Author's Note: Hey guys! How's it going!? Good! Here's the 3rd Chapter of Shattered Glass, and things are getting real. Realer than real. Not gunna spoil anything, stay tuned near the end for some really important details you'll wanna hear. Disclaimer: I own nothing, but any bit of original work is of my own design.
It's been another few weeks in the virtual world of Aincrad. And things have been getting tense. Floor 76 has proven to be incredibly difficult to surpass, the path to the dungeon was only just recently discovered and the dungeon itself is a maze so complex from what we've seen before that none of us are really sure where to go from here.
Dioux and I are primarily scouts, we collect map data, monster spawn locations, field boss patrol routes, the works. But lately, we've been coordinating directly with the Assault Team to try and beat this damn game.
The Assault Team is a large team comprised of many guilds and players, all at high levels and skillsets. The Assault Team's main focus is clearing the game so that other players that are lagging behind or are too scared to fight their way out don't get trapped in here, they fight so others don't.
Dioux and I have been doing work for them for the past few months now, ever since floor 67 really. But that was paid work, we weren't part of the Assault Team, we just worked with them, got paid to scout for them and moved on our merry way. Hell, Dioux and I have only participated in two floor boss fights, and those were the 23rd and 25th floors. Field bosses were more our league of doable, considering we were a dynamic duo, not a guild.
In the most recent weeks though, we've been to the Assault Team's base of operations in Arc Sophia 5 out of 7 days of the week, I'd say we're apart of it now.
Currently Dioux and I were making our way back to town, the sun peaking at it's usual perch at noon before it's slow descent throughout the rest of the day. We had left town at four in the morning to scout out some side trails and we nearly walked into a field bosses spawn… twice.
Working in the early morning used to provide a sense of security, a sense of safety since most of the mobs acted on our time schedules, they slept as well, just like NPC's in towns did. But ever since floor 64, the mobs have been getting more irregular with attacks and times when they're active, not to mention how many of them there are, and thus with getting to the last fourth of the games floors, we only assumed things would be harder, but not this hard.
"Tyzaren!"
Dioux's outburst jumped me out of my steady pace and my daydreaming almost instantly. I instinctively unsheathed my sword and rolled to the right, towards Dioux's voice. Coming to a crouch with my sword tipped upwards and frantically scanned the area… it was empty, some passive mobs wandering in the distance, grazing on the cliffside, but generally uninhabited,
"What the hell dude." I sheathed my sword and threw my hands up in protest,
"What the hell is right," Dioux pointed at his feet, there was a large fissure cutting through the hillside in front of us, "You didn't see that!? You nearly walked into it!"
I sighed and sat down, falling onto my back and moaning, "I'm sorry… Thanks."
I heard Dioux walk over and sit next to me, his cape blowing in the slight breeze towards my chest, "What, were you daydreaming?"
"Yeah, you could say that," I sat up and wrapped my arms around my knees, "Just thinking y'know? It's been a long time since we landed here on floor 76 and we've just made it too the dungeon."
Dioux grunted, "We knew it'd be tougher getting this high, and besides, other floors have been longer."
I shrugged and sighed again, "Guesso…" My eyes drifted to the top left of my screen, my health and level, 89, "You think we're adequate levels to be doing this?"
Dioux laughed, "Of course, most of the Assault Team is around level 94, with their top guys being barely 100. Besides, we're just scouts."
"But for how long? I feel since getting to floor 76 we're more part of the Assault Team now than just working for them."
"We don't clear floor bosses," Dioux stated flately, "Not yet anyway. We wanna do that, we'll have to get a bit stronger… and is that what you want to do?"
I laid back down and covered my face with my eyes, "I don't even know if I want to clear the game man…"
In an instant I was yanked upwards, Dioux had his right hand wrapped roughly around the cuff of the neck of my shirt, "Don't talk like that. You know why we have too."
I sighed, shoving him off and hitting the ground with a thud, "Yeah… because we'll die in the real world."
"You were saying just a few weeks ago that we had to, that we had to play the game!"
"I know what I said!" I frowned as I saw Dioux's reaction to how harsh I spoke my words, "I know what I said," I repeated more gently, "But… this world is apart of me, apart of all of us… I don't want to let it go."
Dioux and I didn't speak for awhile, we just stared out at the mobs that were grazing the hillside beyond, up at the clouds that we knew weren't really, real. Stared out towards the dungeon towering upwards in the distance, the spiers of Arc Sophia's watch towers in the opposite direction… it was almost too much to handle. I was ever constantly surprise how we still handled it, knowing that this wasn't real… but it was as real as it got, we could really die if our HP dropped to zero, despite this world being my definition, fake. Despite that… it's ridiculously real, it was all of our lives, it was another world that while we existed in it, and it existed, was real in itself,
"Dioux?"
"Aye?"
"This world is going to disappear once we clear it, yeah?"
"Physically speaking."
"Hmm?"
Dioux looked down at me before looking back up, "Physically speaking, it'll probably be deleted, bit by bit, it's purpose fulfilled. But we'll still remember the horrors of this place, the good times, the bad, the amazing things we did and the bad things we had to do. The people we met, the ones we lost? We'll have all that forever, and because of that, I feel that's why we need to clear the game even more, because of all those that have been lost, and so that this nightmare, which it is, can be over and be nothing more than a memory, a piece of shattered glass from a broken mirror, no longer able to project a reflection…"
I sat up slowly and just stared blankly at Dioux, "That was philosophical."
Dioux shrugged, "My mom wanted me to be a lawyer."
"What does that have to do with being philosophical?"
"Nothing."
"So that's it? Just two more field bosses?"
Dioux and I stood with arms crossed in the center of the Assault Team's headquarters. The central floor was used as their lobby and debrief area, we were in the center of the main room, a large circular room with a planning table opposite the entrance. Around the table stood various guild leaders, guild XO's, or other high level players. Several other players were marching in or through the room, handing in reports or moving onto other rooms,
"Yeah, 'That's it'." I said flately, "Y'know that's actually more useful than you think-"
"Noted." I was cut off by a player of the Holy Dragon Alliance, one of the top three guilds, "Thanks for your help, you guys know where you can pick up your payment, I'm sending a message… done, that's all."
Dioux placed his hands on his hips and looked down, tapping his foot, "Looks like we're not 'apart' of the Assault Team after all."
I nodded as we turned around, "Whatever, you said yourself we need to get stronger."
We made our way back out into Arc Sophia's streets and towards the teleport district. When we were halfway there I reached my hands up and stretched,
"Alright man, I can pick this one up, I know how much you hate Algade."
Dioux let out a small sigh of relief, "Thanks man. You sure?"
I nodded, continuing down the street, "Definitely, say hey to Liz for me, yeah?"
He crossed his arms as I got further and further away, and just waved instead of responding. I smiled and waved back before turning back down the street and continuing towards the teleport gate.
"There's your payment in full."
I hit the accept key and the selected amount of Col started pooling into my inventory… it wasn't anything spectacular, I could probably buy a chair with the amount the Assault Team paid the two of us,
"Thanks Agil." I closed my inventory screen and smiled at the large man behind the counter,
"Of course, hard earned pay for hard work." Agil smiled back, his huge figure coming a good three feet over his shop counter, a large battleaxe hilt sticking over his shoulder, green plated armor contrasting his dark skin and bald head nicely. It was funny really how such a tank was working out of a shop in the alleys of Algade, and siding as the Assault Teams discreet payoff man.
I started for the door, "I'll probably see you around, thanks again Agil."
I heard him grunt in response from behind me as I made for the door. I reached out for the door handle when it suddenly flew open. A bit shocked I looked up at two players on the other side of the door, one a female, wearing white and red. Another a male, wearing all black. I stood at least a few inches taller than them both, and the female was easily recognizable, she was Asuna Lightning Flash, second in command… well, now leader of the Knight of The Blood Oath. The male however, I didn't know who he was.
I stepped to the side as they came inside and nodded to the female player, Asuna, out of respect really, but disregarding the man in black. I stepped towards the door again and turned around to close it when the man in black turned around,
"What kind of weapon is that?"
I looked at him surprised, my hand dropping to my sword, "Uh, it's just a one-handed sword. I have a durosteel alloy smithed into-"
"Not the sword." The man in black walked a bit closer, "The one on your other hip, what kind of weapon is it?"
I was shocked. My crossbow? My coat covered my crossbow from almost all prying eyes. Unless it was windy or I moved my coat out of the way, it was nearly impossible to spot it. And if he spotted it when I was walking out of their way… His search and perception skill must've been incredibly high, so much so that I wouldn't think twice that he was paranoid or something.
I finally collected myself, picked my jaw up off the ground and responded, "Uh. It's… It's a crossbow."
The black swordsman stepped forward again, "Right, but aren't crossbows two handed weapons that rest on your back?"
"Alright, so it's a hand crossbow." I narrowed my eyes towards this stranger and his curiosity,
"A hand crossbow? That's new."
"Not really." I interrupted, "They're more common than you think, so much that it's not even a Unique skill, just an extra one. I've ran into a couple other players who have them as well. I can't say what exactly unlocks the skill but I mean, it rolls nicely with one-handed weapons. Hell, I even met a guy who dual-wielded them, that was-"
A screen appeared in front of me,
YOU'VE BEEN CHALLENGED TO A DUEL.
I sighed, "Really? Right here?"
In the background Agil started laughing and Asuna had one hand on her hip and the other on her forehead. The black swordsman didn't respond either, his sword was already unsheathed and he was in a fighting stance,
"Alright…"
I hit accept and agreed to his terms, double checking to make sure that we wouldn't end up killing one or the other. A sixty second prep timer appeared in between us and I unsheathed my sword, leaving my crossbow on my hip. I then checked to make sure it was loaded and opened up my message screen… forty seconds left. I messaged Dioux real quick, skimming over the details of,
"Dueling a black swordsman outside Agil's place. Asuna the Lightning Flash is here as a spectator. Stranger things have happened?"
Ten seconds… I braced myself, putting most of my weight on my left foot, and shifting my right in front of me, ready to leap forward. I brought my sword up in front of me, and my left arm bent as well, ready to strike or grab my crossbow if need be.
The timer hit zero and the starting bell dinged across the area. I leapt forward, not preparing a sword skill unlike my opponent, giving me a second or two over him on the approach. Despite the fact that I lurched forward first, he closed incredibly fast. I readied my quickest sword skill, it powering up in less that a second and we crossed swords.
The momentum behind his swing was ridiculous. Both are swords were sent backwards, our arms heading above our heads. Using the momentum I brought the sword backwards and around to the right side of my opponent's body… Only he did the exact same thing! He both swung wide of the other and came back facing eachother, a confused look on both our faces.
He gave no ground, not wasting even half a second before jumping back towards me. I frantically jumped backwards and got caught on the tip of his blade, sending my health points down a few more than I would have liked.
I landed and rushed forward, charging a sword skill. My opponent rushed forward as well, and was preparing to block it. I lunged the tip of my sword forward and the game world was a blur for a split second as I rocketed forward, the lunge skill closing the last few feet almost instantly.
With almost impossible speed he dodged my lunge, I didn't even get close to stabbing him, instead grazing his arm and doing minimal damage.
Still flying forwards from the lunge, I rolled mid air with a quick push from the left foot of the ground and wiped my crossbow out, aiming it at him and firing.
That got better results, the bolt burying itself in his collar bone and doing a decent amount of damage… It was then I realized how much higher a level this player must be, how much more health he must've had. I frowned as I look at my odds.
The next few minutes passed in a rapid session of parries and dodging with the occasional futile shot from my crossbow, I was horribly outmatched and getting closer and closer to the yellow.
He came forward again, sword point angled for my chest. I sidestepped to the left as the tip scraped my side and grabbed the collar of his jacket, pulling him closer and spinning him around, his entire chest exposed.
I pressed my crossbow against his stomach and pulled the trigger as he jumped backwards, the bolt penetrating the center mass of his stomach. I smiled, hoping to score a win but then frowned when I saw that out of all the scrapes and taps I managed to score on him, his health wasn't even down maybe more than a quarter.
In my disappointment I didn't notice the tip of his sword spiralling towards my neck. As I started to backbend away from the sword, I felt it's cold touch scrape across my upper chest and watched the top right of my screen as my health plummeted into the yellow, far too close to the red for my liking.
Rolling backwards and coming to a stand the victory words appeared in front of my opponent and I immediately pulled a health potion from my inventory and started drinking it.
Agil came away from the walls of his shop and was clapping along with laughing something fierce. Lightning flash following closely behind him, looking unamused.
I sheathed my sword and holstered my crossbow, pulling my coat up around me and sighing as I walked forward towards the black swordsman, "Good match. You were holding back in the beginning weren't you?"
The swordsman smiled, "How'd you know?"
I shrugged, "After I got that first shot off, the match was pretty one-sided."
He sheathed his sword and placed his hands on his hips, "Yeah, well, I wasn't expecting such a challenge. It's hard to size someone's level at first glance."
I shrugged again and crossed my arms, turning to face Agil and Asuna, "Thanks for being an enthused audience. And it's a honor to meet you, Lightning Flash." I bowed my head briefly before standing upright again,
"Nice to meet you, it's my understanding you're one of the scouts the Assault Team uses for various tasks?"
"That's right," I said nodding, "Me and my friend Dioux work together."
"He fight anything like you do?" Agil chimed in this time,
"Not really, he's an Archer." At first I almost kicked myself for revealing Dioux's combat style… but the giant longbow on his back told anyone who saw him anyway, so I shrugged it off, besides, his dagger is always neatly concealed behind his cape.
Agil nodded with a raise of the eyebrow, "Never figure any type of ranged weapons would be in SAO when we first got here, huh?"
I shrugged, "I didn't figure magic would be either, but crystals are basically that, and sword skills are definitely 'magical' in their own way."
Agil nodded in agreement and smirked, I turned back to the black swordsman, "My names Tyzaren. Thanks for the duel, hope you don't mean to kill me later."
The swordsman reached out his hand but then pulled back quickly, "W-what? Why would I do that? I'm not a red-"
"I'm kidding," I interjected, "At least I hope, why else would you have dueled me rather than to size up how you'd fare against a crossbow?"
The swordsman shrugged, "I always like a challenge, new things interest me."
"Yeah okay." I smiled and shook his hand.
"I'm Kirito by the way, Solo." He crossed his arms with a slight hint of pleasure as my jaw went ajar and the name clicked in my head.
Kirito? The Black Swordsman? The Duel Wielder? The only one in existence? The one who fought against Commander Heathcliff? Also known as Akihiko Kayaba? I was shocked, I knew he was on the Assault Team… but damn, here? He's here with Lightning Flash? Why are they here to see Agil?
"I. Uh, I… It's a honor, Black Swordsman."
"Right, well, thanks again for the match, you should think about fighting on the Assault Team, we could use some ranged fighters."
I smiled and was about to say my goodbyes when the air around us was split by an heart wrenching scream,
"KIIIIIIRRRRRRIIIIIITOOOOOOO~!"
We all turned in shock towards the voice, only to reveal Lisbeth running down the street with a massive smile on her face, following shortly behind was Dioux.
Lisbeth ran up to Kirito and wrapped her arms around him with a laugh, and he looked slightly embarrassed. Dioux came behind and looked at me with a raised eyebrow, I just shrugged in response,
"Hey Tyzaren!"
I smiled and waved politely at Lisbeth, "Hello Liz. Funny seeing you here."
Asuna stepped forward now, "Wait, you know Liz and… this other player?"
"Yeah that's Dioux, and Lisbeth does a lot of maintenance on our gear in her shop on floor 76."
"Has everybody moved to floor 76 now!?"
All heads turned towards Agil with a smile as we all saw the look on his face.
-
End Note: Alright! Hope you enjoyed the chapter and the influx of character introductions! Things are getting pretty real as the team only gets closer to finding the boss on floor 76 yeah?
Reviews are ALWAYS appreciated because I always want to get better for you guys. Thanks again guys!