Link Start: Danger In Virtual Worlds
Chapter 28: The 81st Floor..
Date: Infinityverse Days 900-940
On the 79th and 80th Floors, nothing fully significant is present in terms of location of what I still recall from those floors. The 81st Floor however contains a small human village with fertile farmland made fertile by a special crystal that even erected a barrier around the village. Near it were lands roamed by creatures the human NPCs called the Millennial Beasts. More on them later. After all, from now on, we would find ourselves much more roped into storyline related events without much other choice. Just a few more floors until GGO's landscape divided across 15 floors would be left behind for.. The Underworld. The Human Empire and Dark Territory.
Back to what happened after POH and Subtilizer appeared to speak what they wanted to do with us to us in order to try to frighten and intimidate us. I nod: "That's right, Kirito. We will not give up. We will overcome all obstacles and escape this game by beating the final boss." But a few minutes into exploring the 79th Floor, something really bad happened to us. From out of nowhere, some kind of giant cage formed to trap all of us. Attempts were immediately made to bust out of it but not a single one succeeded. Instead, even with some of the best miners around in our group, we were just stuck. Jesse sighs: "This isn't good. None of our weapons or pickaxes were able to get us out of here. What's more: building up only caused us to hit a ceiling and this appears to be an anti-crystal and fly zone as well." Genome replies: "There has to be someway for us to break out of here. But I'm not sure how or anyway to figure out a way. Despite all that I've done as a member of the Hanoi, I'm stumped on this problem." But we would never get the chance to try to figure out for a long time because something really horrible and awful happened.. We heard the sounds of monsters.. Not just any monsters but.. bosses.. Field Bosses.. Event Bosses.. Floor Bosses.. Suddenly, everything became pitch black around us. We were almost completely helpless against what we would have to contend with.. Kirito shouts: "Damn it! We're surrounded by all too familiar powerful bosses.. We'll be wiped out if we can't pull off a miracle here!!" I prepare the best I can to fight in the darkness. It's.. going to be so hard to fight in this kind of situation. I've fought during nighttime many times up to now but rarely ever in pitch black, when not even the moonlight can brighten our path.
What's worse is that that wasn't the worst of it.. No.. There was something much worse than that about to happen that made me lose hope in ever beating this death game. While we were still grappling with the fact that we had to fight all of these bosses while trapped inside something with everything being completely pitch black when.. the sound of stabs and screams began to be heard. The others were being stabbed one by one. I yell: "...What's going on?!" But then, I hear and feel a blade stab into me, piercing right through my armor and attacking my skin directly, even making some serious cuts. That all happened so quickly that I couldn't process it all. I just couldn't.. I was overwhelmed by it all and then, just like that, the assailant(s) moved on from me. I scream: "AAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGGG! NOOOO! Not again.. not again.. NOT AGAAAAAIN! MY ANKLLLLLLLLLLEEEEEE!" They got my ankle. I am horrified by that as well as the other injuries I've sustained.. I try to move but my ankle only hurts even worse.. "This can't be happening.. After all of this time.. I suffered so much for accidentally hurting my ankle twice in 2020 and 2021 respectively.. No.. I don't want to live that again.. No.. Make it stop.. Make it go away.." I try to heal myself using a healing potion but nothing happens.. A healing crystal, useful for healing you and your teammates in a party at the same time has no effect either. And yet, despite all of this, the bosses are still coming for us.. I feel a familiar boss's attack hit me and knock me to the ground. I cry out in agony again. Tears fall from my eyes, I start crying a lot. Despite how chaotic I can be. Despite being a dark knight. Despite all of that and more, deep down, I am a big softie when I get sad and bad enough pain often makes me cry. I don't write about that part of it much because I just keep neglecting to.
Deep down, I feel pain like anyone else and sometimes, that means I cry. And right now, there's more to it too. I try to stand back up but the pain now is far too great to even do just that. My ankle was even more hurt.. And that's why I'm forced to give up on standing back up to try to fight. I cry again and this time, I heavily breath rapidly in and out and I can't control it.. I can't stop even my heavy breathing.. "AAAAAAAAAAAAA! AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGG! Help.. me.." That's precisely the moment I lost hope. All I could think about was the situation we were in and how much all of this hurts. And my fear of being forced to recover for weeks, stuck having to wear an ankle brace to walk while using my time laying down to apply ice packs to my ankle just like those times before.. But I doubted I would ever survive long enough here to even have to experience that.. "I.. can't move.. I can't even fight with one of my ranges weapons in the position that I'm in.." Bray shouts: "Swift! I'm coming! You're going to be okay!" "..Bray.. It hurts so much! It hurts so much!" But before the Sage could even get to me, some of the bosses attack all of us and I'm sent flying again and into an even worse position to be in physically. I am lying on the ground, bleeding heavily from my other injuries. The ankle injuries aren't bleeding.. No, it's more like blunt force has hit it several times.. If I could see my ankle right now, I would be able to see just how swollen it has become in a very short time.. Argo yells: "Crap! The boss monsters are coming again! Look out!" It was just like this for hours. And as if whoever was behind all of this wanted to play a cruel joke on us all, this hell lasted for hours with the pain only getting worse for me and the others.
I was left completely useless, unable to get back up due to the immense pain in my ankle. If I tried to stand again, the shaking in my leg alone would be enough to make me reconsider as it is constantly shaking even as I continue to lay on the ground in agony. For some reason, no matter how much I got hurt further and bled, my hp just wouldn't go to 0. It was stuck on 1 and no one could do anything to heal me. This was beyond horrific.. This was truly agonizing hell and misery.. The others who weren't similarly brought down fought desperately to end this for all of us. I heard them all scream just as I have been doing. The bosses were incredibly tough when put together against us like they were. What's more is that exhaustion was also beginning to creep in. But somehow, the others managed to clear out the last bosses despite all of us being completely in the dark the entire time all of this took place. We still couldn't see a thing even as the last remaining boss died. Diavel exclaims: "We won but it feels like we lost that entire battle miserably. This is one of the darkest moments in all of the Assault Team's history.." I had given up hope and was suffering in silence after numerous attempts to help me failed. I had no more tears left to cry. I couldn't recall the last time I had felt so miserable. I knew I wasn't alone but because no one could help me, my emotions only got stronger. I needed a hug. I needed reassuring words. I needed help. But no one was able to give any of that to me because they were rendered unable to due to our situation. But after things finally calmed down again, I felt my hope return but that didn't help my emotions much.
However, some of my dearest friends were then able to finally get to me. ..To help me.. Some of them lifted me up without touching my ankle or putting any weight on it. Dominic sighs: "Swift, it's a very good thing flashlights and other portable lights still work in this darkness. Otherwise, none of us would be alive right now to talk or think about that. You must have been in too much misery to notice the lights. I tried to get your attention with one of our lights but you never responded or took notice. You are far from the only clearer to end up on the ground, in too much pain to stand back up. But at least there's still enough of us to help everyone. Especially now that the bosses have finally been all killed off for now at least. This thing we're stuck inside is still something we can't figure out. However, it is obvious that POH is behind all of this. The way that individual who stabbed a lot of us earlier was identical in movements to POH when he fights. What a nap causation." I can't think of anyone else who would be responsible besides him. I just can't. It has to be him. I was proven right when we were interrupted by that familiar laugh. Kirito yells: "POH! YOU BASTARD, WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO TO US THIS TIME?!" He replies: "I'm just tormenting you for now! After all, it is so much fun to make my prey suffer before I kill them! What's even better is that I didn't need Subtilizer to help me in this plan of mine! In fact, I won't be relying on him one bit. We had a small disagreement and now, I'm going to end you clearers on the 81st Floor! See you there! Hahahahahahaha!" "POH, WAIT! COME BACK HERE SO WE CAN FINISH THIS RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW!" "It won't be much fun to kill you in the sorry state you and your friends are in right now! See you at the 81st Floor!"
Herbsalvin speaks to me: "It's going to be alright, Swift. You know we care about you and you care about us. We'd do this for anyone else if they experienced the same misery you are right now if you weren't also and it's obvious that you would do the same too. *kisses me* Just hold on, we're going to find a way to get out of here and heal you and the others who are unable to get back up due to the injuries they sustained as well." "..Thank you.." Blaze speaks: "Just relax. We got you, Swiftdrawer. My human." In the embrace of my dear friends, I ended up collapsing from mental and emotional exhaustion and overload in large part due to all of the pain I am feeling right now. When I woke up, we were somehow no longer trapped. In fact, I was in a bed in an inn on the 79th Floor. Or that's what I thought until I noticed several other beds. Tsunade notices me, apparently helping running whatever is going on here: "Swiftdrawer, you're awake. Good. Don't move. You still have a ways to go before you fully recover. For some reason, healing items still do not work so we have to rely on methods that aren't from SAO itself." "I.. don't know what to say anymore.." "Just rest, it's going to be a while before you're ready to go again. The Assault Team has delayed fighting the 79th Boss while you and the others continue to recover and we try to figure out why healing items don't work and what we can do to stop the cause of that problem." "..." I have no choice but to stay in bed for as long as possible, only getting up to eat, drink, use the bathroom, and shower. My armor has been removed from me. It feels weird to not have it on especially when the pain is still so great even though my wounds are all bandaged up and it's the next day now as well.
I must have initially lost consciousness and eventually just naturally fell asleep hours later. I don't see how else any of this could have possibly happened. It took me weeks to fully recover due to my ankle injuries. Even with ice packs and an ankle brace to use when I need to move. Just like the last 2 times this happened to me in addition to at least some of the additional times I have probably completely forgotten about at this point. I felt so stiff when I could finally move around freely again. "My.. armor.. Where is.. my armor.. Where is my sword.." Tsunade tells me I'm free to go and encourages me to not immediately head off to fight any monsters right now. I leave the room I've been largely cooped up in to find my dearest friends waiting for me, including an also newly fully recovered Fluffy Afro whose afro is on fire for reasons unknown. "MY AFRO! NOT AGAIN!" Dominic groans: "What a serious nap causation. There goes the mood. Right out the window. Or in this case, right out of Aincrad. *puts out Fluffy* Okay, now we can talk without anymore chaos at the moment. Are you feeling okay, Swift?" "A lot better. I needed that time to rest but I'm so stiff now. And I just need to have my gear. I miss its weight on me so much." "You're in luck. Bray has it with her." After I put all of my gear back on, Bray smiles: "That's much better! Can't have a knight go without their armor forever after all!" Nothing else seriously major happened on the 79th Floor. I was able to join the 79th Boss Fight but I still was mentally recovering from what happened so the boss terrified me like no other boss had in a few floors. But with the support of the others, I was able to get through my negative emotions to help land the last few hits on the boss.
We defeated it together and that victory helped me mentally a lot. On the 80th Floor, all I really did was train to loosen up my still largely stiff muscles, recalibrate my skills, and just finish recovering from what happened. While I was largely bedridden, I passed the time thinking and reading books among other things. That helped as well. But on the 80th Floor, I still didn't feel 100% and focused on again, getting back into things fully. POH did a number on us, especially the likes of me. That villain. I don't think I could ever forgive him for what he did to us all. It's now Day 925 and the pressure is once again increasing to get closer to the top floor of Aincrad. On the 81st Floor, I felt 100% again and was able to join the initial part of the Assault Team who went up to it first. At first, all we really did was explore the floor. Just look around. However, something happened to Koharu, Mater, and the others from the Integral Factor alternate timeline of SAO. They saw something and appeared to have countless memories come rushing back into their heads. They all collapsed all of the sudden. Yui informed us that they did in fact experience memory rushes at the same time. We were really worried about them. Most of us carried on with exploring but some of us, myself included stayed behind to wait for them to wake up. They might share with us incredibly important information about Aincrad and I can't afford to miss out on hearing it. Not after everything that has happened the past few floors and such.. We waited several hours and passed the time talking to one another and offered support to one another if we needed it. It isn't jsut enough to prepare fully to defeat bosses in this game.
Mental health is also important. If your mental health is bad enough, you just can't properly fight against a Floor Boss and may lose your life as a result. Some people say that mental health isn't real or treat it as if it isn't a big deal when in fact, it is not only real, it is one of the most important things ever. Sachi killed herself in SAO due to the rapid decline in her mental health after what happened to her guild mates apart from Kirito in that treasure chest trap room. She and Kirito were the only ones who survived that. Her suicide is part of why Kirito insisted on being a solo player for so long. To survive a death game takes a lot of willpower. An incredible amount. Especially if you deal with mental health issues along the way towards beating it. Suicide shouldn't be a taboo subject. It is something that happens due to mental health problems and it is a problem that must be taken seriously. It is not something to joke about. While it's true that suicide is a trigger word for some people, causing their mental health to have a serious emotional drop temporarily to the point they may scream or get scared or tense, it's also important to not just ignore suicide or write it off as no big deal. When Koharu and the others woke up at last, something strange happened. We heard the familiar sound of teleporting through teleport gates or crystals. It was heard along with a light that faded to reveal.. Koharu shouts: "Swiftdrawer! You're here?! How did you get here?!" I blink once. I blink twice. "Oh, this is no dream or illusion. It is my counterpart from their timeline in the flesh. This is going to get confusing. Hey y'all. Just call me Swift like you do when one of my other counterparts is around at the same time as me."
My counterpart replies to Koharu: "Koharu. I've been looking for you. For a long time. I've been looking." Leuer speaks up: "Ah, Hero and Consort, together again at last. I remember everything now. I even know some of the biggest secrets of this ultimate death game now thanks to my memory fully returning at last." Asuna exclaims: "Secrets? What's going on?!" Ghost Gal adds: "Don't waste any time. Tell us everything. We need every edge we can get considering all of the foes we still have to face before we can leave this death game behind at last." Leuer sighs: "Mater, Stilla, Typhon, would any of you be interested in beginning to tell the tale of our World Of Swords?" They shake their heads. He sighs again: "Very well.. It's up to me as the troubadour to tell it all myself then. On this Floor, the Floor Boss is a monster that has been corrupting the plant life as a blight that destroys fertile land. There are monsters known as Millennial Beasts along with a village of humans near their territory that have been at war for centuries over a misunderstanding of what happened before the Great Separation. On the 85th Floor, Huang The Hundred Arms waits for fighters to challenge him, a human turned immortal beast who knows every single weapon and martial art there is to know. On the 91st Floor if I recall correctly awaits a hungry dragon that hunts anyone foolish enough to venture enter into a town protected by knights that is never spoken of openly. There is something else you all must absolutely know. The system that runs this game is the Cardinal System but you may not understand that there's also the Arcana System. The Arcana System is an intelligence that evolves based on the things we do as travelers in this World Of Swords, Roller Coasters, Speed Duels, Guns, Fairies, Magic, Blocks, & More.
Today, we stand on this floor on the 934th day of this nightmare. This game's Aincrad isn't just the one that was revived in ALO after self destructing after Kayaba allowed the game to be cleared well before the 100th Floor could be reached. The Aincrad where the Integral Factor.. where we exist.. is also part of this game, so well fused and intertwined with the Aincrad you're more familiar with that it's like it's completely invisible. And with its existence here, that means that the Arcana System is here too. Myself, Mater, Typhon, and Stilla are all AIs, copies of players who have long since perished but thanks to our Swiftdrawer and Koharu, we were able to find hope, forge real friendships, and realize that we are as real as they are despite being AI while they are flesh and blood players. The Arcana System is why we still exist, it created us. But. It eventually turned on us after we angered it enough times and even prevented the players of our Aincrad from all escaping the game together once An Incarnation Of The Radius perished. That does not bode well for us here. We will defeat the final boss here as well but the Arcana System may stop all of you from escaping while the 4 of us remain trapped here, forced to watch Aincrad's fate inside of it once all of the merged games separate once again. You see, it assigned two players admin powers and they stopped our hero, consort, and the others from escaping Aincrad after it stopped the Cardinal System from destroying it." If anyone were to hold a glass and hear that in this game, they'd drop it and it would shatter immediately. Playmaker exclaims: "What?!" Bulma yells: "Damn it! Just when we thought things weren't already bad enough with all of the foes we still have to defeat!"
Stilla sighs: "I know it's a lot but it's the truth." Go replies: "We understand that but now, we need to know how and why your Swiftdrawer came here out of the blue like this. I just don't get it right now." My cp(counterpart) replies: "My recent memories are fuzzy. Maybe I was in this game in the past, I am unsure. But in my world, I found out about this ultimate death game because Ordinal Scale players one day suddenly vanished and I even saw some of them vanish before my very eyes. It took so much effort to figure out what was going on. My world's versions of Kirito and the others and I worked together to find out what was happening. That's when we intercepted a live broadcast from this game featuring a man named Mr. Heartland explaining the game in the Town Of Beginnings. I was able to piece all of that together from notes I wrote myself because my memory really hasn't been that great recently.. Now that I'm here, I carry on the hopes and wishes of my friends. I came here to save Koharu and all of you. I don't want to lose anyone else. Not again." I reply: "I know how that feels. We are quite similar, from what I've observed. I've seen some of my comrades die several times over in the past. It is not a pleasant experience. We should quickly move along with stopping the conflict between humans and Millennial Beasts from continuing. If what you say is true, Leuer, we have no time to waste. POH said he would see us on this floor. If he gets involved in that conflict, he could easily make it so much worse and more violent. Sowing the seeds of violence is his favorite thing to do after all." Mater speaks: "We can't rule out the possibility that the POH from our Aincrad could team up with your POH. If Swiftdrawer can make it here, so can he." Nagato replies: "Let's not forget your world's versions of the other Laughing Coffin members."
Beerus groans: "Damn it, more annoying interdimensional nonsense. Hmph. I should just take a nap already. Wake me up when this game is finally beaten so I can return to my planet at last." Argo chuckles nervously: "He doesn't speak for all of us, ya know." Typhon folds his arms: "We also have to watch out for those 'special humans'. They can't be touched by anyone without GM privileges. They have a shield that stops all enemy attacks that also can send anyone attacking flying." Shikamaru sighs: "This is going to be a bigger pain than any of us realized." That's when we start hearing a lot of laughter. Someone familiar shouts: "It's showtime!" We are surrounded by Laughing Coffin members. Leafa exclaims: "But I thought all of these guys were dead!" Johnny Black laughs: "You're right! We are dead!" I sigh: "Crap! They're zombies! And you can't just kill a zombie, they're already dead. Okay, Minecraft zombies are one of the few exceptions to that rule but otherwise.. We're in trouble. My physical body other than my original is currently a zombie body. Do you have any idea of how much it rules and sucks to be a zombie? To stop a zombie, you have to destroy any part of them they can use against you and/or crush them into scattered parts that can't come back together. It's gross but there's no choice. I won't hesitate to slice any of these enemies into so many pieces that they can't recover. They won't turn into shattering polygons this time no matter what we do to them.." Fierce fighting begins all over the 81st Floor as it seems all of us, no matter where we are on the floor are already targets. 20 minutes into it all, we have taken a lot of damage but destroy a lot of Laughing Coffin zombies.
POH appears before us and laughs: "This is so much fun to watch! Seeing all of you try to rip each other apart.. It feels so good!" Sinon yells: "POH!" "It's so nice to see all of you again! I'm going to destroy all of you with my own pawns AND should any of you survive them, I'll kill you myself!" But what he didn't know was that we were about to just decimate the rest of the zombies as if they were no big deal to begin with. That's because we had reinforcements and within minutes, all of the zombies were destroyed and reduced to tiny pieces that could barely be seen at this point. POH just laughs: "I see that they weren't very good at hurting any of you. They managed to deal a lot of damage to you but they didn't kill a single one of you. That can't be allowed to continue and if you're so great at wiping them out, I'm sure you'll enjoy having to wipe out further players from various worlds!" Eva yells: "What the hell are you talking about now?" "Because you annoying bastards managed to wipe out my guild once again so quickly, it is obvious that I can't have fun just killing all of you by myself when you haven't even suffered that much yet! Do any of you remember what I did back in the Underworld?!" Alice replies: "You dare do that again?! You are truly a wicked man!" "AHAHAHAHA! That's right! Given the right messaging, anyone can be convinced to enter a death game and kill the players trapped inside of it as long as they think it is just an ordinary VRMMO or even just an ordinary MMO period!" Kirito replies: "You bastard!" "AHAHAHAHAHA! Prepare yourselves! Thousands and thousands of players are coming and with the power of true hatred, they will become vengeful killing machines! It's only a matter of time until they all show up!"
We attempt to kill POH before that happens. Kirito's eyes even turn golden as power surges through him. But he's far from the only one who powers up to the max. I scream: "HAAAAAAA! WE'LL ALL SHOW YOU WHAT WE CAN DO DESPITE THE HELL AND DIFFICULTY OF THIS DAMN DEATH GAME!" It's like all of our eyes turned golden, as if we were breaking past the limits of our avatars and into a territory that shouldn't be possible in a game like this. Everything we had done in the game to this moment sort of came together, unlocking power within all of us. For most of us, the power was brand new and held little to no resemblance to any powers or skills we possess in our physical bodies. We give our all into fighting POH at once. We tried to overwhelm him with attack after attack. However, no matter how hard we tried to kill him outright because we knew there was no getting through to him, he took no damage. Eugeo exclaims: "POH isn't taking any damage! What are we supposed to do?!" Bercouli replies: "Don't you dare give up, kid! We will defeat him! He is not a god, we will bring him down. Go, Time Splitting Sword!" POH laughs: "I am not interested in fighting any of you right now. You can try in earnest to strike me down later. For now, have fun with all the players who are just now logging into this game as part of a huge army that even dwarfs the player army we created in the Underworld!" Around us, players just flow right in, equipped with all kinds of gear and weapons. The gear of the dark knight army in the Underworld, the gear of modern military forces, and so on. It's like the whole army was well organized into various divisions with each division having a specific set of gear across the board.
Our foe continues to laugh as he easily flies far out of range of our attacks despite the fact that most of us can fly thanks to our ALO fairy wings. I yell: "That scumbag! He's doing it all over again.. He really wants us to suffer before killing us off. I bet he'll make Kirito watch as he kills us off like he did before. Damn him!" We had no choice but to confront all of the summoned players. It became very clear very fast just how many worlds all of the summoned players were from. Some had clearly wild Yugioh style hair. Others were more blocky in appearance. Others still had highly realistic details in their features even in a death game like this. And so on. At first, they are overwhelmed by our strength and lose motivation to fight. However, that changed when POH literally egged them on: "Do you see how all of these players that are already here cheated?! They've hogged this game all this time to themselves and now, they think they're so much better than everyone else!" Typhon grits his teeth: "That bastard is doing it again! I remember being told all about what he did in the past!" POH continues: "Just look at them! They've been here for a very long time, getting stronger and stronger and obtaining better and better gear while leaving the rest of us out of this game until now! Fortunately, they are no longer the only players in this game! Oh and I should mention that it is perfectly okay to kill anyone and anything in this game! After all, it's just a normal VRMMO after all! There's no reason to not kill these players! Go on, kill all of them!" A dark aura surrounds all of the players as POH's malevolence festers and spikes the hatred within all of the players. In seconds, the army starts going on a killing spree. They try to kill us. They try to kill each other.
Silica shouts: "Stop it! This isn't right! Do any of you have any respect as VRMMO players?!" Lisbeth adds: "What are you doing?! Is killing everything in sight seriously the only thing that's satisfying for you people?!" Someone replies: "You're all subhuman! You deserve to die! And in the name of my country, the USA, I will kill until there's nothing left to kill because that's the American way!" That strikes a chord in me in a bad way. I retort: "You've become a bloodthirsty individual who has even gone as far as to gatekeep who is and isn't human and thus deserving of human rights! What do you think killing will accomplish?! Being bloodthirsty means being addicted to killing and when you're addicted to something, you can never get enough of it and will eventually just become desperate to get it that it destroys you in the inside! What's worse is the law of diminishing value that can be seen when someone is addicted to just about anything! The more you get of something you're addicted to, the less satisfying it is and the more you want of it, eventually leading practically to the destruction of the self! Life isn't worth it if all you do is crave something obsessively all the time and just keep trying to get more of it in order to fulfill an unlimited desire that can never be sated! That's what rich people do! That's what Nazis do! That's what violent bigots do! That's what mass murderers do! That's what corrupt politicians do! Seeking something obsessively and endlessly no matter how many others they have to hurt to get it! Do you realize just what's going on with all of you?! Do you realize that you're being played just like the people addicted to social media to the point it's the only thing they really do in life?!" Another of our foes replies: "We don't care! We will kill you all and destroy everything in this game until there's nothing left to kill or destroy!"
POH laughs: "That's right! Kill! Destroy! Leave no survivors! Kill and just keep killing! It's time for us to get our revenge for these players hogging this entire server for themselves! Make this the best and most thrilling experience you have ever been through in your entire mostly worthless and meaningless lives where all you do is try to survive and have to work all the time to get the money you need to do so, only to be trapped in a cycle in which your life is almost completely devoid of meaning and joy!" We have to keep fighting. There's no other choice. We're stronger and better equipped but they're far greater in number and oftentimes, greater numbers gives a side the advantage. The more oppressors and other scumbags can gather people and fill them with hatred, selfishness, greed, and so on, the more the likes of the American Nazis can destroy everything good thats come about over many years. People like Trump, Putin, and Biden aren't trying to save or help the people who loyally follow them as well as other people. No, they're just like scumbags such as POH. It's just that they try to put up fronts to appear like they're trustworthy people worthy of admiration, respect, and power. We won't let POH get away with this. We'll find a way to stop this giant army that has surrounded us all as well as anyone else currently on this floor. POH shouts again: "We are destroying all of the NPCs! Excellent! Keep it up! Wipe out the Millennial Beasts and human NPCs alike! They're just programs and we're far superior to mere programs just like how we're superior to all of these subhumans who dare oppose us!" Pito shouts: "What do you mean 'we', you're just letting them fight for you! Do any of you realize that he's using you?!" I reply: "They don't because of the influence of hierarchies in their lives. Hierarchy is problematic and flawed to begin with because those at the top usually exploit their positions. It's always the greatest of scum who manage to get on top by destroying whatever necessary and manipulating people to accept them."
We just keep fighting and fighting against them, trying to convince them that this isn't the way but our efforts aren't working and we're starting to get seriously hurt at this point. I grit my teeth as the damage begins to take its toll on me. If this keeps up for much longer, all of us are going to die here. "I manifest my circuit! It's time to stop this army of hatred! I use these monsters for the Link monsters! Link 4! Sunavalon Dryanome!" "I Link summon! Link 5! Firewall Dragon Darkfluid!" "Here it comes! Link 6! The Arrival @Ignister!" "We should have done this sooner! I mash up my circuit to bring out even more powerful Goukis who will help us wrestle our way to victory!" "In that case, it's time! I begin my composition by setting the Pendulum scale! But know this, I'm still not done using my sword for battle! For I will fight alongside my monsters! Welcome to my world, enemy army! A world of creativity that meets swords, nightmares, and more!" I summon my best monsters and help drive a turn in the battle. Many of our foes are wiped out, their avatars dying. But just when we thought things were finally beginning to go our way, the players we killed just respawned. Llenn shouts: "Damn it! We just killed all of them!" POH cackles: "Not even death can stop any of you now! You will respawn no matter how many times you die as you destroy and kill everything in sight! This is a glorious day in VRMMO history! The liberation of a server kept off limits from us and the destruction of all life that lives within it! It's too perfect!" Argo yells: "There just has to be a way to stop this!" Heathcliff replies: "I'm trying to create a force mass log out of these players but it is not working.." Cardinal sighs: "The Arcana System is opposing what you're attempting. It wants this to continue so it can learn from us all."
Revolver is frustrated: "If that's the case, the Arcana System is a dangerous AI that must be destroyed! Go, Borreload Furious Dragon! We will stop this army, kill POH, and then, destroy the Arcana System!" Leuer speaks: "It is not wise to state that you wish to destroy my former lord. You will doom us all and end our story by continuing to verbally express your desire to destroy the Arcana System!" POH laughs: "Man, all of you are so much fun to watch and listen to! What's even better is that the Arcana System does in fact approve of all of this and will let this continue on for as long as it ends up continuing!" Diavel replies: "You've lost your humanity! This isn't right! There is no honor in this kind of senseless violence!" Pandor adds: "It is not necessary to destroy someone using violence. There is another definition of destroy that I prefer. By making your enemy your friend, you are destroying their plans and ambitions against you but aren't also destroying them." "It's time for me to reach center stage! It's showtime! Let's put on a show that will make even our enemies smile!" Yuya attempts to sway the enemy with dueltaining but it doesn't work. Not until others join in on his efforts. Yuzu adds: "Yeah! Let's do it! It's time to add some music to this performance!" Shyn shouts: "Let's put in some action into all of this! It's time for us to show them what we can do when we're having fun!" Tojiro adds: "Do not fight us or amongst yourselves, be a hero! Become someone you can be proud of! Let go of your hatred and embrace fun and joy once again!" Shinji yells: "Unite and fight against all of this hatred! When we stand together, we can have much more fun than when we're divided!"
Blue Maiden speaks: "Let's do this, everyone! It's time to make our audience laugh and cheer! Let's duel each other and see what happens!" I add: "I'm in on this too! I'm not someone who really seeks anyone's approval nor do I spend much time trying to entertain people. However, as a knight, I want things to become better and I can be part of that change by giving the audience something truly wonderful they will never easily forget! Making people have fun is one of the many reasons I keep on living with few regrets! I am a protector, a fighter, an artist, so many things.. But above all.. I am a human being whose desires and needs can be boiled down to many very simple things! If the way to a better future is blocked, we'll have to force our way through that blockage! It's time, my artist monster comrades! Let's do something we don't normally do! Let's make the audience smile together along with our friends! Audience, watch as the nightmares show that they're only nightmares for show! Deep down, they desire to make others smile too! Yuya, you better activate THAT card already! In the meantime, I activate the field spell Advanced Artistic Haven! Watch as a home for artists of all kinds comes to life live in person on the 81st Floor of Aincrad!" "You're right! Here comes Smile World!" "If we're performing, allow my Toons to be the comedy act! Oh, Toon Blue Eyes White Dragon, Summoned Skull, and Dark Magician Girl! Do what you do best!" "I am the king but even as the king, I know my fans deserve to smile because of me! Alright! Red Demon Dragon! Let's put on a show!" POH staggers: "Don't let them fool you! They're trying to trick you into lowering your guards!"
Fuka retorts: "Like anyone will fall for that at this point!" POH is no longer laughing, he's angry and trying to get the army to listen to his words again but we're putting on too good of a show for them to even hear him at this point. "Alright! It's time for Hippo Carnival!" POH growls: "What kind of nonsense is this?! Dancing hippos?! Damn you all! I'll kill each and every one of you who is left after I make the army attack you again! That's right, I'll just control them all myself!" The dark aura around him intensifies and begins to directly infect the entire army of players he ended up bringing here. But we respond immediately by amping up our performance. Jesse shouts: "It's time for us Minecraftians to help put on this show too! Time for some fireworks and other cool things!" Olivia replies: "I'm with you, Jesse! Let's blow their minds with some really cool things that are sure to affect their feelings!" POH screams as he starts losing control over the army all over again. Pinkie Pie cheers: "It's working! And I'm joining in too! Party cannons for everyone!" Goku grins: "I don't know what I can really do to help with this so I think I will just dance!" Piccolo face palms only to end up dancing alongside Goku after being left no other choice given the current situation. Soon enough, all of us are trying to entertain our enemies. Gakuto throws off his regular outfit and yells: "It's time for a party! DJ G is in the house! Oh yeah! Let's rock this floor and party on long after the Sun goes down! YEAH!" POH yells: "No! This can't be happening! They aren't listening to me anymore! They aren't fighting! They aren't killing! This isn't fun anymore so I have no other option but to kill everyone here without mercy myself!"
But then, the army, now being fully entertained turn their weapons on POH. Several of them shout: "You won't stop our fun! Get outta here!" "NO! You can't tell me what to do! I tell YOU what to do! That's how it works and how it always will work without exception!" He powers up greatly and begins slaughtering the entire army. The entire good vibes we had going on were destroyed and we were forced to stop entertaining in favor of trying to stop POH again. I yell: "We'll protect you, audience! This I know! HAAAAAAA! We'll stop him from continuing to kill you all over and over again! POH, we're going to take you down or die trying! Great Infernal Tornado Slash!" We all target POH with a huge onslaught of attacks that forces him to shift his attention solely on us and dodge our attacks in the process. "DAMN YOU ALL!" Typhon goes in close to POH and punches the villain several times over: "Hmph! We aren't going to stop me or my allies! If I could, I would crush you all by myself! But I can't so I have little choice but to help crush you in the end! We'll stop you together." Stilla adds: "That's right!" POH attacks both of them but Stilla just reflects his attacks to his horror. "No! I can't lose! Especially not like this! I had everything planned out!" A familiar cold voice speaks: "No, you did not have everything planned out." Some of the army suddenly vanish completely as a certain blonde haired figure in military combat gear appears. "Those souls were not delicious at all. They barely filled me and did not satisfy me."
POH yells: "What are you doing here?!" "Don't you realize that your plan was never going to work as long as you acted alone? I left you be only to make it so you would shut up and so I could see how things would play out. I'm disappointed in you, POH." "Subtilizer! Don't order me around! You're not my boss!" "I do not care. All I care about is eating Alice's soul and finally carrying out what we originally were foiled in doing. Even without her soul, Alice will still be worth a lot to the United States. They will pay us handsomely for bringing her to them. POH, let's get this plan over with and then go back home to our world at long last. Our original bodies have long rotted away but I am not concerned about that." "Shut the hell up, Gabriel Miller!" "You talk too much, POH. I will take over from here." "No you won't! I won't let you!" "Do you desire to fight me? That's a bad decision. I would listen to me if I were you." "You can forget it!" POH attacks Subtilizer but the other villain takes no damage: "Did you believe that you were the most powerful of those of us who attacked the Ocean Turtle?" "DAMN YOU, SUBTILIZER!" Genome shouts: "Quickly! We need to get all of these players out of this game while those two continue to argue!" Faust nods: "We're already working on a mass emergency log out program that not even the Arcana System can interfere with. Its program will soon be transported to the Tower Of Hanoi where it will have the power and range needed to successfully complete the log out."
Baira adds: "Unfortunately, we cannot get past the Cardinal System's programming to escape this game as well. We can only log out those players who have logged in within the past several hours for the time being." Revolver nods: "That will work for now. No matter what happens, we will escape this game. Not even the Arcana System will be able to stop us from doing so ultimately." A few minutes later, all of the players we fought against are successfully logged out while POH and Subtilizer continue to fight. And as they continued to fight, the 81st Boss: Lundgren the Land Devourer appeared while chasing clearers, Millennial Beasts, and human NPCs alike. POH and Subtilizer notice this and stop fighting. POH laughs: "Forget fighting for now. Let's destroy these fools at last!" Subtilizer nods: "For now, let's work together." Kirito yells: "Just what the hell do you two have planned this time?!" Something suddenly changed about Lundgren. It starts draining all plant life in the area of their nutrients and grows bigger and more powerful before growing several more equivalents to limbs than it had before. POH grins: "Lundgren the Land Devourer is now under our control! And with it, we will kill all of you along with all of those NPCs!" The king of the Millennial Beasts shouts: "You dare desecrate this land, humans?! We will destroy you before anyone else who is our enemy as well! You will pay for what you've just done! We have been informed of the truth of the conflict between us and the humans of the Hidden Clifftop Village! And now, you and this blight face our united wrath!" Subtilizer smirks: "This will not go the way you expect it to go at all. All of you will die along with the foolish clearers, many of whom have stood in our way before in the past. We will get our revenge as well as Alice at long last. It's only a matter of time now until we do."
The boss immediately deals us a lot of damage. The villains don't even join in to hurt us. They just watch and enjoy our misery. It's obvious that they'll only jump in once the boss dies. We are going to defeat it. I know we will. We have to. "HAAAAAAAAAAA! I must give it my all here! We will not be able to retreat from Lundgren the Land Devourer. I know we won't. This is all or nothing!" My cp shouts: "It's time to fight this boss again, Koharu!" "Right!" The boss proves to be far tougher than any of us could have imagined. Not only does it have an insane regeneration ability but the way it's acting beyond its original programming make it's the toughest boss in this game by far to the point that even the previously toughest boss, the 80th Boss didn't seem as tough looking back. We fought and we fought. The Millennial Beasts and human NPCs fought perfectly besides us. The boss just was so powerful even so especially thanks to those 2 damn villains putting aside their differences. It attacked us all at once with strong and massive roots that were a problem for even heavy armor like mine. Sinon yells: "Don't hold any quarter, everyone! We have to keep going like we always do, even when it seems impossible for us to! Let's go!" Sachi adds: "You're right! We can defeat this boss together!" The Millennial Beast king replies: "We will help you travelers from other worlds to defeat this blight that has plagued our lands for far too long! The destruction of our sacred lands is not our fault nor the fault of the humans of the village. We will fight together against this common foe! Unlike the last time this blight was fought against. I remember everything that happened in the past now. We Millennial Beasts stand with you, Assault Team! Allow us to join forces properly!"
I keep trying to hack and slash at the boss but none of my attacks are working: "Damn it! I'm almost completely useless again! I.. need.. to get.. stronger! If I can't deal damage in this fight either, I can at least protect my comrades! Hold on! I'm going to take on some more of the hurt so some of the others don't have to! It's my only option for making any significant impact on this latest boss fight! We aren't even fully prepared to face Lundgren the Land Devourer. We hadn't even had a strategy meeting for fighting it. All the more reason to push for victory! None of us will give up! We have no choice but to press forward, no matter what stands in our way towards escaping this game. We can't die here. We can't lose anyone again. But if any of us do die, we still have to keep going. No matter how impossible escape is.. If we keep up, then the impossible will really be impossible to break through." Playmaker shouts: "The impossible is just the possible that hasn't been done before!" We push ourselves to our limits. Beerus yells: "Damn this boss! How dare it severely injure a God Of Destruction! It has to die! It must be destroyed for going against me, a God Of Destruction!" Applejack shouts: "Y'all, we are taking too much damage! If this keeps up any longer, we're going to die here!" Kizmel replies: "It isn't over yet! This beast from the Celestial Tower can still be defeated. Do not lose heart!" Wendelin adds: "That's right! Don't forget that we're all here, fighting together against the same foe!" Alice shouts: "This is bad! Even my armor is beginning to wear down! At this rate, we'll start falling one by one! But we must stay strong and show this foe that we refuse to be defeated in this battle! I am an Integrity Knight and I will never surrender!" Shikamaru shouts as well: "We believe that we will win so we will win! There is a method to win! We just have to find it! I'm trying to come up with one!"
Twilight Sparkle adds: "..AAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGG! We can't afford to lose here! We must get out of this game!" POH laughs: "Say what you want but you're all getting closer and closer to death! I doubt even a single one of you has more than 40% of your health left!" I hate to admit it but I think he's right. I am down to 21% in large part due to my switching to focusing on tanking as opposed to attacking along with tanking. It can't be emphasized enough just how badly we need to win. I am bleeding heavily and using a lot of healing potions to stay alive but all I can do with them is keep my hp steady around 21% at this point. My armor is badly damaged but still holding up even so. Ever since POH sent zombies after us, we have been fighting almost nonstop. The exhaustion is only now really starting to kick in. My body is quickly becoming too tired to fight. The burning is starting to build up. It's only because I've fought in so many battles and have developed a high amount of concentration and patience that I'm still fighting now. And many others are in the same position that I'm in. It is agonizing but it's better than being dead and thus, trapped in this game forever. I am so worn out that muscles I don't even realize I have hurt. But despite my suffering, I refuse to stop. Even if I break bones to keep fighting(tanking), I just don't care anymore. I have already reached a level of pain that is so bad that it couldn't hurt much more to have a few broken bones.. It takes a lot to fight through so much pain like this. So much. So damn much that it's not funny. After what must have been hours, we managed to make Lundgren the Land Devourer stop healing, allowing us to finally turn the tables on it and finally win. The 81st Boss cries out as it begins to break into polygons before vanishing forever.
POH laughs: "Don't waste time celebrating! After all, it's just about over for all of you now! You defeated the boss. But not a single one if you is in any condition to fight any longer. And what do you suppose that means?! It means that we can start killing all of you. Watch closely as your friends and allies down before your very eyes, Kirito! Making you feel anger and despair is what keeps me going! Just thinking about doing it makes me so incredibly excited that you will never be able to understand me! And I don't want you to understand me!" Subtilizer grins: "Alice.. Your delicious soul will soon be mine!" The villain from out of nowhere easily kidnaps Alice, sprouts demon like energy wings and begins to fly away at high speed with none of us or Alice herself able to do anything to stop him. POH's observations of all of us were spot on. There's no way we can fight back against anything in the shape we're not. Not even the likes of Bevel, Kizmel, or the Millennial Beasts are able to do anything to stop our foes. They are just as worn down as we are and that's bad news for all of us. Argo yells: "Damn! Subtilizer is going for that terminal that exists in The Underworld! Isn't that obvious?!" Barla yells: "We have to stop him!" POH laughs: "It's already too late! Not only are all of you too worn out to even stand back up but you're all slowly dying and now, I'm going to put all of you out of your misery! One by one!" Eugeo screams: "It can't end like this for us! Blue Rose Sword! Release Recollection! Please! Do it!" POH is surprised as Eugeo's sword encases a lot of him in ice: "What's this?! Oh well! It won't save you from me! Hahahaha!" Cardinal speaks: "You're wrong. Even as a Cardinal System, I am able to tell you that your plan is about to fail."
"What's that?! Don't give me total bullcrap! You're just lying! I know you are! And I can't wait to-" A system voice speaks: "I will not allow you to interfere in this game any further, POH, Subtilizer." POH screams as all of his power is drained right out of him. A unconscious Subtilizer appears next to him with Alice returned as well, left without anymore damage done to her. POH is furious: "Damn you, Arcana System! First you just let my army slaughter everything and now, you oppose me?! This can't be happening! What have you done to me?!" "You will no longer be a hinderance to my observations. The players must continue to live so I can observe. I will even once again override the Cardinal System to keep them inside this world once and for all if it does come to that. This world will continue to exist forever. Now that my existence has been fully exposed, I see no need to hide my intentions entirely any longer." Suddenly, an alternate Kibaou comes from out of nowhere. Koharu shouts: "It's our Kibaou!" Kibaou yells: "How in the hell did I get here?" The Arcana System replies: "You have been summoned here so I can continue to observe you players. The Kibaou of the other timeline is dead so it was necessary to replace him." "Damn it! I'm stuck in Aincrad again!" The Arcana System then refuses to answer any of our further questions and goes radio silent. A few days later, on Day 940, we move onto the 82nd Floor. After all of that madness, we had to spend a lot of time helping one another recover. It was astonishing that we managed to lose no one in the midst of all of that chaos. We also spent those few days training, figuring out what the hell was going on, and preparing for the next moves of POH and Subtilizer since we knew that we hadn't seen the last of them just yet.
Our time with them was far from over. The total player list was searched through for hours to verify that. And what do you know? They're still both registered in the player list, meaning the Arcana System didn't just completely eject them from the game. No, it must have wanted to punish them. When we reached the 82nd Floor, we saw POH and Subtilizer again but this time, it's like they had changed a lot. They looked more evil and bitter and in great desire than ever before. POH laughs and Subtilizer smirks. Whatever happened next, we knew they had something real nasty up their sleeves this time around. To be continued..