Chapter 6: Catch

"Uh...where are we?" Jade looks somewhat shocked at the site of the sleeping quarters I have found. We are currently standing in the middle of an absurdly cold snow storm, staring at a building made of stones and bricks with a relatively small doorway. From the outside, we can see a very inviting fireplace crackling inside a living room.

"A house, obviously" I reply as I open the door.

Jade steps through, and gasps at the sight of the home. It looks straight out of Nordic tales, with rugs and bearskins hanging from the walls, and a friendly atmosphere in the air that is so strong its intoxicating. An old and bearded man-an NPC, according to his cursor- approaches us with a huge smile on his face. I smile back at him, pleased that this type of NPC does not read my cursor type, and that to this certain chunk of data I am a bit more than worthless.

"Hello. I'd like to pay for the upper floor, please." I say this in a monotone and clear voice, so that the system will easily pick up my command. The NPC smiles even brighter at the offer of money.

"That would be 300 col, sir." the NPC asks in a convincingly human tone.

Hmm, pretty cheap, actually.
The only thing real difference between NPCs and players is that NPCs don't rip me off
The image of Argo enters my head briefly for whatever reason.

I happily make the transaction and begin walking up the stairs. I am halfway up them when I realize Jade is not following me, so I spin around to see her standing in the doorway, her mouth still agape.

"Jade, are you coming?" I ask.

"How much was this place?" she answers my question with a question, which is the sure sign of a very, very irritating individual.

"300, now c'mon."

Jade follows, still staring at the place like it's made of gold, begins to trudge up the stairs behind me.

What's up with her, this place isn't even that great...

I open the door to the second floor with the "Key" Item the NPC gave me, and set it so party members and friends(hah, not likely) can enter. Then, I push the door open and step through. Two large beds, a bathroom, and a small kitchen, exactly as Argo had said. I hate to admit it, but that informant was spot on with her info on this floor, except for the whole Epic Quest thing, but I get the feeling this isn't a regular occurrence.

Speaking of irregularities, why is it so quiet?
I feel a sudden missing feeling, as if something is wrong with the very physics which drive all worlds. The string theory of the real world and the data of this world must be flawed, that is the feeling I get, but no matter how hard I try I can't pinpoint the source of this feeling on uneasiness.

Oh wait, that's it

"Jade, why have you gone so quiet?"

Jade is staring at room in much the same a shell-shocked soldier would look at no-man's land, a state of pure and complete horror and awe.

"H-how much did this house cost?" she asks that materialistic question again.

"I told you, this is all 300" I answer the question again. We sit down on opposite beds, facing one and other from across the room. She looks around at the furnishings, and then says something absurd.

"300 Mega-col? Isn't that a bi-"

"No, 300 col."

You think I'd pay that much for you?

"You bought the entire house for 300 col?!"

Now, it's my turn to let my jaw drop. Today is the night of November 4th, 2023, nearly a year since the game started, and she still doesn't know about this system?

"No...I rented it."..obviously.

"You can rent houses?" another stupid question from Jade.

"You're kidding, right? Everyone knows you can rent parts of NPC houses."

"Well, excuse me for not knowing that you could rent little huts far, far away from civilization."

Wow, did she just attempt to play it off like that?

"Oh don't even try it, the look on your face when you entered this house was enough to tell you loved this place. You've probably been staying in Inns since day 1, haven't you?"

"Yes, bu-"

For once, I'm the one that cuts her off.
"Ah, beginners" I sigh deeply as I say this, much in the same way a wise man would sigh at a child's naivety.

This turning of tables does not please Jade in the slightest, and her face turns into a menacing, irritated frown.

"Who are you calling a beginner?!" her face screams indignation as she slips those words out in her anger

"Perhaps the girl who fell for the world's most obvious trap and had to be saved by a Orange?"

"Gah, well I'm sorry I had to decency to step in to save that girl."

Nah, don't apologize for being willing to save others.

I laugh at her reddened face, which is now a mix of embarrassment over the situation I found her in and rage over the crap I'm giving her for it. However, before I can say anything else, her face becomes slightly serious, and she tilts her head sideways. Her pretty lips open slightly as she asks me a very, very serious question in a soft and shy tone completely uncharacteristic of her usual self.

"Why did you jump in to save me?"

I immediately tense up. That moment in the fields comes back to my mind, my hand grabbing the Heaven Splitter, my feet winding into place almost by themselves, the fact that I was going to just walk away. A thousand excuses enter my mind, but in the end I bow my head down, and take a deep breath.

Ah, screw it.

"I wasn't planning to, actually... I just jumped in because..."

Jade leans forwards towards me, and even though we are feet away I can feel her gaze questioning my every move. After what seems like ages, I manage to continue.

"You were humming a melody tha-that a friend of mine used to sing a lot. Every day before she went to sleep, actually."

"Oh... that..." Jade smiles "My mother taught me it when I was young, I suppose it just kinda stuck." Suddenly, she giggles, "so music is what moves White Knight Klaes, eh?" she grins at me, and I feel my face redden with shame.

"Ugh..." I cannot find words to retaliate before it is too late, and Jade asks the next logical question.

"So, this friend of yours, is she in SAO?"
Dammit, why did you have to ask that?

I bow my head down lower so she cannot see my eyes getting murkier by the second.

"She used to be." Is all I say.

The happy mood the room was in is killed in the instant.

"Well, goodnight" I say as I flip into my bead, and with a swipe of my hand,t the lights flick off. I lie there for a few minutes in the darkness, contemplating whether I should die into a world of nightmares again or just stay awake in this warm room. About five minutes after the lights went off, I hear Jade's voice-soft, but in the same certain tone as always-reach out to me across the room.

"Goodnight, Klaes."

For this first time in months, the words of another person allow me to sleep.


The next day, we find ourselves standing once again standing at the entrance to the 40th floor main "dungeon". I am back in my gear, the gauntlet on my hand feeling heavy as ever, and so is Jade, who is standing with the same proud stance as always to my left. I look up at the huge tower above us, open my status and check the time. [11:02AM, November 5th, 2023.] I can't help but sigh deeply.

"What?" Jade asks.

"Oh, nothing." I reply.
Not worth fighting about.

When Jade woke up this morning, around two hours after I did, I discovered two things very quickly. Firstly, she wasn't going to question me further about what I said last night, which is a blessing. The second discovery, however, was a far less fortunate one: never in my life have I met someone who is not a morning person to such an extreme. We had agreed to head off at around 8:30, so we could be taking the first steps in making it through the dungeon by around 9:30AM.

Things didn't exactly go to plan. Jade woke up in a foul mood, with messy hair, and to make matters worse: it took me 15 minutes to shake her awake. I was already fully geared up and ready to move, but she-somehow-in a world where changing was the equivalent of hitting a few buttons and showering was pretty pointless, managed to take about an hour to get ready. I was sitting down at the front porch of the fact, sulking at the fact that if I was solo I'd probably be already way on my way to the 41st by then. When Jade finally got downstairs, it had turned out she wanted food, so we had to go back inside the house and eat food that I brought from the NPC family. To my despair, breakfast alone cost almost as much as the room had. When her highness was finally satisfied, she decided we could leave, and so we started the long walk to the tower at around 10, ages after the appointed timee.

Now, we're finally at the tower, and I'm dreading the fact that if we want to reach the front-line any time soon, we'll have to clear the next floors dungeon through tonight.
This is why I hate parties...

Jade seems content though, and completely and utterly oblivious to my woes. She smiles brightly, draws her sword, and beams at me. Despite me efforts to be sulky and angry, I do lighten up a little at the sight of her smile, despite the fact that behind the beauty lies a vicious creature.

"Right, let's go." After what feels like a eternity, I finally push the doors open and step into the first level of the dungeon, ready to fight my way up to the long-cleared boss room and scale the stairs to the next room. Jade follows in at my side, and we begin a light jog towards where our maps tell us the first safe room would be, avoiding monster spawn locations as much as we can.

The cave like tower is as cold as the outside, and freezing cold water is dripping from the walls and ceiling. There are a few icicles hanging above us, but the slight patches of ice that cover the ground prove to be far more irritating as far as navigation goes.

As our aim is to get to the next floor, and not to train or explore, making it through this dungeon will take us a lot less time than regular parties would, but we cannot simply ignore the monsters. If too many of them start following us and we don't take care of them, they'll stack on us and we'll die. With this in mind, we slide to a stop right before the first safe zone entrance, looking down at a long hallway before it. A common theme in these dungeons is absurdly difficult passages right before safety. This corridor's floor is covered with a thick layer of ice, over a hundred yards of slippery ground, and before Jade takes a step onto it, I stretch my arm out to stop her.

"Wait."

I open the information I have on this floors dungeon, and I am pleased to find the entry I needed.

"Although most of the dungeon is relatively easy, the corridor leading to the first safe zone is deceptively hard, and spawns a lot of mid level Snow Statue(Level 30) at an absurdly fast rate. This makes it a great place for power levelling, but a potentially fatal one if you get hit by a powerful enough Sword Skill."

I silently thank the information brokers of SAO before I look back up at Jade, who's waiting for my explanation as to why we're stopped.

"This area has a very high spawn rate, follow my lead and switch frequently, we have to rush for the safe zone, ok?" This plan isn't perfect, but she nods, indicating she understands.

"Sure, but try not to be left behind, because I probably won't go back to save you." Jade replies in her usual cold and casual tone.

"I'm aware. Ready?" I ignore the cruelty, for the sake of co-operation.

"Yes... but..." for whatever reason, she doesn't finish answering the question.

"Yeah?" out of curiosity, I pursue this topic.

"If I get more kills, you tell me what the gauntlet is for." She points at my left hand, a certain gleam in her eye. I look down at the dark blue gauntlet that clads my fingers, and I laugh.

"Sure you're on, but if I win; you'll pay for your own food from now on."

Jade snorts at the notion she could possibly lose.
"Deal, let's get this started."

"5..."
We sync our countdowns.
"4..."
Our swords make metallic noises as we once again draw them out of their sheaths.
"3..."
I step slightly in front of Jade, and get into a low "Rage Spike" stance, readying my sword skill.
"2..."
Jade steps in behind me, ready for the upcoming mayhem.
"1..."
We both tense up like coils ready to explode, and then...

"GO!" we both yell simultaneously as I kick off with my back foot, launching me into a rage spike. I slide across the ice, my feet dragging as my outstretched arm remains forward. As I had expected, the ice makes me slide further, extending my charge type skill by a whole foot. Out of pure luck, one of the 6 foot tall Snow Statues native to this area spawns directly into the range of my attack, and he shatters into pieces. I try slowing down after taking down this first target, but I just keep on sliding, and as the next few spawn around me a sense of dread washes over me.

Shit.

The cooldown on my ability doesn't give me time to react as the Snow Statue in front of me brings his halberd down towards me, I brace myself from a heavy hit when..

*CLANG* Jade deflects the halberd with a vertical, spinning to grab my hand, and throw me forward across the ice. I slice the halberd wielder as I pass by, destroying it instantly.

"Use the momentum!" I hear her yell. I slide forward at an incredible speed to the next target, a sword wielding statue with half of its head missing. The mob swings the blade down at me, but this time I parry it with a horizontal, and I feel Jade fly past me as her blade finds its target in the centre of the statue. We do not stop, both activating charge skills to give ourselves more speed as we zoom across the ice. I spin on my feet, watching the gleaming steel of a Snow Statue's blade pass by my body by inches before I smack it with a Meteor Break, sending it flying into a few of its companions.

These monsters are easy to kill, but...

Another five spawn in behind the next batch we can see, behind us, we can hear even more spawning into the corridor. I look at Jade, and I can see slight worry on her face. We can do this, but we need to do it fast, as there is still another 50 yards between us and the exit

"Don't stop for an instant, just keep going." I re-assure her.

"Okay. Ready, set, go!" Jade howls a battle-cry as she activates a charge skill, slicing straight through the first mob. I follow suit with a Sonic Leap, which propels me past the blonde swords-woman and places the Heaven Splitter in the centre of another Statue's head. Before the light blue polygons of my target even disappear, Jade is sliding past me across the ice, her sword glowing a dark green. I follow behind her, thanking the AGI skill that is allowing me to keep my balance on this ice, and watch as the next few statues are skilfully dispatched by her.

Using the high speed we have gotten from low friction ice, we wind our way past each-other, stabbing, slicing, and smashing any target that comes in our way. We spin around one and other, parrying, switching, and slicing without taking a second to slow down or stop. The spawns get more and more dense as we slide through the army of mobs in front of us, but the safe zone room banner is within 20 yards from us. I dodge past the blow of another statue and decapitate the next one, allowing Jade to sprint past as she brings her sword down in a brutal Slant which obliterates yet another snowy enemy. To my horror, she missteps on the ice, and in that split second in which she loses her balance, I see a sword coming down in a graceful arc towards her neck. Without even thinking, I outstretch my left hand and reveal a combat secret I have hidden for ages.

I catch the sword with my left hand, it chips my heavy metal gauntlet, and I wince slightly as my HP decreases by a percentile or two, but then I smash the statue away with an uppercut delivered by the blade in my right hand.

Before Jade can even react to what just happened, and before I really think about what I'm doing, I sheath the Heaven Splitter, grab her by the waist to drag her close, and then use the a highly powerful Martial Arts shoulder tackle skill to bowl my way through the last statues. We slip on the ice on the last step, and tumble into the safe area, sliding into the wall at the other end of the porcelain white room.