The Wind-clad Archer
A SAO side story
Chapter 2
THUK! With the sound of an arrow striking, another one of these «Killer Mantis» shattered into countless polygons like all of its kinsmen before. I wonder if these monsters feel any pain? I shook my head, why wonder about these things, they are just digital data and it's not like I'm one of these animal rights activist back home anyway.
Level UP!
I blinked in surprise, as usual, my hands are still working while I was daydreaming, night hunting in a forest on the 20th floor is surprisingly simple, so simple it gets to the point of being mechanical, all you have to do is to climb onto one of these trees in this forest, watch for any monster spawn in the area, and shoot them down, so I distract myself with idle thoughts.
Of course, you'll have to acquire a long range skill like «Archery» first, but 5 months into the game, with the frontlines at the 29th floor, and the emergence of a weekly newspaper-like publication, «Weekly Argo», there still wasn't any news about a new branch of skills being unlocked, thus I'm starting to suspect that «Archery» may be one of these "one-time quest" or "event quest" reward, in other words, a unique skill.
No point worrying about it now—what's with that pressure?
I quickly looked around, but no one was there except for more monsters that spawned.
"Fuu, I guess I'm overly paranoid then," I sighed and aimed my arrow at another mantis.
Wait, no, I have «Enhanced spatial awareness», if I felt pressure, it means the system is trying to tell me something, orange players maybe?
The players in SAO are split into four main categories.
The first consisted of a little over half the players—they were the ones who still wouldn't accept the conditions that Kayaba Akihiko had put forth and still waited for outside help in the «Starting City».
The second category consisted of about 30%, or three thousand players. It was a group where all the players worked together, sharing food, information, and various other stuff, they didn't have a name initially, but after they received uniforms, people gave them a somewhat grim name, «The Army».
The third category consisted of, at an estimate, a thousand players. It was made up of people who had wasted all their Col but didn't want to make money by fighting monsters, so they used the alternative (and more profitable) method, hunting players, and due to the system labeling them as criminals, they are branded with orange cursors, thus orange players.
The fourth was simply, the rest of the players that does everything else, and the category that I belong to.
Back to the main point …
The moment I considered that possibility, a scream of what is unmistakably, horror, could be heard in the distance.
"...KYAAAAAHHHHH!"
—?!
I dropped down from the tree and immediately ran towards the source of the scream.
As I ran towards the source of the scream, I heard another voice.
"Heh, it's the middle of the night, nobody would come to save you no matter how hard you scream! Hahaha!" An orange player, or rather, four of them, laughed.
How high level is their hiding skill for them to register under my «Enhanced spatial awareness» as mere pressure!?
I strained my eyes and my kneels almost gave away when I saw a person with… a red cursor among them.
A red player?! A full PKer?!
He held up his left hand, with his finger going to his head, chest, left shoulder, then right shoulder, making the sign of a cross.
N-no way! He's going to—! I have to stop him!
I brought up my bow smoothly, and initiated a skill. My vision immediately turned green and four aiming reticles came up.
Please have high enough HP to withstand this. I silently prayed and activated «Split Shot».
"It's show tim—Wha—?!"
With a *Fuun* sound, four arrows struck the criminal players and they fell to the ground, staring bewilderedly at the arrow protruding out of their chest.
«Split Shot» is a skill that I recently unlocked, it deals a maximum of 200% damage to a maximum of 4 targets, and the best thing is, it inflicts «Stun» ailment for a full 10 seconds to each target that it hit.
"Four men attacking one girl, that's a bit much isn't it?" I decided to act nonchalant to cover up my nervousness.
"What did you say?!" Shouted the enraged orange players.
"What the fuck?! Who the hell are you?" Was the reply from the red player.
"Well, I would like to say that I'm your nemesis or something, but I'm not, so let's just stick with 'someone that got in your way this time' huh?" I said with a smirk and went over to the fallen girl, "You okay?"
"Y-yea…" She seems a bit wary about me too.
"Bear with me for a bit." I smiled and picked her up, strange… how long is her paralysis?
"You—!" The criminal players finally realized what I intended to do.
"Well, see ya." With my back turned against them, I raised my hand in a wave.
Although I look calm as I walked away as fast as I could, I was counting in my head.
…3…2…1…
I immediately ducked into the trees.
With an apologetic smile, I laid the blushing girl on the forest floor and made a *shhh* action with my fingers.
When they finally passed the bush that we were hiding in, my legs immediately lost strength and I nearly collapsed onto the floor.
Good thing I was squatting.
"Fuu, oh man, that was close." I let out a sigh of relief.
Then someone behind me tapped my shoulder, I spun around with a horrified face.
"H-hey, th-thanks…" Oh right, the girl I saved, I completely thought that was…
"N-no problem, the paralysis wore off?" I stammered.
"Y-yea, they surprised me, jumping out of the bushes all of a sudden, I was overly reliant on my detection skill I guess…"
Speaking of which… "What were you doing alone in a forest hunting ground so late at night anyway?"
"Well, my guild leader told me to find someone on the 20th floor now that it's almost time to clear the boss…" She trailed off.
I raised an eyebrow, now that I noticed it, she's wearing the red and white knight-like combat uniform belonging to the guild «Knights of the Blood», with a rapier on her thin waist.
She almost reminded me of their famous sub-leader, Asuna, except that she chose to dye her hair white.
"Hmm? Someone from the clearing group is here?" And I thought all those in the clearing group are the people who can't stand being in this "game" for a day and madly rush the floors to clear the game.
"Yea, I think it's strange too—" She stopped mid-sentence and looked at me.
Eh?
"But enough about me, I haven't thanked you for saving me just now right?" She gave a big grin that totally contradicted my first impression of her, "Come on! I'll treat you to dinner! Oh wait, erm, supper!"
…
The NPC restaurants operate 24 hours a day, so even in the middle of the night, they still served everything on their menu.
We are on the second floor, in a small town called «Urbus», or to be more exact, a small restaurant in «Urbus».
Looking at the «Tremble Shortcake» in front of me, I couldn't help but recall the nightmares that I faced on the second floor, «Tremble Cow», a giant cow that I swear were as strong as mini bosses.
"A cream cake made from the milk that came from these «Tremble Cow», huh…" I gave an awkward smile.
She probably saw my skeptical look, "Don't worry! It's really good!"
"Uh-huh…" I raised an eyebrow and slowly took a bite.
Wow.
"It's… Delicious…" I said with my eyes wide open in amazement.
"See, I told you." She gave another big grin.
"…"
She looked out the window, sighed, and said, as an attempt to restart the conversation.
"Thank you so much for saving me back then, I really thought I was a goner."
"Hmm?" I looked up from the cake I was busy devouring, "It was nothing, really, and I couldn't ignore something like that."
"Oh yes, what was that skill you used to simultaneously stun four players?" She asked curiously.
I nearly gagged on the spongy parts of the cake.
"That was erm, ahem, er, an advanced… skill of the… er… Knife… Throwing skill? Erm yea, that." I managed to blurt out.
"Oh come on, even I know you're lying." She said with a teasing smile.
Tch… Now what…?
"Well…?" She inched closer.
No choice then, I heaved a sigh, "Well, I can't explain everything. If you won't ask any further than that, I can tell you."
"Heh, what's with acting all cool and like that?" She chuckled.
"Well, we have to go outside too…" I glanced around the shop.
"Geez, acting all mysterious." With that, she stood up and made her way towards the door.
Leaving the delicious cake behind, I followed her out of the shop.
Once outside, I looked around and made sure that, except for NPCs, we were alone, before equipping my bow.
This time is was her turn to look skeptical.
"Well, we're inside the town, so we won't be in any danger from any stray arrows…" I muttered to myself.
"Ahem." Oh, right.
I closed my eyes and initiated «Split Shot», my bow glowed a bright crimson and four arrows shot off in different directions.
Turning to the shocked girl, I said calmly, "That was «Split Shot», now I'm going to show you «Arrow Rain»." Might as well.
I narrowed my eyes as my vision turned green again and a large aiming reticle—an area effect—came up.
«Arrow Rain» I aimed my bow up at the sky and released the skill.
For a split second, it was as if nothing happened, then, with a sound effect similar to a heavy downpour, countless arrows fell on the city plaza, and numerous «Immortal Object» messages appeared.
I straightened my posture and unequipped my bow, "Well, that's how it is," I smiled sheepishly, "Erm, you there?" I waved my hand in front of her eyes.
She stood frozen with her eyes and mouth left open blankly. Following that, in a voice an octave higher than usual—
"EEEEHHHHHHHH?!"
"W-what?" I took a few steps back in surprise.
"T-th-that's… What was that?!" She practically yelled.
"D-didn't you agree that you won't ask further…?" My right eye twitched.
"But—but, th-that was a unique—" She stammered.
"Shh don't say it!" I put my hand on her mouth to silence her.
She forcefully removed my hand before saying, "But there's no one around…"
"I believe that there's an old Chinese saying that's something like… The walls have ears… or something."
"Hmm, you mean info brokers?" She said with a teasing smile, "Oh yes, if I sell that info…"
"N-no! Gah, I'll do anything! Just don't sell it!" I said desperately.
"Fufu, I was joking before," She continued her teasing smile, "But hey, since you said it yourself, help me with my errand!"
Wait, what did I just get myself into?
Yuki has invited you to join her party.
YES NO
Yu…ki? That's her name?
My finger hesitated over the YES button.
"I also believe that there's an old Chinese saying that's something like 'a man must keep his word'." She mimicked me and stuck out her tongue.
"Fuu, fine then, it's a bit abrupt, but I'm Kira, nice to meet you." I pressed the YES button.
…
*B—RRIIINGGGG*
My alarm clock went off, signaling that I should wake up and start daily schedule again. I mentally groaned and my hand moved to the snooze button out of habit.
"...Hmm?"
The feeling of something strange and full registered in my hand. I squeezed it twice, and three times to figure out what the springy and slightly warm feeling in my hand was.
"Tori?"
I immediately opened my eyes.
In my hand was… A bird, yes, a bird, but its coloring and design almost look like…
"Ahhhh!" I jumped out of the bed and backed away to the farthest corner of the room, "No—Wait—This—Wha—"
"Tori?" The small red bird tilted its head slightly and let out another weird sound.
«Juvenile Phoenix: Tori» HP: 150/150
Another status window suddenly appeared below my own HP bar, almost like during a party.
"J-juvenile Phoenix?" My right eye twitched, this isn't real, right? I'm sure I'm still dreaming, that thing looks exactly like a smaller and cuter version of that boss firebird… «The Scarlet Deathbringer».
With shaking hands, I tapped on its status window.
«Tori»
HP: 150/150
Level: 1
EXP: 0%
Known attacks:
«Miniature Fireball»
Deals damage in a small area, inflicts «Burn» ailment.
Duration of «Burn» increases with level.
«Dive-Bomb»
Deals damage in a small area, inflicts «Stun» ailment.
Duration of «Stun» increases with level.
In other words, this thing is a … pet?!
"Hey, erm, Ph-phoenix?" I tried to call out to it to test my theory, it ignored my call and continued to look around the room, "Urm… Tori?"
"Tori?" That seems to have gotten its attention, because the next moment it flew straight at me.
"Kahhhh—!" With the horrible memory of that Dive-bomb attacks still vivid, I shielded my upper body with my arms, fully expecting an attack, but none came, with a slight thud sound, the baby phoenix settled in my hair, cooed and fell asleep.
I blinked several times in surprise, then the system message decided to show up.
You have gained a new companion, would like to rename it?
Name of pet: Tori _ _
Really, you should have showed up a minute earlier, then I'll be spared of that embarrassing moment.
Tori is fine, I'm not someone that can be considered as creative, so I'll spare Tori the lame nicknames I might think up.
But where did it come from?
While I was wondering about that, with a *knock* sound on the door, Yuki's voice sounded in the room, "Woooi, Archer-san, you awake yet?"
And I was hoping that everything that happened last night was a nightmare.
"Yea, yea, give me a minute." Picking up the sleeping Phoenix from my head, I started to panic, what should I do with this?
*click*! My door was opened from the outside. Wha—?
"Hehe, the doors of party members can be opened by the party leader, don't you know that?" She smiled mischievously when she saw my shocked expression.
If I knew that then I would have locked it.
"Uwaaa! What is that? Oh my god, so cute!" She reached over and almost grabbed the sleeping Phoenix when Tori suddenly awaked and flew out of her grasp.
"Hmm, maybe pets have an anti-theft system…" I held my chin and wondered.
"No way! You got a pet? How?" She asked with in a desperate tone.
"Not telling you," I gave a light smirk.
…
"Well then Archer-san, we're going to find someone named Kirito today!" Yuki said to me cheerfully as we walked down the streets in the town on the 11th floor, to be exact, tonight, because we slept so late that our biological clock adjusted to being nocturnal.
"I have a name, you know," I grumbled, "And how are you going to do that anyway?"
"Well I don't really know, the leader just told me to find a person named Kirito somewhere around the 20th floor." Despite her looks, she is really just a klutz huh… why would her guild leader—
I raised an eyebrow.
This "leader" that she's always talking about, his name is Heathcliff. He was renowned as the only unique skill user in Aincrad, the only known unique skill user, anyway. His extra skill used a sword and shield combination, both of which were cross-shaped, and allowed the user to switch freely between attack and defense. It was named «Holy Sword».
All that resulted in him being called by various names, The Strongest Man, The Living Legend, The Paladin, etc. The leader of the Knights of the Blood has so many titles that you couldn't count them with your hands.
And this "Kirito" person, although I feigned ignorance while being around Yuki, I have actually heard of him before.
Four days after the first floor's boss monster «Illfang the Kobold Lord» was defeated, the events that transpired in the first floor's boss room was spread and exaggerated to every player on the front lines. Knowledge like the Boss monster having Katana Skills not being included in the prior information. The Raid Party's leader and my friend, the «Knight» Diabel's death. As well as the person who had reached floors higher than anyone else in the beta period, and obtained knowledge by defeating the boss there, the person who obtained the last attack bonus, the «Beater», Kirito.
I dismissed it then as mere beta player hating, it happens in every game, just because there's someone with more knowledge than you in a game doesn't give the right to slam them in every way possible. Although I thought the title «Beater» was actually quite funny, it's like prophesizing that this Kirito person would be the one that eventually beat game, hence «Beater».
Unfortunately, it could be said like this, although Kirito's name was widely spread, not a lot of people really know how he looked like, and in SAO, irrelevant information like the names of people who had no relation to you would not show alongside the cursor. Therefore, even if he is walking along the street beside us right now, we would have absolutely no idea that it is him.
"…san, Archer-san, Kira! K-I-R-A!" Yuki's voice broke this daydream of mine.
"Hmm? What?" I blinked and turned to look at her.
She sighed, "I can't believe that you can space out while walking!"
"It's another 'unique skill' of mine." I said jokingly, "What were you saying again?"
"I was saying that the leader told me to look for someone that wears a black coat and a sword on his back!"
"Right, and does this Kirito person have any special powers? Like say… suddenly sprouting black wings and fly?" I said sarcastically.
"No!" She pouted cutely.
"Whoa, look, I'm just saying that with just these features, we wouldn't find him even if he just happen to run past us…"
!
I stopped mid-sentence, as someone that fits her description really did run past us at that exact moment.
That black coat, that single sword on his back, is that Kirito? What's he doing out so late?
I looked at Yuki, she nodded and we chased after him.
We followed him to a drain that was somewhat far from the main street.
A drain…?
"…Sachi." I heard him call someone's name.
A female voice then responded, "Kirito…how did you know that I was here?"
The conversation then continued into Kirito reassuring the girl named Sachi that she won't die, it didn't sound very romantic, but it doesn't sound very normal either.
I whispered into Yuki's ears, "I think we had better stay out of this…"
Yuki giggled and nodded.
Once out of their hearing range, I turned to Yuki and said, "Would it be alright that KoB left him alone for a while? I think he has important matters to attend to anyway."
Yuki blinked in surprise, "Mm, I think that's possible, although clearing the next boss would be considerably harder without him."
"Well, explain the situation to Heathcliff, I'm sure he'll understand." I shrugged, "Heck, I think if he goes solo for every boss, he'll still be able to clear it, his unique skill is just that strong."
Yuki nodded, "Yea, that, I have to agree, anyway, Kira, can you return with me to the KoB headquarters? If I returned alone they might think I slacked off and made all that up."
I hesitated and my face obviously showed it.
Because Yuki put her hands together as if praying, "Please?"
…
My first impression of Heathcliff is that he feels like a magician. With a dark red robe and platinum hair that's tied up, and he did not have any weapons on his waist and back, making me associate him with a «magician» class that didn't exist in SAO.
"So let me get this straight, Yuki-kun, Kirito did not come with you because he had personal matters to deal with." He said with a smooth tenor voice that had an iron will in it, making Yuki, and the one next to her, me, shiver.
"Y-yea, that's about it." Yuki said with a shaky voice.
"And this is?" Heathcliff looked at me.
I used all my willpower to not back off from the enormous pressure my «Enhanced spatial awareness» is sending me about this guy.
"I-I'm Kira, her, erm, friend, or rather, we searched for Kirito together." I managed to blurt that out, Tori is doing one of his rare glares at Heathcliff on my shoulder.
"Ho? And this is?" Heathcliff finally noticed the small bird resting on my shoulder.
"This is Tori, my pe—I mean, familiar, I'm a Beast Tamer of sorts." I gave the best explanation that I can think of then.
Heathcliff, for once, looked genuinely surprised, "Just you?" He asked with a strange voice.
"Huh?" That sudden question caught me off guard.
Heathcliff seemed to stop himself, shaking his head, he turned to me with a smile.
Eek.
"Well then Kira-kun, since Kirito-kun can't be with us, you can join us in his place." He smiled again.
WHHHAAAT?!
"N-no, you got it all wrong, I don't fight bosses, I'm not nearly strong enough, and anyway I need enough range before I can dish out damage." I held up my hands up in defense.
"What if you have a group of strong players guarding you? Your level seems decent enough to be in the clearing party, all you need are some tanks to help hold the boss back, then you can just fire away, right?" Heathcliff responded with a perfectly logical answer.
Wait a minute, how did he know that I have this archery skill?
But before I can voice my skepticism, Heathcliff pressed on his argument, "Furthermore, you'll be able to protect Yuki-kun, who will be participating in the boss run this time."
Huh?
I turned back in surprise, Yuki smiled and nodded.
"As a final offer, joining with us not only increases your survival rate, but it also hasten the rate which the game is cleared, don't you want to fight for your own freedom?" Heathcliff and his perfect logic again.
"Well, I, erm," My shoulders fell as I can't think of any rebuttals, "Looks like the decision has been made for me huh?" I said with a sigh.
With a hand on my shoulder, Heathcliff smiled, "Welcome aboard, Kira-kun."
In the depth of my brain, the only thing that I can think of now is: I'm so going to regret this.
…
I don't know if it's the all-powerful Heathcliff blocking the boss's charges, or the large number of players around me, but fighting the boss under this condition isn't all that scary like the time that I solo-ed the firebird boss.
The floor boss fell surprisingly fast, a group of DEF-oriented players, aka tanks, would line up in front of me, blocking most of the boss's charges that was directed at me, while I just fire away. Without the need to «Switch», I'm like a really high attack bonus at the cost of one party slot.
As the large "CONGRATULATIONS" floated above the raid party, I breathed a sigh of relief.
"Kira you were awesome!" Yuki ran up to me and before I could respond, hugged me tightly. I smiled, I could get used to this.
Front-liners cleared the 29th floor! Onward to the 30th floor!
Once again, zero casualties!
…
A/N: Kira and Tori huh, all I need is a mech called Freedom and I can have an unique skill called «Gundam Pilot»… Joking. The naming was a complete coincidence, the first name that I can think of for a small bird is "Tori", it does have that meaning in Japanese anyway, I only noticed it when I was re-reading this chapter for any errors and well, when I noticed this, I got lazy and left it there. Apologies for the late update, life and anime (SAO included) got in the way, and I actually wrote five different versions of the chapter before actually settling for this one. Reviews are much appreciated, thanks for reading!
