He had entered this game world to test himself, and now, this would be the hardest he would. His pale blue eyes stared into the forest below as he crunched down the crispy dried beef. He was currently in the midst of calming his nerves, and what could do better than his favorite ration-like snack?
"She should be here at any minute now, assuming she had no slip-ups." A clear voice reached into his ears.
Allen Fraught swerved his head to the side, glancing at the beauty that sat atop the fringes of this rocky tower just the same. Her crimson eyes were narrowed slightly into the distance, and he was momentarily mesmerized by the beauty of her blackened hair bellowing with the wind.
However, he had seen more than his share of her beauty many times over. Turning back towards the forest ahead, crunching another jerky from the white bag in his hands, he nodded.
"Dying over 50 times; I've mapped out its key attack animation intervals, attack patterns, buffs, and debuffs. However, even still, this will be the strongest and last Guardian we will have to face. And as such, it should pull out some surprises. Especially the trope of pulling out a second or maybe even a third transformation and gaining either a massive boost in health, defense, or attack." He plainly stated as he slowly chewed.
"However, if we follow your plan, we will win? Right?" The bell-like voice of the beauty reached his ears.
"You say the same thing each time, you know that? We've been a party for close to two years now, and you still find the need to chuck those words down our throats."
He took a brief pause to look through the corner of his eyes to see the girl mindlessly dangling her feet within the air and chuckling at his words, well, at the words he would have spoken.
He placed another beef jerky into his mouth and crunched it between his teeth.
"I am not saying it for Aurora, in fact, I am only saying it for your ears alone." He spoke.
"You always find a way to make me feel special." She smiled.
"Because you are the one that always deviates from the plan already set." His tone chilled.
"Don't we always win anyway?" She responded as her hand gave him a soft slap at his shoulders.
"Yes," he shook her off, "after I reworked the plan. Several times, I have had to build backup plans for my backup plans all because of you."
"Should I feel honored or sorry?" She folded her arms at her chest, propelling those two lumps of fat forwards.
"You should feel sorry, Felz" Allen simply stated, disregarded her, and looked ahead once more.
He could see the trees amidst the forest falling down in a crash and the effect spreading towards the outer layers.
He placed another piece into his mouth. This time, he slowly chewed it out before swallowing in a gulp.
"It's almost your turn."
"Oh? Is she here already? That was much faster than I expected." Felz looked ahead and could mildly gleam a figure dashing over here.
"I had her exchange the attributes of her equipment to shift towards a bit more speed than usual. Although it had a staggering cost to do so to legendary graded pieces of equipment, it should be worth it for the meantime." Allen briefly stated as he watched his preparing companion.
Standing at the edge, she carefully brought up the game's equipment U.I and summoned her weapon. Strapped it to the left waist of her almost samurai-like clothing that shined in shades of darkened black, crimson red, and lustful gold.
"Though I would have liked to use you as the runner, as your class is built around speed. However, knowing you, you would have simply either tried to fight it head on or run past it's attack range."
She stopped for a moment, looked down at him, and chuckled, "You don't trust me?"
"No, I trust fully in your awareness and battle power. However, having stayed with you all this time, I've seen countless times of yourself trying to solo a boss."
She laughed lightly and said no more.
Finally, she entered into a stance, carefully holding the hilt of the blade, ready to be unsheathed at a moment's notice.
At the distance, a figure came running towards the tower, her golden blonde hair blowing in the wind and the sun shining upon her silver breastplate.
The trees behind her tumbled down with crashing waves as so did the earth pound with a rhythmic force.
Aurora was only a span of a small field from their mobile base, 'The Tower of Eden'. And Felz could see a golden light descend upon her body, instantly boosting her speed by another march. She must have used the skill
Her two legs moved in tandem, stepping and crunching against the emerald grass between the 'Forgotten Forest' and the tower.
At that moment, a frightful figure came chasing down behind her. It's serpent tail, with the jaded head of a snake, burned an azure fire. It's three heads howling towards its prey as it's four feet pounded onto the ground in haste. Covered in blackened fur, and it's eyes shining like crystal amethyst, the Guardian of the Forgotten Forest, the Hellhound chased after Aurora.
Within this game, a new area couldn't be unlocked and ventured towards until the Guardian guarding it was defeated. Currently, the Forgotten Forest was the highest leveled area having monsters at an average of lvl 300–atleast that was what the developers proclaimed. Most importantly, however, it was also the location where Chaos would be summoned in full from the gate that had sealed it. When that was to happen, the world would be plunge into an unending Eclipse until it was defeated. The monsters would grow a craze in strength and wails of the damned would fill the air.
However, that was what they were here for.
"Remember, stick to the plan; Follow it well and I will lead you two towards glory."
Felz nodded to those words that reached her ears. This was always what he was like, since he could hardly fight, he took up the trait of leading others towards glory while he guided them with something worth much more, his mind. This was what had earned him the nickname [Eden's Tactician].
As she thought all this, she saw her golden-haired companion already reaching the base of the tower.
"Keep your party chat on at all times during the battle."
She nodded once more, she could no longer see her companion, but simply focused onto the beast charging towards the tower.
Finally, she felt the shaking of this base in it's full, structure quaking under heavy pounds of feet and she knew that the crucial part of the plan had come into play.
"We Kill it's serpent tail first, otherwise, we would have a stack of dots, poison and fire, on us and will die before a real fight breaks out." She remembered the words he had spoken when the plan had been unfolded before them.
She nodded once more with a low hum, and she could hear him churching the paper bag down before tossing it aside, and slowly standing up as his leg shifted against the edge of the complex.
"Let's get started. After all, this is being live-streamed in real time for the whole world to see. The legendary party 'Eden' about to take on the final Guardian of the last zone before moving towards 'Chaos', the final end game."
She could feel a grin creep onto her face.
At that moment the figure of the blonde headed knight flashed past as her Frigid azure eyes looked unwavering past them. A light pad appeared below her feet, before kicking off once more, and jumping over the two.
Felz's crimson eyes immediately gleamed a frightful light as she unsheathed her weapon.
A red hue descended onto the blade of the katana.
The underbelly of the Hellhound appeared before her narrowed eyes.
"
Her hand flashed as the blade arched towards the beast.
Immediately after, three marks of deep red, in an almost cross-like pattern, appeared onto its furred belly before a loud wail followed after.
The Hellhound was immediately sent falling right back down. However, it opened its three jaws as flames of azure light began to wallow from its depths.
Allen immediately held three daggers within his hand, and as the beast began its descent, threw them all with unmarked accuracy.
"
Smack dab in the middle, the daggers impaled each of the three heads.
'5 seconds,' he thought.
That was how long the stun would last on the Guardian, as it was highly resistant to it, before it regained its composure and gained a buff that would make it null for the next 10 minutes. That was to say, if they wanted to defeat this boss, unless they wanted to start over from the beginning, this was their only chance.
Without his command, the blonde headed knight, that had earlier landed behind him, immediately flashed past his figure as her golden sword began a show of light.
Her body spun within the air and the light on her bladed weapon shined even more so with her descent.
"
The blade immediately aimed towards the belly of the beast.
However, it's serpent tail worked to defend against the attack. It instantly shot upwards with opened jaws to bite the person who dared to defile it.
Allen kept his composure and focused fully, this was what they were waiting for. The first key of the first act; bind and kill it's tail.
In the midst of her attack, Aurora suddenly switched her skill usage as her health depleted by 5% in return.
"
As the sword made contact with the jaded serpent's tail consumed in fire, it crashed against its scaled head and delt no damage whatsoever.
However, chains of white light began to wallow from the tip of the blade as the entangled the snake's body.
The Hellhound crashed against the earth in an aura of dust, it's body on its back.
"Your turn, Felz. Get in there, and hold the tail steady." Allen called into the party chat as he looked down below onto the beast that had crashed into the ground.
Felz, who was already running at the side of the tower, nodded and immediately kicked off the cobblestoned exterior.
As he watched her descent, he too jumped down from the tower and activated the spell