Sword Skills

by Rose Quill

Challereign Keep

"This is it, girls," Sunset said as we gathered at the opening to the entrance to the dungeon. "Challereign Keep. Inside is the event boss, Samhaim the Pumpkin King, and from what we know, he has five life meters and two berserk points; one at fifty percent, one at fifteen percent."

I leaned forward and put my gloved hand on the stonework birdbath in the courtyard we stood in. "As near as I can tell, he doesn't have any summons or minions during his fight, but he does have a heal effect that needs to be shut down immediately if he uses it," I looked at Rarity and Rainbow Dash. "That's your job when not doing DPS."

Rarity nodded, giving her wand a bit of a twirl as she adjusted the sleeves of the scarlet robes she wore.

"We've got this," Dash said as she gave her new bow a test pull before shouldering it next to the quiver of arrows that had replaced her throwing knives. "You can count on us."

"Fluttershy," Sunset said. "I want you to focus mainly on healing the front lines. Twilight and I should be able to keep it's attention fairly well, and with Sonata wielding a shield, he shouldn't be able to break through. Aria will be doing backup healing and offsetting debuffs if he has any."

"Where are those two, anyway?" Applejack asked as she shouldered a fairly hefty hammer.

"They're stocking up on potions in the marketplace," Fluttershy said as she wrapped an arm around Rarity's arm. "They had a pretty rough leveling trip today."

The teleport gate behind us gave a shimmering whoosh as two forms stepped through, the Sirens in question stepping through. I have to admit, I still wasn't used to the sight of Sonata in heavy armor bearing a large shield. She carried a short spear and seemed to be equipped mainly to keep someone occupied, which suited us all just fine.

Aria, conversely, was garbed in dark gray robes with arcane sigils along its lapels and cuffs and a gnarled staff was gripped in her hands while a grimoire hung from her belt via a chain. She kept her hood up which activated the effect of only her eyes being visible, both transformed into glowing ice-blue orbs.

"That the place?" Aria asked, her grumpy attitude back in place as part of her character.

"Yup," I said. "You got the assignments we messaged you about?"

They both nodded.

"Then let's get going," I said as I pulled my sword and giving it a test swing to settle it in my hand.

---

"Switch!" I cried, driving in as my magic sped me along the floor. Sunset hopped nimbly to the side just a moment before the tip of my sword lanced through the spot she had been standing in to slice into the chest of the kobold standing in front of me. It burst into smoke as I turned away, looking for another target but saw the last one bursting into flames as Rarity's spell went off.

"That was fun," Aria said, one of the sigils on her robe still glowing from its Deflect Attack skill. "Each mob seems to get thicker and thicker."

Sunset nodded as she sheathed her rapier. "We're almost at the boss door," she said as she consulted the map. She glanced at Rainbow. "You ok to continue?"

The archer moved her arm around a bit. "Yeah, Fluttershy managed to heal me up pretty good, but I am running low on arrows. Anyone got a sword they could loan me in case I run out?"

I scrolled through my inventory and traded her a sword with a decent damage range. "If you have to use that, stay fast on your feet."

"You forget who you're talking to?" she asked, a grin on her face.

"Actually, darling," Rarity cut in. "Sunset and Twilight are faster than you in the game, I'm afraid."

I smirked at our friend while Sunset pretended to be overly interested in her fingernails.

Rainbow's ears drooped a bit. "Right," she mumbled.

"Let's get this show moving," Sonata chirped, pointing forward with her spear. "Next stop, boss room!"

"It's litterally around the corner, Sonata," Sunset said.

"Still though," the Siren said. "We can have fun on the way to..."

She turned the corner and stopped.

"Oh."

A huge ornate gate blocked further access down the corridor.

"Well, that was anticlimactic," Aria said.

"Casters, how are your mana levels?" Applejack asked.

"Topped off," Aria said, brushing some invisible dust from her sleeve.

"Full," Rarity said, her wand still in hand.

"I could use another moment," Fluttershy whispered. "Dashie's arm took a lot of mana to regenerate."

"We'll wait for you, Shy," I said. "Can't have try this without you."

She smiled and sat to drink a potion, the rod she used as a focus resting across her lap, runes of healing and protection engraved in it's metal length.

I looked at the door and placed my hand on it along with Sunset and as soon as Fluttershy gave us the ok, we pushed the door open and walked into a gigantic throne room, the throne and figure on it hidden by shadows. As the doors closed behind us and the sconces along the walls flared into being, we got a good look at the event boss.

The skeletal figure sat on the throne with a humongous warhammer at his side, and a massive pumpkin for a head. He stood and roared as his life meter and name pane flashed into being and a debuff appeared on my stat block.

"Aria!"

"It's nothing I can dispell," she cried. "And it's only affecting stats upped by socketed gems!"

"Crystals are out, too," Applejack said. "Just tried to use an anti-magic crystal to shield myself from the debuff."

"Well, this just got a lot more complicated," I snarled as I readied my sword.

Samhaim lunged forward, and the battle began.

Comments

[Hobbestc]

So much SAO, lol. Good so far.

[ScisetShimmerEvan]

These battles sure are epic