Author’s corner: HELLO HELLO! The hunt is on!

ANYWAY, sorry for having to split this part in two, but I spent at least 5 hours in this chapter, and I would either: Post it in two separate parts, Make one big post today, and then be pretty much brain dead tomorrow, or post nothing today, and post everything tomorrow. Since I REALLY don’t like not posting anything without prior warning or being brain dead, I decided on the first.

ALSO, taking on the cue, after I finish this arc, I might take a one or two days break where I will only update the SS, since I’ve been pumping 4000+ words pages almost every day! BY CYGNAS, is this tiring.

ALSO(2), There’s still a small surprise before this arc ends! Wonder how many will actually get it right... If you have an idea and don’t mind spoilers IF you get it right (I’m not telling by myself.), then PM me, no spoilers on the comments.

ALSO(3), I just noticed, but i might have messed up with a bit with the relation of ingame time and RL time, the Excel table i used for the last few chapters had been wrong, so please forgive-me if he somehow ended up lunching before dawn (T.T)

Have a good read!

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I saw them fighting, I simply sat there and watched as the group calmly tackled the boss. They started by doing the same as I did. Yagver gave the first attack and then used a skill that looked like a shout. If I were to guess, that is a threat management skill, and for those wondering, threat is (usually) an invisible number that indicates how likely the monsters are to be attacking you. The job of the tanks is pretty much to keep this number as high as they can while also surviving the attacks.

When the fight started, only Yagver kept attacking the boss, and Forgotten *cough*GROOT*cough* kept healing him whenever his health dropped from 80%. Lenny and Shredder were simply waiting on the sidelines, probably waiting Yagver build either up his threat or to get a grip on the boss skill.

Yagver had the easy time of only needing to duck behind his huge tower shield, since he didn’t suffer from stats penalties and had a good shield.

Casuals have it soooooo easy… I thought while shaking my head.

The first one to join the fight was Lenny, the harpy. She started to shoot it with arrows from afar while slowly circling it. After this, the boss occasional Inferno ball started to be aimed at her, besides the tank, some also targeted the healer, but these were pretty rare.

One thing I did notice, though, was that the boss didn’t use the fire charge yet. Maybe it’s an at-range only skill? While I thought this, I heard the boss howling loudly. Glowing spots appeared at a large area around it. The group was taken by surprise by this skill and took some time to dodge, but they had large health-pools, so they managed to brush it off with the druid putting a Heal over time on all of them.

And my suspicions were also confirmed. While dodging the reappearing pillars of fire, Yagver had to take some distance from the boss, and as soon as the boss stopped howling, he jumped towards him while surrounding himself in fire.

The rest of the fight went on the same way, with Shredder joining after the first Soul fire, I guess that is the name of the skill, at least.

From a normal MMO view, it was a simple tank-and-spank fight with the occasional DSITFFYI! Situation.

Huh? ‘DISTFFYI!’? What it means? It goes for Don’t stand in the freaking fire you idiot! And fire works for any kind of bad thing that appear in the ground, not only the hot kind. You WOULD think that this is a well-known rule in MMORPGS, but you would be surprised at how many people actually don’t follow it.

Tank-and-spank is the term used for bosses that all you need is to leave the tank in front of it while the damage dealers slowly kills him. From all the bosses fights, this is usually the easiest.

After around five minutes or so, they downed the boss. They cheered among themselves and proceeded to reclaim the boss body. I saw a chest armor appear from the loot, although I couldn’t see it’s quality nor material. Yagver gave it to Shredder and then picked another item from the ground.

I’m pretty sure he grimaced, then the group came walking towards me.

“Wargon, I’m sorry, but it seems we will have to kill this guy at least three more times. The item only drops one at a time, and the four of us need it. Is that a problem for you?” He said slightly worried.

How could this be a problem? I waved them off. The longer I have to watch, the better my chances. So go out there and become my tickets to victory already!

The boss respawned after around five minutes, and they made quick work of him, this time with both dps joining right at the beginning.

Meanwhile I was watching, making a few hypothesis about his skills and habits, shooting some of them down while confirming others.

After their fourth boss, they came to me and offered to help me killing it once again, but I simply denied them while I readied myself. Now, it’s time for me to put my theories to test for real.

I won’t really describe my fights with the blazing tail here, because I died miserably three or so times. I wasn't really going for the kill, you see, firstly, I wanted to confirm whether what I deduced about them was true or not, so I didn’t bother with using potions nor any other consumables, these were on hold for the real fight.

When I was satisfied with my theories, I was back to level 9, and the status penalty was already so ridiculous that the boss was one-shooting me even without skills, so I hunted some Red tails until I was back to level 11.

By the time I ended, it was already the middle of the morning. Taking in consideration that I arrived with the group here yesterday at the end of the afternoon, a good time has passed.

Readying myself, I went back to the clearing and started to equip myself.

I took one of each throwing knife I had and put them into a makeshift bandolier around my chest, the five flash-bombs were tied to the right side of my belt while three potions were on the left.

A quick check up to see if any of them were even a little bit loose, and I entered the clearing.

It’s time to hunt!

I quietly approached the Blazing tail from behind, making sure it hadn’t noticed me. When I got close to him, I started my starting combo LRG MNSTR version.

I stabbed at his flank, making him howl in pain, but instead of pulling the blade out, I let it there and landed a shield slam on the handle, making all the blade pierce the muscle of the big guy, afterwards. I used a slash to take the blade away and used roll to make some distance between us, and just in time, as he had turned to me and tried slash me with his claws. Before he could recover from his attack, I took a poison knife and threw at him.

-19 -62 (brutal) -14 -3 (Poison Resisted)

Combo!(x1.2)

-118 (1882/2000)

I clicked my tongue in annoyance. As I feared, the poison was far too weak to affect him. At least my strategy of forcing brutal strikes was working. I thought this up when I noticed that my status debuff would pretty much leave me unable to land a critical, and taking in consideration the reduction of raw damage I already was suffering, this meant that my damage-dealing skills suffered a severe blow. Thus, I had to think of a way of increasing my damage.

The monster recovered itself from the attack and looked at me in anger. Using a default tactic of monster hunter, I kept myself moving in a circle around him, so this way I could avoid any of his ranged attacks with greater ease.

But this also put me at a great range from him, so he aimed at me and used the fire charge. As I had tested earlier, he could make some minor alteration to his trajectory whenever he used this skill, so I patiently waited until the last second to roll away. I turned back to see where he stopped, however he was too far from me, so I was unable to get a hit.

He quickly turned back to me and spat out an Inferno ball. I jumped aside and slightly charged forward, he tried to spit another one, but I dodged right when he let go of the ball and managed to easily approach him before he could recover. However, being too greedy isn’t good, so I only landed a stab in it’s neck before rolling away.

-17 (1865/2000)

Now, I was behind him, so I expected him to turn toward me before attacking, but he used his tail to lash at me, throwing me away.

-27 -10

-37 (413/450)

I quickly got up and stared at him, that extra fire damage his attacks deal are a serious pain. Since he also spent some time only staring at me, I quickly took another poison knife from the inventory and stored it in the bandolier.

The fox looked at me for some time, and then raised its tails, gathering fire on their tips. With a quick look, I immediately understood in which pattern the arcs would come. It was fairly simple, to tell the truth. If the tail was raised in a straight vertical, it would be a vertical arc, if it was slanted, it would slant towards the same direction.

The only problem I still had with this was figuring the order of the attacks. Anyway, from what I saw, the attacks would be two horizontals and one slanted right. I immediately ran towards its right so I could avoid the slanted one and charged towards it. Another thing I noticed from this attack is that it leaves a large opening for me to strike if I managed to get close.

Jumping above the first arc, I rolled beneath the second, leaving me besides the fox with the buff active. My third bout against him earlier worked so I could train rolling through the arcs, because this way, I can get a bonus on the next strike.

I used Shield slam on its front leg, the knock back actually made it twist and brought down the big guy for a second. I immediately activated slice ‘n dice, lasting for a whole four seconds before he managed to get back up. I used roll to interrupt the slice ‘n dice and get away from it.

-31 -7 (x8)

-87 (1778/2000)

This was another trick I learned while hunting the red tails. If you read Roll’s description, it says: “You can activate roll from any position” at first I thought that this meant that I could activated roll even when falling, but that wasn’t the case. This meant that I could activate it even in the middle of other attacks and shorten their duration! THIS IS GOD SENT! Now, my strongest attack have no more weakness!

Turning back to the fox, I noticed him glaring at me angrily while light gathered at his claws. I clicked my tongue. I barely managed to avoid the first claw by rolling away, but the second attack came too fast for me to avoid it, so I blocked it while using nature’s bastion.

-20 (393/450)

Altough I blocked the physical damage, the freaking fire still managed to hurt me.

I really hate this attack, not only is it difficult to dodge, it leaves barely no opening at all! So before I could even retaliate, the fox was already coming for a bite. Using the remaining of my energy, I rolled away and was left with only five points.

This is bad. TATICAL RETREAT!

I started running away from the fox. It looked at me confused for a moment giving me a whole full second, enough time for my energy to start to regenerate, before It finally gave chase.

Just then I also learned that it can spit fireballs even when on the move. Noticing this disaster at the very last second, I literally threw myself at the ground and felt the fireball slightly scorching my pseudo-hair crystal. I quickly started rolling (not the skill, mind you) on the ground when I heard the big bad fox coming at me.

After getting out of the way of the burning claw of death, I got up and prepared myself against the fox, now with my energy refilled, I could tackle it on again.

The fox seemed confused about my sudden change in personality, but it didn’t last long, as it lowered itself before jumping forward, charging at me with its mouth wide open. I smiled when I noticed this was a normal charge, and quickly took a freezing knife from my bandolier and tossed it.

At the ground.

The ground froze right when the fox was about to put its paws on the ground for the last push, but the sudden loss in grip made its feet slide harmlessly on the ground and it fell down while making an idiotic face.

I triumphantly approached it while it was still down and gave my best smile, as I stomped its mouth shut and started my stab-slam-slash-roll combo. Once again, I barely managed to dodge the tail that came trying to slam me on the ground with the roll, but since the combo was still going on, I stomped into it and landed a couple of normal slashes on it before I finally had to get away.

-2 -19 -62 (brutal) -14 -2 -11 -13

Combo! (x1.2)

-147 (1631/2000)

I grinned in satisfaction as the big numbers started to appear. But I got a bit too over confident, as the fox had already gotten up from its previous position and In a swift motion it spun around, making his three tails land on me before I could block it properly.

-31 -28 -31 -10 -10 -10

-120 (273/450)

I’m an overconfident fool, I know. How many times you think I actually died on monster hunter when I was in the last seconds of the fight only because I had barely received any attack before? It weren’t few, you can be sure of this.

I immediately took a potion from the belt and chugged it down.

+112 (385/450)

Luckily, the potions didn’t have a cool down, so I technically could use them as fast as I could drink, but it seems that using too many potions in a short timeframe reduces their effects.

I tossed the glass into the inventory as I readied myself. The fox was already charging at me, so I rolled away from it while taking my distance waiting for my energy to recover. After stopping its charge, the fox turned back to me and started to howl. I scowled while I took my distance from it, because, as numerous and strong these fire pillars are, they maximum range isn’t all that long.

I took this time to replenish my bandolier and wait for the fox to finish. As soon as its howl died down, it turned to me immediately spitting out a large fireball, I immediately rolled away, but there was another fireball going in that direction, so I barely managed to block it somewhat with my shield.

-23 (362/450)

As I was literally blasted away, I had to recover myself with a roll, and just in time to avoid a flaming charge coming in my direction. The fox stopped its attack right when it passed me, and while turning to face me, it had gathered fire in its paws. I managed to jump back to avoid the first claw, and just as the second came to me, I pulled flash-bomb and exploded it.

It winced in pain and surprise while recoiling its head back. I took advantage of this moment to get under his neck and pushed him to the sides using my shield as a support. If not for its surprise and loss of footing, I wouldn’t have managed, but I somehow threw him to the side, making him fall on his back.

As he was still confused, I used this chance to climb atop of his belly, and before he could try to understand what was happening, I took the second ice-knife and threw it at his paw, freezing it on the ground. It winced in surprise and tried to remove it from the ground, but even if the effect was severely reduced, it would still hold for a few seconds. Sadly, I only had two more of these remaining.

Then I started my job of dealing the most damage I could to him. I started by stabbing the sword in the middle of its chest. I left it there as I closed my fist and landed a good couple of punches on it before using my shield-slam on the sword. It howled loudly in pain, but before he could somehow recover, I grabbed the sword and slashed at him before taking the stun knife and stabbing it on his chest, just in time, as the ice holding his paw was broken when a tail slammed on it.

-3 -21 -5 -5 -62 (Brutal) -15 -5

Combo! (x1.3)

-150 (1481/2000)

I activated the stun knife and prepared myself to jump off from him, but the effect ended far too quickly, so I was still sitting atop of him.

He quickly coiled one of his tails around me before lifting me and slamming me head-first in the ground. Sadly, I messed the timing and didn’t get to use Nature’s bastion in time.

-42 (320/450)

I grimaced in pain while getting up. Luckily for me, the big fox was still blinded, so it messed up on its fireballs. I was conflicted on using this time to either attack or recover, but he completely got me by surprise, as I saw him taking a very familiar position, where he slightly twisted its body sideway while its tail gathered light.

It took me a brief moment to remember that that is the motion the red tails use when they are about to use their, comparatively, cute arcs. But why was HE doing it?

As he uncoiled its body, I finally understood. Using his three tails, he made his arc a full circle around it. If you don’t know where your enemy is, attack everything! Simple yet effective!

WAIT! This isn’t the time to admire him!

I hurriedly managed to avoid the attack by diving into the ground and letting the arc pass a few centimeters above me. Quickly putting myself back up again, I ran towards him on a try to use the last few seconds of blindness to land a few hits.

But he howled.

I cursed under my teeth as I ran. Stopping and changing direction right now would take too much time, so I went straight forward in his direction. When I noticed that one of the circles was forming right beneath me, I barely managed to use roll to get away from it, but one hit still landed on me.

-80 (240/450)

As he was still howling, a few other spots were starting to light up with fire pillars, but I somehow manage to avoid them while reaching the fox. I held the fur on its leg and used it as a support to jump towards his raised head and bashed at him with my shield.

-2 (1479/200)

But damaging him wasn’t my intention, as the bash skill took effect, the boss recoiled in surprise, just in time as I fell down besides him and used stab on his chest.

Buuut… Shield slam was in cool down, so, epic fail there.

-18 (1461/2000)

After being swatted away with a simple paw to the face (thankfully, he didn’t use a skill) we once again had a distance between us. But…

-22 (218/450)

Houston, we have a problem.

My sword was still stuck on him, so I was weaponless.

NO! let’s not commit this same mistake again!

I took the dagger I had equipped and started to circle around the boss as he recovered his vision. I quickly chugged down a potion to recover my health and waited for the boss to make its move.

+98 (316/450)

We both stared at each other for a moment, then he raised his tails and readied the arcs. I grimaced. The three were slanted, two to the right and one to the left. I ran towards his right, but the first one to come was the slanted left, so it was the one most likely to hit me. I barely managed to jump above it and then roll beneath the other two arcs. I got to him, but the roll left me on his flank, too far from the sword, so I had to help myself with a simple shield slam followed by some feeble daggers slices.

-31 -7 -8 -7

-53 (1408/2000)

Before he could attack me, I ran away and put some distance between us right as he activated his fire claws, barely dodging them.

He looked at me angrily before spitting a couple of Inferno balls. I easily dodged them while keeping the distance between us. He watched me angrily before jumping forwards in a fire charge.

I barely dodged it with a side step and quickly approached his back before he could recover. I quickly stabbed him with the dagger, making him quickly start turning to me with his claws burning. But I used roll to pass beneath him and once again stand behind him. He looked confused for a moment when he didn’t find me there, so I took this chance to land a few more slices on him.

-7 -8 -8 -7

-30 (1378/2000)

Noticing I had fooled him, he quickly spun around while trying to ram his tails on me, just like earlier. But I wouldn’t fall for this twice in a row! So I managed to roll beneath his tails, stepping up right in front of him with the buff from roll active.

A wicked smile appeared in my face, as I landed a shield slam right into the blade stuck in his chest. The pain made him recoil slightly, but I jumped forward and grabbed the blade, immediately activating slice ‘n dice with it still stuck on him, landing a full five seconds attack as he recovered from the initial damage.

-80 (Brutal) -8(x10)

Combo! (x1.1)

-176 (1202/2000)

He turned to me angrily before I could recover and tried to use a point-blank Inferno ball at me. I barely dodge the attack by jumping towards his flank, as all my energy was now spent, but he wouldn’t simply let me go, as his tail came lashing down on me with ferocity. I managed to Nature’s Bastion and block it, and since they dealt a fixed 10 fire damage, I barely managed to avoid getting burnt too.

But he didn’t stop there, as he turned towards me and tried landing a fire claw on my back. I barely managed to avoid it by falling forwards, and just then my energy recovered enough so I could roll away from the second.

As I turned back to face him, I barely managed to avoid a fireball coming at me from behind out of sheer luck. Then I started to circle around him while waiting my energy to fill again.

He tried to land a few fireballs on me, but I quickly avoided them by moving constantly. I took this time to replenish my stun knife back into the bandolier. Only when stopped to use the fire arcs I had to actually time my dodges, since they covered a wide area.

When he finally went for a charge I decided to go back to the offensive. Since it was a normal charge, Nature-blocked it, avoiding any damage before activating stab on him. However, this didn’t stop him from raising its head while howling. I quickly took the knife I had just replenished and threw at him, where he was stunned for a brief period of a time. Not enough to land a hit, but enough to stop his attack. He looked back at me in fury and went for the bite, but I immediately activated another flash-bomb.

Once again he was left blinded by the bomb, and I took this time to land the shield slam on the blade before taking it away with a slash. The impact almost threw the Blazing Tail backwards, but he barely managed to hold himself on his two back legs. I ran towards them and landed my third slash on them, finally making him fall down on the ground. I had to jump away so I wouldn’t get crushed by him.

-19 -3 -62 (Brutal) -14 -18

Combo! (x1.2)

-139 (1006/2000)

I quickly turned back to him and ran to the base of his tails, where I swung the sword madly for a few extra hits before he could recover

-11 -13 -12 -11 -14

-61 (945/2000)

Hmm… I wonder if I hit his tails enough I will cut them?

MAYBE IT WILL DROP A BLAZING TAIL PLATE!

I wonder how many of you will understand that…

When I noticed him recovering, I quickly backed away, but not before one of his tails managed to land a hit on my back.

-30 -10

-40 (276/450)

Cliquing my tongue while getting back up to my feet, I quickly chugged down another potion.

+90 (366/450)

The effect really is decreasing. This is bad.

Luckily, I still had something between twenty five or so potions in my inventory.

But hey! He is below half his health! Isn’t this awesome? If this was monster hunter I wouldn’t even have a way of knowing this.

Shrugging away my distraction, I readied myself as the boss looked at me in anger. This time, the one with the mocking smile was me!