Author's Note: I trust that everyone reading had a good holiday weekend. Anyway, without further delay, here's the next chapter of The Gold Swordsman.

Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online (or the works of H.P. Lovecraft).


Chapter 7: Father of Serpents

The serpent god, Yig opened his jaws and fired a ball of crackling red energy down at the two teams, forcing everyone to scatter. The fairy warriors narrowly managed to get out of the way seconds before the energy projectile could hit. As Selene took off into the air, Yig swung his tail around and cut her in the arm with the blade that was on his tip. The attack caused Selene to lose close to half her HP. Selene recovered and flew towards Yig's face while the serpent god continued to swing his tail around the chamber at the others and slashed the beast in the face with her sword. The attack had done very minimal damage to the serpent, taking off only a very small amount of HP. As soon as Leafa got the opportunity, she swung her sword and sent a blast of energy up at Yig's head. A sphere of energy formed around Yig's head and shocked him continuously for a few moments before exploding, but when the smoke cleared the serpent god had barely lost fifteen percent of his HP.

"No way! That attack should've done more damage!" a stunned Leafa declared.

"Clearly this monster is far more powerful than any of the other creatures we've faced down here!" Donis observed.

"Well that's just great!" Selene sarcastically declared. "Nice going Blitzer! You brought us into a boss fight with a giant snake we're barely equipped to handle!"

Blitzer ducked out of the way of Yig's still moving tail. "Well excuse me for being adventurous!"

Just then Yig fired another blast of energy from his mouth that struck Blizter and knocked him into the closed stone door of the chamber. When the dust from the attack had settled, Blitzer's HP had become a red sliver.

"This is so typical of you Blitzer, you know that?" Selene ranted. "Every time we get together we always end up going on some quest or raid that you want to go on! I'm getting damn sick of it!"

"Why don't you just lighten up, Selene!" Blitzer told her. "This is just a damn game you know!"

Selene responded by chanting a spell that fired a ball of purple energy down at Blitzer. The salamander warrior's HP went to zero and he turned into a ball of red florescent flames.

"Consider yourself dumped, dumbass!" Selene told the fireball.

"Whoa! Talk about harsh." Lisbeth declared.

"Selene, shouldn't we revive him?" an alarmed Aria asked.

"Screw him! He's dead weight!" Selene declared. "You're better off using your healing magic on the rest of us! Now if only I had a weapon that could do some actual damage to this damn snake!"

Lisbeth struck the side of Yig's tail with her mace, taking off a small but sizable portion off of his first HP gauge. "Hey Selene, did you and Aris run into any of those headless women up in K'n-yan on the way down here?"

"Yeah, in fact I got a drop item off of it!" Selene recalled. "It was a sword of some kind!"

"That sword's made of the same metal as most of our weapons!" Lisbeth informed the imp woman as she dodged another swing from Yig's tail. "It's not the best quality, but it should give you a little bit of an edge against this thing!"

"Thanks! Good to know!" Selene replied.

Donis dodged an incoming swing of Yig's tail and struck him with one of his swords, taking off another chunk of HP. "Everyone! Keep yourselves spread out and strike Yig when you can! This is going to be a long battle!"

As the flame left behind by Blitzer faded to nothing, Selene quickly reequipped herself with the tok'l-metal sword she had gotten. Meanwhile, Yig fired another projectile of energy down at Sinon. Sinon dashed away to her left and barely managed to avoid the attack. As soon as Sinon got her footing, she fired an arrow up at Yig, striking him in the side of the neck. Soon after, Leafa fired another blast from her sword at Yig, creating an energy sphere that finally took the serpent god's first HP gauge into the red zone. Selene flew down from behind and quickly slashed Yig three times in the back of the head, causing the HP in his first gauge to drop to zero.

Yig began to swing his tail around the boss room again. Donis was caught in the back and knocked to the ground. Aris quickly cast a spell that restored much of his HP, and as soon as Donis was back to his feet her charged in slashed at Yig's scaly hide wildly with his two blades, taking off a sizable chunk from the serpent god's HP. The gold swordsman was forced to quickly fall back as soon as the massive tail came back his way. Meanwhile, Selene continued to attack Yig from the air, slashing the beast in the back of the neck with her sword. The damage from Selene's attacks was minimal, but it was slowly piling up.

Before long, Yig stopped swinging his tail, signaling to the team that he was about to use his energy attack. Sinon saw that the creature was once again facing her and fired her bow. The arrow went into the creature's open mouth as another energy ball began to form inside it. The resulting shot caused an explosion that completely shrouded in smoke. Yig's second HP gauge quickly became a red sliver. While Sinon and most of the others were stunned to see the amount damage the explosion had caused, Selene took the opportunity to strike Yig in the neck again, dropping the beast's second HP gauge to zero.

"It seems we've finally found a weakness that we can exploit!" Donis realized. "Sinon! Stay on the outer rim of the chamber with Aria and be ready to fire a shot whenever Yig opens his mouth! In the meantime, conserve your arrows!"

Sinon did as ordered and fell back over to Aria's position. Meanwhile, Leafa fired another blast up at Yig just as the smoke around his head cleared. Once the resulting energy sphere had exploded and done its damage to Yig, the serpent god began to swing his tail around the chamber again. Sinon was forced to change her position every now and then to maintain a good shot at Yig's mouth. Meanwhile, Donis and the others continued to hit Yig with everything that they had. Eventually the serpent god's third HP gauge finally entered the yellow zone. At that point, Yig opened his jaws again to launch another energy attack, only for Sinon to fire another arrow into his open mouth.

The resulting explosion from Sinon's arrow took Yig's third HP gauge to zero, leaving him with one remaining bar of health. Before the smoke could clear, Leafa hit Yig with yet another energy attack.

"We've finally got this scaly bastard on the ropes!" Selene declared. "Let's take him down!"

Donis and the others resumed their attacks, taking Yig's HP down even further while taking some damage of their own. Before long they had managed to get Yig's final HP gauge into the yellow zone. Meanwhile Sinon constantly waited for her next shot, the one she was sure was going to be her final shot of the battle. At last, Yig opened his mouth in her direction. Without hesitation, Sinon fired her arrow into the snake's mouth just as the energy blast began to form. Sinon's arrow hit its mark, causing an explosion that dropped Yig's HP to zero. Yig's neck began to sway and toppled over, revealing that his head had been completely blown off. The serpent god's body struck the floor of the chamber with a loud thud before shattering into blue polygons.

With the battle finally at an end, a holographic window appeared before Sinon to notify her that she had gotten a drop item from the last attack. At the same time, the standard congratulatory message appeared in the air in white glowing letters, along with the phrase, "Next world unlocked. Enter at your own risk."

"Wait, does that mean there's another level underneath this one?" Selene asked.

Suddenly the message vanished and the entire chamber began to shake. Soon after the entire room became enveloped in a blinding flash of light. When the light finally cleared, Donis and the others were back on top of the mound.

"Well, that was a rough fight." Selene declared.

"Yeah, but we managed to make it out of there somehow." Aria pointed out.

"I know the experience we just shared was a difficult one for you ladies." Donis told Selene and Aria. "Yet despite the experience, would either of you be willing to venture down into those worlds again?"

"Well… maybe if I had some of that weird metal equipment that you four have, I'd be willing to go down there again." Selene answered.

"The same goes for me." Aria admitted. "As creepy as those two places are, they sure are interesting."

"Hey Sinon, did you get anything from that battle with Yig at the end?" Lisbeth suddenly asked.

"Actually, yeah. I was just about to take a look." Sinon answered.

Sinon brought up her menu screen and found the item she had obtained at them end of the battle. The item in question was a piece of equipment called the Coat of Yig. Sinon decided to equip the item, and with a flash of blue light she was wearing a sleeveless long coat that appeared to be made of a silvery-white snakeskin like Yig's own hide. The fairy archer found that the coat had a large hood and decided to put it up. As soon as she did, Sinon seemed to completely vanish.

"What the… where'd she go?" a stunned Leafa asked.

A few seconds later as everyone looked around trying to find Sinon, Leafa felt someone tap her on the shoulder, causing her to let out a surprised squeal. A second later, Sinon reappeared behind Leafa with her hood down and a large smirk on her face.

"Oh wow! I know there are items in this game that can make players invisible, but I've never seen one that perfect." Lisbeth declared.

"That's a pretty good weapon for an archer." Selene remarked. "I wonder if there are other items like that down in those underground cities."

"The only way to find out is to explore them." Donis pointed out. "While we may have defeated the strongest monsters that dwelled down in K'n-yan and Yoth, we've barely explored either of those two worlds. I propose that the six of us form a guild dedicated to exploring those two dungeons."

"That's actually not a bad idea." Aria remarked. "With a guild, we could be more organized about exploring K'n-yan and Yoth. Of course we'd need a lot more than just six members for it to really work."

"I think I can find some new recruits to help us out." Selene suggested.

"I would be happy to help you with that task." Donis offered.

"A large guild would be nice to have for fighting some of those monsters." Sinon realized. "Especially if there's another monster like Yig on the level below Yoth."

"With a guild, I could collect a lot more material for making equipment." Lisbeth pointed out.

"Looks like we're all for this." Leafa observed. "So what should we call this new guild of ours?"

"I say we name our guild after the creature we just slew to help tell the story of its founding." Donis proposed. "We should call ourselves the Order of Yig."

"I like it." Lisbeth agreed.

"Me too." Leafa replied.

"Then I guess it's settled." Selene decided. "From this point on, we are the founders of the Order of Yig."


Night had fallen, and Sinon had returned to her apartment in New Aincrad to relax. The only outfit she had on was a sleeveless grey shirt and a pair of blue shorts. It had been an eventful day, and Sinon had needed some time alone to unwind and process all that had happened. Whether it was in her virtual apartment or her apartment in the real world where she did this made no difference. As Sinon tried to relax, her mind kept wandering back to thoughts of Donis. She still couldn't deny that she had feelings for him, yet Sinon still had no idea if she had fallen in love with the real person or just a persona in an online game. The conversation she had with Selene down in Yoth had been at the very front of Sinon's thoughts.

Just as Sinon was about to log out for the evening, there was a knock at the door. Forgetting about her appearance, she got up to open it and found Donis standing on the other side. The fairy archer blushed when she finally remembered what she was wearing.

"Oh! Hi Donis." Sinon greeted. "What a surprise."

"I'm sorry. Perhaps I should come at another time." Donis suggested.

"Uh, no. No, come on in." Sinon told him, stepping aside to let him enter.

"I just wanted to tell you that the gild has been officially formed." Donis told her as he walked in. "Aria is busy with creating some specialized uniforms for us as we speak. It turns out she's a skilled tailor among other things."

"Couldn't you have told me this with an IM?" Sinon asked.

"I could have, but I also wanted to come by and thank you in person." Donis explained. "We probably couldn't have defeated Yig without you."

"I just got lucky stumbling on that weak point." Sinon modestly replied.

Donis put his hand on her shoulder. "Give yourself more credit, Sinon. You are a skilled archer, and someone who I consider to be a very valuable partner."

Sinon found herself quite touched by Donis's words and his kind smile. Before she knew it, she had become lost in the Kirito lookalike's emerald eyes. Sinon began to move closer to him and soon planted a firm and passionate kiss on his lips. As Sinon pulled away, Donis seemed to have a look of surprise on his face, but seconds later he returned the kiss. Before either of them knew it, they had begun to explore each other's mouths with their tongues. Several moments later after they were forced to break for air, the more rational part of Sinon's brain seemed to switch back on.

"I-I'm sorry." Sinon told Donis.

Donis gently stroked Sinon's cheek. "Don't be."

With that, Donis moved in and began to kiss and suck on Sinon's neck, stumbling upon a very sensitive spot. Sinon knew that what she was doing with Donis at that moment was probably a very bad idea, yet she was finding it impossible to resist the pull Donis had on her at that moment. Then from the back of her mind, Sinon remembered what Selene had said about how in an online relationship it was better to simply cut loose and not worry about who the other person might be in real life. In that moment, Sinon simply decided to just let go of her inhibitions and just go along with what was happening. After all, it was probably too late for either of them to stop anyway.

After a while, Donis turned Sinon around in his arms and began to massage her breasts through her shirt while still continuing to suck on her neck. Sinon wasn't wearing a bra underneath, so Donis could feel her already erect nipples through the fabric. The fairy archer had become putty in the gold swordsman's hands. Eventually, Sinon called up her menu screen and with a few quick commands caused her clothes to vanish with a flash of blue light. Sinon was left completely nude and Donis continued to fondle her breasts.

An uncertain amount of time passed, and before long Donis turned Sinon back around and pushed her against the wall. The gold swordsman brought up his own menu and quickly causes his outfit to disappear. Donis planted another firm kiss on Sinon's lips before finally pushing his rock-hard manhood into Sinon's moist entrance. Sinon let out a deep moan and Donis penetrated her. She had never imagined anything could be so wonderful.

Sinon wrapped her legs tightly around Donis's waist and held onto his firm shoulders as he pounded into her. The bluenette had become totally lost in the pleasure of the experience. As Donis continued, Sinon dug her nails deeply into his back. An eternity seemed to go by until in one glorious moment the two of them managed to hit their climax at the same time.

"That was… wow!" Sinon declared.

Suddenly Donis heard a beeping noise as a holographic screen appeared near him. "Oh blast! I totally forgot I have an appointment to keep elsewhere. I'm sorry, my dear Sinon, but can we continue this another time?"

"Yeah, that's no problem." Sinon answered.

With that, Donis withdrew himself and with a few quick menu commands he was wearing his original outfit. Donis said his goodbyes, and with another command he vanished from the room with a flash of blue light. Sinon let out a sigh and put on the outfit had been wearing when Donis first came over. Noticing the time, Sinon decided it was time to log out for the evening.


After passing through a tunnel of light, Shino opened her eyes to see the ceiling of her bedroom in the real world. She took off the amusphere headset and rolled onto her side, trying to process what had just happened. Now that she was thinking clearly again, Shino could see that what she and Donis had just done was probably a mistake. Yet again, she remembered what Selene had told her about cutting loose and not worrying about anything.

'Maybe I should just take it easy and see where this goes for now.' Shino thought. 'After all, what harm could it do?'

Shino decided not to dwell on the matter any further and closed her eyes. Before she knew it, she had drifted off to sleep.


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