Chapter XIV: Dead Winds

Quiet but heavy footsteps. Massive feet pressed down into the earth and left behind massive prints—clawed, bestial. There was no doubt that, in time, the footprints would eventually fade away as the dirt get displaced and the game takes control in returning the state of the environment to its natural beginnings.

But there was no time to ponder on that. Not when it was still far too close for comfort.

The creature was massive. Larger than any other beast on this floor. An inorganic one, which made it all the more unique—dangerous, more like, for its body that glimmered silver promised a hard exterior that could repel any physical strikes. With how its body was serpentine in its movement's fluidity, there was no room to doubt how agile it might be.

Pausing, it sniffed the air, turning its head to scan its surroundings. A small, tinny hiss escaped its throat. Something alive walked these grounds mere moments ago, and that was all the sign it needed to begin focusing once more.

The world around it was rather silent, not much life that gave it any opportunity to feed. The creature growled, dulling out sounds in its area to focus on anything living—heartbeats, breathing, footsteps. Whatever that could give away its hiding place and finally give it something to tear apart with its claws. What made it all the more impressive, however, was its innate ability to zero in on anything living. To be able to sense a soul and track down any minute essence of life, making it such a perfect predator.

Absolutely nothing.

The world was dead around it, and with its disappointment of there being nothing else around (perhaps whatever was here had left quickly enough upon noticing its imminent presence) giving it no reason to linger, the Shadow departed from the area, foregoing sneakiness in favour of skulking away.

It was much time later, possibly two minutes more, did a figure finally drop from the trees. His boots struck the ground with little noise. He peered over the edge of the tree to make sure that the Shadow had finally disappeared before finally releasing a deep sigh.

'That was so fucking close…' Scratching the back of his head, he looked once more to where the Shadow had disappeared to. 'Kirito, you lucky, unlucky bastard. How the hell did you come across another Fafnir? Third time in just these two days.'

It said a lot when he'd managed to encounter a powerful Shadow the first time. It went beyond possibilities when he'd somehow managed to find more in record time. Getting chased by one the first and second times was not fun.

With no reason of his own to linger around here anymore, Kirito promptly fled the scene as he made his way in a direction. A straight path forwards that would lead him to his destination, which was engrained in his head partly from muscle memory and from the thin line of smoke that puffed occasionally into the air.

It wasn't much later before he eventually arrived at his temporary base, turning back just to make sure he hadn't been pursued by anything else before eventually letting out his umpteenth sigh of relief for the day, happy that he was finally out of the deep waters.

"Home sweet home," his lips quirked bitterly, scoffing. "Calling a rundown castle my home. I must be growing more egoistic with each passing day."

Kirito didn't let the thought linger for too long, making his way forwards. There were no towns surrounding the castle as Castle Yofel and some others did, though he knew that was because this was only the castle, and that the settlements were scattered across the floor. It made for a rather unique design in terms of telling the world that this place belonged only to the royalty.

A muted grey, with a lack for other colours. He doubted this was the true colour of the castle, for everything about it was a colour between grey, white and black. Vines crept up the sides and holes punctured in the castle walls made it easy to look inside and see just how bad the damage done to the structure was. The inside was no better, with much loose tiles, debris and broken bricks making it easy to trip over them. Dust particles swimming in the air, highlighted by the beams of sunlight that poked through the cracks or holes in the walls.

As bad as the place was, he'd take it over sleeping out in the wilderness any day.

"The numbers of Shadows have steadily been increasing throughout our stay here," Arsene was willed into existence, towering over him. The two walked together down the corridor, their footsteps lightly ringing across the emptiness. "I find this a rather worrisome sign."

"You tell me," sighed the boy, running one hand through his hair. "We've been doing a good enough job trying to map out the floor, but it's not enough. We're still no close to finding the entrance to the lower floor and the dungeon that'll help us get to the next one. We're literally stranded in the middle of nowhere."

"Not exactly nowhere, are we?"

"Hah… Tell that to Kayaba, the ass."

He arrived at the kitchen, to the sight of a wood stove cooking meat in the fire, hence the smoke from earlier. Utilizing the game's system, he withdrew the meat from the flames and helped himself to it as he sat at the table and dug into it with gusto.

Hot to the touch, and more so to his tongue. But the game dulled the pain and he ate away with reckless abandon, trying to ease his growling stomach.

Well-done steak didn't exactly offer much other than chewy, tasty meat that really got better the more you bit into it. He could have done with additional flavouring, like salt or pepper, but he didn't exactly know where to procure the ingredients. So it was to his dismay that he was forced to simply eat it as it is, but even then, food was food.

"You aren't complaining, are you?"

"Mmh, helf nah. This thasf great."

He paused to swallow, repeating his earlier statement with better clarity before returning to his dinner. It would have to do, considering how he had nothing else on hand and that he was literally eating a 20-pound turkey leg (really, it was just a very big bird-like monster, hence its monstrous size), but he couldn't care because this was both a game so the chance of him getting a stomach ache was ridiculously low, and there just wasn't anything else.

He'd admit he missed eating normal food, which was hard to say considering how meat and whatever he could salvage in the wilds had become normal to him now. No, he just missed normal establishments, civilization and store-bought bread, ironically enough.

Still, he knew he couldn't exactly complain. The earth, the rivers, the trees; they provided him with plenty. The world was rich, and he wasn't foolish enough to not recognize the fact that he'd be dead if it weren't for all of that. Nature was kind to him throughout his stay here, and he wasn't going to take it all for granted now.

…Kizmel's influenced him a lot more than he realized, it seems. Hmm. Animism. He wondered if she'd be amused or pleased.

"So, what are our plans for tomorrow, Hero?" Arsene asked. With his massive size, even sitting at the table, Arsene practically towered over him by, like, at least one-point-four. Sort of. "Shall we reattempt our excursion for the Dark Elves' castle?"

"Was thinking about that, yeah," nodded the boy, placing down the bone that remained on his plate. It burst a moment later into polygons, reminding him that he was still in a videogame. "We've checked every crook and nanny of this castle and there's literally nothing else to uncover. The rest of the floor has nothing, so all that leaves for us to see is the Dark Elves' castle."

Under normal circumstances, thinking of casually going into some castle was just a recipe for disaster. It spoke volumes when the thing he worried more was getting an earful from Asuna rather than be at spearpoint, or threatened with his head to the guillotine. So naturally, this just made things a lot weird for him.

But there was no more room for niceties in this world. Normalcy had been thrown out of the window.

He prodded his menu and navigated it for the 'Field Map' sub-menu, finding it with little difficulty. He tapped on it, allowing his vision to be engulfed with a map of the world. To the very western and eastern ends of this floor were castles, and the rest of the floor had diverse geographical settings, such as craggy mountains, forested areas, open plains, and even a sea to the north.

Nothing damned him more than the name itself, however.

- Floor 9 -

The very floor that Kizmel had fled from. Their objective since they'd met in Horunka. His promise to bring her here to save their people.

Almost a week ago, Kirito woke up in a wholly new place with no idea as to where the hell he was. It had happened right after he'd given chase for Kizmel, whose Persona went berserk. From there, Kirito was practically stranded in the middle of nowhere with little to no idea as to where he should go, forced to explore a wholly new floor completely on his own.

Well, he wasn't exactly alone. He had Arsene as company, so that counted for something.

The floor was unnatural in every sense of the world. It was, in his own opinion, a dead floor.

It felt as if Kayaba had applied grayscale upon this floor, enough to trick the average player that he'd taken away their ability to perceive colour—he knew that wasn't the case because he and Arsene still had colour, and he could recognize that. The world was dead, too, in a way that there just weren't anything alive for miles that gave this floor the normalcy it deserved. No birds, no critters, no elves or humans…

He didn't know what bone-chilling felt like before. Well, he did here and there, but this floor made him uncomfortable like no other.

Nonetheless, Kirito had spent two days out in the wilderness since then, trying to make heads and tails of his situation. He'd made little to no progress at first, aimless wandering bringing him from somewhere to another somewhere, which was still out in the open. Nothing came to attack him, and he'd come across nothing.

Oh, but who was he to forget the one thing that's managed to add 'excitement' to his time here? Haha! Of course. Let him introduce you to the metal-bodied, draconic Shadow; Fafnir.

To date, the strongest Shadow he was (un)fortunate enough to face off against. Face off? Oh, no, he didn't stand a chance. Arsene helped give him info about the beast, and he didn't like anything about it! Level eighty-six, resistant to at least five elements, of which it practically reflects physical damage!

So what was a Shadow to do if it sensed a human? Why, it did the one thing Kirito despised about it.

It chased him and Anna.

…Oh, right. Anna. Funny story, actually. Anna wasn't a person. She was a horse. An honest-to-goodness horse he'd somehow stumbled upon out of the blue just mere moments before Fafnir showed up. And that seemed like a good thing.

Until, of course, you took into account his Luck of the Damned. It was never kind to him, so it happily presented him two issues; one, Anna, (he named her after Anna Sewell, who wrote the Black Beauty book. Arsene was more impressed than he'd initially expected) and him did not get along all that quickly. And two, Fafnir.

Honestly, he'd been the only one the Shadow was targeting, but anyone or anything standing in close proximity to someone being chased down might assume that they were involved as well. So it was that he used that to his advantage to ride Anna and have her run as fast as she could. They bonded well afterwards. And by that, as well as a tired animal and its new, reluctant master is.

They entered the mystical, dead forest to the west, arriving at the Forest Elves' castle afterwards. Broken and empty, he was glad for Arsene's suggestion of turning this place into their base for the moment. It was nice to have a place to return to after an excursion in the day, especially since they'd turned this place into some sort of fortress. He'd fortified the castle to the best of his abilities, closing up any holes in the walls and making sure there were no blind spots that any mob or Shadow could make use of.

They hadn't seen any attacks so far, but it never hurt to at least try and be careful as much as they could. After all, this floor still had a couple of tricks up its sleeve, and letting his guard down was an invitation for danger.

Trees in the area weren't regarded as «Immortal Objects» , curiously enough, which gave him reason to chop down some to be used as barriers to cover up any glaring holes in the castle's walls or boundaries. He didn't have the «Carpentry» skill necessary in shaping them into more useful things, so he had to make do and just stack them on one another and just hope to close out any hole.

Areas that were too unstable for logs to be used required him to be a little smarter, and he'd scrapped together what vines he could find from a distant marsh to the north to let grow on the castle's walls. Ironically enough, his efforts made this place look more rundown than it already was, but it would help to mask the castle somewhat from any enemies.

Other than that, however, he had committed to travelling across the floor to learn as much as he could, map everything out as best as he could. It wasn't up to par with the Kingsmen's work, but it wasn't like any of them were here to help him with that.

Kirito brought out his map and scanned it, humming with a bit of curiosity. He'd seen lots of diverse floors, but this one certainly was impressive. 'Would be better if it had colour.'

There were four 'regions' in total that made up this floor; to the west was the mystical forest of the Forest Elves. It lacked much of its unique aura given how dead and still it felt, a crippling disability. To the east, a mountainous area where the Dark Elves' castle was situated, with countless ravines, crags and exposed areas. To the north, as aforementioned, was the marshlands, where he'd already had unsavoury encounters with several strong Shadows—not as difficult as Fafnir had been, but enough to give him reason to avoid that area for the time being. He'll go back there when he was stronger. Around the floor, elven settlements were scattered about, all of them having faced destruction from the Shadows' descent into the game. The south didn't have much, mostly an open field.

Nonetheless, this floor in particular was a rather curious one. With much diversity in its kind of terrains, it most certainly meant the experience was going to be a unique one. And Kirito had a feeling that this world was going to be a lot of fun to traverse…

Except, well, you know. Gray world. No life most of the time. Really creepy. It got bad enough that he'd started growing a little paranoid here and there, always looking behind his shoulder to make sure that there weren't any creepy monster watching him.

"We've been fortunate enough not to be cornered and overwhelmed. Times like these, it leaves me somewhat concerned with the thought that we may make a blunder and leave ourselves open to assault."

"You and me both, Arsene. A fool would roll his eyes. Luckily, we're a little smarter than that. And by that, you're intelligent. I'm average at best."

Arsene actually snorted at his words. Probably bemused by his supposed humility. More like self-degradation than anything else, but whatever made him sleep easier at night, he may as well let him have it.

Kirito turned his attention to another menu this time, humming as he moved to the 'Friends' section. Tapping on Silica's name, he tried sending her a message… only to receive an Error popup in return.

Damn it. It's been a whole week already and, no matter what he's tried, he couldn't communicate with his teammates. Something seemed to be blocking the transmission line, and either it was the game experiencing its glitch thing or the 'supernatural' reason was working in this instance as well. He couldn't receive anything, and he, in turn, couldn't speak to them. It was infuriating.

He understood that he was a in pretty powerful situation. Were it possible for him to communicate with his teammates, he could pass information about this floor to them, which would make it easier for them to plan things when coming here. This stupid block certainly put a dent on his plans.

He could only wonder what the hell the girls were up to down there. Possibly making huge strides while he was stuck on some floor with no way to get out. But he hadn't been lax on his end, either.

In just the span of a week, he'd gotten much done, doing his best to go as far as he could and map out the floor, yet he hadn't been able to find any dungeon. There weren't any towers that connected this floor to the next one like the ones prior, which left him wondering just how the hell were players meant to get up. And that meant, possibly, that the answer lay in the Dark Elves' Castle.

He'd tried going there two days ago, but they didn't get much far because they came across another Fafnir. Or was it the same one from before, he wasn't sure. But all that he knew was that, upon seeing the familiar metallic dragon from his second day here, there was no chance that he was going to stick around any longer.

"Tomorrow," he decided after some time to ponder. Arsene's hum egged him to continue. "We'll take Anna, and we'll try to get to the Dark Elves' castle. Here's me hoping that we don't get attacked on our way there. Or, even if we do, we don't die. I would like that a lot."

"That would be the case for the both of us, then," nodded his Persona. "But knowing just how crafty you can be, I'm quite confident that nothing all too horrible could happen to us."

"Uh, you're talking to the walking bad luck magnet here, Arsene. I am quiet confident that something bad will happen. No, it's not pessimism," he made to roll his eyes. "It's just how things work for me."

"Are you not being a tad bit unfair toward yourself? You needn't perceive all the happenings this way. I find your negativity bias to be a little worrisome."

"Bruh. About 90 percent of the time things go bad whenever I'm around. I—"

He couldn't even get the chance to finish his sentence before the entire wall to his right eventually collapsed on itself, revealing the courtyard and the forest beyond. The castle, and the whole world in general, was mocking him, and he promptly jumped on the opportunity to deadpan at Arsene, the words 'I told you so' going unsaid.

Arsene, for his part, had the decency to look flustered, coughing into his fist and making the wise decision not to challenge his words after that.

Yeah. Take that.

And so it was that, with dinner concluded and with their plans already made, Kirito returned Arsene into his soul and made his way to his bedroom—anyone more than willing to take advantage of things would have gone for the royal bedroom, and he did think about it, but the room was done in pretty bad. So he'd taken to the typical bedroom that the servants used nearby.

Nothing in the castle was in good condition, but it was still in the castle and not out where mobs and Shadows could potentially come to kill his ass. So he'll take whatever he could get.

Honestly, it said a lot that he'd gotten used to sleeping in castles. After all, Yofilis had always been generous enough to prepare rooms for him and his team, which always felt a bit too much. But he knew that was just how the elves were; they recognized what a debt was, and would fulfil it no matter what. Sometimes, just a little bit too much.

Out of all the things in the world, he severely hoped they would soon come to realize that he really was just a teenage kid who was way over his head and drop the respectful titles. It's just too weird.

Kirito sighed. He really can't wait to go back to everyone after all of this.

23rd January 2023—Aincrad. Floor 9, Forest Elves' Castle

Breakfast included a cheap stew that he could make with the limited ingredients he had on hand, another roasted turkey (again, monstrous bird) leg as well as a lot of water. Feeling dehydrated in this world isn't as bad as it is IRL, but the feeling of thirst still felt real, so whatever.

Today was probably going to be another busy, and if things went well, he wouldn't be returning here right away. Camping outside didn't sound fun, not if it meant encounters with dangerous entities, but there was little he could do in that regards. All that meant was that he'd have to exercise greater caution than ever.

The kitchen had an exit to the back courtyard of the castle. Rather handy, considering Anna's makeshift stable (he felt any typical builder would be insulted to think of whatever the hell that thing is to be a stable for a horse) was situated exactly outside and close enough that he didn't have to walk too far to reach her. Besides, with the forest beyond, it provided nice winds that was cool to the skin.

"Hey, girl. How are you?"

His only response was a small huff.

Yeah, he didn't exactly expect Anna to warm up to him so quickly. She'd made it clear to him the moment he suddenly jumped onto her back that she did not like him one bit. And yeah, he took full blame for that. But it really was the only way he could think of to prevent her from running away, he swore!

Even so, he knew that Anna could trust him to some extent. Maybe she wouldn't be buddy-buddy with him anytime soon, but maybe if she could stop giving him the stink eye every time they looked at each other, that would be nice too. But he knew that she was, at the very least, grateful to him for saving both their skins from their first Fafnir encounter.

That had not been fun.

"Run! For the love of God, fucking run!"

Kirito shuddered from the memory. In that regard, both he and Anna can definitely share the sentiment that that was possibly one of the scariest moments in their lives.

"We're going to the Dark Elves' castle again today," if she was a human, he was pretty certain she would have quirked a brow at him. "Oh, don't be like that. There's probably something real important there, and I'm willing to bet it'll help us move to the next floor. I can't just sit around and do nothing."

That was the kind of person he felt he was. Sure, he could sit down and take the time to ponder on what the best actions to be taken are, but he preferred action to doing nothing. After all, he'd tried saving Kizmel, and though he failed, he would stay proud in the fact that he'd done something rather than sit back and watch her.

In that aspect, Kibaou and Lind were people he could respect, begrudgingly enough. Those two were as honest as their actions screamed about them, which (fortunately, in his case) made it very easy to predict their behaviours and understand them. And whatever happened, he could still trust them to get the job done any way to Sunday.

Never will he choose to sit on his bum and do nothing. Not if it could save a life or more.

"Besides, I doubt we'll be safe here forever. There's always a chance that another Shadow might just come over and attack us without warning, and that's something I'd like to avoid. Wouldn't you?"

He had her there, and Anna turned her gaze away with an annoyed grunt. He knew that the castle was strong… well, as strong as a ruined castle was, which wasn't much. Even his pathetic attempts at fortifying it didn't do much to improve it, but it was still something. All of that accounted for, though, something was bound to go wrong.

As long as something did go wrong and he wasn't here to experience it? Ey, he could live with that. Much more preferable than getting drawn into the crossfire.

"So, ready to head out?" His question might have made her shrug if she had shoulders. Clearly, she understood just like him that sitting around wouldn't get them anywhere, and she'd probably be happy to get a chance to get some exercise. "Don't worry, yeah? I'll watch over the both of us. Now then…"

The first time he'd tried riding Anna was… well, she tried to kick him off. Didn't take kindly to some random human coming out of nowhere and jumping onto her back, forcing her into submission. That was on him.

Thankfully, the armoury of the castle had several equipment to be fitted on horses to be ridden, so that at least made riding Anna a lot more bearable. A few weapons too, which he needed as he'd ended up shattering Annealed Blade trying to ward off the first Fafnir they were faced off against. So it was that he had his new Elven Edge strapped to his left hip, the leaf-green blade possessing only a couple few boons compared to his old sword.

Again, he'll take whatever he could get.

"Yosh. Ready to move?" Obviously, she was reluctant, but she's surrendered. "Let's go. Hyah!"

Still a part of the beginning floors that retained the same size, this floor had a diameter of ten kilometres, which really put into perspective just how much time was spent on moving from one place to the next. Kirito never did find it all too difficult, but with a mode of transportation now, it certainly put into perspective just how much easier it could be now.

Anna moved in a gentle but confident gait, departing from the white castle without much to say—or neigh, or whatever onomatopoeia sounds horses made. There was a rough path into the forest, with small pebbles lined on either side to better help him see the route. He'd done all of that himself, and it most certainly helped to make sure he didn't break off from the path.

Soon enough, as the trees began parting way and sunlight poured over them, they were finally out in the open. And Kirito was blessed with the sight of the wild unknowns before him. To the very east of this floor, he looked on to see the distant form of the Dark Elves' castle, it's black a great contrast to everything in its surroundings that made it easy to discern it from everything else.

Anna sputtered a little, probably unnerved. In turn, he patted her on the neck, a small reminder that she wasn't alone and that, out of the both of them, he was the one more likely to be in danger. After all, he had a Persona in him, and a Persona was just technically a controlled Shadow. Shadows attracted Shadows, as Vabel once told him, so they'd be more inclined to attack him than they would go for anything else.

That didn't do well for his confidence, but if there was one thing he learnt in this world…

Well, it can go screw itself.

Fleeing was, oft times, seen as a cowardly move.

In war, such an act was grounds for severe punishment, most possibly being death. This seemed harsh at first glance until one truly considered the importance of being in the war; fighting for a specific cause, be it to protect the country or invade another. Whatever it may be, one would need to participate in the battle without fear, to prove one's own dedication to their home country.

Deserting the battlefield was a coward's way out—to leave behind allies. To give up on the cause. To ignore the pleas of the people. It made sense why death by punishment seemed rather fitting.

But fleeing without reason was true cowardice. Fleeing with the intent of coming back with a plan to turn the tides? That was something he could get behind, and it was with that reason why he'd travelled to the castle and fled at any signs of danger a couple of times—today would actually be his third attempt at getting close.

See, information was every bit the deciding factor to a battle's ultimate outcome. Victory or defeat, it all came down to how much one knew about the sequences of events, the internal and external factors at play, the troops and the ploys. Strategists may not always be at the fore of the army to fight, but with a sharp mind, they would be valued for their ability to keep the soldiers alive and win them the victory.

If anyone ever asked him why he was suddenly going so deep into war strategies and the like, he blamed Kizmel's chivalric nature, which was actually really cool. And just to explain himself.

…Really, though, he couldn't care less if someone started labelling him as the 'Cowardly Swordsman' or something far more degrading than that. That could probably roll off of him like raindrops against an umbrella.

'Yet I get unnerved whenever Yofilis and whomever start treating me like I'm some respected figure. What does that say about my mental sanity, I wonder.'

Kirito paused from his momentary musings as the sight of the castle finally made it through the valley cut into the mountain—there were several routes one could take to get to the castle, either through the mountain at the centre of the floor, which was split in half and left a unique arch over their heads, or around it.

The second route was one he didn't intend to use, especially because it meant being too much in the open. The lack of hiding spaces meant easy picking for whatever had spotted them, so the valley would have to do. Plus, even if they were attacked, at the very least, he could use the terrain around him to his advantage. Close quarter fights is technically his specialty, after all.

"Let's see… It would be a straight path from here, although it would be dangerous if it turns night and we'd have no safe place to take shelter in," and it was already looking so close to turning into evening. Humming, he pointed over to a ruined village to his left, with only a scant bit of distance away from the royal building. "Let's take shelter there. Chances are, nothing will be snooping around the place and catch us there."

He was willing to work with even the most unlikeliest of odds at this rate because, if you had luck as crappy as his, you may as well start accepting the fact that things will not always go great.

That just meant caution, adapting, and a whole lot of paranoia.

He couldn't help but feel a bit of sympathy, though. The villages must have been celebrating that day in light of the peace treaty ceremony, only to then be disrupted and slaughtered. Homes destroyed, lands turned upside-down, scorched crops… the devastated sight of the village he came across left him clenching his fist.

Just a game. It's… It's not just a game. Freaking hell, what was Kayaba trying to do?

'Knowing him, he didn't want any of this,' and wasn't that a difficult thought to process? On one hand, you've got a murderous psychopath who trapped everyone in his videogame just for the fun of it. And yet, on the other, he didn't anticipate the supernatural bomb to drop on their heads. He's probably just as shocked as everyone is. 'At times, I seriously wonder if I'm being unhealthy with my absolute distaste for the guy.'

Possibly so, but hey. That makes him and just about thousands of other people. Hah, guess who's not crazy now?

He paused however, giving Anna the signal to cease. She did so, and he slowly dropped down from her.

A hint of yellow disappeared behind a building, but there was no mistaking the snake tail that followed after the body.

'A Nue,' the day he woke up, he was immediately forced to fight one, and thankfully the battle wasn't an all-too difficult one. There was still reason to be cautious, however, for if there was one Shadow there, there might be more Shadows in the area. "Anna, you wait there."

He couldn't draw his Regalia just yet. He'd come to learn that doing so actually alerted Shadows in the area, as drawing his Regalia was akin to releasing a small pulse that only Shadows were sensitive to. It would give away his location, and he'd lose his opportunity for a surprise attack.

Elven Edge was by no means the strongest weapon there is, but he was more than confident enough that it would be enough.

Quickly, he sprinted towards the nearest building and took cover, peering over the wall to find a couple of Nue's roaming the area, aimless in their search. Okay, that's good. As long as he didn't do anything to mess up and blow his cover, he could still do something about this.

'I really doubt I'd be able to kill them in one shot, but I can at least try,' he unsheathed Elven Edge, body tense. 'Hoo, okay. Here's hoping I don't somehow end up attracting another Fafnir.'

Because seriously, screw those dragons.

With a small intake of breath, Kirito allowed his heartbeat to slow and his senses to sharpen, breathing quiet and his grip tight. Four Nue's. One might argue that it was dangerous to take them all on his own, but hey? Challenges were fun as hell.

It's why, even as he finally pushed himself off the wall and thrust himself forwards with a «Rage Spike», Kirito was smiling.

*GhroAA!*

Caught completely off-guard by the attack to its back, the Nue was unable to do more than stumble forwards from the impact of his attack. He immediately translated his motion into a «Slant» to cleave his blade into it's face, then switching gears to throw himself to his right, crashing through the wall of a building.

Their shock didn't last long, and soon the Nue's were upon him like a bunch of rabid apes, which, in a way, they kind of looked like it. Howls like unchained beasts, ready for blood. His blood. The average human would think that running was the best choice of action.

Kirito was a fighter, though. A swordsman. He didn't run from his fights when he could fight them.

Elucidator came through and stabbed a Nue in the eye, eliciting a high-shrilled roar. That didn't last long before he slit its throat with his second sword, watching it dissipate in time to leap back from another Nue. He broke through another wall and slammed his foot up the chin of another Shadow with a «Gengetsu».

From the upper edge of his vision, he caught notice of the blast of fire coming straight for him, prompting him to twist his body to evade the attack. He quickly sprinted out of the way of the next projectile once he touched ground, colliding into a Nue with his shoulder.

'Three left. I can do this!' He thought as he slashed down with a «Vertical», unleashing a «Sharp Nail» with his other blade. Nue staggered backwards, providing him the opportunity he needed to unleash a «Gengetsu» to snap its jaw apart, finished off with a «Vertical».

A howl from behind is followed up by a sphere of fire coming straight for him. Elucidator was brought forth and sliced apart the attack, cutting through the next few orbs as heat washed over his skin. A «Sonic Leap» threw him up into the air as he fell down like a guillotine, cleaving his enemy in half with Elucidator.

His final opponent was smarter, having recognized the futility of its situation and attempted to escape. 'Not like I'd let you!'

Kirito was faster. A lot faster. He covered the distance between the two of them easily enough, his «Rage Spike» stabbing Elven Edge into its back and knocking it to the ground. He leapt off of its body, waiting for it to get back up to fight. Now forced into a fighting situation, Nue threw caution to the wind and charged forwards, intending to ram its body into the smaller being's.

An all-too predictable move, too easy to dodge. He didn't sidestep the attack, however, bringing up both swords in a cross block and defending himself as the creature slammed its full weight down on him. He grunted before making full use of his gifted strength, pushing back the monster with a roar and allowing willpower to flood his swords.

In unison, both Elucidator and Elven Edge glowed cerulean, positioned onto his shoulder for a familiar attack. "«Vertical»!"

Twin strokes downwards cleaved the beast, its dying moans fading along with its body.

The weapons lost their charge, and Kirito unequipped his Regalia, sighing as the rush of adrenaline gradually got dull. He hadn't had a fight like that in ages, most times with an easy mob or getting chased down by a Fafnir. He most certainly couldn't wait to get to the boss room at this point.

"Well, that's all good and well, but let's focus on one thing at a time first," that he was looking forwards to a boss battle so much, which was technically one of the most difficult battles in the game and may as well be one's death sentence, spoke volumes of his skill (he would argue that he was really bored, though, and having a good fight every now and then is just nice). "Alright-y… Let's see if there's any place safe enough for the three of us."

Two if he was being technical, but hey? He was just a fair guy.

Memories remain in this place even though it's all been laid to waste, and he could tell just how peaceful things must have been for everyone here. Kirito had no doubt that the people must have been happy, celebrating the incoming peace with food and cheers… and then, came the monsters.

With how quiet everything, he didn't doubt that no one lived through it.

He whispered a quiet prayer to the departed ones, knowing that they were probably in a better place now than ever before. Returned to the light, Kizmel once told him, and it was a beautiful thought. Shame that if it ever came down to him and the other players, they'd be going further than just a 'beautiful death'.

"Hero," he was snapped out of his musings as Arsene willed himself into existence, pointing in a direction. "That building seems large enough to sustain the two of you. Will that be enough?"

Said building was a rundown farmhouse with large doors, several broken windows and little else. It was indeed massive from the outside, however, and Kirito felt comfortable knowing that it would be a rather strategic place to fight in thanks to its confined, limited spaces. There weren't much other buildings close by, so he doubted anything could hide out of sight just in case.

"I'll take it," he flicked the reins a little, guiding Anna forwards. "And hey, three of us."

"Haha, if you say so."

Night falls not much later, Anna already proving to be a heavier sleep than he as she fell asleep the moment they secured their sleeping places in the farmhouse. At times like these, most people would be switching shifts with others to decide on who would take first watch while the other just slept in.

As it is, Kirito didn't have anyone else to swap with. Yes, he knows, there was always Arsene. But this was still a game world where realistic concepts have been somewhat dulled in order to allow better performance and pull off fantastic stunts that would break the average stuntman's spine five times over IRL.

With a campfire started and having scavenged what little rations and spare swords he could find in the area (he had a feeling he might be needing those for the time being), this farmhouse would be his returning point for the time being. It was close enough to retreat to if the heat got too high. There was no way he was going to make a repeat journey from the Forest Elves' castle all the way here again.

Obviously, horses run fast, and the diameter of the floor was only ten. But taking into account the fact that Anna was a living entity in this world, she'd get tired if he had her run at full speed in that entire time. Plus, the risk of accidentally encountering an enemy was too high to ignore, so they'd have to pace themselves as well as they could the entire time. And even then, there was nothing throughout their entire journey, so imagine just how tense he was in the case that something did pop out.

He sighed. There was quite a lot of things going on at the moment, yet he wondered if even more stuff was happening in the lower floors. Now that he wasn't with the party, they must be faring a lot better than they ever did before. Would be a little annoying if that was the case, though.

He brought out his menu and studied it, calculating the distance and time necessary for the back-and-forth journey. Obviously, he'll keep Anna far enough that she wouldn't get caught in the crossfire if a battle did break out, so it would be up to him to do the exploration bit. Shouldn't be too bad, though. He may be a lot of things, but he was a Beta Tester first and foremost. He knew how this game worked, so he was quite confident in his abilities.

'Hubris before downfall,' he reminded him, rolling his eyes at how sagely that sounded. 'If I said it out loud, people would just laugh at me. I'll leave the wise words to the hermits and Vabel.'

Nonetheless, the plan was set. There had to be something in the Forest Elves' castle, and he was determined to find whatever it was to at least give him the next clue as to how to tackle this floor.

24th January 2023—Aincrad. Floor 9

There it was. Standing in all its glory, the jet black obsidian castle of the Dark Elves… well, it would have looked rather spectacular if it wasn't, you know, destroyed. And in a much worse condition than the Forest Elves, apparently, as one section of the castle had been completely obliterated clean, chunks of it slipping into the ravine deep below.

Kirito gulped. This seemed like the perfect place to host a boss battle, but he didn't want to test his luck. Not if it was very stubborn and had a clear vendetta against him, for whatever unholy reason.

Approaching the structure, his entire body felt tense, alarms going off in his head as to how he was making a huge mistake getting close to the place. Anna seemed to share the sentiment, kicking nervously as they got close—only a kilometre's worth of distance from the bridge that connected the gaps.

"You sit still," he got off the saddle, brushing her hair. "If anything goes wrong, you have my full permission to run. Run as fast as you can, alright? And preferably back to the farmhouse."

Anna neighed her understanding, prompting him to nod. He looked back to the castle, eyeing its structure. Nothing truly stood out as suspicious, but the air felt still. Too still for someplace close to the mountains. The lack of life became a comforting notion at this point, and should any factors be changed at any given moment, he knew he was in trouble.

"The castle of the Forest Elves did not have much secrets lying within," his steadfast companion offered with a calm tone, helping him relax a little. "It might apply for the Dark Elves as well. That said, as humans are fond to say, 'nothing ventured, nothing gained'."

"You're getting really good at idioms. You should take a language test. You'll probably ace it," it was a joke he'd made more to calm his own nerves than to amuse Arsene. Still, hearing him laugh did help him calm down as well. "You ready?"

"Indeed," he nodded. "I am with you."

He is. And that made things a lot easier.

With one final look at Anna, which actually had something close to a genuinely concerned expression (aww. Now he can't hate her for all the crap she put him through. You're forgiven, Anna!), he approached the castle on foot, locking away his Regalia to not risk attracting any attention onto himself.

The castle was in a strategic position, the ravine preventing any to simply go around it. The mountain was far too steep for any to climb it either, and he doubted one could simply move from behind. Because this was the very border, and if he did try that, he was certain he was going to end up falling down into the abyss.

Only way into the castle grounds was through the bridge.

If only the ravine was filled with water. He could have swum across and scaled the exterior walls, but that really sounded waaay easier than it might be in practical. He doubted he was as good of an explorer as Argo and Koharu.

Welp, the bridge way it is.

'The moment something attacks, just run. Either run forwards and into the castle, or turn around and run straight for the village,' going to Anna would just make her susceptible like him. So long as he kept the target painted solely on his back, that was more than enough. 'Anything in there?'

Nothing as far as he could see. The walls hid only a ruined structure and scorched concrete. He stood now in the courtyard, having been the main grounds of battle, judging by the number of prints left behind by metal boots, along with the few sword scratches on the stone. A great hole punctured the structure's wall, revealing a spacious area with torn banners and a broken throne in the far back; the throne room, then. This was where Kizmel had been before things…

He stamped down on the frustration as he stepped around the debris to enter the hall. All around him, nothing but blatant destruction. Ornate decorations had all been ruined, the chandelier missing half of its body. A thin layer of dust carpeted the floor, dispersing around his boots each time he stepped forwards. The lack of colour didn't really help him truly comprehend the severity of the damage, but even then, he knew it was bad enough because he felt sick being in here.

People slaughtered just like that. Kizmel doing her best to defend her fellow knights and the people before they were all eaten up by the fires or taken up by stuff. She knew that there was no hope, and knowing her duty was to her queen first and foremost, she made to protect her own queen.

She failed in that regard.

The royalties slain, her mind fractured, her Persona raged. She'd somehow suppressed the memories and ended up fleeing the floor in search of allies in the lower floors, somehow recognizing him despite the fact that they'd never met before.

'Have we not met before..?' It was a rather odd question to ask himself now, but there had to be reason that she recognized him. Or was his presence just causing quakes in the worlds to the point that it made him some sort of hero? "Oh hell, like I could deal with that."

He materialized Arsene after making sure there was no other life in the area. Even then, the both of them waited for a moment to be absolutely sure of that hypothesis before the Persona spoke. "It seems we've successfully infiltrated the castle. Shall we begin exploring immediately?"

"We definitely should. That's what we're here for, right?" He unsheathed his second sword, giving it a few flicks. "Stay focused. We've no idea what lays in store for us."

The architecture of the castle was much different compared to the one he had made his own base. While the Forest Elves favoured a natural beauty and sought to make it more spacious and airy, the Dark Elves constructed this castle to prioritize materialistic aesthetics. There were a lot of beautiful designs carved into the bricks and a greater emphasis on furnishing; torches on the walls, fine etchings on the stones, wine magenta curtains that were ripped, and little pieces of coloured stone adorning the floors to give a unique, physical pattern.

The scent of scorched bricks was strong, but he was lucky enough that he could handle it well enough. The rooms were turned upside-down, as if individual skirmishes had taken place in each one of them. Although, it felt like the damage done to this place was much severe compared to the Forest Elves' castle.

Makes sense, he reasoned as he opened up a cabinet, only to be treated to a puff of sawdust, making him cough as he waved his hand. If Kizmel's tale was true, and he doubted she had lied about any of them, this was the first location that was assaulted by the otherworldly beings.

Fucking hell. Everything looked like shit. How the hell are people gonna' fix all the damage? He could imagine the costs; it could kill a man.

Granted, if the man in question wasn't capable of earning money from slaying monsters, picking up quests and getting the mother of jackpots during his random travels instead of working a typical desk job.

"Nothing noteworthy so far," his Persona gently knocked on a wall, causing it to collapse. Kirito's deadpanning stare was met with a quiet hum. "My apologies."

"Sure. And yeah, you're right. There's really nothing that seems important so far, and I'm wondering if this castle has some sort of secret chamber underground. Most medieval movies tend to portray such a thing."

"Would it be too outlandish to apply fictitious aspects into worldly matters?"

"To be fair, this is a videogame."

"…Ah, right. I tend to forget that. I've existed within the real world a number of times during my stay with the Trickster, though usually within Mementos."

"I have no idea where that is, but I'll take your word for it."

Their search hadn't been so fruitive as he'd hoped it would be. There was no sign of anything important so far, and he wondered if he might end up losing his patience and try smashing the floor to find a secret chamber. He decided against it because it sounded like too much hard work, and he doubted the queen would have appreciated him destroying her home.

He cursed. They had a lot of daylight to burn, really, but he wasn't planning to stick around here until night time. That was just inviting trouble.

Kirito did as he did the first time he showed up at the Forest Elves' castle and began looking through every corridor, every room, every edge, corner and whatever that the castle had to offer. The throne room a couple of times, each servant's personal room, the queen's bedroom, the courtyard—nothing.

Although, he did come across a curious mural on the wall of the corridor that had open access to the gardens. There was a drawing of some monsters, as well as a sword in the centre. It was most definitely in the hands of a user, for the slight discolouration that was wrapped around the hilt indicated a hand. But the drawing of the person in question was strangely black. His finger traced along the edge and came back with soot. A Persona would burn the image? Strange.

The attics had a few good weapons, a Royal Sword with some nifty stats and some accessories that helped give him some good strength and speed boosts. Other than that, nothing else.

Still meticulous and stubborn enough that he couldn't be satisfied with all of this, he did yet another sweep of the entire place. There was still enough time. It was just past afternoon, so he could keep this up for a little longer. There was bound to be something soon enough if he kept at it.

"Perhaps the throne room has some sort of clue," he murmured to himself, Arsene in the distance inspecting the walls and floor for any sort of mechanism. Good idea. "Hello, throne. Do you have anything I can use?"

It didn't respond to him. Partly chipped in the upper portion, its wooden armrest all but rotten and decayed, and colour gone—it lost all form of majesty, just like the rest of the castle.

Judging by looks, it was useless. But Kirito traced his hand along all edges of the royal seat, trying to find anything that could help. Hell, he really needs something at this point because no way in heck was he going to accept nothing.

Let it be known that an entire 10km may not sound a lot, but that only applies in the real world where there were modern forms of transportation like cars and Grab. Here, though? They walk. Fucking. Walk! For hours! People can say this is a game and all, and he very much enjoys the exploration aspect of this game, but there comes a time when someone's fed up of walking and seeing the same thing all the time. Why do you think there are teleport crystals and warp portals in this game?

But noooo! This floor is a messed up one and he can't use either of those last two options! He can't even communicate with his friends, go back down the floor, go up to the next floor—literally, he can't do anything!

"Hero, your thoughts are growing rampant. While you have every right to be enraged, I suggest you calm yourself."

"…Sorry, Arsene. Must make you pretty uncomfortable that your partner's some tempered brat, huh?"

To his surprise, Arsene simply chuckled. "Not at all. While there is a stark contrast between your personality and the Trickster's, I cannot say that I do not enjoy it. In fact, it's quite refreshing. While the Trickster was very adapt at controlling his emotions, often wearing a calm exterior, you wear your emotions rather freely. Such honesty is something new, and I find it rather enjoyable."

"That's…" Man. Arsene is always catching him off-guard. So unfair. "Thanks?"

Arsene didn't say much there, simply a nod to show he heard him and resumed searching the throne room. Kirito just stood there, watching his Persona with a thoughtful look.

Honest, huh? Calling himself an honest person was… well, it wasn't wrong, per se, but it still perplexed him as to how he ended up this way. When had he ever been so emotional before? He'd been nothing but a brooding, quiet teenager his whole life, so how did things change?

Thinking that put a wince on his face. Brooding. He must have been such a pain to his parents and sister. And now he's thinking about them. Damn it. Things couldn't get any worse than they are now, right?

"Eh?"

"Hero? Is something the matter?"

There was… something. A small vibration of the ground… akin to something trying to dig out and upwards. And it came directly from the centre of the throne room.

From the corner of his vision, he saw a piece of loose stone shaking uncontrollably. The walls seemed to shift a little, dust poured downwards.

It's honestly to the surprise of no one that Kirito, having been through enough shitty situations of his own ever since he'd come into this world, that he was able to deadpan at the floor with the biggest 'Nope' writ on his face before practically throwing himself out of the window to his side.

*BOOOOOM!*

Just in time for the ground to break apart and a monster the size of the Titanic itself to tear the apart as it shot upwards, its ear-shattering wail reaching across the land as it reached the heavens. As wide as almost an entire dungeon's circumference, its hard mossy scales a result of its slumber deep below, maws large and lined with rows upon rows of disproportionated teeth.

Arsene, ever the saviour he is, used his wings and took hold of his shoulders as he flew forwards, giving them a good distance away from the castle and across the bridge. Kirito didn't stop running, though, staring back the whole time.

The words 'The Ancient Sleeper', with six accompanying health bars, and of level 40, mocked him. Just as it screeched yet again.

"Arsene," his Persona hummed back. "I really hate Kayaba."

"Yes, Hero. I know."

Author's Notes:

Alright-y, that's the last update I promised. And it's gonna' be that way for the rest of this week and next week. Exam week, after all, so I'm going all out. Here's me hoping I do well enough, and all my friends get through it as well.

This was fun to write, lmao. I missed Kirito. Felt a little weird not to feature him in the story, so to have him again is a semblance of normalcy I wholeheartedly accept, even if he's separated from the rest of his team. And that will change next chapter, so be waiting for that.

Also, two words: Japanese. Songs.

Oh Spotify. You are a gift from the great beyond. I've gotten the chance to listen to so many songs from all my favourite singers / bands. Looking at you, Eve and LiSA. I appreciate you so very, very much, and you too Spotify. Very nice.