Chapter 5: Devastation Attack
AN: I do not own Sword Art Online in any way, shape, or form, at most I own the plot and OCs.
Ai-Chan headed back to the town, it was 10:00 and no one was logged on. Ai-Chan smirked flicking through her Admin Logs which gave her all the information coded in the game. Once she was finished she moved her player icon on her map to another floor, something no other player besides her and her brother could do. She automatically got teleported to Floor 5. She landed in a town that was dark and looked depressing but Ai-Chan was unbothered by it. She started leveling until roughly one in the morning which resulted in her level increasing to 28. After that she logged out, ate the leftovers of dinner her brother left for her and promptly fell asleep. The next morning Hikari and Akihiko ate breakfast together discussing the players they met.
"I met a couple of information brokers, one name is Tekunaifu. He was an interesting guy."
"Kirito-kun is really friendly and nice. He's like an actual knight-in-shining armor. Or at least that's the type of aura I got off of him."
"There was this suspicious dark-purple haired girl, called herself Sutoraiki. Wielded knives. Pretty well at that."
"There's this girl, Misaki-chan, I think she's obsessed with me. However, the girl she was with was a lot calmer, Kamu-chan. She was nice with waist length caramel like curly hair."
"There was guy and he was pretty thickly built. Not fat but muscular. He wielded the Great Onyx Great Sword. His name was Tane which I found interesting."
"Tenshi-kun is pretty cool. I bet he'll end up as a guild leader."
"Anyone else interesting?"
"Two in fact. Taiyo Shinigami." This got a raised eye from her brother,
"Sun Reaper? That's contradictory." Hikari shrugged,
"To each their own." She then met his eyes, "He was good-looking even if that's not his real appearance. White Soul Eater hair, formal clothes worn informally and wielded a scythe, expertly I may say." Akihiko inquired,
"And the other one?" Hikari responded,
"He had a cloak on, but he was only a head shorter than you. Had shaggy brown hair and wielded that Chinese knife you included." Akihiko balked,
"He got his hands on that weapon?!" Hikari looked at him curiously,
"What's so special about it?" Akihiko explained,
"It is formally called Mate Chopper and is not easy to wield. It is a Chinese kitchen knife but with added jagged but sharp edges. It also has a special add-on bonus, sometimes it can induce the Paralyzed or Poisoned status." This caused Hikari to pause before inquiring harshly,
"And you let beginners get their hands on it?! What were you thinking?!" Akihiko held up his hands in defense,
"It could only attained by defeating a mini-boss solo or an item on the higher floors. Specifically Hell Floors." Hikari calmed down and took a deep breath, closing her eyes then opening them looking much calmer,
"Fine." She looked up at him, "He wants to kill every player in the game." She waited for a response and when she didn't get one she continued, "I found I wasn't fond of the idea of people dying in the game dying in real life." Her eyes hardened as she spoke her next words, "I demand you don't make Sword Art Online a death game." Akihiko looked helpless,
"So how do you want me to make it?" Hikari explained,
"Well I was sort of dreaming last night of dying inside of a VRMMORPG and afterwards I found myself in a different VRMMORPG. So I figured you could do something similar to it." With that Akihiko flew into a fit,
"And how am I supposed to do that?! I managed Sword Art Online because of my dream! I couldn't possibly repeat that! It took me years to get this idea solidified into my head and even then it wasn't complete without your help! How do you expect me to create more before the official release?!" Hikari explained to him in a condescending manner,
"I would write out the type of VRMMORPG it would be, along with the list of items and mechanics it would work on. All you would have to do is program." Akihiko calmed down, thinking the idea of it over before speaking slowly,
"That would work…" Hikari continued on,
"Since you're only programming it, I figured that after they died in Sword Art Online they'd just get shunted into the next VRMMORPG. If they died in the next game, the same thing would happen until they got to the tenth game in the line. In that game I'd make it impossible for them to die." Akihiko narrowed his eyes,
"You're asking a lot of me imoto-chan." Hikari merely shrugged,
"Can't say much ani-kun. When PoH brought up the killing of players I became incredibly uncomfortable. I figured this would be a solution." She looked back up, "I also figured that if someone's NerveGear got removed during the official release, they wouldn't die but would be unable to log back in until the game was beaten." Akihiko nodded slowly,
"Your plans are solid imoto-chan. I could definitely do as you have requested." He met her gaze, "We would have to extend the Beta-Testing though." Hikari shrugged,
"Don't care." Akihiko nodded at her readily,
"Done deal then imoto-chan. I will expect to have a list of each world by the end of ten weeks. One week equals one complete list." Hikari agreed,
"Sounds good ani-kun." The problem averted and his sister happy. This made Akihiko happy. Knowing that he was able to please his little sister.
At roughly 12:00 pm Hikari bounced back into the virtual world known as Sword Art Online. She was still on the fifth floor and she decided to get up to level thirty while she was there. Meanwhile Kirito, Diabel, Tenshi, Misaki, Kamu, Tane, and Taiyo were planning for the second floor boss, the Cyclops. Or rather it was Rev the Troll King but they didn't know that. Kirito was talking,
"We've already seen the field boss, so we'll need fast players to take care of it. Tenshi, Misaki, Kamu, and Taiyo, you are assigned to take care of it. It shouldn't be particularly hard and I'll be right beside you. Since we've seen mostly Cyclops on this floor, we're going to assume that the boss is a cyclops. We haven't however, went into the Boss Room yet, so be prepared for anything." All the players nodded, agreeing with Kirito's strategy.
Kirito and Ai-Chan's entourage had already mapped out the second floor and found the boss room after five hours. However, after the town fire it had seemed as if Ai-Chan had disappeared. She was still active on their friends list but afterwards she had completely disappeared. The tracker that could be used via the friends list wasn't working and Kirito hadn't been sure why. It worked with everyone else.
So they, along with about fifty others, made it to the boss room. Kirito looked behind him and shouted, "It's the second day of the game, let's clear the second floor!" The players cheered loudly for the dark blue-haired man as he shoved the door open. And then they caught sight of the Field Boss. The there before them was the Bullbous Bow. The name was slightly deceiving as it wasn't a bow, like a hair accessory. It was more of a bull, dark blue fur, dark red eyes, and dark yellow horns. He huffed and smoke came out of his nostrils, eyes darting as it looked at the players. Tenshi readied his katana, Misaki pulled out her rapier, Kamu hooked her kusarigama behind her shoulders ready to take off, and Taiyo spun his scythe casually. He spoke in a cool tone,
"Ready to go Tenshi, Misaki, and Kamu?" The three replied positively just as the bull charged. The four jumped out of the way, but Kamu caught its horns in her kusarigama. Misaki cheered,
"Good work Kamu-chan! Now it's my turn!" She then proceeded to slid under the bull and strike at its belly which caused it to attempt to trample her. However, a white-haired man shouted, interfering and distracting the bull,
"Hey, you! Are you ready to get a taste of my blade?! He was dressed in all black with the same hairstyle of Taiyo. The white-haired man pulled out a strange looking katana, which looked more to be a cross of an axe and spear. He then activated a strong Skill that none of them recognized, when it in reality was a simple combined Skill called Right Downward Diagonal, Back Left Spin Rush. It allowed him to do a Downward Diagonal but afterward he spun to his right to go into a Left Horizontal. He then proceeded to do the reverse move of it, Left Downward Diagonal, Back Right Spin Rush. He wasn't allowing the bull to move at all as he hacked away at it. Taiyo frowned and decided to interrupt the man. He approached the bull and spun his scythe before jumping up and doing a Linear Scythe Skill. He then jumped back. The other white-haired man looked annoyed that someone got in his way, but he couldn't do much as Tenshi ran in with a Horizontal on the bull's left side. The thing was trapped by three players and it couldn't do its charging which was frustrating it. Of the three bars that had appeared, it was in the middle of its second health bar. Misaki took that as her cue to attempt to stab the bull in its face, which sort of worked. Her rapier got caught in its face, which wasn't boding too well for the red-haired girl. She couldn't pull the blade out. Taiyo, noticing the girl's struggle rolled his eyes and strolled up to her and yanked on the hilt of her rapier. It came out perfectly fine, and Misaki smiled at him,
"Thanks Taiyo-kun!" He smiled at her indulgently,
"Not a problem Misaki-chan." Misaki sighed,
"I do wonder where Ai-Chan-sama went though." Taiyo replied,
"As do I, but she can take care of herself perfectly fine." As if on cue Ai-Chan appeared in the room. The difference was, she was behind the bull so no one could see her. She had spent the majority of the time grinding and planning for the other VRMMORPGs. So she was now at a nice high level. With a single easy swipe, Ai-Chan killed the bull. At it dissipated into pixels Ai-Chan clacked her tongue disapprovingly,
"If it took so long for you to beat the field boss how do you expect to beat the floor boss?" Kirito responded,
"By using all of us instead of a select few." The white-haired man decided that then was a good time to introduce himself,
"I am Hino Yoru, the amazing axe-spear user! You shall all fear me." Most of the players did cower, he did look mighty intimidating with all black clothes and white hair. However, Ai-Chan, Kirito, Misaki, Kamu, and Taiyo merely stared at him. Tenshi face-palmed and mumbled,
"Did you have to do that? That was...embarrassing." This caused everyone to look at Tenshi instead but only Ai-Chan spoke,
"Who are you again? And why are you here?" Hino Yoru boasted,
"I am the great and feared Hino Yoru, a future guild leader of a Chaos Guild! I am here to defeat the boss!" His voice lowered dramatically, "Alone." Ai-Chan looked at him as if he was stupid,
"I doubt your levels high enough to solo the boss. You probably couldn't even beat Misaki in a fair fight." With those words all the players began to laugh at him. Hino Yoru narrowed his eyes before he began rushing players, cutting through their stomachs, halving their HP. He snarled,
"I'd like to see you face the boss now." Ai-Chan subtly turned on her Admin Sight and quickly scanned for his level. While she was at a nice level 30, he was at 17 which wasn't bad. After all it was roughly three levels lower than the lowest player here. She proceeded to announce this,
"Sir Hino Yoru, you are at level seventeen, three levels lower than the lowest player here. Kirito is at level 27, Diabel 26, Tenshi 25, Misaki 25, Kamu 25, and Taiyo at 26. I am at level thirty, nearly twice your level. Either join the raid party properly or get out of my sight." The players took in her knowledge and once again Kirito and Misaki became suspicious of her. Not that she noticed. The two exchanged glances before deciding to let it lie… For now at least.
Not for the first time was Tenshi glad for Ai-Chan's presence. It was strong and would let no one go without answers. She knew everything about this game and was exceptionally talented. So he was glad when she got Kirito and Taiyo to stop fighting. He was glad when she revealed the two girls following him. And now he was glad that she called out his friend, Hino-kun. Hino-kun had a tendency to be a bit dramatic. He took things far too seriously, but really he couldn't take anything serious at all. He had a biting wit that he used for times like this, was rash and bold, but Tenshi still put up with it because Hino-kun was a lifelong friend.
Hino was cowed by Ai-Chan's words and he cowered for a moment before picking himself back up and yelled,
"Well watch this!" He kicked the boss room door open and charged inside. Ai-Chan sighed before running in after him. Her little entourage quickly followed her, along with the rest of the uninjured players. Hino had only halved five players HP, so they stayed behind.
Once they entered the room lit up with torches and it revealed a troll. Not the cyclops they had been expecting. The name revealed itself as Rev the Troll King and then he roared summoning mini Cyclops Warriors. Their weapons were clubs and their skin was rather durable, making it difficult to injure them. Those who chose maces were the ones with the most luck, as the swords mostly just bounced off their skin. Very few people were able to damage them effectively, but Kirito, Taiyo, and Ai-Chan weren't having a problem. Kirito's strength level was insane and Taiyo was known as "Sun" for a reason. He was strong and ruthless, but was more intent on learning about how the game worked than anything else.
Ai-Chan on the other hand was overpowered and cut through the cyclops with ease. She spun and slashed and twirled and danced before reaching Rev the Troll King. At this point most of the players were in the yellow zone with their HP bar and were backing up to re-enter the dungeon. Soon only ten players were left with the boss. Ai-Chan, Kirito, Misaki, Tenshi, Kamu, and Taiyo were among them. They made up over half of the remaining players. Hino was still fighting but it was clear he was struggling. Ai-Chan sighed before taking out the Cyclops he was fighting. Hino yelled,
"Hey! What was that for?! I was handling it just fine!" Ai-Chan didn't even deign to respond, instead throwing him at the steps to the next floor. She switched out her katana for her kusarigama, which had maces on the ends instead of blades. She then began swinging one above her head before letting it ram into the Troll King. She pulled it out with a powerful yank of her right hand. She then began swinging it again which took out all the monsters trying to attack her. Kirito eyed her again as he fought the Cyclops with somewhat ease. He then noticed Misaki eyeing the black-haired warrior as well.
Taiyo even paused and stared as he saw her launch the kusarigama over and over again and soon enough Rev the Troll King shattered. Hino, being the one closest to the door, opened it but didn't exit like the rest of the players. Instead he shouted,
"What was that for?! I had the boss in the bag!" Ai-Chan inquired,
"Then why was I the only one who landed any hits on the rampaging boss?" Hino had no argument against that so he stomped away. Ai-Chan merely sighed before she began toggling her menu. She had a new coat of troll skin with spikes, although it was more of a vest. She didn't really mind as she Equipped it, giving her a higher defense and did damage to those who made physical contact with her. Kirito complimented her,
"Good job on defeating the boss." Ai-Chan shrugged,
"It really was nothing." Kirito looked at her suspiciously,
"You said earlier you were level 30, I'm curious. How did you get that high overnight?" Ai-Chan replied,
"Leveling for hours on end."
"Where? I couldn't find you via the tracking device in the Friend's List." Ai-Chan frowned,
"You might want to contact a GM about that. It may be a glitch." Kirito challenged her,
"Then why was it working with everyone else? Is there something you're hiding Ai-Chan?" Ai-Chan looked at the boy before chuckling,
"Really Kirito-kun? You do realize it's only the third day of playing right? And we just cleared the second floor. We're moving quite a bit faster than most players would." Kirito agreed with that statement. Under normal circumstances it would have taken them days to even find the boss room, but they had found the first boss room in only a matter of hours. Sixteen of them to be precise and not one of those hours had Ai-Chan logged out. It had only taken 12 hours to find the second boss room and Kirito had already faced a few mini-bosses. He had the Anneal Blade +10, the maximum amount of upgrades the sword could have. It had a good power stat or attack power of 100, something rather high for the second floor. Most weapons only had an attack power of 50. Due to the Anneal Blade's attack power being double that, it had allowed Kirito to slice through the cyclops with ease. He was also aware that the Durability was at 75, which was pretty good comparatively to others durability. It only needed someone with 50 Strength and it had no debuffs, so it didn't slow him down at all unlike the Broadswords in the game.
Kirito left the boss room not feeling satisfied. He had barely been able to get a hit in as Ai-Chan had plowed through the room as if it was nothing. He wasn't sure what to think of her. She was extremely strong, but rather anti-social. Kirito wasn't quite sure what to make of her. But then again he only knew her for three days. He looked at the floor around him, he was in the middle of a forest. He looked behind him and saw a cave opening. He sighed as he began walking through the Forest of Light. He quickly ran into a Triolf and he easily dismembered it. He then found himself surrounded by them and was almost overwhelmed before Misaki, Taiyo, and Tenshi joined him. Together the four easily defeated the horde of Triolfs. Kirito began questioning them, wondering if they noticed the same oddities with Ai-Chan as he had.
"Did you notice how Ai-Chan knew Hino's level when he never announced it? She also knew our levels. Player's cannot see other player's levels unless they choose to show it and we never did that." Misaki murmured,
"The tracking feature in the Friend's List doesn't always work with her." Taiyo brought up,
"Has anyone even tried contacting a GM about it yet?" The two shook her heads negatively. "Maybe you should do that before you begin accusing her." The two shrugged somewhat carelessly before muttering,
"Just thought it was weird. We haven't encountered it anywhere else." The four then made their way into the Town of Silence and they could see why. There wasn't a single noise in the town and it was eerie despite all the light. In fact, the light made it even creepier. Kirito approached one of the NPC's and politely asked,
"Where's the inn in this town?" The NPC merely pointed at a building before it continued on it's way. Misaki whispered,
"This is weird. I've never been anywhere so quiet." Kirito nodded but instead of going to the inn he approached the billboard that was in the middle of the town before he gestured them to come over. He explained,
"There's a curse on this town that prevents the NPC's from speaking. In order to complete the quest we need twelve Triolf legs, four Triolf eyes, a purple Neptunium Flower from the Rabid Nest, and a Cursed Green Light." Tenshi frowned,
"Sure sounds mysterious for a Forest Floor." Misaki quietly inquired,
"Should we take the quest?" Taiyo studied the board,
"Well, we'll get a house here, plus 500,000 Col and some weapons. Specifically a Light Kusarigama, Astral Sword, and Wind Reaper." Kirito now sounded interested,
"Do you know what type of sword the Astral Sword is? Or what type of weapon the Wind Reaper is?" Tenshi answered Kirito,
"According to the manual, the Astral Sword is a two-handed sword that has the ability to absorb spirits. It is a light purple in color and looks rather translucent. It has low Durability and Strength I'm afraid Kirito. Both are below 50. However, it is double-edged and has a Sharpness of 90. You wouldn't like it very much. The Wind Reaper is a white katana that has an interesting Durability of 30, Strength of 60, and Sharpness of 120." Kirito nodded and whistled,
"Despite the fact I wouldn't use them, they sound like fair decent weapons." Misaki informed them,
"The Light Kusarigama has a Durability of 45, Strength of 85, and Sharpness of 85 as well. I think Kamu-chan would like this." Taiyo nodded,
"Let's invite Kamu-chan on this quest. I could work with the Astral Sword, Kamu-chan can get the Light Kursarigama, and Tenshi can get the Wind Reaper." Taiyo quickly caught Kirito's amused look before he chuckled, "Don't feel left out Kirito-kun. You have the Anneal Blade and have a higher level than all of us." He eyed Misaki before grinning, "Don't worry either Misaki-chan. We'll find you a nice rapier soon I'm sure."
So Misaki messaged Kamu to join them and the caramel haired girl quickly joined them. She spoke softly,
"The Light Kursarigama sounds like a splendid weapon to have. Thank you for inviting me on this quest." Taiyo replied joyously,
"Well, it's not like we know a lot of Kursarigama users!" Kamu shot back,
"Well you could have always invited Ai-Chan. She'd undoubtedly do all the work for you." Kirito butted in,
"Then it wouldn't be nearly as fun!" The group burst into laughter at Kirito's comment. Misaki wiped her eyes,
"That's true Kirito-kun. That's true." So they re-entered the Forest of Light and began hunting Triolf hordes, which were both easy and hard to find. Sometimes they'd find themselves ambushed by the Triolves which wasn't particularly easy to deal with. The afterwards they'd run into unfriendly Dark Elves which they'd have to fight off as well. They ended up going deeper and deeper into the forest, and soon it got dark out. The five looked at each other and they all wondered, should we log out and continue tomorrow? They were quickly answered when they spotted a glowing green light in the distance. While fighting the Triolves they had quickly gathered the twelve Triolf Legs (they were really branches) and four Triolf Eyes (these were jade orbs).
They chased after it before realizing they weren't getting any closer. The five looked at each other in confusion before looking back at the glowing green light in the distance. Maybe they needed to approach it slowly? So the five slowed down and approached it, but once again they couldn't get any closer to the light. They stared at each other and began wondering where they went wrong. They began walking towards it slowly and then realized there was a dark figure standing near the light. They looked at each other and began walking even quieter. Soon they were only feet away from the figure, but it had a dark purple cloak on. Kirito quietly withdrew his Anneal Blade and did a Vertical cutting away part of the cloak. The person moved backwards and to the right, revealing glowing dark blue eyes. Misaki's own cat eyes glowed as well as she hissed,
"Who are you and what are you doing with that light?" The person drew the orb of light closer to her and withdrew a small dagger that had small white gems embedded in the blade. She whispered back,
"I am the blade of those who need to be avenged. I am the blade of righteousness. I am Sutoraiki." Kirito muttered,
"Poison Strike. If that doesn't sound ominous." Taiyo spoke cheerily,
"Well Sutoraiki, are you doing the Cursed Town Quest?" Sutoraiki nodded slowly before revealing the glowing green orb,
"The Cursed Green Light." Tenshi wondered,
"Why is it cursed?" Sutoraiki answered him by pointing at the Dark Elves running at them, only seen by their glowing dark green eyes. She murmured,
"They want the light. They created it and … One of the floor bosses cursed the entire floor. One by one you must unlock the curses to solve the floor." Tenshi was the first one to get it,
"The entire layout of this floor is of a maze, a puzzle." Kirito frowned,
"So what? Each town is cursed by a boss on one of the upper floors?" Sutoraiki nodded,
"Mmhmm. The curses will regenerate." Kirito sighed,
"I guess the quest is pointless then. We might as well finish it for the weapons but afterwards we out to map out the main dungeon." Sutoraiki looked at him as if he was an idiot before 'dropping' the light and putting her dagger to Kirito's neck as she hissed,
"We have to solve the floor puzzle to find the boss! The dungeons here don't lead to any monster boss!" Kirito inquired,
"And how do you know that?" Sutoraiki snarl-whispered,
"Argo the Rat has already mapped and checked out the dungeons. There is no hint to there being a boss room within." Kirito looked at her weirdly,
"We literally just opened this floor up. How could Argo possibly know that there isn't a boss hiding inside the dungeon?"