1 01 Walking
A lonely sigh escapes the helm. The keeper of the flowers looks upon the blue planet sorrowfully- is it in remembrance, or with regret? The lonesome protector's people will come for it someday... Surely, someday...
~Moonlight Gardens~
"Hey, Chika. Come check this out." Ellen tapped her partner on the shoulder.
"Nn? What is it, Ellen?" Chika asked, yawning. She stretched, and grabbed her purple twintails, waving them like propellers at Ellen. Ellen scooted closer to Chika on the bench, and moved the holographic windowpane she was watching between them. A white lozenge in the corner of the pane read [LIVE].
Chika looked at the footage; eight people with disparate weapons and outfits, running down the narrow bluish marble corridors, defeating monsters at a breakneck pace.
"Wow, people actually stream dungeon runs?" She looked up at Ellen.
"It's not a chart-topper. I've mostly seen big solo players or guilds doing promotional events. There's a few showcasing the Luminary Nova fields right now, actually."
"Uh... publicity, huh?" Chika stretched her arms again, and leaned over onto Ellen's thighs. "Boooring."
"Don't be like that. Look at the stats that are being tracked in the corner." Ellen pointed to a box in the corner of the video feed.
~Delta Moonlight Hyacinth Gardens~
FLOOR 298
FASTEST KILL .06s
FOES SLAIN 71,819
SLOWEST KILL 116.23s
AVG FOES/FLOOR 241
AVG TIME/KILL 2.03s
"Uwah, three hundred?!" Chika's eyebrows raised. "The most we've done is like one-fifty!"
"And that's more than decent. Damn, these guys..." Ellen nudged Chika up. "Hey, get off my legs."
"But they're soft!" Chika pouted, but still got off of Ellen, before looking back at the stream.
Ellen smiled at Chika, and shook her head. She turned to the pane as well. The stream had reached over two million viewers, and the live comments were scrolling far too fast for her to care reading. A few of her fellow guild-members were also watching, and their transcribed banter was in the guild chat window opposite the public comments:
ZeroXL >> new party? never heard of em
darKsun_K >> some noobs maybe [Laughter]
Martyfree >>look at the fuckin stream title dickhead
Shiguwaw >>you're a noob [Laughter]
darKsun_K >>more like... blue bitch gang
ZeroXL >>chuuni ass name
Shiguwaw >>STFU zerox
Martyfree >>hey anomaly one of these guys got your sword
4n0m4ly >>my sword?
Ellen raised an eyebrow at Martyfree's comment. She brought up a new browser pane and searched for the streaming Guild's name- barely two dozen results appeared for Blue Iris Crescent Gang, most of them from today and the day before. She tapped the link for their Global Ranking page, and read through their profile:
Currently Second Fortress tier, at rank 1999. They had nine lifetime members, consisting of three DPS, three tanks, two DPH, and one cleric.
"Ellen, you talking to the guildies?" Chika was looking at her through the holographic window.
"Yeah..."
"Tell them to shove it! They can't monopolize you!"
Ellen as exasperated. Maybe follow your own advice then? She thought, though she couldn't stay mad at her.
"I'm just being polite to our seniors," she replied, smirking.
Chika also grinned after a second. "How BM..."
"Anyways," Ellen changed topics, "Does any of their equipment look familiar to you?" She pushed the pane showing the ranking page away, and pointed her nose at the livestream.
"Hm?" Chika looked at the stream intently for a moment, before both of her eyebrows shot up. "That sword...!"
"So Marty was right." Ellen rested her chin on her hands with a thoughtful expression. The two of them looked at Blue Iris Crescent Gang's livestream with piqued interest.
-
At every turn, enemy creatures turned to dust under the hail of attacks. Eight people made their way down the winding corridors of the keep, rotating positions as foes appeared. The tallish avatar leading the group called over his shoulder as they crossed intersecting corridors:
"Two more ropers... Rearguard, hold!" He lowered his blade to his side, and ran ahead of the formation.
"When does it end?" The shorter man to his left raised his armored right gauntlet, and swung his curved sword at an enemy that appeared the point-man's side. "Odin! Left!" The slash severed two of its tentacle-like vines- the follow-up came upwards, severing its main stalk and killing it.
"Shit, thanks, Yuki!" Odin glanced to his right before continuing ahead. "Rivel, on the right!"
As Odin was calling back, a short woman with flowing attire leapt past him, the spikes on her armored greaves landing on the central stalk of the left Roper ahead of the group.
"Next time I'm not waiting!"
"Sorry, Lotte!" Odin tore his sword from the right Roper's vines, and quickly struck it down. The ribbons trailing behind Lotte snapped forward as she backflipped off of the monster, stomping it into the ground.
"Rears, wave two!" Lotte shouted as she landed, both Ropers defeated- with more appearing just a few meters ahead.
Across from Yuki was a man with two blunt horns growing from his forehead. He brushed his upper lip as he shuffled his weight from one foot to the other, waiting for the Roper to get closer- as it did, a single punch from Rivel sent it flying back.
"Joey!"
A bolt of lightning flew over Rivel's shoulder, finishing the Roper off.
"Talk about bruised produce!" Joey, the short-haired male avatar in the center of the vanguard, chuckled to himself as he lowered his shortsword, the purple gem set at the base of its blade still electrified.
"Shut the fuck up, Joey," a twin-tailed woman with long, pointed ears strode through the intersection, assault rifle in hand. She raised her right hand and motioned to the two behind her to follow, smirking. The vanguards watched as she sprayed the second wave of Ropers with her energy rifle, illuminating the hallways with bright blue light.
"Looks like you got this, Elswyr," Odin said, falling back behind the rearguard's line.
"Give the rest of us some credit, would you?" To Elswyr's left, a woman with shorter pointed ears held her hands out- five spectral playing cards appeared between them, each a different suit, and then flew towards her party members. "Signe, you're up!"
A woman with reptilian features walked ahead from Elswyr's right, brandishing a longsword. The card that hit her bestowed a red silhouette as she took a low stance.
"Mirima, Els, leave the rest to me!" Signe swung her blade back, and closed the distance to their enemies. With a snap, her whipsword's joints disengaged and lashed across the whole group of Ropers, swiftly dispatching them. As the monsters turned into polygonal confetti, the group continued forward with the women at the point.
Elswyr brushed a twintail over her shoulder. "Goddamn the green gems feel broken." Odin rubbed the ring on his left index finger. "Finally seeing the effort I put in?" He grinned, looking at a similarly green gem set in the pommel of his sword.
"Your effort, huh?" Elswyr said.
"Ah, one sec," Odin motioned the group to halt, and tabbed through his player menu.
-
Suddenly the stream audio became nujazz.
"Oh damn!" Ellen tapped her foot. Right at the important part!
"The music's bumpin' though?" Chika shrugged. "We don't need to ghost them to find out why he's using a katzbalger. And we don't know for sure it's yours anyways..."
"But still. The way he's focusing single targets down with draw strikes... I can't imagine it's anything but Brandishing Dueling," Ellen said, rubbing her temple. "It's too much for a coincidence. More than that, he's competent enough that he doesn't need to sheath it either."
"I'm more interested in that twintails elf," Chika said.
"Is it because of her gun?"
"She's using a fucking XM8!" Chika was getting quite excited. Ellen could only smile somewhat questioningly at her.
-
"I'm getting pretty exhausted rotating like this, though." Mirima shrugged.
"We only have two more floors to go, so..." Signe patted Mirima on the back.
"And then we can leave this fucking place..." Mirima hung her head as her and Elswyr fell back behind Odin's line.
"So we're two hundred ninety-eight floors in, huh..." Yuki scanned the hallways as they continued advancing.
"Cutting it close to the maximum dive time," Odin said, casting a concerned look towards a grinning Elswyr.
"No worry for me?" Lotte reached up and slapped the back of Odin's head. Rivel and Joey laughed at his surprised yelp.
"God, do you forget it still fucking hurts in here?!" Odin rubbed his neck. "I'm gonna make you take point next time... Christ," he grunted, watching as his HP meter recovered the three meager points Lotte's slap had deducted.
"It's been quite fun," Signe said. "Keeps me on my toes, at the very least."
Mirima's grimace didn't lighten. "You and Els must be masochists..."
"This is bitch stuff," Elswyr replied, making a peace sign with her right hand. Signe snorted as she did, but her laugh stopped short as she saw Odin's expression.
"I'm fine with being a bitch if it means never doing more than seventy-five floors again!" Mirima rubbed the bridge of her nose, and casted movement-speed enhancing cards. Green silhouettes surrounded everyone, their running speed increasing uncannily.
Odin and Rivel thanked Mirima for the speed-boost refresh, and the eight of them continued their descent. The floor limit... Just two more. Then we can be free. Odin thought that fatigue was definitely starting to wear on everyone. It doesn't bode well for the boss fight. He reopened his player menu, and resumed the regular audio feed.
-
The music stopped.
"Oh, it's back up." Ellen looked back from the guild chat window. The Blue Iris Crescent Gang was climbing down a stairway.
"Damn, it was so groovy...!" Chika pouted again. "I was just starting to get interested in PVE again too."
"So it was the music and not the actual play?" Ellen scratched her head.
"It's so damn booooring normally! If I wanted PVE I wouldn't have played so many shooters."
"Don't forget we still aren't even at the level cap. We can't just ignore it until a week before like we did last time."
"We also seeded Ascendant. Do we really need to go fight mooks?" Chika furrowed her brow.
"Lighten up." Ellen rubbed Chika's head. "PVE's just as important as what we do," she said, and turned back to the stream. "At least the tournament organizers think so." Chika grunted in displeasure, but after a sigh, she sidled up next to Ellen again.
"So I should watch?"
"You should watch. Look, they're fighting the boss now."
-
Light danced off of hyacinth petals scattered into the air. A single pointed horn rose from the Guardian's helm, the other shattered. It held its greatsword in one hand, stance lowered to accept the next attack.
The party had nearly wiped in mere moments. Joey's body lay dead on the ground, as did Signe and Lotte's. Rivel and Yuki were in defensive stances, circling around the Guardian. Elswyr stood behind Odin. It had taken three of their party members to drop the Moon's Guardian down to half of its health.
"Done with your breather, powerful leader?" Elswyr slapped the side of her rifle.
Odin exhaled deeply. "Yuki, Rivel, can I ask one last favor?"
"Bold words," Yuki replied, dropping his curved sword.
"We doin' it then?" Rivel raised his fists.
"You bet." Odin likewise threw his shortsword to the ground. As it turned into polygons, a new weapon materialized in his hands- a blade nearly five feet long, shining gold and silver. "Gram... Now!"
Odin leapt forward, slashing as he did. The Guardian deflected with ease, taking a single step back, then raised its own sword. Odin turned his body, letting his bouncing sword fly backwards- he let it rest across the length of his back for a moment- as Yuki and Rivel closed the distance.
Yuki slashed first with the katana in his left hand, leaping first off of the ground where Odin had just stepped as he did, then again off of the Guardian's breastplate. As he somersaulted backwards, he slashed with the blade in his right hand.
Rivel appeared where Yuki had just been- his right hand brought far back. The ground trembled as his foot came down, his hips turning for a single strait punch to the Guardian's head. A sharp crack rang out as the second horn was sent flying. Without pausing, he jumped to follow the momentum of his blow, and followed Yuki in backflipping off of the stunned Guardian's chest.
Odin finished turning around, his silver greatsword now parallel at waist level. He swung it upwards, but before he could bring it down- a purple wave of energy flew out of the Guardian's empty right hand. Odin was knocked backwards, his vision going dark.
Game over... Red text reading [0din IS DEAD] appeared in the black space before him. He sighed deeply, and rubbed his shoulders. It was cold on the death screen. A deterrent from doing this too much, yeah... He sighed again, and brought up his menu, tapping on [Spectate Mode]. The black space around him vanished, and he was now watching the fight unfold from a few feet above where his body landed.
A sword made of bluish-purple flame was in the Guardian's right hand. Yuki and Rivel were hammering the boss with blows from the left and right, as Elswyr ran behind them to shoot at it. Another wave of flame shot out from the Guardian, stopping the three in their tracks.
Elswyr looked over her shoulder at Odin's body, a smile spreading. Odin saw her mouth forming words as the Guardian surrounded itself with energy. Rivel and Yuki jolted into action, but a moment too late. All three of them were sent flying by a wave of flame- Elswyr sailed backwards over Odin.
And yet... New text appeared in front of Odin: [0din IS REVIVED]
Standing once more, greatsword in hand, he faced the Guardian. "This time..." For sure. As the Guardian's greatsword came down on him, he kicked its right leg out. The metal blade landed in the ground, sending clumps of it and flower petals into the air. The flame blade came in a side-chop, but Odin raised Gram to defend himself. Using both hands to support Gram, he managed to push the flameblade away, gaining distance again.
He glanced to the side, and saw that Yuki and Rivel were both dead. I'm really in the corner now... Without a second thought, Odin swung his blade.
"Come on!" With his shout, three blades connected. He let Gram fall, grabbing the handle with both hands as the Guardian's swords cut into him. Undeterred by the searing pain in his shoulder and chest, he raised Gram and redoubled his attack. With all eight hundred points of strength!
The Guardian fell to one knee, propping itself up against the purple flameblade.
Odin fell backwards- and was promptly stepped on, sending him back to the death screen.
Elswyr walked over him, the tip of her rifle surrounded by a blue orb of energy that continued to grow. She levelled her rifle at the Guardian's stomach, and pulled the trigger.
"Hahaaa! Biiiiiiitttccccch!"
The Guardian was sent prone as blue energy exploded, engulfing Odin's renewed spectator view. As the light faded, he saw Elswyr's rifle glowing again as she approached the Guardian. She lowered the gun to a chink its armor, grinning mirthlessly.
"Get fucked."
Odin saw Elswyr mouth "sayonara" as blue light filled the area one last time.
