[Alfheim Online, New Aincrad, Floor 20]
[Malzeno's POV]
Floor 20 of Aincrad wasn't anything special, at least not in its environment anyway. The land formed like a crescent against a sea with a lone island in the middle accessible via the main questline. The land was like a gradient, transitioning from the main settlement near the exit of the lower floor's labyrinth to a thick, roofed forest into valleys that cut underneath, rising to highlands and eventually mountain peaks with the next labyrinth tucked within the mountain range.
The main settlement, Titan, it was designed as a woodland town. All of the buildings comprised of log cabins with an almost Viking aesthetic to them. Lanterns and torches lit the streets, and cobblestone paths weaved throughout the town towards both major gates. The teleport plaza was surrounded by the biggest buildings; a tavern, inn, smithy, the Chief's house, and the Hunter's Lodge.
It was a floor that invoked 'adventure', but I could only sit and stare into space, my right foot tapping faster with each passing minute I spent here. This floor was anything but an adventure...
"Kazuki?" Whispered low so not a soul could hear, I felt my eyes tear away to feel the warm hand pressed to my right knee, helping to ease its tempo. Turning to see Yuuki's concerned eyes linger on mine, I didn't even realize she was sitting here. "Are you okay?"
"Hm..." Was all I could muster, I was handling being here better than before, but sitting in this town still only brought me grief. I hate it, it was stupid to still be this anxious, yet my body said otherwise. Rational thoughts be damned.
After all, this is the floor where my friends died.
"Hey, we got the tip!" Jun waved as he and the others left the Hunter's Lodge to greet us.
"Said if the hints all the other players got is true, the hidden boss is somewhere on this floor, everyone's already got a huge lead on us," Nori added with a hint of annoyance.
The Monster Hunter crossover had yielded one last surprise. With at least one confirmed defeat of a monster in Alfheim, the Hunter's Lodge on the 20th Floor revealed that there was one final monster, one far more powerful than the others. But as to its whereabouts, no one knew where to start.
Noticing my lingering troubles, Talken changed the subject, "Are you doing okay, Malzeno? You look pale,"
"Astute observation, my glasses-wearing friend," I replied, trying to supress my issues for the good of our quest. "Don't worry, I'll be alright, just... memory lane,"
"Is this... oh..." Nori went quiet, so did the others. They knew, this was just the first time since I told them that my past was brought up. "I-I mean, who cares if someone beats us to the punch, right? I'm up for fighting the other monsters,"
"That's right, there's a wide array of wyverns they've revealed I'm sure you'll all love," Siune, the Monster Hunter veteran like myself, shared Nori's enthusiasm.
"For sure," Even Jun was up for it so I decided to put a pin to that, standing tall with a slap to my cheeks.
"Alright, I get what you're all doin', really appreciate it-I'm fine, really, water the under the bridge, I mean, hey, no one said the monster was gonna be in a dungeon, so no issues here," I shrugged, trying to appear as convincing as possible. But Yuuki wasn't buying it in the slightest, I knew she wouldn't but I wasn't about to back down from this.
"Listen... I'm not saying I'm over what happened back then, but... I can't let that stop me from coming here entirely, I can do this," Now turning to Yuuki, my small smile felt far more genuine. "Trust,"
Her expression hadn't changed, but she was definitely mulling it over. Giving a sigh, she stood up and then lightly jabbed my stomach, causing a wince to escape my lips as the others lightened up. "Okay-but!" She jabbed my nose with her finger. "If you start feeling worse, you better say, got it?"
Caring and ruthless, what a combination. I held up a playful salute. "Yes Ma'am."
Now her smile returned. "Good," Turning towards the busy streets flooded with players-a-plenty, prodding her finger outwards once more, she declared. "Sleeping Knights, let's find and hunt us a powerful monster!"
"OKAY!" Much better.
[Crescent's Rise]
Crescent's Rise was the name of the highlands at the other side of the floor's landmass. Most players scoured the forests and valleys, but a number had made their way to the various paths and unmarked trails that peppered this location as well as the mountains themselves, in the hopes of uncovering the hidden boss.
Our search had led us to nightfall, but no one was eager to give up just yet, I had even made quick work of my dinner to jump back in to keep with the search efforts. Flying was only useful in certain points, but this monster could be anywhere.
"For all we know, this guy's crammed in some exclusive dungeon that's never been seen before!" Jun commented at the foot of an all-too-familiar trail. Not every floor in Aincrad had been altered since the conversion, this being one of them, so my mental map of the area was vivid.
"Less talking, more hiking!" Yuuki commanded, marching up the steep, rocky trail beside me while Nori worked on smashing the debris that blocked our path, a common environmental trap of this floor meant to divert a player had the game not accounted for fairies.
"It's strange, we've only found one set of tracks but they cut off so abruptly..." Siune had frowned, the tracks and Scoutflies that aided in our discovery of the deviant of Arzuros were nowhere to be seen, and that did gather never led to another track or hint, they were too old for the insects to properly locate.
"Must be a flying wyvern then," I hazard a guess, tapping my chin. "...or a subterranean one, that could be difficult given the caves- so long as its not that massive Elder Dragon, Dalamadur, then we should be fine...probably,"
"'Dalamadur'?" Talken echoed, glancing back. I was about to answer but Siune cut in instantly.
"Oh, it's one of the biggest monsters in the series! The Serpent King Dragon, said to grow so massive that it can wrap itself around a mountain and crush it, and it even has a subspecies called Shah Dalamadur!" Realizing what she did, the Undine blushed and covered her mouth bashfully. "S-sorry, I got carried away again."
"Nah, I like this energetic side of you, maybe we should've played that VR Monster Hunter game you've mentioned after this!" Yuuki encouraged gleefully, making Siune perk up, face flushed red with what I could imagine is embarrassment and joy.
"That would be wonderful, trust me, you won't regret it!" She exclaimed.
"Lookin' forward to it!" Yuuki grinned back, her hand squeezing mine tightly. Now, her eyes fell to me. "How about you?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah, it'll be a nice change of pace..." I still had my head in the clouds trying to force myself along this awful trail, led on the false promise of loot. If I just said something... if we weren't greedy or... Again, I felt her hand draw me away from those feelings, then her side as it pressed to mine.
"It'll be okay, promise," She whispered, my side leaning back as much with a heavy breath.
"..." I didn't say it, but I sure hope so. Especially since we're here... there wasn't much in the way of alternate routes, I knew that and I still kept quiet.
"Hey, check it out, there's a bunch of ruins!" Jun pointed beyond a left turn, had you seen it from any other angle, you'd have missed this turn entirely, from our position, the path seemed to cut off to a cliff edge, in reality, one small turn would peel away that illusion.
Approaching a cliff that overlooked an old stone temple carved into the mountain face, tucked away and out of sight, I felt my whole body weigh ten times more than ever. The same grey stone carved from the rocky face, columns supporting the crumbling entrance, the darkness beyond the rectangular passage with a stairwell just beyond. A crypt, both in-game and...
"The Echo Chamber..." The name rolled off my tongue like lead, tightening my jaw a little at its haunting visage.
Ahead of us, Tecchi studied the entrance. "Doesn't look to have changed,"
"Sure doesn't seem like a monster den either," Nori shrugged, looking to me and Siune. "You guys?"
"I cannot say, unfortunately," Siune admitted, "There may be some monsters that would reside in old ruins but unless there's a bigger entrance elsewhere, I can't imagine what would live here that would be a greater threat than what we've already faced."
"So that's a 'no' then," Jun slumped his shoulders. "Guess we'll double back, yay..."
"There's someone there," I pointed out, feeling my fingers graze where I'd switch to my repeater crossbow out of habit. Everyone else stood to attention, there wasn't a cursor, just a blurry shadow coming towards the light.
"Ah, seems I finally found the exit, what little it does for me," The voice echoed from the entrance, inching into the light but refusing to go beyond the mammoth doorway, as if by touching that border would be a terrible sin. "Hello, I can assume you are here to venture into the dungeon as I have?"
Whatever hold I had on NTB loosened, the wooden bow clattering to the ground beside me. My chest grew unbearably tight while my eyes grew impossibly wide. "...that's not possible..." I felt my breath shutter in my throat, moving an inch forward.
A beautiful young woman, roughly around seventeen with short, soft-white hair, the bangs curled just above her ice-blue eyes. She had a light-green bandana covering her mouth. The rest of her attire was befitting of a ninja, a mixture of black, white, and light green splashed in to broaden the colour pallet.
Clasped to her left hip was a katana scabbard coloured black. The katana's handguard rectangular with hollowed rectangles at each corner, all of which are gold in colour. How... there was no mistaking her, that face, the cold tone of voice, every detail captured and preserved...
"Pix..." I couldn't begin to fathom how she was here, rather, I knew, and it made a hand twist at my shirt by my stomach as I placed a hand over my mouth, feeling like I was about to throw up. The Cardinal System kept her data and Alfheim rebuilt her... why...why...?
"This is..." Yuuki quickly appeared taken back, after telling her every detail, she was the one who knew what Pix looked like, the others only knew her by name. "But she..."
"I-I know," I managed to choke out, stepping closer. "You're... you're..."
Pix blinked at me, brow furrowed. "You know my name? I suppose with how active this floor's become names get around... regardless, if you can spare a moment, I... we need your help," Now I saw it, the quest marker hanging above her head. I knew she was gone, but seeing it made my heart twist in agony. "Myself and my friends are unable to leave this dungeon,"
To elaborate, she pressed her hand to the doorway, and an invisible barrier rippled for her. Tecchi reached over, and his arm went through as normal, giving the others a concerned frown. So they're trapped? Wait... then that means Arc and Myst are alive too...
"But, uh, how? I mean, what's making you guys unable to leave?" Jun pipped up, waving a hand to grab Pix's attention.
"A creature has made its home here, the presence of which has disturbed the Echo Chamber, distorting all that reside within it. As a result, we're trapped, and our supplies are nearly exhausted," Pix sighed, shaking her head. "I should've seen it coming, this place is nothing but a trap,"
"I... I don't know what we should do," Talken glanced over to us, more specifically, Yuuki who was still digesting this as I was. "Y-Yuuki?"
"I-"
"We'll help you break this curse or whatever it is keeping you here," I wasn't about to lose them again. This time, I can make things right, I have to. "Pix, take us to your friends, I think I know how to reach this monster, I'm assuming it's what kept you trapped here for so long?"
"Correct, we have attempted locating the creature but the traps and monsters residing here have made progress difficult," She admitted, gesturing to the depths of the dungeon. "I'll guide you all through the safest route,"
Quest Added!
-Echoes of a Moonlit Feast-
Pix, an adventurer has been cursed, alongside her party, to remain within the depths of the Echo Chamber by a malevolent force that now resides in its depths...
*Locate Pix's Party [ ]
*Aid them in breaking the curse [ ]
Echo Chamber of Floor 20 Reward 15000 Col Unknown Monster Materials
The quest appeared, but I had already accepted it without a word from the others. My whole body was shaking, even trying to lift NTB felt a thousand times heavier. Pix was right there, but she didn't know me, none of them would. Whatever this sick joke is... I'm going to finish it.
"Let's go," I spoke, but my voice felt dry and hollow, marching back to my most hated memory, and with a person that pained me to see again.
"Wait, Mal-" Sorry Yuuki, but this was too important to me. She'd understand, I have to do this, I need to.
Soon, we ventured back down into the depths of the Echo Chamber.
[To Be Continued]
[Author's Notes]
And what a cliff-hanger to leave it on! Malzeno returns to the place that's left him traumatized with mixed feelings, all to help Pix who's clearly been reconstructed as an NPC just to rub salt in the wound. Just how will things fare for Malzeno this time? I hope you enjoyed, I appreciate the support as always; see ya in the next chapter!