Sword Art Online: Desert Army

Rescued

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The Taken King's defeat released the shadowy grip that tainted the tunnels of the vast Labyrinth. The once dull, icy blue walls of the Throne Room became illuminated by old torches that spanned across the walls and pillars behind the ice. The once unlit objects glowed with fire as the receding ice disappeared from the room. The cold surface seemed to melt away in black wisps of smoke before that too dissipated into the still air of the large extravagant room.

A pitch black throne sat atop the stairs at one end inside what looked like a circular cove of the room. The walls that encased the chamber were smooth sandstone chiseled with swirling designs and glistening gems. Pillars appeared behind where the ice hid, reaching high up and touching the twenty foot high ceiling. Each pillar had a curved arch way protruding from its top that reached across and connected to the opposite pillar on the adjacent side. The architectural and structural design made the ceiling look less flat and added more depth than it once was when it was riddled with dense ice crystals.

From the looks of it, the room from the entrance, which was a large eight by six arched doorway, to the throne was around thirty to forty meters in length and its width was a good twenty meters. It was large, big enough to fit an entire raid party of forty players. The floor of the room gleamed with a reflective black stone, and in the middle spanned a large walkway that reached from pillar to pillar and all the way to the throne's stairs.

Kirito's echoing footsteps across the ruby colored stone pathway bounced across the walls as he approached his friends. It was actually quite disappointing. He sighed as he grew to a stop at the party's healer, Asuna.

"Looks like you've been recruited to heal everyone up. With the danger gone, it'll be easier to have you use your spells and conserve our HP potions." The Spriggan explained as he pulled out a small healing potion.

"Oi, that sucked!" Klein groaned as he rolled onto his side.

Apparently the paralysis has worn off now.

"Ugh, tell me about it." Leafa agreed as she struggled to sit up. She took the time to stretch her arms and legs before looking around at the revealed room.

Asuna took the potion from Kirito's offering hand and slowly drank its contents. Her health bar steadily rose and entered the green before the bottle depleted and shattered into particles.

"Does anyone else feel stiff? Like, really stiff?" Liz asked absently from her spot beside Silica.

Silica gave a brief nod and slumped back down onto the ground. "A little healing would be nice, right about now."

"On it." Asuna said, as she stood up and nodded her thanks to Kirito. The swordsman smiled and began walking toward the entrance, where a certain someone was sitting and leaning against the wall.

The Undine began her group healing spell, initiating the process and executing it with glowing gold words of power. Soon, everyone in the party began to be engulfed with refreshing green light effects.

Kirito looked up and saw everyone's health bars slowly refill as Asuna's mana bar depleted quickly. "This may take a few tries." He inwardly groaned as he finally reached Sinon. Lazily, he slid himself down the wall at her side and leaned his head back.

"That was some fight, Kirito. Why is it that you always get to look cool fighting and winning against impossible odds? And don't even get me started on asking how you managed to negate the Shadow's Embrace effects." Sinon started, her bright blue reflective eyes glanced at him for a second before looking forward at the recovering group. They seemed to be chatting and playing around as they waited for Asuna's mana to regenerate.

"Seriously, you guys should learn to help out every once in a while." Kirito responded with a frown, "Sheesh, feels like I always do the work." He ended with a sigh and ran a hand through his black messy hair.

"What do you mean, Daddy? I helped out!" Yui's light muffled voice sounded out before she popped out of Kirito's chest pocket.

He chuckled and raised his hands in mock surrender, "Sorry, I was just kidding anyway. You did great, Yui."

"Wait." Sinon cut in, "I thought she couldn't navigate the maze because something was blocking her sensors." She asked.

Kirito looked away from Yui and over to the Cait Sith beside him. Right, I should probably explain that. "Well, you're right. She couldn't pick anyone up on her scanners because the Forsaken Shadows in the walls were specifically programmed to negate Navigational Pixie abilities." He started. "However, she and I could still hear distant noises loud and clear. Thanks to my Perception skills and Yui's detection sense, I was able to hear you when you called." Kirito explained as he let Yui land on his right shoulder, in between the two fairies.

"Yep, if it weren't for you Sinon, we would never have found you or the rest of the group." Yui added with a bright smile.

"So, you just 'heard' me through the walls then?"

Kirito hummed a combination of a whine and a disagreeing groan, "Uh, something like that."

Sinon rolled her eyes and let her head fall back against the wall, "Yeah, that was kind of embarrassing actually."

"Hey, it worked didn't it?" Kirito replied in his defense.

"Oh, and to answer your other question. When all the shadows piled up on me, I had Yui detonate an antidote crystal in my storage compartment. That's how I was able to get rid of the debuff." He explained and pet Yui on the head.

"And why didn't you do it yourself?" Sinon asked out of curiosity.

"I was busy charging my sword skill, plus I couldn't exactly move much." The boy shrugged his shoulders in response. He then gave the girl a warm smile, remembering what happened before that. "Thank you , for saving me back there." He said.

Sinon slid her feet back and bent her legs. She pulled them loosely into her arms as her ears twitched from his words. "Y-yeah, anytime. You did the same for me." She spoke quietly, then let out a light sigh. "I couldn't do anything else anyway." She said, hiding her face in the crook of her arms that crossed around her knees.

"Well, as thank you." Kirito began and swiped his fingers down to open his menu, "I want to give you this."

His words brought a curious glint into the Cait Sith's eyes as she lifted her head to look at him. It was tilted slightly, and her ears heightened in an attentive manor giving the girl a noticeably cute appearance. "Hmm? What is it?" She asked.

Kirito let a smirk cross his lips as he opened up a trade and offered her the bow that dropped.

"Bane of Shadows…it's a bow! I didn't know any boss's dropped any bow variants aside from the basics." Sinon gaped as she accepted the trade and hurriedly entered her inventory. There it was, sitting in her weapons cache. Sinon unequipped her current bow and equipped the more powerful bow that better suited her level.

In her hands digitalized a pitch black metallic recurve bow. It looked like it was made out of the same material the throne was made out of, but this seemed like it was combined with metals as well. Its reflective black surface gleamed in the light of the torches and was cold to the touch.

"It's amazing." Sinon commented absent mindedly as she grazed her hand across its smooth surface. It was long, but looked like it held a lot of tension in its black string. The ends curved outward away from her, and at its center where the handle was were two large spikes like armored appendages. They protruded from above and below the handle and pointed forward, almost like a focal point for the arrows and a way to armor the archer's hand as well.

"Check to see if there's any lore." Kirito said, watching as Sinon's amazed eyes slowly danced across the bow's curves. She eventually pulled up the item's info and checked for background information.

Bane of Shadows: Forged in the darkest regions of the Kaeliox Caverns by The Taken King's finest black smiths, a bow told to hold the power of a thousand Forsaken Souls was crafted from the metals mined from deep within the Erebi Mountain Range. Black steel embodied with darkness, a bow fit for a king. Legend has it that this bow becomes stronger when under the dark of night, but the king was forever imprisoned within the maze called The Labyrinth to rule a kingdom beneath the surface. It has yet to bathe in the embrace of the sun's light.

Sinon read off the lore in wonder. As she read, the two of them were illuminated again by Asuna's healing bringing them closer to maxing out on HP. When she finished, she flicked her fingers and closed her menu to look down at the weapon in her lap.

"So, looks like this will be the first time this bow has been outside." She sighed as she stood up, feeling rejuvenated from the healing they were receiving.

"Yeah, but why was the king imprisoned here? That part doesn't make sense." Kirito said, as he stood next to her. He was listening in interest, and that seemed to stand out more than anything.

The girl shook her head and gave Kirito a small smile, "Thank you. Whenever I use this, I'll think of you in my heart." She teased as she walked forward to regroup with the others.

Kirito flinched slightly, a little taken aback by Sinon bringing up that promise again. That was what he promised her for whenever he drew Excalibur. He quickly shook off the thought and ignored Yui's giggling form on his shoulder.

"Looks like she got me there." He sighed in defeat and walked forward as well.

"Kirito, get anything good from the boss?!" Klein called out as we waved the teen over.

The Spriggan joined the group and pointed toward Sinon, "Not really. Only that bow."

To his surprise, the girls of the group seemed to dawn looks of jealousy and irritation. All of which were directed toward Sinon's awkwardly smiling avatar.

An echoing clap resounded off the walls and pulled the attention back to a certain samurai, "Alright, well I don't know about you guys, but I still have a quest objective on my HUD that needs completing." He made a gesture with his hands and pulled up the current quest they were supposed to be working on.

"Oh, right. We still need to save that girl." Kirito realized.

"No duh Sherlock, you just had to go and fight a boss didn't yah?" Liz pointed an accusing figure in the teen's direction.

"W-well-"

Whatever Kirito was about to say was cut off by another annoyed exclamation, "All he knows is combat and dramatic entrances. Seriously, that's all he's good for." Asuna chipped in, enjoying teasing the poor Spriggan.

"That's my brother for you. Once he sees a raging battle going on, he's off to save the day." Leafa added in, smiling mischievously at Kirito.

"Where did I go wrong?" Kirito muttered as he watched the girls of the group laugh amusedly. Did I miss something? He thought.

Klein laid a hand on his shoulder and chuckled, "What they mean to say is thank you. You saved our asses, again."

It doesn't feel like that's what they mean. Kirito groaned and shrugged off the man's hand from his shoulder.

"Does anyone else feel that?" Silica asked, she was the only one still seated on the ground. Pina sat idly on her head as she looked up at the group.

"Feel what?" Klein asked for elaboration.

"It almost feels like…the floor is vibrating." She responded, placing her palms on the stone ground.

Kirito laid himself down onto his stomach and pressed his ear to the cold ground. His palms pressed up against its smooth surface beside his head as he listened and felt for vibrations.

…

She was right.

The ground was releasing some kind of subtle rhythm of tiny vibrations.

"Yui."

"On it."

The pixie new exactly what to do and flew off of Kirito's shoulder to press her own tiny hands against the floor of the throne room. "It's coming from up there." She informed.

Kirito looked up and noticed she was pointing up toward the throne atop the stairs.

"Why would the throne be vibrating." He asked himself as he stood up.

"Maybe it's a massage chair?" Klein offered.

His statement had palms meeting foreheads throughout the majority of the group.

Kirito began to move forward, "Well, only one way to find out. Klein, you're with me. Everyone else can hang back."

Klein made his way over and fell in line beside the swordsman as they both walked toward the throne. The vibrations seemed to get stronger as they climbed the stairs and got closer to the black object. When they reached the top, it seemed like they could actually hear the throne humming. Like a gentle muffled constant vibration.

"Klein, touch it." Kirito ordered absent mindedly.

"What?! Why me?" The Salamander exclaimed.

"Because you're wearing red. You're expendable." Kirito laughed as he stopped just in front of the massive black chair.

Klein huffed in defiance and stopped a few feet behind the teen, "No way man, you do it."

Kirito looked back over his shoulder and gave his scruffy friend an amused smile. "Alright."

With that said, he turned around and slowly sat himself down onto the kingless throne. Nothing seemed to happen right away, but after a few seconds the vibrations seemed to stop.

The Spriggan was just about to stand back up in disappointment when a sudden message popped up in front of him.

«Return of the King»

Congratulations! You have slayed the dark king and rid this Labyrinth of his shadowy grasp. May this maze and the next be forever prosperous under you're reign. We, The Forsaken, accept you as our new king, Kirito. You will never see us, for we have been set free thanks to you. The curse has been lifted. We entrust you with our most powerful champion.

P.S. Beware the King's pet, it thrives in the depths of the maze. It takes orders from no one.

«The King's Blessing: Shadow Companion»

Ability allows the summoning of a Forsaken Shadow in places the sun does not reach. The minion will make an exact copy of its owner's appearance and currently equipped weapons. You're orders are absolute. All it requires is a command, and it will execute it. The King's Blessing can only be cast once a day. The summoned shadow will immediately be destroyed once sunlight is cast upon its form.

«Confirm»

"Well, I guess I'm king now." Kirito said, dismissing the message and looking up expectantly at Klein.

The man in question stared back defiantly and crossed his arms, "What're you looking at?" Klein asked.

Kirito chuckled and stood up, "Forget it. Let's just get out of here."

The teen patted Klein's shoulder and walked past him.

Klein looked at the teen, confusion with a hint of jealousy riddled his face as he looked back at the throne. Tempting, very tempting. But we have a maiden to save. He sighed and tore his gaze away from the blackened seat. He quickly stepped down the stone stairs and caught up to Kirito to join the rest of the group again.

"So, what was up with that message?" Sinon was the first to ask.

Klein groaned and kept walking, "He's the king now. New spell. I'm going."

The swordsman in question looked genuinely impressed before placing his hands on his hips and nodding his head, "That pretty much sums it up. I guess it was a last hit bonus or something."

"Well, at least you got something out of it too. I'd feel bad if I was the only one." Sinon said, gesturing to the bow holstered across her back.

"Yeah, it'd be pretty cool if I actually put some points into my summoning skill tree." Kirito made a disappointed frown before shrugging and moving on. "Either way, it still could be pretty useful. I think only the person that killed the king can get it."

"Which would also mean it's a last hit bonus reward. Just like in Aincrad." Asuna commented.

"Yes, which means this place was probably generated by the Cardinal System. And that means this could end up being a world quest, just like how we got Excalibur." Kirito further explained.

"So, that means we might need more people to storm the island." Sinon concluded.

Kirito placed his hands in his pockets and began following Klein, "In due time, for now we can get as much as we can done before spreading the word ourselves. Besides, I'm sure people are starting to hear about it by now."

"What makes you say that?" Liz asked.

This time, Yui stood up on Kirito's shoulder and flew herself into the middle of the group. "Now that the central boss has been defeated, I've been able to sense the presence of other players on the island. About eight so far have set foot on here since we landed." She explained.

"Well, I don't know about you girls." Leafa interrupted, "But I think we should worry about our quest first before competing with other players for quests on this island."

"She's right." Liz agreed. "We still have a girl to save."

The two fairies headed off in the direction of the entrance.

"How far do you think Klein will make it before he gets lost?" Asuna asked from her spot between Sinon and Silica.

"Maybe a few good turns." Sinon suggested.

"But it'll be mapped out. Everywhere he walks becomes discovered on his map, how would he get lost?" Silica asked.

The question caused Asuna and Kirito to laugh and begin walking, "It's Klein. He gets lost way too easily. You should've seen him when we helped the Sleeping Knights fight that boss." Kirito called over his shoulder.

"I heard that!"

Apparently, they were both wrong. Klein was smart this time and stopped at the entrance to the throne room to wait for back up.

"I made it there in time! That has to count for something!" He called to Kirito as he watched the rest of the group approach the arch way.

"Admittedly it was a rather nice sneak attack." Asuna complimented.

"Oh good, you did something right." Liz laughed. She was leaning against the wall beside Klein and Leafa.

Yui flew ahead of Kirito and looked down one of the corridors that branched off from the doorway. "I can sense her now. She's in a clearing up ahead. It should take us 10 minutes to get to her from here." She informed. "I don't think she's alone. There's another, larger signature near her location."

Kirito picked up the pace and started jogging down the corridor Yui pointed toward, "Let's go save a life then."

The group stumbled into a large circular room.

The first thing they noticed was the pungent stench of rotten flesh and bone. It was enough to make any innocent soul faint, or even turn high tail and run within the first few steps. It was nearly overwhelming, but the group endured the smell and pushed onward in favor of saving the girl.

All across the wide floor were piles of bones, skulls, spines and ribs. Each one grayed with age and most had lingering remains of decaying flesh in different intervals of time. Some were ancient, and some seemed to be recently killed.

Six corridors branched off from its round walls. It could easily fit thirty people with enough room to fight a boss if it weren't for the bones littering the ground. But this wasn't the boss room. The piles of bones that were strewn across the room built up at the sides, making it seem almost mountainous with a barren valley at its center.

It was a clearing of sorts, like a smaller area in the middle that was barren of any bones. But it also seemed to be the kill zone thanks to the sand ridden dry blood pools that stained the ground.

In that area was a little girl. She looked to be around the age of 13. Her short dirty blonde hair nearly reached her shoulders and had a rough unkempt appearance. She lay unconscious on the ground; her dirty plain sleeveless shirt could be seen past her tattered cloak. Not much else could be seen from where the party stood. The tail of the cloak was seemingly draped over the rest of her as she was sprawled out in the center of the room.

"Alright, so I'm guessing this is where the king's pet has its snacks?" Klein asked, he was the first to enter the room.

"You…are probably right." Kirito agreed, stepping carefully behind Klein. "Liz, I think we'll need you and your shield up front." He suggested, gesturing for her to come with him. "You're our tank after all."

Liz nodded and stepped ahead of the two swordsmen. The three of them drew their weapons as they followed the pathway toward the center of the room. Its edges were made of tall slopes of bones, some of which were randomly spread across the pathway they walked.

The center of the room was the only place the light was coming from. Its center circle was surrounded by tall torches, each one with a large flame burning at its peak.

"Silica, follow behind us. Asuna and Leafa, we're going to need you two at the back where you can heal us. Sinon, you'll go where they go. Whatever it is we'll need to fight, let's hope your new bow can handle it." Kirito said, taking lead of the situation. He had a bad feeling about this room.

The piles of bones began to violently shift and scatter as an earth rumbling roar shook the room they stood in.

"That didn't take long."

Kirito heard Klein comment as the rumbling died off and the bones stilled to a stop.

A silhouette of a large beast appeared at the opposite end of the room. Its footsteps echoed in the bone filled room as it charged forward with heavy steps. Once it stepped into the light, it was easy to tell what the beast was.

The monster stood a solid nine feet tall and it's bulkiness in muscle was extremely prominent. Making it look like it had the strength of a hundred men. His large head was that of a red-eyed bull, with two massive horns protruding from the sides. A thick iron ring looped through its large nostrils. He had a thick masculine human-shaped body, but it was entirely covered in dark brown fur, aside from the leather straps that crossed his chest and down to his waist, making the shape of an 'X'. His waist was covered in tattered loin cloth that extended down from an armored bronze belt that connected to his leather straps. His legs were just as muscular, and also completely covered in the same fur as the rest of his body. He had large black hooves, protected by thick bronze greaves.

The beast released another earth rattling roar and drew a massive battle axe from its back. Its rusted iron seemed dull in color but its rough sharpness made up for its appearance. Its handle was thick and made of strong wood, leading down to a heavy metal pommel at its end.

«Minotaur»

"Minotaur." Kirito muttered as he drew his legendary blade in his other hand. Looks like I'll be needing Excalibur too after all.

The Minotaur released a toothy grin as three green health bars spawned in and stacked on top of each other.

"Heads up, this boss has the same amount of health as The Taken King." Kirito warned as the beast stormed forward.

"The girl!" Klein yelled, sprinting forward and reaching the young child before the beast could descend on her. He quickly scooper her up in his arms and leapt backward back toward the group.

"Set her to the side, we'll watch over her as we heal you guys up." Asuna called out form the back of the group.

Klein grunted in understanding and ran to the back.

Kirito and Liz ran ahead to meet the Minotaur's charge. Liz's shield clattered against the massive swing the beast unleashed from its battle axe. Kirito used the stall in the swing to sweep in and carve his blades through the Minotaur's chest.

The attack rewarded him with another roar and a strong punch to the gut from the Minotaur's free hand. It took a heavy step back and blew steam out of its nostrils. Its thick hands gripped the wooden handle of his axe as his red eyes looked over the team of two.

"HAAAAH!"

Klein yelled as he leapt into the air and drove his blade down onto the boss. The Minotaur responded and stepped backward, evading the attack and leaving Klein wide open for a powerful blow from his axe.

"Klein, switch out!"

The samurai stepped back and rotated out, letting Liz swoop in and slam her shield into the incoming attack. This time, the axe grazed past the surface of the shield and continued on. The beast seemed to use its momentum to spin himself around and slam his blade into Liz's shield again, breaking her block and sending her skidding backward.

Klein caught her skidding form from losing balance and Kirito ran in again. His Veldi's Eostryder glowing red with power from his sword skill as he ducked the strike and slashed at the monster's knees.

The beast howled in pain before rearing its fist back and slamming it down, crushing the ground where Kirito once crouched. He quickly ducked back into formation with the other three and readied his swords.

Minotaur roared and made a heavy swing forward, slamming his axe at the three in front of him. The massive weapon collided into Liz's shield again and stopped in its tracks. He growled in annoyance as he backed away from a charging double team from Klein and Kirito.

The two swordsman ran forward in sync and slashed up the beast's chest, cutting clean through its hardened skin before kicking off and landing back by Liz again. The two seemed to mirror each other for the entire maneuver.

The boss recovered faster than the three predicted and swung his axe, knocking the combatants back a few feet and throwing them to the ground.

Asuna and Leafa quickly combined efforts and healed the three of them as they stood up.

"Kirito, I need you to break through his guard for me." Klein yelled as he crouched and charged his own sword skill.

"You got it. Liz, I need you!" Kirito responded, causing Liz to follow up behind him.

Just as the beast swung again, Liz stepped in front of the Spriggan and used her shield to block the attack. Kirito quickly stepped around the girl and ducked under the grinding axe. With a careful and precise swing, he slammed both blades up into the underside of the axe and sent it rebounding into the air, causing the boss to stagger backward.

"Klein!"

On cue, Klein flew in with his Katana spewing out fire from its steel blade. He slashed horizontally across the monster's chest before redirecting the sword and bringing it down diagonally. Without stalling, he spun and slashed across the Minotaur's chest thrice more before plunging his flaming blade deep into the beasts gut.

The boss growled in aggravation and brought his axe down in a vertical swing onto Klein. The samurai's body took the hit and his form slammed into the ground beneath the monster. It pried it's blade form the man's back and reared it up for another strike.

Kirito ducked into the line of the attack and crossed his blades over his head, creating a powerful block that stopped the Minotaur's swing in its tracks. The swordsman's health began to deplete the more he blocked, but he needed to slow the beast down.

"Sinon, how 'bout now?!" He grunted out as Klein rolled out from beneath Kirito and slashed the boss's arm.

"That's perfect!"

Sinon's voice called out as a blue arrow shrouded in dark mist pierced the monster's eye. Her arrow struck a weak spot and earned her a critical hit.

The beast's head snapped backward and pulled back its attack. It angrily released another howl of pain before ripping the arrow out of its eye and crushing it in its hand. He looked up only for a second arrow to shatter against his forehead, dealing minimal damage.

Piercing red eyes quickly found the archer and growled, tightening his grip on his axe and scraping his hoof against the stone floor.

"Uhh, I don't like that look." Asuna said, stepping slightly away from Sinon.

"Yeah, good luck with this one." Leafa added, moving away as well.

Sinon awkwardly stepped backward and let loose more arrows, each one shattering off the Minotaur's standing body and dealing close to no damage at all.

"No good, we have to try and get it to stop moving again." Kirito yelled as he jumped up and slammed away a furious swing from the monster.

Silica let Leafa and Asuna look after the girl and ran in to support the others in the fight. She quickly took her place behind Liz and between the two swordsmen.

"Ah good, we can try and overwhelm it now." Klein suggested.

"Might as well try." Liz agreed.

Liz stepped forward with a glowing white shield and let it block the Minotaur's sweeping axe again. The clash sent a resounding wave of air past her and kicked her hair back from the burst. A flurry of swords and daggers followed her block, each one cleaving through the boss's chest and legs diminishing its first health bar.

They didn't let up. Liz put more strength into her block and stopped another frantic swing, giving her friends more time to work at its next health bar. The beast roared as its chest was assaulted. He grunted and pulled his axe back over his head, only to receive another arrow to his other eye.

A muffled, 'YES' could be heard over the sounds of combat.

Kirito nodded to the others and began charging another sword skill, this time his Excalibur began to glow white. Klein charged his own orange one, and Silica followed up with her own shining green skill as well.

Liz ran in for another block and successfully stopped the monster's axe again.

The opening sent the rest into action. Kirito and Klein leapt high into the air and plunged their swords straight down from the Minotaur's shoulders, then began hacking away at its stomach and legs. Silica followed the two up and jumped off Liz's back for extra height, she quickly dug her dual daggers into the center of the boss's back and tore downward from behind, slicing all the way through its back before diving between its legs and rolling safely behind Liz again.

The Minotaur roared angrily as his second health bar shattered into nothing but air. His eyes seemed to glow brighter as he roared even louder, almost as if the pain sent a wave of strength through the monster's body.

He held his axe high above his head before splitting it down the center of its blades, separating the massive double bladed axe into two large single bladed axes. The boss gripped the dual weapons in his large hands and glared at the four in front of him.

"Crap, I think his style has changed! Watch out!" Kirito called out just as the beast started swinging.

For lack of a better term, it was like a cyclone backed by the strength of a hundred men all wielding powerful axes.

The Minotaur unleashed a flurry of quicker, stronger strikes with its dual axes. Plunging the blades forward at a much faster speed than the larger double bladed axe could ever reach.

Kirito was having trouble blocking the strikes, which spoke words for how his friends were doing.

"Gah!" Silica exclaimed as her small form was sent bouncing off the stones and tumbling backward.

This is bad. Kirito thought as his shoulder was slashed by another one of the beast's strikes. He quickly crossed his blades in front of himself and blocked a heavy back slash; the force sent his boots skidding backward into the stone as he slid to a stop a few meters away.

Asuna and Liz quickly healed the group back up but they were nearing their limit of backup mana potions. They needed to do something, and fast.

"Ufgh!" Liz followed Silica's example and was thrown back as well, tumbling and bouncing into a pile of bones. Her pink hair was the only thing visible as the rest of her was quickly buried.

No amount of bones could muffle the startled and disgusted squeal she let loose in that very moment.

Kirito and Klein were working together just to slow down the onslaught of spinning axes in front of them. Their swords constantly clanged against hard metal as they were slowly being forced back toward the healers.

"Leafa, let's do one final heal to top off everyone's HP then help out." Asuna said, earning a nod from Leafa.

"You two see if you can slow it down, I might be able to get another critical in to bring it down." Sinon offered. She quickly notched another arrow from her waist and nodded to the two healers in front of her.

Asuna and Leafa executed another healing spell and brought everyone's HP back into the green one last time. The two of them quickly equipped and drew their blades before charging in to back Klein and Kirito up.

Kirito sensed their charge and put all his strength into slamming the beast's axe into the air.

"Klein, clear out!"

The samurai slammed the Minotaur's other blade into the air before jumping backward and out of the way, letting the two lunging healers pass through.

Asuna's and Leafa's blades pierced straight through the boss's broken guard and plunged deep into the Minotaur's gut, dealing heavy damage and holding it in place.

"Sinon!" Asuna yelled.

Sinon drew back her arrow and aimed for the monster's eye again. She took a slow, deep breath in before holding it for a second then letting it out. Calmly, she spoke six words of powerful magic and bathed her notched arrow in a glowing yellow light. Without another second wasted, she let loose her arrow and it streaked through the air like a bolt of lightning.

The arrow surged through the air in an instant, like a flash of light, before burying itself deep into the red eye of the Minotaur. The extra damage, amplified by the critical hit multiplier sent the beast stumbling backward and howling in intense pain.

"Everyone! Now's your chance!" Sinon called out, noticing the boss's health drop into the final red zone.

Kirito and Klein were the first to charge, Leafa and Asuna followed up soon after, even Silica ran in followed by Liz leaping seemingly out of nowhere from her spot in the pile of bones.

The sound of sharpened metal tearing through hardened flesh filled the room as the six fairies unleashed hell onto the boss in the center of the room.

Slashing, yelling, grunts of exertion, pained howling, it was all there. Quickly, the beast's remaining health drained and disappeared into the end of its HP bar.

The Minotaur dropped its axes and fell to its knees. Its glowing red eyes lost their light as it fell back onto its heels and snapped his head up into the air. With one final roar that rattle the bones and shook the walls, the boss shattered into a million golden polygons.

The large bone filled room grew silent of any sound aside from the heavy panting coming from the members of the party.

"Well, that was easy." Kirito joked, in no time at all he received a slap to the back from Klein and Leafa.

He chuckled in self amusement and dismissed the general loot message that popped up. Nothing too good came from the drop, just a good amount of XP, Yrd, and ancient bronze armor. That was probably worth a good amount of currency. Kirito quickly walked over to the girl lying on the ground, careful not to step on any old bones that were randomly strewn across the stone ground.

Sinon was already crouching over her and checking to see if there were any interaction options.

"Is she okay?" He heard Asuna ask from behind him.

As if the girl heard her being mentioned, she began to stir her way out of unconsciousness.

Two speckled golden eyes slowly opened to reveal seven fairies leaning over her as she laid on the ground.

"W-who are you?" She asked in a small, quiet voice.

Kirito crouched down and offered the girl his hand, in it was a small black stone with a triangle carved into its surface. "You're little brother asked us to find you and bring you home."

"Tatsiki! He's alive?!" She exclaimed, hurriedly sitting herself up and snatching the stone from Kirito's palm.

"You bet he is. He's in the closest town." Klein responded to the girl's outburst.

The girl took a shaky breath and breathed a sigh of relief, "I-I thought this place was abandoned. But that monster found us and we got separated. I spent a while running, then out of nowhere the beast found me and brought me here. I guess I blacked out at some point." She explained, clutching the small black stone to her chest as she spoke.

"Well, you'll be glad to hear that we cleared this place out." Asuna said, a hint of pride in her voice.

"R-really?!" The girl responded in shock.

"Yup. It's perfectly safe and sound now." Leafa commented.

The girl's eyes went wide and she finally began looking around at all her saviors.

"Hey, what's your name?" Kirito asked in curiosity as he offered her his hand again.

She cautiously extended her own small hand and he pulled the girl to her feet, "My name's Suki."

Kirito nodded and kept a hold of her hand as he stood at her side, "Well Suki, my name's Kirito. It's time to go home. Tatsiki is worried about you."

Suki nodded in understanding and clung to Kirito's side, keeping close to him in lingering fear.

The small action did not go unnoticed by the other girls.

Before any of them could step in and take the girl into their own arms, Suki spoke up in a shaky and shy voice, "K-kirito?"

The teen looked down at the girl and hummed in acknowledgement, "Hmm? What's up?"

"T-thank you." Suki said, clutching her small fingers tightly around the small stone.

«Quest Complete!»

The Labyrinth

«Reward: 1 Golden Key»

"Here, I found this while playing in the maze. It's not much, but I don't know what to do with it. Please, take it. Thank you for bringing my sister back!" Tatsiki exclaimed as he handed Kirito a large golden key. It was around five inches in length, and had a heavy weight to it.

Kirito smiled his thanks and confirmed the quest. The entire party glowed under the effects of XP, some even leveled up from completing the quest; Silica, Klein, Liz, and Sinon to be exact.

The group smiled and waved to the two siblings. Suki had her arm over her little brother's shoulder and was happily waving to the group as they walked away. In her hand that sat behind Tatsiki's shoulder was that black stone that Kirito gave her.

"What was with that stone?" Sinon asked.

She was currently walking with Kirito at the back of the group as they let Klein and Asuna take the lead.

"Tatsiki slipped me it when he hugged me at the start of the quest. I had no idea what it was, but he whispered to me that it was important to his sister." Kirito said, his hands were deep in his pockets.

Sinon took in the information and turned to look at him, "Why didn't you tell us about it?"

Kirito glanced at her and gave the Cait Sith a humble smirk, "I didn't think it was important."

The girl's ears twitched from atop her bright powder blue hair as she flicked her tail idly behind her. She had to admit though, that was one intricately complicated NPC. In fact, everyone they've encountered seems to be more interactive than the NPCs on the mainland.

Especially that King.

No boss that they've fought before was ever as talkative or even at all interactive like he was.

Actually, no. There was only one other time where this happened. And that was during their trip into Jötunheimr for the Holy Sword Excalibur. The NPC that gave them the quest had a similar AI to the ones they've encountered thus far, here on the island.

Should I ask him? Technically I did win the bet, so it's fair that I get to ask. Sinon thought, remembering back to their conversation on the boat before they arrived.

Kirito risked himself and stepped in to save her back in that icy throne room. He fended off a wave of Forsaken Shadows just for her, so that is a plausible reason to win that bet after all.

"Hey, sometime tomorrow, do you want to team up and scout out the north side of the island? Just the two of us? Maybe we can find a couple mini-bosses and test out our new abilities or something." She asked hesitantly, eyes occasionally glancing at the swordsman as she spoke.

The Spriggan hummed in thought for a few moments, running through his schedule for tomorrow and quickly came up with an answer. "Sure, I'd love to. I'm free all day actually."

"That's great!" Sinon responded, but immediately kicked herself for acting a little too excited about it.

Kirito just chuckled obliviously and noticed that Klein and Asuna were reaching the north-eastern edge of town.

He quickly jogged up to the leaders, "Hey, what's the plan?"

Klein looked ahead of them and pointed toward the direction of the nearest mountain range. The land was riddled with them. This town seemed to be cut off from the rest of the island from a range of mountains that surrounded it like a bowl. Somehow, that gave off the impression that the rest of the island was pretty mountainous as well.

"Well, Asuna and I have been talking and we've agreed that we should try and secure the next town. Villagers say that is just over the mountains to the north-east of town." Klein explained, dropping his arm back to his side and opening up his mini-map.

"Yeah, we should be able to reach and secure it by evening. That way we can have a safe place to take a break and see what the town has to offer." Asuna added in her two cents.

Kirito nodded and looked out into the sea of sand and stone, "Alright, I'm in." He agreed. "But it'll probably be harder than what Klein and I had to face in this first town."

"Eh, we got this." Klein assured.

The group headed off into the desert, leaving the sanctuary of the safe zone and quickly escaping its protective barrier. They had a long journey ahead of them. The mountain range was too high to fly over, and it would take longer to go around than to find a ravine in the cracked mountains that cuts clean through to the other side.

Ravines always come hand in hand with danger. And in a place like this, that danger is only amplified by the creatures that lurk in the mountains.

Beta: demonic1556

Editor: Allix Stowe

Alright, a little shorter than the previous but still reached my 7,000 marker. It makes for a nice chapter to read. I tried to make the scenery more descriptive in this one, and you're also finding out more and more facts about this mysterious island. There's so much more to it than meets the eye, I'll tell you that much.

In case you've noticed, I struggle with dialogue. Yeah, some things just come across as stale or forced and I hope you bear with me on this. I'll get better, don't worry. So I hope you enjoy the story anyway.

A Minotaur? Cliché I know, but I couldn't just shove a new monster into the Labyrinth. That wouldn't be very good sportsmanship now would it? Besides, I have a ton more monsters to introduce into the story so all you need to do is wait and find out. Bosses like the Taken King will show up often.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Drop a REVIEW, I always appreciate them. Including Agent 94's, I've taken a lot of what he said into account. Some progress in my ability has been seen in this chapter as proof. Favorite and Follow, I hope to see you guys in the next one.

Cya XP