A/N: We have made it through the Inflaming Crusade Arc of Warlords Wrath Online. Now we see what lies in store for the trapped players of the death game. Those of you who played World of Warcraft, bet you can guess what is next.
JUNE 15, 2023. FLOOR 21, TELEPORTING GATE
It's summer, and yet the 21st floor feels like it's winter.
This entire floor is a cold wasteland. On the ground is a mix of multi-color grass. Dread lands. Snow. The monsters around here are creepy creatures. Large decaying spiders. Large three-armed monsters with guts hanging out of their open stomachs. Zombies. Gargoyles.
Of all the weird things I have ever encountered in this death game, this has got to be the weirdest of all.
"What...the heck is this floor?" I ask.
"It must be Death King arc," Kirito says.
"The Death King?" I ask, confused.
"He's the leader of an undead horde known as the Scourge," Kirito says. Just our luck, an army of undead creatures is coming at us. I focus closely on them, one by one. Each of them at level 100, but HP's are pretty high. Significantly high than any normal level 100 mob on the previous floor. "Like those."
I draw my Gunblade out. "Yeah. I got it."
If this is another sub-event for some quest trigger just like when we first arrived at the 11th floor, I'm gonna lose it. Even with Healfcliff tanking, Kirito's strength, and Asuna's speed, the undead horde are a tough fight.
With Heathcliff taking damage, we are having no issues with losing our HP. And Hope is not even healing. I swear, there's something strange about him. He's powerful. A little too powerful. It's almost too powerful to be true.
Killing these Undead is pretty hard. And it's not because of that whole 'They're already dead' scenario. They're HP and defenses are high. Even at high-level gear and weapons from the Inflamed Crusade, it's hard to kill underlings of this floor.
In about five minutes, we have defeated the undead. No more came, which means that this is not a sub-event. I let out a sigh as I put away my Gunblade. "Damn. These creatures are hard to kill."
"Technically, they're already dead," Hope says.
Asuna smacks Hope in the back of the head. "Way to point out the obvious, Einstein."
Heathcliff turns on the teleporting gate. "The gate is now open. Everyone from the lower floors can now come here."
Once the gate is activated, tons of players show up from the floor below us. Not many of them are from the Assault Team. But they certainly are not from the Chaos fight. Obviously, they are resting. Completely exhausted from that boss fight. We end up with a total number of twenty people.
I warn everyone to be careful about this floor. The monsters a dangerous. Never fight one without a team or a Crusader. That said, we make our travel on this floor.
We stay in teams. On alert. During the walk, I keep my eyes on Heathcliff. I don't know what, but there's something about him that throws me off. He's powerful and trustworthy by thousands of players, including the Knights of the Blood Oath. But I still think he's hiding something. It's just a feeling.
We encounter several Undead on the path. As a raid team, killing them would be a breeze. But instead, it's like soloing these creatures. At least we have everything under control.
It doesn't matter. We head for town.
FLOOR 21, VALIANCE KEEP
After all that walking, we finally had it to a safe town. Fighting those undead monsters really tired us out. Mostly, Hope, Kirito, Asuna and I. What surprises me is Heathcliff shows no signs of exhaustion. How could we be tired out and he's just fine?
He must be hiding something.
Valiance Keep is a harbor town. Feels pretty strange, though. I've never seen a town like this on Warlords Wrath. At the moment, I'm just sitting on the town bench with Hope.
I groan. "The monsters on this floor. So annoying."
"You've never faced the undead before?" Hope asks.
I give him a look that should tell him the answer is pretty obvious. "Hope, I've never played a single video game ever before I even came to this death game. What do you think the answer is?"
Hope seems a bit nervous. I know I can be scary due to my cold strict attitude. "Point taken."
"Still, facing them. It's just like facing those Cie'th on my missions." I say. "I really hate those creatures."
As Hope and I are walking around town, we notice some of the other players are moving their way to the center of the town. In the center, there's a large crowd of players standing in front of a large statue. We both exchange looks. They show confusion. We wonder what's going on over there.
I see Klein in the back row. "Hey." He turns to see Hope and I. "What's going on here?"
"Oh, Lightning. There's an update on the game." Klein says.
"An...update?" I ask.
"It means that game has improved," Hope says.
I look down at the kid. "Well, unless this update is where we can all leave this death game, I am not impressed." Nothing would make me happier for Kayaba to release us all.
Hope and I make our way through the crowd to see what this update is all about. In the front, there's a bulletin board. I tap on it and a window opens, with news on it about the update.
'Congratulations on clearing 20 floors of Aincrad. In celebration of arriving at the Wrath of the Death King, Warlords Wrath Online has offered a class reincarnation for players who which to change from their certain class to the brand new Dark Knight class. This is a limited-time offer. This update closes by the end of June 2023. Please note that once you change classes, you will not be able to change back and the players who acquired the Eidolons from the 20th-floor class quest cannot reincarnation into a Dark Knight. Think carefully about the reincarnation.
Dark Knight: A race of warriors enhanced with unholy, frost, and blood magic. Serve as powerful tanks like the Crusaders, using the power of blood for self-healing as they attack and frost for defense purposes. They don't carry shields but they are most powerful in carrying two-handed weapons.'
"A reincarnation class?" I ask.
"Only as a Dark Knight? Darn. I was hoping to reincarnation into a Wavemaster." Hope says.
"Well, you can't. Cause you have Seraph." I say.
"Yeah...a disappointment really," Hope says.
Yeah...disappointment.
I search around town for some new quests. The undead on this floor is tough. Probably dangerous to solo. If there's any question that'll give me some new gears and weapons, which are obviously going to be either just as or more powerful than my current gear, then I'm gonna have to clear some.
FLOOR 21, OUTSKIRTS OF TOWN
There are only a few quests in this town. I could only find three, two involve killing the undead and another about trying to find missing cargo from the mines south of the town.
The undead is hard, so I decided to get some help. Hope is meeting up with his guild and most of the Assault Team are resting at the inn. I had to pair up with some stranger. Just when I didn't think it could get any worse, this stranger is a player who reincarnated into a Dark Knight.
Howlsword, who was once a Swordsman like me. He must have used to wield a two-handed sword, cause he is skilled with it while playing on his new class.
"Why are you trying out your new role as a Dark Knight on the higher floors?" I ask.
Howlsword holds off the one Crypt, which is those undead spider creatures, while I attack from behind. So far, he serves well as a tank. His offensive attacks are going to need work. Probably to work upon his dark spell skills since his frost magic and unholy assaults hardly do much damage against these creatures.
After killing the Crypt, Howlsword speaks. "I learn better when I'm facing danger," Howlsword says.
I sheathe my Gunblade. "While I understand the feeling, this is a death game. You're better off learning how to work for your class around...floor 18 I think."
"Well, thanks for the advice sweetheart." I give him a cold glare at his 'sweetheart' comment. If he becomes another one of my crushers, I'm gonna hurt him badly. "But I have this under control."
Howlsword is so far an arrogant jerk. Reminds me too much of Snow. If I had known he is going to be like this, I defiantly would not have chosen him for a quest partner.
"Fine. But if you become surrounded by the Undead just as your HP is in a red zone, don't say I didn't warn you." I say. That's just what I need. Another arrogant airhead. Must be one of Snow's friends.
The undead around the town is tough, but we pull through. I'm still getting used to seeing that I've earn experience when I kill these creatures. What surprises me is that I'm going beyond level 100. I'm no expert in video gaming, but I know that level 100 is commonly the maximum level in most games.
Once we have killed enough Crypts and Ghouls around town, we both move on to the mines in the south to take care of this next quest. "We should be careful. The mines might be a dangerous place filled with tons of these...creatures." I say.
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." Howlsword says. Oh, how he makes me mad.
Once we are inside, I can see how many undead are inside. In groups. In singles. This is defiantly going to be dangerous. I don't know what Howlsword is planning in that arrogant head of his, but I plan to remain careful. Cautious. On guard. And have a Teleport Crystal ready in case he does anything stupid.
For this quest, I need to find the missing cargo that is within these mines. However, we are not alone.
In those mines, there are other players. Mostly other Dark Knights. Some solo, some paired with other players. Being this many players in the dungeon is not changing the population of the monsters. Looks like players are struggling to kill the Undead and the Dark Knights having trouble learning their role.
"Guess we have company," Howlsword says.
"Better hope it doesn't make this quest any more difficult," I say.
Howlsword and I make our way through the mines. We encounter several Ghouls on the way, one or two at a time thank goodness. The mines are pretty long. Probably the longest dungeon I've done in this game. Who knows, it's been over seven months since I've been stuck here. Finding the cargo might be hard to find.
After a thorough search through the mines, we have located the missing cargo. It is being guarded by a few ghouls and a powerful skeleton warrior. "All right. Here's the plan. You hold off the skeleton warrior while I deal with the ghouls."
Howlsword draws out his sword. "Got it."
Hopefully, for once, he'll listen to me and follow my plan. Once we are prepared, we ready ourselves for battle. Just like I planned. The one ghoul I focus on fixates on me, mostly because I'm focused upon it and Howlswords AOE attacks do little threat affect on the monsters.
"Foolish living creatures. You are no match against the might of the Scourge!" The Skeleton warrior says.
After destroying the one Ghoul, I focus on the next. Our HP's are falling, Howlsword falls into a yellow zone and I am at early green. I switch into defense, focus on parrying, and then counterattacking with a Sword Skill. They are tough but mindless. That's to be expected on NPC monsters.
After I kill the second Ghoul, I focus on the Skeleton Warrior. He has twice as much half as the undead on this floor. The Ghouls and Crypts are pretty tough. Compared to them, this Skeleton Warrior is like a mini-boss.
I fight with all of my skills and strength against it. Howlsword does his best to defend himself with frost and heal himself with blood attacks. Skeleton Warrior still focuses on Howlsword, not even worrying that I'm a greater threat than I'm unleashing my powerful Sword Skills from behind.
In over seven minutes, Skeleton Warrior is defeated and Howlsword and I are exhausted. "Damn. Being a Dark Knight is harder than I thought."
"You probably should have thought about that before facing the dangers of the current floor," I say. I turn to the missing cargo. With a tap, I receive an update on the quest. Now I have to escort it out of the mines and back to the town. Once I hit accept, the cargo starts moving on the tracks. "Looks like the quest still continues. Let's get going."
Howlsword and I now take care of the next phase of the quest. Returning this cargo to the town.
The undead stand in our way of completing this quest. For once, I wish there was an escort quest that didn't involve having to slay monsters. Just makes things complicated. What's even worse is that the cargo is still moving even when we're stuck in combat facing the undead. Which means we might have to make our kills quick before it leaves our sight.
Howlsword and I both unleash our powerful sword skills. We kill the undead, but not as fast as it would normally take us.
"Watch out!" I shout as I slash the ghoul that is leaping towards us. Howlsword is clearly not paying attention. "You need to watch out! You're gonna have your head bitten right off by these...creatures."
"I'm still trying to figure things out in this new class. Get off my back, woman!" Howlsword says.
He did not just say that. If play-killing was legal in this death game, I would hack his head right off...fifty times. I must contain my rage on this jerk just so we can complete this quest.
Finally, the cargo makes it out of the mines. Once it is, the quest is marked complete. "Finally. It's done." I look bitterly at Howlsword. "And so is our little alliance."
"Whatever you say. You were slowing me down anyways." Howlsword crosses his arms and looks away. "Typical women."
My eyes shoot open in anger hearing that. Okay, now I'm pissed. "Yeah...you're right. I've got something to make up for my...slacking."
Howlsword looks at me. "Oh really? What is it?"
"I'll show you. Come on." I walk and Howlsword follows me. I take Howlsword all the way to the edge of this floor. There's no wall or railing. It's pretty much a death fall jumping off of the Aincrad itself. "Here we are. Take a look."
I move aside so Howlsword can take a look. He does and he isn't getting it. "I don't see anything."
I smirk as I stand right behind him. "It's there. How about you take...a closer look." Just like that, I push him off the edge, and he screams as he falls right out of the sky.
I look down at him until he vanishes from a distance. The next thing I see is a tiny gleam of light and the faint sound of shattering.
He's dead.
As for me. I look around to see there aren't any players, then I walk away, looking casual while whistling. Like nothing ever happened.
