AN: So. Last chapter I said that for those of you who remember SAO will realize that my choice to make Marzanna an Imp changes something in particular in this arc, and if you don't remember you'd get a reminder soon. What I was speaking about plays out in this chapter, though it wasn't all that soon due to a combination of not having much inspiration for the second scene as well as the fact my brain just generally wasn't in an SAO mood. Well, there was a different reason for a solid month, but if I got started on that here I know I'd end up rambling, so I decided to talk about it on the Tumblr I made that's associated with my writing, which has a link on my profile. If the link isn't working but you feel like heading over, the name over there is also vorpalquickblade.

Also. Um, just realized that with the fact I'm constantly switching between the anime and light novels when going over canon events, I have a bad tendency to switch between calling the central city at the bottom of Yggdrasil 'Arun' and 'Alne' since the official name from the light novels is Arun, but since for some reason in the subtitles it's always called Alne? I'll have to go back and edit previous chapters, but it's technically supposed to be Arun.

Also, trifecta of people who want me to move away from a certain aspect of the fic is now complete, since I have officially gotten a review asking for less VR.

Review Responses:

Abyssalwhale- Gotta be honest, it took me two read throughs to properly get your ch17 review. Not because it wasn't clear, but because I misunderstood your first two lines as you being sarcastic/passive aggressive and that tinted the tone of how I was reading it, and while it made less and less sense as I read while under that impression, it wasn't until I got to you saying you loved the fic and thought I'd done a good job that I realized I was misunderstanding and had to reread it to actually get what you were saying. I have to agree, I don't really understand how people can write long fics and hardly change anything. Anyway, glad you enjoy it!

Sparletta10- I assume you're talking about Dante and killing people, however as it's revealed in the cutscene, the guys he took out between Sanctus and fighting Nero were all experiments in giving humans demonic power, thereby making them part demons, of which Sanctus also was, and none of them were exactly good people if they were fucking around with something as volatile as that and risking harm to citizens that had no idea what shit they were up to. Between the two, they fit more in the 'hostile demon' category, both for me as the writer, and by extension the way I write the Sparda's.

She eyes the speed at which her party was recovering, and begins chanting again, "Ekku karra erudingu tenan sutado, sutigu nīzūru himuni ifiru obin!"

Just as the bolt of lightning rushes towards Thrym, Freyja takes off towards Kirito, and urges him, "Swordsman," She pauses until he turns towards her, "you cannot defeat Thrym this way. Not in time if your desire is to save this land from his thieving grasp. You have but one hope." She begins to look around, "My family's treasure, which is hidden somewhere in this room. With that returned, I would regain my true power, and with that, be able to dismiss Thrym."

Kirito's brow furrows, "True power…"

Sinon shakes herself off, then takes over his forward position in helping buy time for their friends. Normally, it'd be suicide for a bow user to be a forward, but for Sinon who in GGO was a sniper who abandoned defense and for who being caught meant having to run away, keeping out of Thrym's clutches isn't particularly hard. Especially given that ALO doesn't try to make things somewhat realistic like GGO and therefore her VR body was a lot more agile, and that Sinon had her casting spells to stun Thrym as backup.

She finishes casting another spell and glances at where her mate was still facing down the NPC with worried thought. She knows what he's thinking. Freyja was already scarily strong, given how much damage her lightning spell had done to Thrym, and until the quest finished they couldn't be one hundred percent certain Freyja wouldn't turn on them, so the thought of making her stronger was a little daunting. At least in these circumstances. Were Arun and the overworld not in danger of being destroyed, from the get go, Kirito probably would've saved Freyja, because even if she turned on them, helping her, accompanying her, and as the story hit its plot twist and you heard her laugh from behind 'uhaha, you fool-', it was something that would normally amuse Kirito. And when she did turn on them in that situation, he would be more than happy to fight her no matter how strong she was. No, actually, the stronger the better.

But in this case, allowing Freyja to become stronger was a risk. Even if she didn't turn on them until after Thrym had been dealt with, Urðr had all but stated the risks tied to this event wouldn't stop until they'd drawn Excalibur. Which meant Freyja would become another obstacle in their path. Given that they were already running out of time, they would lose against the clock if they had to fight Freyja.

That being said, given how strong Thrym was, it was looking more and more impossible to defeat him in time. So it doesn't really surprise her when Kirito takes a deep breath, then nods firmly at Freyja, "Understood. What kind of treasure is it?"

Freyja holds her hands out creating a gap about a foot wide, "It's a golden hammer, about this long."

Kirito looks at her in surprise, "A h-hammer?"

Freyja nods firmly, "Yes, hammer."

She's forced to turn her split attention back to Thrym and Sinon when the latter dodges too late and gets tossed by a shockwave. She raises her hands and staff hastily and chants as quickly as she can, "Ekku kasta kurafuto urūmunaru, sura tā burutu!"

A whip-like stream of lightning lashes out, shoving Thrym away and making him fall on his back. The damage was negligible, but it was a knock back spell to buy space, not truly a damaging spell. Kirito calls out, "Go ahead and help them, I'll follow soon!"

Klein and Leafa immediately shoot off to do as he says, and he turns back to the treasure pile with a frown, "... Yui?"

But their daughter shakes her head without hesitation, "I don't know, Papa. There's no location of the key item listed in the map data. It was probably randomized when we entered with Freyja."

He sighs heavily, "Is that so…" She can see him focusing all of his concentration on trying to find a solution, but for once her clever mate has no ideas and soon shouts, "It's useless! How could I possibly find Freyja's hammer like this?!"

But, as he says that, Leafa who was helping buy Kirito time, gasps loudly and turns to him, "Onii-chan! Use a lightning skill!"

He turns towards her, "L-lightning? Why-?"

But then he shakes his head and turns away. Not willing to question it, and knowing they're running out of time, he charges a skill and jumps. She recognizes it, it was one of the few heavy ranged attacks in the one handed sword category 《Lightning Fall》which was a whopping seventy percent elemental damage. With a crackle, blue-purple electricity spreads out like a spider web from where the tip of his sword pierces the ground and dances over the pile of treasure.

A split second later, he gasps and lunges forward as he sheaths his weapons before he begins frantically digging into the pile. It's only a matter of moments before he uncovers something that casts a glow on his face, he stops in surprise briefly, then reaches out for it. He struggles for a moment the strain obvious on his face before with a great heave using both hands he swings around with it and uses the momentum to toss it with a shout, "Freyja, take it!"

What goes flying through the air was a hammer with a thin golden handle and a bejeweled platinum head. With rather good accuracy, it goes straight to Freyja though as it reaches her, she can't help but wonder if Freyja will even be able to catch it. Assumably, Freyja has the strength stat necessary to lift it, but given how much Kirito had struggled, and the fact he'd thrown it…

But she's somewhat surprised when Freyja catches it almost nonchalantly with just her right hand. She brings it down to look at it, staring for a brief moment before her eyes fly wide open as the hammer begins to glow golden and lightning of the same rich hue sparks around her. She tenses up, "It's flowing." The golden glow spreads over her body and she hunches over, "It's overflowing." Her form begins to blur, "It's overflowing…"

She lets out a strange dual-toned roar, then suddenly she begins to expand in size. As she does, her delicate body becomes incredibly muscular, something they get quite a good look at given her dress had shredded with her growth. Kirito smiles nervously, "Freyja?"

Then Freyja disappears entirely in a vortex of green smoke. When it dissipates, the one standing there was no longer Freyja, but a giant man of roughly the same height as Thrym.

Kirito and Klein call out in surprise at the same time, "It's a guy!"

Thrym stops fighting to look back over his shoulder at the man, who also turns towards him. In the top right of her screen, the name Freyja turns into Thor.

And suddenly she remembered what Leafa had to have. The story of Thor's hammer being stolen by the frost giant king, and the Frost giant saying he would only give it back if the beautiful Freyja married him. At her refusal, Loki used his magic to disguise Thor as Freyja, so that he would be allowed in and could retrieve the hammer himself.

No wonder Freyja didn't need to chant a spell to summon lightning.

Thor roars a challenge, and Thrym turns away from her friends to face him. Thor stomps forward, "Cowardly giant, your punishment for stealing my treasure 《Mjölnir》will be given right now!"

Thrym breathes out a puff of frost into his hand, which quickly takes the form of a single handed double sided battle ax. Their weapons clash violently for a moment before Thor punches Thrym in the face with his free hand. The giant returns the punch before growling in rage, "Filthy God… You'll pay for tricking me. I'll rip off that beard of yours, and send you back to Asgard!"

They begin attacking each other with gusto, and the force of their blows seem to shake the whole castle, still stunned from Freyja suddenly turning into Thor, they all just stand there staring. After a minute she shakes herself, then begins chanting her best lightning spell. Not far from her, Sinon shouts, "Hanna has the right of it! While Thor has the aggro, let's attack!"

Kirito draws his swords and calls out, "Everyone, full attack! Use sword skills without holding back!"

With exceptionally intense fighting spirit and a roar Klein opens their assault on Thrym with a powerful fire attribute skill. Beside her, Asuna switches her wand for her rapier and rushes forward as well and goes straight for his Achilles tendon. With a roar of pain, he falls to his knees. The barrage is swift and brutal, and with the incredible damage Thor had done with just a few blows before, Thrym's health quickly drops into the red of his final bar and he falls forward onto his hands.

Thor steps forward and raises his hammer, "Return to the depths of the earth, King of Giants!"

He slams his hammer down on the back of Thrym's head, smashing his face into the ground. The crown he had been wearing breaks, and Thrym chuckles even as ice begins to grow over his body, "Be proud of your victory for now, flies. But if you lower your guard around the æsir, you'll have a painful experience… Because they are the true-"

Before he can finish, Thor stomps on his head, shattering the ice, and a moment later Thrym follows suit with an explosion of frost. Thor glares at where Thrym had been for a moment before turning to them, "Hmm. I give you my thanks, Fairy Warriors. Now I have avenged the theft of my treasure." He lifts his hammer, then hovers his other hand over it as it begins to glow, "I must reward you."

One of the inlaid jewels floats out with an aura of golden light, then drifts forward towards Klein and begins to drop. As it does its form disappears with a crackle of lightning, and when it's revealed they see that it's turned into a human sized replica of Mjölnir, though the platinum head of the real Mjölnir was golden instead on the replica.

Thor nods gravely, "The《Lightning Hammer Mjölnir》or a portion of its power rather. Use it well in battle. Then, farewell."

He lifts his hammer and with a blinding golden flash, he disappears. When she can see again, Thor's name as well as his HP/MP bars are removed from her HUD, along with the extra HP his buff had given them all.

A moment later, the drop pop-ups appear before them, signaling that the fight is truly over. The treasure lining the walls also disappears, but given one of the changes Ymir had made was that parties shared a temporary inventory so that no one could hide loot when it was time to distribute it and theirs had gone from not even ten percent full from their previous battles to fight their way here to about ninety-eight percent full, it didn't really matter anyway. Though, ever the opportunist, her beloved mate likely found it regretful that they couldn't loot the place.

Kirito breathes out a sigh of relief, then walks forward to clasp Kleins shoulder, "Congratulations on your legendary weapon."

Klein turns with teary eyes and a pitiful expression, "I don't have a single point in hammer skills…" Then he shakes his head and his usual cheerful expression returns, though it looks a smidge forced, "Then, I'd be glad to give it to Liz later. Ah, though she better not turn it into ingots…"

That draws some laughter from the group, but a moment later the lighthearted moment is cut short by the whole castle shaking. Yui looks up with wide eyes, "Thrymheim… Thrymheim is beginning to float upwards!"

Leafa frantically grabs her necklace, "B-But there is still light left!"

She sucks in a breath, "But if that's meant to represent how many beast gods are left, and therefore Urðr's hold on Jötunheimr, then as it gets down to the last…"

Kirito's eyes widen, "The sword!"

Yui darts over to him, "Papa, the staircase is behind the throne!"

Without wasting a moment, they take off running. Behind the throne, just as Yui had said, the ice in the back of the room opens up. She supposed that it didn't matter much if Thrym had been able to take on a human form like the Kraken, as suggested by the way the players had gotten the opposing quest to their own, but the entrance was only large enough for a human, or in this case, a fairy, to pass through.

Kirito doesn't hesitate to dart through the opening and down the staircase on the other side three steps at a time. As they descend, the shaking becomes more and more volatile, presumably as Thrymheim begins burrowing more energetically through the ground. Kirito grits his teeth, "Even if it's because Urðr's power is slipping away, the master of the castle is dead…" He sighs, "Ugh. Regardless, I suppose there's nothing to be done, we have to get the sword to put a stop to it."

Yui flits over to him, "Papa! Five more seconds until we reach the exit!"

He nods, all but flinging himself out of the exit when he reaches it. On the other side, they find themselves in the very tip of the upside-down pyramid. Around them, the clear ice gives them a perfect view of Jötunheimr, rocks and crystal fall past from where they've been dislodged from the ceiling by Thrymheim moving up into the ceiling and towards Arun beyond. The spiral staircase came from the center of the room and swept down towards the bottom. And there, a few feet in front of the end of the staircase, was the delicate looking root of the World Tree, encased in a carved block of ice creating a short plinth, and pierced by a blade of gleaming gold.

Excalibur.

The shining gold blade was half buried in the ice, but the crystal clarity of it allowed them to see its full form perfectly fine. The blade itself was elegant in its simplicity, leading up to a detailed guard and a grip wrapped in tightly knitted black leather.(1)

For a moment there's a pause as they all gather around to stare at it, before Kirito shakes himself and steps forward. He grabs the leather grip with his right hand and gives a tug. It does not come free, and she can't help but quip, "Maybe it's because your screen name isn't Arthur."

That draws a few nervous laughs from her friends, and Kirito flashes her a quick smile over his shoulder before adding his other hand and pulling. She can see him straining against it, but still it doesn't budge. Unlike in SAO or GGO, ALO didn't show things like a player's strength and agility in the stat window. Why there wasn't, she couldn't say, though most put it down to the fact that players themselves didn't level up, only their skills did. However, that didn't mean the stats didn't exist. Since the system would need to know those stats for various calculations, as well as the fact that plenty of equipment showed a numerical boost to stats in their item windows, and the fact that there were certain racial modifiers as well, so they certainly did exist, it was more that they were a hidden parameter.

Klein, for instance, as a Salamander, had a higher base strength then any of them, but with his fighting style tended to prefer speed boosting equipment. Kirito, for all that he was insanely fast by virtue of ALO speed being affected heavily by how quickly the brain processes the signals going between it and ALO, still preferred heavy swords and a strength focused build with his gear. As such he was easily the strongest member of their party. If he couldn't pull it out to end the quest, none of them could.

That was probably why their friends started calling out encouragement to him. Asuna breaks the silence first, "Keep at it, Kirito!"

Silica quickly backs her up, "Yeah, just a bit more!"

Sinon raises her hands and clenches her fists in front of her chest, "Show us your willpower!"

Yui's delicate voice calls out, "Papa, you can do it!"

Klein nods firmly, "Pull hard and show us your strength!"

With a roar, Kirito puts all of his might into freeing the blade. To her surprise, given that she had assumed it would just pull free, the ice fractures. The cracks begin to spread, and a golden light emanates from within. As the crack begins to split the ice block in half, the golden light turns into beams shining outwards, and with a final heave and a sharp 'pik' sort of sound Excalibur is released by its icy tomb. Kirito stumbles backwards from the sudden lack of resistance, and for a moment they're all blinded by the light.

Right when it clears and they look back, the plinth shatters entirely and the delicate looking root that had been contained within suddenly begins growing at an alarming rate. It quickly separates into multiple roots and spreads throughout the room, and one of the larger ones wraps around the column in the center, destroying the stairs in the process and blocking off the entrance besides.

Silica, having the worst balance of them, almost topples over with a shout before Asuna catches her and the two end up clutching at each other for the sake of Silica's balance. Klein, staring at the blocked entrance with wide eyes, shouts, "It's falling apart!"

The web of branches pushes on the ice surrounding them, and the four glass like planes shatter, leaving behind only the central column, the corner supports, and the ground. Yui, although she undoubtedly knows that it's fairly obvious, confirms their worst fears, "Thrymheim is falling apart! Papa, we need to escape!"

Her mate looks around in surprise, before saying in disbelief, "But how? I sort of figured this place would fall into the pit back when I first saw it, and I knew it would after Urðr told us what it was and how it got here, but I thought we would have time to escape!"

Going down obviously wasn't an option since the fall would kill them even if they somehow avoided the bottomless pit, but going up… They all stare at the column and the roots that continue to slide around it like snakes. They must be squeezing it with considerable pressure, as before their eyes the middle of it shatters. They drop with a strong jolt, temporarily caught by the roots wrapped around what was left of the column, but even before their eyes they can see the single one holding them up stretches to its limit and begins to break apart like a rope under too much strain.

Klein forces a nervous smile, and proclaims with false bravado, "O-okay… Time for me to show you my Olympic-class high jump!"

He darts to the central column and climbs some of the roots before jumping for it. To his credit, he actually does make it high enough. In theory anyway. Unfortunately, the root breaks pretty much at the same time he kicks off and they drop just enough for him to miss the root by inches.

The corners, now being the only thing holding them up but only meant to act something like a window frame for the planes of ice before, break immediately with the increased strain, sending the tip of the pyramid they're on plummeting.

Their friends scream in surprise while she and Kirito both stare up towards the rest of the pyramid. As they fall, they start to see more of it, and the way it's covered in roots, as well as the numerous ice chunks falling and crashing into each other on the way down. After a moment, Kirito cautiously makes his way towards the edge and looks down, "This is bad…"

Sinon glances towards the edge, "... What's in the pit?"

He smiles nervously as he backs away from the edge, "Um. Well, when we came here a year ago, Yui said it was a literal bottomless pit, since there was no bottom programmed in, that would just insta kill you if you went too deep. But maybe it goes to Niflheimr now? I, uh, I can't imagine that Cardinal would write it so Urðr would mention it without either being done generating it or at least close, so if it's the former then maybe…"

He looks away, "Well, not that it would save us anyway, regardless of if we hit the insta death zone or crash into Niflheimr…" Then he turns to his sister, "Leafa, how much time is left?"

The Sylph quickly grabs the necklace and brings it up to look, "The darkness has stopped spreading! We made it! Onii-chan!" She flings herself forward to hug him, "I'm so glad!"

Kirito brings one of his hands up to loop around her neck and press his hand to her head, while the other wraps around her waist, "So am I."

That being said, he also takes advantage of the fact she's pinning Excalibur between them to bring up the menu to claim the sword and put it in his inventory behind her back. He clicks the button a couple times to no avail before his expression drops and his eyes slip close in disappointment and he releases a quiet sigh.

Despite the situation, she can't help but chuckle at him. He lifts his gaze to her then gives her a sheepish grin at being caught. Suddenly, Leafa pushes out of Kirito's hold and turns, "Do you hear something?" They all look at her in confusion, tilting their heads to listen, but all she could hear was the rushing sound of the air going by. Despite that, Leafa's ear twitches and she says, "There it is again."

She stands quickly and makes her way to the edge. Just as she reaches it, they all hear it, loud and clear. 'Kwooo-n'. They all know that cry, and all around her, her friends perk up hopefully and quickly make their way to the edge. Indeed, flying towards them was a familiar white-gray form.

Leafa shouts enthusiastically, "Tonkii!"

Tonkii responds with another of his little 'Kwooo-n' sounds and Silica sighs in relief, "We're saved!"

With cheerful relief, Klein points towards the approaching Tonkii, "Okay! Let's all switch over to Tonkii!"

Tonkii approaches and stops about fifteen feet away from the falling chunk of ice. It wasn't a small distance, but with the standard level of physical ability in ALO being what it was, even the heaviest player could cross such a gap, especially with Tonkii hovering lower than them. Leafa cheerfully jumps first while humming to herself, before turning back with a grin and stretches her hands out, "Silica-chan!"

The slightly younger girl nods before jumping for it and being caught by Leafa. Before either of the two could offer to help, Asuna and Sinon jump at the same time. Klein approaches the edge nervously, but pauses there. After a moment Kirito prompts him, "You first."

Klein turns to look over his shoulder at him sharply, "I know." He slides a little closer to the edge and looks down, "We're sure high up…"

With a sigh, Kirito reaches out, "Hurry."

Then without hesitation he shoves Klein. However, rather than making the jump, Klein just falls off the edge with a shout. Their friends gasp in surprise at seeing him fall by, but Tonkii's trunk stretches out and catches him with ease. He pulls him up to his face with his little rumbling cry, and Klein smiles at him in gratitude, "Tonkii, you saved me…"

Tonkii reaches behind himself and deposits Klein on his back, so she turns to her mate. She's surprised to find him gazing at the sword with disappointment, "Ehh? What's wrong?"

He sighs, "...It's heavy enough that I can't make the jump with it.

She blinks, then smiles, "Alright, hand it here."

He looks at her with surprise, "Eh?"

She laughs, "We're definitely not in the dungeon anymore, and I'm an Imp. Even if it's heavy, if I'm getting a flight boost, I can probably make it."

He blinks in surprise before his face lights up, "Right! Imps can fly underground!"

He hands it over and she grunts and strains with the weight before readjusting with it, she hefts experimentally it and eyes the gap, then nods firmly, before turning to her mate, "You go first. You're the strongest and I might need you to stop me."

He nods and jumps, then quickly gestures for their friends to clear a space as he turns to her and backs up a little and braces himself

She backs up as she calls her wings, then, with a running start she jumps and beats her wings with all her might. She crashes heavily into Tonkii's back, and her momentum carries her forward straight into Kirito. He catches her easily, then steadies her with a smile.

She smiles back and hands the sword back over with a teasing, "You better remember my help whenever you use that sword."

He smiles back happily, "Of course! I'll always have gratitude in my heart for you whenever I draw it!"

She laughs, and looks over the landscape as Tonkii raises. A large cracking sound draws all of their attention and they turn to find Thrymheim has started to break into large chunks and fall.

Sinon tilts her head with furrowed brows, "That dungeon has broken apart and disappeared, just because we beat it once."

Silica adds in a subdued voice, "It's kind of a waste."

They watch the last chunks of it fall into the bottomless pit, and to their surprise it immediately erupts with a massive geyser of water and begins to rapidly fill. As it does the ice around it melts with startling speed and the melting spreads outwards. Once it's what looks to be about three quarters full, from the maximum viewing distances depth anyway, their attention is drawn upwards by movement and they watch as the roots of the World Tree begin to descend, starting with a drill-like shaped root that descends quicker than the others. It splashes down into the water, then begins to swiftly spread out.

A few moments after it reaches the land, Asuna gasps, "Look, trees are growing from the roots!"

Sure enough, while they're far enough away not to be able to view it in detail, they can see the sprouts quickly growing from the movement and the rapidly blooming green of their leaves. More than that, a wave of green spreads out amidst the newly unfrozen land.

As the trees grow, more roots descend in a loose spiral around the lake, old but surprisingly intact buildings on top of the loops. She blinks in surprise, "I know I saw at least a few buildings collapse, but the World Tree roots retracting into the ceiling didn't destroy the rest of the buildings that were on the roots?"

Her mate blinks and shifts his gaze a bit, and lets out a noise of surprise, "Apparently not. Even more, while it's hard to see from up here, they look remarkably well preserved from what I can see."

After the trees grow enough that the rapid growth seems to stop, their attention is pulled once again, this time by the clouds breaking and the maybe-sunlight pouring in from the area where the World Trees root descend.

Silica closes her eyes serenely as the rest of them look around and murmurs, "It's so warm."

Tonkii lifts its trunk and gives a little cry, Kirito laughs lightly and Sinon joyfully points out, "He's happy."

Her mate shares a smile with their friend before their attention is drawn once again, this time by cries that sound similar to Tonkii's. Looking down, they see a bunch of Tonkii's less evolved kin looking up at him and returning his gleeful cry as they raise a couple of their tentacles up and down, almost like they're waving happily at them.

With their focus on the ground, they notice other players looking up at them too, and though the distance makes it hard to tell, from what she can make out they're all staring or gaping in surprise.

After a moment, she hears the sound of something dropping before Leafa murmurs, "I'm so glad." She turns to see Leafa kneeling, likely the 'thing' she'd heard drop, just in time to see her run the tips of her fingers through Tonkii's fir, "Aren't you, Tonkii? You've got lots of friends. Over there… And over there. So many of them."

For a moment she, and the others from what she can see from her peripheral vision, smile at the happy girl in silence, before the golden light and shimmery sound effect from before heralds Urðr's return. They all turn to see her smiling gently and happily at them, though this time she wasn't somewhat transparent and given the story about her and her sisters hiding in a frozen lake to escape Thrym, with him gone this was likely her actual avatar instead of a projection using her magic, and once they do she begins to speak, "You've done a wonderful job. The sword that cuts through all trees and iron, Excalibur, has been removed from its dais, and Jötunheimr has returned to its proper form. This is all thanks to you."

Her mate smiles a little sheepishly, "Well, as for Thrym… we couldn't have defeated him in time without Thor's help…"

Urðr nods, "I know the power of the Thunder God. However… be careful, Fairy Warriors, even though those æsir are the enemies of frost giants, they would never be your ally…"

Leafa frowns at that as she stands, "Thrym said something similar, but what does that mean?"

It was unlikely that Urðr, being a sort of AI and linked to the language-engine module, didn't understand the question, but whether it's because it's linked to a latter quest that you aren't supposed to get answers for now or something else, she doesn't answer the question and moves on, "My sisters wish to thank you as well."

She looks to the left and with another shimmery sound effect golden water droplets swiftly condense into another blond woman, though she was much smaller than Urðr, being around seven and a half feet tall, with much shorter bangs as well though the rest of it was long like Urðr, and while she had a weird floating ring around her body too, hers was just above where her breasts begin, and her dress, while also blue with a white dress underneath, had slits cut into it going down, and extended up in an 'X' pattern before wrapping around her neck, about the only thing that seemed to be the same between their designs was that she was wearing a circlet that matched Urðr's.

She smiles at them as well, "My name is Verdandi. Thank you, Fairy Swordsman. I never thought I'd see a green Jötunheimr again. It's like a dream."

As she whispered in a sweet voice, she softly waves her right hand. As she does various items and Yuld currency drop before them for a moment before disappearing into the party inventory. Even though it's sizable since it's seven people's worth, it was getting rather full…

Then she looks up at Urðr who shifts her gaze to her right, where a small tornado-like whirlwind appears, then disperses, leaving behind yet another woman. Contrasting her sister's, she was clad in armor and a helmet, and stretching from the sides of the latter, as well as her boots, were wings. Her hair, though also blonde, was significantly shorter, and held neatly in numerous small bunches in hair ties. She also differed from her sisters in the way the clothes located under her armor were green, as well as the fact that unlike her sisters, she was the height of a Fairy. The weird floating ring they all seemed to possess was around her hips.

As soon as she appears, Klein makes a sound, and glancing over she sees him making his, 'oh, pretty girl' face.

Her attention turns back when she begins to speak. Her voice is dignified and cooler, but the smile she's also sporting makes it clear that she wasn't upset with them, "My name is Skuld. I thank you, Fairy Warriors."

Much like her sister, she also waves a hand, and a waterfall of loot appears before them before disappearing into their shared inventory. As she'd figured, a 'reaching full capacity' warning pops up before all of them, though luckily there was enough space for it all.

Then Urðr points at where Excalibur was clutched in Kirito's arms, "From me, I offer you that blade. But never throw it into Urðr's Spring."

Her mate nods, "Yes, of course."

It turns into light and also disappears into their inventory at that, and upon confirming it in the pop-up, her mate happily grins and pumps a fist and excitedly murmurs, "All right!"

Then the two shorter sisters float up to be at Urðr's head height, and they all simultaneously speak, "Thank you, fairies. Let us meet again."

After their words, a notification similar to when they got the quest, with the two lines of text not contained in a box and only separated by a line pops up, the top one was still the quest name, but unlike when they received the quest, the bottom line no longer read 'Quest Accepted' instead now read 'Quest Complete'.

Kirito looks down at it with a somewhat complicated expression, "And we're done."

Then he releases a sigh of relief, likely that the destruction of the overworld was no longer hanging above their heads. Then they turn and begin to fly away, Klein makes a face, "Ah!"

She immediately turns to him and grabs his collar just as he takes a couple steps forward, yanking his attention back to where she's giving him a look, with one eyebrow slightly raised and the other lowered, and half of her mouth slightly quirked up sardonically, "I swear, Klein, if you forget she's an AI and try to hit on her just because she's pretty, I will downgrade you to personal jump boost minion. Again."

Kirito's shoulders hunch up with suppressed laughter, and their other friends turn away with grins or giggle as well. Klein flushes lightly then clears his throat and steps back as he crosses his arms.

They watch mildly with smiles as the three fly off, disappearing into the sun-like light coming from where the roots came down.

She stretches her arms above her head, "Well, that's another quest complete! Even if the stakes were higher than expected."

She glances at the pop-up of all the dropped items they'd gotten from the sisters, "Though, I can't help but feel relieved that the system automatically splits it equally between party members, and even adds a small amount if it doesn't split equally. That said, it's gonna be a bit of a pain to go over so many drops and figure out who gets what and which items go to the guild as a whole…"

Asuna sighs as she looks over from where she'd also been gazing at her own drop item pop-up, "Tell me about it."

Their friends all give the drop pop-ups weary looks at the reminder that the downside of getting so many rewards was that they'd have to sort through them.

Hanna can't help but watch her mate all but bouncing as they walk. She shakes her head fondly at him.

After the quest in Jötunheimr with Urðr they had called a GM the next day on Monday and explained the situation, explaining away their knowledge of the quest and event generation that Cardinal could do by simply saying they'd known an AI in SAO who'd told them, which wasn't a lie, just something that implied they'd learned of it in SAO. The knowledge that it had the power to alter entire maps via the fact it had possessed the authority to delete a map, which was obviously higher tier than alteration, was easily explained by the fact it was common knowledge that the original Aincrad had deleted itself after being beaten.

At their dubious reaction and attempt to brush it off as them taking quest text too seriously, Kirito had convinced them to at least check the quest information as a GM. It had taken a bit of convincing, and been accompanied by more than a bit of grumbling, but it had been fairly obvious when they did and saw that they weren't freaking out over nothing, given the sudden silence before the GM had stuttered out that they needed to put them on hold and get a higher up.

The wait had taken almost forty minutes before their in-game call was taken off hold for more than a brief pop in from someone higher up the chain to let them know that it was being taken even higher up, but when it finally was really come back to, they found themselves talking to the majority of heads of Ymir via a conference call. They'd opened the call, after checking they were still there, by giving a flustered apology for taking so long to get back to them properly, which was in part due to it being constantly pushed up the chain and partly due to them needing a bit of time to get a majority of the heads in the call.

They'd gone on to say that when they'd been informed they had simply been told it was a major problem and that they needed to get on the call with them asap, as by the time the message reached them it had degraded into essentially 'no time to explain, the players who brought this to our attention have been on hold a while now, just push it higher up because this needs to get to the top and I don't have the authority for that'. Kirito had explained the situation again, as well as the fact they could confirm it by looking through the system.

Needless to say, they'd been shocked beyond belief, and more than a little frantic after one of them had checked and found that it was all true. Cardinal really had been the one generating Jötunheimr, not RCT, and it really had been planning an invasion event if the quest was failed. After talking for a bit, one of them had firmly stated that they needed to be rewarded for not only stopping it, but bringing it to their attention.

At first her mate had just laughed and said that his sister enjoyed going down to Jötunheimr and playing with Tonkii, not to mention that he also enjoyed it to a lesser extent and liked just relaxing with Tonkii, and they had checked after the quest and Tonkii still responded to them though they weren't sure how long that would last, to which they had swiftly been reassured would be looked into to make sure it wasn't timed and wouldn't wear off, and that they'd make it more permanent if it was timed, but barring that he wasn't certain there was anything he wanted. Though he guessed it'd be nice if they tweaked it a bit so Urðr and her sisters would appear on the town spread out over the roots above the spring, since with everything going on, his party had gotten kind of fond of them, as briefly as they'd known them.

She had conversationally asked everyone else if they were going to leave Jötunheimr in its 'revitalized' state, or push it back into its former state since that was the map the players were used to, and they did use drops from frost giants. She had pointed out that if Cardinal was having Urðr talk about Niflheimr, the home of the frost giants, then Cardinal was likely already not only in the process of generating it, but close to finishing it up, and that could probably easily serve as a replacement for the old Jötunheimr, especially if they added something about some of the beast types going rogue or something after the long interference of Thrym with certain spawn areas Urðr and her sisters had contained them in for the hostile ones so that players could still get any drops they might need from them.

Theoretically, it'd give them the best of both worlds, they wouldn't have to mess with Jötunheimr and players could enjoy its 'reclaimed' state and the new town on the roots above the water as well as still get the 'frozen hostile lands' from Niflheimr when it opened. Especially since it was the home of the frost giants, who were undoubtedly naturally hostile to players as well as the fact that it being frozen would be its natural state, unlike what the story was with Jötunheimr.

After that brief detour in the discussion, they had gone back a bit and asked if there really wasn't anything they wanted as a reward for all their help. Her husband had begun to say no, then had paused briefly, before telling them that if they really wanted to give him a reward, there was an item he wanted that had been in SAO and since they had all the data from it, he'd be rather pleased if they put it in so he could have it again. After he'd briefly explained, though asked if it was possible to tie it to a quest just the two of them could do, partly because he had just asked their guild mates to help him acquire Excalibur, partly since he thought it'd be nice to go on a quest with just them like they used to.

He'd informed them that while they didn't mind whatever type of quest they made it, the two of them were used to fighting just them, so they could handle that if they wanted to make it that sort of quest. Though he'd sheepishly added a small request that if they did put it in ALO to please not put it somewhere hot, because he really wasn't a fan of heat, preferring colder or at least average temperature regions. They had immediately agreed without hesitation, then asked if that was really all he wanted.

He'd paused briefly then informed them that it didn't really count as a reward as far as he could tell, but he would like to have a second avatar connected to his account, and was hoping he could ask some GMs or something if it was possible to make it using his old SAO character, because while he had initially turned it down because he wanted a fresh start with his new character, with everything that kept happening, he was regretting it since he couldn't use it in case of emergencies. They had agreed to let him go through with it and help him sort it out without hesitation on that either, and upon being asked yet again, he had informed them that there really wasn't anything else he wanted in particular.

After the call, the server had gone through an emergency shut down while they tweaked the permissions Cardinal had. As they were informed later, they had taken its permission to delete the map, but after discussion, they hadn't removed its permission to generate quests and events or generate and alter map, merely tweaked it so that for major ones it required permission from a higher up, and for lower level stuff it only needed to send them updates on what it was doing.

They had released an apology explaining the situation and how they hadn't been aware that Cardinal had that much power over what went on in the game. They had even apparently found a programming flag of which quests had been designed by Cardinal and found that of the quests from the time RCT owned it, apparently sixty percent of the quests were made by Cardinal rather than Sugou's team, of which she absolutely believed the story based Kraken quest they'd done on the coast so Yui could see a whale was one, but since it was like that and had created quite a lot of enjoyment for players, Cardinal having that power wasn't fully a bad thing when it wasn't creating something as massive and potentially destructive as the quest surrounding Excalibur, just not something they'd been aware of. Though apparently, Sugou had never actually added a way to acquire Excalibur into the game, having put it in for his use if necessary, but mostly using it as bait for players, especially since other legendary weapons did exist, so they wouldn't be likely to start questioning why it still hadn't been found.

There had been more than a bit of a stir, but luckily the majority of players were understanding of the fact that they literally hadn't known Cardinal could do things like that and had immediately moved to rectify the situation as soon as they'd found out. There had also been more than a bit of excitement over the soon to be released Niflheimr, which had indeed been almost finished and they were working on finishing it up with Cardinal, since they had decided to go with what she had suggested and leave Jötunheimr as is and let Niflheimr replace it as the frozen underground, as well as what she had suggested for differentiating between the non-hostile and hostile Evil God Class mobs in Jötunheimr, since while players could, just attacking them randomly wouldn't really fit the 'story' of Jötunheimr. And though it didn't really mean much to most players, they had even added a bit of a thank you to their party in the form of Urðr and her sisters being around the water root town.

Anyhow, Kirito had gotten an email a bit ago, informing him that what he had requested had been added, as well as where to find the quest which had indeed been set up so the two of them could do it on their own, and while they hadn't wanted to make it too difficult given that they had just finished the Excalibur event, they hadn't wanted to make it too simple either given how much he adored the reward, and that they should likely head over soon before someone else finds it.

Which brought them to now, heading off towards the quest with just them and Yui. Their daughter giggles, "Papa is rather happy."

She grins lightly, "Of course he is. You know what the reward at the end of this quest is, right?"

Yui nods cheerfully, "Yup, but I didn't think it'd make him this happy."

She shakes her head, "It's somewhat inevitable, given how much he loves it. He's a total simp for it."

Yui giggles again, and Kirito gives her a betrayed look, "I am not!"

She chuckles, "If you say so babe."

He pouts at her, and she smiles in amusement. It isn't long after that they reach the destination they'd been informed of in the email, a house tucked away in Arun. Outside there's a man, a leprechaun NPC named Kaidou from the name hovering over his head, confirming that it's the one they're looking for since the email mentioned his name, sitting on a rocking chair with a grumpy expression.

So she smiles and calls out to him what the email had vaguely told them they needed to mention to initiate the quest, the only information barring the location that they'd been given, "Why so down? Haven't you heard? The Frost Giant King Thrym was defeated! Not only saving Alfheim but also restoring Jötunheimr!"

Kaidou jerks his head up, "Jötunheimr? Jötunheimr has been restored? Are you certain?"

She nods, "Yeah, I was there when it was!"

He looks down with wide eyes, "Restored… Then maybe…" Then he looks up at them with sharp eyes, "If you've been to Jötunheimr, does that mean you two are Adventurers? I could use some help from some."

She smiles, "We are! What were you looking for help with?"

He climbs to his feet quickly, "Really?! Then! There's a cave in Jötunheimr where a material used in smithing is found which I need to finish the sword my ancestor grandfather, Kaijin who was a world renowned Smith, was in the process of creating when he died. It was meant to be his life's masterpiece, but then he died in a fire while saving the daughter of one of the townsfolk, so he didn't get to finish it. My family has long assumed that he had only gotten as far as the rough draft, so we never bothered since even if we used his design it wouldn't have been his sword. In fairness, while I also had a vague desire to see my grandfather's work completed just as all my family before me, I also felt much the same way about the fact it wouldn't have been the same."

He frowns down at the steps for a moment before shaking himself, "However, recently while cleaning up part of the attic, I came across a buried note from Kaijin's wife, meant for her son, that because he was too pained by it, she thought it better to store it until he was ready to face the memories of his father, and with it, I found the sword. As it turned out, Kaijin had very nearly completed it."

He sighs tiredly, "But wouldn't you know it, the time of Kaijin was before Jötunheimr froze, and when I tried to get an adventurer to go down there anyway, it was only to find that the cave had frozen over entirely. I thought for sure, that it would be the end of the story entirely, and Kaijin's work would never be completed, but if Jötunheimr has been restored…" He trails off briefly, as he stares up at the sky, before shaking himself and refocusing on them firmly, "Anyway, to be honest I don't know a whole lot. All I know is what was in Kaijin's journal, which is that there's a guardian in the cave that tests the worthiness of Adventurers to see if they deserve the material he used. If Jötunheimr has been restored though, then I need someone to go there and get me some of the material."

She tilts her head, "How do we get it?"

He smiles lightly and shakes his head, "From what Kaijin wrote, if you challenge the guardian and come out victorious they will give you the material directly."

She nods, "Alright then! We'll go and get it for you!"

The man beams, "Thank you so much!"

The notification of the acceptance of the quest, humorously named «Let me Clarify!» which could be so many references at the same time(2), and its name pops up in front of them, and they share a smile then wave back at the NCP as they head out, "Then we'll be going right now! See you soon!"

Kaidou waves back and they head off towards the secret entrance to Jötunheimr, which Kirito also has a key for, since he and Leafa both got one after completing the quest to retrieve it from where the grandfather of the family the secret entrance was in the backyard of had it slip from his pocket in his youth after getting cornered by mobs.

It doesn't take long for them to get to the hidden entrance, and Kirito promptly unlocks the door, and one fairly fast jog down later they're on Tonkii's back headed towards one of the mountains, her mate squirming and bouncing in excitement at her side, much to her and Yui's amusement.

The quest waypoint leads them to the peak of a mountain which the cave Kaidou had mentioned seems to be closer to the peak of, being about eight tenths up the mountain. They hop down, and she runs her hand over his fur briefly, "Thanks Tonkii."

Her mate steps forward to give Tonkii some petting too, saying with a smile, "Mm. Thanks. We'll be back, but I can just call for you when we're done if you don't want to just wait."

Tonkii lifts his trunk and rubs at Kirito's head, drawing some laughter from the three of them, before letting out one of his happier 'Kwooo-n' noises and turning to leave. She shares a bit of a happy grin, still on something of an emotional high when it comes to Tonkii for the emotional investment they'd had in Tonkii's camp in the Jötunheimr/Niflheimr war and being able to pull off saving Tonkii and his side. She shakes herself and turns to the large metal doors, "Well, we have a quest to do, so shall we?"

Her mate nods and wastes no time equipping Excalibur as a second weapon. They'd had no indication whether this would be a difficult quest or not, but given the reward on the line, she's not surprised in the slightest that her beloved mate was taking this unnecessarily seriously. She hides a grin by turning to go through a last minute check of her stuff just as her mate was, but it's still on her lips when he finishes up and turns his head to her with a smile, "I'm good to go. You?"

She nods, "Yup, all good!"

His cheerful smile turns into more of an excited grin as he turns to the open doorway, "Then let's go!"

They waste no more time entering the cave, quickly learning that it's a bit labyrinth-like with its twisting sprawling passages, but neither of them minds doing a bit of exploring.

As they come out from a passage that had actually circled right back around to the hall the initial entrance had been, barring some passages that were either outright dead ends or lead to caverns that basically were since it didn't have what they were looking for, she shakes her arms out, "Man though. This is kinda nostalgic. I mean, between usually partying with our friends for smaller things or with the guild in general for Aincrad floor boss fights and the like, it's been a while since it was just the two of us. Actually, I don't think it's genuinely been just us two since SAO." She turns a smile on where their daughter is casually laying on her father's head, "Well, us and a rather beloved addition!"

Yui giggles, "Love you too, Mama!"

Her mate chuckles, "Well, technically she was with us when we went looking for Thinker, but yeah, I know what you mean." He glances behind them, "But really, I know I told then that we could handle fighting on our own, and given that they can tell how strong we were in SAO from our player data, especially in comparison to other SAO players, they have to know we were particularly strong, but they did not mess around when they built this dungeon."

She laughs, "Right? Those giant centipedes and their paralysis breath are no joke."

He tosses his head back to let out something of a cross between a groan and a sigh, "You're telling me. Paralysis can already be a pain to deal with, but they aren't weak by any means either!"

Yui giggles again, "Well! At least based on the size of the mountain and the fact that while some of the passages may go a bit upwards or downwards, since it seems to be mostly level, we're already almost done mapping out the dungeon?"

Kirito gives an exaggerated pout, "Based on the size of the mountain, she says, as though she doesn't have access to the entirety of the map data."

Yui lets out another giggle and cheerfully chirps out, "Well, yes, but you and mama wouldn't find it much fun if I just told you the path! I just figured it was fine to bring it up now, since you'd noticed at this point that there aren't really levels to the dungeon and since it doesn't really extend up or down that with how big you know the mountain to be since you saw it outside, you'd probably already started mentally estimating the size of the dungeon and how much we've completed!"

He points an overly dramatic finger at the top of his head, being off by a bit since he can't see their daughter up there but clearly aiming for Yui, "Ah! You aren't supposed to call your papa out Yui!"

She laughs and in a completely unapologetic voice cheerfully lets out a, "Sorry papa!" Then drops a kiss on his head, before looking around, "Well, I guess this might count as a bit of a spoiler, but you'll probably notice soon enough on your own, but that was the last side passage before the main room."

Kirito bounces a little as his excitement returns, though still careful not to dislodge their daughter despite his elation, "Then! Basically just the boss left, right?!"

They both laugh at him, before she teasingly says to him, "Just the Boss, getting back out of the dungeon, and up to Arun, yes."

He pouts at her, "Meeeeean. Don't rain on my parade by making it sound even further awaaaaay."

She laughs lightly, "My sincerest apologies."

He pouts a bit more until they come out into a large cavern, before he starts looking around in interest. There's a large underground lake about twenty feet in front of the passageway exit, but far more attention grabbing was the large black dragon off to the right of it, a good sixty feet from the lake.

Kirito tightens his grip on his weapons, then in a cheerful tone says, "Well, I suppose that's the boss then. Or guardian as Kaidou called it."

She hums in agreement as she readies her own weapons as they approach. After they get close enough, the dragon lets out a roar and above it five health bars appear under its name «Veldora the Storm Dragon»(3), which was… an awful lot of health for something that wasn't even a major boss. Understandably taking it to mean they're in range, her mate rushes forward to attack, swiftly closing the distance and getting a good seven hits off before he's made to dodge by the swing of a large clawed hand.

While not every boss has it obviously, she would expect a boss like this to have one of those 'Boss Activation' glow shifts to the walls and ceiling, so it throws her for a moment that it doesn't, but she quickly shakes it off at her mates call to switch, and gets a good twelve hits in before the boss's head begins to tilt back and she has to quickly dodge a black lightning breath attack, her mate takes advantage of the opening of it focusing a higher level attack on her to dart in and start wailing on it, getting a good fifteen his in before its stagger at being attacked mid-attack ends and he has to jump away from it swiping at him.

She darts in as her mate pulls back, getting off a skill chain of four, before she hops back for the cool down while her mate goes back in to take advantage of its algorithm freezing for a few moments in confusion. When the skill cool down lets her go a moment later, she waits a few beats for the opening of her mate switching, glancing up to see they'd gotten a respectable half of its first health bar already, which may not be a whole lot, but wasn't shabby at all since it was just the two of them. It was actually fairly par for the course for when it used to just be them back in SAO, anything regarding it being slower than normal was simply due to the fact they didn't have the group of party members they usually did in ALO.

She refocuses as her mate calls for another switch, quickly darting into the opening he left and getting nine hits off before she's a little slow to dodge as the dragon whirls and catches a tail across her abdomen that tosses her back a solid ten feet. Her mate darts back in as she presses her hands to the ground, pushing herself into a sitting position and quickly holds a hand in front of her chest with her palm facing herself, and chants a minor healing spell.

Given that they usually left that stuff to Asuna, while she wasn't dumb enough to not know any, just in case, she couldn't do a whole lot more. It was fine though, she had lost a surprisingly small amount of health. It had been a good twentieth, but given the boss's size and the like, she'd have expected a solid tenth at minimum.

She eyes where her mate was fighting for a few moments thoughtfully, an idea brewing in her head, before deciding to chance it, "Wait a moment Kirito!" Her mate hops back, pausing his portion of the fight and tilts his face sort of over his shoulder, though not fully so as to not take his eyes off of the boss. Seeing him listening, she continues, "I'm not totally certain Veldora is actually an enemy. That tail swing was surprisingly light."

She's answered, not by her mate, but by the dragon tossing its head back in a laugh. After a moment, in which she sheaths her sword at the proof that she was right, it brings its head back down to gaze at her with what looks like an amused grin, before rumbling out in a distinctly masculine voice, "It isn't often, that someone comes to challenge me who works it out for themselves. Usually they don't realize this isn't a fight to the death until I'm satisfied that they're worthy combatants and call of the fight and offer a boon."

She smiles lightly as she gets to her feet as her mate slowly sheaths his swords, "Well, like I said, that tail swipe didn't hit anywhere near as hard as a dragon of your size should've, and after that tipped me off that something was weird, it didn't take too much observation to realize you were going easy on my husband."

He throws his head back and laughs again, "Rather perceptive, aren't you young lady?"

She shrugs, "I know my way around a fight." Then her brow furrows a bit, "I hope calling for him to stop fighting didn't hurt our chances to get what we came for, since you were called the guardian so while I'm not sure how we're supposed to get it since the person who sent us didn't actually say what it even was, with this new revelation, I assume we're supposed to find that out from you at the bare minimum, assuming we aren't supposed to get your permission or something."

He chuckles, "No, it didn't hurt your chances to ask for a boon. As much as I love a good fight, I know that there is as much strength in wisdom as much as there is in combat prowess. More than, often. My sworn brother taught me that, if nothing else. Now, what did you come here for?"

Her mate shrugs, "We… aren't entirely certain to be honest, as my wife said. All we know is that a long time ago a world renowned Smith called Kaijin, who was in the process of making his masterpiece sword from material he got from you before his untimely death. His wife ended up storing it away because of the pain her son was in, and I guess she never got to tell him about it because his family assumed he never got further than the draft until the descendant that's alive now found it in their attic."

The dragon glances away, "Kaijin, huh? I remember him, good man. Unfortunate that he didn't get to finish it himself, but I'm glad to hear his descendant is." Then he shakes himself and turns back to them, "Yes, I do know what material he was crafting with. It was from my very own scales in fact, since while I'm not exactly going to rip some out for someone, dragon's are constantly regrowing new ones, leaving the ones on top loose as the ones below grow in before falling off entirely when the new ones are completely done growing."

He lowers his head, "Here, the ones loose at the moment are the ones on top of my head. They're loose enough that just running your fingers over them with a bit of pressure should dislodge them. Honestly, it's not even really a boon, given that loose scales itch, so if anything, given that it's actually a bit awkward to try and dislodge the ones on my head without the newer ones getting caught on my claws and getting pulled up, you're sort of doing me a favor."

She approaches with a smile, "In that case, I'm happy to help you both out at the same time."

She quickly does as he'd said, collecting loose ones until the quest updates, then briefly checking with Veldora to find out if that was all of them, only for him to prompt her with a couple of spots on the sides, and once she's gotten all of the loose scales for him, steps back. Veldora lifts his head, giving it a shake, before letting out a slightly relieved sigh, "Ahhhh. Much better. Thank you."

She grins, "No problem! But, as much as it's actually been rather pleasant talking to you is, we do need to get back and hand these over."

He nods, "Mm. More's the pity, I haven't had visitors since I was forced to use magic to freeze the cave over to keep those nasty subordinates of Thrym out, and I haven't had a good fight since either."

She grins lightly, "Well, we could spread word about a tough dragon down here if you'd like, though I will warn you that most adventurers won't even pause to think about it even if they do notice you doing less damage than you should." Her grin fades, "And other than our personal friends, I have no idea how many of them would actually listen if you tried to call the fight off after you grew satisfied. Which, well, while I'm sure you're capable of taking care of yourself if they won't, and they would certainly deserve it if you stopped going easy on them, I figure I should give you a heads up that it's basically inevitable that it'll happen at some point if we do spread the word and leave it up to you."

He throws his head back in another laugh, "I would certainly appreciate it!" Then he tilts his head, "And it's not like my scales are the only boon I can grant, so it's certainly worth their time to challenge me, but if they're bullheaded enough not to listen, then the results are entirely on them. But, given people aren't going to wonder down here just to entertain me, feel free to let them know I can give them things like potions that'll fully heal you regardless of how injured you are, just so long as you haven't crossed the threshold into death, and while I certainly don't mind giving loose scales, if I knew Kaijin as well as I think I did, I'm sure he was the one who invented how to be able to actually make use of them, so I don't know how useful that'd be to most people. That being said, I also have access to magisteel, so it's not like it isn't worth their time to come out and entertain me."

She nods, and isn't even surprised that another quest pops up, then her grin returns, "Sure! And if nothing else, my husband likes fighting enough that he might just drag me down here for another fight."

Veldora tosses his head back yet again, then gives her a grin of his own when he brings it back down, before cheerfully saying, "Well, you're certainly welcome to return!"

She turns towards the exit, waving at Veldora as she does, "Then, later Veldora!"

He nods, "Be safe on your way out of the caves."

She's a bit surprised that they actually get exp from the fight, given that they hadn't killed Veldora, and a good amount too. Then glances at where Yui is smiling from where she's returned to Kirito's head, "Out of curiosity, will he actually remember us if we return?"

Yui nods, "Yup! He has a bit of code that permanently flags the ID of any player who was friendly."

Kirito's brow furrows, "Will he be upset if more people refuse to listen than not? Or continue to remember if he dies and has to respawn?"

Yui shakes her head, "No, even if absolutely no one listens from here on out, he won't blame you, since you aren't responsible for their actions. And no, dying and respawning doesn't affect his memory."

She smiles, "Cool. It's not even like it's not worth it, since between the exp from the actually hostile mobs in the cave as well as fighting Veldora, it could totally be a good hunting ground."

Her mate murmurs in agreement, a thoughtful look on his face, likely running through the pros and cons of using it as a leveling ground for the guild. They have to fight their way back out of course, but since they know the route, and even go out of their way a bit to finish mapping the dungeon, it's not long before they're back outside. A quick call for Tonkii and they're off towards the hidden exit of Jötunheimr. One speedy pleasant ride later, and they're once again saying their goodbyes to Tonkii before heading back up the stairs, then through Arun.

Reaching the blacksmith's house, they find him pacing outside, and he quickly notices them, "Did you get it?"

She nods, "Yeah. Are you sure you know how to use it though? Veldora said that the method to use the scales was probably made by Kaijin, so unless he left notes behind…"

The blacksmith smiles happily, "Oh, don't you worry about that! He wasn't an idiot, so of course he wrote down how to use the scales." He waves at them to follow as he heads towards the door, "Come, come!" They follow him inside the house and to a smithy, he stops by a table with materials on it then he turns to them, "Now, let's see how much you got."

A prompt appears, asking if they want to remove Veldora's scales from their shared inventory, and upon being OKed, a decently sized pile of the black scales appears on the table, causing Kaidou's eyes to widen, "Oh, wow. You even managed to get more than a little extra! Well, not that it really matters to me beyond having enough, since I certainly don't have claim to your loot. Give me a few moments!"

Part of the pile disappears a few seconds before the rest returns to their inventory with a pop-up notification, and she glances at Yui in question. Their daughter understands without being prompted and explains, "You would've just barely had enough if you'd stopped with the quest update, but you asked Veldora if you'd gotten them all or if he needed any more removed."

She nods and they wait a few minutes as Kaidou bangs around the smithy, before he turns, smiling down at the oh so familiar form of Elucidator, "There. Finally finished at long last." He looks up at them with tears in his eyes, "I can't even begin to thank you, especially since I don't have a lot of money, but I wasn't kidding when I said Kaijin was world renowned. Even to this day, some of his surviving work continues to be highly sought after, the best I can offer you in payment is his masterpiece itself. My family only desired to complete his work, I'm sure my ancestors would be just as happy as I am to give it to the ones who helped make that dream come true."

He holds it out with a bow, and as soon as Kirito steps forward and accepts it, it disappears into their inventory with another pop-up. Then Kaidou straights, before he blinks rapidly for a moment as though a thought just occurred to him before snapping and hurrying off, and beginning to dig through a pile of papers, "Oh, you mentioned working with the scales! After everything you've done for my family, let me give you his notes too! It still doesn't even come close to paying you back, but it should help!"

Yui leans forward and places a bracing hand against Kirito's forehead to be able to meet his eyes, before murmuring, "Veldora mentioned magisteel."

Her mate blinks, then turns his gaze to Kaidou, "Veldora mentioned something called magisteel, though I confess I've never heard of it. Is it just because I'm not a Smith, or…"

Kaidou shoots him a smile, "Oh! No, magisteel has largely fallen out of use, so much so that it's been all but forgotten, since it's actually pretty unwieldy to work with despite how phenomenal the creations made with it could be. But it was popular in Kaijin's time, so I can give you his notes on that too!"

He turns back to the papers for a few moments, before returning with a small stack and holding them out, "Here! Kaijin's notes on working with the scales, as well as everything he had on magisteel, including some personal tricks of his!"

Kirito, being closer from when he'd stepped forward to accept Elucidator, accepts those as well. As soon as he does, the quest updates as finished, so she gives Kaidou a smile, "Well, we were glad to complete your family's dream, and we're certainly honored to have the personal notes of a world renowned blacksmith, but we need to be on our way to deal with other matters."

Kaidou grins, "Of course! Thank you so much again, and I hope you have a wonderful day. No, a wonderful life!"

She laughs and waves as they head out. After exiting, she stretches, then casually asks, "Lizbeth will certainly be happy with the notes, since she'll probably unlock smithing stuff if we give them to her. That being said, given the rewards for this quest were much higher than we were asking for, and we stumbled across one for Veldora which probably has some pretty awesome rewards too, given the stuff he'll give to people just for entertaining him, it really feels like Ymir went all out with the rewards."

He laughs, and Yui giggles before piping up, "Probably because papa didn't ask for much, even after doing so much for them, and even what he did ask for, he had to be prompted about, making it pretty obvious he's nowhere near greedy, and even what he did ask for was pretty miniscule."

She grins as she glances over at him, "Wonder how they'd have reacted if there was any record that let them find out you were the one who freed the three hundred players, thereby freeing it from the taint of being a prison and from Sugou's poison, since Alfheim didn't exactly record that it was you who opened the World Tree door, nor that you'd been back in that admin area that me, Asuna, and the other players were."

He shakes his head, "Ugg. Don't even get me started on that. The stuff I've seen online about the 'mysterious benefactor' that released the players and exposed what Sugou and his fellow creeps were up to. Honestly, I'm just grateful that Asuna thought to leave my name out of her report to her father."

She grins, "How about if they knew that, and that you were the one who freed everyone from Aincrad?" Kirito actually recoils, and Yui giggles, as used to Kirito's hatred of attention as she is, "And even better yet, knew both of those and that you were the one who exposed Death Gun?"

Her mate throws his head back with a loud groan, and she shares a grin with her daughter before they both start laughing. Yeah, her mate definitely lives up to being a Sparda, even if it's just by marriage.

(1): The black leather hilt is how it's described in the novel. Honestly, I've always found Excalibur to be a little obnoxious, something that my beta pointed out might be on purpose, and while I could understand that during the section with Sugou, if you're going to give it to your main character? Anyway, I did a quick edit of a picture of Excalibur I got online, just to see if it'd look even worse, and actually found that even that small little detail does so much to make the sword look better, in my opinion. Anyway, while the edit was, indeed quick and a bit messy, it can be found over on my vorpalquickblade Tumblr.

(2): References such as the fact that the name 'Elucidator' is obviously based on the word 'Elucidate' which means 'make (something) clear; explain', as well as the fact it was a reward for clarifying the dangers of leaving Cardinal unchecked and what it had been planning, not to mention clarifying that it had actually been Cardinal that had created Jötunheimr, I'm sure there are other things you could consider it a reference to, but that's just off the top of my head.

(3): Yes, this is a reference to That time I got Reincarnated as a Slime. I was struggling to find some inspiration for their quest and my brain decided to suggest Veldora and his sealed cave. On that account, some of you may have connected the names Kaijin and Kaidou with it, that would be because after I started writing out Veldora's scene, my brain decided to toss them in there too as an additional reference, though there's obviously some differences, like not being dwarves, though I made them leprechauns as reference to it, or brothers here.