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It looked like it was all over for us during that first month of the game. Mostly because that was almost exactly how long it took for us to clear the first floor. One whole month to clear a single floor; it wasn't a surprise that people thought the worst and assumed that it would take us that long for each floor to come. Ultimately, the first floor was actually just the one we spent the most time on, with most floors above it being cleared in half the time or less.
It didn't make things any better when that was also when the most players died. Almost two-thousand just in that first month... Really, we were all just trying to learn the game back then. Mistakes – a lot of terrible ones – were going to happen, and it was going to be slow going. Nobody really knew what they were doing, except for the beta testers.
It wasn't that surprising, really: the first part of any video game is usually either the easiest or the hardest, before the player has established a full party or developed any decent skills for their characters. For us it was much the same way, and that was even before the KoB, the Divine Dragon Alliance, or The Army had formed. I heard that the players who assembled to slay Illfang the Kobold Lord were a pretty rag-tag bunch who happened to heed the summons of a particularly charismatic individual, and nobody could call them a very united or skillful.
So, they were like us, the people who were going to later form the Summer Knights.
Shirou awoke to his alarm, warning him that it was Seven AM, and time to wake up. He lay for a while under the heavy blankets of his bed, staring up at the ceiling.
December First, 2022. Almost a full month since they'd become stuck in their virtual hell.
If there would be any hope for rescue from the outside, it felt like it should have already happened. Was it possible that Sword Art Online's source code was too well protected to hack? It couldn't have been, not if Chigusa had casually read it for fun.
But in reality, he'd asked her about whether rescue from the outside seemed likely, and she told him that the government would probably avoid trying to hack either the game or the NerveGears if it began to look like it would be difficult to manage. Nobody would want to risk taking on responsibility for the deaths of the remaining players in Sword Art Online.
Meanwhile, he, Chigusa, and Seriyuha tried to keep their ears out for any news of players clearing the first floor. Shirou had heard a few times that progress was actually being made on the Labyrinth, the dungeon guarding the boss monster of the floor. Chigusa had told him and Seriyuha that defeating the boss that dwelt in the deepest room of the Labyrinth would clear the way to the next floor, allowing players to teleport to that floor from any point onward in Sword Art Online's runtime. But even after a week or two, there was no news of the floor being cleared. It sounded as though no actual attempts on the boss were being made.
Could it be that the other players were scared?
During their first few days, Shirou had privately expected that he and Chigusa would part ways with Seriyuha sooner or later, but the woman wasn't in any rush to leave them and go her own way, nor were the siblings longing to be rid of her. Her decisions on the first night had worked out, for they reached Horunka Village - the next one after the Starting City - without any mishaps. Between Seriyuha's supervision and Chigusa's knowledge the game, their adventures on the first floor had proceeded smoothly, and they were currently making their base camp in Tulse, a village up in the northern mountains. It was one of the furthest settlements from the Starting City, and a generally lonely corner of the first floor in general.
Seriyuha had stressed the trio becoming as strong as possible as efficiently as possible, but – to both Shirou and Chigusa's confusion – that didn't involve setting foot in the labyrinth. She'd vehemently denied the idea every time Chigusa raised it, insisting that they focus on growing stronger before doing something as risky as exploring it. Shirou and Chigusa weren't sure of Seriyuha's endgame plan, but they agreed that she'd yet to give them a reason not to trust her. They'd work with whatever cautious strategy she'd formulated, at least for the time being.
Shirou parted the curtains of the room he and Chigusa shared in the Tulse inn and blinked as the dazzling sunlight sparkle from the snow outside stung his eyes. Tulse very much looked like something out a cliche Christmas card; rustic log buildings with a thick blanket of snow atop them and piled along the sides of the village roads, oil lamps, and pine trees as far as the eye could see. It was a charming enough place, and the cold nights made the inn common room fire all the cozier.
And on that note, Shirou wanted to get down to it before they set off. He was wearing thick woolen clothes - purchased in town - to sleep in, but he still shivered slightly.
"Hey, Sis!" he called over to Chigusa, who was still sleeping.
Chigusa mumbled something incoherent and turned over in her bed.
Rolling his eyes, Shirou walked over to her and began shaking her shoulder. Chigusa tried to shake him off in her sleep, but after a few moments she finally woke with a great yawn.
"What, I set my alarm," she groaned sleepily.
"Too late you did," said Shirou, "the last two days Seriyuha beat us downstairs. How're we gonna ever beat this game if you can't beat your blankets."
"They win, they're too cozy for me," Chigusa said as she laid back down. "You have to go on without me, I'm done for."
"Oh yes, here lies Chigusa Misaki. She died as she lived; sleeping. RIP in peace," muttered Shirou.
Chigusa growled and threw her pillow at him. Then, finally, she pulled herself free of her covers. Both siblings changed into their ordinary gear - the only reason sharing a room was practical was thanks to the fact that undressing wasn't a a required step in changing clothes in the virtual world - and made for the inn common room. It was a low-ceiling wide room set with a number of tables and with a large roaring fire blazing at the center of it. Being free of windows, it was lit by several torches hanging from the ceiling. In a more realistic setting Shirou was certain the room would be a lot smokier than it was even with the chimney hole above the central fire, but he was thankful for the break in realism.
He was also thankful for the fact that the room had few people in it, and none of them were Seriyuha. Chigusa's knowledge of the game had largely kept the trio ahead of the proverbial pack when it came to the rest of the player population, so they rarely found themselves bumping too many shoulders as they went about their business. Even by their own past standards they were well away from the rest of the player base up in Tulse, and the only other players sharing the common room with them were two other groups of players, three and four in number and very likely all beta testers themselves. Another group had seemingly vanished since the previous day, replaced by a single young girl who was sitting by herself at one of the corner tables.
One of the NPCs who worked at the inn came by and took their request for breakfast, and handed them some hot coffee. The second day of the game, over breakfast, Chigusa had said something about food in-game artificially triggering bodily reactions, but the only thing Shirou really knew was that the coffee tasted like muddy water but it got him going and warmed him up. How he managed to get hungry in the online world was a mystery to him, but virtual food sated it all the same.
One of the other player groups left the common room, and the general din of player chatter quieted a little. While they waited for Seriyuha - or their food, whichever came first - the siblings sat next to one another at their table, quiet reigning between them.
"So," Chigusa said quietly.
Shirou tightened his grip on his mug. He could already guess where this talk was going to go.
"We're still inside."
"You were the one who said the government probably wouldn't be able to help," Shirou said quietly.
Chigusa sighed lightly. "I know. But I still hoped. And hey, maybe they'll catch Kayaba, that's always possible..."
She looked down at her mug, fingering it without taking a sip. Shirou watched her, wondering what she was thinking about.
"Are you... are you doing okay?" she asked.
Shirou hesitated to reply. There was a lot of ways he could take or answer that question. "How do you mean?" he eventually asked. Leaving her with silence for too long would torture her.
"I... just..."
She looked down, her eyes and mouth shut tight. Shirou watched her quietly, unsure whether he should reach out to her or not. It had to be about being trapped in the game.
"D-do," she whispered, "do you-"
"Did you two sleep well?"
Seriyuha had come downstairs at one point or another, and was walking briskly toward them. Chigusa and Shirou both bolted upright and scooted away from each other just slightly.
"Oh yes, absolutely!" Chigusa chimed in rapidly. Shirou merely nodded.
"That's good," said Seriyuha.
There was no way that Seriyuha wouldn't notice the artificiality in Chigusa's tone, but she gave no indication that she had. The NPC inn worker returned with their tasteless eggs and toast just as Seriyuha took her seat at the table, across from the siblings. They all quickly forced the food down. Meals in SAO were - at least for them - a rather brief and nearly pointless affair. Shirou had missed being able to enjoy his meals at first, but now he was almost used to it. Throughout the meal Seriyuha and Chigusa both largely kept their heads down and their attention on their food, but Shirou couldn't help but wonder whether they were determined not to address the short-lived private conversation the siblings were starting to have. Sighing, he worked to finish off his meal quickly.
He would talk to Chigusa about whatever was bothering her that night.
"So," Seriyuha said once their plates were cleaned, "today I wanted to look into that rumor we heard from that old man NPC yesterday, about the cave where all the spiders lurk."
"Yeah," said Chigusa. "I never did that quest myself during the beta, but apparently the boss inside of it is called Magmanta the Great White Spider. It's supposed to be one of the most dangerous non-Labyrinth bosses on the first floor. Hopefully it hasn't been taken since yesterday."
"Do you think it'll be too much for us?" asked Seriyuha.
"Nah, not if we go about it the right way," Chigusa said without hesitation. "Probably it won't be that easy with just the three of us, but it's still a floor one non-Labyrinth boss."
"And the reward should still be worth it," said Shirou.
"Exactly," said Seriyuha.
"What about once we've finished Magmanta?" asked Chigusa. "It didn't sound like there's much else to do in the Tulse Mountains and we'll have to do a lot of backtracking to go anywhere else."
"One thing at a time," Seriyuha said firmly as she got to her feet.
Chigusa pouted at Seriyuha's back as the older woman made for the front room of the inn. There, the trio paid their dues to stay another night and put on their heavier cold weather gear, which they'd picked up at the foothills of the Tulse Mountains in an NPC shop. Shirou would have preferred just turning around and going somewhere else to avoid the cost at the time, but Chigusa promised him that having adequate gear for the cold (or hot) weather would become a must for them sooner or later. Extreme weather, if improperly equipped for, slowly drained health in SAO, according to her.
Properly dressed for the weather, they went out into the crisp mountain morning, and were immediately blasted with a wave of not-unendurable cold. Shirou shivered as they moved quickly toward the general store, wishing to himself that of all the things they could have gotten wrong in making the game, adverse temperature was one of the things he'd have put at the top of the list. It was warmer inside the NPC general store - another wood log building, much like the inn - and Shirou breathed into his chilled hands as Seriyuha stepped up to talk with the shopkeeper.
The NPC minding the store was your generic old man fantasty cliche, and Seriyuha coaxed him through his dialogue until he brought up the crystalline cavern that had recently become infested by white spiders looking to escape from the encroaching winter cold. Apparently the cave was an important location in the town's ingame lore for mining valuable gemstones, and his business was suffering with the spiders keeping out mining operations. Their task was to kill the master of the white spiders and retrieve a certain ore stone from the innermost depths of the cave as proof of their accomplishment.
They'd spoken with the NPC by chance the day before, but too late for Seriyuha's liking, so they had to turn down his request at the time. As they weren't sure whether the quest was limited-time or not, they were relieved to hear his dialogue unchanged from the day previous. After Seriyuha accepted the quest both Shirou and Chigusa checked their minimaps, and found a location a fair distance out of town and further up the mountain check marked. It looked like an hour or two's walk was ahead of them.
Their business done, Seriyuha led them through the north end of town, and they began their ascent. They kept to where the snow pack was lower and easier to traverse, but going up the mountain wasn't easy no matter which way they went. Luckily, it seemed that the creators of the virtual world at least spared them having to worry about air thinning with altitude, though that might have just been because of Aincrad's nature.
They moved along at a fair pace despite the challenge of going up the mountain, chatting and planning the rest of their day as they went, when suddenly the snow ahead began to shift on its own. Seriyuha immediately paused and held her arm out, though Chigusa and Shirou had stopped walking as soon as she did. The snow pack rustled a moment later, until a white shape darted out from the pile and onto the road ahead of them. A Snow Wolf. Seriyuha stepped forward, her kite shield held up and her long axe ready to strike, but Chigusa and Shirou faced to the sides, backs against one another.
These creatures had given them some trouble on their original way up the mountain. Over their first few days working together, they'd honed a simple but effective combat strategy that relied on Seriyuha attracting and tanking abuse while Chigusa used the long range her spear afforded to take advantage of enemies giving their focus to her and Shirou covered their flanks against attacks from other direction. Against the disorganized animals they encountered in the rest of the first floor their strategy was sufficient, but these wolves were different. One would leap out into the open to draw attention, while other members of the pack would take a stealthier approach from the sides. Their first time fighting these wolves quickly turned into a confused brawl when they were caught off guard by three different attackers coming at them from the sides and behind.
And sure enough, Shirou could see the three ambushing wolves slinking up around them, moving slowly and low to the ground. He raised his buckler and tightened his grip on his saber, getting a feel for its weight; his original longsword hadn't felt right in his hand as he continued to practice with it. Suddenly the wolves crouched low - a sure sign of their imminent attack. Two leaped in from the sides, as did the one in front that had caught their attention. Shirou raised his buckler to meet the wolf's pounce and pushed it back, throwing the beast onto its side. Before it could recover her unleashed Horizontal on it, cleaving it and scattering it into particles. Another wolf lunged into Chigusa, who caught its gnashing maw with the shaft of her spear. With a twist she tossed the wolf aside, and with a thrust she slew it. Chigusa turned to finish off the last wolf - the one that didn't join in the first strike - while Shirou checked to make sure Seriyuha was fine. The older woman had already dispatched the first wolf, and Chigusa finished the last moments later.
The trio received their first rewards of experience and Cor for the day.
"Well done as usual you two," Seriyuha said pleasantly as she sheathed her axe into her kite shield.
"You're getting better, little brother," Chigusa said, flashing a smile at him.
Shirou laughed and said, "Not much choice in this world."
With that distraction finished, they continued on. Once or twice more they faced similar ambushes of snow wolves, but as the beasts were more active at night their progress wasn't badly hindered. The weather was also clear that day; they had learned the hard way that snowstorms in the mountains easily became blinding, and the occasional Snow Golem would start to roam when the weather was severe enough. Luckily, there was an NPC in Tulse, an appropriately older gentlemen who could feel in his bones when storms were coming. They had made sure to consult him – or rather his bones, Shirou supposed – that day before departing.
The mountainside around them was a shroud of white and some green – the pine trees that surrounded them – until finally a black shape loomed in the distance. The white spider cave. When they were finally upon it, Shirou caught sight of silvery webbing fluttering in the crisp winter winds and eyed it warily.
"Can you get stuck in spider webs in Sword Art Online?" he asked Chigusa.
"Nah," Chigusa said with a casual wave of her hand. "I explored another giant spider lair a few floor up back during the beta. Unless we see a huge thick wall of web, we'll be fine."
"Even so, better to play it safe," Seriyuha said as she walked into the cave without hesitation.
Chigusa and Shirou shared a look, nodded to one another, and followed her. For all her talk of caution, Seriyuha sure was forging ahead without concern.
The inside of the cave wasn't dark, and in fact light flashed at them from all sides as they entered, surprising the trio and stinging their eyes. But when they adjusted to the glare, they saw that they were in a cavern with crystalline walls, and these walls that scattering the light and reflecting it every which way. Shirou gaped at the unnatural appearance of the wall, and reached out with his finger. The stone felt smooth, like glass to the touch.
"Nature doesn't cut crystal like this," he muttered.
"Is there anything significant about them?" asked Seriyuha.
"I don't think so," said Chigusa, "It's a pretty common video game cliche for ice caverns to have inexplicable crystal formations in them. Better to watch out for the inevitable zero-friction ice patches, too."
"That would be pretty dangerous if we saw anything like that," Seriyua said quietly.
"Nah, it's just a huge pain in the ass, especially if Kayaba decides to hit us with block pushing puzzles too. Seriously, not a cool move."
Shirou laughed quietly, but Seriyuha wasn't looking at either of the siblings. "Not that," she said as she pointed further into the cave with her axe.
The next hallway was blanketed in spider webbing, and stuck to and partially covered by that webbing were large, veiny, white ovoid objects. Objects that were twitching and moving in the windless cavern.
"Those would be spider eggs," muttered Shirou.
"Yup," said Chigusa. "I'd guess those eggs hatch more than one spiderling per egg, too."
"And they'll probably hatch if we get too close?" asked Seriyuha.
"There could be a lot of things that might set them off," said Chigusa. "Could be a timer, could be there'll be another spider that activates them somehow, or it could be just if we get too close. Hard to guess until-"
Seriyuha shook her head, walked toward the nearest egg, and tapped it with the flat of her axe.
"-hey wait!"
"This way is fastest," Seriyuha said quietly.
The egg's movement stopped immediately the moment Seriyuha's axe made contact, and a shudder ran across it, a shudder that spread through the webbing, touched the closest eggs, and caused them to freeze in place as well. Fortunately, the rest of the eggs didn't issue out the same shudder – Shirou could only imagine how far it would ultimately spread if they did. But more pressingly, a loud crack reverberated from the eggs.
"As I thought," said Seriyuha. She lunged her axe toward the egg, but it glanced off the shell, causing her to almost tumble over. She quickly righted herself and took a few steps away from the egg, frowning.
Chigusa gave Seriuyha's back a dirty look. "Didn't expect that, didja?"
"No I didn't," Seriyuha said quietly.
The shell exploded into fragments, and a small, fuzzy, wet, white creature crawled its way free. It was a large white spider, as big as a small dog, and it was staring them down with its beady little eyes. A few of the nearby eggs, the ones that had been effected by the first one Seriyuha touched, likewise exploded, freeing their own White Spiderlings.
Her teeth bared, Seriyuha swung her axe at the spiderling, but it leaped aside and moved quickly toward her, its front legs raised high. After a few steps it lunged suddenly at her, its fangs meeting Seriyuha's leg. Seriyuha gasped, took a step back, and then immediately dropped to one knee. The attacking spiderling leaped away before she even began her clumsy attack.
The siblings both shouted their ally's name and ran to her side, just as two of the Spiderlings skittered forward. Both lunged toward Seriyuha, who was having trouble with her footing, but Shirou thrust his buckler outward and the first spiderling rammed into it with a dull crunch, while Chigusa wiped the blunt end of her spear around, striking the second spiderling and sending it crashing into the wall. Shirou thrust his sword into the stunned first spiderling, while Chigusa charged forward with her spear held up, and ran the second through. Two more of the spiderlings gave a squeal and leaped toward Chigusa, but Seriyuha ran in, catching one with her shield and smashing it against the wall, while Chigusa caught the second with a high sweep of her spear before it reached her. Only the first spiderling, the one that had damaged Seriyuha, was left, but Shirou caught and killed it with a sword skill. As the cave quieted down again, he quickly scanned their surroundings, but saw no other active spiderlings for now.
"Are you okay?" asked Chigusa.
Seriyuha was standing properly again, and her health bar was still nearly full, but she was breathing heavily.
"Yeah, I just couldn't feel my leg for a while there," she said, "which means I couldn't properly raise my shield. What was that?"
"Probably a paralysis secondary effect on the attacks of these spiders," said Chigusa. "I wasn't expecting something like that on the first floor, but it was localized paralysis, and it looks like it faded quickly."
Shirou glared down at the remnants of the spiderling eggs So, that was it. The spiderlings had a chance – probably a high one, too – to numb bodyparts when they struck. And they came in numbers, and attacked together. Shirou glanced over to Seriyuha's health bar, mentally replaying the fact that the spiderlings hadn't actually done much damage. But if they kept biting, kept paralyzing someone?
"Those things aren't strong but a single person could have been easily killed," he said, shuddering.
"No kidding," said Chigusa. "Let's not aggro any more of these eggs if we can avoid it, shall we?"
"Good idea," Seriyuha said breathlessly.
They moved on, though Shirou couldn't help but notice Seriyuha glancing to the sides as she went, and stopping at the slightest noise. His heart beat a little faster to know that Seriyuha was troubled, even though she was trying hard to conceal the fact from him and his sister.
They moved more carefully, avoiding the spiderling eggs where they could, but occasionally a cluster of them would block entire passages, forcing them to fight. Seriyuha wasn't caught off guard by the spiderling attacks again, but the little beasts were quicker and more cunning than the field monsters they had yet seen, and all three of the players took occasional bites when their attacks went wide. They had come well-prepared with health potions, but the cave was a twisting labyrinth of passages. When they finally came upon a room where they found already-active spiderlings (these ones slightly larger than the hatchlings), Chigusa announced that they were finally headed the right way - probably.
"Good," Seriyuha said as she took her stance.
The closest spiderling reared up, and a thick silvery wad shot from its mouth and at Seriyuha. She gave a surprised strangled cry and raised her shield, and the gunk hit it with a splat.
"Webbing! Careful, it'll slow you down!" cried Chigusa.
"I figured that out already!" Seriyuha said as she readied a skill. Her attack sent her leaping forward in a long arc, and she brought her axe down on the spiderling.
The other two in the room shrieked and ran toward the nearest egg clusters, tapping them feverishly with their front legs.
"Well, crap," muttered Shirou.
"Take the closer eggs, Razler!" Chigusa cried as she ran toward the one that stood further away, her spear held ready.
Shirou reached his target and brought his saber down in a deadly swing before the spiderling had moved on from the eggs it was working on, but the shudder that announced the hatchlings would soon be spawning had already spread. The other spiderling leaped away from Chigusa's thrust just as the spear's tip was about to run it through, and it fired a wad of webbing at her before she could recover from her lunge. The gunk splattered upon hitting her torso, smearing the silk across her upper body and legs. Snarling, she swung her spear at the spiderling, but her attack was slow and clumsy, and the spider had barely to move to evade it. And now the eggs were hatching behind her. She tried to move away, but she stumbled after only two steps, and she was forced to lean on her spear just to stay up. Her arms were nearly glued to her sides, and her knees together.
"CHIGUSA!" Shirou screamed as he ran toward her.
It was Seriyuha who reached her first, and she blocked the spiderling's lunge and struck the creature down, but the hatchlings were coming forth, just as another wave began to appear behind Shirou.
"Dammit!" he cried.
Shirou backed up against Seriyuha, his buckler held ready, but even he knew he couldn't hold off all five of the approaching spiderlings at once, and Seriyuha couldn't leave Chigusa's side. His teeth gnashed, Shirou looked around wildly, searching for a way out. One passage - the one they came from - was clear of spiders, but it was also the furthest away. Helping Chigusa over to it with the spiders attacking would be impossible...
"Get away from here!" screamed Chigusa. "Seriyuha, take Shirou and run! Leave me!"
"NO!" cried Shirou. "I'm not leaving you here to die, Chigusa!"
"Your brother would never forgive me if I did as you asked," Seriyuha said grimly.
"No! Please, I'd never be able to live with myself if Shirou died in this world!" Chigusa cried, her voice hoarse and racked with sobs. "It's my fault he's here in the first place!"
The first spiderling lunged at Shirou. He managed to beat it back with his buckler, but the attack of a second prevented him from cutting down the immobilized beast.
"DON'T LET MY LITTLE BROTHER DIE HERE, SERIYUHA!"
"I'M NOT GOING TO ABANDON YOU, CHIGUSA!"
"I bear a message from the Lord!"
Something – a huge player dressed mostly in white – ran in from another side passage, skidded to a stop in front of Shirou's wave of spiderlings, and slammed into one of the spiders with his fist. A crunch echoed through the cavern, and when the stranger raised his fist, the spiderling could only wiggle its legs helplessly as it shattered into polygons.
"Fear not, for with the Lord, all things are possible!" the stranger said as he settled back into a combat stance.
The spiderlings turned toward the new player, and Shirou took the opening they presented to unleash a sword skill on the closest one, bringing it down.
"A fine strike," the stranger said as he moved closer to Shirou, giving him a chance to properly look him over.
He was a tall man, with thick arms and sharp eyes. Shirou immediately guessed that the man had to be a westerner. He was wearing thick robe-like gear, but for weaponry he wielded iron knuckles with thick wrist-guards attached. Shirou guessed that the man could last in combat longer than he could. He looked over his shoulder and exchanged a glance at Seriyuha, who nodded and settled into a defensive stance.
"Hinoka," she said sharply, and Chigusa's sobs subsided.
"R-right," she said. "Whatever your name is, please listen to what I have to say!"
"I go by the name of Samson, and I wouldn't dream of ignoring the wishes of such a good sister," said the stranger.
"Right, work with Shi – with Razler to defeat those enemies. They'll try to lunge in groups, hold them back so Razler can kill them! Seriyuha, please hold off the other group, and I'm sorry for the trouble I'm causing!"
"Not a problem," said Seriyuha.
"Just please protect me until Razler and Samson have defeated the rest!"
Shirou put his back to his sister, his gaze and attention only upon the spiders ahead of him.
"You already know but this is my sister we're protecting, so let's do this right," he said quietly. "Despite the silly predicament she's in, she knows her stuff, honestly."
Samson nodded, and held his arms slightly wide at as his side. Two of the remaining three spiderlings dove, and Samson took a step back and then lunged, spreading his arms wide. With both hands he struck the spiderlings, sending them flying through the air and into the cave walls. The little monsters fell stunned to the ground, their legs wiggling. Shirou chose the closer and ran after it. Once it was dead, Shirou turned and caught Samson's eye, who nodded approvingly. He had just finished smashing the other spiderling, leaving only one lift. Shirou and Samson charged at the last one, which looked at them both, as if its AI couldn't decide which way to flee. Ultimately, it failed to make any decision, and it died just as the others did.
"And now for the rest," Samson said with a wide grin on his face. He didn't even wait for Shirou to give any sort of reply, and simply charged to Seriyuha's side, leaving Shirou feeling a little overwhelmed. He was certainly exuberant.
Samson naturally reached Seriyuha first, and he bashed a spiderling to the ground with his fists. Seriyuha said something in thanks and stepped forward, giving Chigusa more space. Shirou ran to his sister's side and began feverishly yanking at the webbing to free her.
"Shirou," she whispered shakily, "I'm so so-"
"Later," Shirou said quietly, though he privately hoped he could get away with never. He didn't want to face what had happened, but he suspected Chigusa would want to address it.
Once he had pulled the remaining spider webbing from her arms, Chigusa began helping him to release herself, and the siblings soon had her completely free from the web. By then, Seriyuha and Samson had defeated all but two of the spiderlings, which broke up to attack the two of them, only to falter at their strong defenses. Chigusa and Shirou ran in, and killed them.
Samson crossed his arms and laughed loudly. "And with a donkey's jawbone, I've made donkeys of them!" he cried.
"Donkeys aside," said Seriyuha, "I have to thank you for coming when you did. I'm not sure we could have escaped from that on our own."
"Not at all," Samson said, more quietly than Shirou would have guessed he was able to manage. "I was exploring this cave when I heard your young friends screaming at one another. I could tell that the Lord had guided me here for a reason."
"Well," Chigusa said, her voice still a little shaken, "from the bottom of my heart, thank you for saving me and my brother."
She bowed low, but Samson waved her off. "Helping others isn't something that needs thanks. It's something we're all called to do."
"You're a man of the cloth on the outside?" asked Seriyuha.
"Yes," said Samson. "When I found myself trapped here, I honestly wondered if this all weren't punishment from the Lord for me, for wasting time on online games that I could have spent saving souls." He began walking around, as if looking for something in a crowd that only he could see. "Then I saw that so many of the players around me were drowning in despair, and I began to believe that the Lord had placed me here so that I might protect and guide the lost sheep."
"Too bad He couldn't have guided Kayaba into oncoming traffic a week before the servers went up," muttered Shirou.
To Shirou's own surprise, Samson gave a single, booming, laugh. "I won't deny that that would be a bit more to the point, but the Lord works in mysterious ways."
"And in what ways do you work?" asked Seriyuha. "You look for other players in need?"
Samson turned to her, a shrewd frown on his face. "Mostly, yes. Most players who don't already believe one way or another are too busy trying to level up to hear the good word, so for now I decided I should make sure they can survive long enough to seek salvation."
Seriyuha nodded and took a step forward Samson. "The best way to save everyone would be to clear this game as soon as possible." She reached her hand out toward him, and he looked down at it. "You seem to be an honest sort, so I suspect we can trust you. Would you care to join forces with the three of us?"
"Maybe," Samson said, though he gently closed Seriyuha's hand and pushed it back toward her. "I wouldn't mind hunting the lair's master with you, but that'll do for now. I'm not quite sure-"
Shirou heard a rushing sound coming from another passage, and thought he saw a flash of white in the corner of his eye. He turned his sword toward the passage, expecting another attack, and the others followed suit behind him. Seconds passed slowly, but nothing happened. No spiderlings moving in force to attack them. All was quiet.
"That was no monster," said Chigusa. "Whatever that was, I got a glance at it, too, and monsters wouldn't just rush through their lair without aggroing us."
"It's probably just another player exploring the caves," said Samson. "I was here too, after all, and I meant the three of you no harm."
Seriyuha shook her head and moved toward the passage, axe ready. "You weren't trying to hide yourself from us. Still, we shouldn't simply assume that everyone we don't know is an enemy. I'd like to look into this."
"I agree," Chigusa said as she hurried after Seriyuha.
Shirou followed behind, and so did Samson. "You're coming with us?" he asked the older man.
"Yes, I wouldn't mind sharing the quest reward with the three of you," he said, smiling. "I doubted whether I could defeat Magmanta on my own, honestly."
Shirou nodded and hurried along to catch up to Seriyua and Chigusa. They saw no other sign of the strange sneaking player, though they saw signs of their passage. Passages with torn webs or the occasional shattered egg cluster lay ahead, and the quartet followed the player's trail, until finally they came upon an undisturbed room, a dead end with several egg clusters and a pit at the opposite end. Water from a hole in the roof flowed into the room and followed several channels that inevitably wound toward the pit. Shirou and his allies approached the hole carefully, and peered inside. It was wholly dark inside, and from the sounds of the falling water, incredibly deep.
"I don't suppose we're to go in there, are we?" asked Samson.
"I'm not risking that without a very clear hint telling us to," Seriyuha said quietly.
"More importantly," Shirou said, stepping away from the hole and scanning the room, "where's that other player? They vanished."
"They're probably using the Hiding skill," said Chigusa. "You can turn invisible depending on how well you blend in with your environment if you have a decent Hiding skill level and people aren't looking right at where you are." She sighed and shook her head. "I don't suppose anyone here has the Tracking skill?"
Shirou shook his head ruefully. "It didn't sound all that useful."
"Same here," Seriyuha said quietly.
"I wasn't interested in looking for other players or monsters trying to hide," said Samson, "I just wanted to smash enemies with my fists and guide the lost to the Lord."
Chigusa rolled her eyes and groaned, and Samson gave one of his booming laughs.
"So what do we do?" Shirou asked as he turned toward the others. In that instant, a black flash darted past his vision and into one of the eggs. His heart racing, he spun around, and saw a white and black shape darting from the wall and out of the room. It was a little girl, dressed all in white and with long black hair. And she was smiling at Shirou and the others.
"Damn, get back here!" he roared as he began to run after the girl.
"Razler, STOP!" Seriyuha cried from behind him.
He skidded to a stop, almost unable to stop himself. It was the first time Seriyuha had ever barked an order at him, but it made his body shake. It was like hearing the words coming from his parents. He turned around, his fists and teeth clenched tight. Seriyuha was pointing toward the egg the girl had hit, which was going through its hatching procedure. Only this time, its hatching wave spread throughout the room, setting off all four egg clusters at once.
"She lured us here!" cried Chigusa, "she's trying to trick us into making her progress for her! Everyone gather up, we can't be split up from one another!"
Seriyuha, Shirou, and Samson quickly went to Chigusa's side, Samson and Seriyuha in front of her, and Shirou at her side.
"I'll let you call this one, Hinoka," said Seriyuha, "should we back off? We can't afford getting attacked by player killers while we're fighting the spiders."
"I don't think she's trying to get us killed," Chigusa said without hesitation, "she's probably just trying to take advantage of our hard work. She could have attacked us instead of these spiders."
"She did leave us with quite the bag to hold," muttered Samson.
"I have a feeling she's been watching us," said Chigusa, "and there's no benefit for her if we get killed. We won't soften these things up for her very well if we're dead, after all..."
"So what're we doing, then?" asked Shirou. He privately agreed - though possibly just because he didn't want to believe a stranger was trying to get them killed - but what mattered just then was their survival.
The eggs shattered, releasing the spiderlings. The horde immediately turned on them and began skittering in, their claws clicking on the ice. Shirou estimated some twenty of them total, but it was difficult to tell with so many grouped up as they were.
"We can't run with those hatchlings following after us, they'll catch up to us eventually, and I'd rather not get cornered near unhatched eggs," said Chigusa. She twirled her spear around. "So we fight this one out. Back into the passage we came in, and stay close."
"Listen to Hinoka!" said Seriyuha. She backed into the entryway without pause, but her eyes were fixed on the hatchlings.
"Seriyuha, Samson, guard the front," said Chigusa. "These things attack by twos, block both attacks and move forward, covering each other."
"Understood," said Samson, and Seriyuha nodded.
"Shi – Razler," Chigusa added with a glance to her brother, "it's up to us to finish off the spiderlings after Samson and Seriyuha knock them back them! The only easy time to hit them is when they're reeling!"
Shirou nodded and readied himself to move as the first spiderlings drew near.
The first two slammed into Seriyuha and Samson, who blocked their attacks with now-practiced skill, sending the small spiders into the walls and tumbling back to the ground. The front line immediately rushed past the two downed spiders, pushing back the incoming attack of another set.
"Move in," Chigusa cried as she ran forward to one of the stunned spiderlings, Shirou mimicking her, "but don't move too far past them, and get ready to retreat after killing your spiderling!"
"Got it!" Shirou cried as he sank his sword into one of the spiderlings, Chigusa killing the other.
"Samson, Seriyuha, pull back! Give yourselves some space!" Chigusa said as she moved backwards.
The pair nodded and did as told. And the process continued, the pair up front defending and stunning attackers and then moving forward to prevent other spiderlings from interfering, while the pair behind dealt finishing strikes on the wounded. Shirou couldn't help but marvel at how efficiently they – a group of just four – were cleaning up a swarm of over twenty spiderlings without serious health loss. It was a classic and simple strategy, of course, but being a living, moving part of it was completely different from seeing it done on a screen. Here he was, a critical piece of a fight for survival, depending on two strangers. And it was working. He couldn't help but smile as he struck down another spiderling.
"The spiderlings hatched from the same clutch obey the two attackers at a time AI rule, but that's not shared across different clutches," said Chigusa. "I saw that back when Samson saved us! If we tried to fight out in the open we'd end up with all of us trying to hold off a whole cluster of spiderlings each!
"Heh, not a bad tactician you've found, Seriyuha," Samson said as he ran forward, shoulder-bashing an oncoming spiderling and sending it flying into another behind it.
They continued on, bouncing the aggression of the spiderlings, until only four remained. They were skittering in just as the others that had died, as if unable to comprehend their peril.
"Okay, take them on, we've got this!" Chigusa cried, her spear pointed toward the remaining spiderlings.
The quartet ran forth, taking the fight to the spiderlings that were left, and struck them down. The stragglers were easy prey, and dropped in single strikes. Samson smashed the last spiderling into the ground, and all went quiet.
Laughing to himself, Shirou sheathed his sword. "Well, that's ove-"
A high-pitched roar rocked the cavern, and all around them began to rumble.
"Looks like SAO has a sense of dramatic timing," he muttered. Immediately Shirou drew his weapon, and the four pulled back into a close ball.
"Sounds like a boss!" Samson said, a tooth-bearing grin on his face. "Ready for more work, Hinoka?"
Shirou gripped his saber tighter, his attention on the vast hole at the center of the room. There was no doubt that the rumbling and roaring was coming from there. He'd almost forgotten about Magmanta ever since he came into the cave, his attention being as occupied as it was by the spider's spawn. Now it looked like he was in for a rather forced remainder.
Then, at last, a fuzzy white shape leaped from the hole, landed with a crash before them, and unfolded its great bulk. Magmanta was indeed Great, dwarfing the other spiders – and the heroes who had come to fight it – with ease. It hoisted itself up by its eight great legs, the two appendages in front – its pedipalps – pointed outward as if to attack with. Shirou noted, unhappily so, that they ended with blade-sharp points.
"Someone needs to tell Akihiko that those are supposed to just be sensory organs," he muttered.
Magmanta regarded them with its eight eyes as its four health bars filled up, its thick white hair waving as if in the wind. Was it sensing them with vibrations or something? Shirou wasn't sure, and he was more concerned with the spider's front limbs. They were constantly moving toward and away from its sharp front mandibles. The spider could probably snip his limbs off with those things. He cringed involuntarily at the notion.
"Don't be afraid!" cried Seriyuha. "It's nothing more than a giant pest, work together and bring it down!"
Samson settled into his combat stance, grinning. "Well, look on the bright side, this time we're the ones fighting four to one," he said.
Magmanta stepped back, raised its right front leg, and leaned forward, bringing it down all in a nearly-instant motion. Seriyuha raised her shield and blocked the attack, but the sheer weight thrown into it brought her to her knees. Magmanta then replanted its front leg and lunged forward wickedly fast, its fangs raised and ready to pierce. Seriyuha struggled to bring her shield up against the charge, but Samson moved in, grabbed both fangs by the metal of his knuckles and planted his feet firmly in the ground. Magmanta tried to force itself forward, its fangs wiggling wildly, but Samson held firm, a wide toothy smile on his face.
"Begone, beast! My strength is that of the Lord!" he cried. Then, and to Shirou's wonder, Samson took a great step forward, and threw the spider backward with a mighty roar. Magmanta landed on its feet but actually leaped back, raised itself high, and gave off a loud screech.
"Go, Razler!" cried Chigusa.
Seeing his chance, Shirou darted in with a sword skill, and he drove his sword into Magmanta's belly. The Great White Spider gave a shriek and curled itself inward, its front legs specifically pointed toward the source of its pain, Shirou rounded, his eyes widened, but Chigusa and Samson dove in and beat back its counter, forcing the spider away.
"It exposes its weak spot after its attack fails, but only for a short time!" cried Chigusa.
But Magmanta had already recovered, and was on the move again. It again went for a wicked downward stab, this time with its left front leg, but now Seriyuha was ready for the force behind the attack, and deflected it to the side rather than blocking it head-on. When it lunged in to deliver a deadly bite, she turned and stabbed her axe into its face, dropping its hp and sending it reeling. Chigusa and Shirou dove in together, each delivering a sword skill to its belly.
"The window to attack is pretty narrow," Chigusa said as she and Shirou fell back to avoid the counter. "Only a few seconds, I've seen similar with other great spiders during the beta."
"That's not very long," said Shirou.
"No, but it has a very clear tell before it exposes itself. Only a solo-player would have trouble once they knew what to look for," said Chigusa.
Magmanta struck again, and this time Shirou readied a sword skill as Samson and Seriyuha worked to hold off its attack. Once the spider took its backward step and reared, Shirou and Chigusa charged in together, their blades sinking deep into the spider's belly, and together they leaped away, barely dodging as the spider brought in its legs to spear them.
"Nice job, Razler," Chigusa said brightly.
"Save your congratulations," said Seriyuha. "The spider's doing something different."
Magmanta wasn't attacking again. Its health bar drained two-thirds, it began thrashing about, lifting itself up and dropping itself, stabbing its front claws into the ground, and screeching loudly. In short, it was having a massive fit.
Shirou took a step back, his heart racing. What was going on? Was it about to unleash some huge attack on them?
"Be careful, it's going to change its behavior," Chigusa said as she stepped behind Seriyuha and Samson.
Magmanta just stood there, thrashing and raging, for a few more seconds. Shirou stared at it, his grip on his sword tightening. Why were they just waiting?
"Shouldn't we attack him!?" he eventually cried to Chigusa.
"Usually you can't hurt bosses while they're-"
Magmanta gave a final, piercing shriek, and turned toward the wall. The spider moved with agility that belied its size, leaping onto the wall, rotated toward them with a look in its beady eyes that was almost a glare, and then leaped off at Shirou. Shirou's eyes widened at the sight of the huge, white, fuzzy bulk soaring through the air directly at him, and he narrowly scrambled out of the way, Magmanta's weight rocking the cave. Shirou was off his feet, and Magmanta gave another short leap and was on top of him, its fangs pointed toward him. Shirou barely raised his buckler in time, but Magmanta pressed down against him hard, crushing him into the floor with its vast size and strength. His head was spinning.
He heard Chigusa and Seriyuha calling his name, and he fumbled blindly for his sword. His arm felt numb, he couldn't hang onto his shield with Magmanta pressing down against him. Where was his sword!? Finally his hand hit something sharp, but with Magmanta on top of him he couldn't properly get to the handle of his sword. Magmanta's weight didn't quite hurt, but it still put pressure on him. And it was getting worse by the second.
"SHIROU, NO!" screamed Chigusa.
"UP YOU GO, DEMON!"
Magmanta's weight on him lessened just a little. Shirou breathed a little easier, and scanned around wildly. What was going on, was Magmanta going into a different attack? Craning his neck back, he saw Samson standing nearly over him, Magmanata resting on his shoulders. Strain was showing on his face, but he grinned down at Shirou and gave an awkward nod. With the spider's weight off of him, Shirou flipped his sword around to get to its handle. With a cry, he gave Magmanta a clumsy jab in the belly, and the remaining pressure on his body lifted in an instant. He tried to scramble to his feet on his own, but Samson pulled him away and lifted him onto them in one quick motion.
Magmanta reared back, screeching, and Shirou saw the red blur of Chigusa move in to stab it once again in its underside.
"I won't let you touch my brother again, monster!" she snarled.
Magmanta brought its front claws in as it had so many times, but Chigusa leaped away in time, much to Shirou's relief. He had almost expected her to forget the counter attack in her rage. Seriyuha stepped in front of Shirou, forcing a health potion into his hand. Shirou downed it without thinking, realizing only then that Magmanta had driven his health down to two-fifths full.
Magmanta turned and leaped onto the wall again, and turned to look down at them. Shirou instinctively inched away from the giant beast, and was glad in that moment that Seriyuha was in front of him.
"Everyone close together, Seriyuha and Samson up front!" Chigusa screamed while Magmanta rotated itself.
The order was a little unnecessary, as Seriyuha and Samson were already in front and Chigusa had come behind them, but the group immediately moved into a tight bunch.
But rather than leap as it had before, Magmanta raised itself up and gave another loud screech, which was answered by an echoing scream from the hole in the center of the room.
"More of them!?" cried Shirou.
The group immediately turned, almost as one, to the hole, but Chigusa immediately cried, "Seriyuha, keep an eye on Magmanta"
Seriyuha did as asked, just as four of the spiderlings scuttled up over the edge of the hole.
"Same as before! Clear them quickly, Magmanta might rejoin the fight at any minute!" cried Chigusa.
As they had in the past, a pair of the spiderlings sprang forward, both at Samson. He caught one of them mid-leap with his fist, but the other connected with his knee, bringing him to a kneel. Chigusa went in and killed that spiderling, while Shirou moved ahead of him to hold off any further attacks. The last two began moving forward, squatted down on their eight spindly legs and-
"IT'S LEAPING AT US!" cried Seriyuha.
Shirou grabbed Samson - who was just rising - and leaped to the side just as Magmanta came down where they were, its spawn scattering out of its way. Again the spider's bulk shook the cavern, and it took another jump forward at the two men – and threw its face directly into Chigusa's spear.
"Not again, you overgrown bug," she said quietly.
Magmanta reared back, raising its front side yet again, and Seriyuha darted in, a sword skill ready. Shirou cried out, a wide grin on his face – when a pair of black knives streaked past Seriyuha and plunged into Magmanta's belly. The beast gave a final, feeble, scream, thrashed slightly, and exploded into bits of light.
Shirou blinked, surprise knocking the wind out of him. Seriyuha came to a rest from her sword skill and smashed her shield into the nearest of the surviving spiderlings almost contemptuously. Samson finished the other as Chigusa and Shirou rounded on the source of the disturbance. There, at the entrance to the cavern inner chamber was a young girl. She was grinning at the four of them while she lazily threw a knife in the air and caught it. Though the long hair that framed her face was black, she wore all white, the same color as the cavern walls. Judging from her size, she had to be no older than eleven.
But Shirou immediately recognized her. It was the very same girl he'd seen in the Inn central room that morning - she'd listened in on them!
"Thanks for all the hard work!" she said, "I'll just take my share of the reward and be on my way!"
"Oh no you don't, you brat," cried Chigusa, "you didn't do anything! You just got the last hit in!"
The girl gave a clear laugh and smiled at her. "Yeah, and according to the book the beta testers wrote – beta testers like you – whoever gets the last hit on a boss gets the best reward, like that ore stone the old man wanted! I'm just following the game's rules!"
Samson and Seriyuha walked up to the siblings slowly, but nobody advanced on the girl. Though she was watching them casually, Shiro was sure that she could retreat in a flash if she needed to. It seemed his older companions shared that opinion.
"Enough of this, little girl," Samson said calmly. "We both know that what you did isn't fair to us." He took a slow step forward, his hand outstretched. "You did lead us to the boss' lair, and I'm sure we could arrange a fair deal for all of us. Now what do you say?"
"Uhhhh," the girl moaned, an exaggerated glazed look on her face, "I say I just run away and take a fair deal for me. Bye!"
The girl gave a final wink, turned, and began sprinting down the corridor, going faster than one might expect from the length of her stride.
"Get back here!" Chigusa screamed as she gave chase.
Shirou quickly closed the reward window for his participation on Magmanta and followed her, Seriyuha and Samson hot on his heels. They ran quickly, but the little girl was a step ahead of them no matter how fast they went. They passed through the already-cleared passages of the spider cave, the girl's path leading them slowly but surely toward the exit. The easiest way to corner her would be if she managed to get herself trapped in a dead end, but Shirou realized quickly - gnashing his teeth at the thought of it - that she knew exactly where she was going. And he could judge from the increasing delays between losing sight of her around bends and seeing her again before she turned another that they weren't gaining on her.
"Be careful, Hinoka!" cried Seriyuha. "There's no telling what she might do to lose us!"
"It's fine!" Chigusa replied breathlessly from ahead. "She can't activate Hiding while moving around so fast! Once were out of this cave she won't be able to lose us easily and the thick snow outside will slow her down!"
But just as they rounded a bend, they came across what must have been one of the few remaining clusters of spiderling eggs – eggs which were starting to hatch. Chigusa charged on past, apparently not realizing the danger.
"Chigusa!" Shirou yelled as he stopped. "She triggered spider eggs!"
"Hinoka, stop!" cried Seriyuha.
Chigusa skidded to a stop, snarled, and screamed, "you're gonna pay for this!" at the fleeing girl.
They managed to defeat the spiderlings in only a few seconds, but although they resumed their chase, they saw no sign of the little girl. Seriyuha quickly led the group back outside the cavern, hoping that they might be able to find her outside. Shirou was not optimistic as they hurried along, and sure enough, all they saw of the little girl was fresh footprints leading off down the mountain - with the girl herself nowhere in sight.
Chigusa grumbled that they wouldn't receive any real quest reward without Magmanta's key item drop, but Shirou simply stretched and savored the fresh air. The reward seemed to be a lost cause, and but it was nice to be back out in the open again.
"While that ended unfortunately," said Seriyuha, "we still gained some EXP, Cor, and items in the cave. We should be grateful for that."
Chigusa just crossed her arms and looked away. "Yeah, but that little brat got away..."
"We might still be able to catch her," said Shirou.
Chigusa immediately gave him a questioning but almost-hopeful look.
"I recognized her this morning at the inn, she might be staying there another night."
"Then we should hurry back, before she has a chance to leave," Seriyuha said instantly. She turned toward Samson, giving him an appraising look.
"On the subject of quest rewards, should we consider you one?" asked Seriyuha.
"Yes and no," Samson said, his arms crossed. "I think we made for a damn good team, but I enjoy doing things on my own. I also move around a lot; I don't like being weighed down."
Seriyuha began to open her mouth, and Samson quickly added, "But! Give me a message whenever you think you'll need me. I'd be happy to help you."
After a pause, Seriyuha smiled and nodded, and walked toward him, her right hand outstretched. Samson took it and gave it an exuberant shake. "But for now we're headed the same way, so I don't think we'll be saying our farewells just yet."
"You're staying in Tulse too?" asked Shirou.
"Yes," said Samson, "and we all have a unruly child to hopefully catch!"
Instantly the quartet began to move quickly through the snow, headed back the same way they came that morning. Shirou had to force himself not to sprint back to town, and it seemed almost too hopeful that they might catch the girl if they made it back quickly enough. Maybe, if they were lucky, she might be waylaid by the monsters and slowed? It would be karmic justice for her earlier trick with the spiders, if nothing else.
Chigusa still looked upset, her face screwed up and her pace stiff. After a few minutes of trekking through the snow, Samson suddenly gave a laugh and clapped her on the shoulder, causing her to yelp.
"Don't stress about things, Hinoka, your face will get stuck like that," he said, smiling at her.
"Yeah well this isn't my real face," she muttered.
"Don't forget that there's meaning in all things that happen, even in this virtual prison!"
Laughing to himself, he hurried on, leaving Chigusa slightly behind. "Fancy way to say nothing in particular, right there," she said in what Shirou presumed was supposed to be a quiet mutter.
"Oh, he might be right," Seriyuha said. "If we do encounter that girl again, I'd like to try to convince her to join us.
Chigusa gave her an amazed look, which Shirou privately agreed with. Even setting aside the fact that Seriyuha was hoping to put her trust in a girl that had just ripped them off, the little troll didn't seem the type to get along with others.
"Do you really think you can? She'll probably refuse no matter what you say," he asked.
"Children just need the right amount of pressure," Seriyuha said pleasantly.
"Besides, why would you want her?" asked Chigusa.
"Like I said before," Seriyuha said patiently as she marched through the snow, "our best chance at escaping from this world is in working together. I'd like to gather as many like-minded players as possible."
Samson laughed. "You've been pondering over the big questions, Seriyuha!"
"I try my best."
Shirou hurried along to keep up with her. "What, and form a guild?" he asked between steps through the high snow.
"Is that not a good idea?" Seriyuha asked without looking at him.
"To be honest, I was planning to look for a guild to join as soon as they started popping up," said Chigusa. "It's by far the best way to have a support structure. There's only so much you can do as an informal group like us."
Shirou looked toward Chigusa, surprised, and she simply shrugged back at him. When was she going to share this plan with him, he wondered. She probably considered it too obvious to be worth mentioning. Either way, he had no problem with joining a guild, as long as it was one he could get along with. He suspected that Chigusa would do a good enough job looking for one. The thought of making a guild, of being one of its founding members... An exhilarating chill ran down his spine. He suspected he could get along well with Chigusa and Seriyuha, and probably Samson as well, but the obnoxious little girl, too?
He grimaced at the thought. Well, he'd cross that bridge when he got to it.
It was late in the afternoon when they returned to Tulse. Seriyuha sent the siblings to visit the old man for confirmation on the state of the quest, while she herself went to check the inn for signs of the girl. The old man spoke to them like any other npc, though mixed into his conversations was a new line expressing relief that the white spider infestation of the mines had been cleared out. Chigusa swore loudly at that one.
"So it was one-time quest?" Shirou asked, already guessing the answer.
"Yes," Chigusa said sullenly as she turned for the door.
Despite the situation, Shirou laughed quietly at his big sister. "So we're out of luck?" he asked.
"Depends on how long it takes for the quest to reset," Chigusa said as they stepped out into the snow. "But probably yeah. As far as I know it takes weeks for limited-time quests to reopen, assuming they do at all, and coming back then would probably be a waste unless we're still stuck on this floor."
She growled at nothing and balled her fists. "That stupid little girl! I can't believe she did that!"
Shirou jogged ahead to reach his sister's side, and he wrapped his arm around her shoulder. He could feel the tension in her shoulder and arm, but she didn't fight him. "Don't worry, there'll be other quests out there. How good could a floor 1 reward be?"
She gave a humorless laugh and looked at him. "Well who knows, maybe we coulda gotten that Razor Shell thing you've been complaining about needing to upgrade your sword for five days now."
"Now that was just mean."
Unfortunately, by the time the siblings returned to the inn, Seriyuha and Samson had already managed to confirm with some of the other players that the little girl - Keh-keh, they discovered her player name was - had indeed returned and taken off again immediately after. The way the other players had described her, she rarely appeared in town during the day. Chigusa immediately suggested staging a stakeout to wait for her return to the inn - "Even demons need sleep, right?" she asked, only for Samson to actually get into a brief debate on the point that left Shirou and Seriyuha slightly bewildered - but Seriyuha vetoed the idea after thinking on it only briefly.
When Chigusa pressed her for what her plan on dealing with Keh-keh was, Seriyuha admitted that she hadn't yet decided on one. Chigusa looked like she was about to start yelling again when Samson suddenly called for ale all around, to which Shirou agreed with forced exuberance. The drink didn't actually taste like anything and Shirou was pretty sure it didn't intoxicate him, but he was relieved nonetheless that Chigusa let the situation go, at least for the time being. They spent the rest of that day huddled with Samson at a corner table of the central room, trading stories of their doings in the game - and even some of the real world. It was the first time in weeks that Shirou had actually spoken up of the world outside, though he eventually realized that it was he and Samson that were doing most of the talking. Seriyuha was saying little of a concrete nature of her world outside the NerveGear, and Chigusa was speaking less and less as the afternoon wore on.
When Samson finally announced that he was going to turn in for the night and Seriyuha suggested they do the same, Chigusa gave a very subdued "Good night," to her companions before retreating upstairs. Without waiting, Shirou followed her up to their room, where he found his big sister sitting on the bed and starting at the wood panel floor.
"What's wrong?" Shirou asked as he sat down across from her on his own bed.
"That girl knew I was a beta tester," Chigusa said quietly. "She must have overheard me mentioning Magmanta's vulnerability window."
"Why would that matter?" asked Shirou.
"I've heard rumors that a lot of the players back in the starting city are saying the beta testers abandoned them," Chigusa said. "It sounds like things are getting... messy."
Groaning, she rolled over onto her back. "You know, the usual accusatory nonsense people say whenever others are doing better and they think they deserve to do that well, too. It doesn't help that a good chunk of the playerbase in this game are teenagers of all things."
Shirou grimaced, the pieces clicking into place. In a world like this, people would start to raise panics more easily. A good enough speaker could rile a crowd to do something drastic, and it was worse considering all the players were stuck on the same floor for now. Shirou wondered if Chigusa wasn't quietly relieved they were in such an isolated region of the first floor.
Perhaps it wasn't very fair for him to hold an opinion since he had had Chigusa at his side from the beginning, but it wasn't like it was the responsibility of the beta testers to hold everyone's hands in this world. Besides, it didn't appear that Keh-keh or Samson were beta testers, and they were doing just as well as Chigusa was.
But Chigusa wasn't wrong, people would try to make excuses for anything.
He went over to his sister's bed and sat down at her side, patting her on the back. "Don't worry, Sis, I definitely won't let any of the other players hurt you, and I'm sure Seriyuha will be on your side too."
Chigusa rolled over to look at Shirou, smiling. "You're sweet, Shirou. Thank you."
"So can you please forgive yourself?" asked Shirou. The words spilled out of his mouth before he could stop himself, but they'd needed to come out either way. Now seemed the best time to address what had happened in the cave.
Chigusa's expression darkened. "Oh. That."
Shaking her head slowly, she sat up, but she seemed almost determined not to meet Shirou's gaze. "I'm so sorry, Shirou. I - I just panicked, and I thought that was it."
She shut her eyes tight. "P-please forgive me... I put you in a horrible spot..."
Tears began to slowly streak down her face, but she kept her eyes mouth firmly shut - or forced shut, rather. Shirou immediately put his hands over hers, which were clenched on her lap.
"Chigusa, Dad's waiting for us in the real world. You remember that, right? It's not worth it if one of us dies here."
"I-if," she said, her voice hoarse, "If it had to be one of us... It's better that..."
"No!" said Shirou. "What happened isn't your fault! I haven't once blamed you for getting trapped in this world! It's all that bastard Kayaba's fault! Now stop blaming yourself for all this going wrong and let's work together to beat this damn world!"
Chigusa gave a weak laugh. "He'd better watch out then, I'd hate to have you after me with how worked up you're getting!"
She looked at up at him and smiled, though her eyes were still wet with tears.
Shirou smiled back.
"You win," she said as she wiped her eyes, "but don't think this means I won't try to protect you either. You're right that Dad's waiting for us to get out, so you'll still be my first priority no matter what else happens out there. That's what big siblings are there for."
Before he could think of anything else to say, Chigusa lunged forward and pulled him into a tight hug. He was briefly taken aback, but he quickly recovered and returned her embrace. Like so many other things in SAO, he was struck by how real the warmth of his sister felt.
"Tomorrow," Chigusa began slowly, "we should talk to Seriyuha about helping to clear the labyrinth, don't you think? It's time we made progress."
"Definitely. I'm sick of this damn floor."
The siblings broke apart and got ready for bed without any sort of verbal agreement to do so. Shirou lay awake for a while that night, listening for Chigusa, but her breathing soon settled into a calm rhythm. If not for Samson's intervention, he might have been alone in his room that night... He turned over, trying to force himself to fall to sleep. He didn't want to think about what happened in the cave...
In the morning, they both made good on Chigusa's suggestion and spoke to Seriyuha about leaving Tulse. After a few moments of silence, she finally agreed, and the trio left Samson behind and began the long hike back to the village of Tolbana, where they had heard rumors of players gathering to finally complete the first floor. It was a natural place to do so, as it was the village closest to the labyrinth. They arrived on the night of the third of December, and found lodging at the town inn with intent to search for and join the clearing players the next day.
They hadn't needed to, for the first floor was cleared before they made any progress. Seriyuha showed no disappointment at that, and instead suggested that she and her young charges move on to the second floor. Shirou had expected Seriyuha to leave them at that point, but she did no such thing. Instead, she became more talkative with the pair, asking them a few non-intrusive questions about the outside while offering a few things about her own personal life. If she really planned to form the start of a guild between the three of them, it only made sense that she would try to forge a deeper connection with the siblings.
Shirou didn't mind. He was growing used to her presence. Having an older woman looking after himself and Chigusa almost felt like...
For some reason I can't help but think of Fire Emblem Fates' soundtrack when I think of potential musical themes that would fit some of the characters. Hoshidan themes usually seem to befit characters like Chigusa or Keh-keh, while the Nohrian ones more fit Razler and Seriyuha. For boss fights involving larger groups of players I more think of the Major Boss Battle theme from Freedom Planet. Guess that could be seen as the theme for major fights involving the Summer Knights? Heheh.
And yes, I stole the name of the giant spider in this chapter from Elsword, though the two Magmantas are scarcely alike. My characters should be grateful for that.
Something that feels severely under-valued in the canon Sword Art Online is the importance of family and other familiar people in a person's life. The closest we ever get to valuing one's family is the way Kirito cares for Suguha. Suguha herself seems to have somehow warped her familial love into romantic love for Kirito. Most tellingly, Kirito never really seems worried about never seeing his family again while he's trapped in SAO, and his thoughts are usually on Asuna first.
Ah well, out of sight out of mind for Kawahara, I suppose.
Oh and, yes, I had Shirou say "Rest In Peace in peace."