Event 8: Minerals, Ore, and Announcement


"It gets dark until we reach the drop, stick close everyone..."

The leader of Kishiro's mining guild himself was the one speaking. He was out in front, decked out in the gear of a miner's dreams. He even used a pickaxe as his weapon. Kishiro and Anko were present for the trip, but they were toward the rear. They'd be the ones actually fighting, so the rest of the party was taking all the heat so they could stay at full strength. A mini-boss this high up was no joke, even for two players pushing level 175. Though, granted, they weren't at floor 93, the current front-line record. Still, even at floor 86, caution was needed. Five party members had already teleported home.


"If the information's right, this is it. You were here, is it?" said the guild leader, talking to one of the party members.

"Definitely. See the crystal growths down there?" said the guild member, pointing down into the volcanic tube. Sure enough, through the bottom of the hole a huge crystal was visible.

"Well, then this is your cue, lovebirds," said the guild leader.

Anko visibly jerked, instantly embarrassed. Kishiro walked right through the small crowd, gently pushing aside those in his way. His helmeted face stopped a centimeter from the guild leader's.

"Ehh... Sorry..." said the guild leader, leaning back.

Kishiro stayed there a second, took a step to the side, and instantly slipped down the tube, his Phantom Cape fluttering above him. Anko quickly followed, sliding down on her feet with her black metal boots instead of on her back like Kishiro. Kishiro flew out of the tube and landed on a crystal big enough to make Gleam Eyes look small. The crystal was formed so as to reach the tube and provide a way to climb out, or at least a safe landing. Kishiro moved aside as Anko landed and the two took in their surroundings. They were in a cave of black rock with huge crystals poking out of everywhere. It was impossible not to be a meter away from a crystal bigger than a tree. Some were so large they extended from one wall to another, or from the high ceiling right into the floor. There were pools of liquid here and there as well, and it was oppressively hot inside the large chamber, even more so than the rest of the dungeon. The heat itself began to affect Kishiro and Anko. A debuff appeared by their health bars.

"Whoa... What's that?" said Anko, quickly bringing up her information. It was a heat suffocation status, an environmental effect. Her health was being drained at the rate her meager battle-healing would normally be healing her. It simply wouldn't work here. Kishiro was in a worse state. Even with his battle-healing maxed, his heavy and closed up armor made his debuff worse. His health was dropping by five every second. Luckily, he had exorbitant amounts of HP, but it was still a factor.

"I don't know how well I'll be tanking down here... Let's find that boss and get outta here," said Kishiro, his voice giving away how hard it was for him to breathe.


Down the large crystal, Kishiro and Anko began heading for the far side of the chamber. The whole thing was like a huge oval or bubble. The liquid pools turned out to be acid, which must have had something to do with the crystals being so large. The realism lent to the environment by the game was nearly unbelievable. As they went, the pair examined the crystals. Sure enough, just as reported, they were able to be mined. However, remembering the Obsidian Dragon, Kishiro didn't touch them. Until they knew what was guarding the crystals or where it was, it was a bad idea to wake the mini-boss and be vulnerable to a sneak attack. Finally, toward the back of the chamber, they saw it. Coiled around a crystal jutting out of the high ceiling, nearly the same color and texture, was a centipede. For the moment it wasn't moving, but the scale of the monster instantly made it seem threatening. Kishiro and Anko stopped, making sure to have a clear line of sight with it.

"Here goes," said Kishiro, lifting a fist. "We need to be ready to teleport out if this thing's level is too high for us to handle alone. I'll do my best to distract it, but we're gonna need to move fast... At this rate my HP's gonna be gone before that thing even lands a major hit."

"If you can force a critical, I can probably burst it down," offered Anko.

"Will do," said Kishiro. He knocked his armored fist into a crystal.

At the same time he saw the tiny notification of one crystal shard being added to his inventory, the centipede vanished. Both Kishiro and Anko instantly looked everywhere for it. Through a crystal, Anko caught a flash of its many skittering legs.

"Left!" she yelled jumping away from the movement.

Kishiro rolled forward as hundreds of puffs of dust appeared on the ground where he'd been standing. The centipede was invisible unless viewed through the huge crystals in the room. Without clearly seeing it, its level and amount of HP were unknown.

"Kishiro! It's invisible! Look through the crystals!" yelled Anko. She was standing on a horizontal crystal and looking through the bottom of it to follow the centipede's movements.

"Can you see its HP or level?!" asked Kishiro, standing to face the direction of the centipede, his fists up.

"It's moving too fast. The information is near its head, but every time it gets close enough it turns and I can't see clearly enough!"

"Fine. Just tell me if it leaves the ground. I've got an idea!"

Kishiro activated Zen Stance. His HP started rising slowly, but it was more for the extra perception. He needed perfect timing for his plan to work. As Anko said, the centipede moved more straight further away from them, but began twisting and flanking as it got closer.

"Behind you!" yelled Anko. Kishiro turned as instructed. There, rounding a crystal, were the puffs of dust as the centipede's legs rushed it forward. Kishiro took a measured step forward to put his hips into a straight-arm punch. He knew his success when his whole body shook and the centipede's head became partially visible. The punch had cracked its skin, and now the cracks were visible as glowing white light, but that was all.

"Breaking its shell makes it visible! I can-" Kishiro began, but had to cut off as he dodged the centipede as it continued to charge after recovering.

As soon as the centipede moved to where Anko would normally be able to see it through the crystals again, she flinched and blocked her eyes.

"I can't look at it! It's too bright on the head now!" she yelled.

Sure enough, bright light danced and refracted through the room anywhere the centipede's cracked head would be visible through a crystal. The crystals glowed brilliantly but the walls seemed unaffected. It had the reverse effect of making the boss even more dangerous. Try to follow the glowing cracks and eventually the boss ran behind a crystal, blinding you.

"There's gotta be a way to make the whole thing visible! Do you have any new spear skills or anything that might just cause a huge shock?" asked Kishiro.

"No. What about your Iron Flesh skill? If you can grab it and stop it, I can try to damage it enough for that."

"Worth a shot. It doesn't last long, remember, so be quick. Once I lose Iron Flesh I don't think I'll be able to hold it long after."

Anko nodded and jumped up on a crystal, leaving Kishiro on the ground. He watched the floor in the direction of the centipede instead of the centipede itself. He kept from being completely blinded, but it reduced his time to react. As soon as he saw the centipede round a crystal for another attack he activated Iron Flesh, slamming his fists together then thrusting his open hands forward. The boss crashed into him and halted, its entire body flickering into visibility for a second. Kishiro noticed just in time that its jaws were poised to close on him, spearing through his ribs. He shifted his hands and caught the two mandibles, Iron Flesh giving him the leverage to keep ahold.

Anko jumped down and sliced through the body of the centipede several times, then cut off several legs. The sections of body attached to those legs became normally visible, but where she'd cut through glowed like the crack on its head. Kishiro held on as the centipede thrashed in his grasp, mentally counting down to when Iron Flesh would run out. The second before it did, Kishiro let go of the centipede's mouth-parts and ducked under it.

"Dire Uppercut!" he yelled as he punched up under its head. His own HP was just below 50% after the exchange, but to his surprise the shock from his attack made the centipede's head visible completely, along with its information. The Crystal Centipede was level 120, and its HP had just gone below 50% as well. It was fragile, but quick and powerful.

"We've got this! Two more good clashes!" yelled Kishiro as he hit the floor and ran aside. The Centipede thrashed the upper half of its body until it could get a foothold on a crystal, then it skittered up it to the ceiling. Looking down at its two opponents, its entire body became visible. The poison legs on its rear and its mandibles clicked together a few times before it ran off again, much faster than before. Not ten second later and Kishiro was barely stepping aside as the huge crystal mass grazed passed him. The light hit alone knocked 10% off his HP. Without Iron Flesh to use again, he had no way of catching it without dying.

"Uhh! Nevermind! We might need to get help and come back later!" said Kishiro, noticing the damage.

"Your shield!" yelled Anko, jumping up and slicing the back of the Centipede as it passed over her on the ceiling.

Kishiro's head jerked up in recognition. He'd forgotten about it. He quickly equipped it and took it off his back. He still hadn't mastered it, but he had a few skills he could work with. One of which was a simple shield bash that did damage based on the defense-rating of the shield.

"I've got another idea! Get ready!" yelled Kishiro, bracing himself with the shield up and his other arm behind it. The Centipede spiraled down a crystal and lashed out with its rear fangs. Kishiro blocked and slid over the stone floor in a display of sparks and black dust. Like a whip, the Centipede's body suddenly retracted as the rest of it kept moving around the crystal, reaching the ground and rushing at Kishiro at the speed of a car on the highway. Kishiro held up the shield and ran forward, using his shield bash skill. With that, the shield cutting damage taken, and his Step Control skill, he hoped to unbalance the Centipede without killing himself. Kishiro roared his resolution, wordless and furious, as he crashed into the mini-boss.

Like a train derailing, the Centipede's body practically flipped over Kishiro, landing in a pile behind and to the right of him. Kishiro himself slid back with such force that he fell over and rolled into a crystal growth. Anko descended on the Crystal Centipede in a fury, her scythe spinning and slicing in a black blur. She had to back off when the Centipede began thrashing to stand. It's HP was below 15%, but it wasn't dead yet. Kishiro was out cold with his back to a huge crystal. Without him, Anko had to stay on horizontal growths and slash at the mini-boss as it passed her. If it went for Kishiro again, he'd die. If Anko tried to stop it, she'd die. Without him conscious, Kishiro couldn't teleport away. Without getting close to him and drawing attention to him, Anko couldn't heal him with a spare crystal.

She'd just about given up trying to think of a plan when something it her. The Centipede reacted to people trying to mine. To keep its attention, she just had to strike the crystals. Eventually it would have to coil onto her horizontal growth to fight her, and she could land some decent hits before jumping off. She did so, slashing the crystal at her feet. Sure enough the Centipede began making more passes over her and under her until it simply rushed along the wall and onto the top of the crystal where she stood. Anko jumped, flipping over the back of the long enemy with her scythe held out like a saw blade. The Centipede contorted its body to slap its front section back on the wall and it skittered away.

Anko dropped off her crystal to find another place to stand. She had a better plan than just hitting the thing until it happened to kill her or she outlasted it. Finding two growths sticking out of the wall, one above the other, Anko jumped on the lower one and began slashing it with vehemence. In no time the Centipede rushed over. As it turned to crawl onto where she stood, Anko jumped over it, vaulted off the wall, and slashed through the smaller crystal growth above the Centipede. The growth fell and shattered over the Centipede's head, knocking 7% off of its remaining HP. A few more hits and it would be history...


Kishiro woke with a start as a booming voice sounded. He was in the Town Of Beginnings, laying on the floor, his head on Anko's lap. Before he could demand an explanation he heard the voice continue.

"I am proud you made it so far," boomed the figure, the creator of the game.

"I am announcing the new features you will now encounter before clearing the game. On floor 95 and above, it is possible to duel players who have obtained unique skills and acquire new ones yourself by defeating such players. Defeat does not have to mean death, and a beaten player does not loose their unique skill. Instead, based on all current stats, the winner will receive a new truly unique skill that fits their style perfectly. Only one new unique skill can be earned in this way. The next new feature is that the final bosses from here out are styled after players, but have skills and stats far above a normal player. Just as any of the players of higher level, these bosses will be able to cut down many players at once if not blocked and kept in check. Starting at floor 99, bosses can only be challenged by players with at least one unique skill. This means the semi-final boss and myself are only accessible by those who have earned mastery of their skills. Lastly, I feel it necessary to announce the surviving number of players. Currently, that number sits at 6,309. It has been three years and seven months since the beginning of this game, and one year and seven months since I was revealed among you. My announcement is complete. I await you in the castle above this castle, at the top of Aincrad..."


Kishiro looked at Anko. Instead of trying to take in what he'd just heard, he had to know...

"Did we win?" he asked.

Anko looked down at him and smiled. "Of course. After I killed the Crystal Centipede it crashed into a wall in an animation and cool air started flowing in from a different tunnel. It's easy to get in and out now, but before we could leave we were teleported here. We came in standing, but you almost fell on me... I figured letting you lay down would be best..."

"And that announcement...?" asked Kishiro, sitting up and eying his HP, which sat at a scary 6%.

"The clearing group must have moved on while we were going after the Centipede. It makes sense, after how many players joined the clearing effort..."

"I wonder how the guild we trained is doing..." said Kishiro, checking his friends list to make sure they were alive at all.

"Why don't we go home and rest... Then we can go see," suggested Anko.

Kishiro sighed, pulling out a teleport crystal.

"Good idea..." he agreed.

The pair vanished in blue light to do just that.


Upon returning and exploring crafting options, Anko discovered the crystal could be used to make teleport crystals, healing crystals, and other such useful items that were once only available from enemy drops. In the rest of the time before the clearing team set out once more, Anko and Kishiro worked to fill the new orders for crystals, and eventually had to ask Kishiro's mining guild to help. Between working so hard and keeping up with the news of surfacing unique skills, time flew by until the day the clearing team requested aid. Even with the trained volunteers, things were moving slow. Pockets thoroughly lined, the Darksmith and Black Onslaught announced their return as the team headed for the dungeon of floor 98. With only three boss fights to go, and the new rule of only being able to challenge bosses while in possession of a unique skill, Sword Art Online was fighting back harder than the players ever dreamed it would... But they, too, were fighting on levels that had to be seen to be believed. And yet the greatest challenges had yet to be faced...


New Event 9: End Of The Sword returning soon...