Sword Art Online: Echoes

Reclasp

2022.08.01 AST 2012: F1 ToB-Western Gate

Passing through the Western gate I look back over my shoulder. "Mother always said there's always a shining light in the darkness."
As I was running through West Main street, I saw so many distraught players. Most of them were curled up along buildings because of the reality they were forced into.
Clenching my fist and with a determined face, I rally myself. "I shouldn't let others deter me. This reality that we're in won't last forever. There are kids here and I won't allow that false God to take their childhood away."
Now looking forward, I pull up my map again to double check Nautilus' position. A little shocked I say aloud "He hasn't moved around at all... Is he incapacitated?" I start feeling uneasy about the situation. "I'll have to make haste. There's a bridge to cross just north along the river."

2022.08.01 AST 2014: F1 ToB-Western Plains

No players were in sight as I make my way towards the bridge. Only boars dot the landscape. "No one wants to find out if they really do disappear once they die huh?"
A chill runs down my spine as I recall the two players that assaulted Sasha and me earlier. "I didn't kill those two... I'm not a murderer, the false God is. Their lives were taken by a mad man." I say to myself, sure of my actions. "Father wouldn't want me to fret over something that has already happened. I'll have to continue looking forward and be steadfast in my actions."

2022.08.01 AST 2017: F1 ToB-Western River Stone Bridge

As I near the stone cobbled bridge, I sense another person but have no sight of them. "There's nowhere I can get behind to conceal myself. I'll have to approach cautiously." This person isn't moving about but I can sense they are standing on the other side of the bridge. Silently rounding the corner of the bridge, I spot a green cursor marked with a '?' and NPC tag overhead.

Releasing a relieved sigh "Phew, why did I get worked up about that?.. I should pick up this quest real quick since it's along the way." The NPC appears to be wearing a beekeeper outfit. I approach the NPC to inspect and accept the quest.

"Hello adventurer! My bees are being threatened by the wasps in the forest across the bridge. Would you kindly get rid of 20 of them for me?" A quest window pops up in front of me and I hit the blue circle accepting it. "Great! I'm glad I can depend on you adventurers in my time of need. Please take care. Another adventurer accepted but hasn't returned in some time."

The last bit of information caught me off guard, "Huh? That's odd why would an NPC even mention that..." shaking my head I pull up my map again to check on Nautilus' position. "Oh, he moved deeper into the forest. I didn't have to worry too much then." I exit my menu but continue pondering. "He must be farming. I wonder if he's alone? Yuna didn't mention he was with anyone. If so that's still dangerous for him being out here." Realizing I've dawdled on too long "I should get a move on either way."

2022.08.01 AST 2023: F1 ToB-Western Beginner's Forest

I delve deeper into the forest while tracking down Nautilus. Defeating any and all wasps along the way. "Thirteen total kills now. I'm almost level 6, I'll be able to have a third skill slot. Speaking of skills..." I open my skill menu to swap dagger and throwing. "I'll set throwing as an active skill so I can gain proficiency. I did buy an exorbitant amount of throwing picks today, I should make use of them." 

As I continue trekking through the forest, I find it pleasant that the system assist for the throwing skill to be very accurate. "I'm able to these kill wasps from afar and avoid their venomous attacks." Taking note of my throwing picks, "I might just use them as my main weapon. Although, I'm not sure if there will be higher tier throwing weapons at NPC shops..."

The scream of a young man followed by the immense roar of a beast breaks my concentration. "Oh no, I got distracted again!"
Rushing through the twists and turns of the forest, I come up to a small clearing with a cave entrance nearby. There I see a player against the outer cave wall with a large pinkish-red digital gash across his chest. Focusing on the player, I can see his HP is yellow and his username <Nautilus>. He's clutching his wound and is frantically searching through his menus. While he is preoccupied with his menu the beast that injured him stands on its hind legs and roars again.

"It's a bear!" Instinctively, I use my throwing picks on the bear dealing a small amount of damage but just enough to attract its attention. "Nautilus! Hurry and heal while I distract it!"
The bear now locked onto me, starts charging and attacks. Playing it safe I evade and study its attacks. "It moves pretty fast for its size."
The bear is slow to react after an attack. Noticing this I take advantage of it to deliver quick jabs with my rapier and throw more picks while evading.
The bear's HP bar slowly whittles down as I repeat my strategy.
I wonder to myself as I move about, "It's very predictable... how did Nautilus get hit at all?" Glancing over my shoulder I see Nautilus' HP bar recovering to green from yellow. "Alright, that's a good sig-" My thought ending right there as the bear charges and launches me right into a tree nearby.

"Hrrrghh!" I yell out as I impact. "Even though the pain is set to 20% of its real value I still feel like I was thrown out a 2 story window. "
As I'm having a coughing fit I can hear Nautilus' battle cry. "Come at me beast!" He yells as he aggros the bear away from me.
"I shouldn't have worried about him. Now I'm injured..." I say while recovering. Using a potion from my shortcut menu I heal up from 365 to 665 out of 825 total HP. "The potion is on cooldown now but I have enough HP to tank another hit like that last one." Fighting through the lingering pain, I quickly rise up to assist him.

As I run back towards the fight, I can see that Nautilus using the same strategy I did. "He must have seen how I was fighting it. Whittling it's HP down slowly but the lower it goes, the quicker the bear becomes for some reason." I focus closer onto the bear and see a buff icon that resembles a rabid animal bearing its fangs.

"That's definitely not a good sign." As Nautilus fights the bear, I wait for a good opening to use my throwing picks to distract the bear mid charge allowing Nautilus to deliver a clean strike. The bear now critically low on HP let's out a disorienting roar. Stopping both me and Nautilus momentarily.

Recovering from disorientation, both of us yell out, "Let's end this!" and we both charge our sword skills. Striking the bear in the form of an 'X'. The bear silences and dissipates into digital shards of blue. The two of us now mentally exhausted from the fight catch our breaths but were shortly interrupted by 2 dozen wasps swarming into the area.
"Oh crap! The bear must have drawn in the wasps with that last roar!" I say as I hastily chug a potion.
"Quick let's get into the cave!" Nautilus suggests.
"Good idea! We can bottleneck them in at the entrance and defeat them one at a time. I have plenty more throwing picks I can use too." I say while brandishing my throwing picks.
"Bottlewha-?"
"Whatever, Just move!" I yell as I push him from behind.