Sword Apocalypse Online
Chapter Nine
The bath at the hidden Dark Elf village was only large enough for one, and they each took turns washing up. Asuna, of course, lingered a bit.
"We have no spare tents, but you can share mine," Kizmel said calmly.
"Wait..." Aiko blinked.
"We accept!" Argo jumped in.
"Good. Come with me," Kizmel said.
"Why do we need to stay the night?" Asuna whispered to Argo.
"We need to be here in the morning to get the next part of the quest," Argo explained. "Assuming it plays out like in the Beta."
"Works," Liz nodded.
They went across the camp to Kizmel's tent and went inside. It seemed unusually large, at least compared to other tents in the camp. 'I wonder if it grows based on how large the party using it is?' Argo wondered.
"Please make yourselves comfortable," Kizmel said as she hung up her armor, leaving her in a cross between a tunic and a skirt.
"Right," Yuuki agreed as everyone put their outer armor into storage.
"Eeep!" Asuna 'eeped' softly as Kizmel then calmly removed her tunic, revealing that she was nude underneath.
Kizmel seemed entirely unbothered as she added, "You may sleep wherever you wish." Then she casually laid down.
"Dibs on not sleeping by the naked lady," Yuuki whispered.
Everyone settled down on the blanket covered, soft tent floor, and surprisingly all fell asleep reasonably quickly.
Asuna woke up surprisingly warm. Yuuki, aparently, was cuddling her again?
"Hmm," an unfamiliar voice came from in front of her.
Asuna's eyes popped open to reveal that Kizmel was cuddling to her front. And, of course, still totally nude.
"Tilnel...," Kizmel murmured.
'Who...? Never mind,' Asuna thought, trying to nscoot away only to discover someone holding her from behind, too. Asuna shifted a bit, then realized it was Yuuki.
"Cold," Yuuki muttered then clamped on harder.
'Oh you've got to be kidding me,' Asuka thought, then saw someone walking over.
"Added someone else to the harem?" Argo noted mildly.
Asuka just sighed.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE SPIDERS?" Klein demanded in a different tunnel.
Sachi stabbed a spider with her spear, "I have never been happier to be a spear user."
"God this is awful," Hera noted dryly.
"Damn right," Harry One agreed
"I hear fighting up ahead," Dynamm noted.
Dale asked, "What should we...?"
Klein hesited, then sighed. "If they're fellow players, we have a obligation to help them," he said with a sigh.
"Let's go," Hera boomed cheerfully.
They advanced up the tunnel, killing any enemies they encountered, before entering a larger chamber with a HUGE spider.
"Aaaah, spiders!" Lind yelled as the Dragon Knights fought the attacking monsters.
The other Dragon Knights were jumping into attack then jumping back, avoiding the long, dagger tipped legs.
"You've GOT to be kidding," Dymann sighed.
"Why couldn't we all be spear wielders?" Dale sighed as everyone charged in.
Together, the two groups beat the giant spider.
Then a SECOND giant spider turned up.
"KAYABA YOU ASSHOLE!" Klein yelled.
In another part of the floor, Heathcliff sneezed.
"Bless you," Yuiler said mildly, her and Thinker there to talk with him.
"Thank you," Heathcliff said.
Back in the tunnels, the groups each succeeded, then left to continue the Guild quest.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Asuna didn't want to discuss the morning glomp, and neither Kizmel or Yuuki brought it up.
"Find out what happened to a missing scout?" Liz clarified the mission.
The commander nodded, "Correct."
A question mark appeared above him, indicating a new quest.
"We accept," Asuna said, as a explaination mark appeared.
The group with Kizmel's guidence found the spider caves, fought the small fry, then found the giant spiders too.
"AGH, SPIDERS!" Liz complained.
"Yeah yeah," Argo chuckled quietly.
They found a token of one of the Pagoda Knights, who had been the scout. It was also the Knights that Kizmel belonged to, and she seemed very sorrowful at that.
"I'm sorry," Asuna patted her arm gently.
Kizmel gave Asuka a searching look, then smiled slightly.
"Another in the harem," Aiko muttered softly.
"Yup," Yuuki agreed.
"Shut up," Asuka growled at them...
Just as they heard a very loud noise. Every one looked up the tunnel, where something even bigger was coming towards them.
"Argo?" Liz asked.
Argo looked grim, "If it follows the Beta, it's a Spider Queen."
"Do we have to fight it?" Asuna asked.
"As we're not doing the Guild quest yet, no," Argo answered promptly.
"Then let's get out of here before it reaches us," Asuna decided. No point in fighting unnecessarily, after all.
The group fought their way back out, killing respawned spiders but, thankfully, no more giant ones. They made it out into the woods, them hurried back to the Dark Elf camp.
Kizmel told them, "I will report to the Commander. You are welcome to relax in my tent or use the bath."
"Bath!" Asuna said.
Everyone else chuckled as Kizmel left. "Do you think it makes a difference that we didn't fight the Spider Queen?" Yuuki wondered.
"We'll just fight it later, when we do the Guild Quest. And hopefully we'll get more chances to level up before then," Argo decided.
"Anyone want to bathe first?" Argo asked. Everyone looked at her oddly and Asuka added, I want to stay in there a bit, so I'll go last."
"I want wash up," Aiko said with amusement.
"Me too," Liz conceded.
Not long after Asuna was settling into the bath, sighing happily. The VR sensations weren't QUITE right. But it was certainly close enough. She leaned forward, taking a deep breath of the steamy bath water.
With a quiet sound, someone climbed into the tub with her!
"What...?" Asuna turned, then blinked at seeing Kizmel.
"Bathing alone can be awkward," Kizmel said, deadpan. "Wash your back?" she offered.
Kizmel, it turned out, was REALLY good at back washing.
Later, back at the tent, Argo looked at Asuna in disbelief. "She did WHAT?" Argo asked.
"Climbed into the bath with me," Asuna whispered back at a whisper.
"NPCs don't do that!" Argo whispered back.
"This one did," Asuna shrugged.
"Clearly Asuna's charm and beauty can even work on NPCs," Liz offered cheerfully.
"SHUT UP," Asuna sighed.
To be continued...
Notes: Interestingly, in the SAO tie in games, Asuna/Kizmel is an actual ship.
