Released as a Theatrical Release Bonus between the 5th and 18th of November 2022, during the 3rd and 4th weeks of the Cinema release in Japan of the Sword Art Online -Progressive- Scherzo of Deep Night movie, this short story was distributed to those who went to see the movie during this time. Later during week 12 of the movie's release, movie viewers awould also receive the eBook version of this story as a Bonus via a code on a postcard that featured Kirito and Asuna's last "watching Aincrad fall during sunset" still short at the end of the movie. The Seventh Day story follows on from the previous Short Story "The Next Day" that was distributed as a Bonus one year prior during the Theatrical Release of Sword Art Online -Progressive- Aria of a Starless Night. This story takes place a week after the launch of Sword Art Online.
RAWs provided by Celest.
Translated by Emil.
Edited by Cirtoyt.
Translated by Emil.
Edited by Cirtoyt.
1.
After struggling in bed for over an hour, attempting to catch the sleep spirit's tail, I finally gave in and sat upright.
I turned on the lantern that stood on the bedside table and placed my feet down onto the floor. Moving to the window, I peeked through the gap in the curtains, but it was still pitch-black outside.
The thing is, I wouldn’t normally say I am the type who has trouble falling asleep. The night that Sword Art Online turned into a death game from which it was impossible to log out, the first player I'd ever formed a party with suddenly tried to kill me, which made falling asleep immediately a bit more difficult, but I do still remember getting about five hours of sleep. Comparatively, back in the real world, I would have normally tried all I could to keep myself awake whilst playing games.
The only exception was when I first realized that I wasn't my parents' biological child, and was plagued by insomnia and nightmares for about a week. Though thinking back on it, I should have realized this much sooner, even without looking at the Resident Registration Network. The reason being that I was born on October 7th, 2008, and my sister Suguha was born on April 19th, 2009, meaning that our birthdays were only six months apart. Even if Suguha was born prematurely, it was still a suspiciously short duration, and even an ignorant elementary school boy would have been able to question it.
Shockingly, Mom and Dad said they intended to keep it a secret until I was in high school, but I guess they though it was kinder that way. It was only recently that I started to understand this perspective of theirs, and though I thought that I should be a bit more honest with them about how I felt from now on… I just couldn't seem to take action, and before I knew it, was caught up in this ridiculous incident.
It's already been six days – no, a week since the date changed – since 10,000 players were trapped in this virtual world. I'm probably at the forefront of progress towards defeating this game, but I haven't even reached the halfway point of Aincrad’s First Floor yet.
The circular Floor, which spans 10 kilometres across, is divided north and south by a cliff called the Dalhari Plateau that cuts straight through the centre. During the beta test, quite a few players tried to rock climb the vertical cliff-face, but the metallic rock surface was too rough even for Pitons to penetrate, as well as there being almost no handholds, so every single player ultimately fell to their deaths. That includes me, of course.
I had planned to try again once the official service began, but since the change in situation, I can't just rely on trial and error anymore with the assumption that I still had the option of dying in-game. Therefore, this time too, I had to break through the Dalhari Plateau the standard way.
There are three routes to get to the north. You can go straight from the north gate of the starting town and cross the vast Rata Plains to break through the canyon in the centre of the plateau, use Medai Village as a foothold to conquer the ruins dungeon on the eastern side of the Floor, or go through the cave dungeon on the western side, beyond Horunka Forest.
The route through the centre is the shortest in terms of distance, but also the most difficult. In the Rata Plains, there is a village of Kobolds, a formidable enemy in the early stages of the game, and in the canyon beyond that, a giant boar-type Field Foss awaits. There is a 99% chance that it was impossible to defeat the boar boss solo, let alone the Kobolds, so any reasonable person would have no choice but to go through either the eastern or western dungeon.
Comparing the two, the western natural cave dungeon is a little easier, and is closer to the village of Horunka, which I use as my base, so I naturally chose that one. After fully preparing, I entered the dungeon today – no wait, it was yesterday, at nine in the morning.
My plan was to get through the cave within four hours and arrive in the town of Tolbana, north of the Dalhari Plateau, at two in the afternoon, but what a disaster.
I simply could not bear the extreme tension that weighted down on me after just thirty minutes, turning back, tail between my legs.
During the beta test, I had easily cleared this dungeon solo. The cave’s size had not increased, and the monsters that appeared had not changed with the official service. Moreover, my level was much higher now than it was in the beta.
In fact, I was able to defeat all the enemies I encountered in the dungeon without any problems. My beloved sword, the Annealed Blade +3, was so powerful that it could have been said to be overkill at this stage, able to cut through the exoskeletons of beetle monsters, which were normally difficult to attack, like eggshells.
Yet, as I went deeper into the cave, my palms were covered in sweat and my breathing became shallower. It felt like an enemy was lurking in every dark spot, unable to help myself from stopping every ten steps to assiduously light up my surroundings with the torch in my left hand. Those ten steps soon turned into five, then three, and finally I was unable to go any further.
I couldn’t understand why, but my heart was beating like crazy, so terrified that I would collapse right in the middle of the dungeon if I continued like this, I had no choice but to run back. My heart rate calmed down the moment I emerged from the cave and was exposed to sunlight, after which I knew I couldn't find the energy to try again, and so spent the whole day in the forest levelling up before returning to the village of Horunka.
From the first day to the third, I hardly saw any other players, but after a week, the number of people moving in from the starting town increased significantly, and now nearly twenty people have made Horunka their base. I've become acquainted with a few players greeting them with a polite “hello” when we pass each other, but I don't feel like getting any closer than that, and so I checked out of the inn and moved to a rented room in a private home on the outskirts of the village.
The price of the accommodation was a bit higher, but the room and bed were much bigger, and I could play with the pet cat. These kinds of ‘rented rooms in NPC houses’ are often a bargain because they were hard to find, and the rental room in a farmhouse near Tolbana that I found during the beta was an excellent case of such a property with a separate living room and bedroom, a large bath, and unlimited fresh milk. I was determined to borrow it this time too, but if I can't reach Tolbana, it was all a pipe dream.
I must have been too nervous about the dungeon after such a long time, so I thought if I could just get a good night's sleep and try again tomorrow… - but I never thought I’d be unable to sleep.
“I wonder if there's a sleeping potion or something…”
I said it out loud, but I knew that such an item didn't exist. There should have been a few bottles of wine in my storage, but alcohol in this world only tastes like alcohol, and you don't get drunk even if you drink it. Well, I've never fallen asleep drunk in the real world either.
I had fallen asleep whilst reading manga or novels many times, but they were impossible to obtain in Aincrad. Although books do exist as decorative objects, they contain works of classical literature from all over the world in their original languages, and for my junior high school second-year language skills, are completely beyond my ability.
Otherwise... I could try doing a few simple tasks. Organizing my storage, creating consumables, and organizing some data to give to the informant...
“Ah... that's right.”
Muttering, I tapped the wall to bring up the room's control menu and turned on the large lamp on the ceiling. I crossed the now-lit room to the built-in table, pulled out a chair and sat down. I opened my storage, materialized the Annealed Blade, and drew it from its sheath.
The black steel blade reflected the light of the lamp and shone brightly, but on closer inspection there were countless faint stains stuck to it. I had it serviced at the blacksmith when I returned to the village in the evening, so its durability should have been fully restored, but even after sharpening the blade, the dirt effect on the blade did not disappear. A high-level blacksmith on a higher Floor would make the entire sword shine just by asking for sharpening, but that would be too much to ask of a standard village blacksmith.
Placing the sword on the table, I again operated the storage and took out ’Polishing Oil’ and ‘Polishing Leather’. I poured a drop of the oil from the small bottle onto the soft leather and began to carefully polish the blade of the Annealed Blade with it.
About halfway through the month-long beta testing period, a debate broke out both inside and outside the game about “whether or not equipment had ‘hidden durability’”, and even after the testing ended, the issue was still not resolved.
Weapons and armour in SAO have a durability rating, and when that reaches zero, the equipment is destroyed, and there is currently no way to restore it. Fortunately, the ‘maximum durability reducing’ feature that many gamers, including myself, hate like the plague is not present in this game, so with frequent maintenance the chances of it being destroyed are low, and there was no major backlash against the durability system itself.
But after about two weeks, a tester posted a question on an external Wiki site, asking "if you keep using the same weapon for a long time, doesn't the rate at which its durability decrease, speed up?"
This sparked a debate that quickly flared up. Opinions were split between ‘it decreases faster’, ‘it's just an illusion’, ‘it's because monsters get tougher’, and ‘only the owner's stats increase, and so it's more overused as a result’, where at one point it seemed like there were people constant arguing across all the bars and town squares in the game.
Naturally, the testers asked the management for a ruling, but the only answer they got was the blunt, standard phrase: “We can't answer questions about specifications that haven't been made public.”
You guys are gamers, so test it out for yourself – a reasonable opinion given by those who were not selected for the beta and were waiting for the official service. But turns out, it wasn’t easy.
One would think it was simple enough to keep defeating the same monsters with the same weapon and repeat maintenance on it to see if the rate at which durability decreases, does indeed speed up, but as you do this, your level and weapon skill proficiency will increase, and your own movements will be become optimized through repetition. Inevitably, the conditions will change between the beginning and end of the testing period.
I didn't join the debate, but as someone who reached the highest level during the one-month test period, I had a gut feeling. This is purely subjective and not based on data, but I think there probably is a hidden durability – and the rate at which that stat decreased could itself be reduced.
The way to do this is to take good care of your weapons. Maintain them frequently, don't use force, and don't leave them dirty. Since it's all just based on a feeling, I've never told anyone this and I don't intend to tell anyone now, but I'm sure in two or three months someone will reveal the truth.
After polishing the entire sword, I held it up to the light of a nearby lamp and looked at it closely, concentrating on polishing any parts that still had dirt. The more I moved my hand, the more the thick blade took on a moist lustre.
I quit the kendo class that my late grandfather forced me to attend after just two years, but I didn't dislike taking care of my bamboo sword. As I filed away the splinters and applied camellia oil, I somehow felt like I was having a conversation with the bamboo sword.
This Annealed Blade feels more like a partner than just a tool. Its heavy weight and the feel of the tightly wrapped leather handle made it hard to believe it was a 3D object written in code.
I might have been that way purely because I had such a hard time getting my hands on it.
The Forest Elixir quest, for which the reward is an Annealed Blade, is a simple quest to collect monster materials in order to make a miracle cure for a sick child, but the Little Nepents, the monsters you have to defeat, are a bit tough, and if you don't have enough knowledge, you could be surrounded by a horde and end up dead. In fact, Coper, a former beta tester who was in a party with me on the first day, tried to kill me with an MPK that took advantage of the Little Nepent's habits.
Of course, the Annealed Blade is worth the risk, but according to Argo, a self-proclaimed informant who came to the inn on the morning of the second day, a 24-hour cooldown period had been set for the Forest Elixir quest, something that didn't exist during the beta.
However, when I asked about it later, I found out that it wasn't that you couldn't accept the quest like many other quests, but that only one Flower-bearing Nepent, which drops a key item, spawns every 24 hours. Upon I heard that, I was puzzled. Because shortly after I was almost MPK'd by Coper, two Flower-bearing Little Nepents appeared.
After thinking about it, I came up with a hypothesis. Maybe one Little Nepent with flowers spawn every 24 hours, but the restriction is lifted only when the Little Nepents with fruits, a trap monster, scatters smoke to summon its allies. In other words, if I intentionally cracked the Little Nepent's fruits, I might be able to hunt down another Little Nepent without having to wait an entire day, but I wasn’t going to tell Argo or anyone else about this hypothesis.
It wasn't because I was trying to inflate the value of the Annealed Blade or be stingy. The more players that got access to this powerful weapon, the closer I'd get to clearing the game. But Little Nepents with fruits were extremely dangerous. The smoke could attract more than fifty Little Nepents, so even a fully prepared party of six might end up wiped out with just a single mistake. I was only able to survive Coper’s MPK thanks to the good fortune of never missing my target with the sword skills I continued to unleash while in a semi-trance state, and thanks to my initial equipment, the Small Sword, which held up until the end.
The time was approaching two in the morning, and at this very moment, several players were probably waiting for the Flower-bearing Little Nepants to spawn in the Nepent-prone region in the western part of Horunka Forest. Thinking of their hardships, I couldn't help but feel guilty about keeping the information secret. However, it was far better than having someone die because of information I leaked.
Someday, when I can establish a safe method to eliminate the Nepent army summoned by the Fruit-bearing Little Nepents' smoke, I will publish my hypothesis publicly via Argo. But someone else might notice before then.
Thinking about this, I moved my right hand intently for thirty minutes. Finally, the last stain disappeared, and the Annealed Blade +3 regained its bright shine.
That said, the texture was just a little different from when I first obtained it. No matter how carefully you polish a weapon that has been used in combat and keep it well maintained, it will not ever return to its original shiny mirror-like state. Instead, overtime it will acquire a dull, aged look with a deep shine.
This change in texture could also be evidence to the claim that there is a ‘hidden durability’. However, it's still too early for me to worry about its lifespan, having barely been a week since I started using it, and its upgrade chances will probably run out before then.
Even if I succeed in strengthening it to the maximum value of +8, it will probably reach its limit by the Third, or at most Fourth Floor. If possible, I would like to retire it properly rather than lose it in battle… I prayed as I sheathed my beloved sword and returned it to storage.
I put away the Polishing Oil and Polishing Leather and exhaled lightly. Suddenly, a faint feeling of sleepiness brushed over me.
“……”
I gently stood up and moved towards the bed. Don't grip the sleeping spirit's tail too tightly. Using a delicate amount of force to hold on to my sleepiness, I slipped between the cover and the sheets. I adjusted the position of the pillow, pulled the blanket up to my neck, and turned off the lights in the room.
As I closed my eyes, I finally felt my consciousness begin to drift away.
2.
November 13th, 2022.
Living in this world, I can’t help but lose track which day of the week it is, but today I know is seven days after the official launch of service, so it’s a Sunday, just like that day.
When I was in the real world, I would play games until as late as two or three in the morning on Saturday night, and then sleep until past ten the next morning. Last night I had a hard time falling asleep, so I thought it would be okay to oversleep a little, if not quite till ten, but I ended up waking up at seven and couldn’t get back to bed again.
It seems that the strange fear that assaulted me in the dungeon yesterday is still there, stuck deep in my heart. If this continues, I could very much see today going the same way.
But that doesn’t mean I can stay in bed all day covered under the sheets. I slowly got out of bed, changed into my usual equipment, a tunic and shorts as a substitute for pyjamas, and opened the door.
Then, the fragrant aroma of bread struck my nose and stomach.
“Good morning, Swordsman.”
This greeting came from the lady of the house. The room I rent is in an area that can only be accessed through the dining room, so depending on the time of day, I would bump into the family at mealtime. Even though I know they’re NPCs, it’s a little awkward, yet it also gave off a pleasant feeling.
“Here, would you like some too?”
The old man who was sipping coffee at the head of the table raised his mug towards me.
“Thank you, I’ll have some.”
When I replied, the old man pointed to an empty chair.
“Take a seat here.”
“Excuse me.”
Across from where I was sitting, two boys were munching on bread with jam. The lady laid down bread and a plate of soup in front of me, so I said “I’ll have some of that too please” once again and picked up my spoon.
I didn’t notice it when I was in the beta, but there is a good chance that I’d join them at breakfast and dinner time. The menu is simple but varied, and all the dishes are quite delicious.
This morning’s soup is tomato flavoured with finely chopped vegetables and plenty of bacon. There’s a restaurant in the centre of the village that serves more elaborate dishes, but I prefer the simple dining table in this house.
After quickly finishing off the crispy salted bread and minestrone soup, I clasped my hands together.
“Thank you for the meal.”
Suddenly, I heard the voices of the children from in front of me.
“Kirito, what are we fighting today!?”
“Are you going to defeat Nepents again!?”
From the looks of it, the older brother was about six years old and the younger brother was around four years. They both wanted to be swordsmen when they grew up, so they bombard me with questions whenever we meet.
Unfortunately, I don’t have any adventure stories to tell these children.
“Today, I’m going to the northern cave again.”
When I answered, both frowned.
“Eeeh, let’s go to the western forest!”
“That’s right, Sugo said that there are still many Nepents roaming around!”
“Hmm...”
Since they’re NPCs, I could just deal with them as I pleased, or even ignore them, but I was at a loss for words.
The village of Horunka is surrounded by a deep forest, with pastures on the east side, fields on the south side, and orchards on the north side, but there is nothing on the west side. Apparently, the Little Nepents that live in the western forest sometimes wander close to the village and attack villagers and livestock, but unfortunately, it’s impossible for me to eradicate the swarms of Nepents by myself.
While I was wondering how to answer, the brother spoke again.
“Plus, the cave to the north is dangerous! There’s a huge, huge man-eating bear living in the back!”
“Huh…”
I was dumbfounded for a moment. In the beta test, bears didn’t spawn in the cave dungeon north of Horunka, and in fact I didn’t encounter one yesterday either. What’s more, the boy spoke as if it was a boss, not just a weak monster.
I glanced towards the back of the table, and the old man looked up from his soup bowl and nodded.
“It’s true. When I was a child, merchants used to come to Horunka from the town of Tolbana on the north side of the mountain through that passageway, but at some point, a huge bear started living in the back of the cave. Many skilled swordsmen and hunters who heard the rumor tried to defeat it, but not even one returned. I’m just saying that it would be best if you didn’t enter the cave either.”
“…”
―Then you should have told me sooner! I had already been there yesterday, so of course I felt that way, but it was my fault for not mentioning the cave. Without that, it was possible that this conversation would not have come up unless we had dined together a few more times.
“Hmm, but I need to get to Tolbana. Does anyone know anything about the bears in the cave?”
When I asked, trying to express my question as accurately and clearly as possible, the old man folded his thick arms.
“That’s true… Do you have any idea?”
When the woman was offered the water, she stopped spreading jam on her bread and tilted her head.
“Well… We were raised to never go near the cave… Ah, that’s right. I remember Amos’s grandfather once guided a subjugation force from the Town of Beginnings to the cave.”
“Where can I meet Amos?”
“He runs an apple orchard north of the village. If you want to hear what he has to say, you’d better hurry, you’re at an age where you could be picked up at any time, ha ha!”
“You’re right, gah ha ha.”
After finishing the conversation with the cheerfully laughing couple, who were so convincing that it was hard to tell who was the NPC and who was the human, I stood up.
“Thank you, it was delicious.”
“Are you done? You’ll get hungry soon if you don’t eat enough. Just wait one moment.”
As soon as she had spoken, the landlady cut a slit in the bread with her knife, spread a generous amount of jam and butter on the inside, and handed it to me.
“I’m sorry, thank you.”
I thanked her and gratefully accepted it.
“Kirito, don’t go to the cave!”
“Make sure you come back safely!”
I smiled at the brothers who were worriedly reminding me and left the house.
It seems that the weather in Aincrad is only synchronized with the real seasons depending on the floor. During the beta test in August, I didn’t feel any summer heat until I reached the seventh floor, which was much higher up, so the first floor shouldn’t be a synchronized floor, but the wind blowing through the unpaved paths was chilly.
I wonder if I should buy a cloak or something to keep warm, but if I had that kind of money, I’d better update my armour first… While thinking about this, I headed from my lodgings in the southeast of the village to the orchard in the north.
On the way, I crossed the central square, but there were no other players in sight. They must have already finished their breakfast and shopping, and were out in the field.
If you think about it, it’s not surprising that someone or a group of people who are staying in Horunka would try to cross the cave and head for Tolbana. Do they know that there is a giant bear in the cave? Even if they don’t know, they probably won’t rush in without a plan if they can find it before it targets them, but it’s entirely possible that the placement is so nasty that they’ll run into it as soon as they turn a corner.
I should put off gathering information at the apple orchard and go to the cave right away to warn any players who might be heading there. However, I’ve spoken to many NPCs over the past week, and the only one who mentioned bears was the family I’m staying with. If man-eating bears really do live there, surely more villagers should be talking about it.
“Hmm…”
I stopped at the fork in the road one way leading out of the village and the other to the apple orchard, wondering which way to go.
“Hey, Kii-bou.”
The voice suddenly hit me from behind, and I jumped a good couple centimetres.
“Waah… What, it’s you…”
I turned around to see a small player wearing a sand-coloured hooded cape. Her face, with three whiskers painted on her cheeks, looked like a boy’s, but she insisted she was an ‘older sister’ type.
With a suspicious look on her face, the player―the self-proclaimed information broker Argo ―said. “There’s no need to be so surpriseD. We’re within rangE.”
“Anyone would be scared if they were suddenly tapped on the back. Besides, you haven’t been seen for the past few days.”
Argo knew she’d overreacted, but she pretended to be calm as she replied, pointing the thumb of her right hand behind herself, toward the southeast.
“I just went back to the Town of BeginningS. There’s no scribe in HorunkA.”
“A scribe? So… you mean, did they really make that guidebook?”
“Of coursE.”
She grinned and then nodded with her chin.
“Just bear with me, I’m hungrY.”
“Umm…”
The reason I hesitated wasn’t because I’d already finished breakfast, but because I was worried about the bear boss in the cave. It was less than 30 minutes from the village to the entrance of the cave, and the cave itself wasn’t that big. If there was a party that had left the village first thing in the morning, they might have already progressed halfway through the cave by now.
After wondering what to do, I finally remembered that the player in front of me was calling herself an informant.
“That’s right… Argo, do you keep track of the movements of the players who are based in this village?”
“Mm? What is thiS, the lone wolf Kirito is starting to feel concerned for otherS?”
“No, it’s not that…”
To Argo, who was grinning, I briefly explained the story of the bear I’d heard from the NPC family. Normally it would have been information that could have been sold for a little, but I couldn’t afford to say such things at this point.
Argo’s smile quickly disappeared as well, and she groaned as she rubbed the face paint on her right cheek with her fingertips.
“Hmm, I thought I’d talked to all the NPCs in the village, but seems I missed that informatioN… I’d imagine it’s a conversation that only comes up if you stay there for a few days, just like Kii-bou guesseD.”
“There weren’t any bears in the cave north of Horunka during the beta, were there?”
“There were nonE. Oh dear, I’ll have to rewrite the guidebooK…”
After sighing, Argo glanced at the time.
“Eight o’clocK. I don’t keep track of the movements of everyone who uses this place as their base, but… I think Bron’s party said they were going to try to cross the cave todaY…”
“Bron… who?”
“You’ve met him beforE, he’s the flail user with the bushy haiR.”
As soon as she said that with a shocked look on her face, the image of the person in question popped into my mind. Not only was his birds-nest hairstyle jarring, but the flail weapon was quite rare in SAO, so even I, who’s bad at remembering people’s faces, was able to remember him in one shot.
“Oh, that guy… I’m sure it was a party of four, right? I think it’ll be fine with four people…”
“Hmm, I’m not surE…”
But Argo scratched her cheek again with a difficult look on her face.
“I haven’t confirmed it, but Bron is probably a former tester, toO.”
“In that case, it’ll be even safer…”
Just as I had said it, I remembered the words I exchanged with Argo on the day we first met.
SAO’s creator and the mastermind behind this incident, Kayaba Akihiko, would try to subtly eliminate the former beta testers. The way to do this would be to gradually change the monster placement and behaviour patterns from the beta test. That way, the former testers would be caught off guard by their preconceptions that stem from their limited knowledge.
“…That’s not necessarily the case. In fact, when I did the quest ‘The Lost Calf’…I mean, ‘Heifer Strikes Back’ with you, I was totally panicked by the Swamp Kobolds, who weren’t supposed to appear in the beta. If Bron and the others were to pass through a place that they judged to be safe based on their knowledge in the beta, and a new boss was placed there…”
As I said that, Argo nodded and opened a window.
“I’ll send a message to Bron anywaY. As an information broker, I want to make money, but this is not the time for thaT… ‘There is information that a new boss is being placed in the cave north of Horunka, turn back for now’…”
She typed on the holo-keyboard so fast that her fingertips blurred, then tapped the send button. ―However.
“Damn, it’s not sendinG. He’s already in the dungeoN…”
“Seriously…”
They both frowned at the same time.
SAO’s instant messaging is a convenient feature that allows you to send messages even if you don’t have them registered as a friend, just as long as you know their name, but it cannot be used if the other person or yourself is inside a dungeon. In other words, if I wanted to warn Bron now, I would have to chase him down and contact him directly.
“Are you going?”
“Are you goinG?”
Argo and I said the same thing at the same time and looked at each other for a moment. It was clear to both of us that we thought ‘I didn’t expect you to think the same’, but we didn’t have time to hide our embarrassment right now.
“What about equipment maintenance?”
Argo snorted in response to my question.
“Of course I’m on top of thaT. I’m all set except for being hungrY.”
“Please bear with it then.”
After I said such a cringe thing, I immediately tried to run towards the left path that led to the north gate of the village. But Argo’s right hand stretched out like a bolt of lightning and grabbed me by the collar.
“Guh… What is it?”
“Wait a seconD. Kii-bou, didn’t you say earlier that you could hear more information about the bear somewherE?”
“Huh? Ah… the old man from the apple orchard. I’m curious, but we don’t have time to leisurely listen to what he has to say. Even if we rush right now, I don’t know if we can catch up with Bron and the others before they encounter the bear…”
“I knoW. So you go and listen to the story by yourselF.”
“Huh!?”
Stunned, I quickly shook my head.
“No, in that case I’ll go to the cave. It’s your job as an information broker to gather information.”
“That’s truE… is what I would normally say, but there’s a chance that I haven’t triggered the event flaG. I went to that apple orchard a few days ago, but there was no mention of bears at alL. I probably needed to stay at lil’ Kii-bou’s house to first hear what the ol’ man had to saY.”
I was about to say that she was overthinking it, but clenched my jaw. As a gamer, I must admit that Argo’s deduction was quite persuasive.
The starting point seems a little too hard to find for a conversation event about a boss-class monster, but that probably reflects the murderous intent this world harbours towards the former beta testers. It wants to kill all the former testers with the newly placed bear boss, so such information won’t be given out so freely.
If it really is being so stingy, there’s a good chance the information the old man from the apple orchard gives out really is valuable. It could even determine the success or failure of defeating the bear boss.
After thinking about it for 0.3 seconds, I reluctantly nodded.
“…I get it. But if the battle with the bear boss has already started by the time you catch up with Bron and the others, don’t try to force your way in to help them. I’m not doubting your abilities, but you’re a complete scout build.”
“I knoW. Well then, please gather some informatioN! I’ll send you a message before I enter the cavE!”
Argo turned around right after that. Then an idea suddenly occurred to me, and I quickly opened my storage. I tapped on the first entry within item’s options menu, and materialized it.
“Hey, take this!”
As I said that, Argo turned around again and deftly caught the package of jam and butter bread that I had thrown.
“ThankS!”
She raised the face paint on her right cheek in a big grin, turned around again, and ran off in an instant with the movements of a cat―no, a rat.
I can’t take it easy either. It would probably take at least five minutes to gather information about bears at the apple orchard. In conventional games, you could fast-forward through conversations with NPCs by repeatedly tapping the controller or mouse, but in a VRMMO you have no choice but to converse at the same pace as in the real world.
I started running at full speed down the path leading to the farm.
3.
Just as the landlady of my lodgings had told me, old Amos, the apple farmer, remembered the man-eating bear that lurked in the northern cave.
However, convincing him to elaborate on his story proved quite difficult. The old man was peeling apples to make jam on the porch in front of his house, and I was forced to help him.
What's more, the conversation played out like a mini-game, where if you were judged to be bad at peeling, you'd get scolded and the conversation’s progress would holt, and so I focused on suppressing my impatience and concentrated on what was at hand. By the time I’d finally finished peeling fifteen apples in total and heard the whole story, twelve minutes had passed since I’d parted ways with Argo.
Without even a brief farewell, I left the old man’s house, cut through the apple orchard and entered the field. Under regular circumstances I would travel at a standard pace from here to the northern cave―that being, thirty minutes on foot while paying attention to my surroundings. However, if I let my guard down and ran instead, I’d be able to shave off even more time.
About five minutes ago, I received a message from Argo saying: [Arrived at cave, will enter now]. In other words, she made it to the cave in seven minutes after we parted ways. An amazing feat, but even she wouldn't be able to sprint at full speed inside the cave.
The current time is 8:17 AM. If Bron and his party had left the village at seven, they would be approaching the deepest part of the cave by now.
Hoping that Argo's warning would arrive in time, but also hoping that Bron would slow down so that I could catch up, I sprinted through the dim forest floor. Occasionally bee-type or snake-type monsters targeted me, but I kept running without stopping.
If I tried to do this in the grasslands or wilderness, I’d end up with a giant train behind me, but in forested areas, I could use the towering trees and bushes as cover and obstacles, so it was relatively easy to shake off following monsters. When I was being persistently pursued by a wolf-type monster with a keen sense of smell, I scattered stench potions made from herbs and mushrooms to thwart them.
What I needed to be careful of were tree roots hidden in the undergrowth and holes dug by animals. If I tripped over them and fell, not only would I lose time, but I could also get stuck surrounded by monsters. I jumped over any suspicious spots and just kept running.
Although I couldn't beat Argo’s time, I made it through the forest north of Horunka in about nine minutes, reaching the entrance to the cave.
At the end of the grassland, less than twenty meters away, a grey escarpment rose almost vertically, piercing the sky. This was the Dalhari Plateau, which divided the first floor of Aincrad into north and south.
Within some bar during the beta I heard from a drunkard that Dalhari was the name of some sort of nobleman who lived in the Town of Beginnings a long time ago, with a very strong swordsman as their son, but unfortunately the family had since fallen into ruin long ago, and apparently no one remains. It’s a mystery why a noble’s name is attached to the plateau, but now is not the time to worry about that.
A large dent in the cliff face reveals a pitch-black cavern at the back. There are no players to be seen.
I took out a torch from my storage and lit it with my left hand, then unsheathed the sword on my back with my right. I ran to the cave, raised the torch and took a deep breath.
It’s okay. I do not feel the unfounded anxiety and fear I felt yesterday. All I must do now is plunge into the cave and head towards the innermost section whilst avoiding combat as much as possible.
“…Go!”
I whispered the command to myself and kicked the ground. Shifting under my feat the soil covered in undergrowth changed to rocks scattered with loose gravel. Occasional puddles of groundwater seeped out of the fissures, which I strived to avoid as I jogged, and gradually the number of stalactites and stalagmites increased, making it feel more like a natural cave.
Soon the sunlight chasing me from behind completely stopped, and the only light shone from the flame of my torch. One-handed weapon users without a shield usually had the advantage of keeping their off-hand free, meaning their combat power did not drop much even in situations like this. On the other hand, Argo, who is still much ahead, had a double-handed claw weapon, so if she held a torch in one hand, she won’t be able to use more than half of her Sword Skills. However, with her agility and stealth, she should be able to avoid almost any combat. Hoping that this was the case, I hurried ahead.
And then…
"Hmm…?"
I frowned and stopped. A little ahead, on the right side of the passage that forked into two, something reflected the light of the torch.
I approached and, after being cautious of my surroundings, picked it up. It was a coloured glass ball about 1.5cm in diameter, in other words a marble. It was clearly an artificial object, and did not seem like the kind of material that naturally appeared inside caves.
Argo had probably dropped it as a landmark for me. In fairy tales, breadcrumbs would be used, but realistically they would have been hard to find in the darkness of the cave, and they’d disappear in the blink of an eye if their durability completely drained. In contrast, glass balls can continue to exist for a considerable amount of time even if left alone.
I knew the layout of the cave, but there are multiple intertwined passages, so the route to the exit is not as easy as a straight line. Even if Argo encounters some kind of trouble along the way, I can meet up with her by following these landmarks.
I dropped the glass ball in its original place and started running again. The reason I had not encountered any monsters yet was not because Argo had defeated them all―but rather because she had used her agility to run through them, which had pulled all the enemies on her route further in. In other words, there was a good chance that a group of monsters had formed a little further ahead.
I hurried on, my visual, auditory, and olfactory sensors fully activated. I’d only had a little more than a greeting with the flail-wielding Bron and his companions four or five times over the past few days, but as a fellow former beta tester, I couldn't bear to see them die because of the traps set up in this world.
I prayed that they would stay alive… as I passed the second fork in the road, following the marble markers.
I heard a faint creaking sound from up ahead, and slowed down, trying to silence my footsteps.
I remembered the sound. I didn’t encounter it yesterday, but it was a Large Whip Spider, a species endemic to the caves north of Horunka. Although it has spider in its name, it was not a spider. It's a terrifying insect-type monster, with abnormally long, spiky arms growing from its flattened body about 40 centimetres long. During the beta period, I researched the whip spider, and it seems that it exists in the real world, and its Japanese name is ‘Udemushi’. The largest species is only about 5-6cm long, but its absurd appearance makes it one of the three most bizarre insects in the world.
As it is a giant version of said species, if you could visualize the physiological disgust felt by players, the Large Whip Spider would definitely be a top-class contender amongst the monsters that appear on the first floor. When I first fought it, I was overwhelmed with goosebumps all over my avatar's body.
However, after defeating ten of them, I had gotten used to them, and there were quite a few even more disgusting monsters on the upper floors. Although there were more than two months between the end of the beta test and the start of the official service, at this point I wouldn't have suffered a fright relapse by their appearance alone.
Judging from the density of the characteristic creaking sound, there were three or four whip spiders gathered in front of me. If I repeatedly hit with the Sword Skills I have currently learned, I should be able to wipe them out without much trouble.
“―Let's go.”
As I thought this in my head, I put my left foot forward.
However, immediately afterwards, strength left my leg.
“Huh…!?”
I pressed my left hand holding the torch against the wall of the cave, barely managing to remain standing upright. The flame hit the wet rock surface and flickered as if breathing.
I turned my gaze to the upper left and checked my HP bar, but it wasn't hindered by anything.
And yet, not only was I losing feeling in my left leg, but now my right leg as well. It was as if the connection between my avatar and my brain was about to be cut off.
Could it be a malfunction of the NerveGear? Or a network problem?
No…
A few seconds ago, I had deliberately commanded myself to go in order to charge towards the area where the Whip Spiders were gathering. Normally I wouldn’t do something like that. The reach of its spiky arms, more than twice the length of its body, is not to be underestimated, but as long as I can stand its creepy appearance, the Whip Spider shouldn't be much of a threat to me right now. The Annealed Blade +3 is powerful enough to be effective not only against a floor boss on the first floor, but even on the next floor, and I have more than enough level margins. In this situation where I need to catch up with Argo as quickly as possible, I might as well charge in without stopping.
The cause of the abnormality is within me.
The moment I realised this, my heart skipped a beat.
Just like yesterday, my heart rate began to rise rapidly. My temples throbbed as if they were being squeezed, and my breathing became shallow. An icy coldness slowly spread from around my solar plexus.
This is fear. That’s the only thing I can think of, but what exactly am I afraid of?
It's not the Whip Spider. It's not the other small monsters. It's not the darkness of the dungeon. It's not the bear boss I've yet to see.
If I were the type of person who would be consumed by a fear I could not even understand and be unable to move, I probably wouldn't have left the starting town in the first place. But I was most likely the first to rush out onto the field, and I didn't freeze up in fear when I was surrounded by the countless Little Nepents summoned by Coper, or when I faced the powerful Swamp Kobold Trapper in the Cow's Revenge quest.
Is it possible for a person's personality to change in just a few days? It would be different if there had been some trigger―if my HP had been reduced to 1 and I had experienced the fear of death at an all-time high, but I have no such memory. Even when Coper trapped me, my HP was only just below 40%.
No matter how much I think about it, I cannot find any reason why I should be so terrified.
And yet my heart is pounding, my breath is short, and my limbs are trembling with no sign of subsiding.
If this continued, I was afraid I would faint and collapse. The moment I thought that, my fear grew even stronger. I pressed my back against the wall and tried desperately to resist, but the freezing air seeping from deep inside my stomach ran through my veins, paralyzing my entire body.
Is there no option but to turn around and run as fast as I can, like yesterday, and jump out of the cave?
But that would mean betraying Argo, who had left a marker for me, believing that I would catch up. If she and Bron and the others died because I ran away without even seeing the enemy, then I doubt I would be able to fight again and attempt to clear this game.
“Ghh… uh…”
Gritting my molars to the limit, I tried to crush the fear that was building up deep inside my body.
However, the more I concentrated, the faster my heartbeat accelerated, and my limbs went numb. It was as if my efforts to overcome the fear were instead fuelling it.
There was a dull thud, and my vision went dark. The torch had slipped out of my left hand, which had lost almost all feeling. If I didn't pick it up, the flame would go out in less than ten seconds, but all I could do was lean against the wall.
Putting all my remaining strength into my right hand, I gripped the hilt of the Annealed Blade tightly. I could faintly feel the grip of the leather handle on my numb palm.
No matter how much I thought about it later, I could not understand why I had done what I did at that time.
With my trembling left hand, I grabbed the blade of the Annealed Blade and switched my right hand to the opposite grip.
I placed the sharp tip of the sword just below my solar plexus - the spot from which the freezing cold was bubbling up endlessly.
“Uh… Ah… Aaaaahhhh!”
All the air remaining in my lungs turned into a hoarse scream.
I plunged my beloved sword, which I had used to cut down countless monsters, deep into my body.
Normally in SAO, even if you receive damage that takes away 90% of your HP in one hit, there is just the impact and no pain. But in that one moment, I definitely felt a burning pain.
In the upper left of my field of vision, the HP bar decreased with terrifying rapidity. But at the same time, a red-hot sensation blew away my cold fear.
It was an incredibly real pain as hard, sharp metal pierced the very core of my avatar. I felt the attack power of my beloved sword, Annealed Blade +3, not as a number but as a physical sensation.
This was reality. The hardness of the sword piercing my stomach, the roughness of the rock wall behind me, the burning smell of the torch―all of it was real. Even if these were just virtual sensations sent into my brain by the NerveGear, they were my reality.
The moment I realized this more clearly than ever before, the numbness in my limbs and shortness of breath disappeared as if by magic.
At the same time, I vaguely realized the source of the fear that had assailed me.
Ever since I was trapped in this world, I had not been able to firmly grasp the reality of Kayaba Akihiko's declaration―that if your HP hits zero, your brain will be burned by the NerveGear and you will truly die―a cruel and absurd rule. While I thought it was not surprising that Kayaba would do something like that, there was always a feeling in the back of my mind that it was all just a bad joke, that when I died, I would simply wake up in my own room in the real world.
I’d somehow managed to survive for seven days, fuelled only by my desire to become stronger, but all the while I’d been wondering if what I was seeing was reality or fiction. Yesterday, when I had entered the dark dungeon for the first time and lost my sight, that doubt erupted from the pit of my stomach and turned into fear, attacking me… perhaps that’s what it was.
I’m no psychologist, so I can’t judge whether my speculation was correct or not.
However, there was one thing of which I was certain.
This was reality. The rules of this death game that I could never die from, the monsters that were trying to kill me, and the hardness and sharpness of the steel that pierced my body―all of this was real and true.
After engraving this realization deep in my mind, I pulled the Annealed Blade from my stomach and took a deep breath into my now empty lungs.
The pain had disappeared, but crimson damage effects were still spilling from the wound like blood. As soon as that stopped, the HP bar stopped decreasing as well. A little over fifty percent remained.
The sword had only been stuck in my stomach for three or four seconds. Taking away half my HP with that was indeed quite a powerful blow.
I held the sword in my right hand again and stroked the blade with my left hand.
But I didn't have the time to be grateful to my beloved sword for its drastic remedy that had destroyed the source of my fear. A creaking sound approached from the darkness ahead. The screams from earlier had attracted the swarm of Large Whip Spiders.
I picked up the torch that was about to go out with my left hand and readied the Annealed Blade at my left hip. The blade took on a faint glow and emitted a faint high-frequency squeal.
The moment a giant, creepy arthropod appeared in the orange light, I kicked the ground. A light blue beam of light cut through the darkness in a straight line, thinly slicing the Whip Spider's flat body up and down. Sword Skill: Horizontal.
Amidst the scattering particles, I aimed at the second enemy.
4.
After using a potion to heal the damage I had inflicted on myself, I ran again towards the deepest part of the dungeon.
After that, I encountered monsters three more times, but I dealt with them all within ten seconds. Including the time I was unable to move due to a sudden panic, the cumulative delay was probably at most three minutes.
But unfortunately, it seemed that the situation had changed drastically during those three minutes.
As soon as I approached the large chamber at the deepest part of the cave dungeon, a thunderous roar shook the ground. It was clearly not the roar of a weak monster.
“Damn it…”
Cursing to myself, I ran the last twenty meters as fast as I could and jumped into the large chamber. Sparks flew from the spikes on my shoe soles as I stopped and shouted.
“Argo! Are you still alive?”
However, that voice was again joined by a loud roar.
During the day, a small amount of natural light filters into this cavern from the exit at the back, making it possible to see the whole thing without using a torch. The space is about the size of a small gymnasium, 35 meters deep and 20 meters wide, with giant stalagmites rising from the ground in various places and countless stalactites hanging from the ceiling. There was no sign of any small monsters, but to my right in the back, I could see a black silhouette much like a small hill.
That must be the bear boss. Upon focusing my gaze, a coloured cursor appeared directly above the shadow.
The cursor was a vivid crimson. Its proper name being [Antrotherium]. I think it’s pronounced An-tro-the-rium, but I didn’t know what it meant. Its HP bar was just one level, but it’s still almost full.
With its front legs on the ground, its head is over two meters tall. I can say with certainty that I have never fought such a huge bear on the first floor during the Beta era. I’d never seen the name before, and there was no doubt that it was a new monster added to the official service.
The bear looked down with its glowing red eyes at three players standing in formation. Judging from their stature, it was Bron and his friends. Their HP was also over 90% remaining, but weren’t they a group of four?
Also, Argo, who had gone ahead to warn Bron and the others, was nowhere to be seen.
Risking the bear’s attention, I took a deep breath to call out to them once more.
“Good work, Kii-bou.”
I heard a whisper from my left, quickly turning to face that direction.
In the shadow of a stalagmite, a small figure had been standing without me noticing. I raised the torch, illuminating the familiar sand-coloured hooded cape and the painted cheeks behind it.
“...Are you okay?”
I let out a sigh of relief and tried to apologize for being late, but Argo stopped me with her left hand and quickly explained the situation.
“Unfortunately, by the time I got here, they had already been targeted by the bear boss. I had no choice but to distract the bear and buy them time to escape to the entrance, but then there was a probleM.”
“Problem?”
“There are a ton of stalactites growing on the ceiling here, righT? When the bear rampages, they fall nearby, and if they hit your limbs directly, you’ll lose a part of your body.”
“Seriously...”
I frowned as I glared at the ceiling of the cavern.
Now that you mention it, the tips of the countless stalactites hanging down are all as sharp as spears, so if you got hit directly, you wouldn’t get away with it. Or rather, it’s probably already──
“One of them got hit, right?”
“That’s righT.”
Nodding, Argo quickly pointed to the right corner of the cavern, on the other side of the bear boss.
“Around there, a guy named Korpis from Bron’s group collapsed with both legs blown oFF. We tried to retrieve him, but Korpis is a giant in full scale armour, and it would take two people to carry him, though if we tried, the bear would blow him awaY. So Bron is going to keep targeting the bear until Korpis’ legs recover and he can move agaiN.”
“……”
I could very much relate with Bron’s feelings.
However, the loss of one or more limbs is one of the most troublesome of the many inhibitory effects in SAO. The effect lasts for a whopping 180 seconds, even for a simple physical amputation. If you’re lazing around in bed, the time passes in the blink of an eye, but during combat, it feels so long it seems like eternity.
If it was only the non-dominant arm that was lost, it would be possible to continue fighting or run away, but if you lose your dominant arm or leg, you are rendered virtually powerless in this world without magic. During the beta period, it was not uncommon for the entire party to end up wiped out while trying to carry or protect a comrade who had suffered severe body-part loss.
If things continued like this, Bron’s party might meet the same fate. The abilities of the Bear Boss, Antrotherium, have yet to be revealed, so if you judge calmly - or rather, coldly, this is the moment when they should abandon one person to keep the other three alive. If this were the beta test, or any other title, it might have been a sign of courage to end things together, but in this world that has become a death game, once you die you can never return to life.
No…
That’s probably why. If you die, you really are dead, so Bron doesn’t want to abandon Korpis. But if things continued like this...When I took two seconds to think about it, a scream echoed through the cavern.
“Here they come! Get behind me!”
I squinted my eyes and saw the other two pressed closely against Bron’s back, of whom was holding a large wooden shield.
The Antrotherium facing him had its head raised high and was busy scratching the ground with its right front leg. Even at a first glance, I could tell intuitively that it was a pre-motion for a charge.
The bear’s huge body was over four meters long, and I couldn’t imagine how many times heavier it was than the three of them. No matter how sturdy the shield, it would be impossible to block the attack.
“Ahh…!”
As I gritted my teeth and tried to jump out, Argo pulled my left arm, saying: “Wait!”
Immediately afterwards, the Antrotherium roared like an explosion.
“Vooooooh!!”
The giant beast began charging, causing an earth-shattering rumble.
At this point, I finally noticed a large stalagmite towering between the line connecting the bear and Bron along with those behind him. A few seconds later, the bear plunged headfirst into the stalagmite, shattering it with a thunderous boom.
The bear staggered and fell to its rear. Its charge has stopped, but now countless boulders attacked the three of them.
Most of the boulders were blocked by Bron’s wooden shield, but some hit his exposed limbs, taking about five percent off his HP bar. The chain reaction wasn’t over yet.
“The stalactite’s fallin’!”
Argo yelled loudly, and Bron and the others quickly looked up at the ceiling and jumped back to the left. Immediately after, a sharp stalactite like a lance detached from the ceiling and fell, piercing the spot where the three had been a second before.
As I watched the stalactite collapse, I muttered, “I see...” The bear’s charge is stopped by the stalagmites that grow all over the cavern. However, pieces of broken rock fly and stalactites fall from the ceiling. Although Bron and the others came up with the plan to use the stalagmites as shields, they didn’t anticipate the stalactites falling, and the main tank, Korpis, lost both of his legs.
“Argo, how many seconds until Korpis’ legs grow back?”
I turned around asking, and Argo glanced to the lower right of her field of vision before answering briefly.
“One hundred and twenty seconds.”
“There’s still quite a bit of time... Can they hold out on their own?”
“Possibly if we can just keep repeating this patterN. The problem is that multiple stalactites can fall at the same time, and there’s a limit to the number of stalagmites seE.”
“…That’s true.”
Looking around the cavern again, there were less than ten stalagmites large enough to withstand Antrotherium’s charge. It’s unclear whether Korpis will last long enough to move.
I raised my left hand and gently rubbed my lower abdomen. There was still a faint heat of intense pain where I had stabbed myself with the Annealed Blade earlier. As long as I remember that pain, I shouldn’t be hit by another panic attack.
“Shall we help out?”
As I muttered, Argo raised an eyebrow beneath her hood.
“Do you think we have a chancE?”
“As long as the information I got from the old man at the apple farm is correct.”
“I was the one who told you to go and listen to what he had to say, so I’ve got no choice but to believe hiM.”
With a grin, Argo attached the iron claws mounted on both her hips to her left and right hands with a clanging sound. I also returned the torch I had been holding in my left hand to my storage.
Deep inside the cavity, the Antrotherium was once again scratching the ground with its front legs. Normally, the moment the bear staggers after headbutting the stalagmite would be a good chance to attack, but it seems Bron and the others are sticking with guarding. It’s the right decision, as losing even one more body part would drastically reduce the chances of all four of them surviving, but if all the stalagmites are shattered, they’ll very much be in a difficult situation.
I made eye contact with Argo and stepped into the cavern. Using the shadow of the stalagmites, I crept forward.
Just as we’d gone about ten meters, we heard a thunderous impact up ahead. The bear had crashed into a stalagmite.
“Let’s pick it up!”
I shouted and sprinted as fast as I could.
Only after taking just a few steps, a huge, mountain-sized body came into view. A yellow light was rotating softly around the crouched bear’s head. It was the visual cue for an effect that immobilized the bear.
“Hr…aagh!”
I held the Annealed Blade at my waist and lowered my posture as low as I could. The sword shook and took on a pale blue glow. The moment I felt the System Assist activate, I kicked the ground with full power. My body rose slightly and I glided forward, skimming just above the ground.
My One-handed Straight Sword skill proficiency had reached level 50, and I had just unlocked the sword skill, Rage Spike.
The tip of the blue-shining Annealed Blade pierced the Antrotherium’s left side deeply.
Immediately after, Argo jumped high from behind me and swung her orange-shining claws crossing one over the other. A vivid X mark was engraved on the Antrotherium’s grey fur. If I recall correctly that was the basic Claw Sword Skill called “Cross Hatch.”
The two sword skills in succession reduced the Antrotherium’s HP bar by about 15%. Not bad considering it was a boss-level battle, in fact it was more than enough damage, which should have made it our target.
Now Argo and I need to guard against the charge whilst Bron and the others attack the stunned bear. I didn’t have the time to give verbal instructions, but I trusted that they understood, and I retreated with Argo.
Having recovered from the stun, the Antrotherium glared at me with its eyes glowing a dull red.
“Grrrrr…”
A low growl. In an instant, I ran my left hand and opened my storage as quickly as possible with a no-look operation. I materialized an item that I had wanted to prepare in advance but hadn’t been able to due to its strength.
Suddenly, the bear stood up on its hind legs. He raised both his hands, which had scimitar-like claws, high in the air…
“GROOOOOOOOOO!!”
and roared again.
“Hey, don’t charge at iT!”
Argo yelled in a panic, and I shouted back, “I won’t!” and raised my left hand. I was holding a brown glass bottle with no label.
The Antrotherium was about to unleash a powerful area attack that would sweep away everything it touched while swinging both hands back and forth. Old man Amos from the apple orchard said that fifteen years ago, he witnessed a heavily armed extermination squad from the Town of Beginnings being wiped out by this technique of the bear’s.
Argo and I were lightly armoured and there was no way to guard against this powerful technique that could even break stalagmites, let alone manage to avoid the attack altogether. All I had hope for was the half-dozen glass bottles that old man Amos had entrusted to me.
“Hmph!”
I threw the glass bottle with all my might, and it spun around as it flew, hitting the bear’s nose right where I aimed. The moment the bottle shattered with a loud crash, a strong, sweet smell filled the air.
The contents of the bottle were neither poison nor oil. It was a special “Bear Killer” made by mixing apple wine that old man Amos had painstakingly brewed and aged with plenty of homemade mead.
The Antrotherium raised both arms and licked the golden liquid dripping from its nose. Suddenly, the huge body shook from side to side before falling on its butt. The stun effect visual effect rotated around its head once again.
--That worked, gramps!
I shouted deep in my chest and raised my beloved sword. I activated my Sword Skill “Vertical” and cut the bear’s stomach down in a straight line. A moment later, Argo also thrusted the claw of her left hand deep into the bear.
As we retreated side by side, Argo spoke quickly.
“Hey Kii-bou, what was that just noW... No, I’ll hear about that later. How many more of those bottles do we havE!?”
“Five.”
“That’s not manY.”
“I’ll only use them to counter the two-handed swing attack from earlier.”
“Got iT.”
As Argo nodded, the bear recovered from the stun.
Preparing ourselves, Bron’s voice came from the left just ahead.
“You’re a lifesaver! Thanks to you both, we’ve been able to recover, so we can take over handling the target any time!”
“Understood, I’ll tell you when!”
I shouted back, readying for the Antrotherium’s next attack.
5.
“Yeah, that brings back memories.”
Argo said right next to me, and I nodded in agreement.
Below us lay an elegant town built on a terrace between two green valleys. The large windmills at the mouth of the valley, the eye-catching amphitheatre nearby, and the long suspension bridge connecting the two settlements - all were exactly the same as they were in the beta test. This was the town of Tolbana, the final base on the first floor of Aincrad.
As I moved my gaze further into the distance, I saw a deep forest spreading across the valley and a huge pillar towering beyond it. The labyrinth tower connecting the first and second floors - at the top of the tower, which was a hundred meters high, a floor boss far more powerful than the Antrotherium I had somehow managed to defeat a few minutes ago was waiting for me.
During the beta test, I hurried ahead at all costs, refusing to fall behind the others, but now safety had to be my top priority. I’ll probably be traveling between Tolbana and Horunka for a while longer, working hard to level up and strengthen my equipment.
I turned my gaze away from the tower and looked out towards the town in the valley once more. Although Argo and I were still nearly a kilometre away from the mountain pass, I could just about make out people walking down the street. It’s too far away for the cursor to appear, but I can roughly tell from their atmosphere whether they’re NPCs or not.
“From what I can see… it doesn’t look like there are any players here.”
“That’s truE.”
Argo shrugged and looked a little hesitant before continuing.
“I’ll give you the information on the house as thanks for the jam and butter breaD. It will probably take another week to get through the ruins dungeon north of Medai. The canyon north of Rata Plains will take longer, so probably be another two weeks for theM.”
“Are there any guys who want to challenge the boar boss in the central canyon?”
Argo frowned and spread her arms slightly.
“Of course there are, that’s the official routE.”
“Since the Horunka Cave has been opened, shouldn’t they come through here...”
“Both the Horunka route and the Medal route are quite long detours. Besides, there are some people who like to break right through the centre, head-oN.”
“Have you made contact with any?”
“Tozen. They’ve formed a group of about ten people, centred around a handsome One-handed Straight Sword user. They’re a good-looking group with a good balance of offense and defence, buT…”
Argo stopped talking unnaturally at that point, so I glanced over at her.
“But what is it?”
“Hmm, I haven’t confirmed it, but I think there’s a former beta tester among them. If they’re relying on that knowledge to advance their strategy on the Rata Plains, I think it might be a bit dangerous.”
“……”
I understood what Argo was trying to say.
A bear boss that wasn’t in the beta test had been added to the cave north of Horunka. Bron and the others were so disheartened by the fact that they nearly got wiped out, and turned back from the boss room, saying they’d level up and try again.
The ruins dungeon north of Medai and the canyon in the centre of the Dalhari Plateau have probably been changed in some way since the beta. Perhaps the canyon boss is a completely different monster.
That handsome One-handed Straight Sword user is free to insist on a heroic centre-line breakthrough. However, if he falls into a trap aimed at former testers and his whole group gets wiped out as a result, it would be a terrible outcome that would delay the end of the death game.
I took one more, good-old look at Tolbana, and then said to Argo.
“Sorry, but you’ll have to venue there by yourself.”
“Huh? What about you, Kii-bou?”
“Well… I still have a quest I haven’t completed in Horunka, and I promised the kid at my boarding house that I’d come back safe and sound…”
It’s a bit… no, quite unnatural to turn back when you’ve come so close to a new town. Argo must have thought the same, as she looked at me confused, furrowing her brow under her hood, but suddenly she grinned and lifted her right cheek.
“Well, if that’s the case, I guess I’ll join yoU.”
“Huh…huh? No, it’s fine, you go to Tolbana.”
“You’re happy to have big sis to accompany you, aren’t cha? Be happy, boy!”
After slapping me on the back, Argo turned around with no sign of any regrets and started walking briskly back down the mountain pass.
“…I’m not happy about it…”
After complaining quietly, I turned my back on the town in the valley and chased after her mouse-coloured cape, which fluttered in the breeze.
(End)
