Facing Nightmares

While he was still rather impressed by his own words, a rare moment where his words were actually profound, Shane suddenly saw a blur of black as Katsumi threw herself into his shoulder, hugging him at the waist. He had instinctively took half a step back when that happened, having been caught by surprise and then stopping when he realized what had happened. He knew of the trauma that the younger Rune Knight was carrying, and he himself knew clearly how much of a burden the trauma could be. The fortunate thing for him was that he had found the Rune Knights, joining their ranks and carrying out the duties and responsibilities of a Rune Knight to compensate for what his lack of strength had caused in the past.

However, while he could speak the words, Shane had no idea how to comfort the girl who was hugging him. As such, the Rune Knight General, usually composed in the face of death, was unsure of what he should do. His arms were slightly raised, awkwardly attempting to pat Katsumi on the back but he stopped a few centimeters from patting her and sighing inwardly at his social ineptitude, he just let his arms drop to the side. All he would do was just to stand there and let the young girl digest her emotions.

Shane had kept his silence when Katsumi had spoken about her broken relationship, unsure how he could contribute to stabilizing her emotions but when she finally touched on her suitability with the Special Ops division, he knew he had to say something. Her leaving the Spec Ops wasn’t that huge of a deal, but if for someone of her skill with the sword to leave the Rune Knights entirely, then it would be a rather huge loss on their part. Her contributions during the headquarters invasion and during this mission had shown him the more soldier-like side of her.

“Don’t worry too much about it. We’ll see how you wanna approach this subject when we return to the HQ. For now, I agree, let’s end this.”

The moment he had finished speaking, as though a spring, Katsumi abruptly released the grip around him and fell back to the ground instead. Shane’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. However, the surprise compounded into shock when his subordinate instantly switched positions, pushing herself low to the ground in an extremely formal method of apologizing. Instantly Shane dropped down on one knee and pulled the girl up from the ground.

“What? Are we in feudal times now? Or is this a new trend among youngsters that I’m not getting?” Shane commented with a hint of exasperation in his voice, as he stood back up while pulling Katsumi up by the elbow. When they were finally standing straight, Shane nodded his head in response to Katsumi’s comment.

“Everything can be a game if you just do it right,” Shane replied with a bright glint in his eyes. With a flick of his hand, Shane had already brought out one of the many melee weapons he had obtained through the code earlier. A sword appeared in his right hand, with an oriental appearance due to the slightly wider and also shorter blade compared to a regular longsword.

Shane swung it twice in front of him in a cross, leaving two afterimages of the sword in the wake of the slash due to his excessive speed and he nodded with satisfaction. With the strategy they were going for, he was actually going to be using a sword this time around instead of a gun or knife. Despite specializing in fighting with his fists and his guns, Shane was also trained in various weaponry and had even achieved considerable mastery in all of them.

Shane narrowed his eyes, a grim expression on his face as he prepped himself to face the last of his opponents for the day. It had been a long grind, the two Rune Knights having carried out their express leveling up plan as Shane pulled mob after mob of monsters, fending them off with his sword and shield so that he wouldn’t lose their aggro from running too much out of their reach while Katsumi would take them out with precise headshots while he fought defensively.

This particular monster hadn’t been on his list at all. The ruler of the treetops, the Steel Boa had stalked Shane for some time and when it saw that Shane was slowly getting slower and slower after the continuous strain of combat, the creature took the chance to strike. The Steel Boa had surprised him with an attack from the treetops, directly going for a huge bite with its large maw open as it shot down like a spear. Shane had only managed to get out of the way with a warning from Katsumi, and he had instantly dropped and rolled to the side as the Steel Boa’s jaws snapped shut where his head had been earlier.

The Rune Knight had immediately pounced to his feet after the roll, leading to the current situation where he eyed the Steel Boa. Enraged by the miss, the Steel Boa uncoiled itself further from the branches above and repeatedly struck at Shane with lightning quick strikes. Shane held his shield up one time after another as he made the most minute of movements in avoiding the attacks from the Steel Boa, metal crashing against metal. He was waiting for the opportune moment when the Steel Boa finally let its guard down.

After ten failed strikes, the Steel Boa charged forward once more this time opening its jaws much further than previous. Shane saw the chance he was waiting for and he charged forward as well. Holding up the shield in the path of the Steel Boa’s lunging bite, the Rune Knight managed to lodge the entire shield between the upper and lower jaws of the snake. Alarmed, the Steel Boa immediately tried to shake its head back and forth to dislodge the shield. Leaving it to its futile attempts, Shane hurriedly took two steps forward and with a two-handed grip, swung his sword right down on the body of the Steel Boa with a resounding clang.

It caused the Steel Boa to stagger as it completely fell to the ground and not too long after, a bullet whizzed through the air and punched right through one eye of the Steel Boa and exited from the other eye before lodging itself into the ground. With a final shudder, the Steel Boa stiffened and then collapsed to the ground. The shield stuck in its mouth was finally released when its jaws completely loosened, rolling on its side, coincidentally returning to Shane as it bumped into his leg and fell to the ground. Shane picked it up and then pressed his finger to his ear as well, a communication device lodged in the canal.

“I’m at… twenty six,” Shane replied after checking his stats with his other hand. “Definitely. I’m walking over now.”

When he finally returned to the camp that they had set up as the base of operations, Shane let out a huge breath and dropped down to the ground on his butt.

“I just thought of this. Does sleep work in this game? I could really take a short break before we do this,” Shane asked Katsumi as he watched her busily working on refilling their ammo reserves. While waiting for her reply, he took out his sword and took a look at its condition. The edges were already completely chipped with several cracks running along the blade. He turned his head to look at the shield and found similar signs of damage as well.

Shaking his head, Shane swung both items at each other and they immediately shattered, their durability already drawn to the limits.

“I’m gonna need a new shield and sword, Katsumi.”

[1318 words]
[Shane's WC: 11161 / 14000]

Katsumi cocked her head at Shane's strange response to her apology. She didn't understand what was wrong with it. "This was the way I was taught to apologize when I am extremely sorry. Are there trends like this in culture nowadays? Is it so odd to apologize in this way?" It was the way she'd been brought up. Her father and mother were very proper. Even her uncle had enforced those values. "I apologize if I offended you, taichou. I wished to make up for my blunder. It wasn't proper to take comfort the way I did." Katsumi bowed to Shane-taichou. She had to start understanding other customs. Broaden her ability to reach others in a variety of ways. That would help to avoid these kinds of misunderstandings in the future.

Shane's sword made Katsumi's eyes glitter. In-game the sword he was wielding had the name Heracles. It wasn't the strongest sword in the game but it had various hidden effects. Outside the game, the sword was called the ken or possibly the jian. The two swords were fairly similar. Shane's ability to make lines in the air made Katsumi's mouth twitch upward. "Excellent form. I should tell you, that sword has a hidden function. If you can make 99 attacks with it, the next attack will do triple critical damage. Its usually a killing blow"

~~~

"Twenty-six" Katsumi muttered under her breath. Mostly her work. Well, her failed attempts at using a sniper rifle initially. It'd forced Shane to make up for her incompetence. Still, she'd gotten the hang of it. Katsumi was debating creating a sniper rifle once she got out of the game. It would require a crazy amount of coding to keep up with the various magics. She debated adding other little bits to it. A simple sniper rifle didn't fit her current fighting style. Her Henkan needed work as well. They weren't functioning as intended. Katsumi thought that might be from stuffing too much into the poor things. She'd eventually have to fix them if she wanted to advance her magic coding.

Once Shane joined her, Katsumi smiled at him. His question made her shake. "You can sleep in the game if you wish but it won't do much good. The time dilation robs you of any real rest. It'd be better - safer too - to log out and rest for twenty minutes. I can get preparations up and running while you sleep." Sleeping was dangerous in this game. Her uncle could have placed hidden traps into the sleep cycle. Katsumi didn't want to risk finding out with Shane. Her body didn't require any sleep at the moment. She'd be good for at least three or four more real-time hours. Longer than that if she decided to push herself. A trained gamer body helped keep one going for long periods of time.

The swordswoman looked up in time to see Shane swinging his weapon and shield together. "Wait!" She cried out. Her hand reached out to him. The sound of shattering reached her ears first. Katsumi scowled at the taichou. "I could have repaired those! It takes longer to code in higher-level gear and most of our materials have already been used up." A fair amount of grumbling followed. Shane taichou had added a fair amount of work on top of everything else. She still needed to upgrade the Aerocycle too. "Log out, Taichou. I'll get to work on another shield. A sword won't help with our coming mission but I'll code it if I have the time." She turned sulkily back to her work. Katsumi planned to have all of it finished by the time Shane returned.

Katsumi worked diligently to finish the projects. Piles of ammo worked up around her. The Aerocycles became more armored, sleeker. Both appeared to combine speed and defense. A shield and sword combo sat near the piles. Each had been painstakingly coded, completely unique items within the game. Katsumi was rather proud of both. The sword nearly doubled attack power while boasting of high durability. The shield could turn damage into durability for itself. So long as a single attack didn't destroy the shield outright, it would survive indefinitely. Failed attempts of both projects lay behind the piles of ammo. Katsumi had hidden them so she could ignore exactly how much effort each had taken.

The fatigue was beginning to hit the swordswoman. Her eyes were blurry. She struggled to keep them open longer than a few seconds. Maybe she had overestimated her gamer body. Or underestimated the effects this game had on her mental stability and her weakened real-world body. A small cat nap wouldn't hurt anything, right? Shane taichou could wake her up once he got back into the game. Still... there were other precautions to take first. Katsumi lumbered to her feet. A few keystrokes as she wandered about the campsite accomplished her goal. A stealth rig sprang up to conceal the camp. A perimeter warning popped up as well. Satisfied, Katsumi laid down against the piles of ammo. She'd only close her eyes for a little while. A little while...

WC: 858
TWC: 11,745/14,000

A few seconds after pulling up the menu and selecting the log out option, a privilege that was currently unavailable to the players within GGO, Shane sat up from the bed and rubbed his sore neck. The abrupt change in his environment was jarring, with the Rune Knight taking a deep breath before lying down to rest on the bed again, setting the headgear that allowed him to log into GGO aside. It was the first time he had immersed himself into virtual reality, and he had been unprepared for the toll it took on his mental resilience. Sleep took over him the moment he had set a timer for fifteen minutes.

When the timer beeped repeatedly at the end of the fifteen minute break, Shane quickly shut it off and once more placed the headgear over his head, hoping that the next time he took it off, it would be the last time. A burst of various colors flashed in his mind and the Rune Knight found himself back in the cavern that he and Katsumi had sought refuge in.

The first thing he noticed was the massive amount of ammo, piles upon piles sitting on the cavern floor. Two Aerocycles pulled his attention next, sleeker models of their former ride while boasting much more defense. It wouldn’t be as easy for the players to damage the Aerocycles the next time they had to drive through a rain of bullets. Looking around further, Shane finally noticed Katsumi’s sleeping figure, a puzzled look on his face when thought back to how the girl had told him that sleeping in the game wasn’t going to be of much use.

Letting her rest, Shane continued inspecting the other weapons that were strewn across the cavern floor and finally saw the sword and shield that Katsumi had painstakingly crafted. Sliding his left forearm through harness, Shane swung the shield a few times, testing its weight and found it to be near the level of compatibility he had with Patriot. Another few swings with the sword brought a smile to his face as well. While he didn’t typically dabble with swords, Shane had still gone through enough training with the weapon to be considered adept in swordsmanship.

Setting the melee weapons down, Shane began taking out his firearms and began to reloading them. With Katsumi serving as the heavy firepower of their combo, the male Rune Knight continued to utilize his submachine gun and Desert Eagle pistols. While lacking the firepower of the sniper that Katsumi had, the submachine gun and pistols allowed Shane more flexibility and mobility since he was going to serve as the melee front.

When he was finally done, Shane was actually going to wake up Katsumi when an alarm suddenly sounded. Immediately the Rune Knight dropped into a low stance, the large caliber pistol which he had strapped to his thigh in his right hand, aimed at the back of the cavern. From the darkness of the cavern, Shane could vaguely hear shuffling against the cavern walls. Walking slowly towards the edge of the stealth rig that was meant to conceal them, the Rune Knight peered directly into the darkness for a few minutes.

The sound persisted for some time, and when Shane finally saw the source of the sound, a pair of red eyes stared back in his direction.

“Wow. My luck is literally shit at this point,” Shane spoke through gritted teeth, holding the pistol in his right hand higher while he supported the bottom with his left wrist, holding it perpendicular to the right. As the pair of red eyes slowly approached their camp, Shane saw the creature for what it was. Sporting a pair of horns that swept backwards on its nose, the approaching serpentine creature slowly slithered out from the back of the cavern. It was entirely dark purple, covered in scales. White fangs protruded from the side of its upper jaw, wickedly sharp and definitely tinged with venom.

For a moment, Shane held his breath, unsure of what to make of this new threat. When he had already held it for a minute, with the serpent just five feet away from edge of the stealth rig, the serpent’s head suddenly jolted and it unhesitatingly reversed, retreating back from where it had come from.

While letting out a breath of relief, Shane quickly walked over to Katsumi and gave her a few taps on her shoulder to rouse her from her sleep. When the girl finally reacted to his tapping, Shane with his eyes still on the back of the cavern, quickly spoke.

“This place isn’t safe anymore. Pack up and let’s move out.”

[780 words]
[Shane: 11941 / 14000 words]

Katsumi came awake slowly at Shane's touch. She blearily looked up at him, barely comprehending his words. As awareness came to the swords woman, horror crossed her features. If Shane taichou was already back... Katsumi started to panic. Her menu popped before her. Her fingers frantically scrambled at the controls. She murmured to herself. "No. No. No. No. Where is it? Where is it? I can't be trapped... not again. No. No. No. No." She found what she was looking for. The logout option glowed cheerily. Katsumi took a deep breath. The game hadn't trapped her. Uncle Kayaba hadn't found her either. For now, she was safe. About to depart on a dangerous mission, sure, but still safe from the worst case scenario.

Closing her menu, Katsumi looked up at Shane taichou. He'd said something. She couldn't grasp quite what it was. Pushing herself to her feet, Katsumi brushed herself off. "I'm sorry Shane Taichou, I didn't quite catch that." She tried to act normal. A part of her hoped he hadn't seen her mini freak out. One of her Skills picked up a powerful enemy nearby. She tried to control a wince. They didn't have time for another fight. Not right before they headed out to bait the field bosses. "We should pack up, Shane taichou. There's a powerful enemy nearby that'll set us back. We can't afford anymore delays."

Katsumi used every point of Agility she could moving around the camp. Half the ammo went into her inventory. Half the medical supplies followed that. She also took a can of gas she'd coded up. They didn't want to run out in the middle of this chase. Even with the maximum fuel efficiency allowed by her Aerocycle model, better safe than sorry. Katsumi didn't want one of the bosses killing her because her bike stopped. Having collected the basics that she needed, the swords woman headed over to the bikes. Touching the side, she brought up the bike's menu. "If you'd like, taichou, the bike can equip two weapons. These can be used while driving without pulling your hand off the handle." That feature had been added mainly for her. Having spent all the time leveling her Snipe, her Handgun skill was going to miss if she shot from the bike.

Her Hephestus Rifle materialized on the front of the bike once she equipped it to the Aerocycle. It flowed flawlessly into the design. Katsumi smiled at the sight. She equipped one of her Ascalon swords as well. Two blades grew from either side of the front wheel. That would come in handy if the bosses got close. Some ammo and the gas can were placed inside the bike too. If her code worked correctly, they'd be used automatically when needed. With everything prepared, Katsumi mounted the Aerocycle. "Shall we embark, Shane taichou? There's no turning back once we start. The bosses won't stop until we're dead or they are."

The growl of the Aerocycle's engine cut through the silence. Katsumi could hear something rapidly approaching. A red blip appeared on her radar. Here came some enemies. Nothing they couldn't handle but it would cut into their time. Time players didn't have. Dirt kicked out from the wheels. Katsumi aimed the Aerocycle toward the mouth of cave. It shot forward with Katsumi hanging on for dear life. Perhaps she'd boosted the Speed a little too much. As she tried to turn the bike toward Regulus, it shot out from under her. A few red pixels clipped off her HP. Katsumi pushed off the ground. "Perhaps I should have leveled my Driving skill" She muttered, heading to the bike. It had taken some damage too. Nothing serious thankfully. The swords woman heaved it up and was soon back on her way.

Once she was sure she wasn't going to crash again, Katsumi touched the communications option. She'd linked the bikes together just in case. "Taichou? We'll be heading toward Regulus first. He's the fastest, we should be able to get him into a fight with Titus. Those two follow us into Wallace and we sit back and watch from a safe distance." She checked the distance on her map. The bike was eating it up rapidly but it'd still be a long trip. Two hours to Regulus, about two hours to Titus and another oneish to Wallace. Katsumi winced. They'd really be stretching their gas supply. "It'll be a long trip, Taichou. Better buckle in."

WC: 746
TWC: 12,491/14,000

Shane was slightly taken aback by Katsumi’s reaction when she woke up, panic overtaking her the moment her eyes opened. The Rune Knight General’s eyes narrowed as he was once again reminded how hard the SAO incident had affected the players and how much of a psychological trauma it must have caused for such a reaction to occur. However, Shane knew not what to do in this situation. He knew how to train his soldiers to toughen their mental fortitude, he knew how to get them to focus in combat, but this was way out of his capabilities.

When she finally looked at him, Shane could see relief slowly taking over the anxiety from earlier.

“Don’t worry about it. Yup, there’s a gigantic snake on the other side of this barrier,” Shane nodded in response before moving about the cave to pack up whatever was created for his use. They cleared out the makeshift camp in record time, leaving nothing behind except for the spent weapons that Shane had shattered before he logged out for his rest. Shane followed Katsumi to the bikes, a grin subconsciously appearing on his mouth. While he wasn’t a motorhead, he did own a bike and he had to admit that the top-of-the-line bike that Katsumi had coded looked awesome.

“I see. That would be a good idea,” Shane thought for a second before replying. As he spoke, he retrieved his submachine gun from his inventory storage and chose the option to equip it to the Aerocycle. His handgun would still stay in the holster on his right thigh, to make it easier for any impromptu shooting.

“Let’s go. Lead the way. I’ve never been one to turn back,” Shane grinned as he swung his left leg over the driver’s seat and dropped onto the seat. Balancing the weight between his legs, Shane then pressed on the button to start the engines. The soft hum of the engines came to life, slowly becoming a deep growl that began to echo in the cave. Shane turned back to look into the darkness, half expecting the noise they were making to attract the gigantic serpent from its hiding place again.

Shane allowed Katsumi to drive ahead first before he turned back on the accelerator of the Aerocycle, immediately picking up speed and within seconds he was right behind Katsumi. But the girl had almost given him another heart attack when a failed turn caused the entire bike to just roll out from under her, leaving her sliding on the ground. But it was nothing to her, as the female Rune Knight quickly recollected herself and resumed their journey.

“Let’s hope it works out. We either accomplish this beautifully without a single drop in our HP or we are in one hell of a fight,” Shane replied with a smirk.

[472 words]
[Shane's WC: 12413 / 14000]

The drive to Regulus was largely uneventful. The only bump in the road was when a few Titanic Wolves stumbled into their path. These Mobs were able to keep pace with the bikes, occasionally firing lasers out of their mouths. Katsumi decided to try a few of the bike features on these creatures. Dropping back, Katsumi popped out the wheel blades. She figured taking out the legs would be the right move. Turned out attacking with the wheel blades was difficult. Katsumi nearly lost control of the bike twice when she managed to get close enough for an attack. As much as she hated it, Katsumi hit the comms. "We'll need to shoot them Taichou. Try not to waste any ammo. We'll need the majority for the bosses." There were three Titanic Wolves still chasing them. The Mobs looked like metal dogs. The metal moved across their bodies, rippling gently. Other than that they were perfect copies of wolves. If wolves were the size of a small bear and had laser cannons in their mouths.

Katsumi tried to think up the best plan of attack. She came up empty. These enemies were near their own level. Only a critical shot would end them with the least amount of bullets. The swordswoman swiped at the comm link. "You're a better shot and a better driver, Shane Taichou. Please take care of the two in the rear. I'll try to take out the leader. The eyes or ears should kill them or do enough damage to make them stop for a moment. The mouth is a decoy. Don't aim for it." She said as quickly as possible. The mouth was likely armored since the main ranged weapon was in there. Katsumi wished she could simply stop the bike, sliding under her target and putting a shot right up the keister. That would have made her job easier. Instead, she hit the breaks after sliding to the right. The wolf shot past, the jaws snapping near her face. Katsumi winced at the breath. Her uncle had made that a little too realistic. The Aerocycle shot back into motion within moments. Aiming her mounted sniper rifle, Katsumi took the shot. It pinged off the space between the eyes and the ears. The wolf flinched. They were level again. The swordswoman growled in frustration. They didn't have time for this. She drew her blade. This was a bad idea but... screw it. She hit the stabilizer for the bike. Time to try her sword forms on a moving platform. Best to chose one that used mostly the upper body. A deep breath steadied her core. Alright. She twisted away from the wolf, avoiding its teeth once again. "Arashi Style - Reflected Lightning!" Katsumi snapped back around, using the momentum to stab swiftly. The energy of the motion traveled into the hand wielding the sword, adding force behind it. It slid into the Wolf's ear. Twist and withdraw. The Mob shattered into pixels with the sound of breaking glass. Katsumi stowed her blade with a smile. She looked around to see how the Taichou had handled his opponents.

Their little adventure with the wolves ate up a large chunk of time. Katsumi could hear low rumbling in the distance. That must be Regulus, either snoring or growling. The swordswoman hunkered down over the handlebars. Time to see if her plan could really work. They'd either end up dead really quickly or they'd have a field boss thundering after them in no time. The raven haired woman looked over her shoulder at Shane taichou. "We're coming up on Regulus, Taichou. We should split up once he comes into view. Hitting him from both sides should give us a momentary pause to start running. If you look at your bike's display, you'll see a large red flame in the left corner. Don't push it unless you absolutely need a huge burst of speed. I only could put in three boosts and the last will likely rip the bike apart under you. Good luck Shane taichou."

Regulus came into view. The creature was absolutely massive. Enough to dwarf the mountain nearby. He looked like a vibrant yellow beast with hot white outlines. He was currently sleeping, tiny flickers of lightning hopping across his mane. White letters displayed his name and level above his head. Katsumi gulped audibly. If this was the field boss asleep, she wasn't sure she wanted to wake him up. Nevertheless, she made her 'bombing run'. Her sniper rifle boomed a few times. The health bars began popping up next to Regulus. From what the Rune Knight could see, she'd taken off maybe half a pixel. Oh boy. Regulus woke with a roar. Lightning sprang to life down his length. As he stood up, his tail swung into view. It was a massive cannon. The lightning was collecting in front of it and the tip was aimed at Katsumi. "Oh... shtako."

She whipped the bike around as fast as she dared. Dirt spit out from under the wheels. Katsumi could feel the bike tipping dangerously. "Come on. Come on." Wiping out at the beginning of their journey was a mistake to be expected. Doing the same now was absolutely unacceptable. Not to mention a death sentence. The bike managed to level out and shot forward. A beam of pure hot lightning broke the ground where she'd been a moment before. "I guess I'm leading the way, Taichou" Katsumi said over the comms. "Try not to aggro it too much and stay out from behind me. I'll be tossing grenades to keep him focused on me." Then she turned her attention back towards the path. Thier insane plan had begun.

WC: 954
PWC: 13,445/14,000
TWC: 25,858/28,000

Shane’s Aerocycle followed behind Katsumi’s, a few feet between them so that he would have sufficient time to react should there be a sudden change in speed or direction. It was quite a smooth ride, the shock absorbers handling the uneven terrain so well that he had even craned his neck to the side to take a look at the wheels to see if they were really touching the ground or if they were gliding above it. The General was impressed to reaffirm that the wheels were indeed in contact with the ground, but it was short-lived. This was a video game after all.

However, it was never meant to be an easy drive towards Regulus. Their path merged with the path of a pack of wolves made entirely out of metal. Despite being inorganic, the way their body moved was exactly like a real one, especially the piston-like movements of their limbs as they kept up with the two Rune Knights. Giving them a look earlier, the name of the wolves had popped up along with their HP bar. They were called Titanic Wolves, which was probably referring to their bear-like size. Their speed was a slight bit slower than the Aerocycles, but as they tried their best to nip at the cycles while some near the end were shooting lasers out of a cannon in their mouth, the difference in their speed began to dwindle as the evasive maneuvers that Shane and Katsumi had to take affected their speed.

“I’m already shooting them!” Shane shouted back. Apparently using the submachine gun was an even more difficult task than he had thought it to be, and when it failed to reach the wolves running beside and behind him as he swerved to the left and right to avoid their attacks, the Rune Knight General cursed loudly before pulling out his handgun with his left hand. His right hand was the only thing steering the Aerocycle now, and with his left hand holding onto a gun, there wasn’t any free hand left to reach for the brakes should he need to stop.

From the periphery of his vision, Shane waited for the opportune moment before releasing each shot. Katsumi had been right about not wasting bullets. They were going to challenge three bosses, and while they weren’t going to involve themselves in the fight directly, it was always better to have ammunition on hand than to jump into a fight with an empty pistol. The first wolf that Shane took care of was the one on his left. It tried to bite Shane’s thigh, no doubt the metal fangs and jaw would make short work out of Shane’s body. The moment the wolf turned in Shane’s direction to bite down, the Rune Knight kicked outward with his left leg, slamming it into the wolf’s front limbs. It caused the monster to stumble and in the moment of imbalance, Shane held the gun to the side of the wolf’s head and pulled off three shots. The first paved the way through the iron, while the second smashed through whatever brain was controlling the wolf and the third bullet pierced cleanly through the head and came out on the other side.

The brain-dead iron wolf dropped to the ground without any further movement, causing a mess as the other wolves behind crashed into the unmoving one and got themselves tangled up. Katsumi was faring quite well, using her sword to fend off the attacks and even spearing one of them through the head. With her successful kills, the female Rune Knight grew more confident and announced the battle plan. Shane accepted it without any comment. The other two wolves were on his right side, one behind the other. With a grin, the soldier returned the handgun to his inventory and resumed two-handed control of his Aerocycle. When he was finally sure that the wolf to his right would keep up, Shane twisted on his accelerator to speed it up slightly before suddenly jamming down on the front brakes and jerked the Aerocycle’s front wheel to the left.

With the Aerocycle suddenly halting, the momentum had to go somewhere, causing the back of Shane’s bike to swing to the right. The back wheel continued to spin as the entire bike was lifted almost forty-five degrees into the air and to the right, slamming into the Titanic Wolf. The rush of energy was transferred into the monster and sent it crashing into the heavy bushes to the side of the path. The sequential thuds that were getting lower told Shane that it was still rolling away. But he had another monster to take care of. As the back wheel of the Aerocycle thumped to the ground, the Rune Knight unequipped the submachine gun just as the wolf pounced on him. A shield appeared around his left arm, used to ward off the open jaws and to push the wolf’s head back while the submachine gun released bullets into the joint between the lower jaw and neck.

When the iron wolf collapsed to the ground, Shane returned everything to his inventory and started up the Aerocycle again to chase after Katsumi. When he finally caught up to her, they began to rumbling in the distance. His subordinate informed him of what they would be encountering and her plan. But all the information in the world would pale in comparison to what Shane was about to see. It was a sleeping giant, as huge as the mountains nearby or maybe even bigger. While their original plan was to attack it from both sides and then drag it along behind them with the aggro, it seems that plans would always be plans. They would never hold up in the face of immediate changes.

A few shots from the sniper woke the beast up from its slumber but the bullets had barely even tickled it. Regulus roared as it reared its head up towards the sky, while his entire body bathed in lightning. This was no monster. It was a calamity. When it stood to full height, Shane and Katsumi’s eyes landed on the same thing. Not only was it massive, and possibly able to manipulate lightning, its tail was also swinging about with a cannon at its tip. Like a scorpion holding up its tail to strike, Regulus had it poised and aimed at the two riders with lightning accumulation at the tip. A cannon-like blast shook the ground as a mass of condensed lightning was shot at Katsumi. Fortunately it had missed but the sudden acceleration from Katsumi and deceleration on Shane’s part to avoid the attack had pulled them apart and Shane pushed the Aerocycle to the limit to catch up, or even more importantly, to get out of the beast’s attacking range.

On the Aerocycles, Katsumi and Shane were able to keep their pace and keep a distance between them and the beast while stringing it along, but every now and then, with a huge leap, Regulus dangerously close the distance between them. A single, well-placed sweep of its huge tail would instantly smash them into paste but so far the monster hadn’t attempted it. Looking at the map that Katsumi had provided, Shane noticed that they might not necessarily be able to pull Regulus along to the next monster and then bringing the pair to another. For one, their fuel might not allow them to make it and while they had enough in their inventory, they didn’t really have the luxury to stop and refuel.

“Katsumi, I don’t think is going to work. We need to split up. You will bring Regulus over to Titus while I’ll go get Wallace on my tail. Send me your coordinates the moment you get the two bosses fighting,” Shane calmly instructed. The man would then give the map a glance and peel off in the direction of the boss that they were supposed to keep for last. He was going to pull Wallace over to the Regulus and Titus instead of bringing the two to Wallace.


[1350 words]
[Personal WC: 13763 / 14000]
[Total WC: 27208 / 28000]

Katsumi started to panic. Shane was altering the plan and Regulus was much faster than anticipated. The constant running seemed to be disrupting its normal attack patterns. That couldn't last too long. The code must be changing, adapting to the new stimulus. Shane's plan didnt fully click until he was nearly out of comms range. "Taichou! Wait! Wallace is the slow one! Let me divert toward-" The comms cut out with a loud squeal. Katsumi jerked, nearly tipping over the Aerocycle.

"Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka!" She growled. Shane had either forgotten or misremembered her briefing. A lightning bolt struck nearby. Katsumi looked over her shoulder. Regulus was changing strategies. His running leaping game became a point and shoot. Her Lick wasn't holding. Turning forward, Katsumi decided to trust the Taichou. Hopefully, he had some plan.

Another lightning bolt struck off to the left side. Katsumi needed to switch up her own game strategy. The brakes squealed from her vicious grip. Regulus shot past her, lightning crackling. She squeezed off two shots. The massive lion started turning. Katsumi revved the bike, accelerating through Regulus' legs. A roar reverberated through the air. Katsumi grimaced. That tactic would only work so many times before Regulus became Enraged. She needed to avoid that.

The swordswoman checked the map. Barely a fraction of the distance had been covered. Maybe Titus would be roaming his territory. That could cut the distance - or make it longer. Despair was beginning to creep into Katsumi's mind. Could they pull this off? Was it even possible?

WC: 258
PWC: 13,703/14,000
TWC: 27466/28,000

Swerving away out of Regulus’ way, Shane could barely hear Katsumi’s urgent exclamation for him to wait but it cut off as he sped out of range. He had wanted to reply but when there was nothing but static, Shane had no choice but to disregard her warning and pushed on with his plan. He knew he had diverted away from the original plan and that had added an additional risk of failure into their plan but the situation wasn’t looking as positively as they had originally thought. The Rune Knight twisted back on the accelerator as far as he could, causing the Aerocycle to jerk slightly from the sudden acceleration, before shooting forward in a straight line. A dust cloud trailed behind him as he maneuvered through the rough terrain, heading towards Wallace.

Every once in a while, Shane would glance back at the map, taking note of two blinking dots on the map, one blue and the other red. The blue one was Katsumi while the red one was Regulus. Titus, represented by another red dot, was some distance away from the two while Shane had already covered half the distance towards Wallace. He had sacrificed sustainable mileage in exchange for speed, continuously pushing his Aerocycle past its limits and just smashed through whatever obstacle in his way. The brake might as well have been non-existent to him.

When he finally burst out of a thicket, the brakes was finally put to use, squeaking as it tried its best to grab the spinning tires. Shane had to make tight donuts until he could finally reign in the Aerocycle again, and the moment he stopped and put his foot on the ground, he could feel a rumbling in the ground. The disturbance he had caused had not gone unnoticed and within seconds, cracks began to appear on the ground. The cracks began widening and as the rumbling reached a climax, the epicentre of the cracks erupted from the ground.

Two gigantic appendages broke through the ground, raised into the air before the rest of the monster climbed out of the ground. Regulus had already been a prime example of how huge the bosses should be, but what Shane was seeing now challenged those limits. The new monster looked like a cross between a spider and a scorpion, with a shorter and wider body, three legs on each side of the body and wielded two different types of appendages on its front legs. The right leg was a claw while the left was something like a drill. What made his eyes narrow was the metallic carapace that covered the entire boss’ body, which shined with a wicked and dark glint.

Knowing that it wouldn’t be easy to pierce that protective exoskeleton around the monster, Shane let out a long and defeated breath. He was seated atop the Aerocycle, and directly facing the monster as it waved its arms about while its eight beady eyes, dark purple with a white dot were roving all around the place looking for the source of the earlier disturbance. A black submachine gun appeared in his right hand. Shane held the weapon steady with his left hand near the muzzle and held it up to the side of his face, taking aim. At this moment, he wished that he had had the foresight to ask Katsumi for a sniper rifle similar to the one she was using. His gut feeling told him that it was probably the only weapon among them that would be able to pierce through the creature’s shell.

Still, Shane pressed down on the trigger lightly before releasing only to repeat it a few more times, each time shooting out a burst of three to four bullets aimed at various areas of Wallace. Those that hit the carapace glanced off the tough shell, leaving just a mark. It would be enough to hurt the creature. Those that had hit the joints had much better luck, squeezing through the joints to hit the soft flesh beneath. But the one that had proved to be most effective was the burst that hit one of the eyes. The purple eye burst open like a grape, green liquid splattering as the eye exploded from the bullets and Wallace let out an extremely high-pitched screech.

The white dots on the remaining seven eyes swivelled around in a frenzy before locking in on Shane at the same time, and the chase was on.

The six legs on the creature propelled it forward. Katsumi had said that it was the slowest out of the three but that was relative. Shane kicked the back of his bike, rotating it around on the front wheel and instantly jammed the bike into low gear as he sped off with a trail of dust. Not a second later, a drill-like appendage smashed into that very spot, piercing through the ground like butter.

Shane could feel goosebumps rising on his arms but he kept on driving while looking back in the mirror. The creature was chasing after him, lagging behind his Aerocycle but every now and then it would either thrust its drill forward or swing with its pincer with a lurch forward, forcing Shane to swerve dangerously through the treacherous terrain. The few quick glances at the map told him that he would probably be able to approach Katsumi within fifteen minutes, which meant that he had to survive the chase from this hellish horror for that long. At this point, the fuel on his Aerocyle was already hitting the 30% point mark, making things even more difficult.

[935 words]
[Personal WC: 14698 / 14000]
[Total WC: 28401 / 28000]

Katsumi swerved away from another blast of lightning. This one came close enough to throw the bike a small ways into the air. Regulus was learning. That was a terrifying thought. Her uncle must have placed an adaptive algorithm in the field bosses. Prevent the same strategies from working again and again if people had to retreat to live. The Rune Knight felt like she was sweating buckets. To get this far, she'd had to wrap basically live electric wires around herself and Taichou Shane. If they took the wrong move somewhere, they'd be dousing their bodies in that dangerous electricity. The coding would light a beacon to where they were. Her uncle could close the trap and finish them both off.

The raven haired swordswoman glanced over her shoulder. Regulus had settled into a steady rhythm. He charged several bolts of lightning before unleashing them in a storm. Katsumi checked her gauge. 30% left in the tank. She opened up her inventory and that of the bike. Moving several gas cans, the gamer girl refueled her bike. Katsumi hoped Taichou remembered the bug she'd mentioned and the gas cans. They'd prepared enough to refuel the bikes twice over. Though, checking now, she wondered if that was enough. The first tank had run out much faster than anticipated. She looked at Regulus again. Did she have enough time to send a message to Taichou Shane? He might need the reminder.

Katsumi was forced to put the thought out of her mind. A shot of lightning crashed from nearly overhead. She cast a look at the skies. By the Codes... The skies were filling with drones, lightning attribute creatures and cyborg amalgams. The crackling electricity around Regulus suddenly pulsed, nearly knocking out her bike's systems. No! The boss monsters weren't supposed to be this intelligent! Somehow, Regulus had managed not only to call a horde of creatures but also create an EMP blast. Katsumi was only barely far away to avoid the blast knocking out her bike. Unfortunately, there wasn't much she could do about the horde.

A quick Analyze didn't bring her much hope. Most of the approaching drones ranged from levels 10 to 20. Not bad even with Regulus on her trail. However, the creatures and Amalgams ranged from levels 22 to 49. That portion was large enough that Katsumi couldn't face them on her own, much less with a Boss and the drones on her. Her HP would hit zero if even one volley of attacks made it through. The Rune Knight wracked her brain for a solution. She could pull down her power. It would put her on level with the horde but Regulus would catch up while she dealt with them. Not to mention the disturbance would bring the attention of potential admins or the living code itself.

Her hope that they could pull this off dwindled. The glare on her bike informed her of several charging attacks. Another pulse swept over her. The bike sputtered dangerously. Katsumi grit her teeth. She slammed her finger into a large red button. The bike spasmed, roaring greatly and shot forward. The ground where she'd been was obliterated by attacks. It wasn't hard to imagine herself in that smoking terrain. Regulus roared angrily. Katsumi brought up a minimap. The lion boss had sped up again. Maybe the flying nuisances would be scattered now. Though the blinking red lights on the map weren't encouraging.

Katsumi brought up a floating red keyboard. She couldn't lay off messaging Taichou any longer. She made sure that the message wouldn't distract him. Rather it would float in his HUD where he could read it at his leisure. She tried to keep it short.

[color=lightcoral]Taichou. Regulus learning, getting more dangerous. Chances of pulling off dropping. To refuel bike: open inventory, drag gas cans to bike and drop.[/color

The ground rumbled as Katsumi clicked send. Titus. Katsumi looked around in hope. A massive figure filled the horizon to the right. The giant had six arms. Sunlight hit gleaming metal protrusions on the shoulders and down most of its limbs. Titus must be a cyborg giant. Great. The swordswoman rolled her eyes. Her uncle needed a new imagination. She did worry about the horde of lighting creatures. Did Titus have something similar? Could a clan of much smaller giants be roaming around his feet? Katsumi worried her lip. Those hadn't been things she'd factored into her plan. The field bosses were supposed to be lone wolves. One on one fights with raid teams.

The Rune Knight grit her teeth. They'd thrown everything into this plan working. GGO needed to be taken offline. It would take searching the entire game world to make that happen. Which meant making it safer for players. This was their only shot to do that. The simultaneous elimination of three field bosses would rip a hole wide enough to launch her remedial code into. Katsumi slammed a fist into her handlebars. "Let's do this thing." She ripped the brake while turning. It nearly sent the bike careening into a crash. Her Drive skill wasn't high enough to drift. Luckily, her high DEX would compensate. The bike shot toward Titus. Regulus skidded trying to course correct. He slammed into many of the flying creatures and crushed them into a lone small mountain nearby. Katsumi grinned even as Regulus picked itself up. The lion's eyes flashed red as it roared its fury to the heavens. The blood drained from her face. Regulus was Enraged. She could only pray that she reached Titus in time or Taichou brought Wallace. Otherwise, the field boss would rip her apart.

WC: 942
PWC: 14,645/14,000
TWC: 29343 / 28000