Sword Art Online
SAO Worldwide
Chapter 4 – The Sinful Boneward
~Sebastian's POV~
I sighed silently as I looked up at the sky, waiting outside the blacksmith shop in the small town of Greenrun. A month and a half had already passed, and yet, we hadn't found the first boss room. Several thousand people had been killed, and some had even gone missing of unknown causes.
For me personally, the month felt like it had flown past me before I could even manage to blink. For some reason, the time just flew right by for me. Me and Celine had decided to team up shortly after she was jumped by those two people a month ago. Since then we had stuck together like we had been glued together, and Celine never dared to leave my side.
We had already fought countless battles, monster after monster, and we had both somehow managed to climb all the way to lvl. 13 already. Even I didn't know how we'd done it.
And now, Celine was inside the blacksmith shop and buying a new weapon from all the money we had raised. I smiled silently as I looked up at the clouds lazily drifting by.
We had great teamwork, Celine and I. When one of us was cornered, the other would swiftly whoosh in to help. When one needed to heal, the other draw attention away from the first. We always made sure to support each other no matter what, and so far, our friendship, or maybe partnership in this sense, had gone much better than I initiatively hoped for it to be.
I sighed a bit and looked back down from the sky as I finally heard the soft sound of a doorbell, and a couple of shoes walk down the stairs towards me. I looked up, but was fairly disappointed when I saw a tall man step down the stairs instead of Celine. I guess the store has more than one customer at a time.
I sighed a bit and leaned back at the wall, before looking back up at the sky. The clouds was still drifting on sleepily, big, puffy and white.
I noticed that I had hardly ever smiled since Kayaba announced his death game for us a month and a half ago. I guess the stress of constant farming off monster NPC´s, and the fear of getting killed, quickly had gotten to me.
Celine always seemed positive though. Each morning when we would meet in the dining area in the inn in town, she would always flash me this wide, sincere and innocent smile. Sometimes she acted a lot younger than she actually was, and I guess it was one of her ways of keeping her spirits held high.
That had happened this morning too, and I couldn't help but feel at ease when she was around. I just couldn't quite put my finger on what was so special about her though.
I widened my eyes in surprise as I suddenly felt a tap on my shoulder, and saw Celine standing right beside me with a bright smile. How had she managed to sneak up me!?
"W-Wait, where did you-"
"you're a really heavy daydreamer you know" She said with a giggle "I have been standing here for like, 20 seconds"
"You could have said something you know" I mumbled with a bit of a pout.
"That's what I'm doing right?" She said with a smile "Come on, we had to get some more items for our exploring today, remember?"
She smiled a bit as she took my hand in hers and began tugging at gently, wanting me to follow along. I looked at her with confused eyes.
"Wait, weren't I supposed to get a new weapon too!?"
"That can wait! We have to get some potions"
"W-What!?"
And that was how most of the first hours of that morning flew by. It mostly consisted of Celine dragging me around to shop after shop, me desperately trying to keep up with her, and try not to faint when I saw the insane prizes on crafting materials.
We had planned to go exploring for the first boss room today, and maybe get some training done. We would of course not challenge the boss alone, which would practically be suicide at our level. But at least we could map out the area, and make it easier for the raiding team to get through the dungeon that way, and we could get through to the boss without having to strain ourselves too harshly.
I sighed a bit but smiled silently as I looked down at the steel grey blade of my new one-handed sword, which I had finally found a chance to buy. I had not been that crazy with weapons in the real world, quite frankly trying to avoid them entirely, but I couldn't help but a specific sense of nostalgia and pride as I looked at my reflexion in the blade.
I smiled silently at my reflection before putting the sword back in its hilt.
"So, are we ready to go now?" I asked as I eyed Celine with a pout "To be honest I'm tired of being dragged around everywhere"
"Sorry" She said with a cheeky smile "ok, potions, check. Antidote, check. Teleport crystal, check"
As she went through her shopping list I smiled a bit and put my sword in my belt, hanging it loosely on my hip. When I was done looking through my own inventory we headed out towards the grasslands outside town.
"So, where do you think we should look first?" I asked softly as I looked over at Celine questioningly.
"Well, most boss battles exist in caves or castles right?" She mumbled silently "Or at least, the first boss usually does"
"I guess that makes sense" I mumbled silently "Are you saying we should look by the mountains?"
"Couldn't hurt to look right?" She said with a smile "Besides, you've been yapping about wanting to get a rare drop from there all week"
"That's true" I said with a chuckle and a smile "alright, that's the first order of business then"
I smiled a bit as we walked on in silence a bit. The only thing we could hear was the wind in the trees around us, and the silent lulling sound of this area's music slowly drive in a loop in the background. The grass was getting tall and I could feel it tickle against the skin of my hands as we walked.
After a while, Celine looked over at me with a worried expression.
"Hey, Sebastian?"
I looked over at her with a soft smile, not sure what she was so worried about.
"Yeah?"
"Can I ask you something?" She twiddled her fingers nervously.
"Sure, go ahead"
"Are you afraid of dying?"
Her question took me slightly aback and I looked over at her with a confused expression. Why did she suddenly become so worried? Though I decided to stick to the blunt truth.
"Why wouldn't I be?" I asked quietly as I looked away from her and into the sky "Of course I'm afraid. 'm afraid that I never get to see my world, or any other world ever again"
She nodded silently as she listened to me and spoke up again.
"Then why did you decide to fight instead of staying in the town of beginning? I mean, I did the same so I could see my family again, but…"
She frowned a bit and looked down at the ground.
"Then you just answered your own question"
She widened her eyes at my answer and looked up at me in confusion.
"Huh?"
"I want to see my family again too. I feel like there's too much I have to tell them"
"what do you mean Sebastian?"
"Well," I mumbled as I scratched my neck "me and my family never got along that well. My parents didn't like how I spent my life cooped up in my room all day, playing video games"
"I see.."
"My siblings didn't think much of me because of the same reason. Everyone told me to get friends and be sociable. None of them understood how hard that stuff is for me"
"Sorry, but I can't see the problem here"
"What?"
I looked over in surprise. Suddenly she was speaking up about how she couldn't see what the problem was! Did she even listen at all.
"I mean, you're good enough at talking with me" she mumbled silently as she looked away "And when we talked after you saved me, you seemed sociable enough"
"Oh, right…" I mumbled silently. So that's what she meant "Well, that was before I became myself again. You were talking to my avatar, not me. He's the sociable one"
"but what about now? I mean, we're talking right now aren't we?"
"Well that's because I know you now, and you're a person I trust"
She looked at me surprised and a blush rose on her cheeks. She smiled silently and nodded.
"I see.. Please continue your story"
"Alright, where was I?" I mumbled "Oh, right. So my family didn't like what I was doing, and frankly I was getting quite fed up with them. So we might have had a few fights where we said some things we regret now. I want to get out of this world, and tell them sorry for what I have done and told them"
"I can see what you mean" Celine mumbled with a sigh, but then smiled a bit "let's make sure you get out then, okay?"
"Right"
We fell silent again, and walked on not saying another word. Eventually we stumbled across a cave, with a sign with a skull on it outside, saying "Death" and "Do not enter"
"If this doesn't say boss battle, I don't know what does" I mumbled silently as I unsheathed my sword and peeked inside "there's no monsters Celine. Come on in"
She nodded softly and drew her brand new set of daggers as we began to explore the small cave.
~Half an hour later~
Celine and I had worked together to map out this dungeon for quite a while now. I was surprised how weak the monster NPC's was in regard to last time I was here, in the beta tests. I had this sneaking feeling that something was missing.
As we wandered along the narrow corridors of the cave, we suddenly arrived at a widening open space, with torches hanging along the stone walls of the cave. I looked around in wonder, until my vision fell on a single chest in the middle of the room. This smelled far away of trap.
I looked over at Celine with a determined expression and she looked over at me, with a deciding nod. I slowly crept out into the room, expecting an enemy to pounce on me at any moment now, but nothing special of any sorts happened. I looked around in confusion. Maybe it really wasn't a trap?
As I walked a bit farther into the room, I could see a huge metal door decorated with skulls and bones all over. It was definitely the boss room.
"Alright Celine, we found it" I said softly as I turned towards her "Let's ignore that chest for now and get back to the others. Do you have your crystal ready?"
"Yep!" she said with smile "Right he-!"
Her smile suddenly dropped and I looked at her wonderingly. She pointed upwards to a point behind me and I quickly spun around.
I widened my eyes as I stared into a hollow knight helm, with nothing but two red glowing orbs way in the back. I yelled in terror and stumbled backwards, to see what the hell that abomination was.
It seemed to be a double sized humanoid skeleton, complete with knight's armor and helm and a giant sword to boot. Two life bars appeared over its head along with it's name.
"The Sinful Boneward"
I yelled in terrified surprise and fell back on my rear, panickingly backing away from the mini boss.
"W-W-What the hell is that!?" I yelled loudly as I pointed at the monstrous thing.
"What do you think it is!?" Celine yelled as she pulled me back on my feet "It's a mini boss!"
I growled a bit at her attitude, but quickly got back to my feet as I drew my weapon.
"Damn, this thing looks tough" I mumbled as I stared into the place where the man's head should have been "Do you think we can take it on?"
"I'm not sure" She mumbled in response "I don't feel like taking the chance… What if we die in here?"
"You're right, we should head back for now" I mumbled as I grabbed a teleport crystal "Teleport, Greenrun!"
I held it into the air for a few seconds, but when I realized nothing was happening, I tried again. Still, no result.
"What the hell!?" I mumbled quietly "Why isn't my crystal working?"
"S-Sebastian, look out!"
I barely had time to react to what happened around me, and a small "oof" escaped my lips as Celine tackled me out of the way of an enormous downwards slash of the mini boss. His sword barely missed the two of us, and the force from the blow send us back on our feet before we knew it.
"Jesus" I mumbled with wide eyes "That would definitely have killed me"
"Well, take a look at the cave road" Celine mumbled with a nervous frown "It's blocked off with some kind of barrier. I don't think we can leave until we beat this douche"
"Seems like it" I mumbled as I took a glance at the skeleton knight.
He hovered over us and his skull formed into something I thought was supposed to be a grin, before he slashed at us again. Due to the size and weight of his sword his movements was slow and easy to dodge, but if he would manage to get a grip at any of us we would definitely be toast.
"Alright Celine, here's my thoughts" I mumbled as we dashed away from the mini boss "If we manage to get enough speed in our attacks, we should be okay. If he grabs for you with his free hand, get the hell out of there. I'm sure he has some nasty tricks up his metal sleeves, so be careful okay?"
"Roger" she said shortly with a furrowed brow, before we both turned to face the enormous threat to our lives.
This was one of the more tougher battles. Me and Celine had been up against some staggering odds the last month we had battled together, but nothing quite like this. Though I still had a feeling I should trust in our ability to help one another in these kinds of situations.
I tightened the grip on my sword before dashing forward towards the monster, Celine trailing me close behind.
"Alright, I'll start attacking" I yelled to her "As soon as he parries me, switch in!"
"Got it!" She screamed at me and I turned back towards the skeleton.
I yelled a bit from battle-infused adrenaline, as I aimed my sword at it's torso, but the skeleton was a bit too fast for me, which I had of course already predicted. As soon as I was tossed backwards by the force of his parry, I screamed at Celine to switch.
She smiled as the tactic apparently worked, and she stabbed her weapon straight through the decayed and rotten armour of the, without a doubt, old warrior. He screamed a bit from pain and swung down at her, but she used this opportunity to dodge to the left, using her speed to run counterclockwise around him, stabbing him every now and again on her way around him, before retreating.
I took this as my que to initiate my own attack, and I quickly activated a quick sword skill as I dashed forward, called "Triple Stab"
I aimed at his chest and let the skill take effect, and as you would think, stabbed him three times in his chest. After about 2 seconds the cooldown timer was out, and I smirked as I continued my assault, slashing across his chest armor in several X's, before ducking backwards to dodge another powerful attack.
As I did, Celine immediately followed up with a new and even more powerful assault, mercilessly digging her sword into the armor of the skeleton mini boss. As his health soon enough went into first the yellow, then the red zone, something felt incredibly odd to me.
This mini boss was way too easy. It was the first mini boss after all. More times than not, several groups of people was needed to take such a thing down. We were only two people, and we barely had a challenge with this guy.
I had barely even put that thought to an end, before the mini boss' health went into red. He screamed loudly as me and Celine retrieved backwards, Celine shooting a confident smirk at me.
"This is going great Sebastian" She said with a smile "No need to be so nervous huh?"
Just as she said that the skeleton yelled at the top of his lungs (or not), as he began tearing off his armor, revealing more of the naked skeleton below, along with two short swords. As he was finished ripping off his armor he tore off one of his own ribs, deforming it between his hands.
"I-It's changing battle technique" I yelled at Celine as a warning "Be ready for anything possible!"
"Got it"
As we shouted to each other it seemed the skeleton was finished deforming it's ribs into several small statues, seemingly no changes from himself besides the size. Each little statue had a set of small short swords at their feet, basically the same equipment as the boss.
"He's spawning minions" I mumbled quietly.
And barely had I mumbled that, as his army of minions charged, with intent to kill.
