So, next chapter...
I've decided that this part of the story will have four chapters (since I left that question unanswered last time), mainly because the battles in this one kind of got out of hand... What shall I say? Once I started, I couldn't stop myself. Whether it was worth it is something I'll leave to your interpretation.
I'd also like to apologise for the pun in the title. I honestly had no idea what else I could call this chapter... or the next two.
This chapter will be all about the first part of Akinym and Sinon's quest: a "nice" trip to a boat.
Disclaimer: I don't own Sword Art Online Re:Hollow Fragment or Sword Art Online in general.
Right after their briefing with Argo, Akinym and Sinon set out for the 95th floor. The dried-up riverbed they had to go to wasn't hard to find, mainly because it was hard (if not impossible) to miss.
The river in question had been huge. It rose in the mountain range in the far south and reached almost all the way to Celes in the far north. There had been countless tributary streams, and their riverbeds formed a natural labyrinth. It had been the lifeline of this entire area, similarly to the Nile in ancient Egypt. When it had dried out, the region had become a wasteland.
On average, the riverbed was fifty metres wide and six metres deep, and the riversides were mostly like extremely steep cliffs, so it was accurate to call the riverbed a canyon. This area was called "Valley of the Unconquerable Wildlands".
Akinym and Sinon had to search a bit for a point where the riverside was more like a gentle slope so that they could make their way to the bottom of the riverbed. Fortunately, there weren't that many monsters roaming around this area these days, so they could conduct their search with hardly any disruptions.
The main reason for that was the Assault Team's progress in the war. The main objective of this floor's main quest was to "conquer" all goblin bases. For instance, the final stage was a raid of the goblin's HQ and the battle against their general. There was a special crystal at each goblin base, and the Assault Team had to destroy these crystals in order to conquer the respective bases. If a base was conquered, the spawn rate of goblin monsters in the surrounding area was either vastly decreased or even set to zero.
During the last war, the goblins had barely survived via guerilla warfare. When the lizardmen had besieged their fortresses, the goblins had thwarted these sieges by cutting off the lizardmen's supply routes, using troops that had been stationed at hideouts across the floor. Now, the goblins were using the same strategy, and a major difficulty in clearing this floor was finding and destroying all of their resistance cells.
By now, the Assault Team had wiped out most of them, and this had led to a significant decline in the number of goblin monsters, especially around the border between the races' territories. Therefore, Akinym and Sinon only met a few monsters that represented the animals which could still live in this hostile environment. The only players they met were a party hunting these animals for the ingredients they dropped since these drops were required in various hunting quests.
This way, they reached the shipwreck without any problems.
This shipwreck was a remnant of an unknown lost civilisation. It was more than one hundred metres long and about seven metres high measured by the distance between keel and upper deck. For the most part, it was around thirty metres wide, except at the bow area. The masts had once towered into the sky, but now they had fallen apart. The main mast had broken off, but it somehow remained lying on the upper deck, protruding a few metres sideways beyond the railing. The crow's nest had broken off, and its remains were lying several metres away from the wreck.
Sinon eyed the once majestic but now ruinous ship from the ground below the prow. She stood there with Akinym… and the ship's anchor, which had been cast when the ship had stranded. She looked over at her partner and noticed that he was surveying the entire surrounding area.
To be fair, it was an enormous valley, which could be considered a side to behold. Well, it was just that there was hardly anything to see here except for rocks and fossilised mud. In Akinym's defense, he actually wasn't taking in his surroundings, though.
Instead, he looked into the distance. With his increased visual range (thanks to his high Searching skill), he could vaguely make out the walls of Celes in the north and the southern mountain range and the labyrinth tower behind it on the other side of the floor. Something about these sights irked him.
Sinon: What's the matter?
Akinym [contemplatively]: Nothing. I was just thinking about something. Nothing important. Let's just start!
Akinym walked over to the anchor and eyed the anchor chain. It basically consisted of nothing but rust at this point, but oddly enough, Akinym and Sinon knew that it was overall stable and sturdy.
The party which had told Argo about the quest they were about to take had used a little trick to circumvent most of the dungeon inside the shipwreck. There was a giant leak at the bottom of the hull, which served as the entrance to the dungeon, but there was also a sneaky way inside. Argo's informants had climbed up the anchor chain.
Akinym took a close look at one of the chain links. Just as Argo had told them, they were quite big. Their eyes were large enough for a human hand or foot to fit into them. Akinym figured that he and Sinon could indeed use them as footholds.
Before they would do that, there was one thing Akinym wanted to check. He took the starting stance of Horizontal Spear, aiming at the anchor chain.
Sinon: Huh?! What are you doing?
Akinym didn't answer and unleashed the Sword Skill instead. The chain budged when Akinym's spear hit it, but it tightened again almost instantly, and the spear bounced back. Akinym could feel a shock surging through his body, and he tumbled backwards. The anchor chain swayed slightly from the impact, and the scratching, creaking sound of the rusty chain links scraping against each other was really nasty.
The most noteworthy occurrence, however, was an Immortal Object warning that popped up.
Akinym [slightly surprised]: Huh, that's even better than I thought...
Sinon: Better than what you thought? [slightly annoyed] Seriously, could you tell me what that was supposed to be?
Akinym: I wanted to test if this chain can endure pressure. [looks up] A fall from this height could be dangerous. [nervously] I'm already not a fan of this climbing idea, and looking at this chain doesn't make it better.
Sinon [slightly exasperatedly]: You don't have to. Remember what Argo told us? Somebody else already climbed this thing safely.
Akinym: Honestly, that doesn't make me feel much better. If anything, it worries me in a completely different way. If you ask me, climbing the anchor chain is an exploit, and judging from everything Yui has told me, Cardinal might get rid of it. I'm already surprised that the anchor is still here. I had thought that the system would've made it crumble into dust by now, and even if it didn't, the chain's durability could be a problem. However, if it's an Immortal Object, it should be okay.
Sinon [slightly nervously]: You know how to reassure someone, don't you? Now you've made me worry, too.
Sinon pictured the system suddenly stopping their ascent by turning the rusty chain into dust – when they almost reached the top, that is.
Akinym: As I've said, [looks up, slightly nervously] I'm not a fan of the idea myself. Not. At. All. [lowers his head, sighs] However, it saves us an equally troublesome dungeon raid. We'd have to make our way up to the third floor after all…
Akinym fastened his spear to his back using two loops that had been added to his jacket for that purpose. Thankfully, this utility addition had come with a sheathing assistant just like those regular scabbards for swords had. Otherwise, attaching the weapon to this retainer or drawing it again would've been insanely difficult. He still used that feature rarely, though.
Anyway, Akinym closed his hands around two chain links while putting one foot into the eye of another one. Instead of raising his other foot and starting to climb, however, he paused for a moment. He didn't start his way upward until he had taken a few deep breaths.
As soon as Akinym had climbed high enough, Sinon followed him. She felt uneasy, too, especially since tow climbing had never been her thing. Climbing walls as she had done in the dungeon she had been to on the 94th floor, for instance, was already troublesome enough, but this… Alas, there was no helping it. At least, she was doing a bit better than Akinym.
During their ascent, Akinym kept looking straight upwards. Every few metres, a strong gust of wind shook them, and they had to stop for a moment to hold on to the chain tightly and to wait for the wind to settle. Nevertheless, they were making their way up slowly but steadily.
When they had almost reached the upper deck, Akinym used Searching to check if their point of entry was clear. They knew from Argo that there was a patrol consisting of five goblins on the upper deck, walking around clockwise. If they ran into them, these guards would set off an alarm, and five more enemies would appear. Therefore, Akinym and Sinon had to stay clear of them. Fortunately, the area was safe.
The gap between the hawsehole and the rail was relatively small, which was another reason why this trick worked. After all, they had to jump and grab the rail to pull themselves up, so it worked in their favour that this only required a small jump. Even so, it was a bit risky. If their hands slipped off or something like that…
Akinym had thought up a trick to make this easier for him. Now that he saw what he was up against, he was sure that it should work as long as he got the timing right. Akinym jumped up, and when he put his hands on the railing, he also pushed himself away from the hull with his feet. At the same time, Akinym activated Acrobatics. The skill boosted the swing and ensured that the momentum carried him over the railing and onto the ship.
Now it was Sinon's turn. Akinym knew that this would be more difficult for her, so she might need help. However, he still hesitated a bit to bend over the rail and to look down.
Meanwhile, Sinon climbed up as far as she could on the anchor chain. Akinym reached out for her in order to help her up, but she looked at his extended hand… nervously, for some reason. Sinon hesitated for a brief moment, only to ignore Akinym's gesture and jump up, reaching for the railing. Akinym didn't even have enough time to grasp the situation completely.
In contrast to Akinym, Sinon really had some issues. Her right hand slipped off the railing immediately, and she was so startled that she lost her grip with her left hand, too. It was only thanks to Akinym reacting instinctively and grabbing her arm to catch her that Sinon didn't fall all the way to the ground.
Akinym: Are you crazy?! What are you doing?!
Akinym pulled Sinon up, and with his help, she climbed over the railing. She needed a second to catch her breath after the shock. To Akinym's surprise, her first action after that was to get startled again and to take a big step away from him. On top of that, Sinon gave Akinym an uneasy look for a second, which only confused him more.
Sinon: Th-thanks for your help. [calmly] Let's… Let's get going!
Akinym considered pressing her on what had just happened. It had by no means been the first occurrence of that kind. Sinon was strangely wary of physical contact. Okay, he wasn't someone who'd normally let anyone get near him, at least not without a plan to subdue that person, but Sinon seemed unreasonably opposed to the very idea, especially when it came to someone touching her hands.
The problem was that he had already tried to inquire further – obviously to no avail. Knowing Sinon, her behaviour probably had a deeper reason, but Akinym didn't know how to go about it. He figured that he should think about it calmly when he'd have time, or maybe he should try bringing it up during their "therapeutic conversations".
For now, he should probably follow Sinon's lead, though. They had to take care of a quest.
Literally every part of the shipwreck was in a horrible condition.
For starters, there were several staircases that led below deck, yet all but one had collapsed. Well, the one intact staircase was at least not hard to find.
The rest of the ship was falling apart as well. There were numerous holes in the walls and the floor. In fact, anyone who entered this place had to watch their step – or they might accidentally slip into one of these holes and get stuck. Frankly, this happened to Akinym during a battle below deck, and it only made the fight even more difficult.
The environment was clearly unfavourable. Aside from the aforementioned issues, the interior of the ship was a narrow space. The corridors were just a bit more than one metre wide, and the ceiling was just about two metres high.
Their opponents were goblins, whose strong suit was agility. To be fair, they couldn't move as freely as usual in this area, but they were only half as big as Akinym, and they used comparatively small weapons such as daggers or shortswords, so this environment overall worked in the monsters' favour.
Still, Akinym and Sinon edged their way through the ship. At some point, they reached a fork in the system of corridors, and they could see a bright light coming from the passage that led to the left. For the most part, the only source of light was the sunlight that shined through the holes in the ceiling or the hull, but the light ahead was too intense.
Thanks to Argo, they had the map data for this dungeon, so Akinym and Sinon knew where this light was coming from: the cargo hatch, which was sealed by a huge wooden grating that blocked out players, but not sunlight.
The good news was that this meant that they were getting closer to their destination. Argo had told them that the cargo bay they were looking for was near the cargo hatch.
They couldn't let their guard down yet, of course. Akinym and Sinon cautiously approached the fork that lay ahead. They stopped right at the left turn, and Akinym used Searching to check the area for enemies.
He stretched out his right hand, holding up all five fingers, and drew it back immediately thereafter. This was a hand sign that communicated the number of enemies he had found to Sinon.
Speaking of which, the two of them had come up with a number of such hand signs not too long ago. They had figured that they needed a way of communicating if they had to avoid making noise, for instance when they were hiding from or trying to sneak past enemies with advanced hearing capability. Having these hand signs at their disposal also came in handy in other situations, for example when they faced opponents who used silencing.
In their current situation, the problem was that goblins had the aforementioned good hearing capability, which had already been causing problems since the floorboards on this ship creaked pretty loudly. Akinym and Sinon had to walk around extremely carefully, or they'd draw the attention of all nearby goblin monsters. The same mechanic prevented them from just sneaking past the monsters by using Hiding.
On another note, Sinon had been the one to suggest using hand signs when she had remembered something she had read about special forces using them. After that, she and Akinym had developed a variety of simple signs for the most important scenarios. Unfortunately, they could only memorise a fairly limited amount of hand signs.
The next one of these signs was Akinym forming a square with his right index finger. Then, he pointed at the upper right corner of that square. This indicated the shape of the room and the position of the monsters within. This time, they seemed to flock together, which was good since it would make Sinon's initial attack more effective.
The next part was even more important since Sinon couldn't get that information with her own Searching skill. Akinym had to look around the corner to survey the terrain that lay ahead. The difficult part was to avoid getting seen by the goblins. He took a few cautious glances first, and once no goblins looked in his direction, he came around the corner for a brief moment to take a closer look.
Akinym quickly retreated behind the wall again. His next gesture was to simply hold his right hand horizontally before drawing it back again. This meant that there were no special monsters up ahead. Sinon figured that this meant that these monsters were Goblin Guards, the run-of-the-mill goblin monster on this floor.
Next up…
Akinym: Doors…
Akinym held up two fingers before pointing to the right. Then, he held up one finger, and after that, he pointed to the left. In other words, in the corridor between them and the target, there were two doors on the right side and one on the left side.
It may sound odd, but the doors were a problem. There were special goblin monsters, Goblin Assassins, hiding throughout the ship. Even with a maxed-out Searching skill, the probability of detecting them was "only" eighty per cent. On this ship, they hid inside a few of the cabins and jumped out of hiding when players came by.
Akinym and Sinon had encountered two of them, and these battles had been quite troublesome. Goblin Assassins used a strong paralysis poison, and especially now that Akinym's Paralysis Resistance parameter had been reduced significantly, that was a serious threat. Unfortunately, their means to deal with this were fairly limited. There were potions that buffed Paralysis Resistance, but they were rare… and incredibly valuable.
Akinym gave Sinon a quizzical look, which was his way to ask if there was anything she still needed to know. Well, Sinon checked the map first to get an idea of the layout and the distance between them and the enemies. The corridor was only about five metres long, and the large room up ahead seemed to be around nine times nine metres big.
After that, she nodded firmly and generated the arrows for her first attack. Sinon attached all but one to her belt before nocking the remaining arrow. Now that she was ready, Akinym switched positions with her.
Sinon took a deep breath and jumped around the corner. She quickly focused on one of the Goblin Guards ahead to select it as target and used Wide Area Shot without hesitation. It wasn't the best choice. One of the arrows hit the corner of the wall right at the entrance to the large room. The other four, however, hit three of the five enemies.
Now they charged at Sinon. However, Akinym rushed around the corner and down the corridor the moment Sinon had finished her Sword Skill. He had to glance to each side to make sure that no Goblin Assassins showed up, but they were lucky. Akinym still had to hurry to reach the entry to the large room before the fast Goblin Guards did. He made it just in time.
In order to make sure that he drew the aggro of all monsters, Akinym used Trapezoidal Slash as soon as he was in position. The Goblin Guards' AI hadn't predicted Akinym's appearance, and they needed a second to switch to defensive mode, which created an opening for Akinym's first strike. He hit the two Goblin Guards to his left and threw them off balance for the moment.
The second strike was parried by a Goblin Guard. To be fair, the blow was a bit too strong, and it pushed the monster back, but another one gave its comrade a hand and knocked Akinym's spear back with a swing of its shortsword. This disrupted the Sword Skill.
Fortunately, the fifth Goblin Guard had to get around the other monsters first in order to attack Akinym. However, it was fast, and even with his relatively quick reaction, Akinym could fend off the counterattack only with his Parry skill.
On the bright side, all monsters turned their attention to Akinym just as he had wanted. Well, he kind of blocked the exit of the large room, so they couldn't have attacked Sinon, who stayed behind in the corridor, anyway.
Defending himself against five Goblin Guards pushed Akinym to his limits, though, especially since the system-assisted parry was on cooldown. To make things worse, the Goblin Guards seemed to coordinate their attacks. The Assault Team had already noticed that the AI of goblin monsters on this floor appeared to support group tactics.
Akinym could still parry or dodge most strikes, at least once he figured out the attack pattern of the group, so he could shift his focus between the individual monsters properly with respect to the sequence of attacks.
Regardless, he still sustained some cuts, especially at the arms, even though they were mostly shallow. Furthermore, the goblins on the 95th floor had quite low DPH in order to balance out their speed. In conclusion, even the five monsters together didn't deal that much damage, although they still whittled Akinym's HP down very slowly, but steadily.
Meanwhile, Sinon couldn't really do anything. As already mentioned, Akinym was blocking the way, so she didn't have a free field of fire. After a short while, Sinon came to the conclusion that there was no way for her to shoot an arrow at the Goblin Guards safely.
Sinon: You need to get out of the way!
Akinym hardly caught what Sinon had said, but given the situation, he figured out what she wanted him to do. He parried another blow coming from the right side, and this time, he used Acrobatics for a forward dash. With the help of the system assistant, Akinym managed to knock three of the Goblin Guards over and to get out of the way.
However, his actions had come a bit too sudden for Sinon. She hadn't expected him to do something like that right away. Now she needed a second to prepare her Sword Skill Area Shot before she could do anything.
While preparing, Sinon noticed that three Goblin Guards followed Akinym deeper inside the large room, but the other two stood still. It only took her a second to realise that they were changing their target to her. The aggro mechanism of the monsters of this floor really was far too chaotic for her taste.
At least, the process took long enough to give Sinon the time to target these two monsters and use her Sword Skill before they could get too close for her bow to be effective.
Oddly enough, the Goblin Guard with the higher HP among these two abruptly stopped in his tracks when Sinon was about to unleash her Sword Skill, even though it had just started charging at her. On top of that, the other one jumped in front of its companion to take the brunt of the attack itself. Area Short easily took this monster out, but it shielded the other one perfectly.
Sinon was quite surprised. Actually, incidents like that had happened before, but it had always seemed like a coincidence to her. This was the first time that she had noticed that monsters had reacted to her Sniping skill like this.
She snapped out of that shock just in time to switch to her dagger with Quick Change and to counter the incoming attack of the other Goblin Guard with the simple Sword Skill Slash. When her dagger clashed with the goblin's shortsword, it looked as if Sinon could overpower her foe at first.
However, the Sword Skill was over in a flash, and with the post-motion delay and without the power boost from the system, Sinon couldn't fight back while the Goblin Guard pushed her back. Sinon barely recovered in time to regain her balance, but she couldn't fend off the next attack, a horizontal slash that hit her stomach.
Sinon tried to counter with a vertical strike while moving forward diagonally to get behind her opponent, but the agile Goblin Guard easily dodged to the side and followed up this evasive manoeuvre with another strike that hit Sinon at the scapula. She had to turn around to face the monster before it could attack again.
For a moment, the Goblin Guard remained strangely calm, probably because its AI searched for an opening. During that brief pause, Sinon wondered what she could do. She glanced over her shoulder, thinking that Akinym might have trouble with taking out three of them without fire support. She figured that she'd have to finish this battle quickly, and the only idea she had as to how to do that was to neglect defense and go all out with Sword Skills.
Speaking of Akinym, he had indeed a hard time fending off three of these goblins at once. They moved around a lot and made sure to attack from completely different sides. Akinym usually tried to keep monsters at one spot or at least on one side, so he could keep track of them and fight them individually as much as possible, but these Goblin Guards simply outmanoeuvred him.
Figuring that he had to take out at least one more of them, Akinym waited until the one with the lowest HP approached him. At that point, he used Needle Rain, hoping to take his foe out quickly. Goblin Guards – or the goblin monsters on the 95th floor in general – had relatively low HP and Defense, so in an ideal case, Needle Rain would easily kill the target. If anything, it should've been an overkill.
However, Akinym had reason to believe that it wouldn't be that easy… and it wasn't. The targeted Goblin Guard deflected the first thrust with his shortsword, but the clash of their weapons still threw it off balance. The second thrust hit the monster in the chest, but starting with the third strike, things went downhill. The Goblin Guard ducked down, and Akinym's spear merely grazed its shoulder.
Now, the Goblin Guard edged closer – extremely close, that is. In fact, Akinym's opponent was to close to get hit by the thrusts of his spear anymore. That was something Akinym didn't like about his Sword Skills… He couldn't even stop the Skill. The fact that something like that had happened a few times just today only made it worse.
Not waiting for Akinym to finish Needle Rain, the Goblin Guard thrust its sword into Akinym's chest. Meanwhile, Akinym kept thrusting his spear forward four more times. Thankfully, the force of the forward movement of his arms was strong enough to shake the Goblin Guard off.
When the post-motion delay set in, the other two Goblin Guards closed in and swung their swords at Akinym's sides in succession. Needless to say, he couldn't do anything about it.
As soon as he could move again, Akinym moved backwards to gain some distance and to get a better look at the three Goblin Guards. All of them had sustained at least a little bit damage, but there were far from being defeated.
Akinym had to fend off another series of attacks. At one point, a Goblin Guard approached him from the side, and he almost noticed him too late to realise that it was aiming at his wrist. The last thing Akinym could need was a Lost Limb debuff, which he was instinctively aware of. As a reflex, Akinym used Parry to block the attack.
He and the Goblin Guard locked blades (in one sense or another) for a moment. Neither of them budged… until the monster was suddenly hit in the head by an arrow. The impact was so strong that it almost blew the lightweight goblin away. The attack was certainly enough to kill the monster.
Akinym was a bit startled, but only for a split second. He turned towards the last two Goblin Guards, which seemed to reassess the situation. One of them had hardly any HP left, but the other one was still doing fine.
After a moment, the monsters turned tail and ran. Frankly, many Assault Team members, including Akinym and Sinon, had witnessed such behaviour of the goblins on this floor. They rushed straight towards a hatch. Sinon shot an arrow at them, but she had to react quickly and couldn't aim properly, let alone prepare a Sword Skill, so the shot missed, and the last two foes escaped.
Neither Akinym nor Sinon had any intention to give chase. Not only were these goblins not their actual target, following them into unknown territory, where numerous other monsters might await them, was far too risky. Well, letting them get away was still a bit frustrating, especially since the Assault Team had to finish a public quest that required them to kill a large number of goblins for the war.
Anyway, both Akinym and Sinon relaxed after taking another look around to make sure that they didn't miss any monsters.
Akinym: Good job with these monsters.
Sinon [nods]: You too.
A look at Sinon's HP gauge revealed that she had a bit more than half of her HP left. This sight reminded Akinym to check his own HP bar. He was doing slightly worse since his HP bar had just gone down into the yellow zone. He fetched a potion from his inventory in order to deal with that, and seeing that action, Sinon followed suit.
Akinym looked up. There was indeed a large cargo hatch with a grating right above them.
Akinym: I guess this is the right place, so we just have to proceed to the starboard side from here.
Sinon: Yes, and I guess we have to go this way.
Sinon pointed at the entrance to a somewhat larger corridor. Argo had mentioned that the corridor which led to the cargo bay was about twice as wide as the others, so Akinym figured that Sinon was right.
Akinym: So do I. Let's go!
Akinym and Sinon only had to take a look down said corridor to see the next obstacle ahead: a Goblin Warden. The monster was set to guard only this passageway, so it wouldn't react to them before they entered the corridor, although it was also immune to all attacks that were launched from outside that particular area. That way, Akinym and Sinon could discuss a strategy without hiding from their opponent.
For that purpose, Akinym eyed the Goblin Warden carefully to get an impression of its equipment (and, by extension, its abilities). Unlike Goblin Guards, which used simple shortswords and very light leather armour that resembled medieval gabisons, the Goblin Warden was clad in black armour that was reinforced with small metal plates, and it carried a cusped falchion. It also wore a barbute-style helmet, which was similarly untypical for the local goblin monsters. With its attire and the dim lighting, it actually looked more like an executioner than a guardsman.
In conclusion, a Goblin Warden was stronger than Goblin Guards regarding both offense and defense. Furthermore, the Goblin Warden had slightly higher HP, too.
Akinym: What do you think? Break-Through Nuke?
"Break-Through Nuke" was the codename for a tactic Akinym and Sinon liked to use against single enemies. The idea behind it was that Akinym cornered the target and used Armor-Breaking Lance. Once the defense debuff had been inflicted, Sinon used a strong Sword Skill against their opponent.
Sinon took another look at the Goblin Warden. As far as they knew, it should be only slightly stronger than the run-of-the-mill goblin monster, so if they worked at top efficiency, they might be able to take the Goblin Warden out in one fell swoop.
However, Sinon noticed that Milion Howling, which she had used to finish off one of the Goblin Guards earlier, was still on cooldown, although she preferred to use this Sword Skill for their Break-Through Nuke tactic. She figured that she could use Quintuple Shot instead, though.
Sinon: Sounds good, but I wanna get the first attack.
Akinym: Well, fine with me. Besides, it looks a bit bulkier than the others, but according to Argo-san, this monster is as nimble as any of the other goblins, so I could probably use some fire support to distract it.
Sinon: Got it!
Sinon walked up to the threshold of the corridor. She looked down and then back at the Goblin Warden. One more step and it would lunge at her. The monster was about eight metres away, so Sinon could still hit it effectively even if it came a bit closer, but there was little scope. Given a goblin's speed, Sinon figured that if she attacked it with Quintuple Shot, the Goblin Warden would get too close before she'd finish the combo. She had to keep that in mind…
Sinon nocked an arrow and aimed at the Goblin Warden's weak spot, its exposed neck. Then, she took a firm step forward, and the Goblin Warden tensed up immediately. As soon as she had set her foot down, Sinon fired her arrow, but since her target leapt forward and her hands moved a little when she was taking the step, the arrow hit the Goblin Warden's chest instead of its neck.
At the same time, Akinym, who had taken position next to Sinon, dashed forward to intercept the Goblin Warden. He also used Acrobatics to boost his speed, so he could stop the approaching monster as soon as possible, keeping it farther away from Sinon as a consequence.
As a reaction to Akinym's assault, the Goblin Warden shifted its focus to him for a moment and swung its falchion at him. Akinym was prepared to fend such an attack off using Parry, so that wasn't a problem.
For a few seconds, Akinym and the Goblin Warden locked blades, trying to overpower each other, and Akinym had the upper hand by a hair's breadth. The Goblin Warden's AI used that time to reassess the situation.
It turned its attention back to Sinon. In order to get around Akinym, the Goblin Warden took a step back and then another one to the side. After that, it began sprinting towards Sinon. Akinym caught on to that quite quickly, but he barely had enough time to do the first thing that came to his mind: tackling the Goblin Warden against the wall.
Akinym pressed his foe against the wall for a moment while he was reaching for the hand in which the Goblin Warden held its falchion. He grabbed it and took a step back, and with a swift twist of his body to the left, Akinym basically flung the monster further down the corridor – not very far, though.
It was enough to throw Goblin Warden off balance for a moment, and Akinym used the opening to attack. He aimed a thrust with his spear at the enemy's chest, but he hit its right shoulder instead. Well, he was still able to draw its aggro that way.
The Goblin Warden backed away even further and took a defensive stance. Seeing that, Akinym pointed his spear at its head, so the AI would probably assume that he was preparing an attack. That way, Goblin Warden wouldn't go on the offensive, which gave Akinym time to think about his next step.
He could've tried to use Armor-Breaking Lance now, but that would come with two problems. For starters, Akinym figured that he was currently blocking Sinon's field of fire, so inflicting that debuff now wasn't the smartest choice.
It would be better to position himself at Goblin Warden's side before that. Akinym took a quick glance to the side to survey the terrain, just briefly enough to make sure that his opponent couldn't spot an opening. The corridor seemed to be just wide enough to take the starting stance for Armor-Breaking Lance as long as Akinym took care not to move too close to the wall.
However, Akinym wondered if repositioning himself would throw the AI for a loop to the extent that it would reconsider its options, in which case it might spot the opportunity to charge at Sinon. Alas, he thought that he had to take that risk, but he reminded himself to watch the Goblin Warden carefully.
The other problem was that he had to find a way to hit the Goblin Warden with the Sword Skill. Akinym wasn't exactly confident that he could break through the monster's defense. He figured that he'd need a distraction, but thankfully, Sinon should be prepared to take care of that.
Thus, Akinym began to slowly circle around the Goblin Warden, which mirrored the movement to keep facing Akinym. Just as he had hoped, the AI thought that he was merely trying to get behind the monster.
When he reached the spot right next to the Goblin Warden, Akinym carefully drew his spear back until the rear end touched the wall behind him. He did that in order to get a feeling for the distance between himself and the wall, so he knew if he could use Armor-Breaking Lance.
Akinym [takes a deep breath, thinks]: Alright, here goes nothing… [says aloud] Distract it for a moment and get ready for your attack thereafter!
Sinon had already prepared two arrows for that purpose, although it was about time to use them before they would vanish again. She quickly fired both of them.
The first arrow hit the Goblin Warden at the head. The attack did hardly any damage, but it startled the monster. It bent backwards to dodge the second arrow, and after that, it drew his arms back to shield itself against attacks from the side, just in case.
This, however, exposed its front – just as Akinym had hoped. He had already assumed a stance similar to the starting stance of Armor-Breaking Lance, and he only had to lift the spearhead so that his spear would be parallel to the ground to activate it. Akinym did that when the Goblin Warden dodged Sinon's second shot.
Given the time the monster needed to notice Akinym charging the Sword Skill and turning its attention back to him, the Goblin Warden could only deflect the quick thrust slightly with a downward swing of its falchion, but that only meant that Akinym hit its belly instead of its neck.
The impact sent the Goblin Warden flying backwards, and it crashed into the wall. Since it was staggering after that for a moment, Sinon figured that this was the best chance for her attack she could get. She used Quintuple Shot as quickly as possible.
The first two shots hit without problem. The first one hit at the neck. The impact pushed the Goblin Warden a bit to the side, so the second shot hit at the chest instead of the neck.
By the time the third arrow reached the monster, however, it had already started evading, and it dodged the third attack. The system assistant tried to compensate, but it ended up overcompensating, and the fourth arrow merely grazed the Goblin Warden's shoulder.
It was about to dodge the fifth shot, too, when Akinym interfered by using Horizontal Spear. The Sword Skill hit the Goblin Warden in the back, and that threw the goblin monster off track. This way, the fifth arrow hit the neck area, too.
Furthermore, the Goblin Warden had already had minor problems to keep its balance after Akinym's attack, so the impact of Sinon's arrow knocked it over. However, contrary to Sinon's initial hopes, it still had about thirty per cent of its HP left.
Before the Goblin Warden could get up again, Akinym thrust his spear at its chest... or rather he tried to. He hit the shoulder instead again, but that had to suffice. Akinym tried his best to pin the Goblin Warden down.
The Goblin Warden tried to counter by swinging its falchion at Akinym's right leg, trying to cut (or maybe rather saw) right through it. If nothing else, it stopped Akinym from coming closer, although he actually had to reposition himself in order to pin the monster down properly. This way, he had to try to keep it on the ground with his spear held diagonally instead of vertically.
Akinym [desperately]: Hit him again! Quickly, before he struggles free!
Sinon caught on to the problem quickly. She generated more arrows and used Triple Shot as soon as she was ready. With Akinym holding the Goblin Warden in place for the moment, each arrow hit the same spot, and the three consecutive hits were more than enough to take it out.
Sinon immediately went over to Akinym.
Akinym: Good shot.
Sinon: Well, thanks, although I wish that the same could be said about the first Skill. Good job on your end, too, by the way.
Akinym merely nodded and turned his attention to the window that had popped up when the Goblin Warden had been defeated, so he could check the drops.
Akinym: Nothing here. Did you get the key?
Sinon [looks at her window]: Let me see… Yeah, there it is, just as Argo had said.
Sinon closed the window and opened her inventory instead. She turned the key in question into an object. It was the key to the cargo bay.
Akinym and Sinon walked down the corridor, and after about a minute, they reached their destination. At the end of the corridor, there was the cargo bay they had been looking for.
The entrance was blocked with rusty bars. Frankly, they looked as if they would crumble to dust soon, but they were still an Immortal Object. In order to open the door, Sinon had to insert the key into the lock and press the "Okay" button on the window that opened.
As Argo had said, the cargo bay was in relatively good condition… but really only relatively good. For instance, there was a giant hole in the back wall.
Furthermore, there were several crates lying around. More importantly, however, the NPC they had been searching for stood in the middle of the room. It was an old, scarred lizardman that wore a ragged cloak. Its name was "Phinus the Lizardman Sage".
Sinon: Could you deal with the NPC? [slightly exasperatedly] I'd rather not deal with their nonsense. [looks around, slightly curiously] I'd like to take a look into these crates, though. Who knows if there's something good in some of them.
Akinym narrowed his eyes and looked around suspiciously while using both Searching and Trap Dismantling to search for monsters and traps. However, he couldn't find anything.
Akinym: Alright, but be careful!
Sinon nodded and went her way. Akinym, on the other hand, approached Phinus, wondering what exactly he should say.
Akinym: Hey, are you a prisoner here? We're allies of the lizardmen, and we can help you.
Phinus [happily, slightly shakily]: Oh, really!? Thank goodness! I've been imprisoned here for so long… Will you free me, heroes?
A question mark popped up above Phinus' head. So far, so good…
Akinym: Yes, we'll free you.
The question mark turned into an exclamation mark.
Phinus: How wonderful! I would gladly flee this place, but my old and weakened body won't allow it… The Scaleless Turnips, maybe in hopes that I'd start cooperating, kept me alive and provided me with food and water. [scared] Alas, a horrific creature has been tormenting me! It's an abomination of a Scaleless Turnip female with wings for arms and talons for feet. Almost every day, it comes through that hole, and it steals away the meagre rations I receive.
An ear-splitting screech could be heard from outside.
Phinus [panicking]: Oh no, the beast returns again, even after taking my food for today! Heroes, I beseech you to deliver me from that abominable beast, and to retrieve what it stole from me! Maybe that food will give me the strength to flee this place.
Sinon walked up to Akinym.
Sinon: I couldn't find anything, but I guess it doesn't really matter since it's showtime, isn't it?
Akinym: Yeah. Argo-san mentioned that we have one hour to defeat the mid-boss that just spawned, so we better get going, just to be safe.
Akinym and Sinon had to fight their way back upstairs. It was a bit bothersome, but after making their way through from the upper deck to the cargo bay, doing the same thing the other way around wasn't that bad, especially since the monsters were respawning slowly.
Now, they stood on deck and looked up. There was a somewhat humanoid monster flying in circles approximately ten metres above them. It was called "Stymphalia the Goblin Harpy".
Akinym: Okay, according to Argo-san, it should actually start to attack now, so…
Sinon: It noticed us. I'm sure of it. I can feel its gaze resting on us. I guess it just waits for the right moment to come down.
Sinon generated and nocked an arrow. Then, she aimed upwards and followed Stymphalia's flight path for a moment.
Sinon: I suppose we could greet it properly to convince it to come down, though.
Once Sinon was sure that she could predict the boss' movements and the trajectory and speed of her arrow, she fired, and the arrow hit Stymphalia at its left leg. As Sinon had – admittedly not being serious – insinuated, this caught the boss' attention. It came down, charging straight at Sinon.
Sinon shot another arrow at it, but Stymphalia swayed slightly to the side as if to dodge, so that arrow missed its mark. This seemingly minor turn of events gave Sinon a pretty uneasy feeling.
That, however, was a distraction Sinon couldn't afford. When Stymphalia got close to the ground, it reached out for Sinon with its talons, preparing to lunge at her. Since Sinon didn't react in time to dodge, Akinym had to jump in and parry the blow in Sinon's stead.
The impact made a loud banging noise, and it was so strong that Akinym was shoved backwards. He would've knocked Sinon over if she hadn't come back to her senses to jump out of the way in time.
Stymphalia let out a blood-curdling cry, as if the boss was complaining about Akinym's interference. Well, if that was the case, it emphasised the point by digging one of its talons into Akinym's right forearm.
Sinon grit her teeth and backed away a little to get enough distance between herself and Stymphalia for her Sniping skill to work. As soon as she was in position, she used Milion Howling, aiming at Stymphalia's head. The distracted boss didn't see it coming, at Sinon hit its weak spot without problems.
After that, Stymphalia quickly retreated into the sky again. When it was flying around in circles again, Sinon tried once more to fire arrows at it. However, whenever Sinon shot, Stymphalia changed its trajectory slightly to the side, and Sinon's arrows never did more harm than grazing the boss' body.
She didn't like to admit it, but it had become obvious by now… Both the behaviour of this boss and of some of the monsters they had fought previously showed it: The system had somehow adapted to her Sniping. Sinon remembered how she and Akinym had talked about how SAO's monster AI didn't seem to be able to deal with archery, but these times were apparently over.
Shooting at an opponent that flew high above her was already hard enough with the influence of wind and gravity, but now that the target also began to dodge...
Sinon tried using Wide Area Shot to see if system-assisted attacks, especially those with an AOE effect, were more effective against Stymphalia's evasive abilities. Indeed, two arrows hit the boss' right wing, but the harpy monster still managed to dodge the other three.
Oddly enough, the unswerving resistance of the boss and its attempts to remain unharmed caused some sort of predatory instinct to awaken in Sinon, which only made her even more determined to shoot her "prey" down. She immersed herself completely in the battle… for better or worse.
Stymphalia suddenly began hovering on the spot and screeched as if it was (literally) screaming alarm. Sinon, however, only saw the perfect opportunity for a shot, so she used Quintuple Shot without hesitation. The first two arrows hit the mark perfectly, but Stymphalia dropped when Sinon fired the third one, and it tried to dodge the last two arrows by flying to the side. In the end, Sinon hit its legs once more, but that was it.
This didn't put Sinon off, though. She kept focusing on Stymphalia and waited for the next opportunity to strike. To be fair, a lack of patience wasn't her problem…
...but a lack of vigilance was. A Goblin Guard had spawned and lunged at her, and Sinon didn't notice it until it just happened to enter her field of vision, so she could spot the monster out of the corner of her eye.
Akinym: ...watch out already!
Akinym's exclamation made her snap out of her trance completely, but by the time she was ready to dodge, the Goblin Guard was merely one metre away and leapt towards her. It was only thanks to Akinym blocking the incoming attack and pushing the goblin to the side that Sinon came out of this unharmed.
Akinym: What's gotten into you? I've tried to warn you about that monster three times!
Sinon: I didn't notice… I was occupied with the boss.
The Goblin Guard launched the next attack, so Akinym had to fend it off while talking with Sinon.
Akinym: I've seen that, but you should've noticed the boss summoning that add! You heard Argo when she told us about it, didn't you?
Now that Akinym mentioned it, Sinon remembered that one Goblin Guard would spawn every time the boss hovered and cried like it just had. Argo had told them that Stymphalia did that once per HP bar. Her informants couldn't find any pattern behind the exact timing, though.
Sinon: Sorry, I… This boss is much tougher than we've thought. I need to focus, or I won't get anywhere in this fight.
Akinym had to think about the situation for a second while fighting with the Goblin Guard.
Akinym: Alright, I'll take care of the adds, so just focus on the boss! But try to watch the surrounding area, too! [frustrated] Keeping up with these small, nimble pests won't leave me any room to do that.
Sinon: Got it! I'll try.
Sinon continued her battle with Stymphalia while Akinym was keeping the Goblin Guard at bay.
With Akinym out of the picture, Stymphalia started nosedive attacks like the one at the beginning of the battle again. Sinon wondered if the boss had summoned the Goblin Guard early to keep Akinym occupied in order to separate her from her "bodyguard".
Whether spawning the add was random or not, Sinon had to deal with these attacks, but she also noticed that she could use them to her advantage. While charging at her, Stymphalia couldn't really dodge, so it was the perfect opportunity for a counterattack.
Sinon only had to get the timing right in order to hit the boss and have enough time left to dodge the attack. She needed a few runs until she had the right timing down, but once she had figured out how to do it, Sinon could deal with the boss quite well.
Before long, Stymphalia had lost half of the first of its three HP bars. At that point, it turned towards Sinon, but that only showed her that the boss was about to use a different attack than the nosedive, since it would fly in an arc for that. Thanks to Argo's info, Sinon already knew what was going to happen.
Stymphalia shot two feathers at Sinon, almost as if they were arrows. On reflex, Sinon dodged by jumping to the side. Well, she did dodge the feather arrows that way, but she had overlooked a large hole in the floor, and she was jumping directly towards it, albeit not right into it. After her landing, Sinon tried to stop, but the momentum carried her forward, and she was about to topple over and down to the floor below.
Suddenly, she felt something closing around her left lower arm, followed by a strong tug backwards. When she looked over her shoulder, Sinon saw that Akinym had broken her fall… and that the Goblin Guard he was fighting dashed at him.
Sinon: Watch out!
Well, Akinym was aware of the incoming attack, but he was unable to dodge right now, and with only one hand, he couldn't wield his two-handed spear properly to parry to blow, so Sinon's warning didn't matter.
The Goblin Guard thrust its shortsword through Akinym's right shoulder. In response, Akinym tossed his spear aside for the moment and used the free hand to grab the goblin's wrist. After that, he spun around, pulling Sinon away from the hole in front of them while ripping the Goblin Guard's hand along with its weapon off his shoulder. He flung the monster down the hole.
The fall didn't cause any damage since it wasn't deep. Alas, the Goblin Guard couldn't have climbed back up, even if it tried, and the staircase that led upwards was quite a bit away, so the monster was out of the picture for now. Even more than that… This monster may have been spawned by a boss monster's ability, but it was still a normal Goblin Guard, so now that it couldn't reach its target straightforwardly, the Goblin Guard just reset and went its way.
Akinym: Seriously, you need to watch your surroundings more carefully! If I hadn't just happened to look your way right now, you would've been in serious trouble now!
At first, Sinon wanted to say something in response, but between the shock about everything that had just gone down (partly literally) and the feeling that she was in no position to complain, she just nodded. She did, however, free her hand from his grip and backed away a little.
Well, at least the battle became a bit easier for the time being now that Akinym could support Sinon actively. They coordinated their actions as far as they saw fit, even though Akinym could only help Sinon when Stymphalia dove down, charging at them. Whenever the boss attacked Sinon, Akinym tried to attack from the side, using short Sword Skills such as Armor-Breaking Lance.
They depleted the boss' first HP bar, and it wasted no time to spawn the next add. Akinym quickly drew its aggro, and Sinon had to take care of the boss on her own again.
With one of its HP bars gone, the feather arrow attack of the boss became stronger. Stymphalia shot four feathers every time now. The attack could cover a larger area, so Sinon had to be even more careful now.
Aside from that, the battle went relatively well for a while. At some point, however, when Stymphalia prepared another feather arrow attack, Sinon was a bit puzzled that the flying monster didn't turn towards her for the attack… and then, she realised why.
Sinon: Hey, it's aiming at you!
Akinym heard Sinon's warning, but he thought that she was referring to the Goblin Guard, which he actually fought quite successfully, so he had no idea what she meant. He didn't snap out of this confused state until the feathers hit him in the back. Fortunately, he hadn't sustained too many hits so far, so the attack wasn't too severe.
In light of that attack, however, they had to come up with a countermeasure. The fact that they had to fight while discussing this didn't make it easier, so they went with a straightforward approach. Sinon kept her eyes on the boss, and when it targeted Akinym, she'd warn him with the codewords "feather" or "dive" depending on the attack it used.
It worked well enough, and the battle continued without major issues. It wasn't until Sinon had almost finished off Stymphalia's second HP bar that something problematic occurred… and it wasn't even an issue about the boss battle itself.
The patrol of the goblins on deck came into view. That was a sign that the battle was proceeding slowly since Akinym and Sinon had waited for the patrol to pass by before they had begun to fight Stymphalia. Now, these goblins had walked around the entire ship… The worst part, however, was that they couldn't afford to get attacked by ten more goblin monsters, so they had to avoid getting spotted.
Argo had told them that this patrol had a relatively small detection radius, and it wouldn't react to them as long as they were thirty metres away. The patrol was currently about fifty metres away and approaching slowly, so they had a bit time left.
Sinon: We're in trouble, the patrolling goblins are coming back!
Akinym: Oh, great! So, what now? We can't afford to hide! But I suppose we might have no other choice.
Given how much time they had needed to get back on deck and (apparently) to get the boss this far, they probably didn't have time for a second attempt before they'd exceed their time limit – not to mention that they weren't sure that they could do much better the second time. If the quest failed, they'd have to wait an entire day before they could try again. It was the standard cooldown for a failed quest.
Akinym's gaze was glued to the Goblin Guard he fought. Retreating would probably be even harder if they had this monster at their heels. Its HP bar was in the red zone, and Akinym considered quickly taking it out with a Sword Skill, even if the attempt could backfire.
Meanwhile, Sinon tried to think of a solution as well. It would be okay if they could stay far away from the goblin patrol, but she had her doubts that the ship was big enough, so they should try to leave its boundaries… somehow.
Sinon was already about to give up on this ludicrous idea when she found a way to actually do that. She saw the collapsed main mast of the ship nearby on the other side of the wreck. Its top protruded beyond the ship's railing, so...
Sinon: Climb on the mast over there and walk all the way to the top! I know it's risky, but I think it will work!
Akinym was confused at first, but when he saw where Sinon was headed, he understood her intention. Well, he still thought that it was insane. They'd have to balance on a… Let's call it a giant balance beam. If they fell, they'd probably not survive it. Therefore, he wanted to object.
Alas, Sinon ran towards the mast with such determination that Akinym wasn't sure if he'd get through to her. Sinon usually listened to reason if he slapped her in the face with it, but right now, he'd say the chances were fifty-fifty.
Upon the thought of abandoning her, a scene from their dungeon run on the 94th floor came to his mind. It was the moment when a large group of lizardmen had cornered them and they had had to hide, although Sinon had needed a veil potion in order for that to work. Moreover, he remembered the question Sinon had asked him afterwards. If the worst had come to worst, would he have defended her? He still remembered his frustration when he had come to the conclusion that he wouldn't have.
This train of thoughts urged Akinym to stick with Sinon, so he followed her. Thanks to his higher speed and the help of Acrobatics, Akinym was the first one to climb onto the mast. He helped Sinon up, and they had to scatter pretty much immediately to dodge a feather arrow attack of Stymphalia. In the end, they reached the safe area just in time to avoid the patrol.
The Goblin Guard Akinym had fought followed him onto the mast, though. Close combat was particularly difficult there, so Akinym hoped that he could take this monster out quickly, so that it wouldn't cause them more trouble… and Sinon considered aiding him in that.
She thought about how to do that for a brief moment, using their previous encounters with Goblin Guards as a reference. At one point, when the Goblin Guard leapt forward and Akinym had to parry its attacks, Sinon suddenly had an idea and decide to go with it.
Sinon: Push it away and get down!
Akinym simply did what Sinon wanted. After absorbing the force of the attack he parried, Akinym pushed forward vigorously, allowing himself to tumble over. At the same time, he shoved the Goblin Guard away, and it flew a metre or two through the air.
Sinon aimed Triple Shot at the Goblin Guard, and as soon as Akinym got down, she unleashed the Sword Skill. She had noticed that the local goblin monsters were the most vulnerable when they landed after a jump or after getting tossed through the air. Even they couldn't dodge in that moment. The first two shots were already enough to kill the monster.
With that out of the way, they kept fighting Stymphalia as before. They had to be even more careful while balancing on the mast. To be fair, it was four to six metres in diameter, and they still had a little bit of room to move, but still…
When Stymphalia had lost its second HP bar, its feather attack became even stronger. Now, it shot eight feather arrows every time.
It didn't spawn the third and last add for a while, though. Stymphalia waited with that until it was down to about thirty per cent of its last HP bar. Once the monster spawned, Akinym wasted no time to draw its aggro.
They had fought for not even a minute when Akinym saw how Stymphalia grazed Sinon's arm with one of its talons during a nosedive attack, and the force of the attack pushed her back a little. She even had to cling to the mast to stop herself from sliding down. It might've ended worse, though.
Witnessing that, Akinym didn't want to keep fighting like this any longer. If nothing else, they also had to make sure that they were done fighting Stymphalia by the time the patrol came by again. Thus, he decided to make short work of the last Goblin Guard with a special, but risky tactic he had worked out while Sinon had been whittling down Stymphalia's third HP bar.
Akinym jumped towards the edge of the mast, and when he landed, he immediately started sliding down, even almost slipping off. In order to get back to safety, Akinym used Acrobatics to jump back onto the safe part of the mast. That would normally not have been possible, but the system assistant made it doable.
The Goblin Guard had dashed after Akinym, not predicting the manoeuvre. It flew past him, and to be fair, it got to slash Akinym's arm. After that, however, it almost fell down immediately. It barely managed to hold onto the mast and began to crawl up again. Akinym prevented that by swinging his spear at the monster as soon as it was within reach, and he knocked it down. Frankly, it was almost as if he used the Goblin Guard as a golf ball.
Akinym was so busy with this that he barely noticed Sinon's warning: Stymphalia launched another feather arrow attack at him. He couldn't dodge anymore, especially since he had to regain his balance after his last attack first, so all he could do was to use Parry, hoping that it would be somewhat effective against the boss' attack. Well, two feathers bounced off his spear, but the other six hit his shoulders, neck and stomach.
Sinon looked at the boss, wondering what they should do now. She guessed that it had around twenty per cent of its last HP bar left, and that gave her an idea.
Sinon: Another Break-Through Nuke. What do you think?
Akinym: Good.
They got ready, and when Stymphalia dove down again, Akinym charged Armor-Breaking Lance as soon as it was close enough. Meanwhile, Sinon prepared to shoot another arrow at it. While aiming, she could vaguely make out Stymphalia's face. She was a bit startled when the boss suddenly glanced at Akinym. In fact, it startled her so much that she accidentally let go of the bow string, firing the arrow too early.
Sinon: Watch out!
It was too late for a warning. The boss suddenly pulled to the left. Akinym noticed that instantly, but there was no time to think about what he should do, so he just instinctively used his Sword Skill. The hit pushed Stymphalia slightly to the side, so it didn't crash into him head-on. One of its talons still cut through his stomach, and the impact knocked him over. Akinym almost fell down the mast, and he barely managed to clutch at it. His spear was already falling down, and he was at risk of following it.
A wave of panic surged through Sinon, and she instantly put her bow down and rushed towards Akinym. She grabbed his arm and pulled him up again, or at least she helped him to get to safety. Even so, his HP bar was deep in the red zone now, and he probably wouldn't survive another hit.
Sinon: It could attack again at any moment, so heal up!
While urging Akinym to use a healing item, preferably a crystal, Sinon picked up her bow again. Meanwhile, Akinym was searching his pouch for something, but the result was rather… worrying.
Akinym: I've used everything already. Wait, I check my…
Akinym was about to open his menu to take something from his inventory when he took another look at Stymphalia. The boss turned around for another attack, and judging from its trajectory, it was charging at him. Sinon noticed that, too. Stymphalia was still quite a bit away, and it would probably need about fifteen to twenty seconds to reach them.
Akinym: Forget that! I'll dodge it!
Sinon could understand the idea, but she wasn't confident that it would work. She turned her attention towards Stymphalia. The boss was weakened, and given the defense debuff, she might be able to kill it with Milion Howling before it could do more harm, at least when she hit its weak spot. Thus, Sinon got ready, but as she was taking aim, she could feel her hands trembling with nervousness.
She hated these shots… The times when something – something truly important – really depended on her shot. After all, she had only this one chance… Normally, she wouldn't fuss about the possibility to miss her aim like that, but that was… well, normally. Now, it was (literally) do or die... or rather kill or let die.
Akinym's appearance when she had caught a glimpse of him right now came to her mind. He looked… strangely calm and determined. The sight reminded her of something Akinym had told her: He, too, had to deal with fear in moments like this, but over the course of two and a half long years, he had learnt how to channel this fear into his survival instincts. And it wasn't just him: Asuna, Kirito… Klein or Agil – anyone who had been fighting in SAO for such a long time had this attitude to some extent. Frankly, she admired this ability to deal with fear a bit.
In light of that, Sinon allowed that predatory instinct from earlier to well up at full force again. It mixed with some sort of protective instinct, and within seconds, Sinon directed intense killing intent at Stymphalia.
Sinon took aim and waited a second for the right moment while following Stymphalia's descent with her eyes. When it was seven metres away from Akinym, she fired her arrow. The arrow hit Stymphalia square in the head, and the impact pushed it to the side. Akinym leapt slightly to the other side, so the boss missed him when it crashed into the mast.
Its limp body kept flying and was flung down the other side by the momentum. It shattered into polygons, which seemed to be blown away by the wind.
Akinym and Sinon didn't have any time to celebrate. They had to get down the mast again before the patrol reached their position. They barely made it in time, and they had to be a bit… creative in order to get around the patrol.
They hid behind a structure on deck further towards the stern until the monsters had passed by, and after that, they quickly went to the bow, where Phinus was already waiting for them.
Akinym: The monster is gone, and we got what you wanted.
Phinus: Oh, how wonderful! Please, give it to me!
Akinym turned a quest item Stymphalia had dropped into an object. Frankly, it was just an ordinary fruit. Regardless, Phinus took it eagerly and wolfed it down. Sinon wasn't sure if she should be exasperated or disgusted.
Sinon: This makes me wonder why we didn't just give him some random food if he was starving…
Akinym: Quest item. He wouldn't have taken anything else. [to Phinus] Now, why – or how – did the goblins capture you?
Phinus: Oh, so that's what you're interested in? Very well, I shall answer you. I've been travelling this floor of the flying castle in an attempt to learn more about the Scaleless Turnips, hoping to discover something that might help my race to prevail in our battle for survival. The gods of our world must've given me a vision, because I was drawn to the monuments the Scaleless Turnips have built across the great mountain range, and there, I found their legendary treasure!
Sinon: Legendary treasure… He must be speaking about the Fleece.
Phinus: Oh, so you know about the Fleece of the Ancestral Ram? I commend you for being so knowledgeable! But you probably don't know already that it lies deep inside a hidden chamber inside the last fortress, and the way there is sealed by ancient magic beyond my comprehension. The way there can be uncovered only by solving a cryptic riddle, but you must not make a single mistake, or you'll never get there! I only managed to make my way through thanks to the guidance of the gods. Unfortunately, I was captured by the enemy when I reached the chamber, but you, heroes, might prevail. As allies of my race, the spoils shall go to you if you succeed.
Akinym [checks the quest log]: The quest has been updated. Now it tells us to "solve the mystery behind the Fleece's hiding place". I guess we have to go to the goblin fortress in the south to proceed.
Sinon: Seems like it. We should probably go back to town first to stock up on potions since we needed so many. It's bad enough that we've run out of crystals.
Akinym: Yeah, and I also have to remember to retrieve my weapon… It should still lie down there.
Sinon [slightly exasperatedly]: I guess so. [slightly nervously] So…
Sinon looked over at the anchor hawsehole. Akinym did the same, albeit with a sour expression. Well, sourer than Sinon's.
Akinym [sighs, tiredly]: Yeah, let's go that way…
So, while Akinym and Sinon have to climb down that rusty anchor chain, let's wrap up this chapter.
I guess the chapter's title gives the "myth" I've mentioned in the previous chapter away, at least if you know what said myth is actually called. Anyway, the "official" confirmation will be included in the next chapter. Until then, I'd like to continue the "imaginary cookie giveaway". This time, that cookie will go to anyone who spotted every reference to that myth in this chapter. If I haven't missed one, there are four, although some of them appear in combined form.
Also, I'm sorry that the "Scaleless Turnips" phrase hasn't been explained yet. That will happen in the next chapter.