Floor 20 - Boss - The One Eyed Beast
Unity.
It was a funny old word, Jet thought to himself. The state of being in agreement and working together, or the state of being joined together to form a single unit, the Oxford English Dictionary had defined it as (and looking like a chest of drawers, as the Uxbridge English Dictionary had defined it as), and the more he thought about it, the more he realised that was truly what they stood for.
The Concord, united against the death game that was SAO, an unlikely group of friends (and Sanya) bought together by circumstance... yet he could barely remember a time before he met them. It had only been six months so far in Aincrad, yet it really did feel like they'd been there so much longer...
Idly, he wondered if the NerveGear could do permanent damage to his long term memory, but soon changed to a more introspective topic.
He'd spent more than a few nights agonising over whether he was the hero or the fool, whether he was Michael, the kid who'd run scared at a future he didn't understand, or Jet, the knight who had stared down death on numerous occasions... and yet it hadn't occurred that perhaps he was both. It was almost a bitter pill to swallow, that he'd spent so long trying to rationalise that he was simply growing up, yet he was glad for it - the last thing he needed was to develop a split personality!
The introspection had given him an idea however, and whilst Koharu was in the bath, he found himself sat down with a pencil and paper, sketching. It felt a little weird, if he was honest - he'd only narrowly avoided death, fought a dungeon boss, outed his own darkest secret, and settled a dilemma of his own thoughts... all in the past twenty fours hours, and yet he still wasn't tired...
Adrenaline was a hell of a thing, he'd decided.
To the soundtrack of humming; both his own and from the bathroom, Koharu's, the shape of three people began to take shape on the paper in front of him.
The first, a sullen teenager with his head held to the ground, as if looking at a non existent phone, whilst the second stood tall, blade in hand as he readied it for battle. The third was just a silhouette standing a head above the pair of figures, coat flowing against the imagined wind as he reached for his sheathed blade.
Underneath, he left a scribbled message:
"Be I Michael, be I Jet, be I The Knight of the Wind... I am all of me."
"Ooh, what are you drawing?" At any other time, the knowledge that the only thing that separated him and his girlfriend's glistening skin was a towel would've driven his hormones into overdrive. Today though, it was almost as if the day had put that anxiety so far down the list that it was no longer there...
"A reminder to myself, that no matter how much I change, whether I change my name or how I look, I'll always be me. I kinda lost sight of that; too caught up in my own neuroses."
She placed a kiss on his cheek. "You can just ask me, and I'll tell you. You're the best partner and boyfriend I could've asked for, even if you are a bit stubborn, and a bit dorky sometimes!"
"Umm, Ko? While you're here, can I ask you a favour?" The almost embarrassed look on his face for what he was about to ask probably didn't help him seem any more trustworthy...
Thankfully, she took it in stride. "Someone's a bit bold, aren't they? I'm stood here in a towel, and you're asking for a favour..." She teased, pulling at the towel.
"Yeah, that one's on me." He whispered to himself, realising the mistake. "I kind of mean an actual favour." She went bright red, as she caught onto the misunderstood phrase. "Between us, you have by far and away the most developed fashion sense, and well... I may not be some comic book hero, but, umm... I kind of want a new look."
The look of embarrassment almost immediately disappeared, replaced by one that could only be described as "ecstatic", and with a sparkle in her eyes. "Really!?"
"Really. If I trust anyone to do it, it's you." He smiled, before realising what she'd said earlier. "Also, dorky?"
"You do kinda get over excited at things occasionally. It's cute though, like watching an oversized puppy."
He went to answer with a rebuttal, before realising that he didn't actually have one. "Maybe I should add that one to the drawing too; "Koharu's dork"!" He laughed.
"I don't own you, you know!"
"You did just describe me as an oversized puppy... I can give you a leash, if you want. Stop me doing stupid stuff!" He joked.
"Don't threaten me with a good time!" She answered, and almost immediately went red, and held her hands against her face. "Please forget that I ever said that..." She mumbled into her hands.
"Now that's a side I never expected from you!" He laughed, as his girlfriend hid her face in a pillow. "You want the leather gear too, or just the leash?" He teased, before a flying pillow shut him up.
"I didn't mean it like that! It's just..." She answered, looking down as her answer trailed off.
"I know, I was just joking. Besides, I'd rather not have a leash round my neck... never did like collars!"
"I don't get it." She asked, looking less embarrassed and more just confused by the statement.
"Collars, as in suit collars... I don't like suits, it was, err, just ignore that one." He explained, now embarrassed himself. He was always told that half of a joke was in the way you told it, and he admitted delivery wasn't his strong suit.
"Oh. I thought you looked pretty dashing in a suit..." A look that he recognised well came over her face; the look of an idea forming in her head. "Though I think you look better in something else..."
He immediately understood what she meant, and decided to play along with her, as she whispered in his ear. "Oh, well in that case, I think we can both dress up..." He agreed, before the pair locked lips, and made their way back to the bed...
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The morning they'd all woken up to was an unusually normal one; especially considering the events of the days prior. For Jet, the only slightly unusual thing he could really see was currently sat on the sofa, grumbling about something as she woke up. It felt weird to say that Sanya, a girl who he struggled to find any polite way to describe, was now part of their group...
''A sofa is hardly what I would call a comfortable bed...'' She grumbled, as she extricated herself from the sofa. For once, he would agree with her, but circumstances (namely that they had no plan for a fifth member) had meant that they only had three bedrooms for themselves... and the odds of Phillia giving up her bed for the sofa were none at all. ''A gentleman would have offered his bed to a lady...'' She commented offhandedly.
Her comment caused him to raise an eyebrow, before deciding that two could play at that game... ''I mean, you can share a bed with Koharu if you're both fine with it...'' He joked as he walked into the kitchen, and began to prepare breakfast by retrieving whatever ingredients he still had from his inventory.. Quickly though, he turned back, ''But I will warn you, she fidgets!''
Sanya had now turned bright red; a similar shade to her coat, in fact, and let out an audible squeak before she spoke. ''Y-you two share a bed?!''
''Uhh yeah, what's wrong with that?'' He asked innocently, as he placed two blocks of wheat into a bowl.
Sanya flushed, and clearly tried to regain her composure from her outburst just. ''I just-I assumed you at least had separate beds... that is all!''
''Right...'' He made sure that it was clear from the way he enunciated that he didn't particularly believe that that was all that she had thought. "Anyway, you want breakfast?"
"What kind of question is that..." She responded with a roll of the eyes. "Of course I do."
"Manners cost nothing, you know." He pointed out. "What do you want?"
"What is on offer?"
"Uhh, generic definitely-not-branded wheat biscuits... with toppings. Or porridge."
"I would prefer the porridge... if you do not mind."
"Porridge it is." He answered, as he placed two wheat biscuits into each bowl and set them to one side whilst he warmed up the milk. "Still, before anything else happens, I do owe you an apology, Sanya."
"Of course you do!" She responded, a tone of vindication almost sneaking into her voice before she realised she had no idea what he was referring to... "For what though?"
"Being a bit of an arse. Constantly trying to wind you up when we met." He admitted.
"I suppose I should apologise for my behaviour too, I was hardly innocent in that regard either, acting as if you were the worst person possible... and also for attacking you, that was unjustified." She admitted, before quickly adding, "Even if you were being obnoxious."
"So, water under the bridge then?"
"Indeed. If you can keep your more... irritating tendencies in check, then I shall try to take a more measured approach towards you."
"I must be dreaming... those two, having an actual conversation!?" Phillia exclaimed as she picked up a mug of coffee off the cabinet side. "And not trying to infuriate each other either... Rain, I am genuinely seeing this, right?"
"You are, yes." Rain smiled as she looked towards them. After the sad smiles she'd been giving them over the past day, it made a pleasant change to see a genuine smile on her face.
"If we are to work together, then perhaps continuing our feud is hardly a good course of action for our continued co-existence on this-" Sanya explained quickly, doing her best impression of a thesaurus caught in a gale as she did.
"Relax! You don't need to defend yourself, I was just joking about it." Phillia interrupted. "Though I will say I'm glad to not be in the crossfire between you two!"
"It was unpleasant to watch you two constantly at it, and I'm glad you're being civil! Who knows, maybe you'll even be friends before too long..." Rain looked hopeful at the thought. To Jet, that optimism was possibly misplaced, he thought. Being civil with someone and being friends with them, were two very different things - he and Mito were a good example of that; both could be civil with each other, but neither would say they were friends. Allies and acquaintances perhaps, but definitely not friends.
"We'll try, Rain. That's the best I can promise you." He answered, before looking at the food. "Oh, and breakfast's ready, Sanya. Uhh, anyone else want any?" A few nods came from Rain, whilst Phillia was in the kitchen looking for the coffee...
"Spasibo." Sanya said, before digging in. "I must give credit were it is due, this is delicious! I did wonder if Rain was exaggerating about this, but evidently not." She complimented, as she continued to eat in a way that could only be described as "formal".
"See? I told you he was..." A wave of realisation came over Rain's face as she realised what Sanya had said. "Hang on! Why would I have exaggerated about Jet!" She asked.
"Your obvious crush on him." Sanya answered, without missing so much as a beat.
"I do not have a thing for him!" Rain went as red as her hair, and stopped just short of yelling that sentence. The word "anymore" went unspoken in that sentiment too, Jet noticed...
"With the way you spoke about him, you could have fooled me..." Sanya answered, an almost smug look appearing on her face in between spoons of porridge, before her face dropped slightly and she sighed. "I apologise. That was a bit beyond a joke... I realise that these words are going to feel a bit hollow after everything I've done, but... I owe you all a debt of gratitude. I hurt all of you in some way, and yet, you were willing to show kindness to me; even willing to accept me into your ranks, despite my transgressions.''
''Alex...'' Rain said sadly.
''I owe you the greatest apology though, Rain. My oldest friend, there for me throughout everything... you trusted me, and I took that trust and betrayed it. I fully understand if you do not wish to call yourself my friend anymore, I cannot say I deserve such a friend now...''
''No.'' Rain answered, taking a seat opposite Sanya. ''No one deserves any friends. Friendship isn't a thing where anyone gets ''gets what they deserve''... It just happens.'' Sanya winced at the statement, and crossed her arms as she tried to shrink away. ''Besides, as for betraying me? Do you really think I care for you so little that betraying me would make a difference?'' Rain held a hand out to Sanya, for a moment, the melancholic look on the silver haired girl's face faded, replaced with the first genuine smile he'd ever seen Sanya give...
Sanya took her hand though. ''Druz'ya?'' She asked, hopefully.
''Vsegda.'' Rain replied, a smile on her face as the room went quiet momentarily.
That momentary quiet was soon broken as a ping went off behind them, and Jet rushed into the kitchen, before poking his head past the pillar that separated the rooms. ''Uhh, breakfast is ready... again.'' He quickly added the ingredients for everyone else's porridge; strawberries (or their nearest equivalent) for Koharu, cocoa powder for Rain and lemon for Phillia, before bringing them out to the side.
''Breakfast is served!''
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As she stood waiting in the tailors, there was a warm feeling in her heart, a sense of complete trust there; clearly, he trusted her unconditionally if he was willing to ask her to help him design an outfit. It was strange to her how, despite everything he'd told them earlier, the story of how he'd come face to face with the worst of humanity and nearly his own demise, it hadn't been that which had told her just how much he trusted her - it was asking for help with something relatively trivial, such as a new outfit.
''Hmm, not sure about the coat...'' She admitted, as he looked himself over in a mirror. ''You look a bit, uhh... a bit Victorian dandy, don't you think?'' Unfortunately, despite the warm feeling, and her fashion sense, her boyfriend had an almost uncanny knack for choosing the least fashionable attire - an anti-fashion sense, if she had to call it anything.
''I thought it looked pretty good!''
''It does not.'' Sanya said, voicing everyone else's thoughts, including her own. She looked at the pile of clothes, and thought about it again, before picking up a dark blue coat.
''Try this, and the last set of trousers.'' She told him, and he disappeared back into the changing room, before coming back out in only a few moments. The short, waist length purple coat he'd worn previously had been replaced by a knee length one, in a shade of midnight blue. A new set of black trousers, with slightly fewer unused pockets, and a slightly frilly white shirt, obscured by a small leather chestplate, added to the look that she'd been intending for him; that of an old school sea captain. She couldn't say why exactly, but that idea had popped into her head when she'd taken a look at his attire in more detail than usual.
Jet stood there, giving her a raised eyebrow and a smirk as she looked blankly at him, still thinking about the romantic ideals of sea captains that probably never existed... ''I like the clothes, but uhh...''
''But?'' Koharu asked.
''I kind of need a haircut.'' He grinned. ''Don't suppose we know a hairdresser too?''
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After what he suspected was a crash course in the art of hairdressing for Koharu, and some convincing that, no, Sanya absolutely did not need to be there to see the final result... and for his own comfort, preferably nowhere near a pair of scissors and him at the same time, they'd gotten considerably closer to the 5pm meeting.
In fact, it was now 16:54, and they were running to the meeting room in the middle of the town.
That six minutes quickly flew by, and the meeting room was almost full, as usual. Unlike the usual meetings however, they had all eyes on them as they walked in - something that was not to the liking of any of them.
Regardless though, and at 17:03, the meeting began and Heathcliff, representing the Heroes of Aincrad, took charge of the meeting almost effortlessly. The older man had an air of confidence to him, a confidence that felt as if it came from years of experience in leading people, and an odd sense of charisma to him, allowing him to almost summon respect out of the ether...
''Thanks to efforts by solo players, and members of the DKB, we have formed a plan to dispatch the boss of this floor - The One-Eyed Beast. It is a large creature, its skin tough to penetrate; but it is far from agile. We believe its weak spot must be somewhere on its lower body, but our research could only reveal so much.'' Heathcliff explained, before moving onto the group's attack profile for the raid. The same plan as usual, near enough. Split into squads, and engage any minions it may have, whilst the heavy hitters engaged the boss.
''Is there anything else to add?''
Argo, who he'd noticed had been conspicuously absent, alongside Kirito, Asuna and Mito at the start of the meeting, spoke up. ''Sorry we're late, but we might'a found summat useful. The villagers mentioned a scroll that told ya about the Beast, and what we should be watchin' for. 'pparently, it's bin evolvin' fer the past few centuries, somehow, an' they think it might'a grown a lot since then.''
''That is troubling to hear.'' Heathcliff admitted, before Argo continued.
'cept, there was summat else. The scroll mentioned this: ''Only those with true strength of character and the sturdiest of flesh will have the strength to fly higher than those before them and prevail.'' Argo stated.
''Fly higher than those before?'' Sanya asked, confused by the cryptic message, and no one in the room could offer anything resembling a satisfactory explanation either...
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Despite the cryptic statement, the Clearing Group had made swift progress through the Labyrinth, the monsters that did get in their way being swiftly dispatched by the well oiled machines of teamwork that each set of clearers had become by now.
That confidence in battle did not waiver as the group reached the door to the boss's chamber, and few words were offered from the leaders of the group, but each element leader offered their own words.
''Everyone ready?'' Jet asked the members of The Concord.
''As we'll ever be.'' Rain answered, checking her blades over.
''Good luck everybody.'' Koharu smiled, readying her rapier as the door opened.
''This shall not be a matter of luck, but of skill.'' Sanya stated , before allowing a smirk to cross her face. ''And I believe I am right in saying that we are all extremely skilled, are we not?''
''Don't get cocky, Sanya.'' Phillia commented, as she readied her dagger.
The door opened, and the room they found themselves in was a dark and dingy place, much like many of the other boss chambers. Unlike many of the others though, the room was bathed in an eerie green glow, that Jet found oddly reminiscent of an old sci-fi show he'd watched, involving Martians and an indestructible man. Oh, and a strange green glow with a booming voice, that he half expected to hear behind them. Sadly for him, all that could be heard was a roar that shook almost everything around them...
The source of the roar soon became apparent; a behemoth that stood head and shoulders above them, easily passing the twenty foot mark. The creature had dry, black skin, wrinkled and cracked, with bone like wings that stuck out of its back, only adding to its height. The weapon that the creature wielded looked to be equally as formidable as its wielder - a large rock formation, seemingly plucked from the cave around them, with sprawling green tentacles formed of... something. Whatever they were made of, they certainly weren't organic, and made Jet wonder if what Kayaba had said about magic was actually true or not.
Its face was dominated by a single huge green eye, that scanned the room and looked as if it had locked onto its target... them.
It stalked forward, its legs seemingly an afterthought, being short, stubby and completely out of scale for the towering monstrosity in front of them. With little warning, it began to swing its club skywards, and the group paused - just what was it doing?
Then, the penny dropped. Alongside the club, which sent a shock wave tearing across the floor of the dungeon as it made contact. Anything not resolutely steadfast (and even many things that were, many bricks included) soon found themselves airborne momentarily. A group that happened to include all of The Concord, who picked themselves up quickly, and began to formulate a plan, between dodging attacks from the beast.
''For once, I really hope you have a plan!'' Mito yelled from across the room towards Jet, getting the creature's attention and ire by mistake. It readied its club to squash her, and for a brief moment, it was left open to attacks to its legs; especially the exposed tendons at the back... something that Kirito and Asuna had quickly capitalised on, and bought the creature's ire towards them instead.
''Oh it did not like that! Not one bit!'' Jet realised, before smirking. ''Which means... the tendons, they're its weak spot!'' He yelled to the rest of the Assault Team, who promptly started to try and hack away at the slow moving creature's legs. For a while, such a plan seemed to be working, and the Beast's health was plummeting; fast descending through the second to last bar, down from four bars at the start, but eventually, the lumbering giant grew fed up of having its muscles slashed and readied a new attack - something first noticed by Rain. ''Its attack! Look, it's different!''
Rather than spinning the club before it slammed it down, it simply slammed it down to the ground. Rather than the shock wave it had otherwise generated, a green mist shrouded the dungeon...
''The hell's it doin'?'' He heard Kibaou yell, before the groups were cut off from one another by the second phase of the mystery attack - a swarm of energy tendrils shot from the ground, splitting the dungeon into quadrants. Jet grimaced, having heard someone yell from the air, the poor sod having been stood right where the attack sprung from the ground, the energy tendril throwing them into the air and impaling them...
He looked over to his shield, now lying on the floor, ripped apart by the attack and the impact of hitting the ground when it had been thrown clear of his arm.
Now relying on a purely offensive strategy, that had settled it for him; whatever they were going to do, they needed to do something, and fast!
From amongst the tendrils, the One Eyed Beast lifted off, its bony wings somehow providing the creature with enough lift to actually get off the ground, and not just look a bit daft.
''Please tell me there is a plan!'' Sanya watched as the creature climbed away, before she slashed at one of the tendrils, barely doing any damage to it. He took stock of the situation, before something came to mind; it was a million to one shot, but if those tendrils were solid enough to be slashed and still retain some integrity, then perhaps they were solid enough to be used as platforms to reach the now airborne beast.
''Ehh, plan is probably pushing it a little bit... but I have an idea!''
''I suspect I'll regret asking this... but what is it?'' Rain asked.
''Those tendrils, if we can use them to get up a bit higher, we can attack the boss again.''
''How... do we use them?'' Koharu looked at them, and almost immediately realised what he was getting at. She looked towards him, then the boss, then back at him. ''Oh... run up them, right?''
''You cannot be serious.'' Sanya looked as if she was re-evaluating every decision that had led up to this moment in her life, before sighing in acceptance. ''However, I cannot see any reasonable alternative... so...''
''That almost sounded like agreement there!'' Jet joked, before his expression turned serious. ''Really though, everyone okay with this?''
''As Sanya said, even if we weren't, none of us have any better ideas!'' Rain answered, an expression on her face that told him to stop doubting himself so much, that it wasn't the him they'd come to know...
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Whilst the girls kept the One Eyed Beast's attention, Jet and Koharu raced up one of the tendrils. As they rushed forward, it didn't take a genius to realise those tendrils wouldn't take their weight again, for the way back down, the beams crumbling with every rapid step they took forward, and they didn't stop to think about the way they would be finding their way back to the ground.
Angered by the charge, the creature swung it's club back, the tendrils snapping whilst the couple grabbed onto the stubs, using it to continue their ascent up the beast. ''Going up! First floor, menswear...'' He joked, as he let go. Koharu, on the other hand, wasn't as lucky, and the tendril faded away mid swing, and she fell back to the ground below, out of his line of sight.
He spared a glance to her HP bar, which showed she was as fine as could be, given she'd fell about twenty foot, and continued his ascent... not that he could do anything else though, gravity being a constant, even in Aincrad. It felt horrible to him to be leaving Koharu like that, but it wasn't as if he could do anything to help her from up here, and people were depending on him to do something up here.
After a few seconds of sailing through the air like a purple, human shaped missile, he'd managed to make his way onto the creature's head, and raced up its face, using the bridge of its nose as a climbing wall, before he arrived at its eye...
''Hey, you wanna know what they call a cyclops that can't see?'' Jet asked jokingly, and the creature offered a grunt that distinctly sounded as if it were mildly confused by the comment... ''You!'' He smirked, as he jabbed Hope straight into the creature's eye, and pulled it back out again. The beast reacted as one would expect from a creature that was now blind, thanks to a sword through the eye... it screamed in agony, before blindly attempting to pummel the source of its pain.
Which was unfortunate for Jet, given that happened to be him.
Deciding on a more evasive course of action, he rushed past the creature's head, and onto its back. It was as he passed the creature's ear that an idea dawned on him; the One-Eyed Beast had ears, and so, must've had some kind of auditory organs...
Hopefully, this would work as well as it would on a person, and he cleared his throat, a soft cough, before bellowing an expletive down the One-Eyed Beast's ear...
The creature, as could be expected, screeched in agony again at the auditory assault, and went to clutch its ears. Quickly, Jet dodged out of the way, and charged onto the bony extrusions on the creature's back that formed the stumps of its wings. He took a quick look, and sighed; if he'd thought he was cutting through those, he probably should've bought a chainsaw rather than a sword, given the stump the size of a tree that he looked at. ''Guess I'm clipping those wings, rather than severing them.'' He muttered, as he started hacking at one of the fleshy webs in front of him, whilst the Beast began to fly at walls to try to knock him off...
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From the ground, Koharu looked up from where she'd came to rest. The fall from the disappearing tendrils had been a bit rough, but she'd gotten back up almost instantly, even before the rear guard had rushed over to help her up. She really had to thank her days as a gymnast for teaching her how to nail the landing there!
The same, however, could not be said for Jet, who had become a purple speck in the air, on the back of the One-Eyed Beast, as it demolished the higher walls of the chamber. She wasn't exactly sure how far up they were, but it had to be in the hundreds of metres, she reckoned. Not for the first time, she really hoped Jet had a plan, because if her fall from about ten metres had roughed her up, then falling from about ten times that, well... the results wouldn't bear thinking about.
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Planning was a thing that some people were extremely good at. Others were less than impressive at it, but tended to be really quite good at improvising, when the plan had inevitably gone wrong, through some factor that the planner had completely failed to account for. For Jet, he tended to be the latter; good at improvising, but his planning needed some serious work.
Which was a shame, because he could really have done with an actual plan right about now. As he'd slashed through the Beast's fleshy webbing between the hollow bones of its wings, he'd soon come to a realisation...
It was a very long way down.
In a desperate bid to not live up to his name, he plunged Hope into the beast's stumps, and held on for dear life as the creature plummeted from the sky, with all the grace of a flailing brick. Momentarily, as the wind rushed through his hair, he was glad he had it cut earlier, else he'd be only barely able to see through the mop!
That thought was interrupted, as he went to make his move, and pulled on his sword. It didn't budge, and he felt a twinge of frustration pass through, as he pulled at it again. It still wasn't budging, and the ground was coming at him with enough pace to cause him some consternation...
Without thinking, he left his sword where it was, and took a running leap. It wasn't going to a pleasant experience, but it was certainly less likely to kill him than falling on top of the boss was. Quickly, he reached for his shield... and remembered it had been trashed by the tendril attack earlier. He briefly wondered if it was too late to change his plan, before he found himself on a collision course.
Unfortunately for him, the wall proved rather more sturdy than he did, and despite a lesson in free running from Cody, which had taught him to always push off the wall... he didn't, going face first into it, and falling the remaining ten or so feet, before coming to rest in a crumpled heap on the floor. ''Oww...'' He mumbled, as he extricated himself from the floor, and raced to his feet.
Now sans sword and shield, the knight quickly moved into his inventory to get a replacement blade, and keep himself in the fight. Not that he needed to, mind you, as the few hundred foot drop had flat out killed the One-Eyed Beast, leaving just a floating Congratulations where it had come to rest, alongside a sizeable crater in the concrete below.
''Jet!'' A number of people raced over to him, as he found himself leaning on the wall behind. Gravity hadn't only done a number on the One-Eyed Beast, but it had took its toll on him too; his health being well below half now, and a number of status effects were now obvious in his field of vision. The most pressing on them, and the one that he'd immediately noticed, was one that looked like a ball joint that had come out of a socket... a dislocated limb, if he had to guess.
Given he was still standing, he was certain he hadn't dislocated his neck - that would probably have killed him outright, anyway, and soon did a check of his other limbs. A very brief check, as he realised his left arm wasn't actually doing what he asked it too, and was just dangling there, limp. ''Ah. That might be an issue...'' He muttered to himself, as Koharu rushed to hug him, before looking at his arm.
''That... doesn't look good.'' She agreed with his assessment of the situation. ''Uhh, does SAO have a First Aid skill?'' She asked no one in particular, with murmurings coming from the gathered crowd.
Sanya, for a reason he wasn't sure of, stepped forward, and looked at his arm. ''I believe you might have dislocated it.'' She stated confidently. He looked at her with a look that could only be described in a single word... the most sarcastic ''No...'' imaginable. ''Do not worry though, I happen to have the First Aid skill you enquired about...''
His look rapidly changed from sarcasm, to thinly veiled terror at the realisation. ''Umm, it'll heal naturally... won't it?''
''Do not worry, I will be as careful as I can be...'' The smirk on her face wasn't exactly reassuring. ''However, you may wish to bite down on this.'' She handed him a stick, and he briefly wondered whether he could go back to fighting a flying boss. It was less terrifying than this! ''Do stop twitching, Jet. I would rather I do not insert your shoulder into your ribcage...''
''Sanya...'' Rain said, a pointed tone to her voice.
''Now, just relax and-'' She asked, as she held onto his arm, and without a moment's hesitation, pushed it back into place.
''GAHHHH!'' Not that Jet could've missed that happening, the pain from it was almost unimaginable, and he fought back as many profanities as he could. Unfortunately, that didn't help with the tears welling up... ''I thought the pain limiter was supposed to handle things like this...'' He muttered, as he rubbed his shoulder.
''Now, is that not better?'' He felt his left eye twitch as she spoke.
''Sanya, that was the single most painful thing I have ever experienced, and I have been stabbed before!'' He growled, as the girl offered a smug smile.
''Then I believe it teaches you a lesson, does it not?''
''What? Don't fall from the sky?'' Phillia asked, confused by Sanya's comment. ''I'll be honest with you, he got off lightly for a freefall without a parachute. We got off lightly too...''
''How d'ya figure that one out, Ginge?''
''We aren't cleaning you up off the ground.'' She stated. ''That was really reckless!''
''She's not wrong. By all rights, you should be in a lot worse shape...''
''I wasn't planning to do that! My sword got stuck, and I didn't get chance to jump off when I wanted to.'' He admitted, as he walked over to where the boss had landed and looked over his sword. The blade had remarkably survived the impact, looking only a little bit scratched up for its troubles. No doubt the damage was more extensive than that, and he figured a trip to Lisbeth would be in order to get Hope reforged for the final time. Having retrieved it, he walked back, and finished his thought. ''Result, I face planted a wall and fell ten foot.''
''You know what we said earlier about not getting yourself killed?'' Both Rain and Koharu looked at him, less than impressed at the reasoning for his fall.
''Yeah, I know... I was a bit busy winging it though.'' He admitted, whilst Sanya held back a laugh. A laugh that broke free regardless, and was soon shared by Phillia, Rain and Koharu as they realised what he'd said. ''Huh, what's... ohh! That one wasn't even intentional!'' He laughed along too, even though that had been arguably the worst joke he'd ever made.
Behind them, the group had already started to move on, as the solo players, ALS, DKB and HOA all began to head up to the Twenty-First Floor, leaving only the quintet of The Concord, who were a little too busy laughing at their own jokes.
''Umm everyone? You know we are the only ones still here, right?'' Rain noticed the lack of elephant in the room as she wiped away a tear of amusement from her eyes.
''Yeah, it does look like everyone's abandoned us.'' He looked around. ''Err, onwards and upwards then?'' He asked, not wanting to give the others too much of a head start...
''Onwards and upwards it is!'' Koharu replied, smiling.
Author's Comments:
This is easily going to be the hardest comment I've ever written (and probably one of the hardest things I'll ever write, full stop), but please bear with me. It's not been a good time for me, and so my writing has taken a backseat for a bit; to coursework, life, and the loss of my grandmother.
When I was first writing An Englishman, all the way back in 2021 (which, sidenote, feels like an eternity ago now), and before pen made contact with paper (or fingers with keys, I guess), I first told my nan of the story that I was planning to tell, and took onboard her ideas and criticisms. She helped me to shape the story, and I'd give her updates on the story as I wrote it, and it grew into something I never expected it to be - a far longer running story than I ever expected, that has reached far more people than I ever dreamt it would!
So, I'd like to dedicate this chapter to her - an amazing woman who supported me in every barmy endeavour I have decided to turn my mind to, writing this story amongst them, and who will be dearly missed.