Sword Apocalypse Online

Chapter Three

There was a frightening screech as Ilfang the Hobold Lord's katana was blocked by the huge claymore.

"Holy shit," Agil managed, the huge fighter looking on in awe.

"Oh wow that's tough," Aiko yelped, angling her huge sword JUST right to deflect the blade, the sound of metal grinding on metal filling the room.

As they had discussed the attack squads rushed in between the massive swings, and the final health bar declined.

"He'll do a random, unpredictable attack once his health bar is that low!" Argo yelled out a warning, "We need to finish him off before then!"

Almost at exactly the same time two figures burst from the group, racing toward the kobold just as he was readying another swing. Asuna's strawberry blond hair glowed as she raced along, and beside her Yuuki was readying her own strike.

"LINEAR!" Yuuki yelled as both women's blades struck. The final life point disappeared, and everyone waited to see if there were more surprises.

"You got the last attack." an automated voice noted to BOTH Asuna and Yuuki.

LEVEL CLEARED appeared in the air above them all, and there was a huge sigh of relief.

A massive cheer rattled the chamber as the six squads celebrated, all of them recieving experience, gold and random items from the raid. At the same time, many of them slumped, exhausted after the long, intense battle.

"Ugh. I don't wanna move," Yuuki groaned as she and Asuna both collapsed.

"Me too," Asuna agreed.

"Nicely done," Liz complimented Aiko, the two and Argo walking towards where their fearless leaders had collapsed.

"Agreed," Argo nodded as she added, "I knew the parry could be done in theory, but actually pulling it off? Incredible."

"In theory?" Aiko blinked in surprise. "Thanks for telling me about that NOW," she said, punching Argo in the shoulder.

"Well, telling you that earlier probably wouldn't have helped," Liz said.

"Point..." Aiko conceded as they reached Asuna and Yuuki. "Hail the conquoring heroes!" she teased them.

"Big sis..." Yuuki groaned.

"Congrats," Liz added as she helped Asuna up.

"Everyone all right?" Argo asked, still nervous that this was all too good to be true.

"I think we actually pulled this off with no losses," Yuuki agreed.

"I saw you both got the last hit," Aiko noted, "get any interesting drops?"

Yuuki checked her inventory, noting she had gotten a share of the loot for clearing the level. "Nope," she said.

"Looks like it randomly dropped in my inventory," Asuna looked, "yea, not my thing." She moved it out of her inventory, "Yuuki, you have it."

"Oooh." Yuuki murmured, "Coat of Midnight. Yes, I likey." The long coat materialized over her, the black garb hanging slightly past her knees.

"Nice!" Argo agreed.

Agil, the tall, buff leader of the tanks, moseyed up to them. Apologetically he said, "The other squads are all busy trading drops they got from the Ruin Kobolds and shares of the Level Prize. Do you think you could go open the gate to the next level?"

"It DOES open automatically," Argo noted.

Liz added eagerly, "But it would give us first shot at stuff on the next level."

"Yeah, yeah," Asuna conceded.

"Can we tag along?" Aiko jumped in. "I like hanging with you guys."

"Yeah," Yuuki agreed. "Plus guys keep asking us to join their parties..."

Asuna smiled as she said, "Okay, okay, we'll go." She addressed Liz and Argo, "You okay with the sisters going with us?"

"Sure why not?" Liz agreed.

"More for the harem!" Argo added.

"Oooh," a nearby player jerked in surprise.

"Stop that!" Asuna scolded, blushing.

The group of five women left the chamber, heading up the spiral staircase to the next level, Asuna in the lead. "What can we expect next level?" she asked Argo as they climbed.

"Meas and rocky terrain. I think they researched Texas and Arizona," Argo noted wryly.

"Which reminds me... are you going to start doing Argo guides again?" Liz asked.

Argo gave her a LOOK. "Considering what happened with Ilfang, is that really a good idea?" she asked dryly.

"Most of us new players find them really helpful," Yuuki noted mildly.

"Agreed," Aiko added.

Asuna decided not to get into it. They reached a door, decorated with a bull's horns, oddly. She pushed it open, and the team emerged into sunlight.

"Oooh," all of them made a soft sound of surprise.

The doorway opened out to a sheer cliff, a stairway cared into the side going down. Unlike the varied terrain of the first floor, this one was a series of rocky mesas from one end to another. The upper parts of the mountains were covered with grass, making up grazing lands for the huge cattle monsters that populated the floor.

"Okay, enough gawking," Argo reminded them, "we need to get to get going to the capital, Urbus before the level's monsters go active."

"You have no poetry in your soul," Aiko complained mildly.

They headed down the stairs, then went the half mile to the town. Thankfully, nothing jumped them on the way. "So if we did SOMEHOW get killed, the gate would still open?" Aiko asked.

"In about two hours after we cleared the level," Argo nodded.

"People in the Town of Beginnings have probably heard we were taking on the Boss," Yuuki noted, "we shouldn't keep them waiting."

They entered the south gate, blinking as even the background music changed to something like a wistful oboe. Liz stopped them as she suggested, "Before we trigger the gate, let's hit the weapons and armor shops for upgrades."

"There IS going to be a rush on them, once the gate opens," Aiko offered reasonably.

"I occasionally forget some of you were hard core gamers before starting Sword Art Online," Asuna noted, but gave in.

They did in fact get some upgraded armor. However, there were no better weapons than their current gear, mostly due to their obsessive grinding and upgrading before fighting Ilfang.

"Go on," Yuuki gestured Asuna forward to the shimmering, still closed gateway hanging in air in the middle of town.

"Why ME?" Asuna asked.

"Someone has to," Liz pushed her.

Asuna's hand brushed the rippling surface of the fate, triggering it. She yelped as it suddenly blazed with a unearthly light.

"Better get back," Argo warned everyone.

Just then a steady stream of people raced through the opening. "Second floor! Whoo!" a random guy yelled.

"We made it!" another yelled.

"You guys ROCK!" a random girl glomped Aiko.

The group watched as the constant steam of people continued by, faintly bemused by the joyous crowd. Considering how down everyone had been when the first floor raid failed, it was all very heartening to see.

Finally, the five of them moved off together. "Okay, Argo...," Asuna asked her, "where should we start?"

To be continued...

Notes: Because of Argo already joining the party, I'll probably skip right over the 'How did she get the Whiskers' storyline. I'm also not sure if I'll do the blacksmith fraud story from the early Progressive books. Also a some point I need to have Yuuki and Aiko tell Asuna and the others about their medical issues...