FA+
Shop
664
Views
Views
1
Favorites
Favorites
Category
Story / Fantasy
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 103 x 120
File Size 63.3 kB
Report this content
★
More from K9Lupus
“You ready to try clearing this dungeon? It's only available for a duo to complete, and we should have everything we need to be safe from what we bought in Riverdale. We even had enough to upgrade our teleport crystals, so there really shouldn't be anything to worry about.” Laurence beamed to his partner with confidence. Despite being stuck so far away from home, Ethel admired how Laurence could take the constant fear and anxiety of being in this place and stuff it down far away beneath that smile of his. He made things seem almost normal again.
“Yeah, I think so Lars. I'm still getting used to the new class skills from reaching LVL. 40 the other day, so we probably aren't going to get a great clear time bonus for this dungeon this time around.” Ethel said as she went through her inventory again, making a few last minute switches to a few items on her preferred hotkeys.
“Just take it easy and you'll find the rhythm to activate the new skills in no time.” Laurence reassured her as he reviewed what was available of the dungeon map to plan out the most optimal route.
They'd been in this death game for five months now and the combined strength of the strongest players working in The Collective had only cleared the halfway mark boss last week. The moment the boss went down everyone with access to a scryglass cheered. The next few days were taken to celebrate, and it seemed for a short time that all was back on track to making steady progress through The Depths where their elusive prize of freedom from this hellish experience waited for them. Unfortunately, morale boosts like those kind of events were seeming to become more and more rare nowadays. Too many people were already giving up hope that there could be an end to this madness that they had all unwittingly gotten ourselves involved in by clicking “Log In” at the main neural server interface.
The festivities were short-lived when those brave enough to continue got brickwalled by the next boss encounter, losing three Elites to a 3% crit rate attack unforeseen by the Oracles, a group of players dedicated to Scrying information about future encounters. The Oracles provided invaluable intel about enemy compositions, elemental weaknesses, movement rates, and so much more, but the most powerful Scryers dedicated all of their skill to the art, making them unfit for combat. Ethel and Laurence led a high-ranking group of players called The Breakers who were all dedicated to clearing the game and releasing everyone else who was trapped here. Their unmatched prowess in combat and dedication to one another had earned them the collective combat title of “ Sword and Shield”.
********
They made their way through common sets of encounters, landing blows with practiced precision enveloped by the stony, cavernous battlefield within this dungeon of The Depths. Ethel's sizeable health bar along with premier health regeneration items meant that she was able to withstand most non-elemental attacks without concern, while her Archer's Shield enabled her to go on the offensive from a distance when needed. Laurence's defense lay in premeditated, swift strikes of his twin blades drenched in elemental salves to drop an opponent's HP quickly with elemental bonus weapon damage.
A shudder racked the cavern they were in until a section of the ceiling gave way to the foreboding, heavy hurricane of a Stone Dragon's wingbeats. It's pale grey eyes fixated themselves upon the duo as it let loose a thundering roar and lept towards them in heavy, muscled bounds. “Ethel!....This is really not good...he's LVL 54....he shouldn't be here...those should only appear in group raids.” Laurence could make out a twinge of panic in Ethel's voice as well. “I know Lars, but we don't even have enough time to activate our teleport crystals before he'd interrupt us. Only one of us could get away like that, and I'm not leaving without you.” Ethel flashed a quick look at Laurence, a mix of steady resolve melding with underlying fear. “We fight.” she spoke, her gaze fixed forward. Laurence nodded sharply and drew his weapons, taking a deep breath. “We fight.” he echoed back.
********
The battle pushed their skills and tactics to the limits, forcing them to exploit known spots in this particular area where they could gain a few precious seconds to activate items or allow skills to come off of their cooldown timers. Ethel had finished charging her Vanguard skill to set up a final critical strike from Laurence when the Stone Dragon's throat began to glow an icy blue. Laurence's eyes widened as he knew what was coming. She wouldn't have enough time to get away....
“ETHEL!!” he screamed running towards her as the glow intensified and the Stone Dragon opened his gaping maw. This particular breath attack occurred as Health % damage which meant Ethel's large reservoir of health wouldn't mean anything against it. Laurence threw himself in front of her just as the attack launched, feeling the rush of air whiz past his ear as she let loose a last desperate arrow.
The blast disintegrated the ground around them, muffling the sound of the Stone Dragon's cries as the remainder of its health vanished. Her arrow had struck true at the Dragon's exposed weakspot, guaranteeing a 10x damage critical attack. When the dust had cleared, Ethel saw Laurence crumpled beside her on his knees in the middle of the blast area with his health bar emptied to a lonesome, ghostly “1”. Above that was a written text box flashing above his head: “Combat skill augment activation detected: Modify Class Skill “Rescue” to “Second Chance”. Replace effect: “Heal ally for 150 + 3X LVL” with “Absorb ALL incoming damage in a 150 unit radius for the next 3 seconds. Your health can not be reduced to 0 during this time.” Augments were some of the most flexible and versatile skills in the game, but often came at great cost to the user who activated them by usually permanently reducing stats or limiting XP gains. Tears welled up in Ethel's eyes as she read the last line of text Cost of Activation: 1 Hourglass Crack
The Hourglass was a key-object in everyone's inventory that showed how much time each player had left in the game before the account was forcibly deleted and thereby ending the player's life, a feature that was revealed once they all found out they were stuck there. Players gained additional time in their hourglass by leveling up. Each time a player's health dropped to 0, the Hourglass gained a crack along its surface. If any player gained 4 cracks in their Hourglass, their account was also deleted. Players who had accumulated 3 cracks were known to leave the front lines in fear of what might happen next.
“Laurence....that's your 3rd now.” Ethel whispered quietly, not sure whether to be grateful or mad at his actions. Laurence's voice was still labored, but somehow he managed a small smile. “But the dragon's gone now, and you're safe. That's what matters. Let's check his loot drops. If he dropped anything good, that will help the rest of The Breakers immensely.”
Ethel nodded solemnly, and the two headed over to the dragon's still body. Ethel's eyes were filled with an unmatched determination to end this before anything unspeakable could happen to either of them.
********
Due to continued wildfires in the northern California area where I reside today's post was delayed as I stayed informed on the situation that was going on. A friend was thankfully spared her home when others directly around her weren't so fortunate. It's crazy to think how much can change in so short a time.
This story is inspired by Sword Art Online and similarly themed shows. The idea of the "hourglass" is something I hope to be able to see someday incorporated into a survival-type RPG as a constant means of tension for the player throughout the game.
For details on the "OHS" system follow this link:
One-Hour Story System Rules
Today I leveled up! Thank you for the continued support readers and followers of my work have shown me with this project. Two more abilities will be posted onto my OHS description page tonight along with a writer's "Bounty Board" where you'll be able to post challenges for me to do with my stories along with accompanying rewards that you offer. OHS only continues from your show of support, so if you've enjoyed being able to read these stories every day consider pledging a "Health Potion" over onto my Patreon page to keep daily updates coming. Any amount pledged can qualify to restore my health.
If you'd like to get the chance for me to bring your story ideas to life, check out my commission information below:
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8756823/
If you want to see the latest updates with my work, consider pledging your support over at my Patreon page where you'll get early access to more stories and illustrations before they are publicly released elsewhere!
https://www.patreon.com/K9Lupus
“Yeah, I think so Lars. I'm still getting used to the new class skills from reaching LVL. 40 the other day, so we probably aren't going to get a great clear time bonus for this dungeon this time around.” Ethel said as she went through her inventory again, making a few last minute switches to a few items on her preferred hotkeys.
“Just take it easy and you'll find the rhythm to activate the new skills in no time.” Laurence reassured her as he reviewed what was available of the dungeon map to plan out the most optimal route.
They'd been in this death game for five months now and the combined strength of the strongest players working in The Collective had only cleared the halfway mark boss last week. The moment the boss went down everyone with access to a scryglass cheered. The next few days were taken to celebrate, and it seemed for a short time that all was back on track to making steady progress through The Depths where their elusive prize of freedom from this hellish experience waited for them. Unfortunately, morale boosts like those kind of events were seeming to become more and more rare nowadays. Too many people were already giving up hope that there could be an end to this madness that they had all unwittingly gotten ourselves involved in by clicking “Log In” at the main neural server interface.
The festivities were short-lived when those brave enough to continue got brickwalled by the next boss encounter, losing three Elites to a 3% crit rate attack unforeseen by the Oracles, a group of players dedicated to Scrying information about future encounters. The Oracles provided invaluable intel about enemy compositions, elemental weaknesses, movement rates, and so much more, but the most powerful Scryers dedicated all of their skill to the art, making them unfit for combat. Ethel and Laurence led a high-ranking group of players called The Breakers who were all dedicated to clearing the game and releasing everyone else who was trapped here. Their unmatched prowess in combat and dedication to one another had earned them the collective combat title of “ Sword and Shield”.
********
They made their way through common sets of encounters, landing blows with practiced precision enveloped by the stony, cavernous battlefield within this dungeon of The Depths. Ethel's sizeable health bar along with premier health regeneration items meant that she was able to withstand most non-elemental attacks without concern, while her Archer's Shield enabled her to go on the offensive from a distance when needed. Laurence's defense lay in premeditated, swift strikes of his twin blades drenched in elemental salves to drop an opponent's HP quickly with elemental bonus weapon damage.
A shudder racked the cavern they were in until a section of the ceiling gave way to the foreboding, heavy hurricane of a Stone Dragon's wingbeats. It's pale grey eyes fixated themselves upon the duo as it let loose a thundering roar and lept towards them in heavy, muscled bounds. “Ethel!....This is really not good...he's LVL 54....he shouldn't be here...those should only appear in group raids.” Laurence could make out a twinge of panic in Ethel's voice as well. “I know Lars, but we don't even have enough time to activate our teleport crystals before he'd interrupt us. Only one of us could get away like that, and I'm not leaving without you.” Ethel flashed a quick look at Laurence, a mix of steady resolve melding with underlying fear. “We fight.” she spoke, her gaze fixed forward. Laurence nodded sharply and drew his weapons, taking a deep breath. “We fight.” he echoed back.
********
The battle pushed their skills and tactics to the limits, forcing them to exploit known spots in this particular area where they could gain a few precious seconds to activate items or allow skills to come off of their cooldown timers. Ethel had finished charging her Vanguard skill to set up a final critical strike from Laurence when the Stone Dragon's throat began to glow an icy blue. Laurence's eyes widened as he knew what was coming. She wouldn't have enough time to get away....
“ETHEL!!” he screamed running towards her as the glow intensified and the Stone Dragon opened his gaping maw. This particular breath attack occurred as Health % damage which meant Ethel's large reservoir of health wouldn't mean anything against it. Laurence threw himself in front of her just as the attack launched, feeling the rush of air whiz past his ear as she let loose a last desperate arrow.
The blast disintegrated the ground around them, muffling the sound of the Stone Dragon's cries as the remainder of its health vanished. Her arrow had struck true at the Dragon's exposed weakspot, guaranteeing a 10x damage critical attack. When the dust had cleared, Ethel saw Laurence crumpled beside her on his knees in the middle of the blast area with his health bar emptied to a lonesome, ghostly “1”. Above that was a written text box flashing above his head: “Combat skill augment activation detected: Modify Class Skill “Rescue” to “Second Chance”. Replace effect: “Heal ally for 150 + 3X LVL” with “Absorb ALL incoming damage in a 150 unit radius for the next 3 seconds. Your health can not be reduced to 0 during this time.” Augments were some of the most flexible and versatile skills in the game, but often came at great cost to the user who activated them by usually permanently reducing stats or limiting XP gains. Tears welled up in Ethel's eyes as she read the last line of text Cost of Activation: 1 Hourglass Crack
The Hourglass was a key-object in everyone's inventory that showed how much time each player had left in the game before the account was forcibly deleted and thereby ending the player's life, a feature that was revealed once they all found out they were stuck there. Players gained additional time in their hourglass by leveling up. Each time a player's health dropped to 0, the Hourglass gained a crack along its surface. If any player gained 4 cracks in their Hourglass, their account was also deleted. Players who had accumulated 3 cracks were known to leave the front lines in fear of what might happen next.
“Laurence....that's your 3rd now.” Ethel whispered quietly, not sure whether to be grateful or mad at his actions. Laurence's voice was still labored, but somehow he managed a small smile. “But the dragon's gone now, and you're safe. That's what matters. Let's check his loot drops. If he dropped anything good, that will help the rest of The Breakers immensely.”
Ethel nodded solemnly, and the two headed over to the dragon's still body. Ethel's eyes were filled with an unmatched determination to end this before anything unspeakable could happen to either of them.
********
Due to continued wildfires in the northern California area where I reside today's post was delayed as I stayed informed on the situation that was going on. A friend was thankfully spared her home when others directly around her weren't so fortunate. It's crazy to think how much can change in so short a time.
This story is inspired by Sword Art Online and similarly themed shows. The idea of the "hourglass" is something I hope to be able to see someday incorporated into a survival-type RPG as a constant means of tension for the player throughout the game.
For details on the "OHS" system follow this link:
One-Hour Story System Rules
Today I leveled up! Thank you for the continued support readers and followers of my work have shown me with this project. Two more abilities will be posted onto my OHS description page tonight along with a writer's "Bounty Board" where you'll be able to post challenges for me to do with my stories along with accompanying rewards that you offer. OHS only continues from your show of support, so if you've enjoyed being able to read these stories every day consider pledging a "Health Potion" over onto my Patreon page to keep daily updates coming. Any amount pledged can qualify to restore my health.
If you'd like to get the chance for me to bring your story ideas to life, check out my commission information below:
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8756823/
If you want to see the latest updates with my work, consider pledging your support over at my Patreon page where you'll get early access to more stories and illustrations before they are publicly released elsewhere!
https://www.patreon.com/K9Lupus
Category Story / Fantasy
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 103 x 120px
File Size 63.3 kB
Comments