"Linear! Sinon, I need you to cover me!"
"Roger!"
An arrow flew by Asuna as it struck the mob in front of her. The large monster, which looked like some sort of evil abomination covered in fur, grasped at its shoulder in agony.
"Nice! I'm going in while it's distracted!"
Asuna jumped in, intending on finishing off the mini-boss. The fight hadn't been that hard, since the boss was very slow and didn't have much armour. To counteract that, the boss had an extremely high HP pool, consisting of 6 bars.
None of that really mattered however, as Asuna was easily weaving in and out of the boss's attacks while getting good strikes in between. Sinon was at a safe distance away as usual, shooting arrows.
"We're almost there, Asuna!"
The girls were fighting this boss because of a rumour they heard from a certain rodent. The rodent's exact words were, "There's a special boss on this floor, it's really squishy and slow but has more HP than a floor boss. It's said that it drops really rare cosmetic items."
That easily got the attention of the girls. Having some rare cosmetics would be amazing, mainly for wardrobe and for gaining funds, as people would totally want some new clothes and such.
They even asked Kirito to join, who instantly refused their request. He muttered some incomprehensible things about malls and Imoutos and Sinon at the mall. He said he would go hang out with Klein, making sure he wouldn't be home for a good few hours. Both girls laughed at his apparent fear for clothes shopping.
So, they went to go kill the boss by themselves.
The fighting was possibly one of the most easy fights of the currently floors. Easy for them at least. With Asuna being very agile, she could dodge all of the boss's attack, and then attack the boss herself while she kept the focus on herself as Sinon was firing arrows from afar. For someone like a tank, it might have not been so easy.
The boss's change in attack patterns wasn't bad either. It was actually beneficial to them. The boss got bigger, but also became slower. Normally, people would be cautious of the 'bigger' aspect, but because of the slowness, it was much easier for Asuna to maneuverer around. Sinon was also able to hit arrows more accurately, thanks to the increased surface area.
The sound of glass breaking, accompanied with the vision of a large creature exploding into polygons. It was one of the things everyone loved, a reminder that you get to live another day.
"Finally! If I didn't build like this, we would've been here for a really long time!"
"It still took us quite a bit of time nonetheless, but you're right. It's finally over. What were the drops?"
Asuna opened up her inventory and looked at her recently acquired loot. There were at least 20 new items, consisting of dresses, tops, shoes, hats and-!
Upon laying her eyes on a certain item, she immediately pulled the other girl towards her menu, much to her protest.
"Asuna what are-"
"Just look!"
Following Asuna's finger Sinon took a good look at what she was pointing at. He face immediately adopted a surprised expression, just like Asuna. The gears in her head started turning, and both girls then looked at each other.
Their looks of surprise turned into evil grins.
"Kiiiiirrriiiiiitttttooooooo!"
"Klein, don't make such a scene."
Kirito and the guild Fuurinkazan were currently at a bar, much to the former's protest. It was something he said about "Being underage and unable to drink."
The latter decided to be cheeky and replied, "It doesn't matter. You're not really going to get drunk in the game, and your age doesn't even matter since the NPCs will let anyone in."
You can't beat that logic.
So Kirito went in, and ordered a pint of ale. Taking a sip, he immediately decided that he didn't like it, but would drink it anyway since he spent some col on it. The other guys however...
"GIVE US ANOTHER ONE!"
Alcoholics, each and every one of them.
There were glasses everywhere, and it looked like there would be more. Kirito wouldn't be surprised if the total cost of their drinks would end up equalling a +5 enhancement at Lisbeth's...
He was still on his first glass too, and just barely past halfway. How anyone could drink this stuff like water was beyond him.
Although Klein said that you couldn't get drunk, it apparently seems like you could of you drank as much as he did.
Truly, they were alcoholics to the extreme.
"Teach me yer ways..." He slurred out.
Kirito just raised an eyebrow at his friend's random request. "What ways are you talking about?"
"Yer way wif women!" It seems like his slur was getting stronger.
Kirito would probably need to get these guys back to their inn before they passed out. He opened up his menu and sent out a message to a few people. These guys should be able to help him out. They should, anyways.
"One more drink, then I'm taking you back to the inn."
"Buht I dun wanna go bek ta tha 30th fleer! *Hic!* It dersent ehven hev a berrrr!" That slur was getting stronger by the second.
Kirito was honestly having second thoughts. "Maybe I shouldn't let you guys have that last drink..."
"Fineee! Whaterver!"
The older guys orders one last beer, and drank it at a slower pace than before. Maybe their motor skills were getting slower? He really hoped the help he asked for got here soon. He really didn't want to carry these guys back to their inn all by himself.
'Wait, there's an inn on this floor! I'll just rent a few rooms for a couple of days and then leave them on the beds! It'll save me so much time!'
The bell above the door chimed, and he looked towards it. There, looking around, was his help! He waved them over. "Over here!"
His help looked at his situation. "Is this really what your using your favour for, Kirito-san?"
Kirito rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry about this, Keita. It just happened. Well, look on the bright side."
"What bright side?" Ducker asked, trying to swing one of Dale's arms over his shoulder. He was really heavy. Surely, Kirito would've thought this through before asking him, the thief, to carry someone around right? And especially to whatever floor that to go to?
"I'm going to give them a room at an inn on this floor, so we don't have to take the trip to the 30th floor."
That was thinking it through, Ducker supposed. Focusing his attention back to the man he was trying to support, he realized this was ridiculous. He was going to need some help moving this guy around. "Tetsuo, can you help me out? I'm not exactly built on strength, you know?"
Tetsuo chuckled and headed over. Indeed, his friend wasn't built on strength, not by much, anyways. Ducker decided that he would focus mainly on agility, and just a bit on vitality and strength. He said something about 'treasure hunters being juke masters so they needed quite a bit of agility.'
Lifting Dale's other arm onto his shoulder; the duo began to bring the drunken man towards Kirito.
Who currently had one person slung over his shoulders like a sack of potatoes and supporting another guy with his arm over his shoulder. How high was his strength value!?
Sachi, Keita and Sasamaru were each supporting one person, to the best of their abilities.
"Where's the inn we're going to, Kirito-san?" Keita asked.
"Follow me, it's not that far. Maybe a 5 minute walk." Kirito replied as he opened the door, accidentally banging Klein's head on the doorframe.
"Kerito be cahrful, dat huuurrrrrttttt-!" The samurai wailed out.
"Klein, you're lucky the boss fight is in a few days. You've got some time to recover from your hanger over. Just don't go drinking the day before the fight." Kirito replied, not really minding(too much) that his 'best buddy' had an unfortunate meeting with the doorframe.
"Whuterver. Bein drunk ish niceshhh." The samurai wannabe replied, voice still slurred.
"Alcoholics, all of you."
On the way to the inn, Kirito and the Black Cats were making conversation with themselves and the drunken members from Fuurinkazan. They talked about the Black Cat's training regimen during the past few weeks, which consisted of constant grinding in mini-dungeons. The Black Cats were considered to be way above the middle-floor players, but still quite below the high-floor players. From time to time, some of the guild members from Fuurinkazan would offer some advice, through their slurred words of course.
"So Kirito-san, where's the inn on this floor?" Keita asked out.
Kirito took a look around him before replying. "It should be another 100 meters. Getting tired already? I thought you put more points into strength." Everyone around knew it was a tease, and some of the other members of the Black Cats decided to contribute.
"He's investing his points in luck, isn't he? I wonder what the rank above EX is..." Ducker adopted a thinking pose, with this hand cupping his chin.
"Ducker, I don't think there's a rank past EX that we know of." Tetsuo responded.
"Then we'll just have to make one! Sachi, Sasamaru we need your help!"
Issin muttered out, "Rank S..."
"That's it!"
"Hey!"
Everyone chuckled at the teasing of their leader while they walked. Soon enough, they arrived at the inn. It was made of wooden planks, and had lanterns hanging in the ceiling. The inn was huge, though. It had at least three floors, and with at least 30 rooms on each floor, it could almost fit a large guild, or quite a few smaller guilds.
Kirito walks towards the receptionist, and bought three double rooms for a couple of days. Two in each room should be fine, at least until the boss fight. Hangovers can't last that long, can they?
The rooms he bought were all lined up beside each other, so it would be more convenient. Kirito took the two in his arms and brought them to the first room. Accidentally bumping Klein's head into the doorframe yet again.
"Keereetoo! Daht huuurrrrtttsss!"
"My bad."
Sachi and Keita brought the guys they were carrying to the next room, without hitting their heads on the doorframe.
Finally, Ducker, Tetsuo and Sasamaru brought their drunken weights to the final room.
"Thanks for help guys, I really appreciate it." Kirito said, giving a small nod to each of them. He then spoke up in a small tone, "Keita, you should try increasing that Strength parameter instead of Luck."
Everyone snickered or chuckled, including Keita. "Sure, sure. Very funny...Kirito-san?"
They all turned to Kirito, who was looking intently at his menu.
"Ah...Kirito-san, what's wrong?" Sachi asked out.
He continued to stare at the screen for a few seconds, before shaking himself back into focus. "Sorry, it's just that the item I requested is finally done, and I can pick it up now."
All the Black Cats had a questioning look on their faces. "Kirito-san, that's rather...vague."
"Well, my new coat is done and I'm going to go pick it up now."
"Can we come with you? We don't really have any plans for the rest of today." Keita asked, in which Kirito nodded.
"Convenient, since her store is on this floor too."
The guild was still rather confused with his vagueness, but decided not to ponder since they were sure Kirito knew what he was doing.
Turning corners and going down long streets, they were greeted with a store. A store with many teenage girls and young women crowding around it, peeking through the windows.
"Kirito-san, what's with this store?" Tetsuo asked, eyeing the girls cautiously. They looked like starved wolves that just found an injured lamb, ready to jump on it at a moment's notice.
A shocked gasp could be heard, coming from behind them. It was probably Ducker with some of the new info about this place.
It wasn't Ducker.
It was Sachi.
"You don't know about [Ashley's]!?" Her voice was laced with shock. It seems like a new side of her was discovered today.
The males from the Black Cats were still rather confused, so Kirito decided to fill them in.
"Well, this store specializes in custom clothing, like dresses and such. It's owned by a woman named Ashley, and she's rather...picky about the clothes she makes. You could give her a request, but there's a chance she won't accept it. She usually closes her store when she works on a custom piece, but normally it's open."
Most of the guys suddenly had an understanding look on their faces. It seemed like they all thought of the same thing after his explanation.
It was a girl thing.
Yup, a girl thing. What else would describe all the girls outside the window? Even Sachi decided to join in, peeking inside.
"Look at that dress!"
"Oh! That blouse is so cute!"
"I want that skirt!"
Really, a girl thing.
As the boys were talking, Keita remembered the reason why they were here.
"Kirito-san, you said that this Ashley specializes in custom clothes, and normally requests are declined, right?"
"Yup."
"So then...how did you get her to make something for you? We're here to pick it up right?"
A silence suddenly washed over them. Literally, all of them. The girls outside were staring at the boy clad in black, with sweat suddenly tripling down his face.
'Why did you have to put me on the spot like this!? Is this because of the Strength jokes!?' Were his thoughts. The girls had black shadows covering their faces, and their eyes were all yellow four-pointed stars that seemed to have some serious glow to them.
Sachi, having the same faces as the other girls, slowly asked out. "Kirito-san, how did you get Ashley-sama to make you something? Please, don't let us out on any details." She was even taking slow steps towards him. It was like something out of a horror film.
Soon, the rest of the girls followed, whispering in very scary tones.
"Tell us"
"Why you?"
"Give us the secret."
"Tell us. Tell us. TELL US!"
What the hell is this!? Even the other guys were using him as a human shield! His back wasn't large enough to cover five people!
A door swinging stopped the girls in their tracks.
"Kirito-chan~!" A woman's voice called his name. Everyone stopped their actions and looked towards the source.
A rather tall woman, having neck-length hair with various highlights in it stepped out. She was wearing some sort of dress, with a fur jacket on top of it. All the girls had stars in their eyes, it was Ashley in the flesh.
"Ashley-san, please don't call me that."
"Nonsense! Let's go inside shall we? Your coat is ready." Seeing the jealous stares coming from the girls that were about to interrogate him, he was a bit hesitant.
Seeing his predicament, and deciding to further add fuel to the fire, she went up to him, grabbed him, and stuffed his face into her bountiful assets, and dragged him into the store, closing the doors once more.
It took quite a bit of time for that action to settle down with everyone. For a few seconds, everyone paused, unable to comprehend the 'Kiritonapping'. Then, it happened.
Everyone rushed towards the doors. Girls, and boys. Some even had to push others around to get a clear view of what was going on inside.
It seemed like interesting things always happened to Kirito.
Inside the store, Kirito was placed on a little pedestal so Ashley could look him over.
"Was that really necessary, Ashley-san? I mean, you basically just grabbed me and threw me into a store while all your followers watched."
Ashley's analytic gaze covered his body. It didn't look like he was fatigued, so she figured he wasn't overexerting himself. He didn't show any visible signs of hunger, so he probably was eating right. Who was she kidding? With Asuna and Sinon at his home, he would always be eating right.. "Necessary? No. Fun? Totally." She said as she pinched and stretched his cheeks, much to his displeasure. "Cute as always, Kirito-chan."
After a gruesome amount of time, that being 10 seconds, his cheek was released. "You're going through quite an extent if you're just giving me my cloak, Ashley-san." He said, rubbing his cheek.
"Oh no, I'm not just going to give you your cloak like that. It took my quite a bit of effort to make this you see, so in order to compensate, you'll be paying the normal fee Asuna-chan pays me, and you'll be my life sized model!" Ashley responded, a very wide grin on her face.
Kirito just had his mouth open in shock. It wasn't as easy as going to her store, paying her and then leaving? He had to be her life sized doll too!? He was pulled out of his shocked state as Ashley draped large pieces of cloth on him and took measurements.
"Don't worry, I have the clothes already planned out. I just need to measure and cut them to size. It'll only take two hours," Two Hours!? "You'll be able to see Asuna-chan later."
He resigned to his fate. Why him? Why didn't she drag any of the other boys inside? He was sure this was somehow Sinon's fault. She must've had Asuna convince Ashley to use him as her life sized dress up doll.
Back on the 22nd floor, a pair of girls returned to their home, a beautiful wooden cabin. One girl, had chestnut hair with two braids on the side of her head combining in the back into a puffy ball. The other girl had short dark brown hair with two long side-bangs. The Flash and Hawkeye were home after a fight with a mini-boss on the 41st floor.
Asuna flopped down on her bed, giving out a sigh of relief. "Fuuuahh! Finally home!"
Sinon just gave her a deadpan look. "Asuna, you don't really have the right to say that. We went back to town, used the teleport gate, and then walked here. It's not like we walked through each and every dungeon from the 41st floor to the 22nd floor just to get here."
"It was a tiring trip anyways. Do you want to go to another floor and fight another mini boss for a few hours, Sinononononon?" She teased.
Sinon just gave a huff and waved her off, giving a reason for Asuna to fist-pump like she's won something important. "So, what do we do now? We have a boss fight in a few days, but we've got time to kill for the rest of the day."
"I'm unsure. I asked if Sachi-san and the others wanted to get some training done, but she isn't reply to my messages. None of them are." Asuna replied, confused as why they wouldn't respond. They weren't in any dungeons, so there was no apparent reason that they would be in any danger.
"Kirito?"
"He said he was 'busy' picking up his coat from Ashley's."
Sinon raised an eyebrow. "He'll probably come back home in a little while. Let's go to Ashley's? She's probably got some more clothes for sale."
Asuna's eyes brightened. There were even a few small stars in them too. "We could show Ashley these drops we got, and ask her to make some similar clothes!"
Sinon gave a small nod, and they both started towards the door. It looks like they were going to have a new wardrobe.
It looks like they weren't going to have a new wardrobe. Not with [Ashley's] closed, and that giant crowd squishing each other just to look into the windows. What was Ashley doing anyways?
Both girls took a long glance at the crowd. Yep, it would be best if they leave. Sinon turned around, taking only a few steps before Asuna grabbed her hand and yanked her back in. "Asuna..."
Asuna dragged Sinon into the crowd as she recognized a mop of yellow hair under a beanie. With Sinon in tow, she tried to get the mop of hair's attention.
"Ducker-san."
He didn't visibly respond to her call. Strange.
"Ducker-san."
She tried a bit louder, but again, no response. Sinon just moved Asuna to the side, and walked up behind him. If just saying his name didn't work...
"Ducker!"
"Owww!"
Hitting him over the head and yelling his name probably would.
"You know...that's not the nicest way to get someone's attention." Asuna drew out.
"I agree, but it is the most effective." Sinon replied back. "Now Ducker, why is everyone here?"
Ducker was still running the back of his head, thinking that Sinon had quite a few points in Strength to hit him that hard. "I remember that we were originally here to pick up Kirito-san's coat. Then I remembered her dragging her in, and then looking through the window. Everything after that is a blur." He replied, shaking himself back into focus. "Hey guys!" He yelled as he stuck his friends the same was Sinon struck him.
"Gah!"
"Ow!"
"Oi!"
"Ouch! Ducker! The hell!?"
Of course, Sachi wasn't hit. He was still scared of her from earlier today. The boys however, were fair game.
The boys looked around from their trance. How long were they there? What were they doing again? Keita noticed both girls looking at them strangely, a clear what's-going-on-here expression on their faces.
"I'm not sure."
"So nobody can tell us anything? What's so special about Ashley's shop right now?" Sinon asked, both hands on her hips.
"Maybe it has something to do with what Ashley was doing right now?" Asuna suggested. They both looked at each other, then proceeded to look into the window. What they saw was...interesting to say the least.
Inside the store, Kirito was uncomfortable, to say the absolute least. For what seemed to be hours, he was used as a life-sizes dress up doll by Ashley and it seemed like there was no stopping it. It went from school uniforms, to military commander outfits. There was even a hat included in that!
He wouldn't mind trying on clothes normally. He's done it a few times before, while he was shopping with Shino and Suguha, after they suggested he get something after he carried their bags all around the mall.
Never again.
But that didn't matter here. As of this very moment and many moments before, Ashley would drape cloth over him, draw on it, and then cut it out, sewing it together and adding little details to the finished products. That alone took quite a large amount of time for just one outfit. Lying on a desk, somewhere behind him, was a mountain of clothes. He was probably here for quite a while.
And Ashley told him he couldn't move either.
What could be worse than that? Surely, there was nothing that could further add to-
The people outside looking into the window. Even Keita and the others were there! The girls all had stars in their eyes. He even saw one girl take pictures of him with a Recording Crystal. The guys were just staring at the pile of clothes; maybe they wanted one for themselves? He had to admit, some of them looked pretty good.
"After this last outfit, there's only one more thing I want to experiment with." Kirito let out a breath of relief. One more, just one more and he would be able to leave. Thank God it was almost finally over.
As Ashley took the current outfit off of Kirito, that being a tuxedo, he saw another flash in the corner of his eye. He already knew what it was. There was that one girl, taking more pictures of him. He turned to the girl, only to stop as he caught who did it.
It wasn't the same girl as before. It was Asuna. When did she get here!? How long was she here!? Did Ashley send her a message or something!?
"Kirito-chan~~! Please put this on!" Ashley said as she brought what looked to be...a butler's uniform? It had a white dress shirt, black dress pants, black tie, and a black tailcoat. It even had a pair of white gloves. Yep, definitely a butler's uniform.
As he put the costume on, thanking Kayaba in his mind that he didn't actually have to go under the process of undressing, Ashley went and put a sign on the window, and then closed the curtains. He wasn't sure of what the sign has said, and he was sure he probably didn't want to know either.
Ashley then told him to plop himself in the chair, right in front of a mirror. Whatever he was doing, he felt like he would regret it.
"Okay Kirito-chan! Time for a makeover!"
"Ashley-san..."
"Now turn your face over here. I want to try a look on you. It'll even be a surprise to you when I'm done!" She said, smiling brightly as she held up some strange container full of...facial products?
"A-Ashley-san..." He stammered out, quite afraid of what was going to happen to him.
"Hm? What's that Kirito-chan? You're so excited you can't wait to begin? I had better not make you wait! Let's get started!" She cheered, completely ignoring all the fear radiating off the boy.
And begin she did. It started off as giving him extensions, then fake eyelashes, and then everything you would think of when someone got a complete makeover.
After what seemed to be half an hour, she spun him around so he could get a look in the mirror. He didn't even notice when she walked away.
His hair reached his lower back; his eyelashes were longer than they should've been, if he was a boy of course. His facial tone was also more even, and he even had some dollish pink on his cheeks. He could even feel all the makeup on his face! What the hell did she do!?
Meanwhile, Ashley was standing in front of her shop. Looking over all the girls and the small amount of boys looking at her in awe and confusion.
"I'm finally finished. You can come in and look, but nobody can take any pictures. I doubt he'll ever trust me with a favour after this." She muttered that last part to herself and gave out a chuckle. She'd have to do something really important if she wanted to do this again.
Oh well, she'd just make a cloak much better than his current on and offer it to him at a later date.
She gripped the handle of the door, and started counting. "One, two, three!"
As the door swung open, all the girls looked around for her masterpiece. After scanning the room, they found a very pretty girl sitting on the chair touching her hair and face, though she had some shocked expression on her face.
Ashley walked in behind them at a leisurely pace. When she saw all of their eyes on Kirito, she just couldn't resist. "Say hello to Kiriko-chan!"
Kiriko-chan finally broke out of his shocked state when he heard Ashley call out that name. He was about to say something but paused at all the girls staring at him with stars in their eyes.
His face twisted at the look of his two housemates looking at him. Their expressions beamed much more than any of the other girls.
"A-Asuna, Sinon, please stay calm... There's no need to make a scene." He said, turning fully and showing them the butler uniform he was wearing. He wished he didn't.
"HE'S A BISHOUNEN!"
That was the spark that started it all. All of the girls rushed towards him, poking him, touching his face and hair.
Did someone just grope him!?
Ashley came to calm the girls down, saying how she wouldn't want her masterpiece to be "ruined" just yet. She let them have their fun, but it was time to let Kiriko-chan be Kirito-chan now.
"Alright Kiriko-chan, you can take it of-"
"Kirito, don't do it."
"Stay like that, Kirito-kun."
Ashley was interrupted by a pair of voices, belonging to Asuna and Shino.
"Oho?"
"Kirito, let's go home. There are important things to do." Sinon ordered, voice very firm.
"Yes, butler- I mean Kirito-kun. We need your help with many things." Asuna added, her tone was the same as Sinon's.
The mentioned butler, or Kirito, just looked towards Ashley for help. He even looked towards Keita and his group for help.
No help would be given, displayed by their whistling and their heads looking anywhere but on him..
"I'm going to regret this even more today."
A few days after, all of the clearers were gathered in front of the boss room. It was time to fight the 42nd floor boss. Heathcliff was at the front as usual, giving a general run down of how they would deal with the boss.
"Alright! As our scouts said, there seems to be three bosses. Two of which will be fighting immediately on our entrance, but the third will be an [Immortal Object] until the two other bosses are killed. Our plan is to take half of the raid group and kill one boss, and the other half to kill the other. It's unknown what the attack pattern change is, so keep on your toes! We'll have 10 minutes to check over your items and equipment, and then we fight!"
A collective roar of approval met his speech, and everyone started to check over their items. It wouldn't go well if even one person was unprepared.
That would lead to death.
After the 10 minutes, they all faced the doors once again. There wasn't any need to give any more words. They knew what they had to do.
Healthcliff pushed the doors open and they all came charging in. A pair of knights greeted them, one in black armour, red hexagons covering his armour and single blade. The other knight was in a set of pale white armour, with his sword being of the same colour. When the clearers looked at the boss names, there wasn't one. Only the third boss who was cloaked in red, had a name.
"Follow the plan!" Heathcliff's shout echoed out. "We'll split into two groups!"
The clearers split up, half and half. The group Kirito was in went after the black knight, and Heathcliff's group went after the white knight.
When Kirito met his boss, he noticed one exploitable thing. It wasn't as strong as it should've been. In comparison, it was as strong as a floor boss in the early 20's. "Don't waste too much energy on it! It's weak! We can take it down with minimal effort than focus everything on that red boss!"
Everyone in his group took heed of this. It seemed like they could take it easy before having to fight for real. The plan for the two weaker bosses was to have tanks forcefully rush the boss, pushing them off balance so everyone else could deal damage. So far the plan was working, as the tanks would push the boss all towards one side, combining their strength to push it.
Granted, the bosses wouldn't fall without a fight, so they pushed back. That action allowed the rest of the clearers to get a few free hits on the boss while it was busy. The damage wasn't that high due to the thick armour the knights had, but collectively it would be enough to chip the boss down at a steady pace.
The fight seemed to be going well. None of the clearers were getting tired, and everyone's health was still at an all-time high. If they kept bombarding the two Knights, they would be able to fight the real boss at full power. Heathcliff's group also looked like it was going well. Sure, their damage output was lower than his group's output, but that just meant when Kirito's group killed theirs first, they could regroup faster.
Clangs of metal were heard all around, and it seemed like the boss Kirito was fighting was just about at its limit. "Get back! It's changing attack patterns!" He shouted, jumping back and readying Caliburn for another strike. As the players all tensed, the boss did something they didn't expect to.
The boss's armour started to crack. Starting at its torso, hairline fractures appeared all over its armour, and its posture began to get sloppy.
"...It looks like it's actually getting worse. Everyone charge!" Kirito shouted, leading the assault. "Sinon! Fire an arrow at the torso! That's where it should be weak!"
During his charge, an arrow whizzed past him, striking true at the torso. The boss seemed to be knocked back even more than it should've been. Seeing his chance, he leapt forward and charged his sword. "Sonic Leap!" He sprang forward, swinging his blade down into the helmet of the knight.
"Switch!"
Asuna came in from behind him, intending on finishing what he started. With a jump off the ground, she ended up right in front of the stumbling boss. "Crucifixion!" Three strikes going down in a vertical line, then three strikes going in a horizontal line, giving the impression that the enemy monster died with a cross embedded in them.
The boss shattered, leaving his sword and polygons scattering around the group. "We're done here, so let's go help Healthcliff's group!"
A collective roar of approval responded to him, and they were all off to join their comrades. One they arrived, the second boss was the same as the black one. His HP was a bit into the yellow area, but a few good attacks could fix that.
"Everyone get into basic position after this boss dies! Tanks at the front, DPS right behind them! We still don't know the attack patterns of the boss!" Heathcliff shouted out as the second knight fell, sword sticking up out of the ground. Kirito wondered what was with that, it seemed stupid. He tried to pick up one the blades but it had the [Immortal Object] on it.
Everyone thought it was strange how the sword had the purple hexagon on it. If this one had the [Immortal Object] status on it, the other one probably did too. Maybe it was there as a prop? Maybe having swords sticking out of the ground was the theme.
Everyone was brought out of their thoughts as the third boss, the one clothed in red, finally moved. He stood up, being rather tall for a human-type boss yet too short for a boss mob. Hell, even the two previous Knights were taller than him! As he completely stood up, Kirito got a good glance at his posture.
It was strange. That was the only word for it. His hands were at his sides, holding onto invisible handles. His eyes were still closed, strangely enough.
"The swords!" A random player yelled. Everyone looked towards the two blades that were sticking out of the ground were dematerializing, and materializing in his hands, only to a smaller scale, one that he could hold. As both blades fully materialized, the boss opened his eyes, and two health bars came into existence.
His name was "Counter Guardian", and he was rushing towards the clearers, holding two swords.
"Welp," Kirito said as he tensed, "let's get started."
"Charge!" Heathcliff's voice boomed out, causing players to spring into action. Tanks met the boss's first strike, and the real battle finally begun.
Most of the clearers realized one thing with this boss. His movements were too fluid. The way his feet moved as he moved in and out of targets was too graceful. The way his black and white swords struck the clearer's weak spot, too smooth. They barely had time to bring out their shields before they took a high amount of damage.
They noticed Kirito was the same as the boss. It was like they were extras. Like the boss, the Black Swordsman's footsteps were smooth, and they were also graceful. The way he blocked the boss with his sword, it was like everything was relied mostly on instinct and the instantaneous reactions of his body.
It was like they were in a duel, solely focused on each other. Granted, that was good for the rest of the clearers, as they could get a few hits while the boss was focused on Kirito. But Kirito did have to retreat sometimes to heal, and that was when the rest of the clearers took high amounts of damage. They weren't prepared for his fighting style. The boss's attack style was extremely risky, to which Kirito pointed out.
He had too many openings. It was like he wanted you to strike there. The very moment you struck at the opening, he would move back slightly so your attack just barely missed and then counter accordingly.
It was reckless -no, a better word would be suicidal. To manipulate your opponent to attack the openings you purposely left open and then strike when they fell for it.
A strategy meant for battling enemies that were stronger than you.
"Tch!" Kirito clicked his tongue as the boss got him with a feint, striking his leg instead of his arm. "I'm retreating to heal!" He shouted, informing the other clearers that he needed a bit of time to recover his health before he could take over and let them do damage. It was like he switched roles with all of the tanks.
"If I could only use 'that,' then the fight would be more even. Hell, I might actually win against him." He muttered to himself, cursing the publicity that his extra skill would give him. That, and that he hasn't gotten used to it completely to consider using it in a boss fight.
Seriously, fighting with one sword instead of two when it could give you a potentially game breaking advantage sucked.
He finished healing, then rushed back into the fight, informing the tanks and everyone else to get ready to back off. He was unaware of the smirk behind his back.
"Kirito-san, we're getting close to the point where he'll change attack patterns! He'll probably focus you when that happens!" Lynd called out, slashing the boss and jumping back.
Kirito nodded, giving a thanks for the heads up. But why him? Why would the boss decide to focus him? Couldn't he get a break or something? He's been tanking and fighting this boss for the entire time since the boss was up!
At least he didn't waste too much energy on the other bosses.
A roar of anger brought him out of his rambling. It looked like the boss was changing attack patterns. Everyone had already backed off, so he should've too.
"Kirito, you alright?" Sinon asked from his side, a concerned look on her face. Asuna also mirrored her expression.
"Yeah, I'll be fine. I'm going to need to take a really long nap when we get home however." He replied, half joking.
"I would hit you so hard right now. So, so hard. You're lucky we're occupied with this." She shot back. Asuna also had an annoyed look on her face. This was no time to joke around.
Further proving that was the boss's red cloth changing. It changed into something like a hooded cape, covering the nose and mouth of the boss.
"That's it?" Klein asked. This boss wasn't very interesting.
"Klein-san, don't underestimate it. Whenever stuff like this happens, it's more than what it seems." Asuna lectured.
Kirito saw the boss raise the blades above his head, and realized exactly what he was about to do. "Everyone scatter! Get away from me!"
Some players were obviously confused, but then realized why he said that. The boss threw his blades towards Kirito, both of them spinning like disks.
Razor-sharp disks. Some people were unable to get out of the way, and suffered from a limb being chopped off. They both flew towards Kirito, who deflected them with a snake bite, both swings being so fast it seemed like they hit at the same time. A good thing too, as if he was slower he would've had one of his arms chopped off.
"Get the others out of here!" Kirito yelled as he was stuck in the cool down. Everyone complied, grabbing the other players and healing them.
Kirito turned his attention back to the boss, and -what!?
Where did that second pair of swords come from!?
The boss indeed had another pair of swords in his hands, ready to throw them. Kirito couldn't do anything. He was still frozen in place because of the cooldown.
The boss threw his swords, both spinning disks flying towards the Black Swordsman, only to be deflected by a pair of glowing arrows.
"Sinon!"
"Don't worry, I've got you covered from that." She gave him a smirk.
Kirito turned back towards the boss, expecting a third pair of swords to be thrown at him.
His expectation was half right. The boss did have a third pair of swords, but he held them crossed behind his back. Much to the disbelief of all of the clearers, the swords began to grow. They got bigger, spikier, like they were a pair of wings. Surely, the boss can't throw that right? Throwing his smaller swords basically broke the physics of the game already.
Instead of throwing the blades, he rushed forwards towards Kirito with them out towards the side. Why him damn it!? He just got off cooldown too! Kirito rushed towards to meet him, Caliburn in his hand. The boss's HP looked low enough to be killed with one strong strike. Probably a good vertical or slant would do the trick.
All of the clearers looked towards the two fighters, rushing towards each other. As they got closer, the clearers noticed the other four blades from before, flying towards the two. They all attempted to run towards him. There had been no casualties during this fight, and they wanted to make sure it stayed that way.
"KIRITO!"
"KIRITO-KUN!"
The boss swung both blades from the side, Kirito swung from above. One sword shattered as the blade met Caliburn, but the other met contact with Kirito. The other four swords that were flying met with the ground, but not without giving Kirito numerous slash marks on his body.
Kirito's health dropped at an alarming rate, stopping at a mere 3 points. Everyone stopped as they watched with baited breaths.
Caliburn struck true. Implanting itself in the boss. His HP dropped completely. There was a winner from that fight, but just barely. The boss's swords all shattered before him, and his body fell onto Kirito's for a short moment, leaning on top of the boy's.
The boss's body shattered, but Kirito swore he heard something before it happened. It was very quiet, but definitely loud enough for him to hear.
"Crane Wing Three Realm."
Kirito took a step, stumbling. He was too tired, that fight was too close. He didn't notice the congratulations message. He didn't notice the bonus for getting the last hit on the boss. He didn't even notice the girls running towards him, screaming his name and using a healing crystal on him. All he noticed was the impact of the ground as he fell face first towards it.
"Kirito, wake up. We need to finish with today's work of chopping down the - -"
"Who...?" He replied, opening his eyes only to be greeted with a blurry image.
"It's me! -! Don't tell me you lost your memory sleeping." The voice teased.
Kirito blinked a few more times to clear up his vision. In front of him was the flax haired boy from before. He was older than Kirito remembered, but still the recognizable.
Kirito put a hand on the ground and pushed himself up. As he stood up, he realized everything was shorter than he remembered. Nearly two feet shorter. He looks at himself and saw a different body. No longer did he have the body of a child when he had these dreams, but now a body of a 17 year old boy.
How did that happen so fast?
He was taken out of that thought and forced to his knees by a blinding pain in his head.
"Kirito!" - yelled, voice filled with concern.
Kirito had to bite back the scream he wanted to let out. It wouldn't be good making his friend worry.
"Where... Is she? A-Ali- always used to bring us lunches..." He said, panting hard. It seemed like he was having trouble remembering her name. It was on the tip of his tongue, but for some reason he couldn't remember.
"Kirito? Who're you talking about?"
"A-Alice!" His eyes widened in as he remembered the name. Why did he remember? His memories were jumbled up, some of them were clear, but some were extremely blurry.
"Who's Alice? Kirito, are you alright? Do I need to take you back to the village?"
Kirito was about to refuse the suggestion, but fell backwards towards the ground.
"Kirito! Hey Kirito! Get yourself together!" The boy yelled, voice frantic.
"E-Eugeo..." Was his only reply before his world faded to black.
The girls were worried. Really worried.
After his collapse during the boss fight, they brought Kirito home. They put him into his bed after fussing over him and let him rest for a while, hoping we would be fine in a few hours. It had been more than a few hours and he still hasn't woken up yet.
They were worried, and extremely angry with him. Yet again, he decides to risk his life for everyone else by rushing towards the boss head on without any support. Furthermore, he was the main focus of the boss for most of the fight.
It was a good thing they were in a safe zone, because Sinon was probably going to beat him into the ground when he woke up.
Then again, seeing that look on his face made her not want to.
"Idiot..."
Asuna was also worried about him. Along with Sinon, he was her light in this world. Without either of them, her world would've gotten much darker. She didn't want to think about what she would do if either of them died.
The stirring of the boy drew their attention on him. Maybe he was waking up?
"Eugeo..."
Who?
"Sinon, is this someone you both know?" Asuna asked.
Sinon shook her head. She's never met anyone named Eugeo. Maybe Kirito did?
His eyes opened at a slow pace, and he took a good look at his surroundings. It seemed like he was at home. Last thing he remembered was a large figure shattering on top of him after he got impaled with a sword.
"How did I end up back here?" He sat up, ignoring the orders of taking it easy from the girls. His body felt fine.
"We carried you back here. All the other clearers had opened up the teleport gate on the next floor." Asuna informed him. She didn't mention anyone dying, so it seemed like everything went well.
"Gah!"
A punch on the back of the head drew him out of his thoughts as he turned around and saw Sinon with flames in the background. The cottage wasn't really on fire right?
"What did you think you were doing rushing into the boss solo?" He sensed that this was an 'answer-well-or-I'll-beat-the-crap-out-of-you' question.
"I wanted to prevent anyone else from going in. I was basically distracting the boss the entire fight so I was the only one that could accurately read his movements even after he changed attack patterns. I figured it would be similar to his earlier attack pattern."
Sinon shook her first, ready to plant a punch into his face this time. She relaxed after a bit, letting the boy relax his body. He gave a sigh of relief.
"Anyways, are you alright now? You've been out for quite some time, Kirito-kun." Asuna asked, worry still evident in her voice.
"As long as I don't attempt to do something like that again, I'll be fine." He replied, smiling back at her.
"If you do something like that again, I'll heal you up to full HP just so I can bring it down within an inch of your life while I beat you senseless for being such an idiot." Sinon informed him. He took heed of her words; it could and probably would happen.
"Anyways, what did you get as the item drop?" Sinon asked.
Kirito remembered that he did get the item drop. He didn't know what it was since he didn't get a good look at the screen when he collapsed, just a good face full of ground. It took him a while to scroll down his inventory, looking for that one anomaly that was never there before. When he found it, he opened up a detailed page of its stats.
"It's called the [Shroud of Martin]." He informed them.
Sinon raised an eyebrow at its name. "It sounds like some sort of holy artifact. Any lore from the description?"
"Not really. It just said it was the cost the boss wore. What's interesting is the stats it gives. It gives quite an amount of protection from the elements, fire-resistance, frost-resistance, you name it. It also gives me a moderate increase in all my stats and gives me a bit of extra HP too. It's pretty good, but it's not something that could be considered overpowered."
"What item slot does it take over?" Asuna asked, curious as how red would look on his usual all black attire.
"It says here that it could be considered undergarments, somewhat like an undershirt. The sleeves are long though, you'd be able to see a bit of it sticking out the sleeves of my coat." He put it on and indeed, you could see a distinguishable hint of red from each sleeve. If he were to take off his coat and put on a short sleeved shirt, you could see a pair of long skin-tight sleeves that reached towards his wrists.
"Is that a problem, oh Black Swordsman?" He groaned. Here comes Sinon's teasing again. If it was good enough Asuna would start teasing him too.
"Is the supposed strongest player in the game scared of a colour change? You just got that coat from Ashley too. You could always ask her to make you a new one in a different colour. We'll be there with you in case you need help." Asuna nodded her head furiously at that last part.
"Oh yeah, of course I will. Don't worry about Ashley using me as a gigantic dress up doll. Don't worry about when she tries to make me into a girl either. I was completely fine when all of you poked and prodded me." He deadpanned. He still hasn't found that girl who groped him.
Both girls had a nostalgic look on their faces. It seemed like seeing an extremely feminine Kirito in a butler's uniform gave them extremely happy thoughts.
"Anyone want to do something now? I don't want to be stuck at home." He asked them as he stretched his legs. He didn't know how long he was out, but it was probably a long while. He needed to do something.
Both girls looked at each other, and the nodded. The both stood up, linked his arms with theirs and walked right out of the house.
"H-hey! Where are we going so suddenly?"
Asuna was the one to give him a reply. "We're going to sell some of the clothes we got from the boss, and then after that..."
"Shopping!" Both girls choruses together.
Such is the life of the Black Swordsman.
A/N
Thank you for reading. The writing part of this chapter was finished a few days after I posted up the preview, and at 9k words, I believe this is the longest TSaTA chapter I've ever written. Want to know something about the writing part?
It was separated into like 12 different parts. Yup. I would write a bit on my phone, email it to myself and then write on my laptop. After I stopped writing on my laptop, I would delete the previous note and start another from where I left off on my laptop. After I was finished that, the cycle continued.
It continued for quite a while.
But be happy! Chapter is done-ish. I had an omake I thought about, I'm just debating if I should actually post it as part of this chapter or the next. Eh, whatever.
Anyways~
Drunken Klein is the best Klein! I wrote a good 1/3 of this chapter buzzed(Guess what parts? :D). Praise alcohol because it's good.
Also, Kiriko-chan! The omake I had planned had something to do with Sinon and Asuna acting as proper ladies in a public place while they had a bishounen butler, doing everything they wanted.
Last but not least, Mr Counter Guardian. For some reason, I had some uncontrollable urge to add him in. Don't ask me why, I just did. If you can remember the aria for Crane Wing Three Realm, give yourself an internet cookie. Heck, give yourself as many as you want.