Chapter 37
The Hiding meter instantly dropped into the twenties the moment Jemza ran forward. Given that Artemis was walking out in the open and the level difference it made sense that the penalties would be stiff. It didn't change the plan at all as far as she was concerned. For now, they still had the element of surprise and could use that to their advantage. Perhaps they could keep Artemis off balance enough to chip away at his health safely.
Jemza rotated once in the air, reversing her grip on the dagger in her hand. The blade began to glow brightly as she set the weapon into the initial placement for Puncture, a sword skill she had unlocked recently in the dagger skill. Following Jayce's plan meant that this skill would only help to lead them to victory. The poison on her dagger would do a minor bit of damage repeatedly over time, which worked well with Puncture. The sword skill, if successful, had a secondary effect in that it would apply a bleeding effect to the enemy. Much like the poison on her dagger it was a low amount of damage, but every point mattered.
Artemis looked over his shoulder as the blade of Jemza's dagger erupted in a blinding flash of colors rocketing her towards his back. His eyes widened seeing her now and his hand reflexively moved towards the handle of his sword. Dust kicked up violently from Artemis's movements as Jayce ran to catch up to his partner. The echoing sound of metal meeting metal called out through the night and Jayce skidded to a stop, his mouth hanging open. A short distance ahead, Jemza pressed her dagger against the blade of Artemis's sword. He held the blade in both hands over his shoulder so that the blade reached down behind him intercepting her dagger cleanly.
"Not good." Jayce voiced his concerns while running forward again. Artemis pulled his sword up shoving Jemza back a few steps while spinning to face her.
"You dare to try and rob me? Do you even know who I am?" Artemis looked between Jemza and Jayce as he challenged them both.
"We know enough." Jemza answered bringing her dagger back into a normal grip. Artemis's eyes narrowed as she spoke lifting the sword high above his head into a ready stance.
"Is that so? Of course…you must be Rose's thugs. She's getting desperate these days." Artemis began to circle keeping his blade ready to swing at any moment. There was no fear in his voice as he spoke to them. Even outnumbered he sounded confident that he could not lose. Jayce watched him carefully as they continued to circle one another. He focused on the man's legs seeing the smallest of twitches every so often.
"Kurt made you drink quite a bit didn't he?" Jayce smiled under the facemask and Artemis growled angrily in response.
"You're both dead."
"We'll see about that. We have a chance, he's drunk." Jayce moved forward rolling his Anneal Blade around so the blade rested along his left arm, the tip stretching towards Artemis. Jemza fell in behind him using his body to obscure her own body from the man's vision.
Jayce moved the blade of his sword back activating the sword skill Slant and let the game's system take over his movements. The Anneal Blade glowed brightly pulling his body forward into the predetermined motions of the skill. Artemis slashed his sword in a wide arc catching Jayce's sword, slapping it aside harmlessly. Jemza used one hand to vault herself over Jayce's shoulder. She landed between him and Artemis driving her dagger forward towards the man's stomach. He twisted leaning back so the dagger caught only air before righting himself and swinging the sword down towards Jemza's head.
"Roll!" Jayce yelled out activating another sword skill, Horizontal to parry Artemis's strike before it could hit his partner. At the same time Jemza tucked herself into a ball rolling forward past the man until she was behind him. The speed that this man had while wielding a sword of this size was impressive. He spun in circles weaving the blade up and down to parry both Jayce and Jemza's attacks. Every swing or stab they made was met with his weapon and pushed aside harmlessly. The plan had been to slowly chip away at his health and keep distance, but they weren't even able to land a single hit on him yet.
"Amateurs!" A wide slash forced Jayce back a few steps to avoid being cleaved in two. He used the momentum to spin towards Jemza and stepped forward inside her guard. Her eyes bulged open as his knee planted itself firmly in her gut. While the game eliminated pain, there were other effects present in the game to make combat more intense and realistic. Mental signals could be sent to create the sensation of a loss of breath. While the real body breathed and physically was unaffected, the user's virtual body could feel like the wind had been taken out of its lungs. Such was the case now for Jemza as she stumbled backwards gasping for air, coughing violently.
"Rah!" Jayce roared forward gripping his sword in both hands, chopping it down at Artemis's back. With nothing less than a glance over his shoulder he sidestepped the blow and drove the pommel of his sword into Jayce's temple. Lights blinked around his vision and a symbol appeared next to his health bar. He dropped to his knees in fear recognizing the most dangerous effect he could suffer. Stun.
"Give Rose our regards when you meet her." Artemis spun the sword and drove it down towards Jayce who was powerless to move. Before it could connect he winced and stumbled slightly spinning furiously on Jemza who stood unsteadily nearby. A bright red line glowed on the man's back near his shoulder where her dagger found purchase. His health bar that had become visible once they engaged him ticked down roughly ten percent and blinked rapidly indicating the poison damage still at work.
"And you give Kurt our regards when you meet him." Jemza forced her body forward as the initial shock and distress from his attack slowly wore off. The movements and speed that accompanied Artemis showed heavily just how different their levels were. Jemza had focused heavily on her agility stat and still struggled to keep up with his attacks. Even the way he moved his feet and body was agile and fluid. She brought her dagger high, tangling together with his sword and understood now just how dangerous he was.
"This is familiar." Jemza couldn't react fast enough as the man slammed his forehead into hers. Black spots appeared in her vision as she spread her legs wide to keep herself steady. Nearby Jayce tried to force himself back to his feet, but the Stun effect kept him grounded.
"This is the second time a woman will have to watch her partner die. When will you people ever learn?" Artemis dashed forward letting Jemza's dagger slice across his shoulder for minimal damage, but in return plunged his sword through her stomach. She opened her mouth to cry out, but it was wordless as she slumped against the man. He retracted the sword and stepped back letting her fall face down onto the ground, her health bar continuing to drop rapidly. Jayce stared in disbelief as she lay on the ground motionless.
"Jemza…" His body refused to move, the Stun effect blinking rapidly next to his health meter. Below that Jemza's drained into the red continuing to fall. A single strike had done this much damage. It was his entire fault for underestimating Artemis and it cost Jemza her life.
"Oh well, so much for the woman watching her man die. I suppose the same effect holds true for you to watch her die. The impact of the event still hits hard doesn't it?" Artemis wiped the blade of his sword against his boot as if there were blood to clean off the blade.
"Bastard!" The Stun effect wore off and Jayce exploded into movement diving forward for Artemis. The man's health had only dropped about twenty percent, but it didn't matter. What was the point now if Jemza wasn't around? He realized now that given the circumstance the old Jayce would want to hide and curl into a ball. It was different now and the desire to run or hide never even crossed his mind. Dying didn't even seem as frightening as it once did. When did he stop fearing death exactly?
Both men's arms worked furiously parrying and countering each other's attacks. A few minor cuts found their way through a guard here and there, but nothing more than a few percentages of damage. If Jayce could land a solid hit it would do significantly more damage, but Artemis being of higher level would deplete all of Jayce's health with one blow. If a single attack was missed he would fall and shatter like Jemza.
Jayce blinked as that very thought crossed his mind. When anything perished in SAO it broke apart into countless fragments of light. An audible shattering sound would be heard letting anyone in the vicinity know that something had died. A player death had a slightly different sound, but still would audibly let people know. In his anger at Jemza falling he hadn't waited for anything like that and forced his attack on Artemis recklessly. It wasn't until he saw the shadow rising up behind the man that he realized the sound never came.
"Urk!" The man's body arched as Jemza wrapped an arm around his neck and pierced her dagger into the small of his back. Her health blinked in the red with less than ten percent remaining. Her arm pumped back and forth in rapid succession stabbing the man as fast as she could. His health dropped to fifty percent before he broke free of her grasp stumbling away. He swung his sword wildly to fend off any follow up attacks. His eyes were full of rage when he turned to face the pair properly.
"If you want to kill someone, make sure their dead." Jemza pulled a vial from her belt and drank the contents quickly. Her health began to slowly climb a single percent at a time. This was a game which meant it had programming behind it to dictate the actions of enemies and NPC's. An enemy would not stop until the health of a player was fully depleted. That was true in any game.
"How?" Jayce glanced sideways at the woman beside him who only smirked in response.
"You said yourself that these quests seem different right? The people and everything about it seems more realistic right? I figured playing dead might work." Of all the dangerous and irresponsible things she could have done this had to be the worst. If she had been wrong he could have ended her life with one last blow, but her gamble paid off. There was indeed something vastly different with this line of quests and he could no longer believe that they were governed by normal programming.
"Heh, alright then. You can both die together." The man pushed off the ground running towards the couple. In unison they readied their weapons to accept his charge splitting at the last second to let him pass between them. This had to be like facing a boss creature in the dungeon. He seemed faster than before now that his health was below half. The speed wasn't without discipline though and each strike left no opening to counter.
The two rolled around each other trying to put the man off balance with their varying angles of attack. Jayce would feint a high slash only to step back and let Jemza dive forward with a thrust. Each time Artemis would turn the weapons aside or avoid the attacks completely. Jemza's health was still low and Jayce had to focus primarily on defending against any incoming counters Artemis might throw their way. Jemza's feet skidded along the dirt path as she parried one of his counters. The strength behind the blow was enough to send her backwards a few feet. Jayce pushed forward, stepping into the gap before Artemis could follow through and saw the man smile evilly. He altered his movement shouldering Jayce in the chest which caused his arms to rise defensively to guard.
"No!" Jemza screamed as Artemis spun to the side of Jayce chopping his sword downward. The Anneal Blade glinted in the moonlight as it spun away. Jayce stared dumbly as a new icon he had never seen before appeared next to his health bar that steadily depleted. A red square with a hand icon blinked slowly. He looked down nervously at his wrist where his hand used to be. The smile never left Artemis's face as he stalked forward to finish the job.