Chapter 6 A CLASH OF SWORDS AND FISTS
Morning came, and as usual Kasumi was the first one awake. Or at least that was usual before the game, and now that they had a house again it was starting to become the usual again. Two months of camping mixed with sleeping in inns had sort of screwed up everyone's normal sleeping habits, but now that they had a house the group was able to set their own schedules again.
This was something Nabiki greatly loved about having a house in Aincrad since she still was not a morning person.
'As nice as it is to be doing something new, it also feels nice to have a semblance of home again.' Kasumi thought to herself as she got started on making breakfast for everyone. 'Though is it a good idea to start thinking of this place as home? I mean, it's not permanent. We won't be in this game forever. But yet, it feels nice to call somewhere home, and we will be in here for quite some time.'
She took a moment to look over the house interior, as if seeking her answer. While originally rundown, the house was easy to repair. The features like spiderwebs and the skeletons became removable, and they were quick to go. New furniture was purchased after several quests to earn the money were done and the walls had been painted. The grounds around the house were weeded and the fences repaired. A locked gate was added to, not a perfect barrier to potential enemies but it made it difficult to get onto the grounds without either a key or a high Stealth skill.
'I guess there's no harm in thinking of here as home away from home.' The eldest Tendo daughter told herself with a soft smile, then went back to work on breakfast.
Next to come out of their room was Tofu. "Good morning Kasumi." He greeted.
"Good morning Tofu."
The doctor went to the front door of the house, checking to see if there had been any newsletters posted. This was a strange but not unwelcome feature of the game, apparently a sort of newspaper was provided detailing events of what was happening in Aincrad. What made it strange was no one was quite sure yet just who made it, some players who provided information for free, or the game itself. Either way, they were just glad to get it.
Nailed to the door was indeed a newsletter which Tofu took and looked at. "Hey here's something. Floor Five is open now." He said while walking back to the kitchen.
"It is?" Kasumi asked. "That's great. We're no longer on a 'floor of the month' plan it seems."
By that Kasumi was referencing how at first it seemed to take the players a month to finish a portion of the game. After all it took two months just to reach Floor Three, and at this rate it would have taken them a hundred months total to reach the final level of the game. But now, three months into the game, it looked like players were finally picking up the pace.
"We should see what Floor Five has to offer." Tofu commented, as it was generally a good idea to check out new territory once it was revealed. "According to this, Floor Five is virtually all forest and paths are set up like a labyrinth. A guild called the Holy Dragon Alliance has already mapped a bit of it, but most of the floor is still unscouted."
"Sounds fun." Kasumi commented with a grin.
"Wandering blindly in a forest with dangerous animals and a rival guild is fun?" Tofu asked.
"C'mon live a little." Kasumi told him, to which he had no comment and went back to reading the newsletter.
After a while Akane, Ukyo, and Shampoo came down, with a dreary Ranma and Nabiki behind them. The latter two did not look like they were awake voluntarily.
"So anyone know what we're doing today?" Ranma asked when he sat down at their table, dishes and eating utensils already set up by Kasumi.
"Yes, we're going to check out Floor Five." Kasumi answered, putting the food on the table so everyone could dish up at their leisure.
"Floor Five?" Shampoo repeated.
"It's open now? That's quick." Ukyo commented.
"What should we do? Just look around and see if we can find a good hunting ground or something?" Akane asked.
"I hope we can find something that pays well. We've been a bit tight on funds lately with having to take quests in secret and avoiding the big battles." Nabiki noted, drinking some tea to help wake her up.
"I'm sure we'll find something up there." Kasumi reassured.
"Hey, do you guys think maybe this way we can get involved in the boss fight?" Ranma asked. "I mean, we avoided them all since the first one, by now we should be safe."
"I think we should try some leveling up first before trying that." Akane suggested.
Nabiki put her hand on her chin. "I think I just got an idea for solving both problems." Everyone looked to her. "We need Col and Experience right? Why not try going to the tower on Floor Five right away and explore? We can get rid of the NPCs there, and map out the dungeon and boss room before most get to it, and we can sell the map data to others for a profit."
Shampoo nodded. "Seems like a good idea, but the problem is getting to the tower. Floor Four is the highest I got in the beta test. This time we can't rely on me."
"What do you mean we can't rely on you?" Ranma asked. "You can still fight and lead."
Shampoo looked away. "The only reason I've been the leader was because of my experience. Now, that's no longer relevant."
"So are you resigning as guild leader then?" Nabiki asked.
Shampoo stirred her food, not feeling much of an appetite anymore. "I never was the leader, I was just the voice of experience and now that's over."
"What do you mean you were never the leader?" Kasumi asked. "We all trusted you with our lives, that accounts for something."
"I always suspected that you were only doing so because I was the beta, and by this point someone would take my place." The purple-haired girl claimed.
Ranma patted her on the shoulder reassuringly. "Let's worry about that if it ever happens. For now, I still trust you to make the right calls in this game."
"Same goes for me Sugar." Ukyo added.
Akane nodded. "Besides, I don't see anyone else trying to take the role from you."
Shampoo looked around the table and saw no looks of doubt or disapproval, making her feel better. "Alright then. Well, as leader, I approve of Nabiki's idea and suggest we give it a try. Nabiki, if you can get ahold of Argo and get any extra info on this part of the game that would be great."
The mercenary Tendo nodded. She and Shampoo both had connections to the whiskered Beater, but generally Argo was more likely to respond to Nabiki, likely due to their past history.
Tofu passed the newsletter to Nabiki first who quickly looked it over. "Ah, so a guild is trying to claim the floor first. Likely they've already got some kind of perimeter around the central entry point and won't let others pass without paying some kind of toll."
"So even in SAO the only guarantees in life are death and taxes?" Ukyo joked, getting a chuckle from Nabiki.
"Players aren't going to tolerate this." Akane noted.
"Agreed. So a fight is definitely going to be inevitable in the main entry point. And judging by the fact this newsletter only mentions one town by name, someone is specifically trying to make it where we don't have a choice but to arrive there. We can't use the teleport pads if we don't know the name of the town we're trying to get to." Nabiki remarked.
"So what do we do? Go to the town and try to sneak around this guild?" Ranma asked.
"That seems to be the case. Luckily if my suspicions are correct, this guild is not looking for a fight nor for Beaters. Rather they're looking for an opportunity."
"An opportunity for what?" Akane asked.
"That could be anything. Likely money, but maybe not just that. They could be looking for new members, information, or anything really. Maybe we should find out and see if we can work out an alliance with this guard or something. Our guild is pretty small so it would be nice to have allies beyond merely the Furinkazan guild."
"Speaking of which, I should let Klein-sempai know about this." Kasumi said, pulling up her menu screen to begin messaging her old friend.
"I just hope this guild doesn't give us trouble." Nabiki commented.
In the late morning, the Aincrad Wrecking Crew arrived in Aspen, a village that looked like the kind one would expect elves to live in. The buildings were all wooden and built in ways that made it look like they had trees growing out of them. The ground was devoid of any pavement, covered just by grass and flowers, with the exception being the teleport pad itself. The tops of the trees made it difficult to get an idea of how big this village was.
"Hey you!" A male player dressed in simple silver armor and holding a spear called out, coming up to the group. "Welcome to Aspen, first city of Floor Five. I'm Gordon of the Holy Dragon Alliance, and I'm here to tell you that if you want to go beyond this village it will cost you a thousand Col each."
'So it is a toll.' Nabiki thought, narrowing her eyes. "And so then, Gordon, what will happen if we decide not to pay this exit fee?"
"Then you're welcome to explore the village or go back to one of the lower floors."
"Trying to monopolize the progress of the game are we?" Nabiki asked rhetorically.
"I prefer to think of it as a competitive advantage." Gordon replied.
"Well we're not paying for this extortion." Akane boldly declared.
Gordon shrugged, as if this was far from being the first time someone had denied. "Fine, then you're welcome to try and fight your way out. Good luck, you're going to need it." He then walked away and sat down on a tree stump, as if to wait for the next group of players to come to town.
"Like having to fight my way out has ever stopped me before." Ranma said to himself as the small guild began to explore the town.
"Let's split up for a bit to look around. Maybe there's something here worth checking out." Kasumi suggested. Everyone nodded and did just that.
Aspen had a few players looking around too, seeing what was available for purchase in the markets that one couldn't find in the other floors. So far most of it was forest-themed, like axes or hunting equipment. Butterflies were abundant, flying almost everywhere in the village but not excessively, and the sounds of birds and cicadas was practically perpetual.
"Anyone else find it strange that that guy didn't seem to have a problem with us not paying him?" Akane asked.
"Oh he wasn't the one we were supposed to pay Akane." Nabiki told her, looking at some fancy daggers at an NPC-operated kiosk. "He was just the messenger, the 'reminder of bill due' if you will. We're expected to pay this toll at the exit itself, he's just there to tell newcomers about it so no one gets any ideas about evading it. Or conversely, he tells us because this guild wants people like us to try and evade them, so they can fight us."
"But why would they want that?" Akane asked.
"I'm not entirely sure. Maybe Ranma or one of the others has an idea. Battle is more their area of expertise than mine. But if I had to guess, I'd say they're hoping to build up a reputation as a very important guild you don't want to cross."
"Sounds like Kuno bragging about himself." Akane noted.
Nabiki snickered. "Good comparison actually. Let's go see if they can put their Col where their mouth is any better than he could." She grabbed the daggers to get a better look, looking like she really was interested in purchasing them. "Shame I can't afford these yet. What's a wolf without fangs?"
"You've really gotten fond of this fur coat of yours." Akane observed, looking at Nabiki's wolf pelt.
The mercenary grinned. "I'm a bit surprised too, but it's comfortable, warm, and looks great on me. Who knows, maybe you'll get a lion pelt somewhere in the game."
Akane shook her head. "Naw, I don't think that would suit me."
Nabiki put down the daggers. "Oh well, it might have been interesting to see the three Tendo sisters dressed in pelts."
"Hmm... Kasumi wearing a pelt. I can't say I can imagine that." Akane mused.
About twenty minutes later the group reformed, Kasumi being the only one who purchased anything and that being some simple food for later on. Knowing paying a fee was already impossible, the group knew they'd have no choice but to get out of Aspen whether the Holy Dragon Alliance allowed it or not.
Like all cities of any kind in Aincrad, Aspen was built atop a platform, which meant there were only a few ways in or out. Sneaking over a wall was out because if they succeeded they'd either fall off the edge of the platform or end up on a portion of the platform that surrounded the city. And so far no player had figured out a way to get off a platform without using one of the gates at the village. It was like being on the top floor of a building and the only way down was a single elevator. If you chose not to use the elevator, the only option you really had left was jumping out the window.
As expected, the village gate that served as the elevator to the main body of Floor Five was guarded by several players wearing what looked like silver European armor. And while they had no weapons drawn, there was no way they were unarmed. Then again, by this point in the game it would be stupid for anyone to not be armed so that was a moot point.
But there was something unexpected at the gate, another group of players already talking with the silver armored players. These ones wore grey armor and no cloaks, and they were openly armed with javelins and swords. The sight of them made the AWC hold back and let this play out.
"Listen here civilian, you're ordered to let us pass." One of the guys in the grey armor told the guys in silver armor. His face could only be seen from the side yet he looked kind of like how one might assume Soun Tendo did when he was in his early twenties.
One guy in silver armor stood up to him, looking like a normal teen who at best had only just started college. "Civilian? You're not the only one with a guild mister. We're the Holy Dragon Alliance, and we're already claimed this floor for ourselves."
"If you're not part of our guild then you're a civilian as far as we're concerned." The grey armor guy responded. "We're the oldest guild in the game, the Aincrad Liberation Army. We're the ones who've been working all this time to ensure that all players get to live comfortably while trapped in this game, and we're the ones who are going to get everyone out of this world. So you have to obey us, not the other away around. Got it?"
"Do you know what he's talking about Nabiki?" Akane whispered.
"I think, but I'd rather not say anything while this guy has an attitude." Nabiki whispered back. "Right now the important thing to think about is getting out with the least amount of struggle, and two rival guilds makes that tougher, especially since one's already trying to get past for free. The option of negotiation has pretty much disappeared."
"Then all we have left to use is force." Ranma noted.
"You think we can just charge our way through?" Nabiki asked. "And how exactly do we do that?"
"Like you said, we just charge through." Ranma said, cracking his knuckles and adjusting his feet.
Before anyone could stop him, the pigtailed young man rushed forward, having utilized a Martial Art Skill that briefly boosted his speed. With a glowing fist he punched one of the members of the Holy Dragon alliance in the side of the face. The impact, coupled by the complete surprise of the attack, sent the poor player flying a few feet, skidding and rolling across the ground.
Everyone looked to the attacked player, eyes wide and speechless. Ranma looked to his guild and motioned his head to say 'Get over here'.
"That'll do." Shampoo said, rushing to take advantage of the very brief opportunity they had just been granted.
The rest of the Aincrad Wrecking Crew followed and got to the gate, but before they could use it the other two groups had gotten over their shock and pulled their swords. "What is the meaning of this?" One of the silver armor guys demanded.
Kasumi immediately put her hand on the insignia needed for what they wanted. "Exit, guild." The program involved in the teleport process interpreted this to mean just her guild, and thus just the seven of them were taken out of Aspen, appearing in a forest on path that branched in three different directions ahead.
"No time to chat, they're going to come right after us." Shampoo told everyone, instantly running on the path that was straight ahead of them.
She was right, mere seconds after they started running two guys in silver armor appeared. The group hadn't yet gotten out of sight, so the two pursuers were able to go after them without problem.
Seeing this, Akane got the idea to stop and turn to face them, taking out a sword and brandishing it like she used to when practicing kendo.
"Akane!" The others shouted when they saw their youngest member had chosen to oppose their pursuers.
The silver armor guys stopped a few feet away from her, unarmed but looking ready for a fight, and Akane's group came to support her. "Who do you think you guys are trying to get around our blockade like that?" One of them accused.
"We've got enough problems in this game without having to deal with people like you trying to create more." Akane declared. "I don't care who wins this game as long as someone does and we all go home. But your guild is clearly made of glory hogs, and I've seen enough glory hogs in my lifetime to know one when I see one."
Ranma felt a pang. 'I get the feeling I'm one of those glory hogs she's talking about, but it's the ones like Kuno that really bother her, right?'
"Well it's seven against two, so if you want to fight for our money you better be good." Ukyo warned, brandishing her weapon of choice in the game a broad ax.
The members of the Holy Dragon Alliance stood their ground, but one of them after a moment sheathed his sword. "Eh, it's not worth it." He then walked away, and the other one followed.
"Well, we might not have made a new ally, but I doubt we really made a new enemy tonight." Shampoo noted. "We'll just have to not let our guards down around them anytime soon. Good job standing up to them Akane. That was pretty brave."
"Where's the tower?" Kasumi asked. "I can't see over the trees."
"I'll climb up and get a look." Ranma said, getting into one of the trees and ascending.
There were no troubles on the way up, nothing worse than squirrels, and with careful footing he got as high as he could, straining to look through a gap in the leaves.
Before him was nothing but more trees and some elevated platforms with villages on them. There were no mountains or lakes or open areas in sight, the entire floor was flat and even, with some trees taller than others. One thing he didn't see was the tower.
'Okay, it's not that direction.' He noted, then looked behind himself. Branches and leaves obscured his vision, and he had to be careful to turn around and move them. A branch suddenly broke underneath him and he fell to one of the thicker branches under him. It hurt, but he only took a little damage from it, nothing he wouldn't regain in a short while anyway.
'Ouch.' He said to himself, being careful to get back up. 'But at least I can see easier here. And I can see the tower from here.'
His job done, he jumped to the ground, landing more carefully this time. "It's that way. But there's no landmarks to tell how close we are." He said while pointing in the distance.
"Then we just go in a straight line that way." Akane suggested.
"Easier said then done in wild terrain." Shampoo told her. "But yes, that's generally all we can do."
"Here we are, the Boss Room." Ranma said when they stood in front of a large door.
"You sure about that?" Tofu asked.
"We've mapped the entire tower already, this is the only place left." Nabiki explained.
"Only one way to find out." Ranma replied, then started pushing the door open.
After some simple shoving, the door opened on its own, showing a pitch black room on the other side. Everyone stepped inside carefully, and lights went on in the form of torches flickering.
The setting of this room was vastly different than the one they had encountered Illfang in back on Floor One. Rather than look like some kind of fantasy throne room, the walls and floor were wooden and the room was completely sparse, with no decoration or obstacle inside save for a couple of large tatami mats on the floor. Overall, it looked like a gigantic dojo.
"Suddenly I feel right at home." Akane thought out loud, earning a nod from Ranma. Even Kasumi and Nabiki felt a strange feeling of familiarity being here. Not to say this room looked exactly like their real life dojo, not at all, it was just they're all familiar enough with dojos to be comfortable in any one of them.
"Is this really a boss room?" Ukyo asked.
At that, the far wall opened as if it were a shoji screen disguised as a wall, and a set of eyes were seen at a height that could only belong to a large monster. A foot came out, a large green human foot with black nails. Easier three times bigger than a normal human foot. More of the boss came out slowly into the light, the lower body showing the creature was wearing a dark blue gi.
"This one must be programmed to make a dramatic entrance." Kasumi joked, though no one was in the mood to laugh.
The full creature stepped into the light, looking like some kind of monstrous person standing four meters tall with green skin and a open chest blue gi. It was male judging by the muscular build, with spiked red hair held in a top knot making it look like its head was on fire. It sported yellow beaded bracelets and the kanji for 'sky' was tattooed on its sternum, but it was upside down. Four health bars were above it and the name read Master Crusher.
"Looks kind of like a hornless oni." Ukyo noted.
"And about as big as the Dojo Destroyer that attacked us long ago. Maybe a bit bigger." Akane added.
Master Crusher roared and slid across the floor, looking like he was trying to kick them all at once. The group split, jumping to the left and right to avoid the impact. The monster stopped but spun around with its extended leg, managing to hit both parts of the group and knock them down.
"Ouch, this guy is fast." Ranma groaned. Master Crusher got on his feet and attacked with an open palm thrust from above. Ranma saw the shadow and rolled away to avoid it, but unfortunately Tofu wasn't as fast and took the hit, crushing him into the ground.
"Doc!" Ranma shouted in shock.
"Doctor Tofu!" Akane and Kasumi shouted too.
Ranma, being the closest, took out his sword and swung it at the forearm of the boss monster. It struck, but rebounded with a clang sound effect, and Master Crusher batted back at Ranma, making him roll on the floor for a bit.
"Look at that!" Nabiki said, pointing to the monster's health powers. "It took no damage! Not even by one point!"
"That can't be. Ranma attacked it directly." Akane countered.
Ukyo grabbed her ax and ran to Master Crusher, attacking from behind. She swung and aimed for the back of the calf, attempting to cut off its foot or at least wound it. But the attack was repelled, and again the health bar of the boss did not go down.
"What the hell!" Akane shouted.
Master Crusher turned away from Tofu to look at the others, who all got defensive. Kasumi went to Tofu's crushed body, glad to see he hadn't died. 'His health is really low, his level and endurance isn't that great compared to the rest of us so he takes more damage than we would. He shouldn't fight anymore here.' She reached down and tried to lift him up to carry him away.
While this was going on the rest of the small guild attacked all together in coordinated moves, trying to keep the boss distracted so Kasumi could get Tofu out of the room. A key feature in any boss fight was the NPC never left their designated room nor attacked anyone outside it, and at heart SAO was meant to be like most MMORPGs, just on a different scale.
Blows were met and traded, and the players were the only ones taking any damage.
"This is ridiculous! We can't hurt the boss at all!" Ranma yelled, infuriated.
"Everyone retreat!" Shampoo ordered.
No one was in any mood to defy her. They ran out of the room and got out about the same time Kasumi and Tofu did. Outside the room, Master Crusher looked at them like a lion behind the bars of a cage, then the doors to the room started to close.
"Well that was a bust." Ukyo complained as she and everyone else slumped down on the floor. "What kind of crap is this? A boss you can't hurt?"
"A boss you can't hurt defeats the entire purpose of the game. And at this floor that only makes it less believable." Shampoo thought out loud. "We had to have missed something."
"Like what?" Akane asked, using a healing Crystal to restore Ranma's lost health. Kasumi was doing the same for Tofu. In fact, everyone was using a Crystal to restore health for their group, healing another and in turn being healed by another. It was something Kasumi encouraged in their guild, heal the wounded before healing yourself, even if you were wounded too.
"Sometimes you need a specific weapon to beat a specific boss. If you don't have it, defeating the boss is essentially impossible. There must be something on this floor or this tower that is used to hurt the boss." Shampoo answered, then sighed. "Which means we'll have to backtrack down the tower or even explore the floor more to get this object."
"That's no problem. We came to Floor Five to explore and map out the area, not to defeat the boss." Nabiki noted. "We can still sell map data on how to get to the boss room, and the info on needing a specific weapon first will make the price reasonably greater. I think we can earn enough Col from this experience."
Shampoo nodded. "Right, we've done everything we needed to do today. Let's get home and rest up, and Nabiki will do her thing."
"And here I was hoping we could say we were the first guild to defeat a boss." Ranma joked.
"Actually, one already beat us to that Ranma." Nabiki countered. "The boss on Floor Three was reported to be vanquished by a group called the Knights of the Blood Oath. They got a lot of hype for being the first guild to beat a boss, and they also beat the one on Floor Four."
"They must be good." Akane stated.
"From what I've gathered, there are twenty-five guilds total counting ours but two guilds are getting the most attention." Nabiki continued. "The first one is the Aincrad Liberation Army, the first guild technically but not officially created in the game. My contacts tell me they have a monopoly on Floor One and are stationed in the Town of Beginnings, where they try to help out the players who are too afraid to be a part of the game and leave the safe zone."
"Didn't those guys in grey armor back in the village call themselves part of that group?" Ranma asked.
Nabiki nodded. "Yep that was them. From what I hear they're also the largest guild, four times bigger than any current guild walking around. They seem to be more interested in providing for the players in the Town of Beginnings than anything, so they spend more time looking for quests that pay a lot than fighting monsters. Overall I think they aren't really a group that we need to worry about."
"The other famous guild is the Knights of the Blood Oath." Nabiki continuned. "Due to them defeating the last two bosses they're getting a lot of new recruits, thus building up their numbers and resources. I'm not sure how they've done it, but they seem like they know what they're doing. They're also bound to try continuing their victory streak by defeating this boss."
"That must be why this Holy Dragon Alliance is trying to control the entry point. They're trying to give someone else a chance, primarily themselves." Ukyo theorized.
"Thing is it's doomed." Nabiki added, getting everyone to look at her. "Think about it, this dragon guild was able to take control of the town everyone shows up in. How were they able to do that?"
"They showed up first and no one was able to stop them." Kasumi answered.
Shampoo nodded. "No, Nabiki's right. Now that you mention it, I see the problem."
"What problem?" Ranma asked.
"The town we showed up in, Aspen, is the first town anyone shows up in if they don't teleport to a specific spot right? Meaning that once the Floor Four boss was defeated by the Knights of the Blood Oath, Aspen was the first town they went to next. Which means they got to Floor Five first. So why would another guild be controlling the main entry point?"
Everyone thought that over, and no one could get an answer.
"It must mean this knight group wasn't interested in staying in the first town. They must have already gone out and tried exploring the floor." Ranma said.
Nabiki nodded. "And did you notice we barely had to fight any monsters inside the tower? I think the Knights have already reached the boss and learned what we've learned. They're out searching the floor for this special weapon. And they've learned all this and maybe more in the time it took us to get where we are now."
"So that means, if I'm hearing this right..." Tofu groaned, having heard everything since they left the room. "There's nothing we can do."
"I wouldn't say that." Kasumi said.
"No, it's true. Think about it. A guild that's already strong enough to defeat bosses already has a good lead on this one in such a short time. This floor was announced as open today right? Meaning they've been up here exploring since before the notice went out. How can we find this weapon before them? Are we supposed to take it from them? What for? So we can say we defeated the boss? It's been established that was never our objective here. We're an exploration guild, not a battalion. We don't get in wars, we explore the terrain and find threats to alert the real warriors so they have a better chance of surviving. That's who we are."
Everyone thought this over, and they had to admit the doctor had a point. Their strengths did seem best suited for exploration, and they were more used to fighting field monsters than boss monsters. Plus they were only here to make a map to begin with. Fighting the monster was only so they could have an idea of what to expect for later, but now it seemed like two guilds were going to beat them to it and one knew exactly what it was doing. It seemed like the best thing they could do was just go home and sell what they had learned.
"Doc, no offense, but shut up."
Everyone looked to Ranma, shocked he had said that, and to someone he had always been polite to.
"Do you know what you're saying? You're saying we should be cannon fodder. You want to explore and find traps so we can tell others what to expect before they get caught by surprise? You want to be little more than pest control in this game? I can't accept that."
"Dammit Ranma this is not a game!" Tofu shouted, surprising everyone. "This is not fun! This is not playtime! This is genuine life-threatening danger! I know you're at that age where you think nothing bad is going to happen to you but you have to be serious here!"
Ranma angrily hit the floor with his fist, loud enough that it felt like a rock was hitting it, and an Immortal Object icon briefly appeared. Then he got right in Tofu's face. "I think nothing bad is going to happen to me?! Have you forgotten everything that happened before this game started?! Something bad happened to me nearly every day! And I came close to dying more than once! Even before I came to Nerima! You think I think I'm invincible?! I've never felt weaker in my life except for one time! And I don't intend to stay weak!"
He stood up, as if to tower over the doctor and prove his point better this way. "I know this is a dangerous place. I didn't forget what that guy in the red cloak told us when this all started. But I've always lived a dangerous life. This is nothing new to me, so no I'm not afraid. In fact, these past three months have been probably the best I've had in a long time. So no, I don't intend on playing it safe and asking someone else to do the hard stuff for me. I'm not going to make anyone else do what they don't want to do, but I'm going to face this game rather than hide from it."
The others looked at him in a bit of awe, while his three fiancees smiled at him. This was the Ranma they knew and loved.
"I'm with you Ranma." Kasumi said, standing up with a bright smile. "These past three months have been the most fun I've ever had in my life too. I can't go back to being a stay-at-home woman, I want to be strong enough to fight bosses too."
Tofu gasped. "You can't be serious Kasumi!"
"I am serious. We need a goal, not a routine. We can still do what you suggested, but it shouldn't be the only reason we leave home to begin with. We need something to strive for, not just something to kill time each day."
"Kasumi's right. Who says exploring is the only thing we can do a good job at?" Shampoo agreed.
"So let's go for it. We try to find this secret weapon and beat the boss. And if not this floor we work to get strong enough to be in the next boss fight. Or the next one. We didn't settle for being ordinary in Nerima, why be ordinary here?" Akane proclaimed.
Everyone except Tofu was smiling, feel reassured and encouraged.
Approaching footsteps put a damper on the moment though, and everyone looked to see who else was in the tower coming their way. Judging by the volume but the lack of a visible source, it was a large group. Everyone got on their feet, knowing that was for the best.
Coming into view was a group of at least twenty players, mostly men but there were two women visible fro the front, all of which dressed in silver armor and bearing the look of the Holy Dragon Alliance.
"Look what we have here men. Some rookie players who think they can beat the boss on their own." A man said, coming to a halt, making the group stop with him.
"With just seven? You couldn't beat a buffalo-bear with seven people, let alone a boss monster." Another man joked, making everyone laugh.
"Go ahead and laugh. You could have seventy people and not beat this boss without the secret." Ranma replied.
The guy who first spoke stepped forward, looking serious. "So, you've already tangled with this boss, and decided to retreat. Tell us about this boss boy."
"Hold it." Shampoo said, stepping forward and putting her arm in front of the pigtailed martial artist as if to stop him from doing anything. "This is my guild you're speaking to, so don't think you can order any of my members around."
"Very well, let's speak leader to leader. I am Shakku, leader of Squad 3 of the Holy Dragon Alliance." Appearance-wise, he was roughly eight years older than the Amazon was, sporting brown hair with sideburns and held back with a blue headband. His outfit was normal for the guild so far, silver European armor, but he had a red star on his collar, possibly implying high rank within the growing guild.
"I'm Shampoo, leader of the Aincrad Wrecking Crew. This boss is currently impervious to standard weapons. Some kind of custom-made weapons are needed to take it down. Fortunately there are no minions to make the fight even more complicated."
"A boss you can't hurt huh." Shakku repeated, putting his hand on his chin. "This certainly complicates the strategy."
"Bah, they're probably just weaklings who couldn't beat a Floor One boar." One of the female members of the squad jested.
"You wanna test us?!" Akane angrily challenged.
"Not now Akane." Shampoo ordered. "Well then Shakku, if your group thinks it can do better than us, feel free to prove so by fighting the boss. You have more to gain by defeating that then us anyway."
"I agree. Alright men, to battle!" Shakku ordered, getting a boastful cheer from his squad. They opened the door to the boss room and walked in, with the Aincrad Wrecking Crew watching from the sidelines.
"Think they can win?" Akane asked quietly.
"I doubt it. Shakku sounded like he was unaware of the terms of this fight. To me he came across as someone who wants to do his job right." Kasumi told her sister. "But I'm surprised we're not the only players who came to the boss on the first day the floor opened. I guess everyone's hoping to pick up the pace on the game."
They watched the Holy Dragon Alliance surround Master Crusher and attack him from all directions in portions. Judging from the coordination the group was still young in its formation, but they had clearly practiced the moves they were using now. Master Crusher was hitting them more than blocking them, but given how currently he was still taking no damage at all.
'He's fighting like a martial artist, but he's not using any style I've ever seen. It almost looks completely made up.' Ranma observed, seeing the same thing he had seen in the fight. 'And he's got no defense, leaving a lot of openings, but since we can't hurt him that's a moot point. I get the feeling that would change if we could hurt him.'
The players were making no progress, but thanks to their armor and greater numbers they were taking less damage than Ranma's group had been.
"Wait, am I seeing things?" Nabiki asked.
"What?" Everyone asked, only for the mercenary to point at Master Crusher's head. Or more precisely, right over it.
Ukyo gasped. "I can't believe it. Someone actually did some damage." The blow to the boss's health was small, barely worth noting in any other circumstance, but compared to the bars below it the top bar was now definitely shorter.
"Either the whole idea of a secret weapon is wrong, or there's a weak spot on this guy that needs to be hit." Nabiki suggested. "Either way, we should watch a little more carefully."
Watching was harder since the Holy Dragon Alliance was not giving many openings. They too had noticed the small hit to the boss and were practically swarming him now, trying to attack him with everything at once. But once they got close, Master Crusher retaliated in a way that reminded Ranma of when Mikado Sanzenin tried to fight him the first time. Punches and kicks flew everywhere and the boss spun in place for a moment. The players surrounding him were all thrown against the walls of the room, and most lost at least half of their HP from this one attack.
"They're going to die." Kasumi said, grabbing her sword and shield. "We have to give them time to recover before the boss continues the attack."
"You got it. Everyone, charge!" Shampoo ordered.
"Please don't say 'charge'." Ukyo asked as she and the others rushed into the room. 'Reminds me of that nutjob Tsubasa.'
Master Crusher was apparently a dishonorable martial artist in the since he had no problem in fighting an opponent who was already down. He was about to deliver a chop attack to a downed Shakku before Shampoo intercepted with her sword, making the boss retract his hand.
"Thanks." Shakku said as he tried to get up. "
"Focus on recovering everyone's health. We'll buy you time." Shampoo told him, moving to try and leave a cut on the boss's leg and getting no results. "But don't take too long."
Tofu was immediately trying to help the downed players, providing crystals to try and heal multiple players at once. Unfortunately the only crystals he had were single-use, meaning one per person, and he had a limited number. "Please tell me you guys brought crystals with you."
A teen boy nodded. "Yeah, but only one per person and clearly we're going to need more."
"And now I'm all out." Tofu said, using his last one. "The general rule of my guild is two per person since we're fewer in numbers, but I always carry at least seven."
"At least we can fight now."
"The problem is how. Who got the lucky hit in?" Another member of the Holy Dragon Alliance asked.
At that time Ranma jumped in holding his sword attempting to stab Master Crusher in the abdomen, hoping this worked. The boss monster did a palm thrust right at the sword, meeting in a way that would pierce the hand of any normal person or being. Instead, Ranma's sword broke, and quickly disintegrated. But the attack didn't end there, the boss grabbed Ranma and tried to strangle him with its oversized hand.
Feeling his HP slowly drop as well as difficulty breathing, Ranma reacted in the only way he could react. He punched back a punch, holding it a moment to let the bare-handed attack charge up as a Martial Art skill, and slugged the beast in the wrist, hoping he could make the monster release him if nothing else.
Strangely enough it actually worked, and Master Crusher shook his wrist like it was hurt.
"It happened again!" Nabiki yelled out. "The Health bar dropped a bit."
'Wait, could it be...?' Ranma asked himself. Master Crusher was currently distracted by fighting other players now, including several of the Holy Dragon Alliance who were back on their feet, all trying to chip away at this boss now that it seemed possible to defeat it. Ranma took a stance and felt his attack skill charge up again. Once ready, he lunged at the side of Master Crusher's head, hitting with a right punch then a left punch and a sweep kick in quick succession.
Everyone present was shocked to see Master Crusher's first health bar get into the yellow region from that one attack.
"That's it! The trick isn't a secret weapon or a weak spot! It's attacking without weapons!" One of the members of the Holy Dragon Alliance shouted, voicing the same conclusion many were reaching.
"That's certainly unexpected. I wonder why the others didn't mention this." Shampoo said to herself, secretly referencing the beta test players in case anyone overheard her, as she put away her weapons and joined in. 'Maybe this boss was different in the beta test.'
Nabiki however was not convinced. 'Just bare-handed? Is it really that simple?' Testing the idea, she sheathed her sword and punched the boss. It showed no reaction, but with everyone attacking it was hard to tell if she really did any damage.
Master Crusher, with one health bar depleted and three left, pounded the ground with each fist like an ape, briefly unbalancing each standing player but making none tumble, then did a spin attack to deflect and throw back the players. Fortunately no one was killed.
"We can't take any more hits like that. We're out of healing crystals." Shampoo said to those around her.
"My group is too." Shakku added. "We should pull back."
"Commander, I have an idea." One of the members of the Holy Dragon Alliance spoke up. This was a college-age girl who looked like she came from India in real life. She had black hair held back in a ponytail, blue eyes, and wore the same silver armor of her guild. "I think Martial arts skills are the most effective here. If you can provide shield tactics and I do some quick attacks, I think we might stand a chance."
Shampoo blinked. "You have Martial Arts too? Airen and I can help."
The Indian girl nodded. "I won't say no. That might get this done sooner. I'm Ariela by the way."
"Shampoo. Can you get started for us?"
Ariela smiled. "My pleasure."
Shampoo went to her guild while Shakku attended to his, telling them the plan while avoiding the boss's attacks now. "Everyone, keep the boss distracted and stay on the defense. Airen and I will attack with help from one of theirs, pull back when it looks like the boss will attack. Can you do this?"
Ranma pumped a fist. "I'm on it."
Kasumi tapped her shield. "I'll do what I can." The others pulled out their shields from their inventories and nodded.
"Alright, let's take this sucker down." Shampoo said encouragingly.
Ariela was already fighting, having shed her armor for an outfit that didn't hinder or slow her movements in a fight like this. This outfit was sleeker, almost form-fitting, implying she wore it under her armor, and was colored purple and yellow. The purple was on the arms, shoulders, waist and upper legs while the yellow was everywhere else. When she moved, she utilized jumps and kicks to attack, and she was rapidly depleting the boss's second health bar.
Master Crusher moved his hands to around her, attempting to flatten her between them. Ariela jumped back, and at that time Ranma and Shampoo started attacking from the blind side, hitting with punches and other moves from karate. The boss was turning around, but the other players started attacking to get it's attention. Once they had it they raised their shields or pulled back as the boss started attacking them. This gave Ariela another blind spot to use and she attacked.
This routine held up very well, switching between three martial artists attacking when the boss was distracted. In no time Master Crusher was down to his last few health points, red on his last bar. Everyone smiled, certain they would win.
Then things got bad.
Master Crusher did a somersault in the air and raised his fists up like he was roaring. The yellow bracelets on the wrists broke apart, his skin changed color from green to red, and the top knot went undone, turning its hair into a spiked red mane. The upside kanji on the chest started to look like it was pulsating now.
'This must be the boss's final trick. This might be a trend in the game.' Most players thought, thinking back to past boss fights when the NPC tried something new near the end.
The three martial artists got close together. "Maybe if we all hit at once we can take it down quickly?" Ranma suggested.
"Let's see what it can do now first." Ariela countered.
"And give it a chance to win? No way." Ranma replied, then jumped in.
"Airen wait!" Shampoo yelled, worried he might be a bit too impulsive right now for his own good now that victory was in sight. Wouldn't be the first time for him after all.
Master Crusher threw a punch right at the pigtailed teen in midair, thus making it normally impossible for him to dodge it. But luckily midair combat was the specialty of Saotome techniques so Ranma was able to grab the fist and use it as leverage to propel him forward more and attack the boss in the face. Master Crusher roared upon impact and shook his head, flinging Ranma away.
"Did that get him?" He asked as he tried to get up, surrounded by Akane and Ukyo who were trying to support him.
"Didn't look like it. Remember the boss always seems to get a boost in defense at this point, making them harder to kill." Ukyo told him.
"Let's just be glad it can't regain health." Akane added.
Master Crusher kept roaring and started to pound the ground. It rushed forward all of a sudden, forcing Shampoo and Ariela to run away. Master Crusher turned and followed, chasing them and the rest of the players all while pounding the floor and throwing random punches. One of them managed to hit a member of the Holy Dragon Alliance and kill them.
"It's like he's just a giant angry gorilla now!" Someone yelled as everyone tried to run off around the room, unable to see an opening to attack. Master Crusher didn't stop, he just kept attacking anything and everything in a brawler frenzy.
"We can't keep running. We've got to end this." Ariela stated. "Like you said, hit him with everything we've got all at once. If we leave now, this will all be for nothing."
"Right." Ranma and Shampoo said with nods.
There was no opportunity to get any form of defense against the boss now. All players could do was escape the attacks or block them, and some of their shields were being destroyed in the process. Ranma, Shampoo, and Ariela were forced to jump in without any way to make the odds in their favor. Right now, it was a 'do or die' fight.
The trio of martial artist players attacked with everything. Ranma using some jabs, Shampoo some punches, and Ariela some kicks. With the boss thrashing they couldn't stay in one place for long so they had to move around and switch targeted spots, but they never stopped. Master Crusher tried hitting them, but when he missed he hit himself and did some damage to himself.
"We're getting low on Health! Give it all you got!" Ranma yelled.
With battle cries all three made one final attack, hitting the monster in a way that immediately reminded Ranma of the time he, Shampoo, Mousse, and Ryoga attacked Pantyhose Taro all at once. This combined attack got the intended result, and Master Crusher's HP dropped to zero. The creature yelled in pain then glowed for a moment before dispersing in a shower of digital glitter. Everyone paused to catch their breaths, and cheered when the word Congratulations appeared in the air.
"We did it! We won!"
"We rock!"
"Our guild is the greatest!"
Lots of cheering was heard, almost drowning out the doorway to Floor Six opening up. Ranma, Shampoo, and Ariela all sighed in relief and laid down on their backs. Above Ranma's eyes a box saying 'Last Attack Bonus' appeared, showing that apparently his attack had been the finishing move as far as the system was concerned. He tapped it, and a white gi appeared, falling into his hands.
"You were pretty good." Shampoo said to the Indian girl. "What style were you using?"
"It's something I picked up on Floor Four. It's Martial Arts Capoeira. In real life it's a Brazilian fighting and dancing style focusing on kicks." She answered.
"I gotta check it out, see if it's available again." Ranma commented, looking at his new gi wondering what it could do if anything.
The rest of the Aincrad Wrecking Crew went to the downed members, helping them up. "You guys okay?" Nabiki asked.
"I'm fine, but I could go for some food right now." Ranma requested.
"I just want to go back to the house and sleep the rest of the day." Shampoo added.
"That can be arranged." Kasumi offered, helping the Chinese girl stand up.
Shakku came up to Shampoo. "Thank you, without your guild we surely would not have been able to survive this fight."
"Likewise." Shampoo replied. "We should try a boss fight again sometime."
"I believe that is an excellent idea. I will talk to my fellow higher ups of my guild so we can discuss terms of an alliance with your guild."
"Sounds good. Our small guild could use a bigger one as an ally in need." Shampoo commented. Shakku nodded, and sent her a friend request so they could have a line of communication later. She accepted. 'I just hope them knowing I'm a Beater won't make them regret it. Allies can be invaluable in MMOs.'
"Go on and explore the next floor. We're heading home." Shampoo told Shakku, who nodded.
"Oh, and if your guild tries to make any tolls for towns from now on, we expect a free pass." Nabiki added, getting a few laughs from her guild.
After an exhausting trip without teleportation crystals, the former residents of Nerima made it to their in-game home before sunset.
"Unless we're under attack don't wake me." Shampoo ordered while yawning, heading to her room.
"Aye-aye boss." Nabiki joked with a mock-salute, making the others laugh.
Ranma slumped in a chair, looking tired himself. "What a fight. But I'm glad my martial arts isn't useless in this game. I bet there are more monsters in this game that can only be beaten that way."
"You might be right Ranma. So maybe each one of us needs to get a Martial Art skill then just you getting them all." Akane pointed out.
"That might help. Plus we should look into getting more variety among our fighting styles." Kasumi said.
"Well we have you as the sword and shield user, me as the close quarters knife user, Akane as the blunt weapon user, Ukyo as the axe user, Shampoo and Ranma as the sword and martial arts users, and Tofu as..." Nabiki explained, only to come up short. "Sorry Doc, but I'm not exactly sure what your specialty really is."
"Probably a good thing I don't have one, because I'm dropping out of fighting and going on quests." Tofu said, getting everyone's attention. "I've tried, but I'm not cut out for this. I wasn't even that serious when I logged in to begin with, just killing time. I can't have fun in this horrible game like you kids can."
"Relax Tofu, no one is going to force you to fight if you don't want to." Kasumi reassured. "If you want to stay home while we go on quests and explore that's fine. That's your right." He sighed in relief. "But you'll still need to do something to contribute. I'm not letting any freeloaders like Mr. Saotome stay in my house again."
Nabiki blinked. "Wow Kasumi, if I didn't know any better, I'd swear that was almost an insult to the panda."
Kasumi sighed. "It sort of was. I try not to be disrespectful on behalf of Father and Ranma, but-"
"But Dad's not here, so what's he going to do?" Akane pointed out.
"And I insult my old man all the time. You think I'm going to be offended if someone else does?" Ranma added. "If you want to say something negative about him, I think you have every right to now Kasumi."
"Thanks, but there's really no reason to insult someone who's not around just because no one will stop me. My point is just we all need to pull our own weight while we're here. No one gets away with being a panda here. So Tofu, you are excused from accompanying us, but you must still contribute to the guild in some way."
"Like how?" Tofu asked.
Kasumi shrugged. "I don't know. Get a job? Take care of the house and keep it stocked? Open that clinic you mentioned two months back? You gotta do something to earn money and help us survive here."
"Too bad the paper here doesn't have a help wanted section." Akane joked, sitting next to Ranma who was already passed out.
That night, Klein and his friends were at a tavern in a Floor Four town called Lobria, grateful that they were old enough to drink some of the more adult drinks available. Taverns served all players, but some drinks were programmed to taste like alcohol and it was likely the Nervegear helped make the experience of being buzzed or drunk feel more realistic. This of course meant the hangovers felt real too.
'Eating and drinking is pretty much the only luxury we have in this game.' Klein thought, having a swig. 'And after fighting a bunch of tigers today, we could use this.'
A message appeared before him. "Hey, Kasumi's calling me." He said.
"Think she likes you?" One of his friends joked.
"Naw, she wouldn't go for me." Klein said, tapping it.
"You never know." His friend added.
"Ah, impressive. She says her guild just defeated the Floor Five boss so Floor Six is available. She's invited us to go do some exploring and clearing up there tomorrow." Klein said.
"Floor Six is available already?" Another of Klein's friends asked.
"You guys up for it?" Klein asked, and his friends cheered.
In another part of the tavern, a player with a high Listening skill overheard everything. 'This could prove interesting if we follow them.'