Log 23- The El Trials (Nature)
Part one of six chapters I have set up for Nicko. To prepare for the challenges he must face, the Rune Slayer must go up against six trials set up by his Displacer. Each one being more insane than the next. Oh and also, no one can help him during this. Not even Displaced. Also, on a personal note, I was trying to include more references from Elsword in future chapters so I dont have the story be jumbled with Displaced and MLP stuff. Not only that, but Nicko's new outfit based on the new skill cut-in and outfit for Elsword. Which I have for my Rune Slayer right now as I try to reach level 85.
Enjoy the chapter. It might be a while before the next one.
Of Magic and Machines- The El Trials (Nature)
Nicko’s home (Ponyville)
Shortly after coming home from Beacon, Nicko had a few things to take care of on his plate before he could get some actual rest. First, there was having to explain to his Twilight about where Eris and Moondancer was along with him telling her about Beacon Academy and how he got approved as a teacher. Even with the events that unfolded while he was there, Twilight was not only excited for him, but also proud. With being a teacher, the princess told her that he was doing his part in helping contribute to the well being of Eris and Moondancer. The Rune Slayer himself was impressed by it, but also mentioned that he was nervous because he had never been a teacher before. Of course he taught Moondancer, but he never actually taught an ENTIRE class of people. To that extent though, the Alicorn suggested that maybe it would be possible for him to teach some private classes. Therefore, he could still teach a few people without having to push himself to teach a full room of students. Something that he took into consideration for a few different reasons.
First, even if he was allowed to be a teacher, he did not really specify what areas he would actually be teaching. Second, he couldn’t teach magic since the spells and skills that he used were so rare that barely anypony could read or understand it besides himself and Moondancer. The third and final reason was that he wasn’t exactly sure what options there were in regards to classes. He thought about combat and some other possibilities, but was unsure of it because of the possibility that someone like Asphyxious or one of the other Displaced like Ruby would already have applied for that position. They were all things that he would have to inquire about when he had the time.
He couldn’t necessarily talk to Anson about it because he, Leo and Faith were going up to the Crystal Empire to see Nobleheart, the captain of the Royal Guard that was now serving Cadence up north. He remembered Caliburn mentioning him before when he and Faith went to go visit Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, which also was the day he met Moondancer. Not to mention that both Anson and Leo, from what they told him, we’re working on trying to track down the Deadly Chaser that not only attacked Faith, but also was seen along the coast of Baltimare and in a few other locations. Suspicions were that he was possibly working with Ran to set him free, but Faith of all people actually disagreed… and The Rune Slayer still remembered her saying the possibility that Arma was only doing it because he might be offered something in return.
A likely story, but it was one possibility to keep in mind. Sometimes, a good person could be lead to do bad things if they were promised something they couldn’t refuse. Or, in the case of Raven in Elsword, if they were brainwashed to do one’s bidding. He highly doubted it though because Arma actually was able to freely speak on his own and did not show any signs of possibly being controlled. The first possibility was the most likely option, but he rather not fixate on it too much right now with the other thoughts involving Beacon being inside his head. He deeply sighed to himself as he summoned one of his blades and went to his room to use a sharpening stone on it. Even though his blades were enchanted, he still had to take proper care of them nonetheless. He wouldn’t want them breaking apart at all during an attack by Ran, so now seemed like the best time to do this. Besides, things were peaceful for the moment and it was not like he was needed for something right this second.
However, as soon as he thought this though was when he looked up and saw an unexpected guest. “Glave, do you ever knock or let me know ahead of time when you want to talk to me?”
“I’m a displacer and void dweller. I come and go as I please,” He mused, watching Nicko sharpen his blade a little more. “Besides that though, I needed to talk to you about something.” Around now was when the Rune Slayer stopped what he was doing and looked back at the displacer with a raised eyebrow. A bit confused on what exactly he was trying to tell him.
“Okay, can you please clarify on what exactly you mean?” Nicko asked as he set the weightstone down and dismissed his sword, before looking back at Glave. “Because when you say ‘something’, that could mean a variety of things to me.”
The displacer sighed, looking back at the Rune Slayer shortly after he mentioned this to him. “What I mean is that the demons are getting closer and closer to getting Ran out of his prison with each passing day and as of right now, you aren’t prepared to face them. You may have a strong source of magic, yes. But that is no good if they’re trying to tear apart the world from under your feet.”
That last statement just confused Nicko as he looked back at Glave with a raised eyebrow. “What do you mean by that?”
“One the leader of the demons is free, he will stop at nothing in order to try and destroy what holds this world together…” Glave summarized to him, showing him several different El shards of each of the different elements. “Therefore, to prove to me that you are ready to face them, I’m having you face six trials.”
“Sounds simple enough-.” The Rune Slayer commented, until his displacer stopped him halfway through speaking by raising a hand.
“Not exactly… For one thing, you are not allowed to summon any Displaced, be summoned by any Displaced or travel through the void.” The clarification led to two of Nicko’s swords being put in the back of the room and almost all the tokens he had on him. “Therefore, you can only use Ebalon and your skills.”
“Why not Rovaniik?” Nicko questioned, until he realized what Glave meant when he remembered when the two of them visited Dyntos. “Oh right… Deathwing’s token… So how am I suppose to accomplish these trials? Is there anything specific that I need to do or any requirements that I need to meet?”
“Your trials are based on the six kinds of elemental El Shards. Nature, Water, Wind, Fire, Light and Dark. Each challenge will need you to undergo a different task every time so you need to be prepared for whatever possible outcome that happens.”
“And what exactly am I getting out of it with each challenge?” Nicko folded his arms and raised an eyebrow while he posed the question.
“Why ruin the surprise? It would not be fun if I spoil everything for you.”
“...... You remind me of Eris sometimes, you know that right?” The Rune Slayer sighed deeply. “Speaking of which, before I undergo these… tasks, can I let Eris and a few others know that I’m busy.”
Glave smirked under his mask and already was waving a finger at him. “I already have everything under control. Any attempts at summoning you or contacting you will just go to voicemail.”
The warrior then raised an eyebrow in disbelief as he looked back at his displacer and posed another question for him. “Hold on… my token has voicemail?”
“Some tokens do depending on the device. Remember Ichigo and his cellphone?” The Void Dweller reminded him, floating the token before putting it away. “Alright. Seems like everything is in order… Now, if you excuse me… I need to go talk to that Lich and let him know that your… first day of class is going to have to be rescheduled.” With that, Glave handed Nicko something as he turned to leave. “Drink this when you are ready for your first trial.”
As the displacer disappeared, The Runic Swordsman examined the flask he was given, seeing if there was any labels on it. Turns out, there wasn’t any. All there was on the flask was a picture of a leaf. Maybe it was a certain flavor like Minty green or something? Carefully he pulled the cork plug off of the vial and sniffed the newfound scent before drinking it. To his surprise though… it didn’t really have much taste.
All it did was make his head feel dizzy as he closed his eyes and felt something warm glow around him.
Some time after he closed his eyes… There were two things regarding the Rune Slayer’s current situation that stood out to him the most. First off… He was in the middle of a forest that he had not seen before. Second… He was on top of a leaf in the middle of the forest. How the second thing was unknown to him, but it was when he noticed the paper label on the flask… and what was on the back side of it.
Dwarf’s potion. Made for having things shrink to ten times it’s original height. Just seeing that alone made the Rune Slayer think that in some sick way, Glave was watching all of this and laughing at what was happening. “Oh, you son of a b*tch.” He cursed to himself, trying to process everything. “Okay, let’s go over what I know… I’m in the middle of a challenge involving the elements that keep the world together. If the order that Glave told me was correct, then this must be the El Trial of Nature.” As he looked around and carefully used his blade to slide down the edge of the tree he was on, he looked around and began to wonder something. What sort of trial would involve him being shrunk down to size in the middle of the forest?
“Well, I better start walking and see what I can find.” He told himself as he set his sword on his back and began to traverse the terrain around him. As he crossed through the valley and with passing through each thick blade of grass, something didn’t feel right to the Rune Slayer as the farther in he got, the more the surrounding landscape looked like it was being eaten away. Some of the plants itself looked rotted out and poisonous… or more likely… dead.
“Holy sh*t, whatever was here really did a huge number on this place.” He thought, looking closer at some of the old wood that was torn away. Some of them with claw markings and signs that the place had been burned out. Definite signs for what he thought had come through this area as he heard something shift behind him. Taking precautions, he shifted his back right leg and unsheathed his blade. At the right time too when he saw something else try to attack him. But whatever it was… it wasn’t a demon.
“What the!?” It responded as the figure flew backwards. Now was when Nicko noticed two things that really stood out about his attacker. One… it had wings that made it almost resemble a dragonfly… Two, it had antennas on it’s head to support the dragonfly theory. “Just who are you?! Is this who those monsters send to finish what they started.”
Nicko now raised an eyebrow. “Uh… sir? I have no idea about what you are… or what you are talking about. I’m just trying to figure out where the heck I am.”
“Pfft. Like I would fall for lies like that!” The figure said again as it readied it’s broadsword and began to charge at Nicko. However, one small thing that he heard the swordsman say caused him to stop.
“Dang it… I wish Fluttershy we're here to help me out of this mess.”
The name triggered something in the figures mind and to the Rune Slayer’s surprise… He actually stood down. “Please forgive me… I did not realize that you knew a friend of mine,” The stranger said as he looked back at Nicko. “My name is Seabreeze. I’m one of the Breezies that lives here in the Sunlight Woods. What is your name?”
“Nicko Nocte… I understand your confusion, Mr. Seabreeze, but what exactly were you mistaking me for?” He then asked the Breezie as he dismissed his blade. The blue colored creature with a pink mane and tail insisted for him to follow him through an opening in the bottom of a nearby tree. In doing so, the two of them entered a small clearing filled with several homes made of mushrooms and surrounding plant life. However, this place looked like the scene of a warzone as homes were knocked over and crushed to bits. Many other Breezies he did find were hurt and in no shape to fight.
“We were attacked by a group of strangers that had devilish monsters on their side. Ones that looked to be of shadow and blue fire.” Seabreeze told Nicko as he guided him to the main home in the village. “They were wanting to seize our town's prized relic. A crystal that resembled the heart of an Oak tree. It keeps us cool during the humid summers and warm during the frigid winters. If this were taken though, it would dramatically hurt hundreds of people… Now those monsters are pushing it too far.”
The Rune Slayer raised an eyebrow, looking at Seabreeze. “Too… far?”
“They want me to hand it over to them in five hours or they’ll start executing all the civilians they captured. Including children…” Seabreeze personally groaned at the last part, before looking back at Nicko. “Please, you must help us… My wife and daughter were taken by those bastards and they don’t deserve to die like this.” Now it sounded like he was pleading for help. The thought of his family made him tear up a little as he tried to wipe the tears away. He was surprised though, when he felt Nicko’s hand on his shoulder.
“Don’t worry… I’ll get them back for you,” The Rune Slayer promised to Seabreeze as he helped him calm down. “I’ll get them back and make sure those demons don’t hurt your village or it’s people ever again…” Of course, saying it was one thing, but pulling something like this off was another feat on it’s own. When dealing with a situation like this, Nicko needed to make sure he had a few pieces of necessary information in order to make sure he knew where to go and what he needed to do. It would be better for him to know exactly where they were holding these captives instead of walking blindly, not to mention know what kind of demons that he was actually up against.
He thought the second one because saying demons in general did not really specify the enemy. There were multiple different groups, almost like a flock of geese or a herd of sheep. The ones he knew of when he played Elsword before being Displaced were Glitter, Arc Glitter, Shadow, Shadow Port, Steel Lava and Twilight Demons to name a few. Each one with some similarities and differences. However, there was one specific type of demon that was on his mind given the appearance of the small meadow before entering Seabreeze’s village. As he stepped outside, He remembered seeing patches of black from before and thought they were mold or dark magic. However, now that he took a closer look and put his hand to it, that was when he realized what exactly it was as it felt warm to the touch.
It was ash and burnt wood… Meaning that it just narrowed down the possibilities all the way to one specific group of demons… Steel Lava. Demons that specialized in fire based abilities to scorch any that tried to stop them. Most commonly found in Lanox in the original Elsword, but what would something like that be doing there? Even know he had a thought that Ran had control of all the different groups, he would’ve expected Steel Lava to be in some volcanic or desolate wasteland like the Badlands or Smoky Mountain. So out of all the places in the world that they could possibly be… Why would they be here? Was there anything specific with this location that they would want to be here in the first place?
Was it something to do with this relic Seabreeze was talking about? Right now, it was just a possibility. The Rune Slayer’s main focus right now though was to uncover the demons trail and follow it back to their camp. From analyzing it alone, Nicko could tell one thing… These guys were bad at covering their tracks. Like four year old trying to steal from the cookie jar and lie about it while crumbs were on their face bad. A trail of singed ground lead the warrior to the outside of their camp and judging from the looks of it… these guys looked to have more brawn than brains.
They kept themselves hidden in what appeared to be a wooden fort made of logs. Burning down trees and using the trunks as poles to hold up their defenses. They had lookouts as well, armed with bows and crossbows at different points. From observing them though, Nicko could tell that they switched shifts every half an hour… And that he could use that to his advantage. To quote Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, in chaos… there is opportunity.
For Nicko, he was able to spot a hole in Steel Lava’s defenses and planned to use that to sneak in. Taking a few stones, he painted runes on them to serve as bombs that would trigger a Splash Explosion once they detonated and placed them near the gate and the left side of the fort since the weak point was on the right side of the complex. The stones themselves packed as much explosive punch as a set of C4, which played out in his favor once he caused them to detonate with the snap of a finger. As the soldiers that were on duty began to panic and scramble over to figure out what happened, Nicko was able to sneak away unseen as he soon spotted the cages that were set up in the first place to hold all those who were kidnapped. Immediately, He got to the first lock, where he found a few other breezies inside as they soon took up some of the weapons that were on the nearby weapons racks and using them to break their companions free. One of them soon caught Nicko’s attention as it spoke up.
“Thank you for freeing us… Just who are you though?” A female Breezie asked. She looked a lot different from the other female breezies based on appearance because of her overwhelming display of physical strength and capabilities with a sword and shield. But that was minor in Nicko’s book.
“Nicko Nocte. Seabreeze asked for my help in rescuing you guys,” He briefly explained, while looking at her. “What’s your name?”
“My name is Hera. I’m the lieutenant of the Night Watch in our village.” She answered briefly. “Some of my comrades were also locked up here too and thankfully, are out of their cells because of your bravery… How do you plan to get out of here though?”
That was when Nicko pointed to the hole in the wall he just entered and began to speak. “Take that and follow the path out of the village. I’ll hold these guys off so you can get out of here.”
“Wouldn’t you need some assistance?” She then asked me. “There’s like twenty of them and one of you. You can’t possibly be able to defeat them all so easily.”
“True, but I’ve faced greater odds before. This shouldn’t be that hard,” The warrior insisted, summoning Ebalon as he prepared his magic in order to face the demons that were now noticing his presence. “You better get going before they spot you and the others. They aren’t going to take what’s going on right now too kindly.” Hera nodded, telling her companions the plan she had and leaving me to face the gray skinned freaks as they soon began to notice where I was. Out of all twenty of their current forces, there were five Steel Lava fighters, seven berserkers, and eight scouts. Not to mention that I would think that whoever was suppose to be their commander would also be showing up soon because of the amount of noise Nicko was making.
“Oh what do we have here? Slaughter gnomes and murder golems!? IT MUST BE MY BIRTHDAY!!!” He smirked with an evil grin on his face. There were two broken spears by his feet from the mad dash of Breezies trying to escape, but it was something that played out to his advantage. Quickly, he took up the first one and lobbed it to a campfire that was cooking stew. The second one was thrown straight at the ground by their feet. One would think that he had missed or tried too hard… But to Nicko, he already was two steps ahead as the spears soon detonated again because of the Splash Explosion runes that were placed on there.
“KILL THAT LITTLE BRAT!!” One of them shouted as they charged towards him. “DON’T LET HIM ESCAPE!!” However, all that did was cause Nicko’s rage to be filled even move as he planted his blade into the ground and began to channel his next attack and slam his fist into the ground.
“RISING SLASH!” He roared as his mana took the form of blades and struck the first few demons that stepped closer. Four were defeated from that attack and five were caught in the explosive crossfire with the spears. Now, only eleven were left… and they all were shocked by how one warrior had taken down almost half of their squad that easily.
“All of you have made two grave mistakes… The first was kidnapping and harming the breezies that call this place home…” He said, gripping his blade tighter. “The second… was calling me LITTLE!!” With that, he pushed off the ground as fire churned around his blade and cut down the first demon it hit. Ten demons were left now. Three fighters, three berserkers, four scouts. There was originally four fighters before the first attack, but Nicko’s strike caused the enemy to turn into flames upon death.
“Come on! Is that all you got!?” Nicko taunted, causing for two scouts that had their hands covered in flames to try and strike him. Only for the Rune Slayer to counter their strikes with a fist filled with his fire magic and caused them to fall to the ground before turning to ashes. Channeling that same energy through his hands as he gripped his blade again, and underhand swing unleashed a powerful Sword Wave that hit their friends behind them before another two toppled to the ground and the other two got caught in the Rune Slayer’s Wind Blade skill. Leaving only two berserkers left as the armored fire demons angrily spewed out a combined breath of azure flames. Retaliating from the deaths of their comrades from just a few moments ago. “Woah, that’s hot!!”
He had only mere seconds to dodge as both demons tried to grab at him from opposite angles as he quickly rolled out of the way. Pulling out a mana potion in the process to refuel his energy so he could cast more skills Only thing though was that he had a few limited attacks to choose from. It was on the way over, he realized that his skills had been rebalanced courtesy of Glave and some of the skills he would use like Ice Rune and Rising Wave were no longer present inside. His other skills were rebalanced to apply certain traits, but for someone of his caliber, the more tools in his arsenal he had… the more likely he was to survive.
However, there was one thing that he was thankful for though. One of his abilities that used to be an active skill was now able to work passively because of the rebalance from the Void Dweller. Sword Enchant allowed for him to coat his weapon in three different kinds of elements; Fire, Nature or Water. Fire was demonstrated earlier near the beginning of the fight and with it, his blade was coated in a warm firelight glow. One of the other elements though, was now glowing around the blade as a crisp white aura cast off a cold tingle on Nicko’s hands. As he moved forward and struck first, the same aura was applied to the two remaining demons as they tried to retaliate… unsuccessfully.
A few seconds later, the aura around the blade faded and after a few more attacks, Ebalon was covered in a green coat of magic as the Rune Slayer struck one last time. Letting the effects of the enchantment on his sword do the rest of the work for him. For Sword Enchant, each one of the three elements had a different effect on his opponents. Fire Enchants would burn opponents consecutively for damage, Nature would do the same thing with a coat of poison, and Water would slow an attacker’s movement speed because of the chill of ice from the weapon. Now, turning to the fallen foes, he looked around the camp as the fire from before began to spread. “I better get out of here before anyone notices.” He told himself, rushing out of there to quickly return to Seabreeze’s village. Hoping that Hera was able to escort them to safety.
“DADDY!!”
“HONEYSUCKLE!” Seabreeze cried out in joy upon seeing his daughter come back to him along with his wife, Brisk Spring. “By the stars, I was worried about you! How did you get back here?!”
It was then that Hera, one of the captains of the guard, soon walked in. “It was that one kid that let us out and fought the demons by himself. I think his name was Nicko if I’m not mistaken?” That surprised Seabreeze personally. But the problem was that he did not even see the red haired swordsman alongside them… Until a few moments later when he walked into the village and brushed all the smoke and soot off of his face and clothes.
“And with that… You won’t need to worry about the demons anymore.” He said proudly, making sure to use his magic to cease the flames that burned down the enemy camp. All of the breezies in the village soon broke out in cheers as they congratulated and thanked him for his success. Especially with making sure that the demons would not be bothering their village again anytime soon. Even with that though, the Rune Slayer still had much to do and by the time night had fallen, he was already up again and planning to leave.
Only to be stopped for a second by a familiar voice. “Leaving so soon?” Turning around, Nicko found Seabreeze standing behind him.
“Yeah, I can’t stay unfortunately. I really hope I can come back here sometime though.” He told him, only for the Breezie to place something in his arms and catch him by surprise.
“Here, take this as a token of our appreciation,” The Breezie replied to him. “The emblem on the outfit will allow you to shrink back down to size and come back anytime. I hope this will help you on your journey Nicko… Can you please tell Fluttershy that I said Hi?”
The Rune slayer personally chuckled at that, nodding his head and taking a moment to change into his new set of clothes. “I’ll be sure to let her know when I see her again.” Shortly after though, he felt a pulse of energy flow around him as it began to expand warmly around his body. Closing his eyes, he soon disappeared as the light consumed him entirely. Leaving no trace behind.
Unknown location
When he felt himself land back on solid ground, Nicko found himself in a closed off room that looked to be strangely familiar. The stone walls around him had given him an odd feeling that he had seen this place before. Which of course, was followed up by the note from Glave he found in his pocket.
Congratulations on completing the first trial… It’s only going to get harder from here on out. But, if it makes you feel any better, I’m letting you have a companion throughout the rest of the challenges. Word of warning though… She’s happy to decapitate your head from your torso if you piss her off. Good luck with the El Trial of Water.
-Glave
“Well… that’s encouraging.” He sighed to himself, only to hear a shift in movement up ahead as he turned his head in the direction of the noise. “Is someone there? I swear to god, Rainbow Dash, if this is some sort of sick prank-.”
“Great, another monster. As if I didn’t have enough problems to deal with.” He heard a feminine voice nearby. “Well, sorry about this monster, but I have to kill you now.” The figure tried to lunge for Nicko with a unsheathed Claymore, only for Nicko to summon his blade to counterattack and parry the incoming strike, surprising his attacker. “Impressive, maybe you might give me some entertainment then the last monster that came here.”
“I’m not a monster, I’m a Rune Slayer. Now, since you’re not a pegasus that I know, who are you?” The swordsman said, channeling a bit of magic into his hands so he could disarm his attacker. This of course, surprised the mysterious individual… None of the monsters she had faced before used magic. More specifically… a magic that was thought to be extinct.
“How about this. You beat me in a fight, and I’ll tell you what you need to know.”
“Geez, that sounds like something Rainbow Dash would say.”
“How the hell do you know about my daughter?” That single statement caught Nicko off guard, causing him to look back at the mare with a raised eyebrow.
“Wait a second… daughter?” He asked, confused. “Who are you?” The mare sighed to herself as she stepped into the minimal amount of light that was present. It was a pegasus mare with pink fur, a aquamarine mane and violet eyes. She wore a combat outfit that was strangely familiar to the Rune Slayer along with an oversized claymore and a special red cape on her back, over her wings.
“I’m Firefly, Cloudsdale Grandmaster and founder of the Wonderbolts,” She replied. “Now, about what I asked… How the hell do you know about my daughter?”
End Log 23
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Wait the wha ha ha?! Firefly?! What a twist!
....
.....no words......good job...playing elsword now...see ya
7130633 xD Thanks
7131008 you are welcome
7132187 Maybe sometime we can play online?
7132264 sure i'm not that good though
Hey there, just wanted to give a MASSIVE shout-out to you for introducing me to this amazing game, and to tell you to keep up the good work, Frost.
On another note, I can't wait to see what comes next!