3 3
Aurora stood against the raging flames of the beast.
Her sword stayed steadily before her as she called out, "<Holy Shield>."
White light wallowed from her figure before combining into a gigantic shield before her. Her brilliant blonde hair blew in the rages of the azure flames. Her azure eyes narrowed through the flames, seeing the thrashing beast, evidently...Felz was doing her job.
Ain narrowed his eyes behind her, "Its hp is about to reach 70%, the second stage will begin. Felz, get out of there in under three seconds."
Just as he finished speaking, a loud shriek resounded as the azure flames died down. Standing behind the shield, Ain watched as the serpent tail of the beast sliced off its body and Felz ran with all her might from the crimson aura radiating from the Hellhound. In fact, she had to use another round of <Flash of Death> as her figured blurred into the surroundings.
"Aurora."
The beast's three heads traced into the sky, it stomped its feet…
"<Stand>!" The guardian yelled.
A golden radiance fell upon the trio as a roar quaked the lands. The winds howled and the air trembled, as if a hurricane, it slammed into the party.
Ain looked at their falling health yet couldn't help but smile, none of them was blown back from the blade like winds.
"<Radiating Healing>," He called out with a wave of his hand as their health began to climb back up.
"Remember, its attack patterns and skills have changed. Stage 2, Plan 2."
Aurora nodded, standing back up in front of Ain as Felz blurred to her left side. The demon slayer had already reverted back to normal.
The beast growled, all six of its crimson eyes glowed, it made one final roar before charging forwards with its four paws shaking the lands.
It had grown larger and it felt like a mountain running towards them. When the distance seemed halved, it pounced.
Ain grinned, three silver daggers appeared in his hand, and he threw them forwards with a flash.
"<Lighthening Rod>!"
The air trembled as the daggers firmly struck each of its head. Three strikes of lightning immediately fell from the sky.
The beast was forcefully slammed onto the ground, shaken with dizziness, and struggling to wobble its way back up.
Watching the beast's movements slow, he nodded, "Stage 2."
Aurora raised her weapon, her icy eyes staring at the Hellhound that had collapsed a few feet ahead of them. Her hands were already wrapped around the golden handle as she raised its silver glean into the sky. Her pure white mana flowed out and coursed through her body before boring into the blade of her weapon.
"<Excalibur>!" She yelled.
The air ripped apart and the very clouds thundered, a ray of light burst forth from her sword and pierced through even the sky.
However, it wasn't over.
Felz held her blade and entered into a stance. Her crimson mana also swirled through her and coursed through her blade.
She smiled,
"<Crimson Death>."
Ain smiled, now fully composed of their victory. Not only did this skill ignore 50% of the foe's defense, but it also one-shots any being whose health was at or below 20%. A sure-fire one hit kill skill.
Aurora pierced her blade forward.
Felz fully drew her blade in one motion and slashed.
A ray of pure golden light and a single slash of crimson combined into one.
Forming a combination skill!
<Crimson Excalibur> slammed into the body of the beast!
The beast that had just been momentarily standing wailed in pain as the attack pierced through its body. The crimson ray of light vroomed forwards and thurned that grassed land itself into ash, everything in its path become nothing more than passing dust. Everything but the beast...it was not quite dead yet.
finally shaking off the dizziness, it was beginning to stand back upright.
It was now time for stage three.
Its health had dove down to 40%, the combined attack could only shave off 30% of its health. However, Ain smiled as he waved his hand, "<Skill Reset>."
Just as quickly as the attack disappeared, a new one formed as the two girls slashed their weapon once more.
In the grand scheme of the game, area Guardians were weak. They were only there to be a small hindrance before the next area was unlocked, the only reason [Eden] was the one fighting it right now was simply because they were the first to reach this new area, the Forgotten Forest.
Ain watched as the Hellhound ripped into a million digital bubbles with the final passing of <Crimson Excalibur>.
A hand clasped his shoulder, he turned to see Felz grinning and Aurora silently sheathing her blade.
"Good work," The black haired beauty said as the blonde nodded.
Ain shook his head, "Won't be over till me clear this area, enter the dungeon, and-"
"Oh come one," Felz rolled her eyes, "just celebrate a victory for once, even Aurora here is already relaxing."
She was right, the Guardian class player was already sitting down to relax. Though...the word relax might be a stretch because, to Ain, it looked as if she was meditating above all else.
He smiled, "Alrig-...wait what's that?"
Aurora raised her head to the sky.
Felz turned her head, "What's wha-?"
A blinding light crashed into the group.
Before they knew what happened, their vision had already disappeared.
Ain blinked his eyes, darkness surounded him, he could neither see nor feel. Try as he might to open his lips or move his body, nothing functioned.
The first thing he thought was, 'Is this an event?' it seemed highly likely that unlocking the last area within the game could trigger an event. But he soon had to scratch that when...
'Menu.'
Nothing happened.
Ain frowned,
'Logout.'
Nothing.
Now he knew something was wrong. No matter what game it was, in this current virtual era, they were all designed with a fail-safe that allows the person to log out at any time within any moment. It was simply one of the standardized regulations, after all, no one wanted the same thing that happened within Sword Art Online to occur.
Finally, as a last resort, Ain called out, "Status."
[Name: Ain
Level: 0
Class: Healer
Souls: 5
Skills: 1/10
Spell Models: 0/3
Strength: 2
Constitution: 5
Agility: 3
Intelligence: 5
Sense: 5]
His eyes widened,
"What the fu*k is this!--"
Just as abruptly as it plunged into darkness, his world regained light.
