"Come on, get
up," I muttered, shaking my sleeping friend's head.
"I'm up, I'm
up," protested Jinx, waving his hands in front him and lifting his face
off of the table. "What took you so
long?" His widened eyes told me
that he had only dozed off for a few seconds.
"I had to
fight a huge dragon that breathed lightning," I sarcastically replied,
picking up my bow and pulling it over my arm and head. Pulling up my player menu, I selected my
quiver from my inventory and equipped it."Where are Gerg and Vin?" Jinx asked, slowly standing up and stretching.
"Back at the house. Raf's using an Amusphere and they want to figure out what he's doing." I pulled up my map to check where the event boss was; it was slowly moving towards Alne, the town where Jinx and I were at. If the boss is supposed to attack the city, it would explain the event quest's title, Bulls-Eye Pillager, I thought to myself.
"That's lame," my party member remarked, his bright, golden eyes popping in and out of existence as he blinked. "What about that guy that Gerg and Vin said was with them when they were watching you try out your bow?"
I racked my mind to remember the Imp's name. "Um... Vlad? He's on Vin's friend list and besides, he seems kind of like a jerk." I shook my head, trying to forget his comments when I was aiming at that dummy.
"It's probably just because you're a Spriggan and a renegade," Jinx said, running his hand through his golden-brown hair. I stopped to think about how well the Pooka's golden color scheme looked on my friend's old SAO avatar.
"What does my race have to do with anything? You're a Pooka and we work together anyways," I stated, shifting my weight from one foot to the other. "And what does renegade mean?"
"Each race is like a huge guild," Jinx explained, picking up his halberd and putting it back in its sheath on his back. "And players who leave their race behind and go out on their own are called renegades. Honestly, with the New Aincrad, it just depends on what your preference is in regards to how you want to play the game. If you want to play the New Aincrad, you become a renegade and start off for the Town of Beginnings. If you want to play on ALfheim, you stick with your race and work with them and the commander of that race. Before the New Aincrad came in, though, it was supposed to be this big insult to be called a renegade."
I nodded, absorbing the information as if it was physics lesson. "Well, either way, it looks like we'll be the only ones taking this thing on for right now," I said, clasping my Pooka companion's shoulder tightly.
Jinx raked his hand through his hair and sighed. "We had all planned on taking this guy together so there would be a lower chance of you dying in battle. I don't think you're really ready for that experience yet."
"Yeah," I agreed, looking down at my feet. I had heard stories at school from other former SAO players about players who went a little crazy the first time they died in other VRMMOs. Apparently the experience was a little too real for comfort and sometimes players wouldn't be same for up to a week after dying for the first time. With my current state of mind, the doctors say that there's a good chance that my mind wouldn't survive the experience and I would go insane.
"Either way," I said, letting go of my friend's shoulder and walking towards the bar's door. "We should take this thing down before someone else gets to it." I pulled up my player menu and equipped the Dark Ranger Handguards that Gerg had crafted for me before grabbing the doorknob. I know twinking is looked down on in MMOs, but I didn't necessarily consider it twinking because I had transferred all of my skills and levels over from SAO, so I wasn't really a beginner player.
"Do you know where we can get mounts from?" I asked, opening the door for my former quartermaster to walk through. "The boss is close, but we'll get there quicker if we use horses."
"Did you forget?" Jinx chuckled, walking out into the orange tinted sunlight. The sun seemed to be eager to disappear behind the mountain range that surrounded the town and the sky was turning a bright shade of scarlet in response. "We don't need mounts in this game when we can fly."
"Oh yeah," I said, letting the door close behind me as I walked over to where Jinx was standing. "How do we do that again? Vin mentioned something about a controller that you imagine- or something like that." I shrugged, trying to remember how I had gotten to the central city of ALfheim from my temple-like capital city with my two roommates. However, it seemed that my memory was playing games with me, because it was already a blur in my head, yet another souvenir from the car accident three years ago.
Jinx shook his head and gestured for me to turn around. "That's the beginner's way of flying," he said, placing his hands on my back, avoiding touching my bow or quiver. "Even Jesse doesn't use that method anymore. Now I need you to imagine that you have arms extending from your back."
Hesitating, I closed my eyes and imagined two appendages extending from right underneath my shoulder blades, elbows bent towards each other. I heard a twinkling sound, sort of like what a revive spell from another MMO would sound like.
"That's good," Jinx said, moving his hands so only two fingers from each hand were touching me. "Now, try moving those virtual wing muscles."
Opening my eyes but keeping my mind focused on the image of having appendages on my back, I envisioned the arms bending back and forth at their elbows. Sure enough, I heard rustling from behind me as if two huge insect wings were batting at the wind.
"Wow, you're really quick at this," Jinx commented, taking his fingers off of my back. "Guess it's 'cause of your big imagination or something. Anyways, all that's left is for you to repeat 'I believe I can fly' over and over again."
I opened my mouth to start saying the mantra when I caught the faint sound of sarcasm in his voice. "Very funny, Jinx," I muttered, moving my wings in a circular motion, testing the limits of my new appendages. "Seriously though: how do I fly?"
I felt a gust of wind billow out from behind me and I turned around to see the Pooka hovering a couple of meters above his last location. "Find out for yourself!" He shouted jovially, making a teasing face at me. "See if you can get up here without my help."
I gritted my teeth and rolled my eyes; as much as I loved my spiritual big brother, he could be a pain when I needed help. Testing my wings, I imagined them beating faster and faster, until they became a blur. However, the only thing I managed to do was hover a couple centimeters above the ground before dropping back down.
I looked up at the sky and thought to myself, I want to be there. Focusing on that thought, I bent my legs and jumped up, shooting up into the sky. I steadied myself, using my wings to hover by beating the wind rapidly. Focusing on the thought of flying through the sky with my black wings, I shot forward through the crimson sky. Tilting my body, I swerved and dove back towards my airborne friend, coming to a stop about a meter away from him.
"Holy crap, you're a fast learner," He said, laughing and crossing his arms. He dipped slightly up and down as he hovered in the wind. "Anyways, let's get going: that boss isn't gonna wait around for us forever." He crouched as if he were about to tackle me and flew past me, his body parallel with the ground beneath us.
I copied his technique and spun around before catching up with him. "So who taught you to do that? Kitty?" I asked, assuming that the most avid lover of this fairy-themed VRMMO would be the first one to learn this special technique. I rolled in the air and stretched my arms out, smiling as I felt the wind in my face and hair.
"Nope," replied the Pooka with a smile on his face. "I was the first one to learn how to do it; this blond-haired Sylph girl with these gigantic boo-"
"Never mind," I interrupted, shaking my hands in front of my face. "I don't want to know about your sexual fantasies." I expected Jinx to laugh at me and continue his story with less emphasis on the appearance of the girl's chest but he was strangely quiet.
"Hey, what's up?" I said, speeding up so that my wings were level with his boots. It wasn't like Jinx to go silent for any extended period of time.
"I was just thinking," he said, looking back at me with a worried face. "What if this projectile-using boss is a human NPC? I don't think I'll be able to take it on by myself."
I nodded, understanding what he meant by having to fight the boss without me if it turned out to be a human NPC. After SAO ended, I couldn't stand to watch anything that showed violence or death for at least a month. In addition to that, since the death dame ended, I couldn't play any games with PVP action or the killing of human NPCs; often, attempts to do would end up with me freezing up and going into a panic attack. Even Super Street Fighter 9 (which didn't even show human death, only KOs), one of my favorite neo-retro games, was enough to make me drop the controller and run to the bathroom to empty my stomach. That being said, if the boss turned out to be a type of human enemy, I would be completely unable to fight it.
"We'll just have to hope it isn't," I said, looking up at my best friend. "Now, how far are we from the boss?"
Looking at his map, Jinx said, "Very close, we should land on that hill over there." He pointed to a grassy bump in the verdant landscape underneath us. "Do you know how to land?"
"No, but I think I can figure it out," I replied, shaking my head. I saw a glimpse of something blue peek over the hill and disappear again before I could make out what it was. The sun had disappeared behind the mountain range, its red aura fading out into a deep purple the only indication to its whereabouts.
"Okay," Jinx said, coming to a stop and shifting his body so that he was hovering in an upright position. "I'll see you on the ground then." With that, he descended towards the hill and landed gracefully on his feet.
Mimicking the Pooka, I gradually decreased the speed at which my wings were beating and felt myself begin to fall as if I was a feather. When the ground was about a meter away, I stopped moving my wings and the ground rushed up towards me. I landed on my feet, stumbling forwards to keep myself from falling flat on my face. I came to a stop and steadied myself by throwing my hands outwards as if I was on a balance beam.
"That's pretty good for your first time," Jinx remarked, walking towards edge of the top of the hill. He suddenly stopped as if he hit an invisible wall and gestured for me get closer.
I quietly trudged over to where he was standing and followed his gaze. What I saw almost took my breath away: a hulking mass of muscle the size of a mansion was positioned on the plain below and the feeling of static electricity in the air was making my hair stand on end. The beast was covered in azure scales, except on its belly and neck, which were covered in thick, long grey fur. Electricity coursed through its broad shoulders outlined in yellow ridges down to its long, sharp claws that poked out of its gauntlet-like encompassed hands. The beast roared, showing a mouth full of sharp fangs underneath two huge horns that adorned its head. The dragon's eyes were barely visible in comparison to the magnitude of the rest of its appendages; in particular, the heavily armored tail of the monster carried an atmosphere of being particularly deadly.
"Is this the 'lightning dragon' you were telling me you killed earlier?" Jinx whispered to me, his voice carrying an incredulous tone. He crouched close to the ground and started to shuffle closer towards the event boss. I looked over the monster's head and read its name: <<Lunastra Fatalis>>.
"The other one didn't need an army to defeat it," I muttered, crouching down low and following him. A flash of red to the left of the beast's hind legs drew my attention and I tapped Jinx's shoulder for him to stop.
"Do you see that?" I asked, pointing at the scarlet figure which had now gained the attention of the gigantic monster. Jinx looked over to where I was pointing and nodded; at this point, it was impossible to miss the lone attacker.
Clothed in maroon samurai-like armor, the Salamander swordswoman dove in-between the dragon's tense, muscular hind legs and slashed at its underside. Howling, the monster stood up on its hindquarters for an instant and energy quickly built up in its each of its clawed grips, forming two orbs of electricity. Flinging its projectiles, the wyvern's front legs hit the ground, shaking the earth with the impact. The player rolled away from one of the lightning balls and jumped back as another hit near her, deflecting the majority of it with the buckle that covered her other arm. Recovering quickly, she dove back under the boss, slashing up at its furry chest.
"Do you know who she is?" I asked Jinx as the swordswoman dodged two more of the beast's lightning fast projectiles and resumed attacking its underside.
"I think she's an advisor to the commander of the Salamanders," Jinx answered, his eyes focused on the battle below. "Then again, I might be wrong." The event boss started to generate and throw energy orbs with increasing speed, even though its HP hadn't dipped past 90 percent.
I opened my mouth to ask if we should help her when the beast stopped its barrage of lightning balls and suddenly tensed up. The Salamander elite started to raise her arm to defend against the coming attack but she was too late; digging into the ground with its claws and pushing off with its powerful hindquarters, the dragon spun around and slammed its paddle-shaped tail into the player. I watched as she flew through the air, her HP rapidly racing towards 0. When her health bar was completely empty, red flames engulfed her body and she shrunk to a small flame that was barely visible from my vantage point.
+++
The air was quiet for a moment as her flame winked out of existence and the boss continued its slow journey towards Alne. "So what's the game plan?" Jinx said, breaking the unnerving silence. He pushed himself off of the grass where he had gone into a prone position and dusted himself off.
"I'm willing to bet that projectiles do more damage to it," I said, spilling the thoughts that I had been mulling over in my mind. "If you think about it, this whole quest supposedly revolves around the new ranged weapon system in ALO, so it makes sense for them to incorporate them as means to defeating it." I shrugged my bow off and gripped its handle tightly, readying myself for the battle ahead of me.
"Its main attacks are ranged, though," Jinx said, nodding as he realized what the administrators in charge of ALO were thinking. "In order for you to be able to take any good shots at this thing without get creamed, I'm gonna need to tank." He reached over his shoulder and pulled his favorite weapon out of its sheath.
"It sounds like a plan," I said, patting my friend's back as I started down the hill. I felt the slight breeze that he generated when he ran by before I set off behind him, notching an arrow on my bow. The dragon soon loomed over us, covering the glowing moon with its massive body; the event boss didn't seem to be an aggressive enemy because it wasn't attacking us, even though we were clearly in its detection zone.
I bet it turns into an aggressive NPC when it reaches town, I thought to myself, lifting my bow up and pulling back on my arrow. My thoughts were interrupted by Jinx slashing at the boss's front leg and I let my arrow fly. It deflected off of the beast's hairy chest and I gritted my teeth before taking another arrow out of my quiver and notching it.
"Come on ugly!," Jinx called out to the beast, swirling and spinning out of the way of the dangerous thunder balls that were exploding around him. I let off a volley of arrows, almost all of which were deflected by the monster's seemingly impregnable scaly armor. I bit my thumbnail as I took a break from firing at the electrically charged beast.
I don't get it, I thought to myself, pulling my finger back and drawing another arrow from my quiver. If anything, my arrows should be hurting it. Frustrated, I pulled back until a window came up telling me that the durability of my bow had dropped by one. Quickly letting go, I launched my arrow at the dragon's thick chest mane. To my surprise, the arrow stuck in the hide of Lunatra Fatalis, and the HP of the monster dropped by two percent.
"You found its weak spot!" Jinx shouted, swinging at the creature's leg, effectively lowering its health by one percent, before jumping back to avoid the two energy balls that were raining down. He shifted his stance and held his halberd with his left hand.
"Keep firing at its arms while I finish it off!" Jinx cried, charging towards where my arrow stuck out of the boss's chest like some sort of strange antennae. Coming within a meter's distance from the beast, he stopped running abruptly, which caused his feet to slide, and shifted his body so that his right side was facing Lunastra. While he was doing this, his left hand slid down to the end of his weapon and spun the halberd backwards. When the shaft hit the back of his neck, he grabbed the part of the pole that was right underneath the blade with his other hand. As his body started to come to a complete stop, he leaned towards his right as if the weight of the halberd was pulling him forward and plunged his weapon into the monster's chest.
BOOM! Feeling the concussion in my boots, I looked up from the arrow that I was notching to see Jinx hurtling through the air towards me. Quickly moving out of the way, I shot my arrow at the event boss and glanced back at my party member.
Jinx was slowly getting up, the force of his own attack against such an unshakable foe rattling him. He leaned against his halberd and looked up at me. His eyes quickly widened and I saw a bright light reflected in them.
I jumped back and hit the ground on my knees, using one hand to steady myself and the other to hold my bow. The ground exploded where I was just a few seconds before as a lightning orb hit it. I noticed a bead of sweat on my cheek and moved my hand to wipe it away.
"Get up there!" Jinx shouted, pointing to a cliff to the left of Lunastra, which was charging up two more thunder balls to throw. "You'll be out of the way of its attacks and have a better view."
I nodded, racing towards the side of the knob, which sloped downwards at an even gradient. The sky was now a dark blue, with the moon peaking around the corner of Yggdrasil, the World Tree. Hearing the sound of the boss's energy-filled projectiles hitting the ground cease, I stopped and turned around to look.
The monster was facing Jinx, its hindquarters tense as it prepared to wipe my friend out. I opened my mouth to warn him, but I was too slow; Lunastra quickly spun around and slammed its tail into the Pooka. Instead of being thrown through the air, Jinx skidded across the field, his halberd in an upright defensive position at his side.
A warning window letting me know that my party member's weapon's durability had been cut in half came up. I ducked my head low and sprinted the rest of the way to the top of the rocky outcropping. Coming to the edge of the cliff, I notched an arrow and shot at the back of the boss's neck mane. However, the beast quickly stood up on its hind legs and my projectile bounced off of the ridges that circled its shoulder.
Electricity started to course through its arms with more intensity and I watched Jinx move farther back in anticipation of a new attack pattern. The monster slammed its hands down and the impact forced the lightning from its claws into the ground, creating a shockwave. Seeing the surge of energy racing towards him, Jinx tried to jump over it, but ended up getting hit with the electrifying force, knocking him on his back.
I reached back to my quiver to grab an arrow and attempt to distract the boss long enough to let Jinx recover only to have my fingers grasp air. Twisting my body so that I could look at the device on my back, I gasped as I saw that I only had one arrow left. Damn it, I thought grabbing the lone projectile angrily. So this MMO uses an ammo system. I thought my arrows just regenerated after a while.
Looking up to aim at the monster, I saw a bright blue sparkle in the eye of the beast just before it hit Jinx with an orb of energy. Wait, that's it! I thought, smiling as I figured out the point behind this event quest. Its eyes are its weak spot!
My revelation was cut short as the dragon turned its massive head to look at my vantage point. Lunastra opened its mouth and a bright white light flashed out and hit me. I felt wind billow against my back and then I slammed into something hard. My ears ringing, I opened my eyes to see that my HP was now in the yellow zone. Glancing over at Jinx's small figure which was struggling to stand, I saw that my party member's health was only a few points from zero.
I slowly lifted my bow up in my right hand and a warning came up, telling me that I was out of efficient range of my enemy. I stood up and saw that a large boulder had stopped me from falling back any farther than I had. Glancing over at Lunastra's HP, my eyes narrowed as I saw that the monster still had about 65 percent left of its health.
"Go!" Jinx's faint cry came from his crumpled up form on the plain below. "Run away before I die and it won't chase you!" The dragon leaned back on its hindquarters as it prepared to finish off my companion with a thunder ball.
"NO!" I bellowed, explosive fury building up in me. I notched my last arrow and pulled back as hard as I could and started running towards the edge of the cliff. My weapon's durability appeared in a flashing red window to the right of my view; it was rapidly decreasing, like a reversal of the milliseconds on a stop watch. The monster turned its head to look at me, not stopping the charging of the energy in its hands.
"I won't let a single one of my party members die!" I cried, jumping off of the cliff and letting the arrow fly just before my beginning weapon's durability hit zero and blew into an array of light. I ducked in midair and the searing heat of sapphire flames from the beast's mouth filled the space above me. I unfurled my wings, barely noticing the twinkling sound this time, and hovered in the air to watch my arrow plunge into the monster's eye.
For a moment, Lunastra froze as if stunned and I worried that my attack hadn't finished it off. Then, it bulged outwards as if bloated from its own explosive power and burst into millions of shining polygons. A notification window with the words, <<Congratulations>> appeared overhead and I slowly drifted down to the ground below.
I landed on the ground below to see a long, metallic bow materialize on the ground at my feet. Tapping its item information, I read that its name was "Frozen Compound Bow" and that it was a S rarity level ranged weapon. Smiling, I felt my heart swell with joy over my victory and my newly acquired bow.
"Jinx," I said, grasping my new weapon with renewed energy. "I think I'm ready to-"
"I know you," A deep, familiar voice behind me said, interrupting my jovial spirit. "You know, you're a wonderful archer... I wonder where someone like you could get so good with your aim."
I started to turn around to get a better look at the player behind the voice but I stopped when I felt something sharp poke my back.
"Oh yes," the dark figure said, pushing the blade harder against my back. "You're definitely the real deal."
Swallowing the lump that had formed in my throat, I resisted the urge to wipe away the bead of sweat that was running down the side of my face. The figure behind me shuffled around and I could imagine him smiling at my discomfort.
"You're Aiken Arrows," he whispered into my ear, his face just out of my sight. "And I'm going to kill you."
After a few seconds, I heard some rustling of robes and then the unmistakable sound of someone logging off. It didn't matter that I didn't see who my stalker was; their voice alone was enough to tell me who they were.
The player who had sworn to kill me was PoH, leader of the killing guild, Laughing Coffin.
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