Okay, here's part two of Akinym and Sinon's "adventure".

Obligatory remark about the length: It honestly turned out longer than expected. There were even a few parts that I had to cut short. Well, a battle against a dragon apparently takes up space.

Last time, Akinym and Sinon went on a quest to get Sinon a new Sword Skill. Two people that accompanied them played a double game, though, and a nasty trap caused even more trouble. Akinym took care of the issues on his end, so now it's Sinon turn.

Disclaimer: I don't own Sword Art Online Re:Hollow Fragment or Sword Art Online in general.

Sinon stared into the dark depths that had opened up below.

When Akinym had called out to her, she had wondered what this had been about. Had he discovered something about this room? Perhaps a trap? Sinon had the feeling that she had accidentally triggered a trap to cause this.

She hoped that the other three were okay, but a quick glance at the upper left corner of her vision revealed that they were fine. Apparently, they hadn't even lost HP. That was good…

Sinon wanted to ask them if everything was okay, just to be sure, but before she could shout anything at them, she was startled by the sound of a monster spawning. When she looked up, she looked in horror at the figure of a large dragon climbing up the pillar on the opposite side of the room before taking off into the air. Sinon let out a scared, surprised shriek.

Akinym [very worriedly]: Sinon-san, what's wrong?!

Sinon was startled by the voice coming from below. That had been Akinym, hadn't it? Frankly, she had been too distracted to get what he had said, but it didn't matter. Maybe he would know what to do.

Sinon: A boss! A boss has just appeared! A flying dragon!

The boss let out a loud roar, and two HP bars appeared above it. Sinon wondered if she could really take it on. It was just a small quest boss, but still…

However, what was she even supposed to do? The trap had got rid of her allies. She cursed her naivety. Was she really going to die here like that, pitted against a dragon? Some people would say that there were worse ways to go, and a while ago, she might've even agreed, but she didn't want to perish here. She wanted to live, yet… Could she?

Akinym [determinedly]: Alright, listen, Sinon-san! We'll get back to you, so you just have to hold out there until we're there! It shouldn't be too long. Got that?!

Akinym's words snapped Sinon out of her desperate, hopeless thoughts. The determination in his voice gave her a certain hope.

He was right, SAO was built around the principle of fairness, so she wouldn't be thrown into a hopeless battle. There had to be a way for her allies to get back, and she'd only have to hold out until then. She could do that much.

Sinon: O-okay! I… I'll fight back as hard as I can!

The floor reappeared and cut off her connection to her party members. It was okay, though. Sinon knew already that help was on the way, and that was all she needed to know for the time being.

Right now, the thing she should focus on was the boss in front of her. Sinon used her skill Arrow Generation to get an arrow, nocked it, aimed and fired. The battle had begun.

For a minute or two, Sinon shot arrows at the dragon quite haphazardly. The boss was easily as big as an elephant, probably a bit bigger, but it happened to be quite agile, especially in the air. Sinon had a hard timing hitting it at first.

In the end, Sinon had to restrain herself, reminding herself to keep calm. Sure, this was a difficult situation, but that was exactly why she had to keep her cool. She reminded herself of her training. The first thing to do in such a situation was to observe and analyse the movement patterns of the boss.

The boss flew in a figure-eight curve around the platform Sinon was standing on. It charged at her, struck at her with its claws while flying past her and turned around in a wide arc. Sinon realised quickly that the boss was the most vulnerable when it flew towards her. It moved around too much while turning, but it flew in a straight line when approaching her position.

Sinon decided to give it a try and generated some arrows for that. She had leveled up her Arrow Generation skill quite a bit by now, and it allowed her to generate up to four arrows at once. In situations like this, she liked to put them on the ground and pick them up one by one while shooting from a kneeling position.

That way, she could hit the boss several times. During the trial run, she used normal shots, but she decided to use the simple Sword Skill Single Shot to fire the last arrow for a little damage bonus.

After recovering from the short post-motion delay, she had to dodge the boss' attacks, though. That was easier said than done. There wasn't much space to move on the platform. She had to be extremely careful when jumping out of the way to avoid falling down.

So far, she had barely managed to avoid severe hits, but she had taken a few shallow hits. It could be a problem in the long run. The platform was still the best position to shoot at the dragon, though, so she couldn't really get down.

The boss snatched at Sinon with its right hind claw, and Sinon managed to dodge by a hair's breadth by leaping backwards. She almost slipped off the platform, and when the boss struck at her with its left front claw, she could merely try to keep her balance when it struck her shoulder before flying off.

Seeing that her HP bar had entered the yellow zone, Sinon decided to fetch a potion from her pouch. Now that she thought about it, the time while the boss was flying away and turning around again for the next attack was perfect for using healing items.

Looking at the items she had ready for quick access, she noticed her Teleport Crystal. Come to think of it, was this actually an anti-crystal area? The door didn't even seem to be sealed, especially if there should be a way for Akinym and the others to get back to her, so she wasn't supposed to be trapped here, was she?

However, Sinon brushed the thought of an easy way out aside. Even if she could use the Teleport Crystal, the quest would fail if she did. Failing and running away? If she did that here in SAO where she could face her fears with a bow in hand, what would that make her?

Besides, Akinym was already on his way. She decided to trust in the words of her instructor, who, regardless of his… quirks, had never raised false hopes.

She drank a potion to restore her health before beginning a cycle of waiting for the boss to get closer, shooting at it, dodging as well as possible and recovering.

She started her attacks with Sword Skills now. The post-motion delay wouldn't get in the way of dodging this way.

Sinon had no idea how long the fight actually took. She was too focused to even care about time.

After a while, the boss had lost half of its first HP bar. When it reached Sinon again after this, she dodge a strike from its claw and was almost surprised when the boss seemed to fly past her just like that. She thought that this had actually been too easy when she noticed that the boss was swinging its tail at her now.

It was too late to dodge the tail slam completely. The attack hit her arm and knocked her down. She almost rolled off the platform, but she managed to grab the edge of it in time. Sinon was literally hanging from the platform, but she was overall okay. She threw her bow back onto the platform before climbing up herself.

As odd as it may seem, this almost-accident had given her an idea. From now on, she "dodged" by jumping slightly over the edge of the platform on the opposite side and clinging to it until the boss flew past it before climbing up again. She felt a little bit silly doing this, but the boss couldn't really hit Sinon with the platform shielding her, and one of Akinym's lessons had been to be pragmatic and to use the environment in any way possible.

Sinon took a look at the HP bars of her party members to see how they were doing every once in a while. She started to wonder what was taking them so long. The HP bars were going up and down, so they appeared to be fighting. It seemed to be overall okay, although she noticed that Saburo's HP bar was quite low at the moment.

In the end, Sinon brushed these thoughts aside. She'd just keep fighting for as long as she had to. The fight was going well after all.

The only thing that irked her somewhat was the fact that she still hadn't figured out the boss' weak spot. She had hit the boss at multiple areas already, and none of them seemed to be particularly vulnerable. What else could she do?

While thinking about it, Sinon remembered another one of Akinym's lessons. Gather intel about your quests from all sources, including the lore. Yeah, he had mentioned that she should listen to the quest NPC's story when they had met him. As annoying and boring as it was, it was still Sinon's best source of information at this point. The NPC had talked about taking out a dragon, and this boss was probably modelled on this dragon.

Unfortunately, despite describing his shots to the point that he had mentioned the sounds the arrows had made when piercing the dragon's body, the NPC hadn't said anything about how effective his individual shots had been.

Sinon tried to think of something else to figure out what part of the story might give her a hint. She had been into reading for as long as she could remember, so she was experienced in literary analysis. So… What shot in the story stood out?

Well, the only thing she could think of was the final shot, the death blow. That was usually a big deal in all fight sequences she could think of at the moment. What had the NPC said where the final shot had hit the dragon? The eye? Sinon decided to give it (literally) a shot.

When the dragon turned again, she aimed at it, wondering how she should go about it. Unfortunately, her Sword Skills, while powerful, didn't really allow her to aim very well. To make sure she'd hit the dragon's head, she used Array Shot, which fired three arrows in quick succession, taking the shape of a triangle. That Sword Skill covered a relatively large area, so her chances of hitting the dragon's eyes were good as long as she waited for the right moment.

Two of the arrows hit the left eye, and the shots were indeed more effective. Sinon couldn't celebrate just yet because she had to dodge the dragon's counterattack, but once that was taken care of, a somewhat malicious-maniacal smile crept across her face. She actually started to enjoy this fight.

It was going so well that she wondered if she'd even need Akinym and the other two players. Sinon pictured their expressions when they'd storm into the hall, ready to fight, only to find her calmly sitting on the stairs of the platform, complaining what had taken them so long. She wasn't a bragger by any means, but she'd like the feeling of accomplishment she'd get from defeating this boss on her own.

Speaking of Akinym and the others… Seriously, what took them so long? They still seemed to fight. Another look at the HP bars revealed that Saburo had recovered his HP, but Typhon was almost dead now.

Well, regardless of what was happening down there, Sinon continued her own battle. The boss' first HP bar was almost depleted. Another strong attack should take care of that.

Sinon tried Triple Shot, a combo of three shots in succession in a single line. There was a damage bonus if two (or all) arrows hit the same spot on the target's body, meaning that the Sword Skill was especially effective if the target didn't move out of the way during the attack. If she used it while the boss was flying straight at her, Sinon would have a good chance of making good use of that bonus.

It was a bit of a pity that the shots didn't hit the eye but the neck, but it was still a good hit, and the first HP bar was gone. So far, so good.

Sinon was a bit startled when the boss suddenly stopped and began to hover, though. She was confused, but she figured that it would change its movement patterns now that half of its HP were gone. It was a bit of a hassle, but Sinon decided not to think too much about it.

She grabbed her last arrow and shot it at the boss before it would start its next attack. The arrow hit it in the chest. Sinon should've aimed at the head, but she couldn't know that.

After a few seconds, fire started to come out of the boss' mouth. It took Sinon a moment to register that this was really happening. Well, it was a dragon after all… It spat fire at Sinon, and the stream of fire was strong enough to engulf the entire platform.

Sinon was so shocked that she'd completely forgotten to dodge. She instinctively tried to shield herself with her arms, but that didn't help in this situation. Her HP were going down rapidly, and she was actually lucky that the attack stopped. When it did, her HP bar was in the red zone.

Out of reflex and panic, Sinon searched for a healing item. She had already used the items in her pouch, so she opened her inventory to fetch something from there. That took a bit longer, so she hastily took the first potion she came across. It was a relatively weak one, and it barely restored HP to the point that the bar was in the green zone again.

In the meantime, the boss flew in a circle, picking up pace again, before charging at her. Sinon had just finished the potion when the dragon basically popped up in front of her, at least from her perspective. She was actually a bit shocked that the fire breath had thrown her off track this much.

When the boss swung its right front claw at her, Sinon hardly managed to dodge. She almost tripped over the edge of the platform, barely managing to keep a fragile balance.

The dragon soared up and took a swing with its tail. Sinon was so occupied with balancing on the edge of the platform that she couldn't really move out of the way, so out of pure desperation, she tried to shield herself with her arms again. The tail slam knocked her off the platform, and her bow got flung away in the process.

Sinon flew a few metres through the air before crashing into the ground and rolling another metre or two across it. She tried to lift herself up again, but her body felt numb, and she felt extremely dizzy, so she collapsed to the ground again almost immediately.

A glance at the boss revealed that it was hovering slightly above the ground a few metres away. The boss raised its head, and a few sparks began to come out of its mouth. It was charging another fire breath. The cooldown of that attack was so short? How nasty…

Sinon looked at her HP bar dizzily. Given the damage from the tail slam and the fall, it was down in the red zone again. She doubted that she'd survive another attack.

It wasn't the first time that she faced certain death. She remembered what had happened in the labyrinth of the 81st floor. She had fought off numerous monsters, but in the end, she had been overwhelmed. When she had been surrounded, the monsters being too close to hit them effectively with her bow, she had thought it would be all over.

Back then, she had felt nothing but fear and despair. Now, she just felt… sorry.

She felt sorry for her family, her grandparents, her mother… God, who knew how her mother would react when they'd tell her about her death.

And there were the comrades she had found in this world. Asuna… Kirito… Lisbeth and the others…

She regretted deeply that it would end this way. She would've loved to call all of them her friends genuinely. While she was staring at the boss charging up its attack, Sinon apologised to each and every single one of them in her mind.

A flash shot through the air. That's how Sinon would've described it. When she had already given up, something suddenly struck the boss' head from the side. This disrupted the attack, and the dragon collapsed to the ground.

Sinon stared in awe and disbelief at her "saviour" as he landed on the ground. It was a rough landing, but still far more graceful than the boss' fall. The person who had saved her was – once more – Akinym.

It was odd. When Sinon had seen the boss prepare the death blow, she had remembered the exact events in the labyrinth on the 81st floor. Back then, just as she had thought she'd die there and had closed her eyes to not see it coming, she had heard some kind of clashing noise, and when she had opened her eyes again, she had seen that Akinym had appeared – seemingly out of nowhere – to block the attacks.

It had been as if she had blinked, and during that moment, she had been saved. She had never believed in something such as guardian angels before that moment. Too many bad things had happened to her for her to believe in such things, but looking back at that moment, she had wondered if they were a thing after all.

Regardless, she hadn't actually believed that this miracle would occur twice. This time, she had actually trusted in that "guardian angel" at the beginning, but when she had faced death in the end, she had lost that faith… only to stand corrected now.

In her despair, Sinon had missed how Akinym had burst in through the door only to take in the situation for a second and to decide to take measures immediately. In lack of time to think of an elaborate plan, Akinym had used the most straightforward approach, which had meant attacking the boss to avert its attention or at least to stop the upcoming attack.

In order to reach the flying boss, it had been his best idea to use the platform almost like a spring board or stepping stone. Without really slowing down after running into the room, Akinym had run up the stairs.

There had been the issue of aiming properly. In order to make sure that he wouldn't mess up, Akinym had used a 1-hit Thrust Sword Skill with the necessary range. Thankfully, the starting stance didn't have to be taken on the ground, so he could do that mid-jump when he had jumped onto the platform. That way, he hadn't lost momentum, and when he had unleashed the Sword Skill, the system assistant made sure that he'd jump off the platform and fly straight towards the boss.

It was a lucky coincidence that Akinym had hit the head since this was the way to cancel the fire breath attack. In this stage of the battle, the boss was supposed to be fought by a party, and the archer was supposed to hit the head to deal with the fire breath.

The boss was about to recover quickly and to attack again. Akinym noticed that and used Armor-Breaking Lance against it. The attack hit its head again. This time, the head was just the closest to Akinym.

Akinym ended up piercing the dragon's eye, unknowingly attacking its weak spot. The boss had Critical Defense Aggro, so he conveniently drew the aggro this way. Akinym tried his best to pin the boss to the ground, and for a moment, he managed to keep the boss' head on the ground. The steady critical damage while the boss was debuffed was a welcome bonus.

Akinym took a look over his shoulder to see Sinon three or four metres behind him. She had somewhat recovered from her dizziness, and she'd be able to stand up and fight again, but she still had trouble comprehending that she had really survived this.

He threw a potion to her when he saw her red HP bar.

Akinym [strained, slightly sternly]: Here! T-take… it!

It was more luck than anything else that Sinon reacted and caught the potion. She looked at the vial in her hand as if she had never seen anything like it before turning her gaze to Akinym again.

Akinym: What… are you waiting for?! Didn't you want to pull your weight or something?! I… don't want to fight this thing all by myself!

Sinon snapped out of her trance. Right, there was a battle to be taken care of right now. This was still her quest, and that alone should be reason enough to pull herself together. She had been given this chance, now she had to use it.

She nodded determinedly before scanning her surroundings for her bow.

Meanwhile, the dragon managed to free itself. When it pushed him back, Akinym barely managed to keep his balance. The boss remained on the ground now. After all, it was programmed to land and fight on the ground once it had lost its first HP bar and the first party member of the archer had made they way back to the hall.

Out of the corner of her eye, Sinon could see the boss charging another fire breath.

Sinon: Watch out! It's about to breath fire!

After warning Akinym, Sinon retreated to a safe distance. She had spotted her bow by now, and she'd drink the potion and retrieve it afterwards.

Hearing Sinon's warning, Akinym wasn't sure if he could get away in time. The best approach seemed to be seeking cover, and the nearest cover was a bit… unusual. Nevertheless, Akinym ran straight towards the dragon, and when it started its fire breath, Akinym used his Acrobatics skill for a forward somersault. The system assistant allowed him to use his full speed, and it was enough to escape the steady stream of fire.

Akinym rolled right between the dragon's front legs and below its belly. The boss couldn't reach him there with its attack. Regardless, Akinym predicted the boss' next move and quickly rolled to the side to get out of the spot under its body. Just as anticipated, the boss pressed its body onto the ground, but Akinym managed to get out of the literally tight spot before he'd get crushed. He stood up again while slashing the dragon's side.

The battle seemed to go well, but Akinym actually had to deal with considerable fatigue at this point. Not only had he walked and fought a lot on the way to this hall, the battle on the lower floor had taken its toll on him, and he had run straight here afterwards, so he had had absolutely no time to recover.

Due to the fatigue, his effective Agility went down. To be fair, that alone wasn't that bad. Akinym had extremely high Agility. He actually had problems to use the full extent of his movement speed, so his Agility could be debuffed to some degree without it affecting him that much (or at all). Incidentally, that was one reason why he had such high Agility. It would allow him to overexert himself to some extent (or get debuffed) without consequences.

Fatigue was still very much a mental problem in SAO, and as long as the player could cope with it, they could keep fighting. Akinym usually was pretty good at that. Right now, however, it was getting so bad that it was hard to keep moving.

When the boss tried to stomp on him with its hind leg, Akinym barely managed to dodge to the side. The boss swung its front claw at him, and Akinym had to use the Parry skill to block the attack. He couldn't fend it off completely, and while the boss tried to push him down, Akinym was losing HP.

Akinym had used a Healing Crystal on the way here, so he was fine for the moment, but the battle could take a turn for the worse at any time. He knew he had to get out of this situation, and since he couldn't push the boss back, he had to find another way.

In the end, Akinym let the boss push him to the ground, slumping backwards so that the boss' claw went over his body. With a backward somersault, Akinym got up again. He hadn't been able to use Acrobatics again yet, so he staggered when standing up again, but he somehow made it.

Akinym used Horizontal Spear to attack the boss' front leg while it was vulnerable. After that, the boss backed away, but not to flee or anything. It took a swing at Akinym with its tail.

Akinym noticed that out of the corner of his eye. He doubted that he could dodge that attack without system assistance at this point, so Akinym just trusted his Acrobatics skill to be ready in time. At its high level, the cooldown was relatively low, so it could work.

The plan worked, and Akinym managed to jump over the tail, avoiding a hit. When the tail swung back, he slumped down and pressed himself against the ground until the tail moved past him again. Standing up again after this, however, turned out to be quite hard already.

Given that he probably wouldn't be able to dodge anymore anyway, Akinym decided to take the risk and just use Needle Rain now to deal as much damage as possible while he still could.

The dragon struck at Akinym again with its front claw while he was getting into position. He barely managed to take the starting stance and get the Sword Skill ready before the claws dug into his body.

The first three thrusts of Needle Rain pushed the boss' claw away. The fourth thrust missed, but Akinym moved closer to the boss' body, and the last three thrusts hit it near the shoulder. The dragon countered with another strike with its front claw, and it slashed Akinym's back.

The boss didn't have much HP left, just a bit more than ten per cent of its second HP bar, to be more precise. However, Akinym didn't look as if he could finish it off. He staggered.

When the boss used its tail slam again, Akinym didn't even try to dodge at all. He aimed his spear at the tail, and when it rammed into Akinym, the spearhead caused some damage, but in turn, Akinym got flung across the floor and lost his grip on his weapon.

He couldn't get up at all after this. The dragon looked at its defenseless opponent and prepared its fire breath again.

It was about to use the attack when it was – once again – suddenly hit in the head by something. This time, it was an arrow that Sinon had shot straight into its eye, almost as the quest NPC had described it.

To be fair, this time, the shot wasn't lethal, but it cancelled the fire attack, and the boss directed its attention to Sinon. Sinon shot a second arrow at it for good measure, and it hit the boss on the side of its head.

Sinon [determinedly]: My turn!

The boss had hardly any HP left, so Sinon hoped that given the defense debuff, a single, strong Sword Skill should be enough to finish it off. She used Area Shot again, and when the arrows struck the boss, it tumbled backwards. The HP bar vanished, and the mighty dragon was reduced to polygons.

Sinon breathed a sigh of relief. A system window popped up, informing her about the drops. Among other things, there was the Trial Amulet. At least they got what they came for.

Akinym still couldn't stand up, but he raised an arm and gave Sinon a thumbs up.

Akinym: Good work on that last shot!

Given Akinym's exhausted voice, that comment was more comical than anything else, and Sinon couldn't help but roll her eyes. Nevertheless, they had made it… and even more importantly, they had made it out alive.

After that, Klein burst into the room, declaring that "Fuurinkazan was here to save the day". Seeing that the day had already been saved, he realised that he had only made a fool of himself, though.

Sinon was surprised to see Klein here. She had assumed that he was with the Assault Team, taking care of the next floor boss.

Akinym was in no state to explain anything, and he wanted to explain the situation to her on the way back, but Klein just did it there and then.

As it turned out, Akinym had suspected Saburo and Typhon to work with a group of potentially dangerous players for a while. He had noticed that a suspicious group would often appear at spots where he went with other groups for leveling or questing. This group would always stay just out of sight, for example by using natural barriers to remain hidden.

Saburo and Typhon were the only constant in all these encounters. Akinym had switched the composition of the parties even more to confirm this.

A background check run by Argo had revealed their past with orange players, but it had been odd that these encounters had always played out almost the same way. A small group of orange players had appeared, Saburo and Typhon had fought them off, the assailants had fled successfully – nobody had been hurt. In hindsight, these battles had seemed scripted.

Now it had turned out that Saburo and Typhon had been working with an orange guild all along. They had become a bit cocky, and recently, Saburo and Typhon had come to the upper floors, and the orange players had joined them with the help of a Corridor Crystal.

Sinon was particularly… intrigued by the fact that this whole quest had been a trap. Fuurinkazan and a few players from other Assault Team parties who were friends with Klein had helped Akinym with this.

On the way to this dungeon, Akinym had been the one checking the surroundings for enemies. He had the highest Searching skill among the party, so that was only natural. That way, however, he had been able to make sure that his reinforcements had been following them.

Saburo and Typhon's orange allies had been lying in wait at the destination, but when they had wanted to storm into the hall and to take Sinon hostage, they certainly hadn't expected a bunch of Assault Team members to show up to take them on.

They had fought back for a while, but in the end, they had been apprehended. Saburo and Typhon had also been taken into custody, so… All's well that end's well.

This, however, didn't exactly apply to Sinon and her current mood. As already mentioned, she was "intrigued" by the plan, but not in a good way…

The entire way back to Terrafil, she was extremely grumpy, and she only looked at Akinym every once in a while. Well, it was glaring rather than looking, to be honest.

When they reached the town, Akinym couldn't take it anymore.

Akinym [slightly annoyed]: For crying out loud, don't look at me like that! The day had been too stressful to end it this way!

Sinon [upset]: Pardon?! What, pray tell, do you think how I should act about this?! You seriously used me as bait! [annoyed] You could've at least told me about it in advance. Ugh… I feel like I was used like a tool…

Akinym [slightly exasperatedly]: I'm sorry if you see it like that, but I had to lure these orange players out somehow, and this quest was the perfect chance! Officially, the entire Assault Team was working on the boss battle since some members, especially Kirito-san, were on another special mission. From the perspective of our targets, it would've been the perfect opportunity to get the Slouch Hat of the Sage.

Sinon [mutters, slightly annoyed]: I still can't believe that anyone would want that ugly thing, EXP bonus or not… [says aloud, upset] Anyway, that still doesn't excuse leaving me in the dark like this!

Akinym [sighs]: I couldn't risk that they'd get suspicious. We honestly don't need orange players here on the upper floors, so that issue had to be taken care of! It was too important to risk someone unwillingly giving the trap away.

Sinon [annoyed]: Huh?! Do you think I'm that easy to read or what?!

Akinym [sternly]: What I know is that you don't seem to be comfortable with the topic of orange players!

As if to confirm it, Sinon tensed up. Akinym was right, and Sinon had to admit it, although it was a precarious topic for her.

Akinym: I've considered telling you about the plan, but after confirming that you probably wouldn't take it well during our conversation about orange guilds yesterday, I've decided against it. I didn't even know if my suspicion was correct, so I honestly didn't want to throw you for a loop without need.

Sinon remembered the conversation in question. When Akinym had told her about the quest they had just finished, he had brought up the topic of orange players and player killers by mentioning the problems in the Hollow Area and with Philia and Hollow PoH. Sinon hadn't liked it one bit, and Akinym had noticed that. Now she knew why he had done that.

It didn't ease the feeling of being used, though.

Sinon [slightly upset]: Okay, I guess you're right… The trap was a good idea, and if you had told me about it, I would've been fine with it, so I guess it's okay. Still, it would've been nice to know at least something about it. What would you have done if they had suddenly attacked us?

Akinym: I doubted that they'd do anything reckless. My information suggested that they were haughty, but not reckless. [flatly] And if the worst came to worst, I was prepared to defend you if necessary.

Sinon was a bit taken aback by the matter-of-fact way Akinym said this in. It reminded her of her doubts when the dragon had almost killed her. The way Akinym had saved her… It had somehow erased all those doubts, at least for the time being.

Akinym: If you don't believe me…

Sinon [interrupting]: N-no, I… [slightly softly] I believe you. I mean, you've made sure nothing bad would happen, right?

If there was one thing Sinon had learnt about Akinym, it was the fact that he planned such things extremely carefully. She genuinely respected, even admired it about him.

Just as Sinon thought, Akinym had made sure to fight these orange players on prepared ground. Klein and the others were there to take on the orange guild, and he was ready to fight Saburo and Typhon.

Having the suspicion that Saburo and Typhon worked with orange players, Akinym had started to gather information on them, especially on both their builds and personalities, in order to be prepared for a battle if necessary.

Sinon: And… you did save me. Well, from the boss, not the players, but still. I think I owe you to trust you here after this. Thank you.

Akinym [slightly playfully]: I'd say you've returned that favour already. [calmly] Besides, I've invited you on this quest, and I set up this trap, which also put you at risk to a certain degree. After that, it was simply my responsibility to make sure you're safe.

Sinon: Responsibility, huh? If I remember correctly, you also called "keeping your students safe" your responsibility. I guess you did, but these times are over, aren't they? [quizzically] S-so… Where exactly leaves that us? I mean, you've still accompanied me on this quest. What exactly… are we right now?

Sinon looked around a bit while saying this. She considered talking about her… question with Akinym now, but once again, Sinon couldn't bring up the topic. If nothing else, this place was way too public for that kind of conversation.

However, if she couldn't bring herself to ask now, this raised the question what she'd do to keep in touch again.

Akinym [slightly confused]: Well, you were my student. I don't think you have to worry that much about staying safe out there. [slightly reassuringly] You've become strong enough to fight here on the upper floors. Frankly, I wasn't sure if you'd survive long enough for me to reach you, but judging from what you've told me, you put up one hell of a fight. I doubt I could've done it any better. Just keep in mind what I've taught you, [slightly annoyed] and don't get any stupid ideas about doing dangerous stuff on your own, [calmly] and you should be fine!

While Sinon appreciated the honest praise, she couldn't help but think that this really sounded like a teacher seeing off his student for the last time.

Akinym [slightly quizzically]: What's the melancholic expression for? [slightly teasingly] Did you expect something like a promise to keep you safe forever? Sorry, not happening.

Sinon cringed at the thought. Keeping her safe forever? Who'd even come up with that? It sounded like something Kirito might say, but Sinon thought that even that was already a stretch...

Sinon [slightly teasingly]: Heh? And here I thought someone might take the chance to say something heroic after saving a girl from a fearsome dragon. "Don't worry, no matter what happens, and whether it's here or in the real world, I promise I'll keep you save!" [flatly] Would sound somewhat impressive.

Akinym winced at the word "heroic".

Anyway, it may have been a teasing remark, but Akinym took the topic very seriously.

Akinym [slightly exasperatedly]: What do you take me for? I'd never make such a promise. Even if I could keep you safe in SAO, there's no way I could guarantee it in the real world. [determinedly, slightly sternly] When I make a promise, I absolutely intend to keep it, so I never make a promise if I don't know if I even could keep it at all! Anything else would be irresponsible.

While she wasn't expecting such a serious, honest reply, Sinon couldn't help but be somewhat intrigued.

Well, she wouldn't want such a promise anyway. She had never wanted a "shining hero" who'd save her. It had always seemed ridiculous to her. She had to take care of her problems herself.

Thinking back to some things she had done in this world, she might've taken things a bit too far sometimes, though. Sinon had come to the conclusion that she should at least acknowledge some of her limits.

She was still an archer – a pure damage dealer – and the quest today had proven once more that she couldn't do everything on her own. As much as she wanted to become stronger and to overcome her fears and dark memories, Sinon didn't want to do that by dying.

Her thoughts drifted to the conversation about "true strength in this world" she had had with Kirito in the Hollow Area. He had said some (admittedly somewhat cringey) stuff about there being more than just numerical values behind the things in this world.

Kirito had used Asuna's sandwich as an example (in hindsight, of course he'd use food as an example). He had said that system-wise, it was just the product of a skill and ingredients, mere items. However, that alone couldn't explain the feeling that it emitted.

Back then, Sinon had agreed. There really were other things in this world that could be a source of strength. The bonds with other people for instance.

For a long time, Sinon hadn't taken Akinym or Kirito seriously when they had told her that she'd need good teammates. They were so strong on their own, so it would obviously be easy for them to be strong within a group, too. However, being strong in a team if you lack individual strength was meaningless. She had thought that way for a long time.

It had taken a near-death experience and a lot of persuasion from Kirito and Asuna, but Sinon had realised that she might've been wrong, though. Sure, she still wanted to deal with her problems herself, but that didn't mean that others couldn't support her, and she probably could need some help. In fact, she currently believed that the person right next to her might be the key for her to finally get over this… incident in her past.

Today, Sinon had experienced first-hand how trust in others could be a source of strength and confidence. When the quest boss had spawned, she had been terrified, but the thought that Akinym would have her back had given her the courage to fight. When she had seen her Teleport Crystal, she hadn't used it because she had believed in her ability to fight and in the support of her party members – even if that trust had wavered a little later on, but in her defense, imminent death wasn't exactly boosting trust and confidence.

Thinking about it, Sinon wondered if this "strength originating from bonds" was also a reason why Kirito and Asuna were top players of the Assault Team. When fighting against the strongest monsters in the death game, they could still rely on each other. They had good teamwork, and they trusted each other to have their back. That confidence in each other probably helped them a lot when facing all this horror, and when she had talked with them about it, they had been quite bashful (to be fair, she had been quite blunt), but they had actually seemed to agree.

If she had to phrase it simply, Sinon would say they had someone to rely on.

Someone to rely on… It had to be a wonderful feeling to have someone like that. To have that in the same way as Kirito and Asuna, however, it had to be a true partnership, meaning that both sides had to contribute about equally.

If only one side saved the other one time and time again, it would be just one-sided. It would probably become tiring for the saviour and frustrating for the "damsel" before long. As mentioned before, while having the support of others to solve problems was fine, you'd still have to do something about it yourself.

This reminded Sinon of the battle today. There had been a significant difference between it and the time Akinym had saved her at the labyrinth on the 81st floor. Back then at the labyrinth, Sinon had been overall helpless. This time, however, she had needed help, but she had also been able to pull her weight and save Akinym just as he had saved her. It… felt nice.

Thinking about it, Sinon had an idea. While trying to figure out how to go about it, she came across a little… problem, which raised a particular question.

Sinon [slightly curiously]: Hey, if you don't mind, there's something I'd like to ask. You've said countless times that I should find a good party if I wanted to be a part of the Assault Team. If I remember correctly, you've even said that you wouldn't play solo if you'd see another way… but what does that mean? I mean, why did you never join a party or a guild, maybe one of your trainee groups?

Akinym thought about how he should answer for a moment. He knew his reasons, but putting them into words without going to deep into personal matters was a bit of an issue. There was also the fact that talking about this topic had usually caused more problems than it had solved so far.

Akinym used to avoid talking about it, but he also wondered why Sinon was asking this question. There was the possibility that she had trouble making a decision about joining a certain party herself, and maybe she wanted to know how he thought about the issue in general.

Given Sinon's initial intention to play solo, Akinym thought that she should understand having reservations about joining a group to a certain extent, although he wasn't sure if she'd understand his particular problem.

Akinym [slightly hesitantly]: It's a long and complicated story, but in the end, it's mainly about a lack of trust and confidence in working together.

Sinon [slightly confused]: So, it's something along the lines of distrusting a group of strangers?

Akinym: Also… I mean, it's a part of the issue, and it certainly played a major role at first. However, it's more that I don't know if I'd fit well into a group. Fighting in a group is one thing, and I'd say I could do something about that, but there's more to being a team than just that, especially in SAO. Parties and guilds tend to have really strong ties, even outside the battlefield. It's a matter of… living together, although that might sound more intimate than it has to be.

Now that Sinon thought about it, Akinym had occasionally tried to talk about the meaning of the bond between guildmates or members of fixed parties. Of course he'd say something about trusting each other on the battlefield, but he also mentioned things such as dividing tasks aside from their fighting styles, for instance by "assigning" support skills to certain people.

However, he had also said something about the "psychological aspect"… and had always left it at that. With everything she had seen and heard by now, Sinon figured that this had been about supporting each other emotionally – among other things. Akinym just seemed to be pretty bad at talking about this kind of thing.

Akinym: Anyway, I've just never trusted myself to get along with the other people. I could handle all the professional and businesslike stuff, [slightly dejectedly] but the more personal aspects… It's pretty important to most people, and I don't want to intrude into healthy group dynamics. When I observed my trainee groups, they were usually really close, and they didn't need a sourpuss to bum them out. [slightly exasperatedly] Besides, most of them didn't like me all that much anyway. [seriously] Also, there's my position as a member of the Council. I have to be impartial, so I can't really join any faction here.

Sinon: I see… [seriously] I can kinda see where you're coming from, but I also wanted to ask you if you'd team up with me.

Akinym looked at Sinon in surprise. Well, he had certainly been right about this being about making a team building decision, albeit with an unforeseen twist.

Akinym: Really? Why?

Sinon: Why not? I figured you'd want to continue working on clearing the game, even on the frontlines, if possible. I want to do the same, and I thought we could both use a partner. [slightly hesitantly] I know it might seem a bit odd to ask this right after what you've said, [calmly] but honestly, I don't need this partnership to be personal at all. I'm perfectly content with a purely professional relationship. I think it might be even better this way. [slightly exasperatedly] And frankly, I don't care about all this political stuff anyway, so I'll gladly pass as far as that's concerned. [slightly worriedly] So, what do you think?

Akinym gave it some thought. Despite Sinon's admittedly helpful explanation, he was still surprised that she'd suggest teaming up. He wondered what might be behind that.

Could it be that question that she wanted to ask him? Now that he thought about it, what if this was the thing she wanted to talk about with him? Forming a party in SAO, where your life could depend on it, was quite serious, so he could understand if it was a big deal for her, especially since some of her friends weren't exactly fond of him.

However… Why the hesitation and the secrecy? If nothing else, there was no point in keeping this a secret from anyone, especially since the people around her would find out about it before long.

No… The question Sinon wanted to ask had to be something else, and while this proposal might be somewhat related to it, Akinym figured that he shouldn't think about it for now. Right now, the only question was if he should accept the proposal in the first place, so he should focus on that.

Frankly, he really could use a good, reliable partner on missions. Today's quest had shown him that quite clearly. Lost Lieutenant would've been so much easier to beat with a reliable damage dealer to back him up. Incidentally, Sinon had similar thoughts about her battle with the dragon. If she could've focused on attacking, it would've been a smooth battle. Getting caught up in unforeseen trouble had thrown her completely off balance…

Finding such a partner would be difficult, though, so Sinon's offer was actually pretty good. Now, would Sinon be a good partner?

Judging from what Akinym knew, she certainly had a professional attitude about questing, leveling and so on, and he could see himself working with someone with that attitude just fine. In fact, Akinym had worked with Sinon several times by now, even if it was as her instructor, not as a real partner. He was somewhat confident that he'd at least be able to work with her until the game was cleared.

Now, there was the question how well their styles would come together. Sinon had this archery skill down pat, and she was pretty good at taking enemies out from afar. There was only an issue if she couldn't do that, so she'd need someone to keep monsters at bay. Frankly, that was basically Akinym's primary skill, and he, in turn, needed someone to actually take care of the offensive.

Akinym: Alright, if that's what you want, I'm on board. We have to see how it works out, but I'm willing to try.

That worked well, at least in Sinon's opinion. She allowed herself a small smile.

Sinon: Great! I'm looking forward to it. [slightly annoyed] But not to meeting that quest NPC again. Let's hope he doesn't tell us another story to finish the quest or something like that…

They sure hoped that. That hope was in vain, though.

Well, that concludes another part of the story. From now on, Akinym and Sinon are teaming up.

I'm not sure how accurate the description of the fatigue in SAO is in this chapter. I couldn't really find anything on it, and I thought that the system as it's described here would be interesting.

If you know the original event in HF, you've probably noticed that I've changed Sinon's reaction here. Yeah, away with the pointless fanservice...

Next up is a little side story before I continue the main story. It will be about Kirito and Asuna looking back on some of the recent events, so for the most part, it will be almost like a recap episode.

Little Preview: Forming a team is one thing. Being a good team is a completely different thing. Akinym and Sinon still have to figure a few things out in that regard. Maybe a group of other players can help out in one way or another.