The Over-Break System

Lightly kicking the ground with the toe of his shoe Cynrik clicked his tongue as he read the update for part 3 of the EPIC quest. [Just as I thought, it’s a stupid rescue mission, OI BUT WHATS THIS FREAKING TELEPORT COST, TOBS HOW COULD YOU ROB ME LIKE THIS?]

– Emergency Quest, Haylons Shadow (EPIC Chain) 3/? –

-The Host successfully infiltrated the enemy’s base undetected and placed both teleportation waypoints. –

– Rewards for part 2 have been distributed.-

– Part 3 A: Since the Host has placed the central teleportation waypoint inside the enemy base, it needs to be charged. Due to the large number of people that need to use the teleportation circle, the Host will have to use Mana Codexes as fuel. (Charge 0%) (Incomplete)

– Part 3 B: Free Captive children. 0/83 (Incomplete)

– Part 3 C: Activate teleportation array. (Incomplete)

– Part 3 D: Send the freed children to the safe zone using the teleportation array. 0/83 (Incomplete)

– Part 3 E: Defend the array until all children have successfully teleported. (Incomplete)

– Reward 3k XP per Child rescued, 25 Skill points, 20 Stat points-

-Timer to set up teleportation array 10 minutes-

[Jeeze, Tobs, what’s with dropping five different subquests? I get that this is an epic quest chain, but still. WELP BRANCE looks like you get your wish; since you LOVVVEEEE saving people, ima leaving it to you. Sigh, seriously, this is such a waste of our codex reserves.] Cynrik continued grumbling as he walked over to the waypoint; he regretted tossing and sat in front of it while dumping all the Mana Codexes he had in his inventory on the floor like toy blocks.

Meanwhile, Brance had just finished reading all the notifications and gave Cynrik a strange look. [So, we not gonna talk about you talking in Norse? Or calling yourself Ivar the Boneless, what was that all about?]

Cynrik’s hand paused just above one of the Tier 0 Mana Codexes when Brance interrupted his train of thought. [Hm, oh that, yeah, I mean, “Don’t you know who I am? You can not kill me! I am Ivar the Boneless!” as weird as this may sound, it kind of just fit the situation, don’t overthink it. Anyway, give me all the codexes you’ve got; this thing is probably going to eat all of them.]

Brance just shook his head and walked over towards Cynrik before dumping all of the remaining Codexes he had on him directly on top of his brother’s head before walking off and working on the locked cells closest to the stairs.

[OH YEAH, REALLLLLL, mature, TSK, couldn’t freakin hand them to me,] airing his complaints while rubbing his head Cynrik started charging up the small flashlight device. All he had to do was place one of the small crystal-like codexes on top of the flat surface of the cone, and a notification would pop up asking if he would like to use it to charge the waypoint.

-You have used a Tier 0 Mana Codex as fuel for the teleportation waypoint. +1% Charge-

Cynrik took a quick count of all the tiny crystalline structures piled around him with a frown. He counted a total of eight Tier-0, 15 Tier-1, and 3 Tier-2 codexes before he held up one of the Tier-1 and allowed the waypoint to absorb it.

-You have used a Tier 1 Mana Codex as fuel for the teleportation waypoint. +5% Charge-

-Teleportation waypoint is currently 6% charged-

[Tobs…why…WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME!] Cynrik’s head dropped in defeat as he began feeding all of the Tier 0 and Tier 1 Codexes he had into the device.

While his brother was morning the loss of their hard work and resources, Brance was going cell to cell and using his shield to break lock after lock. With his STR stat being what it was, it only took one or two hits to destroy the metal padlocks that held the cell doors in place. Inside the cells he was presently working on were the children he had arrived with, who were still unconscious. Thinking to himself, Brance concluded that this was fine. All he would have to do is place them on the completed array, and they would be whisked off to the safe zone. They didn’t need to be conscious for that to happen.

The problem was going to occur when he released the children locked up for any period of time. But, being the positive-minded person he was, Brance figured it wouldn’t be challenging to convince them; they were there to save their lives. Especially since Cynrik had already dropped his Shadow Veil, causing dozens of pairs of eyes to watch their every move.

Finishing up the first round of locks, Brance moved back and forth, carrying the unconscious children over to Cynrik and laying them down next to him. Each time he dropped off a kid, he could hear the low grumbles coming from his older brother.

[Come on; it can’t be that bad. Trying to be optimistic,] Brance placed his hand on Cynrik’s shoulder.

Cynrik looked up at Brance with watery eyes, feeling the hand on his shoulder. [They… they’re all gone Brancie…we only have one left. All those bodies we dropped, and all we have is one Tier 2 Codex and 4 Tier-0 to show for it.] Unfortunately, Cynrik had found out that the Tier-2 Codexes gave a 10% charge, so he was forced to pump nearly all of their resources into the device just to complete the subquest.

– Part 3 A: Since the Host has placed the central teleportation waypoint inside the enemy base, it needs to be charged. Due to the large number of people that need to use the teleportation circle, the Host will have to use Mana Codexes as fuel. (Charge 100%) (Complete) –

-Timer to set up teleportation array 7:21-

Cynrik looked away from the notifications and back to Brance with his bottom lip quivering. Seeing how dramatic his older brother was being, Brance simply smacked him in the back of the head and went about knocking locks off doors. [Quit your blubbering. Go take some anger out on locks; we’re running out of time. We’ve got over 30 cells to open up and less than seven minutes to do it.]

Snorting out loud, Cynrik tossed the unused Mana Codexes back into his inventory and swapped to his SAO loadout from his AC before standing up and scanning the long hallway. His eyes widened as he noticed something, but he chose to hold back this new information from Brance and instead activated his Mana Sight.

Tilting his head back and looking around the floors above him, Cynrik picked up on several small Mana signatures moving in a group up the stairs to an area well out of the range of his skill. Cynrik had noticed the absence of several kids. With his memory being as good as it was, thanks to his MIND and INT stats, he remembered counting over a hundred kids the first time they were in the cellway. But now, because of the quest, Cynrik knew there was only 83 down here. So, although he was curious about where they were being sent, Cynrik opted to ignore them for now and decided against telling Brance.

‘There just isn’t enough time for him to be worrying about anything other than the task at hand. So if I tell him, it will only cause him to freak out again.’ Considering how his brother would react, Cynrik shook his head and drew both his swords from their sheaths.

Taking a deep breath and flipping his SunFlare around his hand a few times, Cynrik met the eyes that were staring at him with hope and spoke. “ALRIGHT, EVERYONE, LISTEN UP, I’M GUNNA BE RUNNING BY AND SLASHING THE LOCKS, SO STAND BACK. ONCE I BREAK THE LOCK, I WANT ALL OF YOU TO STAND IN A LINE, EVERYONE’S SYSTEM SHOULD BE TELLING YOU THAT WE ARE GOING TO BE SETTING UP A WAY TO A SAFE AREA. IF YOU ARE WITH A SMALL KID, HELP THEM OUT.”

Taking a deep stance, Cynrik’s eyes once again lit up with his Mana Sight as he focused on all the locks in a line running down the right side of the cellway. Brance stopped smacking the lock he was working on and looked over at Cynrik, who stood as if he was charging up for an attack. But, hearing the commands his brother was uttering, Brance was pleasantly surprised. He had expected Cynrik just to ignore all the children and go about destroying locks. But instead, Cynirk had pretty much given them clear and concise orders. It was unexpected, but Brance welcomed his brother’s initiative.

He didn’t realize that Cynrik had covertly targeted all of the children looking at him with a small amount of killing intent, which is why all the kids seemed uncharacteristically obedient.

Smirking lightly, Cynirk lept forward and started running at full speed down the hall; all the while, each time he passed a lock, he would obliterate it in a single strike with his ISS. Seconds later, he reached the end of the hall, turned around, and repeated the process on the opposite side.

With a deep exhale, Cynrik stopped right next to Brance, who had just finished a single lock in the time it took him to break over 30; then, with a flourish, Cynrik spun both his blades in a predetermined pattern and swiftly sheathed them both simultaneously. When both blades clicked into their sheaths, Tobs sent the completion notification.

– Part 3 B: Free Captive children. 83/83 (Complete) –

[Hehe, like with all good sword-wielding anime protagonists, everything happens when the swords click back in place.] The moment the words entered their mind link, all 36 locks behind Cyrnik shattered into pieces.