The New Year is just about to approach, and Sonic and his friends are now chilling out at a park in Tokyo.
Tails: Can't believe it's almost 2026.
Mighty: Pretty soon it will be two years since the death game was cleared.
Sonic: Why not celebrate? Just kidding.
Tails: Hey, I just got a message from Kirito. He said he saw an article about someone finding the Holy Sword Excalibur in ALO.
Knuckles: Well, that's too bad he didn't get it.
Tails: No wait. Nobody has gotten it yet. He wants us to dive in and help him.
Ray: Excalibur?
Sonic: Hey, I've heard about that sword before. That was the sword that King Arthur wielded, right?
Tails: Yeah. Guess it's a legendary weapon in ALO. I wonder how they found it. Players can't fly in Jotunheimr.
Sonic: Well then, let's just see this for ourselves.
Mighty: Yeah. Pretty soon someone else will clear that dungeon to get the sword.
Sonic: Then we better move quickly.
Everybody logs into ALO and meet up at the house in Alne. Klein takes a sip of his drink.
Silica: Are you on vacation already, Klein?
Klein: Yeah, since yesterday. Even if I wanted to work, there's pretty much nothing to do. My boss keeps saying how good we got it there, and how we get a full week off for the New Year's.
Sonic: Next time you guys are on vacation you should visit my home, South Island.
Silica: That would be great.
Klein: Hey Kirito. If we manage to get Excalibur today, I want you to help me get the Spirit Blade Kaguzuchi.
Kirito: It's really hot in that dungeon.
Klein: Yeah, well Jotunheimr is really cold.
Sinon: If you could, I would like you to help me get my hands on the Light Bow Shekinah.
Tails: Wait, you've been playing for two weeks and now you're after a legendary weapon?
Sinon: I love the bow that Liz gave me, but I could use a little more range.
Lisbeth: Really? Well bows have better range than spears, but not magic. You're pretty much the only player in this game who wants to snipe from a hundred meters.
Sinon: I want to double that.
Lisbeth: Oh, ok.
Asuna, Yui, and leafa return from shopping.
Leafa: We're back.
Asuna: Sorry it took so long.
Silica: Welcome back.
Sonic: Hey, we've been waiting.
Yui: Hey Daddy, we talked to so many people, but nobody was able to reach the dungeon.
Kirito: Then how do they know where Excalibur is?
Yui: I think someone has found a quest different from Tonky, which an NPC offered Excalibur as the reward for completing it.
Knuckles: Who's Tonky?
Yui: He's a jelephant from Jotunheimr. Daddy and Aunt Leafa saved him from a dreadlord.
Asuna: They said that it wasn't a very peaceful quest. It's not a fetching or escort one. It's a kill quest. It's about killing as many monsters in Jotunheimr as you can. Everybody over there is trying to do that.
Ray: Definitely not peaceful at all.
Mighty: But Excalibur is sealed at the bottom of that mid-air dungeon swarming with dreadlords. How can an NPC offer it as a quest reward?
Silica: Maybe the NPC could take them to the dungeon.
Sonic: Guess we'll find out soon enough.
Lisbeth: Alright everyone. The weapons are back in shape.
Lisbeth gives everyone their weapons.
Klein: You know, even if we're a bunch of muscleheads, we're still pretty cool.
Lisbeth: Why don't you use magic for once?
Klein: No way. A samurai doesn't use magic.
Tails: Well samurai's normally use black magic in RPGs normally, in addition to their warrior skills.
Klein: Maybe I should break my own katana and quit being a samurai rather than using magic.
Silica: But you were using a fire-based sword skill earlier. That counts as half magic.
Klein: Wait, seriously?!
Tails: Yeah, she's right.
Ray: Hey I mean, we don't use weapons or magic at all.
Sonic: I'm pretty sure you guys know why as well.
Sinon: You five don't need them.
Yui: ALO added sword skills in the system update in May. High level skills were assigned to the magic elements: earth, water, fire, wind, holy, and dark on top of their physical properties.
Klein: Really?
Knuckles: So are you gonna destroy your katana now or what?
Klein: Oh you have got to be kidding me.
Kirito: Sword skills don't really require incantations, so we can say they don't count.
Lisbeth: That's fair enough.
Kirito: Thank you for coming to help me everyone. Despite the last minute favor. I'll thank you guys properly later on somehow. Let's give it all we got.
Everyone: Yeah!
Everyone heads down the long stairs leading to Jotunheimr. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Mighty, and Ray run ahead.
Lisbeth: Too bad they are faster than us.
Leafa: This place must be the size of an entire dungeon floor in New Aincrad.
Kirito: In the normal route, it takes two hours to get to Jotunheimr. This one takes five, so deal with it. Consider yourselves lucky.
Sinon: It's still a huge pain. Sonic must already be there by now.
At the bottom of the stairs, Sonic and his friends continue to wait for the others to arrive.
Sonic: So this is Jotunheimr.
Mighty: It's all snow here.
Kirito and the others arrive.
Sonic: Hi.
Klein: Hey. Jeez it's freezing.
Sinon: This place is amazing.
Asuna casts a frost resistance spell on everyone.
Klein: Ah that's better. Thanks Asuna.
Tails: Guess Salamanders have a weakness to the cold.
Leafa makes a whistling signal and a monster which looks to be a mix of a jellyfish and elephant comes flying up to them with eight wings.
Klein: Gah!
Leafa: Don't worry. Despite how he looks, he's a herbivore. When we brought him fish from the surface though, he devoured them all in a single bite.
Tails: Wait, is that Tonky?
Leafa: Yeah.
Tonky puts his trunk onto Klein.
Klein: What's it doing?
Kirito: It's telling you to get on.
Klein: But my gramp's dying words had to do with being against riding American cars and flying elephants.
Sonic: You made that up just now.
Kirito: Back at the Dicey Cafe, you gave me dried persimmons. You said your grandpa made it. They were good so give me more next time, would you?
Everybody climbs on Tonky, and Tails flies on him.
Tails: I'm the only player who can fly anywhere, but I can't fly that far though. I get tired.
Sinon: Well that's a shame.
Kirito: Thanks Tonky.
Kirito jumps onto him.
Leafa: Ok Tonky, take us to the dungeon entrance.
Tonky flies up to the dungeon.
Lisbeth: What happens if you fall down from here?
Asuna: Try asking the one who tried to climb up to the next floor of Aincrad and almost fall off.
Kirito: Nah, I'll leave it to our cat friends instead.
Sinon and Silica: No thanks.
Tonky then drops down fast and everybody screams and holds on really tight.
Leafa: Woohoo!
Tails: For crying out loud Leafa! Just why?!
Sonic: What? You afraid of roller coasters or something?
Tonky stops dropping down. Yui holds onto Asuna really tight and Tails holds onto Sonic, and Ray holds onto Mighty. They shake really hard.
Sonic: Chill out Tails, it's over.
Mighty: Man that was insane.
Ray: This is worse than a roller coaster.
Knuckles: Good thing I didn't fall off like when Heavy Magician pushed me off the Tornado at Mirage Saloon.
Asuna: Yui, it's ok. We've stopped falling.
Yui: No! I'm not letting go!
Leafa: Guys, look.
They look down on the ground and see a bunch of players helping a dreadlord take down a jelephant.
Asuna: Did someone tame that dreadlord?
Silica: That's impossible! There's no chance of taming one! Even with your taming skills maxed out and when you have the special gear!
Klein: You mean they are taking advantage of the situation?
Knuckles: Those players must be helping the dreadlord. No wonder why it's not attacking them.
Tonky starts crying as soon as they took out one of his friends.
Tails: Look!
A bunch of players attack more jelephants
Lisbeth: Does this quest have to do with what Asuna said about monster-slaying in Jotunheimr? It's about teaming up with the humanoid dreadlords to kill the bestial dreadlords?
Sonic: You've gotta be kidding me.
Suddenly, a giant woman appears behind them.
Sonic: Woah, look!
Klein: She's huge.
Urdr: I am the Queen of the Lake, Urdr. Listen well, fairies and heroes who have bonded with my young servants. Me and my sisters have a request for you to deliver these lands from the clutches of the frost giants.
Yui: Daddy, she's an NPC but there's something unusual about her. She's not going through the set response routines like most NPCs do. She is patched through a core language engine module in the game code.
Kirito: You mean she's an AI?
Yui: Yeah.
Urdr: Jotunheimr was once like the surface world, Alfheim. It was also blessed by the World Tree, Yggdrasil, and it was covered with lush greenery and water. We hill giants, and our animal servants, once lived together in peace and harmony. Below Jotunheimr lies Nibelheim, the land of frost. The king of the frost giants who inhabit that realm, Thrym, snuck into Jotunheimr and snuck the Holy Sword Excalibur, the sword that cuts all trees and iron, into the lake of Urd which is at the center of the world. The sword has cut the thickest route for the World Tree, and then taking Yggdrasil away, along with the blessings it gave to us.
Mighty: So Excalibur lies there.
Urdr: Masses of frost giants led by Thrym from Nibelheim began to assault Jotunheimr and put up a fortress and many castles, while capturing and imprisoning us hill giants. And on the frozen Lake of Urd lies a mammoth block of ice. They used it to construct a castle, Thrymheim, from which they rule this land. Me and my two sisters have escaped to the bottom of a frozen lake, but we do not have the power we once possessed. But, the frost giants are still not finished and they mean to kill our servants that call this land their home. If that comes to pass, our power will soon fade, and they will soon be able to bring Thrymheim to the surface of Alfheim.
Klein: What?!
Knuckles: The town of Alne will get destroyed if that happens!
Urdr: King Thrym wants to bury the world of Alfheim in snow and push onwards to the zenith of the World Tree. He keeps the golden apple that is set to grow there.
Sonic: You've gotta be kidding me.
Urdr: Thrym and his minions have grown frustrated with their inability to slay my servants, so they have begun to get assistance from the fairies. And offering Excalibur as the reward, he wishes to destroy all of my servants. However, King Thrym has no intention in lending the legendary sword to anyone. If Excalibur is pulled from its place, then the World Tree's blessings will return to this realm, and the castle will be doomed to melt and fall.
Lisbeth: So he's lying about Excalibur being the quest reward?
Ray: Does that mean that quest is false?
Urdr: Thrym must wish to substitute it to Caliburn, the false sword that looks identical to Excalibur.
Tails: There's no way a king like him would get away with this. That's not fair.
Urdr: Not being fair is what Thrym does best. It is his most powerful weapon. He has made a mistake though. He has tasked most of his forces, with the help of the fairy warriors, so they are nowhere near Thrymheim. The castle's defenses are weaker than ever.
Ray: It's not like this will be a cakewalk though.
Urdr gives Leafa an amulet.
Urdr: The fading of this amulets glow hearkens the passing of my own servants, and my power. Fairies, and heroes, infiltrate Thrymheim, and take Excalibur from its place. I am counting on you all.
Tonky flies up to the castle entrance.
Sinon: This is a normal quest right? The scale of this seems far beyond a normal quest.
Tails: So if all the bestial dreadlords get killed, the frost giants will invade the surface?
Sonic: But how is this happening when the GMs aren't giving an update or heads-up?
Kirito: Yeah. Normally we would get at least a week's notice.
Leafa: Well it doesn't matter now. Tonky needs us to help his friends. Right Kazuto?
Kirito: Definitely. We came here to clear this castle and take Excalibur away. This gives us an advantage since their defenses are weaker.
Kirito equips a second sword with him.
Sonic: Alright! One last quest for the year.
Tails: Yeah. Let's give it everything we got.
Klein: Let's finish this and put ourselves on the front page of MMO Tomorrow!
Everyone: Yeah!
They arrive at the castle entrance.
Leafa: Don't worry Tonky. We're gonna save your home and your friends.
Sonic: Let's go!