July 16th, 2030
"Sammy, my boy!" The tank in the other player party walked towards Eulsam, and wrapped a single arm around his shoulder. "How the hell are ya?" By now, the glow that surrounded the man had vanished.
Eulsam sighed. "Michiko, Kirito, Asuna… everyone. This is my dad."
The man took his arm back away. "Oh, I can feel the love," he said. "Well, since my son is being rude, I'll have to introduce myself. In the game world, I go by Rexem." He called over the rest of his party and started calling them out by name. He started with the woman with the claymore. "This is Azrealda," he said.
Then he pointed out everyone in order, starting with the four spell casters. "These two." He pointed to the ones in the white robes. "Are Sarah and Matt. They're recently married, isn't that sweet?" Their in-game names read as WiseTom and Dramagirl. "This one right here is Stevie, but he goes by Blue." The water sorcerer's in-game name was Frosty. "And this guy doesn't like using his real name, so he goes by his in-game name, Hael." Finally, he pointed to the last two, the scythe and hammer toting players. "The older one we call Papa Bear, and the younger we call Little Bear. Father and son…" Then he stood up and crossed his arms, giving a proud introduction of his group. "We are the Raiders of Argus."
Kirito's group waved, and nodded along for the most part. It was Asuna who broke the silence to introduce their own group. "Asuna," she said, politely. Then she pointed to each member of their party. "Klein, Leafa, Sinon, Michiko, Xaela, Kirito and Eulsam… well I guess you actually already know him."
"Eulsam," Michiko said. "Your father is a badass!"
Rexem smirked and had a good laugh at that. "Why, thank you my dear. Looks like my boy has found a nice group of friends in this world. That's good to know. What do you call your guild?"
"We're not all in the same guild," Kirito said. "Actually, only three of us are in a guild."
"Xaela and I are in the Veteran Protectors Guild," Eulsam said. "Michiko leads the Black Wardens. We hunt player killers."
"Yet here you are, adventuring into a new zone where there aren't any," Rexem said. "Don't you think you're a little under-leveled for this zone?"
Asuna looked at this new party's levels. She blinked as she realized that this group before her only had one player with a level lower than her own. "How did you guys level so fast?" she asked.
"We cleared an epic dunegon in the south," Azrealda said. "It took three of our members, but it gave us a huge boost. After that we went on and never stopped. The south was pretty much clear, but an NPC sent us out here to find a quest item."
"Oh, us too!" Asuna said. "Except we kind of all took a break after our raid."
"We're here to find the Book of Kings Past," Kirito said. "Supposedly there's a big apocalypse event headed our way, and the book is going to give us the secrets we need to stop it."
"Then I'm sorry to say that we'll be taking that book ourselves," Azrealda said. "We too need its secrets. And you do not have the power to stop us from taking it instead." With that, Azrealda turned and started to move toward the pyramid structure at the zone's center.
"Wait a minute!" Eulsam said. "What gives you the right to lay claim on a quest item like that?"
"I have a huge sword," Azrealda said. "And if you try to stop me, I'll use it to take off your head."
Rexem moved over to Azrealda and put a hand on her shoulder. "Easy now, Vice Commander. That's my son you're talking to."
"Okay, so we both want the book—" Kirito started to speak, but was interrupted by another member of Rexem's group.
"Perhaps we could work out an arrangement," the sorcerer called Blue said. "We will need more players to clear the dungeon anyways, and there's nothing in the rules that says we can't share the quest rewards when they come. After all—"
"Like I was about to say," Kirito said. "We both want to read the book's contents, not to take it and turn it in. We can both win, here."
"The shrimp is right," Azrealda said. "I apologize for my aggressive behavior. It's simply my nature…"
"You are forgiven, Vice Commander," Rexem said.
"Wait, we're teaming up?" Eulsam asked.
"Yeah, we're teaming up… Sammy." Michiko snickered at him as she walked past. Eulsam didn't seem comfortable with this idea at all, but having nowhere else to turn, he kept on moving along with the group.
Rexem opened his player window, and sent a party merge invitation to Kirito. Kirito accepted it, and suddenly their groups were combined.
After about an hour of walking, the group arrived at the doors of the large pyramid. "Here it is," Rexem said. "The Ruins of Al'Kuraz. Let's go!" He charged forward, and the seven other players in his guild followed him in. Kirito and the others looked at each other, and shrugged before following.
Inside of the structure, it was dark, and before long, too dark to see. Sarah, one of the mages in white, tapped her staff to the ground, and the end of it lit up brightly, and she lit the way. There were bones on the floor—fallen warriors that still gripped their weapons tightly.
"I wonder what happened here," Rexem asked.
"Nothing happened here," Eulsam said. "It is a game. The events that are described in the game's history never occurred. It started this way."
Rexem looked back at him and rolled his eyes. "Something happened here. Whether or not it was real doesn't matter, because it affects us now." As they kept walking, they started to ignore the bones. But the bones didn't ignore them.
The skulls of the fallen turned towards the players, watching them. They were quiet, and started to get up. Sinon heard this, and stopped. "Wait," she said. She drew and arrow and readied it on her bow. The other players also readied their weapons.
"Sarah was it?" Sinon asked.
Sarah nodded.
"Can you put that light on my arrow?"
Sarah casted her spell, no words to be said, and Sinon's arrow lit up like a torch. She fired off back the way they came. As it shot through the halls, the light reflected on hordes of skeletons, all with canine shaped skulls, and eventually it hit one of them in the head, dealing minimal damage.
There was a moment's pause by all the players, and then the mob attacked with a loud, terrifying scream. Rexem was the first ready. He put his shield away as before, and glowed with bright light before charged to the back of the group and attacking the oncoming horde. He bashed the skeletons with his hammer, one by one, and each hit dealt nearly forty percent of a target's health in damage. As he furiously assaulted the mob, they struck him, their swords hitting and dealing no damage as if they were attacking a mountain.
While Rexem attacked, more of the skeletons came from the front, and they were heard pouring from every corridor. The rest of the group fought hard. Asuna assumed her Valkyrie State, and took the front while Rexem held the rear. She slammed charging enemies with her shield and switched to her sword for greater attack speed. She dealt almost as much damage as Rexem, but she was backed up by Kirito and Eulsam, whose dual swords helped bring down the ones she started with.
Sinon held onto her arrows, aiming and waiting in case any of the enemies broke the line. There were far too many to waste arrows on. The group took hits, and Leafa started healing with her arcane magic. As she was casting, she noticed Hael also casting. He was a healer, like her, but his spells were much faster to cast. With both of them casting at the same time, they wasted mana through lack of coordination.
Klein joined the rear, finishing off the weak enemies Rexem left with his lightning swift strikes. Xaela joined the front, earning killing blows to build up her Blood Bath. Azrealda stayed near Rexem, and used her massive sword like a shield, blocking and then countering attacks. Michiko joined her there, and with her weapon, did much the same, though her style was more defensive.
"There's too many of them!" Blue said. The two white magi were in the process of casting a lengthy spell. "Hurry up!"
The father and son pair waited, with weapons ready. They were back up, because the corridors barely had enough room for more of them to fit through and fight. At last, the long spell was finished. Sarah launched a huge blast of light to the rear, which knocked back the horde and dealt some damage. Some of the skeletons were killed. An identical blast went ahead of Asuna and the others.
"Move!" Rexem said. "We can't stop here!"
Azrealda turned and jumped past Asuna. With her weapon she starting swinging wildly, performing whirlwind attacks like Kirito's special ability and finishing off damaged skeletons. Rexem was back to his normal self, and re-equipped his shield. He and Asuna both led the charge, but Rexem was far more reckless.
The rest of the group followed them. Eulsam and Kirito switched to the rear, and took out monsters that had gotten up and charged from behind. The skeletons were much faster than the players, and caught up easily. Soon Michiko and Klein moved to the rear guard.
"Stand back!" Blue shouted. His hands appeared as blue, and surrounded by water. The four defenders rushed ahead, and Blue thrust his hands forward. He conjured a wave of crushing water on the enemies, and forced them back a great deal.
As the group kept up their forward charge, they ran to the end of the passageway, and found themselves at a cliff's edge. "Shit!" Asuna said as she turned to face the halls. Her Valkyrie had already ended. Xaela couldn't keep up killing blows and so lost her Blood Bath.
Rexem took his hammer, and slammed it into the ground. Lightning shot out from the ground and traveled down the hall, severely wounding many of the skeletons. They kept up the charge, and the group together slayed them as they emerged from the hall.
"We're going to have to jump!" Hael said. "Sarah, Matt!"
The two nodded, and started casting their spells, on their own group first. As each of them got the spell on them, they leapt from the cliff, and floated down gracefully. Kirito's group saw this, and got the idea. When the spell started to be cast on them, they followed suit, and Rexem and Asuna, the two tanks, were the last to go down.
When they landed, they found themselves in a large, open space. It was dark like the rest of the dungeon. "Mana… health," Rexem said. "Do it quickly. There are likely many more down here waiting for us."
The casters all drank mana potions, and then healed the party. "You're a little reckless, you know,' Asuna said. "This isn't just a game. Our lives are on the line."
"Yeah," Eulsam said. "That's why I didn't want to party up with you. I knew you'd do it this way, like you always do in RPG's. It's different here!"
"Don't raise your voice at me, boy," Rexem said.
"Sorry, sir," Eulsam said, bowing his head and shutting up.
"So you're a bunch of cowards?" Azrealda said. "You shouldn't have come here. This is no place for spirits to falter."
"Guys," Kirito said. "We don't need to argue. Let's just work together on this. Leafa and Hael. You need to coordinate your healing better so you can conserve mana. Eulsam and I need to focus on different fronts with our abilities. Michiko and Azre…" he had to read her name again. "Michiko and Azrealda both have good defensive capabilities, so you should take different fronts too."
"Don't tell me what to do, shrimp."
"Azrealda," Rexem said. "Stay on me, but Michiko should stay with Asuna. Our groups already work well on our own, and we know how our party members fight. Eulsam will be on my side. He's been in enough groups with us."
"I will focus on Asuna and her group," Hael said. "I am a higher level, and they are lower so they will take more damage. It will balance out our healing."
Leafa frowned at him. "You may be a higher level, but the way you heal when your party is already at full health is going to put my friends' lives in danger. It's no surprise that you lost three of your own in your raid."
Hael was insulted, and shoved Leafa away. "You think you're better than me because of that? If you've really been in a raid, then you know what it's like. It's not easy!" Leafa tackled him, and Kirito and Rexem had to pull the two apart.
"Guys, guys!" Michiko shouted. "This is no time for fighting! We're in the middle of a dungeon, and we don't even know our way out now. I get that a lot of you can't get along, but we have to work together now."
"My team could use some better strategy," Rexem said. "And the little girl is right. I am indeed reckless. And Hael, don't kid yourself. You're as reckless with your healing as I am with my attacks. But they work well together that way. You know my playing style… that I'm always going to be rushing into combat. So you're casting healing spells pre-emptively."
Hael nodded to him. "So what should we do?"
"Hael," Kirito said. "You are right about being a higher level. You should be healing us. But now that we know what you heal like, we know what to expect from you. We can rush into combat like Rexem does, and that will allow you to work at your best. Leafa," Kirito turned to her. "Don't worry about us. Heal Rexem's group for now. They are stronger and more capable of handling the dangers they face, so you'll be able to keep healing like you normally do."
"And I will use this as a chance to practice some restraint," Rexem said. "I think though that Klein and Xaela should split up. Since Xaela and Eulsam are in the same guild, I will take her. Both of their abilities work best when they achieve killing blows. So everyone else will deal the heavy hits, but leave enemies near death for those two to finish."
"We'll need another melee," Kirito said.
"I trust Rexem with my son more than a stranger," Papa Bear said. "So I will join your front, Asuna." Papa Bear wielded the hammer, and moved over to her. "Plus, my weapon will match Azrealda's in reach, and I will be able to cleave with it."
"The mages of course can all handle themselves," Blue said. "Sinon will stay in the middle with us. Plus, with her perception skills, she will help us to direct our biggest attacks at the most threatening enemies." Sinon smiled at the compliment.
"We're ready, then," Klein said. "Let's do this!"
"Where are we?" Sinon asked, looking around. "I don't hear any monsters."
Sarah activated another light spell on the tip of one of Sinon's arrows. The light caught her attention, and she nodded, taking the arrow and firing it off into the distance. As the light went off, it gave players a glimpse of the path ahead. "There's nothing here," Sinon said.
Just then, the crackling of flames sounded off. Purple fire as on the demon from earlier lit up the area. Two more demons, large ones like they encountered in the forest. "Asuna, you take the one on the left…" Rexem said as he marched towards the one on the group's right.
Then came the howling and clattering of bones. More skeletons were now jumping down on the group. They couldn't see them until they reached the lighted area around Matt's staff. When they came up on the group, the melee classes all got to work, attacking them.
It was slightly more organized than before, only this time, the two tanks were going to be busy with the larger monsters. Michiko and Azrealda made good secondary tanks for the battle, playing more defensive with their styles and pulling as much of skeletons as they could manage to them.
Eulsam, Xaela and Little Bear backed up Azrealda. Kirito, Klein and Papa Bear stood near Michiko. Eulsam and Kirito stood to the far outside, and used their dual wielding styles to manage multiple enemies at once. The father and son team stayed closer to center. Papa was more to the front, and used his cleaving strikes with the massive hammer to keep the mob from pouring through to the spell casters, who stood center. Little caught the few that managed to get through, along with Sinon and her arrows.
Asuna engaged her demon, and held her shield strong to her opponent. When the first strike came down, it hit hard, and had she not been wielding a legendary shield, it may have broken from the impact. Kirito and her both lost eight percent of their health. Hael was on point though, and the second the health dropped, they were both back up to ninety-eight percent.
"What?" he asked though. "My heal should have been stronger!"
"Oh, forgot to mention that!" Asuna said. "Half of my damage and healing is split with Kirito!"
He nodded. "Would have been useful to know sooner, but no matter…" He turned to Kirito, and shot him with a heal, and then Michiko, just as they were hit.
When the demon attacked Rexem, he blinked in surprise at how hard the axe came down. Previously, his special ability kept him from taking damage or even feeling the impact. "They're strong." He was knocked down by five percent of his health.
After getting knocked, Leafa started healing. The two white mages prepared powerful spells to strike at the demon Rexem fought. The sorcerer was already ready to go. He blasted a stream of water at the same demon, and as he did, Hael cast a spell to bless the water as before.
The first demon was down to seventy percent health. After Asuna was hit, she charged into the beast, as she promised she would. She attacked with her spear, but had to jump to land a hit on the hovering demon. It left her in an indefensible position when she landed, and the demon swiped sideways with its axe. She was knocked off to the side, and let out a grunt. Both Kirito and her now sat at eighty percent health.
"Seriously?" Hael said, losing sight of Asuna as she tumbled into the darkness. He thought quickly, and turned to blast Kirito with the heal he had prepared. They were restored by ten percent each.
As Xaela's Blood Bath stacked up, and become more effective, she dealt more and more damage to the skeletons. Before long, she was able to cover for Eulsam, and Eulsam doubled back to join the fight alongside his father, slashing away at the demon just as more bolts of light hit it.
Klein made Kirito's job easier as well, but his skill didn't stack like Xaela's. As the battle went on, Xaela managed to cover more and more for the melee fighters. Each passing moment, another was able to go back to the front to take on the demons.
Asuna was in the dark, and couldn't even see the incoming attacks save for the sound of the axe ripping through the air. She caught one just in time, and dropped onto her back to dodge the swing. Soon though, Klein and Kirito were able to join her.
Before long, the first demon was down, and Rexem's group was able to move over to Asuna's, and help with her demon. Together, with all of their attacks, they brought the giant down. But the skeletons were still coming. Another loud cry came from a distance, and more of the monsters began to charge from the other direction.
Xaela was now killing them in just two or three hits, but she noticed something. Her Blood Bath was capped, at fifty stacks. "I'm not going to be able to fight them all!" she shouted.
"Don't worry," Matt said, and pointed to Sarah, who was preparing a huge spell by the looks of it. It was finished, and she held her staff up into the air. All around them, the skeletons started to float, and be struck by streams of light. Everything spun around her, and the whole room lit up. The group could see clearly now where they needed to go.
"That way!" Rexem said, pointing towards an opening across the room. Sarah slammed her staff into the ground, and let out a loud shout. A wave of light blasted out, and every enemy in the room was blown back to the walls, many were killed.
After the attack, Sarah was drained completely of mana. "No time to wait," Kirito said. "They'll come back!" He led the charge this time to the opening, and as predicted, by the time they got there, they were again under attack, fending off from the skeletons.
"Paladin mode recharged!" Rexem said.
"Valkyrie ready!"
"Look! Ahead!" Sinon pointed out. "Light me!" Matt cast a light spell on her arrow once more. She fired it down the hall. More of the skeletons were pouring from chambers to the side, but at the end, players could see a large door.
"The boss…" Asuna said. "We'll have a better chance if we rush through these mobs and close the door behind us!"
"I agree," Blue said as he used summoned a stream of water ahead of them, forcing the skeletons back into their rooms. "These skeletons don't look like they're stopping!"
As they approached, the hall opened into a huge room. There were destroyed bookshelves, and scraps of leather and paper all around. "The destroyed library," Kirito said. "This has to be it."
They barely made it into the door, and closed it behind them. The group had a moment of rest, but only a short moment before the dungeon's boss reared its rather ugly head.
Its eyes lit up in flames, bright red and orange. It looked to be the size of a small house, and floated in the air. At that moment the walls around the room caught fire as well, and the players were forced inward. Above the bosses head, an information tag appeared. It was called The Burning Skull.
"With our special abilities ready," Rexem said. "This should be quick… after you, Asuna."
Asuna nodded. She activated Valkyrie and charged at the enemy. As she ran, her spear crackled with lightning. The electricity danced across the ground, and struck parts of the room before she threw the spear at the skull. It landed right at the center of its head, and dealt nearly twenty percent of its health in damage.
Rexem was next. He activated his Paladin ability, and put his shield away as he glowed. He swung his hammer around and hurled it at the skull, dealing a little more than twenty percent of its health in damage.
Asuna stood back, and waited for Rexem to retrieve his weapon, and to hold the boss's attention while he was still invulnerable. She attacked with her sword, and all of the rest of the players attacked with her.
It was easy, as predicted. With Rexem's ability, he didn't even take damage before the rest of the group had the skull destroyed. And just like that, the dungeon was cleared. A light began to settle around them, and they could see a book had dropped from where the boss was.
Asuna picked it up, and smiled as she read the book's name through her inventory. "We got it!"
July 21st, 2030
The group of players decided to go to the Temple of Gaea for the next part of their quest. Since Rexem merely needed the text translated, and Gaea was closer, his group decided that going there would suffice, instead of traveling all the way back to the south.
Gaea used magic to levitate the book in front of her, and once she saw it, she cast a spell on the party. "Now you should be able to read," she said. The book went back into Asuna's hands, and everyone gathered around to see what it might have to say. Gaea had it turned to a page for them. "This is what we need to fight against the oncoming storm."
"The Fountain of Silver Light," Asuna read. "A mystical place to the far west, high up in the mountains where no one can climb. Here, the holy waters wash over the iron, blessing it with incredible potency. The Silver Steel forged from this ore is said to be able to pierce a dragon's scales." Asuna recalled Tartarus, and their fight against Hydra. She remembered how when she charged, even with her greatest attacks, they could not hurt it.
"A dragon?" Rexem said, standing back and thinking about this for a moment. "We are to slay a dragon… Kirito."
Kirito looked back at Rexem. "Yes?"
"If you will have us," Rexem said. "I am sure my group would very much enjoy the quests to come. We have never been west before, either. It would make for a good adventure."
Kirito nodded, and smiled. "Well we couldn't possibly fight a dragon alone now, could we?" After he said that, he got a message, and read it while the rest of them talked.
"Oh come on," Eulsam said. "We can take it!"
"Trying to get rid of me, already, Samuel?" Rexem asked. "That's pretty rude…"
Eulsam rolled his eyes and started walking away. "I suppose it's not terrible that we'll be fighting together. But if we're going west, we'll be traveling through Newberg. That's Veteran territory. Don't undermine my authority when we get there."
"Your authority?" Rexem asked. "Right… you're the leader of a great justice guild, and having a father who's out-leveled you would be so embarrassing."
"Last time you were there, you tried to take over… remember?"
Rexem laughed. "It's not my fault the players preferred rallying around an experienced MMO champion."
"World of Warcraft is nothing like this, dad. The days of button mashing and repetitive cycling of skills are over. Games involve real skill now that virtual reality has gotten so far."
"Yet here I am, at level ninety-eight, and there you are, at level ninety-one."
"Good news!" Kirito shouted, interrupting the drama. He closed the message before continuing. "We just got another reason to go back to Newberg. Lisbeth and Sampson are getting married."
"What?" Asuna asked. "They started dating like… yesterday." She laughed at that.
"And how long have you and Kirito been together and haven't gotten engaged?" Leafa asked.
"Why do you always have to bring that up?" Kirito asked. He was starting to feel embarrassed by his lack of action in terms of romance.
"I'm just saying… to each their own, you know? You don't want to be rushed, and they wanted to rush. If that's right for them, then we can't judge."
"Don't you even have a kid now, guys?" Klein asked, pointing at Kirito. "Not to be judgmental, but that usually ends up tying knots."
Asuna glanced over at Kirito. She was just waiting on him. But in truth, Kirito had already planned to propose. In the real world, he had purchased a diamond ring. He was literally about to propose when the death game began. The plan was to finish a dungeon with Asuna and his friends, and then propose in-game. When Asuna would wake up, an identical ring in the real world had already been place in her pants pocket after she linked into the game.
"I'm just waiting for the right moment," Kirito said. "And the right moment won't come until we can get out of here!"
"So you do plan to marry me eventually?" Asuna asked. "Oh, good, I was starting to wonder." The rest of Asuna's group laughed. Rexem and his followers were lost on the whole situation, and stayed out of it. It wasn't their business. Even Michiko, Eulsam and Xaela didn't know this group that well.
"Yes," Kirito said after rolling his eyes. He took Asuna's hands and looked into her eyes. "But only when we get out of here… only when we can be sure that the both of us will live through this."
"Don't talk like that," Asuna said, glancing away. "I don't want to think that we won't."
"Okay," Rexem said, interrupting the romance. "So we're heading to Newberg, and… we'll meet you guys there! Have fun!" At that, Rexem and his group left the temple, and started heading out.
"One more vacation night?" Asuna asked Kirito as the rest of their group started parting ways for the day. Kirito nodded to her, and they two left the courtyard to head back to their suite.