Chapter 4: The Arrows of Eros
Dante looked down at his menu, lost in thought. 12:45… We'll only be gone an hour or two, and then we'll come right back up. No big deal. I'll be right back up to Lindas and I'll see her and final-
A smack on the shoulders snapped him out of his self-induced trance. Ezekiel's wild grin leered over Dante's shoulder. Jacob was quickly on his other shoulder. Jacob's voice shot first.
"So what are you going to tell her when we get back?"
"Jacob I'm not going to talk about this"
Ezekiel's shrill voice came next.
"Did you even get her a gift?"
Dante's face flushed, and his voice raised a bit.
"None of your business!"
"Ohhhh did you make her something?"
"WAIT JACOB. WHAT IF HE SMITHED HER SOMETHING"
Dante's face burned even hotter. The terrible teasing tandem's eyes gleamed with deviant excitement.
"Is it a locket?"
"A ring?"
"No, it's probably something nerdy like a mace"
"That's dumb. Girls don't like maces, Dante."
"Is it pink to match her beautiful hair?"
"I mean you do think she's beautiful, right?"
Dante gritted his teeth and took a deep breath. He turned to say something, but found that Alastair had already stepped in.
"Zeke, Jake: Leave him alone. Last I remember, neither of you have ever had a girl even look at you before in either Aincrad or IRL. It's a big day to him. Shut your mouth and know your role."
As Dante looked again at Alastair, he almost felt fear even being the beneficiary. A chill trickled slowly down his back. He noted how daunting the white cloak looked on Alastair, and how much space he seemed to occupy. Though of average height, Alastair was a strongly built person. Add that to his stoic expressions and his intimidating demeanor, and you can't help but admit that he was a born enforcer. He held a presence that demanded respect.
Zeke and Jacob shrank back and cowered. After a second or so, Alastair looked back at Dante with a warm smile. Dante felt his stress ease away. It was the flip side of the coin. Alastair was kind, and open-minded. He wanted to work with people towards a goal, and had a good sense of judgement. He was a natural leader. He demanded respect, but always gave it back. Dante always felt at ease with Alastair around. The Silver Flags had potential with Alastair at the helm.
"Th-Thanks… I mean it wasn't that bad. They're always like that." Dante squeaked. Alastair walked over put his hand on Dante's shoulder. Dante sighed. He's as cliche as ever…
"It's no problem. You've got more than enough on your mind as it stands. Let's go see what your brother has to say and then get back up to Lindas as quick as we can, alright?"
Dante nodded. He turned around, and opened his inventory again. As they stepped onto the coast of the great sea of Floor 38, he took a deep breath to drown out the chatter or Ezekiel and Jacob. He focused again on his own thoughts.
It's 12:52 on February 14, 2024. Valentine's Day. No big deal.
The long, sprawling hills that dominated the landlocked portion of the 38th floor of Aincrad made for a gorgeous setting. With Greek inspired architecture, the main town was a sizable metropolis placed directly on the coast and had a hefty population of players. Half of the map was dedicated to the ocean. Off the coast some way, there was the Island of the Gods. Its twelve temples had to be cleared in order to advance to the Floor Boss when the players had first arrived. When the main game clearers came through, Dante was still a merchant in the Town of Beginnings. Much had changed since then.
Now, he stood on a boat as a level 68 player, Master Smith, and Expert Sword Thrower. With a guild of similarly strong players, Dante felt at ease. He was able to enjoy the expansive world of Sword Art Online just a little bit more. Taking in a breath of sea-salt scented air, he looked at the city on the coast. He noticed an unusual amount of boats leaving the docks.
"Hey, what's with all the boats leaving the city?"
"I heard a rumor that there's a special Valentine's Day quest this year," Jacob responded, "No one knows anything other than that it's supposed to happen on a lower level and that the reward is a high-level weapon or something."
Dante looked over at Jacob. His dark eyes sparkled as he looked over the water. Having had to take two boats, Dante noted how tame Jacob was without Ezekiel by his side. The two were constantly with each other. As far as Dante had come to concern himself, they were single entity. Seeing Jacob alone was almost depressing.
"How long have you and Zeke known each other? I mean… were you two this close back in the real world?"
Jacob's head shot around, then settled again into a thoughtful expression. Scratching his chin, he thought.
"Uhh… Pretty much since getting to Japan for the internship program at Argus I think. We briefly met back home in the States when we found out we'd be roommates during our time here. But excluding that, I'd say… 3 years now?"
Dante nodded, "So I guess that's how you met my brother?"
"Yep. He was our third roommate. He never really said much," Jacob let out a nervous chuckle, then continued, "I always got the feeling he didn't like us all that much. He always looked so angry. Turns out he's just got one of those "I'll-murder-you-in-your-sleep" type of faces!"
Dante laughed. It's true, he's pretty intimidating. He briefly ran his hand over the scar under his left eye. He couldn't actually feel it, not like he could in the real world. But tracing his fingers over it brought back a flood of memories. His brother, a game… and an open fire. Geoffrey's face crystalised in his mind. Dante shuttered.
"He's not much of a people person, I admit. But he cares. He wouldn't have helped me stay alive if he were a complete loner. He'd be a solo player, just like that Black Swordsman lunatic."
Jacob shrugged, then looked back out at the water. Parallel to their ship was a similarly sized vessel, two figures sitting with white cloaks. Jacob's gaze seemed fixed on it. The rhythmic spa-loosh of the NPC rowing the boat sauntered lazily through Dante's ears. Dante wondered, if only for a moment, whether the weather in the real world was ever actually this nice. Jacob's voice snapped him back.
"Maybe so. But Beaters like Geoff and that Kiri-whatever guy are usually loners in the real world and here in Aincrad. You can't change who a person is just by putting them in a video game. Dumb is still dumb, lonely is still lonely."
Dante thought about that for a second. Well.. what does that make me?
Jacob dipped his hand in the water, and a few Ula Fish jumped alongside the automated boat.
"But, of course, he's still with us and he's a great asset. I think if it weren't for you, he'd've left the guild by now. He knows us, but you're his only priority in this game. He's committed to getting you out alive."
Dante looked up towards the sky. It was a reassuring thought to know that he was of importance to someone in some reality. The quiet thoughts of spoiled complacency that Dante had fought hard to subdue snuck quietly into his head. They spoke low, but with conviction, their voices deep, but alluring.
I like this… He leaned back along the railing of the ship, drooping his head over the edge, and closed his eyes.
All of this…The very tips of his spiked-up coffee hair slipped beneath the waves, floating as freely as his mind. Waves brushed gently against his scalp. Tired arms relaxed at his side.
It's nice… His thoughts floated on the backs of the waves to an undisturbed hamlet called Lindas. He watched himself knock on the door of a weapons shop, flowers and a little box in hand. A smile in his dream snuck onto his face as the door opened to freckled, pink face. He offered his gifts, her smile glowing with his smile growing.
Wouldn't it just be so pretty to think so…
And then, with a resounding THUD, Dante was returned from his daydream. Picking his dangling head up from over the edge, Dante reoriented himself and realized they were on the beach. Jacob had already hopped out, gone to greet Alastair and Zeke.
Dante slowly rose up from the boat and trotted down the beach after his guild. The ends of his white cloak stirred up sand as he stepped slowly across the shore, the artificial afternoon sun beating down from high above. He reached into his pocket and produced a box. He ran his thumb over it, then checked the time.
2:10… Still ok on time… might be better if its at night anyways. Girls like that, right? Yeah, definitely. Totally. Nighttime is way more romantic. OK, sweet. This is still a good day.
"These empty ruins are creepy as hell."
"Not as creepy as the way Dante stalks blacksmith girl."
Dante was learning to tune out the continuous banter of Zeke and Jacob fairly well.
"Yeah but still. I don't like this. Did Geoff seriously have to meet these guys at the very end of the labyrinth?"
Alastair turned, then ended all conversation.
"Shut your mouths. Keep your eyes open."
As they walked through ruins of Ancient Greek temples, Dante remembered studying the Ancient Greeks in school.
If only my professor could see this now… Dante's eyes drifted among the fallen stones and undergrowth before a glint caught his eye. He focused in and pointed.
"Hey, what's that?"
His party turned, locating the shining object inside of one of the more complete looking temples. The shadows hid the outline, but the reflection of some mysterious light shone directly at Dante. He felt compelled by it. He took a step forward before Alastair's bellowing voice rang out.
"Watch it. We don't know what's in there, Dante."
"It's ok. I'm just going to check it out…" Dante trailed off, entranced by the object. He took a few more steps before identifying the outline of a Special Loot Chest. His eyes lit up. Of the many variety of loot chests in the Game of Death, this was the most rare. Found mostly in upper-level dungeons or in the lairs of conquered field bosses, the Special Loot Chest always contained a Unique Item that was either of a high level or of high value. Its distinctive silver coating and jeweled lock drove Dante yet another step closer.
"It's a Special Loot Chest! Guys I found a Special Loot Chest!"
He jogged over to the temple, Jacob and Zeke now wrestling one another to get a closer look. Dante ran into the temple and took a look at the chest. The jewels were Pink Pearls in the shape of a heart. It dawned on Dante at that moment. He looked up at the temple he was now inside of.
"Guys…"
Dante vaguely remembered hearing that when the Floor Clearers came through the Island of the Gods, the Temple of Love was suspiciously empty. No matter how many times adventurers had come back to the Temple, it was always clear. And yet on Valentine's day, there was a Special Loot Chest with a lock of jewels like a heart…
And a rumor of a special quest.
Alastair walked in the building right as Zeke tapped on the chest's item menu. Dante screamed.
"NO ZEKE!"
The chest opened.
An alarm sounded.
The doors slammed shut.
The ceiling opened as a shadow descended upon them. At first, all Dante saw was a large statue. Though as his eyes focused in, he realized the statue was moving. Two stone wings protruded from robustly toned shoulders, a quiver of arrows slung between them. The stone statue figure wasn't enormous, but at about twice the size of a player it was still a sight for Dante to behold. A name popped up beside 3 health bars. Dante muttered to himself.
"The Love God, Eros..."
Dante noted the honorific "The" at the beginning of the name. A cool shiver shimmied up his spine. A lone bead of sweat rolled past his eye.
This is a boss fight… We're in a boss fight… WE'RE MIDLEVEL PLAYERS IN A BOSS FIGHT… WHY?!
Panic began to set into Dante as the statue's stone wings beat down on the air. Time became slowed, sound became muted. Dante's mind was filled with the static buzz of a thousand different fight or flight responses all clamoring for supremacy.
He looked over at Jacob, who was frantically shouting with a blue crystal in his hand. Nothing happened.
Of course it's not working… We're going to die here... This is it…
Dante's emerald eyes worked back to the statue. He watched it float for a second, then equip its bow and draw an arrow. Eros's cold, lifeless eyes focused in on Dante. The silent screaming in his head became louder.
MOVE.
MOVE.
MOVE.
"MOVE YOU IDIOT GET DOWN"
Dante hit the ground with a thud. Alastair's voice broke through to his head as he watched an arrow whizz through the end of his cloak. He looked into cool grey eyes staring directly into him. He heard the words, but didn't process them.
"You need to focus or you're going to die."
Static.
"You need to get it together or your brother is never going to see you again."
Static.
"And if you don't, Liz is going to end up spending today alone. All thanks to your inability to GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER AND FOCUS."
Finally, the right channel.
Dante shot up and equipped his throwing knives. He ran for cover behind a large nearby rock, Alastair following swiftly behind him. Dante's breath was shaky, and his trembling fingers made the equipped knives clatter. He had overcome the shock… though the fear still surfed through his veins on a wave of adrenaline. He looked over at Alastair, whose placid expression had still not faded.
"What do we do?!"
Alastair looked over the rock for a moment, then sank back down slowly.
"Well, it's a flying boss. Most land when you've done enough damage to them or after a certain period of time, so we can do the bulk of our damage then."
The grey eyes looked over again, their soothing effect still active.
"You're our best sword thrower by a longshot. I need you to take forward on this until it lands. Then we can switch out. I'll keep him off you… I need you to do this Dante. You can't fail, or else there is a very high probability that we all die here. Ok?"
Dante nodded quickly, then focused.
He activated his Trifecta Throwing Sword Skill, then popped up from behind the rock and threw three knives at the stone figure with a brilliant flash of blue. Two found their mark perfectly on the figure's chest. The third flew right past its head. Eros's first HP bar dipped to yellow. Dante took a deep breath as he slid behind a large pillar.
It must not have a very high defense rating… But then what's the catch?
He peeked past the column to see Zeke throwing a spear at the boss while Jacob held a shield in front as a cover. Eros dodged the missile and then unloaded an arrow before Dante could register that the bow was even drawn. The arrow hit Jacob's shield, and subsequently shattered it on impact. The duo were thrown back by the force of the shot, their HP bars draining.
Dante took a breath as he equipped another set of knives.
Low defense, high speed, high attack, high agility. Takes damage easily but doesn't get hit easily. Take your time… focus… make each throw count…
He ran out from his cover, equipping his first knife with his Slinger skill. A trail of crimson light tailed the knife as it flew right past Eros's wing. The stone boss turned right as another two knives flew at it, one clipping a wing while the other pressed deeply into its arm. The first HP bar shattered, and the second dissolved slightly. He finished by throwing his last two knives using his Double Tap skill, but Eros easily dodged those while drawing his bow.
Dammit! Three misses!
Dante ran full speed around the room to another cover spot. He heard a loud grunt from Alastair. His shield, too, had been pierced by the stone archer's arrows.
We won't hold out like this… It's a war of attrition and he's inevitably going to win… He's doing so much damage in a single attack and I'm wasting so many knives. I only have thre-
Suddenly, an arrow.
It struck his midsection with train-like force, flinging him on the ground like a ragdoll. His HP dropped instantly to yellow. Though he could not feel pain, Dante's whole abdomen went numb. A sickening sensation flushed through him as he looked down and saw the arrow protruding from just below his ribs. He gasped.
He crawled over to his hiding rock. Opening his inventory, he produced an HP serum and began to frantically suck from it. His bar refilled to about midway through green.
Dante poked his head just above the stone, but saw only stone eyes fixed on his position. The statue had positioned himself above the center of the round room, firing all around him like an automatic turret. He pulled his head down just in time to avoid an arrow.
He hasn't come down yet! Does he just fly forever?!
*Ding ding ding*
If it never comes down from flight, then we've got to treat it like a normal opponent but with ranged attacks!
Still crouching from behind the rock, he shouted through his quaking voice.
"Zeke! Jacob! Alastair! We need to all attack it with ranged attacks at once!"
He heard no response. He opened his inventory and equipped the last of his throwing knives. His breath was ragged, but he continued to shout.
"Guys! I need you to trust me! We can beat this thing right here but we've got to go all out on one attack! I just need you to buy me a distraction so I can finish him!"
Still no response. He peeked his eyes over his cover to see Eros relentlessly firing at a rock across the room. The statue turned to Dante, firing an arrow before he ducked once again.
"GUYS! I'm going to count to three! Then I'm going to attack him! When I do, wait for just a second while he switches to attack me, then hit him with whatever you've got!"
You don't know if this is going to might be dead. Or think you're crazy.
"One!"
What're you going to do if they don't attack with you?You might just die right here.
"Two!"
A deep breath...Please have my back on this guys.
"THREE!"
He sprang out, firing his first knife. It landed right in the back of Eros. His health bar shrank to about 50%. Dante sidestepped an arrow, then began a run straight ahead at the statue. A moment later, the rest of the Silver Flags jumped from cover and threw an assortment of weapons at the floating boss.
Eros did not shift views from Dante, who continued his charge. It fired an arrow that landed on Dante's knee. Dante continued his run.
As axes and spears rained down upon him, Eros's second HP bar finally gave way to the third and final one. The statue continued to ignore the new attackers and fired again at Dante. Dante danced around the shot and drew back his last two knives, one in each hand.
Zeke threw a spear using his Javelin Sword Skill. It punched a clean hole through the stone, Eros's HP draining to about 60%. The knives in Dante's hand shimmered a bright red as he closed in on his target.
Suddenly, another arrow.
Dante briefly looked over to see his left hand, still clutching its throwing knife, being detached from his arm while geometric polygons of bright red "blood" splashed all about. Dante's focus, however was on Eros.
I've got him! He's vulnerable!
He flung his final knife while diving at Eros using his Headshot Sword Skill. The knife whistled past the statue's outstretched arms and landed square between the eyes. The Sword Skill offers a 3x attack multiplier if, as the name implies, a headshot is achieved on the throw. The knife found its mark, and Eros fell to the ground with a crystalline shatter.
Dante, lying on the ground, received a notification on his display.
Congratulations! You've reached Level 70!
He chuckled weakly.
Sweet Jesus I never want to do that again.
"Dante! DANTE WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME YOU WERE A KNIFE THROWING BADASS!"
Dante struggled to sit up, his HP bar flashing on the lower end of red. The voices of congratulations were all a blur to him. He sat staring at his arm, now flat at the end
Soooo… does this grow back or what? Is my hand dead in real life? How does this work?
Alastair's voice broke through to him again.
"It'll grow back in three minutes. No worries, it happens to me plenty. Weird feeling right?"
Dante broke into a hearty laugh. The smiling faces and warm voices around him warmed Dante. He felt accomplished. He felt recognized. Dante smiled as he realized that he was enjoying himself truly. This really is a good day, he thought quietly.
Another notification popped up in front of him. It was the item pickup menu for a monster drop. His eyes glided over the words on his screen.
Wait, what?
Once more. Twice more.
"Guys, look at this…"
Jacob, Zeke, and Alastair all peered over his shoulder. Their eyes widened as they read the words displayed there.
Item:
Unique Ability Crystal: Archery
Player receives Unique Ability 003: Archery.
Accept?
Yes (X) No
Dante looked over at Liz again, her pink eyes focused on him. The crashing waves of Larvik had settled into a quiet, steady tide. As they sat side by side in the sand, he waited patiently for any sort of reaction to his story (Of course, without mention of all the Valentine's Day plans for Liz. Those parts had been carefully omitted).
Finally, she sighed.
"I guess you got the bow and arrow thing somehow. But you didn't finish the story!"
He turned his head and gave a funny, confused face. She giggled slightly, but went on.
"You still haven't told me about your brother! Like, where was he during all of this? Shouldn't he have been close by?"
Dante stood up and dusted sand off of himself. She peered up at him, a curious expression occupying her face.
I swear: if she makes another cute face, I'm going to lose it.
He teasingly wagged his finger at her.
"Nah-ah! No spoilers! This is a 'To Be Continued'!"
She made a pouting face, her freckles peaking over the edges of a frown.
I'm going to lose it.
He held out his hand to her, her pout subsiding and giving way to an open smile. Dante smiled warmly back at her.
"C'mon, let's go talk to this shaman, get our tracking item and get out of here. I'm starved, and I know a great restaurant in Selmburg that we can go to after this."
Liz looked at him for a second longer, then took his hand and stood up. They shared a nervous laugh, then proceeded down the beach to the shaman in the cliffside.
It was not until they had departed from Larvik that Dante realized he had still not let go of her hand.
It's ok… I mean, she hasn't exactly let go either.
