Jim's PoV

 

Jim had just stepped foot on the island he had been searching for. He was a little nervous. This fight against the super boss was going to be him alone. With this boss's one shot mechanic, it would not be safe for anyone but him to attack the boss.

Turning around he said to Scarlet, "Take the rowboat back to the ship, both of you. This guy is really, really, really dangerous. Don't come back till you can see me on the shore."

Dismissively and with some greed in her eyes Scarlet said "Sounds like maybe I've earned some DKP. How about a more offensive set of gear? Could have really used it against the Kraken."

Jim blinked and asked "Kraken?"

Scarlet nodded with a smile and said "Yep. You could have been on the bottom of the ocean had it not been for us! How about some upgrades? Pretty please!"

Wanting confirmation he said to Forrest, "Kraken? Really?"

Nodding Forrest said "Yeah, big bastard. Lots of tentacles. Honestly think we got lucky, even with the two wolves and Scarlet cutting through the tentacles, they barely managed to keep the ship afloat."

Irritated Scarlet said "Don't sell yourself short Forrest. You probably put 50 arrows in one of its eyes. If it wasn't so pissed off trying to kill you, it might have smartened up and sunk the ship."

Damn, they beat a mid game side boss! Jim thought about it for a second and then figured why not, they earned some upgrades. After doing some thinking he landed on a set of gear that was a good all rounder set of rogue gear. It had much more defense and a 20 agility bonus but its enchantment was on the more offensive side of things. It would give her attacks some more bite. And more importantly.. He had to keep the theme going.

Doing a few hand motions he dragged and dropped the new set of gear on Scarlet.

 

Her outfit transformed into an even brighter red set of leathers that had ruby red dragon scales sewn onto it.

Raising an eyebrow she said "I really hope you got enough red gear to keep giving me upgrades or we might have a problem. You know it wouldn't kill you to give me another color right?"

With feigned shock Jim said "What! Totally not true! It just happened to have been the next gear in line! Great stuff by the way, tons more armor and even an agility bonus. You no longer get the dodge bonus, but it will infuse your attacks with fire damage."

Scarlet got a sparkle in her eye and then started stabbing at some shrubbery. Not long later the poor bush was burning up. On second thought maybe he should have given her something else. She might burn the ship down. Oh well, too late.

Turning to Forrest he said "And I got the perfect thing for you as well!"

A few hand motions later Forrest was dressed in a green leather armor with gleaming emerald dragon scales.

Jim looked back and forth at the pair and it was a great match! Perfect!

Jim said "This armor is kind of similar. Smaller bonus to camouflage but infuses your bow attacks with wind magic. Says it will increase a bow's accuracy, damage and distance by 15%. Should be solid."

Taking out his phone he took a few pictures. Scarlet was a good sport and grabbed Forrest and started posing for the camera.

"Thanks guys! You know I've been getting a lot of hits from my photoshoot before. Scarlet apparently you're really popular. Sorry Forrest, you're dead last on the popularity rankings."

Scarlet asked curiously "Popular? What do you mean popular?"

Jim shrugged and then he pulled out his phone. He said "Looks like this picture has over one hundred thousand views! Nice!"

Scarlet blinked and said "What? There aren't even that many people. That can't be right."

Jim grinned and said "Internet! And in my world there are over seven billion people on Earth."

Scarlet's eyes rounded and said "Really? And then that many people have seen my picture? Wow…"

Jim turned to Forrest and said "Sorry buddy, you're only at a couple thousand. Maybe people will like your new armor more."

Forrest shrugged and said "Not really interested. Still I think I can understand other people's attraction for Scarlet. It's because they don't know of her sparkling personality."

Scarlet kicked up a rock off the ground and sent it towards Forrest's head. Forrest then grabbed the rock out of the air with a meaty thwack sound. The man winced as he dropped the stone and started shaking his hand. Man, that looked like it hurt. Still probably better his hand than his face.

"Okay younglings, papa has some work to do. Stay safe."

Right before he was about to head out Scarlet said "Wait! I uhh.. Forgot to tell you something."

Raising an eyebrow he said in a skeptical drawn out tone, "Yess?"

"Remember how I told you about the Kraken?"

Jim nodded.

"Well… your prisoners didn't make it. The hold were they were got crushed in the fight with the Kraken. Not my fault! You can't blame me! I did my job and got you the names!"

Jim facepalmed. First she uses the Kraken attack as a basis to ask for better gear. Then after she used that information to get some loot she tells him the bad news. Manipulative little… his mind filled in a few expletives as he looked at the armor he had just given them.

"No take backs! You already gave it to me! It's mine."

Jim sighed and said "Fine, but that's definitely a DKP minus. You're starting out in the negative point zone to your next upgrade."

Scarlet squawked and said "It's not my fault! Maybe if you weren't so stingy we would have been powerful enough to kill the thing right when it showed up!"

Slightly depressed Jim waved them away saying, "Fine, fine. Just go back to the ship and be safe. Let's try not to get anyone else killed."

They both nodded and started boarding the little row boat. Right now the wolves were holding down the fort on the ship to make sure the Captain or crew didn't get any ideas. As long as they stayed on the boat well away from the island, there shouldn't be a problem.

He was conflicted on the deaths of the gang boss and his two goons. Jim knew they were bad people and he was the one ultimately responsible for their deaths. It was almost certain that he would need to take lives in the future. But he didn't want to be a callous asshole who would say the end justifies the means.

The world was not a nice place. Pharmaceutical companies make a hell of a lot of money. The VR empire he was going to start would be a rival to almost everyone in the entertainment industry.

If anyone in power got a whiff of what the helmets could do they wouldn't stop at anything in obtaining the tech. Hard choices were ahead. He just hoped he would make the right ones while trying to have some fun along the way.

Jim rolled his neck around and cracked it a few times and then started moving towards the peak at the center of the island. If all went well with this fight he could cross out one of his major worries. It was time to take on a super boss!

Appreciating the scenery Jim looked around as he made his way to the super boss. It was a rather small island with perfect sandy beaches and beautiful blue water surrounding it. Damn near looked like one of those vacation islands you would see ads about on TV.

In the center of the island there was an otherworldly crystal spire. It looked like clusters of sapphires grew from the ground in a twisting pattern. The prize he was looking for was on top of that spire. Oh yeah, and there were tons of palm trees too!

He almost wanted to make his new 3D Tech branch here instead of near King's End. Unfortunately the area was a lot higher level, in addition the island would have new neighbors in the not too distant future. In the original story line of FF3, the crew would learn that both the demons and the elves each had a piece of the artifact.

Shortly after the creation of the world, the God of the Elves Loreleia and The God of the Demons Valraduth were in conflict with each other. The human God, Anera, wanted nothing to do with their fight. To keep both factions away from her people, she created the Endless Storm.

Much like it sounds, the human empire is ringed with storms that never stop with waves reaching the height of skyscrapers. Lightning constantly dances over the seas and the winds twist and turn in unnatural patterns.

It was possible to cross, but those who did gambled with their lives. But in terms of the real game it was just an impassable wall with both the sail boat and the normal air ship. You had to advance the storyline for the wall to go away.

The island he was on was a neighbor to this Endless Storm. Jim really wasn't a super lore nerd for the game, but he figured it would probably be about half a year before the Endless Storm first stopped since its creation, which was over 20,000 years in the past. The ring protecting the human empire would resemble swiss cheese soon with paths all over to cross.

Unfortunately his little paradise island was really close to the Demon Empire and one of those future paths was really close. It was a shame, he bet his employees would have loved to work in an island paradise. Technically following the original timeline of FF3, the 'heroes' were not supposed to have access to this island to fight the super boss until Zed got the third piece of the artifact. But he was going to cut some corners! No waiting for him! He just needed that super special airship!

Bumping up his vision he looked at the special airship that was docked to the top of the spire. It looked like a steampunkers dream ship. A wooden hulled ship that had two massive propeller blades sticking up vertically from masts attached to the front and back of the ship. Below the twin blades were canvas-looking sails. It looked like a massive wooden colonial ship had a baby with a helicopter.

A special antenna and magic system was installed in the rear. It would attract the power of the lightning bolts and use that energy to dissipate the destructive winds around the airship. Not only that, but it was equipped with heat shields that could withstand the volcanic activity around the Demonlands and being of elven origin. It could fly freely in the Great Forest without being impeded by the magical defense wards. The thing was like the ultimate off road vehicle, it could go anywhere, which was why he was interested in getting it.

Just had to get through one little super boss and the epic airship would be his. As the narrow walkway opened up into a field, he looked at the thing he needed to take out. Guarding the entrance to the steps of the spire was a creature far stronger than even the end boss of the game. A bonus challenge for someone who wanted to push their party to the limit.

Looking at the crystalline monstrosity he tried to reconcile the 2D image with what he was seeing. The massive protrusion at the base of the stairs almost didn't even look like a creature. Fused into the ground was an oddly shaped gem-like tree. The tree-like object would pulse with light shifting randomly between blue, yellow and red flashes.

Memories of finding this location as a kid gave him a bit of nostalgia. The colorful tree tile would start shaking, then the screen shook, and as the bits and pieces broke away, a humanoid figure was revealed. His childhood mind mocked the stupid old little elf at the center of the weird tree with his stupid glowing eyes.

Eyes that radiated the same blue, yellow and red flashing patterns as the tree.

Jim then remembered being an angry and irate child as he proceeded to get his butt whooped by the damn elf. A whole week of his life was farming more mobs for exp and items and then coming back here just to get stomped again. Jim farmed his little heart out until he didn't get wiped out in three turns. Then he died again and farmed even more. The guy was a prick.

Lore wise, he was a power hungry elf who detected a nexus point of magical energy. You could read snippets of his journal on the airship after defeating him. Being a ruler of one of the powerful elven countries, he gathered his most knowledgeable engineers so that he could get past the Endless Storm. Abandoning his people, the mage made his way alone in his awesome airship to the nexus point and absorbed its energy till it ran out. The journal went on a good bit, but Jim wasn't really a lore nut.

He wondered what the transformation would look like, but before entering the clearing he started to prepare himself. Removing his awesome Demonic Black Knight's Armor he put on the most gaudy and colorful robe he had ever seen. The thing had almost no defense, but the set had one particularly important line of stats: Equip: Reduces All Magic Damage by 90%.

The thing that made this boss suck was that every 20 seconds he would unleash a spell, one for each of the primary black magics. They were Ultimate Ice, Ultimate Lightning and Ultimate Fire. It would one-shot one of your characters from full-hp to zero in one go. A target would be marked and then shortly after that, one of the spells were cast and the character was dead.

The key to the fight was trying to coordinate recovering your knocked out characters. The fight was a constant struggle of trying to recover your party while trying to deal damage. It was one fight that heavily rewarded bringing two healers with Life 2. Life 2 fully recovered a KO'ed character's HP to full but cost a ton of mana. It meant that whoever was hit with the one hit KO, you could bring them back immediately.

Elixirs were very powerful tools in this fight because another party member could instantly recover and top off a KO'ed character. Elixirs were very rare though, so most people didn't have 30 they could use to trivialize the fight. But Jim wasn't going to be fighting as a party, he was going in solo.

Normally his wannabe tie dye robe was fairly useless. It had almost zero armor and normally even 90% reduction in magic damage wasn't enough to stop the one shot. But Jim wasn't exactly normal.

Having over 2,000 stamina and getting 25 hp per point of stamina, Jim was sitting at just over 50,000 HP. With a 90% reduction the Ultimate Attacks would still do 15,000 damage. With 9,999 being the normal maximum possible HP, his weirdo robes were about to give the performance of a lifetime!

But something told him that if someone got hit with 150,000 in unmitigated damage, the result wasn't just going to be a KO. They would probably be fried to dust. Thankfully Scarlet, Forrest and the pups were on the ship. It would be really scary to see what that spell would do to a normal person.

All he needed to do was use a Full Healing Potion before and after each Ultimate Attack. In theory, it should be a cake walk. But that was theory. Theory wasn't going around swinging his sword for him. So far the only things Jim fought were some low level starving wolves and hungry centipedes. Oh yea, and the final boss who he caught off guard. Feeling the heft of the ludicrously bonkers sized sword, the Lost Great Sword of Valraduth, it felt no different than holding a twig.

He knew this fight was probably an unnecessary risk, but god dammit, he wanted at least one decent fight in this game! Knowing that there was some risk involved made his blood start pumping with anticipation. This is what he wanted since first booting up the game, a real-life seeming battle between super powerful forces! A real adventure!

Screw the safe way. Jim didn't want to wait six months if he didn't have to. And the bonus point was he was finally going to be getting his adventure! Ready, he walked into the open field as the crystalline tree started to shatter.

 

***

Scarlet's PoV

 

Trying to keep a good girl's smile on her face she watched as Jim faded away going towards the bizarre structure at the center of the island. As soon as she was sure he was out of sight she turned to Forrest with a wicked smile and said "How about we tag along and watch? This should be really interesting!"

Forrest gave her a startled look and said "But Jim wanted us to go back on the ship. What if they try to run away with it?"

Scarlet scoffed and said "We already know those dogs of his are more than enough incentive to that bunch of whiners to stay put."

Seeing the indecision in his eyes she said "I have been cooped up on that ship for way too long. It's been over three weeks! I'm bored!"

Scarlet wondered what purpose Jim had in coming to this island. He had been a bit secretive, only saying that it would help him get the last two artifacts faster. Scarlet was half considering trying to make her way back to Xalross. Knowing that Xalross had been conquered was different than seeing it with her own eyes.

But that would only be a suicide mission. Scarlet was sure that she could take a lot of foes with her but going there would be a one way trip. Xalross had already fallen. Those who were true to her spirit were dead. At best all that was waiting for her there was a den of vipers.

Her best course of action was to get stronger. The many fights she had endured had made her stronger. Between what she had gained in gear and levels she was a completely different person in terms of power.

The sharpest increase had been from the Rock Giants and she had barely done anything to them. Perhaps getting close would be enough to earn the reward? It's true that she did assist the fleabags in cleaning up the imps and rats, but she didn't make a mark on the Rock Giants. She remembered her gain in power and wanted more.

***

Forrest's PoV

 

Forrest couldn't help but admire his lover's backside as they made their way closer inland. Just as the day they had met, she was still the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She was unlike any lover he had in the past. Unashamedly, Scarlet took what she wanted and to hell with what others thought.

That day before Jim brought those three men over was the highlight of his life. He finally got to see what his alcohol-addled mind had hidden from him. And it was worth the wait.

But when Scarlet started working on those men from Jim's world, he finally understood something. Before in Jacksburg when Scarlet and he were hunting down Aaron, he was full of adrenaline. That night seemed like a blur going from one man to another and extracting information.

At that time he was just an observer. Keeping half an eye on what she was doing and half an eye on their surroundings while staying on guard. He knew those people were scum and they got what was coming to them.

But then there were the three men from another world. There was no adrenaline. Just cold calculation. At first he was conflicted. As Scarlet made them scream, the conflict in himself resolved.

No matter how different their clothes and speech were, it was clear that these were the same scum like the Merchant Circle. The same scum that allowed that vile Potion Maker in King's End to come to wealth and power. He almost regretted that Kraken had gotten them.

He had been soft. Too soft. Forrest knew that evil lurked among them and he held his hand because 'that was the right thing to do.' Person after person suffered from Death's Touch, something that was never in their village before that man came. Yet one profited over and over.

Forrest was a good student. He learned how to handle the knife and made them sing. He did not feel any pleasure from doing it, but the guilt was also gone. Each and every one of them that sung under his knife had done the same if not worse to those that were at their mercy. Finally Forrest understood something about the world. It was not black and white. Sometimes the best option was for good people to do evil things.

Putting it to the back of his mind he followed his mentor and temptress. He knew for a fact that this much wiggling of her rear was not necessary. Their eyes caught for a brief instant and he could see the mischief in them. Smirking as they broke eye contact he gave his best effort in trying to be vigilant of his surroundings, hard as it may be.

As they drew closer the sounds of fighting could be heard in the distance. It sounded more like a blacksmith trying to tame a chunk of metal at first. Constant and rhythmic metallic clanks were getting louder as they continued up the path. The earth seemed to shake with each echo of sound. His heart jumped in fear and excitement, an emotion mirrored in his lover.

Finally coming into view they saw Jim being bathed in a weird dim reddish light. Jim continued to rhythmically pound the humanoid creature. The face of his opponent seemed wrong somehow. It wasn't even the glowing eyes, the face just seemed off.

Not only that but he was tall, really tall. Even taller than Jim, but he was more slender. But that was less important than what was happening, the odd man had a crystal blue shield attached to his arm and his right hand seemed to extend into a sword of fire.

Jim seemed to be wearing an odd colored robe instead of the black armor he had been in since he first met him. He would have called it comical if it wasn't for the force of each of his attacks. With each clank of his sword the earth shook as it met the crystal blue shield. As the force hit, he could see the man's feet were buried knee deep into the ground. In the blink of an eye, the slender man would step forward and strike twice in between each of Jim's massive attacks.

Jim didn't take any measures to dodge the fiery hand sword. His powerful two handed sword slashed at the man's crystal blue shield in a predictable rhythmic fashion. Jim seemed to be unphased as the sword slashed over his form. Then the light show seemed to increase on him. Was this some sort of skill?

Forrest had never seen the true extent to Jim's power, so he wasn't sure what to make of it. Jim and the man's movements were so fast it was hard to make out. But he didn't need sight to hear the metallic ringing and feel the earth shake.

The weird light's intensity grew and grew around Jim. Jim quickly drank a potion then began attacking even more vigorously. The thin man for the first time didn't attempt to block Jim's attacks, but the fiery sword aura around his hand disappeared and the man just pointed at Jim.

The light around Jim grew in intensity with the man still pointing at him. Then it seemed like the pair were replaced with a new sun. He couldn't see them at all. Even so far away Forrest felt the scorching heat. The noise from the blast temporarily deafened him, but he could still feel the vibrations from each of Jim's swings.

Squinting he tried to make out what was happening as the bright light dissipated. Blinking in disbelief he tried to understand what his eyes were seeing.

Surrounding Jim and the man was a massive depression that was several meters deep, yet the small area where the two were remained untouched. The landscape changed from a grassy meadow to a land that seemed to have been churned by farmers for the past few days.

It looked like the pattern of one of Gwen's sweet cakes that she made with the hole in the middle, just upside down. But the crater was massive, it was probably the size of King's End! And it all happened in the blink of an eye.

He could see his lover's eyes wide with surprise as well. If they were close to those two, they would have been toast. She muttered in a volume that Forrest could barely hear saying "Maybe this was a mistake.."

As soon as she said those words the being sharply looked in their direction. The intense pressure made his heart skip a beat.

Scarlet and Forrest quickly made eye contact with each other and then slowly walked back into the wood line. But even with so many trees in between them the bright eyes of Jim's foe seemed to follow them as they started to run into the forest. Just what the hell was that thing?

***

Scarlet's PoV

 

Scarlet's hands were shaking as she held onto her daggers tightly for reassurance. Jim had warned them that it was a powerful foe, but that power had to rival the Gods! She had been the target of many spells, but whatever that thing used was so many levels above what she had seen to only be incomprehensible. That kind of spell could destroy half a city! If any of the city-states held that kind of power, their little war would have been over.

The other thing that was in the back of her mind was how Jim moved. For a long time she had believed he used magician's tricks. She would tell herself that if she only discovered his tricks, she might be able to win in a fight against him.

But the power behind each of those blows was no trick. She could feel the force of each of his impacts in the ground. He was a damn monster. She was no longer under such a delusion. Both Jim and that creature were monsters. The wars of the three city-states were like children to them.

Taking deep breaths she tried to slow her racing heart as she increased speed running away from the fighting pair. Her thumb rubbed the jeweled hilt of the first dagger Jim had given her.

Her mind was too focused on trying to calm down and she missed what Forrest had just said. Looking over her shoulder he seemed to have an almost defeated look as he gestured around her and he said in a near monotone, "Light… look at the light."

Instead of the reddish light Jim was bathed in, she was now in a blue hewed light. Her heart slowed. It was over for her. Confirming her grim conclusion, she could make out a figure in the distance pointing a slender hand at her. Before things were complicated, now they were easy.

Turning to Forrest she said in a hard voice, "Go. Run. You can still make it."

Bewildered, she saw him snort with resigned amusement at her and brushed her bottom lip with his thumb and said "I just found you. I am not running without you."

The aura of blue light intensified. As she was trying to force her mind into that of a cold calculating assassin, Forrest embraced her. Then he tipped her chin up and stole a kiss. Scarlet wanted to be infuriated! This was the first time they had contact on his terms. However her body melted into his.

As she was lost in the kiss she heard a voice yelling, "You friggin idiots! What the hell are you doing here?"

Scarlet was losing herself in the kiss as her hand started to warm up. Almost reflexively she tightened her grip on her dagger. She would not die weaponless.

But to her great surprise… her dagger shattered in her hand! Taking a quick look at her hand, the dagger seemed to have been reduced to dust.

To her bafflement the blue aura was no longer surrounding her. Not only that, but something happened to the monster. In its place was a towering ice shard. It looked almost like a miniature version of the blue spire just further ahead.

But that miniature version of the crystal blue spire was taller than any castle rampart she had ever seen and froze almost a quarter of the cleared area into the new icey structure. Jim was entombed in that crystal spire as well.

A second later there was a loud crack. The new large blue structure cracked and the familiar slim creature emerged from the formation. The rush of icey debris chilled the air, making her exhalations visible.

Finally her slow mind put it together. Her dagger! It had a Reflect enchant on it!

As her mind was finally catching up on how her life was saved, Jim was yelling "Get the hell out of here, NOW!"

She and Forrest quickly looked at each other, then in the next blink of an eye they were running as fast as they could to the shore. Her heart was hammering as she sprinted the fastest she had ever gone in her life.

In an almost cruel joke, a yellowish light surrounded her. She did not miss the look of determination in Forrest's eyes as he looked at her. Scarlet couldn't let him die with her. It was her fault. Scarlet wouldn't let him die a pointless death, only she had the brightening yellow light around her. Determined, she broke free from Forrest's grasping hand and started running away as fast as she could.

Sharply she changed direction as she heard footsteps behind her. Aiming for a particular dense cluster of trees, she thought she could break away from his vision and then change direction to lose him. Putting her plan to action, she made a sharp turn after going through some dense foliage then climbed a tree.

Incredulously she glanced down and saw Forrest was right behind her. In a mirthful tone he said "You can't get away from me when you have that light on you."

"Moron," she yelled "Get away from me you fool! You will die too!"

Leaping from the tree she began sprinting towards the beach. To her surprise he was gaining on her! Frustrated, she glanced at her Parry enchanted dagger in her hand and half thought about throwing it at the idiot. But her training replayed in her mind, she was not going to die without a weapon in hand.

As Forrest tackled her to the ground she was resigned to the fact that they were both going to die. With his tall frame he tried to shield her from whatever attack was coming. Lost in his eyes, this time she was brushing the bottom of his lip with her thumb.

Scarlet was about to give him a kiss, when the heft of her dagger suddenly felt off. Curious, she darted a glance at it to only be confused. The dagger that had already burnt up after saving her was somehow in her hand. Where had her Parry enchanted dagger gone?

In almost deja vu, she felt the dagger heat up. A second after she felt the dagger shatter in her hand, she saw a flash towards the crystal tower and a deep reverberation of thunder.

Taking no time to question her second bout of good fortune she got on her feet and pulled Forrest with all her strength and they made their way to the shore. As the hammer-like beats of Jim's sword grew fainter and fainter she could only be relieved that the light no longer haloed either of them.

As they both tried to catch their breaths she came to a realization. With the pressure of being a covert agent gone, a relationship was no longer something that could be used against her. Scarlet didn't know where things were going to head with Forrest, but she felt oddly happy. Like hell she would ever tell him that though. It's always good to keep them chasing, hopefully next time, it won't be so literal.

***

Jim's PoV

 

Frantically scrolling through his item list he finally found the dagger with the Reflect enchant using the party menu.

He replaced her other dagger with it. For a second he thought he was too late. When you had everything in the game, looking for a specific piece of gear was a nightmare. There was no search button!

But when he saw the lightning hit the elven bastard, his eyes followed the spider webbing lightning in horror. The path of the lightning went through the top of the crystal spire!

The lightning arched as it curved from the sky, to the top of the crystal spire and back to the sturdy bastard he was fighting. The top of the spire was where the airship was…

With a sinking feeling he continued his fight. If that damn assassin girl screwed up his airship it was going to be a hell of a lot more than a 50 DKP minus.