Duty Session 402: Sher Kar Challenge

The tradition of the Trial of Honor in the Holy Empire Westelande is at risk. Giant ants have taken over the designated grounds deep in the desert, making the ritual more complicated for the Landers.

The Hunters' Guild has therefore begun offering quests for Adventurers to clean up the place, so that the ritual can take place.

Uta happens to have answered the call, and she is here, staff in hand, ready to venture into the desert.

Schneider is a Westelander, so theoretically he knows about the trials. But as much as he's a sort of RP character, he doesn't actually do the arr-pee thing. So, he's got the name, he's got the spells, and after that, he's just a dude stuck in a game. This is all to say that he's not really hip to the plight of the Westelanders. On the other hand, blowing up monsters is good. So, here he is. Fancy coat, long, flowing hair, smirk.

"I have arrived."

Haru is from Ninetails, but he is a man of the world now. He doesnt stay in towns, no, he /travels/. Thats right. Adventure. And what is a staple of adventure? Ants. Big Angry, possibly magically radiated, Ants. Things that shouldn't be there if the rituals are to continue. His RP is strong, this Artificer.

"I too have arrived," the white haired man says in the outfit that says 'Town Wizard' what with his blue jacket, hand sized clear orb, and a monocle. Ok, Adventurer may be a stretch. Support NPC, maybe.

    Fuka's not really into roleplay as in putting herself in a game role. She's more into method acting where she IS the role, reacting to everything in a way that's both meta and sincere, depending on the situation. She is, however, one of those who treats Landers as people, and would consider it weird should anyone not think they're truly people. Sure some are a little dull and uninteresting, but she grew up in Hokkaido!!!

    Mostly though, rather than roleplay, she's here because training. Training is fun, getting loot is great, and being with friends is to die for. Well, to live for at least! "So, who wants to stomp on some ants?!" she cheers.

The party is at a place like a quarry, an open pit with several ramps down. In the pit, there are several entrances into the ground, which twist and turn, showing nothing of what lies inside. The entrances are wide enough for three or four abreast, though for the moment, a handful of giant ants are clustered around the base of the pit, feeding on something. Engaging them will be tough on the ramps, though ranged or magical attacks would be easier.

"A Fuka Arrives," Uta declares with a nod. "It seems like we are all here now." Today she isn't her usual cheerful self. Silent. Somber. Quiet.

After some silence, she turns to consider her options for attack, and while she does so, she is the first to aggro the Elephant in the Room. "So, I have heard some rumors on the alliance channels... some tidbits and snippets about what the Uncrowned have revealed..."

Schneider peers at the ants at the bottom of the quarry, and quicky decides that the game is afoot. But he's not going to waste a big spell on a small party of bugs. It looks like a small party. As they crawl up the walls, though, Schneider shouts, "DAMNED!" and a thundrous report can be heard. It's not immediately obvious if the spell is fire or lightning or what, but it /is/ a small burst of damage that he can spam, much to the detriment of the ants proceeding upward, only to be met by an explosion which sucks down their HP like an Electrolux.

Uta's question about the uncrowned draw a 'Huh' from Schneider, and asks, "What's an Uncrowned?"

    Fuka grins at Uta. "Ready to train, partner?" she asks. Remembering quite well the last time they'd trained. "Try not to get disarmed this time!" she adds playfully, trying to get her friend to smile, or at least to blush. Yes she understands the somberness... but that doesn't mean she's resigned to it! "And yeah, I'll fill you in about all of it, everything I know, I promise. For now, keep your eyes on the goal, 'kay?"

    So saying, Fuka throws herself at the enemy. What do you mean that's not ranged combat?! It totally is! She's just a bit bigger than your typical projectile, but when starting off above the enemy it's a perfectly viable tactic!

"They have," Haru admits to Uta as he gives a nod of the head to Fuka. "Ants. Uncles. The whole family," he agrees as he begins to channel magic into his crystal focus. He is a bit off. Something with Fuka, perhaps? Something with Uta's question. After the first few bolts go wide, he addresses Uta's question from the back line. "The rumor are true, Uta," as he lines up another blast of arcane energy. It hits, but after someone is already KO hitting it, so its a lost venture. "The Uncrowned revealed quite a bit of helpful information. Was there a topic that you were interested in," he asks, willing to share with the Uta.

"Long story," he says looking over to Schneider, "but the short version is 'not the people who are jerks' from Palace Lands."

"You don't have a leg to stand on," Uta teases back right at Fuka. Her smile is a bit more tense than usual, but at least it's a smile. And, hey! She's getting better and snarking right back when it's not -too- embarrassing. Or there's something to snark back about.

Uta does the same as Fuka does, following her lead. She throws herself into the pit, plummets down, and just as she's close to hitting the ground, she spreads her wings to slow down the fall; at the same time, she wills a ball of darkness around herself. It whrites for a few seconds, protecting Uta from the attacks of the creatures, before it explodes with violence, and takes out a number monsters with the shockwave.

One of Uta's feet touches the ground, followed by the others. "My barriers might still explode, but at least I've learnt to weaponize that part."

Schneider's attack deals devastating damage. Fukaziroh's airdrop melee technique doesn't quite match that amount of raw damage, but it's more subtle and effective -- even more so than Uta's.

Schneider's question has already been answered by Haru, so there is no need to address that one. But something the latter said does pique Uta's interest, as demonstrated by her pointed elfin ears perking up. "What subject? Were songs mentioned?"


Ants defeated, the party must choose their path down into the depths. Various ways in seem, initially, to be alike. Only exploration will reveal much about what lies inside. Some ways lead to dead ends and egg chambers, others proceed deeper. Traditional cave exploration works, though hunters will be able to tell which passageways are most used, and Earth-users might be able to get a sense of the paths ahead.

Schneider hrms to Haru. "Good that not everyone from the Palace Lands aer fighting us. But are they any use? Do they have intel? Or can they help us infiltrate or act as spies?" As far as finding the -right- passage down, he can only shrug. He will look around in a desultory manner, but he is an Exploder Wizard, not a bloodhound. "I mean, does it matter so much? Go down, blow up ants?"

    "Eyes on the prize, Uta!" calls Fuka as her friend goes off on a tangent. Then Fuka sighs. Fine, sharing some things is fine, especially when it's important. "They didn't mention any songs at all unfortunately. They told us about how the Crowns are controlling most of the Adventurers there, and forcing them to be loyal to the rulers. And they mentioned how bad dying here really is. But we don't have to worry about that, because you'll never let me die and I'll never let you die! So let's stay on target!" she chants like a large-framed X-wing pilot.

    Sadly the group seems rather distracted, so it's kind of up to Fuka to pick a path. She's not bad at such things, but navigation has never really been her thing. Who knows where they might actually end up if Fuka has to take the lead! Someone save the group from Fuka's leadership!

Haru was there for the sparring match, too. It was a great display of martial prowess. "Yeah you are pretty fast in a fight, Uta," he says as he evades back before an ant mandible skitters to the ground in front of him. "Given the gravity of the situation, I'll have to enter into sparring with you too." There is something that which isn't excited. Its like a kid smiling in the cold rain. Trying to be excited about that, but he. Just. Cant.

It reflects in his magical casting. Haru's chants are sloppy. He doesn't enunciate. Its TEAR-rah not Tear-RAH, Haru. Wait. Other way. No, hard R. Wave Artes are complicated and don't suffer well for being out of focus.

To Uta, Haru looks over, managing to do a simplier spell of a sand wall up and distracting one of the Ants with a debuff. "There was no mention of Songcraft in our meeting, no. One of the most important things," he says as the sand just falls like dust to the ground, "is validation of what happens when an Adventurer dies." He throws another rock, "I'd say it can wait but," rock throw, "we never," rock throw, angier, "talk unless," HEAVY ROCK THROW, "we are doing an adventure." That boulder is big, going wide and landing comically on an ant. Squish.

"You lose memories when you die and come back. Lose enough and you become a Lander," Haru says deadpan. Conjuring Smile.exe. 404: Smile not found. "The conversation wasn't about who can use who as war assets," he slides the blue eye not behind the monocle to Schneider, "I don't want to think of people that way. They no doubt took great personal risk to our hostilities to share what they did. Its too early to say if they are allies or misleading us, but my take on it was they have suffered at the hands of the Crowned. In that, we have a mutual enemy, take that as you will."

Just like Haru, Uta attempts to work Earth in her favor. Her song, as usual, causes tendril of light and magic to focus onto her gem, and beams of light depart to chip off bits of rock, meant to squish the ants from above.

The discussion seems to have, indeed, caused Uta and Haru to lose focus. Their thrown rocks are not as effective as needed, and the party barley manages to get past this part.

"I... I may have been keeping myself a bit too busy of late," Uta concedes to Haru with a mumble. "I just... need the exercise. And time is so scarce..."

"I had a partial understanding of the Death mechanics from the discussion on the Alliance channels, but this fills in many details I was not aware of," She explains to the party after some musing. "Which explains the words of Sheriff Shirin. He tried to -arrest- me first. And he said, I quote, 'I am sure the queen would very much like to help you get on the right track. We will start by showing you the error of your ways. Starting with using monsters' And when I proved uncooperative, I was sentenced to 'repeated deaths'".

More silence. "I can only -extrapolate- what he meant, but... can they do that? Can they... crown me and make me faithful to Queen Laira Lorelei?"

A shake of her head. "Right, right. Eyes on the prize!" A smile, tense but genuine. "And I'll be glad to spar with you, Haru!"

The maze is used by both ants and Sher Kar, and while the ants are the deadlier predator, Sher Kar - The Sher Kar are a threat in their own right. The Guild would like it if you try not to eradicate Sher Kar - The Sher Kar, the whole point is to rid the place of ants so Sher Kar - The Sher Kar can thrive again, but they're here and they're hungry, and they're prone to attacking anything.

Schneider ooohhhhhs as Haru explains about memory loss making a player into a Lander, and he says, "That explains /so/ much. Proph captured some Palace Lander Landers as prisoners when they attacked him, and they've been wildly blah. Not troublesome, per se, but not particularly cooperative, and very single-minded. Like Landers." He nods. "Lost memory players becoming Landers explains it all." He agrees with Haru, "That is indeed useful information." But, "Think of people what way?" he wonders.

But they've encountered the Sher Kar, who they're here to protect from the ants, according to the briefing. But to get by them, when they're hostile, is no easy business. With everyone else having picked roles, he's kind of left helping block, parry, and push back the Sher Kar while the party edgges around and past them. He -can- do this, but not very well. And it costs him a lot of HP to do so.

    Fuka stares at Haru, surprised and perhaps worried about this departure from what she's come to expect. That smile, for one thing, he can't seem to manage properly. Also, he seems to be upset, possibly at ... not talking? With Uta?

    Huh, she didn't expact *that* of all things. She can kind of understand it, since she and Uta also do a lot of adventuring, but they do talk sometimes too. Not just about adventuring either! And... well, that's another thing entirely.

    Fuka sighs once again, looking rather upset herself. Not because of the conversation, but because of how upset her friends are. And she does love talking so... "If either of you want to talk later, I promise I'll listen. And talk too of course." she offers almost solemnly. "Adventure and training is important, but I don't want to ignore what's going on either. And we're friends, so you know I'll do whatever I can to help!" she insists. "But... I mean, do you want to leave? After we're already this far involved? The quest comes second, if it comes to that. Okay?"

    The group seems to decide to continue, perhaps reluctantly, and perhaps it's a really bad idea. They have to deal with guardian ants now, preferably without killing them, and it'll be hard to do if their heads aren't in the game. Still, Fuka glances at the others then shrugs. "I'll tank them." she offers, her tone slightly off its usual upbeat. More matter-of-fact, not the enthusiasm she'd normally show.

It is true, Haru is not his normal self. His normal self is cracking wise puns at things. There is -so much ant pun- material he could use here! The distress that reaches the outside isn't a small wave that reaches the shore of the beach. It is a dam with a big smile etched into and the waters have grown dark and violent. Even in this game-like setting, its the sweat that beads on his brow. The dilation of his one eye. "Thats because they kill you," he says to Uta, "over and over, as a punishment. Until there is nothing left. They occupy the churches and exploit that gift of ours." And the rage. It grows. He steps back so its harder to see.

"We don't know how one becomes Crowed, exactly, just that nobles can do it. Voluntary. Involunary. Its servitude," Haru says with the sort of viritol of slavery would connotate. He summons out his Dark sprite, a small black cat he calls Eve. She is often out when he is doing accessory work, a lazy black cat-monster. "Tenebris. Cadit. Luna. Resurget." It is one of Haru's newer spells he worked on as Eve jumps up, starting to take in a dark mist. Something starts to go wrong. Cracks of static electricity off of her fur. Thats right. They have come this far. Everyone is doing their part to push the duty back. Its his time to coat the field in darkness. To allow for stealth. Zap snap. He swipes a hand motion across, cancelling the Wave Arte, "Null." He catches his Dark Sprite as no stealth buff is given to the party. No zone change on the field. He wasn't about to put his companion through that when his Dark element is so imbalanced. He gives her a pet. There is always another way. The Sprite is dismissed.

"We should talk after this, Fuka," he says, plainly, "but we shouldn't abandon the Duty. I'll have to lean on you all more, my friends, if you'll share the burden a while longer." He makes it clear that this is not anyone's fault but his own, and he needs strength lent to him right now. Asking for it looked. Very. Difficult for him. "Not on my A game right now, but that is why we handle problems as a team, right?"

"I'll keep the Sher Kar safe!", Uta announces, as people pick roles. She slides her gloved hands on her arms, as if for pushing up her sleeves (too bad that she doesn't have sleeves -- the move was dramatic), and extends one tense hand towards the monster, to control it with her magic.

Uta's handling manages to keep the creature in place, while Fukaziroh's melee attacks sort the desired effect (Schneider's... slightly less so, but they help).

"No need to worry, Haru. We're all a bit shaken," Uta mumbles. "And it happens to everyone. I am sure you remember how many arrows I took during the Karluin runs. And yes. Talk. There are many subjects I'd like to bring up. Too many to mention. Like asking Wisteria if she ever encountered resonating magical crystals built by the Gnomes in her visit of the ruins. I know she encountered -resonance- of some sort, I'd like to know if the ancient gnomes', as opposed to ours, resonates musically." A pause. "There also is this issue where people with Unusual Powers seem to develop headaches -and- voical cord strain when they do so. I would like to build an extremely sensitive musical instrument to detect if any physical vibration is going on there. Or magical. Possibly by modifying the phonograph. I would volunteer for the first tests."

The party has gotten past Sher Kar - The Sher Kar, and is heading for where they expect to find a concentration of ants. But the ants have sensed the party as well, and a handful of the guard-ants have been sent to clear their nest of predators.

Schneider is wildly intrigued by the discussion of the Crowned, and the things they've revealed. But siddenly, we're face to face with giant ants, and it's every wizard for himself. It's far too close in here to use any fire magic, it's touch spells in the midst of a brawl. That's fine, though, his magic cape is proof against the ants attacks for as long as it takes the Exploder Wizard to touch-spell the ants and chant the magic formula that explodes and costs them a chunk of HP. The furious melee requires several of these spells, but the magic cape's defense holds out. It's a very good cape.

    Fuka even briefly considered never again going on a stupid training mission again. Not going into dungeons. Not doing raids. Not risking death itself for stupid advancement and stupid loot. But ... no. She's not going to do that again. She lost herself some time ago, after the Apocalypse. Not to the realization that there was now real risk, but to the realization that there was no longer an *other*. That she was no longer the mask, and would have to be serious for fear others would judge her.

    The answer to that angst came to her, and it's no less than her answer to this one. Better dead than to sit back and fail to help. Better dead than friendless. Better to risk memories than to never make them.

    So she smiles, and the true Fukaziroh shines through that. "That's why we handle problems as friends." she claims. "Of course we'll share the burden! And no, Uta." she adds, a hint of sternness behind that smile. "There is absolutely NO WAY they can dominate you like that. That's my calling!"

    Beat.

    "I mean, to protect you from that. Not to dominate you. That'd be kinda hot but it's not really my thing, you know?" she smirks. No, she's not into force. Not in THAT way at least! Just in sweet, sweet... teasing.

    "Anyways let's just kick some ant ass, okay? They've got like what six legs? That's a lot of ass needing to be kicked!" Fuka calls as they're ambushed. With a cheer of joy she lauches herself forward and... trips. By the time she gets back up, the battle's half over. By the time they're finished she's done what she can, but she's probably a lot more bloodied-up than she should be in a fight like this. Hey, she was probably distracted by the thought of dominating Uta. Or something.

"I'll change up," Haru says, as his focus for Wave Artes are completely failing him right now. He makes a shift on his menu to adjust the form that his focus functions. He slips his hands through it, the mineral being like jelly or water to form the guard of a rapier. Out of the end a thin, magical line of obsidian forms. Magical Melee focus. He rushes on in to the front against the Ant Guards. Parry. Move. Thrust. He is surprisingly good on his feet. Surprisingly -capable- up front if not for his lack of armor. His weapon isn't meant to do heavy damage, especially not against armored ants, but it doesn't require him to recite chants or focus.

"We all knew what you meant, Fuka," the white haired man says as he grins over to her. Its not his usual smile. Its the sort of grin an adrenaline soaked battle junkie might have in the thick of combat. Something a bit more honest. "Kinda hot," he agrees, lunging into an ant before the final encounter.

Given the narrow, close quarters, there is not much choice but engage in melee combat. Each step of Uta is a roundhouse kick, which kicks the ant all the way to the ground, where the foot connects. Then, exploiting the inertia, she launches into yet another roundhouse kick. And another. And another, as she keeps pushing ants back and shattering them. At each shatter, a little variety is added by Uta jabbing an ant to her left, immediately followed by her turning to look at her right side, where the staff is pulled back to gouge another ant with the opposite end. And the cycle of roundhouse kicks continues.

Until, that, is Fuka mentions the domination. This causes Uta to falter, lose her rhythm, and stumble down, ending up on the ground, right under the maws of an ant, which are thrusted down at Uta. She shrieks, crosses her arms, quickly yells a short melody-

Two large bracers made of ice grow from Uta's wrists, which effectively block the ant's attempt at piercing her. Lacking Schneider's cape (it is a very good cape), she has to rely on magic barriers. Magic barriers which she seems not to be very good at controlling: this time it was admittedly strong enough to protect her, but far too much -- the two discs grew exceedingly thick, and into each other to boot, making the whole situation hard to disentangle now.

Uta takes two deep breaths, and exploiting the power of her legs, kicks the ant away and pushes herself to stand in one motion. She turns to face Fukaziroh just as she mentions that dominating Uta would be pretty hot... with her hands effectively encased in ice handcuffs. Unsure if Fuka saw the lead-up to that.

"IT IS NOT MY THING EITHER," she yells as she blushes a deep red, so much one might suspect a bleeding effect all over her face.

Okay, not that bad, but still.

"ET TU, HARU!", she exclaims, her suddenly turned face now making the 'bleeding status effect' comparison marginally less inaccurate.

This central chamber houses the Queen ant and her workers, as well as grubs and eggs. When the party is spotted, the queen gestures wildly, and the remaining ants swarm the party.

    "FOCUS, Uta!" cries Fuka cheerfully, her earlier mood entirely forgotten in a rush of cheer. This is why she jokes after all. This particular well-timed bit of buffoonery did wonders to improve morale, to drive away despair, and ... not incidentally, people found it funny. Or embarassing. Or both! Haru may think he knows what she really meant and, to be fair, he's probably correct. But he might not know *why* she meant it.

    "Hey that was some pretty good shielding!" Fuka notes sincerely. Sure there's room for improvement but it was great for improvised magic at the last moment. It did the trick of keeping the ant from impaling her! She considers asking Uta if she's sure it's not her thing, but... no. As funny as that'd be, timing is important in humour. She got the ideal outcome, now she just has to focus on finishing the fight so they can escape the duty with victory and good cheer. All according to keikaku!

^Tthe battle may be difficult but Fuka fights as if inspired, flashing here and there in bursts of motion inspired more by arte than physical speed. Maybe she *is* inspired. Surely she's never been quite so fluidly graceful when combining arte and technique. Seems her training is beginning to pay off! Now if she'd only stop trying to humiliate her dear friends while doing so, everyone could be happy!

As the remaining ants swarm the party, Dark Scneider hurls fire. Sadly, the fire does nothing. Are these fire ants? Or ... well, it's a magical world, not everything's vulnerable to his element of choice. So, second choice? Underground, it'd be earth, but Schneider's earth magic is limited to calling up elementals. Unfortunately, the elementals he summons are small. He's not /that/ good at Earth. But the small elementals have quite good control of the earth, and the ants have trouble navigating around the shifting ground. The queen is mired in place, taking hit after hit from Fuka, the workers are workers, not fighting ants, they are not nearly strong enough to withstand her.

The Artificer stays in Melee Mode for the duration of the encounter with the Queen. Haru knows nothing about the Uta-Fuka thing. Not really. Not to the level that the teasing works as it does. Nor does it track with his combat method, which could best be described as a DPS without the DPS output. He is an Enchanter/Summoner in melee. A debuff class and a 'my pet fights for me' class. He lacks Sword Artes and does basic attacks with his magical melee focus. The finesse comes from using his mastery of Earth magics to make him very difficult to hit. An ant's pincer comes crashing down only for the ground itself to launch him up, over. Low damage, but it pulls distraction from the ant's attacks. "Here we go, finish strong," he says, landing a fell blow in a lunge through an ant's head.

"Focus! Right!"

Uta inhales, and with a loud 'YAH!', she smashes the ice onto a nearby stalagmite. So much for not having Fire. Fire which Schneider provides just one moment after, which causes Uta to stare... and sigh at the missed opportunity. Ah well.

Her expression turns focused, palm of her hand kept vertical and facing sideways in front of her face, fist at her hip, and then, she darts forward: she destroys an ant with a single punch that follow in a slide with associated elbow impact onto a second, small ant, which has half its HP docked in one go, the rest taken care of by another straight-ahead punch. The ant that attempts to surprise the Spriggan from behind has its face smashed by an ushiro geri.

As her spin is completed and her foot returns to the ground, Uta blushes again, all of a sudden, without an apparent reason.

"I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE THINKING!", she yells at Fuka. "Yes! I'm sure it's not my thing!"

The two must have spent a lot of time togeher, it seems.

A backflip just in time, to avoid another ant ramming at her, impact-squatting against a rocky wall, and hurtling herself back at the opponent, to skewer it with her staff, she finds time for some banter, "Thanks, Fuka. You're doing pretty well yourself- and, hey, nice blow, there, Haru!" Turning to Schneider- well, yes. She's aware that Earth would be more appropriate here, so she offers, "...nice Fire. There's... a lot of it. Really. It's... copious."

Schneider did use Earth here. When Fire did nothing except turn some of the sand to glass. It's not like he flamed /that much/, he feels. But at Uta's praise, he gives a weak smile. "Er, thanks," he says. It's kind of praise for not being helpful, but ... well, the job's done, is the important thing!

    "I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about." claims Fukaziroh with wide-eyed mock-innocence. She was probably admiring Uta, but ... well, not in the way the Spriggan suspects. Well, mostly not. The little sylph occasionally regrets not trying out the game as a male body when she'd had the chance, but only occasionally. She has a hard time imagining actually following through on such flirtings even if she had chosen to do so... and flirting is plenty fun for her besides. And she very much likes being a girl, so there's that too. No, curiosity such as that is a trivial thing, easily dismissed. Fuka is Fuka.

    That said, she doesn't ignore other friends in her quest to tease Uta. "You're better at this sort of fighting than I'd have given you credit for!" Fuka notes to Haru, as she hefts her axe at the end of the fight, smiling. "I mean we can't all be Heavy Blades, but skill counts for a lot, yeah?"

    She shrugs. "I mean, look at Schneider. Not just a pretty face! Known for fire, but ... hey, he's got a lot of depth to his skills too. Good fight, everyone!" she says enthusiastically. Later... later they might get into depressing stuff about the whole war thing. But for now, they kicked ass and chewed bubblegum. Only no one's invented bubblegum.

Haru flicks his magical orb to the side and carefully goes back to the menu to return it to being a Wave Artes focus. Back to being a ball. He holds it for a bit, giving it a toss upwards. Down. Catch. Looking over towards Fuka's comment about his swordsmanship he says, "Be grateful I didn't make a character that was Melee focused. There would have been no way your Heavy Blade build would have been able to keep up." But he CHOSE not to go down that path. But all that doom and gloom can wait a few minutes. Now they can jab and tease and cheer. Enjoy the little bits of light that filter through.

Most importantly to Haru is that he goes over to where the Queen is. Not too long ago they were considering abandoning the duty. Theories and Feelings aside, there is real, tangible proof that things can work out. Sometimes you just need a win. Like what Tian said about the one time a Crowned was Uncrowned once more. "A good fight," he echoes.

    "Hey it's not my fault I'm slowed down by having to carry your butts!" Fuka jeers goodnaturedly. Future concerns can handle themselves in the future. Fuka will continue to train, continue to study, continue to improve. And when the time comes, she'll be that much stronger, that much more ready to support her friends.

Uta can be oblivious to things. Very obvious things. Like Schneider using Earth. That's Uta for you.

Thanks to the combined contribution of the whole party, the queen is finally defeated.

Panting out of exhaustion, but exhilarated by the adrenalin rush and the success, Uta tosses a fist in the air and lets out a cheerful "Woo! We did it!"

She looks around and smiles, "Yes, thank you, everyone. It was great teamwork" She sighs. "Now, how about we head out to some inn in the vicinity, clean up, and have that long overdue chat over a good meal?"

"And drinks," Haru adds in. As not much of a drinker, thinks that a little bit will make it a lot easier all around. "Yes. An overdue chat that needs to happen," he agrees. He brought it up but even he isn't enthused about it. The one blue eye looks at Fuka there. No one said today was going to be boring!

Schneider is good with the idea of relaxing over a good meal while there's still a chance for it. He nods to Uta, and peers quizically at Fuka. He's not sure if she praised him or not. But drinks and food sound good, so he's with it.