Wow. Klein thinks as the brawl happened all around him. Just a few seconds ago, he was blessed with the worst beginner luck, and now he is witnessing a violent riot taking place. Luckily enough, due to his size, not many people really wanted to try their luck and offer him a brawl. Even if they do, all Klein did was trying to get out of this explosive casket faster than before. So, pushing his way out of his trouble, Klein headed toward the West Gate and toward the river, where the guide said the frogmen live.

He wants his role. And he wants to get it done before he logging off. Probably even hitting the goblin field if time allows.

Amulak al Acturus (Stanislaw)

Well...he couldn't exactly fault their motivations. If nothing else, trying to cheese out requirements for a class was exactly something he'd do if he could figure out what the hell he needed specifically for Necromancer, beyond what the game already told him. Still, getting punched wasn't exactly something he wanted any part in, so...

"I wish you good luck in going against spirit of game and cheesing class unlock early. Think I will explore and head off in...that direction." He pointed the way Raymond and Klein had already left towards. "West gate, I believe. Can find me there or beyond that way once you finished here."

With that said, he sauntered off in that direction as well, finally enjoying being able to walk without too much exertion.

Eventually, he caught up to the big guy that had been part of that initial altercation, raising a hand in greeting.

"Oi, big man! You are going same way I am, I see. If you are leveling, would you like party member? Better than standing around laughing at people being punched, yes?"

aмeℓιa

"Well, you never know if those frogs are actually two meters tall and attack by reenacting Indiana Jones."

Before Mags even had the chance to say "old movie, don't worry about it", Ames had already turned the fight into a public brawl. Maybe. That depending if her goading actually brought in third parties. There wasn't really any time to spare between the invitation and Ames throwing the punch.

Though the punch came from someone of average ability, the technique of it was practically flawless as far as a simple blow went. Was this stylish mode, was Mags' first thought. Despite the technique, it was still just a mostly average punch. It was something that Mags had already commited to muscle memory. That also meant avoiding it was muscle memory. Even if she was rustier than the statue of liberty, the months she spent practicing (and playing Tekken) refused to leave her mind.

Automatically, her body went to avoid the jab as she slipped outside the punch. Had this not been a friendly duel (and her hands were empty), she would have tried for a liver shot. She didn't and instead went to slap Ames' caboose with her sandal, hard enough to count for an attack. Probably. It was still a sandal, so wouldn't hurt as much as a fist.

"Hey!" Once again Ames found herself moving forward as a result of Mags' attack, though this time it was less violent momentum and more an effort to get away. The chancla-wielding warrior was quick and experienced however, leaving Ames with ... well, just a sting in the backside more or less. Ames swirled around to face Mags and let her feet carry her away from the other girl. She glanced down at her clenched fist. It was only one punch, but the feeling that her online body knew what it was doing even if her brain didn't was really interesting. A bit exciting too.

"We're officially brawling now!" Ames announced to the onlookers who'd paused to see what the earlier shouting was about. The whole situation was silly but it needed to be dealt with, preferably as soon as possible. So while the wary stood by and decided whether they'd join in or now, Ames moved again. Though she'd given the other girl ample time to reposition, she stepped into Mags' space and struck out at her again. Once, twice - the simple strikes and strategy of an untrained fighter, yet with finesse of years practicing those movements. This combat setting is kind of fun!

Mags may have had some experience, but she wasn't a super human. Had she spent years of her life practicing to fight, then maybe she'd be able to easily deal with a flurry of blows. She hadn't, however. Her years had been spent practicing rotations and mechanics instead. She was easily capable of moving a character through a bullet hell of mechanics while refusing to drop her rotation. That was with WASD and all of the surrounding keys, though. Her real body was much less trained.

As a result, the following blows actually had Mags at the edge of her natural ability. She was dodging the blows, but it required considerably more effort than dodging the simple blows. To Mags, it was like fighting a street fighter character. Well, someone that just figured out light punch and medium punch, anyways. Rather than dodge by the skin of her teeth, she just rapidly backstepped the blows. Couldn't react and counter every single one, after all. Since she couldn't get into range to slap Ames with a sandal (again), she instead opted for option two. With a mighty "Doryah!", she opted to hork the sandal at Lew's face.

Backpedalling would have been nice in an open space filled with ladders and such, but unfortunately, Magpie was right by the Keystone, one of Nyu-Taro's highest population density places, and they had already attracted quite a crowd. As she ran in reverse, she suddenly struck a pot-bellied man naked from waist-up, with a Noh mask hiding his features. The fat gave way, before rebounding, launching her back towards Ames with the force of a bowling ball dropped three hundred feet down onto a 10,000 USD trampoline in very slow motion.

The distraction of watching Mags' sandal fly and moments later watching her slam into another person didn't give Ames any time get out of the way. The two girls - in mind if not body anyway - collided and for the second time today the red head found herself sprawled on the cobblestone.

"Ugh, I was over this the first time it happened," she complained, shoving off the ground and getting back to her feet.

"That one was smart..." Was Mags' response to smashing into Ames. Her own body didn't count as an improvised weapon, right? She'd be at 2 attacks then. The butt slap and then the thrown sandal. Only three more. Shooting onto her feet, she found a nice little break point. No longer did Ames throw a fury of technically proficient blows. That meant that Mags had an opportunity to fight back. Plus, they both would get to see what the defensive actions of stylish looked like.

With chancla in hand, Mags dashed forwards and unleashed a flurry of swipes with the sandal. Rather than some technical mastery of shoe-based combat, it appeared more as a crude imitation of fencing.

"Ow! Ow!" the sudden sandal assault was upon Ames, and thought it didn't really hurt, she still cried out from reflex. She was being hit with something after all. After a few well placed smacks from her opponent, Ames got her act together and swatted away some of the attacks. She didn't want to crash into anyone a third time, so she grounded herself and her forearms came up automatically to block and deflect the deadly unusual weapons away from the rest of her body.

Lew stood there, dumbfounded, his expression stuck into one that would convey both shock and disappointment. Not even the slipper comically bouncing off his sturdy frame broke him from his bewilderment. Rather than the honorable duel he was hoping for, he instead found himself in some sort of embarassing excuse for a brawl. This was expected on their first day, but not this fast or early. Participating in this fight would end up giving him the wrong attention, after all.

With a tired sigh, Lew picked up the thrown flip-flop before making his way to Amulak, wishing to collect his swords and prepare to leave. As he passed by the two brawlers-to-be going at it, he nonchalantly tossed the piece of footwear over his shoulder. Whether it would land in the middle of their chaos or not was of no real concern to Lew, anyway.

The brawl continued on, though it was a very sad brawl that featured two level one players with hardly any stats beyond 'normal human' level. As it was, while the start was amusing, in a vaguely pathetic way, Ames and Magpie soon just became nuisances who were causing a scene right in front of the Keystone. Even if the guards (who were the guards in Nyu-Taro anyways?) turned a blind eye, Immortals were much less patient than their name may suggest. One of them, a particularly peevish pedestrian in full-plate armor imported from the high seas of Velonta, stepped up, her gorgeously effeminate features at odds with her words.

"Move, bitch, get out the way!"

With that incantation, a thunderous boom crackled out, sending the two troublemakers flying like a ragdoll in a physics simulator. They somersaulted a couple of times, bounced off the roof of a textiles shop, broke their fall on a pile of horse feed, rolled down the steeply sloped streets, and finally had their journey stopped after they bodychecked a water barrel. Covered in hay and dirt, whilst sporting more than just a couple bruises and featuring health bars that were only half of what they once were, they picked themselves up...and found themselves at the West Gate.

Which would be great, if Magpie didn't need to head all the way back to the Keystone to see if she unlocked her requirements and could take her class.

With a less than healthy crack of her bones, Mags rose from the shockwave-based travel. "Ourf. Well, that's one way to end it. Thanks for helping get the class unlocked. Promise I'll stop being a prat. For now, anyways. Meet the rest of you at the frogs or whatever."

Had she been in a real body, she'd be limping away, horribly wounded. Thanks to a low pain setting, she was already dashing back to the keystone, unlocking the class she got smashed for. Was it all worth it? Probably not. But hey, she was the first to unlock a new class out of the group.

After many mishaps and misgivings, the group of Discord buddies, who may or may not be seriously reconsidering their buddyhood, congregated once more at the West Gate. Magpie, though still suffering from getting absolutely tossed to the curb by a player that got sick of her disruptive shit, looked to be the best out of all of them, sporting a non-beginner class and an HP bar that still had 80 left. Ames, though not in the possession of any glorious magical powers himself, did, due to Krizanteme’s abrupt log-off, find himself in possession of not one, but two of Fa Trung’s Talismans. Lugh may be the tankiest fellow around and may possess actual weapons, while Raiman had a slick new crossbow and knew where one could exchange precious ores for actual currency, but Ames was swole and was really feeling the effects of having +10 to all her stats. There was a spring in his step, a sureness in his balance, a sturdiness in his gait. Weaponless though he may be, the red-haired warrior felt confident going out into the monster-infested wilderness.

The moment they took a step out of the West Gate, they all heard a ping in the back of their heads. A screen appeared before their eyes, the contents different for each player.

Naturally, without having selected a class, neither Klein nor Ari had the same benefit. Whether that would be an extremely detrimental thing or merely a temporary setback was yet to be seen.

Regardless, with skills now understood, and at least two of the party members armed with proper weapons, the group of seven marched off, following the beaten dirt roads that extended out from Nyu-Taro before spotting the familiar sight of other players going up and down the Pearl Bloom River, farming all sorts of monsters. The waters were fresh and sparkling, though the blood of slain beasts made it a bit murky, while the ‘pearls’ that bloomed within the river appeared to be clusters of alabaster lotus buds, which extended out from the riverbank towards the center. It would have been a pretty place for a picnic, if not for the amount of Immortals going around killing everything they could find. Close to Nyu-Taro, the population density was a bit intense and friendly fire seemed rampant, but the further down the river they trekked, the less Immortals there were, until finally, at a wide bend of the river, the party found themselves relatively alone.

It was here that they spotted their first unclaimed prey.

Amongst the reeds, two green, humanoid creatures, sporting turtle shells on their backs and a bone-like plate on their crown, stared at the party with dead, fish-like eyes. Lugh and Ari, connoisseurs of anime, would know what they were: kappa. Rudimentary spears were in their hands, and their beaked mouths were filled with an abundance of small, tiny teeth. The creatures didn’t lash out or charge though. After a moment of observation from both sides, the creatures grinned, then smugly stepped out from the reeds, approaching the party with the menace of someone who can’t beat you up without getting closer.

Real cocky, honestly, when they were only five feet tall.

---

Lew was pleased with his new class skills finally appearing before him once they left the western gate. Weapon Proficiency LVL 1 was a welcome addition to Lew's kit, making his choice of taking a pair of swords a sound one, while Power Attack seems like Lew's primary source of damage given his high Endurance. Being able to trade powerful blows with an enemy and regenerating his resources faster would likely be Lew's go-to strategy in the early levels. This was something he was very pleased with.

When the group finally encountered their first enemy, Lew had almost instantly figured out just what they were: Kappa, or river imps, and a pair of them no less. While Lew did not know about the capabilities of these creatures in game, he was able to tell based on his prior knowledge of these creatures that this would indeed be a worthy first challenge for the group. Lew walked forward slowly, matching the pace of the kappa with his own stride. He kept his arms buried in his cloak, a hand grasping his primary blade's hilt.

"The bowls on their heads are their weak points. Knock them over and we'll hopefully an easier time... And please, please don't try to wrestle them."

With a deep breath, Lew began to make a sudden sprint towards the duo, sloping forward well enough so that his arms would remain hidden in his cloak without it completely, and keeping an eye of the spear held from the one standing on the left. As he made his approach, he gripped his katana tightly, attempting to see if he could perform a Power Attack from the draw. Something like iaijutsu from the Japanese cartoons he's consumed much of. The goal of this charge was to catch the kappa off-guard while cementing his role as the "aggressor" of this fight. At the same time, Lew knew from common sense that running straight for someone with a pointy stick was not the best tactical decision. Keeping this in mind, he made a quick sidestep to the left once he was a few meters away from his opponent, continuing his charge at an angle and hoping this would make it harder for the farther kappa to harm him.

With an exhale, Lew drew his katana into a Power Attack, aiming right for the spearhead. He did not expect to be strong enough to cleave the spear's head from his haft, especially not without a heftier blade like an axe. Instead, his goal was to merely deflect the spear away, moving it out of the way for Lew's true attack. With his left hand still on the sheath of his katana, he quickly moved it down to his wakizashi, drawing it and swinging right for the kappa's head, making a decisive blow to begin combat and hopefully knocking away its cranial bowl.

Lugh's intent was read, and his body filled with more might than ever before. The katana shot out of his sheathe with such force that the wind itself moved, the hairs of the leftside kappa being blown back. Blade met haft forcefully, and even with two hands reinforcing it, the kappa's spear was knocked astray, giving Lugh opportunity to close in further. But close range too, was the expertise of a kappa. They only wanted two things in life after all, cucumbers and sumo wrestling. With the dark-haired warrior too close for the spear, the kappa readily moved in as well. The green beast sprung forward on webbed feet, grabbing Lugh's left wrist and arresting the wakizaki's movement before it could cleave into the skull. They struggled for a moment, both at too close of a range to use their main weapons, before the kappa utilized an ancient sumo wrestling technique.

A powerful knee to the groin, using all the frog-like springness in its body in an effort to make the Immortal Infertile.

It was certainly a fight. The two kappas sized the entire party up and decided that, even if they were outnumbered, they could easily handle the new players. Either that or they were entirely foolhardy creatures.

As someone who was unarmed, opponents with weapons were a great threat to an early brawler. She had above average durability, sure. She also had half of her HP from the girl that boomed her. In hindsight, she should have also got one of those talismans. +5 to every bodily stat would be pretty good for her at level 1. Maybe not after she gets skill points from leveling, though. In any case, it was time to press the attack. Pretty much in every game, the number of people for a fight mattered hugely. The action economy was an insanely powerful thing, after all. For fights to be fair, the enemy they would have to face would have to be insanely strong. The kappas had to be not insanely strong, right? They were easier to find than frogs, after all.

Quickly, she barked out some orders.

"Amlak and Rai, pepper the free one with ranged and try to kite 'em." She had no actual idea if the enemies were smarter than simple MMO enmity. Worth a shot, though. Worse thing that could happen is that the two ranged characters miss and the kappas (and also Mags) laugh at the pitiful attempts.

What Mags would do is assist the tank. He quickly got the enmity of one and they were locked in BRUTAL COMBAT. That meant the Kappa was too busy to counter her with its spear. Charging at the kappa's side that didn't hold the spear, Mags unleashed a brutal fist that was some kind of cross between a clothesline and a hook aimed at the kappa's skull. Yep, it was the Magpie special. Its accuracy didn't matter if the Kappa was standing still at a deadlock, after all. Well, that was unless the game cheated and made her whiff like it was a game of XCOM.

---

Well... this wasn't the best of positions, admittedly. Lew's strategy would have been a bit better had he used each blade to its advantage, but at the very least, he had managed to lock one of the kappa in place for his allies to lay down the pain. Still, getting in a position to actually end up wrestling with a kappa definitely wasn't somewhere Lew needed to be. At this point in time, he needed to hold his ground, relying on his high END to-

Wait, shit, shit!

As soon as Lew felt the kappa's weight shift along with its knee flying forward, he knew exactly what it was intending to do. What the kappa didn't realize was that Lew was on a mission, and that mission involved the hidden weapon held between his legs. No matter what happens, Lew will not be denied his sacred duty... not before he could even accomplish it.

Letting go of both his swords, Lew threw his legs back as far as he could in an attempt to sprawl his lower body away from his opponent's reach, letting his stomach or even his chest meet the kappa's knee instead of his purse of precious jewels. The physical agony of a few broken ribs was worth saving his in-game progeny. As he kicked his body back and endured whatever blow came to him, Lew grabbed the kappa's forearm tightly with his own gripped arm, swinging over his slightly longer right hand on top of the kappa's head, taking advantage of his longer reach to both hold the creature's head in place for Mag's haymaker as well as possibly grip the bowl atop its head.

Ari Reina Caladis(Theresa)

---

It was a very nice area to be in. Just strolling about made her happy, like going for a walk in the park after a crisp rain. She would have asked to borrow Lew's blade, had there been any woody long straight plants, but it seemed shrubbery and bushes were the largest woody sort of plant here. Thus, she went to plucking the long flexible grassy plants as they walked. That's right, like a panda man's school of fighting, she was going to take the 'Everything goes' part and see how far she could go with it.

Ari was fumbling a bit with the weaving of a string from the grass however, and a singular thought came into the back of her mind. First she thought it to herself jokingly, but it slowly started to niggle at her. As her fumbling and frustration at her progress with making the grass string grew, so too did that thought's viability grew. She was very sure that with a bit more time, and with her sitting down properly, she can make a grass sling in a jiffy.

However, she did not have that time, considering they were nearing their destination. Thus lagging slightly behind, and when she thought no one was looking at her, she ducked into some tall bushes. Not too soon after, she ducked out of it, with a determined, slightly blushed face and an awkward walk.

When the kappas came out, she did not call them out, or move to the front of the party, but slinked to the back and to the side, gathering several stones from the edge of the river. Producing an oddly... recognizable, piece of fabric from her pocket, she placed it into the middle, the sturdy and elastic fabric holding up well as she swung the makeshift sling around, before finally shooting off a stone with surprising speeds at the two kappas. Whether she missed or hit didn't matter, for she was already readying another stone, her face slightly red.

---

Raime was inspecting and appreciating the feel and look of his crossbow and the leather pouch that contained his bolts. They were far different from the crossbow he regularly uses at the local archery range, the most prominent difference being that this one was made from wood and metal instead of lightweight synthetic materials. Though he wasn't complaining, this was a real beauty of a weapon. It was around this time when the rest of his group arrived. A couple of his buddies looking way worse than he remembered, but he could guess that the brawl went swimmingly as Mags wasn't pestering them about fighting anymore. He simply gives them a nod as they wordlessly traversed the plains that surrounded the Pearl Bloom River. He would have appreciated the trek a little bit more if only the dozens upon dozens of immortals ran to and fro across the place weren't there. The death rattles of the monsters they killed didn't help one bit.

Though after a while, they encountered their very first monster encounter in the game. A pair of turtle humanoids wielding rudimentary spears. Raime gawked at the creatures in awe and amusement. They looked soo cool! He would have kept looking but Lew warned them about their wrestling prowess and their weak point was the water contained atop their heads, reminding him that they weren't here to say hi. These creatures were here to fight. Raime was already loading a bolt when Mags barked out orders. "Way ahead of you, Mags." He says just as Lew got kicked in what seemed to be in the boingloings. The sight alone caused Raime to flinch and push his thighs together.

He was starting to question if putting his user experience to hyper-realistic was such a wise choice after all. Though, given the situation, he had more pressing matters to attend to.

Raime levels the crossbow and takes his shooting position. Focusing on the turtle creature that just kicked his buddy in the didgeridoos and aims at the creature's leg. Hoping that, if he hits, it would give Lew an advantage against it and turn the tide of battle. Imagining it to be like one of the targets he'd shot innumerable times back at the range, he holds his breath and activates [Zoned In] before letting loose the bolt.

---

---

After traveling for a while, Klein knows most of the people in the group. The samurai was Dysphoria if he recalled correctly. The skinny looking boy, with this cheerful looks in his eyes, called Ames. The catgirl was Ari while the Slavic guy was Amulak. Of course, there is a boomer named Raime. And the fucker that almost taken all of Klein's money, Magpie.

He holds no grudges. But he does looking for some childish payback though.

When Magpie decided to pick a fight with another "kappa" and locked herself in a heating close quarter combat, Klein deemed that his assistance is much needed. After all, you can't let a wounded woman to fend for herself. So, shielding his body with his left shoulder, Klein began to charge at Magpie and the kappa from the side. Klein's plan was simple, pin the kappa, kill it (preferably by himself), and give Mag a taste of her own medicine.

That being said, Klein, being a kind and a good teammate, decided to give a heads up. So just about 3 meters till impact, the over-modded character roared:

"Get out!"

Amulak al Acturus (Stanislaw)

Stanislaw read over his two available spells briefly, committing their effects to memory and how he could best use them. It wasn't that complex yet, but Mana Control would likely be something very useful for the future if it applied to all spells. In the meantime, it seemed the group had started walking around, so he quickly joined up with them, taking up a position somewhere in the middle. Not in front to tank hits, and not too far in back to get screwed if they were ambushed from behind.

The kappas had him tilting his head, and he briefly looked them over before preparing for battle.

"Huh. These things are, uh...how you say? Manlet." He snickered, raising a hand as he nodded at both Lew and Mags.

"Okay, you got it. Hopefully we nuke second one down before he kick our shit in melee, yes?" Amulak said, starting the process to cast a spell as he waved his outstretched hand. A three word chant, eh? Well, as long as he could mix it up every now and then, he might as well make up some random bullshit for the moment until he figured out some flavorful or funny chants.

...Ah, screw it. Might as well just curse in Polish. Not like anyone here spoke the language, anyway.

"Pieprzyć twoją matkę!" He cried out, not bothering with Mana Control for the moment as he shot a Magic Bolt at the kappa he was designated to.

aмeℓιa

^{__________________________________}
Nyu-Taro
Ames hardly knew she was flying through the air until her body connected with the tiled roof of some shop - and then proceeded to roll painfully until she and Mags came to a stop nearby the Western Gate. Getting slapped around by Mags was one thing, but getting blasted by some random person was another. Lying on her back again, Ames breathed out deeply through her nose and stared up at the sky with pinched brows. She lifted her arm to give Mags a half-hearted wave when the other girl left with a word of thanks and promise, and the red head found herself having the same thought: was it worth it? Probably not. At the end of the day she'd helped out a friend though, hopefully that counted for something! Passerbys gave her various looks of annoyance and pity, perhaps mistaking the dirty young man sprawled on the cobblestone for a derelict, but before too long Ames stood up and dusted her avatar off.

---

Outside the City
"Only two? I'm sure you guys got it, hold on I'm gonna figure this party thing out."

After meeting up with everyone and finally traveling together outside of the city, Ames had stuck the two talismans in her possession to her starting clothes. She still intended to give one to Kriz whenever they came back online, but for now he wouldn't be needing it... so might as well not let it go to waste, right? That was the thought anyway. Keeping it safe for him. Yup.

With the bonus stats, Ames felt more than comfortable hanging back and fiddling with the menu screens while the others did all the work valiantly fought against the kappas. She wasn't worried about an ambush because she knew she was pretty dang strong right now - well, compared to the other low level immortals at least. So, while the battle went on Ames painstakingly targeted every member of their group and added them to an official party. "...aaaaand done, I think!"

She looked up in time to catch Amulak's spell, and her eyes sparkled. "Aw, so cool! Maybe I should have picked magic to start with." One thing was for sure, Magpie was definitely going to enlisted to help unlocking a cool class for Ames too.

"Well, looks like you've guys got it! Go go, finish 'em off!" Ames cheered, pumping one fist in the air happily while not actually helping whatsoever.

The melee quickly became both brutal and confusing.

As Lugh dropped away, he felt a light thump against his lower stomach, as the kappa slammed their knee into his torso. For a moment, there was some sensory dissonance, seeing the slimy creature’s knee pressed so deep into his body and yet not registering it at all as actual pain. His health though, did reflect that change, 7 points of damage inflicted by that unarmed strike. He would survive, that was for certain, but it was still worrisome that the creature before him, manlet or not, could even inflict damage upon him through Lugh’s crazy END.

If he simply held on, threatening with his blades in his hands, perhaps Magpie would have been able to score a clean hit. Instead, however, Lugh abandoned his weapons, and became an afterthought to the kappa’s mind. As polished steel thumped into the ground and the warrior went to reciprocate the grapple properly, he noticed something.

Those were some hella thick neck muscles that the manlet was sporting!

Dropping their own spear, the grappler kappa twisted their body, pivoting to face the same side as Lugh who was already unbalanced due to his strange posture. Magpie, rushing in with a wild haymaker, suddenly didn’t have much of a target at all when the kappa pulled Lugh closer, preparing for an over-the-shoulder throw. To strike would be to crack Lugh’s cranium, not the kappa’s, and the brawler barely managed to stop in time!

"Get out!"

Until Klein returned favors and barreled into her from behind, inflicting 3 points of physical damage and infinite points of humiliation. It was a domino effect from there, one that Raime saw play out in slowed motion. Zoned in, he could see Magpie fall over a Lugh who was on top of the kappa, before Klein’s inertia carried him onto the other two adventurers as well. There was a split second where they all flopped onto each other, supported by the surprisingly strong kappa on the bottom, before that slippery river-monster sprung out from underneath, and they all fell into a disorderly heap. With foes prone and weapons scattered, the kappa grabbed for the closest weapon available, Lugh’s wakizashi, and it was then that Raime’s bolt was fired, causing the creature to hop back, a crossbow bolt vibrating on the ground where their leg was moments ago.

Of course, where one kappa was unarmed, another was certainly ready to steal some kills. Having spent most of his time hopping to and fro, evading Ari’s surprisingly well-aimed stones, the spear kappa saw a golden opportunity amongst the heap of Immortals. With a squawk of ‘fuck yea, three in one’, the turtle rushed forwards, thrusting its spear into Klein’s back and inflicting a hefty 19 points of damage as the spear dug deep. For the poor 40% pain player, the experience was as if someone stabbed him with a pencil with all their might, his virtual muscles flaring up in pain. That wasn’t all though! The kappa’s muscles tautened, feet pushing into the dirt, as they prepared to thrust in even deeper, hopefully to skewer Klein and stab into the second Immortal layer: Magpie.

"Pieprzyć twoją matkę!"

Amulak felt a burning in his veins, something warming up beyond just his blood as an incomprehensible exhilaration filled him up until he was like a balloon about to burst. Motes of energy manifested around him, before swirling into the palm of his outstretched hand, and with a flash of light, a recoil that he felt through his whole body, a magical bolt shot out, hitting the spear kappa right in the shoulder and sending them spinning away from Klein, Magpie, and Lugh. A solid hit!

But as the kappa reoriented himself, eyes narrowed in frustration and anger, blood dripping from both his spear and his shoulder, Amulak knew too, that he was most certainly on the top of the river-manlet’s hitlist now.

Which was why it was definitely a smart, savvy tactical decision to have one melee specialist, in this case Ames, stay in the backline!

Ari Reina Caladis(Theresa)

---

Ari licked her lips, already getting very into the fight, her heartbeat like a wardrum beating in her ears, a strange warm hot feeling filling her body as adrenaline started to kick in. Theresa was definitely not any sort of gymnast, but having already tested and gained confidence in her body and having lost the fear of being actually hurt or killed, she was less hesitant on doing high flying moves. Moving quickly with all the stones she gathered, she moved low to the ground, planting a feet straight onto Ames' back as she used her like a spring board, spinning in the air to further increase the energy into a stone flung at the kappa eyeing Amulak.

"MYAHAHAHA~ Nya heck nya'll doing~"

Landing on her feet, she quickly set up in a stance in front of Amulak with the piece of fabric in her hand already loaded with another stone, as if daring it to come closer to attack.

---

Raime clicked his tongue in mild disappointment as the kappa reacted quickly enough to dodge his bolt. He should have expected that the kappa wouldn't just stand there and let itself get shot. The AI's complexity was phenomenal; it was as if it were a genuine creature trying its best to fight for its life. But, yet again, not the proper time to admire the game. With practiced movements, he sets the butt of the crossbow to his thigh and uses both his hands to draw the bowstring back. Though as virtual reality would have it, pulling back the metal limbs of a crossbow was significantly harder than plexiglass limbs. Fucking thing must have had more than quadruple the draw weight of his own crossbow in real life. Quickly giving up his usual method of reloading, he would plant the sirup on the ground and pull upward with all his might. The aching feeling in his hands and back reminded him that he ought to buy some gloves and a reloading lever if he were to keep playing at 100% realism. Almost doubling his usual seven-second reload time, Raime finally manages to reload his crossbow.

Raime would now retake his stance and keep an eye to where the wakizashi wielding kappa hoping that, if he were to track the creature's movement, it would increase his chances of hitting the kappa.

---

---

With an audible "Gwuh", Mags had been hit by the force of an unstoppable dumbass and collided with her more friendly teammate. Then, from above, the fool landed on top of her. Normally, she'd be incredibly mad about that sort of thing. A mix of having an instant meat shield and memories of rescuing her allies into mechanics tempered her instant rage. Rather than yell at Klein for being a massive idiot, she simply slid out of the miscoloured human Oreo. Thankfully, Amulak's magic missile protected Magpie from being skewered to the massive idiot that caused this issue in the first place.

Now free, she could figure out the situation. There was the spear wielding kappa and an unarmed Kappa that could probably wrestle her to kingdom come.

Well, she might as well go to the backline to try to help defend Amulak. He was the one person who seemed to be able to do considerable damage to the kappas, after all. Quickly sifting the ground nearby for hand-sized rocks, she put a nice one in each hand and went back to protect the useful mage alongside Ames.

An excruciating pain. A pain so strong that it wrecks his brain into mush. Or, that was what Klein was expecting from a spear going through his back. But, to be honest, it was like a pencil head going through his skin. Painful, but laughable at the same time.

Still, even with such minor pain, the effect it brought upon him could be noticeable. Almost a fifth of his health became thin air. And with such obvious suggestion, Klein reliezed that he didn't need to kill the monsters. All he need was to consume them without cooking. This means that he should have just gone to some butchers and buy some raw meat. Or, he could just let the ranged to do what they do best. So, pulling himself out from the pile of humans, Klein retreated back to his backline, planting himself between his much squishier teammates and the kappas. If the kappa only did 19 damage to the back, he could take at least 5 more hits like that before going down. Not too bad. Maybe he should even spec more points into health once he gets levels up.

Amulak al Acturus (Stanislaw)
HP:150/150 MP:190/200 SP: 50/50

Magic felt good. He couldn't exactly describe how it felt, but it did remind him of something. The thrill of victory. Of competition. The aspiring necromancer grinned broadly as he watched his bolt fly into the kappa, relishing in his success. That elation lasted only a moment longer until he noticed the turtle manlet making a beeline for him instead.

Well, shit. Seemed he'd drawn aggro.

Luckily, there were convenient meatshields allies to help defend him if things went wrong. Ari and Mags were already getting into position to cover him, which meant he had the luxury of casting again instead of trying to evade. This time, Amulak sought to ice the kappa entirely, so he activated Mana Control in order to boost both the MP cost and the damage of his spell before firing off another Magic Bolt. Besides, it was only two mana more for 20% increased damage.

"Eat shit, green manlet! Pieprzyć twoją matkę!"

---

Lew groaned in discomfort as everyone came tumbling onto him soon after his chest was caved in. It was good that his pain settings were low enough to where he didn't feel anything, but the feeling of everyone's weight on top of his freshly hit chest was not ignorable, and quite discomforting at the very least. As he waited for everyone to get off of him, Lew reached for either of his swords, quickly going for his wakizashi as soon as he noticed the kappa he was fighting was quickly distracted by an opportune shot from Raymond. It was a real good thing that Lew's tactical choice of making one of his arms a few inches longer than his other would pay off easily.

As soon as he was free to stand up, Lew quickly took the chance, keeping his eye on the kappa who had recently grappled him to the ground. As he did, he held his short blade in a position to where if the kappa were to approach him, it would find itself skewered on Lew's blade. Keeping note of this, he quickly kicked away at the kappa's discarded spear as well, so that it would not reach for that weapon either, before moving himself in a matter where he would be between the kappa and his discarded katana.

All Lew could do now was wait for the kappa's next move, knowing that the other kappa had been aggroed by the rest of his team. As he awaited, Lew took a deep breath as he prepared for another Power Attack, ready to stab or even slice at the first limb the kappa would throw within his range of attack.