Edit 03/07/14
Fixed minor spelling Mistakes.
On the 9th floor of the floating castle of Aincrad, the theme of the floor was a rainforest. A rainforest contested with giant insects. Some people decided to shy away from this floor, since they didn't have the guts to fight giant spiders or face an army of dog-sized ants.
The clearers however, didn't care, or rather didn't have a choice in the matter. They needed all the manpower they could possibly get to beat this floor and proceed into the double-digit floors.
"Focus on the legs! It'll get weaker and more vulnerable once we can get some of the legs out of the way!"
"Right!"
The 9th floor boss was a giant centipede, equipped with fangs and razor sharp horns. Its name was A Hundred Deaths. Contrary to the name, nobody has died so far in.
The boss had 4 health bars, 2 of which were completely depleted. Leaving 1 health bar full and another almost full, and was being chipped away at a steady rate.
The players were following Diabel, as he had shown an improvement in leadership after the first floor's incident with Illfang. He seemed for cautious now, taking into account everyone's positions and checking their HP at all moments.
With his leadership, the boss fight had been going better than expected. With the floor boss's third health bar reaching 0, all they had to focus on was the last bar.
"It's getting low! Prepare to go on the defensive! We don't know how it's attack pattern will change!"
Diabel's shout echoed through the room, and everyone started to get the last bar down to its 20%. As the players got the boss's health down, they all started to retreat and prepare for what the boss would do. The boss's attack pattern changed almost instantly, surprising most of the players. It opened its mouth, and a tongue started to roll out, a sticky mucus coating the tongue dripped onto the ground.
Some players looked in disgust, others just confused. This boss's change in attack pattern was growing a tongue? It seemed kind of... lame.
"What's it going to do? Lick us to death?" One player mused. Chuckles came after that, until Diabel ordered out, less interested in the fight than before.
"Seriously? Whatever, we'll continue as before, but make sure you dodge that tongue. It probably isn't the only thing that changed with the boss."
The players tensed up as they heard the boss's legs start tapping on the ground. A multitude of clicking sounds could be heard, somewhat like hail falling from the sky. Hail the size of golf balls. They all prepared their weapons and charged in, taking heed of Diabel's words. As they began to repeat their initial strategy, they all noticed one thing.
It had gotten faster. At least twice as fast.
Some people were unprepared as the tongue shot out at a speed that could easily be compared to a pitcher's fast ball. An unfortunate tank, being slow as they are, was unable to dodge. As the tongue hit him, the mucus made him stick to the tongue as it slowly stretched back into the boss's mouth, pulling the unfortunate player towards it's fangs.
"Help! Please!"
People stared and shock at his screams and pleas for help. Within a few short seconds, the boss was successful in targeting a player. The last time they lost a player during a boss fight was on the 6th floor. The clearers still didn't know how to handle a situation like this, where one person was helpless in the clutches of a boss.
"Stop spacing out! Go attack the legs! Make it lose its balance! Sinon! Aim for the tongue!"
A voice brought them out of it. An effeminate looking boy with chin length black hair, Equipped with a black coat and holding a long sword rushing towards the boss with a chestnut coloured girl clad in white at his side. A dark haired girl was stringing an arrow behind them, aiming for the start of the tongue.
The boy rushed in, his sword started to glow. Looking at a set of 5 legs, he lashed out, yelling "Horizontal!" Chopping 5 legs off one side, the boss lost its balance, leaning towards the boy. During its slow fall, an arrow pierced though the middle of its tongue. It screeched out in pain, thrashing its tongue around with the player still attached. With the player on the edge of a broken tongue, much like a weight on a weak string; the tongue broke, hurling the tank towards the edge of the room, where his party members started to gather around and heal him.
"Tch, I missed. Kirito, bad timing with that slash."
"My bad! Asuna, start attacking the back before the legs grow back!"
"Roger!"
The team of three lead by 'The Black Swordsman' always worked together with amazing teamwork. Always on the front lines, and probably the highest level out of all the players. Envied by many of the other clearers for being 'beaters.'
"What are you people doing!? Go help kill the boss!" Agil's deep voice boomed out and basically intimidated them into following his order.
The players rushed out, once again taking their formations. Working much more cautiously, they all attacked the boss. Slowly, the boss's final health bar hit 0.
[Congratulations!]
The familiar message and the typical music from a RPG greeted them, gracing their eyes and ears. After a good few hours, the boss battle was finished. They were heading towards the 10th floor.
"That was exhausting." Kirito said, as he and his group opened and walked though the door leading to the 10th floor. They were usually the first ones to leave after a boss raid, usually exploring the maps until they reached the first town and activating the teleport gate connecting the other floors together.
They were greeted with something old settlers would have seen. Grassy plains, a nice green while they reached out for miles. Gigantic mountains, reaching for the skies. Hundreds of trees, bunched together, almost looking as if they were about to start a forest. A truly magnificent sight to behold.
"Yeah, but it was worth it. I mean, we're on the 10th floor. Double digits. And we got the boss drop as a bonus too!" Asuna replied, admiring the scenery.
"Yeah. It's perfect for me too. It's a new bow. My old one is kind of weak too." Sinon added, as they began to walk on the pre-made dirt path.
"We'll go upgrade it later. Anyways, let's get to the next town. We should open up the teleport portal and give the rest of the clearers our current map data. Maybe we can find a better inn than we have on the 5th floor too."
The 2 girls agreeing on their unofficial leader; they all headed towards the town, ready to explore the wonders of the floor.
As the rest of the clearers were leaving the boss room, some went towards the 10th floor. Others went back towards the town of the 9th to go rest and wait for the map data to be shared around so they could look for any good training areas for later. Most of the groups were conversing with themselves, talking about random topics or just getting to know their teammates better. One group in particular was well known among everyone, who was led by a fiery haired samurai-in-training, or so he called himself.
"Maaaaaaaan. That fight was tough. Kirito wasn't kidding when he said how hard this was." The fiery haired player said to his party.
"Chill out Klein. We came to a boss fight and won, that's good experience if we want to keep fighting." A party member replied back to their leader.
"Yeah, yeah. I get what you're saying. Anyways, I want to get back to the inn and take a nap. Kirito's probably walking towards the town with Sinon and Asuna. They'll open the gate and everyone else will teleport there later."
As they walked out of the boss room conversing with each other, their leader was staggering behind with his arms crossed and a slightly envious look on his face. "A flower in each hand." He muttered out, barely audible to his party.
Following a dirt path on the 10th floor, a certain group of 3 sneezed at the exact same time.
"Ah, bless you."
"You too."
"Excuse me."
The group reached the first town shortly after, which was designed like the rest of the map. There were horse led wagons and wooden-logged houses everywhere, and the NPC's were wearing old pioneer clothes.
"Is this what North America looked like during its first years? They're using wagons and carriages led by horses and the houses are built by raw wooden logs. I thought they would be made out some sort of hand-processed wood. Still looks pretty nice though." Kirito voiced out.
"Probably. Kayaba made most of the other floors with great detail. Maybe he did research on the early Americas?" Sinon replied back, marvelling at the environment. "It's pretty though."
Asuna was slightly surprised at her party, or rather Kirito's knowledge of early North America. "Kirito-kun, do you know a lot about the early Americas? The way you're talking about it seems like you have some background knowledge on it. Have you been there before?"
"Nope. I learned a few things from history class, and I played a few RPGs that were focused on the early settlements. I guess the info just stuck with me." Kirito replied before turning around to look for teleport gate. Sinon grabbed Asuna behind him and whispered in her ear, "He'll remember almost anything he's read or heard. You could ask him a lot of trivia questions on a ton of topics and he'd probably be able to tell you something you didn't know."
"Really? Has this happened to you?" She whispered back, staring at the boy's back.
"You wouldn't even be able to imagine. Seriously, this boy made a lot of people feel stupid."
"Are you one of those people?"
Asuna giggled at her friend's lack of response. Kirito noticed and turned his head to see what was going on. It looked like Sinon was getting teased by Asuna, so nothing was out of the ordinary.
A little while longer, they found the teleport gate. Kirito asked the girls to find a better inn while he activated the gate. They complied and went around searching for any decent looking inn. Kirito placed his hand on the middle of the gate, and said, "Teleport gate, activate."
A few seconds after he said it, he stepped back and watched the gate light up before the backing of it turned white, indicating that the floors were connected. People would most likely start to swarm to this floor, so he decided to go meet up with someone on the lower floors before he would get trampled by the incoming players.
He opened up his menu, sending a quick message to Asuna and Sinon stating where he would go. He also sent out another message to whom was meeting, telling them where to meet up. Closing his menu, he walked onto the platform and shouted, "Teleport, Floor 7!"
Sinon and Asuna had already found an inn before Kirito sent them his message. Reading it over, they decided to rent a couple of rooms, one for Kirito and one for themselves. Of course, there absolutely had to be a bath; according to Asuna. The girls went into their room, which had 2 beds and claimed their own. It was like a shared complex, with a couch and kitchen in a larger area while their rooms were separate.
"We'll get Kirito to pick up any remaining things from our old inn. We pretty good with col right now, so we should be able to keep 2 rooms for a while." Asuna said, while she was storing some of her things in the chest in front of her bed.
"Yeah, 'good on col' meaning that we almost have enough to buy our own house. Seriously, it's only the 10th floor yet we're 2/3 of the way to buying a small house. If we keep saving up and renting in inns, by the 20th floor we'd be able to buy a decently sized house, not that big but it would still be enough to live in. That Argo, she seriously knows how to sell." Sinon replied, looking around their new room.
"She's probably richer than us, in all honesty. She's not only our middleman, but everyone else's middleman. She probably gets a hefty pay from all the jobs she does."
"True, but still, you can't doubt her merchanting skills."
"Mhm."
An awkward silence came into the room for a second, until Asuna asked a certain question.
"Hey, I've kinda been wondering. How long have you known Kirito-kun?"
Asking about one's life back in reality wasn't one of the most proper things to do, as many people actually missed their homes and wanted to get out. Sinon really didn't care to much as she was getting quite close with Asuna, since they were together a lot whenever Kirito was out doing whatever he did.
"Before we started playing SAO, probably half a year, give or take a few months."
Asuna was sort of surprised. It was a short amount of time to know someone, but those 2 seemed like they've known each other forever. "Only half a year? When I see you 2 interacting it seems like you've known each other for a few years at the very least."
Sinon didn't really know what to say. It was indeed short, but there were certain things that caused them to be really close. "Well, some things happened and we became really close. I guess I don't really care about what happened anymore since those were the things that let me get closer with him."
Asuna knew this was her clue to stop talking. Though Sinon did often talk about her and Kirito's lives outside the game, she never went into anything personal.
The silence returned. Awkward.
"Well since we've finished up in here, let's go to a cafe. I'm wondering what kind of beverages and foods they'll have." Asuna suggested, trying to make conversation, and satisfy her sweet tooth.
"Sure. Some tea would be nice right now. Wait, they did have tea back in the old west right...?"
"She's late. I told her to come here 20 minutes ago. What's with her tardiness?" Kirito mumbled to himself in annoyance. He was currently sitting on a bench waiting to get caught up with the news via rat-mail.
He ended up sitting there for another 10 minutes until he received a message from said rat.
"Last deal took a while. Too lazy to move from where I am right now, so come to me? I'm currently at the [Wolves' Den]. You wouldn't want to miss out on any information would you?"
'She's messing with me. There probably was no deal. She probably just woke up and decided to go have a drink. That's the only reasonable explanation since she took a while to reply back to my message. That, and there's an inn right beside that bar.' And so, Kirito began to walk towards the bar, mumbling and grumbling about how that half hour would have been good for training purposes.
Once he arrived at the entrance, he looked through the window. A quick peek, but it was enough to confirm his suspicions. Argo, in the corner of the pub. In her signature brown coat and her left cheek resting on the left arm. She definitely just woke up. Nobody's that tired after a trade. Kirito opened the door, and a jingle was heard.
The pub was actually quite scarce of people. Just the bartender at his bar, and a few NPC's dressed as waitresses delivering food to the tiny amount of people there. Excluding him and his client, there was probably less than 5 people there.
"Mwuh~?"
'..What? That was incredibly cute. There is no way this is really Argo.' As he took a seat in front of the girl, she woke up from whatever kind of sleeping state she was in, her eyes drifting around as they focused on the black haired boy across from her. She made a face, probably because of the look he was giving her.
"Ahem. Alright. So Ki-bou, what kind of info are you looking for?" Straightening her posture, elbows on the table, hands together, fingers interlocked, chin resting on the hands and a change in her gaze. She went into what Sinon would call 'business-mode.'
"A couple of things. One, I heard about some boss that would be appearing only on the 10th floor; I don't know where and when though, but I'm sure you do. Two, the PKs. I need to get an idea of who they are so I can report to the [Aincrad Liberation Force]. The sooner they know, the sooner they can take action."
"Alright. The information will cost you roughly 5000 col. Mainly because you'll be the first person that would know these things."
One of Kirito's eyebrows rose. 5000 col for information? With that, he could rent out an above average room for nearly a week and a half. This information had better be worth it.
Forking over the money, he ushered the girl to continue.
"Alright. I don't know the boss's name or what exactly he looks like-"
"Helpful."
"Can it Ki-bou. I do however, know that he's themed like one of the people that landed here by ship, so probably like an earlier explorer, but since the 10th floor is probably a few decades after the exploration, expect ghosts. Think of what Columbus would look like and make him spooky. His abilities and weapons should be a flintlock pistol, a rifle, and probably a sabre or cutlass. He'll probably bring a small platoon of sailers so be prepared. Probably shouldn't be hard, just have Sinon do crowd control and you and Asuna focus him down.
"Next, the PKs. Supposedly, they're working together. Not solo, which means that they're either in a party or guild. The latter would make more sense since there are more benefits to being in a guild. There's probably a green player amongst the orange players, to act as bait and lure them into a trap. The last I've heard of them is that they've set up a base somewhere on the 6th floor. Why that floor? I don't know. I do know that they've probably taken an abandoned fort since orange players can't go into towns.
"That's all I've got right now. Anything else?"
Somewhere during the talk, Kirito's posture changed. He was leaning back on his chair, left arm across his abdomen holding his right, which was cupping his mouth. He was staring down at the table and had a contemplating expression on his face.
"That should be fine. I'll give you the map data for what I've scouted out on the 10th floor. Please distribute it among the rest of the people."
As Argo received the map data, she was preparing to leave. Although, she didn't want to leave with this kind of atmosphere, so she got up, and passed Kirito, but not without whispering something into his ear.
"Don't think too much about it, Ki-bou. Asuna and Sinon will be there to solve all your problems, one way or another. Fufufu~" and with that, she walked past him.
"Eh?"
His brain still catching up after processing the previous information, didn't really register what she said until she had her hand on the door leading to outside. When his brain did process it, he turned a light shade of red.
"You damn perverted rat!"
Although, all he got in response was a giggle from the door and stares from the rest of the people in the pub. He seemed to have gotten himself into an awkward situation.
Argo, serious in one moment then completely teasing the next. Quite a troublesome girl.
While he was on the 7th floor, he decided to explore some of the old dungeons on a whim. Walking down the paths to one of the monster-filled dungeons, he scanned the area for any players. There weren't many. A small group of players were outside training. From what Kirito could hear, a small group of 4 or 5 people were conversing amongst each other about...dragon hide?
"Come on Silica, I'd love to have your pet dragon for my purse." Came from a sultry looking redhead, obviously sneering at the smaller figure.
"No! I won't let you kill Pina! I'm leaving. I'll just find another party to join anyways." Snapped the smaller girl. She had yellowish armour and had her hair in twin tails. The 2 most alarming things Kirito noticed were her age, and what she was holding. She was less than Kirito, maybe being even 2 years younger than him. The other alarming this was that she had something perched on her shoulders. A dragon.
That red headed woman however, seemed rather important if the guys in the party were sticking so closely and backing her up. That, or they were just generally attracted to her. Kirito used his sneaking skill to stay in the shadows, and to observe where this conversation would go.
"Stay with us until you get out Silica. Rosalia-san can-"
"Sure, go ahead Silica, but be careful. This part of the forest is dangerous, and it would be quite unfortunate for you to get attacked by mobs. Stay safe, okay~?" The redhead, Rosalia interrupted.
"Hmph. I don't need you to watch out for me." She retorted with a flip of her head, and then started walking out of the forest.
Meanwhile, Kirito was preparing to follow Rosalia, he made sure to take note of the shorter girl's general direction, just to be safe.
Roughly 30 minutes later, Kirito was bored. Rosalia's group wasn't doing anything interesting at all. Just grinding on mobs and collecting materials. He was seriously doubting that this woman was anyone important. He rather wished he just left in the first place instead of wasting a good half hour following a weak party around. Mumbling about wastes of time and desperate guys he strode off in the direction he came from.
Quietly running through the forest to conserve time and to not draw any of the monster's attention to him, he began to run in the general direction that Silica went. She probably made it out of the forest already, but he needed to make sure, right?
A few hundred meters later and he was right in checking on her. There she was, still wearing her yellowish armour, hair in twin tails, fighting off an army of mobs. It's been over half an hour! How in the world did she not get out of this forest!? How in the floating castle is she still-
Orange markers, 3 of them. Most likely PKers. So that's how. She was ambushed and now they're trying to steal her items after she dies.
"Damnit." A low curse came from his mouth as he changed directions and started running towards the girl. Slicing through the slowly approaching army of mobs, he found the girl, cradling something blue and fluffy in her arms. Ah, it seems like the mobs poisoned her dragon.
"Pina! Why don't I have an antidote for this!? There are too many mobs coming! IM GOING TO DIE!" She screamed, most likely in desperation. Her eyes were also closed. She probably hasn't heard some of the monsters die because she was in panic.
"Please don't move." Came a stranger's voice and she tensed up, but nodded slowly.
"Horizontal!" Was all that came from the stranger after that, and then the sound of mobs dispersing into polygons.
Slowly Silica looked up to the person who saved her and saw an effeminate looking boy in an old cloak, with black hair and onyx eyes with his sword held to the side.
"You alright?"
"Ah, yes. Thank you, stranger-san." She replied nervously with tears forming in the corners of her eyes.
Crouching down so he would look less intimidating to the girl, he spoke to her in a soft voice. "I'm Kirito. What's your name?"
"Silica. Thank you for saving me Kirito-san."
The was she said it however, was somewhat troubling. It sounded like she was thankful, yes, but it also sounded like it was his fault for something.
'Ah, her dragon must be harmed somehow.' Kirito thought, as hey eyed the dragon shivering in her arms. "Is your dragon alright?"
"Pina's been poisoned and I don't have any antidotes." She replied back, tightening her grip on the creature in her arms.
"May I see?"
At his question, Silica perked up instantly. "Can you fix her? Please!"
Kirito just smiled slightly and allowed her to loosen her grip in the dragon, exposing a shallow cut from one of the mobs. "The poison won't kill Pina, but it will hinder her performance. I could get an antidote and heal her, but I need some help and supplies."
"Please!"
"Alright, let's get out of this forest first." And he began leading her out of the forest, making small talk as they were walking. As they got to the exit, Kirito sent out a message to one of the people he was staying with. 'Hey Asuna, I need your help with an antidote...'
When they got to the 10th floor, Silica was amazed with everything she saw, as the highest floor she was on was naturally floor 7 due to her lower level.
"So Kirito-san is a clearer? Is it scary?" Asked Silica as she watched the horse drawn carriages go by. She was rather interested since her school never talked about the early Americas.
"Mhmm. It's not that bad. It may be hard, sure, but it's worth it to get the rare items and help reach the upper floors." Kirito replied while looking at his map. They were currently heading towards the inn that he and his companions were staying at.
He knocked on the room rented by the girls. After a couple of seconds the door opened and Asuna was there in more casual clothing than her normal armour. "Welcome back Kirito-kun. I take it your talk with Argo held some good news?" Asuna greeted while gesturing them to enter.
Kirito bowed and walked in, with Silica sticking close to him, obviously intimidated by the 2 pretty girls in the room. "Apparently there's a boss on this floor. He's themed to be like Columbus, so that'll help out a bit. You up for it?"
"Eh, sure. Why not? It won't be that bad I guess. It's not like he's going to be the most overpowered boss of this floor, so we should definitely take our chances. However, we should bring more people, just in case." Sinon replied, eager to fight another new boss.
"Oh, and this is Silica," Kirito introduced, "the girl with chestnut hair is Asuna and the girl with dark hair is Sinon."
"Hello Silica-chan!" "Hello." The girls replied.
"Can I see your dragon? I need to see the poison to figure out an antidote." Asuna asked politely. At the younger girl's nod, she went to grab a pillow and placed it on a nearby table, allowing the girl's dragon to have a more comfortable resting spot.
Silica put Pina on the table, and Asuna began analyzing the poison. "So it was from one of the mobs on the 7th floor?"
At the younger girl's nod, Asuna opened up her menu and took out a book. It read; Antidotes and Medicines. She opened it up and began flipping through multiple pages until she reached the page with the correct antidote for monsters from the 7th floor.
"We can almost make this. We just need a certain ingredient. Queen bee's venom. Kirito, how about going on an adventure?"
"Mm, Sure! Sinon, let's get ready to go." At his reply, Sinon just lazily nodded and grabbed her things, but Silica was surprised to hear about that missing ingredient. "V-Venom!?"
Kirito, understanding her position, replied back to her. "Don't worry. Venom alone is toxic and poisonous, but when you mix it up with other ingredients and herbs it actually ends up fighting itself. Don't worry, after we get back Pina will be better than ever."
Feeling reassured, Silica calmed down and asked if she could stay with Asuna while they were gone; which she was fine with.
As Kirito left, Sinon placed her hand in Asuna's shoulder and bent down to whisper in her ears, "I'll be all alone with Kirito for a little while~ but don't worry, I wouldn't do anything you wouldn't approve of." and she left the inn, tailing Kirito.
Silica seeing, but not hearing, this exchange began wondering why Asuna was red and mumbling about how she created some sort of monster.
Sinon had a little grin all the way to the dungeon.
On the 7th floor, there existed a dungeon at the far edge of the floor. Actually, it couldn't even be considered a dungeon. It was a nest. Around the size of 8 large mansions stacked into a box. A bees nest.
"Oh god. It's like last time. Well, except Asuna isn't here to whine about her fears." Sinon complained. She hated this because it was a giant maze of catacombs and dog sized bees. Granted, the bees weren't really that difficult to get rid of, since a single hit could kill one easily. The problem was when they swarmed. Area of effect skills were a godsend for these kinds of mobs.
"Don't worry, it'll be fine. We still have the map data and out levels are way higher than last time. Nothing to worry about." Kirito reassured her, as he walked into the entrance of the nest.
{A few hours later}
"DON'T WORRY HE SAYS, IT'LL BE FINE HE SAYS. HOW IS THIS FINE. IT TOOK US 3 HOURS TO KILL THE QUEEN BEE. WITH A PARTY OF 8. WHAT CAN WE DO AS 2!?" Was the harsh yell coming from Sinon's mouth as they tried to kill the field boss by themselves.
"Ah, uh, If it helps, we're both over 15 levels above it? I mean, compared to being just 5 levels above it." Came his sheepish reply, whilst he was rubbing the back of his head...dodging a giant stinger coming from the queen bee.
"DOES. NOT. HELP."
A strangled mumble was Kirito's reply. An angered Sinon is the scariest Sinon.
"Whatever! Just keep it distracted so I can shoot out its eyes!"
"Yes ma'am!"
True enough, the field boss was a queen be the size of a truck, accommodating for the large nest and hundreds of worker bees. The boss had 2 health bars, relatively low but still high enough to be considered stronger than a mini-boss. At the moment; an hour in, they had gotten it down 2/3 of its first health bar, leaving 1 full and the other at 1/3.
"You're so lucky we're doing this for a little girl in need or I would've ditched you here half an hour ago!" Sinon yelled, verbally attacking Kirito while she was physically attacking the boss.
"She's not even that little! She's two years younger than us!" Kirito retaliated, whilst he blocked the queen's stinger.
Loading up an arrow, Sinon took aim at the queen's right eye. Finding a clear shot, she let the arrow fly, "Doesn't matter, oh Hero-sama!" The arrow hit the queen in her right eye. Bullseye. Kirito also twitched slightly at the remark. Double bullseye.
"Stop with the hate! Please, Sinon-sama!" Came the plead from Kirito.
"Just kill the thing so we can go home!"
"As you command, Sinon-sama."
"The way you said that... are you a masochist?"
"Geh?" That made Kirito falter a bit.
"Pay attention Idiot!" Sinon yelled out, obviously worrying for him. (?)
Regaining his footing, Kirito blocked another hit from the boss, although, his mind was not entirely focused on it. 'What the hell? Did she just tease me? Or is she secretly a sadist looking for her masochist? I need to take a nap after this.'
After a couple of hours, the boss fight was over. They got the drop Queen bee's venom and they were currently sitting back to back in the boss room, breathing heavily.
"Remind me never to fight a boss with just 2 people. Even if it's a boss we're 15 levels higher than." Sinon panted out, taking deep breaths.
"Aha, don't worry. I won't be doing this for a while either." Kirito reassured, panting slightly less than his companion.
A comfortable silence fell over both of them for a little while, which they both enjoyed to its fullest.
Breaking the silence, Sinon asked a question, "Hey Kazuto, why'd you help her?"
As Kirito's breathing normalized, he replied back, "I saw her eyes. They looked lonely, and they were full of fear. Fear of dying alone. I've seen it too many times on people who've jumped off the edge of the world and changed their minds after it was too late, or people who've died to mobs." The tone of his voice was almost flat. The tone of someone who's seen too much.
"So you saved her because you could?"
"...Yeah."
This time, the silence that fell over them wasn't so comfortable. Kirito tried to break it by getting up.
"We should head back now, it's getting late."
"Why so rushed? I'm still kind of tired." Sinon whined out.
"Oh? Would you like to rest while I carry you, Shino-sama?"
This got a furious blush out of Sinon, while Kirito just slyly grinned.
"..shut up, Idiot."
Performing a mock bow, he replied, "Yes, ojou-sama."
As they walked out of the nest, they walked down the path they came, for about 50 meters. They both tensed up as Kirito stopped and spoke to their would-be ambushers. "Come out. We know you're there."
Coming out of the trees, A familiar red-head came out. "Oh? I know about you. Beater-kun and Beater-chan right?"
"...Rosalia. Leader of Titan's Hand, a small but well known orange guild on the lower floors." Kirito stated out. Sinon was behind him holding onto her bow while her other hand was tapping away on the a menu screen, out of the vision of the other players.
"So you've heard of me? I'm glad I'm not just famous not the lower floors."
"Who says it's just you? Why don't you bring out the others hiding in the trees?" Sinon spoke, getting annoyed that the others still believed that they only saw Rosalia.
"Aww. That's too bad boys. You've been found out." Rosalia responded In a mock-sad voice.
As they came out there were about 6 of them in total, including Rosalia. 5 orange players, so it could be possible that they were split up today. 3 of them could've possibly been the guys that tried to kill Silica with the monsters, but what does that mean about the other 2? Kirito then recognized two faces. They were with Rosalia earlier today. But where was the third guy that defended Silica? Unless...
"Hey, you two," Kirito pointed out to the familiar faces. "Where's the other guy?"
The two guys and Rosalia blinked and looked at each other, confused for a bit. What other guy was this kid talking about? They only had 6 members in total, not seven.
After a short moment, they understood what he was talking about. Rosalia placed her hand on her hip and showed an arrogant pose. "Oh, I don't know. We have his items but don't know where he is. I hope he's okay though.
Kirito and Sinon were convinced. They either killed him, or baited out monsters to kill him. It was one or the other. It didn't matter though.
Kirito walked forward with his sword out and Sinon had a hand on her bow and another on her quiver.
"Oh? Do you think you can beat us? We have 6 while you only have 2. That's 3 on 1 right there." Rosalia boasted out. Surely these 2 weren't stupid enough to fight while the odds were against them, right?
"It doesn't matter," Sinon began, grabbing an arrow, "You wouldn't fight us since you're still green. So it's 5 on 2,"
Rosalia, being her arrogant self, retorted, "That doesn't-"
"It doesn't matter since I won't let any of you get past me. She won't be touched." Kirito finished. Walking in front of Sinon, with his sword out and moonlight reflecting off the blade. In truth, he looked like a wraith.
"Pfft. Whatever. Take all their items, boys!" Rosalia commanded, and like dogs they followed.
The 5 orange players rushed forward, unanimously agreeing that the archer would be no problem if her shield was taken down. The first player went after Kirito, sword across his body preparing for a simple Horizontal. To his surprise however, Kirito rushed forward to meet him and just slashed at him before he could get his sword skill off. The first slash cut of his sword arm, and then a second slash cut off his free hand. The player fell to his knees, trying to grasp at each lost limb with an imaginary hand. It was non-lethal, but it was still a very effective way to disarm an opponent.
The three others looked at him in shock. He just chopped off his hands like- Wait three? There was another player, on the ground, just lying there with an arrow in his shoulder.
Sinon was putting a paralyzing poison on her next arrow, preparing to fire.
Changing their plans, one of them decided to try to rush past the swordsman and get to the archer. She couldn't be that good to be able to hit someone who was rushing in right towards her right?
Before he could get within 10 meters, he fell, unable to walk. Looking at what he tripped over, he looked at his now missing, feet. "WHAT THE HELL!? WHO JUST CHOPS OF SOMEONE'S FEET LIKE THAT!?"
Kirito just looked back and reinforced his previous statement. "I told you, she won't be touched."
A fourth player was shot in the leg with another paralyzing arrow. One more to go.
The last player, obviously in panick, started to scream out. "How the hell are you 2 doing this!? We're 5 players and you're only 2! Haven't you heard of strength in numbers!?'
"We're both higher levels than you guys. We're probably over 20 levels higher. Right now, the numbers you have are different from the numbers that we have. Our numbers are stats. If you can get to a high enough level you can be incredible overpowered. That's what this world's strengths are. Numbers in levels." Kirito lectured him. Then, his face and voice became softer. "Please, just surrender."
The lasted player; having run out of options, followed. He dropped his weapon and Sinon focused her aim on him, just to make sure he wouldn't try to pull a fast one while they showed him mercy.
Rosalia on the other hand, "You can't attack me! I'm green, so you'll turn orange!" She was panicking. Her ambush failed and she was out of options. Well there was still bluffin-
"I won't need to. Hello army guys!" With a wave behind her back, Kirito greeting the [Aincrad Liberation Force]. Lead by Thinker himself. "This is Rosalia, leader of the orange guild, Titan's Hand."
Thinker, having curly brown hair and a slim figure, greeted Kirito. "Thank you, we heard about them from a survivor from an attack. We'll take over from here."
Kirito, acknowledging the army's orders, left with Sinon back to the 10th floor. As they were out of earshot, he whispered in her ear.
"Baited."
However, all he got in response was a punch in the arm.
As they get back to their house on floor 10, it was in the middle of the night, but it seems Silica and Asuna were waiting for them at the table, idly chatting about random things.
"Ah, welcome back Kirito-san, Sinon-san."
"Welcome back you two." Were their greetings respectively.
"We're home." They replied together. Asuna narrowed her eyes slightly but shook it off. "How was the trip?"
"Tiring." Came Sinon's reply.
"Event less." Came Kirito's.
"Eh?" Asuna asked, obviously confused at the two different replies.
"It's nothing," came Kirito's reply, "We've got the venom. We should start on the antidote pretty soon."
"Ah good. Please hand it over and I'll get started."
Making medicine and antidotes was incredible easy. As long as you know what you need, you could just gather the needed ingredients and then craft them in under a minute.
As Asuna brought the medicine to Pina, she asked Silica to tilt the dragon's head and open its mouth so she could pour some of the antidote in. As she did, the effect was almost instantaneous. The blue dragon regained some of its lost color, and became more active, flying around the room a few times before landing on its master's shoulders. The mentioned master bowed and thanked all of them.
"It was no problem Silica." came Kirito's voice, along with a kick to his shins by Sinon, which went unnoticed by the dragon tamer.
"So you have anywhere to stay?" Asked Asuna, feeling a bond with the girl from how much they've talked over the past few hours.
"My home is on the 5th floor, so I can go teleport there-"
"It's fine to stay here for tonight. You can take Kirito's bed. He'll sleep on the couch." Sinon replied while she started walking into her shared room
"Eh? Bu-" That glare that she sent him wasn't nice. Looks like she was still angry about the boss. An angered Sinon was still the scariest Sinon. "I-It's fine. I'll take the couch for tonight."
Asuna and Silica, obviously confused, didn't ask any questions and just went to their rooms. The girls had a nice sleep and sweet dreams, while the lone male's dream was somewhat confusing.
'Flax. Green. Gold. Blue. Small. Houses. Trees. Swords. A-Ali'
He woke up during the middle of the night, confused. Thinking that it was nothing, he decided to get a glass of water before going back to bed. Strange dreams tonight, it seems.
The morning Silica woke up, she was panicking. Where the hell did Pina go? It wasn't like her to just wander off... maybe she's somewhere else in the house.
As she opened the door to the main area, she saw Sinon and Asuna standing around the couch... drooling? What the hell?
"Hey, have you seen Pi-" the dragon tamer asked.
"Shhhhhh!" They both replied. Asuna looked at Silica and mentioned her to come closer.
What she saw was a sleeping Kirito lying on his side, using his arm as a pillow. He was lightly hugging her feathery dragon that was snuggling up to his chest with his other arm, and his mouth slightly open on his effeminate face.
"That's really cute."
A/N DONEEEEE. Well, finally finished after a while, at roughly 7.3k words. Time to explain some of the events in the story.
1) Silica.
I decided to introduce her early and start with the PKers early because I was always bothered with the lack of dealing with them in canon. The only time it was really dealt with was when The clearers and some others went to raid one of the PKer's bases. I thought that it would be better if the army was actually doing something under the leadership of Thinker
2) Poisons and antidotes.
Typically, in most RPG games, you'll get poisoned. It's bound to happen to anyone who was played a game. So, why wouldn't you have some way to deal with it? Kayaba obviously would introduce many RPG elements into Sword Art Online, so he would also have to implement ways to deal with some of the negative effects, such as buying or crafting antidotes.
3) Kirito's dream.
Honestly, the Underworld arc is fantastic. Kirito actually has childhood friends (In the underworld, at least). So I thought that I would include them somehow in this story. I initially planned on introducing them later, but I figured having them randomly appear in his dreams would be more interesting than having them come up in a significant event. Which event? Who knows? :D
Anyways, chapter 4 has been revised to the best of my abilities. If anyone spots any mistakes, please leave a review on how I can improve (and with your opinion on the chapter, of course) or give me a PM.
Bye.