Sword Art Online
After The Incident
Chapter 28 – The Iron Eagle
~Kirito's POV~
I smiled a bit as the girls and I ducked behind a sand dune near the enemy base. I took a peek over the sand dune, taking a look at what we were up against.
I widened my eyes at the sight. The main building stood in the middle, with at least 3 meters thick and 10 meters tall walls surrounding it from all sides. All around the base along the walls, guard towers were put, where there was at least 3 or 4 men in each tower, each guard carrying a sniper or a machine gun.
The top of the wall was decorated with barbed wire and giant spotlights, making sure to spot any intruder the moment an attack began.
In the main courtyard, battalion after battalion of soldier NPC's ran around and did whatever they were programmed to do, some of the squads even holding robotic hounds, their metallic bodies shining brightly from the sunlight, their teeth looking sharp and ready to kill.
By the entrance, 2 much larger than normal NPC's stood, wielding heavy weapons such as gatling guns or grenade launchers. It was clear to me that these two had been focused mainly on strength more than anything else.
I gulped silently and took a confused and panicking expression at Sinon.
"I thought you said this was going to be easy!" I mumbled in a huffed panic.
"It is one of the easy ones" She said with a smirk "Come on, you'll be fine. If you just keep your cool, we should be able to clear it, just the 3 of us"
"This is insane, you know that right?" I mumbled as I looked at her with a sigh of defeat.
"Yeah, I know" she said with a teaseful smirk "But I like to be a little insane every now and again"
"I can see that" I mumbled sarcastically.
"Come on Kirito" Asuna said with a warm and friendly smile "It's going to be fun, I promise!"
"W-Well someone seems optimistic" I mumbled with a pout as we each stood up from our crouched down position behind the sand dune.
"Well of course" She said with a smile as she reloaded the magazine of her machine gun "I have this baby with me. And you two of course"
"While that might be true, I'm still just a noob at this game" I mumbled as I drew my sword and pistol from my belt.
"A noob doesn't reach the quarter finals in a qualifying tournament Kirito" Sinon said with a serious expression "You're more skilled than you think Kazuto. Confidence is key in a raid like this"
"I-I guess so" I mumbled, blushing a little from the sudden praise "A-Alright, so what do you want us to do?"
"Alright, the plan's going like this"
Sinon smirked a bit as she pulled a map out from her inventory of the surrounding area, and also of the whole base. She quickly began giving us orders and showing us what we were supposed to do.
The plan went that I was supposed to charge forward, distracting the guards by the gate and in the nearest sniper towers. When they were distracted, Asuna and Sinon would dash forward in the confusion, disposing of as many snipers in the towers as possible as we dashed towards the main gate.
To cover for the girls, I was supposed to kill at least one of the heavy soldiers by the gate, and injure the other so they would be distracted for the girls' offense. When we had disposed of them and breached into the courtyard, we needed to cover each other with gunfire and kill anything we might see in sight.
As Sinon finished explaining everything, she looked at each of us in turn with a bright smile.
"The most important thing here is teamwork" She said with a clenched fist "If we cover each other and you guys do as I tell you, we might just pull it off"
"Understood"
We both nodded in agreement and made ourselves ready. Asuna pulled her machine gun off her shoulder, and put it safely in her arms as she pulled back in the recoil. I did the same to my pistol, and activated my lightsaber.
"Let's go kick some NPC ass!"
Sinon's words managed to rail me up so much that I smirked and nodded before charging forward at full speed with a bone rattling war cry. I lifted my gun up and aimed. I quickly disposed of the first heavy guard by the gate and when the second and the snipers in the towers realized what was going on, the girls quickly opened fire to cover my aggressive assault.
We had disposed of several snipers and both of the heavy guards when we reached the main gates of the base. I slammed my back onto the thick wall outside to get to cover, taking a peek around the corner to get a view of the remaining of our opponents.
I could feel the heat and color drain from my face as I saw what was inside. A whole battalion with soldiers with guns and metal hounds alike was sprinting towards the gate at top speed, fully determined to stop the 3 intruders that had attacked out of nowhere.
I looked at my 2 companions on my left.
"Alright, get ready girls" I mumbled "if you're not, you either get a bullet or your ass is chopped off!"
Both of the girls took a glance at the incoming attack and shrieked before pulling their weapons and opening fire. I joined their side and did the same with another war cry.
After 10 minutes of intense gun fighting, we had finally managed to push through to the main building of the base. We reached the front entrance, and I nodded at Sinon, who nodded back before pulling the pin of 2 of her grenades, one of them a flashbang, another, a normal one.
The pained screams of blinded and killed soldiers from within the building were exciting to me somehow. I felt how my blood boiled from adrenaline, and I felt how my lips twisted into a smile as we sprinted through the halls, working together as one to dispose any threat that might oppose us.
When one of us was surprised by a sneak attack, one of the others was there to cover us. When a enemy grenade was tossed, it was quickly tossed back to it's original owner. Each of us was fast, effective and efficient, each of us getting tens of kills.
But when we turned another corner at what must have been the 3rd floor, suddenly the lights of the halls went out, and everything was left pitch black. I could hear each of our footsteps slow down to a halt, and I looked around me in confusion.
"W-What the hell is happening!?" I asked softly as I tried fumbling through the darkness "Girls, are you ok?"
"We're fine Kazuto, thanks" I could hear Asuna's voice "Sinon, what's happening here?"
"I don't know guys" She responded in a panic "E-Even I haven't seen this before…"
We could feel how the ground was beginning to shake. Thump, Thump, Thump. The shaking was rhythmical, and kept getting stronger and stronger, signifying that something huge was on its way.
"Oh shit… Guys, get ready" Suddenly, Sinon's voice grew silent and nervous "It's a mini boss, so be prepared"
I widened my eyes a bit as I heard these words. Mini boss? Did that mean there was a boss too?
Suddenly the light turned back on, and revealed a grant and terrifying sight. In the middle of the wide and tall room, a giant creature, something that seemed to resemble a dragon made out of pure brownish metal, stood in our path in all of its terrifying glory. It's metallic body shone grandly as the light fell upon it, blinding me for a second as the dragon revealed its weapons, which was a surprisingly small amount.
It was a simple iron sword. Though it was at least a couple of meters long, it resembled the size of the dragon's metallic body. It swung the sword around in a grand manor, before screeching it's roar on the top of its lounges, its name beginning to appear over it's head.
"The Bronze Battle Beast"
Under its name, 3 long life bars appeared as well. I growled a bit and shot at the metallic body, but the shot merely bounced off of it, the health bars barely taking a single life point worth of damage, where the beast at least had 50.000.
An orange glow emanated from the beast's back as he roared and I widened my eyes as I realized it.
"Guys, it's weak point is on it's back!" I screamed over the dragon's roar "Distract it so I can get behind it!"
"Got it!" I heard from Asuna, who immediately dashed forward "Hey! You oversized lizard! Over here!"
It was clear that this mini boss craved teamwork to be cleared. Each of us dashed forward with a loud battle cry, ready to fight with everything we had.
~Some time later~
Finally, we had managed to kill that damn lizard. I smiled a little as the monster finally exploded in a burst of blue glass like polygons, it's cry slowly emanating and disappearing in the echo of the halls. The polygons slowly and gently lifted to the roof and disappeared, leaving the halls empty and quiet.
"God damn…" Sinon mumbled as she stumbled up to me and leaned a hand against my shoulder in exhaustion "What the hell is up with this place?! That was just the mini boss!"
"I know…" I mumbled weakly as I tossed my partners each a health potion "But if we want any fruit from our efforts, we have to kill the main boss as well"
"Yeah…" Asuna mumbled as she stumbled over to me as well "if we don't, the experience we've earned in here will automatically be pulled back"
"That's right" Sinon mumbled silently "I'm just wondering how tough the boss will be…"
I nodded softly and coughed slightly as I felt a stinging rasp at my throat, surely a product of my exhaustion.
"At least we can have a break since no enemies is left but the boss" I mumbled weakly.
"Yeah, let's go sit down over there so we can rest a little" Asuna mumbled as she walked over and leaned her weak body against the wall and slid down it.
Sinon and I walked over to her and sat down on either side of her to relax. As soon as I sat down, Asuna leaned her head against my shoulder. I smiled a bit as I leaned my head against hers, sighing silently as my muscles finally began to relax as I rested against her. Sinon simply leaned her head against the wall we sat against.
"Man, what a hassle" She mumbled as she began looking through her inventory "I have ammo supplies for myself, and I still have many health potions, so I'm good. How about you guys?"
"We're both fine, thanks" I mumbled, knowing what was in the both of our inventories "We didn't lose that much health. Only bullets. We have some supplies though, so we don't need anything"
"Alright" She mumbled in response" Make sure to get really relaxed and calm ok? We'll need it for the boss battle"
"Alright"
~Even later still~
After our nap we walked through the empty halls. It was weird how, before, we hadn't been able to get through a single hall before meeting resistance, and now, we could simply walk through the halls without the least of worries. It almost felt like a trap, but then again, I knew there wasn't that far to the boss room, so maybe that had something to do with it?
When we finally arrived at the door to the boss room, there wasn't that much spectacle about it. It was a very normal office door, simply with the name tag, "main office" Though since there was a quest flag in front of the door, it was not very hard to guess who this office belonged to.
I looked at the girls nervously. This was it. Time to bear fruit of our efforts. They nodded softly and I regained my courage before I nodded back to them, and slowly pushed open the door to the main office.
When we slowly entered the room, it was pitch black. The only thing working as a light source of any kind was the silent moonlight that was thrown in through a large window in the back of the room. The illumination the moon created showed a young woman, maybe a couple of years older than all three of us.
She was very beautiful. A long skirted uniform that seemed almost skintight at her waist and a princess like bow at the back, with white stockings along her slender legs. Her hair was long and golden, reaching just a bit over her slim hips. I couldn't tell much else about her at the time since she was standing with her back towards us though.
When she heard us come in, she looked back over her shoulder in a calm way. Now I could clearly see her face. Small cute freckles along her cheeks, and a round set of glasses on her nose. Her hair was done in elegant and thick twintails along her back, making her look like the more bookworm kind of girl rather than a boss monster in a shooting game.
She smiled silently as she realized she had company, and turned around towards us, a glass of wine in her left gentle hand.
"Ah, so you've come at last" She said with another smile "I was wondering when you guys would show up. Taken care of my little pet huh?"
She giggled dreadingly and twirled over to her desk in the middle of her room as she sat down onto it, one leg over the other as she graced the frame of a photograph that stood upon the desk.
"Say, do you know why I'm doing all of this?" She asked as her automatic monologue kicked in. "Do you know why I'm trying to build an empire up from the very ground?"
Suddenly, a menu popped up in front of me with three options of which I was supposed to choose.
"For money?"
"For power?"
"For love?"
These were the three answers and choices I had been given. I pinched my chin a bit in thought, looking over at the girls who simply shrugged at my questioning expression.
I looked back at the pop up menu and sighed helplessly. Maybe something bad would happen if I chose wrong? I had to be careful about what I was saying here.
After about 20 seconds of thinking I finally pressed the 3rd option, "For love?" The pop up menu immediately disappeared and the woman broke into a giggle.
"Yeees, that's right" She smiled a little "I do it for love"
She giggled again and looked down at the worn out photo, seemingly including herself and a tough looking male, being a bit bigger and taller than her with a wide grin on his face.
"I used to be in love you see" She mumbled silently "But the war of the lands took my love away from me… This young man, who I would live and die for, die by the hands of the enemy"
She growled a bit and slammed her fist onto the table.
"Why… Why does people have to kill each other…" She mumbled silently "So now I'm building an army, stronger and bigger than anything ever seen before"
She looked back at us with an aggressive expression and gritted her teeth.
"This army will crush anything and anyone that stands in it's way, and who seeks to destroy my course. My course to end all wars"
She slammed both her fists onto the table again and cursed under her breath.
"And then you assholes stroll along… And invade my base, my home… Destroying my army, by only hope for peace, and expect me to willingly succumb to your faith?! NEVER!"
A blinding light suddenly filled the room and the floor began shaking under us. As we shielded our eyes from the blinding light, we could hear debris collapse under itself, like walls were falling over or collapsing.
When the light finally disappeared, and we could finally see, the young woman was gone, and the room was a complete mess, to the point where even the walls had collapsed, leaving the room open to the outside.
The roof was open as well, revealing a dark blanket of night sky over everything, gracefully followed along by the huge and beautiful moon. But there was something else in the sky too. Something accompanying the night sky and the full moon.
I widened my eyes as I saw the huge monstrosity. A robot the size of a small house floated in mid-air from support from it's huge engines on its back and thick metal wings, and in it's hands was a huge gun in one hand, and in the other, a sword, much resembling the one the dragon had used earlier. These two were accompanied with a rocket launder on each of the robot's shoulders.
The young woman resonated through a megaphone.
"Now, come at me! Show you everything you've got!"
The boss' name slowly appeared over its head along with its five life bars.
"The Iron Eagle"
The huge robot suddenly opened fire, and we barely managed to jump out of the way, the girls to one side, and me to the other. The explosion that followed made the little still standing wall collapse over me as I fell to the floor.
As I tried digging myself out, I could only manage to get my head and torso free, the rest of my body being pressed down to much to make much of a difference. I gritted my teeth and closed my eyes in an attempt to gather more strength but to no avail. I gave up and let my body collapse onto the floor as my arms gave way under the heavy weight of the debris.
When I opened my eyes and looked up to check if the girls was ok, I widened my eyes as I was suddenly faced with a huge gun barrel straight in my face. Light was slowly gathering in the dark center, surely about to fire a bullet that would kill me instantly at a range and firepower like hers.
"HAHAHAHA, is that really all!?" The girl's crazy laughter could be heard from within the mech-like robot "You will never survive with skills like those kid! Now say good bye!"¨
The light was growing stronger. Unless a miracle happened, I would surely get killed. I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth again, waiting for her to get over with it.
"Dammit…"
A/N
BAM! Cliffhanger ending right in your face!
No but seriously guys, hope you guys enjoyed this little chapter here! I had a lot of fun writing it, and thank god, the writers block left me alone this week. Hurray!
Now, for some exciting news!
As everyone (Should) know, christmas is right around the corner. To celebrate with you guys, I'm going to upload a christmas special for Sword Art Online, After The Incident, and Corpse Party, Memory Loss and Blood Spill.
But as you also know, i want my vacations to myself and to hang out with friends and family, so the christmas special is the last thing i will uplaod in a while. Hope you guys understand.
Hope to see you guys next time. Have a fantastic week, and merry christmas.