Yo, time for chapter 6.

December 25th

2:00pm

Bing!

Dearest Kirito,

Merriest Christmas to you Kirito. Since this is a day to give gifts I have a little freebie for you. Today a special holiday event is going on. This merchant caravan that arrived and set up shop inside the north gate won't shut up about it. Apparently if you head up to the tallest peak in the ‹‹Rhewi Mountains››, you will find a unique mob and it will drop a unique item. I know you are in that general area, so be safe for me please, after all I still need to get rich from selling that bow of yours.

~Too de loo~
Argo

Bing!

Hi Kirito,

This is Liz, I haven't seen you come by the shop? I thought you would need an upgrade or at least a repair by now? You better not have been using another player smith. Anyway, too many future business dealings and col. Merry Christmas.

-Liz

December 25th
11:30pm

Bing!

Argo,

Merry Christmas, I beat the mob, it was actually a swarm type and was 30 little green and yellow monsters labeled ‹‹Angry Christmas Elf›› they were really quick and put out some high damage compared to their appearance, but they were like one hit kills, so I dealt with them pretty easily. It helped I was way above their level. Each one actually dropped a small bag each. And I got a reward for killing all 30 myself, which was a big present box. But you will have to wait to find out what I got. He he.

-Kirito

-[S]-[A]-[O]-

December 30th
Graig

The npc warriors of Graig had a very routine day. They stood 24/7 in the same spot or pathed the same perimeter. Until their possible death to hostile npcs. Not very glamorous. They had only three responses to any form of dialogue addressed to them and they didn't react otherwise to anything that wasn't a hostile mob. However one among them was different.

Not to say this npc was buggy or corrupted, he was working exactly as intended. He was to blend into the guards and when a certain set of events transpired it was his job to sabotage the gate closing mechanism. The back story for this particular npc could be considered lengthy, and it was possible to read it all, but a quick summary would be that he was bought to be a turncoat by some very rich orcs.

Well today was the day. His conditions had been met and an event was about to take place. Not one of the grand events Kayaba had planned, this was a minor event but, it had a possible chance to effect the town of Graig greatly. And to an extent the remaining 38,000+ players. Normally this event was expected to be dealt with by a large group of players. But nothing ever actually works as intended.

Kirito had no idea what was going on. He could see the walls of Graig in the distance. He had just finished grinding mobs and completing the final quest chain he could find in Graig. He had been tasked to slaughter a tribe of cave dwelling goblins that rode large centipedes on the cave walls. Naturally the centipedes had large poisonous spines it could control near its mouth. This poison melted the insides of its target so the centipede could slurp its meal out. Go figure the arrows the goblins fired were coated with the same poison.

The tribe had been attempting to mine through the valley wall straight into Graig. Kirito had collapsed the cave by burning all the wooden supports down and then barely escaped the following cave in. He exited only to find an orc war band gathered outside preparing to enter the tunnel and pillage Graig. Kirito caught the sentries' attention and the war band was roused from their tents.

Kirito had fled immediately and fought off his pursers for a while before the orcs gave up. They couldn't attack Graig now so Kirito didn't think he needed to try to kill them all. High up in the mountains as he was Kirito was quickly chilled to the bone form the cold. His adrenaline rush from encountering the orcs had died off. He realized he hadn't the time to re-equip his winter jacket. Kirito donned his jacket and summoned Midnight to begin the ride back to Graig. He couldn't wait to get back and sleep. He needed the mental rest sleep provided in this game.

So when Kirito saw the normally routine npcs of Graig frantically running about, his weariness did not improve. Approaching the gate on the road he saw numerous npc warriors in front of the gate primed for a fight. The ‹‹Gatehouse Commander›› was bellowing orders left and right, and several of the npcs he recognized as smiths were inspecting the gate wench.

As Kirito had to turn his last quest into the commander he was at least relieved he didn't have to go up into the commander's room atop the wall. Those stairs were really steep and icy. Kirito approached the yelling npc and got his attention. The npc was well aware of who Kirito was as he had sent the player on plenty of quests.

"Kirito!"

He exclaimed looking relieved.

"I went to the cave and found them digging a tunnel. So I caved it in. You should be safe."

"Oh great they were a pesky lot, would have given us a right hard time had they finished that tunnel. Well done lad."

The npc had seemingly forgotten whatever crisis he had been dealing with as he settled into his programmed answer to Kirito. Then just as suddenly he seemed to remember.

"Kirito!"

He exclaimed again only this time since Kirito was looking at his quest reward he didn't interrupt.

"We've a big problem. Someone sabotaged the gate and we can't get it to close. A scout just reported a large group of orcs and wargs headed our way from the ‹‹Hynafol Highway››."

‹‹Hynafol Highway›› was a large cobbled road that led north through the Rhewi mountain. It was in disrepair and any wagon would find it a very bumpy ride with a high chance of breaking a wheel. It had long been forgotten what lay at the other end. People from Graig had gone to explore it but never returned. And the orcs that plagued the foothills had all come together and were marching down the road.

"Kirito, warrior of Aincrad we need your assistance. Those wargs will tear my boys apart if they charge us with the gate open. The archers have a hard time hitting and killing them with that tough hide of theirs. What I need you to do is ride out and draw the wargs away from the orcs and engage them in battle. The scout reported about 500 orcs and 50 wargs. When you defeat the wargs if you could return and assist in the defense of the gate, you would be rewarded greatly. If you have any allies please request their aid in this conflict. The lives of the citizens of Graig are in great peril."

While possibly over dramatic the npc was not lying. There were 40 npc archers on the small wall, and about 100 melee warriors. With the gate open the defenders would be hard pressed. Kirito knew that when the npc asked him to get other players to help, the fight was definitely some kind of group world event.

He had read in one of Kayaba's interviews how there were going to be certain events in the game that could permanently change the world. And with the introduction of the monthly large event Kirito had basically forgotten the possibility of random world events. And he realized this event might have the effect of permanently destroying Graig.

"I will do all I can."

Kirito replied. His thoughts of sleeping in a room in Graig were gone as he quickly spun Midnight around and spurred his trusted mount forward.

'No rest for me today.'

-[S]-[A]-[O]-

Kirito had engaged in mounted combat during his adventures in the Rhewi Mountains and their foot hills. He remembered one particular fight well.

Flashback

Kirito had already engaged many orc camps in the region over the course of a week. Each time he had been on foot and had parked Midnight well away from the camps. He didn't want to risk Midnight dying and having to slowly trudge all the way back to Graig. But luck was not on his side today. The larger orc camps were aware someone was attacking their expeditionary camps closer to Graig.

They were not happy. So they sent their elite mounted ‹‹Howling Warg Riders ›› to deal the new threat. These wargs were covered in iron plates and had an iron spike on a large face mask. With semi-intelligence the wargs knew how to utilize this iron spike. On their backs were large orcs in black chain mail and they wore vicious iron mask that accentuated their terrifying visages. They were carried eight foot lances and average sized twisted black iron shields, curved rusty daggers were snuggly strapped in sheaths on their lower backs.

Mount and rider could fight separately if one was killed. The wargs were level 25, with 2,500 hp each. They had a high defense, and were pretty fast even armored. Their bite could be pretty mean especially if they speared you with their iron spike. But the wargs had many weak spots that dealt critical damage. The orc rider was level 25 as well, with 2,000 hp and they could deal massive damage if they hit you full speed with their lance. With their armor the resisted damage well.

But Kirito knew none of this and as he was setting out for another day of questing he didn't expect to be ambushed. At level 30 Kirito then had 4,750 hp. He was using his ‹‹+10 Anneal Blade››. But the light armor plate he had equipped was somewhat low in quality as he hadn't found a better replacement yet.

He had taken Midnight miles out of Graig to the last remaining orc camp that was close by. The ‹‹Howlies›› as Kirito would later affectionately nickname them, were hidden among a large rock collection in between several hills. Miles out of the camp. They had guessed his travel route, the straightest path from Graig to this camp.

When he passed near their hideout they sprang into action. Five blurs came racing out. The wargs let loose with blood chilling howls and the orcs on top copied with their well-practiced imitations. And chill Kirito's blood it did. It was instinctual to feel a small bit of dread from that noise. The adrenaline flooding his system demanding an action, fight or flight? Kirito drew his sword and prepared for combat.

His head whipped back and forth as he searched for the source and discovered five heavily armed wargs with accompanying riders racing in his direction. Kirito now considered his level of proficiency riding Midnight to be acceptable. But he realized he was about to either come out as a much more skilled rider or he was going to die. He was being forced into a sink or swim approach on learning mounted combat.

Kirito saw the lances and was slightly worried, the reach on them was much greater than his sword's and he knew he needed a way around them. He jerked the reins and drew his sword in his right hand. Midnight reared back and neighed fearfully when he saw the wargs. Kirito barely managed to keep his seat. But when he calmed Midnight down a second later with a simple sentence of,

"C'mon boy, it is either do or die right now!"

Somehow, the Cardinal system, which governs the game was able to give mounts a much more sentient understanding of what players said to them. That or somehow the emotions leaked through the Nerve Gear. Kirito hadn't really pondered on it much, he just knew Midnight would respond to him as if he was a real horse that understood and cared for his master. Especially in such a desperate moment.

Kirito's adrenaline was running full tilt. Spamming his system with the boost it provided. And Kirito loved the feeling of it. SAO was unlike any other game he had ever played. For this very reason. The realistic response his body gave was amazing. He loved it. In near euphoria he spurred Midnight into action.

The electrified feeling in his system turned into battle lust and Kirito eagerly anticipated the coming clash. It promised to be more on edge than anything he had done recently.

One warg edged out in front of the others. It ran faster and was closing the distance much quicker. The four other riders veered off slightly so as to not hit their comrade. The orc in front levelled his lance and lined it up to drive it right though Kirito's heart. A certain kill shot with the kind of momentum behind it.

As it neared him, Kirito flicked his sword out across his body and parried the lance off target. With his sword still out in the air, the orc holding the lance had no chance as Kirito tightened his white knuckle grip and felt as his arm nearly was wrenched off. The hanging sword had cut right through the exposed orc's neck. Its head flew off with the momentum and Kirito watched as it burst into a shower of blue pixels.

One thing Kirito knew about mounted combat was the inability to use sword skills. The system allowed it. But your body would suddenly jerk while sitting mounted and it really messed with rider and mount. It just didn't work out. Thankfully the system calculated all blows made and the force behind them. So a sword strike from atop a horse while charging dealt quite a bit of damage. The weight behind his last blow was enough to one-shot that orc.

The other orc's were now coming in on Kirito. The closest one reached him and Kirito again parried the lance off course. Kirito managed to twists his wrist and plunged the sword into the orc's chest cavity. Another shoulder jarring impact struck him as he barely held his blade. It had sawed its way out the side of the orc, less Kirito would have been without his sword.

Kirito took the next second to notice that the wargs were still intact. It then occurred to him that the mount did not die with its rider. And likely visa-versa.

'Fan-fucking-tastic. That doubles the number of mobs in this fight. 2/5 orcs down, zero wargs down.'

He swung Midnight around in a tight turn. The small turn radius quickly had them angled them in a new direction. Much to his disbelief Kirito saw the previous orc's lance stuck blade deep into the ground several feet in front of him.

Midnight was once again spurred forward and Kirito sheathed his sword before snatching the lance up. Having no skill with pole arms, Kirito was surprised he was able to wield it at all. Even more surprised that it hadn't disintegrated along with the orc's body.

Trusting his instincts Kirito shifted his grip on the lance and held it back as if to throw it. He felt the familiar hum of energy build up and took aim. Executing the throwing skill Kirito heaved the lance like a javelin into an oncoming un-mounted warg's mouth. The throw was rough, the weapon was large and not designed for throwing. But it worked and the warg was dispatched from the blow gutting it head to toe.

A warg and rider appeared next to Kirito as he wheeled to run and gather speed again. With its dagger drawn the orc slashed Kirito's exposed arm. The blow sliced shoulder to elbow and dealt 10% of Kirito's health worth in damage.

Kirito had drawn his sword again after throwing the lance and running side by side exchanged a quick couple of back and forth parries before he overwhelmed the dagger user and stabbed the orc into the gaping mouth hole in the mask. The orc died and Kirito stabbed down into the exposed part of the back of the warg's skull several times in succession and killed another of the five wargs.

While this was happening the other two mounted orc had ridden up and one of them ran his lance right through Kirito's shoulder, deliver massive damage. Kirito was lucky he hadn't been hit somewhere critical. With the lance still in his shoulder making him slowly bleed out hp, he twisted in the saddle and slashed downward splitting the orc's mask and killing it in a brutal overhead cleave.

The warg for said rider was now adjacent to Kirito and was trying to bite Midnight's leg. But Kirito stabbed into the warg's mouth and then slashed down at the back of its exposed neck. Another warg dead. Kirito ripped the lance out and threw it at the last remaining rider. Dis-mounting and disabling it. Kirito's adrenaline kept any kind of pain blocked from his thoughts.

He checked his hp, it was below 50% and two wargs still remained. They were grouped up. He charged at them and started slashing one, while it batted at him with its paws. The second flanked him and bit down onto his foot in the stirrup. All at once his gathered pain broke through the adrenaline haze and Kirito roared in pain. He focused the one not chewing his foot and killed it with several more strikes.

Then he struck the one still attached and it let go and jumped back. He spun Midnight to face it and Midnight reared back and brought his iron shod hooves forward into the warg's lower jaw. The blow stunned it long enough for Midnight to bring them closer and Kirito managed to kill it before it fully recovered.

A sixth warg suddenly made itself known when it speared its iron spike through Kirito's knee and into Midnight's heart. Before shattering into crystals, Midnight fell onto his side and Kirito slammed onto the ground.

It took Kirito a second to get his bearings and he saw his hp was down around 30%. Midnight suddenly exploded into a cloud of blue pixels and freed Kirito from under him. Kirito got to his feet to see the extra warg glaring him down.

'OH SHIT! OH SHIT! OH SHIT!'

His thoughts were expressing his feelings perfectly. The warg had the upper hand now that he was dismounted. It could build up a lot of momentum and kill him in one hit. So he charged. Closing the distance reduced the wargs momentum and slightly increased his survival chance. Although that was debatable since he was in fact charging toward the heavily armored creature.

The mob sprung forward and Kirito dived to the side narrowly avoiding its head spike. Rolling to his feet he lunged at the warg's unprotected back. A quick ‹‹Sonic Leap›› gave his strike some real power and he sunk his blade hilt deep. Kirito drew one of his throwing daggers and still holding on with his sword started slashing all the exposed parts of the warg.

The warg's health was quickly whittled down and it died in a flurry of pixels. He lay on the ground where he had fallen. He needed a breather.

10 minutes later when he got back up to check his loot and observe his surroundings he recalled one important fact. There was still an orc alive. He saw it still pinned to the ground by a thrown lance. So he made his way over and finished it off.

He sighed. That had been a very unexpected fight. Still he and Midnight had kicked ass.

'Midnight even stunned that warg for a moment!'

Then the obvious realization came to him. Midnight died. And he was miles out from Graig, many miles.

'Well... Now what...?' Kirito wondered.

Flashback End

Since that eye opener of a battle Kirito had learned and practiced several things. He learned you could throw spears. Which dealt much more damage than thrown daggers or picks. After the eye opener of an introduction to mounted combat he had been spending lots of time learning to fight atop his mount. Midnight had died off several more times. Kirito had however stopped fighting on top of Midnight so far away from Graig.

So he was now a proficient rider and carried two dozen ‹‹Graig Javelin›› in his inventory for whenever he was in mounted combat. He had clashed against more groups of Howlies and each one had been randomly equipped. One group had been armed with bows, which had been a very tricky battle. Thankfully he was near lots of cover. Another group had long swords like himself. The fast pace of movement on the mounts and the quick brutal back and forth flurries of steel had made that his favorite battle yet.

-[S]-[A]-[O]-

So here he was, riding out to engage 50 warg riders in personal combat. 1 vs 50 was not a battle he would normally fight. But Kirito knew these mobs wouldn't be close to his level as he was now level 37 and he had yet to see a mob above level 30 and that had been a mini boss. This world event would naturally scale down the quality of its troops since it was intended to be dealt with by a group of players in a lower level range. He was optimistic about his chances here.

Following the road to the ‹‹Hynafol Highway›› Kirito heard a sound he was intimately familiar with by now. The growls and howls of wargs. He crowned the hill in front of him and down below a good 50 yards away were the 550 hostile npcs hell-bent on burning Graig to the ground. He spurred Midnight forward and drew one of his javelins.

Kirito was by no means an expert at throwing weapons, but with the system assist he did well. He took aim hucked it at the lead warg. With Midnights momentum and being up on a hill, the javelin soared 40 plus yards and slammed home into one of the wargs.

For some reason the wargs weren't mounted yet. He could see their riders walking in a block behind them. So with no one to order them the wargs saw their friend die, then followed the trail to find Kirito. They roared and howled in rage and the remaining 49 wargs broke formation and charged.

These wargs were lvl 25 and were the same ones the Howlies rode. But Kirito was hardly in danger from them now. He charged right into them and swung his sword back and forth cleaving through the warg's, mask and all. Dashing through he reached the bottom of the hill and aimed Midnight to the left and booked it wide of the hill. A swarm of arrows peppered the ground where he was going to be if he had continued straight and actually managed to kill three wargs by misfires.

Chuckling Kirito led the wargs over the hill and far away from the highway. For five minutes he just rode Midnight hard with wargs nipping at his heels. Kirito satisfied that the orcs wouldn't catch up, slowed Midnight down slightly. The wargs not ready to impale the horse, veered around the horse like a rock parts a stream. As the wargs ran past Kirito slashed left and right killing wargs indiscriminately.

The wargs had been reduced to half their numbers by this point. But their anger and blood lust had only grown as they watched their brethren crippled and slain alongside them. The wargs, when in packs like this received a damage boost for each warg killed out of the pack, but their defense was reduced. So Kirito no longer needed to slash critical areas to deal death. He charged into the waiting 23 wargs and slashed anywhere and everywhere.

Unfortunately for Kirito and for Graig. The last warg of the group had its damage so boosted that when it bit Midnight's leg it one shot the poor horse. Kirito had quickly finished it but could only curse the situation since it would take him close to 20 minutes to reach Graig while the orcs should be arriving there this moment.

But then Kirito remembered the item he had received for completing the final quest from the gatehouse commander. ‹‹Graig Crystal››. This item was only given to those who achieved full reputation standing with a city and it allowed them to teleport to the city. Achieving full rep or as it is called ‹‹Kindred›› status, is not an easy feat. He had killed hundreds of orcs for their small rep xp and every quest from Graig gave him a chunk. But the final quest had pushed his standing to the top.

What Kirito didn't realize is that to get this item a player had to have done even the one time quests for the city. This new event didn't count as it wasn't a simple city quest but a major world event. So Kirito took his crystal out and teleported to Graig.

He found himself wrapped in blue light and then suddenly all he could see was blue for two seconds then he found himself just inside the gates of Graig. The crystal disintegrated to dust in his hand.

'Aww it was only one time use?'

He didn't have time to be annoyed at losing the crystal because behind him he heard the frantic shouts of the gatehouse commander. He was ordering the archers to open fire. Kirito made his way to the makeshift barrier erected in the gate arch. Old lumber, large stones, a broken wagon and several stumps were piled together to create a barricade. Atop the barricade the melee npcs held a stout shield wall.

"Hey I killed all the wargs."

Kirito simply said.

"Waah? OH! Great job laddy! Hear that boys! The Aincrad warrior killed all the wargs."

He shouted. Then he looked at Kirito again and said.

"You will be greatly rewarded for what you have done already but if you help us defeat these orcs I can promise something more. So please help us."

Kirito nodded and accepted the quest. As if he was just going to walk away anyway. Midnight was dead and he didn't have any way to teleport to Aincrad. So he was stuck behind the wall of Graig and his life rested with the town's fate.

He sighed as he ran up to the wall to hurl his remaining javelins.

'I just won't ever get to rest today.'

January 1st
Northern Lumber Camp

Kirito breathed deeply as he stared out on the green plain that surrounded Aincrad. He had spent the last three and a half weeks in the wide and frozen foothills of Rhewi and had occasionally journeyed into the mountains themselves. He patted Midnight beneath him and then spurred the horse to get him moving again.

He had encountered several players within the forest and the lumber camp. None had been mounted but they didn't react as if they had never seen someone mounted when they saw him. So he assumed others had purchased mounts. And his tattered appearance didn't inspire people to take much note of him.

But in truth the new black cloak he wore was actually a very high level cloak given to him by the people of Graig along with several other things. After the battle where all the npc defenders had ended up dead, Kirito faced off against the last 45 orcs himself after fighting and personally killing about 150 other orcs and this easily earned Kirito the rewards. As soon as the last orc fell the gatehouse commander had re-spawned and greeted Kirito in celebration. The cloak, chest plate and sword he received were gear from an ancient hero of Graig legend.

Kirito had been forced to have the title ‹‹Hero of Graig›› applied. So anyone who stopped and examined Kirito would notice his title as it floated above his head. But with his ‹‹Hiding›› skill as high leveled as it was. His name and title were not viewable unless you had a ‹‹Searching›› skill close in level to his ‹‹Hiding››.

His cloak was the ‹‹Legendary Graig Cloak›› which was pitch black trimmed with a deep crimson and the cloak was littered with small holes and rips, it had a deep cowl he used to cover his head. The npc's of Graig had told Kirito he needed to find a tailor of 300/1000 or better to fix its appearance since they hadn't tampered with the any of the items since the hero had passed away and his legendary gear was stored away. The cloak gave the user +15% one-handed sword damage, +5% battle healing rate, and it gave him a discount while shopping with a Graig npc.

His new sword he hadn't equipped yet because the ‹‹+10 Anneal Blade›› was still only slightly better than the base ‹‹Legendary Graig Sword››, The sword was a pitch black blade with a deep crimson groove. It had no cross guard and the handle was wrapped in a very comfortable black leather. The sword was a special sword that scaled really strongly with each upgrade. Needless to say, Kirito would be using this blade for a long time to come.

Then the chest plate he received. The ‹‹Legendary Graig Mail›› it was the same pitch dark as the cloak and blade and was made of extremely light weight plates that covered his chest, stomach, sides and back. This chest plate scaled similarly to his sword, and Kirito knew this armor was easily one of the best pieces this early into the game. He would be using it for a while.

To finish off his outfit Kirito wore a black t-shirt and long black pants. He was glad to finally shed the furs he wore while north of the forest. Sitting atop his horse who was equally black, Kirito rode along the road to Aincrad and he spotted players still grinding out the boars all over the plain. He couldn't help an exasperated sigh that came out.

'Do these people really think killing boars all day will get them to the level to fight in the next event?'

With no answer Kirito could only wonder. But something that did catch his eye was nearly two dozen people all mounted charging across the plain in formation. For the most part they did a good job staying cohesive. Kirito was quite impressed, as he drew closer he saw that they all at least appeared to have some degree of control of their horses.

But then again their formation was just a simple wide arrow head. They just ran in a straight line then seemed to scatter and regroup around a leader. The group spotted Kirito plodding along on his horse and seemed to be interested in him. Kirito thought about it and while horses weren't extremely expensive the average player would need to save to afford one at this point in the game. So Kirito realized that these mounted players might be some of the only other players who had a horse. Or maybe no one had seen a player in all black on top of a black horse. Before he could keep thinking why they might be approaching him, they were in front of him and Midnight had stopped.

The player Kirito in the center of the formation called out.

"Hey there, you look pretty comfortable on that horse. I don't think I have seen you around Aincrad and I pride myself on knowing everyone who owns a horse in the city."

The voice was one that seemed familiar even with the obvious questioning tone. He didn't talk to many girls.

'Heh I don't even talk to many people anymore.'

So it must be someone he had previously met. When he focused more on who was speaking he realized he did know who it was.

"Err... You are that girl who owned that bakery."

He said rather lamely. The proclaimed bakery owner cocked her eyebrow and was taking a closer look at the boy in black.

'How does he know that? My bakery sucked almost no one ever came to it... I had to close to down shortly after the first event.'

"What was your name again… Asula? Asuma? Anusa? No… oh Asuna wasn't it!" He exclaimed.