I do not own Sword Art Online or any of the characters.
Favor For A Favor
Michael leaned against the wall of the smith shop sighing. Kirito was late. Thankfully, the coat Michael was wearing was enough for the smith, Lisbeth, to accept Michael's word about Kirito having referred him. Just not enough to improve his sword for free.
"You want me to improve that sword, you have to do me a favor," Lisbeth said. "It's not that hard, you're already a high enough level. You just need to go get a couple of things for me."
"What things?" Michael sighed.
"A few different ore types," Lisbeth stated. "For someone of your level, it shouldn't be hard. All of the ore types can be found on floor twenty seven, the dungeon being the easiest place to find them."
"Floor Twenty Seven?" Michael blinked. "Shit, I didn't know I'd be backtracking that far."
"It's not so bad," Lisbeth smirked. "At your level, the dungeon should be a cake walk."
Michael nodded, eyes instinctively flicking to his level. In the process of getting to Lisbeth's shop, he had managed to make it to level forty. He could probably survive the higher levels now, but he decided he wanted to get his sword upgraded first. He left Lisbeth's shop and teleported to floor 27 then headed for the dungeon. He hated the floor 27 dungeon. Mainly because he knew that even some high level players that were higher than he was had been massacred in it, mainly because they had gotten cocky and hadn't payed enough attention to their health, but still. He had also nearly died in that dungeon. He had gotten caught in an obvious trap and had only escaped because he had picked the door's lock between monster kills. Not an easy thing to do. He definitely wasn't looking forward to going back in, but he needed his sword upgraded.
Michael stepped into the dungeon and sighed. It had changed. Again. Mapping the dungeon had been impossible for the clearing guilds because the dungeon was a labyrinth by definition. Every few days, it would change. Now, there was a straight hallway for thirty feet leading to a door. Michael opened it and groaned. Inside the room was a sea of Mineral Elements, tall stone creatures, and Dark Dwarf Miners, gnomes with pick axes. The only real problem with the enemies of the dungeon, mostly these two, was the fact that they always came in large to massive groups. This, was average.
Michael sprinted forward, drawing his sword and beginning to carve his way through the enemies. Almost every one dropped a type of ore. Lisbeth had been right about it being easy to gather the ore types, except that there was one ore he had only ever gotten once here. And that was also on the list. Michael ducked under a swipe from a Mineral Element and slashed it just in time for a Dark Dwarf Miner's pickaxe to flash through where the creature had been at him. Michael ducked under it and spun, his ability dragging him in a circle and wiping a large group of the monsters before allowing him to stop. He stood and jumped back from a Mineral Element and into another which batted him aside. He flew into another, killing it and flipping to his feet and looking around. As he did, he caught a flash of blue in the crowd.
Found it, Michael grinned, sprinting forward and carving his way after it.
After ten seconds, it was gone, and he was at the door out of the room. He slipped through, seeing the other door close at the end of the hundred foot long corridor. He sprinted after the thing that possessed the only ore on the list he didn't have yet and chased it through three more rooms, each with a larger group of monsters than the last room. Finally, he stopped outside a massive, ornate black door with gold edges and gold vine designs on it. The boss door for the floor had been a similar size but had had silver highlights.
"With my luck it'll be the game super boss," Michael muttered pushing the door open.
Inside, there was a massive room that was different. For starters, rather than the overlapping white tiles, this room looked to be one complete piece of black stone. In the center of the room was a throne and two enemies. One, was a creature that looked like a much more streamline Mineral Element made out of aquamarine or the like. The other, was a person in a black robe sitting in the throne with one foot on the other knee, an elbow on one arm rest and his face resting on his hand. He had a longsword leaning on the side of the throne and a smug, almost insane grin on his face.
"Kill him," he ordered.
The walls opened suddenly and Mineral Elements and Dark Dwarf Miners began to stream into the room. Michael's mouth fell open. That couldn't be a player. Players couldn't tame monsters. Could they? The first wave reached him and he began to carve through them. He didn't switch to defense once, resulting in several minor injuries taking a fourth of his health but he still killed all of the creatures. Finally they stopped and the man lifted his head, lazily waving his hand. The creature beside him blurred forward, attacking him. Before it could kill him, he ducked under its swipe and cut it diagonally across the chest. It staggered back then charged again and he slashed it again, killing it.
"Not bad," the man commended standing. "Do you know this symbol?"
He held up his left arm, a large, black, coffin-shaped symbol with a skeleton's left arm, and a pair of eyes and mouth with a triangle drawn to connect them visible as his cloak sleeve fell down.
"No," Michael stated. "Who are you? How can you command monsters?"
"That's quite simple," the man chuckled. "It's a rare necklace. Using it allows me to control any non-boss NPC to battle alongside me, including monsters. The number of them is determined by my level. Would you like to know my level?"
"Sure," Michael shrugged. "I'll humor you."
"A wise decision," the man sneered. "I'm level seventy nine."
Michael's jaw dropped open and he staggered backward as the man lifted his sword, drawing it and throwing the scabbard aside.
"You, my friend, are level forty, almost forty one," the man stated. "You're a solo player and you've only been playing for a few days, yet you're already a very high level, at least compared to your play-time. My guild, is called Laughing Coffin. This is their symbol. Do you know about Laughing Coffin?"
"No," Michael stated, backing toward the door.
"We're a murder guild," the man's voice hummed before he licked his lips and appeared in front of Michael, sword raised.
He slashed downward and Michael raised his shield, driving it up at the sword and blocking the attack but destroying the shield as a result of their level difference. Michael staggered away, equipping another shield as the man laughed, lowering his sword.
"Look at the fear," the man drawled, seeming almost euphoric. "I can smell your terror new blood. You may be able to jump level like a veteran gamer, but I can see the truth. You're no more a gamer than some infant fresh from the womb!"
And with that, he was in front of Michael again. Michael reacted instinctively, moving to block the sword with his own. He succeeded for the most part, but the man began to slowly force Michael's sword downward.
"S...Stop!" Michael growled, barely able to hold the man off. "W...why are you..."
"I told you," the man sneered, sounding like he was barely trying. "My guild is the murder guild!"
And with that, he forced his sword down through Michael's torso, then flicked his Queen's Knightsword away. Michael collapsed, health dropping rapidly. The man turned, walking over to the sword as Michael's HP stopped at one quarter left and began to slowly regenerate.
"Just so we're clear, I could have killed you, had I so desired," the man stated. "My attack was barely a scratch compared to what I could have done. I'll let you live, since you're not strong enough to be a threat. Come and find me some other time. We'll duke it out once you're stronger. Oh, an, I'll be keeping this sword."
Michael stood, equipping the sword he had had before the Queen's Knightsword and charged forward, health barley at half. If he was going to die, he was going to die fighting. The man spun as Michael slashed. Michael's sword carved a deep gash into the man's chest, glowing red as Michael began to slash the man rapidly. After a moment he spun, slashing the man horizontally across the chest before flipping his sword around and slashing upward along the man's torso. As his ability finished, he flipped his sword over and brought it down on the man's sword arm, severing it at the middle of the forearm. Then, he leapt back and looked at the man's health bar. It was only a quarter of the way down but a second quarter had filled with red and when his recovery factor restored his health, that section remained empty. Michael blinked in surprise as the man looked down at his arm then at Michael and raised the sword, which began to glow red. Michael wasn't sure what came over him, but he dove forward, grabbing the man's sword, which flashed and vanished as it was added to his inventory. Then, Michael dove forward, rolling out of the way of the man's attack. Then, he stood turning toward the man and equipping the man's sword. The sword was a bit heavier than Michael's Queen's Knightsword and had considerably better stats.
"You intend to kill me with my own sword?" the man snorted. "Fine. Let's end this."
Michael charged as the man held Michael's sword up, the blade beginning to glow blue. Michael held up his shield, switching to defense and the man shot forward, slicing through the shield easily. Michael spun as the shield shattered and slashed at the man. A gash opened on the man's back and the man spun. Before he could attack Michael, Michael activated an ability of his own and began carving into the man again. After a moment, he took special care to sever both legs at the knees. Then, he stabbed the man and leapt back, taking the sword with him as the man's body fell to the ground.
"Not bad," the man commended, health bar half blocked from severed limbs and the other half down to a forth. "But I have no time for this."
He pulled out a healing crystal but before he could use it, Michael held his sword up, the blade glowing blue before he shot forward, severing the crystal and removing the front half of the man's hand, leaving only the thumb. Michael also took care to kick the Queen's Knightsword, sending it skidding away. Then, Michael turned to the man, whose face betrayed a bit of fear, since he couldn't use any healing items on himself without at least one more finger. Michael walked over and raised his sword.
"Shame you chose to be a murderer," Michael stated. "I would have liked to come out of this with a clean conscience."
And with that, he drove the man's sword down through his head and let go, leaving it there as the man's body shattered. Michael retrieved his sword and then teleported out of the dungeon and back to the city where Lisbeth's shop was. Once he stepped inside, he dropped all of the ore, the massive amount filling most of the room with the one rare ore he got sitting on the desk. The moment she stepped into the room she stopped, gawking at the ore.
"What the hell!?" she shouted. "I don't need that much!"
"I don't either," Michael shrugged. "Make some money off it. Now, about our deal?"
She grumbled in annoyance and took his Queen's Knightsword, enhancing it and gave it back.
"Oh, by the way," Michael said before he left. "Who should I tell about the Laughing Coffin guy that was in the dungeon?"
"Was?" Lisbeth asked.
"He's dead now," Michael stated wincing at the thought of having killed someone.
"No one then," Lisbeth sighed. "If he's not a threat, he's unimportant now."
Michael's eyes widened a bit but he nodded and left.
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