|Sword Art Online, Floor 60, The Breach of Solaris|
|Feb. 18th 11:11|
Unlike the floors below, no one had ever seen a land quite like this in Aincrad. Where there were those basked in endless night, others shrouded in mists and ruins, others with a sprawl of forests. The 60th floor was a living infection. The skies a murky purple, the 'stars' visible behind large, dark purple clouds.
Shadows of black mountains could be seen over a jagged, shattered landscape of purplish-black grass and sands. Monoliths of dark rock sprout from the ground with distinct, vibrant colours emanating from within. Trees and other plant life warped into 'growths' to further the infection. The floor was a breeding ground for corruption, any semblance of life before twisted beyond recognition, say for the only safe haven, Solaris, which was under threat of being consumed by the infection.
At the northern gate, where a natural wall of earth formed a narrow passage for a gatehouse now laid wide open, players battling alongside NPC guards against the horde that swarmed from beyond the gate. The first of many abominations were golem creatures, their bodies warped to match the blackish-purple aesthetic, their right arms twice as large, forcing them to move slowly but pack a deadly punch. Parts of their shoulder pulsed with a cyan light as 'flames' spewed from between the shoulder blades, their left arm a stump of jagged rock. Dubbed as, 'Corrupt Golem - Lv. 90'.
Last, and the most abundant, were large slimes that had too fallen victim to infection, spitting acidic goo if they were given the chance, and would cluster around a target to burn away their armour's durability. Their names following the same mantra, 'Corrupt Slime - Lv. 88'. And there were still a hefty amount to clear.
"I would like to take this time to politely ask... would somebody close the damn DOOR!"
Not a soul misheard Artorias as the brunette had his blade embedded in the shoulder of a golem as it swayed and toppled with the teen riding its head lacerated in cuts. Nagi's own party, several other random players, Klein's guild, and even the Sleeping Knights, were all battling to push the horde back in this Urgent Quest. A new type that appeared for this floor.
Urgent Quests would appear in random locations like events, and were on a set timer with no end of the waves of monsters that could spawn. Failure to complete one resulted in negative debuffs for those caught in the Urgent, and on the current floor, and a tenth to boot, such debuffs have already cost the player base twelve lives in the first day. Suffice to say, upon learning this information, everyone who came to this floor fought together less they suffered the consequences, even smaller guilds or parties.
Sliding back from a golem's slam attack, Nagi eyed the indication floating at the top of his vision as the horde shambled in, a nervous sweat rolling down one cheek at the reminder permeating his vision.
|Urgent Quest! In Defence of Solaris|
|Fend off and close the northern gate|
|Time Remaining - 2:58|
"Nagi!" Looking to his right, Yuuki hopped into view, her firm expression never letting up. "Leave the right lever to me!"
"And I'll take the lefT," Argo chimed in, watching the battleground but sparing the guild leader a sharp glance.
Nodding, he turned to the battleground, "Alright... Everyone! Clear the way for Yuuki and Argo, they just need a path through to the gatehouse! Do your best and give it your all!"
"YEAH!" The roar of victory close at hand spurred their spirits, and the two girls fist bumped and took off running, Nagi following them as more Corrupt Golems slammed the earth, a shockwave throwing what tanks they had backward.
"Conflagration..." Seething the skill between his teeth, Nagi rushed forward ahead of both nimble girls, sweeping a rapid current of blazing blue water through the torsos of the monsters, kicking his right heel into the dark ground to swivel and double back, leaving over a lumbering swing to slice through the golem's head, sweeping left to right through the arms of the other two, leaving them reeling. "Renewal!" A shimmer of silver ran down his platemetal from the breastplate, and the water erupted from NightSky, leaving back into a frenzy, gouging out the remainder of the golems' HP.
An Ichimonji struck the earth, splattering a slime as the shockwave stunned the others, the girls flying by Klein, splitting up to take either incline that ran up the side of the cliffs. "Sachi with Argo!/Artorias with Yuuki!" Both Klein and Nagi chimed in.
"Got it!" They called back, breaking away from their respective battles, switching with someone else.
Sprinting up the incline, Artorias blinked at the empty air beside him, spotting Yuuki below who ran headfirst at a golem, its arm arching back. "Uh, Cupcake? Whatcha doin' down there?"
"Getting ahead!" A smirk stretched over her lips, leaping the instant the mutated limb crushed the earth, running and splitting her blade through its head, vaulting high to grab a wooden post that jutted out from the wall of the incline, swinging herself high onto another, diving forward to run up the wall of the gatehouse's interior wall vertically, flipping after the third step to land perfectly at the pedestal with the lever.
Catching up, Artorias looked back at the injured golem, then to Yuuki smirking with a hand to her hip. He'll admit, that got his heartbeat ticking faster. "Okay, that was... really hot," He whistled, restraining a winning smirk at her reddening cheeks, lightly punching his arm. "Worth it,"
"Hmph, worth it," She repeated, turning around to see a cluster of slimes approaching them, brandishing her longsword, Obsidian Rose, towards the slimes. "Looks like we're holding the line,"
"Like there was any other way, Cupcake," Her dark blade joined by the sinister, crimson tint of Red Death.
Not long prior to their arrival, Argo kept her lithe frame low, swivelling between players and mobs like a blur, often considered a ghost by many with her insane agility and stealth which she prided herself on. But that didn't mean squat when the enemy practically blocked the way forward.
The Corrupt Golem turned with a grinding of stone in its joints, sweeping its heavy limb wide to cleave the whole incline. Argo braced to either duck or dive, instead, a flash of bright silver rattled the air, ringing in her ears as Sachi's piercing spear drove itself down across the length of the arm, twirling her spear in one hand as she caught it after a blur to flick sharply from the ground up, deep into the golem's chest, Revolve Arts knocking the metaphorical wind out of it.
"Argo, Switch!" The ravenette hollered, feeling the cloak brush against her side as both claws sparked off the ground at Argo's feet, turning bright gold. Skewer rang true, piercing through the mutilated head of the golem as its rocky form crumbled and broke apart, the sheer velocity and force of her skill sending it toppling backward, the broker wrenching her claws free to land perfectly past it as it shattered. Sachi smiled. "Let's keep moving!"
"Already ahead of ya, Sachi-ChaN," Argo broke into a burst of speed, reaching the top before sliding under the legs of a golem, spotting Sachi catch the arm with her side, the girl tumbling sideways to use her spear to minimize her impact. "Oi-"
"Keep going, I can handle this!" Undeterred, Sachi spun her spear and drew the golem's attention, her back to the edge of the gatehouse walkway.
Spotting Argo, Yuuki kicked a slime back, her arm stinging from its acid goo whilst Artorias held them back with Ward. Together both girls grabbed the long, thick wooden lever and threw it the opposite way with a heavy 'click' and grinding of gears within the walls. Slowly the two, reinforced gates began to fold inwards again, cutting off any and all reinforcements from beyond the wall.
"The gate's closing, clear the area!" Klein hollered.
"About time!" Daora stomped once, sheathing Destroyer as his hand snapped wide, catching a large slime with his bare hand before it could pounce on Ran.
"Nice save, thanks," She sighed with relief, seeing the crimson flames erupt from the man's forearms like blood. "Go for it," The often level-headed Konno sibling encouraged, earning a joyful chuckle from the dragon lord.
"Gladly!" With Barbarous taking effect, his bare hand splattered the slime with ease, turning to the ones that remain with reckless abandon. "You think you can overwhelm me!?"
"Pretty sure they don't think at all," Jun deadpanned.
"He's not listening," Mito rolled her eyes with a slight smirk.
With nothing but slimes left in his sights, Daora ran forward, leaping to slam both fists into the earth, a deadly shockwave leaving most paralyzed as he scooped two up, barely flinching from the acidic spit as he spun, flinging them forward like softballs, their gelatinous forms slapping off their brethren. With his right foot back, he sent another skyward, one after the other. Two leapt at his right, so he arched his left fist, watching the first slime fold against his blazing fist, striking its ally as both stained the nearest wall and a few players, much to their disgust.
"Ahahahahaa! This is fun, like playing Whack-A-Mole!" Giddy, he clenched his fists and closed the gap on another batch, bending low to scoop another up with an uppercut, turning sharply on a heel to bring his right leg high and punt it straight into the earth, the AOE blast paralyzing another wave of slimes.
Both arms wide, Daora roared and clapped in front of him, creating an ear-piercing shockwave with just a clap, several more slimes bursting, their polygons spilling across the ground. Punching his knuckles together, Daora released his skill with a glorious laugh. "Hah... I wanna do that again, so much fun when the enemies are too weak to fight back in big groups!" He felt like a one man army, but it was best those moments happened on occasion, otherwise, they'd grow stale.
"Daora!" Nagi called to, the man craning his head back slowly at the rumbling in the earth.
Bursting from the rocky terrain, a large serpent made from the same dark rock and glowing crystals as the corrupted appeared. Its body segmented chunks of stone welded together. Across its back and splitting through gaps in its stony hide were tendrils of blackish-purple fungi, spreading up its body to cover its narrow, arrow-like head with glowing gashes to form like eyes over the scalp.
/Corrupt Wyrm - Lv. 95\
In a flash, Daora leapt forward, drawing Destroyer from his hip to sweep it back, a burning, amber skill racing across its heads as the Wyrm roared and slither toward him, or it did until a glint of light blue caught its attention from above. In a blur of black and white, several deep slashes tore the beast wide open, a final, rising vertical splitting its head in two, landing either side of Daora's and the person's feet.
"Apologizes, I was caught up with an important matter," Sheathing her white-tinged katana, Shirayuki turned with a look of confidence intertwined with concern behind her bandana. "Are you well, Dragon Lord?"
Slowly, Daora's head looked up, then back down to the now disintegrating serpent. "I had that one!" He swung his fist up at the shinobi who tilted her head to one side.
"I see, hahaha, then I must again apologize, you had been taken by surprise in my eyes, you see!" Chuckling, she rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "I will be sure to find you a much more worthy opponent then!"
"Hah, good, I'm glad someone understands!" That tempered its annoyance, marching away as the last of the horde were finally subdued.
Finally, Nagi watched as the Urgent Quest vanished from side, providing a boon of experience and Col for their troubles, atop a new buff that lasted twenty minutes, and one that brought out a chorus of applause from the gathered teams, his own smile crawling up his face as Klein patted his back with a hearty laugh. The small icon that of a golden-white orb in the dark.
|Buff - Mote of Light|
Grants increased Sword Skill damage, Health Regeneration, and EXP gains by 15%
There were two other buffs one could randomly obtain. There was Remnant of Sol, which increased Physical Damage and applied a Burn effect to your attacks, as well as increased Col gains. And the third, Solaris' Fortitude, increasing Defence and status resistances, even halving status debuffs, while providing a boon to Item drops.
"I got the Physical buff, what about you, man?" Klein inquired, leaning to one side to see Nagi's gauge.
"EXP buff, I struck gold this time, Klein," Nagi laughed a little as the older man whined.
"Seriously? That's twice now, you lucky devil!" He caught Nagi in an arm lock, ruffling his hair as he begged to be released.
"I see I haven't missed much," Shirayuki approached, Klein releasing the younger leader to address the shinobi. "I think I understand what you mean by these events being 'annoyingly abrupt', they can put quite the hinderance of progress compared to previous floors,"
Ever since the 55th floor, Shirayuki had become a permeant part of the Misfits guild, no longer bound to her massive questline's restrictions, though she could actively still instigate its key points, thus allowing them to see this campaign through to the end, hopefully. With her new-found sentience, Shirayuki hadn't changed all that much, but like Hotaru, she had much to learn regarding how the players viewed SAO, so far, she had gotten a general understanding, often finding the topics fascinating to learn.
"Argo's been working herself to the bone yesterday, the main quest is far more complex than she realized," Nagi's mood soured slightly, sparing the small figure atop the incline with Sachi. "The clearers are still making good progress, but with only two days..."
"It's been a headache, basically," Ran approached, her arms behind her head. "Doesn't help confidence when the very issue is staring you in the face,"
It wasn't visible from here, but from almost any vantage point on the floor, there was a large crater-like formation in the heart of the floor, like a meteor had struck and twisted the land into a frozen wave of black rock and crystal. At its heart, an ominous, scarlet glow flowed from its center, turning the sky around it into a blood-red hue. There, Danuja was waiting for them.
Shirayuki hummed in thought, "Danuja has become an integral piece to the Abyss's resurrection, as much as it pains me to say, I have no idea how to prevent his ritual from going through," But before she let the hearts be diminished further, she smiled. "While your friends discover a way to breach the veil shielding the ritual site, I do know someone who can thwart this cursed spell,"
"Really?" All of them gaped happily, the unexpected answer was just what they had been hoping for as the quest for the Path of Divine Sakura had yet to update with any clues or hints towards a solution.
"Yes, gather our comrades, I shall take you to meet with them, a familiar face to boot," She winked mysteriously, leaving them to guess as the shinobi hummed a familiar song... the same Hotaru had sang before her death.
Protected from the scourge of the corruption within natural, valley walls. Solaris was what SAO's lore described as hallowed land, somehow, everything within the safe haven went untouched by the twisted landscape beyond. All the main buildings were clustered in the natural junction with the center courtyard acting as both a market place and the Teleport Plaza. Four gates branching off at the cardinal points at the ends of each valley.
The buildings were made from untainted, grey stone with dark grey rooftops, a European-styled medieval town, and the floor's only known town and safe haven, making the corruption beyond much more unforgiving. Given this, most of the players were high-ranking or frontrunners, so familiar faces were abundant in the crowds. KoB, DDA, and The Army easy to pick out from the masses.
Shirayuki led Nagi's party, Klein, and the Sleeping Knights through the wide streets towards a path that led up onto one of the valley ridges that overlooked the shattered landscape beyond, the wind stale and acrid at times, for the average player, it was unpleasant, but for Nagi's nose, he gagged a handful of times.
"My travels served me well, I suppose my quest is to thank for the idea," Shirayuki spoke of her design without any scorn or uncertainty now, fully accepting her written path with calm composure. "I returned to a previous floor and recruited an ally capable of disrupting the ritual, enough for us to land the decisive below required,"
"Who's the mystery man theN?" Argo, ever curious, perked up.
Instead of answering, Shirayuki gestured to the large gazebo-like tent set up atop the ridge by the pathway that ran across the valley's top next to a worn fence railing. The shattered, twisting dark lands spanning far and wide below. Heading inside, that cool, refreshing scent was inviting to Nagi, and his eyes widened, a name rolling off his tongue before the tarp was pulled back.
"Isshi?"
The cover peeled over and inside, lit by lanterns over a large table of assorted pages, books, and other items for cartography, was the Winter Spirit herself, still in very loose, revealing clothing. Instantly, Isshi's expression brightened. "Nothing gets past a sharp nose like yours, I see. How fascinating~" She teasingly purred, much to Nagi's anxious laugh. "Come in, I won't bite, y'know? We have much to discuss,"
"Who's the hottie, seriously dude, you never mentioned this?" Jun sharply whispered into Nagi's ear, tugging at his shoulder for an answer, his eyes practically scanning Isshi from top-to-bottom.
"She was part of the Divine Sakura quest, the one with Velkhana," Nagi muttered back.
"Wow..." And in an instant, Nori slapped the back of his head. "Ow, what was that for?"
"Eyes up now, you might start drooling otherwise," The dark-skinned girl grinned slyly at his red-tinted face. "Aw, your face matches your armour perfectly,"
"Sh-shut up, no it doesn't!"
"Honestly, Jun..." Ran rubbed her forehead at his reaction, Siune giggling behind her hand. "Don't you encourage it,"
"He's a boy, Ran, you know how they are around a beautiful woman,"
"And one who's not afraid to show iT," Argo quipped, feeling a little irked at the sight of Isshi but kept that to herself, though she did spare her own chest a glance.
"You know we're all standing in earshot, right?" Artorias gestured to the other guys. "Seriously uncalled for, don't lump us in with Red Rover,"
Across from them, Isshi suddenly burst out laughing, hiding her smile with a hand poorly. "You have such a colourful cast of mortals! Ah, such a lovely meeting in this dark time, truly, hahaha," Drying her eyes, Isshi cleared her throat and adjusted the collar of her kimono a little. "Now then, shall we discuss how to put an end to this ritual of that crusty old shinobi?"
And like that, the prompt finally appeared for Klein and Nagi, extending to their friends.
Quest Updated!
-Path of Divine Sakura - Regicide-
The Abyss, an ancient evil from before Aincrad's time, is on the verge of breaking free. Two days remain, find a way to prevent the Ritual of Awakening...
*Speak with Isshi [ ]
*Stop the Ritual [ ]
Floor 60 | Reward N/A
"I'll cut to the chase, I can use one of my own rituals to effectively overwrite Danuja's. However, as I've stated, my magic isn't the same as it was prior to the Great Separation, and my rituals require materials to work. Naturally, I would rely on the ice and snow, the cold mountain winds. But here, the land it writhe with corruption and a sickness that would do me no good. To use this spell, I require two materials from this dark land instead," Isshi broke down in detail, punctuating how critical it was to acquire these pieces. "A third is being obtained by another group as we speak, so that'll lighten your load,"
"Then what's our shopping list, I guess?" Yuuki shrugged, asking for them.
"I require a Vortex Fragment and an Aureus Core. The first can be found from the creature that is revered as the God of the night sky. Said to devour dying stars and birth new ones in turn, you may find such a creature in the Shattered Plateaus," Isshi prompted the quest to update with the location.
"'Devour dying stars', sounds cute and cuddly," Artorias stated flatly, waving a hand dismissively. "Must be a big pushover, I bet,"
"You're really driving home the sarcasm today, huh?" Mito acknowledged, the young teen shrugging.
"Eh, just in the mood for light banter today,"
"And the second?" Nagi continued.
"You must venture down in the depths of the Undercroft; both of these entities are... of unknown origins to me, as in, they are a foreign technology that may even be from beyond this world," Isshi added with a confused expression. "I have heard of such designs, but this I believe exceeds the golem technology humanity was known for..."
"Wait, we're not talking about aliens or something?" Klein waved a hand, pressing it to the table. "That's pretty out there for, uh, Aincrad I mean,"
"Dude, we watched the boss pilot a giant golem and fought another large golem, what exactly is 'out there' anymore?" Artorias swung a hand down to punctuate his point.
"This sounds really cool. I wonder what kinda bosses they'll be? Oh, maybe real machine-like enemies for once!" Yuuki grinned excitedly. "Alright, count me in!"
"Wait," Nagi raised a hand, there was one issue they needed to address first, turning to Argo and Klein. "We'll handle collecting the materials, but you two need to go back to the frontlines in the meantime. This floor is far too dangerous to not have someone like you gathering intel for the others, Argo,"
She opened her mouth to speak, then closed it, giving it some thought. It was true, she only broke away from her work because they received word Shirayuki was coming back, that meant possible intel and it were true. "I getcha, but what about yerselveS? And I don't want none of that crap about 'we'll be fine', alrighT?"
"I know, but that's why we have the Sleeping Knights with us, we'll split the work into two strong teams, like what we did on the 25th floor," Nagi quickly planned out, now eyeing Klein. "You too, Klein, you and the others need to help widen the efforts of gathering boss intel and mapping the labyrinth while Kirito and whoever he's with work on the main questline to breaking through to Danuja. These two missions are intertwined so the faster and most efficient, the better,"
Klein made a face that told Nagi he held his own concerns over the plan, placing a hand to his hip. "You sure about this, Nagi? We'll back you up if needed, bunch are already grinding it out through the main questline,"
Nodding once, the young shinobi smiled at their thoughtfulness. "I'm sure, we can do this,"
"Yeah, we'll keep them safe, promise," Yuuki hooked her right arm around his neck, hanging off him with a toothy grin. "We'll all group up to take Danuja down together afterward, right guys?" The rest of the Sleeping Knights nodded in agreement.
After a second of pause, Klein chuckled and patted Yuuki's and Nagi's backs. "Well alright, you come back to us in one piece, got it?"
"Understood," The cousins chimed, throwing up a silly salute.
"Ready to head out, Argo?" Klein asked as she stopped just to the side of Nagi. Pulling himself free from Yuuki, he stepped forward, the two high-fiving before drawing it down to a low-five, smirking a little as Nagi let Argo leave with a pleased grin on her whiskered cheeks.
"Ready now, Samurai, let's get back to work, yer my escorT," She stated, marching out the tent as Klein quickly jogged after her.
"What was that there about?" Ran asked curiously, having not seen Argo and Nagi do that gesture before.
"Oh, just... something we did when this all started, our way of saying that we'll part ways and cross paths again soon," Nagi didn't think much of it, there were only a very few times he and Argo did this, and that's when his duties on the frontlines tore him away from aiding in her info broker lifestyle. In its own way, the gesture was special to them.
Smiling to himself, he looked at the large map of the floor, seeing the two red pins marking what were likely the boss locations. Studying the map, and going off how Isshi described the entities holding these key items, Nagi had two teams to formulate for the battle. With a slight gesture, he silently called Ran and Yuuki over.
"What're you guys thinking?" He asked in a murmur, the others chatting or doing something to keep themselves busy.
"We need two team comps that are both strong and efficient," Ran deduced, looking to her sister.
"If we threw all our DPS players into one team, it'll wrap up one boss fast, sure, but the others might be at risk," Then the purplette hummed, her brow creasing. "And we don't know if the bosses are Urgent Quests..."
"That would be problematic on all fronts," Ran grimaced, watching the gears turn in Nagi's eyes. "What about you?"
"I'd say splitting my party between your guild is best. So... myself and Artorias, and Daora with Mito on another. I and Artorias have worked together a lot more frequently. And I'm certain that Mito and Daora's chemistry make their battle experience the best out of the four of us," This was all based on his own observations and bias, raising his hands a little. "I'm open to suggestions on who you want with what paring,"
"You're better at this, sis," Yuuki egged on, leaving the elder twin to rub her chin, staring at the map, then to her team, and Nagi's team, anything to give her some ideas.
"If it'll aid-" Shirayuki inserted herself into their conversation, hand on her heart. "I am more than willing to fill a role if need be. That is why I'm here, this battle is as much yours as it is mine after all,"
"Thanks, Shirayuki!" Yuuki beamed, earning a delighted bow of the woman's head.
"With Shirayuki... that'll even the teams out... okay!" Clearing her throat, this drew their eyes and ears in. Isshi, having listened in, smiled at her side of the table, leaning against it with keen interest. "Team Aureus will be Nagi, Artorias, Yuuki, myself, Nori, and Shirayuki. For Team Vortex; Mito, Daora, Siune, Jun, Tecchi, and Talken. These are our best teams, any objections?"
"One tank on each side, one support, rest DPS," Artorias studied, giving a thumbs up. "Well thought out, Shorty, gold star,"
"Who'll be the leaders of both? I'm assuming the first two mentioned for each team?" Siune inquired with a hand raised.
"Wait, what?" Mito looked puzzled by this, blinking to ensure she read the room correctly.
"Yeah, Mito's definitely a good choice," Nagi agreed, smiling at the scythe user. "You're level-headed, and Daora listened to you, so I'm sure you'll do fine. And if need be, leaders don't matter so much here,"
The girl's shoulders relaxed a little, her expression still pensive. "I... suppose that helps a bit. I mean... I'll do what I can,"
"Fine, I can agree to this," Daora relented without much issue.
"You're very agreeable today, and I thought my charming sarcasm was the biggest update today," Artorias noted.
"This whole floor's full of dangerous enemies and timed events, my whole body's shaking with excitement over it, why wouldn't I like it?" Daora cackled sinisterly to himself, raising his ax. "Let's tear these bosses apart!"
"Heh, you heard him, let's do this!" Yuuki pumped her fist high.
"ALRIGHT!"
With less than two days on the clock, the quest of the Path of Divine Sakura continues...
[To Be Continued...]
[Author's Notes]
Welcome back Misfits to the Curtain Call arc! This'll be a grand battle in a floor heavily inspired by the Astral Infection of the Terraria Calamity mod. We team up with the Sleeping Knights once more and with Shirayuki and Isshi back to finish the fight! Two teams, two deadly bosses await, and a ritual on the horizon to thwart. I hope you enjoyed, I appreciate the support as always; see ya in the next chapter, Misfits!
081 - Interstellar Stomper
Team Aureus crosses the arid black desert to the ravines that run like veins across the sands, down into the depths of the floor's Undercroft...