Chapter 24- The World Tree
January 22, 2025
After spending five minutes climbing up a nearly endless staircase, the fairies finally reached the end and entered the city of Arun. The city was huge and was right next to the World Tree.
"It's about time we got here," Marth said slightly relieved.
Kirito nodded. "Yeah," the Spriggan agreed. "I thought it would take us forever to get here."
The group then heard the system announcing that the servers will be down for maintenance and that all players must log out.
"We better find an inn to stay in," Thorrnn suggested after the system's announcement. "Besides it's really late."
"Alright," Kirito said. "Yui, can you find us an inn?"
"Leave it to me, Daddy." Yui paused before leading the fairies to an inn.
The fairies got two rooms, one for the boys and one for the girls.
"I can't believe how close we are to rescuing Yuuki and Asuna," Marth said.
Kirito nodded in agreement. "I know. This'll be our hardest fight yet. We're gonna have to beat a raid that not even the biggest raid group could clear."
"We've got our work cut out for us, haven't we? See you tomorrow, Kirito?"
"Okay. Good night, Marth."
The Spriggans then logged off.
The Next Day
Frank and Meg were in the kitchen having breakfast. Frank noticed his sister yawning in exhaustion.
"Someone's tired," Frank said. "What time did you go to bed?"
"I don't know. Around 2 or something."
"Wow, that's a new record for you. What were you doing?"
"Uh, nothing. Just messing around online," Meg said.
"Just don't go overboard, okay?" Frank said. "Yeah, right. Like I'm one to talk."
"So what's on the agenda for you today?" Meg asked.
Frank was silent for a moment. "I'll probably go visit Yuuki in the hospital, then I've got plans with Kazuto in the afternoon."
"Can I come with you?" Meg asked. "I want to meet the girl my brother is so smitten with."
Frank cracked a light smile. "Sure."
Later
Frank and Meg went to the bus stop, where they ran into Kazuto and Suguha.
"Hey!" Kazuto said. "You guys going to the hospital too?"
Meg nodded. "Yep. Frank's gonna introduce me to Yuuki."
"Talk about a coincidence," Sugu said. "Kazuto is taking me to see Asuna."
When the bus came, the teens boarded it and took seats right in the back.
"I just realized," Meg said. "What's going on with school for you two? You and Kazuto were supposed to start high school last year and it would suck if you two got too behind."
"Yeah, well the government said something about us attending school in the city," Frank said. "Apparently they're forming a school for all the SAO Survivors who were in school to help them catch up. You don't even need to take a test to enter and when you graduate, you can take the college entrance exams."
"That's a pretty good deal," Sugu said. "But why are they cramming you all together like that?"
"To keep an eye on us, no doubt," Kazuto said. "We spent two years trapped inside a death game, so they don't know what effect it had on our brains. This way they can watch us all at once."
"Seriously?" Suguha asked.
"Frank and I could try to get into a normal high school, but it would be way too hard," Kazuto continued. "We'd have to spend a year at cram school, but then we'd be starting from scratch. Although, we could take the exams now and see what happens, but I doubt we'd pass."
"But you're both really smart and make good grades," Meg stated.
"We used to make good grades," Frank corrected. "Neither of us have studied for two years, remember?"
"I know. Meg and I could tutor you," Sugu offered.
Kazuto smiled smugly. "Really? Then maybe you can help us with math and information technology."
Sugu cringed as she remembered that she wasn't as knowledgeable with technology as her brother. Soon the bus arrived at the hospital. The teens went to the floor Asuna and Yuuki were on before splitting into two groups.
" 'Asuna Yuuki'," Sugu read. "So she used her real name? Not many players do that."
"I'm surprised you know that," Kazuto said as the siblings entered the room. "Asuna and Yuuki are the only players I met that used their own names for their handles. Kind of funny that Asuna's last name is the same as Yuuki's first name. Asuna was the vice-commander of the Knights of the Blood Oath. People called her the Lightning Flash because of how fast she was with her rapier. I could never match her speed in battle."
"Wow," Suguha replied. "She sounds amazing."
"She is," Kazuto said slowly.
Later
Marth found himself back at the inn, where the rest of his party members spawned in. After a couple minutes, the group exited the inn.
"There's tons of people here," Leafa commented as they wandered around the city.
"I guess Arun really is the center of Alfheim," Kirito said.
"Arun is the biggest city in Alfheim," Thorrnn explained. "Here, all the different races live together and don't fight each other."
The group reached an arch and looked up at the World Tree.
"Wow," Leafa said. "The World Tree looks even more amazing from up close."
"Didn't you say there's supposed to be a city on top of it?" Marth asked.
"Yep. That's where Oberon the Fairy King lives alongside the Alfs, the Fairies of Light. The first race to meet the king become Alfs."
"Can you climb the tree?" Kirito asked.
"Nope," Thorrnn said. "They made the whole perimeter of the trunk off-limits, so you can't get close enough to climb it. You can't fly to the top either since your wings would expire before you could get even halfway up."
"Marth and I heard about a group of players that got more than halfway up by piggybacking each other."
"Yeah, we heard about them," Leafa said, "but they could only reach the lowest branches. The GMs freaked out when they found out. They put a barrier right above the clouds, so no one could try it again."
"Well that's a bummer," Marth said. "I guess we'll just have to get there the hard way."
The group went past the arch, when suddenly Yui popped out of Kirito's pocket.
"What's wrong, Yui?" Kirito asked in a concerned voice.
"Mommy," Yui said, shocking the boys. "She's here."
"Are you sure?" Kirito asked.
Yui nodded. "I scanned the map two times and it's Mommy's player ID," she explained. "And it's not just her. I'm also detecting Auntie as well."
"What?!" Marth exclaimed in disbelief.
"Their coordinates are above us in the tree," Yui continued before pointing up.
Kirito gritted his teeth and materialized his wings and skyrocketed upward.
"Kirito, wait!" Marth exclaimed before going after the Spriggan.
"Kirito! Marth!" Leafa shouted.
"Damn," Thorrnn said before she and Leafa flew after the boys.
Marth tried to catch up to Kirito as they flew for the top of the World Tree, but the Spriggan was going too fast. Once they passed through a cloud Leafa shouted, "Wait you two! You're going to hit the barrier!?"
True to the Sylph's word, Marth and Kirito flew into an invisible ceiling headfirst. The impact created a couple ripples in the barrier and the male fairies started to fall down.
"Marth! Kirito!" Thorrnn exclaimed in worry.
The boys quickly recovered, prompting Kirito to fly straight at the barrier at high speed again, despite the girls' protests, but things ended up repeating. Before he could try again, Marth grabbed the Spriggan's arm.
"Stop it, Kirito! It's impossible to get any higher from here," Marth pleaded.
"But I have to try," Kirito said stubbornly. "Asuna's close. I have to reach her."
Yui flew over to the barrier. "Mommy! Auntie! I'm here!" she yelled as loud as she could. "I'm with Daddy and Uncle Marth! Mommy! Auntie!"
No one answered back. Yui then flew over and sat on Leafa's hands while her father kept trying to get through the barrier. Instead of ramming himself into it at full force, Kirito resorted to punching it instead. After a few attempts, He were unsuccessful at breaking the barrier.
"Why can't I bust through?" Kirito demanded.
"It's clear that the barrier isn't meant to be broken," Marth theorized. "My guess is that it's an immortal object. That means no matter what we do, it won't break."
"Then we'll have to go through the dungeon to reach the top," Kirito said. "Leafa, Thorrnn, do you know where the entrance is?"
The blonde Sylph nodded. "It's at the base of the World Tree. Wait, you're not thinking of trying to clear it, are you? The biggest raid group in ALO couldn't clear it."
"It doesn't matter. I have to try. You with me, Marth?"
Marth gritted his teeth, not looking too pleased with the idea, but nodded. "I'm with you. Someone's gotta make sure you don't kill yourself."
Kirito smiled gratefully. "Thanks. And thank you Leafa, Thorrnn. We wouldn't have gotten here without you two, but now Marth and I will go on alone."
Yui went into her father's coat pocket. Both Sylphs were stunned and couldn't form a reply. Kirito and Marth then rapidly descended towards the ground. The fairies landed very loudly, attracting a lot of attention from the other players nearby.
"Yui. Can you locate the dome?" Kirito asked his daughter.
"Yes. Just go up those stairs and…" She started to say before her family flew up the stairs. "Daddy. Are you sure that you and Uncle Marth want to do this alone? I'm only asking because based on what we heard, beating this quest is very hard."
"We don't a have a choice, Yui," Kirito said. "Besides, it's not we'll die if we fail."
"That's true but…" Yui said before Marth and Kirito landed at the bottom of the stairs just outside the dome.
"If I have to wait one more second not doing anything, I'm gonna lose my mind," Kirito said before petting Yui's head with one finger. "And I know that you want to see Mommy just as badly as I do."
"And I want to see Yuuki too," Marth said as they went up the stairs. "But I'm not sure if the two of us can accomplish what a dungeon raid couldn't do."
"We'll be fine," Kirito assured. "We've been through worse."
"That's true but…" The fairies had reached the top of the stairs. There, they saw a giant stone double-door with two large stone knight statues. The fairies walked over to the door, but before they could go in, the knights blocked the way with their swords.
"Thou knows not the heights of heaven above," one of the statues said. "Does thou seek entry into the castle of the king?"
A notice appeared in front of the duo asking if they want to do the Grand Quest of Alfheim, which they quickly accepted. As soon as they did, the knights pulled back their swords.
"Go then," the other statue said. "Prove thou are worthy of wings. Prove thou are worthy of flight."
As the doors opened up, Marth and Kirito drew their swords.
"Here we go," Kirito said. "Yui. Keep your head down and don't come out until I say so."
"Okay. Be careful, Daddy," the pixie replied. "You too, Uncle Marth."
The group then entered the dome and got in the center of it. The room was a lot bigger than it appeared on the outside. There were tons of spawn points on the walls. At the top of the room was the pathway door leading to the World Tree.
"You ready, Marth?" Kirito asked his best friend.
"Ready as I'll ever be," the Spriggan said.
The duo summoned their wings and flew up towards pathway door. Suddenly, three of the spawn points started to glow and three guardians appeared. They resembled fairies, except they were robotic. The guardians then charged at the raid group.
"Out of the way!" Kirito exclaimed as he stabbed one of the guardians in the neck. He then beheaded it, prompting it to disappear as a cloud of smoke.
Marth cleaved another in two before he and Kirito pressed on.
"It can't be this easy," Marth thought.
Suddenly more spawn points started to glow, a lot more. The group stopped advancing and saw more guardians than they could count.
"That's just great," Kirito said bitterly.
The fairies split up to take on the guardians separately. Marth cut through two of the NPCs but turned too late to see another one hit him from behind, reducing his HP a little. The Spriggan quickly recovered and swung his sword across its chest, killing it. Marth turned and saw that Kirito was also having trouble against the NPCs. It didn't help that every time they killed three, fifteen more replaced them.
"There's way too many of them. At this rate we'll be overwhelmed before we can even reach the top," Marth thought to himself as he struggled against the impossible odds.
Kirito had decided to ignore the guardians and flew higher up, prompting Marth to follow after him. Along the way, Marth hacked his way through several guardians, but his HP was in the yellow zone due to the enemies' attacks.
"We're almost there," Kirito said as they were getting close to the pathway.
Suddenly an arrow pierced through Kirito's hand, prompting the Spriggans to look down to see dozens of guardian archers aiming at them. The guardians fired their arrows, creating a rain shower of them.
"There's too many of them!" Marth exclaimed as they were pelted by arrows. "We have to pull back!"
"No way. We're so close," Kirito said stubbornly. "We have to keep going." The Spriggan continued to ascend, completely ignoring the arrows.
"He's gonna get himself killed," Marth muttered as he flew after his friend.
The fairies were stopped when they both got impaled in the chest by a sword. It was followed up by multiple guardian swords.
"Just… a little farther," Kirito struggled to say before both he and his partner's HP hit zero, causing them to turn into black Remain Lights.
The guardian swords fell down before disappearing and the guardians themselves started to return to their spawn points.
A ghostly image of Marth appeared around his flame, looking up at the ceiling. He stared at his resurrection timer. "Is this a punishment for thinking that this world is just a game?" Marth thought. "For trying to save someone I love. My strength here is just an illusion. They're just a bunch of skills and stats. I should've remembered the limits and rules of this world."
Suddenly the guardians looked down at the entrance. Marth did the same and saw Leafa and Thorrnn flying towards him and Kirito.
"No!" Marth shouted desperately, despite the fact that no one could hear him in his current state. "Stay back!"
The guardians started to attack the new arrivals. Instead of fighting back, the female duo avoided the enemy attacks and were flying straight for the Remain Lights. Once they were close, Leafa grabbed Kirito's flame while Thorrnn did the same with Marth's. They then flew to the exit as fast as they could, taking a few hits in the process. The doors closed as soon as the group left the dome. Thorrnn and Leafa then set their flames close to the ground and used an item to revive the Spriggans.
"Thanks, Leafa. You too Thorrnn," Kirito said after his revival. He turned towards his fellow Spriggan. "I'm sorry, Marth. My stubbornness got us killed back there."
"It's okay," Marth passed off. "I understand. But you need to be more careful. Next time there might not be anyone to rescue us!"
Kirito scratched his head. "Yeah. We can't afford to be reckless. Hey Yui. Did you find anything out about those guardians?"
The pixie materialized on the Spriggan's shoulder. "From what I could tell, each of those monsters have really low stats, but that's not the problem," Yui explained. "It's that there's so many of them that they're like one unbeatable boss. This quest was clearly meant to be impossible to clear. But that's not all I've found."
"What is it?" Marth asked curiously.
"As you and Daddy ascended up the dungeon, I could detect at least 300 players at the top of World Tree."
"300?" Kirito muttered.
"It's probably the Alfs," Leafa guessed. "They are supposed to be in the Floating City above the World Tree."
Yui shook her head. "Sorry Leafa, but that's incorrect. All 300 players had IDs from Sword Art Online."
"What?!" the fairies shouted.
"But how do you know that?" Thorrnn asked in suspicion.
"Because I used to be a program from Sword Art Online," Yui explained. "I know the handles of all the players from SAO because it was my job to monitor their mental states."
Thorrnn held her chin in thought. "Wait a minute. Last I checked, there were 300 SAO Survivors who haven't woken up in the real world yet. Why are they here in Alfheim Online?"
"I don't know, but I doubt it's good," Kirito said. "We need to clear the World Tree ASAP, but we'll need a lot of help. Leafa, Thorrnn, will you help us?"
Both Sylphs looked a little confused but nodded.
"We'll help, but there's no way the four of us can clear the World Tree on our own," Leafa said. "We'll need a large raiding group to stand a chance against the guardians, but where can we find them at such short notice?"
"I can help with that!" a familiar male voice exclaimed.
The group turned towards the source and saw that it was none other than Recon.