Sword Art Online: Asgard
Chapter 12
Youko had acquired both a better shield and highly enchanted short sword, so no matter how this played out she would come out ahead.
(It was astonishing how quickly you got into all this roleplaying. While she still remembered it was all a game, she still was caught up in the battles and the quest. She now much more understood how her daughter felt.)
They had fought their way through two rooms on the third floor. There had been surprisingly hard to defeat tree-monsters, who had soaked up all their damage. Ironically it had been fire attacks from her and Klein that did the most damage...
THEN they had been hit by Dark Elf Knights. They were all well equipped this time, AND fought with both sword skills and magic. The group nearly killed them, until Excalibur and Mjolnir evened the odds a bit.
"They reminded me of Kizmel, a bit," Kirito noted.
"Hmm," Asuna nodded slightly.
"I don't like relying on the two weapons," Youko noted as she, Asuna and Leafa used healing magic on everyone. "If we run into something immune, we're fucked," she added.
"Language," Asuna chided, looking at Yui.
Youko rolled her eyes.
"She has a point though," Klein said as he pointed out, "just relying on two powerful magic weapons is dangerous."
"Considering it was you and Youko who killed the trees...," Lux noted mildly.
"Assuming this level is as small as it seems, there should only be two more rooms left," Sinon mused quietly.
"Everyone healed up?" Liz asked.
"Looks like it," Asuna noted.
"Let's recast the usual buffs before moving forward," Youko added.
"Okay, let's try not to get killed," Silica muttered.
"Urf," her pet dragon Pina noted.
Thr group cautiously advanced into the next room. "Raaaaah!" the huge mob of shambling undead roared.
"You've GOT to be kidding me," Sinon bitched as she drew her bow and rapidly fired off two arrows. Both of the arrows whizzed into the heads of two zombies, visibly staggering them but not dropping them.
"Did Norse mythology HAVE zombies?" Klein complained as he cut one down.
"They might be the dishonored dead," Kirito noted, "from Hel or Neffleheim."
"Oh joy. Hela had better not be the final boss, because if she is we are deeply screwed," Youko said grimly.
"NOW you've cursed us," Asuna noted cheerfully as she cast spells from the back.
"Sorry," Youko cut down a undead.
"Sinon, stay in the back," Asuna ordered as she and Leafa stopped casting spells and joined in the chaotic fighting.
"Yeah, bow is not really doing it," Sinon conceded.
Liz swept away a whole wave of zombies, though gore splattered everywhere.
"I'm SO glad we don't have to wash these outfits," Youko joked.
"Sorry!" Liz laughed sheepishly.
They managed to avoid being overwhelmed by the undead, but just barely. "Argh. I got brains all over my armor," Klein complained.
"Poor thing," Youko teased. After a few minutes 'splatter effects' just went away, thankfully. Though armor damage persisted...
"You're all lucky you're not wearing a chain mail bikini," Liz noted dryly.
"Heal up, everyone," Kirito reminded them. He added worriedly, "How are we doing for mana restoring potions?"
The healers and mages were burning through a lot of mana to do their jobs, and they needed the potions to fill back up. They had purchased a lot of them before coming into the dungeon, but they had used more than expected...
"We're certainly running low," Leafa admitted. She and Asuna checked, "We've got eight left, and we'll need to use three to heal everyone after the next room. Unless we want to wait for mana to regenerate on it's own."
"That takes a LONG while," Asuna made a face. She looked at Yui, "If we wait in the room, what are the odds the monsters might re-spawn before we recover?"
The game sprite looked thoughtful. "The odds of that happening are low... but not zero. It COULD happen," she admitted.
"We'll consider it after we beat the next room," Kirito decided.
'As it's another 'boss' room, that's assuming we do beat it,' Youko thought but didn't say it.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
The room was icy cold, and somehow had a high, vaulted ceiling. They almost immediately found out why.
"IT'S A FROST GIANT."
"It's a Frost Giant with FOUR HEALTH BARS."
"We are so hosed."
Asuna managed to recover first. "Klein! Youko! Fire attacks!"
"Right," Klein charged, Youko right behind him.
"Kirito! Liz! Don't hold back!" Asuna barked.
"Never do!" Liz yelled as she swung, hammer crackling with lightning,
"Leafa! Do we have any magic that might help?" Asuna asked.
"I have nothing against ice," Leafa admitted.
"We'll do support as long as our mana holds out," Asuna decided.
"Then you charge in like a Berzerk Healer," Leafa teased
"I hate that nickname," Asuna pouted.
Kirito started doing that 'chain attack' stunt, he had figured out. With each of his swords, he would initiate a sword skill, then with the other hand, start a second one while the first was running. So far no other user had managed the mental gymnastics required...
Interestingly, the giant was shrinking as they damaged him. That hadn't happened last time.
"Raaaah!" Klein ripped through the giant's leg, killing off the first health bar and shrinking it down a bit more.
"We're doing it!" Lux cheered.
"I really need a better weapon," Silica muttered as she stabbed with her dagger, then ran away before she could get hit.
Sinon gracefully drew her bow, sending fire arrows into the giant's body. "He's got protective magic around his face," she complained, having tried for his eyes.
"You are scarily ruthless," Leafa noted rather admiringly.
"Ooof!" Klein took a hit, skidding backwards.
Asuna cast healing, seeing her mana gage falling. They couldn't do this for very long...
"Aaaah!" Liz struck with her hammer, staggering the giant as his second health bar went to zero. "Half way!" she yelled.
The giant still towered over them, but was noticably smaller. Still, he was hugely powerful, and they were getting exhausted...
"Do you have ANY IDEA how hard it's been to catch up to you?" a dry voice came from just behind them.
"Eeep," Asuna turned, blinking. "Eugene? AND Shiroe of Log Horizon?"
"We combined forces to power our way through," Eugene boasted, the huge man smiling.
"I suggest we combine our forces, defeat this giant then move on to the final boss," Shiroe said to her briskly.
"Kirito?" Asuna yelled to him questioningly.
"Do it!" Kirito agreed as he dodged a huge club.
"Welcome to the party," Asuna nodded to them.
With that, the much larger group, helped by the Demon Sword Garm that Eugene used, quickly whittled down the giant...
To be continued!
Notes: One chapter to go, at least on the dungeon. Then we open up the Asgard floor itself.