"Mama, I have signal from Kiin."
Kazu nodded her head in response to Yui.
"Thanks for letting me know, Yui.
Kazu smiled and gave Yui a head pat with a single finger. It was strange having her full size in the augmented space outside of ALO, and then her be a tiny pixie inside. She looked around at her surroundings, as she glided through the air on the last stretch to Alne. The forest below was vast and vibrant, but what she was more paying attention to was the people around her. She had Yui on her shoulder, Ela, Recon and Shiro behind her, with Klein, Agil, Nautilus and a couple others from Klein's guild all present. It was immensely relieving to have so many strong, experienced allied alongside her. And apparently Recon and Ela had been keeping their preparedness secret from her so that she would be surprised on her last day. But, she logged into the game already somewhat knowing that Ela and Recon had been doing something without telling her, related to the size of their party.
Her confidence as Kirito skyrocketed seeing the familiar faces when she logged in. Seeing the smiling energetic expressions of friends ready to take on anything in their way.
As Kiin glided close, he flapped his wings to slow himself down and land on her shoulder, Kirito received not only a message from Asuna but also an invite to the group chat which had the rest of the guild she had established communication with who were trapped along with her.
The sight of the massive city sprawling underneath the world tree was intimidating but also beautiful. The fantasy aesthetic, the lights and flying fae in the air over the city made the atmosphere feel like they had truly entered another world. It was nothing like Aincrad, even if there were assets used from Aincrad.
Kirito enjoyed the sights in front of her, but she was also taking in the message she had received from Asuna. As soon as she finished taking in the message which conveyed they were working on getting out on their end too, Kirito and her group had arrived in the outskirts of Alne. They were greeted by heavily armed guards in elegant silver armour.
"Greetings, adventurers. We are the royal guard of Alne. If you encounter any suspect activity within the city, report to the nearest guard. You certainly have an interesting group, with every race of Alfheim counted among your number. Have you a leader?"
Kirito blushed a little, looking to Ela for her to take the leadership position.
"No need to be shy. You are the reason everyone was so ready to gather together. It doesn't matter how much involvement Recon and I had in influencing everyone to join."
Kirito sighed heavily and looked at the guard again. She could tell from the movements of the guard that they were an npc, so it didn't matter so much but she had to give some information to get into Alne it seemed.
"It seems I am the leader of this group."
The guards nodded and then continued.
"Name of your group?"
Kirito was caught off guard. She figured she should consult what everyone thought, but as she started to turn to ask the opinion of the rest of them, her eyes met with Agil's.
"We're Alt."
Agil's statement was echoed with the rest of the group as they nodded with smiles.
"Right, I thought we would go with something else but it was a guild name that was chosen specifically back then...everyone is good with this name?"
Only confirming nods in response made Kirito sigh.
"Right, we're Alt."
"Your group is not registered as a guild. Report to the adventurer association in the largest building at the base of Yggdrasil to register your guild. Even faeries of different races can ally together as a guild."
The guards flapped their wings, moving to the sides of Kirito and lowered their heads slightly in welcoming Alt to Alne.
"I guess we know what we're doing right away. After we get set up at the adventurer association we'll get ourselves set up at inn rooms so we can work on figuring out how we'll be taking on the tree...Yggdrasil."
Kirito flapped her wings again and they passed the guards, flying over the buildings below which would have provided plenty time use on the way to the adventurer association. The smooth process of flying over all the obstacles made Alne seem much less intimidating. It didn't make the city any smaller though. Large enough it could take days to explore a fraction, it was an immense place. Going in one direction to just one place was going to trim down the amount of time they would be going from place to place. There were so many quest triggers below in the streets, it was daunting at the very least.
The sheer size of Yggdrasil was the most imposing thing to the entire group out of the entirety of their surroundings, and even arriving at the adventurer association, the building being the largest thing near to the tree, it ended up feeling by far dwarfed and inconsequential.
Kirito landing on the ground and her wings not disappearing like everyone else caught the attention of others in the area. Despite it being late evening, the surroundings being lit up by magical sources, people took note of the beautiful black wings which were an anomaly. Even npcs needed to put away their wings from what they had noticed, but Kirito was the lone exception.
"Where do you think she got her wings? Maybe dlc? Or do you think she hacked?"
"Nah, she probably has them as a cosmetic item from another game. She's a spriggan after all and they can make their real in game wings invisible."
Kirito kept moving forward when they were inside the building. There were many players inside though causing a ruckus when they saw the group.
"There's another group of people from different races. Think they're going to try cheating the world challenge like the others?"
She did her best to ignore the words of the people around them. There was no reason to pay them any mind. If they would talk to her directly instead of starting rumors over nothing, then she would respectfully reply. She had no time to stir up drama.
"Doesn't she look like...?"
Hearing the suggestions and that some of her group were very similar to those from the Aincrad clearing group's pictures made her a little concerned that people would figure them out, but it didn't lead anywhere.
"Greetings, adventurers. Are you registering as a guild? Or are you looking for lodging?"
The receptionist of the building was a tall, amazonian sized faerie. She had slightly tan skin with long brown hair and wore the silver the rest of the stronger npcs wore. She was significant as a game character it seemed.
"We're registering as a guild, and if lodging is available then we'd like to register for lodging as well."
Kirito's quick response with her clear voice quieted down the surroundings. The people in the lobby of the association building were interested in knowing what they could find out about Kirito and her group. It was more about information gathering than anything else.
"Okay, so spriggan leader, three salamanders, two undine and sylph, and at least one of each filling the remainder of the group with one nav pixie and one battle dragon...name for your guild?"
"Alt."
The receptionist nodded and jotted down the information quickly.
"Objective of your guild?"
"Clearing Yggdrasil."
Most of the people in the lobby nearly gave up on collecting information, but looking over the group again, seeing how geared they were and the design of their gear, it made them curious, so while there was a bit of a buzz through the lobby again, some people were still observing the situation.
"Hmm-hmm~alright! Here's a small survey for your guild to fill out, you can sign it anonymously, but everyone needs to do it. Also, you will need to register your individual levels so we can assign your guild a starting rank."
"How will we be registering our levels?"
Kirito's question immediately felt to her like a dumb one, but she was met with a reasonable response.
"Oh, would you like the automatic or the manual registration for your guild's rank? Automatic might land you a smaller level than your guild deserves, while it takes a little longer. Manual requires that each member of your guild go through a checkup in the association to ensure nobody in the founding group is cheating in some way."
"We'll take automatic."
Her swift reply earned a lot of stares and the silence of the lobby again.
"Why did she reply so fast to that?"
"Admission of guilt?"
"Just a bunch of cheaters..."
She faced the receptionist, ignoring the ruckus which filled the hall.
"Hmm-hmm~automatic rank assigned for your guild is rank "S". This means you can take on all types of mission. There are only two ranks above rank S, but those are achieved through world specific legendary quests. You have a very accomplished group!"
The lobby only grew more loud, and in response both Ela and Kirito shrank in on themselves. It was incredibly loud after their several days without such obnoxiously loud surroundings induced by other people. When it calmed down a little, Kiin and Yui prodded them to get back up.
"Right, now the last thing on the menu for creating your guild aside those surveys, is primary role for your guild's individuals. Assuming you the leader is support being a spriggan, will everyone else be taking their typical roles?"
Kirito shook her head.
"While I am skilled in support I will be our guild's main tank. Salamanders are dps, undine and sylph healers and support. And Agil is my off-tank."
Agil sighed a little at Kirito's blunder in forgetting his race in-game.
"Ah, that would normally dock your guild down some points, however since the automatic system picked out your guild rank off of levels and prowess in battle, you will not be losing any points today. Now please, fill out your surveys before we continue on to reserving your lodging."
Kirito nodded her head and she huddled in with the guild as they all filled out the survey secretively to not give out any more information.
"It seems you are finished with your surveys, thank you for your input! Now, let's get you booked for your lodging. How many rooms for how many people would you like?"
There was already an improvement over Aincrad for the terms of lodging. Being automatically all lumped into one room in Aincrad was interesting in that it automatically changed the size of the room to suit the party who would use it, but being given the option outright to request a number of rooms to amount of people per room was excellent.
Kirito was perplexed by Yui and Kiin being counted as members of the guild since apparently a navigation pixie counted as a player, and kiin counted as a player as well. They were full members of the guild. Perhaps it was their level of sentience, but then it wouldn't make sense for Yui to be considered a navigation pixie or Kiin to be considered a battle dragon. That as well was new.
Yui and Kiin were deemed part of ALO's playerbase. That was staggering when considered.
The conversation went on for a little, and after splitting up to give each other some time to prepare before making their first attempt on clearing the challenge the normal way. During Kirito's time in the room, she was sending messages back and forth with Asuna to gather information. Asuna was recording whenever she had a good chance to observe the facility inside the upper section of the tree. She found evidence of a few laboratories where a lot of people from Aincrad's virtual bodies were held captive in pods. She wasn't able to record enough to incriminate those running ALO however, so she needed to get more chances to observe the facilities, incriminating evidence.
Kirito left the room feeling invigorated, like her actions might be able to still make a significant impression on the freedom of the others. But, Asuna and the rest of their conscious guild mates up in the tree were also making progress. Kirito could do her part to be a distraction for those up above, then it would be all the easier to prove the guilt of those in power in ALO's management.
She wanted desperately to get everyone out right away, to be successful on the first try in getting to the top of the tree and proving whoever was in charge guilty, but at least soon she would know just what kind of challenge the tree would pose.
Petting Yui and Kiin before heading out of the association building and meeting with the rest of the guild at the entrance to Yggdrasil, she was resolved to complete everything she could so that they would have their chance to do everything they could on their end.
As she landed near the door from the short flight between the association building and the entrance to the tree Kirito suddenly felt like she was being shaken. The surroundings changed from the beautiful night time fantasy city of Alne to her bedroom, with her aunt Midori shaking her awake.
"Geez, won't you just wake up already?"
Kazu coughed and her orientation swirled, giving her an instant headache which made her grip her head from the recoil of motions she was feeling internally.
"Wait, are you okay? That was a really exaggerated way to wake up..."
Kazu nodded but she realized she was out of breath and fell back where she was.
"That's really not good! I was just getting you up since it's dinner time and you hadn't eaten since you got home, but if you're like this could you even keep food down?"
Kazu closed her eyes tightly and took a slow, deeply measured breath before trying to sit up again. When she cleanly managed to sit up, she looked her aunt in the eyes only to see the worry on her face. Midori was the very image of familial concern. She had already lost her sister, so she wouldn't be able to bare the loss of Kazu too. It was only recently that Kazu understood such a thing about her.
"I'm...okay. I was just really exhausted from doing so much today. I was excited to be able to come home. I really should get some food in me. I can't remember if I ate anything at the hospital today, so maybe that contributed..."
Midori nodded and hurried to support Kazu getting up. She noticed quickly that Kazu did have some measure of strength in her, enough to move on her own after getting on her feet, and she walked ahead to make sure there weren't any obstacles for her to trip over along the way. Kazu was very good about keeping her room clean, but she had dropped things when she entered her room earlier in the day.
"Here, keep leaning on me if it'll help."
She offered a shoulder and Kazu took the offer. She didn't like it but her legs felt weak. Being pulled from flying so quickly in the virtual environment where she had the strength to land and then suddenly waking up, being on her back and unable to perform that landing made her legs feel like gelatin. It was not a healthy way to be pulled out at all.
Kazu received worried messages, but she replied to them calmly with her thoughts alone triggering the messaging system through the AR device. She was getting more and more adept at using the device without making it obvious to those in her surroundings. Even her aunt who was very fluent with technology didn't notice.
"I'm fine, I forgot about dinner. I'll be back soon."
She replied with those types of message, and sat at the table with her uncle and aunt. She then realized how much effort had gone into the food and felt more guilty about not responding sooner. The food was her favourites from when Midori had been asking her what kinds of food she enjoyed in Aincrad. It might not be perfect replications, but what was able to be made in reality within reason was already more than enough to make Kazu feel like bursting into tears.
"I knew your taste must have changed while you were in that place. I'm glad you were so easy to get your new favourite foods out of. I wanted to give you a little taste of home when you came home, but it was a little rushed. Our cooking won't be even close to your ability after two years cooking there, but we hope you like what we could do in reality what you did there. All your favourites we could handle."
From decadent spicy and flavourful entrees to the heavenly sweet fruit glazed cheesecake dessert, even if it wasn't close to perfect, it was more than enough to put Kazu into a state of bliss. She was happy, and she talked with her aunt and uncle at appropriate points about how everything was made and how she discovered making it in Aincrad. It was like talking about a journey through food. It was much more palatable to them to take in the culinary experiences than the battle experiences maybe. While Midori was relatable as a gamer and her uncle was also understanding, hearing about how she struggled and hurt so many times in battle only to overcome them in the end would have been more rough. They gave her that opportunity to speak about the good experiences she had through her love for food. It even led into talk of other crafts. Learning of how much Kazu had grown there in spite of being trapped in essentially a different world, Midori and Minetaka took to understanding that Kazu had only grown, and taken the experience in stride to become a better version of herself, and become the vibrant person they knew she could be.
Kazu felt her energy catch up to her rather quickly. It didn't matter how deprived of food she had been, she managed to get full, and she was still energy deficient. She had enough that she might cleanly return to her room and dive until she could truly sleep, but she was also concerned about making her aunt and uncle worry.
"Don't worry about worrying us, Kazu-chan. You should get some rest. Even if it means your mind is going to do a bit more work before you sleep. We know you've been fighting still, to free those who still haven't been freed. Make whoever is taking their lives away regret messing with the woman who defeated that tyrannical Akihiko. Just be sure to get the sleep you need, alright?"
Kazu's eyes shimmered with tears, knowing she had the support of them was the last bit of confirmation she needed.
"Thank you! I'll do my best, and I won't let you down on keeping myself healthy."
After getting to her room and diving back into ALO, she and the rest of the guild put up a solid first attempt until the sheer numbers of the enemy side in the challenge overwhelmed them. She had a wonderful idea for a second attempt though after seeing the colossal dungeon and the shape it had. All one room, going straight up but with several pods along the walls. Out of the pods, the guards which they would fight would appear. From a quick calculation from Ela, there would be twenty thousand guards to fight in total. Their first run, they had made it through a solid thousand before they were exhausted of all resources they could feasibly pour into a first run.
Kirito had a lot of ideas on how to clean up their approach, brought everyone together back in front of the door to enter the tree and she began explaining.
"So, that could have gone better, and we'll do better with a second try before logging out tonight."
Everyone looked at Kirito from dejected to hopeful. Ela wasn't dejected so much as she was disappointed in the lack of progress they had made.
"We'll do a speed run, get on top of them and use gravity to our advantage. When we're above them, using our preferred methods of fighting in the air would make it a far less resource intensive fight. All we have to do is make it an upward battle for them. For starting the speed run, we'll use the first group spawned to launch ourselves up to the top of the arena, and I'll make us an illusion platform from which we'll batter them down until they die off. I can use potions to keep my mana up so the platform sustains even through them throwing their weapons at us. Though magic isn't a forte of most of us, we will only make the battle faster by imbuing our attacks with it. I won't be able to use magic while sustaining the illusion platform, but I won't need to be in contact with it or stay on it while we launch our attack. I have a by far longer flight duration, so I would take the fight directly to them while everyone else uses the platform to keep up their flight stamina."
Ela gave Kirito a wide smile, appreciating the quick and well thought out strategy taking into account everyone's strengths.
"Could I rely on you to keep my mana topped when my potions run out, Ela-san?"
"Leave it to me."
Everyone else in the group were already back in high spirits, ready to take on the challenge again.
"You figured this out so quickly. It took so much less time than most of the floor challenges in Aincrad. I still don't understand how you had the patience to observe the boss movements that much by controlling automaton toys. Those things don't even do any damage, but you observe so much of a fight by using them. Going in ourselves, not having a risk to our actual lives, it's so much faster...but not easier. I was seriously terrified there that it would be the end for me before someone else was talking with us after being beat up."
Klein's point of observation earned a resounding agreement. Nobody there understood how Kirito had the ability to go to so much work every time, for almost all 71 floors they progressed through.
"Wait...Kirito-san strategized most of the progression in that game? Seriously?"
Everyone else in the gathering faced Recon's astonished expression and nodded in response.
"How...how are you so multi-talented, Kirito-san?"
Kirito blushed because everyone focused their gaze on her.
"I just work really hard and my brain works fast...I guess."
An anticlimactic answer, and she encouraged everyone to get back into the arena to take the challenge again. The second try was a beautiful spectacle. With making the objective at first to launch themselves to the top of the arena and make use of Kirito's summoned platform, the first few enemies which appeared were more fun to interact with, not eliminating them as soon as possible. The enemies were significantly powerful, but they were only mid-tier enemies as far as those who braved the upper floors of Aincrad. The difficulty came from their sheer numbers. With a strategy and Kirito's ability to fly much longer if not indefinitely compared to the rest, and everyone's ability to keep the enemies fighting gravity to get to them, it was a guaranteed conclusion what the result would be. Resources that would be spent would be minimal by making use of the platform. They only needed to keep beating down their enemies.
Activity was already made clear, and only a few close calls occurred when Kirito had to rescue others when the swarms of monsters converged on them.
It took about an hour, but in the end they had succeeded in defeating the seeming unending hoard of monsters. At the end, there was nothing. No victory tune. No opening of the door above them. Nothing but the silence of no further monsters spawning from the walls and nothing more for them to fight. It was baffling.
"I have an idea...Kiin, can you come back out?"
Kirito summoned Kiin back from his rest and his exhausted wings made him perch on her outstretched arm immediately as soon as it was presented.
"Yui, can you come out too?"
Yui perched herself beside Kiin on the same outstretched arm with confusion. They had worked hard during the battle as well, providing every support they could with their new abilities within ALO.
"Do either of you have interactions with the door above us? Try together as well if neither of you can do it on your own."
Yui and Kiin nodded before just flitting up to try interacting with the door. Neither on their own seemed to gain any response, but together the lining of the door and everything around it quickly grew to glow more and more over seconds until the whole door was equitable to a solid piece of light. Yui and Kiin quickly retreated back to their safe space in Kirito's storage and the door split down the middle into 4 and opened upward. Above, they arrived in what seemed like a break room from outside of the game, like a small haven for office workers. There were snacks, sofas, and a set of televisions which might be used for security. There were some doors within the room, but after the long battle, finding themselves in a sanctuary zone made some of them eager to log out because of their exhaustion. Kirito put herself into stealth while everyone else logged out. Kirito wanted to take the sanctuary as a sign to reach out to Asuna after supposedly reaching a strange check point. What was a real life type room doing inside of a fantasy game? Her wings were still there, her armour was still on, and her senses were all the strong versions she had gotten used to in virtual environments. She was baffled she could feel like her virtual self had been taken outside for the moment she first arrived in the room.
Staying there while thinking up her first message to Asuna for the night, she felt herself pass out from the overwhelming exhaustion after her break from intensive battle like she went through just before arriving in the room. She wondered, as her mind drifted to unconsciousness, what could drive people to do the things that were being done to the people trapped in ALO.
