Link Start: Danger In Virtual Worlds
Chapter 17: Impossible Situation
Date: Days 590-625
On the 46th Floor, there's the Arc V Duel World and the popular Ant Hill dungeon which is great for farming EXP. On the 47th Floor, there's the Hill of Memories, Floria, a garden theme, the VRAINS Duel World, Forest of Giant Flowers, the familiar reviving rare Pneuma Flower, Hill Of Memories, and the Floor Boss Leia the Legion Butterfly. Leia is a pain of a boss to deal with. More on that later but here's what they can do. Fly into the air and summon tornadoes while being unable to take damage, split into smaller versions after reaching half health, fly to the center by flying after reuniting to summon a painful vortex, wide AOE charge, and spit poisonous pollen. On the 48th Floor, there's Londarth as the main town(medieval themed with canals), the Sevens Duel World, and the location where Lisbeth set up her Blacksmith Shop originally. She ended up reestablishing it before we faced the 48th Boss. It is the floor where a scandal involving a high ranking heavily armored and black haired clearer known as Schmitt who has an imposing presence occurred and almost caused several people to be killed by PKers who would later do far worse deeds. That's because among them was the man who would be later known as Death Gun. So we get to the 46th Floor without any problems. Something I neglected to mention earlier was that on the past several floors, the Duel Worlds had some environmental differences from usual.
We can see it on this floor with the garden plants all over wherever there's grass in the copy of Maimai City. In fact, there's even some plants in cracks on the pavement and other areas too. I remark: "The 46th Floor, huh? Well, I certainly hope that this entire floor doesn't end up turning into a wicked garden. This floor isn't even supposed to be garden themed but apparently, it is now like how the next floor above this one is. Oh yes, this is the perfect time to make a Stone Temple Pilots reference. I'm so original. In all seriousness, the city may look bright and cheery but we can't let our guards down. As we have seen time and time again on floors below this one, anything can happen. This unexpected development is proof. But regardless, it might be just that the plants are here because of Minecraft's flower forest biome." Sure enough, Paradox appears except he's got something different planned for us. He laughs: "I have no reason to fight any of you myself. If you want to stop my plans, you will have to confront me and give me a reason to kill you all sooner instead of later on. Now, say hello to all of the plant dragons that have come under my control. First: Malefic Black Rose Dragon!" Aki gasps: "Black Rose Dragon!" "Hahahahaha! Aww, is the infamous Black Rose sad about what I've done to improve her precious Black Rose Dragon?! How sad! Except it's not sad at all! For now, I will take my leave unless any of you are foolish enough to challenge me on your own time."
Chaos ensues as the dragons start causing the plants in the entire city to grow completely out of control. Even mature flowers, grasses, and trees go to unnatural lengths at jaw dropping speeds that even outpace the power of bonemeal which rapidly grows plants in Minecraftian worlds. The city quickly becomes a maze of plants. The only thing that can keep us from getting totally lost now is the minimap interface. The dragons continue to cause problems for us by choosing to attack us out of nowhere. The Malefic corruption of them has only made them that much more dangerous. We thought we would be done with Paradox after we dealt with him in Duel Links while it had an invasion that was concurrent with an invasion of Ni No Kuni. But no. He's here and he's causing a lot of trouble for us. It appears he's gotten a lot stronger since we encountered him previously. Hopefully we won't have to stop our main mission temporarily of beating the bosses and stopping the villains to help grow our forces like we just literally did again. Paradox is proving that that's something that isnt always free of major trade offs. I sigh: "Damn it. This is going to be a tough situation to deal with. I summon Regnes! Regnes, help us out with your devastating skills!" We all pull out our weapons and assume the usual formations for handling floor bosses but in smaller groups to handle each of the dragons. I end up being amongst those who fight against Malefic Black Rose Dragon.
And honestly, that's a very good thing all things considered so I shall take it in stride. I assume the role of a tank knowing that my skills can't exactly reach the dragon with how high up they are above us. In fact, few could even hit Black Rose with all of the overgrown plants that will probably drain all of the soil of their nutrients in no time at all blocking most of the view of the dragon. It was a difficult battle but somehow, we pulled through again with Aki dealing the last blow with a heavy heart. I don't blame her. I wouldn't want to destroy my ace Regnes if I had to. Soon, all of the dragons are defeated but that doesn't mean the city is free of all the plants. No, not at all. Sinon states: "That's one problem taken care of. But we still have several to deal with especially Paradox. What do we do about him?" Yusei replies: "We have to fight him. No matter how many times we have to. We have to keep fighting him. He wants to kill all of us and destroy this entire game. He will not destroy us all until he destroys this game. Unless.. No.. What if he found a way to find Earth's original timeline and destroy the very first games humans invented?" Asuna speaks: "Honestly, I don't think we will have to worry about something like that. All he wants right now is mostly destroying this game and us before doing so most likely." Judai nods: "Paradox is willing to murder innocent people if that's what allows him to get what he wants. We saw it for ourselves. He used a number of stolen dragons to attack Domino City in the past. The damage ended up killing almost every single person who was present at that event that was taking place including Pegasus. But Yugi was the survivor. And now.. he's gone.. Titan killed him.."
Crow pats him on the shoulder: "It'll be okay. Once we escape this game, we'll see all of our loved ones again. Trust me. We can do this. We will make it to the end of this game no matter what it takes." I speak up: "As much as I enjoy listening to others talk, we really got to do some weed control here. Those plants appear to still be growing but at a much slower pace than before while still far faster than the natural growth rate of plants." We start attacking the plants in an attempt to cut down them but it's no use. Eva shouts: "Damn it, it's like these plants are made out of something even better than steel! This is one hell of an issue for us to deal with." I speak again: "It goes without saying.. Fire? No, we aren't doing that. We might as well destroy what's left of the city after we get rid of all of these plants, right?! So much would burn to the group if we torched up all of them plans." And so, we end up brainstorming ways we can get rid of these damn plants. Suddenly, a violent and loud chopping sound can be heard. Someone with a huge axe yells: "Lumberjacks and other axe users, it's our time to shine!" And now, about 100 players are using axes on the plants. It's actually working. That's the best yet most puzzling part. With that all being taken care of by them, we then all decide to explore the rest of the floor in the meantime. I'm interested in checking out Ant Hill as it was only not long before this point that I was told about how great of an exp farm it is. Myself and a bunch of others quickly locate it and head to it immediately. It takes some time for us to get there but once we do, we pretty much spend the rest of the day there.
To our surprise, all of us reach the point that there's no more use in continuing to level up using Ant Hill so we teleport to Heartland City and eat and sleep there for the night and morning. After getting ready to get back to the next floor, we teleport right there. The work of the lumberjacks is apparently still far from over. Even Kirito's Night Sky Sword can't really do much against the plants despite the fact that it was forged from a tree that was nearly impossible to cut down. It was worked on for generations in the Underworld. Eugeo ended up being taught by Kirito how to use a sword while standing underneath that tree. He eventually retrieved the Blue Rose Sword and used it to knock down the tree. Eugeo was freed from a life of chopping at the tree which was called the Giga Cedar or something like that. POH was turned into a tree just like it. That's how he was killed and why he wants revenge on Kirito. Anyway, there really isn't much else to say about the 46th Floor as Paradox just kind of left us alone for the time being. The only reason it took more than 5 days to move onto the next floor was because of all of those overgrown plants. The axe users worked tiredlessly to knock all of them down. At the very least, they got to sell all of the materials they got from the plants for a lot of col though they did save a huge percentage of the materials to contribute to the Assault Team's future. It was a great act of kindness, that's for sure. We got through the 46th Floor Boss without losing anyone to our relief.
While we were waiting for all the plants to be chopped down(the teleport gate to the 47th somehow got covered by several of the plants in a place where they intertwined), pretty much anyone who really needed to level was allowed to go ahead and level in Ant Hill. Soon enough, on Day 602, we moved onto the 47th Floor with our levels and what not better than ever. With Lisbeth back fighting with us and doing her thing as a blacksmith, we are now back in great shape when it comes to weapons and equipment. What a huge relief. A lot of tears were shed when a proper welcome back thing ended up happening after Entity303's deaths. So what happened on the 47th? A lot. Paradox didn't show up but we knew that we really had to stop him ASAP or at least slow him down. We find ourselves in the the VRAINS Duel World as expected. It has a slightly different version of Link VRAINS. It was even called a new area in Link VRAINS by Soulburner some time ago. Reiji adjusts his glasses: "I would be interested in continuing to study Duel Links on this floor. There are still many mysteries about Duel Links itself that have yet to be uncovered. However, as the leader of the Lancers, I know that we must continue with our main goals. I can study Duel Links more once we escape this game and all of the virtual worlds return to being separate." That's very well put. Playmaker looks in all directions around us: "I don't sense-" His Link Sense must have kicked in. And that's when Paradox shows up with a smirk on his face as he removes his mask: "I have to admit. I grow impatient of carrying out my revenge."
"Why don't we just settle everything here? Actually, I'm giving you no choice and I do not mind how you choose to try to destroy me. I activate the field spell Malefic World!" Everything around us to become colorful in a way that light blue and pink dominate every object around us. Us duelists activate our duel disks. Paradox laughs: "So many against me? That doesn't sound fair. Very well. It appears I must call on some help." Aporia(Duel Links), Z-One(Duel Links), the Supreme King(Duel Links), and Quattro(Duel Links) show up and activate their own disks. Aporia speaks: "Prepare to witness my despair!" Quattro laughs: "I can't wait to crush all of you and your cards!" The Quattro from Zexal replies: "I'm glad I'm not like you anymore. I still enjoy winning but I don't seek out to actively crush my opponents anymore. This is where things will end for you!" "*unison* Let's duel!" The greatest duel in VRAINS history is played. There's no shortage of excitement with all of the otherwise impossible card combinations that are able to occur. Thanks to all of them, the duel is both long and engaging. Paradox just laughs as his side loses. "It isn't over! If I can't win against you in a duel, then I will have to take action for myself! Emerge, my dragons! Come to life to destroy any and all who stand in my way!" I pull out my sword as I begin helping the others fight against all of the stolen dragons. But no matter how hard we try, we are barely able to do damage to any of them.
"Damn it. Should have seen something like this coming. But oh well, let's just do our best here and try not to die." After I say that, I am killed by Malefic Luster Dragon only to use my unique skill to come back to life with a huge temporary power up at my disposal. I use said power up to try to defend others with my restored life. What none of us saw coming, not even Paradox was the dragons out of nowhere turning against him. Well, I should say almost no one. Spectre is grinning as he usually goes when something good or amusing happens: "I was just waiting for this little plan of mine to sprout into action! And now, things are only about to get worse, Paradox! This is only the first step! Thanks to the fact that we can now summon Duel Monsters outside of duels without penalty thanks to some changes myself and a few others pulled off, we can now create an assault you've never dealt with before!" Seconds later, over 200 monsters are in the air or ground. Kaito grins too: "This should be fun. Go, all of my Galaxy Eyes dragons! Destroy Paradox!" Paradox somehow easily defeats all of the dragons he lost control of before reacting to seeing all 5 of Kaito's main Galaxy Eyes dragons. "How are you able to hold onto dragons despite everything I've done to take all of your dragons?!" "My bond with Galaxy Eyes is mightier than a gamma ray burst and stronger than a supernova. I am on the hunt. My target is you, Paradox. *Photon Transformation* With my transformation also being my unique skill in this game, I am ready now and you're in quite a bit of trouble!"
Paradox is having a seriously hard time against all of our monsters. With that said, he's going to be screwed eventually it seems. He tries to counter all of the attacks coming his way but there's so many that even he with how dangerous it is now can't manage to retaliate with how attacks of his own. He's weakening and getting tired from dealing with a fight he wasn't actually prepared to have. At least not yet anyway. The villain suddenly gets serious: "If this is how we're going to do our fight, I must make sure this eventually ends in my favor. I won't hold back as much of my real power this time. If I use my full power, I would very well be capable of destroying this entire world in a single move." Bulma smirks: "We're used to people with such abilities. Don't think we don't know how to deal with the likes of you!" I add: "This will not as you plan it to. I know that from experience seeing this happen many other times up to now. I believe it's time we throw everything we have to stop you, Paradox, If you want whatever it is needed to destroy you know what." And with that, none of us almost back anymore despite on the hurt Paradox is dealing on us and our monsters. There's just no way we will let him win or escape. He will be taken down before he can become an even greater threat than he already is. But then, something nutty happens. He laughs: "Fools. I will kill you someday but it won't be today. Now, please enjoy my parting gift." He sees that we got him good so he leaves behind some kind of explosive that goes off immediately and harms all of us. And as mysteriously as he first appeared, he is gone. Eva shouts: "Damn it! That bastard got away!" Aki nods: "That's correct but there's just to life than just all of that."
I add: "You're so right about this. It is a huge issue. He's going to get much stronger before he willingly shows his face again. We managed to survive him but next time, we aim on really getting him for what he's done so far. But his surprise hasn't truly come into effect just yet. That's when the 47th Floor Boss stands where he just was. Kirito yells: "Damn it! This is far too soon! We can't fight against it even with how high nearly all of our respective levels are!" The Butterfly charges at some of us before spitting some of that dangerous spit. "Crap. This is really bad. There must be something I can do as long as the boss stays on the ground.. I use all of my sword skills to attack the butterfly only to quickly find out. I did almost no damage but get knocked somewhat back. I say somewhat because of my heavy armor. After that, I chose to coordinate with others who can fight in close quarters and/or tank hits. We simply won't allow the boss to get the best of us even though we never got to fully prepare for facing it. "Haaaaa! I'm going to help bring you down somehow! Take this!" The battle proved to get harder and harder not to mention more frustrating. Most of us were underleveled for the fight. Our saving grace was having Asuna around with her really high level and gear. That's the only reason we were still able to fight. Despite the assistance of those who can't take any damage, we just weren't doing enough damage. The Boss was so aggressive. Always flying, spitting, or charging. Hell, the Boss even started spitting while doing other attacks. Eva yells: "Keep up the damn pressure! Let's finish this as soon as we can!"
Silica yells: "I won't back down!" I speak: "It's a good thing we prepared well before heading to this floor! We have lost too many and had countless close calls. A surprise and sudden boss fight doesn't catch us completely off guard anymore. I will use all of my strength to try to deal some damage!" And with that, I put my all into every swing and hit I do. If I die here today, I will go out fighting to my last breath. That's the only kind of death that I will have no regrets over besides being unable to live longer to help others out more than I have so far in my entire existence. But it doesn't take long for me to notice how little of an effect my attacks have on the boss. Hell, Judai yells: "Come on, why aren't we able to do more damage?! We really are too underleveled for this boss!" The butterfly takes to the sky and prepares to create a bunch of tornadoes. Kirito shouts: "Get away from the edges and head to the center immediately!" Not everyone was able to make it to the center in time. Some of the others got caught up in the tornadoes. We watched as they all died. There was nothing we could do to save them. Fighting back cries of grief and screams of despair, we had to keep fighting. The boss returned to the center of the combat area which happens to have ended up being the plaza of the Duel World and began preparing a huge vortex. We managed to get away in time. I pulled out my main gun and yell: "Damn this all! We have to use other means if our sword attacks or whatever can't do anything!" Beerus groans: "This damn Floor Boss is so stubborn! Why did it have to be sent on all of us this soon?! Damn it! It's like Paradox wants us to die at the hands of something order than himself as long as we suffer!"
Time passes but even switching to my main gun doesn't do anything. More clearers end up being killed by the boss. I don't see how we can even win against the Floor Boss even with the help of Romeo and the like. Amelda yells: "This is far more dangerous than what I survived in my childhood. Damn it, I wish there was something else I could do to try to defeat this boss! We haven't even gotten it down to half health yet! How are we supposed to win now?!" Pina takes a direct hit from the boss and dies. I know this because Silica screams: "PINA! NO! PINA! PINNNNNNNNA!" Sinon shouts: "Not Pina! This situation is only getting worse!" Silica almost gets killed because of how the grief ends up affecting her fighting style but Liten and I protect her. Liten speaks: "We won't allow anyone else to die no matter how long it takes to defeat this boss!" Asuna shouts: "I've had it! I will draw the full attention of the Floor Boss! I will gladly give my life to save all of you from this boss! Don't worry! I'm going to keep its attention now!" She does what she can to anger the boss enough to cause it to begin targeting her exclusively. Using her skills, she constantly deals damage to the butterfly in order to hold its attention and earn more and more of its ire. This allows all of us to focus on healing the injured, saving those who are dying from bleeding and/or poison caused by the spit, and attacking the boss from almost all directions. Our individual DPS is very small but together, we start being able to deal more damage. However, the butterfly soon proves to be too much for Asuna to handle on her own any longer. She begins losing a lot of her hp.
Kirito yells: "Damn it! ASUNA!" Pretty much anyone who is close to Asuna runs to her aid in a bid to try to save her. Seeing all of this, I grit my teeth and attack the boss with as much strength as I can muster in a single sword attack now that I've switched back to Graceful Protector. "Hey you! Don't think we'll let you kill anyone else! Haaaaaaa!" The boss has its attention stolen by those of us currently fighting it at close range together. Sachi yells: "Asuna! We won't let you die! The Assault Team does NOT leave anyone behind!" Schmidt who I mentioned earlier adds: "I owe my life to you and everyone else here! We won't abandon you!" And so, many of us start feeling exhausted as we make our hits stronger and stronger until we can't possibly make them anymore powerful. We also start performing the Switch technique a lot. I yell towards Lisbeth: "Lisbeth! Switch!" "Okay!" We trade places and I back away to heal myself with healing potions before I could end up being killed painfully by the boss. I am slowly being killed by poison as the butterfly managed to spit on me earlier so I have to keep more of an eye on my hp from now on. Once I recover, I rejoin the main attack force, relieving Lisbeth to go back to more of a support role as she is more of a blacksmith than a fighter even now. Things just keep getting more tense.
As things stand, it won't be long until some of us start running out of healing potions. We can't allow that to happen at all costs. There has to be a way to finally end this but what? We have no reinforcements who can come bail us out. The entire Assault Team has come to this floor together. And apparently, any and all duel disks have been disabled due to the boss fight. What's more is that someone tried to retreat but that failed as they hit some kind of barrier around the area we're in created by the game's system. We can only rely on ourselves and even I'm unsure if we'll be able to pull off a victory from somewhere now. Without our irl abilities, many of us clearers just can't go all out like we normally could. I must have less than 1/20th of the strength I have in my undead physical body in this avatar. If I could just access my full strength, I could start dealing a huge amount of damage. Each of my best hits is only doing 15 damage at best. That's how hard this boss battle has turned out to be. So what else could any of us even do? We're running out of time. With every hp we lose, that's just another lost health point that will eventually need to be healed up by a potion or a healer. We don't have any healers who can use magic to heal. We only have the kind with medical knowledge and the largest personal stockpiles of healing potions in the Assault Team. We would have all died by now if it weren't for all the healing potions and the teamwork and unity we have displayed for so long. I lost track of time during this fight so now, I don't even know what day it is anymore. For all I knew, we could already be getting close to 24 hours since we got into this fight that began with Paradox causing chaos as usual.
"Damn it! Damn it! What can we do to get out of this horrible situation?! Even if those who are best at support and dps are kept alive, we will still run out of recovery items before we can defeat this boss! When that happens, more clearers will have to give up their own hp or even lives to let others live to fight another day. I don't think any of us could survive if that point is reached.. But I've seen the future in some degree. I have foreseen that I will amongst so many others keep facing conflicts after this game is cleared for a long time.. We must get through this. There is some way we'll end up winning but what will it even end up being? We are using every trick in the book to reduce the damage we take while maximizing the damage we deal. I don't see anyway for us to survive this. Even if I have to use my unique skill again, I alone won't be nearly enough to turn the tide of this battle.." It just keeps going on and on while getting harder and harder. The boss is still at 75% health and yet, it still splits into smaller versions of itself to attack all of us. That makes it even harder to hit as its copies can move faster due to their lower mass. We all focus on what we can do to counteract every move the boss makes but it's obvious that at this time, we're all being slowly killed by the poison debuff with all of the spitting the boss and its copies have done. This is a practically impossible situation to get out of. Something major must change for us to win but what can we do to turn the tables? This is such a difficult situation.
The only good thing is that we'll be able to move onto the next floor any time we want to if we manage to defeat this boss and make it out alive. At least no one else has died in this boss fight in a while. Diavel yells: "Keep going, everyone! There must be a way to end this!" That's when it becomes clear to someone.. Eva yells: "Here's an idea-" She was about to say it when the PI shows up with an army of RCT3 peeps(her idea later ends up being used to instead help kill a field boss on the 48th Floor). I'm shocked but use my reaction in order to fuel my own striving to keep fighting despite how exhausted my muscles are getting. Every so often, I've switched with someone else to heal up and rest briefly. It wasn't just one time with Lisbeth. No, I did it several other times. That tactic has kept anyone else from dying as a pair did it a while back only to cause everyone else to follow their example. The PI speaks: "I have returned. We will now end this Floor Boss. Paradox made a mistake underestimating my admin permissions as well as the ability for the peeps to violate their own programming." It's like a tidal wave of peeps descend on the clones of the boss only for it to reform back to its full form. When it does in fact reform into its normal form did I realize that it really was much tougher than it was originally programmed to be. It was able to create that huge vortex earlier without first splitting up into clones of itself that are much smaller than it is. The peep army don't do much damage individually and only some together. However, they were taking no damage from the butterfly's attacks. To add to that, we were now able to freely attack the boss without any risk of any harmed in the process. I was so relieved. I took a moment to rest before fighting with renewed determination.
"Haaaa! This is our moment! We will finally end this and no one else will die!" Several minutes later, the boss starts losing health rapidly. It helps that some of the peeps were able to somehow weaken its defensive stats and that the PI used my dune buggy to try to knock the butterfly to the ground. Furthermore, the peeps suddenly displayed the skills from Fart Attack and employed them against the 47th Floor Boss. After another hour, we finally won. The boss died and shattered into pieces as the barrier around us faded away. All of us take a breath. We don't explore the rest of the floor just yet. We need to rest. It was on Day 615 that we would finally move onto the 48th Floor but we'll get to that. In the meantime, after we finish resting, we explore the rest of the floor for any ways to get fast xp and what not. In the midst of that, myself, Kirito, Silica, and a few others went to get the Pneuma Flower to revive Pina. Silica speaks: "Thank you so much for coming with me.. I don't think I would have been able to retrieve it on my own with all of the dangerous monsters around.. I'm still working on my skills and confidence but we didn't even have a chance to level up at all on this floor. The exp dropped by the boss didn't even raise any of our levels by one since the entire Assault Team was in the battle along with all of those peeps.." Kirito smiles: "I know for certain the others agree with me when I say this: we're happy to help. Now, let's get that flower and bring back Pina with it."
Sinon nods: "This shouldn't take too long with all of us here to ensure no monsters can get the upper hand on us. That being said, we still have to be cautious. The first time Pina died, you and Silica came here together, Kirito. You met up with her and told her about the flower. When you retrieved it, you had to deal with the small PK guild Titan's Hand. I don't recall ever encountering them here so far. They may try to get their revenge if they're still PKers, Kirito and Silica." Sure enough, a party of red players but with one a green player stand in our way, laughing. Sinon speaks to them: "You must be Titan's Hand. Can't say I'm impressed with your little plan. Your ambush isn't going to work. You should have struck in a more strategic area that works more to your advantage. Your mistake is only going to get yourselves easily defeated by all of us." One of the members laughs: "Hahahaha! Like we care! We want to kill all of you! Anyone associated with that Beater must die! Enjoy your last moments as we prepare to-" They're cut off as Sinon shoots them point blank, sending them back, hurting them, but not killing them. Another member staggers as I pull out my sword and immediately lunge at them with their throat as my goal. I hold my sword very closely to their throat without actually cutting into it or drawing blood. "I won't be nice to PKers like you. You may not know this since I did the quest on the 11th Floor that allowed my cursor to turn back to green but I have eliminated other PKers. I don't enjoy killing other individuals but I will kill if I have no other choice. I suggest you surrender now before things get messy."
Rosalia, their leader and the one with the green cursor laughs. She has coral/red hair, light skin, magenta eyes, and a mostly black feminine outfit you'd associate with adult cosplay with some intentionally design parts that look torn in a cool way. "That won't stop us! We're going to kill all of you and take all of your loot! At last, we will have our revenge! Tamer girl, hand over that flower! Kirito, you will finally pay for what you did to us! Once Sword Art Online ended, we returned to our normal lives but with one difference. We lived as secret killers. Unsatisfied with the real world, we began putting ourselves in dangerous situations and preyed upon the weak and poor. We just kept killing more people but no one paid attention because who cares about the poor?! In society, they're as good as invisible! When Ordinal Scale launched, it was just another way for us to kill in secret! We were there at that stadium when all of those bosses were spawned into the game/real world. We even managed to catch wind of Project Alicization as I had contact with POH. We kept killing and killing until this game was announced! And now, we have finally reached this point. The authorities in the real world couldn't catch or stop us. And none of you will be able to stop us either! I'm going to enjoy every moment of this! Now men, kill them all for me!" The one I had at swordpoint suddenly drop kicks me to no avail. So they use their AGI to back away from me through complicated acrobatics. I just stare: "You think you can really kill any of us? Yeah, that's not going to happen. I will try not to take any of your lives in this fight."
Rosalia laughs: "You really believe that you will survive us?! Don't be foolish! Hahahaha! We've already killed a lot of players and obtained so much rare loot! The Assault Team was so weak after that boss battle recently so we just had to take full advantage and kill a few of you!" Kirito shouts: "Damn you, Rosalia! You haven't changed a bit in all of this time.. If I have to, I'll drag you personally to the Blackiron Palace to lock you away!" "That won't happen again! I won't let it! Kirito, you and your friends have met your match this time!" I start fighting the individual I threatened with my sword. They're really strong and have a lot of rare gear equipped. But there's just one issue. They don't have the experience I do despite killing so many innocent people. I've had to kill many more foes than they've killed innocents. "You will not win. You will lose. Surrender now to save yourself from further humiliation. If you don't surrender, I will break all of that gear of yours and then, knock you out cold with the flat of my sword. That being said, should you choose to persist even beyond that, not allowing me to get you, I may be forced to kill you. And I very much don't want to have to do that so you had better start making rational choices if you want to stay alive. People like you are the worst. You have no compassion for the weak or poor. You grow stronger by killing innocent people and taking their stuff. You're like bandits crossed with agents of a fascist government at this point. I pity you for being so cruel and twisted. You're lucky I'm offering you mercy. That we're offering all of you mercy. Otherwise, you would all already be dead."
They glare at me and start saying a bunch of delusional things but I just keep my calm as I slowly begin to overpower them with my experience. There's just no way I will allow them to do as they wish or get what they want any longer. In no time at all, they'll soon be taken care of. After a few minutes, I break their weapon in half as the damage I deal to them begins to wear down their armor. To add to that, I start attacking with more and more speed and control. Minutes more pass as they desperately try to fight back with backup weapons only to watch as I destroy those too. My sword is far better than any weapon they could possibly raise against me. And then, their armor cracks apart and breaks. They scream: "NOOOOOOO! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?! I SHOULD HAVE BEEN ABLE TO KILL YOU! THIS CANT BE HAPPENING!" "Oh but it is. Now then, give up and come quietly. Otherwise, I will make you. I could easily knock you out now but I'm giving you a chance to surrender once again." "Never! Rosalia won't give up and neither will I!" They used our conversation as an excuse to put on more armor as well as pull out another spare weapon. They begin trying to hurt me again. "It appears you may very well last a while. But against me, a while won't be long enough for you to defeat me. The difference in our experience levels is very telling as well as decisive. I suggest you just surrender now unless you really want to be in for more misery. If I have to make you waste all of your equipment and you still choose to refuse to surrender, I will have to really get nasty with you. And I don't want that."
"Once I bring you down, I will make sure you are locked up. It's better to keep someone like you alive to face your fate as you aren't dangerous enough to have to be killed off instantly at this point. Again, just make it easier on yourself by surrendering to me unconditionally." They still refuse so I just keep making them go through all of their gear until there's nothing left for them besides their body to defend themselves with. My foe even tries to run away but I easily keep up since I've put in much work to raise my AGI stats as my STR stats just continued to grow. This is the fate of those who refuse to stop being cruel or resisting efforts to incapable them but aren't damgerous/irrational enough to have to kill on the spot. But their efforts are in vain. I knock them out and throw them into a cell below the Blackiron Palace myself. Just after I do that, Kirito shows up while quite literally dragging Rosalia into one of the cells. "Rosalia, I hope this time down here will allow you to reflect on your actions. You're only alive because you and your friends have been rendered powerless. Murderers like you are about as low a person can get." "KIRITO! KIRITO, I'LL MAKE YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS PAY FOR THIS!" And with that, she's locked up too. Kirito and I prepare to leave after nodding to the players keeping guard of this place. I think we may have dealt with Titan's Hand once before in the past but if we did, then we have some seriously weird cloning or something going on. Anyway, we safely return to where we just were in time for Silica to use the flower to revive Pina.
When Pina comes back to life, she hugs Pina and cries out with tears of joy: "PINA! IM SO GLAD YOURE BACK!" I cry a little out of joy too: "What a moving moment.. It's so rare anything makes me feel like this.. I rarely ever cry tears of joy. The feelings linked to such are so strong.." Once things settle down again, we continue exploring the entire floor. I even do some trading and stuff in Flora. The main goal now is to level up as much as possible before the next floor which the entire Assault Team has agreed to go up to on Day 615. We made sure to hold a service for every single person we had lost to the Floor Boss as well as Titan's Hand at some point during the floor exploration. All kinds of things are uncovered on the floor. Hell, I end up spending some time every so often to admire the floor. "Look at all of these flowers. I do not really ever express my appreciation for such beauty. The flowers here are so full of life. It's like there's caretakers of this floor who keep the flowers alive and well by putting in countless hours of work. What a great floor to be on now that we're past the challenges Paradox put in our way on this floor. I really am truly enjoying the peaceful moments that we get here." On Day 615, it was finally time to move on up to the 48th Floor. Once we get there after preparing ourselves with a full restock of supplies and what have you, we find ourselves immediately in the Sevens Duel World which has an almost exact copy of Goha City. On some of the past floors, I actually took some of the time to do some of the quests offered by NPCs in the area. They were a lot of fun.
Reiji speaks: "We have at last reached this point. We are so close to being halfway up Aincrad now." Yuya smiles: "That's right! I bet we're going to have even more fun soon enough! I can't wait to take on what this floor has to offer for us!" Unexpectedly, the entire game shakes violently. Blue Maiden yells: "This must be Paradox's doing!" The villain appears just like that. He grins: "Hello again, clearers. I hope you enjoyed what you just felt. There will be many more instances of that happening now that my plans have begun to really take off. The Town of Beginnings no longer exists. You're lucky that you set up operations on the 45th Floor. Otherwise, all of those weak players would have died due to the destruction I've caused. Once I cause enough damage, I will come for all of you myself. When that happens, all of you will die right before I break through the gate keeping the Sacred Trees locked away!" Kizmel replies: "You can't! You can't break through what's keeping them contained!" "Oh but with the power of my Malefics and dragons, I can very much do so! Hahahahaha, I can't wait for our final confrontation where all of you are doomed to die!" Yusei yells: "We won't let you get away with this, Paradox!" "I'm afraid you're already too late to do something like that! I'll see you all again soon and I will destroy you and everything you love when that happens!"
He vanishes just like that. Other than that, nothing strange or wrong happens for a while on the floor. Myself, Kirito, Lisbeth, and various others head for the village of Londarth. I look around in awe: "I believe there was another medieval town on a previous floor but this? This one is very awesome." Lisbeth nods: "There's a reason why I set up my blacksmith shop here and I have the col to do so again!" Koharu speaks up: "We have to be weary though. Who knows when some monsters will end up ambushing us?!" Mater replies: "You have a point but they won't get the best of us no matter what they do to us. We're fully prepared and leveled up for this Floor. They won't bring us down that easily with just a sneak attack." Mater was on the mark about all of that. We knew exactly what to watch out for. As we walked with Lisbeth, we kept an eye out for anything suspicious but all we saw was several different stores including a clothing store but there was a lack of any kind of blacksmith or armory. Guess that's part of why Lisbeth established her business here originally. After some more walking, Lisbeth stops in front of a familiar building. Asuna smiles: "We're here!" Lisbeth gives a wide Kirito style grin to Asuna's amusement: "Yes! I can finally really get my operations going! I've had to keep moving all of my equipment for blacksmithing around as we progressed through this game. Now all I need to do is buy this structure again and get some tables and other furnitures I will need."
I speak up: "If you can't afford to buy everything, don't worry. I'm willing to help you out. Between all of us, it will be no problem to buy or craft every single thing you need. As for forging materials, I will come by here once a week or so to drop off whatever forging materials I end up collecting. And I'm sure plenty of others would be happy to help you with that. I hope you put them to good use and help inspire other players to become blacksmiths as well as other blacksmiths." "That's so kind of you. Thank you! Don't worry. I will make sure to help out my fellow blacksmiths. I just can't be the only player to do blacksmithing. If I were, I would quickly burnout from all of the hard work even though the game's skill system allows me to performing blacksmithing much more easily than in real life. Although, this world is also real life to us. But you know what I mean." The others express their support and willingness to help. She blushes: "Thanks everyone! It's really great to have friends like all of you! As thanks, I will be willing to forge new equipment for all of you for a 20% discount. And if you help me collect materials, I will still honor my promise to make the gear you want for free as long as at least some of the materials are used to forge it." Her words cause a lot of smiles. We spend the rest of the day helping her out.
The next morning, Lisbeth's Blacksmith Shop was back in business. But this time, it was bigger and better than ever. We expanded the building to have more space to work with as well as a basement just in case she needs more space to store her forged items. Lisbeth bows to all of us in gratitude after we help her open it up following breakfast at a nearby inn: "Thank you again. All of you are really the best friends I could have ever asked for. I miss Klein, Agil, Alice, and the others but when we get them back, we'll become a big and happy family once again." I smile and give her a hug: "You are great, Lisbeth. You have been such a huge help to all of us and so many others. We just had to return the favor. I know you're going to do great things here in this shop. I can't wait to see what you make next. I have so much respect for blacksmiths such as yourself. Anyone who is willing to forge equipment as a blacksmith is someone is a lot of drive, patience, and determination. Mass production has made blacksmithing obsolete in most universes we know of but that only makes it that much more amazing. I'm going to head off now. I'm going to train by grinding some monsters. If anyone wants to come, I'd very much appreciate the company even though I'm sort of a solitary soul." I walk out of the store with the smile still on my face. Last night, Lisbeth made sure to take good care of all of my gear. She did the same for the others so now, all of our gear is in perfect condition and even significantly upgraded when compared to before.
With her skills, Lisbeth has kept upgrading our gears with the floors except during the time she was captive in which case we just had to do our best to keep our gear in good shape and all that as you previously read. Anyway, as I walk away, I can hear my armor softly clink. It's a noise I never tired of. Armor clinking may often be a loud noise but there's just something about it that sounds really nice no matter how loud or quiet it is. But then, I see a couple of NPC children being attacked by goblins. I draw my sword and spend several minutes fighting them. This must be a quest of some kind. The children are in awe of my skills. Kirito and the others arrive to watch me work. They choose not to help me out seeing that I have the entire situation under control. When it's all over, the children cry tears of joy and say: "Thank you for saving us! We were so scared!" "I know you were. It's my pleasure to help those in need. You should return home. Things must be really dangerous around here if monsters are attacking in the daytime." They nod before running straight into by chance, the arms of their loving parents. Reunited at last, the happy families went home with relief and joy written on their expressions. I turn to my friends. "Hey now, don't y'all have some other things to do?!" Kirito laughs nervously: "Uh.. We just couldn't help but watch you take care of those monsters yourself. As your friend and comrade, I really can't help but watch you do your thing. Every single day, you keep proving how awesome of a knight you are!"
"Kirito, you know I require no such compliments. But if we're going to be throwing around compliments now, I should tell you that I have some for you too. It's only fair. Kindness should be rewarded with more kindness. Kindness is after all one of the keys to somehow breaking the cycle of hatred. That doesn't mean we have to be nice to everyone we meet though. Anyway, Kirito, you are great too. You rarely give up. In battle, you may sometimes act like a total egghead but you are driven to do what it takes to stop our foes and protect those around you. You could just start calling yourself a knight at this point because you're as much of a knight as I am. The ideal knight exhibits traits that align with literally basic human decency and compassion. In a way, I think every clearer could be called a knight. We might as well rename the Assault Team to the Knights Of Aincrad or something like that. You have to have some serious guts to fight on the frontlines against Floor Bosses. And guts are necessary for any successful knight." The conversation continues for a few minutes until some NPC knights show up. They appear to be from this village of Londarth. Their captain points at me: "You there. Young knight, were you the one who saved those children from the goblins a short time ago?" There's a quest marker above their head. I nod: "I am. I did what any good person should do when they see others in danger though I confess it's difficult to develop what is needed to take action like that as a bystander. Where I come from, community and helping those in need aren't exactly valued things."
"So you really are their savior. We thank you for your help. To tell you the truth, there have been an unusual number of monster and bandit attacks lately. We just dealt with an entire horde of zombies from a realm we thought lost forever. Would you be willing to join our knight order and help deal with those monsters as our comrade?" "I already belong to several groups who help fight monsters and other enemies. I will have to decline. That being said, I would be happy to help fight all of those enemies as well as identify the source of why there's been so many of them and do something about those zombies coming from a once lost realm. That's as long as you allow my friends to help out as well. I'm not some kind of chosen hero known mad worshipped by all, trusted to lead a group of people into the dwelling of a Demon Lord to save the world or anything like that. I don't fight for fame, wealth, or glory. I just want to go home and help as many individuals as I can." "Very well. Your friends are absolutely welcome to help us out." This starts a long quest companion that takes the whole rest of the day as well as the next day. When it's all done, the captain speaks with a big smile on their face: "Thank you so much for aiding us in our time of need. I have already prepared a reward for each of you. But before I do, is there anything we can help you with in return for everything you've done for us?" I nod: "I have a proposition. Would you be willing to join us in helping defeat the guardians of the Celestial Tower?" "We would be honored to. We have heard much about you warriors and your goal to reach the top of the Celestial Tower. It appears you have even gotten the elves to fight for your cause."
Sweet. Now we have more comrades to count on for Floor Boss battles. Speaking of, someone found the location of the 48th Floor Boss and managed to get away without drawing attention to themselves so they could live to deliver their information and fight again tomorrow. Things are going so well now. I'm just so glad things are proceeding this well. After the deaths on the last floor, we have been working hard to keep anyone else from dying on any floors from now on. We will do everything we can to save everyone still trapped in this game and beat An Incarnation Of The Radius in the Ruby Palace. We must beat this game for everyone we've lost and all of us who are still stuck here. After that quest was finished, we spent a lot of time leveling and all that before joining in on the raid party to take out the 48th Floor Boss who was found below Goha City in Neiru's domain connected to the sewers of the entire city. More than big enough for a boss fight considering it has food stalls, a computer room, and a lot of open space with a high ceiling. Neiru speaks: "I'm curious as to why the boss spawned in here of all places. But that doesn't really matter right now. We will defeat this boss and move onto the next floor just like that. There's no time for confusion right now." Romin grins: "Oh, this is going to be a battle to remember! I'm going to rock out so hard in order to help defeat the boss! Just you wait because this is going to be a battle to remember!"
Sinon nods: "But we can't lower our guards down no matter how excited we are. This is still a death game. We could still die here so we have to exercise extreme caution as we fight this boss." Sinon's words quickly saved us from disaster as the boss proved to be stronger than estimated based on calculations made by Ai, Yui, Pandor, and the other AI on our side. The GGO tutorial NPC laughs as the battle begins: "This oversized maggot is going down! Actually, it's an oversized dune beetle!" Even though we hear her yell that, we still take things very seriously but not so seriously that we can't focus on anything besides taking the battle seriously. It wasn't long before we really saw just how hard the boss battle was going to turn out to be. We soon were finding ourselves cornered and overpowered in one corner of the area. Neiru attempts to use a security system connected to the place irl to no avail. I yell: "Damn it! This is truly really bad! Something has to be done in order to turn the tables!" The RCT3 peep army returns to help us out. I don't know how long we can rely on them with Paradox messing everything up so I just always assume we won't be able to rely on them for help whenever we get into a tight spot. Anyway, we keep fighting and whatever else we need to do until the Floor Boss finally falls to us. I smile upon seeing the boss shatter: "That's it for this floor besides any preparations we need to do in order to be ready for the 49th. Just one more boss before we reach the big 50. I have no doubt in my mind that the 50th Floor Boss is going to be by far the hardest one to deal with yet." Sinon nods: "Yeah, we are reaching the halfway point and there's no way it's going to be easy to overcome."
Over the next days, we get to preparing for Floor 49. On Day 625, we finally move up to the next floor. But before we do so, I end up having some spare time to help train some more people. So that's exactly what I do. I do some more instruction on swordsmanship. With the number of people joining the Assault Team, our numbers keep bouncing back even after we lose some of our comrades and the Monument of Life is filled up with even more names. After some of the my instruction sessions for beginner level players, I end up having dinner at a restaurant run by players with high cooking skills. They may not fight on the frontlines often but having them around is vital. One of them takes my order as I sit with some of my friends: "Okay. Could you make me a cheese pizza or as close to it as possible? As for a drink, I'd just like a water." A few minutes later, we're all just laughing as we keep making jokes. Asuna exclaims: "Kirito! When it comes to jokes, you're completely hopeless!" "Asuna!" "I'm serious!" I perk up: "Honestly, you should hear some of the jokes I've said in the past. My brother has called them corny as well as dad jokes. And look at me, I'm not even legally allowed to buy alcohol in my world yet." This causes an uproar of laughter. In time, our food arrives and we enjoy it. I was really impressed with the service. Since it's a player run establishment, the employees get paid a fair wage of quite a lot of col. Thus, there's no need to tip.
Tipping only exists partially because waiters and other workers get paid so poorly in the United States. On Day 625, we head to the 49th Floor ready for anything. To be continued..