“Why are you… *huff*... so freaking fast…” Gen wheezed, too tired to continue chasing Louis.
Despite also being winded from desperately dodging Gen’s attacks, Louis wiped the sweat off his brow and composedly pushed up his glasses.
“I’m used to running from my problems,” he said as the light glinted off of them.
“... Out of curiosity, how many of those problems are self-inflicted?” Lily asked.
He shrugged back.
“Either none of them or all of them, depending on who you ask.”
“Who says ‘none’?”
“Me.”
““Hey.””
Louis snickered at the incredulous looks that Lily and Gen gave him.
“Anyways—that's how tanking works, Fen.”
“I see,” Fenris replied.
“Uh…” Louis frowned, having figured out that that response meant that Fenris didn't actually get it. “... Basically, I didn't get hit since I was focused on 'tanking' Gen’s attacks and dodging them.”
A faint glimmer of comprehension reflected in Fenris‘s eyes as he fell deep into thought.
“... If I’m ‘tanking’, I should try… not getting hit.”
Louis not-so-silently fistpumped (“—Yes!”) as Gen and Lily started patting Fenris’s head, much to his confusion. The nuances of party play seemed a bit lost on Fenris, but they had achieved their main goal of stopping him from just bulldozing through hits.
‘One small victory at a time…’
… Unbeknownst to them, this was the same mantra used by many of Fenris’s teachers in the past.
———
With their basic strategy established, the rest of the party’s fights went much more smoothly, falling into a fairly predictable routine.
Fenris’s ears suddenly perked up as he scanned the path ahead.
“... Three big guys, ahead…” Fenris said, locking onto the figures in the distance. “... I’m going.”
“Ara, again?” Gen sighed as Fenris sped off.
They had figured out that Fenris’s ‘big guys’ meant orcs—which always came in groups, and were stupidly strong and stupidly resilient; fortunately, while orcs were a pain to fight head-on, they were also just plain stupid, making them easy to ambush.
… Unfortunately, subtlety wasn't their companion’s strong suit.
“Haven't we been fighting too many enemies?” Lily complained, still tired from running to catch up to their last fight.
“We’re getting deeper into the steppes, so I guess more fights are to be expected,” Louis said, pulling his spear out of his inventory. “C’mon, we gotta move!”
“Ugh… fine…” she groaned before chasing after Gen and Louis.
Unsurprisingly, the three orcs were put on guard by sight of the rapidly-approaching Fenris, the one at the front raising its crude club to block his incredibly telegraphed, flying overhead punch.
Its nearest comrade quickly rallied—or rather, as quickly as an orc could react—swinging its own weapon down on the puny aggressor; however, Fenris slid back, comfortably avoiding the crushing blow by a hair’s breadth. This was followed by the third orc’s own strike, which was also dodged cleanly.
The three orcs kept swinging their clubs down at Fenris, missing, and raising the hefty pieces of lumber to try again and again until they finally ran out of breath. They glowered at the now-still wolf boy, who tauntingly stood just out of reach.
““...”” They stared at him.
“... Thbbpt,” Fenris blew his tongue back, immediately giving the enraged orcs a second wind.
Louis watched as Fenris played a bizarre version of Whack-a-Mole with the orcs, skirting between their attacks with a concerning amount of enthusiasm.
“... What the heck is Fen doing now?” he muttered with a furrowed brow.
“I do hope he hasn't awakened to some strange hobby…” Gen murmured back before diving into the fray herself. She parried an orc’s swing with perfect timing and struck back, injuring the monster's main hand and causing it to let out a pained roar as it tumbled back.
The orcs were caught off guard by the sudden appearance of new foes, too distracted by Fenris to pay attention to their surroundings. With Fenris and the others reunited, the party began their assault.
“[Earth]!”
Lily softened the dirt beneath the orcs’ feet, causing one of them to sink partially into the ground, trapping it; Fenris slammed both of his fists down onto the poor orc’s head, dunking it the rest of the way into the liquefied earth.
Gen held the attention of the other two orcs; whereas Fenris had simply dodged their attacks, Gen was dancing between them—using her buckler to deflect and slide under the orcs’ swings while gracefully weaving in slashes of her own.
Meanwhile, Louis dashed in and out, using his polearm to deal critical blows before ducking back out of range. Although the orcs keenly felt the sting of his thrusts, Gen immediately nipped at their sides if they tried to turn and focus on him. Despite their bickering, Gen and Louis were a formidable duo.
Like this, their party advanced deeper into the steppes, towards Goretusk territory.
———
(EXTRA: *Thbbpt*)
Fenris was just doing what he thought Louis would have done. After seeing how annoyed the orcs were, however…
‘... This is… kinda fun…’
It was a bit more exciting than usual, so he wanted to try it again.
———
(EXTRA 2:)
“You’re pretty good at dodging…” Louis noted after the fight, also recalling Fenris’s duel against the vice guildmaster. “Why do you keep taking so many hits, Fen?”
“It's hard to dodge a lot of enemies… If I punch fast enough, there won't be as many of them, so...”
“... I guess that's one way of preventing damage.”
———
Spoilerwimbledon
Bleh, I know I said not to expect a regular schedule up front, but it still feels bad to fall behind pace...
Anyways, a bit of gaming terminology for anyone that doesn't know:
Tank - A defense-oriented role focused on drawing the enemies' attention and/or absorbing damage.
DPS - Stands for "damage per second". An offense-oriented role that tries to deal as much damage as possible. Can either be melee or use ranged attacks, such as arrows or magic.
Support - Broadly, provides aid to the other roles; this can take the form of (but is not limited to) healing, applying "buffs" or beneficial effects to allies, and applying "debuffs" or detrimental effects to enemies.
Frontline - Players that stand in front of the other party members (ie. the "backline") in a fight. Usually uses melee weapons/attacks.
Backline - Players standing behind the other party members (ie. the "frontline") in a fight. Usually uses ranged weapons/attacks.
Gen: “Our party seems a bit frontline-heavy...”
Louis: “Eh, maybe we'll get a backline DPS later on.”
[collapse]
“Why are you… *huff*... so freaking fast…” Gen wheezed, too tired to continue chasing Louis.
Despite also being winded from desperately dodging Gen’s attacks, Louis wiped the sweat off his brow and composedly pushed up his glasses.
“I’m used to running from my problems,” he said as the light glinted off of them.
“... Out of curiosity, how many of those problems are self-inflicted?” Lily asked.
He shrugged back.
“Either none of them or all of them, depending on who you ask.”
“Who says ‘none’?”
“Me.”
““Hey.””
Louis snickered at the incredulous looks that Lily and Gen gave him.
“Anyways—that's how tanking works, Fen.”
“I see,” Fenris replied.
“Uh…” Louis frowned, having figured out that that response meant that Fenris didn't actually get it. “... Basically, I didn't get hit since I was focused on 'tanking' Gen’s attacks and dodging them.”
A faint glimmer of comprehension reflected in Fenris‘s eyes as he fell deep into thought.
“... If I’m ‘tanking’, I should try… not getting hit.”
Louis not-so-silently fistpumped (“—Yes!”) as Gen and Lily started patting Fenris’s head, much to his confusion. The nuances of party play seemed a bit lost on Fenris, but they had achieved their main goal of stopping him from just bulldozing through hits.
‘One small victory at a time…’
… Unbeknownst to them, this was the same mantra used by many of Fenris’s teachers in the past.
———
With their basic strategy established, the rest of the party’s fights went much more smoothly, falling into a fairly predictable routine.
Fenris’s ears suddenly perked up as he scanned the path ahead.
“... Three big guys, ahead…” Fenris said, locking onto the figures in the distance. “... I’m going.”
“Ara, again?” Gen sighed as Fenris sped off.
They had figured out that Fenris’s ‘big guys’ meant orcs—which always came in groups, and were stupidly strong and stupidly resilient; fortunately, while orcs were a pain to fight head-on, they were also just plain stupid, making them easy to ambush.
… Unfortunately, subtlety wasn't their companion’s strong suit.
“Haven't we been fighting too many enemies?” Lily complained, still tired from running to catch up to their last fight.
“We’re getting deeper into the steppes, so I guess more fights are to be expected,” Louis said, pulling his spear out of his inventory. “C’mon, we gotta move!”
“Ugh… fine…” she groaned before chasing after Gen and Louis.
Unsurprisingly, the three orcs were put on guard by sight of the rapidly-approaching Fenris, the one at the front raising its crude club to block his incredibly telegraphed, flying overhead punch.
Its nearest comrade quickly rallied—or rather, as quickly as an orc could react—swinging its own weapon down on the puny aggressor; however, Fenris slid back, comfortably avoiding the crushing blow by a hair’s breadth. This was followed by the third orc’s own strike, which was also dodged cleanly.
The three orcs kept swinging their clubs down at Fenris, missing, and raising the hefty pieces of lumber to try again and again until they finally ran out of breath. They glowered at the now-still wolf boy, who tauntingly stood just out of reach.
““...”” They stared at him.
“... Thbbpt,” Fenris blew his tongue back, immediately giving the enraged orcs a second wind.
Louis watched as Fenris played a bizarre version of Whack-a-Mole with the orcs, skirting between their attacks with a concerning amount of enthusiasm.
“... What the heck is Fen doing now?” he muttered with a furrowed brow.
“I do hope he hasn't awakened to some strange hobby…” Gen murmured back before diving into the fray herself. She parried an orc’s swing with perfect timing and struck back, injuring the monster's main hand and causing it to let out a pained roar as it tumbled back.
The orcs were caught off guard by the sudden appearance of new foes, too distracted by Fenris to pay attention to their surroundings. With Fenris and the others reunited, the party began their assault.
“[Earth]!”
Lily softened the dirt beneath the orcs’ feet, causing one of them to sink partially into the ground, trapping it; Fenris slammed both of his fists down onto the poor orc’s head, dunking it the rest of the way into the liquefied earth.
Gen held the attention of the other two orcs; whereas Fenris had simply dodged their attacks, Gen was dancing between them—using her buckler to deflect and slide under the orcs’ swings while gracefully weaving in slashes of her own.
Meanwhile, Louis dashed in and out, using his polearm to deal critical blows before ducking back out of range. Although the orcs keenly felt the sting of his thrusts, Gen immediately nipped at their sides if they tried to turn and focus on him. Despite their bickering, Gen and Louis were a formidable duo.
Like this, their party advanced deeper into the steppes, towards Goretusk territory.
———
(EXTRA: *Thbbpt*)
Fenris was just doing what he thought Louis would have done. After seeing how annoyed the orcs were, however…
‘... This is… kinda fun…’
It was a bit more exciting than usual, so he wanted to try it again.
———
(EXTRA 2:)
“You’re pretty good at dodging…” Louis noted after the fight, also recalling Fenris’s duel against the vice guildmaster. “Why do you keep taking so many hits, Fen?”
“It's hard to dodge a lot of enemies… If I punch fast enough, there won't be as many of them, so...”
“... I guess that's one way of preventing damage.”
———
Spoilerwimbledon
Bleh, I know I said not to expect a regular schedule up front, but it still feels bad to fall behind pace...
Anyways, a bit of gaming terminology for anyone that doesn't know:
Tank - A defense-oriented role focused on drawing the enemies' attention and/or absorbing damage.
DPS - Stands for "damage per second". An offense-oriented role that tries to deal as much damage as possible. Can either be melee or use ranged attacks, such as arrows or magic.
Support - Broadly, provides aid to the other roles; this can take the form of (but is not limited to) healing, applying "buffs" or beneficial effects to allies, and applying "debuffs" or detrimental effects to enemies.
Frontline - Players that stand in front of the other party members (ie. the "backline") in a fight. Usually uses melee weapons/attacks.
Backline - Players standing behind the other party members (ie. the "frontline") in a fight. Usually uses ranged weapons/attacks.
Gen: “Our party seems a bit frontline-heavy...”
Louis: “Eh, maybe we'll get a backline DPS later on.”
[collapse]