Chapter 25.- The Thief and The Hunters

January/16/2023

Twentieth Floor of Aincrad – Evergreen's Forest

Ruri

I've always liked forests. Something about their peaceful atmosphere has always appealed to me. Back in the real world I used to love going to Hakone and losing myself in the forests. Trying to climb tree just to see how far up I could go, scouting about just in hopes I could catch a quickly glimpse of whatever wildlife happened to be around. Hearing the cicadas do that lulling yet piercing sound in those hot summer days. I went there because my parents had a house in the region. They run a traditional inn with hot springs, tatami floors, and futons. You got all the whole rural, traditional deal.

"Hey, so you actually hear anything?" Kayla whispers by my side.

"Shush, honey," I reply, placing my index finger on her lips.

Immediately she blushes and slaps my hand away, I laugh a little and close my eyes to concentrate on hearing. Straining is definitely a useful skill, if you want to hear on someone else's conversation that is. What Daath is asking of me now is not only highly unusual but I very much doubt it'll be of any help. I empty my mind, I can hear Owl's armor shift and move as he moves slightly. I hear the blacksmith sigh and then a gut wrenching scream. A girl, or perhaps, a feminine man.

"There, did you guys hear that?" I ask.

"What? No…" replies the blacksmith.

I start walking and then begin a light run. I'm sure I heard a scream and the source is very clear to me.

"Quick, follow me," I say.

I start running faster, trying to get to the source of the scream. It's far away, but not enough to dispel my worries. I have to admit this could in no way be related to this thief I was told about but it's not something to leave without investigating. I start devising two silhouettes, they lie on the ground still, not moving at all.

I slow down my run and finally reach two girls, they lie on the ground, struggling to move but they just manage sluggish arm and leg movements. One notices me and her eyes widen in panic.

"Oh god, please don't hurt us please!" she pleads.

"Huh?" I exclaim, "I heard you scream, you two ok?"

I crouch down and give my hand to one of them, she doesn't reach out but only moves her arm slowly.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

Everyone arrives, almost out of breath. The girl with the pink hair comes close to me and gets on her knees next to the poor girls. This random girl is all too caring I guess, I mean I did come running to see if they needed help but I didn't exactly jump into their service.

"You two see a guy all dressed in black?" she asks desperately.

"He went running that way!" says one of the girls with her arm shaking she points to her left.

The blacksmith gets on her feet and starts running the way the girl pointed, Daath follows her quickly and I stay back with Owl and Kayla. Well, so much about thinking the blacksmith was a caring soul.

"They must have gotten paralyzed as well," Kayla mutters and gets on her knees.

She helps one of the girls sit up and leans her against a tree. Owl does the same with the other girl and I just stand there with nothing to do. I'm all for touching girls, but I take it this is not the time for that. I laugh at myself, not like I can say most of these things out loud.

"It'll be alright, just wait till the status effect disappears," Kayla mutters softly to them.

"Aww, you never whisper kindly like that next to my ear," I say and pout at her.

She sighs both loudly and visibly. My sweet, sweet princess, why are you so mean to me?

"Can't you be serious for just one second?" she retorts.

"Aww, but where's the fun in that?"

"Catch up to Lisbeth and Daath, they might need help," she orders me.

I nod without buggering her anymore and start another light run towards the direction Daath and this Lisbeth girl went into. I can still faintly see two persons running not far away from me, they seem to have stopped so I stop running and approach carefully. Finally getting a good view of the two people I notice they are Daath and Lisbeth. Not like there could be more people randomly running around in the forest, right? Her outfit is pretty cute, kind of frilly but not too silly. I get close to her and grab her skirt in my hands, feeling the fabric between my fingers. Admittedly, lifting it a little in the process.

"Wh-what are you doing?!" Lisbeth yelps as she turns around.

"Keep it down," Daath murmurs.

"Yeah, keep it down," I echo and keep playing around with her skirt.

I giggle slightly and get my right knee on the ground, placing myself in-between Daath and Lisbeth. They are staring forwards, to a series of huge trees. They are way bigger than the others around us, the trunks are wide and they go up almost as tall as some buildings I've seen in the city.

"Local flora is indeed very fascinating," I mutter.

Daath chuckles slightly and the blacksmith just grunts in annoyance.

"We lost track of him here," Daath explains, "he didn't go out of this area though, we checked around these trunks as soon as we got here so he most still be here."

I look around, scanning the surrounding terrain thoroughly. Nothing stands out only the wide trunks and branches that tower above us. I close my eyes and focus on straining again. I hear very little, Lisbeth's and Daath's slightly ragged breathing. With eyes closed one would assume they were doing a different activity all together but that is just my dirty mind's train of thought. I hear another sound, one that is most definitely out of place. A door slightly creaking and suddenly it closes. I hear the door lock followed by footsteps that slowly drown out. It's coming from above.

"Up there…" I say, feeling unsure myself.

"I guess that makes sense," Lisbeth mutters.

I open my menu and equip another dagger on myself. I reach back with both of my hands and take them out of their sheath on my hip. I bring them up and play with them a little, switching my grip on them and letting go of them to quickly catch them.

"Two weapons?" Lisbeth questions, "Is that even viable?"

"It isn't, swords skills are still only available for one weapon, they can't be used simultaneously nor are there skills for wielding two blades at once," Daath says, "I guess you could use one blade for parrying and the other for skills, but it would still be a hindrance."

What a reliable encyclopedia you are. I guess that's why he is sort of the leader after Al.

"Jeez nerds, I just want to climb this tree, you guys are thinking too much," I reply as I stand up and walk towards the closest wide tree.

I stab at the tree with both hands and I push my feet against it to get more of grip. I pull me left hand away and then stab a bit higher, I pull myself up a little and do the same with my other hand. Slowly I start making my way up the huge tree. Around halfway up the huge thing I reach some sort of landing, which is odd. It is way too flat and almost looks like it was purposely placed here. Then again who am I to judge game design? It takes me a bit to pull myself up, mainly because my feet are slipping but I manage to get myself up there.

Daath comes around behind me, slowly pacing to not fall of the small landing. I stare at him, confused as to how he's already up here.

"We found a ladder on the side of this thing," he says.

"So much for checking around the trunks, huh?"

He chuckles slightly and scratches his head. Finally looking around it can be seen that this higher area of the trees are connected with branches and small landings on each of the trees. Much like a series of tree houses connected by bridges, just without the houses.

"Now what though?" Asks Lisbeth as she finishes climbing up.

"I heard a door closing, there must be a door up here," I say.

I get up on my feet and balance myself quickly as I feel I'm losing balance. I have never been a fan of heights, I don't mind them too much but I still mind them. With my back pressed against the trunk I make my way around the trunk, feeling the tree around me with my hands, searching for something that feels or looks out of place. Lisbeth jumps from branch to branch to another landing and goes around it as well.

I admit I wouldn't be surprised if these trees served as access to some kind of sub dungeon, which would be a bit bad considering we are just three people. Then again though, if it were some kind of sub-dungeon that other guy came in here alone.

"I found a door!" Daath yells.

I jump to a branch in-front of me and see Daath on a farther tree, Lisbeth jumps to a branch as well and makes her way to Daath. I jump as well and slowly make my way there, being careful where I step as some of these branches are a bit slippery. I reach the landing and slip, just as I'm falling Lisbeth reaches for my hand and pulls me close to her. I cling to her with both my personal intent and just fear from falling.

"Uh…you can let go now," she says.

"But you smell nice," I reply.

She sighs and slowly moves me away from here. At least she isn't as forceful as Kayla.

"You are odd," she huffs.

"People tell me that," I say, "now…excuse me because this thing is locked."

Purposely I go past her, sticking my face close to her as I smile.

"How did you know?" Daath asks surprised.

"Heard it lock," I mutter as I go around him.

I reach the door and crouch, staring at the keyhole I examine the lock. I reach into my pocket and take out my lock pick. Let's just pray to whatever god is watching that I don't break this set since it is my last. I should've restocked.

"You are super shady," Daath mutters, "You got like a thief's skill set."

"Not a cool joke," Lisbeth says, crossing her arms.

"I spent a lot of time picking chests in Starting City," I say, "there's quite a few hidden all over there, that's why I already had fancy clothes when you guys found me."

I start picking the lock, it's quite harder than anything I've picked before but I believe I can handle this. Both hearing and feeling the locks as they set into place I move my hands slowly, trying to get it right. My training in all those crappy spy games will finally show its value.

"So do we even have a plan for when we find this person?" I ask,

"Well we take our stuff back, what else?" Lisbeth rages a bit.

"Well that is technically the gist of it?" Daath seconds.

"And then what? What stops this guy from coming back?" I ask.

"I'll just change floors, be more careful, it's not like I can kill him," she ponders, "…well I can, but I'm no killer."

Hearing a final click I turn the lock and successfully unlock the door.

"There," I say triumphantly and place my hand on the knob.

I turn the knob and as soon as I open the door I am tackled by the man in black, who rushes out of the door. We fall to the ground below together, sadly I cushion the fall for him and lose some health points as I crash against the ground. I push him off quickly and roll to the side taking my daggers in my hands.

He stands quickly and takes out a broad sword from his back. It's almost comical how easily he takes the sword out. He gets into a defensive stance and his blade begins to glow, I stand my ground and hold my daggers up, one slightly ahead of the other. He paces to side a little, like he is looking for an opening, but I'm not a lady to just spread wide open. He runs forwards and brings his sword down on me with an overhead swing. Barely dodging to the side I roll in and then out, getting back up on my feet quickly. I jump towards the guy who is still trying to pull his sword up, without a skill I'm about to drive both daggers into him when I remember the strike system of the game. In that moment's hesitation he kicks me in the stomach then with the blunt side of his sword hits me across the face. The impact brutally forces me to the ground and I drop my weapons in the process.

My health point take a drastic hit as well, even without a skill, his attacks managed to drop me way below half. My health itself is not blinking red just because of some miracle. I guess this is what it feels to be underleveled. I hear the sword whir and see a bright glow in the corner of my eye. Looking up I notice it's not the man's broadsword. Daath stands over me, shielding my body with his own. He wields a sword with serrated edges it uncannily resembles a sawfish. I'm suddenly quite hungry; I should go fishing soon.

"Come on now, you don't have to do this," he says, "even though by the looks of your cursor you already have."

Still on the ground I reach for my weapons and digging my hand into my pocket I take out a small red vial. I drink it and crawl from under Daath to stand next to him.

"I thought you lost your sword," I say.

"I have a few extras," he replies smugly.

I can see the thief clench his teeth together, actually I can almost hear him grinding them together. With a thud, Lisbeth falls on her feet behind me, she grunts at the impact but quickly raises her hammer to be ready. The thief throws knives at us again this time, Daath quickly deflects the three knives with a few swings of his sword. He laughs after effectively deflecting the knives, I dare say he didn't actually expect to be able to do that.

The thief uncovers his hooded face and then spits at the ground, Lisbeth quickly steps in-front of me and makes a confused sound.

"You are not him…you are not the same guy," she says.

"Perhaps you've met my associate," the man says with smirk, "worry not though, I do have all of your stuff."

What a convenient thing to say. Not only you say there are two of you but you also happen to have our stuff? I mean Jackpot, right?

Lisbeth's eyebrows dip, angered by the guy's statement she readies a skill on her hammer. Daath puts his hand in-front of her, stopping her from any further action. Looking back at the black-clad man I see a towering boy standing behind him. Owl along with Kayla finally caught up to us, with a weapon I've never seen before he places the thief into submission. Just by placing the tip of his halberd against his back he makes the thief bring his hands up, surrendering.

Daath puts his sword back into his inventory and Lisbeth hangs his weapon at her side.

"On the floor," Owl huffs, "kneel."

The man unwillingly bends his knees and with his hands up he looks around nervously, as if looking for an opening. With quick hurried steps Kayla comes close to the man, and kicks him with the sole of her boots into the ground.

"You stupid bastard," she seethes.

Taken away, by her words and actions, everyone, including myself, except Lisbeth stare at Kayla. With the man now covering his head on the ground Kayla kicks him again this time on his side. Daath quickly steps in and grabs hers arms, pulling her back with him.

"Hey hey, calm down," he says, "what's wrong with you?"

"This motherfu-"

She looks at how Owl, Daath and I stare at her and she quickly regains composure. She clears her throat and her body just looks more visibly relaxed. Slowly going back to the lovely woman I know.

"Apologies," she says, "I'll…I'll go cool off, I'll see you all back at the inn."

Rubbing her own cheeks she starts heading back to Evergreen.

"Sheesh, what was that about?" Owl mutters.

Daath shrugs and then Lisbeth crouches to speak to the thief.

"Give me back my stuff," she says.

"You guys are crazy," he mumbles.

Struggling a little he kneels back up and drops about five weapons on the floor through his menu. I see Daath's sword, along with two other longswords, a hammer, and a dagger with a wooden handle. Curious I pick it up and examine it thoroughly, it's light, but has a bit more weight than my own. It swings nicely and it's easy to handle.

"You like that?" Lisbeth asks.

"Well it's pretty," I mutter, "Can I buy it from you?"

"I'll tell you what I'll even enhance it for you, free of charge," she says as she finishes putting her stuff in her inventory.

"Oh, that's awesome, thank you," I reply.

She gives me a lovely smile and stands up, patting her skirt ridding it of dirt. She then stretches a little and sighs. She reaches for her hammer and with a skill crushes the ground right in front of the thief.

"Now get away from my sight!"

Stumbling backwards the thief runs away like a dog with its tail between its legs. I laugh a little, but interrupt myself with a long yawn, I really should sleep longer. We walk back to Evergreen at a rather slow pace, there is no longer anything to worry about after all. I have never been up this high in Aincrad, each floor has its own different thing, it's nice, would definitely love to see one with lots of snow.

Getting lost in my own thoughts isn't an odd thing, it happens most of the time, but it's not like I'm absent minded I just like thinking. This quiet, warm forest reminds me a lot of Hakone or even Koya-san, back in the real world I visited both places a lot. This place is just missing gigantic shrines and it'll be like being back in my grandma's house in Mount Koya.

"Ruri."

I stop walking and realize I'm already a midst a lot of people, turning my head I see Daath, Lisbeth and Owl. I walk over to them when another long yawn escapes my mouth. They gather next to the wall of a smith shop. Next to them a small matt with an anvil on top of it.

"Give me that dagger, I'll enhance it as a thank you," the cute girl says as she extends her hand towards me.

I place it on her hand and she goes inside the shop. Owl sighs loudly and with a few swipes on his menu stores his weapon and armor. I always thought the armor made him look bulky but it's his muscles that make him look bulky. A manly man this boy is and boy do I like what I see.

"Oh would have never in a million years believed you were this buff if I had not seen it," I huff as I hold my chin with my hand.

"It's just a little bit of gym really…and part time jobs I guess," he says.

"Could you take your shirt off?" I ask jokingly.

"Well, uh yeah sure," he replies.

Owl reaches down and starts pulling his shirt up. Sadly Daath stops him just before I can finish seeing that set of abs of him.

"Hey hey, she is screwing with you," Daath says.

"Is she?" Owl ponders.

"Am I?" I tease.

They both laugh a little and I naturally join them. As we laugh Lisbeth comes out of the shop with the dagger. It shines a bright orange-ish tone. She sets it on her anvil and with her hammer hits a couple of times until it stops shining. She wipes her brow and hands the dagger to me after checking some stats on a menu.

"There," she says.

I receive the neat looking dagger and trace my finger over the blade before sheathing is in the back of my hip. It will do nicely.

"So are you going to stay here?" Daath asks the Lisbeth.

"Geez, I don't know, I get a few clients the further up I am but I don't want to be around for that thief or his buddy to come back," she says, sounding worried.

"You could stay with us," Daath offers.

With a smile the pink haired blacksmith shakes her head.

"It's quite alright," she says, "although…"

She brings up her menu and sends us some invites. I quickly accept to being added to her friend list and consequently she is added to mine.

"Let's keep in touch alright? I can't thank you guys enough for helping me out today," she says whole heartedly.

"You got it, thanks for the sword," Daath says.

"And the halberd," adds Owl.

"And this baby," I say while taking out the dagger.

"All in a day's work," Lisbeth replies.

We are about to turn back and leave when Daath opens his menu to transfer some Col over to Lisbeth.

"Can't leave you empty handed though," he says.

"I won't say no to that," Lisbeth says and laughs.

Owl pats my back and we start heading towards the floor's gate. He moves lazily and so do I, maybe we both should catch on some sleep. And just maybe we can do so together. I smile to myself but then remind myself that I'm quite hungry. So hungry, wonder if I should sleep or eat something first, the answer doesn't really matter anyways. I'll get both done shortly.

Daath catches up with us and chuckles loudly.

"What a day, huh?" he says out loud.

"Yeah, for sure," Owl says.

"You guys ever been to Koya-san?" I ask.

Crysina here!

I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Thanks to mangachiaki for beta-reading this chapter!

I enjoyed writing Lisbeth, she is fun, one of my favorites actually. Hopefully I'll find the way to write Asuna, Silica, and maybe even Kirito into my story in the future. Let us return to my rant of the other week, which wasn't really a rant. There is so much wasted potential in the anime, take this as a grain of salt though. I only mean the anime when it comes to this, the manga and novels go into so much more depth with everything and thus I really like the novels and the manga better. I mean, it is on the novels or manga (like SAO's Girls Ops for example) that you find about silly stuff like the fact that Silica has a cat named Pina in the real word and so on. But anyways you are here for a very short list of reasons. You enjoy SAO and/or enjoy my story. Obviously I would like the latter to be the stronger reason, but if you don't like SAO there is a strong chance you won't enjoy my story. ANYWAYS! SAO's universe is so rich and filled with potential it's just a shame the anime barely graced it's surface. Here's hoping they actually take their time with animating the Alicization Arc since it's my favorite. Enough of me blabbering.

Just now before uploading I hit 3K views! You guys are the best, thank you so much for bearing through my probably awful writing!

Please leave any kind of comments, thoughts and or questions in the reviews. If you leave a question I will try to promptly answer it via PM or if you guys want I will answer them on these ANs I have at the end of the chapters in case you are curious about other people's questions. Really just leave in the reviews anything you like, I love having interaction with people that enjoy my story and hearing what you guys have to say about it overall.

Thank you for reading! See ya soon!

Next Chapter: "Thinking Back"