Chapter 3 - Relentless Providence
The once livid colors of the world around me suddenly corroded, the lush green fields turned into a murky, dark obsidian floor covered in blood, the pillars that hold up this... Dome-shaped enclosure seemed as if they were alive, as they were wrapped in vein-like thingamajigs which were pulsating like every second, and a heavy, putrid smell hung around the vicinity, as if this entire area was soaked in blood.
I held out my hand, thrusted them in front of me, I saw an unusual sight, gone were my iron bracers, and in it's place, a dark colored, peculiarly shaped black colored heavy gauntlets, and they were dyed red, red from...
"What the fuck..." Were the words that escaped from my pursed lips, as I couldn't believe what dyed my hands...
It was blood. Red, viscous, iron-smelling blood. I twisted my fingers, confirming the horrible sight as my mind scurried for any clues, because as far as I know, blood isn't supposed to exist in Sword Art Online, in lieu with it being rated as Teen, gore was minimized. My eyes began scanning the immediate area, and as they grew more accustomed to the dark demeanor, I could feel my irises dilating as they landed on the mass of... Bodies... Lying just a few meters away from me, and a silhouette with it's back against me.
Although my knees were growing weaker by the second, I fixated my resolve and started slowly walking towards the silhouette.
"H-hey..." I Called out, my voice weak and almost broken. "Wh-what...?!" The words were lodged in my throat which actually used up effort to cough up as soon as the silhouette started to lighten up a little bit, revealing an image I have always seen, and will forever be burned into my memory.
The black apple-cut hair that crowned her head which was held by her lithe shoulders, a set of gray-colored half mail reminiscent of the one she was using in the last MMO we were playing covered her from the collarbone down to her chest area, while a blue colored scale mail was under it. A side skirt made of the same material, covers the sides of her waist while a blue colored skirt-like garment draped her thighs. A pair of greaves and gauntlets adorn her limbs and her left hand holds a large read and black kite shield, while her right holds a flail-type weapon, the spiked protrusion dangling in mid-air.
"We... We finally did it, Stormgrace. We finally did it..." The low murmur that came from her sounded really faint, yet the aura of joy permeated it. "...We finally cleared Sword Art Online... Just you... And me... We did it..." She added as she slowly turned around, facing me.
"...L... Ly-Lynette..." I replied sheepishly as I held out my hands while I moved closer to her. "Lynette... Wh-what... Whah happened... You... You're here after all..." I heaved a sigh as I reached her, my hands touching the pale colored cheeks of her, not minding even if the blood on my hands stained the pure white skin she has, my doubts laid to rest even if...
Wait a second. What the hell happened anyway? The sudden thought ran through my head like a flash as my own instincts kicked in after the intense feeling of gratification I felt just after seeing her. As my arms wrapped around her, I scanned the surroundings, my senses telling me that something was amiss... And then...
"No, seriously..." In my surprise, I ended up pushing her away, her eyes registering a sudden shock from my action. "...Wait, wait. What the fuck...What the fuck..." I grasped my head, looking intensely at the pile of bodies lying just a couple of meters away from us. My eyes started to strain as I saw their... Rather familiar faces... "Thornforge... Akira... N-nineball... Everyone... What... What in the world..." I rushed over to their side, screaming as I did, totally forgetting that Lynette was standing near me.
Their bodies were bruised and bloody, crushed in some areas, it was like they were trampled or bludgeoned by something, I don't know. I kept screaming their names at the top of my lungs, hoping that they weren't dead or something, after all, in Sword Art Online, if one dies, their avatars, or their 'bodies' so to say, turn into blue particles, which leaves nothing behind yet these...
"Stormgrace... What are you doing?" Lynette said, the tone behind her words seem cold and violent, something that I never ever felt coming from her, as she is usually gentle and caring. "...You were the one who killed them, weren't you? Why are you griping over it right now? Their deaths are necessary for us to advance and finish this game, and now thanks to them..." She added, the sharp glances that her eyes gave off were like shards of glass that pierced my skin.
"Huh? Me? Killed them? What in the hell? Wait, why are their avatars still here even if I did? It doesn't make sense, Lynette, it doesn't. Please explain." I kept my back against her as I cradled Nineball's head on to my lap, her face still looks the same, except for her bloody nose and broken lips, which looks really pitiful if you ask me since she has a younger and cute looking face which shouldn't ever be ravaged like this.
A few seconds ticked by while silence hung in the air. An uneasy, heavy feeling draped over me as I continue to mope over the ground where my teammates are, refusing to believe and give in that they are already 'dead' as Lynette said so.
"Hey, wait, Ly..." At the sudden realization that this isn't even possible and all of this shouldn't even happening, I called out to her as I quickly craned my head back, trying to check on her but the loud thunder of greaves and iron soles rampaged, breaking the silence. "Wh-whaaa..."
*THUD*
"What are you doing Ly?!" I blurted out as she swung her flail against me, catching me in surprise, I was still able to pick up and raise my shield, which was slung to my back, it's the same color as my gauntlets, black, but not to a point where it is in an effective stance, resulting in me taking a bigger HP chip. What in the... Her eyes seemed to have changed in color of something, something red, and her expression became a twisted mirage of conflicting emotions, and her roaring yet silent lips tops it off as she spun her flail once more.
"Ly what are... Hrrgghh!" I blocked another heavy blow, the sheer weight of her weapon clanging heavily against the surface of my shield, the rending force of the impact being felt by my arm which caused my HP to drop by a little bit. My lips curled into a frown as her reaction didn't changed and got worse as she raised her flail once more. "No... Ly! Stahp! Stahp!" I screamed as she attacked me again, sending the crushing cudgel thundering down against my shield, this time, with such force that my arm buckled under the added weight, causing my defenses to crumble.
I was literally kneeling in front of her as she stood over me. "Lynette... Wh-why? What the hell..." I was totally confused, my head was spinning up high in the clouds as I searched for answers. I started to slowly recover, raising my head to have a good look...
Time slowed down as my eyes registered the black aura that surrounded her flail as it careened downwards, leaving trails of black light as it sought my body.
"..."
"HOOOOOOLLYYYYYYY SHIIIIIIIT." I suddenly shot back, springing up from the bed I was lying on, sweat flying all over as my head whipped up such force that blood almost drained from it. My eyeballs strained as I forced them to recognize the reality which is before me and my heart was thumping like a mad dog inside my chest, I could feel it, even though it was just a notion. "What the hell was that..." I murmured softly as I swallowed dry, my gaze catching the other guys; Thornforge and Akira sleeping like rocks on their beds opposite of mine.
I also glanced outside the Inn's windows, the white curtain blowing gently with the evening breeze. It was still night time. "A dream... Huh..." I concluded as I calmed myself down, still holding my head by the sides to shake away the fearful scenario that was played by my head while actually wondering how the hell I could dream WHILE inside Sword Art Online. It was pretty creepy that I could shit on my pants right now.
For a few minutes, I just sat there, trying to relive how soothing it was to see Lynette's face once more, even if it didn't ended in a good way, but I guess that's just how dreams roll, and I don't have control over it. I was also constantly thinking about what if that was bound to happen someday, sort of like a deja vu? As my mind ran in circles, I wanted to get some fresh air so I stood up, opened my Inventory tab and equipped my armor set.
As I quietly walked past my sleeping comrades and as I was about to close the door, I glanced back to them. "Glad you guys are still breathing." I whispered.
The cold winds gently brushed past my cheeks as I slowly walked the plains just outside of the town aptly named Tolbana, which is just west of the Town of Beginnings, the lumina provided by the moon and the stars just enough for players without the Scan skill be able to still see the terrain and the non-aggressive monsters that lurk in the field, while making sure that the aggressive ones are easily spotted.
The blank state of my mind started to be filled with tons and tons of questions as I continued to walk, heading towards the huge black iron tower called "Aincrad", my feet telling me to go further.
What was that dream about anyway? Was it supposed to tell me something or was it just another fragment of my fleeting imagination, or is it just me and my loneliness? I heaved a sigh from all those stuff I saw, it was... Heart rending at the most. But I don't know, there's this... Certain feeling that's been creeping at the edges of my sanity that... The notion of doing anything, up to that extent, just to see Lynette... Is something that I can do, if given a chance. It is a scary feeling, specially with the situation we are in, where death is only a matter of a fatal slip-up.
Silently pondering as I delved deeper and deeper into the labyrinth, I totally lost all sense of direction as I came across an unfamiliar part of the map, thankfully, the whole area was already mapped so I didn't had any troubles navigating through known creep camps. But somehow, I felt that I wasn't alone so I drew my weapons, my only companions besides my team, the items that protect me, and the items that vanquish my foe.
"Haaaah!" The sharp sounds of metal clashing against metal rang in his ears, coming from the distance, and yellow sparks started to fly off as he witnessed the fluid execution of one Sword Skill chained into another, a perfect example of precision and proper timing which almost took his entire attention.
The black haired swordsman danced in such a way that his moves transitions smoothly to the next one, the thin One Handed sword he is swinging around wasn't particularly a Rare Monster Drop or something, and Storm could pretty much tell that it's just some common NPC sold weapon, or probably even his starting equipment, but the way he brandishes it was just, on a totally different level that what he usually see from others, who were more or less just brutally hacking and or slashing around.
Stormgrace slowly made his way towards the swordsman, making his steps lighter, in order not to catch the aggro of the small Kobold Soldiers he was fighting, noticing how he juggles easily between the trio of Kobolds, dealing damage to all of them whilst not getting hit himself.
"Haaaah! Rage Spike!" The swordsman drew bead, aligning his sword perpendicularly with his body, tip aimed towards the trio of Kobolds who were stuck in their after-move delays. Just a mere second after, the green flame-like aura that flared from his sword was shot, the blade was thrust in a straight line, piercing through three Kobolds in just one go, their bodies shattering into blue pixels, returning them to their original form, which is data.
"Hey, nice going man. That was some nice sword play you got there." Stormgrace finally walked into the lighted area, sharing the limelight with the swordsman who now has his blade sheathed. Squinting his eyes and making it attune from the lighter surroundings, he recognized the face under the black forelocks which waved freely against his face, it was the same swordsman who was sitting together with Asuna earlier this afternoon. "Oh, if it isn't the swordsman-kun who was with Asuna earlier. How interesting." He said as he stood next to the skinny looking kid whom he thinks is about a year younger than him.
"Y-yes?" The swordsman who flawlessly butchered three Kobolds in succession answered, his low, shy voice was in contrast with this earlier performance. "...Uhh... So it means you're also part of the raid team... Mister..." He added as he held out his right hand.
"Lol don't add 'mister', we're almost the same age after all." I then reached out to his greeting, extending my own right hand to shake his. "The nickname's Lee- I mean, Storm. Stormgrace."
"Pleased to meet you, Stormgrace-san. I am Kirito, a soloist." He continued, his voice going lower at the 'soloist' part. "Uhh yeah.. So you also know... Asuna-san..." He quickly drifted away from the issue, placing one hand on his waist, scanning the immediate area for additional monster perhaps.
"Ehh, yeah. I do, but it's such a pathetic story how we met..." I casually replied while I drew my mace and shield out of their holsters. "...Which is something I'd like to share to you if not for these annoying critters..." I directed the mace's blunt edge towards the corner pillar, with several shadows moving back and forth, which I'm pretty sure are more monsters.
Kirito just nodded as he once again drew his sword, and upon closer inspection, it wasn't so bad as I initially thought. It was well, a monster drop after all, and albeit it's simple structure, is actually a rare drop from the sword wielding Kobold Guards add the fact that from the way the blade itself manifested and gleamed, it was probably upgraded several times, increasing it's overall performance.
"Rrrraaaaarrrrrggghhh!" The sound of maddened Kobolds who were disturbed in the middle of the night echoed throughout the most likely empty labyrinth, the noisy footwork hailed from their mindless rush adding in the frenzy as they drew their rather crude looking weapons, an assortment of clubs, maces and hammers, blindly charging towards the obviously higher-than-usual leveled duo.
"I'd love to talk about it right now but..." I shot a quick glance towards Kirito as I whispered, before holding my shield up, covering the front of my avatar. "...It seems that'll have to wait until we've gained a few hundred Col!" Letting my feet carry me rather swiftly towards the charging Kobolds, I prepared my mace, arching my right arm backward while my left drew the shield up to receive the preemptive blows.
*CLANG*
I was welcomed by the ever-satisfying sound of metal being deflected as my trusty shield has once again served it's purpose. I then whipped the large piece of iron equipment to the side, brushing the Kobold off and sending him crashing into one of the pillars, it's body impacting into it with such force that it was inflicted with the Status Ailment Stun. I wasted no time, my right hand brandishing out my iron mace, it's solid cudgel was crude-looking yet fully furnished and polished by an NPC blacksmith. The pair of Kobolds who acted as the first's backup quickly reformed in front of me, their gnarling faces twisted with anger.
I blasted off again, releasing a short burst of sprint from the three or four meter distance between us, closing the gap pretty quickly. I stuck out my shoulder, the rather cumbersome and heavy iron armor's shoulder covering providing extra toughness to my physique. The Kobolds weren't able to react as this simple maneuver is in fact, a Sword Skill by it's own right, Tackle as it goes by name, which is part of the Unarmed Sword Skill Tree.
The force of the speed burst coupled with the brunt of my STR stat added to the overall damage calculation of the Tackle skill, the higher the numbers or course, results in more damage and a longer duration of stun, and the Kobolds, who were on the receiving end suffered the Status Effect. As a tank, I was tasked to catch the enemy's attention and take the front lines for myself in order to keep them at bay, away from the rest of the other classes which have little to zero defense, and one of the best accompaniment to my skills were Status Effect inducing attacks such as the Tackle and my various shield blows as they inflict Stun, Paralyze and Faint which causes further delays on the enemy's part, and it also adds to my own versatility if I were to do some solo hunting.
Although the skill I just unleashed did it's own pack of punch, I have to be honest, it was just a physical skill using my own body and it wasn't particularly that deadly, and is just used to inflict Stun so while they were bound by the effect, I brought my mace down on one of them, hitting the Kobold right smack in the right part of his face, the polygons twisting and turning as it struggled to reproduce the would-be facial structure of a Kobold who just got spanked. As it wasn't a Sword Skill but rather just a mere Normal Attack, I wasn't bound by my own AGI stat and I am easily able to chain another attack, which I did, this time lashing once again on his face which drained the rest of his HP's chunk, down to zero, which of course, made it's body shatter into fragments.
With a smirk, I turned towards the second Kobold, it's eyes registered the expression of being dominated and I could've sword it had the expression of fear painted in it's face but after all, it's just a monster, just bytes of data strings pieced together, and it's not as if they were real humans so I will not show any mercy, I will dominate all the adversary I face, and I will crush all the opposition or obstacle this game will throw at me, even if...
Even if...
The visions of the dream I had earlier suddenly flooded my mind, the relentless morbid scenario rushed into my vision, as if they were just fresh in my memory. The image of my bloody hands, the bodies of my comrades on the floor, and Lynette's...
Lynette's livid yet very different face provided me utmost comfort until she... She started assaulting me. I don't know on what grounds but, it... It just pains me and draws a big question mark on my head. It mixes with all those gruesome images of bloodbath that dream introduce.
I began feeling an extremely nauseating sensation, coupled with sharp, piercing pains in my temples, which wasn't even supposed to happen since I am not in the real world, and I am currently logged on to Sword Art Online under the influence of the Nerve Gear so I'm pretty sure this is not a normal occurrence. I loosed a loud grunt as my actions ceased in mid-combat, my avatar freezing up in a really dangerous situation.
*THUD* *THUMP*
As if they were waiting for this opportunity, the remaining Kobolds who have now recovered from being stunned, closed in on to me, I clearly saw them wielding their weapons high above their heads, poised to strike. A moment later, I could feel the numbing sensation that started spreading from my sides, while the HP bar on the upper left hand side dropped, indicating damage.
I could even hear some shouting coming from the other side, most likely it was the black haired swordsman called Kirito. He is probably engaging some of them as I was down here moping around, looking pathetically weak. What was I thinking anyway? It's just a dream after all, and it's far from reality. Heck, I'm not even in reality anyway so there's no point in worrying over that. It's just that...
"You fools!" I bellowed, straightening myself and regaining my composure amidst the pain I was feeling. This is nothing, nothing compared to the pain of loneliness I was feeling, nothing in comparison to the pain of not knowing anything about the person you care the most about, the guilty feeling I feel each and every damn passing day. Mustering all the strength I can, I lifted my weapon, it was heavy, yes. It is the weight of responsibility that comes with standing up and challenging this death game, I lifted my shield, the broad surface a justification of the burden placed on myself by the people I want to protect.
The attacks didn't ceased, pain shot through my body but I never yielded. I never flinched. I stood my ground.
"Divine..." Despite suffering multitudes of attacks, my avatar's HP sustained minimal damages, thanks to the natural resistance I have plus the Defense Value of my armor. I gripped my mace with the head facing down, with it's body starting to faintly glow. "...Crusher!" I finished my chant, the glow intensified, signifying the System's recognition before I proceeded by slamming it with all my might downwards, sending it crashing into the ground, creating an explosive fervor which swallowed the Kobolds, the shock waves rocking their bodies which busted their remaining HP levels, bursting them into pixels.
The surroundings became quiet, the black haired swordsman was just standing in the distance, looking at me as he sheathed his slender sword, the look of concern painted on his face. I glanced down on myself, the multiple scratches on my armor were the only remnants of what just transpired. I dropped down my shield and mace, held out my hands in front of me and started to relieve the dream.
"Eh? The hell is with those black bags on your eyes? Did you just waste the Col we paid to be able to sleep in this Inn?" I was greeted by the ever loud mouth of Thornforge, right after I rose up from my bed. Actually, after we, me and Kirito fought our way out of the Kobold encampment last night, we both headed back home after cleaning out the labyrinth, gaining a bunch of extra Col before retiring for the night.
"Well I did, it's just that something really funny came up last night..." I replied back as I chewed on the rather bland tasting Clubhouse Sandwich the Inn offered as a bundle to a night's stay with them, well one cannot expect anything extravagant for something as cheap as 100 Col a night per person so I made do, can't fight on an empty stomach anyway. "...I'll let you in on it once we wipe the floor with the Boss later today."
"Meh, you just had another one of those... Boy's Dreams ain't you? Hahahahaha~" Laughing sheepishly was Nineball, who was stuffing herself with some of the finer looking (and maybe tasting) bacon with eggs at the table's edge, where we all sat down for breakfast.
"He's at that age anyway. Look at how young he is. I honestly thought that when we met back in our previous MMO, you were around 25 or something by the way you act and lead the guild to victory, but... Just... Look at your face, Storm, dang." This time, it was the team's Ninja (as we all labeled him) who spoke, Akira who was silently sipping his Green Tea just a while ago.
I lightly coughed at the notion of me being younger than the rest, while themselves didn't looked old to me as well. Regaining my composure, I waved them off so I can speak. "So, today we'll be tackling the very first boss of Aincrad, which is the lord of those pesky Kobolds, Illfang the Kobold Lord, and I believe you guys have gone through what he can do according to the manual as discussed yesterday, right?" I opened my Inventory Tab and fished out a rather plain looking brown covered booklet and opened it to reveal the precious information documented by fellow Beta Testers about the Boss.
"Yeah yeah. The dude's a 4-HP Bar long Boss type monster in the shape of a god damn dog-looking Kobold, phase one of the fight being from it's start, he'll be wielding his axe-like weapon along with a leather buckler, while phase two would be from the 2-HP bar mark down, where he will completely change his weapons to the "Talwar", and from there onwards, he'll be in some sort of 'berserk' status." Thornforge explained as he thumped his chest, proclaiming that he did in fact did his assignment. "Oh and, all throughout the fight, he'll be summoning around four to five Sentinel Kobolds, who are a notch higher than the strongest kobold variation outside of the Boss room." He added as he closed his own manual.
"And as discussed, our Team would be the Lead Team, we're going to tank the boss, then we're rotating with Team B for DPS and such while we get our Pot Rotate. And as far as I can se, we can even do the rotation for tanking and DPS inside our team too, given if Storm and Thorn doesn't take chunks of damage. We can also rest easy about the Sentinel Kobolds as the other teams can take care of it." Briefed Nineball as she wiped her mouth clean from the crumbs.
"Do we all have our proper gears and crystals, specially the Heal, Teleport and Cure ones?" I asked myself as I stood up from the table, checking my Inventory. "Make damn sure you aren't missing EVEN ONE of them as well as your equipment's Durability, I can't afford to loose any of you guys." I added, making sure my items and equipments were in top notch shape as well after I asked the NPC Blacksmith to repair it even before coming back from last night.
"All good here. Teehee." Nineball was the first one to respond, her slender fingers closing her Tabs as soon as she drafted some more Crystals into her Inventory as directed by me, since the two of them, she and Akira are DPS types hence, have lesser Armor Points which makes them more susceptible to damage.
"I'm cool." Nodded Akira after confirming his own stash, which was also followed by Thornforge's positive nod, confirming his too.
"Well, I guess we're all set, we better head over to the Plaza where everyone should be gathering, we should finish this one early so we can rush our levels in the second floor." I casually said as I started packing my stuff up, readying to leave the Inn, closely followed by the rest of the Team.
ooo
The large group of people walked silently along the ridges of the woods just outside of Tolbana, the warm noon sun embracing them as they trudged the distance from the town itself towards the tower. The chirping birds and the rustle of the forest seem to have a rather nice effect on Asuna, who was walking side by side with her party, the only one she has, the black haired swordsman, Kirito.
"Those guys, the one with the guy wearing the full iron armor, they seem to be the nicest bunch out of everybody else around here..." Remarked Kirito as he tried to loosen up his party mate's uneasiness.
"...Oh I see... So you also know those guys?" Asuna replied, her lips moving slowly under her usual red hood.
"Well, not all of them, but I do believe I met their 'leader'. He's a cool and strong guy, and I can see that he's a really tough one who just might be able to lead this battle to glory today..." Kirito answered back as he placed both of his hands, adorned by fingerless gloves into the back of his head as he chewed on a blade of grass which gave him an aura of being easy going.
"While you, you look nonchalant." Sharp hazel colored eyes shot from under the hood, surprising him.
"We have times to get serious, and we have times to relax. And, at times like this, we all want to lessen the pressure as much as we can, so as to enjoy how much we've reached so far before facing our adversary, the Boss of the 1st floor this time. I mean, what good will it do if you are serious 100% of the time right? This was originally a game we're supposed to enjoy in the first place after all." he spoke with his eyes closed, ignoring the frowning Asuna.
She then heaved a sigh, thinking that it was useless to try and sway the mysterious swordsman's opinions this easily, so she just scrambled a new topic to elevate the discussion, she's beginning to loosen up as well so she thought it was a good idea. "H-hey, you, before coming here, did you play other... M-MMO game? Is that what it's called?" She asked as the two of them walked a little bit farther from the rest of the pack, headed by Storm's group, their presence dominating the entire group.
Surprised, Kirito opened one eye to glance at Asuna. "Erm... Ah yes. Yes I did." The swordsman still looked quite timid as his black hair swayed up and down with the gentle breeze.
"In the game you previously played... Are there normally times like this were you feel as if... As if you're just participating in one huge trip or something?" Asuna continued.
"Well yeah. A couple of times, but pretty much like this, you know, when people party up to raid Boss Monsters, or a rather hard dungeon you know, when people start to get together, those feelings usually bubble up at some point, although, I haven't had that much experience with it because I..." Then as if he was hiding something, Kirito tilted his head sidewards, away from Asuna's eyes who were now fixated at him. "...I was always a 'soloist'."
"Hhmm..." Her eyes slanted in quite a hostile way as she tried to push him to say more, but in the end, Asuna decided not to further intrude on his "But how about those... 'Real' things? How do they feel?" She asked instead.
"Eh? Real things? What do you mean?" Puzzled, Kirito couldn't help but bat an eyebrow to her peculiar question. /SPACE/ "Like I said... This kind of fantasy world... Being in a group with swordsmen and magicians, on our way to fight the terrible chief of monsters. Along the way, what would we talk about... Or would they walk along silently? This kind of topic." Asuna blurted in response, curiosity filling in.
The swordsman remained oddly silent, and when she glanced at him looking like this, Asuna felt conscious that she had asked a childish question. Just as she reflexively turned away, and was about to say "I guess it doesn't matter"...
"Walking on the road leading either to death or glory, huh." Kirito silently murmured under his breath, the quiet words reached her right ear. "If we were compared to people living a normal life... probably, it would be like going to a restaurant for dinner. If there is something to talk about I will talk, otherwise I will keep quiet. I think this boss raid will eventually turn out like that. If possible, I hope we can challenge the boss daily."
The swordsman's straightforward words were funny to Asuna, who gave off a small laugh. She explained immediately, almost as an excuse. "I'm sorry for laughing, but... this is really strange. This world is an ultimate form of non-daily life, but you want this activity to be our daily routine, am I right?"
"Ha ha... I guess that's true." The swordsman laughed in the same way, then quietly said, "However, it took four weeks to reach this point. Even if we beat the boss today, we still have another ninety-nine floors to go. I'm... Prepared to go for two, no, three years like this. If it goes on like this, even this non-daily event would become daily." Those words would have caused great shock and despair to the old Asuna. But now, she realized that it was just like dry wind blowing out of her chest. "...How strong. If it were me, I can't think like that. Thinking about living in this world for years... Dying in today's battle would be less scary to me."
The swordsman glanced at her for a moment after listening to her, then put his hands in his gray jacket pocket, and said in a subdued voice, "If we can reach the higher floors, maybe we could sit down and have a meal, and I'll tell you how I met those amazing people." He then pointed towards Stormgrace's team, who were spearheading the group.
"...Re-really?" Asuna involuntarily responded, then realized what she just said. Feeling ashamed, she said in a low voice, "...Remember this. Or you'll really end up with rapier holes in your body."
"Then, the least we can do is to come back alive today." After making that comment, the swordsman grinned and laughed.
ooo
The sun was already high when we entered the labyrinth, and judging from the time, it was around 11:00am when we did, and now it's exactly 12:30pm, we reached the final Safe Zone just before the Boss Room. So far, there were no deaths with regards to the march to his location, I gave myself a secret pat to the back with that figure. After all, a near forty four people, known as "Full Raid Party" all marched brazenly with heads held up, even if majority of the participants were all noobs at this concept. In this world, "First" was an action that always had the risk of an accident and was indeed, always dangerous, as we cannot predict the outcome, with no exceptions.
In fact, on our way here, we were met by an ambush of a band of roving Kobold mobs, and while we, "Team TE" held the front lines, a sneak attack behind our flanks emerged and the people wielding the long ranged weapons like Spears and Halberds which were mostly in the group "F" and "G" startled them all of a sudden and here in Sword Art Online, melee weapons will not produce friendly fire, but will stagger the formation if ever it hits other people, which really sucks if you are in a supposed tight one.
In such times, I know we aren't Gods in this game... Yet. But the "Knight" Diabel, although he was lower leveled than me, displayed brilliant instincts and tactical mindset as he was able to exercise command properly in such a short window of time. As a leader of the forces, he made bold decisions, like staying to fight while getting others to retreat, using heavy amounts of sword skills to knock back the monsters, and switching between long and melee weapon equipped members. These decisions could only be made if he was familiar with being a leader.
As soon as re-briefing everybody else with what their jobs are, the Knight Diabel stood in front of all of us, talk about hailing himself as the leader. He stood in front of the large iron gates which block our way, our destiny.
I eyed the people around me, beginning with my teammates. The looks on their eye showed pure determination, that certain stubborn courage and pride we always uphold whenever we are in these situation, which never changes. I could see the look of worry, but it's further overshadowed by the sheer will to bring this to an upstart, the desire to progress. The second lead group, Diabel's.
His team was composed of the other group of tankers, people geared to the teeth with a bunch of crappy bronze stuff, but I think at this level, it's quite enough. Their eyes were full of fear, after all, they are the ones to receive the full brunt of damage coming from the boss itself, without the option to turn tails and run, they have one of the biggest and most important task, because if they were to collapse, the front lines will crumble, and the boss will almost always go for the DPS classes in the back who have abyssal defenses.
The backup tank team, Team B, lead by the axe-user Agil was pretty easygoing, composed of most likely the most seasoned Players around, as they all looked calm and composed, their armor a little bit better looking than the others and judging by the weapons slung to their backs, they already have planned ahead of everything else by knowing what to do endgame.
Teams C and D were the majority of the DPS guys, and along with the group where the high-flying Kibaou's Team E and F, the Polearms group, they all had the same neutral look, just what you see everyday, as if they think that this would be another walk in the park for them. I seriously wish they have their asses kicked later.
Lastly, there was Team G which were composed of the black haired swordsman Kirito, who's sword skill surpasses his own Level, and the mysterious cloaked girl Asuna, who's "Linear" skill was honed to superb and insane levels, albeit being stupid enough to pass out in the labyrinth. It was a rather good mixture, two people doing Switches, it might even be the best combination in the whole Raid Party aside from my well rounded party, as they can just rotate between each other from attacking and defending wise. Their faces definitely contained fear as well but their eyes were like a tiger's, fearless.
Being fearless after all isn't about "not" having any "fear" at all, it all boils down to fearing something, yet you go ahead and come charging at it. Facing fears is on a totally different level than just not having them as what doesn't kill you makes you tougher. Well, the goal isn't 'dying' anyway so yeah.
The air grew tenser as Diabel the Knight placed his hands which were covered in brass gauntlets and placed them on the cold, large iron handles of the Boss Room.
I closed my eyes, and all the noise and aura of pressure around me became silent. In the midst of the darkness that I saw, I don't know why but I began hearing 'her' voice, the voice I've longed to hear, the voice I've always wanted to be part of my everyday. She was calling out to me from the darkness, she was calling my name. It brought relieve and pain at the same time, relief to the point that I heard what I want, but pain because I am too helpless to do anything at this point. Frustration is a keyword.
This is the very first roadblock we hit, and the very first stepping stone that will either fling us to glory or hurl us to death, and we have no other choice but to face our fears.
Swallowing all my fears, I opened my eyes, the livid colors of this virtual realm flooding my vision once more, in front of me, Diabel pushed the door open, warm, humid air blowing past all of us, but we stood firm, all forty four of us.
No one dared to shout something crazy as "Leeeeeeroy Jenkins!" or something along those lines because noise will just attract mobs and instead, the successive sounds of swords, axes, hammers, maces, shields and whatever weapons they carried being drawn filled the air.
And as his fabulous blue hair swayed with the hot breeze, Diabel held his long silver sword up high before bringing it down, tip pointing towards the large dim room which loomed before us.
At that instant, forty four people moved amazingly in sync, charging towards the unknown.
A/N: Been a while, haven't got that much time to write but hey, this one still pulled through, albeit the fewer word count, I'm glad it still took off. Thanks to all the followers of this story although there's a lot of flaws with it as mentioned in the reviews, I know this isn't perfect and am fully aware of it but hey, I'm actually looking at mashing it up with some game physics taken from the MMO I play which is Dragon Nest SEA. So yeah, I hope you guys still read through this fic, am not giving this one up since I like SAO as much as I like AW. Again, thanks for the readers, followers and reviewers, you guys rock!
xxx
Update on other fics:
AW: On the Wings of Time: TEMPORARY ON HOLD, researching for content.
HnA: Requiem of a Lost Melody: INDEFINITELY ON HOLD, waiting for more input from the person who wanted to read through it.
xxx
PS:
Dear Fellow Fanfiction Writers from the Philippines,
Hooray, we are going to get sued for giving more glory and attention to our beloved original works just because we publish our own versions/iterations/ of the said work. Should we be afraid? It's up to you and how much trust you can put in fighting for your freedom of speech through the Internet. Am I afraid? I am not. Because the only way for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. (quoted)
Please do not support/reject the RA. 10175: Cybercrime Prevention Law of the Philippines. It is designed to prevent us from expressing our views and opinions as well as limit our freedom.
We should not be afraid to express your views. We should not be afraid of the Government. The Government should be afraid of it's people.
Love, Seiji.