|Sword Art Online, Floor 55, Western Peaks Village|
|Jan. 31st 10:00|
Gloomy skies beyond the veil, nothing had changed since yesterday, but with both parties rested and prepared to venture back into the frigid blizzard, Mito approached them all, gesturing to Daora for reference. "Okay, it took me a while, but yesterday, I managed to create some decent accessories to ease some of our burdens, least, that's the best I can do," Shrugging, she held up Daora's right hand, and upon it was a pearlescent ring made from the glassy ore from Velkhana.
"These rings will give you immunity to the Cold and Iceblight debuffs, and some resistance to Severe Iceblight but that's about it really," Mito let his hand go, one hand on her hip as she shrugged, though it was clear she wanted to do better and tried to hide her disappointment. "Sorry, was all I could do with the resources we have,"
"You mean I don't need to wear out my own supplies for Hot Drinks before a fight? Sign me up," Artorias stepped forward to receive his ring, eyeing it with one eye closed as he appraised it in what little light they had. "Ah, many thanks, Reaper!"
"You have truly found your calling, I am most impressed by your craftsmanship," Shirayuki approved, smiling as she slipped her ring on.
"I'll pay ya in kind later, MitO," Argo nodded her head in thanks.
"Worth nearly freezing to death, now we can ignore it all together," Klein beamed, moving around to pat her on the back, causing her bashfulness to increase under her hood. "You're the best, Mito, real lifesaver!"
"So pretty, isn't it, Hotaru?" Silica beamed towards the younger shinobi, the ravenette admiring her own ring, giving it a thoughtful look.
"It... truly is, to believe so many benefits can come from such a small item," She had to admit, the purple-haired girl had a knack for this stuff. "Items like these truly are amazing,"
"Aren't they?" Evet hummed, a hand across his stomach as he gave Mito a modest bow. "You have my thanks,"
"C-c-can we just move on from all that?" She shuffled her hands to one side, the heat rising to her cheeks from the tsunami of praises and compliments thrown her way. They made it sound like they were end-game level items and not just a niche problem solver.
"You shouldn't downplay your work, Mito, you're really helped us out in a big way, I mean, you saw how we were traversing the mountains to get here, now with these, we'll cover far more ground, even minor hinderances like this being removed is a massive deal," Nagi offered with an innocent smile that could melt the snow itself, squeezing his fist tightly with the ring in place. "I'll treasure this, thank you,"
Despite her flushed expression, she smiled softly under her hood, nodding. "Su-sure, it's why I'm here, ain't it?" Tucking her hood closer to her head, she at least felt a bit prouder for her accomplishment.
"I like it," Her gaze was soon drawn to Daora who clenched his ringed fist around the one-handed form of Destroyer, proudly thrusting it high into the air. "Now I can fight Velkhana on an even playing field again! I've always wanted to fight her with my own hands, now I can!" Seeing that child-like energy radiating from Daora had her smile softer further, shaking her head with an errant thought on his cute reaction.
"I see you're all pumped and ready to go? That's good, love the energy mortals bring," Isshi smiled as she left her home, her weapons strapped to her kimono, having fixed her clothing to be more presentable since they were heading out into a storm. "The best ones are those who can smile in amidst the chaos, don't you think? Such spirited drive..."
"We'll follow your lead, Miss Isshi," Shirayuki held a hand to her chest. "I have no recollection of how badly my home has been warped over the years, my guidance would be dated, I'm afraid,"
"Nothing to worry about, you just focus on your goals, I'll handle my own, simple, no?" She winked, turning to the front of the pack with Nagi and Argo. "Come, let us make haste for the heart of this storm!"
|Jan. 31st 11:39|
Even with Mito's rings, the winds continued to blast prickling ice and snow at their faces, tearing through their clothing as they fought the storm, leaving the safety of the town's veil behind, now, all they could see were vague shadows and the distant outlines of other mountain peaks. If one squinted hard enough, they could make out the labyrinth spire beyond the peaks.
Isshi led them through small glades of snow, rising up steep, uneven paths that snaked up a mountainside and across it steep footing, one wrong move or gust of wind could send them sailing back down to the bottom, if they survived the fall. Abandoned, natural paths from past climbers and explorers, even the footings of the creatures that no longer roamed the peaks, say for the occasional pack of Frostbitten Beowolves.
Time faded from their minds, battling the harsh elements, heading deeper through the valleys of the mountains to a long forgotten place. Reaching a dip in their path, Argo held up her arm, approaching the archway made from dark wood, icicles hung from its arch, the wood coated in packed snow and dark blue ice, what remained of banners were torn strips of faded cloth.
She leaned in, inspecting the Kanji faded in the wooden post before returning to them. "Says we're enterin' the 'Frozen Spines', that about righT?" She turned to Isshi who looked unaffected by the cold, the wind barely phasing her at all as her head swept behind her, eyes set on the peaks they could barely see.
"Yes, the regular routes to the House of Winter have long since been buried, this will be our best and shortest route forward," Isshi conferred with the broker over howling gales.
"I remember training in this region, they are a series of plateaus scattered to form a path over frozen caverns below. It would be wise to watch your step when jumping!" Shirayuki bestowed on them, all heads dipping in understanding.
"Guess we can expect company while we're at it," Klein clenched a fist around Sol Moeta, feeling the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end, and not just from the biting cold surrounding them.
"Then let's get moving, and like Shirayuki said, watch your step going forward!" Nagi warned, carefully descending the steep slope that led down into the rest of the wide, unseen valley, using what rocks that jutted out as footholds.
The most unsettling thing about the Western Peaks were the lack of monsters, those they came across were petrified in ice, left frozen in time forever, unable to even shatter and respawn elsewhere. Verglas Velkhana had decimated the very ecosystem it sought to protect, all in vain to free itself from the Abyss' corruption eating away at its heart for all these years. It had Nagi wonder, how much of Velkhana remained? It may've been a game, but having lived for so long inside this world, he grew to see it as just another world no different than reality, so the idea of a creature suffering from such a blight had him pity it.
His string of thoughts brought his gaze briefly to the party in the back, Evet, Nagi wondered... was this why? It wasn't his place to question what Evet did with his life, but it did make him endlessly wonder.
Reaching the edge of the snow, they paused to see the loose snow fall through a crack in the road, slowly, a wavy line set off a chain reaction, and through the snowfall, gaps ranging from a foot to two meters appeared, the land appearing to have been shattered like a hammer to glass, leaving them with various sizes and lengths to the plateaus before their feet. Peeking down, Nagi saw the bluish tint of thick ice layers, all leading straight into an abyss below.
"This looks..." Artorias dipped his head forward to peer down himself, frost-covered brows furrowed at the dark chasm through the cracks, "...OSHA compliant,"
"You are free to take the scenic route if you so desire," Hotaru commented, taking the first leap across as deep cracking sounds reverberated below, but the plateau remained stable.
"Well, forgive me if some of us like to have solid ground under their toes; miss short, dark, and moody," Artorias was quick to fire back, feeling her steely glare rebound. "Case and point," Hopping the gap, the rest soon followed, using whichever path they saw fit.
"Try to keep moving, less we test our luck too," Nagi suggested, keeping light on his feet, reaching a hand back for Silica to grab and hop across wider gaps, Pina hooked to the top of her head.
Their movements were slower, taking their time to hop from one platform to the next, the relentless blizzard bearing down on them, a heavy gust or two keeping them rooted to the hardened ice and packed snow to avoid tripping or worse. Luckily, the ground on either side of the path they took was risen, forming a 'river', their path meandering through the valley's snow-swept lands.
Ahead of the pack, Isshi came to a sudden halt, her head turning to her right sharply. Everyone quickly held their place, feeling a creeping tension from how sudden she froze, as if petrified on the spot.
"Isshi?" Nagi called to her, the winter spirit closing her eyes, her face placid, allowing the howl of the winds to carry her senses beyond their own.
"...the winds have changed, they wail with grief..." She murmured, crimson eyes wide as she reached for her bow and quiver. "It seems we've finally drawn unwanted attention,"
In the heart of a relentless blizzard, where the wind howled like the wails she described, bouncing off various crevasses over the cliffs and deep below their feet, something shifted and stirred in the air, any with high Search skills instantly felt that pricking sensation from Detection go off, they were being hunted.
Soon, their followers emerged from the swirling maelstrom of ice and snow—shinobi, their appearances as ghastly as they are mesmerizing.
"By the Sun..." Shirayuki gasped, drawing her katana in tandem with Hotaru's rapier.
Undead warriors moved with an eerie grace atop the cliffsides that cut off their right and left, their movements almost silent against the howling storm. Their garbs, once the attire of elite guardians, now tattered and worn, hanging from their skeletal frames like ghostly remnants. The fabric imbued with frost and dark rime, giving off a faint, otherworldly glow that illuminates in the blizzard's gloom. Ice crystals hung from their leather armour and their weapons—katanas, bows, and kunai—encased in a layer of ice, making each blade shimmer with a deadly light.
Their faces, partially obscured by frozen masks revealed glimpses of their undead visage. Eyes, glowing with a cold, blue light, pierced through the snow, fixated on the living with a haunting intensity. Skin, where it can be seen, is pale and frostbitten, stretched tight over their skeletal features. Red cursors bled above their cowls. 'Frostbitten Scouts - Lv. 78', their archers nocked ice-tipped arrows, and 'Frostbitten Revenants -Lv. 80' drew their frozen katanas, leaping down onto the plateaus to sway towards their prey, faint whispers and hisses emanating from their jaws.
"About time for a real fight!" Without missing a beat, Daora ran and leapt over a gap, slamming his silver-coated ax through the first Revenant's chest, sending it flying off the edge and into the chasm below, the glow fading from Destroyer. "Come on then!"
Mito sighed lightly, "Best to follow his lead," Sweeping Soul Fang, Mito drew it behind her, parrying a Revenant's Ichimonji, the dark blue skill dispersing in the howling air.
With a single flash of steel, the valley erupted into a cacophony of battle between the living and dead. Under the dark grey atmosphere, flashes of frozen metal clashed with the whirr and buzz of multiple, radiant colours that sent sparks high into the snowfall.
Diving into a roll between two platforms, Artorias swished Red Death side to side, Snake Bite taking out the knees of two Revenants, their weapons gliding past his hair, whipping around on his knees to steamroll the pair with Shield Bash, sending the pair hurdling over the edge, their weapons and bony fingers clawing at the edges as their snarls disappeared into the depths. Swivelling on his left heel, Red Dawn cracked against a thrust skill, parrying the Revenant and leaving it wide open to a mint-green slant from Sonic Leap, tearing down the length of its torso, two quick swipes and a kick tossed it over the edge as more undead shinobi leapt onto his platform.
From above, a halo of blazing water tore through their heads, splitting two Revenants in half, Nagi landing perfectly after Rising Sun's swing, twisting his katana to block a downward slam from another, leaving it open to another slam of Artorias's shield, the undead teetering off the edge. Rushing under a blur of brown and green, only the golden contrails could identify where Argo was, the flash of her claws tearing strips through the backs of the Frostbitten, leaving them either confused or stunned, cutting off their skill motion with her flurry of swings, as though she had become part of the wind.
Isshi's arrows sailed through the snow, piercing another Scout above as arrows whizzed by her face, the woman twirling right, practically dancing to evade their cold arrowheads, all while drawing back arrows in rapid succession, laying down suppressing fire for Mito to invert her scythe, drawing its teal blade back as she severed another Revenant's head from its shoulders, the fitting skill Execution making quick work of it.
With a wide swing, the reaper focused on the cliffside across from them, an arrow catching her shoulder, thankfully, Iceblight never took affect thanks to her ring. Smirking, she let a dark purple tinge overtake the hooked blade attached to the main edge of Soul Fang, and with a sharp, wide swing, it suddenly whipped forward with a rattle, a vibrant, purple chain extending magically from the head of the weapon, sweeping through the white haze until she felt it sink clean into one of the Scouts.
Soul Fang, having been modified with the Trick Weapon attribute, allowed her to use one of her Throwing skills, Hook Line, it didn't do much damage, as is custom with the Skill tree, but now that she had a solid tug, she ran and pulled back hard. Her momentum, carried with the retracting chain, threw her over the cracked surface below, her boots digging into the face of the cliff to scale and leap high, her cape wrapping around her as her right foot buried itself into the scalp of the Scout with a glowing blade sticking out of its chest.
Retracting the full length of the chain, she twirled Soul Fang and swatted two arrows aside, engaging the archers head-on, themselves reaching for the rime-tinged kunai on their worn belts. And from the cliff edge, Mito gasped when two large, horn-like blades sunk through the side of a Scout, dragging and throwing it overhead.
"Ahahaha, that was awesome!" Daora pulled himself up, having witnessed Mito's impressive display of mobility that got his heart pumping, completely ignoring the kunai that lodged themselves into his back, the eyes of his mask sparkling with unseen delight. "You have a Trick Weapon too, you never said you could do that?"
Mito inhaled, closing the gap and sweeping her scythe downward, feet planted on the neck before kicking back into a lunging slant, causing the Scout to stumble backward, two large gashes through its chest. Exhaling after Reaper, her wickedly cold eyes locked to Daora. "Focus, we've got more archers,"
"Oh, I know..." Cracking his knuckles, Daora turned with her, dragging Destroyer through the snow, the pair watching as more shambled through the white mist, some nocking new arrows. "...I just wanted to join in on the fun," He didn't see it, but a grin split her own cheeks.
"Pina!" Below, Silica barely made a hand gesture before her feathered dragon flew towards a trio of Revenants, spewing a small haze of bubbles in their faces, causing them to give out an unnaturally loud 'pop', disorientating and confusing the undead long enough for Hotaru to sweep in from behind, her rapier, Blossom, gleaming ruby red, flashing forward in three, precise thrusts, forming a triangle between the three shinobi, their forms clanking with hissed groans, straight into Silica's arching body.
She spun wide, the edge of her dagger tinged light blue as Round Accel carved through all three from their stomachs to their lower backs, bringing the trio down as both girls nodded at each other, Pina flying in to hiss above their heads. Then he landed on Silica's shoulder, the feathers along Pina's back standing on end. It didn't take the dragon tamer long to realize this reaction was a threatening posture.
"Pina? What is it?" She asked, Hotaru sparing the little drake a critical glance.
"He's on edge, something else has him agitated," She noted, keeping Blossom poised. "We need to keep moving - hah!" Slashing high, one of the few slash-style skills for rapiers, Folium, disarming another Revenant, a pair of orange claws skewering it from behind, Argo twisting her whole body around its waist to fling it sideways and down into the chasm behind her.
"Raaaah!" Klein let out a war cry, drawing the aggro of seven more Revenants, their HP ranging from high to low as they just kept falling in from the cliffside on their right. Sol Moeta cast in hellish orange as he charged, their weapons turning various shades of blue, this didn't deter the samurai, from his left flank, Shirayuki closed in first, sweeping low under two Iai and a Whirlwind Slash, feeling their cold edges graze strands of hair.
Spinning on her knees, the living shinobi continued to twirl, the ice granting her the added momentum, drawing her emerald green sword through their legs, Dance of the Water Dragon leaving them reeling to find their footing, it was too late. Klein brought the tip of his katana forward, puncturing the first Revenant, reeling and thrusting his arm like a piston, skewering each undead within his reach. Ducking under a Serpent Slash, his body twisted sharply, cleaving through four of them with a horizontal streak, Solar Brilliance bringing them down.
The remaining three lumbered toward him, one tossing kunai that dug between the soft spots in his armour, Shirayuki locking blades with another of her former comrades before kicking it back straight into one of Isshi's arrows. But it was the rushing glade of water that brought all three down, Nagi danced between the shinobi, severing their torsos in two, horizontal arcs, ending their suffering with Solstice Haze.
Waves of water dissipated, and from behind, Nagi stepped to one side, allowing Evet to glide by his back, the tip of his blade turning a dark crimson, Ripple Thrust stretched forward to pierce and bury the final Revenant into the ice and snow, a single flick of his wrist flinging its body over the edge of their plateau. The man heaved a breath, wrenching an arrow from his left shoulder, reaching for a potion out of his quick menu.
"Duck!" Heeding this call without sparing a glance, Evet's head fell in time to avoid a sweeping katana from above as Nagi caught it with his own inches above Evet's head. Twisting his grip, Nagi kicked his left foot out, striking the stomach of the newly arrived Revenant, lifting it off the ground slightly as Evet swung high, splitting its chest open with two, parallel swings, the undead shattering against the cliff face. "You okay?"
Looking up at Nagi, the man stood and gave a curt nod. "Good eye; we need to advance, they will continue to surround us otherwise,"
"Yeah..." But something stirred in Nagi's stomach, dread or anticipation, he wasn't certain, but he wasn't about to stick around and find out what.
The group pressed the attack, with one cliffside handled by Daora and Mito, they had a far easier time moving across the Frozen Spines and their shattered plateaus, using the terrain to their advantage, but without any clear sense of distance, all they could do was continue to run and pray they reached the end of this hazardous path.
Combined, Nagi, Klein, Evet, and Shirayuki's skills set of a cacophony of miniature explosions, the small horde either shattering upon impact with something solid, or disappearing beneath the plateaus. Clearing the way, the storm let out another, bone-chilling roar, only this was accompanied by something far more organic.
"The winds change yet again," Poetic as Evet put it, he and Nagi swung their weapons forward, watching as moisture crystalized into chunks of dark ice above them, forcing the two apart as the others all equally threw themselves around, evading the bombardment of ice clusters.
A sudden drop in temperature struck them, as though the protective rings had no effect. From the swirling mists and snow, the large form of Verglas Velkhana flew down, hovering before them with a loud, commanding roar, white vapour leaking from between its lips. The air around the dragon crackled, the ground frosting over with each beat of its wings. Its deep, glowing eyes fixed to Nagi, as though it recognized him from the day prior.
Another cloud of freezing mist escaped its jaws, as if angered by the sight of the water shinobi. Reeling its head downward, both Evet and Nagi rolled, narrowly avoiding the vertical sweep of frost, hardening into a solid strip of ice that shattered, pelting their forms. Velkhana towered over them, threatening to bury them beneath the snow permanently.
"We can't fight it here!" Nagi raised his voice, threshing his arm out instantly to give the order. "Everyone, make a run for the end of this path! Me and Evet will keep its attention long enough!"
Behind the dragon, Daora stared at its blind spot, then to Destroyer in his hands, squeezing it tightly. "Next time, don't you worry..." Without even sparing a glance forward, his ax swept another Scout sideways where the tip of Soul Fang split it in half, Mito rushing by.
"Let's move, we gotta keep the high ground clear for the others!" She rallied him, the masked teen nodding once to charge after the repositioning archers.
Everyone ran as Velkhana sprayed a beam of frost in a horizontal arc, ice lining the edge of the cliffside as chunks broke away and tumbled towards them. Leaping, Artorias held his shield overhead, feeling a large chunk shatter as the pieces scattered atop Silica who kept Pina in her arms as she ran, panting heavily.
"Th-thank you!" She breathed, Artorias keeping close to swing his shield wide, shattering another chunk to the girl's left.
"Send me a thank you letter in my inbox later, pipsqueak, now hustle!" He ordered, waving Red Death to give Nagi the green light to duke it out.
Suddenly, an arrow struck Velkhana's right eye, disorientating her as she growled. The pair of swordsmen turned their heads to find Isshi standing behind them, a taut frown on her pained features, but her eyes burned with unwavering resolve. "I can feel your pain, Velk, I swear, I will free you from this curse, I swear it!" She loosed three more arrows, the dragon's tail whipped to shatter them instantly. "I'll aid you both, we must repel her now or she'll destroy what remains of House Winter!"
"Got it!" They hollered.
Evet's hands flashed bright blue, and gone was his katana in exchange for his own, carbon black bow with large, black-tipped arrows. "Draw it's ire, I'll provide support alongside Isshi!"
Giving him a nod, Nagi swept NightSky wide, water coiling through the frostbitten air that clung to his throat. Their second encounter with Velkhana had begun.
Accepting the shinobi's challenge, Velkhana swept low enough to throw herself back, adding to the vicious thrust of her tail, the spear-like point grinding against the face of NightSky on his right, keeping steady, Nagi swung high and low into a straight thrust, picking at the scales around the edge of its frozen tail. Velkhana was undeterred, repeating her attempts to skewer the teen who ran and leapt from one plateau to the next, feeling the ice-cold arc of the tail skimming above his head.
Using her own swing, Velkhana let out a misty breath, a crescent of ice erected behind Nagi, narrowly rolling left, avoiding another forming on its opposite side. Velkhana flew through them, showering him in a sharp barrage of icicles, NightSky barely raised in time to block the rising sweep of her tail again, the dragon arching around in an attempt to ram him off the edge of the platform.
A thunderous blast rebound off the chasm walls, Velkhana shaking her head from Evet's Thunder Crash, the arrow letting off such a tremendous sound, blasting a few layers of frost from her head. She spun around and spewed a haze overhead, allowing chunks of ice to descend upon the two archers that kept light on their feet. Evet jumped and slid onto his backside, reeling back three arrows tinged in gold, Buckshot pelting the beast across her side as three normal arrows copied across Velkhana's flank.
Roaring angrily, she spun around and eyed Nagi below, breathing a deadly mist that forced him to dive backward, avoiding the three encroaching rings of dark rime, the dragon slamming her feet through the lot like it was nothing more than paper, whipping her tail wide as it slammed against his katana, forcing his body to slide in a slow curve towards an edge.
Thinking fast to avoid such a fate, Nagi's blade erupted into a rush of water, kicking off one foot, utilizing Whirlwind Slash's spins to slash the tail and leap over its biting edge, but not without bracing as her tail's flexible form whipped back around to stab him under his left arm, his back striking the left-hand cliffside, sliding down its curved face to the platform below. That took a good 8% off his HP.
But Velkhana wouldn't allow him time to ponder, digging his nails in to throw himself onto his stomach to slide off the lip of the platform, falling onto another, narrowly avoiding the dragon's horizontal breath that froze the air above him, pelting his back with a chunk of ice, inflicting Severe Iceblight in the process.
Taking flight, the Elder Dragon screeched sharply, whipping round from the several arrows digging into her underbelly, and straight into the blinding glare of lilac, the force of Evet's skill throwing him back slightly, the air hissed and let out a loud 'boom'. Velkhana hadn't the time to evade, the arrow sinking into her chest, dealing true damage as the shot visibly made her recoil in pain, her wings just barely keeping her aloft.
But the damage was done, Fail-Not had revealed a few cracks in her iridescent armour, through to her dark blue scales. It was hard to see at first, but squinting, Nagi had a clear view from below, tossing the empty vial aside to see... the tip of something pitch black sticking out of her chest.
"There!" He gasped.
"A black splinter," Evet murmured under his muffler, brow furrowed tighter.
"Velk..." Isshi bit her cheek.
Letting out a cry, Velkhana fell to the ground onto her side, practically motionless as all four health bars disappeared. The wind... was gone. None of them dared to make a sound, staring at Velkhana laying at their feet... but that wasn't all that could be seen. Nagi saw his breath in the air, feeling an icy chill crawl through his skin and down into his bones, practically numbing his body.
At their feet, white frost began to form and grow, seeping into their footwear, large, crystalized snowflakes snaking up from the ground, a heavy haze of white vapour surrounding Velkhana who began to rise, her tail sweeping low through the mist. What little light the mountains afforded them turned a dull blue, refracting off Velkhana's body that rose to its full height.
The sound of cracking ice filled the air, layers of ice weaved to her legs and up her vertebrae, a slow beat of her wings gathering dark blue rime at their edges, extending the berth of her wingspan. Raising her head, a crown of ice grew into a large horn at the tip of her snout, jagged spikes arching over each shoulder, concealing the tip of the corruption behind a thick layer.
By now, the temperature reached its lowest point, even the snowfall had simply ceased around Velkhana, every breath stung in their throats and threatened to freeze their lungs, even their bodies were becoming rigid just trying to move at all. This was the regal and terrifying presence of Verglas Velkhana, now unleashed in her true form, the cold death of winter itself.
"We must leave here at once! Hurry!" Isshi's voice cut through their dread and awe, herself staring back at the dragon with a mixture of emotions that couldn't be described in the moment. Finding their momentum against the storm, they broke in a dead sprint in the direction their allies fled, Velkhana swung her wings down, and a tidal wave of absolute zero blew through them, freezing not only a layer of ice over everything again, but conjuring dozens of clusters in the air, forcing them to balance leaping over gaps with avoiding having their heads crushed by falling debris.
Nagi spared Velkhana a look over his shoulder, her piercing eyes burrowed back, almost smugly at them fleeing, but that was a relief to him, she was smarter than most monsters thus far, and took their retreat as a sign to leave, taking to the blizzard once more, vanishing with one last, piercing roar.
|Jan. 31st 12:05|
Regrouping with the others, having survived another encounter with Velkhana, everyone finally took stock of their supplies and healed up if needed.
"If anyone's low, lemme know, I overstocked since it's likely our next run-in with Velk will be the true fight," Artorias announced.
"All those undead, were they..." Silica trailed off, looking at Hotaru's back as she stared off beyond a small incline alongside Shirayuki. "Hotaru? Shirayuki?"
Neither answered, their scents to Nagi were stale with two distinct emotions, grief from Shirayuki, apathy with a tinge of uncertainty from Hotaru. Marching up alongside them, Nagi saw the text appear, his eyes falling to the quiet howls that blew up from the foot of the hillside.
'House of Winter'
Nestled at the end of this secluded valley, surrounded by the harsh, unforgiving expanse of a tundra with the occasional acre of pine trees, lies the remnants of a once-thriving town designed from the Feudal Japan era. The last House the corruption left in ruin.
Silently, the group ventured forward to the nearest road buried under snow into town. Excluding the blizzard's harsh winds, there was an overwhelming silence, a quiet so profound it seems to muffle the very footsteps on the snow-covered paths. The buildings, constructed in the traditional architectural style of the era, with gently sloping roofs designed to bear the weight of heavy snow, now bear the marks of decay. The wooden structures, once meticulously maintained, are now weathered and worn, with some collapsing under the relentless assault of the elements, their darkened beams and timbers exposed like the bones of a long-dead creature.
Former, lively streets lay empty, a once bustling market square, now eerily silent, the stalls and shops abandoned and buried. Shirayuki took the lead, her eyes wandered, she retraced steps from her past with quiet, almost careful precision like stepping over glass. Hotaru still hugged her biceps, only her eyes visible, wracked with silent conflict, anger, sadness, all trying to hide under a thick layer of apathy.
"There's absolutely nothing left..." Artorias kept his voice low, feeling a little jumpy with how places creaked or shifted, when did this game become a horror movie? He wondered.
"All those undead, they were the last to fall... and the first to rise," Evet made a sombre comment, seeing the state of disarray, but also the lack of any former life. Not even a skeleton could be found.
"Hard to imagine what this place used to look like," Klein rubbed his nape, feeling uncomfortable with how dead everything appeared.
"It was a lively place," Finally, Shirayuki found her voice, it was soft, tender too. "The snow tinged the rooftops white over the soft blue tiles, the scents of freshly cooked meat over open fires, even a delightful tune from large, intricate windchimes found in the town's castle towers. It was a peaceful, gentle place in this often unforgiving landscape,"
"..." Hotaru remained silent, and that only elected Shirayuki to continue, leading them up a gradual incline that meandered between ascending streets.
"I recall you'd disappear from training just to see what traders had brought from the town beyond the peaks," Shirayuki chuckled to herself, eyeing the younger shinobi. "You never did care much for how often they scolded you,"
Hotaru's face tensed, Nagi and Argo caught on instantly and knew why. Obviously, to them, they had spent their whole lives in Aincrad, but the events they spoke of wouldn't have unfolded in the eyes of a player, so if Hotaru knew what this world was, did she know that too? And did she accept those memories as real? From her pensive silence, it must've been what caused her such frustrations, trying to come to terms with these revelations wasn't easy.
Reaching the end of the road that split into a T-Junction, a wide path led straight to the imposing walls and towers that jutted out above everything else, they had arrived at the gates of House Winter's stronghold. The remains of a once majestic fortress now lay in disrepair. Creaks could be heard accompanied by ghostly whispers of the wind. There was one problem that presented itself.
The way was frozen shut. A thick, jagged wall of dark ice sealed the gatehouse, and with how high the walls were and how they stuck out, there would be no scaling them, even Mito couldn't use her Hook Line skill without an enemy to anchor to. Velkhana had sealed the fortress long ago.
"No surprise there, nothing's ever that cut and dry," Mito tisked at the expected roadblock.
"Is there a way to melt the ice?" Klein asked Isshi, the woman rubbing her chin.
"Perhaps... by purging the corruption afflicting Velk, we can end this storm, and all dark ice connected to her should thaw out or shatter... perhaps," Even for all her knowledge, Isshi could only give them guesswork, shaking her head. "I'm afraid the extent of the Abyss' powers is beyond my knowledge,"
"So we're still on track as before, any place here she'd use as a nesT?" Argo kept a straight face.
"There are old mines we had to abandon years before my arrival," Shirayuki answered, stepping closer to the gatehouse, the moat below frozen solid, and the thick, wooden beams used as a drawbridge creaking underfoot. "They ran deep below the mountains, if it's magma we seek, there are caverns at the deepest point we had to abandon for that very reason,"
"And that's where we'll find Velkhana," Nagi's voice perked up, seeing the objective change for the quest to locate the lowest layer of the mines.
Meanwhile, Shirayuki brought her hand close to the ice, as if wishing for it to disappear and let her step inside its walls once more. But her hand froze an inch from the dark rime, she knew better than to touch it, closing her hand tightly.
"Why... why do you care?" All conversations grew silent under a dull whistle in the wind, carrying Hotaru's voice. Shirayuki turned to her, seeing the bandana pulled away from her trembling lips. "This place, these people, they're gone, they don't even exist anymore, they never...!" She stopped herself, refusing to say what would tear that can of worms wide open.
"I have failed my House, when the corruption overtook us, I tried with all my might to protect our Heir, he foolishly stood by us shinobi, willing to give his life as our equals," A pained smile formed on Shirayuki's lips, her eyes soft, almost motherly. "I had to drag him kicking and screaming, hehe, very unbecoming of a young man to lord over this town, but in the end I couldn't save him either, my..."
A sigh left her lips, thoughts raced across her eyes with flashes of joy, loss, courage, and love. Shirayuki expressed what very few A.I in SAO could, she was more human than any of them. No one spoke, most of them couldn't, feeling their throats clench at her tender words.
"...our Houses lay in ruins, the ones that remain rise to be fodder for a darkness I cannot purge alone. But even after the Abyss is gone, what then? What will I accomplish after my duty is fulfilled?" Approaching Hotaru, she placed two firm hands on the girl's shoulders, visibly shaking her. "I will tell of the once great houses. Of Winter's courage. Of Flame's resolve. Of Dusk's innovation. And of House Sun, which embodied them all. The dead can no longer speak, so I will for them, their memories I will pass on until I too can no longer utter a word,"
Hotaru wanted that, in her eyes, she desperately wanted to agree, but fear, anger, it swallowed those feelings as she turned away, prying herself from Shirayuki's hands, the woman didn't fight her, only smiling as Hotaru marched past them all with her head low. "You idiot..." She muttered, trying to move as far ahead of the group as possible.
Silica tried to go after her, but Daora held her shoulder surprisingly, even he wasn't a stranger to when a person needs time to think in peace. Nagi eyed Evet who watched Hotaru leave, then gazed at Shirayuki who tucked her bandana over her nose again.
"Are you... going to be okay?" Nagi asked her, the woman chuckled lightly, patting his head. "Sorry, that's... not what you'd want to hear,"
"You are quite alright, your compassion remains as bright as any flame, young shinobi. Hotaru is troubled, I am not blind that she has much on her mind that she wishes to speak but cannot find the courage to say, if I had to guess, it might be something of great significance," Shirayuki surprised him, her eyes closed briefly. "I am a shinobi myself, I tend to learn from observation, just as I know you and Miss Argo may be aware of her plight. But I respect your decision to let Hotaru speak of it first,"
But how could she, if the very thing she wants to say would tell Shirayuki her battle with the Abyss, and her past, were all fake? Nagi nodded solemnly, Shirayuki stepping on ahead to lead the way to the mines.
A hand snuck around Nagi's, a familiar warmth in the brittle cold providing some comfort. Argo didn't speak, she just held his hand as tight as possible, his fingers interlocked with her own to brave both storms together...
[To Be Continued...]
[Author's Notes]
Action and tension thereafter. Velkhana makes a 2nd appearance before her proper battle, and we finally get to see what became of the House of Winter Shirayuki spoke fondly of. And when will Hotaru reveal the truth to Shirayuki? And how will she come to terms with the reality that Aincrad is just a game? I hope you enjoyed, I appreciate the support as always; see ya in the next chapter, Misfits!
077 - The Iceborne Wyvern
To corner Velkhana, the team descends into the abandoned mines of House Winter in an effort to bring this blizzard to an end. But can they overcome the fearsome embodiment of the cold, Verglas Velkhana...?