Author's Note: In case anyone reading is interested, I took a little break from this story over the weekend to work on this little Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V one-shot called Passion Arena. It's one of my more "twisted" stories, but one that I'm fairly happy with. I know this may not seem like the right place to plug a one-shot like that, but I want to get the word out for the story in any way I can.
Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, nor to I own the works of H.P. Lovecraft.
Chapter 4: Journey to R'lyeh
It was early in the afternoon as Asuna waited in Lisbeth's shop for the party to assemble. The pink-haired blacksmith was at that moment busy with putting the finishing touches on the weapons and armor they would be using on the trip to R'lyeh. Siune, Klein and Agil were also present in the shop, and Silica had arrived with her little blue dragon, Pina only a few minutes after the others had shown up. Since then, the group had been waiting for at least an hour to see if Leafa and Sinon would show. Just as Asuna was about to give up hope, the door to the shop opened and walking in was the blonde fairy that the gang knew as Sugu's alter ego in the game, Leafa.
"Glad you could make it." Asuna told Leafa.
"This quest sounded a little too interesting to pass up." Leafa replied as she approached. "So, is everyone here?"
"Everyone except for Sinon." Asuna answered. "It's starting to look like she might not show up."
Suddenly Silica let out a small shriek as she felt something pulling on her tail. The others all looked in time to see Sinon materialize out of thin air behind the younger catgirl as she pulled down the hood of her long coat.
"What's up guys?" Sinon asked with a wave.
"How long have you been there?" Asuna asked.
"Since Liz opened up the shop." Sinon answered. "I couldn't resist the chance to mess with you guys."
"So you've just been lurking around here this whole time?" Lisbeth asked.
"Pretty much." Sinon confirmed. "So I guess we're all here then?"
"Yep. Once Liz finishes with our new weapons, we can head out." Asuna replied.
"Hey Sinon, you mind doing us all a favor and lose the mask?" Klein requested. "It's not like I don't think the mask is cool, but you wearing that thing while we're on a quest makes me feel like we're about to commit a robbery or something."
"Oh. Good point." Sinon replied as she brought up her menu screen. After a single click, the mask vanished from Sinon's face with a flash of blue light. "I guess I don't need to be the Phantom Arrow for this mission, huh?"
"Why the heck do you wear that stupid thing anyway?" Lisbeth asked. "It's not like you need to hide your identity in this game."
"It makes me look like a badass." Sinon answered. "When you're a player killer, intimidation is a very helpful tool."
"Whatever" Lisbeth huffed. "I've finished the equipment we'll need for this boss raid. Leafa, I'm guessing that you and Sinon still have the armor we all had from our days in the Order of Yig, but I know that the tok'l-metal sword you had got trashed in the fight with Nyarlathotep. That's why I took the liberty of making you a replacement. It's not as good as the last one, but it should do for this quest."
"Actually Liz, if it's all the same to you, I'd rather use my regular sword for this quest." Leafa replied. "I know that a tok'l-metal weapon would probably be better against a Great Old One, but I can't quite bring myself to use a sword like the one I had that time."
Lisbeth ground her teeth. "Fine! See if I care! It's not like I spent a long time making it or anything."
"Okay! I think we should get going." Asuna suggested upon noticing the tension in the room. "Now we're going to have to go to Innsmouth first in order to find the key to unlock R'lyeh. Since none of us have been there before, we should probably be ready for anything."
Once the team had finished getting their new equipment ready, they exited the shop and flew off towards undine territory. After several minutes of flight, the team spotted the ruined fishing village of Innsmouth from the air. The seaport looked as though it might've been a beautiful and thriving colony once a few hundred years ago, but now it had fallen into a state of morbid decay, and projecting out from the shore almost like a cancer growth was some kind of black reef. The buildings and houses that made up the village had greyed with age and lost all their paint. Some of the structures had large holes in their roofs or were missing their roofs entirely, and all of them had windows that were either broken or boarded up.
As Asuna's team descended down to the dead seaport, their nostrils were instantly assaulted by the foul scent of dead fish mixed with the salt air of the ocean. The auroma was so pungent that Klein and Silica had to hold their noses shut for a bit at first as they landed. Asuna also couldn't help but feel that even though the village was nothing more than a dead bloated ruin on the shore, there was still life lurking within it.
"I don't know about the rest of your guys, but it feels like we're being watched." Siune spoke.
"I'm getting the same feeling." Asuna admitted as she grasped the handle of her sword.
"There's a good chance that something is watching us." Sinon told them. "Innsmouth is a location from one of Lovecraft's most iconic stories. I'm guessing that this version of Innsmouth is populated by the creatures from that same story."
"I don't know if something is really watching us or not, but the one thing I'm sure of is that I'm probably going to be off sushi for a little while." Klein remarked as he continued to hold his nose shut. "This place smells almost as bad as N'kai."
"So what's the plan Asuna?" Agil asked.
"We split up and look for the key." Asuna decided. "Agil, you go with Leafa and Sinon to search the east part of the village. Liz, you take Silica and search the west end. I'll search this area around here with Klein and Siune."
"Sounds like a plan." Leafa agreed.
"Whatever." Lisbeth replied with a roll of her eyes.
"Now let's all stay sharp." Asuna told them. "If mine and Siune's instincts plus Sinon's knowledge of this place are right, this village could end up being pretty dangerous."
Twenty minutes had gone by as Leafa searched the abandoned village of Innsmouth with Sinon and Agil. Not a single building the trio had entered contained anything that seemed like a key to finding R'lyeh. Eventually Leafa's group entered a fairly large brick hotel that was apparently called the Gilman House. As soon as they had entered the lobby, Leafa head some kind of croaking noise coming from behind the front desk. The blonde had only gone a step towards the sound when a creature suddenly leapt out from behind the desk at her.
The creature in question had a somewhat humanoid build, but was like some kind of mixture between fish and frog. Its scaly skin had a greenish-grey tint to it, and the sides of the neck that supported its fishy head had what appeared to be gills. Just as the thing started to charge at Leafa, four black arrows flew through the air and struck the creature's chest and right shoulder, taking its HP gauge down to less than half. Leafa glanced back and saw that Sinon had fired the arrows from behind. Agil charged in and slashed the beast three times with his axe. The third strike not only took the monster's HP to zero, but had also severed its head in the process. The pieces of the monster's body shattered into blue polygons before its head could hit the ground.
Leafa breathed a sigh of relief. "What the hell was that thing?"
"A Deep One." Sinon answered. "They're the monsters from that Lovecraft story that I told you about. The Deep Ones are also worshippers of Cthulhu."
"Then it's even less surprising that the key to unlock R'lyeh would be hidden somewhere in this village." Agil remarked.
"What else do you know about the Deep Ones?" Leafa asked.
"Well… in the story, the Deep Ones also like to breed with humans." Sinon answered. "In fact almost everyone living in Innsmouth in the story is a Deep One/human hybrid."
Upon hearing this, Leafa shuddered. "Suddenly I don't feel very comfortable being here."
"Yeah, I kinda feel the same way." Sinon admitted. "I guess I shouldn't have mentioned that part of the story to you, huh?"
"We should probably start searching the rooms of this hotel for the key." Agil suggested. "At the very least, we might find a few interesting items that I could sell off later."
With that, Leafa and Sinon followed Agil up the stairs to the second floor. A silence hung over the trio as Sinon and Leafa walked a step behind.
"So Leafa, how've you been holding up?" Sinon quietly asked.
"I'm fine. That thing about the Deep Ones you told me doesn't freak me out that much." The blonde answered.
"No, I mean… how've you been doing since what happened with Nyarlathotep?" Sinon asked.
"Oh… you mean Donis." Leafa realized. "I've been getting better. I still do miss Donis sometimes though, as messed up as that sounds."
"I get it. You fell for Donis pretty hard." Sinon replied. "A lot harder than Liz and I ever did."
"I think the hard part has been accepting the fact that Donis wasn't even real." Leafa admitted.
"Guess it just proves that there's no such thing as the perfect guy, huh?" Sinon remarked.
"Or that he's just already taken." Leafa replied, making a not so subtle reference to Kirito. "How have you been doing after what happened?"
"I was pretty angry for a while after we found out what Donis really was." Sinon answered. "Angry and pretty hurt. I mainly became a player killer as a way to deal with those feelings. At this point though, I think I'm pretty over it."
"You're a lot stronger than I am, Sinon." Leafa declared.
"We should probably be on our guard now." Sinon suggested. "Who knows how many Deep Ones might be hiding in these rooms?"
Silica had been a little on edge since Asuna and Siune mentioned that they felt like they weren't alone in the decaying ruins of Innsmouth. Lisbeth meanwhile had hardly said a word to her since they had broken off from the main team to search. Suddenly a Deep One burst out of one of the abandoned houses at Silica, causing her to scream. Before the creature could strike, Lisbeth charged in and bashed the aquatic monster on the side of the head with her golden hammer, Mjolnir. The creature's HP fell to about half, but the Deep One quickly recovered and fought back by slashing the pinkette across her left arm. Lisbeth only lost a small amount of HP and struck the Deep One two more times. The monster's HP fell to zero and its body shattered into blue polygons.
"You okay?" Lisbeth asked.
"Yeah. I'm fine." Silica answered.
"Well get your head in the game, wouldja?" Lisbeth snapped. "I can't look for this key and watch your sorry ass at the same time!"
"Why are you being so mean, Liz?" Silica asked. "First you insult Sinon's mask, then you snap at Leafa! Now me? What's your problem?"
"Look, I'm sorry!" Lisbeth told her. "It's just… I guess I didn't really want to go on this quest in the first place."
"Well if you didn't really want to come, then why'd you agree?" Silica asked.
"I don't know! I guess I just wasn't thinking." Lisbeth answered.
"This can't be just about the quest!" Silica told her. "You've been mean to practically everybody for the past month. This is about Donis, isn't it Liz?"
"Don't ever mention his name!" Lisbeth told her in a low hate-filled voice. "I never want to hear that name again for as long as I live!"
"Liz…" Silica spoke.
"Just forget it, okay?" Lisbeth told her as she turned around. "Let's just find this key so we can locate that R'lyeh place and get the hell out of here."
With that, Lisbeth stormed off. Pina licked Silica's cheek in an attempt to comfort her upset master. Silica gave the small dragon a smile and petted her on the head before finally following after Lisbeth.
The search being done by Asuna's group eventually brought them to a building that appeared to be some sort of abandoned church. The name of the church was over the door in large brass letters, and though some of those letters had since fallen their outlines were still there. The church was for some kind of cult known as the Esoteric Order of Dagon. As Asuna and Siune came closer to the church, they could sense that something wasn't right.
Asuna grasped the handle of her sword. "I don't think that place is empty."
"You're right. Something's definitely in there." Siune agreed.
"How the heck can you two tell something like that?" Klein asked with a quirked brow.
"We're not sure." Asuna answered. "Ever since we landed in this village, I could somehow tell that we're not alone."
"I've been feeling the same thing." Siune added. "Don't ask me how or why though."
"Well, let's just go into this creepy church and see if that key thing is in there." Klein told them.
With that, the trio entered the Order of Dagon Hall. As soon as they were through the door, they encountered a small hoard consisting of five Deep Ones. One of the croaking fish-frog things immediately charged towards Siune. Klein quickly got in the creature's path and slashed it several times, taking its HP into the red. Meanwhile, Asuna fiercely attacked the other four Deep Ones. Once Klein had finished off the creature that had gone after Siune, he helped destroy one of the other four members of the hoard, leaving Asuna to finish off the remaining three.
"What the hell were those things?" Klein asked as he sheathed his sword. "Guess you two were right about something being in here."
"Yeah. I'd sure like to know how though." Asuna remarked.
"Wait a sec… it's only been undine players like me and Asuna who have been having these visions relating to Cthulhu." Siune realized. "What if the undine race has some kind of connection to Cthulhu and these fish monsters because of its connection to water?"
"That does kinda make sense." Klein agreed as he held his chin. "But if that's true, how exactly does this ability you and Asuna have to sense these fish monsters work?"
"That is a good question." Asuna replied. "I mean it's not like a normal detection system that would appear on the heads-up display, but more of a… physical thing. If Kirito were here, he could probably explain it. He knows more about the amusphere than any of us."
"We can figure that out later. Right now, we should look for that key to finding R'lyeh." Siune reminded them.
With the Deep One hoard gone, Asuna and the others were able to take a good look around the church. There was a large gaping hole in the wall at the far end of the structure that showed the ocean beyond. In front of the hole atop a marble altar was a large statue made of an odd black stone. The statue was of a creature with an octopus head, a humanoid body and large bat-like wings sitting on a square pedestal with its legs tucked against its chest. The things head was leaning forward to that the tips of the tentacles covering its face were touching its knees.
"That's definitely Cthulhu." Klein observed. "You think this is the key?"
Asuna approached the statue and touched it to find that it was somewhat movable. With some difficulty, the blunette managed to turn the statue around so that it was facing the hole in the wall. When Asuna finished turning, the eyes of the statue started to glow and two beams of yellow light shot from the eyes out across the sea.
"I think if we follow those beams, we'll find R'lyeh." Asuna told the others.
"Then we better call the others and tell them to get over here." Klein suggested. "I just hope that R'lyeh doesn't turn out to be worse than this place."
A few short minutes after Asuna had PM'ed the others about finding the key, the other members of the quest party had quickly assembled at the dilapidated church. Once everyone had gathered, the team flew out across the sea following the beams of light. After what seemed like about ten minutes, Asuna and the others spied what at first seemed like an island in the distance. As they got closer though, they soon found that it was a giant city of black stone that had risen out of the ocean. The buildings of this city were all covered some sort of green ichor.
When Asuna and the rest of the team landed on the outer edge of city, they noticed that the geometry of the place seemed somehow distorted. All of the buildings and even the stone foundation of the city itself had angles that they shouldn't have. As they ventured into the dead and bloated metropolis, they passed by a giant staircase at the base of one of the gargantuan buildings that was built in an upward direction away from where they were but seemed to go in a backwards direction towards them, making it seem as though they would need to be able to walk on ceilings in order to use those giants steps.
"This place is totally disorienting." Siune remarked as she looked around. "It feels like we could get lost here pretty easily if we're not careful."
"The last time I saw a place like this in a game was back when I was a kid and I triggered this glitch while playing Pokemon: Yellow." Klein remarked. "All the maps were just totally garbled."
"At least there don't seem to be any monsters hiding around this place." Agil pointed out.
"That's probably because this place is basically a giant boss room." Sinon theorized. "Besides Cthulhu, there probably isn't anything else here. I mean could you image how hard it would be to search a place like this for items?"
Eventually the team made it to a sight that Asuna immediately recognized from the vision she had after being defeated by Nytokris. They found the massive doors that hide the very creature they had come to face.
"This is it." Asuna informed the others. "If we open this door, Cthulhu should show up."
"Are we sure we wanna do this?" Agil asked. "I mean… it's starting to seem like we don't have enough players for a raid like this."
"We've come too far to just turn back." Asuna pointed out. "We're going through with this."
With that, Asuna began to walk towards the massive doors. The blunette had only gotten two steps closer when the doors suddenly sprung open on their own. The team was instantly assaulted by an acrid stench that flowed out from the abyss before them. After that they heard a loud sort of flopping or squishing noise coming up from the hole. Then the creature emerged.
The specific details of the giant monstrosity that emerged from that stone abyss were too horrible to describe. Its body was a slime-green in color, and it did look like the statue that Asuna and the others had seen in the church back in Innsmouth. The monster had an octopus head with glowing yellow eyes, a humanoid body a flabby torso and muscular arms that had hands with long sharp claws, and a pair of large membranous wings were on its back. But as Asuna and the others looked at the mountainous thing that stood before them, the found that the Innsmouth idol that had been carved in the creature's likeness hardly did it justice. Soon after the abomination had risen from its hole, six HP gauges appeared by its body, and floating above its head in white letters was the name, High Priest Cthulhu.
"Oh man! I knew this quest was a terrible idea!" Lisbeth decalred.
"Get ready, everyone!" Asuna told the others as she drew her sword. "This is going to be our biggest battle yet!"
Please review and let me know what you think.