Okay, here's part two of Kirito's adventure on the 95th floor.
By the way, I've decided to split it into four parts instead of three. It's the same old story: I've underestimated how long the initial middle part would get, and it also took me considerably longer to write it, so I rearranged this part a little.
Anyway, last time, Kirito, Silica, Lisbeth, Leafa and Philia started a quest that would (hopefully) give them a lead as to how to end the war between the goblins and the lizardmen peacefully. Now that everything is prepared, they are headed for a lizardman outpost where they have to snatch a certain item. What follows is the first half of their adventure at that place.
After walking all the way back to Celes' teleport gate, followed by a teleport to the far south of the huge, dried-up riverbed and the subsequent march to their destination, Kirito, Silica, Lisbeth, Leafa and Philia finally reached it: the lizardman base they had to raid.
On the outside, it was a rather plain building which wasn't much different from the goblin fortress where they had been before. The most noticeable difference was that this lizardman stronghold was smaller. That wasn't important, though. What mattered was the mountaineering equipment they had to steal, which was stored somewhere in the depths of this dungeon.
Now, the party stood on top of a small hill where they had a pretty good view on the fortress in question.
Kirito [contemplatively]: Hm, we're here, and our destination is on the east side on the second floor… Now, how do we get there?
Lisbeth: Huh? Uhhhh, you can tell me if I'm just… overlooking something, but can't we just go through, you know, [points to the entrance of the lizardman fortress] the front door?!
Well, that was the obvious solution, and to be fair, the other girls had had the same initial thought. However, it was also a rather problematic solution.
Kirito: In that case, we'd have to fight our way through the entire garrison. That would mean killing countless lizardmen in order to reach the right room… [mutters] provided that we'd get there.
Success was anything but a given with that strategy. The only effective way to fight lizardmen was to outmanoeuvre them, but doing so in a limited space was well-nigh impossible. Players who had assisted the lizardmen in defending their fortresses against goblin attacks had reported that the lizardmen formed a downright impenetrable wall when fighting shoulder to shoulder in the narrow hallways of their abodes.
Kirito took a skeptical look at the entrance area of the fortress in front of them. A few rows of palisade trenches had been erected to block the way inside. It may very well have been the result of players completing the quest Argo had told him about, the mission to secure this base against intruders. Kirito had a hunch that several defenders were lurking between the layers of the barrier. At this rate, just entering this stronghold through the main gate might be too much for a single party, at least if they wanted to do so safely.
However, the main problem with Lisbeth's straightforward proposal wasn't even difficulty. There was still the public quest to "save" lizardmen. The Assault Team had yet to discover what this quest would actually do, but if it happened to be something important, Kirito and his party couldn't risk causing the smaller clearing guilds to fail.
Akinym had also stated this in no uncertain terms: They should kill as few lizardman monsters as possible because they'd certainly be blamed if the Assault Team failed that public quest. Asuna had given them similar (albeit less harsh) advice. Even if there was no particular reason to believe that things went wrong due to their actions, there might be players who would try to put the blame on Kirito and the girls who helped him now. If nothing else, Sunny Tzu from the DDA would probably try to pull something.
Leafa: Well, yeah, I remember that we should avoid fighting lizardmen, but couldn't we sneak in? You and Philia have maxed out the Hiding skill, haven't you?
Philia: I have. That might work. I mean, you're the one who took the quest, aren't you, Kirito? So it should be enough for the two of us to…
Kirito: Wait, before you say anything else, there's a problem. These lizardmen are apparently really good at detecting targets by their scent, so Hiding is pretty much useless.
Now that this idea had been shot down right away, a certain uneasiness came over the group. If neither the direct nor the sneaky approach worked, what was there even left to do? All of them were asking themselves that question… and Kirito was the first one to come up with an answer.
Kirito [contemplatively]: Wait, what if we… [smiles confidently] Hey, Philia, if you want to sneak in, how about we search ourselves a better place to do so?
Philia was bewildered for a moment, and it wasn't just her. However, she quickly caught on to what Kirito was getting at.
Philia: Hehe, you want to go through the side entrance again, don't you, Kirito?
Silica: Side entrance?
Lisbeth: Hey, what are you even talking about?!
Philia: Don't you remember what I've told you about secret passages in dungeons?
Lisbeth: That they're a primary location for hidden treasure? Yeah, sure, although that doesn't really help right now! Or is this like that one time when you made us cross a hall full of monsters by climbing to the ceiling and jumping from crossbeam to crossbeam?!
With those reminders of Philia's Kirito-level of "ingenuity" when it came to dungeons, even Silica and Leafa couldn't suppress a sigh of exasperation.
Philia [slightly awkwardly]: W-well, it's a bit like that. You see, just as there are often hidden chambers or passages in dungeons, many of them also have a secret secondary entrance. It can lead to a hidden area, or maybe it's just a shortcut. [turns towards the fortress] This building has windows, and unless they're all blocked off, we can use one of them as a point of entry.
Silica [mutters, in disbelief]: She wants to climb through the window… [says aloud, surprised] Wait, you knew about that, Kirito-san?!
Leafa [exasperatedly]: Don't tell me you've had the same idea, Kirito-kun?
Kirito [slightly defensively]: Hey, keep calm, okay? It's just that when Philia and I were exploring the Hollow Area, we came across situations like that, so of course I know about that!
Lisbeth [slightly annoyed and nervously]: Still… To think that you'd come up with something like that… I have a bad feeling about this. [calmly] Anyway, sounds like the best plan right now, so let's give it a try.
At the back of the fortress, they found the most promising "backdoor" which they could enter the building through. There was a… gate (although it looked more like a hatchway) near the top of the building. There was a long sill right beneath it. It seemed to be wide enough for a person to stand on, so Kirito and company could probably get in through that entryway if they managed to climb onto the sill.
Now they stood below the sill, tilting their heads back as much as possible just to get a good look at it. Well, there was just one open question…
Silica: So… How are we supposed to get up there? [looks around] There's no ladder or staircase anywhere…
Kirito: That's a good question… Maybe we climb up the wall? It's pretty rugged, so maybe… Hm, but it doesn't seem very safe, and getting onto that ledge might be difficult. It goes all around the wall, so we can't circumvent it…
Lisbeth [slightly exasperatedly]: Why am I not even surprised that your first idea is freeclimbing?!
Kirito [defensively]: I-it's not such a bad idea! I mean, these holes are big enough, and you can get a good grip on the protruding parts!
Leafa: Well, we have to get a bit creative here, don't we? [sighs dejectedly] At times like this, I really wish I could still fly. It would make this so much easier…
In response to Leafa's longing mumbling, Pina chirped with an undertone of confusion. The familiar had probably reacted to the word "fly" as if it was a cue or a command. Judging from the blank stare Pina gave Leafa, the feathered dragon probably couldn't make any sense of it, though.
Silica: Well, I suppose you're the only one here who could get up there that way, Pina. [looks up] But what about us? Should we really climb?
Philia [slightly curiously]: Hm, what do you think how high this is? More than ten metres?
Lisbeth [slightly contemplatively]: Well, I'd say a bit less than… [nervously] Wait… I'm getting a bad feeling about this. Philia, are you…?
She turned towards the girl in question, and just as Lisbeth had feared, Philia looked at her inventory list, her right index finger hovering over a certain item.
Kirito was a bit surprised by Lisbeth's reaction. Was there something going on he should know about? The other girls seemed to do as both Silica and Leafa looked on with smiles that seemed to express sympathy for Lisbeth. He wondered what Philia had in mind, so he held his breath and waited to see the object that would materialise in Philia's hands, which turned out to be a…
Kirito [impressed, slightly excitedly]: Wait, is that… a grappling hook?!
Philia proudly held up the item in question.
Philia: It sure is!
Kirito: That's amazing! I looked for something like that a while ago, but I couldn't find anything! I know that you can get ropes, but this... Even Argo couldn't help me with this.
Kirito was, in fact, so amazed that he walked up to Philia and took the grappling hook from her so that he could examine it more closely. Philia didn't mind, especially since she was delighted about coming across something not even Argo knew about. She even giggled a little – a bit awkwardly, but overall genuinely happily.
Philia: Well, that's surprisingly specialised equipment, so I'm not that surprised. I had been looking for it for quite some time before I finally found a quest that gives players a blue print for a grappling iron, and it also allows you to combine that with a rope [points at the grappling hook] to get this.
Kirito was genuinely amazed. He had given up on the idea of getting a grappling hook for his own "collection" of tools since he hadn't been able to dig up anything about it. He had been sure that such an item would exist in SAO, but eventually, he had had to move on and focus on more urgent problems.
Kirito: That's great! With this, we should be able to climb up there much easier! [contemplatively] But wait, you've asked how high the ledge is, right? Something about ten metres… That's how long the rope on this is, isn't it? [looks up] Hm, maybe it works, but what if it's not long enough…
Philia: Well, that one is ten metres long, but I also have one that's fifteen metres long. It's just that the longer the rope, the faster the durability decreases when you're climbing up, so I try to stick to the shorter ones.
Kirito: Huh, so that's how it is… I guess that gives grappling hooks with shorter reach at least some advantage. Anyway, with a fifteen meter one, we should reach the ledge up there easily.
Philia: Right? We usually come by pretty well with that one, although I kinda wish I could get an even longer rope. Something between twenty and thirty metres would be nice. With that, I'm sure I'd never run into trouble in that regard ever again!
Kirito: Twenty to thirty metres, huh? [reassuringly] But honestly, there have to be ropes around that length, Philia! I wouldn't even be surprised if there's a shop selling them somewhere in Arc Sophia, you'll just have to look for it! Asuna should know something about that. [slightly excitedly] Oh, wait… Hey, how about we go and look for a sufficiently long rope one of these days?
Philia [excitedly]: Huh, really?!
Kirito: Yeah, sure! And I also want one of these!
Philia: Hehe, that shouldn't be a problem!
The two of them were suddenly interrupted by a quite disgruntled "Ahem!" coming from Leafa. When they turned to face the rest of their party, they shrunk a bit under the stares they were met with. There were Leafa with a stern and admonishing, Lisbeth with a clearly annoyed and Silica with a somewhat exasperated look.
Leafa: Do you mind? We're on a mission, so get your act together!
Kirito and Philia [bow their heads]: I'm sorry.
Lisbeth [sighs]: That aside, do we really have to use… that atrocity of a rope?
Kirito was a bit taken aback by that comment. Was there something he should know about this? He send quizzically glances at all of the girls, hoping that one would explain what was going on.
Silica [hesitantly]: W-well, Philia-san is using that grappling hook pretty often, but…
Leafa [hesitantly]: Liz-san is… kind of…
Lisbeth [upset]: I'm not good at rope climbing, okay?! I sucked at it in PE lessons, and it hasn't got any better in SAO! Geez, are you happy now?! I'm a delicate girl, so it's okay for me to be bad at anything that requires physical strength!
Kirito [mutters]: Delicate, huh…?
Lisbeth [angrily]: Kirito, did you just say something?!
Kirito: O-of course not, why would I have anything to add!? [thinks] Dammit, that was a dangerous slip of the tongue… [says aloud, slightly nervously] I… I mean, you have pretty high Strength, right? [feignedly reassuringly] Th-that's right! With your stats, I'm sure that you won't have any problems if you put your back into it! Believe in yourself, Liz!
Lisbeth narrowed her eyes in annoyance. There was a certain truth in Kirito's words. In fact, she had picked a maze, which had been the bulkiest, heaviest choice she had had at that time, as her weapon and a Strength-focused build for her character just for the irony: That way, she could wield this "monstrosity" that she probably couldn't have lifted in the real world. However, she didn't want to be treated as some sort of muscleman, not even by… no, especially not by Kirito.
Well… Actually, the only other person who had ever done that got on her nerves even more. Said person was Akinym, and it had been an issue during Lisbeth's training. The problem was that Akinym had made similar remarks several times, and when Lisbeth had openly complained about it, he had dismissed it as "pointless and counterproductive", telling her to "focus on the practical use of her skills and strong points". Akinym had kept disregarding Lisbeth's discomfort with the matter after that, and it had annoyed her to no end. Well, it was still irritating.
Lisbeth took a deep breath and slapped her own cheeks lightly to get rid of all these aggravating thoughts. Their overall situation was already rather gloomy, and she reminded herself that she had made a certain decision as to what she should do about it.
Lisbeth: Alright, forget it! Let's just get this horror over with…
Kirito silently breathed a sigh of relief… and remembered the grappling hook in his hands – or to be more precise, the fact that he still held it in his hands. He looked up at the sill above them and put on a mischievous smile.
Kirito: In that case, leave it to me!
Kirito began to whirl the end of the rope with the grappling iron around… which wasn't met with enthusiastic reactions.
Philia [slightly panicking]: Ah, wait, Kirito! This is actually…
Before Philia could finish that thought, Kirito accidentally let the rope slide through his hand ever so slightly, but it was enough for the orbit of the grappling iron to expand enough to hit the wall. It bounced off, and Kirito was so startled that he instinctively dodged the rebounding object to the side. It was a bit of an overreaction, though, and while twisting his body around, Kirito also inadvertently yanked the rope to the other side. Furthermore, the end of the rope with the grappling iron slipped out of his hand… and flew straight towards the girls.
To make things even worse, Kirito held the coiled rest of the rope rather loosely in his other hand, so a part of it got uncoiled, furthering the reach of the "projectile". That way, even though the girls had retreated to a (as they had thought) safe distance as a precaution, the rope could extend enough for the grappling hook to reach them.
As a blessing in disguise, the grappling iron flew towards Silica, and it passed just over her head. In fact, one of the prongs grazed her scalp. The situation had escalated so quickly that Silica hadn't had any chance to react, and now she was basically frozen in place, trembling and wide-eyed.
Lisbeth and Leafa, on the other hand, had instinctively jumped to the side to dodge the unintentional "ambush". Now that they were safe, however, they quickly regained their composure and checked on their terrified comrade.
Leafa: Silica-san, are you okay?!
Kirito: S-sorry, Silica! That… um, wasn't what I had in mind!
Lisbeth [upset]: It better wasn't! Seriously, if we wanted a show-off to come with us, we would ask Klein! [worriedly] Hey, Silica, how are you feeling?
Silica: I'm fine. In fact, thanks to Kirito-san, I've finally come to terms with my height. Being tall is scary. Way too much can go wrong if you're tall…
Silica's response was unexpectedly calm in the strangest way possible, which gave rise to even more concern.
Lisbeth: Not good… If she's saying that, this traumatised her even more than those icky slimes last month…
Kirito: W-well, maybe we could… like…
Leafa: You stay quiet!
Before she continued the lecture, Leafa grabbed the rope, reeled in the grappling iron and walked up to Kirito to wrest the grappling hook from his hands.
Leafa: Before you can traumatise anyone else, you're hereby banned from using a grappling hook ever again! [mutters] I gotta remember to tell Asuna-san about it, so that she makes sure to keep you from getting any funny ideas…
Kirito: Come on, this was just an accident! [thinks, dejectedly] And I was looking forward to use this thing so much...
Leafa: Yeah, and I will keep you from causing another one! Philia, you take care of this!
As Leafa thrust the grappling hook into Philia's hands, said recipient gave the disgruntled Kirito an apologetic smile.
Philia: Sorry, but you see, this is more difficult than you might think. Well, I guess you could say that there is a trick to it.
Without giving any explanation, Philia got into position. From the looks of it, she was approaching throwing the grappling hook exactly as Kirito had, so he wondered what this "trick" might be. It dawned on him when the grappling iron began to glow while Philia was whirling it around. She released the rope, and the hook flew straight up towards the sill and got caught on the edge. With one firm tug at the rope, Philia checked if it would come off.
Philia: Okay, it's fixed. We can go.
Kirito [impressed, slightly surprised, mutters]: Wow, nice… [curiously, says aloud] Hey, wait a moment, Philia! Was that… a Sword Skill? It looked like one, but that doesn't really make sense…
Philia: Well, it's… How should I put this? I guess you could say that it's kinda like a Sword Skill.
Kirito: Hm? What's that supposed to mean?
Philia: Basically, it's a mod for the skill Blade Throwing. It's called "Tool Throwing".
Kirito gasped in surprise. He was sure that he had heard of this "Tool Throwing" before… Oh, right! He remembered that he had had the option to choose this mod at some point. Back then, Kirito hadn't been able to gather any reliable information on this mod, and "Tool Throwing" had sounded to him as if it would enable him to use smithing hammers, sewing needles and other crafting tools as throwing weapons. He hadn't seen any use in that, so he had picked a different mod instead.
Philia: Thanks to that mod, the grappling hook will hit exactly the spot I'm focusing on, and since it will either stay in place or come off immediately, I dare say I'm all geared up for this job!
Lisbeth: Yeah, yeah, sure! Can we just get this torture over with?!
Well, they got to the "torture" right away.
Philia didn't hesitate even for a moment. She latched on to the rope and began to climb up at an impressive pace. Apparently, Philia had some experience with mountaineering, including freeclimbing and whatnot, and it showed. If nothing else, she got so absorbed in this in a heartbeat that it could be called an undeniable proof of her fascination for climbing.
Anyway, the question who should go second was a bit more complicated. At first, Kirito wanted to stay on the ground until the girls had reached the sill before climbing up himself – just in case anything would cause trouble on the ground. He didn't have anything in particular in mind, it was just a hunch, nothing more than instinctive caution.
However, Lisbeth reacted to that idea in a strangely embarrassed manner… right before getting upset and complaining in an accusatory tone that Kirito (apparently) "wanted to watch them pretty badly from below where he had the best view on the 'scenery'". After that, Kirito had no choice but to go first.
Leafa followed right behind him. Next up was Silica, who had more or less recovered from her shock from earlier. Lisbeth went last… and with a certain level of hesitation. She pulled herself up step by step, slowly and pretty insecurely. Silica tried to match her pace in order to stay close to Lisbeth – to provide moral support or any kind of assistance if need be.
That way, it came as no surprise that Kirito, Leafa and Philia had already reached the sill while Silica and Lisbeth had barely made it halfway up there. It was a bit concerning, but none of these players could've done anything about it.
Thus, Kirito tried to keep himself occupied by watching the surrounding area… and he was very surprised when a small group of lizardmen appeared from behind a corner.
Kirito [thinks]: Huh, lizardmen? Where did they… Could it be that there was a hidden trap that triggered an alarm signal? Or maybe there was a patrol after all?
If these lizardmen were circling around the fortress, and they had just been on the other side of the building when Kirito and the others had arrived, that would explain why they hadn't noticed these monsters so far.
Well, it was beside the point anyway. The only thing that truly mattered was if these guards would cause them any problems. One thing was sure: The lizardmen immediately noticed the party that was trying to scale their stronghold, and they rushed towards them.
Kirito: Hey, watch out! There are monsters!
Leafa: Huh? Ah, you're right! What shall we do? What if they attack?!
Lisbeth: Don't go straight to the worst-case scenario! What are we dealing with, anyway?
Lisbeth took a quick glance at the approaching monsters. So far, there were only three of them.
Kirito: Wait, isn't it bad for you to look down in a situation like this?
Lisbeth: I'm not afraid of heights, I just suck at climbing, okay?! Besides, these guys would worry me even more if I don't check what they're made of. Let's see… Their weapons look like Desert Halberds. That's the weakest polearm you can get on this floor. [surprised] Huh? And they stopped?
Sure enough, the approaching monsters had stopped in their tracks several metres away from the dangling rope. From the perspective of the players who had already reached the sill from where they couldn't make out the lizardmen's blank faces, it looked as if the monsters had come across an obstacle they couldn't even understand.
Well, Kirito had a hunch that this was actually a correct assessment of the situation. He trusted Lisbeth's appraisal of the monsters' weapons since this was her field of expertise. According to said appraisal, these monsters used a version of an extremely cheap and simple weapon, so it was likely that they were nothing but run-of-the-mill guards with a quite low-level AI. In light of that, it was absolutely possible that they simply weren't capable of rope climbing.
After coming to that conclusion, Kirito wanted to tell Silica and Lisbeth not to worry, but also to hurry up and finish climbing before anything else might happen… when anything else indeed happened.
Lisbeth: Huh? What's that kind of weapon? Some sort of spear? It's no good… I don't remember these weapons at all…
Kirito took another look. The lizardmen had dropped their halberds and took out completely different weapons, which looked like spears with a length of about half a metre. Well, these "spears" seemed extremely bland, more like thin poles than "actual" weapons.
The fact that Lisbeth had no idea what these weapons might be was alarming, though. Kirito thought about it, trying to deduce the purpose of these spears. It hit him: The monsters on this floor were capable of ranged attacks. The goblins used archery, but according to what the Assault Team had figured out so far, there were no archers among the lizardmen, so they were probably using…
Lisbeth: Wait! Javelins?!
Yep, those were throwing spears, and the lizardmen fired off the first volley… straight towards Lisbeth, who had been selected as target, probably because she was the closest player. She didn't think that she could dodge the projectiles while clinging to the rope, so she could only try to shield herself. The three javelins hit Lisbeth in the arms and side. Fortunately, they disappeared instantly and without dealing too much damage.
Lisbeth: Geez, leave me alone! Why do I have to deal with that on top of this nasty rope?!
Kirito: That's not important! You two, come up here quickly!
Silica: R-right!
Lisbeth: I get it! You don't have to tell me… The sooner I get this over with, the better!
Silica sped up, but Lisbeth couldn't really do anything about her lack of skill when it came to climbing. In fact, her attempts to climb faster resulted in her grip becoming unsteady until she slipped. Lisbeth slid down a bit until she could tighten her grip on the rope enough to stop herself from falling down completely. Her predicament was made even clearer when another volley of javelins struck her in the back immediately thereafter.
Leafa: Liz-san, are you okay?! Hang in there!
Lisbeth: I don't wanna hang anywhere, that's the problem!
Philia [sternly]: We have more important problems than that!
Leafa: I… I get that, but there's nothing for us to do but to give moral support, isn't there?
Philia: No, I mean we really have a much bigger problem right now!
Philia pointed towards the side of the building. Down there, another group of lizardmen had just come around the corner. This time, there were five monsters.
Silica: Reinforcements?! That's not good! Just why are all these monsters showing up now?
Kirito and Philia, who had had to deal with somewhat similar situations before, thought that the first group of monsters had some sort of remote alarm function, which had called in reinforcements when the monsters had come across their group. That was very concerning… for more reasons than just one.
The attacks of the first three lizardman guards had been bad enough already, but even their combined power didn't pose an overwhelming threat. Even after a few volleys, Lisbeth still had more than sixty per cent of her maximum HP (which weren't at the level of a tank's, but still nothing to be sneezed at) left. Now that the number of attackers had risen, however, this could easily change for the worse.
There was also the fact that these five monsters probably weren't the last reinforcements. Even more might arrive at any second, and it wasn't just an issue of numbers alone. There could also be a greater variety in attackers. Monsters with more sophisticated AI might be able to climb the rope to chase Lisbeth, Silica and maybe even the group that had already reached the top.
In fact, Kirito had an extremely bad feeling. To be more precise, he had a feeling that they were already facing the last issue: Only four of the newly arrived monsters appeared to belong to the same class as the previous three. They joined their comrades, but the remaining fifth newcomer separated itself from that group and ran straight towards the rope. That monster also wore more elaborate armour, so it was beyond debate that this lizardman was different.
However, it still wasn't programmed to climb. It was just that its AI was capable of a deeper analysis of the situation as well as coming up with slightly more sophisticated tactics. In this case, that meant realising the importance of the rope and the possibility to shake the players off. Thus, the lizardman grabbed the rope and began to yank it around vigorously.
Lisbeth [shrieks]: W-what noooOOOOWWWW?! WHAT IS… [shrieks loudly] STOOOOOP IIIIIT! Why… is… WUUUAHAAA! Do… [shrieks loudly] SOMETHIIING!
Well, she didn't even have to ask for the others to try. It's just that this was easier said than done. Silica had enough trouble holding on to the rope herself, although she was doing better than Lisbeth, who just barely managed to cling to it for dear life. Leafa and Philia, on the other hand, simply didn't have any ideas.
Kirito had one, though. It was just a very desperate one, a thought that was so outlandish that you could count the SAO players who would've considered it in this situation on the fingers of one hand: He could jump down and distract the lizardmen to give Silica and Lisbeth a chance to escape.
It would be a fall of not even ten metres, so he would definitely survive it. The only problem was what he should do afterwards. Drawing the attention of all monsters shouldn't be too hard, but fighting alone against eight opponents would be difficult, not to mention that this number would likely increase even further. However, he figured that he'd probably be able to get away, even if he had to use a Teleport Crystal.
Oh, right… Could Silica and Lisbeth use one of those? The thought suddenly occurred to Kirito, but he was just as quick to come to the conclusion that this wasn't an option. Maybe Silica could, but Lisbeth had so much trouble holding on to the rope that she certainly would lose either the Teleport Crystal or – even worse – her grip on the rope. Due to the continuous javelin bombardment, she had already lost more than half of her remaining HP, so it was unclear if she could survive a fall from that height and the following onslaught of the lizardman monsters until she could escape.
Speaking of the javelin attacks, as a blessing in disguise, now that the rope (and Lisbeth) was swaying back and forth, the monsters' hit rate had plummeted, but Kirito was sure that it was only a matter of time until the monsters would adapt. Even the most "primitive" battle AIs on the upper floors should be able to make the necessary adjustments to their aim.
Thus, Kirito came to the conclusion that there was no time to hesitate, and he was about to jump down the sill when a shout next to him startled him for a moment.
Leafa: Wait! Silica-san, can you use that rope gymnastics trick to lift Lisbeth-san up here?
Silica: Rope gymnastics trick? What do you mean?!
Leafa: Argh, I… I don't know what to call it! [slightly insecurely] I mean this trick where you use your skill… um… [slightly determinedly] Acrobatics to… [insecurely] to… [frustrated] Ugh, I don't know how to describe it…
Philia: Oh, I get it! Silica, she means that trick you've used that one time on the ninety-second floor. The one that uses Acrobatics to suddenly move up the rope and to swing the lower part upwards with you!
Silica: Huh, what are you…? Oh, I see! I… [shrieks, slightly insecurely] Sorry, I can't do that with this monster tugging at the rope all the time!
Kirito: So you only need a moment in peace? We only have to divert that one monster, right?!
Kirito's thought about this was clear. If this was all it took to solve the problem somehow, even though he had no idea what kind of "trick" the girls were speaking of, it meant that he really should go with his initial idea of jumping down and fighting the monsters as a means of diversion.
Silica: Y-yeah, but… How could you…?
Philia: Silica, what about Pina?!
Kirito abandoned his initial plan for the time being when Philia brought up Pina. If they had in mind what he thought they had, Silica's feathered dragon would solve this issue much better than he could.
Silica: Pina? Oh, that's right! Pina!
The familiar replied to its master's call with an energetic cry. Incidentally, Pina had been flying around Silica the entire time while she had been climbing the rope, although it had some trouble to keep up with the rapid swaying motion of the rope.
Silica: Pina, when I give you the signal, [points at the lizardman on the ground] use Hampering Breath on this guy to distract him! You have to keep him busy for a few seconds, okay? Just focus on that and don't do anything reckless!
Pina chirped approvingly and already began its descent. Now it was Lisbeth's turn to receive "instructions".
Silica: Liz-san, you heard Philia-san, right? We'll try that tactic, so when I swing you up, make sure to let go at the right moment, and the momentum should carry you all the way to Kirito-san and the others!
Lisbeth: Okay, okaaay! I'll do anything, just make this torture eeeEND-KYAAAA!
At that moment, Lisbeth's feet slipped off the rope, which made holding on to this lifeline even harder.
Silica: Liz-san! [mutters, slightly nervously] No time to lose… [yells, determinedly] Alright, I'll start, so hang in there just for another few seconds! Pina, now! Use Hampering Breath!
Heeding Silica's command, Pina dove down all the way to the ground to use its (purely relatively speaking) newest ability, Hampering Breath, which had been acquired at a special trial in the Hollow Area, on the lizardman that was violently tugging at the rope. Hampering Breath was a debuff-inflicting attack, one that was basically Pina spitting some sort of mist at the target, which became slower and more sluggish due to said debuff.
This time, the fact that it diverted the target's attention was more important, though. The lizardman paused for a moment, and Pina rammed its head before starting to fly frantically in circles around the monster. The distraction manoeuvre was very effective, and the lizardman let go of the rope in order to swipe at Pina instead.
With that obstructing element out of the way, Silica got straight to the actual plan. She shifted her body on the rope to change the trajectory so that it would swing towards the wall. It was a trick she had learnt from Philia a while ago.
Next, she was going to use a trick someone else had taught her – Akinym, to be more precise. Well, speaking of more precise statements, it would be more accurate to say that her idea was based on something Akinym had taught her about the skill Acrobatics. Back then, he had told her that she could still use that skill while "standing" on tilted or even vertical surfaces, which allowed the user to pull off fast, nimble movements in situations that normally wouldn't allow them. The original idea had been to use that in order to confuse monster AIs, which weren't programmed to plan for such manoeuvres.
In the end, there was no exploit in SAO that could be used for only one specific thing, and as if to prove that, Silica had come up with a trick worthy of an aerial acrobat one day. The first step was rather simple: Silica swung towards the wall of the fortress while twisting her body around to face downwards, and she put both feet firmly onto the stone surface.
Silica [thinks]: Now, use Acrobatics – Frontflip!
With nothing but that thought on her mind, Silica pushed herself off the wall again while activating her Acrobatics skill. The system assistant allowed her to pull off a frontflip in that weird position, which looked as if she was spinning around on the rope. Well, technically speaking, that was exactly what she was doing. After all, her hands remained on the rope the entire time.
Thus, Silica carried the entire section of the now coiling rope below her current position with her. It was almost as if her body had become a fishing reel, and the "haul" she was reeling in was Lisbeth. The other girl was yanked upwards with incredible force – courtesy of the system assistant, which used every bit of physical strength Silica's avatar had during that movement.
The plan was that Lisbeth would let go at the right moment, so that the momentum would carry her to the sill. The force of the previously described movement was certainly enough for that.
However… In her current state, Lisbeth wasn't exactly at the height of her mental fortitude. She let go of the rope a second too late, and even then, it was more by accident, but that is another story. That way, she was still sent flying towards the sill where Kirito, Leafa and Philia were waiting, albeit while screaming her lungs out the whole time. It was just that she was sent flying straight towards the edge of the bottom of the sill, and she crashed headfirst into it.
Fortunately, Kirito and Leafa were quick to react, and they managed to grab her arms before she would've fallen down, so they could pull her up and lay her onto the sill for a moment to recover. Meanwhile, Silica hurriedly climbed up the rest of the way to join her party while the lizardmen down below were busy reassessing the situation. Furthermore, Pina noticed that the mission was finished, so the familiar withdrew in order to catch up with Silica.
Leafa: H-hey, Liz-san! A-are you… okay?
The first response to Leafa's question was a prolonged groan. Lisbeth didn't lift a single part of her body while answering.
Lisbeth: From now on, ropes are my mortal enemy! I declare an eternal feud with these hellish things! Justice will be served…
Well, now that Lisbeth and ropes have become eternal enemies, I think this is a good place to stop for today.
One of the things I want to do in the "Kirito and Goblins' Ops" story is to go a little bit deeper into the girls' characters. Last time, we got a bit of Leafa having a soft spot for kids and Silica being troubled with pretty much everything they come across in VR. This time, its Lisbeth's turn, and she gets to be unathletic. Philia will be the "subject" in the next chapter (well, and in this one, too, to some extent). All of these are just things that fit the general vibe I've got from these characters.
In fact, a lot of the background information about the girls in these chapters is completely non-canon.
In HF, there's this Hollow Area mission with Silica that gives her the option to get a new, more powerful familiar if she sacrifices Pina, but in that side story, she decides against it, which leads to Pina getting a new ability. To be honest, I don't remember what kind of ability that is, and I didn't check it, but "Hampering Breath" is supposed to be that skill. Furthermore, the skill is based on Pina's Bubble Breath in ALO.
I hope that this "shifting your position on a swaying rope to change the trajectory" is actually how that works. I've tried to do some research, but I couldn't really find anything. I don't know, maybe I just used the wrong keywords... Anyway, I wanted to make this particular part realistic in terms of physics, but I'm not sure if it worked, so take it with a grain of salt.
Little Preview: Now that the shenanigans outside the lizardman fortress are over, it's time for the shenanigans inside of it.