Chapter III – Eldritch Tales Online:
"Argo!" Asuna exclaimed as everyone got a first hand glimpse of why she was nicknamed "lightning flash". She bolted across the room and scooped Argo up in a giant spinning hug. "It's been forever!"
"Hey Argo," Kirito greeted his old friend nonchalantly as he walked over to join them. "I know we never exchanged IRL info, but with all your skills, I'd been hoping you'd find some way to track us down."
"I'd been meaning too." Argo finally replied once Asuna had put her down, "but life kept getting in the way. It's good to see you all again."
Everyone else quickly followed Kirito over and gave their own greetings to the former information broker. With the exception of Sinon, they had all known her in some manner or another, but none had been as close to her as Asuna and Kirito had.
"So you're the last person they brought on board for our party?" Kirito asked.
"You got it Ki-boy. You know I can't say no when the price is right." She replied with a smirk.
"I thought you said you had your budget slashed?" Kirito asked, turning to Agent Nishiyama. "How'd you afford her insane rates?"
"Hey, I resent that!" Argo retorted.
"We did." Agent Nishiyama sighed heavily, though Kirito couldn't tell if it was real or him being dramatic. "Miss... Argo's rather large retainer is coming out of my own pay. It's going to be a long while of instant ramen for me."
"Hey wait... you just called her Argo." Asuna stated. "You call the rest of us by our real names."
"Very true Miss Yuki. It was one of many additional conditions that she insisted upon before accepting the contract. As she was the only person I believed could fill our final slot, I didn't have much choice but to accept."
Everyone turned back to Argo ready to ask a barrage of questions but Agent Nishiyama cut them off. "If you don't mind, we can discuss this all later. I would like to get back to the business at hand."
Reluctantly, they quickly settled back into their chairs with Argo taking the seat that Agil had left vacant, and sorted out their party composition. They had just began discussing character options when Agent Shirai returned with a coffee and resumed her silent vigil at the corner of the table.
Klein opted to to play a Brawler when he found out that they were the only ones who could wield two handed swords from the get go. To nobody's surprise, Kirito, Sinon, and Argo took the Duellist, Officer, and Rouge classes respectively. Liz snatched up the Researcher and Agent Nishiyama filled out their one of everything roster with a Spiritualist. That left Asuna in the surprising position to be able to pick whatever she wanted. After a little thought, she decided to go with what was most comfortable to her and selected Duellist as well.
"Now that we're all set, I have one last bit of information to share before we dive." Agent Nishiyama said. "The only lead I have on what might be behind all of this."
Everyone leaned forward slightly, focused intently on what their handler had to say.
"This is a full map of the ETO world." he said, as a digital map replaced the character avatars on the table.
A large city dominated the central region of the map and a few others were scattered about with nothing but wilderness and a few sparse roads and train tracks between them. There were also about a dozen other zones that were projected in amorphous spheres adjacent to the main map.
"The central city in ETO is called Arkham, but the city itself is also the first questing area for new players."
"Wait, they have that much quest content in the city itself?" Kirito asked.
"Unlike other VRMMO's, ETO has no safe zones whatsoever. Anyone can be attacked at anyplace, at anytime."
"That's crazy!" Asuna exclaimed.
"Yeah," Liz put in. "So you're saying that I could be crafting away and someone could just come by, attack me and swipe my stuff?"
"Essentially yes." Agent Nishiyama confirmed. "Though there is a bounty system in place to punish players that engage in such actions, skilled pvpers use it as a test to take on multiple people all trying to track them down and kill them for the reward."
"Yikes." Was all Liz could manage in response.
"The other cities are all large quest hubs a well, Dunwitch, Kingsport, and Ipswitch. The spheres you see on the side are other worlds that your party can be transported to in order to combat the various horrors that lurk there. There is also a level scaling system implemented in the game that for the most part allows anyone to go almost anywhere right out of the gate."
"What's this zone?" Kirito asked, pointing to a partially shaded city.
"That would be my lead." Agent Nishiyama revealed. "Innsmouth is the only area that has yet to be explored fully as only a handful of players have made it there."
"How's that?" Klein asked "Is there some super secret way to get there?"
"No, everyone knows how to get there, but they are being stopped." The images of the maps faded away and were replaced by a blurry image of a figure in a black cloak wielding a wicked looking scythe. The player tag over the avatar simply read Reaper.
"This player, though some believe he is actually an overpowered NPC made to look like a player, has killed nearly every player that has tried to make it to Innsmouth. There are videos online of him that some guilds have taken where the Reaper wipes out an entire raid group without loosing more than half his HP."
Everyone was on their feet at that comment shouting various forms of "that's insane" or "no way."
"But some people have got past him?" Kirito finally realized aloud.
"Yes, though it has only been a handful of players and each by using the same strategy. The majority of their guild would sacrifice themselves, distracting the Reaper long enough for a few of their players to sneak into Innsmouth. Both of the Anathme Blades as well as my roommate had managed to make it into Innsmouth in the game."
Agent Nishiyama let that sink in for a moment before continuing. "I don't know if the Reaper is responsible or it's just a coincidence, but the only connection we have right now is Innsmouth, so our first priority is finding a way to, at the very least, get past the Reaper."
"Well, we're not going to get anywhere our here." Klein stated. "Let's get in there and see what kind of world we're up against."
"Please, this way." Agent Shirai said, gesturing to a nearby door.
She led them out the door and around the corner into the room in the opposite side of the window. This one had six pods in it and according to what Agent Nishiyama had said, there was another one just like it down the hall.
Agent Shirai spent a few minutes going over some safety procedures and hooking them all up to some non-invasive monitoring equipment before the six of them climbed into their pods.
"I'll be waiting for you all in the Arkham town square." Agent Nishiyama said. "The tutorial doesn't take long, so we should all be there in about fifteen minutes."
They all settled into their respective monitoring pods and said the words. "Link start."
Kirito opened his eyes to see the character creation screen set out before him. There were three options given: customize avatar, random avatar, and personal avatar. Kirito tapped lightly on personal avatar and his body took on a form very similar to that of his in the real world. Then he selected the duellist class for a drop down that appeared next to him. A moment later, the blank space around him shifted, as he loaded into the main game.
The building he stood in looked a little worse for wear, but not unkempt. It actually reminded him a little of the Kendo dojos he'd attended when he was younger. Before him stood a slender but well built NPC with short grey hair and a handlebar moustache. Above his head floated the name Goro, Duelist Trainer.
"Today, your training comes to an end." He said in a gruff but official tone. "I wish to see your skills one last time, then I shall officially declare you a graduate of this academy."
A small window appeared in Kirito's field of view. Accept Quest Tutorial? Followed by a yes and no option.
He knew how to fight well enough, still every game had it's own quirks and the more information that he had about this one the better. Quickly, he tapped the yes icon.
"Excellent." Goro said. "Then we shall review the three basic sword skills, you shall no doubt learn more as you develop your own style however."
Sword Skills? Kirito thought. Could this game actually have sword skills as well? He withdrew a worn rapier that had appeared at his side and faced down the trainer.
"Please, proceed and demonstrate a basic lunge."
A small notation script appeared in Kirito's vision. It read: Place one foot in front of the other in a sideways stance and point your sword at your target. When Kirito obeyed, the tip of his sword glowed for a moment, then when he stepped into the attack, he shot forward like a cannon towards the trainer.
With a quick flash of his own sword, the trainer turned aside Kirito's strike and sent him stumbling across the room. Barely able to remain on his feet, Kirito turned back to face him.
He looked down to his weapon, then back up to the trainer. What he had done felt similar to a sword skill... very similar in fact; yet it wasn't quite the same. For one there was no flash of light that came with the initiation of a sword skill, and there was something else bothering him too, he just couldn't put his finger on exactly what it was.
"Next is the parry, as I just demonstrated." the instructor said. "When I lunge at you, turn my attack aside."
Another tooltip appeared for Kitiro. When an enemy attacks you, sweep your sword in front of you to turn the attack aside.
A few seconds later the trainer lunged at him and Kirito batted the attack away on reflex.
"Well done," the trainer acknowledged, quickly readying himself. "Last is the Riposte. Parry my attack again, but this time strike back with a lunge afterwards."
Kirito performed the move with ease and his first Quest Complete notification of this new game popped up.
"As you learn more, never forget that these three moves are the foundation upon which your other techniques are built. I have nothing more to teach you now, but I would pass along one more bit of information." The trainer sat down on a small training bench and motioned for Kirito to join him.
With a few quick strides and an impatient thump, he sat next to the tutorial trainer.
"There is more out there that you can comprehend, and I don't mean in regards to technique. If I simply told you, you would not believe me; yet your skill is great enough that I believe I can show you." He regarded Kirito with a serious and calculated glare. "There is a small island that you can see from the town docks, go and investigate it as soon as you are able, you will see the truth of why I truly took you on as a pupil."
Another quest icon popped up. Investigate the Unvisited Isle. Kirito tapped confirm and a rueful smile appeared on the trainers face.
"Keep your blade close," he warned. "You can never be certain what lurks just beyond your sight."
"Thank you." Kirito said with a slight bow; though it was more out of habit than a belief that this trainer's code was advanced enough to truly appreciate the gesture.
He departed the small training gym and found himself in a dour town square. The sky was overcast and all the buildings around him had the same well maintained, yet somehow dilapidated look about them.
The most distinguishing set of buildings by far raised up in the distance beyond a sign hanging above a large gate. Kirito could barely make out the words Miskatonic University on it.
In the centre of the square where he now stood was a large fountain with several benches around it. On one of them sat Asuna, Argo, Sinon, and Agent Nishiyama all wearing muted attire that matched this drab new world.
"What took you so long Ki-boy?" Argo asked "Asuna got here a full minute before you."
"I didn't realize that it was a race." Kirito admitted.
"Well it's a good thing, or else you'd realize that I kicked your butt." Asuna stated with a sly smirk.
Kirito stopped to think for a moment. He'd gone through all the short events rather quickly, maybe someone could have picked up a few seconds here or there, but a minute? Even if he had been trying he doubted he could have cleared the training mode so fast.
Asuna's couldn't help but widen her smirk as she saw the puzzlement fill her boyfriend's face.
"Okay you got me," He finally said. "How'd you do it?"
"Hmm... not telling." she replied.
"For real?" he asked "You're just going to leave that hanging? Did you just skip the whole training because you're so comfortable with a rapier already and you figured you'd be fine without it?"
"Warmer."
Asuna couldn't help but giggle at the frustrated look on her boyfriend's face. "Come on, it's not like I can lord gaming knowledge over you very often, let me have my moment."
Kirito took a seat beside her. "Yeah, but I always tell you after." he grumbled.
"Oh fine. If you riposte during the parry lesson, he skips to the end and gives you a slightly better starting weapon. Happy now?"
"Oh... that makes sense." Kirito replied. "It's like a little boost for players rolling an alt."
"Ahem." Liz cleared her throat just behind them. "I hate to interrupt your weird banter, but everyone's here now."
Sure enough, Klein and Liz had joined the group without either of them noticing. Kirito noted with a barely suppressed smirk that Klein's starting weapon was a large baseball bat of all things.
"Let's get this underway then." Agent Nishiyama said as he sent party invites to everyone. "We should pick a nearby quest to get your feet wet. What's everyone got?"
Nishiyama broke out a map of the town and everyone checked where their respective starting quests were located.
"Looks like mine's the closest." Liz noted. She pulled up her quest screen and clicked the share icon.
Kirito tapped the accept icon and read the message that followed: Recently, some of the students in the astronomy wing of the University's science building have been acting odd. They have been running the machines all night and excluding all others from witnessing their work. Recently a student who tired to sneak in was badly beaten before being tossed out. Please investigate the situation and determine the cause of this strange behaviour.
Below the text was listed a small cash reward and a low level piece of gear, basically what you'd expect from any beginner quest.
"Well we better get moving then." Asuna said and headed off towards their first quest.
The short walk to the University already had Kirito wondering if this drab overcast aesthetic was just because of the game's weather system, or if it was a permanent feature he would have to adapt to.
As Liz led them through the campus grounds, he also couldn't help but wonder if the dozens of large multi-story buildings around them were fully accessible. He wasn't sure exactly how big Arkham actually was yet, but after some quick math and educated guesswork, he figure that ETO could easily have a much larger map than Aincrad had.
They soon arrived at a central building listed simply as "Administration" and entered through a pair of large glass double doors. An elderly receptionist with eye wear that looked more like magnifying glasses than anything else sat at a desk nearby with a quest marker over he head. Her character nameplate simply read "University Receptionist", but she was wearing a name tag that said "Hello, my name is Ruth."
Liz stepped up to the desk since it was her quest. "Hello uhh... Ruth?" she said.
"Yes that's me," she replied in a warm grandmotherly voice. "What can I do for you young lady?"
After the NPC spoke, her nameplate changed to "Ruth, University Receptionist".
"Professor Brighton asked us to look into the issues in the Astronomy department."
"Oh, nasty business that," Ruth replied. "I'm not sure what's come over those students. After what they did to poor Karl, I honestly expected the police."
Sinon quickly pushed past Kirito to stand next to Liz and flashed Ruth a gleaming police badge. "Due to the rash of disturbances in Arkham recently, we've deputized some of the local citizenry to assist us. I am currently training this bunch."
"Well I suppose that makes sense." Ruth said after a few moments, then fished a key out of one of her many drawers. "Take the stairs over there to the top floor and it's the third door on your right."
Asuna spoke up the moment she was sure that they were out of ear shot. "That was pretty neat, how did you know you could do that?"
"It's my a class' unique ability," Sinon replied. "So long as I don't go overboard, which was not explained in detail, I can use my authority to get the locals to help out."
"That sounds sweet," Klein exclaimed. "But what makes it unique though? I thought all the classes were different here."
"There are to a point," Agent Nishiyama clarified. "You see, many of the abilities in ETO are cross class, you can be a researcher that's great with a sword or an officer that can do magic; your class is more of a guideline on what might suit you best. That being said, there are a few abilities that can only be used by certain classes, and a good chuck of them are unlockable."
"You could have mentioned that earlier." Kirito stated.
"There are so many little nuances to this game, if I'd spent all night going over them, we never would have had a chance to dive. Tonight I hit you with he cliff notes and practical experience. We can go over the minutia later."
No one else seemed to be taking any issue with Agent Nishiyama's explanation, but Kirito was still uneasy. Perhaps with everything that had happened between Heathclief and Kikuoka, he simply didn't trust authority figures anymore. At least he hoped that was all it was.
They soon reached the top floor and Klein took the lead followed closely by Kirito and Asuna, then the rest of the team. The hallway they found themselves in was dim, with a few remaining lights flickering inconstantly. There were a few closed doors to their left, but none of the right. At the end of the hall was a small square area with a large window. In the corner, braced up against it was a figure, half slumped onto the floor.
Kirito and Klein approached cautiously, their weapons drawn, but it it only took a second for Asuna to push past them to check on the stranger. Kirito stayed on her heals, eyes never leaving the form on the ground while Klein swept across to the adjacent corridor, ready for an ambush.
"All clear." Klein called over his shoulder.
The NPC slumped on the floor was simply listed as Injured Man. He looked to be in his early twenties with matted brown hair and a dark blue turtleneck. A grimace of pain splayed across his face as he sat there clutching his side.
"Are you okay?" Asuna asked, kneeling down next to his slumped form.
The injured man's hazy eyes cleared slightly at the sound of he voice. "Please," he begged, "you have to stop them, they've all gone insane!"
"What happened?" Kirito asked.
"Start from the beginning." Asuna prompted.
"My name is Karl Stribe, I'm studying astronomy... or I was." As he spoke those words, just like the lady downstairs, his nameplate changed to Karl Stribe, Student."
"I had just left during a break between semesters to visit my folks in Oregon. Our teacher, Mr. Hawke, called me up saying that they had found something amazing and that I should get back to the campus right away."
"Unfortunately... or perhaps fortunately in hindsight, I had familial commitments that I couldn't get out of, so I had to wait. When I returned last week they beat me up and kicked me out of the lab for no reason. I tried to sneak back in to get my stuff tonight but... they were more rough this time around."
Karl looked up at Asuna and Kirito with pleading eyes, while wincing through he pain. "I don't know what they found, but something's changed them. Please you have to stop them, I know it sounds crazy, but they aren't the people I used to know and they're doing something terrible in there, I can feel it."
The party turned down the hallway looking towards a sign hanging over one of the doors that ready "Astronomy Labs". Calmly the rest of the party drew their weapons and prepared for their first fight in ETO.
"Okay," Asuna said, stepping to the forefront. "Klein, Kirito, and I will go in first. Argo, Sinon, provide support where needed. Liz, keep Agent Nishiyama covered."
"Right!" they all replied in unison.
"I'll get the door." Argo said, keeling down in front to get the lock to head height. After a few moments of fiddling with a hairpin there was a soft click and she was able to softly turn the handle. Quietly, leaving the door slightly ajar, she stepped back into the middle of the group.
Klein took the lead. He instinctively raised his baseball bat and sighed, longing for the feel of a trusty katana in his hands once again, before gently pushing the door open and stepping into the room. Asuna and Kirito followed close behind, but spread out as best as they could. The others quietly slid in after them.
The room was long and rectangular with computers lining the walls and charts of the night sky scattered about tables in the middle. Otherwise it was dark and betrayed no sign of the astronomers, save for a light shining from a door to another room.
"Surround the door," Asuna ordered. "Then we'll funnel them through and hit them from all sides."
She and Kirito each took one side of the door and Klein stood ready in the middle. Sinon quickly settled into a spot with a good line of fire and reasonable cover while everyone else searched for a good location.
As she was looking for a good spot, Liz noticed a closed door that everyone else had bypassed. "Hey, do you think there might be something in here?" she asked quietly as she reached for the handle.
"Liz wait!" Kirito shouted on reflex.
Either by Kirito's shout, or Liz's touching of the handle, all Hell suddenly broke loose.
The door in front of Liz shot open hitting her in the face and laid her out across the floor of the lab. Her HP dropped a little and her status bar flashed with a dazed icon.
A pained scream echoed out of the closet and an NPC burst from it wielding a firefighter's axe. The icon above his head simply read Maniac. They all reacted instantly, Klein a step ahead of Kirito and Asuna, and Sinon already drawing down on the attacker.
Then the main door burst open and several Crazed Astronomer's charged through wielding knives, and various other sharp objects.
Kirito caught a piece of one, causing the attacker to stumble and Sinon finished it off with a few well placed shots, but four more made it past and launched a counter-attack. They blew past Kirito and Asuna at the door before heading for the others in the room. Instantly the lab turned into a giant brawl.
Two of the crazed attackers rushed Sinon in unison. She backpedalled as she unloaded into the one on the left, bringing the attacker down, but her magazine ran dry as she backed into a wall.
Just as the remaining NPC was about to strike, Argo burst from the shadows. She buried twin daggers into the assailant's torso and rode him to the ground on the force of her momentum. As the NPC hit the floor, it's HP hit zero and it went limp beneath Argo's weight.
Meanwhile, the other two attackers had rushed for Liz's prone form and Klien's now exposed back.
Agent Nishiyama rose to their defence, holding up some strange icon and muttering something in a language no on recognized. Instantly, one of the attackers faltered, stumbled, and crashed to the floor flailing about with violent convulsions. In a few moments, the NPC seemed to age a century, becoming a withered shell of it's former self and useless in the fight.
Klein was still locked in combat with the maniac, he had used his bat to lock the axe under the blade and was grappling with the maniac for the weapon. The last assailant brought his dagger within inches of striking before her froze. The NPC looked down to see the tip of a rapier had pierced his heart from behind and protruded out through his chest.
"Never turn your back on the enemy." Asuna said as she slid her rapier out of her foe. The NPC's health hit zero a moment later and it slumped to the floor like it's compatriots.
The Maniac finally pulled his weapon free and Klein was forced to backpedal quickly to avoid another of the NPC'S sweeping strikes. The weapon just missing both him and the nearby Asuna before burning itself deep into a mahogany desk.
With a quick strike, Klein connected the bat to the maniac's head. A sickening crunch echoed through the room and the NPC dropped lifeless to the floor.
The entire fight had lasted ten seconds at most, but it left them all shaken and stunned.
"That was... faster than usual." Asuna finally commented as she helped Liz to her feet. "Though I suppose these are low level mobs."
"Not exactly," Agent Nishiyama replied. "In ETO health is low and damage is high. If you're not careful, you can go down just as quickly as they did."
"I'm sorry," Liz said "I should have been more careful."
"We also missed the door," Klein noted. "That guy might have just jumped out at us mid fight if we hadn't done it like this."
A slight smile slowly found it's way to Liz's face. "Thanks," she said.
Kirito, who was still guarding the door in case more enemies tried to break in quickly ushered everyone over. It had swung shut in the commotion, but he could still hear a sound coming from the other side. It was slight, but it sounded like something was being snapped over and over again.
As everyone gathered closer by, Kirito readied his sword and quietly pushed the door open. Before him was a small study with several overturned chairs on a drab carpet. An oak desk dominated the center of the room and behind it rested hundreds of books upon several shelves.
At the desk sat a lone figure in a drab lab coat. His eyes could not be seen for they stared straight down, but his hair was horribly disheveled and greying in several strange patches. His hands extended like claws, digging into the table with terrible strength. As he pulled them back towards himself, bits of desk, nail, and blood mingled to a chorus of light snaps.
"I tired to stop them... at first," the figure who's nameplate read Astronomy Professor mumbled.
Cautiously, Kirito and the others entered the room, all trying to keep their eyes on the man's hidden face instead of what he was doing with his hands. As the snapping sound caused Kirito to think of it again, his sanity meter dipped slightly.
"It just... gets inside your head." the man continued. "The terrible thirst for knowledge... and the need to do anything to keep it."
"Please stop," Asuna begged. "We're here to help you, tell us what did this to you and we can put an end to it."
The man trembled in his seat as a particularly large chunk of nail broke off of his index finger and spooled more blood onto the table. "It's not just what's here, it's the whispers from beyond the starts; every fibre of my being screams at me to obey."
He looked up just enough for them to see his crazed eyes and crooked, broken smile. "But the pain you see, the pain can keep them at bay for just a little while; a few moments where I can be some semblance of myself again.
"Even so... I can hear the whispers returning... they are getting so loud now. They want me to protect the knowledge they have found... they want me to stop you." The man took a deep ragged breath. "But I won't!"
With a blur of motion rivalling the speed of Asuna herself, the NPC drew a concealed pistol, stuck it to his temple, and pulled the trigger. A quick spurt of blood and bone ejected from the opposite end of his head, and the Professor slumped onto the table in a heap.
Asuna, Liz, and Klein flinched, looking away just before the shot. Kirito, Sinon, and Argo winced, but did not turn. Their sanity bars dipped a little more.
Liz gasped urgently for air, but she couldn't seem to get enough. "Why... the hell... would someone... make this." she stammered through ragged gasps.
Asuna wrapped here in her arms gently, a single tear rolling down here own face.
"It's okay," Agent Nishiyama said. "This is just a game, it's not real; keep reminding yourself that and the shock will quickly pass."
"Spoken like someone who's never had to live in one!" Asuna snapped back. "These might just be NPC's to you, but to us... some of them have been as real as flesh and blood."
Agent Nishiyama seemed taken aback for a moment by the outburst, but he quickly recovered. "I'm just saying, we don't know yet how the players minds are being affected. It's possible that becoming too invested in the NPC's and their world could make it easier for you to become a target."
"Yeah well, deal with it!"
Asuna couldn't help but think of some of the NPC's in Aincrad; ones that felt were just as real to her as Kirito was. The thought of Kizmel, or God forbid Yui, going through something like that poor old professor had sent shivers down her spine.
Klein gently rested his hand on Liz's shoulder. "Hey," he said. "We made it through Aincrad, not just for ourselves, but for everyone else trapped in there. People are dying here too, I know it's hard, but if we balk at this, who's going to help them?"
"I know... I know." Liz replied slowly, her breathing finally returning to normal. "It's just, I'm a blacksmith, I never did the front-line combat thing that you were all so famous for. I'd never seen anyone die before, even in Aincrad. I knew about it sure, had customers... even friends who never came back... but I never saw it in front of me like that."
"At least in my experience, it's best to keep moving forward. Put one foot in front of the other, and it makes things a little easier to bare." Kirito put in. "To that effect, the next door is locked."
"Key's here." Argo said lifting from around the dead professors neck and tossing it to Kirito. She took a quick moment to secure his pistol and check for anything else valuable. Argo was nothing if not pragmatic.
"Whatever caused this madness is up ahead, stay focused everyone." Kirito said as he readied the key.
"I'd say whoever caused this madness was behind a computer screen." Liz mumbled, but got ready with the rest of the party anyway.
Quietly as he could manage, Kirito pushed the door open.
What awaited them was a large room with a domed roof. In the centre sat a massive telescope with it's lens pointed firmly at the ceiling. What drew everyone's attention however, was not this room itself, but the strange creature that was perched halfway up the telescope.
Kirito couldn't put the macabre creature he saw before him into easy words, but if he'd been hard pressed to try, he would have said it looked like a giant fungus trying to burst out of a crustacean's shell. Despite that, there was a clear indication of insectoid features as well, between it's buzzing wings and strange head, if it could even be called that. At first he thought it was just a jumbled mess, but looking closer revealed hundreds of small antennae that were stretching out in every direction all formed around a convoluted ellipsoid shape. The nameplate over the creature simply read Mi-Go.
"Yuck" Was all Liz could say upon seeing this strange creature.
It turned it's antennaed head towards the group and emitted a sound so sharp and shrill that it nearly drove the party to their knees. As most of them covered their ears to try to block it out, their sanity meters slowly started to drop. The only sound that barely cut through the curdling screech was Sinon discharging her pistol at the monster.
The Mi-Go leaped from the telescope to escape the gunfire, and spread it's bug wings wide, circling the room. Now focused on avoiding bullets, the shrill sound it was emitting mostly died down.
"Spread out!" Kirito shouted over the noise. "Try to get an angle on it!"
Quickly, he made for the telescope in the center of the room, hoping to use it's height to his advantage. Without taking his eyes off the circling Mi-Go, Kirito ran up the incline of the massive telescope and leaped at the creature.
The monster's multi-directional vision saw the attack coming though and quickly adjusted it's trajectory to avoid the strike. However, it noticed almost too late, that Asuna had also leaped towards it form the opposite side. Despite the pincer attack, it still managed to contort itself to a point where the attack that would have cut through one of its wings, instead bounce harmlessly off its chitinous exoskeleton.
As soon as Asuna and Kirito were clear, Sinon unloaded the remainder of her magazine on the Mi-Go. It evaded most of the shots, but one struck true with a small splash of ichor. It did little to deter the creature however, as it quickly turned on a dive for the remaining members of the party.
Klein rushed to block it's path and took the full force of the creature's attack head on. He blocked one of the monter's grasping claws with his bat, but the other ripped into his side making a solid chunk of his health disappear in an instant.
Argo leaped at the creature from behind, daggers ready to cripple it, but one of it's back legs lashed out and knocked her aside.
Kirito and Asuna were now almost upon the creature as well, ready to add their strength to the brawl. Sensing it was being surrounded, the Mi-Go quickly took off into the air and was out of their reach once more.
"Damn it!" Klein cursed. "No matter what angle we come at it from, it can always see us coming."
"If only we had some way to blind it" Asuna remarked.
"Oh that's it!" Liz exclaimed. "I've got this, let it get close to me."
"You sure about this?" Klein asked.
"Positive, I'll be fine."
Liz ran out of the clustered group as soon as Sinon finished loading up her next clip. "Over here you big gross bug thing!" she shouted.
The Mi-Go quickly took notice of the lone player separated from it's pack and dove in for an attack.
Liz circled the room quickly with the Mi-Go in tow, looping back around to the group. Just as the creature was about to pull up, Liz pulled a massive flashlight out of her pack and shone it right into what passed for the Mi-Go's eyes.
The creature spasmed in mid air and released an ear piercing wail of pain that caused everyone's sanity bars to drop a little. The Mi-Go crashed to the ground, but it's forward momentum carried it onward like a wrecking ball. Not able to outrun it, Liz quickly dove to the side and out of the way.
The monster was still shrieking and spasming when Asuna and Kirito plunged their blades into the gaps in it's chitinous exoskeleton. After a few moments, the Mi-Go finally went silent and stopped moving for good.
Liz sat on the floor groaning with her head in her lap. She was still suffering the worst from the Mi-Go's scream from being so close when she blinded it.
"That was pretty gutsy using yourself as bait." Sinon said. "Where did you get that giant flashlight anyway."
"I figured that since this was my starting quest, I should have something that could help." Liz tried to stand up but stumbled and grabbed onto Sinon for support. "Why is everything all fuzzy?" she asked.
"What's your sanity level?" Agent Nishiyama inquired.
"Uhh, fifty-eight percent." she replied after a quick check.
"Once you get below sixty percent, it starts effecting how the game translates data to your brain, it's to simulate your character's fraying sanity. The blurry vision is the first symptom, but as your sanity drops lower, the game will affect you in other ways too."
"Another thing you neglected to mention." Kirito pointed out.
"Like I said, there are thousands of features in this game, it would take days to go over them all. I wanted to see how well you could all handle new situations and you've all done fairly well." Agent Nishiyama turned to regard the while group. "Clearly we still need to refine your skills in ETO, but the quests scale in difficulty to the number of players, so this was still no easy task. We should call it quits for this evening so you can all get some rest; we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."
Before logging off for the night, they turned in Liz's quest and she was rewarded with her first spell, Sight from Beyond. It allowed her to project an astral form to anywhere she could see and gain vision of the area.
The party grouped back up in the main square by the fountain as a place to start their journey from the next day. Then the familiar rushing sensation of logging out and they were back in the physical world.
Kirito opened his eyes and slowly slid out of his pod. Everyone else was still re-orienting themselves when agent Shirai walked in.
"How did everything go?" she asked.
"Well enough." Kirito reported. He looked over at the others who were also getting out of their pods. "But we do still have a long way to go to adapt to a game this different."
"If you'll follow me, it is quite late and I would be happy to drive you all home."
Slowly, the group gathered up all there things and filed back into the car. They spoke little on the ride home, each contemplating that beating the world itself was going to be difficult enough, but knowing that there was a malicious force obscured behind it all struck a deep cord of fear into each of them.
Agent Nishiyama was still in the office pouring over some files when Agent Shirai returned.
"Dai, it's two in the morning, go home." she said while fighting back a yawn herself.
"Just making sure that everything is ready for tomorrow."
"Do you really think they can handle this?" she asked.
"Without a doubt."
"It just feels... wrong, not telling them everything I mean."
Agent Nishiyama finally looked up at his partner. "They'll find out on their own soon enough."
"Except by then it will be too late... they should have the choice to opt out now."
"I doubt they would... certainly Kirigaya wouldn't."
"Then why the half truths?" Shirai pressed.
"Precaution only... simply put, like it or not, we can't do this alone. Besides, right now it's only a theory, I could be way off base."
"I don't think you are."
Agent Nishiyama sighed. "Neither do I, but we have no solid proof that this Reaper character is at all affiliated with Laughing Coffin. It certainly fits their MO, couple that with the real world death and it all lines up... but it's still all circumstantial."
"It's not an easy call."
"No, but it's made. Now you should follow your own advice and get some sleep."
At the thought of rest, a second yawn escaped Shirai's lips.
"All right," she agreed. "But I'll be taking the cot in the back, if I still hear you clattering around by the time I'm turning my lights off, I'm going to come back in here and kick your ass."
"Yes ma'am,"
"Goodnight."
"Goodnight."
Hey everyone, sorry this chapter took me so long to get out. Between the re-writes and a bunch of life stuff, it's been a long time coming. Hopefully it was all worth it and you enjoyed actually getting to see a bit of action and horror this time around.
Next chapter is going through a lot of re-writes too. When I do my stories, I try to keep them fully within the established cannon. I haven't yet finished War of The Underworld yet, but it's given me a few ideas for things I could do here later; however I'm trying to be vague about them in case they are clarified later in the series that I haven't got to yet.
I'm not going to promise a release date for the next chapter, because I really have no clue, just know that this story is always, at the very least, in the back of my mind somewhere and I will get it out eventually.
Thanks so much for reading, I'll see you all next time!
- Tawnis