Okay, here's the next chapter, which is - once again - a bit longer than anticipated, but the next chapters should be shorter. Well, coming from me, that doesn't mean much, though...
Anyway, the title of this chapter also fits one of the central aspects of the upcoming sub-arc, which will also feature a conflict that has been teased for a while now.
This chapter will include some elements that are taken directly from the game, while some parts are original. More on that at the end of the chapter.
I'd like to mention beforehand that this chapter will include several references to the GeoCrawler on the 56th floor. People who've watched the anime might remember a scene in season one in which Asuna wants to use NPCs as bait against a field boss and Kirito objects. That's the scene I'm referring to. However, there's a bit more to that story. You might check SAO Wikia for more information. That's the source I'm using, so if you know everything that's stated there, you should be able to understand the references.
Disclaimer: I don't own Sword Art Online Re:Hollow Fragment or Sword Art Online in general.
As the rest of January 2025 passed by, the Assault Team cleared the 82nd floor. The battle against the floor boss was the easiest they had fought in a while, especially since the DDA had made a "grand return".
It had come with some… side effects, of course. The self-proclaimed "rival" of the KoB had declared that they're back, stronger than ever now that all their reserves were able to stand their ground on the upper floors. Thirsting for glory, the guild had announced that they'd play an even bigger role in clearing the rest of the game from now on.
Well, and there was Alberich. This mysterious player had popped up seemingly out of nowhere. Now he and the few "followers" he had applied to join the Assault Team. In the end, Asuna had rejected their application and advised them to turn to Akinym for training. She had told them that she would reconsider her decision if they acquired the necessary skill to fight on the frontlines.
As if all this commotion wasn't enough, the Assault Team ran into an… unexpected obstacle. Or rather an expected one which just proved harder than usual.
The Assault Team had made its way through the 83rd floor just fine, and they were only missing one piece of intel on the boss. Argo had determined that they'd get it from a quest that required them to hunt a powerful monster in a forest on the 83rd floor.
This monster, however, was a bit too powerful. By now, it was already mid-February, and they had spent almost two weeks trying to figure out how to defeat it. They hadn't faced such a problem since the GeoCrawler on the 56th floor.
Kirito thought about all these problems while strolling through the streets of Arc Sophia.
At some point during that stroll, he ended up at the teleport gate. To take his mind off the issue for a moment – taking a break from his thoughts, so to speak – he took a look at the few players around the plaza.
When he did that, he spotted Akinym and one of his trainee groups, who had just returned from an exercise on a different floor. Kirito's mind wandered a little and arrived at the situation of his friends, namely Silica, Lisbeth, Leafa and Sinon, in the end.
Kirito had noticed that all of them had become much stronger, not just in terms of levels and stats, but also in terms of technique. He had to acknowledge that Akinym's training had helped them a lot. For instance, they had fought all kinds of monsters and had learnt how to handle different kinds of battle situations.
In addition to the general lessons they had taken, Akinym had also worked on their individual progress. Kirito had heard stories about that from the girls.
There was Sinon, of course. Apparently, she and Akinym had settled their dispute for good after what had happened in the labyrinth on the 81st floor. Now they were working on Sinon's skills productively again. For instance, he had helped her with a multi-floor quest chain that allowed her to craft special archery equipment. So far, she had already got special gloves and a chest protector for archers.
As for Silica, Akinym had taught her how to use her Acrobatics skill most effectively. Furthermore, he always tried to find new "functions" of Pina, especially when it came to using the familiar as a distraction or for drawing aggro, and he was on the lookout for familiar-related quests and items. For instance, Akinym had discovered a certain kind of fruit that could raise a familiar's Affection parameter.
Akinym had also helped Leafa to find a few katana Sword Skills that might suit her style, and he had told her how she might take the starting stances with fluent, natural movements that wouldn't affect her kendo techniques too much. In addition, he had helped her choosing support skills. For example, Leafa had decided to use Trap Dismantling since not many people among their group had that skill although it could be a lifesaver. Kirito had seen her practice with this weird practice item that Akinym had told him about once, and she went to the Trap Dismantling training dungeon on the 76th floor with Akinym regularly.
Furthermore, Akinym had brought a ton of materials, which could be used to craft all kinds of equipment, from his training sessions to Lisbeth for crafting practice. To be fair, the pieces of equipment were mostly junk, and Akinym had told Lisbeth just to dump them at the Antique Shop, but it had still helped her to improve her smithing skills again. Kirito knew very well that Lisbeth had a certain pride as a smith, and crafting subpar equipment for customers was against her principles, so this arrangement was almost like a lifesaver.
Kirito had tried to help his friends in similar ways, but he had to admit that Akinym had made much more progress – for understandable reasons, to be fair. It still pained Kirito to some extent that it was that way, but there was just no helping it, so he had to accept it.
Kirito didn't really use any of the skills Silica had, so he could only give her advice on general stuff. He had tried to help Leafa with her style. In fact, Leafa had even turned to him for advice because he also knew a few things about kendo, but Kirito had to admit that his style was mostly derived from his experience in SAO, not from kendo training years ago. And Lisbeth… Well, he brought his equipment to her for repairs and upgrades, and she had forged a sword for him to replace the corrupted Dark Repulser, but there wasn't that much Kirito could do to help her. He simply didn't have the time to gather all kinds of materials for her, although they had recently come across a special smithing-related quest that might help.
There were, however, certain issues – just as Kirito had feared. Akinym's stunt when he had put Sinon's life at risk for the sake of teaching her a lesson – no matter how vital said lesson was – was still on Kirito's mind, and it wasn't the only incident.
A week ago, Akinym had tested the girls' progress by giving them tasks they had struggled with before in order to see if they were doing better by now. For instance, he had taken them to the tree with the special ore and all the wasp monsters in the forest on the 76th floor. This time, the girls had managed to defeat a lot of these monsters without noteworthy problems, and they had got some rare ore out of it, too.
The actually worrying incident had happened when they had gone to the trap training dungeon afterwards. At first, this had mainly been a test for Leafa and her progress with the Trap Dismantling skill, which was actually coming along nicely. At first, they had been doing just fine.
Then, however, they had run straight into a particularly nasty alarm trap, which had summoned an insane amount of monsters. Leafa couldn't have even reached the control mechanism of the trap, and she and Sinon had been cornered before long. Silica and Lisbeth had tried to open an escape route for them, but they had only got into trouble as well.
At that point, Akinym, who had been near the control mechanism from the very beginning, had disabled the trap and saved them. So far, so good, but after that, he had scolded Silica and Lisbeth for trying to safe Leafa and Sinon even though there had obviously been too many foes for them to handle. The girls had objected, of course, and Akinym had even accepted that to some extent, but that was all: to some extent.
As it had turned out, Akinym had set this up as a trial to see if the girls had had it in them to leave comrades behind if there was nothing they could do anymore.
When they had entered that specific room, they had not just triggered the trap, they had also activated a quest that would allow to raise the Trap Dismantling skill if they could disable the trap. This trap, however, was a bit special since the system provided a safety net. The area directly around the walls was a safe zone, and the trap would be automatically disabled after five minutes.
If Silica and Lisbeth had retreated, Akinym would've told Leafa and Sinon to go to the wall, so they would've been safe. Furthermore, he had made sure that he had been near the control mechanism to disable the trap himself if necessary. It had been a simple trap, and with his Trap Dismantling skill, which he had raised quite high again already, disabling it hadn't been a problem.
That was not the point, though. Kirito had been pretty upset ever since he had heard about this incident. Akinym had put the lives of his friends at risk again for the sake of his – in Kirito's opinion – questionable lessons.
Kirito could somewhat understand why Akinym wanted the girls to think that it was better to sacrifice people rather than to try and save them even if there was, objectively speaking, no chance to succeed. As Akinym had phrased it: There is no point in trying to save lives if only even more people will die in the process.
Nevertheless, Kirito couldn't agree with this mindset, at least not completely, and he was against actively telling other players to think this way. Not to mention that some of the girls, especially Leafa, hadn't taken that "lesson" very well.
Once again, Kirito wasn't sure what he should think about Akinym's teaching methods… or his lessons in general.
Kirito wrapped up that thought process. Rather than racking his brain over this question, there was something else he was wondering. It was about Alberich.
Asuna had recommended that Alberich and his underlings would consult Akinym and become his students, too. Kirito wondered if Alberich had actually accepted that proposal. If so, there was something he had to discuss with Akinym.
Recently, he had seen Alberich and some of the players around him harassing players, female players in particular. Kirito was sure that Akinym wouldn't approve of such behaviour, no matter what he thought of him as a person in general. Regardless, Akinym should know about this incident and do something about it.
Kirito walked up to Akinym, who bid his students goodbye for today.
Kirito [seriously]: Hey, Akinym, do you have a moment? There's something I wanna talk about.
Akinym [slightly surprised]: Kirito-san? Well, I don't have anything to do right now, so I guess it's okay. What is it?
Kirito: It's about a player: Alberich.
Akinym [slightly contemplatively]: Alberich… Hm… Ah, right, it's this guy who has come to the upper floors recently, isn't it? I think Asuna-san asked me to talk to him about potential training.
Kirito [slightly surprised]: Huh? You mean you haven't?
Akinym [flatly]: He's never showed up. My training is completely voluntarily. If he has no interest, that's his decision.
Well, that was that. Now Kirito basically had nothing left to talk about. Akinym, however, was a bit curious.
Akinym: Is there something I should know about him? Or why did you wanna talk about him?
Kirito: Well, it's just that he's recently started causing trouble. There are reports of some of his guild members trying to force themselves on female players.
Akinym [surprised]: Seriously? W-well, I guess the anti-harassment code should've taken care of that?
Kirito [slightly worriedly]: Well, that's the point. For some reason, it was malfunctioning. We've tested it, and the anti-harassment system seemed to work overall, but it doesn't seem to work on them specifically.
Akinym [at a loss]: Well, that's… weird.
Akinym tried to think of anything that might cause that… which wasn't easy given that he knew hardly anything about how exactly the system worked. He had talked with Yui about Cardinal and SAO's system in general a few times after finding out that she was an AI. However, what he had learnt didn't exactly make him an expert on the IT aspect of Aincrad.
Kirito: It is. This guy is strange anyway. He has some really high-class equipment, but his combat skills are just… half-baked! Makes you wonder where he got those items from…
Akinym: I see. Hm, could it be that he hacked the system to get it? I know it shouldn't be possible under normal circumstances, but judging from what Yui has told me, the system should be quite unstable at the moment, and maybe the security is affected as well? If this guy knows a lot about hacking and IT, and he came across a system console like the one you've found on the first floor, it might be possible that he gained limited access to the system. Not enough to log players out, but enough to generate high stats and gear, and maybe to mess with the anti-harassment code. That way, he could manage all that without actually being a good player.
Kirito thought about Akinym's theory for a moment. He had to admit that it seemed possible. It would explain pretty much everything about Alberich, especially how he could become so strong status-wise in such a short amount of time. That didn't necessarily make the theory correct, though.
Kirito's biggest concern was if it was even possible to hack SAO's system, even if he somehow gained access to a system console, which, by the way, was extremely difficult as well. Kirito had experienced himself that these consoles aren't just standing at every street corner, and they are guarded heavily.
Was it possible to hack SAO from within? Well, Kirito had never thought that way. The authorities in the real world had certainly tried that, and the fact that SAO was still going was proof enough that it obviously wasn't that easy. Kayaba had certainly taken good countermeasures against that.
Nevertheless, it could be possible to some extent. There was obviously something wrong with the system at the moment. The only question was if this also applied to Cardinal's security.
Kirito [slightly dejectedly]: I don't know. I guess we'll never know. [slightly worriedly] For now, we just have to make sure that Alberich doesn't cause trouble. He's pretty much stuck here with us now… and we're stuck with him.
Kirito looked at Akinym with an uneasy expression. He couldn't really believe what he was about to ask, but he figured it was for the best.
Kirito: That said, look after your students when it comes to him! I've already told them, but if he or one of his comrades goes after Leafa or Silica, Liz or Sinon, I'd rather have someone there to help them, and I can't watch out for them at all times.
Akinym: Hm, I see. [calmly] Well, I would do that anyway, so… or rather I'll do it for a short while.
Kirito: Huh?
Akinym: Their training is almost over. There is only so much I can teach them. I'm currently testing how successful my lessons were, and if I figure that my students are ready, there will be only one final exercise: a simulated raid. After that, their training is complete. They'll probably need more practice, and they'll have to level up some more, but they should be able to join the Assault Team soon.
Kirito [slightly happily]: Heh? That's good to hear! We could use the extra manpower, [exasperatedly, slightly dejectedly] especially if clearing the remaining floor keeps going like this…
Akinym [slightly confused]: "Like this"? Is there a major problem I should know of? [slightly contemplatively] I mean, I've heard that there's a problem on the current floor, but I had no chance to learn the details yet.
Kirito thought about it for a moment. There shouldn't be any problem with telling Akinym about the intel quest boss on the 83rd floor, right?
Kirito: Well, we have problems with gathering intel on the boss. You know that there are specific quests for that, don't you? The last one on this floor requires us to kill this treant monster, Arboreal Fear. [exasperatedly] It's just… That monster deals so much damage, it's insane.
Kirito continued to explain the circumstances. The party which had been sent to defeat Arboreal Fear hadn't thought much of it, and when they engaged it in battle, they were caught completely off-guard by its offensive capabilities.
The tank of the party had barely managed to parry the first few blows, and when Arboreal Fear had launched an exceedingly strong attack, it had taken away half of the player's HP. The assault had been thrown in disarray quickly, and two players of the party had almost died before the party had retreated in the end.
Apparently, Arboreal Fear had impressive offensive abilities, but no noteworthy defense. No special buffs, resistances or any special defense mechanisms, not even very high HP. If a party could attack it properly, they should be able to bring the monster down without major issues. Defending against counterattacks was the problem.
To make things worse, Arboreal Fear used the Critical Defense Aggro system, meaning that attacking its weak point, its trunk, would draw its aggro, so damage dealers couldn't attack the optimal spot without risking a fatal counterattack.
In the end, that seemed to be the point of Critical Defense Aggro: It made attacking a powerful monster efficiently much harder since balancing offense and defense became more important. The Assault team had observed the mechanic during boss battles on the upper floors.
Kirito: Anyway, that's the situation. We have to find a way to distract or weaken that monster, or we can't do anything. The Assault Team is searching for a quest that might give us a clue, but we haven't found anything so far.
Kirito thought about their recent plans. There really wasn't anything promising so far.
For instance, Klein had suggested a "revival" of the "Grand Meaty Meat Plan". Lisbeth had smacked him on the back and called him an idiot. Upon hearing the result of the original Grand Meaty Meat Plan, Sinon had called him crazy, and when she had realised that Kirito had actually considered Klein's idea, she had called him a crazy idiot. That was the end of that story.
Meanwhile, Akinym also thought about the situation for a moment.
Akinym: Hm, is it certain that the monster can't be defeated without casualties? Because it sounds as if we're supposed to sacrifice players to defeat it…
Kirito's expression turned grim and concerned.
Kirito: Why? Are you suggesting we do that? Using players as bait?
Akinym [calmly]: Actually not. [slightly suspiciously] Although I'm wondering what would happen if it turned out to be necessary.
Kirito [slightly sternly]: We're not gonna abandon our comrades! That's not how the Assault Team works. If nothing else, I won't let anyone die like that!
Akinym: I see… So, just for the records, [slightly sternly] what exactly will happen if there's no other way?
Kirito: There is one. This game is designed to guarantee fairness. We've faced difficult challenges, but there has always been a way to beat them. That's how SAO works.
Akinym thought about that for a moment.
Akinym: You have a point. There should be a way. [mutters] I'll have to think about this…
This was pretty much the end of the conversation. They bid each other goodbye briefly and went their separate ways.
The next day, Kirito went to the castle in Arc Sophia. It was mostly used for conferences or strategy meetings. Asuna was meeting the leaders of the reckon teams, and Kirito was on the way to pick her up.
Well, he was also curious as to what the other players had found. Sure, he wanted to solve this problem and continue clearing the remaining floors. He had made good progress in the Hollow Area since clearing the 83rd floor had come to a standstill, but he wanted to get back to clearing the game.
When Kirito walked through the corridors of the castle, he couldn't help but wonder why this building was so huge if there were only a few noteworthy rooms. A large part of the building consisted of panorama terraces and such.
The most important room was the large conference hall. When Kirito entered, most of the reckon teams had already left again. Asuna was still there, though.
Asuna was currently talking with Max, who had basically become Asuna's right-hand man in the guild after what had happened on the 75th floor. He had also taken over as the leader of KoB's elite squad after Godfree had… well, died. Max commanded KoB's forces in the field or in boss battles while Asuna was working with Kirito or commanding the Assault Team raid parties.
Kirito walked up to them.
Kirito: Hey, Asuna! And… [insecurely] Um, Maki-san?
Max was around twenty years old, and not very physically impressive, but he constantly made a calm, commanding impression. On top of that, he was a KoB hardliner who was so loyal that Kirito usually didn't know how to approach him. He tried to avoid him, and this… didn't exactly make remembering Max' name easier.
To be fair, he was the kind of person KoB needed to keep everyone in line at times like this, although his attitude often made Asuna feel pretty awkward.
Max [crosses arms, sternly]: It's Max, Kirito-kun. Since you are still a KoB member yourself, not just the vice-commander's partner, you should pay a bit more attention to your comrades in the guild.
Kirito: Um… Yeah, s-sure. I… I will!
Max sighed, he wasn't convinced. Asuna just smiled awkwardly upon witnessing the small exchange.
Asuna: A-anyway, it's nice to see you, Kirito-kun. Did you want to know what the reckon teams discovered?
Kirito: Um, yeah, that's one thing.
Max: Well, unfortunately, nobody found anything promising. Fuurinkazan tried a few less popular quests, but they came across nothing. The other squads couldn't find anything at all.
Asuna [dejectedly]: Yes, it's… concerning. We will continue the search, but… We've searched almost everywhere on this floor, but nothing.
Kirito: Hey, don't give up! We'll find something eventually. Just think of the intel quest on the first floor! We spent more than a month there, and nobody came across that quest in time. Okay, we were less organised back then, but it shows that sometimes, information is hard to get.
Kirito paused for a moment and thought about a conversation on the previous day.
Kirito [slightly determinedly]: But we'll do it!
Asuna [slightly worriedly]: Thank you, Kirito-kun, but is something on your mind? You just… looked like it.
Kirito [slightly defensively]: W-what? No, I… [chuckles, flatly] I guess there's no hiding it from you, is there, Asuna? [slightly reassuringly] It's nothing, though. I just wondered what Akinym would do. He said he'd "think about it", and I'm not sure where this will lead.
Max suddenly raised an eyebrow and swayed slightly.
Kirito [slightly surprised]: Um, what's the matter, Max?
Max: It's just… Akinym, that's the instructor we've invited, isn't it? What is he called again? The Hollow Instructor? The second KoB party ran into him when they returned to Dolva. He was with a full party. The odd thing that caught our members' attention was that half of the… individuals were, in fact, NPCs.
Asuna [slightly contemplatively]: You mean NPCs for an escort quest? I mean, couldn't it be just part of his work?
Well, it was possible, and Kirito considered it for a moment. There was, however, something that didn't sit right with him about this. It took a moment, but it suddenly hit him what it was.
Kirito: Um, yes, but… Wait a moment, is there even an escort quest with multiple NPCs?! I mean, he wouldn't just accept multiple escort quests at once, would he? That would be harder than doing them separately.
Asuna: Um, I… I don't know, we would have to ask Argo-san, but is it really that important?
Kirito [worriedly]: It's just a feeling, but I doubt that Akinym went to the eighty-third floor for training. If anything, would he even bring his students to the highest floor? He's always been so strict when it comes to caution, so I don't think he'd do that. [contemplatively] So why did he come to the eighty-third…
Kirito's expression suddenly became much more concerned.
Kirito: Oh no, he wouldn't… Max, do you know where they went?
Max [slightly at a loss]: Um, no. Our team didn't follow them or anything. They came here right away.
Asuna [worriedly]: Kirito-kun, what's on your mind? You're suspicious of something, aren't you?
Kirito: I have a really bad suspicion, yeah. We… We have to hurry!
Kirito, Asuna and a few KoB members who were at the meeting ran through the forest on the 83rd floor. They headed towards a certain area west of Dolva, the main city on this floor.
They had to take out a few monsters on the way, but it wasn't much of a challenge for all the elite players in their party. It didn't take them long to arrive at their destination: the dwelling place of Arboreal Fear.
When they arrived, however, the dreaded monster was nowhere to be seen. There were only Akinym and three players. Akinym turned towards the arriving players, and he seemed to be surprised to see them.
Kirito took a thorough look around. According to the KoB members who had seen Akinym and his party leave Dolva, there had been seven people in total, so three of them were missing. Even when he used his Searching skill, Kirito couldn't find any trace of them.
He turned towards Akinym angrily.
Kirito: You bastard, what did you do?!
Akinym [slightly annoyed]: I fail to understand the question. Asuna-san, could you please explain what exactly is going on here?
Kirito: That's what I wanna know! You just killed three people, and you don't even feel bad about it, do you?!
Akinym looked at Kirito with a slightly bemused expression. Kirito was about to rush up to Akinym, and Asuna had to hold him back.
Akinym: Asuna-san?
Asuna [slightly sternly]: Akinym-san, did you fight the field boss Arboreal Fear here?
Akinym: Ah… I see what this is about now. [slightly sternly] To answer your question, Kirito-san, [sternly] I did within an hour what the whole Assault Team couldn't do within two weeks!
Kirito: And people had to…
Akinym [interrupting]: Without casualties!
Kirito, Asuna and the KoB members looked around the area quizzically. There were definitely only Akinym and three other players, who, by the way, were quite confused at this point.
Player 1: I don't get it. We… Wasn't all this planned?
Player 2: Yeah, why are you guys so surprised?
Asuna: Um… Wait a moment! Akinym-san, what… What exactly did you do? I mean, I heard you've come here with six other people. Where are the other three?
Akinym: People… Hm, I wouldn't say that. We had three NPCs with us. They were used to distract the foe. They were all killed, [slightly reassuringly] but all players survived, so there's nothing to be concerned about.
Kirito: Nothing to be concerned about?! You just used the NPCs as bait!
Akinym [dryly]: Precisely. So? [slightly exasperatedly] I don't even get your point. You were worried about sacrificing players, and I'm willing to agree that this should be avoided, so I was sacrificing NPCs instead. Their quests will be unavailable for a little bit until they respawn, but that's a tiny price to pay for gathering the last piece of intel the Assault Team needs.
Kirito: The NPCs are inhabitants of this world as well! There are people here who care about them! What about them, about their feelings for this world and its people?!
Akinym [slightly annoyed]: Inhabitants of this world?! Are you out of your mind? Why in the world are you treating NPCs like actual people?
Kirito: Because to a lot of people here, people who live in this world, they are just as real as any player. We can't sacrifice them like pawns! That's hardly better than sacrificing players, and I doubt that anyone who is willing to take that step wouldn't take the next one and sacrifice humans, too.
Akinym [annoyed]: Hmpf, what a ridiculous argument! That is obviously not the case! If you want to draw a line, draw it where it belongs, not a mile before that point! Only those lacking mental discipline would push the line further and further as they please.
There was a very unpleasant silence for a moment as the heated argument between Akinym and Kirito came to a momentary standstill, but it was obvious that this "battle" would continue.
Asuna [worriedly]: Akinym-san, is this really how you feel about NPCs? I know there are players who don't treat them as real people, at least not completely, but judging from how you seemed to view Yui-chan… Do you really think that the inhabitants of this world like Yui actually aren't people?
Akinym [slightly sternly]: Yui is an exception! She is a sentient being with a will of her own, and she proved that by going against the system's commands. [sternly] That, however, doesn't apply to mindless, programmed machines who only exist to provide services or quests. These NPCs are merely tools, and they should be treated as such. [slightly confused] I'm actually surprised that you don't seem to be happy about this. We've just solved a problem that has kept the Assault Team busy for a while. Isn't that just like back on the fifty-sixth floor? I mean, I've even applied an idea you have had.
Asuna's eyes widened in shock. Could he be speaking about…?
Asuna: Y-you mean… Against the GeoCrawler?
Akinym [slightly excitedly]: Exactly! You've suggested to use NPCs as bait, just as I did! [slightly upset] Too bad that someone ruined that plan!
A brief moment of silence followed. Nobody dared to speak… or rather, nobody knew what to say for a moment.
Asuna looked down during that moment. She had to gather her thoughts. When she was ready, she lifted her head again and looked at Akinym with a determined expression.
Asuna [calmly]: I… I am glad that this happened!
Akinym [confused]: W-what?!
Asuna: Back then, I viewed this world differently. To me, it was merely my prison. When the plan to use NPC villagers as bait was thwarted, I was frustrated, but on the same day, I discovered a different way to defeat the GeoCrawler, one that didn't require us to sacrifice NPCs. I'm sure that there was a way here as well, we only would've had to look for it!
Akinym: And how long would that have taken? Another two weeks, perhaps?! [determinedly] Asuna-san, you shouldn't be ashamed of your strategy against that field boss! [slightly excitedly] It was a brilliant idea! You've looked past all the "inhabitants of this world" nonsense and subjective ethical concerns and made a logical decision for the sake of all players! [slightly upset] Even that change of plan against the GeoCrawler cost one day! That's one day we could've been closer to clearing this game!
Asuna [worriedly]: Is this what this is about, Akinym-san? That you want to return to the real world as fast as possible? I understand that, and it was my driving force for a long time, but please believe me when I say this: I'm glad that I've changed in that regard! I used to think that every day – every minute – in this game was a part of my life that was lost, [happily] but once I've learnt to accept this world as just another reality, a great burden was lifted from my shoulders.
Asuna took a look at Akinym to see his reaction, but she was surprised to see that he seemed confused, almost shocked.
Akinym: Asuna-san, do you seriously think that this is what… [calmly] No, wait, that's not important now! More importantly...
Akinym's expression became rather grim and suspicious. He glanced over at Kirito.
Akinym: The person you've "learnt" that from… Was that him?
Asuna: Yes, it was thanks to Kirito-kun that I could see that.
Akinym: I see…
Another pause followed. The atmosphere was clearly tense. Neither Akinym's students nor the lower-ranking KoB members dared to speak up.
Well, Max did, though. He had the feeling that this conversation could become… quite ugly, so he wanted to direct it to a different territory.
Max: Akinym-san, may I ask a question? How exactly did you defeat this boss? It wouldn't go down that easily, especially since you didn't have many strong damage dealers here. Even if you use NPCs as bait, they would go down before you could kill such a monster with ordinary means.
Now that Max mentioned it, Kirito also wondered what could be behind that.
Kirito figured that Akinym had used escort NPCs as bait since monsters prioritised them as targets to make escort quests more difficult. Usually, it was difficult to draw their aggro to prevent the monsters from attacking the NPCs. In order to compensate that to some extent, escort NPCs usually had a lot of HP. These mechanics made them perfect bait.
Nevertheless, there were still problems. Arboreal Fear used Critical Defense Aggro, which meant that it would attack the players instead of the NPCs if it sustained critical hits, and with its insanely high Attack, it was probably able to kill the NPCs too fast for Akinym, who didn't have high DPS, and three of his somewhat underleveled students to kill it with less effective attacks.
This raised the question what Akinym had done about it, and he was about to answer. For that purpose, he searched for a particular item, and when he found it, he converted it into an object, which materialised in his right hand.
It was a rather small jar. Kirito took a closer look at the label on it, and he was shocked to see the symbol for poison on it. Asuna and the other KoB members reacted in a similar manner.
Akinym: We used this: paralysis poison. [points at his students behind him] Two of these players have weapons that allow to add a temporary paralysis effect using this item. While Arboreal Fear was distracted killing the NPCs, we attacked its non-critical areas with the poisoned weapons. Fortunately, the paralysis kicked in by the time it had killed the last NPC. If we hadn't had luck, or if this field boss had actually been immune to paralysis, we would've had to retreat, but this way, we could safely attack its weak point.
Neither Kirito nor Asuna and her KoB guild mates said something right away.
Player 1: Seriously, what's with all the surprise here? I thought this was the Assault Team's idea!
Kirito [points at the poison jar, slightly shakily and angrily]: The Assault Team would never use that! Why do you even have it?! [angrily] Do you have any idea how many people player killers have killed while using that stuff?!
Akinym [annoyed]: I don't, and why does it even matter? Are you going to pretend that it's the fault of the item and not the people who did that?
Kirito: That's not the point! Poison is almost like a trademark of player killers, and the Assault Team has banned its use!
Incidentally, this unspoken rule, which had basically been a silent agreement for a while, had been established in order to make sure that no "aspiring" player killers could hide among the Assault Team – among other reasons. Poison or skills for making poison were not allowed so that nobody would have to fear that one of their supposed allies would secretly plan to kill them.
Akinym [shocked]: What?! [upset] What kind of nonsensical rule is that? "Trademark of player killers"?! [points at the jar in his hand] This can be used against monsters just as well as against players, and it's just another useful tool!
Kirito: It doesn't matter! It's still a weapon of player killers, and if we use it just because it's convenient, we're just one step closer to them. The answer should be clear: We'll beat this game without that!
Akinym [exasperatedly]: One step closer to them… Why don't you try to use arguments for once?! Ugh, forget it! [calmly] We've cleared this quest, so let's get back to town to get the information.
Kirito [very upset]: Hey, we're not done here! This is not about "arguments" or "rational decisions", this is about keeping our integrity! There are things that just shouldn't be, even if there is no "logic" behind that.
Yet another pause followed. Akinym didn't reply right away. Instead, he began to rub his temples.
During that pause, Kirito thought about something he had considered ever since they had talked about Sinon's stunt in the labyrinth on the 81st floor. Maybe it was about time...
Kirito [determinedly]: How about we try a different solution for this? One that could settle this no matter how much we disagree?
Akinym [very exasperatedly]: And what would that be? [annoyed] More irrationality?
Kirito: A duel.
...and this chapter is done.
Some things that I've taken directly from the games are Dolva or Arboreal Fear. Arboreal Fear even is the NM you have to kill for boss intel in HF on the 83rd floor.
The exact mechanics of Arboreal Fear in this chapter, however, are made up for the story.
By the way, Max actually isn't an OC. He's one of the KoB players in HF. I've just... expanded his role. He'll appear at some points in the future, but he's not going to be extremely important.
Well, Alberich finally "appeared", even if he's just been mentioned so far. On a related note, I'll change the order or certain events in the story to some extent. For instance, Alberich & Co. actually begin their harassment on a higher floor as far as I know. Well, I'll take some leeway with that. To be fair, it's not that important, and you might not even notice it if I don't mention it.
I have no idea if stuff like the Critical Defense Aggro I've introduced in this chapter exists in canon. I've completely made that up. The same applies to the rule about paralysis poison, by the way.
Little Preview: Akinym and Kirito settle things with a duel... or maybe not. Asuna will have the final say in the matter.