Arc 1; Ep 3: The Treasure Hunter
-February 20, 2023 Floor 17-
Two months later and now we are reaching up to the 20's. We have gotten really far in only a few months. Right at this point I decided to take a rest after the last boss raid since we fought with everything we got, and now there is a guild called the Aincraid Liberation Force. Worst thing is that Kiboau, the guy who has a hate over the Beta-Testers is part of that guild, I swear that guy is gonna be getting so many killed if they just force they're way onward through the Floors. At this point I decided to rest and later explore other spots that could be good to get some levels, and it would be when I meet her.
-Crossing Fields Opening-
In the town of Floor 17 Sakore returned from a Boss raid clearing Floor 20, now reaching Floor 21. His current equipment is a dark blue cloak, a white shirt, black and silver pants and boots, his current sword is a metallic sword with some decent amount of stats. He enters the hotel he rented a room from and was about to go upstairs.
"Well hello, looks like you've been busy." a female voice spoke behind him and he looks to see a girl he met from the previous floors who wears a brown cloak and has lines like whiskers on her cheeks
"Oh Argo, didn't expect to see you." He says walking to the table she is at
"Well I thought I might ask something from you that might interest you." she tells him
"What? You have something interesting you found? I know you are good at getting info, since you are an Info Broker." He says curious
"Well I don't know much about it, but there have been rumors of a special dungeon on Floor 18 that gives a special item, possibly either equipment or an item. I told this to a girl who might be interested, but I'm kinda worried I might have put her in danger for going to a higher floor." Argo explains to him
"Why not ask Kirito or Asuna to do this?" Sakore asks her
"I'm sure they would like to, however they are currently busy with looking for the next Boss for the Assault Team. So I had only you to choose from." She explains "I'm sure she'll go to the dungeon by morning cause the dungeon only stays opening in daylight."
"I never heard of a dungeon that opens during a certain time of day. Although there are games where you have to activate quests like that. So when would you like me to head out for tomorrow?" Sakore asks her
"Hmm I think in the morning, if you can, maybe you'll take on the dungeon together. It is said there is a treasure but no one has even found it at all." Argo tells him which makes him really curious
"Maybe there is a secret hidden path that hasn't been found yet. Or there is a puzzle inside that needs to be solved." Sakore suggests
"I'd tell you, however the person who told me this has not found any secret whatsoever. Maybe you can find something that they couldn't, also if you find the girl she will want to find the treasure so bring her along ok?" Argo tells him and he sighs
"Alright, by tomorrow I'll go and search for this dungeon on the 18th Floor." Sakore tells her
"Thanks Sakore-kun, if you find anything else please let me know." Argo tells him and gives the location of where the dungeon entrance is on Floor 18. "You know you are one of the first people who respect us Beta-Testers even though with what people talk about us."
"I'm not really that kind of person. Not everyone deserves to be blamed from something they never didn't, and I have gotten far thanks to Kirito's teachings." Sakore says
"I'll tell him you said that. Anyway, see you later." Argo says and heads outside the hotel and Sakore goes up to his room and gets some rest for tomorrow.
-February 21, 2023 Floor 18 Fields-
Once morning rose Sakore already heads onward to the field area outside of town and looking for that special dungeon Argo talked about.
"She said that she told someone about this also, I wonder who it is…" Sakore got his answer when he sees a girl defending herself against monsters. He could see in the distance that she might have fought them for a short while. "I better help her quickly before more of them arrive." He draws his sword and goes towards where the girl is taking on the two beast monsters. She had gotten the monsters down a small bit of HP but her struggle only got her to barely Yellow.
"No, I gotta keep going. I want to find the secrets of that dungeon…" the girl says holding her dagger weapon as one of the beasts was going to attack and she was ready, however the monsters burst. Sakore was the one to finish them off and she wasn't expecting someone else to be here also. "What do you want?" she takes stance about to fight him
"Whoa! Chill please, I'm not here to harm you… I just thought you might need some help." Sakore tells her, she has dandelion short hair with blue eyes, wearing a blue jacket, with a blue and brown shirt underneath, blue and black skirt (This isn't her original outfit in HF, but lower gear. She will get her new gear when the 70s have been reached.) "Are you looking for that special dungeon Argo told you about?"
"You know Argo?" she asks and puts her weapon away as does Sakore
"Yea, she told me that she told someone about the dungeon and was worried she might have put them in danger because of a higher floor." Sakore explains to her
"Yea she told me, course I was only looking to see if there was any treasure inside." She tells him
"I see, well maybe I can help you out. It would be easier with another person along." Sakore tells her which she thinks about it for a moment
"Yeah you do have a point, I'm not really much of a fighter. I'm Philia, by the way." She tells him
"Sakore, let's party together and explore this dungeon." he says and sends an invite to party together and she accepts the invitation and her HP bar appears under his HP bar as she drinks a potion to restore her HP. "alright, let's go and see this special dungeon and find anything that was missed." the two move forward to a mountain a short distance away
"He doesn't seem like a bad person, although he does seem interested about that special dungeon." Philia thought to herself as they reach the dungeon entrance "This is the one, each person only said there was a small amount of monsters and nothing else, however with me working on my treasure hunting abilities I think I should be able to detect traps of any kind."
"That is something special to you. In other ways, people are special in their own ways." Sakore tells her as they encounter some small monsters "A girl who likes the excitement of opening treasure chests and what it contains." they slay the monsters and take a tunnel deep in the dungeon
"You aren't just trying to get me to be swayed by your comments are you?" She asks him and he blushes
"N-No! I am only just admiring your determination of seeking something special in them!" He tells her slightly embarrassed
"Hehe, I'm only teasing you." Philia tells him giggling cutely "You get embarrassed easily." Sakore looked away not wanting to show his expression. The two continue looking around the place until they get a large room area
"Is this the end of it? I guess the info Argo was told about was true… but there has to be something we are missing…" Sakore says looking around and Philia feels the walls for possibly a way to trigger a secret path, but she couldn't find anything
"Maybe this is a dead end… was there another path near the entrance?" Philia asks
"I don't think I saw one… though I don't know how there could be nothing in this dungeon. I guess we go back and tell Argo we still couldn't find anything." Sakore says "We have been here for a long while lets head back before-" when he took his next step a spot opens up below them and they fall down and Sakore grabs Philia quickly and they land with Sakore on the bottom who gave Philia a soft landing "ow…"
"Sakore! Are you alright!?" She asks him concerned seeing his HP dropped to Yellow and getting off him
"I'm good… though I wasn't expecting the floor to open below us…" He tells her groaning from the long fall they had
"I couldn't detect it… maybe my searching skill wasn't high enough to detect it, I'm sorry…" Philia apologizes to him
"Don't be, although it looks like we won't be getting out now… though I don't think there was a hole in the ceiling before from where we were." Sakore says looking up above and noticing a hole and Philia looks to see it also
"Strange, I wonder why though…" Philia says curiously
"For now it looks like we'll have to wait here until then." Sakore tells her and sets a campfire for them to stay warm. He gets two potions from his pockets giving one to Philia and he drinks the other to restore his HP back to full. Philia looks at him. "this doesn't seem to be an area where monsters spawn so it'll be good to rest."
As the duo rest by the campfire from above it started to get dark and it was becoming colder so Philia made an assumption to sit next to Sakore for warmth and he didn't mind at all. Philia secretly admired Sakore for being there for someone in need, and having him help her out with something wasn't what she expected.
"Hey… how do you feel about this? Being stuck inside a dungeon along with a girl?" She asks him
" Well… honestly I'm unsure what to say about that. As long we stay alive, I'll make sure we'll get out of this place alive." Sakore tells her and while it is dark suddenly around them on the walls symbols glow around them
"Huh? what in the heck?" Philia asks confused "Wait a moment... are these the constellations of the…"
"The 12 Zodiac… all around the wall of this whole room… and there seems to be panels below them… could this be a secret of this dungeon?" Sakore asks standing up
"Do you think we have to press them in a certain order?" Philia asks and Sakore touches the panel under Capricorn however the constellation turned red and a monster appeared in the center and Sakore quickly disposed of it quickly.
"That didn't work… Capricorn starts in the first month… or… maybe it is…" He goes over and presses the panel under Gemini and it turns green this time. "it's the order of when they are revealed by month at night in the sky. So we press in this order…" they press the panels until all of them light up green and in the center stairs formed to a lower level "Could we have found it?!"
"Yay treasure here we come!" Philia says excitedly to find some treasure and they go down the stairs and get to an area where above them, they see the ceiling shows the stars and up ahead was a knight wielding a 2-handed sword.
"You have found the secrets of the Astral chambers. Face me, Stellar the Knight of the Stars, to claim your first reward!" the knight said and lifted his sword as three Health bars appear
"Eh?! We have to fight a boss?!" Philia asks as Sakore pulls his sword out
"We might have to, and I believe we just found the real secret to this dungeon." Sakore tells her and he charges in and clashes blades with the knight and Philia came to the side and struck quickly getting out of the way and Sakore moving back from a heavy swing attack. Sakore then starts with a sword skill and rebounds the knight "Philia switch!" giving her the opening her dagger glows doing a stab causing the 1st HP bar to go down to the center and the knight was about to turn and attack her, but Sakore goes in doing a sword skill causing the HP droppage to the second bar.
"That was close!" Philia says and Sakore clashes with the knight and he strikes again.
"This guy is pretty tough!" Sakore says dodging another swing attack
"We can do this, I might not be much of a fighter." Philia says
"No worries, I'll take him head on and you strike." Sakore tells her and he goes in dodging a horizontal swing and strikes diagonally then rebounds the sword for Philia to strike, but this time she gets struck back causing her HP to drop greatly "Philia! That's it, you are done for!" Sakore charges a sword skill and strikes doing a heavy amount of damage and continues until finally he gets the HP down all the way causing the knight to burst into pieces. "Philia! Are you alright?" He asks and gets a potion out for her and has her drink it
"Y-yeah, I just… I didn't react fast enough to dodge." She tells him after finishing up the potion
"You have done well in the trial of the Stars warriors, now as promised the gift of the Stars." The voice spoke up and both were given an item acquired menu listing two items -Greaves of the Stars- and -Medallion of the Stars-
"Is that really it?" Philia asks slightly disappointed
"Seek the knights of the Moon and Sun, for only then the true warriors of the Astral and receive greater rewards." The voice ended
"Oh, so this isn't over?" Sakore asks and both of them get a quest acceptance screen -Knights of the Astral world- "so that makes sense, this is a quest line."
"So there might be more to come? Then we will have to search more for the last two knights." Philia says now excited again "and they must lead to a great treasure that is soon to come!"
"Let's return to Argo, she might want to hear about this." Sakore tells her as a hidden staircase opens to the outside once again and they get to town and explain to Argo about what they have done.
"I see, so there was a hidden path that need to be shown when it was night time, then it led to one of these Astral Knights. Defeating the knight of the Stars must have only caused the quest to start since it wouldn't be out in the open." Argo says understanding what she was told
"If I am right, then possibly the other two knights might be up in the higher floors. Looks like the Assault team will have to clear more floors until we find another dungeon that leads to the other Astral Knights." Sakore suggests
"Seems to be that way, oh and speaking of them they are about to start having the 21st Floor boss meeting, might wanna hurry and get into it before you miss it." Argo tells him
"Already?! Well I better hurry and get myself ready!" Sakore says
"Your part of the Assault team?" Philia asks
"Oh yea, I haven't really mentioned it since we were exploring and such." Sakore says
"Thanks for the info, I'll make sure to let you both know if I find anything about the Astral Knights." Argo tells them and leaves
"I better get going also, it was nice exploring with you Philia." Sakore says and notices she has a sad look on her "what? Is something bothering you?"
"Sakore… since you are part of the Assault team… please return safely." She tells him and he was surprised to hear her say that
"I will, have no worries. I'll be sure to let you know I'm alright." He tells her which gave her some comfort and smiled, the next thing she did really surprised him. Giving a kiss on his cheek.
"Alright, then once you finish up just go ahead and message me!" She tells him and runs off "see you later!" He placed a hand where she kissed him and blushed deeply
"Never would I ever expect myself to get kissed on the cheek by a girl…" he said in his thoughts and smiled slightly "I will survive for everyone's sake and for those I meet." He heads to the teleport gate now going to Floor 21 for the boss meeting
There you have it, Sakore and Philia discovered something in a special dungeon and also seem to learn there is more to this story. Also I am gonna do Lost Song and HR for this story to make it completely different, those will be after the Old ALO Arc, Strea will be very later in the story. For other female characters that were in the games I am unsure if they should be into Sakore, with Yuuki I am seriously going to have things change big time, I am not gonna spoil anything with her but you all will be happy I would do this (she is my most favorite SAO girl in the anime). What will happen for the Assault team later? Find out later!
Next Time; Knight's Oath