Kirito stared blankly at the floor 50 boss room door as he thought about the circumstances that they would be facing. The boss they were to fight was an army of tall treants. The room was filled with a forest on the other side, there was no new mechanic revealed in his scouting with the toy soldiers, and he was hoping that the fight was just going to be a rush with the entire raid group to cut them all down before a much bigger one would come out.
Kirito was tempted to use one of his secret weapons, just to make sure that he was ready in case something more dangerous would show up.
"You've been sitting there and staring at the closed door for a while Kirito, are you okay?"
The concern from Leafa made Kirito give a pained grin.
"Just sorting some things out in my head. I'm trying to plan out the fight we're going to be facing."
After he said it, Asuna plopped down and sat beside him, bringing up the notes he shared in the guild chat about his observations so she could study them.
"I'm not really familiar with big all out war battles, and even less familiar with the idea of that kind of battle, against an army of treants. And worse, there's no backing out, just like the floor 25 boss. We need to fight this battle with strategy. I guess we're just going to have to rely on the other lead groups, hopefully someone in the clearing group has experience with war time simulators so we can proceed with that kind of leadership. I can't lead this battle."
Asuna stared, looked at the door and nodded her head.
"I have a plan, if you'll hear me out."
Asuna told Kirito about a strategy using items, to set the forest of treants on fire, and how to organize the battle. It took about five minutes for her and Kirito to go back and forth on it, and Kirito grimaced when the concern came back up.
"We're just going to have it rough if a bigger treant comes in toward the end of the fight. Everyone is going to be tired from the long fight regardless, and it'll be hot in there from burning the smaller treants. We're going to need a secret weapon we can defeat the boss with in a very little amount of time."
Asuna looked at Kirito, hope in her eyes that Kirito had something in mind.
"I do have something..."
Asuna waited expectantly.
"Remember the underfloor boss I defeated on my own? I got a few things from it. I recall mentioning some of this before, but I didn't really go into detail aside from being able to pick up any skill I know the name of. Now is probably the time to reveal the real purpose of the weapon that dropped there."
Kirito pulled the katana out of his inventory which had dropped from the boss, and pulled up the information window for it. He spread it out to everyone present. Alt, Fuurinkazan and Midnight Black Cats were all there, seeming to have become one large group together.
"This weapon is basically a power up weapon. It gets stronger the more monsters of significant level to yourself are defeated with it in hand. I got it to its upper strength limit, but only because of a drawback to it. It has durability, and can't be repaired. It only has 20 hits remaining. It's so strong though, that if I were to just use a single strike with the weapon using the system's guidance, it would instantly kill anything equal to or lower than my level. We've been level capped for a while. I'm a bit over the levels of everything we're fighting, so this boss wouldn't be an exception and die in a single slice. I need to be very choosy with how I use this weapon though, because we could be fighting even stronger enemies after this floor..."
After Kirito finished explaining, Klein had gone from aghast that he didn't get such a powerful katana being devoted to it as his main weapon type, too afraid to so much as touch it because of it being fragile, on the last of its durability.
"That would certainly work..."
Kirito hadn't revealed the details on the katana or the neck piece that had dropped back then. He felt that he needed to come clean about the neck piece as well. It was only right that he reveal to those he trusted, those in their current group what he was holding on to.
"I need to tell you about the rest of my secret weapons. Let's do this somewhere that nobody will be able to listen in on the conversation. I'm going to set up a teleport beacon here for us."
Kirito placed his teleport beacon down in front of the boss room door and ported to the cottage. It was very tight when everyone cramped into the cottage, and Kirito and Sachi struggled with the closeness of everyone, but not enough for them to have anxiety attacks.
"And now I'll turn on full privacy settings to block out intruders and eavesdroppers in case someone followed us...there. Alright, the remaining secret weapons I have. I am able to dual wield one handed swords is the first secret weapon. There's absolutely no downfall to it, and I've learned how to fight in the style to the point that I don't need system guidance to help me, just like the rest of the weapon skills. I have a second sword to use alongside my best crafted weapon now, but it's so strong that I feel I'm going to need help with a more powerful sword soon. This is the second part of that secret weapon."
Kirito summoned the Elucidator from his inventory and held it in front of himself to bring up the weapon's information and share it with the room.
"It's basically going to last me until we clear the game, because it scales on skill and player level for strength and sharpness. Regular durability, I can repair it without issue."
He put the Elucidator away back into his inventory, and brought out the neck piece.
"This, I'm not sure about. It's item description gives the impression that it's broken and will save the wearer from certain death, but you also "can't log out of the game" with it worn, it's player bound. Once it's worn, like a cursed item, it can't be removed. So...either it's an item to forever be trapped in the game even if we clear it and even if it does save your life? Or it's the most broken and over powered item in here. It doesn't take up an equipment slot either, so we can wear our enhanced neck pieces alongside it."
Kirito showed everyone the item information and everyone's expressions darkened.
"I get why you were hiding such powerful secret weapons...but why are you revealing them to us now?"
Kirito forced a weak smile on his face and said one sentence in response.
"Because I feel safe with everyone here."
The tension from Kirito revealing his secret weapons melted with the statement he made. The weak smile was endearing, and it made everyone want to protect him. He was a small and frail feminine person in appearance after all, even if he was the most powerful person they knew.
"Anyway, Kiin, my last secret weapon which hasn't been out and about in battles for a while, passed away in the dungeon. I'm going to go to floor 48 and clear the field so that I can get the revival item for pets. Since you also have a pet, I'd like to show you where to go if anything ever happens to Pina, Silica. It's an item with an expiry time, which is why I wasn't able to bring him back right away."
Taking a hint that Kirito wanted some relative alone time, the meeting was broken up and everyone went their own ways, some just relaxing in the cottage because it was comfortable. Silica was very shy about the situation. Kirito had already cemented how he felt about Silica. That she was just like a little sister. She still gave the impression that she was infatuated with him.
Yui jumped onto Kirito's back, tagging along as an unintentional addition to their venture. There was no harm in bringing Yui along either way, and she was becoming more vocal of recent.
After porting in to the floor which had gardens stretched out as far as the eye could see, Yui hopped off of Kirito's back and took one of his hands. Silica got bright red seeing how Yui so easily took Kirito's hand. Their relationship was different though. Silica was infatuated with him, while Yui just saw her parent. A parent and child holding hands was natural, as the parent would guide the child along safely. Hand holding was much more than that to her.
Kirito gave Silica a smile and began making his way along one of the paths heading out of the main plaza they ported in to. Kirito ignored the many couples who were essentially on dates. People knew by that point that Yui was his child, and nobody thought there was any relationship type of thing going on in Alt. So, there was no reason to give much thought to the three who walked together.
The path was long, and gave Kirito and Silica a long time to think. Yui pointed out different flowers, asking if Kirito knew what kind of flower they were, and she stood back whenever a monster erupted from between the flowers. Kirito could defeat all of the monsters they were facing in a single hit with his regular weapons.
As they happened upon a bridge, Kirito's hostility sensor went off to tell him there was something hostile waiting underneath it. Thoughts of trolls in fantasy popped into his head, but he instantly grew tired, remembering that there wasn't a troll type monster anywhere on the floor. It was only plants and insects. No monsters lurked under the bridge before. It was possible that a quest spawned plant monsters there after someone completed it in the area, but he sensed something very odd about the situation. He simply crossed the bridge, keeping his senses all alert for an ambush.
They passed over the bridge with no issues, and continued along for another ten minutes, cutting down the monsters which appeared immediately. They finally reached a small monument which was labeled.
[Heart of the Monster Tamer]
Kirito reached out to the monument and as he did, a droplet of water rose up from the small water source, turning into an item he could grab with his hand. As he took it, the item information showed up.
"This is it. I'm going to use it on Kiin when we get back to the cottage. For now, I think I'd like to enjoy the scenery a bit longer. We might as well go back to the plaza the normal way. Keep your teleport option ready though in case we run into some trouble."
Silica looked at Kirito in confusion and he smiled.
"I just want to see if I missed something. This is a very recent floor after all, and there might be a hidden boss. Hidden bosses are always very powerful."
"...and I can support you. Why are you suggesting now that I be ready to teleport away?"
Yui answered instead of Kirito and he was shocked more than Silica, for reason that it clarified his understanding of her.
"Mama has been to this floor with you before in a dream, in a potential other life. During that dream, on the return trip you both encountered-"
Kirito stopped Yui from revealing everything, nervous about revealing too much all in one day. He knew Silica would share what she knew with everyone, even if she didn't intend to.
"Why are you keeping this secret?"
Kirito sighed and began walking down the path, holding Yui by the hand again. Yui took the hint and didn't continue to explain to Silica what she was saying. Silica pouted and followed hoping she would find out what Yui didn't finish saying.
"I've explained that I'm having dreams of a potential other life a while back, but they've been continuing the whole time pretty much. Some things are accurate, such as this floor. It's almost the exact same as in that dream. Entirely different circumstances brought me back here, but it was just Silica and myself here during the dream. I'm sorry if it was difficult for you to come to this floor with me emotionally, but I figured it would be good for you to know where to go if you ever make a mistake with Pina's care. You can revive pets using the item from that monument. You need the soul of the pet as an item in order to revive them, and the soul only lasts a few days. Thankfully we're given ample time to do it, unlike if one of us sustained horrible injury or worse."
Kirito's explanation dulled Silica from her upset and pouting mood, and made her more concerned.
"It's a good thing the dreams helped you know how to save him. It would be really lonely without Kiin, and Pina needs her brother around more often."
Silica's change of mood made Kirito feel happy about explaining how he did. As they finished that conversation, they arrived at the bridge again. Kirito stopped and had Yui stand back.
"You might as well come out, Rosalia and your new group of criminals. I thought I had made it clear with that cursed neck piece I put on you, but you seem to want my attention?"
Rosalia, as well as ten orange marker players showed themselves from behind the trees on the other side of the bridge. The obnoxiously vivid red haired criminal player Rosalia gave Kirito a shrug when she revealed herself and she spun a finger in the air.
"Are you sure you should be so hasty to fight me here, Kirito sama~?"
Kirito shivered from hearing the unwanted formality.
"Haste or not, I know you have been using others to get around your cursed item. I need to make a clear message to the other criminal players that further criminal activity will result in me putting progression out of here on hold to throw every last one of you into the new jail I crafted."
Kirito pulled a new teleport crystal out of his inventory and showed it to Rosalia.
"Why do you just so happen to have something beautiful to torture me with every time we meet~?"
Kirito shivered once again, and held the crystal up.
"No matter how you view me, I don't share that perspective. You brought this on yourself. Do try and enjoy your confinement until the game is cleared."
The item activated, and all of the orange marker players disappeared with teleport animations. Kirito had set up a prison for criminal players, all orange markers in range of the teleport crystal being activated, would be transported to the other end of the teleport, a massive enhanced cage which was both an immortal object, as well as a system to ensure those inside, would be fed by nearby npcs so they wouldn't die in confinement. They were in the new prison building built in the town of beginnings on the first floor.
Silica looked at Yui, then Kirito.
"Is that about what happened in the dream?"
Kirito nodded with a disappointed expression on his face.
"Thank you for showing another interesting side of you today!"
Silica brightened up out of nowhere and ported away. Kirito and Yui returned to the cottage to prepare dinner soon after with Asuna, and everyone conveyed the raid plans for floor 50 to the other guilds involved.
