Chapter 5 – Day Out
"Each Kingdom has a store of NPC Soldiers that can be used on command by the Leader of that Kingdom. These Soldiers have levels that are directly correlated to the average level of the native players within the Kingdom As players have no level cap similarly the soldiers have no level cap either. However to outfit each NPC Soldier with equipment cost Col. Seven Kingdom Online: Defense
Argo was absolutely bored. She was currently sitting in her own private chambers. The walls were made of wood and paper, paintings of great battles depicted all around her. With floors made of bamboo wood and layered with cloth to ensure comfort. A singular table sat in the corner of her room with an entire tea set stationed on it. She was currently wearing a red Jūnihitoe with the edges woven from gold. A single stash around her waist caused the clothing to hug the curve of her lithe body and pooled some fabric behind her. She was the very image of an empress. Her chocolate brown eyes sparkled as she opened her PM box, casually scrolling through the multitudes of messages sent at her. It was then that an idea popped into her head.
Knowing the fact that her buffalos for bodyguards would be controlling and eyeing her like a piece of meat made her type furiously away into the holographic keyboard that appeared. This person was her key source of hope to escape from this boredom and sheer annoyance. She was running the country but yet at the same time her work caused her to lose out on what she loved to do best, information dealing. She was tired of it.
A ping that popped up caused her to smile as she read the message before that same smile broke out into a full beaming grin. She felt the relief washing over her like a cooling wave that soothed her soul; she would enjoy the day, anything was better than being stuck inside this room surrounded by testosterone filled idiots. Especially Shijon, he thought she didn't notice him staring at her body lustfully; nor did he think she saw the way he reacted whilst staring at her. However as much as she found it repulsive there was no way that she could remove him from his position, it would cause too much drama in the Court of [Seido] which was beginning to form with the highest and most influential people taking their seats; it would also cause discord amongst the general public that the [Empress] was firing someone for the mere act of staring. Such drama should not take place.
Argo quickly got changed, however instead of unequipping her items she merely stripped them off her body, letting the loose red dress fall from her shoulders and pool around her feet. Stepping over it Argo quickly opened her the large wardrobe she had and chose the leather armour suit. It would hug her body to ensure maximum mobility, the pouch at her waist was already filled with throwing knives and twin daggers sat on either side of her hips. The armour crisscrossed across her back and front with leather folded over one another and chained with small stripes of metal. Underlying that layer of leather was cloth that would serve to be a comfort layer and warmth insulator. All in all she was ready for some grinding, she grinned as her stats increased from those of the armour; she swept around with her knives; without her Sword Skills and nodded with satisfaction to know that she hadn't lost her touch.
Each hunting knife was beautifully carved, curving so they looked like mini cutlasses. But she knew that they could inflict massive damage that would easily outstrip those of her brain dead guards. Each had a chain linking the hilts to her back, allowing her to throw it and then reel it.
A soft tapping against the paper walls notified her of someone trying to get her attention. She glanced around to the room, just to make sure that no one was eavesdropping on her, and pulled open her window; allowing a person clad entirely in black to swoop in as he landed with a soft thump. Twin blades were crossed over his back with a trench coat as dark as the blackest of nights; boots and clothing made entirely of sleek jet black.
"Hey." Kirito greeted awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck as a nervous tick.
She looked at him. The way his armour hugged his slim body, neat black hair hung from his head perfectly with strands stopping just before they covered his eyes. He had deep onyx eyes that right now screamed uncertainty. If she was honest he could easily pass as a girl and in her mind could even be said to be prettier than many other girls. She noticed the way he swayed a little, swapping weight from his left leg to his right in an almost casual manner.
"Kii-bou~" Argo grinned, jumping at him and snuggling into his chest while an arm waving and panicking Kirito yelled indignantly.
"Argo what are you doing?!" he hissed quietly as his arms began to push her away.
She pouted at him, looking into his own black eyes with her soft brown ones as she tried to draw him in, yet at the same time she was being drawn into those endless depth eyes. Those perfectly soft looking lips, the facial feature of this boy. He was her first friend in the Beta, first real friend she had ever made and instantly had felt a connection to him just on a friendship level.
"What? Can't I hug you?" she asked with a bambi like tear.
"Argo." He groaned, his eyes glancing around the room quickly, "Come on, we should go grind before time runs out."
"But … but Kii-bou!" she whined whilst he rolled his eyes.
"Come on." he turned around, placing one hand against the windows edge when suddenly she flung herself onto his back causing him to rock over the edge. Immediately his wings buzzed to life, beating powerfully to try and keep them afloat, "Argo!" he yelled as they plummeted down.
She could feel the thick scarabs on his back digging into her cheek, yet she did not mind. She could feel the long blades hidden within their sheaths pressing against her body like a lover.
"Yes Kii-bou?" he could almost hear the fluttering of her eyes as she replied.
"You are impossible." He groaned before twisting her off and carrying her with his arms instead. For a moment he had seen her eyes going wide as he dropped her, her own brown wings flaring to life with a flash of betrayal striking through her eyes. Then all that disappeared and was replaced with joy when he suddenly held her bridal style while his wings handled them down.
"You suck Kii-bou! You dropped me!" Argo stamped her foot once she touched the ground.
"You jumped on me!" Kirito waved his hands, "What else do you expect?"
"You can't just drop a girl Kii-bou, you'll never get a girlfriend at this rate." She teased him, turning around and strutting away with the sway of her hips.
"Argo." He groaned before letting out a sigh and shaking his head, this girl would be the death of him in sheer annoyance.
He grinned as an idea formed in his mind, tensing his legs he fluttered open his wings before blasting himself forward. He saw her back go tense for a second before her own wings flared to life and she was off. Kirito laughed as Argo swirled and ducked, twisting around a tree multiple times before shooting off leaving him dazzled. They ran through the low forest leaves, branches and greenery whipping around them in a haze. His eyes followed the trail of light left behind her, dazzling sparkles burning into his vision as sunlight caressed her silky wings.
Suddenly the world changed as they flew through the last of the trees, expanding below them was a raging river with a vertical cliff face of more than a hundred meters, spanning the chasm on the other side was another forest, yet those trees were larger, taller, lusher. Argo sped across without thought, laughing as she swan dove downward, skimming the cliff face as the winds howled around her like the wails of banshees. The exhilarating feeling of flying pumped blood around her body, adrenaline coursing through her veins as she strained her wings against the winds.
The water face was looming ever closer, devouring all of her world. Just before she hit the gushing waters surface she pulled open her wings, snapping her back and allowing her to fly just above the water. She could feel the cool liquid splashing against the front of her shirt, staining her skin cold. Argo could hear Kirito zooming up closer to her, she pumped more energy and speed into her wings forcing herself to fly at speeds she hardly ever flown before. Seeing some rocks that stuck out of the rushing waters surface like a small island she pushed off it when she came close, blasting herself up into the air.
How free she felt compared to being cooped up inside a small room.
Kirito was mesmerised as she twirled into the sky, water droplets like individual crystals flew off her in a dazzling sparkle underneath the suns light. He ignored the rock she had pushed off and instead flew towards the rock face and allowed his legs to push him off that, lunging into the air with the buzzing of his wings. He smiled as he heard her laugh, he knew she was lonely in both lives and making her smile put a soft one on his face. She buzzed off to the left, darting in a completely random pattern towards the other tree line across the chasm. His eyes rolled in their sockets as he sighed in exasperation. He blasted himself toward to those trees; flying into their shadows that were so thick it seemed almost like night. He stopped, hovering in the air as his eyes tried to pierce through the darkness. The trees were in neat rows, each standing erect like a soldier awaiting war. From behind him shafts of light softly touched the endless darkness that spanned out before him. It was like staring into the maw of a giant beast, dark, cold and eerie.
Out of nowhere Kirito felt something colide into his back, he turned around; arms reaching for his blades only to meet the smiling face of a rat as they collided into the ground. Kirito obviously taking the most damage.
"Argo. You suck." The dark teenage boy sighed as he let his headrest on the ground. The famous information broker was laying on his chest, curly auburn hair pooling. He could feel her warm and soft body pressing up against him, her perfect curves seductive. Her laughter resonated through him even as he lay on the ground.
She grinned as he mumbled something, "What was that Kii-bou?"
"I said you're going to be the death of me." He groaned audibly.
Finally she got off him, standing up and staring into the dark forest as Kirito slowly got to his feet.
"Kii-bou." Her voice trailed off as her eyes adjusted to the endless darkness, "Want to go exploring?"
"Argo … no!" he shouted, trying to grab her hands a second too late as her brown wings exploded into action and propelled her forward into the forest. He jumped after her, black wings coming to life as he called upon them. He followed her, watching their surroundings as they travelled into uncharted territory and something that didn't seem to have ever appeared in the Beta stage.
The air seemed to be getting colder and the world seemed to get darker, everything was bleached of its colour leaving nothing but an endless grey world cloaked in black. He looked down as they flew, the ground was perfectly flat without any rocks or logs displaced anywhere, the only resident on the ground were fallen leaves in their thousands. This strange order and environment sent warning messages flying through his mind ; something was not right.
"Argo. Stop." His voice, even in the whisper that he spoke, resounded like thunder in the absolute silence of this forest. That's when he saw something in the corner of his view change.
[Silent Forest]
He beckoned to it with his eyes to open and read as the text was written before his very eyes.
[This is the place of nightmares, a forest corrupted with the air of the Abyss. Monsters large enough to destroy whole islands reside within this Forest. All adventurers beware; you are stepping into the mouth of Hell itself.]
His eyes widened as they finished those words, his head snapped up as he propelled himself forward with even more force, grabbing Argo's arm and stopping her from going forward.
"Kii-bou~ you caught me." She grinned, placing a sly hand on his chest, "What are you going to do to me now?" she whispered into his ear, pressing her body up against his.
"Argo, read the notification in your HUD." He said quickly, his eyes darting around as he felt a strange rustling in the wind, "We're in the dangerous zone here." He looked behind them, the light already dimming in the distance.
"Kii-bou behind you!" Argo shouted, immediately Kirito let his wings drop, his entire body alongside with Argo's falling towards the forest floor before his wings flared and he dashed away once more. His heart thudded within his chest as he watched a shadow flare above him, a screech ripping the world around.
"What was that?!" Kirito yelled above the sound of rushing wind above him, his body skimming the ground as he attempted to fly away from such a large beast. From the air above them he could see, and feel, a continuous black body rushing past.
"Kii-bou this is a [Hell Zone]!" her voice cut through the wind, barely, and nearly made him falter.
[Hell Zones] were famous during the Beta for being the hardest area of mobs in the game. they were spread across the world like children toys but had beast that came from the stuff of nightmares. It was well known that entire raid parties, even if they were adequately prepared, could be wiped in the matter of minutes. Within them monsters beyond strengths of this world lingered, sometimes you would face an army in the thousands, others you would fight against a leviathan that made your world seem like a drop in the ocean; other times you would fight both. But their reward was great, only in these zones could a person find a weapon ranked at an [Exotic] level. These equipment's greatly boosted a person stats and even had elemental uses inside of them as well as unique Sword Skills.
"You're kidding me …" Kirito groaned, "We're only, at best, low 20's; this thing is way above our level."
"Look out!" Argo yelled as the head snapped back at them; Kirito pumped his wings and forced them to fly up, his eyes glancing behind him before immediately snapping forward again. Its head was entirely black and easily the size of a bus with sharp teeth made from the shadows. Purple light emanated from within its mouth with a single violet eye that stared eerily at them. He growled.
"Argo, get out of my arms. We can't out run this thing; only option we have left is to take it down or be taken down." He took a sharp turn around a tree, forcing the larger creature to continue on past them due to its large size. He stopped them on a tree branch, hearing the howling of wind as the large body ripped past them, "Ready Argo?" he asked, unsheathing both his swords.
"Always Kii-bou." She said grinning, her throwing knives in her palm.
He took a few steps before jumping off the edge of the branch, his black wings flaring to life as his twin swords glowed in the darkness. On poison green whilst the other jet black with streaks of crimson. His Sword Skills carried him across the gap; behind him he could hear the sharp whistling as Argo's knives flew true with their brown glow. All the while the large head of the beast roared at them, its mouth opened to unleash a bright brilliant light of purple in their faces.
Their forces collided with enough power that the forest shook as the might of two great strengths met in a fight.
The monster had a huge Health pool and what looked like no Mana at all. Kirito grinned as his blades cut into the monsters nose, the green hue in the Health Circle on its black ensured him the corroding effect of his blade. They would win; they had to.