolts were not present, yet. For once, they were a bit behind. But that was planned. It was their second unveiling after all, and they wanted to make an entrance. Diemond was done with her apprenticeship and they all had new uniforms to show off, as well as weapons. They were better tied together with their new uniforms than they had been before. That was a strong statement about their image. Diemond only wished that they had more Wondercolts to match up armor with. 11 was too low a number, despite them being a mid-sized guild, for them to standardize them perfectly. Doombunny was now wearing a cute set of leather equipment, designed to help her carry all three of her blades. The outer coat had pockets hidden inside to securely store her poisons and potions without them being in open pouches. It also had wide, reinforced and strengthened shoulders for Colorra. Since she was the only one without a specific armor skill, she was alone with the design. It had the most yellow out of all their uniforms. It consisted of blue leggings, a yellow Silverthread dress with a knee length reinforced jacket with long sleeves and hood. Colorra's shoulder pads were a separate piece of blue leather which was braced by a shoulder holster design that pulled and anchored it in the back between her shoulder blades. The thin blue belt that kept her skirt in place also mounted her weapons. On her left hip was her regular blade, in its blue sheath. The yellow paralyzing blade was at the small of her black. Off her right hip was her pink dagger; the poison one. Despite being an open jacket with no buttons, it hid her daggers well. Doombunny also wore a blue headband to keep her hair in place when she wasn’t using the hood, blue boots that only covered her ankles, and blue Silverthread fingerless gloves, finishing off the ensemble. Thunderborne and Astro were in nearly matching gear. Both casually wore blue leather jackets over yellow shirts. Since Astro had Light Metal Armor as a Skill and Thunderborne had Leather Armor as her Skill, they varied slightly. The only noticeable difference was the blue metal chest plate Astro wore. It was accented with gold trim and had their horse head on the face. Thunderborne's chest had only a leather plate with the horse head stitched on. What tied the two of them together was the use of a blue leather Sam Belt to hold down the jackets and anchor Thunderborne’s rapier to her side. The belt’s strap was anchored on their chest by a shiny brass horse head buckle. There was plenty of trim on their jackets which were paired with tall riding boots that had yellow metal accents and trim. Their heals clicked with a crystal clack as they walked. Both forewent helmets in favor of putting their hair up into ponytails, using ties with defensive properties, and neither wore cloaks. The fingers of their yellow gloves only covered up to their knuckles, which were reinforced. AFCK, Kiefer, Lessa, and Knightstar were all in beautiful scale armor. Diemond had to make each scale individually, the repetitive task taking the most time. Tactfully interspersed throughout the blue scales was the occasional yellow one. Over the scales was a shoulder cover that connected to their armored sleeves. AFCK’s doubled as an anchor for stowing her axe on her back. On each of their shoulders was stitched the Wondercolts' symbol. Their close helms' visors bore the likeness of a horse's head, and included gold mane-like crests. Their gloves were thick, blue leather and their knee-high boots were blue, with yellow laces on the outside instead of the front. Around their necks they wore narrow blue capes trimmed in gold and with their symbol on it. Lessa and Knightstar’s kite shields looked impressive, colored blue with gold trim and gold horse head heraldry. Backbreaker was in her Plate of Veracity and Floating Bulwark. Diemond had matched the rest of her gear to the style of the heavy and ornate plate. Her right pauldron had a flare to protect her head as it rose above her shield. On it was their horse head symbol. Her right gauntlet was larger and thicker than her left. It was designed to maximize her attack with martial arts and defense while using her hammer. It was the weakest point of her armor so Diemond had strengthened it as much as she could. Diemond had designed a Sugarloaf greathelm for Backbreaker which also bore a resemblance to a horse’s head. Her cape covered her shoulders and flowed over her back. It was the same blue, trimmed in gold with their symbol on the back. They were no longer using sashes. Joltron’s armor was designed to match his shield, at least in style. It was made with sharper angles, like a crystal, and had many sharp ridges. Inside of a game, they didn't weaken the armor like they would in real life. Every so often one of the “crystals” was yellow instead of blue. Both pauldrons spiked up, providing a matching angular look to the Obsidian Shield. Despite the angular design, Diemond had managed to emboss their horse head symbol over his chest. Even his Sallet helmet had crystalline protrusions flanking the sides and ridges along the guard at the back of his neck. His cape was made in the same style as Backbreaker's cape. Diemond’s chest plate matched her arrowhead style shield, and looked heavier than Backbreaker’s armor. The lower edge of the cuirass went low, down past her hips in a series of articulated lames that came to a point between her legs. Diemond wouldn’t design anything that wasn’t fashionable and comfortable, meaning it still allowed her to sit down with ease. Riveted on her chest and shield face was a blue backed yellow horse head. Her Pappenheim Helmet mimicked a horse head as much as possible. She wore the same cape as Joltron and Backbreaker. At their head, and flanked by Knightstar and Lessa displaying their uniformed shields, was Bladescape. Ashley’s design was perfect. It turned every head. The dagannoth hides had been turned into leather plates. Each of them was dyed and oiled, shining almost as bright as metal. The pristine Wondercolt blue was held together with golden rivets and yellow stitches in triplicate, the same being used to trim the armor. The center had their horse head stitched into it. Her cloak was clasped around her shoulders using a broach made from two gold horse head ornaments facing outward with a golden chain strung between them, and its folds concealed mounting points between the plates for various pouches. It was also designed to accommodate Harmonic Salvation’s large scabbard so it could rest over it on her back without either getting in the way of the other. Unlike the others' capes, Ashley had made it using a shimmering blue fur material and gold fringe, giving it the appearance of being much heavier than it actually was. The gold horse head was dyed seamlessly into the fur, something Ashley had figured out how to do but Diemond hadn't yet. The only non-knightly thing about her grand armor was that it was missing a helmet. Ashley had gotten around that in a similar way to how Thunderborne and Astro were, but instead of just a hair tie, she also made a special hair pin to go with it that would not only keep her hair out of her face, but also give her hair a regal style as she fought. One that wouldn't have a hair out of place, even after a boss battle. Bladescape walked boldly up to the table. Kirito was there, and so was Lightning Flash Asuna. Asuna was annoyed she was there. She usually was the leader and organizer for the boss raids, and no one approached the table without permission. Bladescape was putting herself forward as one of the leaders. She often did give strategic advice, but this was a stronger assertion of the Wondercolts' status than she'd ever given before. Commander Heathcliff gave her a wry smile from where he was in the back. He preferred to lead the fights, but rarely planned. He left that to his officers whenever possible. But he loved seeing another guild step up to the table for leadership. The DDA tried, but they had a one-sided rivalry with the KOB. The Wondercolts were not trying to be better, or be the top guild; they were only trying to be a solid guild that could pull their weight and stay in the loop. “Last guild here,” Asuna quipped. “Perhaps you have an idea of how to beat the boss, Ketzek?” “There isn’t much we know,” Bladescape admitted. “We had to focus on our equipment upgrades. We know its rock based. Rock and fire like the rest of this volcanic Floor.” “That’s useful information,” Asuna said sarcastically. “We have been upgrading our equipment,” Bladescape confidently restated. “So we missed some of the lower labyrinth levels. Am I missing something important?” Kirito spoke before a fight could break out. “We couldn’t find the boss’ younger brother, Kalzuk.” “What is so important about Kalzuk?” Bladescape asked, remembering the fight. “Kalzuk is supposed to have similar attack patterns,” Asuna growled. “But we can’t find him. We hit every major dungeon, at least twice, but we haven't encountered him.” “Kalzuk was in the dungeon named after him,” Bladescape said. “No, he wasn’t,” Asuna huffed. “The KOB raided that dungeon back on March 22nd. The boss was named Xelketic. We hit it again two days later, same boss.” “Ah,” Bladescape said, a smile growing on her lips. “You were a day late. Six of us cleared the dungeon in one go.” “Six!” Asuna exclaimed. “We had three parties and it took us all day! Both times!” Bladescape shrugged. “Well, we did it without a problem and crushed Kalzuk. We also couldn’t teleport out; it was an anti-crystal zone. Joltron’s shield there, that was the Last Attack Bonus. The Obsidian Shield. It was repainted from dark red to our blue.” Kirito laughed, enjoying the idea of six of them taking on a dungeon so easily compared to the KOB, the strongest guild in the game. Asuna was not happy he was laughing and slammed her fist on the table. It did its job to silence him. “We took him down easily,” Bladescape shrugged. “But he had to be lured onto land. He spit lava and he was reinforced by several types of minions.” Bladescape pulled up her menu. “We wrote down the attack patterns. I know they won’t be exactly the same. I assume the minions won’t come from the walls, but probably from some lava. I also doubt there will be cover at any point in the boss battle.” Asuna and Kirito read the sheets of paper that Bladescape gave them. “This is well written,” Kirito said. It was the first compliment Bladescape had gotten from him. “Thanks,” Bladescape said. “I didn’t have Knightstar with me, so I had to do it myself. The hardest thing was limited access to the boss. That and the spitting lava. Countering the lava will require extremely good timing with the tanks. We had the pillars and rocks to take cover behind.” Asuna had a bone to pick about the paper. "The boss chamber wasn't blocked. We had a Knight require an emergency teleport out in the middle of the fight." "Well, our crystals were blocked," Bladescape shrugged. "We decided to poke our heads in and see if we wanted to try, but the doors closed on us. So we beat him. And we know how to beat his brother." Bladescape took a step back and beckoned for Astro. Astro swaggered up to the table, her spear was cradled by her arm and leaning against her shoulder. Bladescape brought the attention on their expert gamer. “Astro, Kalzuk came out of the wall and stayed in the lava, right?” “Yeah?” Astro said, confused. “He did.” “Boss room, how will they adjust?” “Well, lava will be there. I doubt the minions will come out of the walls. I bet they will be lava based. It's going to be a hot battle. And we will have to watch our footing. Thunderborne saved me from the lava when Kalzuk hit me. I went airborne and she snagged me right at the last moment. We don’t want to fall into it, so we will need Tanks and plenty of lances or long spears to keep them back. We also will want to bring water, to make sure we keep hydrated with the heat.” “Thanks,” Bladescape said, flashing Astro a smile. “That is why we use you for game prediction.” “Game prediction?” Asuna asked. “Yeah,” Bladescape snorted. “She has played so many games, she has a really good feel of how the Floors or dungeons will play out. Taking what we know, looking at what has been done, and predicting what will come. I admit, it doesn’t always work. But what else do we have to work off of? You can read what that boss’ room was like. You see the map of it we drew out.” Asuna quickly had a plan. Her speed and skill with strategy was the reason why she led most strategy meetings. The boss room the KOB had fought in was completely different, just like the boss. The location on the map was exactly the same though. They finalized the groups and set the date for the next day. Fuurinkazan was waiting outside for the Wondercolts. “Well, well, well, Doll Face,” Klein said with his stupid grin. Bladescape just rolled her eyes at him. “You all look hot. Especially you, Blade. “What about us?” Joltron asked. “Dang it!” Klein swore. “I always forget about you and Kiefer.” They all laughed. “So, is this the armor you almost died trying to get? Against Laughing Coffin, I mean.” “Yeah,” Bladescape nodded. “This plate is actually dagannoth hides that Ashley crafted into this awesome suit. You can’t even tell. I had a lot of other problems securing the materials. Two Flag Mobs, LC, a party of orange players who tried to rob me, and a giant pain of a treasure hunt to get the dye for the hide.” “Two Flag Mobs?” Klein asked, surprised. Then he caught on to what she had fully said. “Wait! And another group of players turned on you?” Bladescape casually shrugged. “The dagannoths got some backup from their Flag Mob after I killed a dozen of them. It was a 2-hour solo fight. Even if I had backup, I would have only been able to have one other because of the terrain. It was too hard to get there and the wait in between the spawns was long, but too short to back out. Getting the spider silk for the thread triggered another one. Low level, on Floor 42.” “And the players?” Bladescape sighed. “Doom and I were together for that one, collecting materials for the yellow dye. They didn’t see her; only me. They thought they were facing a solo player. They were so focused on me they couldn’t do anything against an angry Doombunny and Colorra. The two of them used paralyzers and thankfully another guild happened along. With their help, we got them to the Army and in jail.” “Unlucky,” Klein said. “But, it looks like it was worth it.” “That it was,” Bladescape grinned. “See you in the morning when we head out.” On the hike out, Fuurinkazan and the Wondercolts' Squad walked together. For the Wondercolts, it was the same party that hit the dungeon the other day: Bladescape, Backbreaker, Joltron, Kiefer, Astro, and Thunderborne. As they got to the boss chamber, the doors were flanked by lava. The Wondercolts had not cleared any of the Floor 58 Labyrinth. The doors were pushed in and the heat struck them in a giant wave, followed by the smell of sulfur and brimstone. The room didn’t need lights. The circle of lava around the room was bright enough. Five different lava falls were scattered about the room in no particular pattern. The Boss, Ketzek, rose out of the lava on the far side with 4 health bars. He was bigger and broader than Kalzuk. His slate grey exterior glowed at the joints like the lava he came out of. So did his eyes, mouth, and his Adam’s apple. Each of his four arms carried a different weapon, like the Tzhaars did. The lower right arm carried a shield. The lower left carried a scimitar. The top right held a spear while the top left held a mace. “BB,” Astro whispered. “I have a plan.” Astro turned to the others. “Keep to the plan. I think I see a weakness. Thunder, be ready to catch me!” Astro dashed forward ahead of the others. Backbreaker was struggling to keep up. Astro leaped up and her spear glowed. Ketzek pulled his shield up, but Astro was too fast for him and he was still in the lava. The spear point rammed into the glowing Adam’s apple. It was a simple Sword Skill with only a little delay. Still, Backbreaker was right there and ready, blocking the scimitar. Its speed was going to be a problem. There was no need for Thunderborne to catch Astro. They fell back to the rest of the raiding party. “Good job!” Agil called. “You just found a weak point.” “I think the lava joints are also weak points,” Astro said. “We can knock them off if we hit them right.” They reformed their line. The Wondercolts were part of the groups focusing on Ketzek while the others kept the minions off of them. They came in waves like with Kalzuk, but there were thirteen of them. And they were mixed types of minions. Some spit fire, while others chucked rocks, but all had low HP. It took them a long time to whittle his HP down. Backbreaker, Joltron and the other Tanks took a lot of vomited lava on their large shields. The lancers and damage dealers couldn’t even hide behind the tanks because the lava tended to splash around a lot. After they drew the aggro, the damage dealers could strike, diving home lances, swinging maces and axes, and cutting with their blades. It wasn’t easy, but without needing to worry about the minions, they could focus entirely on the Ketzek. Limb after limb they knocked off the weak points. They couldn’t knock off the limb with the shield, but they could work around it. Asuna walked up to them after the battle. She was still standing, even after all the hard work. “How did you know?” Asuna asked Astro. Astro shrugged. “I’ve played a few games that had similar areas and bosses. Some of them are very old games and I could draw a few references from them. None of them were this complicated and hard. I put what I can to good use, but often, it's not much. Still, it's helped us get this far, and we have 41 more Floors to conquer. 'Not much' is better than nothing for what's probably ahead of us.” Bladescape (SS): Lvl 79 – Two-Handed Sword – Search – Weapon Defense – Leather Armor – First Aid – Battle Regeneration – Sprint – Acrobatics – Blade Throwing – Extended Wight Carry Knightstar (TS): Lvl 69 – One-Handed Sword – Shield – Equipment Appraisal – Parry – First Aid – Battle Regeneration – Light Metal Armor – Search – Armor Pierce Thunderborne (RBD): Lvl 72 – Rapier – Sprint – Acrobatics – Armor Pierce – First Aid – Battle Regeneration – Leather Armor – Weapon Defense – Extended Weight Carry – Search Backbreaker (AJ): Lvl 75 – Heavy Shield – One-Handed War Hammer – Extended Weight Carry – Heavy Metal Armor – First Aid – Battle Regeneration – Fishing – Search – Martial Arts – Acrobatics AFCK(PP): Lvl 72 – Two-Handed Axe – Parry – Cooking – Weapon Defense – Martial Arts – First Aid – Battle Regeneration – Light Metal Armor – Thrown Weapon – Musical Instrument Diemond (R): Lvl 72 – Heavy Shield – Mace – First Aid – Battle Regeneration – Heavy Metal Armor – Tailoring – Light Metal Armor Forging – Heavy Metal Armor Forging – Jewelry Making – Extended Weight Carry Doombunny (FS): Lvl 69 – One-Handed Dagger – First Aid – Hide – Search – Listening – Battle Regeneration – Fighting Spirit – Familiar Communication (Colorra) – Drug Mixing – Reveal Astro (PS): Lvl 72 – Two-Handed Spear - Purchase Negotiation – Armor Pierce – Acrobatics – First Aid – Light Metal Armor – Battle Regeneration – Weapon Defense – Parry – Extended Wight Carry Kiefer: Lvl 69 – One-Handed Curved Blade – Parry – Weapon Defense – First Aid – Battle Regeneration – Light Metal Armor – Slash Weapon Forging – Katana – Martial Arts Lessa: Lvl 69 – One-Handed Sword – Shield – Light Metal Armor – First Aid – Battle Regeneration – Equipment Repair – Metal Equipment Repairing – Armor Pierce – Search Joltron: Lvl 73 – One handed Axe – Heavy Shield – Heavy Metal Armor – First Aid – Battle Regeneration – Metal Refining – Blunt Weapon Forging – One Handed Weapon Creation – Two Handed Weapon Creation – Extended Weight Carry