This chapter was originally supposed to go in a much different direct. Asasaki was meant to traverse all on her own up to the 8th floor with Iseyer suggesting she meet up with Sargent Thel'doria. As I was writing, Sora butted his childish lil' head into the picture and refused to let Asasaki have any of her trope demanded brooding time, and as I started approaching the meeting with Iseyer (originally slated to be her declining whatever quest he had to head up to the 8th floor to power grind monsters) the situation called that Iseyer and the others had already thought of this and thus the situation that we have now occurred.

Basically a lot of how I ended up writing Duality, actually. I make a basic outline or a few key points and then improv my way through.

"Those days, it felt as if we were in a losing battle. Victories were few and far between, and when they happened, they were always pyrrhic."

. . .

"You know, it's hard being a leader in that situation. What are you supposed to do? How do you manage moral? When everything is going wrong and the pillar of light and support is darkened and crumbling, how are you supposed to keep everybody going?"

"..."

"Yeah, and where were you two years ago?

Green metal was backhanded away, its wielder receiving dual slashes for their efforts. Not yet wanting the fight to end, I hopped away several feet, Sillicatite Dao bouncing patiently at my side. As far as mistakes went, this was perhaps among the top ten of my list. Slipping out of my room via window instead of being normal and going through the lobby? I snorted, vaguely registering the irritated look of my opponent. Really, what was I thinking? Talking to people wasn't that hard, and it wasn't as if they wouldn't understand.

But you would be going against your promise.

Glowing metal met reinforced skin once more, a glowing stab deflecting the second hit of their three part One Handed Sword Skill. The third horizontal strike was ducked under, my leg snapping out and catching the Swordsman in the chin. False muscles tightened up before being unleashed. Three system aided strikes juggled him in the air, a perfectly vertical axe kick slamming him into the ground. A manual recreation of «Stone Sheathe» all those floors ago embedded into nothing but dirt, my prey rolling away several times before scrambling to his feet.

"Good. It only took you four times to learn." I tilted to the side to avoid a stab, left palm coiling out to slap against my opponent's face. In a single motion I leapt onto his shoulders. Keeping the momentum going I threw my weight forward, wrenching my body to the side. A single, disorienting rotation that ended with me on my back and him face down. My tan-grey weapon stabbed through his body, retracting just as easily. I rose out of my retreating roll with a flourish, waiting for him to stand back up.

As the seconds started ticking away I began walking around him, holding fast to the bubbling irritance at his inaction."You know if you're done you can just resign. There's no shame in admitting defeat." Frustrated as I was, it wouldn't do to act out of line against other people. Monsters and people trying to kill me were one thing, but in the public eye where decorum was necessary? My standard fighting style brought me enough notoriety as it was; being labeled a sadist was something I didn't need.

Before I could complete a single lap my victory screen popped up. The spoils of war were handed over easily now that the poor sod's confidence had been shattered. Four thousand cor and a single health potion to compensate for my lost hp. Making sure that my posture belied none of my negativity, I made my way to the edge of the arena and sat down, slowly sipping away at the almost painfully bitter concoction.

Four hours had passed since I woke up, and only now was the sun had reaching its zenith. Barring the time needed to eat and restock, I had been dueling my entire day. The numerical experience wasn't as high as I could have gotten hunting down monsters but with Iseyer having requested me to wait for his call, getting lost in the woods with equipment degraded and supplies low wouldn't have done me any good.

And so I had fought. And fought. And fought and fought and fought. Players, NPC's; the challengers had come aplenty at the start, but after I had utterly decimated the sixth person in a row with my usual techniques volunteers had dwindled. It was only after adjusting myself to be less explosive that people were willing to fight me again.

It was so very frustrating though, fighting at this level. Continuing to familiarizing myself with my Skills and becoming more flexible with their usage was never a bad thing, but the people here were nothing more than civilians. They lacked the creativity that only unsanitized, life or death combat could give. The ingenuity, the spontaneity; it was nothing more than Sword Skills or poorly replicated versions of them that came at me. Throws, grapples, kicks: none of what made a fight a fight were used against me. Against other people, sure, but my starting performance had cemented people's fears towards me. As horrid as it was, I found myself missing the Fallen Elves. They, at least, could provide me a challenge.

A half dozen more punching bags came and went by the time I received a notification. Stopping only to repair my gear, I began making my way to the far east of the floor. The gate out of town had only came in sight when someone called out to me.

"Heeeey!" Sora waved a hand happily as he jogged over. "What are you still doing here? I would've thought that somebody of your caliber would've gone up to the eighth floor already."

I eyed him warily, recalling his recruitment attempt the previous day. "I could say the same of you. Aren't you part of the core group of Fūmaningun? You'd think that Shen would want you keeping pace with everybody."

"That's what I'm saying!" Sora crossed his arms petulantly. "Just because I'm a kid doesn't mean I can't hold my own! There's plenty of other teens out there on the front lines! I mean, just look at Kirito and Asuna! They can't be older than eighteen and they're fighting all on their own!"

"To be fair, I don't think Kirito and Asuna have anybody to look out for them." I turned away and started walking, not looking to see if the teenager would follow. When movement slowed down in my peripheral, "Count yourself lucky that your uncle's willing to keep you out of harm's way."

"But this is SAO!" He cried. "If I stay safe, then there's no point to even being in here!"

I rolled my eyes and spun around to face him, slowly walking backwards. "Alright, going to need some context here. Why's the Boss of Fūmaningun got you posted on the 7th floor?"

"Because I need more experience fighting people and to perform grunt work by collecting materials."

"And were those his exact words?"

After a moment of grumbling, ""There might come a day when we of Fūmaningun will be required to fight other players. It is better that we gain that knowledge now rather than forced to do so in the heat of the moment. Additionally, the entire guild requires upgrades. Collecting it on our own will help reduce costs, which means we will be able to purchase a guild hall faster.""

The first part was shelved away, wrapped up neatly in rolls of concern I suddenly had. "You guys are planning on purchasing a guild hall?" Glancing behind me, I stepped in front of Sora, letting a returning group of players part around us.

"Yup! We're still trying to save up enough cor for it, but once we find the right building we ought to be able to purchase it right away. You know. After you perform a few small favors."

I mentally groaned at that. Four days of running about trying to locate people; three words should not have that kind of agony attached to them. As I progressed along the road, Sora walked behind me in silence. Upon reaching the treeline surrounding Awass Town, I moved at the side of the road and stared at my follower. "So."

"So?" He parroted.

"Any particular reason you're following me?"

"To find out what sort of stuff the great Demon Nin does in her spare time!" He said shamelessly.

Are you there, God? It's me, Dawn. Please don't let me find out I have an organized fan club with weekly meetings. "Vaguely stalkerish. If you must know, I'm going to complete a quest."

"All on your own?" The kid brought his hands to his mouth, eyes almost twinkling with glee. "That's so awesome!"

"Alright, time out." I tapped my palm against the tips of my right fingers. "This isn't another recruitment drive, is it?"

He faltered.

"Sora, seriously? I thought I told you to drop this whole thing. I'm happily in Fūrinkazan, and nothing will change that." And that's the truth, isn't it?

"Okay, fine." The teen crossed his arms once again, looking off to the side and pouting. "But at least let me come along with you! Gramps said you were looking pretty bad last night and that you shouldn't be wandering off alone!"

"Shen was down here?" I frowned. "Last night? And he saw me?" I cupped my chin, trying to recall when I'd met the man.

"Yup! Said he had to bail you out of a couple encounters. You weren't responding to him when he tried to talk to you. Did you guys have a fight?"

Well, I guess that explains why I actually woke up this morning instead of falling into a forever sleep. When I realized Sora was still waiting for a response I coughed lightly. "Let's just say I had a really busy day. I was fighting Exhaustion more than I was anything I came across."

"Even more reason to come along with you!" The kid beamed. "One night of sleep won't get rid of all the effects of Exhaustion. There's still some stuff that lingers around. Trust me, Argo's had her people do a lot of research on the subject."

"Is that first hand information from Argo or has she put out another information book?"

"First hand knowledge. My uncle lets me be there when he or Taro meets with her. I'm usually just standing to the side. Sometimes she asks me questions, but I feel like any time I talk to her I lose like ten different games at once."

"She does have that effect on people." I swapped out Barbed Sabre for Stygian Curse, resting my hand on its butt. "Heads up; now that I've got a companion you'll have to carry us through the fights. I'm relearning some of my skills with a knife and with somebody else to dish out the majority of the damage I can afford to do that on the way."

"Um, Miss Asasaki? You do know I'm a Ranged person, right?" Sora held up two handfuls of throwing darts innocently. Where or when he pulled them out, I had no clue.

"Liar. I saw you fighting with a Curved Blade back during our fights with Mánagarmr."

"But I respecced!" He countered. "I gave up my melee skills for Hide. I'm a scout now, not a combatant!"

"Then scout your way through the fights and deal the biggest blows." I grinned slyly at him. "Trust me a little, yeah? I'll be sure to hold their attention. Unless things go wrong, you won't take a hit."

"Wait, why did you raise a flag like that?" Sora started running to catch up to me, uncaring about the noise he was making. "Miss Asasaki? Miss Asasaki!"

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Hit for hit, the Throwing skill dealt about as much damage as three or four of my basic attacks. A bit low all things considered, but it made up for it in other ways. Similar to the Dagger skin line, it was capable of inflicting a plethora of effects. Paralysis, extended stun, confusion infliction. If even half a team of Throwing users were to gang up on a target, it would end up little more than kicking a dead horse.

For the second time since we'd set out, the two of us sat down to take a break. His stats were geared for burst damage and the amount of fighting we'd done as well as the hard pace I'd set were doing him no favors. I was actually quite fearful for the teen's life any time a monster approached him. Where my Vitality was hovering around half of my level, his was barely a fourth. The leather armor he was sporting didn't help alleviate those fears either.

"Have to admit, this is a little odd though." My status window winked out as I closed my hand, just one of the various hotkeys I'd set up. "People don't normally talk about their stats. Or equipment." I wrinkled my nose. "I almost feel a little gross now that I think about it."

"So does that mean I get to tell people I've seen your privates?" Sora said suggestively.

I immediately folded my arms and stared him down. "Do that and I swear I'll get you MPK'd. Don't think I can't have that conversation with your uncle. Loss is something I'm no stranger to and at his age, I'm sure he isn't either."

Sora raised his hands instantly. "I won't tell, I won't tell! Geeze, you know, for being an adult you sure are quick to drastic measures."

""Respond to things appropriately"," I quoted. "The first time you tried to use me to get yourself some eye candy. This time you threatened to get me seen as a pedophile. I already have enough flak as it is from the other players, I don't need that on my resumé."

We passed the rest of our break with idle conversation, Sora regaling what had to be exaggerated tales of his adventures. I refrained from telling stories of my own, the exploits feeling far too personal to share. The last thing I needed was to trigger that long held off mental breakdown by talking about things.

We were just getting ready to set off when Sora brought a finger to his lips. Knowing far better than to question somebody's suspicions in a hostile environment, I hunched over slightly and swapped to Barbed Sabre, ready to draw it at an instant.

"5'o'clock!" He yelled, a salvo of throwing knifes flying out.

The projectiles impacted against metal of armor and weapons alike, their wielders soundless charging at us. When it hit me that it was a group of Dark Elves engaging us, I quickly ran forward, palms raised. "Cease fire, cease fire!" I cried. "Iseyer asked for me to come here!"

"Liar." The presumed leader of the elves stepped forward, his spear a thrust away fun impaling me. Even as he continued speaking, two of the elves, moderately armored and wielding one handed swords, started inching their way to the sides. "Long distance communication can only be done between Swordsmen, not with the inhabitants of Aincrad."

Curse this unique skill of mine. "Look, I was there last night with Bael'na and Hensel. They told me that when they got a plan together they'd contact me. Well, they contacted me! So help us out and bring us to the camp. The sooner I know what's going on, the sooner I can avenge your brethren." As extra insurance I tucked my hair behind my ear, showing off my earring Klein had left atop my cloak.

«Cael'ri, Forest Elf Sentry» stared me down for a few seconds before grunting. "Step one toe out of line and don't think we won't turn on you. The Forest Elves and Dark Elves may have a truce, but no one here would still their tongue if we said you were lost in an attack."

I carefully said nothing, not wanting to taunt the obviously aggravated elf. Sora carefully joined me at my side, almost starting to ask questions were it not for my soft head shake.

Compared to the encampments I'd seen the first day here, this one was rather sad. The wooden palisade was barely ten feet tall and the tents were a hodgepodge of pelts rather than finely crafted fabrics over wooden frames. I suppose it had something to do with how out of the way this place was, but combined with the people rushing to and fro as well as the assortment of homogeneous groups of fighters resting about, the place was rather disheartening. At least their spirits didn't seem to be drained.

With one last sneer before heading off, "Sergeant Bael'na is in here. Mind your tongue, Swordsman."

"Are all Elves like that?" Sora whispered to me.

"Some of them. The nice ones actually give you quests. Well, most of the nice ones. Sometimes the quest givers are still dicks." My hand had already pushed the tent flap open when my last line came out. I could only hope none of the trio felt I was talking about somebody they knew.

"That was a rather long time for you, Lady Asasaki. Did something go wrong?" Iseyer looked up from the map resting on the table, each of the corners held down by a sheathed weapon.

"Yeah." I jabbed a thumb towards my companion. "I discovered a stowaway too late into my journey. Turns out, he doesn't have the kind of endurance I'm used to." I could feel Sora's unbelieving look burn into me. "Had to take a couple breaks. There was nothing time sensitive though, right?"

"In our situation every hour is an hour extra, but if you you had to take time to recover, you had to take time to recover." Bael'na raised her hands in sufferance and rose from the desk upon which Hensel was writing. "We're sending you up to the Fiend Woods, Lady Swordsman."

"The situation's rather delicate," Iseyer continued. "We can no longer afford to be as insular as we once were. The Fallen Elves care not for our race, only that they achieve their goals. Hensel and Bael'na are finishing up the final document explaining our circumstances. We need you to find the leaders up on the eighth floor and convince them to start working together. Sergeant Thel'doria may have already done some of the work for you, but it will be up to you to finish the job."

"What about you guys?" I walked over to the map they were looking over, a system notification popping up informing me that my map info for the eighth floor had just been updated.

"We will be heading down to the 6th floor," he responded. "We may have driven off the Fallen Elves from the installation here, but that does not mean we've prevented them from utilizing its technology further."

"It's no longer safe for our people." Bael'na sequestered the four rolls of parchment into scroll containers. "Two for each tribe," she explained, holding them out for me. "Iseyer has told us that the Fallen Elf presence in the Valley of Dragons is nonexistent. Far safer down there than above, where combat could erupt at any moment."

I deposited the scrolls into my inventory, tapping open my quest log to view the recorded specifics. Do they not know about that underground city? Well anyway, only monsters inhabit it now, so they should be fine.

"Once we find a temporary home for them, we'll rejoin you at a later date," she finished.

"Fūrinkazan should still be in Awass Town," I explained. "I'm not sure how they'll feel about it, but with the right wording, you might be able to convince them to escort you back."

"Already planned on it, Lady Asasaki." Iseyer smiled, well aware of his unique ability to craft quests. "You won't be going alone. We're sending Alduin and one of Bael'na's men along with you as envoys. Hopefully they'll be able to add credence to your words. Take a moment to read one of the scrolls when you can. They're all the same, just signed by a different person. If you know what we're sending you out to accomplish, you'll have a better chance to achieve our goal."

Hensel looked away from his conversation with Bael'na, the woman backing away gracefully after whatever had occurred. "You'll find them in the rear of the camp. You were originally meant to go out and gain some experience fighting alongside each other while we finished up, but what's done is done." The Forest Elf leader rose and stretched his arms above his head, several infuriating pops sounding out. "Now if you'll excuse us, we have some more logistics to figure out."

"Take care." I gave a two fingered salute before heading out, not paying any attention to Sora's awed expression. His exclamations came later than I expected, the tent fully behind us by the time he spoke up.

"I can't believe you're actually on the Elven Questline! The front liners were banned from participating it since the inter-guild rivalry on the third floor!"

"A Elven Questline," I corrected, "not The. Important difference. Also, we of Fūrinkazan aren't exactly Front Liners. We've been part of the Boss Fights a handful of times, but we're nowhere near Clearer status."

"That's a lie and you know it," Sora said without hesitation. "If it weren't for you guys exploring the third floor, all that cor could've gone to us." He stamped his foot down, arms folded across his chest. "I could've maxed out my weapon sooner if it wasn't for that!"

"Snooze, ya lose, runt." I gave an indifferent shrug. "Some stuff in here is a limited time offer, like those Hidden Bosses. Speaking of which," Alduin rose when he saw me, a female Dark Elf near him doing the same. "Remind me to ask you about Teotihuacan later on." I raised a hand in greeting as I approached, introducing myself and Sora to the newcomer.

"I am Corporal Fautina." The Dark Elf gave a short bow of her head. "Corporal Alduin and I shall be accompanying you to the Fiend Woods."

"Lady Asasaki and I have met. We go back rather far," Alduin said somberly.

"I don't know if slightly over two weeks counts as far, but it certainly feels that way." I gave a tight smile, the panic at the recollection of exactly how quickly everything had happened quickly silenced. "Are the both of you ready? I'll need to message the others at some point, but otherwise I'm all good to head out."

"We were just waiting for you, Lady Asasaki." Fautina tapped the solitary sword at her side.

Seeing somebody wielding a one hander without a shield was always a bit odd. On the lower floors it was a sign of somebody trying to be cool, while on the upper floors was it a sign of (over) confidence. "Let's get to it then."

"I'm tagging along too, Miss Asasaki!" Sora raised his hand high into the air. "If I go along with you, I'm sure I'll get some valuable experience!"

Translation: I can get valuable intel on you and what you're doing. Damn I hate it when people aren't straightforward about things. "Suit yourself, runt. Just make sure that if you level up you throw all your points into Vitality. We've got messages to deliver and having to take a break every ten minutes or after a fight isn't going to help us." To our new companions, "That was a joke, by the way. It's more like fifteen minutes of a full out Sprint interspaced by at least three fights."

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It was always nice, taking a few minutes to look over a new floor. The Fiend woods were rather similar to the forests of the Third Floor. Tall, imposing. The redwood forests of California on steroids. From what Sora was saying, this region had two main components. The main part was the residential level. Vast, wooden bridges and ladders were spread across nearly ten stories of the floor. At ground level, wide, gushing rivers and streams wove their way around the trunks. Hardy plant life that managed to grow in choked sunlight blanketed the ground, and if you knew what to look for you could find the numerous, isolated cave systems functioning as dungeons containing the bulk of the monsters. With the weather changing with the time of day, we were lucky enough to arrive before late afternoon mist rolled in.

"So where would our dear friends be holed up at?" I asked of the two elves.

"Somewhere along the ground," they answered together. The law stating that they were not allowed to work with living trees extended up to here. While it was possible they'd managed to have the locals create homes for them over the centuries, it was far more likely that they'd created easily rebuildable homes of their own.

"That's a lot of ground to cover," I mused. Revealing my map to the young ninja of my group, "Sora, you know where the portal town is? My map from Iseyer isn't exactly labeled."

"Micorriza Village is just west of the center of the floor." The teen pointed at a trio of trees arranged in an inverted triangle. "By the way, none of the towers here have the normal exterior. They're designed to look like everything else. My uncle said the only way to find them is to go around each tree base along the floor and hope the entrance you find is the right one."

"Sounds awful. Like a needle in a haystack." I pushed off the naturally grown railing, refocusing my mind for the trek ahead. "Relaxation's over. We've got ground to cover."

"If I may ask," Fautina started, "why are we heading to the 'portal town' rather than immediately searching?"

"If we go to the hub of the floor we can start asking questions." I glanced back at Alduin and Fautina. "Well, Sora and I can at least. If you two go in I'm pretty sure people will hound you for a quest or something. I may have accidentally incited a societal norm amongst our people." Said teen's attempt to glean information about the subject was waved away.

As we ended up discovering, Fiend Woods was host to a large amount of flying creatures. From bugs to birds, our travels across the numerous bridges of the floor were rarely safe. At first we spread out and protected Sora while he took shots where he could, but as his ammo started dwindling and the amount of insects pestering us increased, it became a race to reach the safe zone of the Micorriza.

"Just a little bit longer!" I fell back onto my hands, launching out a single heel kick that collided solidly with the underside of the giant «Tyrrious Beetle». My companions ran around me, knocking aside the insects that attempted to knock them over the side.

"There's gotta be a way to reduce these encounters, right?" Sora cried. It was his first time outside Micorriza Village, and any information he had was limited to the location of things. "There's no way this floor is crazy enough to have these encounters going all the time!"

"Maybe in the higher floors that's a thing!" I rushed forward and tackled one of the flying ants gunning for Sora onto the fly. «Summon the Moon» lashed out twice before the monster knocked me off, its attempts to climb atop me thwarted by the butt of Fautina's weapon.

"If I see another insect within the next century, it will be far too soon," she hissed.

"The city's four more bridges away," Sora called out. "We can rest in the giant tree up ahead!"

My hand twitched towards my inventory. Inside lay a fully upgraded glider in perfect condition. The only issue? "What I wouldn't give for some thermal drafts."

Once upon a time I would have leaned against a wall after a run that strenuous. If not from my laboured breathing then for my aching muscles. These days, my mind and digital body had become so used to the bursts of Sprint that it required a full hour of pacing through my Sprint speed and regular running for the beginnings of Exhaustion to set in. "Bless your uncle for figuring out the Run-Sprint pattern. I'm pretty sure the two of us would've been dead meat without that."

Sora wasn't as trained as myself, apparently. Spread eagle on the floor, the teen lazily gave a thumbs up before letting it flumph back down.

"Is this something that all swordsmen have?" Fautina asked. "It was certainly odd when you two would change in speed so often."

"Hey, runt. Handle this question." I lobbed a small pebble at him, smirking when he groaned. "It's called teaching, and it's the best way to learn. If you can explain it to a five year old, that's when you can say you fully know what you're talking about."

The ninja (in training?) sat up and crossed his arms. "Sprint is a skill that players can choose. Most people don't pick it up because it won't work well with what they already have or plan to be, but for those of us like Miss Asasaki and me, Sprint lets us do our job a lot easier."

"And that job is?" I pressed. At the western entrance, a group of players waltzed in, grumbling about low supplies.

"Information gathering, repositioning for optimal attacks, message delivery, evading strikes, anything that people in lower rated armor or with minimal Health might do."

I moved my legs out from underneath me, folding them to the side. "Think of skills as things that augment our natural abilities. Everybody might be able to swing a sword, but with the relevant skill, Curved Blade in my case, a Swordsman can hit harder, make sure it doesn't degrade as quickly, and even use our fabled Sword Skills." I ignored Sora's questioning look. NPC Fautina may be, the AI that surrounded me tended to memorize things I said, and it would save potential problems and questions down the line if the Dark Elf managed to survive long enough. "Well, I think that's enough of a break. We're burning candlelight as it is, we shouldn't dally any longer."

"Candlelight? But it's still daytime."

"You know what I mean, Runt." I reached up and patted his head as I walked past. "Be back in a sec. I think I might be able to save us some trouble." The full player party looked up at me as I approached. "Hey there!" I put on a small smile. "We're new to the floor and don't exactly know the ins and outs of the region. I couldn't help but hear something about repellant from you guys?"

"Wait, did you just come through from the Tower?" A leather wearing male spoke up from the rear of the group. Based on his combed over mohawk and slightly cracking voice, I pegged him as a teen, barely on the cusp of figuring out his identity.

At my admittance to the feat, "Why would you do something like that?" The elder of the two girls gawked at me. With her vibrant and attention grabbing outfit, I wouldn't put it past her to be a Yank in real life.

Must be another high school group. I gave a noncommittal shrug. "Call it part of my playstyle. I'm not exactly part of the front lines, and I feel weird about accessing a place I can't get to on my own. If that means fighting through the Towers before I can use a portal, then so be it."

"The repellent is something that every player needs if they want to travel around this floor safely. Well, safer, anyway." The spindly looking boy that seemed to be the leader of their group slowly said. Each word was measured. "Those insects will still fight you, but it counteracts the invisible effect each kill puts on you. Without it, the mobs will swarm you in bigger numbers until you either die or enter a safe zone. It almost led to a few Monster Player Kills before."

"Huh. And how much does this stuff normally go for?"

"700 cor," he answered immediately.

I pressed my lips together, giving a slow nod instead of letting out a whistle. These days a single monster only gave a few dozen cor, rarely over sixty. Unless you were me and had access to somebody willing to make potions in exchange for raw materials, that much was almost two potions; more if you were getting lower quality. "I'll purchase four from you for 400 each."

"What?! This stuff takes a lot of work to make! We aren't going to sell it for that much, especially when we're low on it as it is!"

I gave comb over a small smirk and shrug. "Understandable. But fair warning, we haven't had a chance to restock or repair our gear since leaving for the Labyrinth from the 7th floor. We've already had to run from several fights and in my group of four, I'm the strongest. Kind of a dangerous situation, for anyone."

"You're blackmailing us." Something about their apparent leader bothered me. Maybe it was the way he held himself, but he seemed to be no stranger to this sort of thing.

"Well, I'm certainly not doing anything such as that, but if that's the way you're interpreting it."

"Six fifty," he stated.

"Nemu!"

The boy shook his head. "If they really did come through the Labyrinth, then they're bound to be low on resources. Stupid as they may be, I don't think any of us could live with ourselves if we found out a half party of players died on the way to Micorriza Village."

It was still fairly expensive, and without knowing the actual price I couldn't be sure if I was getting ripped off or not. But either way, having the repellant would make our lives easier. "Pleasure doing business." When I returned to my group I lobbed a flask to everyone. "Apparently this stuff keeps the bugs away. Unless I just got gypped, should make the rest of the trip a little easier."

"How long does it last?" Sora.

"Twenty minutes according to the system." If I had so inclined, the system would destroy any empty containers after using them. It was normally a good idea, but higher grade bottles apparently had some use to Hilde, as marginal as they were. "Which means we still need to run." I clapped my hands together and smiled. "We're almost there, guys. Just three more bridges."

"Four," Sora corrected quietly.

"You guys take the southern half of the village. Sora and I will take the northern. We'll meet up at the portal itself in an hour. Fautina, I'm sure Alduin already knows this by now, but if any of the Swordsmen start pestering just tell them "I'm sorry, I'm busy right now" or some variation of that. They'll understand."

The Forest Elf in question nodded sagely and turned to his companion. "Think of the Swordsmen as very direct. If you try to be subtle, they might misunderstand, if they even understand in the first place."

Sora waited for the duo to leave before leaning close to me. "Will they be alright?"

"They'll be fine. I'm sure Fautina has experience ordering people around and Alduin's hung around his superior often enough that he knows the drill. C'mon. We've got our own searching to do." In comparison to the other portal towns, Micorriza Village was fairly large. I'm certain it had to do with the design of the place, being a literal network of tree houses, but I still couldn't but be impressed every time I gazed down one of the roads or bridges connecting each section. "I wonder how often they'd have to replace things were this reality," I commented as I flicked the woven handrail. "Through all the wear and tear, it can't be more than half a decade or so, right?"

"And now you just made me scared." Sora huddled up to me, a hand loosely gripping my shirt. If he got any closer I'd put a stop to it, but it seemed he'd set a limit on his own.

"By the way, is your grandfather okay with you hanging out with me?"

The teen hemmed. "I haven't messaged him yet."

"You really ought to." I turned my head to the side and coughed. "Let's split up for now. I'll take the eastern half, you take the west. Make sure you message him, alright! I don't need another person breathing down my neck about stuff." Rubbing the back of my neck, "S'not like I don't need to message a few people either."

Sora gave me a full salute before Sprinting off, people parting before him and shouting a few choice words at his backside.

I shook my head. Oh the energy of youth. Searching for leads on the Elven Camps was among the more annoying things I've done in recent history. While there was indeed an elven presence on the ground, nobody knew anything about them other than how once again Kirito and Asuna were gathering Labyrinth related knowledge from the quest line.

Incidentally, it seemed that the Clearers were holding a meeting regarding the next push. Odds of meeting the two children were low, but it was better than wandering about. If nothing else, I could ask some of the members about their last sighting.

"... Intel from Kirito and Asuna hasn't arrived yet, so for the time being we'll just focus on finding the Boss Room."

I quietly closed the door behind me, only a few eyes glancing at me. The gathering was rather small. From the looks of it, it only seemed to be the leaders of a handful of guilds and their second and third in commands as well as a gathering what what I found out to be the representatives of the unaligned players.. Everybody here bore their colors proudly, distinct as their outfits were. Kibaou seemed every bit of a medieval raider; odds and bits of spiked metal covered his body, loose fitting clothing bunching up just above his armor. Lind and his Dragon Knights maintained their European Knight aesthetic of blues and silvers. The other guilds I didn't recognize, but if we were on the field of battle I would have no issues figuring out who was who. Could be trouble in the future, should somebody develop a vendetta.

I only stuck around to get the gist of the situation. The Tower was all the way in the north east; one of the primary rivers in the region flowed around it, and the only way to access it was by maneuvering across the stones. The Field Boss had already been taken care of two days previous, but numerous wild bosses (giant birds and flying insects) still patrolled the area. In addition, while the Labyrinth itself started out with only a single passage, as you went higher the forks became more and more common.

The worst part was that it was very similar to the 5th Floor Tower. Some routes went up multiple levels before another passage could be discovered, if it didn't result in a dead end or merge with a previous route. They'd eliminated most of the routes, but there was still a suspected 20% to go. The contact status effects the wooden golems could apply made traversing a pain, and every weapon aside from Axes degraded quicker against them. From a design aspect, I had to admire whoever came up with it, but as a player stuck in a death game, I held more than a little annoyance at the subject.

1646. Little more than half an hour to go before I had to meet up with everybody and still nothing to show for my efforts. "Nope, that line of thinking does me no good." I slapped my cheeks twice. Giving up and hoping that the others found something was the lazy choice. Even if what I discovered was only where higher concentration of elves where, I needed to bring back something.

Ten more minutes passed by. What I discovered was promising at first but quickly became disappointing. Early on the clearers had attempted to hunt down the elves for the ingots smelted from their gear, but with their low experience rates, cor drops being nearly a fourth of the local monsters, their gear being firmly rated as 'uncommon', and their spread out congregation being far away from any safe zone, knowledge of their spawning areas had quickly become forgotten.

Frustration began welling within me. While I knew it wasn't my fault and that there were circumstances at play here, the fact was that the amount of failures I'd brought about in such a short time frame were far too high for my liking. A string of victories was desperately needed. If not that then please dear god, bless my unbelieving ass and let there not be any death surrounding me for the rest of the week.

I lost track of how much time had passed before somebody joined me on the carved bench. Despite being cloaked, the fabric was fairly form fitting as it draped across them. Their face was impossible to make out, but their unarmored torso was undeniably feminine.

1708. It was about time for me to return. With a long drawn out sigh I rolled onto my feet and stood in a single motion.

"Why are you searching for the elves?" A quiet voice asked.

"Hum?" I turned around and stared at the strange, a questioning eyebrow raised.

"The players on the front lines are not allowed to interact with the elves. Why are you searching for them?"

"I've got a message for them," I answered simply. Discretion may have been the better part of valor, but if sharing information meant achieving my goals I held no qualms about it.

"And what would this message be?"

"That things are changing." I tried to catch a glimpse of the woman's face. But whether by system influence or design of the robe, nothing could be seen. "Lines once set in stone must become blurred, lest we all fall to a common enemy."

"How prophetic. But I wonder: do you know what you speak of? Or are you merely repeating what you have been told?"

I gave a small smile. "Would it matter?"

"Perhaps not, I suppose." I barely took three steps before the woman spoke up again. This time, a condemning icon dancing above her head. "Meet me at the bottom of the stairwell for this village at sundown. I am certain I will not need to warn you, but come prepared. The forest can be a rather perilous place."

"The roads are dangerous at night. Sure it's not better to meet tomorrow?"

"If what you have to say is important, the 'morrow may be too late."

I snorted. "Fair enough. Do you have a name, oh mysterious benefactor?"

For the briefest of moment, I saw a sly smile. "You may call me Kizmel, Miss Asasaki."

"You and your companions fight rather well."

"And you fight like, not at all." I slashed my weapon to the side, flinging off imaginary ichor from the monstrous insects staining it.

"My weapons are currently being repaired."

"And yet you managed to get all the way to Micorriza Village? That sounds unlikely."

"Would you believe me if I said that my robe is capable of hiding my presence?"

"You have such equipment?" Fautina stepped forward, staring at our guide intently. "Only high ranking members would have such gear." The Dark Elf stopped in front of Kizmel, scrutinizing the smaller woman. "Either you took that robe off a fallen comrade, or you're a Pagoda Knight."

"It is good to know that knowledge of my unit still exists among my sisters from the other floors." Kizmel reached up and took off her hood, exchanging a handshake with Fautina. "Tell me, is what Miss Asasaki say true?" One of her ears flicked towards Alduin. Whenever the Forest Elf spoke Kizmel seemed to harbor concern, but aside from making sure he was the farthest from her she never acted upon anything.

"Regarding our need to work together?" Fautina glanced over at Alduin. "Were our circumstances not such, I doubt we would be in the same field together."

"And here I was thinking that we'd grown closer together, Miss Fautina." Alduin shook his head teasingly. "Our circumstances speak for themselves though. Truthfully, I've fought against the Fallen Elves far too much to not dare hesitate at the thought of having more allies, regardless of where they come from." His smile faltered slightly. "We may not know when this war will end, but if we don't band together now then when we finally do it will be too late."

"What in the world have you gotten yourself into, Miss Asasaki?" Sora quietly asked.

"Something I wish that I could have avoided," I whispered back.

As night descended upon us, Kizmel continued leading us forward. With the temperature lowering into almost chilly, mist began forming. It wasn't as bad as the system designated title of the Lostlorn Forest (that being "Forest of Wavering Mist"), but the fog was thick enough that we'd completely missed the signature border haze of an instanced zone.

"Miss Kizmel, I hate to be a bother, but are we breaking anytime soon? I'm not meant for continuous fighting and travel."

I stifled a laugh and patted Sora on the shoulder. "Bear with it a little longer, Runt. I'm sure we'll be there soon enough."

"Miss Asasaki is correct. We only have a little more to go." She gave the teen a gentle smile. "If it helps, no monsters should be in this area. Our forces work hard to keep our surroundings clear. No one likes the baying of beasts at their doorstep while they sleep."

As we marched onward a sudden thought came to me, one I was rather disappointed in myself for not having earlier. "One of us is bearing the crest of the Forest Elves." I touched the adornment on my right ear. "And another is 'one of the bitter rivals'. You sure this won't cause any problems?"

Kizmel said nothing for several steps, mulling the thought around. "I admit that it is possible that some problems may arise, but I'm certain that we will be able to overcome them. I have some sway with my kin here. If I tell them that you have a reason to be here, then they will listen."

"Yeah, well they better," I grumbled. "I'm not exactly keen on escaping with Sir Asthmatic over here." An indignant shout from Sora; birdsong to my ears. More time passed. Eventually, Kizmel stopped in the middle of a large, rolling clearing. To the right a stream flowed past. On our left, bushes and other shrubbery coming up to about my chest lined the area. "Why'd we stop here, Kizmel?"

"My siblings in his floor are more attuned to the magical arts than the others," she answered. "Unlike my former station on the third floor that has a spell to repel unwanted guests, this camp has a true illusion woven over it."

"Is it wise to be telling us this?" Alduin asked.

"Perhaps not." Kizmel reached into her cloak. A part of me tensed at the action, but considering she seemed to have found kinship in Fautina those nerves were easily quelled. "But if we are to work together then some measures of goodwill must be shown." The formerly weaponless Dark Elf held aloft a somewhat ornate dagger. Curved in both directions like an elongated S, the patter adorning it brought to mind a cloud being rushed along the sky.

A single second ticked past. A tingle unlike that of my speed enhancements washed through my body, and suddenly a wall of wooden spikes was there. Two armored guards with halberds watched us from the gates, nodding slightly at whatever Kizmel told them.

At her gesture, the four of us moved forward. My hand twitched towards my since equipped Barbed Sabre as we passed the sentries, but nothing occurred other than the tightening of their grips.

I wasn't sure why I was expecting the Dark Elf base to look different. Barring the obvious deviations of decor, the camp was designed with circles in mind. The center held the main tent, and the surrounding structures were sectioned off into ringed quadrants, exactly like the previous camps.

"Inside here." Kizmel batted her hand against the flap twice before slipping inside.

"Thank you again for your help, Swordsmen. I know resource collection isn't the most glamorous work, but with both the Fallen Elves and Forest Elves keeping to themselves, there isn't much we can do." The presumed leader of this floor's Dark Elves looked away from two familiar people, her eyes flicking over us before settling onto Kizmel.

"Lady Kizmel. I trust your journey was safe?"

"Indeed it was, Captain Eramen. It was thanks to these four that I was able to arrive without any troubles." The woman stepped to the side and gestured towards us with her arm. "Miss Asasaki, Sir Sora, Corporal Fautina from the Forgotten Forest on the 7th floor, and Corporal Alduin from the Lostlorn Forest on the 3rd."

The captain stared at the four of us, her gaze lingering on Alduin and myself. "And perhaps you could explain why you felt it wise to bring a Forest Elf and his associate into our camp?"

"I have reason to believe they know why their kin and the Fallen Elves have been so quiet the past week."

Eramen stared at us expectantly. A nod of my head sent Alduin stepping up. "The Fallen Elves are preparing to wage an assault on the Obsidian Palace," he spoke.

"Yes, we know." Short and succinct. If I wasn't on the receiving end of her budding hostility, I would have loved this woman.

"The leaders from both tribes of the Forgotten Forest feel it necessary for us to work together for the time being, so that we may deal with this threat." Fautina brought forth her copies, holding them out for Eramen to take.

The Forest Elf read through the scrolls quickly, eyes flicking between the two to compare them. After moment she rolled them back up and returned them to Fautina. "Thank you for your efforts, but I must deny this alliance. The Dark Elves have kept themselves safe from the Fallen Elves ever since their conception. The knowledge that they are preparing for battle will not change this."

"Yeah? And I suppose you have some hefty stockpiles of crystals, right?" All eyes focused on me.

"You mean healing crystals?" Kirito inquired.

"Healing crystals, curatives, teleport crystals, you name it." I stared back at the teen, glad that somebody was catching on.

"Crystals or not, if the Fallen Elves are intending to assault the home of our Queen it is something that we will deal with on our own." The woman shook her head minutely. "In light of your assistance to Lady Kizmel, you are free to spend the night here but by sunrise you must be on your way."

Alduin suddenly started speaking, cutting off my protests. "I see. That's a bit of a shame, but thank you for hearing us out, Lady Eramen. I do wish there was a way to convince you however."

"If it is not us, the rank and file of the Dark Elves that fight back the Fallen Elves, then it will be the Pagoda Knights. Between the our two forces, not a single Fallen Elf will reach their goal." Eramen's confidence was a little inspiring. A shame though, that I doubted she'd fought against the Fallen like we have.

Hold up, why did Kirito just nod?

"Kizmel, you are familiar with our camp, are you not?" When the woman nodded, "Please show them to one of our storage tents and acquire them supplies."

"Yes, Captain." Executing a swift bow, Kizmel led the four of us back out. If Eramen started speaking again, it wasn't until the flap had closed behind me. "I apologize that your goal was not accomplished, Swordsmen," she whispered. Directing a few resting soldiers to fetch some sleeping supplies, she brought us to one of the tents in the rear of the camp. "It's not much, and you'll need to move things around, but it's shelter at the very least." A pause. "Have you eaten yet?"

Answering for our group, "I have some rations, but if it wouldn't be any trouble that would be greatly appreciated."

"I will be back shortly." Kizmel gave me a sad smile before departing.

"Well that was a bust." Sora plopped down onto one of the crates, chin resting in his hands.

"Perhaps so," Alduin said mischievously.

I raised a brow at the Forest Elf, part of his glee infecting me. "Alduin, I may not know you that well, but I know a secret when I see one."

"Apologies, Lady Asasaki, but this secret you will have to wonder at for longer."

"Well that's no fun." I grunted as I began move some crates around. The things weren't that heavy, but there was a lot and with my smaller frame getting the ones from the top wasn't very easy. At least until Fautina and Alduin started helping out.

"Not even a hint, Mister Alduin?"

"It wouldn't do to get your hopes up," the elf replied to Sora.

By the time we'd created a few makeshift rooms for some privacy, Kizmel had returned, the group of Dark Elves she had directed earlier carrying a few bundles of furs and blankets. The woman herself was carrying a tray of covered dishes, placing them atop a grouping of crates we'd organized into a large table. Motioning towards some crates two rows high, "Over there will be fine, thank you."

As the group of Elves left, I overheard their grumblings of why a Forest Elf was allowed within their camp. A rather subdued response, but I suppose inherited hatred wasn't always kept fastidiously.

"Captain Eramen is not the most open minded of people," Kizmel started.

The reflexive retort I wanted to give was shoved down alongside a heaping of fairly soupy oatmeal.

"Between her age and her rank, the Forest Elves of this region almost religiously obey her words."

I swallowed down my spoonful, suddenly remembering where I had seen Kizmel before. "You're from Tidal Canyon, aren't you?"

"Forests of Wavering Mist, actually. But yes, we did meet in passing there too. Viscount Yofilis was there as well."

"How is the old guy, anyway?"

Alduin and Fautina choked and gaped at me respectively.

"Rather well," she answered with amusement. "He remains on the fourth floor, trusting those in charge of the regions above him to take handle their situations."

"And have they?" I pressed.

"As well as they could." Kizmel tucked one of her bangs behind her ear. "Please, eat. The food they prepared today is not very palatable when cold."

I wasn't sure whether she wanted time to think about things, but her words held truth. The longer I took to finish my "soup", the harder it was to enjoy.

Partway through his meal, Alduin placed his meal down. "No offense meant, Lady Kizmel-"

"Please, just Kizmel is fine."

"-but why are you still here?"

"I wish to hear you out. My time with Kirito and Asuna have taught me that Swordsmen tend to be more knowledgeable than us, and that barring a few choice people, the goals they work towards have merit to them. If you are here with the belief that working together is for our benefit, then it is in our best interests to do so."

I shared a look with Alduin and Fautina. "Give her one of the scrolls."

Fautina rose and held out the case decorated with Dark Elf motifs. As Kizmel read through the parchment, her expression slowly became more and more despondent. At last, she rolled the briefing back up and placed it back into its case. "And the other scroll is the same?"

"The very same," Alduin confirmed, "except with Captain Hensel's signature instead of Sergeant Bael'na's."

"And you truly believe that they will strike at us here?"

"Whatever it takes to reduce the potential aid the Obsidian Palace might receive," Fautina answered. "According to Sergeant Iseyer who's accompanied Miss Asasaki through the floors, the Fallen Elves have been eliminating the Forest Elf forces throughout Castle Aincrad. It is only recently on the seventh floor that they stuck at the Dark Elves as well, though Iseyer and his companions have no confirmation of the Dark Elf presence on the lower floors."

"Killing or using for rituals, I'm sure one of those things will occur," I muttered darkly.

Kizmel closed her eyes, her heavy breathing leveling out. Several moments passed and with her mental state under control, "I'll do what I can. At the very least, I can convince a dozen or so of my comrades to work with us. They've fought alongside my companions and me and will likely believe me when I tell them of the situation."

"Whatever you can do, Kizmel." Alduin gave a short bow of his head. "The last thing we need-" the Forest Elf stopped and stared at the ground, one of his hands tightening into a fist. "The last thing we need is another massacre on our hands."

The four of us sat in silence after Kizmel left, each of us lost in our own thoughts. When Sora looked up, I had no doubts he would say something to alleviate the situation. "Mission accomplished?"

"We shall see, young Sora." Fautina gave a melancholic smile. "We shall see.

Next chapter should be out May 17th.