Ch.2 – Progress
"Are you sure? Accepting my request would be tantamount to being responsible for one more Player's life, you know." Despite my decision to ultimately make the request of Argo, part of me was still anxious about adding to her burdens.
"Seriously, you're worrying way too much," she cheerfully replied. "It's just looking after another person, no need to blow things out of proportion. Besides, I've got a reliable partner who'll help me out, right?"
"Hehe, you're right. Thank you so much, Argo. This means a lot to me." Fortunately it seemed that my concerns were for naught.
"You're welcome. Though I must say, this confirms my earlier suspicions." A mischievous twinkle was apparent in Argo's eyes.
Uh oh.
"What do you mean?" I was a bit afraid of what she had to say next.
"I now have solid proof that she IS your type!" Of course, it was just like Argo to say something like that.
"Really, you misunderstand me. It is simply my duty as Prince Charming to be there for all damsels in distress! I am just carrying out my duty," I declared dramatically.
"Prince Charming isn't a very fitting name for someone with as much charm as a blobfish," Argo deadpanned. Ouch, that was a low blow. And men do not take low blows well.
"Come on, let's go speak with her." Once again, I found myself following Argo's lead.
"Hey there." With a mildly surprised expression on her face, the girl lifted her head and was greeted with our faces. It seemed that she didn't notice us approaching her.
"Can I sit next to you?" Argo asked gently. A nod from the girl was the consent Argo needed to sit on the bench next to her. I opted to remain standing next to my whiskered companion, content to leave the interaction to her.
"What're you doing out here so late? Can't sleep?" Argo asked.
"...Yes," the girl answered, her voice heavy with melancholy. "I came out here to clear my head."
"I see. And how's that going?"
"Not so well."
"Do you want to tell me what's bothering you? You might feel better sharing your problems with someone else," Argo suggested.
"...If we go out there, we'll die. But if we don't, we can't go back to the real world. There's nothing we can do at all." The brown haired girl began tearing up as she spoke. "I don't want to be stuck in here all alone. I miss my family!"
There was a few seconds of silence as Argo allowed the sobbing girl to wallow in her misery uninterrupted. As teardrops slid down her face, I contemplated saying something to cheer her up, but before I could make a move Argo subtly gazed at my direction.
Stand down. I've got this. That was how I interpreted the look Argo gave me. Whether or not that was the message she was trying to send, I ended up staying my hand since she seemed like she knew what she was doing.
"You're wrong about one thing," Argo suddenly declared in a firm voice. The girl wiped her eyes with her sleeve before tilting her head to look at Argo.
"You will never be alone because the two of us are here for you. We'll get through this together, I swear," Argo gently said as she looked the girl in her eyes. At the same time, she wrapped her fingers around the girl's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "We'll do everything we can to help you, so stop worrying and believe in us, okay?"
The girl's eyes widened in surprise; for a while she was unable to form an adequate response. Her emotions then got the better of her: as the girl's body quivered, tears flowed once more.
"Thank you... thank you so much!" Though it was weak, her voice was filled with raw emotion; it was impossible to doubt her sincerity.
"If you want to thank anyone, thank him. He insisted on us helping you," Argo said as she jabbed her thumb at my direction.
"Thank you for saving me, even though we're strangers." As she expressed her gratitude, I thought to myself that her smiling face was a hundred times prettier than her crying one.
"My pleasure," I replied. "Though I don't suppose you could tell us your name? It'll be more convenient to call you by your name than to refer to you as 'the brown haired beauty'."
"You think you're so smooth, but you're acting like a fool," Argo murmured as she rolled her eyes. Our new friend laughed at my unexpected joke.
"Just to clarify, you should introduce yourself with your in-game-name," I added.
"Oh. My name's Lisbeth."
"I'm LOL, and this is my Argo, my pet. She speaks human." Said girl responded to the 'introduction' with a punch to the gut.
"Okay, let's try that again," I said, a hand on my stomach. "I'm LOL, and this is Argo, the bane of my existence." Lisbeth seemed to be amused by our antics. We swapped friend requests with Lisbeth, and promised to have breakfast with her at the inn she was staying at the following morning.
"You should get some rest, it's been a long day," Argo told Lisbeth.
"Yeah, you're right. I'm sure that I'll be able to fall asleep this time, thanks to you two," Lisbeth replied with a smile.
"You did an incredible job comforting Lisbeth," I said to Argo. Having walked Lisbeth back to her lodging, the two of us were once again the only people wandering the empty streets.
"I'm just glad that it worked out. By the way, can I ask you something?"
"Sure, fire away."
"Was there something special about Lisbeth that drew you to her? I could tell that you were really passionate about helping her."
"Oh? Are you jealous that I'm giving her so much attention?"
"Are you an idiot?" Argo asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Nope."
"Then there's your answer." Hah, well played Argo. Well played. There was a few seconds of silence before I addressed Argo's question.
"It's a long explanation so bear with me. You see, my sister had the misfortune of being involved in a… tragedy of some sorts when she was only a little kid. Blood was spilled, someone was killed, but the worst part was that not a single fucking person gave a damn about the terrified little girl who happened to be caught up in everything. It was as if everybody just assumed she would walk away from the incident without any emotional trauma whatsoever! So many people could have helped my sister, but nobody did, and so she had to cry alone, suffer alone, struggle through those painful days all alone." I stopped to catch my breath before I continued speaking.
"My sister had to endure the excruciation of suffering in isolation, and I couldn't in good conscience let Lisbeth go through what my sister went through. Also, if I abandoned Lisbeth when I was in a position to help her, I would be no different from the people who ignored my sister's suffering. I needed to prove to myself that I was better than them, that I was someone who could extend a helping hand to someone who needs it. Well, there you have it. Those were my motivations for helping Lisbeth."
"I'm sorry for making you talk about such painful memories," Argo apologised sombrely.
"Nah, don't worry about it. You couldn't have known. Plus, you're taking care of Lisbeth because of a request I made, so it's only fair you know about the reasons behind the request," I said with a dismissive wave. We had finally reached the inn I was staying at, and it was time for us to part for the night. Argo told me to make sure that I rest up and prepared myself for tomorrow; when I asked her if she had anything planned, she flashed her trademark grin.
"Tomorrow, we'll begin your combat training."
Abruptly released from the illusions of sleep, I yawned while twisting and stretching my body. My surroundings were completely shrouded in darkness, owing to the lack of a window and switched off lights. I was tempted to shut my eyes and submerge myself in the fantasies of dreamland for the rest of the morning, but I did agree to meet Argo and Lisbeth for breakfast at the inn Lisbeth was staying in – and who was I to miss an appointment with two young ladies? I shrugged off the blanket embracing my body and prepared myself for the day.
By the time I arrived, Lisbeth and Argo were already seated at one of the inn's dining tables, chatting amicably. I was glad that Lisbeth was in a good mood; it was gratifying to see her smile, considering how stressed she had been. As for Argo, she was no different from how she had been yesterday – cheerful, energetic and keen to throw verbal jabs at me whenever the opportunity arose. The three of us chatted about a variety of things while eating breakfast: I recounted my meeting with Argo to Lisbeth, and Argo briefly explained to her what she and her friends were trying to achieve. Argo also made Lisbeth and I swear to keep the identities of any beta Players we knew a secret, claiming that we'd understand the reasons for doing so sooner or later. By the way, Argo had taken a liking to calling Lisbeth 'Liz', and she also decided to abbreviate my name to 'L' – not that I minded sharing names with one of the coolest characters in anime history.
"Hey Liz, I need to ask you something important," Argo said.
"What is it?" Lisbeth asked.
"The only way to escape from SAO is to beat the game, which means that we have to fight all the way to the top of Aincrad and kill the Final Boss on Floor 100," Argo explained. "What I need to know is, are you prepared to risk dying to fight your way out of here?" Argo locked eyes with Lisbeth as she voiced her question.
"Take some time to think about it, there's no rushing these kinds of decisions," I quickly added. "Just know that we'll continue supporting you regardless of what you choose to do."
If SAO was nothing more than a video game, half-assing your way through the game would not be a problem at all. Unfortunately, SAO was a death game where you literally put your life on the line every time you fought. The will to persevere and chase after victory was vital; half-hearted combat only got you killed.
Both Argo and I had decided to wager our lives to clear the game. Would Lisbeth gamble everything and fight by our sides, or would she seek asylum in the confines of the Starting City?
"After talking with you guys last night, I spent some time thinking things through," Lisbeth recounted. "I can't expect anything to change if I sit around and do nothing, can I? That's why I decided that I'll do whatever it takes to get out of here, even if it means fighting and possibly dying."
"... It won't be easy, you know," I sighed.
"I know, but I'm not changing my mind." And thus we gained a new comrade in arms. Argo told Lisbeth about our plans to head out to the fields surrounding Starting City to grind, and Lisbeth accepted the invitation to tag along.
The plan was to leave Starting City and fight the mobs that spawned in the fields surrounding the Safe Area, but our whiskered companion wanted to introduce us to someone before we did that, and so we followed her to a great church with impressive glass windows. Churches were constructed for religious purposes, so did that mean the NPCs were believers of a particular faith? I thought to myself how intriguing it would be to see in-game scenarios based on SAO religion. Argo knocked on the wooden church door using the attached circular handle. Moments later a bespectacled, brown-haired young woman wearing a long navy blue dress with a white collar answered the door; I couldn't help but wonder if all of Argo's friends wore glasses.
"Good morning Argo, what can I do for you?" the young woman asked.
"Hey Sasha," Argo greeted, "meet Lisbeth and LOL. They're new Players I met yesterday. Liz, L, this is Sasha. We go way back." After exchanging pleasantries with Sasha, we were invited into the church. I was mildly surprised to discover a good number of children inside the church; I suspected that the oldest were around twelve and the youngest around seven or eight. Most of the children were extremely depressed. Some of them were sobbing loudly, though a few of the children – mainly the older ones – were trying to cheer up their peers.
Lisbeth and I were told that Sasha took it upon herself to look after all the children trapped in SAO. Not long after the death game began, she began searching for a building large enough to use as a safe haven for all the children trapped in Aincrad, and with Argo's help she found this church and rented out all the available rooms, pretty much going broke in the process. Sasha then put her efforts into searching for children and bringing them to the church.
Looking after the children, however, was a very difficult task. Playing the role of a surrogate mother, Sasha not only had to constantly stay by the children's sides to comfort them, she also had to earn Col to pay for the rent and put food on the table for the many mouths she felt obliged to feed. Of course, it would be pointless to expect the (literally) heartless NPCs who owned the church to exhibit any charity and provide Sasha with the resources she needed – or at least reduce the amount of Col demanded from her. Fortunately, two beta testers who were common friends of Argo and Sasha volunteered to help out with paying for the children's living costs, relieving Sasha of a huge burden.
On a side note, Sasha said that she became acquainted with Argo when they were playing the same MMORPG a few years ago. She missed out on the beta testing of SAO, but learned about how the game worked from her beta tester friends.
With her hands in her pockets, Argo nonchalantly walked up to a monster. The monster in question was the Frenzy Boar – one of the weakest mobs in the whole of SAO, it was a Passive Monster, which apparently meant that it would only act after being attacked. Unperturbed by the boar's red eyes following her every move Argo began walking in circles in front of the mob as she whistled loudly. While Argo kept the Frenzy Boar's attention on her, Lisbeth and I were careful to stay out of its range of sight as we crept towards it. Stealth played an important part in SAO combat: if you managed to catch an enemy unaware and land a sneak attack, the enemy would receive additional damage. This feature, known as the Sneak Attack Bonus, was one of the new additions to combat after the beta test.
Argo would not interfere in the ensuing fight as she wanted to observe how we'd fair against the mob, though she promised that to step in if any of us were on the verge of losing all of our HP – not that she believed this would happen.
Lisbeth and I agreed that she would launch the first strike and I would follow up the assault. She took a deep breath to calm down her nerves, lunged at the Frenzy Boar and plunged her sword straight into the mob. The attack took out a good chunk of its HP. The boar thrashed around in pain, frightening Lisbeth who let go of her sword, took a few panicked steps backwards, tripped and fell flat on her ass. Her Bronze Sword was still stuck to the mob's body. Seizing the opening Lisbeth created, I sprinted towards the monster and hacked it with my sword, a red trail being left on where I struck. Although my movements were clumsy and unnatural, the attack made the boar recoil in pain. I was about to finish it off for good with a second strike when the Frenzy Boar suddenly rammed into me. Landing on my back, I scrambled to get up as the Frenzy Boar made to charge at me, but it suddenly burst into polygons and Lisbeth's sword fell onto the grassy ground. A status screen popped up, detailing the Exp, Cor and items gained from beating the mob.
"If a weapon remains lodged in a mob's body, its HP will continue to drop over time due to the so-called Continuous Piercing Damage," Argo, who was watching the whole exchange, explained as she bent to pick up Lisbeth's Bronze Sword. "When the mob was about to attack you, its HP was low enough for Continuous Piercing Damage to finish it off. By the way, congrats on your first victory."
I only received light damage so I didn't bother using a Health Potion. Lisbeth was apologetic about her performance, upset that she couldn't help me when I was in a tight spot. I assured her that there was no need to be concerned since I was perfectly fine, and Argo told her that, for two complete beginners, we didn't do too badly. At least Lisbeth did not seem to be intimated by combat, nor did she show any signs of wanting to give up on grinding.
Although SAO was designed to be a very lifelike game, the creators decided to make certain aspects of the game unrealistic. Firstly, pain was replaced by uncomfortable sensations. Secondly, neither Player avatars nor monsters bleed. Thirdly, almost no resistance could be felt when slicing through a monster. It's hard to describe the feeling, but slashing a monster with my Bronze Sword felt like I was cutting through a jelly-like substance. Not that I was complaining – I would indubitably find it much harder to battle in Aincrad if it felt like my weapons was passing through flesh and bones.
Argo gave us some advice for our next battle, and the two of us moved on to Frenzy Boar no.2 – though this time, one of us was responsible for distraction. My partner was keen to redeem herself, so decoy duty fell upon me. Hence, I walked up to the Frenzy Boar and proceeded to spout a whole load of nonsense at it.
"Good day to you Mr. Boar! You are cordially invited to join the glorious gathering at the newly established Animal Farm! Unlike the city of Zootopia, all animals are truly equal (at least for now), so racism does not exist (yet)! I can understand your surprise at this unexpected invitation, but then again, life is full of surprises! Some find themselves suddenly trapped within a virtual reality, while some are stabbed in the back out of the blue!"
The poor boar shrieked loudly as Lisbeth jammed her Bronze Sword into its flesh. This time, Lisbeth did not let go of her sword despite the mob's wild struggle; grabbing onto her weapon with all her might, she twisted the hilt of the sword, causing the monster's HP to deplete at a faster rate. I quickly unsheathed my sword and brought the blade down onto its weak spot, which was the back of its head, putting the boar out of its misery with a Critical Hit as it burst into tiny coloured fragments.
Argo was satisfied that we remembered her advice of twisting stabbed weapons to increase Continuous Piercing Damage and attacking weak points for Critical Hits. Lisbeth and I easily defeated a few more Frenzy Boars afterwards. We were then made to fight a couple mobs without the element of surprise, which was accomplished by Argo hurling Throwing Picks at the boars to provoke them while the two of us met the furious monsters head-on. We would either evade the Frenzy Boars' charges then attack it together, or one of us would block the tackles while the other went for the back of their heads. Even without getting in any sneak attacks, we disposed of the weak creatures with ease. Sometime later, Argo clapped her hands and declared that it was time for a break.
"You guys are doing a really good job," Argo complimented as she drew out a Bronze Dagger. "Now I'm going to show you how to use special attacks called Sword Skills. To activate a Sword Skill, all you have to do is get into the correct stance – known as the Pre-Motion – and the system will take over and automatically execute the attack."
"How do we know what the correct Pre-Motions are?" I asked.
"Open up the Skills sub-menu from the Player Menu and then select the Sword Skills sub-menu. This will open up a list which contains all the Sword Skills you've unlocked; if you click on a Sword Skill, you'll be able to see details about that Sword Skill including the specific Pre-Motion required for activation. However, it'll be impossible to read through the skill descriptions in the middle of a fight so you'll have to memorise the Pre-Motions for your Sword Skills," Argo answered, dexterously twirling the dagger with her fingers.
"Since our weapons are different, wouldn't that mean that we can't use the same Sword Skills?" Lisbeth questioned.
"Yes and no. It's true that you can't unleash Dagger Skills using a One-Handed Sword, and vice versa, but there is a set of Common Sword Skills which can be activated by all weapons. I'm going to demonstrate the Common Sword Skill Horizontal, so watch closely," Argo replied, continuing to twirl her dagger. She tossed her weapon into the air and expertly caught it by the handle when it dropped back down.
Suddenly, she sprinted towards one of the Frenzy Boars that spawned nearby.
Once she got within striking distance, she brought her dagger backwards.
The blade became coated in a bright blue light.
Argo sliced through the mob in inhuman speed, a long red line appearing on its body which indicated where the dagger had struck.
The mob died in one hit.
"And that," Argo said with a smirk, "is how you use a Sword Skill." She bowed as Lisbeth and I applauded her performance.
Lisbeth and I spent a good amount of time practicing the three Sword Skills we had access to – Horizontal, Vertical and Slant. It was quite difficult to cast them while moving, so we started off by activating them from a stationary position. Eventually we were able to use them while mobile, though we struggled to activate them when moving at full speed.
After executing a Sword Skill, the user is forced into a temporary state known as Post-Motion, during which the user cannot move and is vulnerable to counterattacks from the enemy. In addition, using a Sword Skill causes it to enter a Cooling period. A Sword Skill cannot be used again until it finishes 'cooling down'. The penalties associated with using Sword Skills meant that mindlessly spamming Sword Skills was suicidal; it was crucial to grasp the timing to use the right Sword Skill. Fortunately, the Sword Skill penalties are mitigated by a new, post-beta feature known as the Sword Skill Rating system. Whenever you strike an enemy with a Sword Skill, the system will judge the QUALITY of the attack. Landing a 'good' attack will reduce the Post-Motion and Cooling period of the Sword Skill; on the other hand, a 'bad' attack will not shorten Post-Motion or Cooling at all.
So what was a 'good' attack and what was a 'bad' attack? Sneak attacks, Critical Hits, attacks which disarm an opponent and unblocked, direct strikes were considered 'good' while Sword Skills that were blocked or completely missed were defined as 'bad'.
"Why didn't you teach us how to use Sword Skills before we fought those mobs earlier? We would've had a much easier time," Lisbeth asked in the middle of training. It took a couple of normal swings with the Bronze Sword to kill a Frenzy Boar, but one Sword Skill was sufficient in killing one of them.
"During the beta test I saw a lot of Players who thought they could get away with only using Sword Skills in fights. In the end, they had a very hard time battling the many mobs that could defend themselves with their weapons or body parts; their inability at non-Sword Skill combat made it impossible for them to create openings for their Sword Skills. That's why I wanted you to get used to fighting without Sword Skills before teaching you how to fight with them," Argo explained.
There was no risk of being assaulted since all the mobs were Passive Monsters, plus walking back to Starting City was a massive pain, so the three of us ate lunch in the same grassy field we trained in.
Imagine if the creators got rid of all the mobs and turned Sword Art Online into Picnic Online. Even without the combat element, it's likely that Picnic Online would still be very successful. Anyone who laid eyes on the virtual world of Aincrad would certainly agree that its beauty was truly unparalleled, and that it would be a great place to hang out. Considering how stressful living in a Japanese city can be, I'm sure many of us would appreciate being able to log into the fantastical world after a long day just to relax and wind down. It's a great pity that most of the Players were not in the mood to enjoy the fantastic scenery.
We talked about the different weapons in SAO. According to Argo, she preferred using claws but they were unavailable at the moment so she wielded daggers as a substitute. When the use of shields was brought up, Argo advised us to get used to fighting without shields first, or else we might become over-dependent on them. She encouraged us to try out different weapons and fighting styles to see which one suited us the most.
Although the original plan was to simply grind in the fields around Starting City, the beta tester of the group was keen to scrap that plan and move on to Horunka Village, the settlement closest to Starting City. She felt that grinding on the way to Horunka would be a great way for Lisbeth and I to reinforce what we've learned, and also mentioned that the Quests in Horunka would help us Level Up much more quickly.
"How dangerous is it to travel between Starting City and Horunka Village?" I asked.
"It won't be too dangerous, since I know all about the paths and dangerous places, as well as the mobs and their weaknesses. Unless something's changed since the beta test, we shouldn't have any problems at all," Argo answered. We set off for Horunka Village once we finished lunch, Argo acting as the vanguard of our three-man party as we followed the dirt path to the village.
The journey went quite smoothly, mostly thanks to Argo, who was not only a very capable fighter but also knowledgeable of the mobs which spawned. Under her guidance, the three of us made a decent team. We were halfway to the next village and had already defeated a variety of monsters by then. My movements were nowhere as fast or as natural as Argo's, but at least I was getting comfortable with fighting in SAO. Unfortunately, at one point I had taken enough damage to warrant the use of a Health Potion. Words cannot express my dislike for that foul liquid! Judging by Lisbeth's comical expression when she consumed her Health Potion, it would be safe to assume that she did not want to drink another one any time soon.
A Dire Wolf spawned not too far behind us and immediately dashed towards our party after appearing, and so we turned to face the hostile beast. Lisbeth and I charged towards the wolf side-by-side, and on Argo's command, we split before the Dire Wolf could pounce on either of us, Lisbeth quickly jumping to the left while I sprang to my right; with its intended target suddenly out of range, the Dire Wolf skid to a stop to readjust itself. A dagger flew through the air and embedded itself into the Dire Wolf. As it howled in pain, Lisbeth and I activated our Sword Skills, the consecutive attacks finishing it off. I picked up Argo's dagger and returned it to her. Next to appear was a Large Wasp which tried to rush Argo with its stinger. She avoided its attack and slashed its wings, immobilising it, and the mob was defeated without any further resistance. After a while we ran into an ugly plant monster known as the Little Nepenthes; I laughed when Argo called it a "Bellsprout rip-off". It swung its vine at us, attempting to maim us with the sharp leave attached to the end of the vine. I blocked with my sword, but was accidentally disarmed by the stronger than anticipated attack. Before the Little Nepenthes could make another move, swift dagger swipes from Argo detached the Little Nepenthes's vines from its body. We proceeded to kill it mercilessly.
We easily defeated a couple more insect type monsters afterwards and were not far from Horunka Village when two Kobold Scouts appeared some distance in front of us, blocking our path. These demi-humans had a canine appearance and were around Lisbeth's height. Each of them was equipped with a scimitar.
"What the hell? These things have never spawned in pairs before!" Argo exclaimed. Each Kobold Scout was Level 5. Argo was Level 3, while Lisbeth and I were Level 2. Needless to say, this was a grim situation.
"Can we outrun them?" I asked with my Bronze Sword unsheathed. I did not want to use it, but I was quite sure that the Kobold Scouts were keen to use their curved blades.
"... Unlikely. We're fighting," Argo answered. "The left one's mine. You and Liz take the other one! Their weakness is their neck. If they use a Sword Skill, block it with a Sword Skill of your own!"
"Here they come!" Lisbeth warned as the Kobold Scouts raised their weapons and charged at us. Argo scored a hit on the Kobold on the left with her Blade Throwing skill, the attack momentarily stunning her target as it screeched in pain. The other Kobold scout attempted to attack Argo who was weaponless, but I intercepted it before it could get within striking distance. My Bronze Sword clashed with its scimitar, and I took some damage because of the Level difference. Argo produced a second Bronze Dagger and ran towards the Kobold Scout which was damaged by her thrown weapon. It yanked out the dagger from its body and tossed it aside. With an angered roar, it met Argo head on.
I yelled for Lisbeth to assault my adversary from behind as I distracted it. The Kobold Scout's swift strikes and my slow reactions were a terrible combination for me: it only took the monster's third swing to overwhelm my poor defence and graze my face. While I was momentarily distracted by the hit to the face, my enemy followed up with a nasty cut to my torso which cost me a sizeable chunk of my HP.
Lisbeth came to my rescue by attacking the mob from behind with Vertical, stunning it. Capitalising on the opportunity, I activated Horizontal, smashing my blade into the monster's torso and knocking it away from me. The two of us managed to take out a good portion of the mob's HP; Lisbeth's attack in particular was defined by the system as a sneak attack, so her Vertical dealt extra damage due to the Sneak Attack Bonus. I suppose we were lucky that the Kobold Scout wasn't wearing armour.
"Are you alright?" Lisbeth asked.
"I'm almost out of HP. I'm counting on you to defend while I heal," I replied, exhausted from fighting the Kobold Scout. I started the fight with around 90% of my HP but the powerful mob had brought that down to less than 20%. The monster got up and charged at us again; Lisbeth moved to engage it while I quickly pulled out a Health Potion and proceeded to empty its contents.
She did lose a good amount of HP due to taking a direct hit to her shoulder, but otherwise she was doing a better job than me at defending against the Kobold Scout's relentless assault as she successfully blocked the next few slashes directed at her, though like me she still accumulated damage when she blocked with her sword because of the Level difference. By the time I was done consuming my Health Potion her HP was at the lower ends of the green zone. I began manoeuvring to a position where I could attack the mob when all of a sudden, the Kobold Scout growled, and its scimitar was enveloped in a blue light – I realized in horror that it was about to use a Sword Skill.
"BLOCK IT!" I yelled desperately, completely forgetting about sneaking up to the Kobold Scout and attacking it. Time seemed to slow down as Lisbeth desperately moved her blade to block the powerful swipe. The shining scimitar smashed into the lacklustre edge of her Bronze Sword, throwing her off balance. As her feet left the ground and her body moved backwards, Lisbeth's HP rapidly plummeted, dropping dangerously close to the red zone. Upon landing, Lisbeth stumbled but somehow managed to regain her footing. She raised her arm and pointed her Bronze Sword behind her to activate Vertical. Seeing Lisbeth perform the Pre-Motion for her Sword Skill snapped me back to action; I hastily closed in on the Kobold Scout as Lisbeth lunged forward. With a yell, she swiftly swung her shining blade downwards. It screamed in agony as a long red gash appeared on its body. The impression of immense pain it showed was satisfying.
Only a sliver of the monster's HP remained.
The mob did not even have a second to recover from Lisbeth's beautiful counterattack – I was already right next to it with a glowing sword in my right hand. A diagonal slash to the Kobold Scout caused it to dissolve into tiny rainbow polygons, and it was all over.
Victory.
Argo killed the other Kobold Scout with a Sword Skill to its abdomen, emerging with at least 70% of her HP intact. Having annihilated her adversary, she was about to interfere in our battle but failed to make it in time before it came to a conclusion. My companions downed a Health Potion each and the three of us sprinted towards the safety of Horunka Village. We were lucky enough to not encounter any more mobs after eliminating the Kobold Scouts and had finally completed the fruitful yet unexpectedly arduous journey.
Horunka Village was a much smaller place than I anticipated. It consisted of a total of 10 buildings: an inn, a weapons shop, a tool shop, a blacksmith's and 6 private NPC houses. The first thing we did after arriving was to head for the inn and rent out two rooms (the girls were happy to share). As the day's grinding session was over, I had quite a bit of free time on my hands. Worn out from fighting and not having anything better to do, I threw my weary body onto my bed and tried to get some shut-eye. Well, emphasis on 'tried to'. Vivid, detailed memories from the earlier battle with the Kobold Scout replaying in my head made it impossible to drift off to a peaceful sleep.
My frantic, yet vain attempt to defend against the Kobold Scout's frenzy attacks.
The Sword Skills Lisbeth and I used in succession against the monster.
The Kobold Scout's Sword Skill which nearly killed Lisbeth.
Lisbeth's amazing retaliation and my follow-up attack that brought the desperate struggle to an end.
Looking back, I would say that we both fought admirably for two underleveled beginners. On the other hand, I realised that the two of us were responsible for making mistakes which resulted in the fight being even more difficult and dangerous.
After Lisbeth had snuck up behind the Kobold Scout and attacked it with her Sword Skill, the mob was temporarily incapacitated. I seized the opening to use a Sword Skill, but I completely forgot to aim for its weakness – its neck – and attacked its torso. This meant that I wasted the perfect opportunity to land a critical hit on it.
Remember when the Kobold Scout tried to attack Lisbeth with a Sword Skill? The way she responded to that was wrong. She really should have cancelled out the attack with a Sword Skill of her own instead of simply blocking the hit with her weapon; if that was what she did, she would have been able to avoid taking as much damage.
I also reacted erroneously to the Kobold Scout's Sword Skill. It was foolish of me to yell at Lisbeth to block the Sword Skill and then do nothing. I should have immediately intervened by attacking the Kobold Scout. It's true that I may not be quick enough to stop the Kobold Scout's Sword Skill anyways even if I tried to step in, but consider this: what if the Kobold Scout did not activate a 1-hit Sword Skill but had used a multi-hit Sword Skill? Even if I were too slow to stop the first hit, surely there was a chance that I could stop the second hit, and an even greater chance that I could stop the third?
We were lucky that our errors did not cost us our live, but next time lady fortune may be on the enemy's side. Moving forward, it was imperative that Lisbeth and I learned from our mistakes. I got out of bed and made for Lisbeth's room. What better time to hold a hansei-kai (reflection meeting) than now, when the battle was still fresh in our minds?
On the other hand, while we still had a long way to go, we were able to make immense progress within a day. If we continued to improve at this rate, perhaps it would not be long before we were ready to take on this level's Floor Boss.
A/N: Happy New Year to you all and thank you for reading.
I've come up with a few innovations of my own regarding to combat system, namely the Sword Skill Rating System and the Sneak Attack Bonus. There will be a couple more brand new additions to the combat system which will be explained in the upcoming chapters.
For those who have forgotten, Lisbeth's appearance at the start of the game are different from when she meets Kirito. The way she looks at this point of the story is based on her cameo in episode 1 of the anime.
We all know that Lisbeth uses a mace and a shield, but who's to say that she started off with that specific combination?
Many of the characters in this fanfic will develop fighting styles of their own; our OC protagonist is no exception.
What kind of a fighter is LOL? What is his weapon of choice? How does he approach his fights? How strong will he become? I invite you to use your imagination to answer these questions. Let's see if your guesses come close to what I've planned for this character...
As usual, thank you for reading and I hope that you've enjoyed.