(Mortifer)

Inside of New Aincrad, 1st Floor Town of Beginnings

The plaza is just like how I remembered it to be. At the very center is the Teleport Gate, where all players appear when they teleport to this city. If you turn directly behind you once entering via the Teleport Gate, you can see a plaque with writing on it. I haven't actually read it, nor do I really care about it since it is often just the history of the town. This plaque serves as the base of a large clock tower with a dome-shaped top like the one you see on the Taj Mahal. Also behind the player when they enter the city, is quite possibly the second largest man-made structure in the game – the Black Iron Palace. A purchasable property that was owned by The Army back when we were still in SAO. It is also the location of Black Iron Prison, which will likely not be used since players are more likely to get a temporary or full ban should they disobey the laws of this world. The only other structure that beats that palace, excluding Aincrad itself, is the Ruby Palace at the very top.

Around the plaza is a circular wall with overhangs pointing towards the center of the circle. They are held up by oddly shaped columns which had bronze colors to them. Now that I'm really examining the city, I can see that it is greatly inspired by middle-eastern architecture. In fact, Black Iron Palace is like a sultan's palace, or a very big mosque. Anyways, the wall is separated into two pieces like a semi-circle. This is done so a path could be made that allows players to exit the plaza through one way, or enter the palace through the other one. And if I remember correctly, there is path circling around the wall and the palace that connects all ten main streets in the city. The biggest of the paths which is currently right in front of me leads to the small lake as well as the southern gate of the city. The market district is located behind the palace and is likely going to be the most crowded district in the next hour or so. The rest of the city's buildings are a bunch of player homes, purchasable properties, attractions and completely pointless buildings that can't even be entered or used. Very exciting for the first few visits, but it quickly gets boring afterwards.

"Can we head to the market district?" Violet asked us. "I need to buy new equipment or something."

"I also need to buy some stuff as well."

Everyone in the guild looked Violet and ViVi, who both had the crappy beginner's gear. And while Violet at least had a rapier to use, ViVi doesn't even have a quarterstaff or some blunt weapon he can utilize his Skills with. I looked over to Kirito and his friends who were all fully equipped with decent equipment. My guild is not as prepared as theirs, with only me, Zed, Paradox and Rizer being equipped to do serious battling. The others had their weapons of choice with them, but their armor is weak and not viable. If there were SAO, they would be fine. But apparently, New Aincrad is much, much harder than the original one since you can attempt the bosses as many times as you want without dying in the real world.

"Hey, Kirito." I called out to my brother who turned around to face me. "You guys go on ahead and do whatever. We're heading over to the market district to buy some equipment."

"Okay then. We're going to head out to Horunka and see how far we can get in one session." Kirito stated. I nodded my head and summoned my wings. "See you guys!"

I ascended from the ground and flew towards Black Iron Palace. My guild summoned their own wings and began following me. We had to go rather slowly since some of us were still trying to get used to flying with or without the controller. Because of this, Zed and Paradox decided to take that time to go around and look at the city from a bird's eye view. I didn't shout at them for doing their own thing since I didn't really care. After all, they have their equipment set, and this slow pace is also trying my patience. I need to teach them how to fly as soon as possible, or we will fall behind Kirito and the rest.

We flew over Black Iron Palace and began our descent towards the market district. Nobody has arrived here yet, so we can take our time without needing to wait in line for the NPC vendors. We touched down and looked for the nearest weapons vendor. When we did find one, Zed and Paradox finished their quick tour of the city and have rejoined us in our shopping trip. I took a quick peek at the NPC's item list and determined them to be medium-quality items, just a little bit worse than the expensive ones I saw in Alne. Assuming that this is the basic equipment needed to clear the 1st Floor, then they clearly increased the difficulty of everything two to three times its original level. I turned around and faced my guild.

"Before we buy things, can everyone tell me what they're roles are going to be in ALfheim?" I requested them. "Because of the increased options we have in the game, we can diversify our group up more. Although it doesn't seem like most of us are going to change, except for Paradox, Cayonz, Trish and Aqua."

"I'm still going to be making potions, but now I can use an Undine's healing and water magic!" Paradox proudly stated as she held out her new wand.

"I made a secondary account before making my real one to see the differences between SAO and ALO." Cayonz began speaking. "It seems that my First Aid skill has become rather redundant due to the addition of healing magic. Therefore, I've solely focusing my time and effort into learning Water Magic to use for offensive and defensive purposes."

"That's good to know, but you two will still need some weapon of sort." I told them. "Should you run out of mana points and be forced to fight up close, you need to have some sort of protection other than your staff or wand which doesn't count as a physical weapon."

"Zed already bought me a dagger from Alne, so I'm set there."

"I was thinking of learning how to use a Curved Blade of some sort. A katana maybe?" Cayonz stated. "I don't think whips are that useful anymore."

"I'm pretty sure there's something like that in this shop. Go ahead and check." I told him and he nodded in response. "Konno, I'm assuming you're going to keep using a mace?"

"Yup. No change there. But I do also want to learn some Earth Magic. There are some rather interesting defensive spells I can use…"

"That's good. Paradox and Cayonz can't keep healing us for forever, so decreasing the amount of healing you guys need will help cope with that problem. I determined. I then looked to Aqua and Trish, who were already looking at the NPC vendors' item list. "I already know Aqua is going to use a bow and arrow, but what about you Trish? You picked Pooka for a reason, didn't you?"

"Y-Yes…" She quietly answered me. She held a pan flute in her hands and rubbed her fingers through the creases made by the reeds. "I wanted to be of more use to the team. I'm scared of using actual weapons, so I want to become the group's mage or magic damage dealer."

"Really? Are you sure about that?" I asked her.

"Aw, don't go belittling Trish now Mortifer-san!" Aqua grumbled. She wrapped her arms around Trish's neck and hugged her from behind, making Trish look uncomfortable and embarrassed.

"You've misunderstood me Aqua. I am grateful that Trish wants to become our guild's mage. In fact, I encourage her to do so. I just wanted to make sure she has enough motivation to take on a role as important as that."

"I-I'll try my best!" Trish declared, balling her right hand into a fist. Aqua, who still had her arms wrapped around Trish, grinned widely.

"Very well then. You're now assigned as the guild's main mage. With that out of the way, I still want you to choose some sort of weapon, even if you're never going to use it." I told her.

"I'll just go with a dagger…" Trish requested.

After looking through the various items listed in the shop's catalog, we determined the best equipment for them to use based on their role and stats. Aqua bought herself a standard bow and a quiver that holds up to one-hundred arrows. She also has a small dagger strapped on her rear sheathe. Konno found himself a useable shield and large mace to wield along with it. We have yet to find Trish some sort of magical staff or wand, but we've bought her a dagger for good measure. We found Cayonz a decent katana which he is going to leave inside of its scabbard. Finally, we bought Violet a decent rapier. In fact, the rapier is the same exact rapier I bought her back when we first met in Sword Art Online.

"This brings back memories, doesn't it?" Violet said to me, smiling while holding her newly bought rapier.

"Since we're checking out our equipment and what not, what was that sword you got earlier Mortifer?" Rizer asked me.

"Oh, you mean this?" I asked him.

I opened up my Inventory and scrolled through my list of items. I unequipped my two Obsidian Blades causing the sheaths strapped on my back to disappear. I then equipped my Buster Sword, letting everyone in the guild see it. The large blade materialized on my back. I had a one second grace period before the weight of the blade suddenly weighed me down. I tried unsheathing it, but soon noticed that I didn't even have the required Two-Handed Straight Sword level nor the raw physical strength to wield it. In fact, the blade was so heavy that I had to remove its straps and set it on the ground so I could pull it out from there. I slowly picked up the blade and made it stand on its sharp, triangular tip.

"Jeez, what kind of monstrosity is that?!" Zed exclaimed.

Rizer approached me and tried lifting the blade himself. Due to his higher STR stat, he did a much better job of simply lifting it. However, everyone could see that he too was struggling with the weight of the sword.

"The specs of this weapon are all off." Rizer complained. "The handle is too short, and the blade itself is far too heavy. In fact, it's probably heavier than you Mortifer. If that's the case, then the moment you try to swing this blade, you'll be thrown off your feet!"

"Well, back during my execution day in SAO, I used my chains as a weapon to fight." I recalled. "However, they were being held by other players who were trying to keep me tamed. I threw this one guy around easily and stood my ground despite him being way heavier than me. The game probably has some sort of function that prevents that kind of stuff from happening which is why even the smallest of players can wield heavy weapons."

"Let's hope that's true then, or else nobody can wield that blade of yours."

I slowly set the sword down and slid it back into its sheathe. I stored the item back into my inventory and reequipped my twin Obsidian Blades. Sooner or later, I'll get Rizer to upgrade these swords of mine. The material cost is cheap so it shouldn't be hard, but I can only upgrade this a limited number of times. Eventually, I'm going to have to replace these with custom built swords from Rizer, which I'll be looking forward to. In fact, I already have the names I'm going to give those two swords should he make them.

"Everyone is set now, right?" I asked them. They all nodded in response. "Okay. Now it's time for us to split into two teams. ALO has a party size limit of seven, forcing us to split into two parties like in SAO. I'll be the one who will be making the teams. Does anybody have a problem with that?"

Everyone in the guild turned their heads toward Zed, who was staring at me blankly. He noticed everyone's eyes looking at him and became flustered.

"What are you looking at me for?" Zed questioned us, making Paradox giggle.

"Anyways…" I began, ignoring Zed's question. "I will lead Team A while Zed will lead Team B. Violet, Konno, Cayonz and Trish are going to be on my team while ViVi, Rizer, Paradox and Aqua are going to be on Zed's team."

Everyone got into their assigned groups except for Aqua and ViVi, who stomped their way towards me.

"Wait, I want to be on the same team as Trish!" Aqua complained. "And why is she with you? You barely know her!"

"Mortifer-san, please move me!" ViVi begged me quietly. "I'm scared of Zed-kun! He doesn't like me!"

"I-I'm fine being with Mortifer, Aqua-chan…" Trish admitted. I let out a long sigh and scratched my head.

"Look, I put you guys in these teams for a reason. I try to put you guys with the ones you know, but I'm also trying to balance it out here. Violet and I are the damage dealers for Team A, while Zed and ViVi are the damage dealers for Team B. Konno and Zed are best friends, and they work great together, so I don't want to separate them. I respected Zed and Paradox's relationship, so I assigned her to be the healer of Team B. Plus, I know Paradox well enough already. Aqua is the long-ranged damage dealer and support of the team, leaving me with only Trish, who wants to become the group's mage. Plus, if we happen to get into some serious trouble, I can protect Trish far better than any of you… no offense…"

"I would be pissed off if it weren't the truth…" Zed grumbled loudly.

"And Aqua, you already know Trish very well. In fact, because of your time during the Front Lines, all of you guys know each other very well and can coordinate with one another like a real team. But because I worked solo and didn't party up with any of you, I am lacking in the teamwork that our guild needs. I need to build it up as quickly as possible, and I want to get the hard part out of the way by taking in the two most reserved members of the group."

I pointed towards Cayonz and Trish, who stood right next to each other. Cayonz nodded his head slightly, agreeing to the fact that even though I've known him longer than Zed and his original group, he is still one of the members I don't really know all too well. Trish is even worse since she always hangs around with Aqua and was previously scared of me back in SAO. When they found out I was The Reaper, Trish and Aqua avoided me as much as possible, though I can't blame them. If I can't find out how these two are like, then our guild's teamwork won't be perfect. And right now, it seems that everyone, especially Zed, is wanting to make the Reapers of Sorrow one of the strongest guilds in ALfheim Online. Without perfect teamwork, we won't be able to get that title.

"Any more complaints?" I asked everyone. Zed slowly raised his hands. "Why do I have a feeling that this is going to be about something stupid Zed…"

"I want my team to be called Team A." Zed demanded.

Everyone in the guild facepalmed themselves in exasperation. He used to be so serious back in SAO, but now he's just acting more like a kid. Is it because this is no longer reality? Probably... Either way, if he continues to act like this, it may cause problems for us in the future. Not just problems between me and Zed, but even between him and the guild in general. I dragged my hand down my face and looked at Zed with contempt.

"Fine… You can be Team A."


Ten minutes later, Horunka

Getting to the second village of the floor didn't take long due to the game's flight mechanic. We managed to quickly teach the guild how to fly without wings and they are slowly getting more and more used to it. The one struggling the most is Konno because of his heavy equipment, but if I didn't take that into account, then it is ViVi. Anyways, we decided that our goal is to defeat the 1st Floor Boss this weekend alone. Everyone gathered for the big reveal Friday night and even got permission from their parents to be able to stay up to play ALO till early morning Saturday. However, that isn't the case for me, Rizer and Cayonz, who no longer attend school. While traveling here, I spoke to them in English about staying up a bit later with me so I can talk to them about something.

"Come on, let me in the conversation Mortifer!" Violet pleaded.

"Sorry Violet, but I'm keeping it a secret because it's a surprise for the entire guild." I answered her, switching to English at the last sentence for Rizer and Cayonz to pick up on.

"A surprise for the guild? Interesting…" Rizer mused, rubbing his hands together in excitement.

"Trish, can you tell me what they're saying?" Violet begged Trish with imploring eyes.

"I'm sorry Violet-san… My English is not that great either." Trish apologized.

"When I feel like it, I'll teach you guys English a bit more, though you're probably better off asking Rizer or Cayonz about it." I told them.

Our team headed over to the town's only tavern to find out more information about New Aincrad and see if any changes are made. Upon entering the bar, we split up and talked to the NPC bartenders, trying to get information as efficiently as possible. We found slight changes such as the addition of new, more powerful mobs as well as a hint on what the field monster is. According to this one NPC Rizer encountered, the Field Boss is some sort of giant stone guardian, unlike the giant fat troll that was inside SAO.

"At least we found out something." Rizer stated as all five of us exited the bar.

"There's nothing else to do in this town, so we may as well go check out the Field Boss or just explore the floor." I told them. They all nodded in agreement.

We walked down the streets that were starting to be filled up by newcomers. Many of them gave me looks, probably recognizing me as the one who made such a big scene earlier in Yggdrasil City. When they did realize that I was the same guy, some of them didn't even try to hide that they were talking about me. They pointed at me, gawked at me and some even had the guts to see me up close. Just like this guy right here who is holding out a piece of paper and pen for me to write with.

"C-Can I have your autograph Blacky-senpai?" The random player begged.

"Blacky-senpai?" I questioned him, glaring through my mask. I understand I am wearing all black, but that's such a bad nickname.

"Do you prefer another name?" The player asked me. His expression remained neutral, so he must not be able to see my expression that well.

I clenched my fists in rage. I wanted him to leave me alone, but I can't cause another scene in front of this many people. I tried looking at him with irritated eyes, but it seems he can't clearly see them due to my mask. I don't want to take off my mask either since I don't want them to see my face. I looked towards Violet, who moved her head in a way as if telling me to answer the players wishes. I snatched the guy's paper and pen and began writing my autograph on it. I shoved the piece of paper and pen into the guy's chest and continued walking out of town.

"What did you write on that sheet of paper Mortifer?" Rizer asked as he looked back at the people crowding around the person who got my autograph.

"The nickname I want to be called. What else?" I told Rizer.

"What was the nickname then?"

"Oh Rizer…" Violet giggled. "You're really going to ask Mortifer what nickname he wants to be called?"

"I mean, I have two guesses already, but I just want to make sure which one he wants…" Rizer explained, scratching his head in the process. "So, what's your nickname Mortifer?"

"The Reaper of Sorrow… I already liked the name, so I may as well keep it. Even if I get reported to the authorities, a guy in the SAO Case Victims Rescue Force promised me that he would turn a blind eye on me. He also promised to remove all of my SAO records including the ones that were glitched out due to the system bugging out."

"Wait, they have record logs of what we did in game?!" Violet cried out.

"Yeah, they do. Kirito and I hacked into the RECT Progress and found the logs there. That's how the guy from the SAO Case Victims Rescue Force found us in the first place. I checked it once again when RECT Progress was getting shutdown and found my files completely gone."

"You hacked into RECT Progress? Jeez, is there anything you can't do?" Rizer questioned me.

"I can't become anonymous in any of the VRMMORPGs I play…" I grumbled out, looking back at the crowd of people who were now chasing after us with pens and paper in hand. "Ugh… Why can't they just leave me alone… Get ready to run."

I turned around and began mumbling out an incantation. During my recovery in the hospital and at home, I took the time to learn some Magic used in the game should I ever need to use it. The incantation I'm chanting out right now is the same one Kirito used in his battle against Eugene - Smokescreen. I uttered out the last word and fumes of black smoke began violently emitting from my hands. It didn't take long for the area around us to be completely covered by smoke. I summoned my wings and ascended from the ground.

"Come on, let's get out of here!" I urged my team.

They all summoned their wings and quickly followed me. I headed towards a forest in the distance where we soon disappeared into.


An hour and a half later, Tolbana

"Jeez… It's been so long since we've been here Mortifer." Violet pointed out.

"How long has it been? Like two and a half years?" I asked her.

"Around that time. Speaking of time, it got dark pretty quickly."

We all looked towards the setting sun in the horizon which visibly continued its descent. It's as if time itself is accelerating. The game developers must have done this so players can play the midnight release in broad daylight for a while. Now, it's trying to match its time with the real world so there's no confusion when one suddenly goes from broad daylight to a pitch-black night.

"It's one-thirty in the morning right now. In about half an hour, the moon would probably be high in the sky. How long are you guys going to stay up?" I asked Trish and Violet.

"I-I can stay here for about one more hour…" Trish responded.

"An hour and a half? Maybe two?" Violet guessed.

We walked around Tolbana, heading towards the floor's Labyrinth. Of course, we can't enter it right with the Field Boss still guarding it. Facing the Field Boss shouldn't be too much of a challenge, but Kirito had messaged me on my way here that there's going to be a massive group of players who are going to come to Tolbana tomorrow for the Field Boss raid. The raiding party includes Kirito's party, Sakuya's party, Alicia's party, Eugene's party, my party, Zed's party and Klein's party. Not all parties will have seven players total, but we don't need full parties for a Field Boss raid. Plus, I trust the strength of everyone participating in the raid enough to not worry so much. Also, I heard that if you defeat a Floor Boss, the party leader's name is placed on Monument of Swordsmen for everyone to see. Only seven names can be engraved on each floor at a time, meaning only seven party leaders will have their name written on the monument even if eight or more parties participate. Because of this, I've decided to switch around the party leaders every time we participate in a boss raid so everyone can get their names up there. It wouldn't be fair if only mine and Zed's name were written on it.

"Hey, look! It's the amphitheater!" Violet beamed. She ran over to the worn down Roman theater where the first boss raid meeting was held.

We caught up with Violet and admired the theater. The structure was made of some yellow, worn-out stone that has been severely broken down. Some of the columns have fallen to some aesthetics to this very small theater. I looked at the small number of seats and remembered where Kirito and Asuna sat together. I also looked around the outside of the theater and found the tree where I hid to spy on the meeting. The column right next to us was the column Violet also used to hide during the meeting. I almost forgot why we were hiding when I remembered the scene I had caused in the Starting City some number of days before that. Just like here in ALO, I don't want to attract any attention which is why I hid back then from a public meeting. I looked at the stage and remembered Diavel speaking, the blue-haired man who led the 1st Floor Boss raid but tragically died trying to land the last hit on the boss. I also remembered that bastard Kibaou. Apparently, Thinker had put that guy in Black Iron Prison after committing mutiny against him. I wonder what that bastard is doing right now…

"Hey! Onii-chan!" A familiar voice called out.

We all turned our heads behind us. We looked down the steps of the theater and saw Leafa at the very bottom of it. Not a moment later, Kirito and his group came walking from behind the corner. It seems that they have lost one of their party members, the one who had that blue pet dragon. I believe Silica was her name, but I'm not too sure about that. I should really go and talk to Kirito's friends and get to know them a bit more, specifically Silica and Lizbeath. I know Klein and Agil well enough due to our conversations over at the Dicey Café.

"Hello Leafa-chan! Kirito-kun!" Violet called out to them.

We walked down the steps and met up with my brother and sister. A few of them were starting to look tired, especially Klein who had to work for a bit before he came online. Bags were forming under his avatar's eyes and he looked just about ready to collapse on anything that looks like a comfortable place to sleep. Since it was bad manners and the place was getting darker, I removed my mask and pulled down my hood. Yui, who I had not seen in a while, flew out of Kirito's shirt pocket and landed on top of my head. She lied down and started playing with strands of my hair.

"This is even better than your previous avatar, Oji-chan!" Yui cried out in happiness.

"Sometimes, I think you're a bit too obsessed with my hair Yui." I laughed out.

"Well Papa won't change back to his SAO avatar. The spikes in his hair aren't comfortable to sit on at all!"

"Yes, yes… Enough about whose hair is better. Where did the rest of your guild go?" Kirito asked me.

"We split up." I told him. "Since the party size limit is seven, we split up into teams of five to make things easier for us. It's also a teambuilding exercise to prepare us for future raids and other big fights. Since I couldn't join my guild in the Front Lines during SAO, I'm lacking in any and all teamwork with them except for Violet and Rizer."

"I guess that's a good enough explanation." Kirito determined. "So, where are you guys heading to now?"

I looked at my team who then looked at me. My mind went blank as I realized that I had no other plans after exploring around the 1st Floor and checking out if anything changed.

"Uh… I don't actually know…" I shamefully admitted, scratching. "Where are you guys heading?"

"To the Field Boss. We decided to go take a quick peek at it before getting off and going to sleep." Asuna explained to me.

"That sounds like fun!" Violet beamed. She then turned around and looked at me. "Mortifer, can we go with them?"

Violet's expression reminded me of an overexcited kid who was begging for their parents to let them do something. In fact, her hands were clasped together as if she really were begging for me to go with them to the Field Boss zone. If I say no, she's only going to bombard me with more questions on why I don't want to go with them. Truthfully, I have nothing against going with them, so I would have said yes even without Violet begging me to do so.

"Yes, yes. We can go with them." I told her.

Violet shamelessly jumped out of excitement and instantly ran over to Asuna and gave her a big hug. Should've guessed Violet wanted to hang out with Asuna. The two of them are like best friends, and both hail from rich families who live in Setagaya. Konno and Agil conversed with each other. I recalled that the two of them were part of the famous Rizer Squad so they know each other very well. Lizbeth went to go and talk with Trish, who tried her best to talk with the energetic blacksmith. Rizer messed around with Klein, trying to get him to wake up. That only left me and Kirito, who simply stood next to each other and led our parties towards the floor's Labyrinth.

"Do you know where the rest of your guild is?" My brother asked me.

"Nope. We haven't contacted each other since we left the Starting City." I responded to my brother's question. "I should probably try and contact them right now and see what's going on. It's getting late anyway…"

As we walked down the streets of Tolbana, I opened up my menu and scrolled through my small friend's list. I selected Zed's name and began sending him a text message, asking him where they were currently at, and informing him that Kirito and I were heading to go check out the field boss. I could have sent this message to other members of Team A, but I found it better to send it to the leader of the team instead of someone else. Makes it quicker to decide what to do if the leader is the first to see the message. I sent the message to Zed and closed my menu. I waited for his response while we exited Tolbana's borders and entered the wilderness. After a few minutes, I grew concerned.

"People get messages in-game instantly, right?" I asked my sister.

"Yes. The moment it is sent, the receiving player will get it instantly and be notified of it." Leafa answered.

"If so, why is Zed taking so long to respond?"

"Well, maybe didn't feel the need to respond, or he's busy with something else." Violet suggested.

"I guess that's true…" I mumbled. "So, are we going to keep on walking to the Labyrinth, or are we going to fly there?"

"Can we fly please?" Klein moaned. "I want to go to bed soon…"

"Yeah, we should probably fly. Even if we go at a brisk pace, it will still take us about twenty minutes to get there." Kirito guessed.

We all summoned our wings and took off to the skies. Most of our group kept close to the ground, just above the trees. However, I flew high in the sky so I could gawk at the beautiful landscape. Much of the 1st Floor is filled with different sorts of terrain to show off to new players the beauty that was Sword Art Online two years ago. Currently, we are flying above a deciduous forest which surrounded the giant, cloud-piercing pillar that the Labyrinth was inside of. Nearing the center of the pillar is a flat plain of grass and jagged rocks. However, if you look to either side of us, you can see high mountains that are covered by blankets of trees. Near the Starting City, there are strangely-shaped islands that stood on the ground with a point as small as a pencil. There are infinitely flowing rivers and waterfalls in these islands, and much more. And towards the western end of the floor, or northwest of the Starting City, there is a great plain that has been eroded greatly. It used to be a rather popular farming spot but it was soon monopolized by beta testers or strong parties of players.

After two minutes of flying, we exited the forest's area, and entered the Labyrinth's grassy plain. And we hadn't been here for more than two seconds before I heard screaming and explosions in the distance. With the sun fully set, I could not see as well as I could during the day. We all descended to the ground and stopped in our tracks.

"Yui, are there any players nearby?" Kirito asked her.

"Um… Yes, there are. A group of eight people ahead of us.

Kirito and I moved ahead of the gang who tried their best to keep up with our pace. We climbed the top of a large hill and got a clear view of the land before us. A large distance away from us, I could see players being chased down by a colossal creature that I had never seen before. Is that thing the Field Boss? If so, whoever is being chased by it needs to realize that they can just run to the forest to get rid of its aggro. I summoned my wings once again and flew after the endangered players. Kirito followed closely behind me while everyone else lagged behind us. The closer I got to the players, the bigger the Field Boss seemed to be, When I got close enough to see every one of the players, I recognized five people within the group. Zed, Paradox, Konno, ViVi and Aqua were running alongside three other players, trying to escape the stone guardian. Zed was carrying a Gnome on his back and struggled to run away from the guardian. A Spriggan and a Pooka followed closely behind him. Aqua and Konno did their best to stall the guardian, but they couldn't hold on for much longer.

"So that's why he wasn't responding." I murmured to myself.

I took out my twin blades, and Kirito brought out his giant black sword. Everyone else behind us also brought out their weapons which only slowed them down even more as they prepared for a fight. Before I did begin fighting, I took some time to observe the boss we were about to confront. It stood on two legs and is about the size of a two-story house. Just like what the information said, it is mainly made out of moss-covered stone. It had a large head with a rather small face, as its mouth and eyes were only a few inches apart. It was sort of a hunchback as its rocky spine jutted out of its back, making some rather vicious spikes. The body had an upside-down triangle shape, getting narrower as it goes down to its legs. It also had a glowing green gem at where its heart is supposed to be. Its arms were as large as a small tree, and his fists were the size of a smart car. Its legs were not as long as its arms, but it was still very agile. As it chased down my friends, it raised its right arm which began glowing green. Realizing it was about to attack, I flew towards the guardian's body, ducking under its right arm, and slashed against the green gem on its chest. The guardian made a deep rumbling noise, as if it were in pain. It stopped its attack and stumbled for a moment. Everyone looked back and saw me flying behind them.

"Mortifer!" Konno exclaimed out of happiness!

"How the hell did you guys get into this situation?" I questioned them as I flew above them to reach Zed.

"These three people were trapped by the guardian. The Gnome guy is seriously injured, so his avatar can't walk properly." Aqua explained to me. "We could have run straight to the forest, but the numerous hills would slow Zed down and let the Field Boss catch up. The guy is also too heavy for Zed to fly him out. We're trying to circle around to the flat road that's on the other side of this pillar."

"I'm sorry for causing all of you guys so much trouble!" the Spriggan apologized.

"We didn't realize that this area was the Field Boss' territory. We really are sorry!" the Pooka also apologized.

"You can apologize when we get out of here…" I told them.

I then turned my back to the guardian. My team as well as Kirito's team now has the guardian's attention and is currently fighting it. Rizer and Agil stood out the front, holding a defensive position. Konno joined them and prepared to tank the boss' attack. Asuna, Cayonz and Paradox prepared themselves to begin healing as they took out books containing the basic Magic healing spells for Undines. Everyone else stood in between them, acting as the main damage-dealers.

"Are we really going to be fighting the boss now Mortifer?" Kirito questioned me. "We promised Sakuya, Alicia, and Eugene that we would take it on tomorrow, or later today."

My brother is right. We can definitely fight the boss now, despite everyone's fatigue. However, the Lords and the General may be angry we took the boss down without them. I made a promise with them too. If I can't even keep such a simple promise, how am I supposed to keep my other ones?

"Don't take down the boss, but we can at least try to bait out its attack pattern. So far, I've only seen one and it seems it can be interrupted if you attack that green gem on its heart." I told everyone in the vicinity.

"Before that, can we get these three guys out of here?" Zed groaned as he struggled to put down the heavy Gnome. "I'd rather not have a helpless player next to a boss."

"I got it."

I ran over to the Gnome player and drooped his body over my back. The guy was as heavy as the Buster Sword even though he has the lightweight body of a fairy. That armor of his must be high-leveled to make him weigh this much. When I got into a comfortable position, I began running straight towards the hills instead of heading to the flat road. If I choose to go to the flat road, it will likely take the same amount of time if I just went straight over the hills. And I don't need to worry about the boss chasing me anymore since my friends have its aggro. However, by the time I finish getting this guy, the Spriggan and the Pooka out of the Field Boss' territory, my friends will likely be done baiting out its attacks. I would like to stay and see for myself, but everyone is busy with the boss. We need Rizer and Agil to tank attacks, and Cayonz is too slow so he will get really tired before he gets to the halfway mark. Zed has been carrying the guy already so he is quite tired, leaving myself as the only person who can do this job.

"I'll likely be done when you guys are done with the boss!" I yelled at them as I went over the first hill. "Tell me about it afterwards!"

"Don't worry! Just get those guys out of here!" My brother yelled at me.

I went over the first hill and sped my pace up slightly. The Spriggan and Pooka led the way to the forest that was a long way ahead of us. We continued running to safety while the sounds of battle sounded throughout the valley.


Ten minutes later

I dropped the Gnome on the ground and collapsed right after. The Spriggan and Pooka remained standing, but were struggling to catch their breaths. They took a seat next to their Gnome friend and rested there. I turned my body over so I could look up to the sky. The moon was no longer at its high, and was now beginning to sink. It really is getting late… I slowly stood up and stretched my arms and legs. I opened up my inventory and checked on my friends' locations. I noticed that they were already on the outer borders of Tolbana. It's like they forgot about us and went straight back to the village. I closed my menu and summoned my wings. Before I could leave, the Gnome who had been unable to move earlier grabbed my arm and stopped me.

"W-We know we heard your friends call out your name earlier, but we didn't exactly catch it…" the Gnome began saying. "So, can you please tell us, what's your name?"

I looked at the Gnome with a blank expression. Although I didn't mean to do it, it seems I intimidated them a little bit because of it. I looked away from them and towards the bright full moon of Aincrad.

"My name… is Mortifer…"

I took off from the ground with a violent boom. The ground directly beneath my feet folded upon itself slightly and created a miniature dust cloud. I flew as high as I could before flying straight to Tolbana at full speed. Even though it seemed like a dot in the distance, the village grew in size by the second. It took me a mere minute to arrive to the village. I stopped moving and hovered above the central plaza of the city where I can barely see a large group of people gathered there. I headed straight down, face-first like a meteor. When the ground became too close, I quickly stood myself upright before landing with a loud boom. Another dust cloud formed and the people around me began coughing. Using my cloak, I cleared away the dust around me, revealing the large group of people to be my friends.

"That entrance was cool, but unnecessary." Violet coughed out.

"Where are those other three players?" Asuna asked.

"I left them by the forest, outside of the Field Boss' range."

"Wait, why?!" Violet questioned.

"I mean, you guys are the ones who left us over there in the first place. Plus, I'm confident they can handle themselves just fine. So, how did the boss battle go?"

"The Field Boss is called The Stone Golem. It uses four different attacks, with no specific pattern." Yui began explaining to me. "Each of its attacks have a set cooldown and when it goes off cooldown, it immediately uses it right away. The attack where he brings up his right fist can be considered his basic attack and deals the least damage, but is up every fifteen seconds. It has a magical attack where it slams its left fist on the ground, causing a wave of rubble to go towards its target. It seems to deal heavy elemental damage, but it is easy to dodge. This attack has a twenty second cooldown. It has a large area-of-effect attack in which he throws small, sharp rocks at a cone directly in front of him. It has a thirty second cooldown and can only be dodged by flying upwards. Its last attack is not that much of an attack, but it sheds part of its body which transforms into a monster called the Ruined Stone Golem. This seems to happen only when it loses a quarter of one of its health bars. Ten Ruined Stone Golems spawn from one piece"

"So, it has foot soldiers… As expected…" I murmured. "The Stone Golem is so slow moving and has rather large cooldowns, making it rather weak to quick, powerful bursts. Other than its heart, are there any other weaknesses?"

"The boss' body seems to be weak to blunt weapon attacks." Konno spoke up.

"Yeah, and that's quite a problem." Lizbeth complained. "Just from our group alone, we only have three people who use blunt weapons. That would be me, Konno and ViVi over there. It took us a while to bring it down to just one HP bar since slashing weapons aren't that effective against it."

"Sakuya, Alicia and Eugene's party also happens to use mainly slashing weapons. And would lances even work against the boss since it's a thrust weapon?" Leafa questioned.

"Well, since it's made out of rock, do you suppose it may be weak to Water Magic?" Trish suggested. Everyone in the guild looked at the shy, and timid Trish out of surprise. "In MMORPGs I've seen, enemies made out of a certain element are typically weak to another element. If it's made of stone, it must be weak to water and highly resistant to fire and wind. It is likely neutral to earth and may not even be affected by things such as music and illusion since it is a boss monster. Now that I think about it, the explosion magic of Salamanders could be useful to it to bits and pieces, and the wind magic could be used to cut at its heart… I-I don't really know if I'm right or not, so I'm sorry if it is wrong!"

Everyone stared at Trish out of amazement. Trish however, took this the wrong way and seemingly got super embarrassed. Aqua slowly approached Trish and grabbed her by the arms. She then proceeded the shake her best friend violently out of excitement.

"Trish, that's so smart of you!" Aqua exclaimed. "I knew your nerdy brain could be useful in video games!"

"She's right." Leafa agreed. "ALO has bosses and monsters who are highly resistant to physical or elemental damage, but it weak to the other. It would make perfect sense if the Field Boss is weak to Water Magic."

"Though we still have a problem…" Agil determined. "Even if we include all of our parties, we still only have three Undines to work with, and none of them know high-level Water Magic just yet."

"We also need them to focus on healing as much as possible. Sakuya and Alicia don't have any tanks, while Eugene told us that his tanks will be off duty tomorrow." Kirito added in.

"It would be okay since Eugene is bringing in a full team of mages." I told everyone. "He is going to have three healers and three high-level Fire Magic users at his disposal. They can help with healing and perform explosion magic to help out with the fight. Trish can help out by learning the basic Water Magic spells and using them during the fight. Paradox can also make us healing potions that restore both HP and MP, allowing us to sustain even longer."

"Also, I forgot to say that my group has two tanks in them, so they can also help out with tanking the boss' attacks." Klein added in.

"Oh man, it's going to be such an easy fight then! Good job Trish!" ViVi congratulated her.

Everyone congratulated our shy little mage who tried her best to smile through all of it. She really is trying her best to break out of that bubble of hers, and I hope she does. I looked over at Cayonz who smiled at Trish, happy to see people giving her lots of attention. I never really understood why, but Cayonz always cares for Trish and treats her with respect. At first, I thought it was because they are both of African descent but I don't really know anymore. Either way, this is a milestone for Trish.

"That settles it then. Tomorrow, I'll contact Sakuya, Alicia and Eugene and inform them of the information we gathered during the raid." Kirito declared. "After that, let's go and take down The Stone Golem!"

Everyone raised their fists into their and shouted in unison:

"Yeah!"


Two hours later, Alne

Almost everyone has left the game and gone to bed. The only ones remaining are me, Cayonz and Rizer. They wanted to go to sleep earlier, but they decided to stay up so I can talk to them about the surprise I had waiting for the guild. Currently, we are in a bar at Alne. We were the only people inside the bar if you exclude all of the NPC servants and innkeeper. We sat on a large table meant for five or more people. We received our drinks from the NPC servant and began our discussion.

"So, Mortifer…" Rizer drowsily spoke. "What is this surprise we have for the guild?"

"Let me show you…" I said. pulling out a large scroll from my Inventory, and spread it out across the entire table. This scroll had a world map of ALfheim Online drawn on it. "As you know, we all have a boatload of money we have at our disposal because of our SAO data overlapping that of ALfheim Online. We can buy anything we want in this game because of our numerous amount of funds, and three months ago, I learned that I can buy something rather special."

I pointed at a location, northeast of the World Tree's location. This place was located at the very edge of Gnome territory, right next to the Leprechauns. There is no valley towards the north that lets us enter the central plains of ALO, making it very far away from Alne as you have to either take the dangerous mountain passage, or go south and take the Rainbow Valley route.

"This place right here is known as the Misty Valley. It surrounds the area where we are going to have our surprise located. I had our place located here so then random players won't stumble by it every so often. I've already had my sister check out the land and take pictures of it, so I've got an idea on how I want to do this surprise of ours."

I pulled out more scrolls which contained my plans for this project of ours. Rizer and Cayonz examined them carefully and began smiling.

"Jeez Mortifer… Don't you know how long this will take if it's only the three of us?" Cayonz asked me.

"I don't really care that much because I like this surprise of ours already!" Rizer laughed out enthusiastically. "How much will this project of ours cost?"

"The land is super rare and hard to find. It is also located inside of Gnome territory which means I had to pay extra since I am not a Gnome. The materials we need are all in different Gnome cities, but we need hundreds, if not thousands of them. Because of that, I've determined the total cost of this project of ours to be over one and a half trillion Yrd."

Rizer, who was sipping at his drink, began choking at hearing the sound of the cost.

"Wait, we won't have enough then!" Rizer exclaimed. "I'm aware you have at least one trillion Yrd, but Cayonz and I don't have the rest we need. We need to borrow from others in the guild or something!"

"No, we can't. I want this to be the biggest surprise yet, so we have to limit our borrowing of money." I stated. "We can make money off the boss raids and maybe some other stuff."

"Even if we participate in all boss raids, we still won't have enough money to complete this project of ours." Cayonz determined.

"Which is why I asked my sister what is the best way to obtain money in this game. She first told me about defeating the Evil-God class monsters down in the field dungeon of Jötunheimr, but it is too difficult with our manpower and current equipment. And so, she told me of another way to make easy money that seems to be quite popular in ALfheim Online…"

"What's this method you are speaking of?" Rizer asked me.

Even though there was nobody around us to eavesdrop, I motioned for Rizer and Cayonz to get closer to me. I whispered into their ears the method my sister had told me and the method I am planning on taking. When I finished, Rizer and Cayonz sat back down with serious expressions.

"I understand that this method can make us the money we need to finish the project, but what would the rest of the guild say to this?" Cayonz asked me.

"No, I think the better question to ask, is if you are okay with doing this, Mortifer?" Rizer questioned me. He glared at me with his intimidating face, causing me to think about my response. "I am totally fine with doing this, and because the game is focused around it, I'm sure the other guys won't care that much. However, the one I see having the biggest problem with this idea is you…"

I hesitated to answer his question. Many thoughts were going in my mind. He is right about me having the biggest problem with the plan since it affects me more than anybody else in the guild. Even so, I want to do this for everyone…

"I'll find a way…"

Rizer looked at me, as if he wasn't accepting that kind of answer. When I simply stared back, he sighed and reverted back to his normal expression.

"So, when do we start this project of ours, and how do we converse without the rest of the guild knowing?" Rizer asked me.

"Since there is no radar or tracking system in ALfheim itself, we can work on this project whenever we have time. I'll show you guys the way to get there Saturday night, and I will be online throughout the week working on it. As for meeting up and discussing it, we can do it at the Dicey Café or do it in-game at the project site. We can't do anymore English conversations as they will inevitable pick up some things."

"That's fine with me." Cayonz said as he stood up. "It's getting very late now, so I'm going to go to sleep."

"Yeah… Same here." Rizer yawned out.

"I hope everyone likes this surprise of ours." I mumbled out.

"Don't worry Mortifer. I'm sure they will love it!"

/

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I'm pretty sure it's not healthy for me to literally sit down and use my computer for more than fifteen hours straight every day playing video games and writing this story, but I don't really care. I know I made it seem like I won't be back for a while but I've gotten bored really easily lately, making me write way more than I usually do. In fact, this chapter was thought-out and written in only two days. Enough about my personal problems. I hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter of No More Sorrow. Please look forward to Chapter 2 - The First.

Word Count: 9.3k words

- Mortifer V