Network Hike

The shadows lengthened, coiling around the glowing candle in the middle of the gloomy clearing as the wavering image of the dark tree stretched its branches impossibly across the space. A heavy thud and the buzz of irate insects announced it dropping yet another of its hives onto the battlefield, the white noise of the skeeter swarms becoming an unnerving static in the back of delta's senses. Even so, the navi responded with the right weapon for the job, drawing his blade and slashing at the the shadows.

He was rewarded with a rending of the darkness as his sword cut through the murky defence and drew a brutal gash across the trunk of the tree, revealing it. With a shriek like tearing wood, the dark tree recoiled from the strike, bending back from the edge of the clearing and gnashing at Delta with the jagged split in its trunk as though it were a wood-toothed maw. One of its thick boughs responded almost instantly, slamming down at Delta with horrendous retaliatory force, but the navi dodged aside, ready for the attack and the limb slammed into the grass with enough force to leave a small crater.

As Delta made his next strike, hoping to end the fight before his foe could recover, the wooden grove before his vision seemed to blur again for an instant and he found his blade brutally bisecting another one of the inert trees instead of his target – it had swapped itself again, but it had to run out of other trees sooner or later. Turning to locate the tree again, Delta managed to duck away from the swarming dash on the skeeter swarm as they buzzed in his direction, but he was able to see in that moment that the other two hives, new and old, had both ejected fresh swarms of their own into the air; the new swarms were still getting their bearings and turning their focus towards Delta, but they would no doubt begin harassing him soon enough.

Delta had enough on his hands, however, dodging a flurry of furious scythe swings from the tree as it lashed out at him from its new location. It was all he could do for the moment to keep himself safe from its swings, his own sword stroke going wide in the effort of juggling offence and defence together. As the tree bore down on him, scything in a frenzy now, Delta noticed a glint in the light of his candle glow – the tree, no longer hiding in shadow, now swelled in presence and assaulted him directly, and its bark had taken on a metallic black sheen that reflected the light. He continued to evade the majority of its attacks, though the pace and amount of sweeps overwhelmed him for a moment; one blade caught on his shield, piercing it, and another grazed across his midsection before he managed to get clear and catch a breath. It was only a small scratch, fortunately – the healing energy from his candle more than outweighed it.

-=Hive-Hoarder=-
GloomScythe.Tree: 80Hp [Directly North of Delta, at the edge of the clearing][IronBody][Soil]

SkeeterSkeeter (Skeeter)

Area: Yoka, Okuden Valley, Beach, Yumland, Netfrica

HP: 30
Primary Attack Damage/Effect: 30 Drain (Null)
Primary Attack Accuracy: B
Primary Attack Description: A swarm of Skeeters flies at the target. They will drain HP if they connect.
Element: None
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): Drain1, Zenny
Special: Omnishoes A: DELETED
SkeeterSkeeter (Skeeter)

Area: Yoka, Okuden Valley, Beach, Yumland, Netfrica

HP: 30
Primary Attack Damage/Effect: 30 Drain (Null)
Primary Attack Accuracy: B
Primary Attack Description: A swarm of Skeeters flies at the target. They will drain HP if they connect.
Element: None
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): Drain1, Zenny
Special: Omnishoes B: DELETED
SkeeterSkeeter (Skeeter)

Area: Yoka, Okuden Valley, Beach, Yumland, Netfrica

HP: 30
Primary Attack Damage/Effect: 30 Drain (Null)
Primary Attack Accuracy: B
Primary Attack Description: A swarm of Skeeters flies at the target. They will drain HP if they connect.
Element: None
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): Drain1, Zenny
Special: Omnishoes A2: 30Hp (Swarming above Beehive A)(Grass)
SkeeterSkeeter (Skeeter)

Area: Yoka, Okuden Valley, Beach, Yumland, Netfrica

HP: 30
Primary Attack Damage/Effect: 30 Drain (Null)
Primary Attack Accuracy: B
Primary Attack Description: A swarm of Skeeters flies at the target. They will drain HP if they connect.
Element: None
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): Drain1, Zenny
Special: Omnishoes B2: 30Hp (Swarming above Beehive B)(Grass)
SkeeterSkeeter (Skeeter)

Area: Yoka, Okuden Valley, Beach, Yumland, Netfrica

HP: 30
Primary Attack Damage/Effect: 30 Drain (Null)
Primary Attack Accuracy: B
Primary Attack Description: A swarm of Skeeters flies at the target. They will drain HP if they connect.
Element: None
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): Drain1, Zenny
Special: Omnishoes C: 30Hp (Swarming above Beehive C)(Grass)

-=Bee-Seeker=-
Delta.EXE: 170Hp [In the middle of the clearing][Grass][Regen: 5Hp per action while Candle lasts] [Shield Broken!][Sword: 3/6]

Candle: 100Hp [Behind Delta][Grass] [Regen: 5Hp per action (it counts as taking a single action each round, refreshing the regen)][2 Rounds]

-=Terrain=-
(Terrain is mostly grass in the middle of the clearing, with soil around the edges)
40% Soil

• Wood Elementals get +10% Evasion.
• Wood attacks: +100% Source Damage, change terrain hit to Grass.
• 100 Damage Aqua attacks: Change terrain hit to Mud.
• 100 Damage Fire attacks: change terrain hit to Coal.
• PanelShot: Imbue Wood.

60% Grass

• Wood Elementals get +5 HP/action.
• Fire attacks: +100% Source Damage, change terrain hit to Soil.
• PanelShot: Imbue Wood.

-=Objects=-
Twisted Tree North-East: 60Hp [Woodbody][Soil]
Twisted Tree East: DELETED
Twisted Tree South-East: 60Hp [Woodbody][Soil]
Twisted Tree South: IMMOLATED
Twisted Tree South-West: 60Hp [Woodbody][Soil]
Twisted Tree West: DESTROYED
Twisted Tree North-West: 60Hp [Woodbody][Soil]

Ancient Beehive A: 30Hp [Woodbody][Grass]
Ancient Beehive B: 30Hp [Woodbody][Grass]
Ancient Beehive C: 30Hp [Woodbody][Grass]

Delta was concerned when the metavirus activated what appeared to be ironbody - he didn't have any break chips, and his rocket was on cooldown - but that was shortly replaced with the realization that the monsterous tree couldn't ATTACK in such a state. And there was more than one target he could take down while it was out stuck.

Turning on his heel, the navi sprinted towards one of the remaining trees, slashing at it with his sword as he reached it. Cutting down the trees would limit the monster's abilty to use them to avoid hits...at least, Delta hoped that that was the case.

The warrior had more pressing concerns than the trees though. The hives were not limited to a single swarm of skeeters like he had thought, and three of them could easily overwhelm him if he didn't keep on top of them. So he formed his buster over his other arm, holding his sword arm underneath the weapon to stabilize it, and opened fire on the swarms.

The swarms were not the only target of this barrage, however. A keen observer would notice some shots going lower, aimed not towards the bloodsucking insect viruses but towards the hives they had spawned from.

With the dark tree no longer clinging to the shadows, Delta was increasingly hemmed in by foes – though it seemed as though the collection of ancient beehives remained inert for now, each with a swarm of skeeters already buzzing above them. The tree itself rattled its branches and the moaning wind through the wood became a roaring wail of sound amidst the rustle of boughs and the fiercely whipping winds. Exposed to it a second time, Delta might notice that the blast of air that rushed through the clearing crackled with viral code, enough to interfere with any fields or barriers he might be using – fortunate for Delta then, that he wasn't in the habit of utilising that sort of defence.

He struck out with his blade, removing another of the dark tree's possible duplicates then turned his attention on the skeeters and their hives... but a grave miscalculation of past experiences seemed to have led the navi astray at a tactical moment. Even as he began making his flurry of swift buster shots at the smaller targets the tree's long scything branches continued to lash out at him, largely unhindered by its iron-bark defence. The tree certainly seemed to be rooted to the spot and immobile, but perhaps this wasn't a condition too unfamiliar to trees in general. It definitely didn't seem to be inhibiting it from attacking him and its branches had Delta well within reach. A storm of rapid shots and swings ensued from both sides of the battle as each tried to assail the other.

Delta's first two shots swiftly eliminated one of the skeeter swarms before it could react, but in turn GloomScythe swung two strikes in his direction, landing one scoring blow on the navi in the process. Amidst the rapid movements the long shadows played in the candle's flickering light and the dark tree seemed to take note of the way the flame was healing its prey and its attention began to split between delta and his summon. It aimed one scythe at each the navi and the candle, but was clearly becoming more focused on the troublesome light – the scythe aimed at Delta missed, while the other bit into the wax and made the flame waver for a moment.

Delta, meanwhile took another pair of shots at one of the hives, destroying it and preventing any further summons from that particular source, while the second swarm of skeeters rushed him, missing by a hair. Not far away, the third skeeter swarm followed suit, this group succeeding at finding exposed points on Delta's body and hungrily draining data from him. Fully distracted for the moment, the tree continued to slash at the cursed light, sending globs of wax flying left and right across the clearing and making the shadows warp and twist while Delta handily eliminated another swarm of insects with another pair of quick shots. If nothing else he was getting good bounty credit here...

The light from the candle continued to flow, healing both Delta and the candle itself, and as the navi continued to destroy bugs and hives, the tree's attention seemed to begin turning back towards the more obvious threat. It struck the candle one more time, but still failed to destroy it, before sweeping its scythes back in Delta's direction – another half-distracted miss, fortunately.

Harried by the attacks, Delta's next target only received one of his buster shots, the other going slightly wide, and so the second beehive remained; damaged and dripping from its ancient combs, but still intact. A final pair of strikes from both the navi and the tree saw Delta take a last pair of slicing blade strikes even as he successfully destroyed the third skeeter swarm.

The deluge of rapid assaults seemed to let up for a moment as the tree's hardened defence faded and the darkness drew in around it again. It was still looking worse for wear and that aggressive assault seemed to have taken some energy for the twisted entity to exert in is damaged condition. Maybe now Delta would have an opportunity to finish it off.

-=Hive-Hoarder=-
GloomScythe.Tree: 80Hp [Directly North of Delta, at the edge of the clearing][Soil]

SkeeterSkeeter (Skeeter)

Area: Yoka, Okuden Valley, Beach, Yumland, Netfrica

HP: 30
Primary Attack Damage/Effect: 30 Drain (Null)
Primary Attack Accuracy: B
Primary Attack Description: A swarm of Skeeters flies at the target. They will drain HP if they connect.
Element: None
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): Drain1, Zenny
Special: Omnishoes A: DELETED
SkeeterSkeeter (Skeeter)

Area: Yoka, Okuden Valley, Beach, Yumland, Netfrica

HP: 30
Primary Attack Damage/Effect: 30 Drain (Null)
Primary Attack Accuracy: B
Primary Attack Description: A swarm of Skeeters flies at the target. They will drain HP if they connect.
Element: None
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): Drain1, Zenny
Special: Omnishoes B: DELETED
SkeeterSkeeter (Skeeter)

Area: Yoka, Okuden Valley, Beach, Yumland, Netfrica

HP: 30
Primary Attack Damage/Effect: 30 Drain (Null)
Primary Attack Accuracy: B
Primary Attack Description: A swarm of Skeeters flies at the target. They will drain HP if they connect.
Element: None
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): Drain1, Zenny
Special: Omnishoes A2: DELETED
SkeeterSkeeter (Skeeter)

Area: Yoka, Okuden Valley, Beach, Yumland, Netfrica

HP: 30
Primary Attack Damage/Effect: 30 Drain (Null)
Primary Attack Accuracy: B
Primary Attack Description: A swarm of Skeeters flies at the target. They will drain HP if they connect.
Element: None
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): Drain1, Zenny
Special: Omnishoes B2: DELETED
SkeeterSkeeter (Skeeter)

Area: Yoka, Okuden Valley, Beach, Yumland, Netfrica

HP: 30
Primary Attack Damage/Effect: 30 Drain (Null)
Primary Attack Accuracy: B
Primary Attack Description: A swarm of Skeeters flies at the target. They will drain HP if they connect.
Element: None
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): Drain1, Zenny
Special: Omnishoes C: DELETED

-=Bee-Seeker=-
Delta.EXE: 125Hp [In the middle of the clearing][Grass][Regen: 5Hp per action while Candle lasts][Sword: 2/6]

Candle: 60Hp [Behind Delta][Grass][Regen: 5Hp per action (it counts as taking a single action each round, refreshing the regen)][1 Round]

-=Terrain=-
(Terrain is mostly grass in the middle of the clearing, with soil around the edges)
40% Soil

• Wood Elementals get +10% Evasion.
• Wood attacks: +100% Source Damage, change terrain hit to Grass.
• 100 Damage Aqua attacks: Change terrain hit to Mud.
• 100 Damage Fire attacks: change terrain hit to Coal.
• PanelShot: Imbue Wood.

60% Grass

• Wood Elementals get +5 HP/action.
• Fire attacks: +100% Source Damage, change terrain hit to Soil.
• PanelShot: Imbue Wood.

-=Objects=-
Twisted Tree North-East: DELETED
Twisted Tree East: DELETED
Twisted Tree South-East: 60Hp [Woodbody][Soil]
Twisted Tree South: IMMOLATED
Twisted Tree South-West: 60Hp [Woodbody][Soil]
Twisted Tree West: DESTROYED
Twisted Tree North-West: 60Hp [Woodbody][Soil]

Ancient Beehive A: DELETED
Ancient Beehive B: 10Hp [Woodbody][Grass]
Ancient Beehive C: 30Hp [Woodbody][Grass]

"Oof...okay, note to self: IronBody does NOT prevent one from attacking." Still, despite the miscalculation, Delta's barrage had mostly had the intended effect, deleting the mosquitoes and damaging the hives. Now though? It was time to see if the netnavi could end this fight. He gauged the distance to his foe, carefully planning his next strike.

Then, he charged. Delta swung as he approached, aiming to cut down the tree. However...just in case the tree were to switch itself with one of the remaining inanimate trees, Delta prepared himself to charge in with his blade a second time. Bringing the shield navicust back into operation as his sword vanished, spent, against the possibility of the tree having survived.

Finally, Delta raised his buster and fired twice at each of the remaining hives. More Skeeters might mean more of a bounty, but the navi wanted to be done with this fight.

All around him, the incessant buzzing of the hives grated as the two on the ground gave rise to fresh swarms of bugs, but Delta was ready to be done with this encounter and focused his attention solely on the shadow-cloaked tree. North of him, the tree seemed to loom tall and foreboding, despite its torn and rent trunk, sinking into the depths of the gloom once more, but Delta was ready for its trickery this time. His first lunging slash cleaved through to shadows of the corrupted entity, revealing yet another inert tree in its place, but Delta was already moving with his follow up. He turned and struck a second time, this time connecting with the tree itself before it could strike at him.

His blade dug into the already damaged trunk of the tree and cleaved the wood apart, drawing a last howling shriek of tearing timer from the virus, caught out at last and its tricks spent. It seemed to rear up, only tenuously connected to the baste of its trunk, then fell towards Delta in its death throes in a last attempt to crush the navi with its final fall. Even this Delta was prepared for, however - his freshly reformed shield caught the weight of the dying virus and let him shove its bulk to the side even as the force of its fall shattered his shield again.

With the tree fallen, a quick salvo of shots swiftly deleted the loose hives as well, and the still-forming swarms of skeeters above them dissipated into the surrounding forest, fleeing the scene. With a last pulse of glowing energy, his candle healed its last and faded away, leaving Delta standing in the dark again, but the victor of the clearing all the same.

-=Hive-Hoarder=-
GloomScythe.Tree: DELETED

SkeeterSkeeter (Skeeter)

Area: Yoka, Okuden Valley, Beach, Yumland, Netfrica

HP: 30
Primary Attack Damage/Effect: 30 Drain (Null)
Primary Attack Accuracy: B
Primary Attack Description: A swarm of Skeeters flies at the target. They will drain HP if they connect.
Element: None
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): Drain1, Zenny
Special: Omnishoes A: DELETED
SkeeterSkeeter (Skeeter)

Area: Yoka, Okuden Valley, Beach, Yumland, Netfrica

HP: 30
Primary Attack Damage/Effect: 30 Drain (Null)
Primary Attack Accuracy: B
Primary Attack Description: A swarm of Skeeters flies at the target. They will drain HP if they connect.
Element: None
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): Drain1, Zenny
Special: Omnishoes B: DELETED
SkeeterSkeeter (Skeeter)

Area: Yoka, Okuden Valley, Beach, Yumland, Netfrica

HP: 30
Primary Attack Damage/Effect: 30 Drain (Null)
Primary Attack Accuracy: B
Primary Attack Description: A swarm of Skeeters flies at the target. They will drain HP if they connect.
Element: None
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): Drain1, Zenny
Special: Omnishoes A2: DELETED
SkeeterSkeeter (Skeeter)

Area: Yoka, Okuden Valley, Beach, Yumland, Netfrica

HP: 30
Primary Attack Damage/Effect: 30 Drain (Null)
Primary Attack Accuracy: B
Primary Attack Description: A swarm of Skeeters flies at the target. They will drain HP if they connect.
Element: None
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): Drain1, Zenny
Special: Omnishoes B2: DELETED
SkeeterSkeeter (Skeeter)

Area: Yoka, Okuden Valley, Beach, Yumland, Netfrica

HP: 30
Primary Attack Damage/Effect: 30 Drain (Null)
Primary Attack Accuracy: B
Primary Attack Description: A swarm of Skeeters flies at the target. They will drain HP if they connect.
Element: None
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): Drain1, Zenny
Special: Omnishoes C: DELETED
SkeeterSkeeter (Skeeter)

Area: Yoka, Okuden Valley, Beach, Yumland, Netfrica

HP: 30
Primary Attack Damage/Effect: 30 Drain (Null)
Primary Attack Accuracy: B
Primary Attack Description: A swarm of Skeeters flies at the target. They will drain HP if they connect.
Element: None
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): Drain1, Zenny
Special: Omnishoes B3: ESCAPED
SkeeterSkeeter (Skeeter)

Area: Yoka, Okuden Valley, Beach, Yumland, Netfrica

HP: 30
Primary Attack Damage/Effect: 30 Drain (Null)
Primary Attack Accuracy: B
Primary Attack Description: A swarm of Skeeters flies at the target. They will drain HP if they connect.
Element: None
Possible Rewards (Per Virus): Drain1, Zenny
Special: Omnishoes C2: ESCAPED

-=Bee-Seeker=-
Delta.EXE: 155Hp [In the middle of the clearing][Grass]
Candle: EXPIRED

-=Terrain=-
(Terrain is mostly grass in the middle of the clearing, with soil around the edges)
40% Soil

• Wood Elementals get +10% Evasion.
• Wood attacks: +100% Source Damage, change terrain hit to Grass.
• 100 Damage Aqua attacks: Change terrain hit to Mud.
• 100 Damage Fire attacks: change terrain hit to Coal.
• PanelShot: Imbue Wood.

60% Grass

• Wood Elementals get +5 HP/action.
• Fire attacks: +100% Source Damage, change terrain hit to Soil.
• PanelShot: Imbue Wood.

-=Objects=-
Twisted Tree North: SLICED
Twisted Tree North-East: DELETED
Twisted Tree East: DELETED
Twisted Tree South-East: 60Hp [Woodbody][Soil]
Twisted Tree South: IMMOLATED
Twisted Tree West: DESTROYED
Twisted Tree North-West: 60Hp [Woodbody][Soil]

Ancient Beehive A: DELETED
Ancient Beehive B: DELETED
Ancient Beehive C: DELETED

-=Battle 5, Victory!=-
Spoils: 1100z, 15 BugFrags, Shadow1Effect: Shadow
Accuracy: S
Description: Grants the user Shadow. This reduces all incoming non-Slashing attacks to 0 damage, and reduces accuracy on ranged attacks by 20%.
Duration: One turn
Element: Null
Trader Rank: D, Skeeter Bounty +5

((As an aside, for clarity - Many viruses do have a behaviour pattern that involves putting up an iron- or metal- body defence and not attacking, but it's not a feature of the defence, just the pattern for those viruses. If there was anything on the site that led you, as a player, to believing that the defence worked that way, let me know, and I can check it out and see if we need to clarify something))

((Not gonna lie, I tried double-checking in the Rules Section, but I was mostly going with my experience with IronBody viruses in the games. And yeah, this was as much a gamble that I lost as anything else. So no, nothing on the site specifically. In any case, I'm going to say that Delta made a similar mistake - one that won't be made again.))

Looking around in the silence of the forest after the battle, Delta took a moment to stretch, before collecting the spoils of war from where they lay.

((1850z -> 2950z))
((183BF -> 198BF))
(( Shadow1Effect: Shadow
Accuracy: S
Description: Grants the user Shadow. This reduces all incoming non-Slashing attacks to 0 damage, and reduces accuracy on ranged attacks by 20%.
Duration: One turn
Element: Null
Trader Rank: D: Shadow + 1-Turn (Acc: S) GET!))
((Skeeter Bounty: 5 -> 10))

As he was examining the bounty of data that he had collected, Henry spoke up, "Delta, do you mind cutting this short?"

"You should be able to see that I'm still good to go Henry."

"It's not that. I was doing some research into the bugfrags that you've been collecting, and there's actually something that we can do with them. We'll need to take on a mission from GNA first though."

Delta pondered his netop's words before replying, "Alright...why don't you explain while I'm running around for these errands?"

"I'll do you one better: we have enough zenny that we could grab an upgrade or chip before setting out."

Delta nodded, turning to head toward the Okuden net's exit to NetFrica, then he paused. "Actually, we should probably detour through internet city. If it involves a mission, we can post the request on the BBS, THEN visit the various shops, and any response should be waiting when we get back." With that said, the navi instead set off for the connection to Internet City.

((Leaving Okuden for Internet City, then heading to the Bounty Shop: Delta.exe Bounties))
((Yeah, I've decided to grab a support program on this character.))