A/N: Things have been happening, starting with World of Warcraft. but I've finally gotten a chance to continue with this story. Anyways, after meeting with Sachi, we move on to the next chapter of the story where it takes place on the next floor.
JULY 24TH, 2023. FLOOR 23, DRAGONS GRAVEYARD
Getting through this game is going to be harder.
The 22nd-floor boss was wiped out most of the Assault Team. We barely made it out alive. The third arc of this floating castle is proven to be deathly, out of field trash, and raid bosses.
I haven't heard or seen Laughing Coffin ever since I've eavesdropped on their meeting with XaXa. They must have known I was listening and they're hiding somewhere in the shadows. Bunch of cowards. It sickens me.
Sachi has been doing very well since we've made her. Kirito and I have been taking care of her by finding gears, leveling up, and helping out with hard quests. Though we're not fully sure if she'll be ready to be on the Assault Team.
Right now, I'm just wandering around a field, Dragons Graveyard. This is a creator trench field with countless corpses of dragons. I can't imagine what could have happened here. I'm mostly solo cause everyone else is busy. Kirito is napping. Rokel is out on a date with Silica. Asuna is organizing plans to conquer the next floor with the Assault Team.
I'm level 131 with over 12K HP. Things have been getting pretty hard lately with facing the floor bosses so the Assault Team has decided to focus on reaching our highest levels and finding powerful gears. Leveling seems easy but gets harder with each number raised. Getting powerful gears is no walk in the park either.
I've done as much as I can so I focus on my Sword Skills. If I can raise their skills, I can become powerful.
I face off against Necromancers, which are plague casters that work for the Scourge. Their magic is fast and over-timely painful. But I cut the enemies down, showering my vision with sea shards of polygon lights, and earning me my experience and money.
Facing the trash here has gotten easier, but the dungeon bosses are getting harder and deadly.
I take a look around, not a single soul, or NPC enemy, inside. I've probably gone into overkill with the enemies around here. I look at the corner of my vision. It's about 5:30 PM in the real world.
Even though it's summer, the Death King arc makes it feels like it's winter. Cold as death itself. In a way it makes sense, but it's proven to be too dangerous to be around at night unless you're wearing special ice resistance gear.
I sheathe my Gunblade into its holster. "Guess I should head back." I'm not too very away from town, so I'll just walk back. I made a decent hunt down here. Got enough items to sell and materials to give to Lizbeth, so she can make some armor and weapons for myself and other players.
I'm about to leave when I hear the sound of a little girl screaming. The voice is unfamiliar, nobody I know. With no hesitation, I run in the direction where the screaming came from.
I rush right through the trench paths of the Dragons Graveyard, there are hardly any enemies in here but I just ignore them. I reach the end of the line and stop with a slide on my tracks. I gasp at what I'm seeing. Two little kids are cornered against three Ghouls and an Abomination.
The little girl is a Wavemaster, and the boy next to her looks like an Avatar. I focus my sights on the two players, they're both yellow, their HP's depleting at the Abomination swings his chain hook at them. "What are you doing?!" I shout at them. "Teleport out now!"
"W-we can't! We don't have anymore teleporting crystals!" The girl says.
Oh, that's just great. I think quickly about this. I'm level 131. Against 3 level 111 ghouls and a 113 elite Abomination. With my health full, I should be able to defeat them. But with these two in close danger. The ghouls leap on them, the two kids huddle each other, screaming in fear.
"Look out!" I leap onto the enemies and unleash one of my powerful Sword Skills on them. My attacks interrupt their attacks, then I use the final hit to counter the Abominations attack. "Take cover!"
The boy and the girl run out of trouble, hiding behind a large rock.
I focus as hard as I can against my enemies. I start by focusing on evading their attacks. The ghouls don't deal much, but the Abomination is a heavy damage dealer. After each attack, I strike until the Ghouls are dead, now it's just me and the large monster.
I defend myself against its attacks, and once it makes its move, I attack. I mostly use my Sword Skills, but not too often. The system leaves me defenseless when using the skills.
The longer I fight, the smarter the creature seems to get. During my dodges, the Abomination makes a swift and powerful hit with its third arm. I'm gonna have to kill it quick. I unleash Divine Rose Sword Skill on Abomination. It's still standing.
The Abomination slams all three of its arm on me, but I dodge the attack and perform Squall Shot. With the final blow, the Abomination is defeated.
I just stand there, high on guard, breathing heavily. After a moment, I relax and sheathe my Gunblade, then I turn to where the kids are hiding. "Are you two all right?"
The girl is the first to come out, then the little boy comes out as well. "Y-yeah. Thanks a lot, miss." The boy says.
I let out a sigh then speak. "What are you two doing being out here yourself?"
I know that the system allows strength in numbers and leveling system, allowing a child to be a strong as a soldier, but I couldn't help but worry for these two since they are still children.
"We weren't alone. We came here to do a quest with our guild, but we were ambushed." The girl says.
Hearing that has me on alert. That only can only mean one thing: A Dark Guild.
"One of our members turns out to secretly be a member of the Orange Guild, Helheim. He lured us into a trap and the guild ambushed us." The boy says. "We got really scared, we ran away. But when we look at our list, we're the only survivors."
I clench my fist. Hearing this makes me mad. Dark Guilds. What the hell is their problem? Why would they kill players just for the enjoyment? It's like they don't give a damn that if we die in this world, we die in the real world. "Hey. Miss?" The girl calling out has my attention turn to her. "You look kind of familiar. Do we know you?"
I'm a bit confused. I'm familiar to them? I've never seen them before. "I...cannot say for sure," I say.
"Oh...well. Thanks for saving us. What's your name?" The girl asks.
"Lightning," I tell them.
The boy seems surprised once I mentioned my name. "Wait...Lightning?" The boy looks at me closely, getting a little too close. He's lucky he's just a kid otherwise I would hear hurt him for getting personally close with me like a Pervert. "As in...Lightning Farron? Of the Guardian Corps?"
Now that surprises me. "What...makes you say that."
"Our Uncle works with Lightning. Uncle Amodar!" The boy says.
Correction, that surprises me. Their uncle is my Lieutenant? ...That's right. I remember the conversation I had with Amodar days after the news of the Death Game was released.
'My niece and nephew are also trapped in that Warlords game.'
I have completely forgotten about that. Out of all the remaining over 7000 players, these two are the niece and nephew of Lieutenant Amodar? I honestly never expected to run into them in this death game.
"Our uncle talked to us a lot about you. You were so cool!" The boy says.
"I can't believe we finally get to meet you." The girl asks.
I honestly don't know what to say. I'm still in a bit of a shock of coming across these two kids. "Uh...Likewise. Would you two mind telling me your names?"
The girl's name is Wendy and the little boy is Zane. "How's our Uncle doing?" Wendy asks.
"Wendy. She wouldn't know. She's trapped in this game with the rest of us." Zane says.
"Actually, I arrived two weeks after the game was launched." Wendy and Zane look at me with shocked confusion. "Don't ask. It's a long story. Your Uncle is doing fine, though he is worried for you two."
"It's no surprise. But we do miss him very much." Wendy says.
I can understand that feeling. I miss Serah back in the real world. I try my best to fight and survive, so I can once again see her on the other side. "So. What's this quest you two are doing?"
"Oh. It's an elite quest." Zane says. "We need a group to summon a field boss and defeat him."
"How big of a group?" I ask.
"About 5 players at least," Wendy says.
"That's it? ...Then let's try it," I say.
"W-wait? What?" Zane says, shocked. "Are you serious? It's just the three of us and we don't even have a Crusader or a Cleric."
It's true we don't have a Cleric for healing. Avatars can heal but they're not strong enough for solo healing in groups. Swordsmen can tank with the right gears, but I focus on evasion. Using a shield would just slow me down. With all of our skills and healing items, we might be able to make it through with the quest.
After sorting through our items and going over our plans, we reach the altar at the end of the trench, which lays against the very edge of the 23rd floor.
Wendy and Zane are both nervous about doing this. I can't say I blame them, I'm worried that they might not be able to survive this. I can't even imagine how I'll be able to face Amodar if they did die under my watch.
"I-I don't know about this, Light. This seems pretty dangerous." Wendy says.
"We should be fine. Just stay focused and stick with the plan." I tell them. It doesn't calm them down, but it was enough to build them some confidence to face the quest boss.
Zane and Wendy take the lead, standing right in front of the alter. They begin the ritual. I stay on guard with my Gunblade out, prepared for any combat that might come at us. NPC, monsters, quest beast, red players. Anything.
Once the ritual is complete, a loud deafening roar blasts right at us. We all look to the outside, the endless skies past the alter. Coming at our direction is a large dragon. It's skin and barely fleshless. Flesh and bones. Cold blue eyes. Sharp teeth.
It's a fearsome undead dragon. I land right on the altar and roars at us. Its three health bars, cursor, and name: "Silvermaw", appears. He'll defiantly be a tough fight.
"You two ready?" I ask.
Out of worry, they answered in unison. "Not really."
There's no backing out of this.
We face off against Silvermaw. I take Vanguard, focus on parrying and dodge attacks. At best, I'm able to lose only hundreds to a thousand HP. I don't attack the first minute to learn the enemy's attack patterns and weak points. Once I collect enough data of the monster, I attack with my attacks and Sword Skills.
Zane and Wendy focus on attacking with range magic. They're far enough to be safe from being hit. Already, we have knocked out a full bar of the boss's health. But it gets pretty furious. The fight starts to get hard.
Silvermaw does a Wing Bluff ability that blows me away. Luckily I wasn't facing the outside sky, allowing me to only fall into my doom. Instead, I was blown back to where Zane and Wendy are. I was able to land on my feet with a slide at the end.
Silvermaw spreads its wings and takes flight, it's fixated on us and inhales deeply. "It's about to unleash a Breath attack!" Wendy warns us.
"Defensive positions!" I order.
I quickly equip a shield. Wendy casts her Arcane Barrier to shield us, and I stand in front of the twos with my large shield in front of us all. Once fully charged, Silvermaw unleashes its Frost Breath. The attack is headstrong and powerful. With the barrier up, my shield is able to block most of the attack. We suffered tiny HP, but the multiply of damage taken is pretty rapid.
After about fifteen seconds of this, the breath ends. Our HP's are now in the yellow zone. "Drink up." We all take out a Health Potion and Wendy's and Zane's health is nearly full, I'm only up to 80%. I'm gonna have to focus on defense while they attack the boss.
One thing I didn't realize is the mid-boss would change its patterns. Its attacks are similar to the first phase. The only difference is that it has a minor breath attack. That's gonna be a hard one to avoid. The breath attack only takes away two thousand of my HP.
After learning the new patterns, I resume attacking the boss. Going offensive on the second phase is hard for me, but I pull through.
After knocking down its second health bar, the monster takes flight once again. "It's about to unleash its breath attack!" Zane says.
We return to our defensive positions. Silvermaw charges up and unleashes its powerful breath on us. Zane and Wendy's HP reduced to yellow, the way it was before in the yellow zone, but mine is on the edge between red and yellow.
After drinking their second potions, they continue attacking Silvermaw. I decide to keep the shield, to focus on defense. Wendy and Zane will handle damaging the mini-boss.
Phase 3 is no different, but what catches me by surprise is Silvermaw summoned an intense hail storm. Each of our HP bars are slowly depleting. It's a race against time and we can't use our health potions constantly.
We unleash every power we have within us to defeat the boss. Its HP is falling quickly. I can't use my Sword Skills with this shield and with taking the boss and his hail storm it's too risky.
By the time our Health is down to 5%, Silvermaw is defeated and the storm it summoned disappeared.
We all collapsed in exhaustion. "We...we actually...did it," Zane says.
"Yeah. By the skin of our teeth." Wendy says.
FLOOR 23, DRAKEREST TEMPLE
After completing the quest, we rest to restore our lost HP. Luckily no monsters or red players come in on us. Wendy and Zane take me to the place where the quest is being turned in.
Drakerest Temple. It's in the very center of the 23rd-floor. I never entered it, it's a large temple city that's populated by dragons. It's not even much of a safe zone city, though I have heard the dragons will attack any Orange players, as well as any players that attempt player attacking outside of duels.
We arrive at the entrance of the temple. Only to be stopped by two dragon-like giant guards. "Halt! No mortal is allowed to enter the Drakerest Temple!" So much for turning in the quest. Wendy steps forward and she shows the guards some emblem. The dragon looks down at it and is shocked. "That emblem. It is...Let them pass."
The dragon guards stand aside. Not sure what that's all about, but at least we're inside.
There are no stairs, so we end up riding on the backs of dragons. Zane and Wendy were scared at first, but once they started flying they seemed pretty excited.
The dragons take us to the top of the temple. There, a group of six humans stands in a form of a circle. Judging by how they're in form, they seem like some powerful council. Not only that but once I get a close look at them, they don't seem human. Their eyes are elemental.
They're dragons in human disguise. "Who comes forth?" The red human dragon, who seems to be the leader of this council.
"They carry the crest of Caelestrasz." One of the dragon guards says.
The red human dragon's eyes shot open hearing that. "Calen? My son is still alive?" There is silence for a while then she continues to speak. "So...Has he trusted you, mortals?"
"Who are you?" I ask.
The red human dragon gazes at me as she answers. "I am Alexistrasza. The Life-Binder of the Red Dragonflight."
