Critical Inaccuracy, Chapter 4 of 7 - Even Beautful Tamers Have Thorns

It was just another pretty, promising, perfectly precious, spring morning. Birds were singing, flowers were blooming, yada yada.

Only, today was not just a typical morning. For Alicia...

"Ah, the day is young!", said Alicia, as she rolled out of bed, stretched, and began her morning routine.

She started by walking into her bathroom and washing her face. A great way to wake herself up.

Next, she brushed her hair. Not a single knot would ruin her cutesy appearance.

And at last the finishing touch, putting in her flowery hair pin.

"Beautiful as always, Elaine!", said Alicia, as she checked herself out in the mirror.

Finally, she got around to making herself some breakfast, or better called lunch at the time, and hopped on CMO.

Here, she selected her only character- Allium, named after her favorite flower, and matching her hairpin.

It was still a short while before the agreed upon meetup time, but she just had to see her familiars.

Upon logging in, she was soon met with Kibé, just as excited as she was to meet up again.

In awe of his cuteness, Alicia said to herself, "(You're just way too cute! I've gotta find a hat for you, too!)".

Her pursuit for an accessory led her all across town, and as always, she became blissfully unaware of the time.

"(Here, this hat'll look great on you!)", said Alicia, as she put the hat on Kibé, before glancing at the time.

2:03pm

"(2 already? Hope I'm not the only one late... Let's go, Kibé!)", said Alicia, as she warped back to the mountain.

Waiting for her was Walrot, Torrain, Lorelei, Grante, and Llucien... Everyone was here already.

"Torrain: Well well well, if it ain't the girl of the hour".

"Allium: Sorry to keep you all waiting, I lost track of time a bit...".

"Llucien: Let me guess, buying stuff for your familiars?".

"Allium: Wha- Me? I would never...".

"Lorelei: *cough* just yesterday *cough*".

"Grante: Whatever, it's not like we're too far off schedule. The real issue is, have we really gotten strong enough to take out this Gatekeeper guy?".

"Allium: Don't worry. This time, I'm going to give it my all!".

"Grante: Yeah see, I get that. And no offense, but is that really gonna be our saving grace here?".

"Torrain: I see what you mean. I can't see any of us being strong enough to make that big of a difference on our own".

"Allium: We won't know until we try!".

"Walrot: I've said it before, we don't have much other choice here. We'll have to pull out every trick if we want to proceed".

"Grante: Hey, I'm down to give it a shot. We ready to do this?".

With some affirmation from the party, Grante approached the gate.

"(C'mon Elaine, you've got this. Show them that you are strong! ...show them all...)", said Alicia, her voice growing shaky.

In spite of her weariness the Gatekeeper appeared all the same. It was time to show her mettle.

Llucien charged behind the enemy, while Grante and Torrain charged it head on, and Lorelei stayed just far enough to dodge its attacks. Meanwhile, Allium tried her best to keep up.

"(You are strong... you are!)", repeated Allium, as her familiars passively fired at the enemy.

"Walrot: Allium!", he called out to her.

Allium shuttered.

"Llucien: Mental is everything, don't let it get to you".

"Grante: Yeah, we've got your back".

The strength of their words... Allium was filled with determination.

Snapping out of it, Allium commanded Kibé with her wand, and he shot a powerful blue fireball. Quickly, she switched him out for her rabbit, who used some sort of skill on the fireball, increasing its speed and power.

The fireball hit the Gatekeeper's head, knocking him off balance. Immediately, Llucien and Lorelei closed in for a quick strike on its newly-created weak point.

The monster began trying to regain its footing.

"Grante: Torrain!".

Grante charged forward and bashed his shield at the monster's foot, holding it above the ground, as Torrain jumped at him, stabbing his sword into the monster's chest.

But alas, his sword wouldn't pierce the monster's skin, and Torrain was smashed by the monster's massive fist.

"Grante: A little help here!".

Llucien ran and slashed at the monster's back in hopes of setting Grante free, but the monster swung behind him, forcing Llucien to evade, before losing his own footing and getting hit by a second swing.

Just as the monster was about to crush Grante, Allium lobbed her shrunken cloud familiar beside him, underneath the monster's foot, before it expanded rapidly, knocking the monster over, and launching Grante out of its way.

"Allium: You okay?".

"Grante: More or less. Can't say the same for them though".

Torrain and Llucien were still out of commision, with Lorelei nowhere to be seen.

Without warning, while the monster was still knocked down, Lorelei came sprinting across the trees overhead, and shot a massive arrow straight downward mid-jump, into the monster's chest, where Torrain stabbed.

This did a great deal of damage, and Lorelei managed to land on the other tree.

The monster then wailed, and struggled a bit, before closing its eyes and collapsing.

Everyone was excited for only a moment, before they realized.

"Grante: It's not over yet! If it died, it would disappear!".

As he foretold, the monster started to glow red, and stood back up.

"Torrain: There's still more to this guy!?".

All this time, Walrot was charging a powerful spell, and finally it was time to release it.

A massive fist of rock appeared in the distant sky, as it began hurtling down toward the monster.

"Llucien: That's... insane!".

The Gatekeeper seemed unaware, until the moment it hit him. He raised his own hand, and caught the fist, stopping it in its tracks.

Walrot forced the fist still downward, in hopes of breaking through his guard, but after just a moment, the monster tightened its grip, and the rock fist shattered instantly to pieces.

"Grante: That's insane!".

The monster then punched at Lorelei, launching a surprise fireball that hit her directly, knocking her out of the trees, where it quickly stomped her to death.

Walrot was still paralyzed with fear.

"Walrot: Th-that spell cost all my mana".

"Grante: Walrot, look out!".

The monster locked its hands together and slammed them on top of Walrot.

Grante was able to rush in with his shield yet again, blocking the attack, but the overwhelming power forced him into the ground, killing both him and Walrot.

"Torrain: We... aren't strong enough".

Torrain quickly got shot by a fireball, and killed, while Llucien died from bleeding over time.

Allium was alone against this monster. If she were only stronger, she might be able to take it out here and now, but that wasn't the case.

After all respawning aside from Allium who gave up the fight, they discussed plans on what they could do differently.

All the while, Allium could only think about how she could have done more.

All she could think about is how she wasn't strong enough, just like always.

"(Even now, they still haunt me...)", said Alicia, "(Why can't they just leave me alone? ...Why can't I just let them go?)".

Alicia had a battle within herself, one which she always lost.

"(I can't keep letting my past drag me down... If I want to get stronger, I have to... take things into my own hands...)", said Alicia.

Only this time, she knew she had people depending on her. People she herself could depend on.

"(My... own hands?)", said Alicia.

Alicia stood up, as she typed out "Sorry, there's something I need to take care of.".

The others questioned her, but by this point she was already gone.

She went into her bathroom, and looked at herself in the mirror.

"(I'm sorry, but I can't let you all control me...)", said Alicia, as she grabbed the scissors off the counter, "No, I'm not sorry. This is my life, and I refuse to let anyone tell me otherwise!".

With a moment's hesitation after grabbing her hair, she cut it. With these scissors, she would cut out the pain of her past that was dragging her down.

Still, she was scared this approach wouldn't work. Could something as simple as cutting her hair really help?

Regardless, Alicia returned to her computer.

"Allium: I'm back".

"Lorelei: What'd you have to do?".

"Allium: I guess you could say... I did some soul-searching...".

"Lorelei: ...what's that supposed to mean?".

"Allium: You don't have to worry about it. Now, let's give this boss what he deserves!".

"Grante: I like that fire in your eyes! You've got me feeling hyped too! LET'S DO THIS!!!".

"Torrain: Yeah, we've got this!".

"Llucien: Focus up, everybody. We've got a fight to win".

"Walrot: Time to clean up the trash".

With everyone raring to go, they started the fight again.

Torrain took the frontlines with Walrot, getting hits in while avoiding damage.

Llucien flew around the enemy, making it extremely difficult for it to hit him.

Lorelei stayed a good distance away, to land powerful arrow shots whenever an opportunity arose.

Grante stayed nearby, to protect his teammates when needed, and deal huge damage when the boss is staggered.

And Allium fell to the back, focusing on support and ranged attacks with her familiars.

While the others were all in on the action, Allium had Kibé firing at the enemy, using his blue fireball skill whenever possible to create a small opening.

"(There's so much time between attacks... I could be doing so much more...!)", said Alicia.

With this newfound determination of hers, Allium finally revealed the second weapon of her class, as she finally gained the courage to use it.

Allium rushed forward without warning, as she commanded Kibé to use their blue fireball, following just behind her.

Just as the fireball hit, Allium leaped into the air, and slashed at the Gatekeeper with her knife. It was a small knife, much shorter than a dagger, and because of this she often disregarded it, and just used it as a last resort, but if she can be quick and precise enough...

The monster got back up, but Allium stayed on him.

"Lorelei: Allium, get out of there!".

An attack came from behind at a high speed. Their fear was justified.

"(This attack... why does it feel so slow?)", said Alicia.

Allium jumped over the fist and even managed to slash it on the way over.

"Llucien: Woah, that was pretty slick, Allium!".

"Allium: That, really?".

She continued fighting on the frontlines, avoiding attack after attack with the best of them, and all while commanding her familiars no less.

The monster pulled out a new move, where it swung its arms in a circle, catching Llucien off guard and throwing him into Torrain, launching them both into a tree trunk.

Allium managed to avoid the attack, but one the monster's claws grazed her, scratching her face and dealing a surprisingly high amount of damage.

"(That much damage, from just a scratch? I really shouldn't be surprised given my defensive stats. I should be more careful)", said Alicia.

With one last blue fireball from Kibé, followed by a powerful arrow from Lorelei, a broadsword combo slash from Grante, a lightning bolt from Walrot, and some basic other slashing skills from the resurrected Torrain and Llucien, the boss again collapsed. But this wasn't the end.

"Torrain: C'mon, we've got him this time".

"Lorelei: Of course, we've got Rogue Tamer Allium on our side".

"Llucien: Can't argue with that. She's catching up to even my speed".

"Walrot: We haven't won yet, don't get overconfident", as he spun his staff in his hands.

"Grante: A little overconfidence is fine".

"Allium: Here they come", readying her weapon.

The Gatekeeper stood back up, stronger than ever, and enhanced with fire.

At least this time, they wouldn't be surprised by his fireballs.

The fight continued about the same as the first phase, though the attacks were faster, and ever so slightly harder to avoid, due to the flames coming off of him.

However there was something else that would catch them off guard.

The Gatekeeper stood still for a moment, before planting its feet in the ground, and howling, releasing a burning aura all around it, inflicting burn on everyone in its radius.

"Grante: We're burning!".

"Llucien: Not looking too good- It does a percentage of your health, and it looks like we won't last more than a minute even at full health!".

"Torrain: We have to finish this fast! How's its health looking?".

"Lorelei: We've hardly made a dent in its second phase. Unless it's a ton weaker than its first phase, we've got some work to do".

"Walrot: You won't make it in time. Looks like it's up to us, Allium".

"Torrain: Wait, why didn't you use your flame veil on us, too!?".

"Walrot: I didn't use it on anyone. I have passive resistance, and it appears Allium has some too. As for you guys, I didn't expect you to be hit".

"Llucien: While I appreciate your faith in us, I think your expectations may be a smidge high".

"Allium: Everyone gather up! Kibé, you know what to do!".

Everyone was confused, but quickly gathered up anyways, before Kibé fired a blue fireball at them.

"Grante: Woah, what the heck Kibé!?".

Suddenly, their burns were healed.

"Llucien: What- How does that even work?".

"Allium: I'll tell you later, we've got a boss to kill!".

"Torrain: Right, thanks for the assist!".

Llucien thought for a moment while fighting, before speaking.

"Llucien: Wait, if that stuff dispels fire, what about using it on him?".

"Allium: Actually, that's not a half bad idea! Kibé!".

Kibe shot a cleansing fireball at the Gatekeeper, and lo and behold, the flames around him were indeed dispelled, and he was stunned in place.

"Torrain: This is it- Nice thinking Llucien!".

"Grante: Let's finish him!".

With all their strength combined, they pummeled him to death. Or at least, they thought.

The boss again collapsed.

"Grante: No, don't tell me!".

The boss started to sit up, but then started to rapidly glow a brighter and bright red.

"Llucien: Wai- Everyone, get back! He's going to explode!".

"Grante: Fall being me!", as he kneeled and planted his shield into the ground in front of him.

"Grante: Walrot, Allium, buff my shield!".

"Allium: On it!".

Enhanced with the power of fire veil, as well as Kibé's flame-cleansing abilities, the shield was as prepared as possible.

Finally, the Gatekeeper exploded...

...

...

...

It was a very small explosion, in order to blow up the gate, and has no intention of doing any damage.

"Grante: ...is it over?", still cowering behind his shield.

Lorelei stood up.

"Lorelei: Ugh, it was a story event. So much for worrying.

"Torrain: Hey, this means we beat him, right?".

"Allium: I mean, it is dead".

"Llucien: Man, you should've gotten that thing as a familiar. Guess we've gotta fight it again".

"Walrot: No.".

"Allium: Absolutely not. That thing wasn't cute at all!".

"Lorelei: That's what you're worried about!?".

"Grante: It's also impossible to tame bosses, right?".

"Allium: I mean... that too. But if I could tame it, still no".

"Torrain: Well I'm glad we know her stance on the matter. Anyway, what say we check out these 'Torrential Mountains'.

"Llucien: Actually, that sounds a lot like your name. That the origin?".

"Torrain: Like, my actual name? I've got no clue".

"Lorelei: A little weird that we all know your name, but none of us know anyone else's".

"Grante: We are all friends, right? I'm down to share if you all are".

"Torrain: Hmm... Nah".

"Lorelei: Huh, why are you against it? We already know yours".

"Torrain: Sounds like a better thing to do like at the start of the last day. For suspense and all, you know?".

"Lorelei: Okay... sure".

"Llucien: *ahem* Moving on, I guess we should check out these mountains, right 'Reyan'?".

"Reyan: I did suggest it".

"Granet: Cool, then let's get going".

They then went through the destroyed gate, and walked the path to the Torrential Summit.

As the path neared its end at the mountain's peak, the name started to come into play, and heavy rain began pouring down from black skies.

"Llucien: Yep, this looks like it'll work".

"Walrot: This isn't too far from the Gatekeeper. I'm surprised it didn't affect my lightning at all".

"Llucien: Well, this is still a game. The sky became instantly dark upon arriving here, so in that sense I'd be surprised if the clear skies over there did affect your lightning".

"Walrot: I suppose that makes sense".

"Grante: Not seeing any enemies yet. Are we sure we're at the summit?".

"Torrain: That's what the map says. Maybe they're just further in?".

"Grante: It's possible. Let's press forward".

They did just that, and arrived at the warp point for the summit, right in the center, where they started seeing some enemies.

With that, they decided to call it a day, and resume their grind tomorrow.

To be continued...