Raphtalia stared at the rubble before her eyes. What now remained as a charred block of wood was formerly a tree stump from which Rifana used to gather the children to play catch or even read a story or two before they found the secret hideout, a pedestal of sorts. With the stump in this state, she needn't think of the state her home was in. Countless wooden cottages were collapsed, charred black and broken down; few houses had completely vanished. The stone didn't fare any better, most buildings like the old church or chapel collapsed or coal black. Everything which was not destroyed was looking sick, the very grass covering the floor was lying flat on the ground, warped by the otherworldly influence the wave was inflicting upon the world, like an infected wound, blistering while the afflicted area was quickly dying off.
Raphtalia's eyes matched the grass in that aspect, what puffiness remained from crying moments ago enhanced the state she was in: devoid of life.
She dully remembered Rifana carrying her useless self through the foliage, away from the monsters, through the high grass where hawk-like insects circled above them and the devils in the heavens smiled down, their faces etched into the sky.
Hiss. A man in armour, one of the many indistinguishable green-cloaked individuals poured a bucket of water over the last glowing cinders festering on the wooden remains of the Barters family store. Content, he walked away with the bucket packed under his arm, whistling a jolly tune.
At the thought she painfully shrunk away into the little shadow the burned down stump offered. Her ears shook, remembering the cries. Flashes of gnarly insect mouthparts chittering came back to her.
She saw a group of knights striding by, led by another green cloak. Many green cloaks wandered through the street, almost leisurely, glancing at the tide of the battle. They talked, laughed and snickered, some even pulling out blankets and pouring each other ale.
*foreign language*
"Oi, that's no fair. Why did you get some new awesome loot! Black dogs teeth and two ebony horns?! I killed just as much as you did! ", complained one of them.
"Bwahaha!", spluttered the other, embarrassing the soldier in question even more. "The game system doesn't seem to see it that way, hey, but how can we fault it. What was it again? Ah, yes, Kayaba said: The game system is always fair! There you have it, haha!"
Some even dug through the rubble of the ruined houses.
Raphtalia looked down as she saw one of those pocketing a glinting item.
Tucking her head back into her arms, she clenched her tiny hands around her tanuki-ears. She dully remembered knights in white shining armour, blue cloaked. She felt her fathers warm, soothing touch around her waist. Now, she sat here. Among strangers amidst the apocalypse. Neither Rifana nor her parents were in sight, at least some of her kinsmen were standing by, each and every one of them cowering just like she did.
The greens came up to her from time to time, speaking in some foreign tongue with her; a few of them even violently petting her hair with their iron gauntlets, or poking her head. The pain, the blood which poured from her head had vanished after the people forced her to drink a burning red liquid. She was violently punching against their metal armour at that time, yet they nonetheless poured the metal tasting liquid down her throat. Blood. She coughed violently at the memory, not knowing any better and, after having been forced to drink it, sinking down to the ground near the stump. She hadn't moved much since, and her lying perfectly still seemed to actually make the green-cloaks care less, even though some sat beside her for a small span of time, still trying to talk to her or showing her strangely formed items. She didn't care.
She-!
*WROOOOOM*
Several things happened simultaneously. A small group of shining white riders galloped through the main street; every patrol in their way jumping to the side, least they'd get trampled.
Furthermore, one of the ruined houses, from which some of the greens had stolen, burst open, revealing a malformed creature, dog-like in appearance with a broken jaw and deep cuts all over its body, not all to different from the other creatures the wave had spawned. The soldier who had previously tucked away the glinting item was pushed to the ground the ground, bone claws scraping on metal, the creatures weight slowly crushing the breastplate. He was screaming while the wolfish creature howling above him jumped away, nimbly scurrying between the shocked men-at-arms.
Faster. Nimbler. No creature they had encountered up until now proved this quick-witted, hiding in plain sight, playing dead even and preparing an ambush. Then again, it hasn't been found out for there was neither name nor life bar above its head.
Blood drizzled to the ground as the creature's maw snapped at one of the soldiers arms. It barely managed to crush the bone, much less rip it off. Huffing, the boss monster hauled its victim through the air, smashing her into a row of other panicked soldiers. It scanned the almost frozen crowd for an easier pick.
Meanwhile, the warriors still tried to grasp the situation of the intel missing they were accustomed to. A random shout and a well places thrust drew the monsters curiosity to its side, seeing as one of the apes had pierced his stick into the monster's ribcage, green energy still lingering on the shaft of the weapon.
"See, we can get through to it, let's get that basta-aaa-aaar-!"
A low growl escaped the monster as it turned around quickly. Its muscles and bones were shifting unnaturally, the flesh appearing to bubble beneath the few remaining patches of hide, and before the poor soul knew what happened, his spear had been broken as he stood shaking right before the open maw of the now twice-as-big creature. Amusement found its way into the wolfs eyes, as it closed its maw, merely licking its teeth and growling, for the mans knees buckled and gave in, the soldier falling on his back, trying to scramble away.
"Hammond was our p-powerhouse...!", muttered a soldier frightened, stepping back, even going so far as to point his halberd away from the monster. Others followed suit, stepping back ever so slowly as to not aggravate the distracted mob.
Turning his head, the boss monster narrowed its eyes at the riders imminent to arrive.
The horses hadn't thrown them off despite the sudden appearance of the canine; they continued their charge without care, their riders urging them forward, lead by the Ruby Knight himself.
Too late. The patrols were frozen in space, slammed aside by the wandering corpse. It looked like the beast already found its new prey. A little girl cowering in shock at the side of the road, frozen as her legs refused to serve her.
The baron was confused by their saviours strange behaviour, not wasting any time he ripped a crossbow from his arbalest's arm, aiming at the beast with the bolt still knocked in the weapon. He placed his shot well.
The bolt pierced through the eye of the beast, yet to no avail as the dog continuing its mad rush.
"Raphtalia!", shouted her father, abandoning all reason and tackling the little girl to the side, the creature's paw crushing the dried earth ground mere feet away from the duo. Almost crushing the little girl beneath him, Riftan covered her, knowing another rush together with his daughter wouldn't succeed. Praying to the Shield Hero and whatever other gods were up there, he hoped he was enough to keep it from hurting his daughter and for the armoured men to take care of the undea-
The Ruby Knight had thrown himself off his horse, causing it to tumble and crash with dangerous speed into the ground while the warrior tackled the creature away. It was almost unnatural; the spectators were awed as the knight managed to contain the beast by the mere strength of a mortal. Clinging to its now grown neck, he pulled the wolfish monster down and pushed against it, gaining the upper hand within moments of the encounter. Pushing the enemy away gave the knight the time to summon his weapons, his sword 'Liberator' materializing itself in his hand.
The undead's maws snapped forward. Heathcliff blocked the strike with his empty hand. The metal armour didn't budge an inch. Despite the ground cracking by the force the creature was exerting by trying to pull the knight off his feet, Heathcliff stood resolute. Going with the flow, Heathcliff kept the beast in position while raising his sword straight to the sky. The blade began to shine, a pure red energy engulfing it. A legendary sword skill, one from among only ten, the 'Holy Sword', had been activated. The sparks of light almost had their own mind, moving like flames surrounding a beacon of light, as 'Liberator' went down in an arc of light.
Without much of fuss, the creatures head gave in. Due to the previous growth spurt, the knight couldn't possibly cut the neck cleanly off, but that was unnecessary: the skull bones offered no resistance as the blade went right through, leaving one half of the skull attached to the lower body while the other half was still clenching its remaining jaws around the knight's arm. Despite the boss seemingly slain, the crimson hue of life within the monster's eyes refused to vanquish. It was likely glaring at the man that killed it, yet to no avail as said man pried the jaws open like the shell of a muscle, letting it fall to the ground and paying it no mind. The two red orbs that were his eyes had vanished.
"Burn it. Burn every corpse that litters this battlefield.", he stated, pulling the soldiers out of their stupor. Without much of an explanation to any individual the man marched off, his own knights catching up with him. Dismounting, they tried to return their mount into their inventory, only for it to not work, their horses still standing before them. Exchanging confused glances, the Knights left them standing while rushing after Heathcliff.
"The Army command set up camp right at the market place, which we will arrive soon.", recounted Heathcliff. Meanwhile, he was typing something into the forum with one hand.
Heathcliff: Boss has not been defeated. Second stage imminent, his life bar emptied all on its own in last fight . Don't underestimate it, despite it being only a lower-level floor boss, it will pose a problem even to frontliners. The monster is capable of possessing dead mobs and is quick when in combat, even though its attack prowess seems to be lower that what an equivalent floorboss on Aincrad would be capable of. Boss has not been defeated.
The Army's garrison went into a frenzy, scrambling to their feet and rummaging through the debris to tear apart every corpse they find.
Others were madly shouting around, frozen and barking orders which went overheard in the ensuing chaos.
Rorwan, who had been part of the small entourage of knights accompanying Heathcliff silenced them.
"What are you waiting for fools! Burn it down, engulf every corpse you see in fire! There's a second stage of the Boss!", screamed the commander of Raid Team Omega atop his lungs.
"Stay here. Relay my orders to them.", commanded Heathcliff, gesturing at Rorwan and the rest of Raid Team Omega, who complied. Now only two Knights of the Blood Oath remained with their leader, while the four experienced frontliners stayed back with the Army's soldiers and other low-levelled conscripts who were part of Heathcliff's campaign, taking charge of the undisciplined bunch.
Raphtalia didn't understand a word, she didn't know what was going on, she didn't see the men moving nor did she feel the tremor from the small squadron breaking out into disarray. However, the metal clattering and confused shouts mattered little to her, all blending into some strange background tune. She heard her heart pounding. The stalks of the dried-up plants beneath her rustle
"-phtalia! Raphtalia!", shouted her father. Instead of waiting for a response, he picked her up und returned to the rest of his people while the green cloaks frantically milled around. Raphtalia's Mother was quick to rush to her families side. All those who couldn't fight had been hidden away in the somewhat well-protected mansion of the baron had been found and evacuated by the warriors. They now where huddled together in a circle amidst the rubble that was their Lurolona Village, with the foreign warriors acting as their bulwark against the wave.
"Riftan, my god. Is everything okay?! She is okay. Is she okay? ", wailed his wife, falling into his arms, Raphtalia between the both of them.
It was the worst. Sitting in this dark wine cellar, only illuminated by the few candles burning in their iron holders. The small room was like a prison, the humidity choking the people sitting huddled together to death. It was silent safe for the occasional cough of the elderly, or the two, three children too young to leave the village unaccompanied. Most of them knew there was no step back. No path or way to follow, leading away from all this. This room was little more than a death trap.
Only when they heard heavy footsteps and saw armoured men storm the mansion, were they relieved of their anxiety. Not being able to do anything was the worst...
"Don't leave me alone again. Never...", whispered Liana into her husbands ear while hugging him.
At least they were safer now than they were in that cellar, and that was enough to wish for. At least Raphtalia was safe. Wishing for more would tempt fate, and she wouldn't be able to accept any more loss. She had seen them. The dead, be it her distant neighbours whose corpses still were lying in the rubble or the children which haven't made it this far.
A soft humming tune escaped her throat, a tenderness to it which made Raphtalia drift off to sleep while her mother slowly turned her attention towards the crimson sky, gazing at the maelstroms of madness likely laughing at these little insects beneath them. A tear rolled down her cheek, head held up high. Riftan didn't know what to do, simply holding Liana tighter, more close to him.
Meanwhile, Raphtalia had already drifted off to sleeping the safe haven of her mothers arms. The young woman meanwhile turned around to see, to her surprise, several guardsman had forgotten what they were about to do, simply staring at the scene playing out. A shout from a white knight however brought fire back into their steps, urging them to continue.
Not intending to stay around, the small crowd dispersed awkwardly, some waited for a bit longer to leave.
Everyone in the village knew, whatever happens know, it all will be due to these brave warrior's interference
Akemi rushed through the alleys, mad glinting eyes wide open. He still could get a piece of the boss and not some mongrel minions. It was a relief. He saw the army putting the corpses on fire. All the corpses, not just the beasts. That might cause problems in the future, but he chose not to intervene...
The Lancer even caught glimpses of the boss appearing. What had been quite orderly in the beginning, as far as a 'raid' of these proportions, encompassing roughly a little less than half the player population of Aincrad, could be concerned, turned upside down after the undying property of the boss had been discovered. At least in the village that was, he had little intel from his guildmates which were occupied at the main frontline.
Since its death at the hand of Heathcliff, it had been put down four more times, always yielding the same result. It returned. Since that revelation, unease spread through the ranks of the local garrison; it was questionable if the information impacted the real frontlines further away from the village holding off the main flood of enemies, Akemi just now remembering the rush he felt while battling the waves of foes himself. Others would feel the same, everyone felt their blood boiling in the forges of battle...
"Wait, we're already covering this sector. You ought to be somewhere else pal!", shouted an agitated man. He was no teenager, a young adult actually, wearing samurai armour and a drawn Katana. Despite the player's superior physique, after 2 hours of constant fighting exhaustion began to spread among the low-levelled players which were standing back in the village. If not that, many of them were beginning to tire mentally, growing rowdy and aggressive. Even higher-levelled players were beginning to be worn down, this drawn out situation beginning to affect them.
"I believe I have seen you at the Raid Meetings?", questioned Akemi, tilting his head while staring at the front.
"Yeah yeah, from the coloration I don't have to guess from where you are.", pointed the man out, gesturing at the blue cloak which the Divine Dragon Alliance was famous for. "Just saying, we should keep our heads clear. Heathcliff organized the raid team, and even if many are still at the frontline, Furinkazaan has taken up the patrol here."
"And you listen to him?", inquired Akemi, curiosity lacing his words.
"…", the man looked around, scanning the surroundings, making Akemi scoff.
"There you are, dressing up as some noble Samurai and you haven't even got the nerve to say what's on your mind. You too there, lot, really great!", jeered the Dragon Lancer at Klein's companions.
While most of Furinkazaan looked confused at the hostility, two members exchanged nervous glances, as did their guild leader. Not everyone had been to floor 75. Not everyone knew the truth. And those who did locked it into the farthest corners of their mind until they had actually time to think things through...somehow. It wouldn't change anything anyways...
Klein stepped closer, Akemi disregarding the action. Slowly getting fed up, the samurai uttered between clenched teeth. "Listen pal, I'm just doing my job here. The less people know, the better for all of us involved! Do you think I am happy? No. Doesn't mean I am not trying to do nothing. But there is literally nothing you can do. So better follow one plan than none at all! Even if it was proposed by the devil himself!"
"Does it work though? Is Heathcliff, the great saviour, the divine blade, experienced in leading a real-life military campaign? Are we capable of fighting the boss?", pointed Akemi out, his tone daring Klein to answer.
Stepping back, Klein led his men away through the alley.
Clicking his tongue annoyed, Akemi was also on his way. There were no tracks here anyways, his tracking skill told him that much. If this Furinkazaan guild had at least someone skilled in that direction, they would know that.
A rumble in the collapsed building took Akemi by surprise, as forth came a black dog, skull crushed and body mangled. Eyes red with malice, black blood drizzling from its ripped-open stomach, it went straight for the shoulder.
The teeth broke off harmlessly, Akemi gripping the Creature by its neck before he threw it away, through the wooden wall of one of the still intact buildings. Every time he saw it, even if it only were glimpses, it looked different. Wasn't it capable of transforming its body into something useful. In this mangled state, it couldn't be called a battle. Then again...it must have some skill other than coming back...
"How did you evade my tracking?", muttered the man as he manifested his lance from thin air, its holstered image vanishing from his back. Pulling his arm fully back, like drawing arrow far back to shoot it, the dragon lancer's form began to glow in a pale bluish tint. He didn't even wait for the beast to reaper as he shot forward in one straight deadly line, everything in front of the weapon's tip pulverized.
The tavern behind the monster ceased to exist in a blinding white flash.
"Whoa, you destroyed what could be described as the last house standing", deadpanned Klein from farther away, he and his men jogging towards Akemi. The display of power was nothing the frontliners hadn't seen in the last hours, the power of their skills by now something they were well acquainted with.
"Stay back!", shouted Akemi however as he jumped back hastily. His rather lax stance from searching the town had disappeared as he leaped through the air, landing before the detachment of samurai.
"…It survived my 'Lancier Bolt'…check its status…",
"But this thing's new, since the Boss entered phase 2, there have been no status for this damn thing.", spoke one of the samurai's companions, having been near the first boss fight on this new world.
"Yeah, and the boss had been pretty easy even for a floor-boss of the lower levels of Aincrad.", complained another one. He wasn't on edge, something of this calibre could have been met anywhere around floors 5 to 15, nothing much to be worried about even if it had been a death game, speaking from the perspective of someone having been present in the fight against the Skull Reaper.
"Check again…", muttered the dragon lancer, thrown out of his stupor by the reappearing growling figure. He carefully caressed his breast plate. The teeth didn't shatter of harmlessly, the maws of the beast left one giant bite-mark. Thankfully, there was no loss in the armours durability. "No substantial damage received", hoped the Dragon Lancer, seeing the mark as nothing more than a strange cosmetic effect.
Klein did as he was told. Indeed, the undead monster somehow managed to keep its status hidden, while the other mobs did have interfaces and names hovering above their heads, just like the ones in Aincrad had, and similar they would offer experience points and loot once beaten. However, now the undead also appeared to have one, the feature just now manifested.
Level…25?
"Now that's somewhat stronger, at least floor 15, but why the strong reaction- level 26, h-huh, I swear it was 25 a moment ago...", muttered the Samurai's leader, only to be surprised again by the bone plates growing from the creatures fur, partially surrounding the monster.
"What is happening?!", shouted Klein, brandishing his sword. Getting into position, he swung at the creature, Akemi followed suit from the other side. As to experienced frontliners, both managed to coordinate themselves without words, knowing the skills they were about to use by heart by the positions their bodies took.
The weapons hit in between the armour plates, sending the beast flying back a dozen feet. Powered by their physique, they followed up with another attack, pushing themselves away from the ground to speed up, the ground they stood on breaking. The follow-up strikes however were blocked by the armour plated slowly enclosing the body of the creature. Nonetheless, the body of the creature was turned into a bloody pulp.
It was adapting. Becoming more formidable. Their strikes connected with the corpse, but no loot notification followed, the corpse falling to the ground, the puppet's strings cut.
"It escaped. Get the news out. Tell all to double their efforts, don't waste time to burn them. Unleash everything you have at every bit of corpse littered ground you can find. Tear the ground out if you have to, slash, cut, smash or pierce every corpse again and again until there is no vessel anymore to inhabit. Then our hits may connect with whatever spirit is left of the thing!"
"And what if not", mumbled Klein, somewhat dispirited. This was different. They risked their lives in Aincrad too…but here. It was a different air. It was a different feeling. It was all…different. The ferocity this thing was attacking, now it was getting stronger. It disturbed him how it threw itself at them, with only two legs remaining and its lower jaw broken, dangling around and held by patches of ripped skin.
"You said it yourself. Better follow someone who has a plan than someone with none at all.", shouted Akemi, already running off.
"…follow him, lads!", spoke Klein, ushering his men after the Dragon Lancer. They really had no choice anyways in the matter.
It didn't take long for the news to spread through the forum. With no other information to speak off coming in, the players followed the instructions zealously. Soon after explosions from the activation of skills reached Klein's ears.
"How easy they followed the command given…", whispered Klein to none other than himself, gazing at the few other players they rushed past.
Authors Note:
And I return, bearing good news: I am back!
Yeah...I didn't really stop writing but yeah, I didn't publish anything over the course of half a year. So yeah...I finished school and thought, let's get back to it. While I am not sure how regular updates for this story will be, I'll try to update or publish anything at least every two weeks, trying to get back into some kind of regular schedule. Though I will try my best to keep at this story for now... yeah. Now back to the answers, and sheesh, that might take some while...(yeah, thank you for your continued support. It really kept me close to this idea of a story...)
Bachi the cat: haha Nope its wrong, thank you very much for pointing that out. Vantage point would be the right word. Though, might take some time until I find the mistake, as I kind of have to read the story again to find out what's going on... (half a year is a long time...)
Coronadomontes: Glad you like it
Laughingman: Oh believe me, Aincrad is pretty vulnerable during the waves, seeing as the 'castle in the sky' are really only a hundred rings hovering atop each other. The entire 'Descent' already wreaked havoc on the infrastructure and the mobs, which has to be dealt with.
And I hope not to disappoint on the 'meeting' between Melromarc and the players, it will definitely be one of the major arcs...
Halo: Okay, yeah, she'll definitly take a leading role in my story too. I'll also look into this Racke persona.
Sword Art Guest: Hey there, has been some time. Thank you again for the review, it's really nice to read those.
So yeah, as I decided to break the long ass chapter I couldn't get done in half a year up into several smaller parts, it might take about three or so chapters until we get to the part of Asuna and Kirito and what they've been up too, though they definitely won't miss the 'fun' down on the New World.
As you have seen, while the language barrier thingy was indeed an ingenuous idea of mine, google translator really messes things up when writing longer paragraphs, so before I write some Japanese gibberish which is actually wrong, I resort to something similar to stage play directions. I hope it doesn't disrupt reading the text too much…
Oh, and yes, I do love to go overboard when describing combat, though the battle has yet to be concluded and it is still faaaaar too early to count all survivors...
As to the summed up part...yep. That's that, though I plan to diversify the politics of Aincrad, as there are still the not-anymore-NPCs to deal with. Going to give court intrigue etc. a try.
Holosagewolf32: More is coming as we speak, as I kind of split the giant 20.000 word chapter into several smaller parts, so there is more already written, I just have to tidy it up a bit...maybe in less than a week chapter 7 arrives
: I am glad you like my story.
In the end I thank everyone again who followed and favoured my story even in times of inactivity. I hope I will have finished reading over the next part (which technically is already written, but again, still in a rough shape) by the next week, maybe even earlier. Very possible it might be earlier...
Until next time. (Probably the next two or three things I update will definitely be for this story, after that, who knows where my head takes me...)