Before I even begin this chapter, I am going to get down on my knees and apologize, because no matter what I do, this chapter still feels so wrong. Characters are OOC, plus I seem to be on a one-way trip to Suetopia.
What annoys me most is that this chapter is necessary to avoid sending one of the characters to Suetopia. What also annoys me is the highly optimistic tone of this chapter and the next.
So for this chapter, to those kind people who will take their time to review it, may I request absolute, brutal honesty? If it's okay, tell me it's okay. If it's definitely not okay, tell me outright where, when and how.
Imperial warlord: Yeah, I know, and I'm sorry about that, but I needed time … which, unfortunately, only helped just a bit.
I hope that by the time I end this chapter, I can explain some of the OOCness…
And once again, I apologize, and ask that you all please bear with me because I'm sure that the parts afterwards will be better.
Without further ado, let's go on to the chapter.
Obligatory Disclaimer: I do not own SAO or DxD any more than chicken fries are made of beef.
*~B~*
Chapter Twelve: Dragon and Rat III – Genryuu
[Aincrad 5th floor, Fallcopse. Floors cleared: 10]
Arriving on the fifth floor for the first time, I didn't expect to get dragged into a rescue mission almost straight away.
But more on that later.
I walked out of the warp gate into the Inner Area of Fallcopse, and the first thing that struck me was its uniqueness.
Walls made of grey uneven stones made up the perimeter of the town. Pebbled paths from each of the four openings connected in a plus-shape at the warp gate. Beyond those walls was dense forestry.
Inside the walls were small huts and houses, either made of wood or bamboo. A small series of bamboo huts had open fronts displaying selections of items.
Not too many players were walking around here, judging by the lack of green cursors. There were, however, many NPCs dressed up in tribal clothes and accessories. Including at least one Amazon-like girl who caught my attention.
Is it my fault that I looked? She was an NPC anyway, so she wouldn't understand what I said. I entertained the notion that she was like Sairaorg-san, and maybe I could get her to open up.
My not-so-innocent fantasies were interrupted by a cry from near the border.
"Someone please help!"
*~B~*
Reaching the source of the cry I found a small crowd gathered around a young girl with pigtails. Huh, she was pretty cute – okay, now's not the time. That girl was definitely the one crying out for help. She had teary eyes and a desperate expression.
However –
The people gathered around, you could tell at first glance that they weren't the helpful type. The guys that made up the group all had indifferent and not very nice expressions.
"Now, now, what's the matter, missy?" one of those bad-boy type guys spoke up.
"… My – my friend, he–"
"A friend of yours, hmm? Ahh, I see, he got killed, didn't he?" that guy continued to drawl.
"W-what? No, no he's still alive!"
"I understand, I understand. Why don't you come with me and relieve some of that pain, hmm?"
With that he grabbed the girl's arm and began to pull her. "Let go!" the girl cried, trying to shake him off.
She should have seen the harassment window; all she had to do was press yes. But since she was panicked, she probably didn't notice it.
And it went without saying that something like this disgusted me. I walked up to the player grabbing the girl's arm, and tapped his shoulder.
"Hn? And whaddya want? Oh, you want a piece of her too? Get in line, I'm going fir–"
"Count yourself lucky that you're in the Inner Area," I said in a low voice.
Before he could react I punched him straight in his face and knocked him to the ground. A purple flash and a loud noise accompanied the strike.
Inside the Inner Area, it was impossible to damage another player's HP, and therefore impossible to turn your cursor orange by attempting so. It did have an advantage, though – bastards like these could get what they deserved with no risk on my part of becoming orange. And even if they didn't feel pain, impact was something else.
Add to the fact that my attack stat was probably leagues beyond what their defenses could easily handle. They didn't look like players who'd ever fought properly. Neither was I, barring some little experience, but that was different.
"The hell do you think you're doing?!" one of those guys yelled at me.
I ignored him and told the girl. "The harassment window. Click yes and send him to the jail."
"Don't ignore us, dammit!" the same guy roared before swinging his broadsword at me.
Players could not be damaged. Weaponry was a different matter.
Activating Uppercut I crashed my right fist, glowing yellow, into the blade and broke it immediately. It was beginner equipment. I knew since I was considering using one on the first day. I followed up with a kick into his gut with my left leg, and turned my attention towards the other four. The glow from the last impact faded, and each one of them brought out their weapons – a longsword, a spear, an axe and a mace.
Spear Bastard attacked first. I sidestepped the strike, elbowed the spear away and nailed him in his face. Mace Bastard and Axe Bastard tried an overhead attack from either side. I jumped back and let the two idiots smash each other's heads.
Longsword Bastard was careful. He took a stance and his sword glowed blue. He jumped forward at a high speed, sword swinging down diagonally.
I met his attack with Beast Slayer, breaking both his sword and his nose too, if that was in real life.
A red light flashed from the corner of my eye. I turned and saw First Bastard disappear in red light – the girl had sent him to jail.
"Try anything like that in my sight and you'll wish you hadn't!" I said to the guys fallen on the ground.
Around then my anger finally went down. I heard a quiet sob from behind.
"…en, he's not dead. He can't be dead…" the girl cried quietly.
I walked up to the girl and placed a hand on her shoulder. She flinched and tried to pull away. "Hey, hey, it's fine now. Tell me what happened."
"… My friend and I, we were i-in the forest, and we got attacked by a m-monster horde. He managed to clear a path for me, t-told me to run but," the girl said, eyes scrunched up with tears, "he hasn't come back yet."
"… I see. And you're sure he's alive?" I asked.
The girl whipped her head up and glared at me. "He's alive!" she shouted. "He's definitely alive! You can't tell me he's dead, I won't accept it!"
I sighed. Geez, if a cute girl like her cried and asked for help, then what was I supposed to do? Part of me was half-hoping that after helping her, she'd get attached to me or something, but I shook that thought out. There was only one thing to do.
"Right, then," I said, meeting her eyes, "can you tell me where you last saw him?"
*~B~*
One thing I learned on this floor was that players could share map data amongst themselves. Even if one player hadn't cleared out a dungeon, if someone else had, they could take that map data from the person who had, and navigate around the dungeon with less risk.
The girl gave me her map data and pointed to an area north of the Inner Area of Fallcopse. It was a pathway full of brambles and broken branches and bushes and shrubs.
"At least make walking through a forest less annoying," I grumbled. "What was the point of making it this realistic?"
I scraped my arm across a thorny bush, and took about 2HP damage. "Really?" I muttered, rolling down my sleeves.
Since that day two or so weeks back on the second floor, I'd been hunting plenty of monsters to get enough money to buy myself some decent equipment. Looking at my thick leather shirt, a new red undershirt and slate-gray trousers, I told myself I had enough. In the case of Martial Arts and Combat Blade, having bulky armor was a big disadvantage. I needed something both light and strong, and I found what I needed when I took a visit to the eighth floor's Inner Area.
I wasn't wearing Combat Blade. I wanted to keep it a secret, so I couldn't really have it equipped at all times. It'd be like carrying around a neon sign going "I HAVE A SECRET SKILL."
It didn't take me too long to find the place where the girl – Rurin, was it? – had last seen her friend. Now all I had to do was ask any male player I saw in that area if their name was Genryuu. Yeah, didn't sound too hard.
When I found the place however, I found an ongoing skirmish. A number of monsters versus someone I knew very well and was completely unrelated to this case.
"Stop spawning, goddamn you!" a swift cloaked girl yelled indignantly.
Yep, none other than information broker Argo the Rat. Two weeks passed without seeing her even once and I finally find her in another horde battle three floors up? Not for the first time, I wondered what kind of dangerous life she led.
Also, I was a bit relieved. Since it was Argo, it meant I could equip Combat Blade before joining the fight.
Opening and sifting through my menu quickly, I equipped the leather forearm-guard-and-blade – which wasn't exactly the same as before – and dashed forwards, spearing one Snakeman (a humanoid thing with a snake's head, wearing brownish armor) in the gut. Pulling out the blade I ran past Argo and attacked the five Snakemen behind her.
The blade glowed yellow as I activated Spear Fan, a five-hit skill that was spread in a fan shape. The strikes cracked the armor of four of them, and lopped of the right arm of the fifth. The quarter-second delay held me in place, and when I was free I leaped to the side just in time to avoid a Snakeman impaling me with its two-pronged spear.
Argo clawed its head off, jumping off its torso right before it disappeared, CRITICAL flashing above it, and the claw on each hand went through two more heads like a hot knife through butter. CRITICAL lit up once again – twice again – and landing, Argo activated a Sword Skill. Slashing her claws outwards through one more Snakeman's gut – one of the ones I had damaged with my previous attack – and thrust the claws through the shattering polygons into the exposed stomach of another one that I had damaged earlier.
Wasting no time, I began punching down and stabbing any Snakeman that got near. Unlike what their appearance suggested, they were actually not that strong. From what I knew from the guidebooks in the shops – which, I remembered, were written by the girl fighting alongside me – they were the weakest mob of the fifth floor. I seriously doubted that Genryuu guy had been possibly killed by these.
About two minutes, three Sword Skills and a panicked duck later, it was over. Almost instantly I rounded on Argo. "What the hell was that for?!" I yelled at her.
"And nice to see you to," she responded, deadpan.
"You threw that thing's spear right at me!"
"You ducked didntcha? And the one behind you did die so no harm done-nya."
"What if I didn't duck in time?!"
"Then you'd be dead," she stated. Well thank you for stating the obvious.
I sighed. "Anyway, what are you doing here?"
"That's supposed to be my question, Pervert."
"You called my name twice before, why can't you just use it normally," I grumbled under my breath. "It's kind of a long story – well no, not really."
*~B~*
Argo couldn't help but get a sense of déjà vu. And she made sure she didn't show the fact that she was, against all her expectations, the smallest fraction happy to see him again.
"So you come up here to the fifth floor, happen to find a girl crying for help and now you're here because of that?" she asked.
"Why do I get the feeling you don't believe me?" he muttered.
"What are your ulterior motives-sa?" Argo asked bluntly.
"To sleep with the girl, what else?" he replied sarcastically. Argo couldn't help laughing at the expression he made.
"Well, didn't expect to see you up here so quickly, Pervert."
"What were you expecting, me flinching in the open spaces of the third floor while in a juggernaut's armor?"
Argo smirked. He sure has a way of making the atmosphere light, she thought.
"And anyway, you didn't answer my question yet. What are you doing here?" he asked.
"I'll answer that on the way, but right now, don't you have a player to find?"
"Right," he replied, unequipping Combat Blade – which, Argo noticed, looked different.
"Is that a new weapon?" Argo asked curiously, her info-seeker side taking over.
"This? Ivory Reinforcer or something, kind of like an add-on to the thing," he said, glancing down momentarily at the ivory bone-like structure covering the leather parts of Combat Blade. "Anyway, that player I was looking for, he was supposed to be somewhere around here, but well, he's not. You didn't see him by any chance, did you?"
"I was on the other side of this floor until a while back. I was circling the floor around the east, and got here just about a minute before you arrived. So this Genryuu guy probably ran somewhere further while being chased … hmm, if he was being chased, it probably wasn't Snakemen after him."
"I figured as much. So where do you think he is?" he asked.
Argo thought for a bit. "There's a safe area not too far from here. If he managed to come across it, then he should be safe-nya."
"In that case, what are we waiting for?" Ise said, beginning to walk away – only to get pulled back by his collar.
"Not, so, fast," Argo said. "You don't know this area, so this time, you follow me."
"The last time I did that, you led me through the most grueling walk of my life!" he retorted.
"Oh, come on," she sighed. "It's not like you were actually physically exhausted. Plus I had a good reason-nya."
He shrugged in defeat. "Fine. You lead."
Messing with him will never get boring, will it? Argo mused.
*~B~*
Argo pushed aside a branch and walked past, hearing a thwack and an "Ow," a second later.
The dense foliage of Fallcopse was nothing like the other floors. Here, it was a very dense forest where you couldn't always see the sky beyond the canopy of the trees. The ground was covered in small plants and shrubs, along with numerous fallen branches and twigs. Fungi grew on the barks of the trees, no two ever seeming the same.
Argo had to admire the sheer level of detail on each and every floor of Aincrad. She then had to wonder just for how long Kayaba Akihiko had been working on this castle; for how long he had known that he would be putting ten thousand lives in danger of death.
The words 'certain death' came to her mind but she swatted them away.
"That extra piece you added to Combat Blade," she said, still walking, "where'd you get it? I don't think Unique Skill equipment is so easily found in shops-sa."
And if it was, I would've known, she added to herself.
"Uh, remember that Oxen horde we faced right after leaving the hut?"
"You mean the time when you owning that skill almost killed me?" Argo asked dryly.
"The time when I saved you twice," he replied in the same tone. As if she didn't know that. "I checked my inventory afterwards, and found it with the word NEW tagged beside it."
"Oh, good. Wouldn't want to have nearly died for nothing at all."
"Please stop bringing that up for no reason," Ise sighed. "And anyway, again, what were you doing out here?"
"I heard rumors that a new NPC had appeared in the Outer Area of this floor. Of course, as rumors go, they were way too damn imprecise, and I had to scour half this floor with no luck yet-ta."
"New NPC?"
"Yup. He only appeared just a while back, apparently, and I seriously doubt that there's no significance behind it."
"You'd go over an entire floor just to confirm a rumor?" Ise asked, amazed.
Argo turned back, smirking. "I take my job seriously, Pervert. I've also got a reputation to keep-na. 'If you want to know something, The Rat's who you go to.' It's my job to make sure any info going around is correct or not."
"Lot of effort to spend on one rumor," Ise wondered aloud.
"Misinformation kills, especially in this game," Argo said. "Enough about me, I wanna know how many times you ran for your life in the past two weeks."
"Zero," he stated simply. "Well, there was that one time with the Elves on the third floor…"
"…What did you do-nya?"
"Is it my fault that I mistook one of them for a player?"
Argo required all of her mental control to not burst out laughing at what she knew Ise had probably tried to do. "There's something called a cursor. Look up if you want to know what it is." Though what did he do to make an NPC angry enough to chase him? Elves don't attack unless attacked first.
"Ah, shut up," he retorted.
Argo let a single giggle escape. Noticing where they were, she stopped. "We're here," she said.
The two of them walked past the bushes – and almost lost their heads. Literally.
"Sorry!" a voice yelled. "I thought you were another monster!"
Argo and Ise stood in place, watching the black whip that lay innocently five feet away from them.
"Sorry!" the voice said again. They looked up to find a sandy-haired boy right in the middle of the clearing they had come upon.
"Hey, you wouldn't by any chance happen to be Genryuu, would you?" Ise asked.
"Uh, yeah, I am. Who're you?" the boy said, turning a questioning gaze on the two of them.
"I'm Ise and she's Argo. Your friend was crying her eyes out back in the Inner Area, you know."
Genryuu grimaced at that. "Damn. Just my luck that I can't get back from here."
"Hah? What's that mea – Argo? Oi, Argo?"
Argo wasn't paying attention to him. She was instead looking at the figure standing beyond Genryuu. "That's him, isn't it?" Argo asked Genryuu. "The NPC everyone's been talking about-ta."
An old man in a tribal get-up stood silently at the edge of the clearing. A wolf-skin was draped around his neck like a cape, and he held a misshapen wooden staff in one hand. Under his left hand, on the fur belt was a curved bone knife. And above his head was a single exclamation mark.
Unlike normal quest marks, this one was silver instead of gold.
"Yeah, that's the NPC – eh?" Genryuu said, suddenly confused.
"What?" Ise asked.
"That exclamation mark wasn't there before," he said.
This made Argo even more curious. A silver exclamation mark and it only appeared once we got here? Does it need a set number of players around to activate? She pondered.
Unbeknownst to her, Ise had reached his own conclusion as to why the NPC's quest mark had only just appeared.
"Hey," Ise asked, suddenly serious, his tone surprising Argo. "Why is it you can't leave again?"
"Every time I try to leave, a horde appears," Genryuu said. "Dammit, I need to get back soon. Can't have her crying any longer."
Ise looked deep in thought. "Argo?" he suddenly said.
"What is it-nya?"
"Get ready for another tough battle," he said, before moving towards Genryuu. "You too. One player might not have been enough but three should be."
"Ise, what's with the sudden seriousness?" Argo asked.
"I might have some idea about all this, but first we need to finish off our own little quest."
"Quest?" Genryuu echoed. "Oh, right, you probably wouldn't just walk in here to save someone without your own agenda."
Ise smiled slightly. "I meant the quest from your friend. Answer one question for me, would ya? What were the monsters that attacked?"
"I don't know. Whatever they were, they weren't in the guidebook – hey wait a minute, did you say her name was Argo?"
A suspicion finally rooted in Argo's mind. "Pervert, you don't think…"
He grimaced guiltily. "It's the best I can think of. Explains most things, doesn't it?" Ise opened his inventory, and equipped Combat Blade.
"Haven't seen a weapon like that yet," Genryuu commented.
"Argo, how high is your speed?" Ise asked.
Stupid Pervert is one thing, but Serious Pervert is starting to creep me out, Argo thought to herself as she answered, "Pretty high. Nowhere as high as Asu-chan's, but good enough."
"Step out of the safe area, and as soon as the monster spawns, step back inside. Genryuu, keep your whip at the ready, attack it as soon as it appears. We'll make a run for it then."
"Did you miss the part where he said 'horde of monsters,' Pervert?" Argo questioned. "If your plan is to run, why attract the monster in the first place?"
"To find out what it is before it's too late," Ise replied, catching Argo off-guard. Her impression of Ise was that he was an all-around idiotic pervert, nothing else.
"Hey, wait a minute," Argo said, a thought striking her, "What about the NPC?"
"We can come back for that later, but right now, I've got a job to do."
Yeah, Serious Mode is seriously creeping me out.
Argo didn't bother laughing at the stupid pun she had involuntarily made either. She looked at Ise, in position, and Genryuu, whip at the ready, before turning towards the bush and looking down.
Safe areas were always marked distinctively, and always by something that wouldn't seem too out of place.
Here, there was a line of soil with no grass growing on it like inside the clearing. Argo took a breath, steeled herself, and then put one foot out of the line.
She jumped back at immense speed as soon as a large jaw bit into where she had been just a moment before.
The black whip cracked and glowed deep purple as it made contact with the snout of whatever it was. The blow sent it howling back into the trees.
"Run!" Ise shouted, dashing forward.
Almost immediately, his plan went down in smoke.
Twenty-four monsters pounced towards him as he skidded to a halt and sprung back just in time to avoid having his leg become their lunch. The ones still in the air were whipped away as Genryuu swung it around once more, but this time they didn't retreat. This time they circled around the clearing, growling and snapping their jaws.
The most apt word to describe them would be 'Werewolf.' They were covered in dark grey fur, and wore forest-green trousers. Three inch claws extended from their fingers, and six-inch nails extended from their feet. The furry tail was tipped with a scorpion-like stinger. The head comprised of large jaws, menacingly big teeth and feral bloodshot eyes.
The name Copse Wolf appeared in Argo's vision. A faint headache began to throb at the back of her skull.
Jaws soft inside. Sensitive to loud noise. Weak point between the legs.
Argo choked down on her laughter. Seriously? Even if she didn't know how she knew, she trusted whatever her mind told her.
"Hit'em in the groin," she told Ise.
"What?" he said.
"Groin, jaws, make loud noises."
"You know, I never asked, but just how do you know–"
"Believe me, Pervert, I'd like to know how myself."
"Are you guys seriously considering taking all of them on?!" Genryuu cried.
"Yeah, I am-nya. Why?"
"There's over twenty of them!"
"So?" Argo asked.
That simple response seemed to stump Genryuu completely. "You guys are insane," he muttered, moving back a step. "I'll use my whip to hit them from above. In the jaws, right? Try not to jump too much, I don't wanna turn yellow."
Soon, the attack began.
*~B~*
Truth be told, Genryuu was downright terrified. They were outnumbered eight to one, and yet the two newcomers seemed completely calm.
And when the Wolves attacked from all sides, he was sure he was a goner.
Get a grip, already. Ruruko is waiting back in the Inner Area. Are you gonna make her cry any longer?
It was that thought that gave him the resolve to crack the whip in a full circle, swatting away most of the pouncing Wolves in one blow. One of them was right under the swing and jumped straight onto him. Using his left hand, he drew the small dagger at his waist and struck it right where it hurt.
"You two keep the ones in front busy!" he yelled over his shoulder. "I'll take the ones behind!"
"Got it! Don't die out on me!" the guy named Ise shouted back.
Genryuu grinned at that. He had the feeling he and Ise could be pretty good friends.
Genryuu may have been chased down to near death by the Wolves, but that didn't mean he was inexperienced. Two months in a death game had that kind of effect on you: you either learned how to survive, or you didn't survive.
Sheathing the dagger, he watched carefully as two of the Wolves – the ones with the gleaming red gashes on their snouts – snarled at him and bent their knees. Reaching his hand back, he grabbed four items from the back of his belt.
The two wolves leaped, and four throwing picks zoomed through the air, straight into their gaping mouths. They howled in pain and hastily retreated, the word CRITICAL floating above them.
From the very first day of the game, Genryuu had decided what method he was going to use to survive. From the very start he decided which skills he would spend all his points on, and worked hard to reach that level.
Most players decided on a set revolving around either power or speed. Either one could overpower the opponent, or outspeed it. It was only after tank players were necessary that players began converting, turning all their stat points towards what was needed to beat the game.
Genryuu did not think himself brave enough to face boss-level monsters. So he decided that while he wouldn't just sit around waiting for others to free him, he would also choose in what area he wanted to be strong in.
He decided to forego both power and speed, and focus instead on technique. Sneak attacks and strikes from long range. While keeping himself just out of harm's reach, he would simultaneously extend his range to be able to fight from a distance.
Deciding that his entire survival scheme depended upon his wit and skill, he chose to raise his ATT and END stats to only average levels. Instead, he focused on raising DEX and INT as far as possible, allowing his in-game avatar more freedom of movement. He chose the long whip as his weapon, a large set of varied throwing picks, and a short dagger for last resorts at close range.
With his high stats in those respective areas, and his skill tree trained in those respective areas, he was able to make accurate and deadly strikes from a distance.
Before Argo the Rat and Ise had arrived, he had not known the weaknesses of these monsters. Now that Argo had told him what they were, he focused everything he had on surviving the current battle.
The whip lashed past the other two, knocking back the monsters when they got too close. Throwing picks flew every other second and made the word CRITICAL light up every now and then – although that only accounted for a fraction of the times it appeared.
Genryuu knew Argo as a merchant of information, so he did not really think she would be a great fighter. He now remembered that she was also a supposed beta tester, and was seeing firsthand her skill at combat.
However, what he was seeing felt far too unreal. In fact, it was easier to count when Argo did not land a critical hit. The red words swarmed around the area, almost making it hard to see the monsters through them.
It couldn't only be Argo's high AGI that helped her zoom through the monsters, dodging and hitting as necessary. Genryuu realized that Argo had probably also invested quite a lot in her LUK stat.
Ise was another story altogether. Each and every one of his attacks was dealing significantly more damage than either Genryuu or Argo when not landing a critical. Of course, it was easy to see how he was dealing that much damage, but that raised another question altogether.
Two Wolves leapt at Ise from either side. He turned to face them, left arm raised, blade glowing yellow, and then slashed twice, forming an X-shape. While they were stunned, Genryuu took the chance to lash his whip at them, knocking them back just as Ise used yet another skill to blast away a third Wolf on his right.
It shouldn't have been possible, but here they were, two anomalous players fighting alongside him. One of them has extremely high attack, and seems to have almost negligible skill delays, while the other is finding it hard not to land a critical hit. Man, I feel out of place, Genryuu grumbled internally.
And even then, something was off.
"Geez, why aren't they dying already?" Argo complained.
After all the damage they had been dealt through two minutes of battling, the HP of the front Wolves were still above the yellow mark.
"High defenses?" Ise asked.
"Maybe, I really dunno," Argo replied, frowning. "But for something that's just a field spawn, why does it have this much HP remaining after all those attacks?"
"So do we just keep at it then, till either they run out or we do?" Genryuu said.
Both of them turned to him. "Way to make things depressing, Gen-kun," Argo commented.
"And you get his name right on the first go?" Ise asked.
"Shut it, Pervert."
An idea finally struck Genryuu. Extremes, he thought. What if Ise and Argo weren't the only extremes in the immediate area?
"Maybe it's not defense," he thought out loud. "If it was, they would've gotten at least–" he broke off, snapping the whip at a leaping wolf and immobilizing it.
"At least somewhat more damage," he continued, reading a couple of throwing picks. "What if they have ridiculously high HP instead?"
Ise frowned in thought. "That actually makes sense… Argo? The things on the second floor, didn't they have–"
"Ridiculously high attack? Yup," she answered. "Previously unknown monsters, which spawn under, um, certain requirements, and have extreme stats in one area. It does actually make sense-sa."
"Aw, man. Hey, Genryuu? Since this might be my fault, I'll say sorry now," the brown-haired powerhouse told Genryuu.
"What do you mean, you–"
"Incoming!" Argo shouted, jumping and kicking off Ise's shoulders and dug her claws into another leaping Wolf, slamming it into the ground. Without wasting time, she jumped up towards another one, ripping into its torso in a wild flurry of slashes.
"New plan-nya!" Argo yelled as she moved out of range of more approaching monsters. "Take 'em out one by one!"
"Are you insane?! We'll get destroyed before that happens!" Genryuu cried.
"Keep hitting them away! You don't need to do much damage, just repel or immobilize them! Pervert and I will take care of the damaging!"
*~B~*
Twenty minutes and around ten potions later all the monsters were finally gone, and Argo was nearly about to whack Ise again, before realizing that she couldn't afford to turn her cursor yellow. She settled for saying, "How is it possible for you alone to use up just about all the potions we had combined?"
"… Well, what do you want me to say?" Ise asked sheepishly.
"That you'll at least try and avoid some attacks-sa!"
"Hey, it's not like I didn't avoid anything! It's just that I have low defenses!"
"Then why the heck didntcha train your defense stat at all?!"
"I prefer attacking all-out!"
"Doesn't mean that you can just ignore training your defense!"
"Uh, guys?" Genryuu said, trying not to laugh, "Can you save the argument for after we get back?"
"…You know what? Yeah, I'll leave it till after we get back," Argo said.
She passed Genryuu and continued walking. Ise came up to him and whispered, "Remind me to make a run for it once we get back."
*~B~*
For me, just seeing that girl jump at Genryuu in joy was enough of a reward for the unofficial quest.
I mean, come on, who wouldn't be a bit glad after seeing something like that?
On a side note, Argo let me off with saying, "Get your defense stat up as soon as possible."
The four of us were currently in one of the restaurant shacks of Fallcopse. Rurin was reprimanding Genryuu for, as she put it, "running off with a dozen monsters on your trail with no idea if you'd survive or not." Argo looked bored, her eyes scanning over the other customers, while I tried to find some other cute girls. I think I'm sounding like a stalker of sorts.
"By the way," Argo spoke up, turning her head towards me, "since when did you have a creepily serious side?"
"Eh?" I said stupidly.
She sighed. "Never mind. You're the same as always.
"Well, I guess Sairaorg-san taught me to be alert when in situations like that."
"I'll tell you this: I still don't trust that guy-o."
This time it was my turn to sigh. "You know, he really does want out of here, just like the rest of us. And by the way, why do you look so downcast?"
"That's cause I didn't get to do what I came down here to do. We haven't found out why that NPC appears, other than the fact that for some reason, a safe area got attacked by monsters."
"Maybe that was because Combat Blade was there," I thought out aloud.
"For once, the idiot might be right."
"I'm still here you know, no need to insult me every other sentence."
"And? Did you get it?" she asked.
"Get what?"
"The item you'd get after beating them. Those damned Oxen on the second floor gave something, right?"
Now that she mentioned it, I didn't really check my inventory after beating all those monsters. Opening it, I found an item with the NEW tag on it, which I then equipped.
Combat Blade got covered in a grey coat of fur. Fur Coating, it was called. Wow, such a creative name.
I noticed some numbers change at the corner of my vision. My HP had gone up by a bit.
"Seven monster swarms," Argo said suddenly. "Seven monsters, seven extremes, seven upgrades. Sounds likely, doesn't it?"
There were seven stats that you could train in Sword Art Online: ATT, END, VIT, AGI, DEX, INT and LUK. The previous upgrade from the Rampage Oxen increased the weapon's Durability, along with giving my ATT stat a boost. The new one added a bit to my HP. Going by that logic, wouldn't it mean there'd be seven such stupidly extreme monster swarms altogether?
"Wait a minute," I said, a thought suddenly coming to me, "It's only been five floors, and I've already gotten two. Then there's that NPC we left behind, who's quest mark lit up after we got there… Looks like at this rate I might have all seven even before the twentieth floor."
"Do you really think that it'll end with just the first seven? This is a game, obviously there will be more afterwards of each type."
She had a point there, I guess. Around then, Rurin had finally finished laying down the law for Genryuu.
"So, do you understand?" Rurin demanded.
"Yeah, yeah, for the seventeenth time, yeah," Genryuu sighed.
"Good," she smiled, and then turned to us. "Ise-san, Argo-san, thank you so much for helping us out."
"Don't mention it," I said, grinning back, "just happy to help."
"Still, it's thanks to your strength that he came back in one piece."
Yeah, now I was getting a bit embarrassed. It wasn't really every day you were thanked this honestly for saving someone's life.
"By the way, you two," Genryuu asked us, "are you gonna go back to find out why that nuisance of an NPC appeared there?"
Argo answered before I could speak. "Of course. No way in hell am I leaving empty-handed after coming all the way here."
That was expected at least. "Guess you also want to go as soon as possible too, don't you?" I asked.
"Right now, unless you're not up for it."
"Hold on," Genryuu said. "Once you get back, I'm treating you guys."
Argo raised an eyebrow at that. "Least I can do, though it might not have that much value, being virtual and all," Genryuu continued.
For a second, Argo didn't say anything. Then she smiled and said, "Sure."
I got the feeling that it wasn't every day when she got an offer like that. Five minutes later we left to find out what other annoyances the game was going to cook up for my Combat Blade.
*~B~*
"… They're pretty strong, aren't they, Gen?"
"Yeah. That guy, Ise, almost made me doubt my choice as a long-range type player. Plus that Extra Skill of his… There's gotta be a reason why he told me to keep it a secret."
"If he wants it to stay a secret, then you should let it stay a secret, no matter how curious you are. If it's something unique, imagine what other people would do if they found out."
"You know, I've known you my entire life, and even now you manage to surprise me sometimes."
"Sometimes you do too with your knuckle-headedness."
"You're still mad about that?"
"If it wasn't for those two, you'd have never come back."
"Ah, come on, don't worry that much."
"Saji Genshirou, you are always going to make me worry."
*~B~*
Argo kept a straight face as she walked alongside Ise back towards the field, but inside she wasn't sure just how happy she was at the moment.
Just how many years has it been since somebody's invited me to eat with them? … This was the first time in my life, wasn't it?
She shook her head before her thoughts could go grim again, making Ise look at her curiously. Uttering a quick "Nothing," she sped up slightly.
Her real life situation did not matter. At least here in Aincrad, she had friends.
Kii-bou and Asu-chan, Gen-kun and Rurin … even Ise.
"Oi Argo, slow down!" Ise called from behind.
"Catch up if you can!" she replied cheerfully.
To her, Aincrad was a significantly better life than her reality.
As much as I want to go back, it's there I'm going back to … No. Once I get back, I'm gonna find them again, and finally leave my old life behind.
Smiling, Argo began to run, her resolve to help clear the game stronger than before.
*~B~*
Why is Ise's POV so damn hard to write believably? Is it because of the not-that-good translation of the novels?
Either way, due to that, I can't seem to get a good grasp of his character beyond his trademarks, which make it seem like I'm Flanderizing him. Gah.
What I can explain: Serious!SomewhatSmarter!Ise is the result of the time spent with Sairaorg on the second floor, and from the impression he has of Kirito. Ise, while remaining Ise, is looking to those two as role models, which leads to a decrease in his present perverseness.
I haven't yet gotten a chance to fully implement my version of Argo, but at least I managed to hint at it near the end. She too, seems OOC, but maybe that's because of the recent lack of her "That'll be _ Col" lines. Argo, while barely used in canon, is one of my favorite characters to write about because it's due to the fact that so little is given that so much more can be done with her. And as to whatever her backstory is … yeah, you'll find out soon.
And there appears Saji Genshirou and Nimura Ruruko! That seemed out of the blue, didn't it? Well, the main reason I added those two is to make Ise less OP, and to balance out the two groups. On one side we have Kirito, Asuna, Klein and Kiba: three SAO and one DxD. On the other side we have Ise, Argo, Saji (Genryuu) and Nimura (Rurin): one SAO, three DxD. While I'm still not sure how much I can do with Saji, I've got a whole chapter planned for Ruruko. Actually, it's a plan of a plan, really. And I also made them childhood friends, well, because. I like using side-characters as mains/semi-mains.
The battle scene that I skipped … yeah, I know, but I seemed to have been hit with a lack of inspiration over the last few days. This chapter was also one of those where you have a semi-important point you want to introduce, and you have tons of ideas on what to do next, but squat on how to fill that gap. As a result, something that I feel is a bit lackluster came out.
This ends this chapter, which had an overall optimistic tone. The next chapter will be similar, but if you know how I work, then you know that the chapter after that is not gonna be a bright one.
And I think I should probably start using actual timestamps rather than [Aincrad Floor such-and-such. Floors cleared: x]
That's that, and now this chapter ends. Punitor567 out. El Psy Congroo.