Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A continent of fairies and a world with a tree that reached into the heavens, holding together everything.

That was all this world was.

From what I’ve heard, many fairies came here to seek independence from the gods, in an abode unique to them so they could further themselves. The fairies still coexist with the gods, and generally they are all equal between each other, or at least that’s what I’d like to think.

Besides that, this world is vast and filled with many wonders, some more deadly to the average person than others. The continent itself is split into 9 different territories for its 9 different races of fairy. Obviously, there are some «Neutral Zones» both within and in the middle of all the owned land, but you don’t see too many races intermingling in or near each other's capitals.

There supposedly is a secret race at the top of the World Tree, «Yggdrasil», in The «Floating City» belonging to Fairy King Oberon and his Queen Titania. It’s said that they are the «Alfs», and unlike the rest of the fairies they have access to unlimited flight, a true unobtainable dream to a lot of us.

But that’s just the lore of this world, and it’s all we’ve been afforded to know so far.

To us eight thousand or so players trapped in the game, we consider this land called «Alfheim» a prison, one which we must escape from lest we wish to perish. But I guess in reality, I shouldn’t be calling this place by its in-game name, to us players, our prison is truly known as…

«Alfheim Online»

Chapter Text

The feeling of a heavy blade effortlessly cutting through its target was one that sent a rush through your body, especially if it was your first time doing so.

There were a lot of sensations I could associate with fighting in general, although when you’re doing it for about 16 hours a day with minimal breaks you become a bit numb to it.
Swssh

I watched and listened as my blade cut through the air, meeting the head of the mace held by the little goblin enemy in front of me. With a newfound advantage, I thrust my blade into its stomach, causing him to erupt into little blue pieces.

It’s a fantasy of sorts, y’know? Seeing knights or warriors in stories engaging in awesome sword play! Alfheim Online is somewhat like that, although the crux of all melee combat was certainly «Sword Skills».

THUD THUD THUD
My thoughts were interrupted as the true main event showed itself, Goblin King Ozoran. At about 3 meters tall, he towered over me, wielding a large Glaive in his right hand, and with a single slash he levelled about 20 or so trees.

It wasn’t even a matter of slicing through all of them, the hilt itself managed to just bash through most of the bark, causing them to crash to the ground with a thunderous boom.

Not that it mattered, though, I was firmly confident in my ability to dispatch this foe, all it would take is some maneuvering, and a well-placed «Sword Skill» to finish this thing off, assuming there are no surprises.

With a «Sword Skill» one could easily dispatch an enemy with a single strike, other more specialized «Sword Skills» were geared towards crowd control and even status effects.

But enough of that… the only thing on my mind was defeating the boss before me!

“Raaaaargh!”

A loud roar erupted from deep within that ugly things lungs. It was so immensely strong that the swinging of the glaive down on me must have been an effortless feat.

With no choice but to face it head on, I place my blade to my side, idle as I dash towards the Goblin. Despite its strength, the lumbering movements provided by its figure are enough for me to sidestep to the right and take the opportunity to get on the long hilt.
As I landed atop the wood, I activated the skill «Sonic Leap» after placing the blade horizontally upon my shoulders.
I began to dash across the hilt, my feet no longer in contact with the ground. I was soon beside the giant’s abdomen, and the moment my feet met contact with the solid ground once more, I slashed deeply into its abdomen.
That single hit makes the goblin’s health bar plummet into the red. Too easy, truly. 

I let out a cocky smirk and sigh, this’ll be over soon enough—

With a loud boom and a sound that was equivalent to bones cracking, I was launched into a nearby tree, my HP bar dipping down into yellow.

What the hell!? I shook my head as I gazed towards the Goblin King, a distinct and harsh wind gathering around his forearm alongside some «Words of Power».

I had hoped this wouldn’t be the case, but this enemy had begun using magic, something that I had still not grown accustomed to, which was evident by the amount of knock back it’s simple wind spell gave me.

I had not grown accustomed to Magic at all, in fact I dreaded the idea of having to learn it. Complex mechanics are no fun, surely swordsmanship would be enough to get through in this world, right!

The Goblin reeled it’s head back, more «Words of Power» surrounding its now gaping maw.

Shit! That can’t be good, if I get hit head on, then I’ll be one hit away from death!

Quickly, I place a hand near my sword's blade and utter…
“Ek, Kō, Te, Su, Ne, Ru”
It was a simple weapon strengthening skill, one that would help you better defend against magic attacks due to binding the magics effects to the blade.

Just in time to, the monster let out a load roar and directed his head towards me. Fire ripped towards me at incredible speeds! With no chance to dodge, I steel myself and plant my feet in order to block the incoming assault.

True to the spells' description, my blade absorbed most of the fire, directed towards me, but the embers split off and crackled into the surrounding trees, lighting the whole forest in a blaze of fire!
Shit… Shit! This isn’t even my territory that’s getting burned! I’m in the «Ancient Forest» of the «Sylph’s» so if someone finds out that I’m responsible for a wildfire my ass is going to be cooked. 

Sure, the trees will grow back rapidly, but the smoke will attract more hostile mobs—

Ugh… I can figure it out later, my main priority should be escaping these flames.

The only real way out, is up, but a leap would just send me down into the leaves immediately making me burn up.

With nowhere to go but the sky, I envision them, the other mechanic that truly made ALO a dream come true.
«Flight».

Black wings sprouted from my back, and without hesitation I catapulted myself into the sky, a shockwave fanning the surrounding flames in my wake.

This… this was bliss. A true fantasy that I could experience for myself.
Something that I think everyone can relate to is the feeling of flying, the wish to spread your wings and escape from everything deep within the sky.
And I could live out that dream every day of my life now.
… For about ten minutes, that was the upper limit.

I took a deep breath in, admiring the large capital building in the distance, and beyond that…

The World Tree, «Yggdrasil».

The key to our escape, to our lives.

But in my moment of self reflection and bliss, I failed to realize one thing.

The rather giant spearhead zeroing in on myself.

Somehow, the Goblin King had a skill that extended his spear beyond its normal reach, and I was left with no choice but to dodge.

But a dodge wasn’t enough, as I turned my body to move, it hit a good chunk of my underarm, which not only tore one of my wings, but also put me into the red.
My flight was immediately cancelled, causing me to free fall towards the ground. 

Although, the leaves had long burned off, and I found myself falling straight towards the mouth of the Goblin King I had been so confident in defeating earlier.
Shit… it may actually be over. Any momentum shifting «Sword Skills» would only work airborne if I made my wings, and I had no magic spells that could help me now, even with my «Swiftcast» skill.

“Aiiieeeeee! I don’t wanna die! Can someone do something!?”

My cry wasn’t exactly one of fear, it was a mix of fear, and frustration, very different.

Although… «Death» in this world was a true death, unlike a game over screen of natural video games.
“Sū firra heiragūru ausutoru, burotto subāru bāni”

But just as I think about what may wait beyond, I can hear a voice chant out a spell.

And with that spell, my HP reaches the threshold of green! My prayers have been answered, thank god!

My wings flicker back to life, but not fast enough for me to avoid the Goblin King’s mouth, so I stick my legs between the top and bottom to keep it open. 

I have to finish this off, but the position I’m in won’t allow for anything but a weaker Sword Skill.
So with no choice, I yell out to my unseen assistant, hoping they can help!
“Hey! I’m not in a good position to finish this thing off… I don’t know what weapon you have, but finish this off using a Sword Skill with me! I’ll uh— give you some of the item drops!”

Raising my sword, I activated the start-up of «Vertical».

… And in the distance, I could hear the sound of another «Sword Skill».

“Seiiiiyah!”
I slashed upwards, drawing my blade along the Goblin King’s mouth in an upwards slash.

The mysterious person then dashed forward at incredible speeds with the skill «Flashing Penetrator».

As both our attacks hit our target, the monster bellowed out in pain, spasming up until it erupted into light blue pixels.
“Yes, we did it— Ow!”

I completely forgot that I had been airborne and ended up face-planting with the ground.

“Are… are you okay?”
I could hear the voice more clearly now, it was feminine and sounded somewhat mature?

I slowly began to look up and address my unexpected savior.

“Yeah I think I’m fine, thanks for saving my a—”
As I wiped the soot and dirt off my face, she extended a hand out to me, her orange-brownish hair parting.
I was shocked by the gear she was wearing… this quest was pretty high up at this point in the average level of a top player!

“You said… I could have some of the item drops, right?”

I did say that, huh… maybe I can skirt past it for a bit.
“Hey, that’s no way to start a conversation, you just saved my life though, so I owe you my username at least.”
Kicking myself upwards, I sheath my sword and give a nice, hearty smile.
“My names Arnice, nice to meetcha!”
I reach my hand forward, hoping they’ll accept the shake.
“Asuna.”

Chapter Text

“Asuna… that’s a nice name, very original!”

I waited for her return to my handshake for an awkward amount of time until I looked down and realized that both of our hands were just idly waiting beside each other.

I placed both my hands on her own, just to make sure we wouldn’t be waiting here an eternity, then quickly turned to my side to view the item window.

There was really only one thing I was looking for, and that was a singular «Goblin’s Mucus», the drop item needed to unlock the first dungeon in the «Grand Quest» Guardians of the World Tree.

As I got a good look, I realized something rather shocking, there were 3 total drops!
“Heheh… Lucky!”
The player Asuna looked at me, a mix of confusion and shock on her face from my sudden exclamation of joy.

“O-Oh right… I got 3 of the big drops from this «Field Boss»! I assume you being in the area means that you wanted one too, so as thanks, you get one for free.”

I swiped down with my index and middle finger, selected the mucus, and watched it appear in my right hand. It was a somewhat viscous and spherical liquid that, while it felt watery, you could still hold and move around like it was solid, one of the many magical wonders of this world.
I tossed it over to Asuna, who did in fact catch it, although the very loud warbling it made from hitting her palms did make me laugh.

“Hey… what’s so funny? Is this some sort of decoy item or something!?”
My face contorted a bit, my dazed expression turning into one of nervousness.
“Y-You’ve got the wrong idea! It was just really funny to watch that thing jiggle when I threw it at you!”

“To watch what thing jiggle??? Are you one of those perverted hikikomori girls!?”
I’m not even trying to be weird… I was clearly talking about the damn item! All I can do is clear my throat and look at Asuna with a dumbfounded look.
“No, are women not allowed to explain what an item does anymore— Ahhh, forget it. Are you going to the raid planning meetup?”
Asuna was just about finished putting the mucus in her inventory when she gave me a glare followed by a very profound silence. You can’t just give me the silent treatment like that, it was a pretty important question…

“...The only reason you’d want «Goblin Mucus» outside low level crafting is for the «Grand Quest», and the only reason people are doing the «Grand Quest» storyline right now is so we can complete the first dungeon raid.”

Asuna cupped a hand around her chin, seemingly deep in thought. This continued for a while, so long that I just opened my menu, searching for a «Skill tree» I was interested in focusing on.

In reality, this new world and its mechanics were still wildly unfamiliar to me. Transitioning from strictly bladed combat all the way to magic spells was annoying, but if I wanted to survive, I’d have to adapt.

This is why I put some skill points into getting «Swiftcast», it made my cast time for spells much faster by allowing me to split the chant into syllables, although this was just the game not restricting my ability to list words off like I was a rapper.

And now that I had it, I could get the final skill in the «Skill Tree»—

“Hey! Are you even paying attention!?”
Gah!! What the hell—! I look away from the menu only to see Asuna with a very pissed off expression right in my face.

“... My bad.”

Asuna let out a sigh, as she looked away, seemingly a bit dejected.

“It’s… fine.”
“About your question earlier, my party member needed it for that quest you mentioned earlier.”

She has a party member, but she’s all the way alone out here? That’s a bit fishy if you ask me.

“Hey, Asuna, if you have a party member, why are you alo—”

“Ehhhhhhh? Looks like some players already took our drop, now we’ll have to wait another couple hours for the mob to respawn.”
I can hear these voices coming from above, and it pisses me off to no end that I can’t even finish a damn thought!

“Hey! If you’re gonna complain about being too late to quests, how about you get your asses to the location faster, ya bums!”

I shake my fist at them, it’s the most I could do without outright initiating combat, although Asuna’s expression dropped after hearing my provocative words.

“You calling us bums!? You seem to be a long way from your races' territory! If we attack you then we won’t get a cursor change, and alongside that…”

I hadn’t even realized how many were there floating above us. I began to count the number while pointing at them individually.
“One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Huh… isn’t that enough numbers to start a guild?”
I could feel a harsh chop to the back of my head! Who the hell did that!? One of those stupid Sylph players!?

“C-Can you pay attention!?”
Ohhh, it was Asuna.
“That’s my bad.”

But the moment I dropped my guard, I saw a lighting bolt dashing towards me and Asuna.

“Crap, evade!”
My wings flickered to life as I quickly pushed myself into Asuna, although despite my efforts I was struck by the lightning, my already near yellow health dropping a bit under half. The worst part though, in the corner of my eye I could see a new status effect. 

My wings, or more so, my flight, had been disabled.

“Wh-What the hell, that was so fast. I don’t think I’ve even seen that spell before.”

The fairy that seems to be their leader laughs as he descends with his friends, each with their own smarmy assholish look.

“I guess a «STR» build such as yourself wouldn’t be as knowledgeable on these powerful skills. That’s the advantage us new players hold over you players stuck in the past.”

His gaggle of friends all laugh together, slowly walking closer to prevent us from leaving, not too much of an issue given my no flight handicap.

Asuna draws closer to me, until eventually she bumps into me with a quiet yelp.

“I will say… you two are quite pretty. Why don’t you join our party so we can show you how this game actually works, I’d say it’s only fair for stea—”
“Fair?”
I quickly interject.

“I guess it was fair huh… after all, had you all fought that thing you would have gotten party wiped, so you better consider yourself lucky we killed it!”
I begin laughing out loud, not out of malice or anything, but because the people before me seemed genuinely pathetic. But I knew I couldn’t beat all 6 of them, and I didn’t want to endanger Asuna or force her to engage in Player Combat.

“Why you—! I’ll shut you up, you low-life!”

I turn my head slightly and begin whispering so only Asuna can hear me.

“You know, I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to ditch me right now…”
I pause, a smirk creeping onto my face.

“But if you want a good story for your friend, I suggest you hold on tight to my shoulders.”

Asuna looked back, her eyes still wide. I could tell she was strong, the small amount of skill she showed and somewhat silent nature gave me that impression.
But not even the strongest of people really have the capacity to harm others.

Despite all that, she grabbed onto my shoulder, although to be fair I was going to grab her if I needed to anyway.

“Bu—Su—To”

With unprecedented speed, I chanted out the final spell of the «Swiftcast» tree.

A simple speed enhancing magic that began with a very powerful kickoff, it rivaled the speed of flight under the right conditions and only gained speed overtime.

I dashed off, the players surrounding us being launched away and leaving a sonic boom in my wake, although I think my speed was fast enough that I couldn’t even hear it.

Asuna clung onto me, I could at least hear her screaming as I began running towards the «Swilvane», the capital of the Sylphs, and since the forest’s trees hadn’t returned, I was free to keep running.

But something permeated in my mind, it was the words those players said.

“That’s the advantage us new players hold over you players stuck in the past.”

Right… I guess, was still stuck in the past.

Back when this death game was known as…

«Sword Art Online».

Chapter Text

“Eiiiyaaaaaaah!!”

Asuna was screaming her head off as my dash had reached its top speed, long out speeding the enemies behind us. With the amount of time I had been sprinting, I almost forgot about what that group said back there.

It was rather depressing to think that before we were trapped in ALfheim we were trapped in Aincrad. I won’t go over the specifics, but I can’t believe we went from a cool-ass steel tower in the sky to a giant cylindrical tree.

“Ar…”

Although, in all honesty, the win condition for this game was something that seemed much more achievable. Simply getting to the top of a tree in what was a dungeon raid in comparison to 100 individual floors? I like those odds.

“Arn…”

This doesn’t even account for the fact that the mobs are quite diverse in this game from the get-go. They depend on a couple of things, the most important being the time of day, season, and the area you’re in.

“Arni…”

Obviously, it’s not THAT easy. In exchange for a more diverse game from the get-go there are many aspects we still don’t understa—

“ARNICE!!”

“Gah! What the hell are you yelling so loud for!?”
I looked back towards Asuna, who still seemed to be screaming somehow. The scenery had merged with what seemed like city streets, the forest becoming much more distant now.

“Pay attention to where you’re heading, you idiot!”

As soon as Asuna said that, her wings activated, and she let go of my shoulders. As she entered the air, I stuck out my tongue.

You know, now that I think about it, if I’m in the city I should have already escaped by now, so that must mean…

I looked ahead, only to see a crowd of people who had all parted to not get hit by me barreling through the town entrance.

And then there was a wall, and no matter how hard I tried, I was too fast to avoid it in the first place.

I collided with the wall and then there was blackness, as if I had disconnected or lagged in the game. The sudden stop also had me feeling REALLY sick.

There was a cacophony of sounds, people murmuring, someone asking what the hell I was thinking. I couldn’t hear Asuna’s voice in the mixed array of it all, but as I opened my eyes, I saw the status «Immortal Object» plastered on the wall I ran into.

“Watch where you’re going, you asshole!”

Ugh… all this sound is annoying, and now I have to deal with a bunch of random players who are all mad at me.

“Okay… one person at a time please, and if your complaints are that I almost ran into you, then please don’t say it in the first place.”

Wait a minute— where’s Asuna? I can’t see here anywhere.

With a quick scan of the crowd, I find her, standing next to a lightly tinted purple hair girl.

Her equipment wasn’t that flashy, in fact she was wearing a somewhat flowy and white dress, a scythe lying on her back. The ponytail actually really brought the look together, too.

Then she pointed back at me. Ah, that must be her party member, she mentioned earlier.

“Hey, Asuna! Don’t just leave me hanging here!”

By now, everyone’s shouts has turned into low grumbles as they started to go back to whatever they’re doing, and I proceed to make my way over to Asuna, the conversation they’re having becoming clearer.

“Asuna, I said to wait for me, and then we’ll get the mucus together . I’m glad you’re alive, but you need to be more careful, especially that far outside the settlements.”

Asuna looked away dejectedly from her party member.

“Don’t look so down, Asuna, I just don’t want you getting killed.”

The girl lightly patted Asuna on the head, and she stopped sulking immediately.

“What to do with you though…”

The girl turned to face me, her eyes looking me up and down. Her expression… it kind of scared me. It was like a cop checking if a person had stolen something or not.

“Despite your rowdy introduction, you do look trustworthy. Asuna told me that happened in that forest. Thank you for protecting her.”
The girl bowed to me, and now it felt awkward, really I would have done it no matter how the person was.

“No need to flatter me like this. Besides, I assume you’ll need one of these too, so have it for free!”

I opened my inventory and lightly tossed the item over to purple lady. She snatched it out of the air and smirked, putting it away in her inventory. She then immediately got really close to my face with a sly grin.

“Heh… Asuna, it seems you’ve found quite the player, she’ll be a reliable teammate! My names Mito, nice to meet’cha”

Mito places a hand on my shoulder, and I simply stand there with a puzzled expression. Am I getting voluntold into this party…

I clear my throat and wave Mito away.
“I’m more of a solo player, I feel like my gear should give that away, most of it has stealth and defense bonuses anyway”

Ironically, my defense wasn’t too good because I lacked a shield, although there was a simple reason for that. I hated the big, bulky shields the game had, but I couldn’t deny that having it was very helpful for the self-sustaining melee build I was going for.

What I needed was a special item, a mini shield of sorts… but that’d have to come later.

“Solo or not, you’re going to the boss raid meeting, and there’s no way they’ll let you participate in a solo party. Why not humor me for a bit?”
“... Sure. Speaking of which, we should probably make our way over there.”

As I looked at my HUD to find the time it read 16:58, it was just about getting dark in ALfheim time, and the meeting was at 17:00.
Mito nodded her head, looking back to Asuna with a smile. Asuna’s expression was happier than usual, and I actually saw her smile for once. I thought that that was nice, guess I’ll have to get used to these two for now.

The three of us started walking, idly chatting about random things, unrelated to the fight awaiting us.

We arrived at the venue, it was a large stage surrounded by stands for people to sit in and foliage such as trees and flowers.

Upon entering, my hearing was instantly overrun with so many different conversations and voices. There had to be at least 50 people here… how the hell was someone supposed to organize them all?

“Hey, let’s grab a seat over there.”

Asuna tapped my shoulder, her voice much clearer than the rest. I shook my head and looked over to the spot, a front row seat with only one group behind us. They all seemed to be older and wearing red, although there was a younger boy whose armor was more black than anything.

As we sat down in our spot, I could overhear them talking about potential strategies. I decided to eavesdrop, glancing backwards.

“We’ve got all our offensive skills ready, right? I’m hoping we get put on the DPS team!”

“I mean, of course we will. Besides, the quest seemed to be alluding to a boss that’d require a lot of melee fighters.”

“You know, that makes me wonder, how will magic play into all of this?”

The first voice was aloof, coming from a bigger guy who seemed like a tank, the second was from a guy with unkempt hair, and the third was from a man with scruffy hair and a headband… perhaps he was the leader?

“You know, it’s rude to stare.”

Gah! Who dares to interrupt my concentration. I turned to face the direction of the voice and saw that one black haired boy. He didn’t even seem annoyed, more so bored as his head rest in his hands.

“A-Ah… my bad. It’s hard not to get excited— wait, that means you were staring at me too!”

The boy shook his head and sighed, he was surprisingly chill in comparison to his friends.

“I was simply observing and noticed you staring, nothing more, nothing less.”
“Dammit… I hate when people are right.”
“Well, anyway, you seem to know what you’re doing, think anything interesting’ll happen? I’m completely in the dark about the boss.”

“Most of us had to pay for that information, y’know, but I’m sure you’ll get your answer soon.”

Kirito pointed out towards the middle of the stage, where a man with blue hair had walked out. He cleared his throat and addressed the crowd, surely he was our leader.

“Everyone, can I have your attention please!?”
The venue went silent, and despite the fact that some of us had never seen this guy before, I could tell there was some air about him that commanded respect.

“Thank you all. My name is Diavel, and my job is that of a Battle Mage! I’ll be your leader for the upcoming raid, thank you for having me.”

There was some light-hearted laughter within the crowd, pointing out the obvious joke of him being a Battle Mage.

A smile remained on his face as he nodded his head.

“I’m sure everyone here has completed the first quest line for the «Guardians of the World Tree», the fact that you’re even here is proof enough for me!”

Diavel then paused his speech, as his expression became much more serious. I leaned forward in anticipation.

“I’m glad to announce that my party and I successfully found the location of the dungeon, and through a side quest, we now know some critical details about the boss.”

Silence turned into excited chatter, people were getting hype. I though, was getting confused. How the hell did I not find that side quest??? I searched everywhere I could for info on the boss!

“The bosses name is Garm, Guardian of Hel. It is a large dog with shackles around it’s neck and legs. As far as the quest was concerned, it has a weakness to dark magic, and most importantly two skills, one which can bind our party in shackles, and a roar that debuffs all party members with a nauseating and slowing effect.”

The crowds' excitement turned to concern, as faces started to look uneasy. 

I don’t blame them, the transition from SAO to ALO was tough. Now that everyone had access to magic, there were new factors to considered, and mobs had especially adapted to make things even harder.

For some, the sudden change was so bad that they didn’t feel the need to even try anymore, and going solo was somewhat of a taboo that got you very weird looks from people since the default assumption was that you were a selfish player or full of yourself.

New resources meant new strategies, how would Diavel handle this.

“In the past, there would be some sort of mechanic to deal with, but due to the magic at our disposal, I would like to compose our parties like this. Two parties of ten dedicated to damaging the boss, one will be for tanking and the other for DPS. They must be ready to switch out at a moment's notice with each other.”
Concern turned to silence.
“Two parties of 7, they will handle additional enemies that may spawn in.”
…

“And finally, we will need 10 mages dedicated to healing and buffs, the rest of the players will defend them.”
Diavel had finished describing his plan. There were no cries of disagreement, not even a cheer in approval. In fact, it was worse than that, I even saw some people stand up to leave.

“Wait!”
My body jolted to life again, it seemed Diavel had shouted at those players who were leaving.

“You have a right to leave, especially since this plan seems unfamiliar. Us players have gone through a lot already, but wouldn’t you like to be the start of something great!?”
Oh… is he trying to do one of those rousing speeches to appeal to people's emotions? I gotta see this!

“Player morale is at an all-time low, many are confused with no aim or idea on how they can progress, but all of you here, you overcame that! Despite everything, you serve as beacons of hope to players who believe that this game is unbeatable.”
The crowd that was once silent and unsure had started nodding in approval, their voices looking more and more determined. Truly, Diavel was a great leader, at least by virtue of his words and planning alone.

“So… let’s make sure it rings throughout ALfheim! That the first major roadblock in beating the game had been overcome! Let us serve as motivation, as heroes!”
Diavel pumped his fist into the air! It was a riveting sight to behold, as claps, cheering and even some whistles started creeping in.

“Now, please, organize yourselves into groups, I trust that you can follow my previous group assignments.”

I turned to look at Asuna and Mito, the latter of which I had no idea what kind of build she had.

“Hey, Arnice, what team do you think you’d be fit for?”
Mito looked over to me and took the words right out of my mouth, damn was she fast!

“W-Well… I don’t really have a lot of magic. After all this was done, I was going to pick out one of the «HATE» skills to grind out.”

«HATE» was the mechanic which determined how enemy aggro was distributed, and the skills associated with it came with some sort of buffs to one's health or defense, as only tanks would really want the skill.

The one I wanted to focus on was called «Ravaged Paradigm»; it increased your damage based on the amount of «HATE» you had, going up to a maximum of 50% more damage, but in exchange the amount of «HATE» you generated was much higher than that of even the normal tank skills.

It was a selfish skill, one that wasn’t fit for an actual tank meant to play in a party, especially since if enough «HATE» was on a single player the damage dealt to them increased.

But I didn’t care! If you can kill the thing faster than it can kill you, then it’s not an issue, is it?

“I see… well, Asuna is more of a healer, so I think she’ll be put in with those players, and I don’t want to leave her alone so do you mind joining me in the healer protection group?”
Wow, what a direct request, am I really that reliable of a gal?
“Of course, you can count me!”
No… I think I just got voluntold again…

“Well then, I think it’s best I join you guys too, I don’t really have a lot of magic yet.”

The boy with black hair addressed us, finally standing from his spot. He seemed awkward and a bit too serious, but who am I to deny a guy who knows what he wants.

“Well that makes things easier, what’s your name fellow swordsman, I’m Arnice.”

“...Kirito.”

He didn’t seem like the type to shake someone's hand, so I didn’t offer it. But now that I had a closer look at him, his outfit was rather bulky, oddly so. An all black vest with a long bottom meant for a coat. They weren't even connected to each other. It was all so…

“Messy.”

Mito, Asuna, and Kirito all turned their heads to me with confused expressions. Shit, I said it out loud.
“What are you talking about, Arnice?”
Asuna looked the most puzzled, but I just chuckled and made my expression confident.

“Don’t worry about it, I was simply thinking about the potential of tomorrow’s battle.”
“So you’re saying we’re messy fighters?”
Their looks of confusion turned into a mix of dumbfoundedness and annoyance.

“I said, don’t worry about it! Let’s just go grab some food to celebrate our newfound friendship, hahaaaa…”

“Ah, you’re going to be joining them for the boss raid, Kirito?”
The man with the red headband addressed Kirito. Based on the way he talked, and the two seemed to be together, perhaps they were already partying up.

“Oh, Klein. Yeah, that’s the plan if you don’t mind, you’re more built for melee combat anyway, being a Salamander and all.”
Oh! yeah… different races had different advantages. I guess Diavel didn’t mention it because it was pretty redundant.

Kirito and I were Spriggans, we specialized in illusions and looting, Asuna was an Undine, water and healing magic specialists, and finally out of us there were Mito and Klein who seemed to be an Imp and a Salamander, night vision and strength with fire respectively.

“Yep, that’s the plan. If you need our help during the raid, feel free to call us over whenever, we’re rather dependable y’know.”

Klein gave a wink, but it seemed to be towards Mito, Asuna, and myself… huh, looks like he’s trying to be a charmer. I can use this to be lazy!

“Well Klein. It’d be really helpful if you could tell Diavel about our group's plan, wouldn’t you think?”

Klein’s confident smile grew as he saluted me, turned around to rush to Diavel.

“Yes, ma’am, leave it to me!”

And then he was off, and I started walking away to the nearest restaurant I could find, waving my hand behind me, so the others would know to catch up.

“If you don’t eat enough tonight, you won’t be ready for the fight tomorrow!”
“Just wait a minute, we haven’t even discussed any strategies with the others yet!”

Asuna clamored at me, not joining my side. Neither did Mito nor Kirito. I turned around to face them, they seemed to be chuckling at the situation, I simply smiled back.

“Alright then, but get to the restaurant as soon as you can and fill me in when you do!”

I kept walking, back to the city streets and into the crowd.

I had a good feeling about this though, I had met a lot of people, and they seemed rather interesting, but most important they seemed strong and dependable.

This boss fight was going to be a piece of cake!

I... wish they had followed though.

[The scene at the restaurant]

Chapter Text

The feeling of cutting through the air with a heavy blade… was becoming commonplace.

The rush that once flooded my body had been replaced by a simple twitch of my muscles, because that was all I was afforded to do. 

Replaced wasn’t the right way to describe it though, it had always been just that, my virtual muscles moving, and if you wanted to make it even more depressing, it was just my brain sending signals to this new body of mine.

Maybe I had somehow deluded myself into believing that this body was real, or perhaps in the last month I had forgotten that there was a world outside waiting for me.

Well, no matter. If this is where I’ll be living, virtual or not, this life is mine, and I will always protect what is mine.

Ten «Staunch Wolves» stood on their hind legs in front of me, their mouth’s drooling with a liquid that formed a dark blue miasma upon contact with the ground. If I remember correctly, that liquid wasn’t a poison, it simply attracted more mobs with a foul stench.

Which was exactly why I was farming these mobs in particular.

My level stood at around seventeen, and the «HATE» I had generated amounted to the maximum attack buff I’d get from «Ravaged Paradigm». I had to kill all of them before the debuff kicked in.

«Anneal Blade +4» in hand, I charged two of them with the skill «Horizontal Arc». My blade swings to the left, plunging itself within the middle of one of the wolves. Four more form a diamond around me. «Horizontal Arc» however, was a two-hit skill. I swing my blade to the right, driving it through the wounds of my first two targets. Utilizing the system provided momentum, my blade swings through the other 4 in a circular slash, as they dissipate into pixels.

I breathe a sigh of relief as all of a sudden, one of the wolves pounces on me!

“SHI—!”

Its claws dig deep into my shoulder with «Acute Vault», the impact sends me crashing into a tree. I look at my UI and see my HP has reached red, something I’m not used to seeing. I pat the pockets on my pants, looking for a healing potion, but alas… there’s nothing.

“Oops… Welp, it’s probably a good idea to run.”

My mind wanders for a moment, my life hadn’t quite flashed before my eyes yet, perhaps a sign that I should keep fighting. The enemies AI learning had likely picked up on my tactic of using wide swinging sword skills to dispatch multiple foes, this much was clear. 

That wasn’t the issue, though. If I had just one more potion I’d be fine but—

Bah, now’s not the time for indecision, if this cheap imitation of a body was so used to fighting for this long, then that means it’s used to winning!

Just pull your blade back…

And strike!

I mimic the «Pre-Motion» of «Sonic Leap» and the monster enters a defensive stance primed to protect its head. This sort of misdirection was simple with how unadvanced the enemy AI was, a simple feint makes it think you’re going to perform a full on «Sword Skill».

And now I could strike!

My attack buff had far outpaced their HP, sword skills were no longer necessary to win this fight. But despite knowing that I held some sort of sizable advantage, my breath still labored, my almost empty HP bar reminding me how close I was to a game over.

The wolf I had bluffed was unable to react in time, as I drove my sword into its abdomen and slashed upwards. Getting a hold of myself, I clutch my blade with both hands

The second and third charged at me, both with a Sword Skill each. Another «Acute Vault» supplemented by a «Wild Dive», one attack from above the other in front of me. It was practically impossible to defend against skills that had synched up when you’re solo, but no matter which way I moved I would surely be hit.

If I didn’t block anything, I’d die. If I blocked one, I’d die. If I dodge, I’d find myself in the same situation.

There was only one option for survival, and that was ending both these mobs with a single skill, although I had a general idea of how to do so.

“«Composite Sword Skill»… «Violent Rend»!” As if I’m some story's protagonist, I shout the name of my attack with every single breath of air I can muster. With both hands, I deliver an upwards slash, shattering the claws of the wolf above me and sending it barrelling towards the second. My right hand lets go, and I slash with my left, passing it off to my right and delivering an overhead slash that ruptures the ground beneath and launches the two wolves into the air.

At that moment, my wings activate and launch me into the air. I pierce both of them with my sword, driving it through their abdomen, and come crashing back into the ground with a loud “Gwooooooh!” that permeates all sound around me.

The dust settles, and I am left standing, a bit beat up and almost dead, but nonetheless I’m alive.

All of this happened so fast… an untrained player wouldn’t even be able to comprehend that attack's speed. If most players can see a flash of lightning in ALO, then this would be… a flash of a flash of lightning? Like a flash of lightning to them? I don’t know, it’s really fast.

What I do know is that I felt alive, alive and well! For the most part, that is. My «Anneal Blade» was due for some upgrades, though. I held it up to my face and-

My eyes redirect themselves to the hilt, but I wasn’t concerned about the sword at all, I was concerned about my hand, it shook and rattled more than it ever had in the past.

“Just… calm down, girl. This is the least of your concerns.” Like a mother comforting her child, I quietly whisper encouragement to myself, something I wish someone would do for me.

At least in the real world,  there was physical pain to go with fear and fights, but now it’s reduced to only fear and the adrenaline that comes with it. I find it almost perverted how when you’re so close to death you’re just witnessing a gruesome outcome, not fully experiencing it.

“Talk about suicidal, it’s a wonder you’re still alive.” Someone’s voice, I can’t recognize who, nor can I see them, it makes my body tremble but with my heightened senses, I can tell they’re about 5 meters behind and above me. I turned to face the person, my sword pointed in that direction with «Sonic Leap» primed, only to find…

The avatar of an Imp player, short and slim in stature. I couldn’t really tell who or why he was here, but I’m sure it wasn’t a good look that my sword was prepped to kill. 

“Hey, you can chill out! I’m not gonna hurt you, I promise!” the Imp player sheepishly said, raising his hands slowly with sweat running down the side of his face. He looked young, around my age if not older, but I guess that didn’t matter much. I sighed, sheathing my sword into its hilt on the back of my hip. Shaking my head, I let out a goofy laugh.

“If you’re gonna scare me like that, then maybe you deserved to get scared back!” I can’t help but crack a joke to ease the situation for a bit, after all, I was just about to kill the guy. Okay, kill was maybe too strong of a word, but the look in my eyes likely didn’t help. “Speaking of eyes, you’re an imp, right? Is that why you were able to see me in the first place?”

The player looked at me dumbfounded, did I say something stupid, orrrr? “N-Not to be rude… but when did I ever mention my eyes?” Silence followed, I was starting to realize that the sleep deprivation was getting to me.

“You know what, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that your skills are elite.” The player clapped his hands with a smile tightly glued to his face. “I’m Starch, and I’m gonna be at the raid tomorrow, it’s nice to meet you, Arnice.”

“So that’s why you were so interested in me, huh… you need a strong and healthy tank to defend ya. You’re in luck, flattery is my language.” With a hand cupped around my chest and a smirk that could put a conman to shame. “Aside from that, I’m deep in the forest so surely I looked at least a bit suspicious, no?”

“Oh, of course, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see what someone as interesting as yourself brought to the table.” My expression slowly dropped as I looked at him with distinct confusion. “Uh… what exactly do you mean by that Starch.”

“Oh? It’s quite simple, my friend. You’re the Spriggan Renegade, aren’t you? You’ve already made quite a name for yourself, at least within the peerages of all the Race leader’s.” he smiles, deceptively so. “G-Guh… you must be joking. Was what I did really that bad?” I pause, loudly gasping, when the time seems right. “Are you a hitman!?”

Although Starch’s expression was strained and still confused, he kept a smile on his face, I think he’s starting to warm up to me though.

“No it’s nothing of the sort, I just thought of something that could potentially help you repay your debt back, perhaps.” I’m rather intrigued, especially since this guy seems to know his stuff, after all I always come here to grind out my skills. It’s secluded, challenging, and brimming with mobs!

“If it’ll stop my infamy from reaching further heights, then I’ll take whatever I can get at this point.” A long sigh escapes my mouth, followed by my usually cheeky thumbs up. Starch smiles at me, walking back into the dense forest clearing, I of course follow.

My life was really going golden, hard to think that just a couple of minutes ago I was almost fighting for my life. 

You get used to it though, you had to. After all…

This world was about to consume so many of us.

Looking back on it, it’s hard to imagine that my life was one filled with fists, not swords. I don’t mean in the sense that I was a rebel or a troubled kid, not like I was ever afforded any opportunities to be those.

My mother was a top martial artist, primarily in Aikido. She lived in a time where the sport was very male dominated, but it didn’t matter because she truly was a prodigy.

It wasn’t until around the age of 23, when she was by all means in her physical peak, that a life changing bone marrow disease changed that. She was unable to compete, or really do anything so physically intense. She had no choice but to retire, and marry a man who she really didn’t love, and he didn’t love her either, that fact may come from him being a foreigner.

I was born as the youngest of three children as a result of this, my older brothers were set up to be the breadwinners, young and aspiring businessmen like my father who in truth I don’t remember much about, perhaps for the better. I, however, was the gray sheep and I won’t deny that at times my family loved me, I was their child after all, but it wasn’t a parental type of love, it was a love for the fact I was creatively talented, unlike my more intelligent and ass kissing brothers.

My mom still wished to return to her old days of glory, and in some weird twist of tropes, it was the daughter who was set up to be the dress up doll. I wasn’t particularly beholden to specific hobbies anyway, so it was the perfect opportunity to make me the one who carried on her legacy.

I was talented enough and had an instant knack for the sport, and the skills were practical! However, as a woman in an Asian country for a primarily male dominated sport the testosterone got the better of the others and I had to face… misogyny.

I know that makes it sound sillier than it is, and it wasn’t that bad to deal with my peers' occasional insults, all you had to do was be better than them, and they’d respect you, which is why I guess I became such a tomboy. In fact, it wasn’t even them who became my greatest hatred of this life I lead.

It was my mother, and her stupid, filthy, degenerate views of femininity.

She always maintained that I act above the others, that I had to be strong but dutiful like a proper woman, fierce yet delicate, it was all a bunch of bullshit. I wanted nothing more than to shove all this down her throat, I wasn’t taught anything practical by her, I was just someone who she could relive her teenage fantasies vicariously through.

I’d like to think my father just as equally carries the sin, he was too focused on my brothers to look at me, in fact it’s hard to even remember what his face looks like.

I eventually quit martial arts altogether, moved in with one of my friends after running away from home, and adopted a NEETish lifestyle with infinite free time. That’s what led me to the fascination of the previous «world», one of swords…

SAO .

I saw it as a coping mechanism, no more fists, kicks, grapples, it was something so alien and detached from what I innately knew that I had to try it! I managed to get into the beta, and that’s what really helped me solidify my decision to get the game.

I’m pretty sure I went into debt after buying it…

Not that it matters, it still feels like yesterday that I heard that harrowing message from the supposed mad man Akihiko Kayaba. Many crumbled at the mere idea of death becoming real, some embraced it, some still can’t process it.

Notice, though, how I said SAO? It’s because that’s where we should be, a land of swords, not a land of fairies. Which is why the second announcement made, just a month into this death game’s launch, was the one that was truly terrifying.

I was in a field at the time, truthfully that’s where a lot of us were. The first floor hadn’t even been cleared, around 2000 were dead and there were only rumors of a party searching for the boss room in the great labyrinth of Floor 1.

That however was interrupted, a loud ring erupting throughout the world as polygons which read “System Announcement” littered the sky. It was as if in some sick way of taunting us, Kayaba chose to remind us of that day.

However, nothing could have prepared us for the words that came next as the cloaked «Game Master» was formed through the blood seeping in through the cracks in the sky.

“Players, I regret to inform you of an unforeseen crack in my plan.” The enigmatic voice spoke, commandingly so, it seemed almost spiteful. “Many of you have been enjoying your time in Sword Art Online, however the rate at which you are performing is rather… disheartening. I believe it is because this world may be flawed.”

I wasn’t surrounded by anyone, unlike the first announcement there wasn’t a forced teleport, I think if there was that would have just made things so much worse.

“As such, I have begun the process of transferring your player data to a new game, one which should be better suited for my plan. You have no need to worry about your safety, this process will be over shortly and is a simple switching of code.”

“So please, relax and focus on clearing this new game… ALfheim Online.”

And with the end of that announcement everyone’s vision went blank, the world disappeared, snapped away in an instant.

That was until our HUD sprang to life with a simple choice, one that told us to pick what race of “Fairy” we would be, and upon selection you were in that race's capital.

That leads us to where we are now, but I’ll never forget that day, likely for the wrong reasons.

Kayaba said that his world was “flawed” and seemed to almost dislike us given his tone, but I didn’t get that impression from what I read and what he said during his first speech. SAO seemed to be his dream, and most importantly, he was too awkward and fair of a “god” to really do something like this…

Or perhaps I’m reading too into it, but it’s insane to think that the outside world likely still believes we’re still in SAO… that’s likely what my parents think too.

I wonder if they’re waiting for me, just beside my hospital bed, if I can make it out… will that be the first thing I see?

I hope not, I hope I wake up to see a beautiful woman who was secretly my wife or something.

My eyes slowly begin to open, my thoughts becoming clearer as I drift away from this dream of recollection. I can see a faint orange haired woman above me, and a ceiling which looks nothing like a hospital’s.

Was it… Asuna?

“Arnice! Wake up! You’re late, the raid party has already started traveling to the dungeon!”

… How ironic.

Chapter Text

“Asuna!! Wait for me, damn it!” My wings flapped as hard as they could, which made it hard to steer around the large amount of trees and foliage. There was a distinct lack of wind, as the spell Asuna’s spell removed any form of wind resistance, allowing for seamless flight. I got a bit closer to her, I could afford to, I had the advantage in speed when it came to assistless flight after all.

“So… do you think they’re there yet?” My voice was still groggy from the sudden awakening, but I could tell that she understood me, the furrowing of her brow made that clear enough.

“How would I know? You’re the one who woke up ten minutes after we were supposed to leave!” Asuna’s voice seemed somewhat peeved, but I’m sure it’d blow over soon. “Okay well… I’m sure we’ll be fine, After all, there’s no way they can kill a boss THAT fast… without me!” I belt out a laugh, hopefully that brought down the tension— tree! I manage to roll out of the way, avoiding a recreation of Asuna, and I’s first meeting…

I look over to Asuna, her face a mix of stifled laughter and “You sure about that?”

“I know you’re trying not to laugh, but you’re guilty too. You would have gone with Mito if you yourself weren’t sleeping in, right!?” Asuna’s face freezes, heheh, BINGO! “Th-That’s not important, let’s just get to the labyrinth…”

“I think you’ll find that we’re much closer than you’d expect, Asuna.” Looking ahead, I can see it, the entrance of the Sylph territory dungeon, the first marker of our progress here in Alfheim, and waiting there is the raid party.

They didn’t seem to be waiting for us, but they were just waiting around with seemingly no purpose. Diavel was standing in front of the door, his sword firmly planted in the ground, sorta like he was some fearsome knight protecting the gate to a secret realm. Everyone else though… lacked such purpose.

I flew just a bit ahead of Asuna, and while she had landed gracefully, I wanted to make an entrance. My feet skid on the grass, kicking up enough dirt that flung everywhere and onto everyone, and when I was right in front of Diavel… I stared at him.

And stared…

Stared…

Staring!

Sweat ran down his brow, he seemed somewhat intimidated, but the moment I saw him blink, I jerked my body in the other direction and began walking off towards Asuna and Mito who had reunited with smiles on their faces. It was heart-warming to see, but even so, why exactly were we waiting here?

“Yooooo, Mito, nice to see you again! Why is everyone standing around like this?” Mito’s head turned around to face mine, the tomboyish grin I expected from her ever so present. “Heeeey~. I thought you wouldn’t make it today, Arnice.” Mito’s voice sounded almost cat-like as she responded to me. It honestly felt kinda… G-Guh not important.

“Please don’t speak like that again…” Mito shrugs off my comment. “Heh, I was just being playful. Anyway, apparently everyone’s waiting for someone who went in alone to finish mapping the dungeon.” That was a straight answer, but why the hell was one person doing that solo!? “Wait, so you’re telling me the dungeon already wasn’t mapped!? Isn’t that everyone’s job to do as a team??”

“That’s the thing, mapping for boss dungeons apparently doesn’t exist in the first place, but since our great volunteer is a Pooka, he can play a song inside, and it’ll tell him the right way, sorta like echolocation.” Mito finishes her explanation, everything slowly starts to make a bit more sense. “Pooka… that’s the music fairy race. They’re the best magic casters, but I didn’t expect them to have a skill like that!” Mito nods solemnly, seemingly agreeing with my sentiment.

“Ahem!” Asuna clears her throat, both of us look at her with intrigue, although it did feel a bit out of nowhere. “That’s because that skill belongs only to the Pooka’s , additionally,  it’s a composition skill that you get with «Searching». Wow… Asuna seemed to have done her research, I’m surprised. She seemed way too docile to actually know nothing about this world… in other words, she wasn’t really a hardcore gamer, I could sense that after all. Mito seemed to be one though, in fact the name seemed a bit familiar, perhaps we were friends in another world.

“Wait… so you’re telling me there are unique skills locked behind race? Isn’t that… kind of shi—”

“Attention! Everyone!”

A loud voice which I could only discern as Diavel’s boomed throughout the crowd, everyone stopped whatever activity they were in the middle of and stared at the blue-haired knight, his commanding presence demanding respect once more. Behind him, the door creaks open, a short white haired boy who almost looks like he’s a sheep comes out, a lute in his left hand.

So this is our guide for today…

“Thank you everyone, once again, for joining this raid party! Our scouting has been complete, and we are ready to proceed ahead. Please, get with your teams and make sure to follow our guide or myself! Only take detours if absolutely necessary, and any loot drops you get belong to you and you only!”

Diavel’s hand comes up to his chest plate as he hits it with his fist, a sign of bravado?

“Today, we clear the first boss of Alfheim Online!”

“Ooooooooooooooh” Loud cheering erupts from the crowd, whistles, the clanging of weapons, it’s all rather nice, even Asuna and Mito join in. Seeing all these people together, fighting for a common goal that will save thousands, truly is a spectacle. My head turns to take in the sights until I find a man with literally spiky hair directly in my face. “... Can I help you?”

“Yer Arnice right? You’re on my team, we’re defending the mages!” The man yelled in my face as if he was a drill officer at a military base, it was annoying, but I guess I’ve been annoying too? My head popped out to look behind him, only to find that my teammates were none other than that Kirito guy and Starch!

“Yooo, long time no see guys!” Kirito and Starch look at me with equally confused looks, although I guess it makes sense since they don’t really know me.

“We met you yesterday.” The two say this in unison, they don’t mention my name… harsh. I had cemented Kirito’s visage in my head, but Starch I could barely remember because of the time he found me at. His hair was long and green, with nice long robes to complete his outfit. He hardly looked a fighter.

“Oi, you can reminisce on the walk there, you know what we’re doing, right?” Kibaou barks in my face, the spikes on his head remind me of a Dobermann, but that’s not the point. “We’re the backline for helping the mages, right? We defend them from any incoming minions.” Kibaou nods his head, approving of my answer. 

“That’s right! We’ve got a big responsibility to handle, so don’t screw it up! There’s only five of us, so make sure we’re pulling our weight together!” Kibaou smirks, and somehow I can feel a sense of motivation, even if he does seem bullheaded he’s clearly got some sense of leadership in there.

“Hey, you.” Kibaou turns away from me to face Mito, her conversation with Asuna cut short by this man’s brash voice. “Yer with the four of us, and everyone’s already moving, let’s get going!”

“Mito… You’ll be fine, right?” Asuna’s voice was low and somewhat worried, I hadn’t actually heard her speak with such compassion yet, although I probably wouldn’t even after this, our partnership was temporary and a mistake.

“Heh… I should be saying that to you, just follow your group's lead, and I’ll have your back, after all, I’m one of the people protecting you.” Asuna nodded, Mito’s voice equally poised. Mito turned to face Kibaou, and with a simple nod, Kibaou briskly turned to the door where the other members had begun walking in.

The fully opened entrance to the dungeon looked more like the maw of a wolf, which I would know a thing or two about now. It was complete with jagged rocks that looked like teeth, and all in all I could only feel a SLIGHT sense of nervousness, but it was enough to make me hesitate.

I snapped out of my uncertainty, the sounds of footsteps hitting stone steps was the cause, everyone had begun making their way in slowly, and I knew I had to as well. So I did what I did worst, I followed those above me.

Into the depths of the first ALO dungeon…

When we had entered, there was a little indicator above our heads which read out “Gate of Hel”, the name was a subtle nod to Norse mythology which I’m sure the game is based on. Maybe this will be the unlock condition for a new type of dungeon or area! The overworld of ALfheim was pretty big but you can only do so much with forest, desert, forest again, and a couple icy mountains.

This dungeon however was proving to be a lot more interesting, one where we had to make good use of the magic provided to us, like Diavel in the front using a spell that put a flame at the end of his sword. Our groups were actually pretty spread out at this point. We were following Diavel’s lead, but he had ordered we spread ourselves out with at least 7 meters apart, us in the Escort squad however were ordered to stick in front of the mages.

Which leads us to now…

Screeeeeeech!

I could hear a loud shreak assault my ear drums, Kirito and the others did too, but instead of reaching for their weapons like myself, they simply kept walking forward… which had to be a mistake because I soon saw a flurry of bats in every corner of this hallway, and they were all coming for us!

“Gaaaah! Why is no one attacking?” The bats barred their fangs at us and soon were making a mad dash in the direction of the fire Diavel had lit! Maybe everyone was under the effects of a debuff that dulled their senses. I drew my sword with haste and used «Sonic Leap», diving straight to the front of the line to deal with the bats I’d kill-

“Hold!”

Diavel’s booming voice whizzed by my ear, distracting me enough to make me completely miss my mark and fall face first… embarrassing. I however, could hear words coming from the back of the group, everyone else paused in place upon this. 

“Ekku barupa ein burando musupiri, karra buresuta bani, suteipa randoru dorot!”

With the spell finished, I could see fireballs whizzing past my head in a flash, heading straight for the bats…

AND ME!!!

I raised my «Anneal Blade», unable to counter with a spell to defend myself. There was a loud fwooosh as the bats which surrounded me all burst into flames from the impact of the fireballs, each one was spreading a burn effect onto the other as they squeaked in pain until they fell and erupted into blue pixels. My own health fell into the yellow, but I was now realizing my clothes were on fire!

“Shit, shit! I just got those from a rare drop…”

In my panic, the group began walking past me, each one with their own scornful or judgement look, with equally mean words to boot coming from their mouth.

“Man… didn’t they get the memo, what an idiot.”

“Ain’t that the girl who made a big scene when she arrived at the capital?”

“Yeah… how’d she even get in?”

Ugh… eventually the voices stopped until my group came by. Everyone looked forward and kept walking, except for Mito who had one of those “We’ll talk about it later looks.” I guess this is what I get for not paying attention to the meeting in the first place.

I finally got the courage to stand up on my own, but before I could go to do so, a hand slid into my view. I looked up to see who had finally offered me help, and it was none other than Asuna.

“... Th-Thanks…” I didn’t want to say much, I had already embarrassed myself, it was, and it just didn’t feel worth it to continue my usual antics. Although, I wonder if she saw my behavior as some sort of showmanship. Though, when I finally looked up to see her face, her expression, it was a faint smile, one which had to be directed towards me.

“You remind me a lot of Mito in how you’re always rushing into things. I guess I have to look after two people now, huh?” Asuna’s voice didn’t seem to undermine me in any way now. No, not just now, I don’t think she had ever thought that way. Any other player would have just let me die in that forest, they would have cast me aside even if I saved them from a group of aggressive players.

Asuna however, the warmth in her voice and eyes clearly showed genuine care, I wasn’t used to that. “Hey… that’s my job, you’re a mage, remember?” all I could do was reply with a simple quip, take her hand, and stand up. Although, looking ahead made me realize something. “Hey… they shouldn’t be that far ahead, right?”

The main group had far outpaced us, in fact they were far outside my FOV, not that it mattered these games didn’t exactly have a limit on render distance. Asuna’s elfish ears perked up, even with our enhanced hearing we weren’t able to discern if they were waiting, all that was available was the faint light held out in front of us.

“So… what do you say, should we fly up ahead or just start running.” I asked Asuna this time, I didn’t see the point in just acting like I’m some leader when I’m anything but that. She had a small twig in her left hand, I think it was a more mobile staff of sorts, it seems she was more of a battle mage. 

ALO had 3 ways to cast magic: You could do so simply via spells with no conduit, there were smalls devices which served as conduits of magic like the twig Asuna held, and last but not least there were weapons specifically dedicated to the casting of magic, usually staffs with no real value in actual melee damage. Depending on the method used, the spell’s effects would be stronger.

Asuna’s mouth opened as if she were about to begin chanting, but she ultimately didn’t as with a light sigh she put it back into her inventory.

“I think we should just start running, neither of us should waste our MP” I nodded, a smile of my own plain to see. “A very astute observation, well then you’re the boss, your fate is in my hands I am supposed to be your escort after all~”

“Don’t say it like that.” What a direct response, it kinda hurt…

“Fine, fine! Let’s just move!” I began running to avoid hearing Asuna say something else, I could hear her footsteps following behind my own. The maze stretched on and on, its marble walls becoming more rotted as we got further in.

“Just a bit longer, we’re almost there—” My speech was cut off as I caught something in the corner of my eye, a faint glimmer between a crack. My eyes must have lit up because Asuna looked at me funny for a moment.

“A-Asuna, I think there’s a hidden loot room! I got some information that there would be a really nice rare drop in one of those!” I tried my best to sell it, it was true after all, I just neglected to share it with everyone else. “Y-You’re telling me this now!?” Asuna was understandably annoyed, but she’d get in soon, she’d have to get it!

“Please just trust me on this one. Look, the boss room isn’t that much farther away, we’ll go in here, and grab it, in and out.” my hands did accompanying motions to hopefully sell the situation. Asuna, who at this point I think was just following me to prevent me from embarrassing myself even more, sighed, following my lead as I got close to the wall. I pulled out my sword and swung it, my weapon didn’t scrape against the wall, but it clearly hit it. This was how you expelled mirages for secret areas, the wall now turning into a giant double door.

Asuna somewhat gasped, I don’t think she’s fully gone dungeon crawling yet… what a noob. “Weapons out, it may seem unassuming, but that’s how people die.”

The door opened with a monstrous groan, although there were no monsters to be seen, just a simple unassuming chest in the middle. I immediately began walking towards it, but stopped when I felt a hand touch my shoulder. I turned to see Asuna looking at me with a serious expression, just what did this mean?

“Hold it. Arnice, did you not say we should wait? This seems like an obvious trap.” … She was kind of right, but I think she’s forgetting the type of game we’re playing, after all… My chosen race had some advantages in this regard. “Tsk tsk tsk Asuna, you should know by now that I would not come so woefully unprepared. I’m a Spriggan, and they’re excellent at treasure hunting, and you know what that meaaaans~?” Asuna was unamused by my playful attitude once more. “You know you’re allowed to humor me, right? Well, regardless, Spriggans come with a passive that let them sense if there are any activatable traps in a room, a danger sense of sorts. It comes with the first unlock of «Searching» Skill if you’re one of us.

Asuna’s eyes lit up for a moment, she seemed genuinely surprised at this notion… which was sort of pissing me off. Why does she get to scold me when I’m the one with all the knowledge!

Well, it doesn’t matter, I sheath my sword and kneel down to the chest, my eyes gain an orange sheen as my view is filled with a tint of the same color. Coincidentally, the «Hunting» skill which lets you better find certain mobs and drops would also have extra benefits if you were a Spriggan. The chest soon had a yellowish outline, one which indicated the item in this chest was of a Legendary rarity!

“Jackpot!” I accidentally let out an English phrase, as I opened the chest’s top to reveal a golden shield, one which was meant to be worn on my forearm! It looked more like a piece of armor than a shield though, but when I put it on, I opened my menu and was able to confirm it let me use shield skills!

“Yes! This is exactly what I needed!” I stood up, my voice echoing throughout the room as I turned around to see Asuna who was surprisingly clapping. “Congratulations!”

My face grows hot as I rub the back of my head shyly, but as I celebrate, I can see a figure’s shadow being emitted from the door. I peek my head out to look behind the door and see none other than Starch!

“Yoo, Starch, I got it!” I called out to Starch, the man who had actually told me about this room last night. How he got the information was beyond me, but I appreciated it nonetheless.

Starch laughed with an encouraging smile on his face, clapping his hands just outside the room. It seemed things were really turning up, Arnice! I can’t believe I’m making friends “Thanks for waiting by the way man, let’s get to the boss an—”

“You’re not going to be at the boss raid.” Starch interrupted my speech, his hands spread out as I soon saw what looked like «Words of Power» around them. He clapped his hands as he did so, I could hear a faint crackle just outside the room, causing the doors to slowly shut.

“Wh-What do you mean by that…” Asuna’s voice quivered with a hint of naivety, she didn't know this person, I however did. I reached for the blade at my hip, but before I could even draw it Starch opened his mouth and without saying a word me and Asuna were under the effects of paralysis.

“Wh-What are you doing… Starch!?” I screamed out in anger, with uncertainty for what his motives really were. SAO and seemingly ALO were coded to let you talk during paralysis. This wasn’t the normal kind that made you fall to the ground however, it was as if our bodies were encased in stone. “H-How…”

“Never heard of the «Silent Cast»? Man you are an idiotI can’t spare you too many details, my dear Spriggan Renegade, but let’s just say there are consequences for your actions, it’s just awfully terrible you went and got your little gal pal here roped into what was YOUR mess.” Starch paused as he shook his head, his timid smile turning devilish. “I was sent by the very higher ups you wronged , and now you’re going to die here. Originally it was supposed to be you but it seems you've dragged an unwanted guest into this."

There was a distinct smirk on Starch's face "Regardless, the doors are going to fully shut and the trap is going to trigger, you can mull over your last moments together without me. Tata!”

My body shook, it tried to move, I knew that if this spell wasn’t true paralysis then I could break free. I could feel it, I could feel my arms moving as the sound of stone cracking began to glide along our ears.

Eventually I heard a snap as my body finally broke free and I was able to begin a spring towards the door.

I can’t die here, not yet! Not with so many questions, just why the hell was he doing this? Why… Why was I so cursed even in this world?

“Starch… wait! T-Tell me why you’re doing this, weren’t we supposed to be friends!” I could see myself getting closer to the door, I reached my hand out trying to grasp Starch, or hell even the light that was still present.

Starch however looked back at me with an icy glare, one full of judgment that made the metaphorical space between us grow wider.

“Friends? Don’t make me laugh, I wouldn’t ever consider you a friend nor that. You’re nothing but an annoying rat, I’m sure the others will thank me.” With that the door finally creeped to a shut, the last thing I saw was Starch’s cold stare, and then nothing but the faint light left on the walls of the room.

“Waaaait!” I collided with the door, beating my fist against it, my body, my head, anything!

That however was silenced by the sound of blackish water filling the room as I turned back to notice the horrified look on Asuna’s face.