April 21st, 2024

"All right, Argo. What do you have for us? I don't suppose it's anything to do with finding a shortcut through the Gemlocks? Because those are really starting to be a pain."

"Tsk, tsk, Kii-bou. You know the deal…. Ehehe. Thankee."

Argo accepted the bag of coins Kirito handed over with a grin, and swung her legs up to rest her feet on the couch. To Philia's mind, as Kirito settled back into the armchair he shared with Kizmel, the info broker looked much more the part of a cat than a rat just then. Not that that was really unusual, from her.

At least someone's relaxed, the treasure hunter groused to herself, hunched over in one of the smaller chairs. That, the one Rain was occupying, and the married couple's chair were the only furniture they'd added to their cabana since first buying it. The reason for which was one of the reasons she envied Argo's mood. I suppose she's the only one who's been getting anything done lately.

Really, Philia could deal with rare random drops. She was a treasure hunter, after all, and a longtime gamer on top of that. Spending hours grinding for one particular drop was business as usual for her, and she had the feeling Kirito was used to it himself. By now, though, they were both starting to share the frustration Rain and Kizmel had felt from the very start.

Watching Kirito browse the folder Argo tossed over, Philia really hoped the Rat had stumbled on something good. After the breather of the Fifty-Eighth Floor, the Fifty-Ninth had so far proven to be one of the most aggravating yet. Not because it was difficult, or dangerous, but because it was the absolute definition of tedious.

The whole floor, as far as the clearers had been able to determine, was a series of concentric rings, with each ring itself partitioned into smaller sections. The stairs from the previous floor were on the outer edge, and the labyrinth leading up to the next stood tall in the very center.

To unlock access to each section, gems had to be fitted into the gates between. Lots of gems, with a frustratingly low drop rate. Even the Divine Dragons had gladly thrown in with a general truce to pool drops, and in two weeks they'd still only gotten about halfway to the center. Clearing had lost momentum, and morale was sinking fast from sheer boredom.

If her team's cabana on the Fifty-First Floor hadn't had a dedicated Teleport Crystal to get them back home every night, Philia was pretty sure she'd have gone mad after the first week.

"I can save ya a little time, Kii-bou," Argo said then, stretching catlike across the living room couch. "Sad to say, I still haven't found any hidden passages or anything. But in the latest section, Roden, I did turn up somethin' kinda interesting. Check page five."

Casting a suspicious glance at the broker, Kirito dutifully flipped through. His eyes flicked over it, and after a second his eyebrows went up. "Huh…?"

Kizmel shifted against him, leaning forward to get a closer look herself. "Oh, very interesting…. You're sure about this, Argo? Ah, pardon me," she said quickly, giving Argo an apologetic smile. "You would not sell if you hadn't verified it. Still. Sixteen quests, in one place?"

"At least," the Rat confirmed, with a grin that showed fang. "I'm still scopin' the place out, so there might be more. But I figured, with the way clearing's gotten bogged down, maybe people would like to get a change o' pace. Recharge, an' all that."

"Sixteen quests?" Rain said sharply, before Philia could. "Just what kind of place are you talking about? I mean, that'd be kinda few for a town, but if you mean one building…."

"Here." Kirito tapped at his menu, duplicating the folder, and tossed the copies to the girls. "See for yourselves. I think Argo might be onto something here."

Opening her copy eagerly, Philia quickly turned to the appropriate page. The mansion of Nazzoth the Merchant, she read, beneath a screencap of a stereotypical Western mansion. Okay, so, English definition, not Japanese…. Huh. Wealthy guy. I wonder how, when the whole floor's been walled up? Game logic, I guess…. Lots of parties, open to anybody who looks rich enough, and… spies?

She had to blink at that one. The text remained the same on a second look, though: about half of Nazzoth's guests were apparently the idle rich of Roden, while the other half were spies and conmen, after Nazzoth's wealth. Who might be spying on him, Argo's guide didn't make clear, but then she had said she was still looking into it.

Sixteen quests, all right. Which means half the staff is probably in on one conspiracy or another. Okay, this definitely looks more interesting than spending another day trying to get a half-dozen gems to drop from the most boring mobs ever designed. So where should we start…. Ooh. Now this sounds promising!

Philia looked up from the folder, a smile on her face already. "Hey, guys? Check out the [Find Nazzoth's Secret Treasure] quest. Don't you think that looks fun?"

"Hm?" Kirito glanced over the relevant section, and his eyebrows went up again. "Huh. Party of at least four, requires formal wear, servants' uniforms, and forged invitations… is it me, or does this look like a heist quest?"

"Heist?" Kizmel repeated. "I admit, that particular word isn't one I've heard before—though judging from the quest details, it's hardly the sort of thing a knight should be involved in." She smiled. "I believe it sounds like an excellent change of pace."

"A heist is like a burglary," Argo told her, with obvious relish. "Except it's really complicated, and lots more fun. An' I think maybe it's perfect for you guys. A young couple infiltrating the dance floor?"

"I would be remiss if I missed such an opportunity," Kizmel declared, pointedly pressing closer against Kirito. "A knight should put business before pleasure, but turning down the chance to indulge both would be a tragic waste."

"…I can't say I'd mind it," Kirito admitted with an awkward shrug, when all eyes turned to him. "I'm not too bad at dancing, I guess."

That was one way of putting it. Philia had seen the pictures of a certain Christmas waltz. Argo had charged as much for those as for a hidden questline, but it'd been worth it to get a better feel for the team she'd joined.

"Thought you two would see it that way." From Argo's grin, she was thinking of the same event. "Then, o' course, there's the inside man pretendin' to be a butler. Or maid."

"Someday, I'm going to figure out which of you sold that picture of the Hyrus Fortress mirror," Rain said, casting a dark look over the rest of the team. "And whoever it was is going to find a pic of their mirror costume on the open market."

Philia couldn't help but eep at that. Though it was interesting that Kirito turned a shade or two paler at the threat. Was it just because of how embarrassing his mirror image had been, or a sign of real guilt? Hm… normally I'd think that out of character for him, but I know he can be a troll when he feels like. Be funny if he did, considering. Well. Better not think about that, I'm still not convinced Rain can't read minds. She's got every other skill I can think of.

Kizmel just smiled innocently. Of course she did; Philia was pretty sure her mirror pic was mounted on the bedroom wall. The elf girl had gotten out of that one without being embarrassed at all.

"But fine, sure," Rain was saying, with a rueful shake of her head. "Seems like I can pull off the look, anyway."

"Good on ya!" Argo clapped. "Now, yours truly can do something 'bout the invitations—fer a modest fee—but that still leaves one spot ta fill. After all, a heist needs a cracker." She grinned again, showing teeth in a gleeful look that almost made a certain treasure hunter reconsider the whole thing. "Know anybody who knows how to pick locks?"

It was Philia's turn to grin. She hadn't been on a good treasure hunt in ages, between the mess with the Geocrawler and the zombie outbreak. "I don't suppose you guys know where I can get a good dress?"

April 22nd, 2024

Big. That was Philia's first impression of Nazzoth's mansion. It was in a district with lots of big houses, but Nazzoth's definitely took the cake and ate it too. Probably about the biggest she'd seen in all her time in Aincrad, across almost sixty floors.

Personally, she liked the hominess of her team's tropical cabana. It was nice and cozy, and was just plain an island of safety in a crazy world. Even so, she couldn't deny the appeal of a four-story, sprawling manse on a surprisingly large estate.

Doesn't hurt that that there's gotta be plenty of good loot in there, Philia admitted to herself, walking through the gates that closed off the path leading to the mansion proper. The reward the Club listed for it should put us back in the black pretty nicely.

The establishment in Roden that had requested the "liberation" of certain treasures was simply called The Club, and Philia was pretty sure it was really a thieves' guild. But treasure the quest called it, so a treasure hunt it was. That was her story, and she was sticking to it.

Though she couldn't help but wonder what other stories were involved, this particular night. While there were plenty of NPCs heading for Nazzoth's door, Philia noticed a surprising number of green cursors amid the crowd as well. A bunch of them, she was pretty sure were tourists, yet she recognized more than a few of her fellow clearers.

Close to the front door and the fancy-uniformed doormen, she suddenly realized who the pair closest to her were. Shivata wasn't too hard to recognize, even if he looked a bit uncomfortable in a tailcoat. His companion, on the other hand, she only belated noticed was his longtime girlfriend.

Casually slipping closer, Philia tapped the girl on the shoulder. "Hey, Liten," she whispered. "Didn't recognize you without the armor. What brings the two of you here, of all places?"

The Divine Dragon tank jumped, startling a stifled yelp from Shivata. "Philia? Hey, same to you! I'm not used to seeing you all dressed up, either. Special occasion?"

The treasure hunter shrugged, allowing herself the most mysterious smile she could muster. It was true, the deep blue evening dress she wore now wasn't exactly her usual style, much as Liten was seldom seen without heavy armor from head to toe. "Ah, you know how it is. Sometimes a girl just needs to dress up, right?" She nodded at Liten's own dress, a calf-length number in the blue of the DDA guild colors. "So really, what brings you here?"

"Lind gave the guild the night off," Shivata answered, tugging at his collar with the hand not holding Liten's. "Said we needed the break, after this week's grind. I think it's a working dinner for him, though. There's supposed to be a couple of other guild leaders here tonight."

Philia nodded sagely at that. She'd heard Asuna was supposed to be there, too, for much the same reason. The KoB vice-commander had loosened up a lot since Philia first met her, but she was still a workaholic.

"Shiba and I are just here for a date, though," Liten said, squeezing her boyfriend's arm. "We'll leave the politics to the Guildmaster…. Which reminds me. Where's the rest of your team? Don't tell me you're going to a party all alone."

"Oh, Rain's… around," Philia said vaguely, waving toward the mansion. "Business and fun tonight for us, y'know. Kirito and Kizmel will be here in a bit. Fashionably late, and all that. And you know Kizmel's going to want to have her fun on the dance floor."

Honestly. It was fun to watch, but she still found it just a bit weird how a tough-as-nails knight who never wore a dress if she could help it was so affectionate, especially with her husband. While it never got too sappy to stand, the contrast was just a bit brain-bending sometimes.

"That sounds like her." Liten's eyes narrowed. "But, um… 'business'? You guys never get into the politics at all if you can help it. And you said Rain's 'around'. Do I want to know what you guys are up to tonight?"

Philia couldn't help but grin. "Wait and see, Liten. Wait and see. If everything goes according to plan, you'll never notice a thing. But, well, we did get the tip for this quest from Argo…."

Shivata covered his face with his free hand. "Oh, no. Kirito, Kizmel, and a plan from the Rat? …We're all doomed."

Philia really had to hand it to the environment designers. The inside of Nazzoth's mansion—once she'd gotten past the guards, who had given her just a bit of a scare before deciding her forged invitation was perfectly legit—was one of the grander places she'd seen in Aincrad. A wide entrance hallway, with all the glittery trimmings, opened up into one heck of a ballroom.

At least thirty meters to a side, with the outer edges covered in red carpet. Tables of refreshments sat here and there, along with a few quiet nooks for small groups to sit. Ornate chandeliers hung from the ceiling, a bit above the height of a walkway that ringed the room about halfway up.

In the middle of it all, a grand dance floor, big enough for a couple of dozen pairs at least. Though the music from the mini-orchestra at one side of the room had only begun, there were already several couples dancing.

Pretty fancy, Philia mused, snagging a glass of wine from a passing waiter's tray as she walked into the room. The Dark Elves do it better… but not much.

Casually, she ran her gaze over the hobnobbing people, and wished idly she dared use Search. With her Treasure Hunt mod, she was sure she could've spotted quite a few tempting items, between the guests and the furnishings. Alas, even if the NPCs didn't react—which, come to think of it, she wasn't at all sure of—other players would all too easily recognize the green glow in her eyes.

Not polite, potentially casing other players. PvP didn't work in a Safe Haven, but a good enough Pickpocket skill did. No sense making anyone think she was after their valuables, especially when she wasn't even sure how many players were in the room. Without cursors, some of them blended in surprisingly well.

Of course, only an idiot would carry anything I could Pickpocket in a place like this. Anybody who's been on the frontlines very long should know not to carry valuables in pockets in a place like this. But some people get all twitchy anyway, so old fashioned way it is. At least until Rain does her thing.

Well, she knew for sure there were quite a few NPCs in that crowd. Philia knew every girl in the clearers, at least by sight, and even with tourists from lower floors there were way too many ladies around to all be players.

It was kind of funny, now that she thought about it, to wonder how many of those NPC girls were accompanied by guys desperate enough to hit on AI. She suspected a fair few, what with the lopsided gender ratio in SAO. Especially since, according to Argo, some distorted rumors about Kirito and Kizmel had been spreading lately.

Poor guys. I wonder if they realize us girls don't have it much better, sometimes. Finding one good guy who isn't just latching onto the first girl he sees is harder than it sounds. Good thing I get my fix watching Kizmel tease Kirito all the time.

Not that Philia would've likely said no if Kirito had gone for her, she had to admit. But just watching was good enough, at least for now.

Right then, though, she had a different kind of people watching in mind. First and foremost, looking for a particular merchant—and along the way, seeing just what everybody else was up to. The last few floors had kind of shaken up guild politics, after all.

Shivata and Liten had made a beeline for the dance floor, probably trying to get as far away from any chaos as possible. It didn't take Philia long to spot other Divine Dragons, though, and her eyebrows went up at the sight.

No mistaking that blue hair, tied neatly back at the nape of his neck. Lind even managed to pull off his midnight-blue suit surprisingly well. More surprising was seeing Schmidt, looking uncomfortable in a similar suit, standing a bit behind like a bodyguard. Huh. I guess he's back in Lind's good books? Well, the poor guy was an idiot, not a red, and he's still a darn good tank. If things are working out, good for them. And… okay, that's really weird.

It took her a second to realize who Lind was talking to. With a formal kimono instead of red armor, and his flaming hair actually neat for once, Klein had the look of daimyou rather than the bandit—or, in a crisis, shogun—he usually resembled. Even more startling was that he was, as far as she could tell, having a perfectly civil conversation with Lind.

How about that. With the bad blood between them over that Christmas boss, I never would've seen this coming. I guess the whole zombie thing turned a few things upside down.

At least there was one constant. Among the similarly-clad Fuurinkazan, Sachi was standing close to Klein's side. Her hands were tucked neatly in her sleeves, but Philia could tell she was poised to elbow her guildmaster if the need arose.

Some things never changed, she supposed. Honestly, though, she liked it that way.

Drifting along the edge of the room, around the dance floor, she was only a little surprised to almost bump into a member of the KoB out of guild colors. Giving him a quick nod—and smirking to herself at his double-take—she realized it wasn't that surprising. Though Asuna was supposedly there just on business, the lower-ranked members of the guild probably had nothing to do with the politics.

Not that all the leaders seem to, either, she mused, looking around for Asuna. If I were her, I'd be pretty darn fed up with getting all the work shoved off on me. Yeah, sure, Heathcliff pulled his weight in a fight, and to all appearances he had the absolute last word, but practically all she'd ever seen him do as a leader was sign off on decisions his vice-commander had already made.

Okay, he was pretty cool when things went bad against Vemacitrin. But still…. Oh, there she is.

Up on the balcony, she finally spotted Asuna. Wearing a very fetching red-trimmed white dress, the fencer was… listening to a very animated Lisbeth? Huh. From the floor, Philia couldn't tell what they were talking about—for all she knew, Liz was giving Asuna dating advice—but it certainly wasn't what she'd expected when Asuna was supposedly there on business.

Of course, Lisbeth was the go-to smith for a good chunk of the clearers. Maybe it really was business.

Mentally, Philia shrugged and moved on. This was a night for the unusual, anyway; she honestly wouldn't have been surprised if someone from the old Aincrad Liberation Force showed up. While none of them had been seen on the front in almost a year, stranger things had happened.

Most of the way to the bar on the far side of the ballroom, one more thing caught her eye. It took her a second to figure out why, though; she certainly didn't recognize the girl with the pale green hair in the darkest corner of the room, striking as that hair was. The girl she was having a whispered conversation with, though, nagged at Philia….

Only when the brown-haired girl's eyes met hers did Philia realize with a start that it was Argo, wearing a black dress and missing her trademark whiskers. Almost more surprising, that was the only acknowledgment the Rat gave her, going right back to her conversation as if nothing had happened.

Okay… must be business for her. I wonder what she's up to? Come to think of it, I'm not sure I want to know. I've got my own business, anyway. So where is…?

Philia had just reached the bar, and ordered a fresh glass from the bartender, when the door next to that bar opened. Out came Rain, dressed in a full maid's outfit like she'd been born to it. "I'll take your glass, Miss," she said, swooping in to pick up the empty. As she did, she leaned closer to the treasure hunter, and mutter, "You guys owe me for this, y'know."

"You'll get your share, don't worry," Philia assured her, hiding—or at least trying to hide—her grin. "You got the info?"

"You owe me more than that." Rain gave a tiny shake of her head. "But later. Anyway, there's a false wall in the cellar. Nazzoth's butler has the key."

The butler. That figured. Philia had seen the fancily-dressed retainer during her circuit of the room, and a quick glance refreshed her memory as to where. Except…. "He's right in that crowd of merchants," she pointed out. "Pickpocket will be, ah, kinda tricky right out in front of everybody."

Now it was Rain's turn to smirk. "Just wait for the right moment. When our guests of honor get here, get ready. You'll know when to move…."

Kirito was starting to suspect he ought to get used to equipping formal wear. What he'd originally received as part of the pseudo-quest during Yofel Castle's Yule Dance, he'd since worn again for his own wedding not three months later. Now, barely a month after that, he was all dressed up again, and wondering if it was silly how self-conscious he felt in it.

Probably, he thought ruefully, because at least those times were basically in private. Who knows how many players are going to see me tonight?

Walking into the ballroom of Nazzoth's mansion, an equally dressed-up Kizmel on his arm, he suspected the answer was "more than he'd like". At a glance, he recognized members of just about all the major frontline guilds, plus a bunch of solos and unaffiliated parties milling around.

He must've let more of his discomfort into his expression than he'd thought—or else Kizmel had just been around him long enough to guess. Either way, the elf girl chuckled in his ear. "Oh, relax, Kirito," she murmured. "Only the clearers are likely to recognize you at all, and like as not some of them won't, either. I rather suspect many of them see only the coat, and never bother to learn your face at all."

From anyone else, Kirito would've thought that was a dig at him for being forgettable. From her, it was more likely a gentle snipe at the other players. For all that Kizmel had friends among the clearers, she made no secret of her disgust with frontline politics.

"Maybe so," he conceded, allowing her to take the lead in their circuit of the ballroom. "Though really, this stuff is really just a fancier version of what I usually wear…. But you're not exactly easy to miss."

"Mm. True." Another low chuckle. "Well… I admit, I'm perhaps not the most comfortable here, either." Kizmel glanced down at her rose-embroidered tunic, not quite a dress but not exactly casual wear, either. "Truthfully, while I'm not completely unaccustomed to formal events, as a knight I'd normally be attending as an armed and armored guard, not a guest."

Kirito nodded, feeling oddly better at her admission. That's right, she's a commoner, not nobility. Heh. I wonder if she was as awkward as I was, that night at Yofel Castle? It'd explain her dancing.

"Well," he said then, "at least we're not fighting for our lives here, right? We're not here for anything drastic, so let's try to enjoy ourselves a little."

The smile on her face, when she turned to look at him, still made his stomach flutter, just a little. "Now that sounds like an excellent idea, husband. I suppose if nothing else, current the stall in clearing is a good chance for us to unwind." She paused, a slight frown creasing her brows. "…At least for a little while. I find myself uneasy about Argo's promise that Rain would find her part in this worth her while."

Ah. Yeah. Anything that had Argo that gleeful was never a good sign, and it was worse when the Rat roped someone else into being a willing accomplice. A heist quest within a Safe Haven ought to be completely safe, but if anything that made Argo more dangerous.

"Ah, I believe that was Rain," Kizmel said then, nodding toward the bar at the far end of the room. "And there is Philia…. I believe that is our cue."

"Guess so." A couple of meters from the dance floor, Kirito released her arm, stepped back, and swept into a formal bow. "Milady, may I have the honor of the first dance?"

Way too formal for him, and it made him feel more than a little silly. At the same time, it was fun to cut loose and be something other than the Black Swordsman for a change—to remember, just for a moment, not everything had to be life-or-death—and the smile on Kizmel's face made it all worth it.

"Of course, good sir," she said, extending her hand to him. "It would be my pleasure."

Argo. She's definitely been talking to Argo again—or maybe Sachi? Heck, or Philia… ahh, who knows. Could be any of 'em. Not that Kirito was really complaining, as he took Kizmel's hand and led her onto the dance floor. His partner-turned-wife had been gloomy all too often, the last month or so. She tried to hide it, but he knew perfectly well she was still far from completely at peace with the truth.

If it meant playing the role of a high-class gentleman of Victorian England for a little while, to keep her spirits up, he was going to do it with a smile.

It helped, as he pulled her in closer for the dance, that the melody playing just then was clearly a variant of the one they'd danced at at Christmas. It was a little more somber, with a kind of eerie tone at the very edges of his hearing, but it was close enough for him to match the rhythm easily enough.

Their dance was smoother than it had been that night. Kirito had noticed, then, that Kizmel wasn't really used to dancing; she'd had to follow his lead, honed as it was by a quest in an older VR game he had no intention of admitting to having mastered. Tonight, she matched him step for step, never once having to look at her feet.

Which was more than could be said for some of the other couples, he noticed. Liten was having to teach Shivata as they went, though he was happy to see the both of them were clearly having the time of their lives. A youth he vaguely recognized from the KoB was having even more trouble following the mechanically-precise steps of an NPC he'd somehow gotten onto the floor.

Kirito wondered, distantly, what it said about him that it took him a few seconds to even wonder if it was a quest the Knight was involved in.

All in all, though, he was just glad to see people having fun, like a brown-haired, twenty-ish player awkwardly but happily waltzing with a tall, silver-haired woman. Too often, he thought, people only saw the need to clear one floor after another, and didn't stop to look at the amazing world around them.

He'd been that way, once. Then the elves had drawn him in, and he'd never quite looked at the world the same way since.

"Something is going to happen soon, Kirito," Kizmel said, after a quick twirl that let her see the room at large for a brief moment. "I don't see Rain, and Philia is heading for Nazzoth's butler with… intent."

Ulp. During the planning for the quest, Argo had been gleefully emphatic none of them know everything about what the others would be doing, so that the reactions would be "natural". And that Kirito and Kizmel's part, until Rain gave the word, was just to dance.

That had made the hairs on Kirito's neck stand up then, and now he had a sudden feeling of dread.

"Well," he said, just loud enough for elven ears to catch, "at least that means we'll be getting this over with—"

In the middle of that sentence, the lights went out as if someone had flicked a switch. A split second of darkness, just long enough for exclamations of surprise from the NPCs and not a few startled curses from players—and then the lights were back on.

Or rather, some of them were. Those over the dance floor. More specifically, a few that focused directly on the dancers, like some kind of charmed spotlights.

I'm going to kill Argo. And maybe Rain along with, this stunt was obviously the redhead's work. Philia Kirito would spare, assuming she didn't laugh too much about the whole thing afterward. But the Rat was definitely going to be facing payback.

Later. Right then, all eyes were on the dancers, which meant if he didn't want to make a complete fool of himself in front of the top clearers he'd better start moving again. …And Kizmel was giving him a Look, which he wasn't about to defy.

So as players and NPCs alike wondered what was going on, and the music resumed after a brief pause, Kirito danced with Kizmel. Step, step, twist and twirl, he tried to focus on just his elven dance partner. With her own steps smoother than the first time they'd danced, he soon lost himself in the movements. In the music, in the steps, in those violet eyes.

Though there was another difference, he found, from that waltz in Yofel Castle. With more players around, the dance floor was more alive than he was used to, with more people to dodge around. Around—and through, as in the middle of a spin he suddenly found himself dancing with a very surprised Liten.

A quick glance toward an equally-startled Shivata gave him a glimpse of a smirking Kizmel, telling him the change was entirely deliberate. Why, he didn't know, but it had been that kind of night.

So Kirito rolled with it, and danced for a while with the DDA tank. He could live with that kind of night.

Somewhere in the next waltz, he found Philia holding his hand instead. Just for a couple of steps, long enough for her to smirk at him, wink, and spin back off the dance floor for parts unknown—only to be replaced by Asuna, whose expression said she had no idea how she'd even ended up there.

Neither of them really minded, he thought, as the fencer quickly fell into step with him. They might not have been partners anymore, but he liked to think they were still close friends, and they just didn't have enough chances to hang out these days.

Everybody's probably watching us. But I don't think I really care anymore, anyway. That's just the kind of night this is.

So Kirito danced with Asuna, a bit closer than he had with Liten or Philia, letting himself forget everything else that was going on. And when at the end of that waltz, she gave him a quick, tight hug, he answered in kind, before letting her slip away again.

As Kizmel reappeared from wherever she'd been, settling smoothly back into his arms with a sly smile, he tried very hard to ignore what had probably been the flash of a recording crystal. Maim Argo later, finish the dance with his wife now.

Finally, at the end of one more dance, the music trailed off. Like that night in Yofel Castle, Kizmel finished the waltz by slipping from the hold of the dance into a close embrace. And since the lights chose that moment to go out completely again, Kirito brought one hand up to the back of her neck and pulled her into a deep kiss.

As her lips enthusiastically reciprocated, he decided he didn't really care what Argo was up to. This was still something he hadn't gotten tired of, and he wasn't about to pass up a chance at it, even in the middle of a quest.

Of course, the moment was broken by a shriek. Kirito's eyes snapped open to find the lights back on, and he pulled away from Kizmel to discover incipient chaos. One of the wealthy merchants was lying face-down, a sword pinning him to the floor, neatly explaining the scream.

"…Uh-oh," he got out, even as his quest log chimed with an update. The NPCs looked generally freaked out, just about every player he could see was obviously bewildered—and armed guards were starting to pour in from every door.

"Outrageous!" one of the NPCs suddenly roared; Kirito belatedly recognized him as Nazzoth himself, and had a sinking feeling about what was going to happen next. "I invited Swordmasters here to honor them for their courageous deeds, and this is the thanks I get?!"

Oh. That's not good at all.

"Nothing but treachery… to be expected, I suppose, from those who hold themselves above the people of Aincrad!" Nazzoth gestured sharply. "Guards! Bring me every Swordmaster here—and I don't care if you only bring their heads!"

[Escape Nazzoth's Guards, and Reunite with Companions], the quest log said.

"What the hell?!" Klein burst out across the room, even as Nazzoth's men drew swords. "Why're you blaming us?! We didn't do anything—"

"Silence! You'll hurt no more of mine, Swordmasters!"

As pandemonium began to well and truly erupt, Kirito quickly brought up and hit the Quick Change command, swapping his tailcoat for his usual leather and conjuring up Elucidator. "At least we're in a Safe Haven?" he muttered to Kizmel.

"Small favors," she whispered back, materializing her own arms and armor. "Maim Argo later?"

"Later," he agreed—and spun in time with her, the two of them ending up back to back against the waves of guards rushing in from all sides. A Serration Wave shoved the first batch backward, buying him enough breathing space to think about picking a target.

Then he and Kizmel both were charging into the fray, even as every other Swordmaster in the room armed themselves and dove into the impromptu melee.

I'll say this much for Argo's plans, Kirito thought, shrugging off a stab to the kidney that in a Safe Haven did nothing but rip his shirt. At least they're never boring!

Making her way down into the cellar, Philia couldn't help but smirk to herself. After all the trouble she'd had pick-pocketing Nazzoth's butler—first finding the right guy in the dark, then dealing with an RNG that just would not let her pick the right pocket—trolling Kirito had been more than a little satisfying. At least something had gone without a hitch.

Served him right, anyway. He and Kizmel got the easy job, being the distraction.

Though she had a feeling it wasn't going to be easy for much longer. The trick with the lights probably wasn't the end of Rain's revenge, and it wasn't chaotic enough to explain Argo's attitude.

Well. With just a little luck, that wouldn't be Philia's problem. Her job was to find the false wall in Nazzoth's wine cellar, and do what she did best. Which started with a quick appraisal of the wine lining those cellar walls, since she was there anyway.

According to her Search, those bottles were pretty good loot by themselves. She made a mental note to ask Argo about that later—and maybe snag one or two on her way out—and turned her attention to her real mission.

She had to admit, other than the wall being conspicuously bare of shelves, the door really was decently hidden. Without high-level Searching, she didn't think she'd have spotted it herself. As it was, she was able to make out very fine seams defining a neat rectangle, with a blue glow denoting a keyhole.

Jackpot.

Reaching into the front of her dress, she fished out the skeleton key she'd swiped from the butler, slid it neatly home, and turned it. The solid click was music to a treasure hunter's ears.

"So here's the door, huh? Wow. Cliché, but I guess it fits."

Philia most definitely did not jump half a meter in the air. Nor did she squeak. She would admit, if pressed, that she turned a glare on Rain when those things didn't happen. "How do you do that?!" she hissed. "Kirito can't hide from me that well!"

Unrepentant, Rain grinned. "Trade secret. Maybe you need to work on your Eavesdropping a bit more?" Before Philia could think of a response that wasn't too impolite, the redhead nodded at the door. "C'mon. I only found the door because Nazzoth's people were talking about it. If my Searching didn't find it, there must be good stuff down there."

At least that's one thing I do better than she does…. Rolling her eyes, Philia turned back to the door and eased it open. It pushed inward and slid to one side with surprising ease, for polished stone, making barely a sound. Even more surprisingly, it revealed not another room, but a stairwell leading farther down.

She exchanged a quick, uneasy glance with Rain. "We're already in the basement," she murmured. "We go much farther down, and…."

"Yeah." Grimacing, Rain made a quick gesture and equipped her sword, while Philia did the same. It was a shame to trade the dress for her usual armor, but even in what promised to be an easy quest, safety took priority over fun.

No help for it, anyway. Team Kirito was still short on Cor after purchasing their cabana; the madness of the Fifty-Seventh Floor hadn't exactly helped them recoup, either. For a score as big as this one promised to be, they'd take a few risks.

A few. Philia did make sure to send off a quick message to Kirito, while they were still in the mansion proper. Then, drawing her own Swordbreaker, she led the way down the spiral staircase.

Sure enough, about halfway down the ominous [Outside Field] message popped up. If the quest hadn't been marked as advising four to six players—and been written like something out of a spy movie—Philia didn't think she'd have gone further. As it was….

We've got a good level margin, and Kirito and Kizmel will come running if our HP goes down at all. And I don't think anything here is balanced for Dual Blades. So, just what do we have… here…? Huh. Interesting.

At the bottom of the stairs, past another stone door—where Rain had gotten the key that opened that one, Philia decided not to ask—was a room that looked like nothing so much as a warehouse. Not too weird on the face of it, except that as far as she could tell the stacked crates were all made of metal. Not normal for Aincrad, in her experience.

"…Cover me." Her Hiding wasn't on Rain's level, but Philia was reasonably confident in her ability to walk softly. Carefully Searching the stacks, she wandered through the maze-like warehouse, looking for the telltale glow of treasure.

She found it at a dead end. Three crates, one to each side, all of them glowing with the gold of quest objectives. All of them locked, too—but even without keys, she could deal with these. "Keep a close eye out," she said over her shoulder. "I'm going to try to open one of these."

Rain turned away, looking back the way they'd come. "You're expecting an alarm?"

"Yep. I don't see anything, but some of these can be tricky, so… have to find out the hard way." Philia materialized a particular set of tools—very expensive ones; they'd cost more than one of her all-too-rare Swordbreakers—and bent to the task of picking the crate's lock.

She wondered idly how much harder the task would've been IRL. SAO simplified things most things an awful lot, after all; teasing a lock into opening had to be more than just poking tumblers into position. At least in detail, if not in kind.

She was about halfway done convincing that lock to open without a key before she remembered that wasn't the kind of skill an upstanding girl used IRL at all.

Wow. Maybe I've been here a little too long… well, worry about that later. Right now, I've just… about… got it… there! With a much quieter click than the door above, the lock fell open. With a triumphant grin, Philia lifted the crate's lid.

Which was, of course, when a piercing sound like a high-pitched bell rang through the room. "Um. Oops?"

"Oops," Rain agreed dryly, just as the sound of boots rang out somewhere above. "Here they come. I'll hold them off, you open the other crates!"

Philia almost asked why, but closed her mouth before she got the question out. If opening them triggered alarms, might as well just get all three out of the way at the same time. I just hope that doesn't trigger more guards. And that Kirito and Kizmel heard the alarm. This would be a bad place to get swarmed.

Not her job to worry about that. Rain could take at least the first ones; Philia was the one who could open the crates. Time to make like a team, and do her part.

Easier said than done, she quickly found. The second crate had a much trickier lock, of a kind she'd never encountered before. Her HUD helpfully highlighted the needed actions, but she had to admit she wouldn't have managed it if she hadn't had so much practice with lesser locks.

Philia was only halfway through that lock when the running footsteps came to a grating halt. "Thieves! Step away from the crates!"

"Not a chance, guys. How about you get out, and I'll pretend I never saw you?" There was a pause after Rain's bold suggestion—then a shing of a Sword Skill going off, followed by a clang of steel-on-steel. "Guess not. Your funeral!"

Another shing, this time followed by a grunt; the sound and flash distracted Philia enough that she nearly slipped. She paused for a second, forced her hands steady, and did her best to block out everything else as she nudged tumblers and carefully rearranged an odd pair of wires.

Weird. Locks… don't normally have wires, do they? The system seems to know what it's doing, but still….

Her vision narrowed to the task before her, but her ears picked up the sounds of combat anyway. Teasing one more tumbler aside was accompanied by a cry. A scream and the all-too-familiar sound like shattering glass almost covered the clink of the lock falling away.

Revealing another lock behind it. Well, that just figured. It looked to be the same type as the first, only more so. Philia took a second to take a calming breath—and in that second noticed Rain's HP go down five percent.

Before she could really react to that, there was a strange thunk, like something opening, and another scream. There as no shattering sound, though, and the scream seemed to oddly drag on, gradually fading.

"Ha! Should've kept an eye on your own trapdoors!" She could just hear the grin in Rain's voice. "Sure you're not ready to give up?"

"As if we would run after a mere fluke. You'll not stop the Echo's mission, Swordmaster!"

Mission, huh? I wonder what that's all about. Rain seemed to be handling things, so Philia went back to tackling that next lock. But quickly. Something about the situation was starting to make her spine tingle, almost like it did when someone was sneaking up on her.

Despite having more tumblers, that lock went down about as fast as the last, now that she knew what she was doing with it. That set off another alarm bell, but she ignored it and the crate's contents, turning her attention right to the final crate. Her pride as a treasure hunter was on the line now.

She was just far enough into the first lock on that last crate to not be able to back out when she realized what the new gimmick was. Metal wires entwined in the lock, linking to something laced with a smell she'd last encountered on a ghost ship on the Fifty-First Floor.

This lock has a bomb attached. A strange, icy calm filled Philia, keeping her hands rock-steady even as she wanted to run away. Oh, boy.

There was more shouting behind her, some of it from a deeper voice she recognized as Kirito in a Bad Mood. HP figures were fluctuating on her HUD, but not enough for panic.

I can do this. Improbably, she felt a grin cross her face. And if I'm wrong, well, at least the mobs won't be around to gloat, either!

"Who are you?!" she heard Kirito shout, sometime around her gingerly pushing a wire aside. Nothing as fancy as a real bomb, at least; from what Philia could tell, the wires were just physically keeping two components apart. No picking the right wire to cut, just making sure she didn't move them the wrong way.

"Who? You Swordmasters never do care about ordinary people, do you?" A rapid series of crashes and clangs, with a boom suggesting two Sword Skills had collided. "You use us, and move on, and never think what the warriors native to the Steel Castle might be doing!"

Just flavor text. Ignore it. If there's anything important, the quest log will show it later. Okay, a little more, a bit farther that way… got it! Bomb defused!

There was another one next to it, predictably. One down, though, and Philia went at it with greater confidence.

By the time she was finishing with the third, three of the HP bars on her HUD were down by thirty to forty percent. At the same time, it was a lot quieter, and cracking the last lock-bomb was concurrent with the thud of a body slamming into a stone wall.

"Why?" she heard Kizmel demand. "If you, too, seek the liberation of Aincrad, why oppose the Swordmasters?"

A cough, followed by a weak voice. "You don't get it at all. But then, a Dark Elf wouldn't, any more than a Swordmaster would…. You're fighting the wrong war, all of you. Open the way between the floors? Defeat the sorcerer in the Ruby Palace? Bah… we'll still be stuck here in the sky, away from the world below…. The Echo will show everyone the way…."

One last sound of shattering glass, and Philia turned in time to see azure polygons scatter and fade. "Well," Kirito said after a brief pause. "That was one of the weirder quests we've had lately. Wasn't as hard as I expected, though…. Any idea what he was talking about?"

Rain and Kizmel both shrugged. All eyes turned to Philia then, and the crates she'd successfully unlocked. "Hey, don't look at me," she said, turning back to the tantalizing boxes. "The treasure will tell the… tales?" Reaching into the first crate, she pulled out a blood-red crystal. "Um, guys? Any idea what the heck this is?"

"Looks like a Healing Crystal," Rain said, leaning in to peer at it. "Except, well, red. …Dunno about you guys, but I don't think we want to mess with that here."

"Nor this." Rummaging in the second crate, Kizmel held up a pure black crystal. "This has the shape of a Teleport or Corridor Crystal. I suspect it is not so benign."

"…No. I don't think it is." Kirito had gone past them all, to the final crate Philia had unlocked. The one with three bombs attached to it. Now he was staring into it, face pale. He reached in slowly, carefully; the treasure hunter was left wondering if she'd missed a bomb on the inside.

When his hand came out holding a key, she blinked in confusion. Admittedly, it was an odd key. Very elaborate, definitely not for an ordinary door. And, true, she couldn't remember ever seeing a key that was bright green, but still. It was a key. So why…?

Philia realized it at the same time Kizmel gasped. "The Jade Key," the elf girl whispered, eyes wide. "Or at least, an imperfect copy. Why is something like that in a place like this…?"

"I don't know." Grimly, Kirito brought up his menu, paging through to the Quest Log. "But I think we're going to find out sometime." There was a chime then, accompanied by a bright flash as the quest completed itself and Philia leveled up. "The log says, 'Seek the Library of the Ancients, and beware the Echo and its allies.

"And it says, 'To be continued….'"

May 11th, 2024

"Y'know something, Klein? It's a good thing Kirito recommended you, or I don't know I'd get anywhere near this thing." A huffed breath. "As it is, I'm torn between horrified and excited at having my hands on it."

"Believe me, I understand. And I don't want to spread the word of what it is or where it came from, either. But after everything, I think Kizmel is right: it's better for me to use it and redeem it myself than throw away a sword this good. We can't afford to dump it just because of what it used to be used for."

"Well, I guess I can't argue with that. Just be glad I wasn't around for the Fifty-Seventh Floor. I know a smith who was, and just looking at it would give 'em nightmares."

Klein wasn't exactly surprised by that declaration. Just thinking about it made him shiver, and he could see Sachi's face go just a shade pale. Two months on, and Fuurinkazan still sometimes woke up screaming. If I thought they'd be any good, I'd wish Aincrad had shrinks.

But the world of Sword Art Online was kind of lacking in psychiatrists, useful or otherwise, so Klein would push on and worry about the PTSD later. Which was exactly why he, Sachi, and Dynamm were in Lisbeth's Weapon Shop, talking to the pink-haired blacksmith herself. In the backroom, where she did her actual smithing—carefully away from prying eyes.

For good reason. The katana Lisbeth was cradling, its status window floating above it, was a distinctive one. No one who'd seen its black and red blade was likely to forget it. Or the fact that its previous wielder had been Kuze, the Laughing Coffin PKer who'd set off the zombie apocalypse on the Fifty-Seventh Floor.

Kirito had given it to Klein the day clearing efforts had resumed. How he'd gotten his hands on it, Klein didn't know and hadn't asked. The Samurai had almost refused it, feeling a primal horror of his own, until Kizmel had challenged him to redeem the blade by using it to protect those its previous wielder had tried to destroy.

Klein could still have refused. No one would've known, besides Fuurinkazan and Team Kirito. Most other players would've pushed him to do just that. But he was Samurai, if only in his own head. He'd hold himself to his own ideals, even if no on else ever understood. If that meant wielding Kuze's Suzaku Blade, so be it.

At least nobody but us will ever know it took me two months to work up the guts to wield it….

"On the bright side, I hear Team Kirito were pretty much the only ones to see the thing up close. If you're lucky, nobody will notice where it came from." Lisbeth shook her head, pink locks swaying, tamped down by sweat from the heat of her forge. "But sooner or later, you'll probably get attention anyway. You've got yourself a demon weapon, Klein."

"Demon weapon?" Sachi repeated, beating Klein to the punch. "Is that what the flavor text calls it?"

"Yep. 'Forged from the bones of a demon, a phoenix fallen to the Necro Plague'," Lisbeth said, tapping the status window. "Thing is, that's a class of weapon; Kirito's Elucidator's supposed to have been made from the spine of a metallic dragon that was corrupted by forbidden knowledge, or something like that. There's a couple others floating around out there, and they've all got one thing in common."

She paused dramatically. Klein exchanged looks with his guildmates, lost the silent contest, and turned back to the smith with a sigh and a wince. "Okay, I'll bite. What makes these things so special?"

"Fifty upgrades," Lisbeth said simply. "Even if you fail one here and there, this sword should last you another fifteen or twenty floors, easy. I think you can guess why that might be a problem."

Dynamm let out a low whistle. Klein could only nod, eyes wide. Good swords didn't come cheap, and having to switch to a new one every few floors was one of the banes of a clearer's existence. Choosing between keeping weapons up to date and getting better armor was always a tough balancing act.

A sword that would last even ten floors would be coveted by any clearer worth the title. Fifteen or twenty? Klein was suddenly very glad Lisbeth had taken them to the backroom for the discussion. And he'd thought a Swordmaster's skill loadout was the biggest secret they could have.

And this is one secret that'll get out even if all I do is keep using it. Now I know how Kirito feels with the Baneblade. …Which, come to think of it, is probably why he doesn't worry about Elucidator. He's already got a target on his back, especially from Laughing Coffin—

Who'll know what Suzaku is right off. Yay.

Klein didn't need the Look Sachi was giving him, any more than he bothered to pay attention to Dynamm's resigned head-shake. Squaring his shoulders, he put on his best Honorable Samurai expression, and looked Lisbeth straight in the eye. "I'm guildmaster of a clearing guild. I'll take my chances. Can you help?"

Because "demon sword" or not, it hadn't gotten any upgrade work at least since the Fifty-Seventh Floor. If he was going to start using it, he'd need to bring it up to the standards of the Sixty-First.

"Honestly?" Lisbeth waved the status window closed, and glowered down at the Suzaku Blade. "I hate this thing. I hate everything about it, and I'd rather see it melted down."

He barely had time to process that apparent rejection, before the blacksmith spun toward her forge, Suzaku in hand. He only managed one horrified step forward, hand reaching futilely forward, and then the demonic katana's blade was in the bright blue flames of Hyrus' Forge.

"And that is why I'm going to help you," Lisbeth said grimly, bringing up her menu and conjuring up an odd assortment of materials. "Monster drop weapons with stats way better than anything I can forge?! We'll see about that!"

"Um." While Klein gaped like a fish, frozen in mid-step, Sachi eyed the smith cautiously. "Lisbeth… what are you doing, exactly?"

"Giving this sword two Sharpness upgrades and one Durability," Lisbeth replied, pulling out her hammer with the fiercest expression Klein had seen this side of Kizmel facing a squid. "That's all I can do the mats I've got. Then you guys are going to help me take down a dungeon boss for the fancy stuff this thing really needs."

"…Right." Klein shook himself, and did his best to return to the Dignified Samurai pose. "Why, exactly?"

"So that I can learn what makes this thing what it is," she told him, pulling the Suzaku Blade back out of the fire, hammer raised with obvious malice. "When I'm through with this, I'm going to make swords better than anything some quest or monster can ever drop!"

May 12th, 2024

"I hate this floor," Klein said conversationally. "Kind of a lot, to be honest." He glared at the surrounding jungle, and then what towered over it. "It's hot, it's miserable, and it's got the worst bug mobs since the Seventh Floor. And why does Aincrad even have something like… that?"

"Because this is a video game, and with a hundred floors just about everything would show up somewhere?" Sachi followed his gaze, and winced. "…That's probably a bit much, I'll admit…."

The two of them, along with the rest of Fuurinkazan, had come to the Fifty-Fifth Floor. It was a floor they'd gone through as quickly as possible, the first time around. Much like the Seventh, it was largely jungle, with blood-sucking insect mobs the size of small dogs. It'd also, that first time, had a Field Boss that had looked like nothing so much as a building-sized mosquito.

It was also home to the only volcano so far discovered in Aincrad. The clearing group had avoided it completely when the floor was still the frontline, because the heat debuff on its slopes got to the point of inflicting severe damage pretty quick. No one had been eager to find out it if could kill.

At least that won't be a problem this time, Klein thought sourly, shrugging his shoulders in a vain attempt to better settle his unfamiliar armor. Heat-resistant armor. I guess it's better than swimsuits and sunscreen. He shot a wry glance at Dale, who if anything looked more comfortable than any of them with the new gear. For some of us more than others.

"Forget the 'why is this here'," Dynamm groused, glaring up at the visibly-smoking summit. "Why are we here, again?"

"Because you need scales from X'rdan the Fire Wyrm? Which, as far as I've heard—and believe me, I buy all the info the Rat has about mats—is the only stuff that's going to boost the Suzaku Blade at this stage?"

Gruff, that voice, but Klein supposed she was entitled. The blacksmith Lisbeth might've looked kinda ridiculous in a maid outfit at the base of a volcano, and the cloak she was wearing to ward off the heat might've only made sense under video game logic, but she knew her stuff. For all that she didn't turn up on the frontlines much, she lived up to her claim of being a "master macer".

More to the point, she'd been emphatic that a blacksmith needed to be on hand to get the right mats to even drop. That was the first Klein had ever heard of drops being determined by a player's slotted skills, but, well, he'd seen enough weird one-off mechanics since joining the frontlines that he was prepared to take her word for it.

If a little sniping keeps her happy, I'll deal with it. Just like I'll deal with the freaking volcano. So what if it's hot? We've got a good enough level margin nothing here should be that big a deal.

Taking a deep breath, Klein squared his shoulders, looked that volcano head on, and gave a decisive nod. "Well, we won't take out that dragon just standing here, will we? Let's get going." He forced a grin, and was just a little disturbed to realize it wasn't completely feigned. "Maybe we'll even bring back some dragonhide as a bonus!"

A group of eight, split into two parties of four, preparing to take on a dungeon boss. Not even a year before, Sachi would've thought it was crazy, to the point of being too terrified to even get near the attempt. Not even a year before, she would've cowered in an inn room dozens of floors below rather than participate herself.

Times change. Even for me.

With a yell, Sachi launched herself at a Fire Dragonet in a Storm Strike. The skill spun her head over heels midair, her sword whipping around and down to slam into the Dragonet's head. It let out an angry rasp and tried to spit a fireball at her, but while the blade failed to penetrate its armored skull, the impact did send it crashing down to the volcano's rocky slope.

"Sachi, Switch!"

Not even a thought, now, before she was whirling away to the left. She was a bare breath ahead of Dale's heavy zweihander, coming down hard in an Avalanche that split the Dragonet in two.

"You guys are pretty good at this," the third member of their team commented, bashing a Volcanic Cephalosaur in the nose. Lisbeth's mace was just about the ideal weapon for fighting what was basically a dinosaur with granite exoskeleton; while she didn't quite kill it, she rocked it back several paces, and a hideous cracking noise announced a new weakness in its armor. "You climb volcanoes like this every day?"

"Not this, no." Stepping quickly to one side of a blast of fire from another Dragonet, Kunimittz's spear blazed ahead in a Straight Thrust. Its narrow point, guided by his skill and the weapon's high Accuracy bonus, found one of the cracks in the Cephalosaur's exoskeleton and drove deep into its throat. "But we've been training pretty much every day since launch. Even Sachi's been with us a good eight months now, and we've been on the frontlines for four."

I had to. Sumika dying was bad enough. Ducker, Tetsuo, Sasamaru… I couldn't hide after that. Not and live with myself. Wishing her Cloak of Illusion wasn't so impractical for a volcano dungeon, Sachi winced as the Dragonet's claws raked her shoulder. She swatted it back with a quick Horizontal, though, and caught its next fireball on her shield without much trouble.

After Christmas Eve, and the news about the Fiftieth Floor, we all had to do something. We all have to keep moving.

Yelling again, she charged at the Dragonet, drew her sword back, and thrust it violently forward. Engulfed in red light, it stretched out as far as her arm could reach—and the red light went twice as far past that, the Vorpal Strike skewering the Dragonet. With a cry, it fell back, and before it hit the ground disappeared in a cloud of blue shards.

Beyond it, Sachi was pleased to see, Klein's half of the group had just brought down a Great Dragonet. From the look of things, it had dropped a key, which Klein raised in a triumphant wave. From Argo's report, that was exactly what they needed to open the way into the volcano proper—if they could just find the door.

Grunting, Lisbeth brought her mace down on the Cephalosaur again, resulting in a weird bark from the dinosaur and a crunch that made Sachi wince. "Okay," the blacksmith said, as it shattered into polygons, "I guess that'd help. But still…." She shook her head, pink locks swaying; Sachi noticed absently the other girl's hair was starting to blacken from soot. "If Kirito hadn't vouched for it, I'd say you guys were crazy to take on a boss with just eight people."

"We took on an event boss with seven," Sachi told her, forcing herself not to wince at the memory. "We don't have as much of a level margin this time, but we've got one more person, and proportionally better gear. And this is just a dungeon boss, those are never as bad as the special event mobs."

"Just," Lisbeth muttered, shaking her head again. "Well, Kirito doesn't take risks with other people… and I'm sure the EXP I'll get will be nice. Not to mention the extra mats." She suddenly grinned. "And if the rumors are true, the boss drops smithing info nobody else has figured out how to use yet."

Oh, right… she's got that forge… stuff… Kirito's team brought back from the Fifty-First Floor. Sachi glanced down at her sword, still shining and unmarred despite the soot that was starting to blacken even Fuurinkazan's red armor. Maybe she can do something special for this, too, come to think of it.

Orcsmasher, this sword was. She'd gotten it on the Sixtieth Floor, in a trade with a wandering Dark Elf warrior. The scarred, disgraced former knight had given it to her in exchange for a medallion she'd gotten as a reward from the Fifty-Seventh Floor's elven garrison.

Supposedly, the sword had some kind of special powers. So far Sachi hadn't seen them, though, so she'd begun to wonder if Lisbeth's enhanced forge might do something for it—

"Hey, guys!" Klein called, waving to them, "C'mon, hurry up! We found the door! …I think."

Finally. The sooner we get out of this heat, the better. …Too bad first we have to get closer to it. Trotting to catch up with the rest of Fuurinkazan, she promised herself a long bath once they were done with the volcano. The special armor kept the heat damage at bay, but it still left her sweating like crazy.

"Hey, Sachi? Does that sword of yours, um, normally do that?"

Startled by Lisbeth's interjection, Sachi looked down at her blade—which had started glowing a bright blue. A glow that got brighter with every step toward the door Klein had found into the volcano's interior.

"…That's new." Suddenly shivering despite the heat, she watched her sword with a feeling of creeping dread. "I've got a bad feeling about this."

"Worst. Quest. Ever!" Klein got out, catching a scimitar blow on his left bracer, and winced at the sliver of scratch damage that got through anyway. Snarling, he drove a Hirazuki into his black-armored foe's chest, ramming him into the tunnel wall hard enough to shatter him to pieces.

Seriously. The draconic and dinosaur enemies on the slope of the volcano, he'd expected. He could deal with the fire-breathing, and with a good macer around he could even deal with the armor. The quest giver had given Fuurinkazan plenty of warning about all the fiery and toothy opposition they were likely to face on the way to X'rdan's lair.

Only when they'd gotten into the tunnels had they heard shouting, and the quest log had abruptly updated to mention another faction was going after X'rdan with an agenda of their own. What is was, the system hadn't bothered to mention yet.

Klein knew only one thing for sure, between Dale tanking a stab to the gut, Dynamm punching somebody in the face with his shield, and Lisbeth hammering somebody else within an inch of his life. He knew that suddenly blundering into humanoid mobs in the middle of lava tubes that might go active at any moment was Not Fun.

"Worse than the zombies?" Kunimittz said laconically, burying his spear in another of the black ambusher's guts. "I thought those were kinda hard to top, personally."

The red samurai blanched, remembering a stone dungeon, vats full of muck, and rotting mobs with all-too-familiar faces. "Okay," he admitted. "The zombies were pretty bad—"

Issin's sasumata cut an attacker's arm off—Klein noticed, in a brief free moment, they were unhelpfully labeled [Mysterious Brigands]—and brought the handle around in a spin to whack the mob's head into a wall. "Don't forget the railway tunnel," he said, settling himself into the pre-motion for a skill even as the Brigand shook free of the stun. "Zombies and almost getting run over by a train? Pretty bad day." He followed up with a wordless shout, launching himself at the Brigand.

"Hey, Lind was the one who went and tempted Fate." Setting himself, Klein charged forward between Harry One and Issin, almost tripping over a Brigand that hadn't quite finished dying yet. "We were doing just fine until he had to open his big mouth!"

He ducked under another scimitar, shrugged off the shallow slash to his ribs, and dropped a Falling Leaf on the back of a Brigand struggling with Sachi. Mess with one of mine, will ya? I don't think so! The stagger lasted long enough for his own post-motion to end, and then he was thrusting another Hirazuki.

The Suzaku Blade punched neatly through the back of the Brigand's breastplate, through his heart, and out the other side. After only a stifled grunt, the mob exploded around his sword, briefly lighting up the lava tube in bright blue.

Panting lightly, Sachi gave him a quick nod of thanks, then turned to face ahead again. With her skillset—on top of Kirito's tutoring, she'd gotten pointers from a freaking Dark Elf—she was scouting for the guild. Even without her invisibility-granting cloak, she was darn good at it.

"At least these guys die when they're killed," she said, reminding Klein she also had a sharp tongue when it suited her. "…Remember Reccoa?"

He flinched. Yeah, that one he remembered. Bad as Reveno Village had been, watching Reccoa City be torn apart from within before burning to the ground ranked somewhere in the top three biggest sources of his nightmares these days. About tied with the Doppels at the Dead Workshop, really—

"Guys!" Lisbeth called out. "We need to move! Now!"

Klein glanced back, wondering belatedly why he hadn't been hearing quite as much combat the last few moments. The first thing he noticed, besides Lisbeth's pale face, was an odd red light in the tunnel behind her. The second thing was that the last couple of Brigands had abruptly decided discretion was the better part of valor, and were simply running right toward him and Sachi. They didn't even seem to care about the rest of Fuurinkazan trying to chop them up.

Why the—oh. Oh, hell, no!

He whipped his head back around. "Run! Run now! Go!"

Zombies still topped his personal nightmare ranking. Realizing there was a lava flow coming right down the tunnel he and his guildmates were standing in jumped really high up the list, really fast.

The next minute or two was mostly a mad dash and a loud clatter of armor, as eight players and two panicked mobs ran for their lives. There was also a lot of cursing, the odd bump and bounce as various people and limbs collided, and maybe just a little bit of screaming.

Emerging into a wider space was sudden, and just as frightening: the floor ended with the lava tube.

With no time to even try to stop, Klein accelerated instead. Pushing his legs as fast as his AGI allowed, he screamed like a banshee, uttered a couple of fast prayers, and flung himself out into the open air of the volcano's caldera.

He didn't land on his feet. It was his shins that hit the rock bridge a few meters out, leaving him to tumble gracelessly in a heap. But it was a heap on solid, not-burning rock, which meant he was still alive. Better yet, the rest of his guild slammed home with varying degrees of grace just after him, freaked out and out of control but alive.

Just to cap off the miracle, Klein managed to roll over just in time to see the two Brigands fail the jump. One of them didn't even come close, caught by the lava racing down the tube and falling with an ear-piercing scream. The other—

He almost made it. He hit the rock bridge with his stomach, letting him get something of a grip on it. But he was slipping fast, weighed down by armor and unable to get purchase on the smooth rock. The visor on his black helmet was too dark to see through, but Klein thought the Brigand was glaring.

"Nice try," the mob sneered, just as fingers began to slip away. "You stopped us once. But in the end, the Echo will—!"

The Brigand fell, the rest of his dying statement lost in his plunge into the lava below.

Klein allowed himself a few moments to just lie there on the rock, letting the adrenaline rush fade just a little. The rest of his guild seemed happy to do just that, so who was he to argue? Part of being a guildmaster was going with the flow, sometimes.

Going to have to ask the Rat about this later, though. "The Echo"? The info she sold us on this quest didn't say anything about that. And it sounded way too much like the kind of campaign quests Kirito stumbles into all the time.

Still….

He found himself chuckling. "Okay, Kunimittz," he said, pushing himself up to one knee. "You got me. This isn't half as bad as the zombies."

"You know, I'm kinda disturbed by that," Lisbeth said, shoving off the rock and shaking her head. "We just got ambushed, chased by lava, and made a jump that almost killed us, and you guys think it's funny? And here I thought Asuna's stories about what Kirito gets up to had to be exaggerated."

Klein had to stop to think about that, just for a second. To take a step back, and look at what he and his guild had just done. As guildmaster of Fuurinkazan, the quest really didn't feel as bad as dealing with a zombie apocalypse. Maybe not even as bad as fighting a dragon in a ship graveyard. Really, not that much worse than dueling a DDA ronin while his guild fought an evil Santa.

Just another day at the office. Except… when I did spend my days in an office, would I really have thought a fight in a volcano was a light workout?

The salaryman, he realized, would probably have run screaming. He wondered, then, just when that had changed.

"This is what it's like on the frontlines, Lisbeth," Sachi said, helping the blacksmith to her feet. "It's just what we've had to get used to, that's all." She turned to look at Klein, and the rest of the now-recovered Fuurinkazan. "Right now, we've got a boss to take out, right?"

"Right you are, Sachi." Standing straight and tall, Klein swept out his sword to point up the slope of the bridge. "On your feet, guys! Let's find that dragon, and turn it to bones and hide!"

Ten minutes and three more close encounters with lava later, Fuurinkazan stood at the edge of a maze of rock walkways around the top of the volcano. And when, out of the center of the lava pool, X'rdan the Fire Wyrm erupted into the air, their leader couldn't help but grin. It was a dragon, it was on fire, and it was glaring at the guild with flaming eyes.

Klein, Red Samurai, Guildmaster of Fuurinkazan, leveled the Suzaku Blade at the blazing dragon. Just another day. "Bring it on!"

It was times like this that Lisbeth questioned her own sanity. Just a little. She was in the caldera of a volcano—an active volcano—where the only footing was a confusing mess of intertwined rock bridges, going up and down and around. For allies, she had nothing but a seven-man guild of wannabe-samurai, led by a maniac who looked more like a bandit and thought being chased through an active lava tube was normal.

For enemies, there was a flaming dragon whose cursor was to her a deep red, along with several Flying Volcanic Cephalosaurs. And just to top off the insanity, the lava pool at the bottom of the caldera was sending up occasional plumes, against which her buckler shield and heat-resistant cloak would be pretty much useless.

All for some mats, and to help the maniac upgrade a sword he got from a dead PKer. Why did I agree to this, again?

As she raced up one of the rock bridges, Sachi at her side, in pursuit of one of the flying mobs, Lisbeth realized ruefully she really had no one to blame but herself. The Baneblade had been bad enough. Elucidator, and now the Suzaku Blade? Her blacksmith's pride simply wouldn't let her take the insult lying down.

At least her pride meant she wasn't completely helpless. When the Cephalosaur suddenly pulled a loop and came screaming down at her, the STR built up for hammering swords brought her mace around in a brutal arc that walloped the dinosaur right in the skull.

"Lisbeth, Switch!"

She ducked back—just incidentally letting Klein sail over her with a whoop, the samurai leaping from one rock bridge to another in pursuit of X'rdan. More importantly, her retreat gave Sachi room to rush forward and thrust the crimson lance of a Vorpal Strike into the reeling Cephalosaur.

Tougher than the ones outside, Lisbeth thought, seeing it recoil but not shatter. Well, fine! I could use the practice! "Sachi, Switch!"

It was the swordswoman's turn to dance to the side, letting the smith swing her mace in a heavy backhand, ride the momentum into a spin, and leap to bring the mace down on the Cephalosaur's nose.

That blow knocked it down to the rock, dazed. Before it could recover, Sachi's sword—no longer glowing blue, Lisbeth noticed, and absently wondered why—came down in a Vertical that lopped its wings right off. That provoked a spasm, a coughed-up fireball, and a high screech.

The mace coming down, one more time, silenced it.

One mob down, Lisbeth took a second to pat out her smoldering hair, and wince at the drop in her HP. It wasn't much, but it was more than she'd have expected from a hit like that. "Now I remember why I'm not a clearer," she muttered. "That soot better not be as clingy as those goats from the Twenty-Sixth Floor."

"If it is, I know where to go for soap," Sachi told her. The other girl was lightly twirling her sword in one hand, eyes darting around as she looked for other mobs. "Kirito's run into some nasty stuff—run!"

Lisbeth wasn't a clearer, but she'd been on the front a time or two in the past, and out hunting mats on lower floors almost daily. She didn't ask, she broke into a run, following Sachi as closely as she could. Only when she'd gotten some momentum going did she risk looking back—and then she was running even faster, even though Sachi was leading her straight off the edge.

Trying to hold back a scream as the two of them took a flying leap toward another bridge, Lisbeth took little comfort from staying scant meters ahead of a wall of lava. If I survive this, I swear, I'm gonna…!

Klein swore as his foot slipped, carrying him way closer to the edge than he ever wanted to be. He caught himself without breaking stride, though, and continued his race down the rocky slope, Suzaku slicing a wing off a Cephalosaur almost in passing.

It was a long way down, way farther than he intended to go. He didn't have time to watch it fall all the way down to the lava pool, but he certainly heard the chopped-off screech when it hit the surface. That made him wince, even knowing the beast was both just a monster and not even real—if only because he knew that lava would do exactly the same to him, if he really did slip.

Which, by any sane measure, he was in real danger of. Kunimittz and Dynamm were crowding close to his heels, and X'rdan was swooping ever closer. A quick glance over his shoulder showed it even closer than he'd thought, mouth opening, light erupting from deep in its throat—

With a double battlecry, Issin and Harry One hit the dragon from above, driving their weapons deep into its back. It roared, even though its HP only dropped a sliver—a roar that cut off with an incongruous yelp and a heavy thud.

Despite the situation, Klein couldn't help but grin, skidding to a stop and spinning to face X'rdan. His buddies hadn't done much damage directly, no. Their combined weight and impact was enough to drop the dragon a couple of crucial meters, forcing it to slam nose-first into a rock bridge crossing over the one from which Klein had almost fallen.

A nice stun, which so helpfully dropped X'rdan in a heap on the bridge, with no fewer than five members of Fuurinkazan right on hand.

Charging back the way he'd come, Suzaku coming up in the pre-motion for a Hirazuki, Klein raised his voice. "You two are crazy, y'know that?! What if you'd missed?!"

"Says the guy who pulled aggro in the first place!" Issin shot back. He paused, grunting, to drive his sasumata deeper into X'rdan's spine. "Besides, we knew what we were doing. Remember Medrizzel?"

Aiming his Hirazuki thrust at the flaming dragon's right eye, Klein had to grant the point. That sea serpent had been two or three times X'rdan's size, but the need to keep moving from one precarious perch to another had been pretty darn similar to what they were now facing. Maybe worse, what with only a series of wrecked ships and flotsam to stand on. At least X'rdan's volcanic lair had long stretches of walkway—

Dynamm's cutlass cleaved into the left side of X'rdan's snout. Kunimittz's spear rammed in right between its nostrils. The Suzaku Blade plunged into the dragon's eye.

The dragon promptly screeched in agony, shook itself violently, and flung both Issin and Harry One off. Even as the two of them tumbled away, flailing and yelling, X'rdan swept out a clawed forelimb, brushing Klein and his buddies away like a trio of swatted flies.

Oh, yeah, Klein thought, in one sane corner of his mind as he went sprawling and rolling away, one other thing about that fight: it didn't have freaking lava!

His uncontrolled descent farther down the rock bridge gave him a split second's glimpse of the lava pool down below, driving home that little detail. Then another, longer glimpse. Then he realized he'd gone off the bridge entirely, and there was a freaking Cephalosaur looking to help him get down.

And this still isn't as bad as the zombies!

"Klein!"

Heart in her throat, Lisbeth couldn't help the exclamation. Maybe she hadn't known the wannabe-samurai long, but she still didn't want to see him—or anyone else—die right in front of her. Even leaving aside the little fact that if Fuurinkazan broke, she wasn't likely to make it out either.

Despite being on a bridge much higher up, still catching her breath from almost being barbequed by a minor eruption, she couldn't help but reach out a hand, as if that would catch him—only for Sachi to put a hand on her shoulder, and shake her head with a shaky but genuine smile.

In a second, Lisbeth saw why. Just as Klein bounced off the walkway, he twisted in the air, jabbed out with the Suzaku Blade, and caught himself on the rock with the sword. Holding himself up with the blade, the samurai used it to flip himself up, catching the Cephalosaur trying to bite him with a kick to the snout, and spun back onto solid ground.

Before the smith's disbelieving eyes, Klein yanked his sword out of the rock, and in the same motion whipped its edge up to cut the flying dinosaur's head right off.

Blinking, she turned her stare on Sachi. "How did he do that?! The ground should have Immortal Object status! I've seen people bounce weapons off terrain!"

"Rules can be weird in boss arenas," the swordswoman replied, already turning to run back up the walkway. What she was planning, Lisbeth didn't know and was kind of afraid to ask. "We've been on the front since the Fifty-First Floor Boss, we've seen a few things."

A few. Shaking her head, Lisbeth dashed off in the other girl's wake. "How do you get used to things like this, anyway? Most of your guild almost fell into the lava!" It was pure luck, from what she could tell, that Issin and Harry One had landed on walkways, and Issin had fallen so far he'd lost a third of his HP from the impact.

The smile Sachi turned back her way this time wasn't reassuring. The last time Lisbeth had seen someone that sad, it'd been Kirito in an unguarded moment, talking about clearing the Ruby Palace. "You go through worse," the girl said simply. "Next to The Commandant or the Fifty-Seventh Floor, this isn't that bad."

Oof. She was sorry she'd asked. Like everyone, she knew the story of the zombie outbreak, and felt a chill every time another rumor of a second outbreak surfaced. Of The Commandant, Lisbeth had only heard particularly ugly rumors. If any of them were true… well, she supposed she could see why Sachi wasn't too bothered by the volcano boss.

Though she was wondering just what the other girl was up to, going so high up. She got a partial answer when they reached the apex of the rock bridge, just before it curved back down, and found Dale waiting for them. "Ready, Dale?" Sachi said.

The big two-handed swordsman nodded, hefting his heavy blade. "Almost time." He started to say something else, only to pause and abruptly whirl his sword around his back, smashing a Cephalosaur in the skull. "Your turn, Sachi," he went on, as if nothing had happened.

"For what?" Lisbeth demanded plaintively. She could hear the sound of wing-beats approaching now, and had a sudden feeling that something else crazy was about to happen.

"This. Get behind me!"

With shocking suddenness, X'rdan was right there, swooping in toward them with a loud roar. Its mouth was opening, throat glowing, and there was absolutely no time for Lisbeth to do anything but jump back as far as the narrow bridge allowed. Her small buckler shield came up, a gesture she knew was all-too-futile against what was coming.

Flame erupted from X'rdan's open mouth, a torrent of fire far too large for a mere shield to block—

With a high yell, Sachi planted herself right in front of those flames, her sword spinning like a propeller before her outstretched hand. In front of Lisbeth's disbelieving eyes, the firebreath hit the whirling sword and split, like water hitting a shield. It came close enough for her to feel the heat, for the wind of its passage to set her cloak billowing, yet her HP bar remained steady, not even a sliver shaved away.

This… is what clearers can do? Things have sure changed since the Thirty-Seventh Floor….

Then the fires were fading, and Sachi's sword snapped back into her hand. "Now!"

Dale might've been quicker off the mark, launching an Avalanche against the snout now within blade-range of the rock bridge. Despite her own surprise, though, Lisbeth didn't let herself fall behind, raising her mace and bringing it down in a Skullsmasher right on X'rdan's nose.

The dragon recoiled, screeching, out of melee range. Sachi only smiled—a cool, confident smile—and brought her sword to eye-level, flat parallel to the ground. A brief pause as Orcsmasher glowed bright crimson—and with a shout, her Vorpal Strike lashed out, three times the length of her blade, piercing the boss' forehead.

X'rdan the Fire Wyrm fell.

Watching the fiery, overgrown lizard fall down the caldera, Klein couldn't help but feel pride. The nervous, half-broken girl he'd taken in eight months before sure had come a long way. If he didn't know better, now he'd have thought she'd been with his guild from Launch Day.

She and her companions hadn't quite killed the thing. There was still a chunk left of its final HP bar, and it was looking like it might catch enough air in its wings to stop its fall before impact with the lava pool could finish the job. But it was falling—and the rest of Fuurinkazan was waiting.

On a bridge five meters down from Sachi, Kunimittz drove a Straight Thrust into the dragon's throat. Its own fall dragged its neck along the spearhead, widening what would've been a simple stab into a broad gash.

The next bridge down, the dragon's own reaction to the hit made its head strike the rock and bounce. That brought it into range of Issin's sasumata, the Spinning Cane skill tearing a quick trio of slices into the top of its head before it fell out of reach.

Harry One and Dynamm were waiting, another ten meters down. Most of the pirate's spinning Dancing Hellraiser's five hits were dead on, while the dragon fell straight down Harry One's simple Vertical.

The fire dragon's attempts to get flying again interrupted every step of the way, it was possible the fall would've finished the job. Immune though it may have been to heat, just hitting the lava pool from so high up would've been nearly as bad for it as for any player.

A good guildmaster doesn't take chances.

An eyeblink, before the dragon fell past the lowest rock bridge. In that moment, Klein's Suzaku Blade flashed out of its scabbard in a blazing Iai, cutting straight across its face from eye to eye. It screeched one more time, a high, keening sound. It convulsed, one talon-filled forelimb reaching for the samurai.

A meter above the surface of the lava pool, X'rdan the Fire Wyrm burst into ten thousand azure shards.

Klein flicked Suzaku to one side, scattering a shower of red particles. Brought it back the other way, reversed the blade in his hand, and slid it neatly home in its scabbard. Not bad, for a murderer's sword. I guess I can live with it, after all. …Wherever you are now, Kuze, you can just rot.

Grinning, the Guildmaster of Fuurinkazan raised one fist to the warriors who'd made it all happen. "Good work, guys!" he called, voice echoing against the volcano's walls. "All in a day's work!"

Author's Note:

Well. I'm not gonna call this my finest work, but I hope it at least does the job.

For those interested in the usual excuses, this chapter's long-delayed release is what happens when a busy holiday season, the acquisition of a new game console and a couple of RPGs to go with, and having to start a chapter over mid-stream combine in one perfect storm. That last, honestly, probably being the worst part: I got eight thousand words in, and realized what I was doing just wasn't working. I did end up using most of that content in the end, but extensive rewrites were necessary to fill in some gaps.

Simply put, this chapter was intended as a breather/bridge, covering a period that really didn't have any notable story material. (For reference, last chapter left off in March, the next major event is in August.) That in mind, I decided to do a series of vignettes, each about three thousand words long, giving a look at how a given character was adapting to Aincrad after so long.

This being me, three thousand words each proved insufficient. So. Recalculated for two breather chapters, and had to write up several additional scenes to make the two vignettes to which this chapter was reduced work properly. I suspect the final product is still somewhat sub-par, but I hope it's at least mildly interesting. For my part, I'm just glad the chapter moves the timeline forward a bit. (And, truthfully, it's not completely devoid of significance to the overall plot, as may or may not be obvious.)

In any case, here it is, and I do have two of the three plots for the next chapter worked out already, and indeed have some material already written for the first of them. Let me know if this chapter was at all entertaining, and I'll see everyone in the next chapter (or in Oath of Rebellion's next, I am trying to balance the two after all…). 'Til then, comrades. -Solid