A few months had passed since our departure from Vastri City. Currently we've not only been receiving good news from Kagito about the guild in the game, but it seems that the guild's reputation had expanded even in reality—Eliana was doing a very good job at advertising and management.
As we continued to move towards our destination, we had finally made it to the plains. This was after fighting numerous creatures of incredible strength along the way, some of which had even been able to put us on the brink of death; it was a new experience for us, as it seems that none of us had personally experienced death thus far.
During the fights, Vladi, whose role was a long-ranged attacker and not known for stamina, showed off an impressive amount of endurance, for which I was readily surprised.
Now it seems as it we've come to a dungeon of some size. Glancing at it, it appears to be even more massive than its initial impressions on us. Even though we have the capabilities to clear dungeons within 100 levels above us, the residents of the dungeon gave off a menacing aura. Cooperation and tactics will definitely be needed to survive this one.
"Should we train around here for a bit more before entering the plains?" I asked them to make sure.
My inquirer was simply one which stem from worry. If we wouldn't defeat the monsters that lay inside, which we were sure are stronger than those whom we've faced thus far, then it would merely be a waste of time.
"I think we should train, our levels are way too low, maybe one more month before going in…" Said Isa in an estimating gesture.
The others nodded along.
"Okay, let's go hunt!"
We began our hunt my entering an area with monsters that gave pretty good experience, if one were able to defeat them. However, they were way too strong. Zenith was even sent flying even while trying to use his Heaven Splitters skill…
All of a sudden, we spot one
Colossus, Level: 182
Health: 181.765
Heavy defense and attacks
Its speed is a bit slower than average
With Peko's scouting skills, we now know a few things about it. We will be able to manage to defeat it if its speed is slow, but hell… it is way too fast for its size!
When Zenith ate an attack from the colossus, even while partially parrying it with his gigantic sword, he flew 7 meters and we were forced to wait for his recovery…
"Okay, first, Peko weaken it. Isa, jump in after with Zenith, and Vladi get your Full Buster ready. Arksen will attack after you guys. I will help Arksen by backstabbing the Colossus during Arksen's attacks. Hopefully from those attacks he will be stunned." We made our plan just like that.
The party was a good one. Isa was a full tank Paladin which bolstered our defenses and gave us extra health regeneration. Zenith also increased our physical assaulting capabilities because he also belonged to a power-type class. Finally, Vladi, to finish off this powerhouse cannon team, is armed and equipped with an extremely powerful buster, of which I am relieved to not have yet been on the receiving end. Furthermore, we don't just have power. Arksen has a multitude of attacks that induce a myriad of stun effects, specialized for monsters that topple 8 meters. Lastly my addition to the party, when having full fire enhancement, should provide just the needed strength to wreck this monster's mobility and hopefully bring it down.
We started to initiate our plan.
"Defense, Weaken!" Said Peko with an extremely fast tone—so fast, in fact, that she couldn't even curse it properly.
"Bash!" Shouted Isa while she ran towards the Colossus, hitting it with her great shield.
Zenith followed and put all his weight and strength into a horizontal slash that was properly aiming for the Colossus' legs.
The Colossus, with its above-normal defense, growled but couldn't continue; it has just received a huge blast from Vladi's 'shotgun'… or whatever it is…
Making use of its unstable footing, Zenith and Isa started attacking furiously. Vladi began to charge another Full Buster while Isa was again weakening it. When it seemed as if it was about to stabilize itself once more, Arksen and I entered the stage.
"Upward Punch!" Shouted Arksen hitting an uppercut. With fluid motion he then transitions into an upwards kick "Pillar Kick!" The attack even elevated the Colossus a bit… that's some colossal force!
'Elemental Enhancement: Fire' Making use of the stun, I made a deep slash with my white sword. Then, with its now fresh wound, I took the initiative and stabbed my black sword with everything I had.
I then notice another full buster came towards its head and make contact.
"Nice aim!"
With all of us attacking it, we successfully killed it with rapidity, not wanting to resort to Peko's stronger curses as to not weaken her.
We decided to keep hunting Colossuses.
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It has been a few months since the group parted, we have been working crazily, and it seems that they had too—shown by the changes within their levels by the ranking system. Kagito was demoted to fourth place, but it seems this was because he wasn't useless like Eliana initially thought, and he has also been quite busy.
He had been cleaning dungeons and helping the novice users. His class was proving to be quite efficient at it, as he had learned the teleportation skill in tandem with many support skills. For a support-type character, however, his battle sense was extremely wild…
The new users are currently happy with things as they are, and our webpage has been getting a lot of traffic. We have many users asking to join, a number which has only increased when news had spread of the lord being our sponsor. Our influencing is steadily increasing, and I have been busy talking to numerous mayors of different villages to further expand.
We have amassed quite a bit of dungeons under our control and there have also not been any complaints about it. Our fees were practically non-existent.
We have implemented training for long range and support type users for them to get the Fighting spirit and Endurance stats. At first there were a couple of people who asserted that the stats were useless to their characters, which was until Kagito shut them up by his mere presence with a sword.
"Do you think it is useless now?" He said with a menacing look
The other players seemed to be shivering…
"How high must his fighting spirit be to have such a presence?"
Yet, ironically, when you see him in the presence of someone important, he shifts to becoming a spineless child!
"Eliana, do I have to go?" Kagito said with a wimpy look, nothing like when he talked with the Lord for the first time
"Yes, you have to, you committed yourself to it." His look changed as if he had a realization. Whenever I said something like that, he always made a 180 change… but then reverts back to his pathetic self again. At least he always fulfilled his role and was becoming better at it. My fame also grew as I continued to manage many things for the guild and had further talks as the guild representative for many places. With our sudden growth we have also absorbed many guilds by establishing alliances. Of course, the members were only trustworthy people whom I have personally investigated.
It is incredible as to how much we have grown… even with the best expectation I never thought it would be this much, even less when we first started with this guy looking like this
"Hey Kagito, why did you want to be the leader of the Guild?" I asked him, truly curious, as he didn't seem the type of guy who cared for greatness or material wealth.
"Hmmm… I enjoyed having some colors in my life…" He said in a bit shyly manner…
"Huh? What do you mean?"
Kagito continued as he shrugged remembering how he was and still is "As you see, I don't really have any redeeming qualities… and, as I was comfortable with my life before, I didn't bother for any change. One day, however, I got in a strange quest for an old man that changed everything. The step was huge, but I felt if I didn't then everything would go back to normal"
"Ohh, I expected a more grandiose answer, but it is you after all, plain beyond normal" I said mocking Kagito
"I am not an amazing person if you wondered about it…" Kagito said while sighing and shrugging again
"Heh, yeah…" I said laughing a little adding "You are fun to be with" while smiling
At least, he is not boring… maybe… he is a bit interesting
--------------------
After a while of killing more Colossus we spot another one that seemed to be a mini-boss, how do we know? Easy, its color is black when normal colossi are Brownish, his height is about 15 meters and its level is 230…
- John, Colossus Level: 230
Health: 240.521
Mana: 12461
Unknown
… And its name is John.
We have been thinking about killing it, after all, we have levelled enough to be able to kill a normal Colossus in around 2 and a half minutes now.
But this one is 50 levels stronger than the others… and as a mini-boss it might have special attacks.
"Should we give it a go?" I asked the group who themselves also pondered the idea. "Let's do it" Said Zenith
"I want to send it flying!" Said Arksen
"Okay, let's go" Said Isa while sighing at the boys, I too was excited about going at it.
"I will use a strong curse!" Exclaimed Peko
"Let's see what my Full Buster can do to it" …
"Okay! Let's use the same tactic as with normal Colossus, if it proves to be out of our league, Zenith and Peko, run, we will come back in around four days" I said to the pair
"We will win" Said Zenith as if he didn't care about what I said
"Okay, okay, now everyone into position" I said, signaling to the others and taking a position along with Arksen
"Demise!" Shouted Peko using her curse on John
"Dashing Bash!" Attacked Isa with her great shield
"Heaven Splitter" Said Zenith while doing an upward slash that seemed to crack the Colossus a bit, it seemed angry at the sudden attacks
"ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAR!!!!!!!!!!!!" The ground trembled at this, so Vladi waited a bit before using her Full Buster. It seems to have regained its balance and started to attack the duo, at this sight Arksen jumped in, attacking its back with all of his power to stun it
I came in and slashed its legs to weaken it while a sudden Full Buster contacted its thorax—sending it backwards.
Such Force!
The unbalanced Colossus took a stomp and a giant rock appeared from the ground scratching Zenith, who, form this lost his footing. The colossus fist then moved toward him and fortunately was blocked by Isa, shield in hand, the force, however, did send her flying a few meters away.
Arksen and I continued with our assault. Zenith also regained his foot and started hitting it with everything he had. Finally, Peko came into play, displaying her curse magic and directing it on its attacks.
I begin to notice the Colossus charging something in its mouth, as if it was about to breath fire…
"Back off, Zenith!" I shouted
Suddenly John was about to spit fire from his mouth when a Full-Busted hit that moved towards his head and then further upwards.
'Nice, Vladi!' I thought.
If that attack would have hit him dead on, then he would be in critical condition right now.
"Change in formation! I will go to its front. Zenith and Arksen back. Isa, when you come back into battle be careful of its magical attacks. Peko, start distracting it with some ice spells!" I commanded.
- "Vladi, start doing small Full busters" I told her in a PM
-Roger
And we resumed our fighting, its attacks were very heavy, and I could barely stand against them, what a monster! I nullified some, but it took out big chumps on my stamina; even with my Fast Recovery, it was very hard to keep it up.
After all this hitting we were still only barely winning. Suddenly the Colossus was heating up… Crap!
"He is transforming!" I shouted desperately. There were monsters like this in the game, of course many people found them in lower levels, but even so, they were incredible strong; normally they transition to a being of one of the elements, and this one seems to be fire.
"We have to go all out!" A fight of attrition would kill us, as this monster will only become stronger as the curses upon it start to lift.
John quickly noticed my intention and gave me a full-frontal attack 'Perfect'
'Elemental Enhancement: Wind, Absorption'
I will have to sustain the force for a bit… hope it doesn't kill me
*Baaaaaaaaaaaang* Sounded the attack clashing with my sword with me absorbing it
"Guha" my health went almost to the red zone in a swing
"Ardha! Heaven Splitter!" Shouted Zenith that seemed to be exuding power, seems he is using it at his full capacity, and he slashed with everything he had.
"Full Arts!" Shouted Arksen who seemed to be enveloped by magic and started hitting wildly
Then, the attack stopped, and I attacked, releasing all the energy that I had absorbed towards the weakened Colossus.
'Elemental Enhancement: Fire, Release energy'
I started attacking all out against it, who was now taking the defensive.
After a minute of hitting I dropped to my knees, my hands were bleeding and my swords seemed about to break, my health was steadily decreasing; it seems I had pushed myself too much. The other two don't seem to be too great either. Zenith was laying his face to the floor, totally wiped out from his skill while Arksen's fists were bleeding, his magical coat was torn and now he couldn't really move his fists. It seems that even Peko has reached her limits. Isa was keeping up with her attacks, but her stamina is starting to run low and her movements are getting sluggish.
The Colossus John kept standing. It seems a bit more and it would die but suddenly it hit Isa with everything he had and sending her flying—she was now finally immobilized. The Colossus now made its way towards me, probably because my actions have caused it to target me and being the most dangerous.
And when it was about to swing its arm down, I heard a small voice and a smile surfaced on my face
"Full Buster" Said Vladi that was at point blank range against the Colossus's back and a sudden blasting sound, a hole appeared from the sudden impact.
The colossus fell to its knees and disappeared in a grey flash…
"Can you give me something, I think I am about to die…" I asked Vladi at the brink of my Hp, even my sight was getting numb
"Here" and she forced a healing potion on my throat, we haven't use much of these, one of the reasons is that they are very expensive.
Now, seeing that my health isn't dropping anymore, and my stamina was steadily going up, I went to help the others up with my last bit of strength. Isa is knocked out cold, so we will wait for her to recover a bit, which should be pretty soon.
We went to look at the drops, which are but a red orb and a single letter.
On it were these last words.
- It has been some time since we parted to the Plains of Gauder, we have defeated many of these colossi with great difficulty, but none of us have died yet.
We have come here to wipe out Mader, an evil being that has proclaimed the lives of many of our citizen and who lives near this place.
Just a bit more and we will finally reach it.
If I were to die, I hope our mission has succeeded, but if not, I hope you will be able to finish what we couldn't
And tell my family that I am sorry for not coming back…
John
- New quest! The Colossus life
John was once a Barbarian that, because of a curse of Mader, was sentenced to become a Colossus. But this battle took a big toll on the evil being, weakening it and losing most of the power it has reunited, even more when he used the Blood orb that has a total direct contact with itself, making it give a part of it to the once Barbarian.
It has been asked of you to fulfil the mission of the fallen warriors of Gardan: to eradicate the evil being that is hidden somewhere on the Plains of Gauder
The Blood Orb can help in tracing Mader.
The Blood Orb, after being destroyed, will weaken Mader.
Difficulty Level: C
Restriction
-Defeat John's Colossus
Rewards
-Trust of Gardan's people
-Unknown
-Do you wish to accept the quest? If denied, 100% of the drops will appear and the Blood orb and the Letter of the Barbarian will disappear
The quest window showed to everyone seems it is a party quest; well, after all, trying to kill it alone would be suicide.
A grin formed on our lips and everyone said
"Yes"
-You have accepted the quest
The quest difficulty was level C. To complete it we will have to fight against a being, even stronger than John. Nevertheless, we couldn't really just leave this behind; after all, we will need all the training opportunities that we can get. The trust of the Gardan people will be of great help too.
After we rested, we resumed our journey, heading towards the Plains of Gauder.
Hundreds of battles are waiting for us in there, and we will have to win them all— after all, we cannot afford to lose.
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"Hey Strike, how are you doing with the new members?" Asked a man who seemed to be on his thirties
"Fine, there was a small disturbance because of the new guild that formed in Vastri city, but it has soothed as we have demonstrated our power in that recent battle against the Areid Guild. Most of our users are strong, and most of Kaiser's are newbies" Said Strike while discarding the fact about the politics of their own Guild which were harsh on the popular opinion.
"Heh, that's why you are in charge of internal affairs" Said the man with a satisfied look
"Of course, Guild Leader, Brazen"
Brazen was a man that was also on the top 10. Previously, he already had influence with many people. Yet now with Strike, who was one of the representatives of Parallel, his status grew even further. Many people came to them to form a guild; the reason being is that they could provide enormous funds as they had the backing of many people. It was only a matter of time for his group to overtake the whole Kingdom of Krainall.
Even more, as their fame grew exponentially with many people on the top 100 in the Guild. They got interviews with KK Tv that almost held a monopoly of the rating in terms of the Game.
"Then, shall we start our conquest on the Kingdom?" Asked Brazen with a smirk
"We have already started, of course" Answered Strike with a smile.
Brazen and Strike could never tolerate being second place. It might take more than a year in Real Life for them to conquest the Kingdom of Krainall, one of the biggest Kingdoms in Parallel, but after doing so, it would mean the conquering of the game. Of course, they were planning to unlock the Underworld too, but it will come later. It isn't an A class Quest for nothing.
They have even discovered clues about the Seal of the Realms, and they will not let them escape.
Who were Kagito, Ardha and Vladi to get in their way? No one, and they will soon taste it.
Everything was starting to come together.