|Sword Art Online, Floor 65, Starfall Woodlands|
|Apr. 10th 11:09|
Taking up a good majority of the floor's surface was the thick, dark Starfall Woodlands, a sprawl of trees ranging from spiring pines to clumped-together sycamore. Their bark ranged from smokey black to ashen white, creating a monochrome field of view, but with them came strange trickles of glimmering dust, like sparkles from a comet, giving the whole forest an ethereal light in most places.
That being said, there were places where no light could touch, requiring night vision buffs or a lantern to navigate, these Darkness Zones as players quickly referred to them as held the worst of the mobs, and a few had nearly been dragged into these voids if they were unprepared, even now, only a fraction of these darkness zones have been mapped, creating chokepoints across the floor.
Mito took the vanguard with Fynch, who used a lantern to provide a little more light for him to work his magic alongside Philia. He stopped by a random tree along the path, holding up his lantern as his green eyes glowed slightly, allowing him to see the remnants of claw marks etched down the bark, and being with a party, these glowing, lime-green abrasions appeared for them all.
"What is this skill?" Mito asked, curious given its similarity to Tracking.
"It's a bit of a niche skill for mob hunting, works the same as Tracking players in your friends list, see?" He tapped a finger to the marks, causing a chain reaction to follow, illuminating faint footprints in the mud leading off the beaten path. "Pretty handy, huh? Works wonders when I gotta track players through dungeons and stuff without drawing a crowd."
"So, we follow these and we'll find the boss, I get it now," Daora hummed, rubbing the handle of Destroyer between his hands in anticipation. "Just like in Monster Hunter World, we use tracks to gather its location and where it travels between zones! Hah, SAO made this too easy!"
Mito patted Fynch's shoulder. "Good work, let's hurry before they fade entirely, must've been a while since it passed through here."
"Up ahead-" Above them, using a tree for a vantage, Philia slid back to point through the woods ahead. "I spotted some ruins not far, about a kilometre away, if anything, that'll be a good place to look."
"Perfect, we have a marker," Mito had to admit, this was going by much faster with their newest members, so she'll admit, the added aid does have its silver linings. "Let's move, if there's tracks along a main road, others might've found them too."
"Alright, full steam ahead!" Brandishing his ax, Daora took the charge as the others quickly pursued his warpath before they could run into any mobs along the way.
The creatures blended in with the night well, but with almost everyone in the party rocking Detection-based skills, evading unnecessary fights made traversal a bit less of a time-crunch. Before long, the ground began to smoothen out, despite the roots and shrubs cracking through the stone path. The trees arched and thinned, the team coming face-to-face with the remnants of one of many ruined structures dotted across the floor.
Almost swallowed by the verdant woods, gnarled roots and vines weaved through the crumbling stone walls greeting them. The keep, once imposing, had become vacant and overgrown; battlements stood jagged and decayed, the towers half crumbled say for one overlooking the location from behind the great hall front and center. Heading through the remains of the gatehouse, its doors too decorated with flora, Mito stepped through into a wide courtyard-turned-garden.
Flowers grew in the twilight, all shades of purple and white, vines snaking up the walls adorned with white lotuses, despite the eerie nature of the locale, it was quite the spectacle.
"Talk about an entrance, I'd say this place looks better, bit of character," Fynch approved, nodding to himself.
"Might be some treasure hidden inside too, wonder what high-level items we could dig up..." Philia herself couldn't keep from tapping her fingers off her left fist in anticipation.
"It's here..." Daora grumbled, the sharp 'snap' of his ax extending fully, catching the lantern light from Fynch.
"Can you tell where?" Mito whispered, her red eyes flickering to every shifty shadow surrounding them. Old barracks, storage rooms, the great hall, all of it left too much cover for the monster.
Daora shook his head, and instead, raised his left hand, bringing his weapon's blade close to his palm. With a single stroke, he slashed his palm, the damage was minor but he earned the desired effect, little trickles of red shards peeling from the wound.
"Why'd you do that?" Philia asked in surprise.
"Bit of a masochist, huh?" Fynch quipped, causing both girls to stammer a gasp, Philia jabbing his side. "Ah, sorry, couldn't resist, hehe,"
"Th-that aside... Daora?" Mito coughed into her fist, watching him look around, then, flinging his wounded hand wide, flicking red particles through the air, the specks of red blending nicely with the flowers at his feet.
"...there you are..." He replied, his dragon head tilted toward his right, to the gatehouse directly behind him that let out a quiet snarl.
Directly above the gatehouse, a red cursor was made visible, having been hidden behind the remains of the wall, claws digging into the stone to keep itself rooted in place without so much as a sound until now. Their eyes grew wider than plates, and an awful chill run through their bodies at how dangerously close they were to their target.
It was an emaciated creature, unnaturally thin with pitch-black fur covering its form, with only bone visible in certain spots, its skeletal-like appearance hiding how much strength it truly had. Three, long, bony fingers and claw-like nails, allowing it hook onto the archway almost entirely vertically like a spider despite its hooves. Bones jutted out from its spine and the backs of joints, forcing it into a permanent, hunched posture.
A black tail helped to support its large body against the wall, roughly making it tower an impressive four meters tall. But the creepiest sight was the head, large, antlers jutting out from the skull that stretched as long as its torso, attached to the visible, deer skull for a head, the jaws stained crimson. The sight of bright, orangey-red eyes sunken back into the skull staring back at them hungrily. Lastly, a dozen arrows stuck out of its back, many having already fallen to it in the past.
This was a living nightmare given physical form, as it craned its head high to let out a howling screech that made them all flinch, aside from Daora who snorted at the challenge.
"White... not the name I'd expect," Fynch swallowed a lump in his throat, just as the creature pounced, breaking the wall behind it with just a kick, drawing down both claws toward Daora.
"Whirlwind!" The aoe slash tore against the arms, but the monster was springy, using the slash's momentum to vault over Daora and spin forward, slashing his back before landing to leap away from Mito's swing, using another building to crawl and leap down, slamming ground with a shockwave to spread the group out, two hitting their backs against any close surface as it eyed Daora who held his ground.
"Come on, then! Hahaha!" Thrilled by the fight, Daora charged White head-on as it did the same, coming at him with its claws swinging from both sides. He leapt over the cross-slash, driving Destroyer down with Grand Destruction, the orange blast striking the nimble wendigo as it evaded right, slashing at Daora's hip only to catch the backswing of his ax, clipping its claws as the dragon teen spun and brought his weapon wide like a bat, the metallic 'clang' rattling off White's skull, causing it to stumble.
From behind, it turned to counter Fynch's Vertical Arc, tanking a triple, emerald thrust from Philia who dove under its legs, evading a grab before it twisted its arm to fling Fynch sideways into a strong kick to the greenette's stomach, sliding past Mito on his back whilst White swung low, clipping just an inch away from Philia and Daora's faces before it screamed and leapt high, slamming the ground yet again as both were forced to leap over the shockwave.
Despite its gnarled form, it was fast and struck harder than expected, turning to target Mito next, Soul Fang tinged dark crimson when she closed the gap. She spun her scythe, the blade cleaving in rapid slants, parrying each of its own vicious claw strikes, sparks spat onto their faces before the wendigo took the last of six slashes to the chest to slam its large head against her chest, stealing her breath away as she was thrown over its head, straight into a solid kick to her midsection, in a split second, Mito gasped when pain shot through her back from striking a building, flopping to the ground.
"It took Spinning Wheel directly just to close the gap on me... this monster's smarter than it looks," Mito rubbed her chest, grabbing a health pot to recover as Philia dove backward and over a small wall, the claws of White tearing across the stone before leaping onto a rooftop to avoid Fynch's surprise Avalanche, his weapon in its greatsword form. "And it'll evade by using the buildings..." She eyed its HP, two bars, and the first had taken some damage, more than she expected of an A-Rank hunt. Her eyes narrowed. "...a glass cannon...?"
Realizing this, Mito took stock of the ruins, watching the creature perform hit-and-run tactics, picking away at their HP. She and Daora worked seamlessly together, like two pieces of a puzzle, but now she had two new ones that needed to find their fit amongst that. Mito wasn't a miracle worker, but, she's worked with odds like this before, and unlike Astrum Deus, this thing wasn't nearly as problematic.
Grabbing her scythe, she ran between Philia and Daora, just as Fynch used his greatsword to keep White at bay, thrown onto his back when it tried to dig its claws into him only to leap away at Mito's charge, good, because she leapt straight over Fynch, winding up a bright yellow skill, swinging wide from the left.
Sever struck true, cleaving through the corner of the small storage building, and to her speculation, she watched as her weapon blew through the stone bricks like paper, causing the building to tremble, so she redoubled her efforts and swung back with a standard swing, further destabilizing the building until the roof began to sway and dip.
"Now!" She called just as White stumbled and slipped forward, losing its perfect footing.
Three skills flashed in the twilight, and as it fell, its stomach caved from the combined upswing of Destroyer and Fynch's greatsword, leaving it suspended for Philia to drive the point of her now bronze dagger high, piercing the thin waist with a flash of light, tossing the wendigo across the ground on its stomach, wheezing from the combination blow.
"The building's are destructible, that's how we'll bring it down and lay on the DPS!" Mito relayed, brandished her scythe to rush the boss as it slowly recovered.
"Nice thinking!" Daora approved, making her grin wider with all four of them closing in.
"Alright, we got it on the ropes now!" Fynch chuckled, switching back to his longsword with a snap, the silver turned to ice-blue.
Philia's eyes were narrowed beneath her hood, until they widened with a strained gasp. "Wait-!"
The wendigo snapped its neck toward them, and its lower jaw unhinged even wider, and out came a deafening, sonic blast that struck Mito dead-center, her ears filling with white noise as her whole body trembled like someone was vibrating her bones all at once. The blast brought her down, Paralysis kicking in as she fell face-first into the dirt, trembling to move even an inch. It had a paralysing scream too?
It dove away, latching onto the outer wall of the great hall, bending at an inhuman angle, its jaw unhinged yet again, preparing for another sonic scream. Daora grabbed Mito to move her, but something small and bright flew between White's massive eyes, releasing a blinding, white flash that immediately drew a pained scream from its throat, the group forced to shield their eyes but watch as the large beast came crashing to the ground.
From seemingly nowhere, another player quickly shortened the gap between them and the boss, their right fist drawn back in a pale-blue whirlwind. They swung hard and fast with a straight punch, Flash Blow, but the skill cut air instead, the wendigo having recovered quickly to grapple to a ledge attached to the great hall, using it to pull itself upward quickly.
"Damn, you recover fast," They sighed a smile, watching the beast glower down at the group, and instead of continuing the fight, it actually turned and crawled up towards the rooftop, effectively fleeing the battleground.
Now, a new problem presented itself, another hunter had appeared, and all of them needed to recover. The newcomer looked to them, then seized up. "Crap, ah, uh, you didn't see me, alright?" Then, he threw himself behind the nearest building, breaking something wooden in the process.
All of them stared, completely dumbfounded by his... exit? Or, until the steady sound of footsteps from the gatehouse tore their attention away. Philia fed Mito an antidote as Daora and Fynch hoisted her back on her feet, the purplette thankful to move her joints again and recover herself, plucking out another health pot as more issues arrived on the scene.
"What? We missed the fight?" The man at the vanguard of a group of six, sighed in defeat, the rest of his party looking around, but most stared directly at the four licking their wounds.
The others were pretty exotic, wearing armour clearly forged from monster parts, but all of them bore the same, bright red crest on either a shoulder or the belt. A mark that Mito and Daora recognized, the four symbols at each cardinal point with four arrows dividing the symbols, the crest of the Guild from Monster Hunter. Thus, labelling this party as part of the Hunters Guild.
Their, supposed, leader gave them all a friendly wave. He had ginger hair slicked back with a few locks poking forward, bright blue eyes, and a light stubble. His gear seemed to be forged from a chitin-like monster, making plate armour for his forearms, leaving the biceps bear, a cuirass that transitioned into tassets and a pair of greaves, all with a distinct, black-to-dark blue gradient, with white underarmour to have it stand out.
And attached to his hip was a rapier made from some form of silvery-gold scales and black claws. "Judging by your faces, guess the monster ran off, am I right?" He asked, looking to Mito. "Guess you're the party leader? Sorry, name's Lycan."
"Mito," She answered, keeping her expression aloof, Soul Fang still in-hand. "Fled, dunno where."
"Ah, sucks when they do that, but all part of the hunt, pushes you to chase it down quickly as possible," Lycan laughed, hands on his hips. "Guess its obvious we're after the same thing, I'd offer to party up, but we'd only fit one more player, and I doubt you want to increase the risk someone else gets the drops."
"You'd be right," Mito closed her eyes for a moment, her heartrate skyrocketing. Things were tense, and no matter how pleasant his words appeared, she could see it, behind his eyes - no, all of theirs, they'd be willing to harm other players if Mito or the others said the wrong thing. She knew Lycan's type from a mile away, he was prodding for answers, things to use against the wendigo... or them. "Who knows who else might be giving chase right now."
Lycan clicked his fingers, "Good point," Then made a hand gesture for his party to start moving for the exit. "You got lucky, but next we meet, could end up helping each other out if you like?"
"We'll see how things play out," Mito answered ambiguously, catching the slight twitch in his right eye, and he paused for a second, turning back with a chuckle, his left hand coming to rest on his rapier. No one dared to move on Mito's side, even Daora kept surprisingly still, he must've felt it too, first to draw and everything turns to chaos. Mito couldn't let that happen, especially not after dragging Philia and Fynch into this.
"Say, you look familiar, something about your getup... I dunno, Mito... Mito... I swore I heard that name before," Lycan hummed.
"I'm not important," She answered plainly.
"Right, right... well, happy hunting, Mito," He waved and finally left to join his team.
She didn't peel her eyes from the gatehouse for a solid minute, not until she was certain they had left the area. "Fynch," She said his name, and he immediately felt the urgency.
"Already ahead of ya," He quickly moved fast and quietly towards the nearest stairwell up to the wall to scout the perimeter.
With that, Mito let her body slump and fall to rest her backside on a small wall, wiping the sweat from her brow. "Those guys... Mito, w-would they really have...?" Philia couldn't even finish her sentence, a lump building in her throat.
"Yeah, no doubt, that look on their faces told us everything. Bastards would kill a player if it meant getting that rare item," Mito pressed her forehead against the staff of her weapon, this was bad, if just one group was willing to kill for a drop, what about the rest? An annoyed groaned bled from her lips. "This freakin' game's driving everyone nuts over an item drop, are you kidding me!?"
"Wouldn't be the first time-" Now came their previous new problem- "Certainly not the last, I bet."
"And who the hell are you supposed to be?" Daora now turned his ax to the other player that scared off the wendigo. "Thanks to you, that stupid item drop just ran with its tail between its legs!"
This other player came out of hiding with both hands up slightly, more importantly, he had no actual weapon to speak of. He had short, white hair that curled upward at the ends and sharp teal eyes. His outfit was light, consisting of a dark grey vest-top with a cyan collar with a decorative wave pattern, the cyan lines formed into a diamond at his chest, leaving some skin visible in the center. His arms toned with black wrappings around both forearms, white, fingerless gloves to match alongside cyan prayer beads.
Cyan, bagging gi pants that reached halfway down his shins, tied with a black sash. Lastly, black and white fabric that covered his legs but left his feet bare. It was clear the moment they took in his appearance, he was a rare breed of player in SAO, as naturally, not many chose such a path in the Death Game. He was a brawler.
He gave them all a quirky wave and toothy grin. "Sorry for the sudden drop-in, call me Lloyd, and that merry bunch you just met are my soon-to-be former guildmates..." That he laughed a little nervously at, seeing the jaded glares the four sent his way. "I... can tell you're a little upset - no, wait - very much pissed off, look, I thought I had the guy, I mistimed my attack, but in my defence, didn't expect a sonic screech of all things."
"You were watching us?" Philia narrowed her eyes, keeping a firm hold on her sword breaker.
"Okay, that makes it sound worse... okay, I was, I'll admit," Llyod slumped forward. "Listen, it's not like I was planning anything sketchy, that's my soon-to-be former guildmates' whole M.O, now those guys are right assholes, I'll admit, partially why I'm here."
"Your kill already ran off," Mito said callously, and also as a warning for Lloyd to go. "Along with your guild."
"Believe me, if they saw me... things might've gone worse, that's why I hid, if they spotted me, I... just didn't want you guys getting caught up in my scheme, so lemme explain things for ya," Coming around, he kept his hands up until they all could see him, his hands tucked into his pockets. "Reason I'm here... is cause I need your help," Now, Mito's brow rose incredulously. "I plan to leave the Hunters Guild, and I want to stick it to them while I'm at it."
They kept their silence, so he cleared his throat, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck. "It's personal, and selfish, and maybe a bit egotistical...? Point is, those guys, the team you just met, are scumbags. Wanna know why they're the best? Cause people like me, the lowest ranks, are cannon fodder on hunts, we do all the grunt work, they get the loot and glory, and if someone dies... who cares? We were nobodies to them, just... obstacles."
Mito had no reason to trust his word, but she couldn't help but feel some form of remorse at Lloyd's reason. She knew something wasn't right with Lycan, but to use players for their own ends? All just to fatten their pockets, and more importantly, if they were this strong, why weren't they on the frontlines? Was it all just to boost their own credibility? Then again, why did it matter, they were harming others, that's all Mito needed to know about their motives.
"So, if they saw you, you'd have been taken away or worse..." Philia pursed her lips, looking around then back to Lloyd. "I mean... I get it, but, how can any of us trust you?"
"You can't, ain't that the reason you rejected Lycan's offer?" Lloyd gestured to Mito who raised her head to look at him properly, then, he bowed his head. "Listen, I'm not asking you to fork over the item, whoever gets it keeps it, I just want to stick it to them before I jump ship," He raised his head slightly with a devilish smirk. "I want to wipe that smirk off Lycan's face for good, and show even a grunt like me can best him and his so-called 'Hunters'."
"I dunno..." Mito murmured, hand over her mouth in thought.
"I'd say bring him along, boss," Fynch added as he came back from his patrol. "All clear, tower-to-tower, and yeah, I get the whole 'trust no one' strat, I mean, look at me, I had so many giving me the dirty look if not for Nagi vouching for a guy like me. But I can tell, he's not lookin' for trouble on our end, just to shake the hornet's nest a bit, am I right?"
"Having someone specializing in hunting and knowing how that guild operates would benefit us too," Philia pointed out.
Now, Mito eyed Daora, who had been staring at Llyod the whole time, fidgeting with his ax. He was always so adamant on his stance concerning these expeditions of theirs, but today, he seemed far more reserved, and that concerned Mito more than when he was about to lop off someone's head, namely Artorias'. "Daora? What about you?"
Glancing to her, then to Lloyd, he hummed for a bit. "It's your choice, so long as he doesn't try to backstab us," Her choice, right, she should've figured he'd say that. "But, just so you know, I'm the strongest one here, so I'm planning to take that item drop before anyone else!" That was more attuned to the person Mito knew.
Lloyd smirked, crossing his arms. "Sounds like someone's worried I'll swipe victory right from under their nose, wouldn't want that, would we?"
"Hah, I'd like to see you try, Loki!" Daora mispronounced.
"Geez... you guys sure love stressing me out, and its not even midday yet," Pushing off her knees, Mito grabbed Soul Fang, locking eyes with Llyod who stuck his tongue out at Daora who Fynch held back from taking a swing at. There was something about Lloyd that Mito couldn't quite place, hopefully, it wasn't anything malicious. "If you keep your word... then you can join."
Sending the invite, Llyod looked... almost bewildered by the request, like he didn't anticipate her agreeing to this, did he really have no hopes of joining at all? Mito went to ask, but instead, Lloyd prodded a thumb at his chest.
"Then here's my first little bit of aid," He then brought the same hand forward to point in a random direction. "I know where the boss is retreating to next."
[To Be Continued...]
[Author's Notes]
What a chapter, got the first look and failed hunt against the wendigo, White, and a party from the Hunters Guild appears, with a defector too who will be so much fun to write about, haven't done a pure martial artist before. The race has really picked up now, so will Lloyd hold up his end of the bargain? And what else is he hiding? I hope you enjoyed, I appreciate the support as always; see ya in the next chapter, Misfits!
095 - To Trap A Hunter
Following White's trail takes the team within a twisted cavern warped by the ruins, and to the den of the wendigo, but with others hot on their heels, they'll have to work fast...