10It's nice to see some progress has been made in this game by us. After clearing the 1st floor, we were right in people being inspired to fight and beat this came. Clearing one floor has proven we can and eventually will beat it but we can't do it alone. Already the frontline players, dubbed the Clearers, has already seen a boost in player numbers and continues to grow with the players starting to gain levels to put them on par or further than what the enemies are, especially the bosses.
After clearing the boss on the 1st floor, Kirito, Asuna and I all went our separate ways but its not like we're not going to see each other anymore or possibly party up. We've just all decided to just go do our own things at our own pace. Kirito has decided to keep to his own playstyle of soloing the majority of the enemies, while I think I heard Asuna is planning to join up with others. Unsure of the other people we've met during the raid but those two are pretty much who I mostly care about.
As for me, my level has gone up a pretty steady pace I'm comfortable with. I've even decided to take a sort of secondary melee skill just in case. The unarmed skill to be more specific. Actually, I haven't really put a ton of work into it. While the idea is sound, having a secondary but faster ability to fight, I just haven't really found the want or need to put work into it. Seeing as I have no idea if there are any respec items or abilities we could use to allocate all our points later on when we are higher levels in case we feel the want to change our builds, I am being careful as to what I want to put my points into what so I'm not just wasting points needlessly. Haven't really found a situation where I've felt the need to use my faster unarmed ability so I don't know. Even so, my large sword has been good enough for me so far as while I've been going on the solo train as well like Kirito. While I'm okay with the idea of partying up with others, I haven't really found a ton of people I'm willing to party up with.
At least, that's how it was until now.
Currently, I am standing just inside of a town at the entrance, where the safe zone is still in play for me. Words gotten around of a particularly unique quest we can do, however one thing that's kind of put people off from completing said quest is that the reward for it is a weapon.
…That's it. The NPC mentioned a powerful weapon hidden in the nearby unnamed part of a forest that when you brave the place, you can make off with the weapon. Pretty sure Kirito mentioned he had a similar quest back in the first floor but he didn't elaborate exactly how things went down. He was really… not alright apparently. He showed me the sword, but that's it. Difference with this quest now is the vagueness of the reward, and the fact we are not on the first floor.
Problem is, we don't know exactly what type of weapon this quests reward is going to be. It can be any number of weapon types, from a dagger to a sword, mace, maul, longsword, spear, etc. Because of this no one felt the need to go in and get it if it turns out to be a weapon that isn't compatible with their build. Not to mention its only one weapon so not many people want to squad up for it. On top of that, this particular section of this forest is kind of avoided for its giant mobs of enemies. Most of the monsters are weak on their own but if a solo player were to be surrounded, they'd easily be whittled down and die eventually.
Actually, I think that's how this information has come to pass to the public, via some cocky, overconfident, or truly desperate players.
I'm not sure but I digress. I found some people who heard about the quest too and I was able to convince them to party up with me so we can finally tackle this quest. Normally, their would be discord among the group of adventurers about who gets the weapon and such. However I made the argument of simply being able to get this quest done and over with, being known about we were the ones to do it, the amount of XP we could get, col, and the possibility of getting a brand new weapon. If nothing else, if the weapon is something none of us can use, we agreed to sell it and split the cash three ways. It's the best strategy I could come up with, but of course we don't have an ideal quest reward either. I don't like the idea of aggroing the big mobs of the forest so I want at least a couple people with me so in case we do get attacked I have some backup to help fight, and we'll be a small enough group that we can avoid the enemies and get the weapon without having to use our weapons.
So for now, here I am, standing against a wall and waiting for my teammates to arrive. I only got two people but that should be enough for us to watch our backs. They headed off to do some last-minute shopping for this quest and I opted to wait here for them. On a daily basis I always try to keep myself fully stocked up whenever I can. Mostly health items of course but no one can fault me for that.
Eventually, I spot my two companions making their way to me. So I push myself off the wall and turn to them as they step up to me. The two people in front of me are named Jesto and Clance.
Jesto walks up, holding his spear with one hand as it lays on his right shoulder. He looks a bit rugged, with brown eyes, short military style hair cut and he's taller than me by several inches. He's wearing an olive green tunic shirt with a silver steel cuirass over the shirt. Wearing tan fingerless gloves with a wolfs head ring on his right finger, and has on deep dark green pants where they end on his boar-hide gray boots. He's a bit on the beefy side of muscles compared to me and his face is turned into a bit of scowl as he approaches.
A little behind him, Clance is a little more on the smaller side compared to him, maybe a head shorter, give or take a couple inches, same with his size. He has a head of short dirty blonde hair, teal eyes, tan skin and wears dark blue shirt with a leather armour vest over it. Over his torso and shoulders is a small cloak that covers his back but splits down the front of him. He has a brown belt that holds his dagger in, along with his black pants to his black shoes. He's nothing like Jesto and seems pretty shy from the way he's a little hunched over. Of the three of us, he's the weakest in terms of levels while I am the highest. Still, his low level meets the requirement for the quest itself, so Jesto and I are a bit over the level requirement, but unless we're over a dozen levels higher, then the mobs in the forest would swarm us and kill us alone. Together, we have better chances.
The both of them don't really know each other, just as I don't know either of them personally, but at the very least we were able to come together for this quest.
The both of them step up to me and for a few silent seconds we just stare at each other. Actually, the two of them stare at me, mostly Jesto while Clance doesn't meet my gaze, and I to them. "So, we doing this or what?" Jesto states in a gruff voice, tapping his spear on his shoulder a couple times.
"Yeah. Ready to go?" I ask. They both nod yes. Now that we're all ready, I snap my head towards the exit next to me. "Alright then. Let's go."
Just before we leave through the exit though, I notice a group of players a little ways away from us. The majority of them were talking with each other but notice one guy was looking at me since I was standing at my spot. Haven't really got a good look at him as I only kept him in my peripheral but so far I haven't really gotten much on the guy.
Just a sinking feeling about this whole situation.
Regardless, we make our way out of the safe zone and begin making our way to the forest nearby. The treck to the place isn't very far but once we make it to the section of the forest itself we have to go deep in order to find the chest. Because this place has a relatively weak set of monsters, we don't really encounter as we make our way through the place.
"Stay close." I whisper to the others as I take the lead. We're going in a small line with Clance behind me and Jesto taking up the rear. I proposed this type of formation for us since me and Jesto have long reaching weapons we can strike the enemy first if we encounter any while Clance can back up whoever gets attacked first with his short dagger.
"Keep up!" I hear Jesto roughly say quietly and I think push Clance. A glance back shows him stumbling a bit as he grips his knife tightly.
"S-s-sorry!" Clance apologizes and huddles close to me as we continue moving.
"Easy you two. Don't make any loud noises. We don't want to attract any… unwanted attention." I stop and wave for them to stop. Ahead of us we see a group of sleeping wolf monsters. Can't tell exactly what they are since I don't wish to get any closer for fear of waking and aggroing them. We head around them as quietly as we can and continue our walking. "Just keep it together and we'll find this chest without having to fight anyone."
"I'M not the one you need to worry about." Jesto scolds harshly. I can tell exactly who he's referencing out of us all.
"Knock it off!" I quietly yell back at him as I glance back at them. Clance looks down while Jesto just grumbles off in annoyance. With my tone set he doesn't say anything anymore and just keeps his mouth shut. We delve into a bit of silence as continue to move forward until I slow myself to move closer to Clance. "Hey, it's okay." I quietly say. He glances up to me as I do what I can to give my best comforting smile to him. I'm not that good when it comes to being with other people or comforting them for that matter but I do what I can. "Just stay close, stay calm, and we'll get out of this without any problems. Okay?"
"…" He seems to hesitate a little when looking at me but soon he relaxes and smiles back at me. "… Okay." I nod at him.
"Pheh." I hear Jesto scoff behind us but I ignore him in favor of continuing forward as I think on my temporary companions. 'Huh, these are definitely opposites from what I can tell from the both of them. Jesto is a pretty rough character who doesn't seem to be overtly fond of us, especially with someone as timid as Clance. He seems mostly like a solo player or at the very least might be more inclined to be with… tougher stock people if I can hazard a guess.
'Speaking of Clance, he doesn't seem all that… tough too. Definitely not a solo player either. He can be fast with that dagger but his silent small nature doesn't really fit him fighting in all honesty. He may surprise me… but really I think he'd be better off staying at the [Town Of Beginnings] like a bunch of other players have decided to do in order to stay safe. But Like I said before, he might surprise me.'
"This it?" Jesto asks, which brings me out from my thoughts. Just as he says, we come upon a bit of a path in the trees we're walking in where a section of the trees has been cleared away leading to somewhere else. This path doesn't lead to the outside of the forest to where we're going, rather it seems to be here for the sole reason for players to enter the forest blind and eventually find this path that lead to our destination. Just also means once we find it, we'll be moving blind when trying to leave.
"I'm… not sure." I voice my confusion as I look left and right down the path.
"Do you think this leads to the weapon?" Clance asks walking up next to me, same with Jesto on the other side.
"Maybe." I murmur as I try to recall anything that might lead to the weapon. "The info on the quest was pretty vague, but I think players that came back from trying the quest mentioned something about finding paths as well. But they had to turn back after coming under attack." As soon as some people had attacked some small groups of enemies in the forest, the noise drew others to them and they either perished from the overwhelming force or had to retreat. By maintaining quiet and being unnoticed, we aren't being attacked by everything in the forest but we also run the risk of more attacking us if we do get attacked. "So I guess we follow the path." I shrug and gesture down the path.
"You sure that's a good idea?" Jesto questions with a cross look, no doubt getting annoyed at how long this is taking.
"No… that's why we're going through the trees on the side of the path, in case the path itself is laid with traps." I state and begin walking through the trees. They don't argue with me or don't care to and fall in line behind me.
"Y-you think theirs traps on the path?" Clance hesitantly asks as he steps next to me, putting me between him and the path we are walking parallel to.
"It's possible. I don't have any skills put into [Trap Detection] , and I assume you both don't either?" I ask looking at them. They both shake their heads no, making me grimace. "So I'd rather not take any chances to be honest. Anyone got any better ideas?" I ask them without stopping. Jesto scoffs but remains quiet while Clance shakes his head no again. I don't think Jesto likes all this ordering around I'm doing but I think he more so than likely just wishes to get this quest over with. I wanna get out of here soon as well so I'll bare the brunt of his annoyed state for a bit longer.
Thankfully as we continue to move forward we aren't beset by any groups of enemies and don't have to avoid any too much, though I do notice one particular enemy that Kirito warned me against and I should be very careful against: The [Little Nepenthes].
These things aren't really that powerful alone, but the different versions that allow for whole mobs of them to come piling in and swarm there target is not good. Being that this forest is mostly filled with low level monsters, this monster type is perfect helping with the swarm tactic. Kirito warned me about them, but he didn't really elaborate on them while we were on the 1st floor. He just said: 'Watch for red.'
Either way, I make sure we keep our distance from them. We don't have to move for too long though as eventually we find a promising spot.
The chest is right there in the middle of the clearing but I also notice several other paths similar to the one we just walked down going off in other directions. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say the paths all line up with an asterisk symbol. 'Weird.' I mentally comment before looking back at the chest.
"I-is that it?" Clance asks as he steps up to my side.
"You see any other treasure chests?" Jesto asks like if Clance asked a stupid question, making the kid recoil.
"Easy." I wave him down as I glance at him before looking back at the clearing. The place is pretty open but so far I don't see anything that looks like a trap or any monsters either. Their probably still in the trees but there's not much else I can tell from where we are right now. "Alright, that's as good a place as any for the weapon to be. Wait here. Watch my back and I'll go get it." I propose and go to step forward.
"Hold on a second!" Before I can though, Jesto roughly grabs me and pulls me back before turning me to him, where I see his angry face staring right at me. "Do you take me for an idiot?! You think I'm just going to let you grab that weapon on your own?! What's to stop you from grabbing it and leaving us here to die while you make off with the goods?!" His voice starts to escalate and I wave for him to quiet down. He takes it to another level though as he forces himself against me, placing the shaft of his spear against my neck and pushing me against a tree. "You may have been calling the shots up until this point but I am NOT going to let you screw me over like this!"
*SLAM*
"Ar-Mmmm!" Before he can do any damage to me, I grab him and force us to switch positions where he is now pressed up against the tree, my right hand pressed over his mouth and my other hand holding his hand clenching is spear against the tree. The guy may have been more intimidating and taller than me but my strength is higher than his by a wide margin, which is what I need in order to wield my sword. He struggles a bit in my grip but when he finally notices I'm not trying to kill or doing anything to hurt him, he stops and stares hatefully at me as I keep firmly staring at him.
"… Shhhhh…" I hush quietly to him before glancing to the side behind us. A small distance away I noticed another of the [Little Nepenthes] rustling a little before steadying. When I turn back to Jesto, he gets the idea now. I slowly let him go and step back but that doesn't stop him from staring at me. "If you want to come with me, that's fine. It's just if we get spotted out there in there in the open, we're going to have a hard to getting out if we're surrounded. It was just a suggestion." After quietly explaining to him, I turn to Clance, who lets out a sigh of relief at the situation being diffused. "Clance, you okay watching our backs from here? Or do you wanna go with?" I offer to him.
He shakes his head no and stands next to a tree. "No, I'll stay here and keep any eye out, in case we get ambushed."
I nod to him before pulling out my sword from my back and turning to Jesto. "Well, lets go then." I tell him and slowly walk out of the tree line. Jesto really doesn't trust me as I do hear his footsteps step quietly from behind. That's fine. Just as long as we get this done. Our steps are slow but careful as we make our way to chest. "Alright, we made it." We make it without any problems thankfully.
"About time. Now grab it already." Jesto quietly says as he grips his spear tighter. I nod back at him before laying my sword down and going for the chest.
"There we go." I comment quietly as I open the chest.
"We got it?" Jesto asks from behind as he walks up next to me. I turn to answer him.
*Whooosh*
Before I can though, what feels like a gust of wind blasts at us from out of nowhere, making us recoil and bring our arms up to shield our eyes from the wind. When it dissipates, I quickly look around to find out where exactly the wind came from as it had to come from an enemy rather than just be natural. As I look around though I notice one very important thing that happened:
The weapon is gone.
"What the-?!" I exclaim in surprise and look closer at the chest. It's now completely empty now with nothing inside it whatsoever. "No… no no no no no how the-?!"
"What happened?! Where is it?!" Jesto whisper asks angrily as he stares at the empty chest.
"I don't know! Their was something there I know it but now it's gone! Where did it-?" I begin to ask as I look at the chest, then around, till I notice something. "Wait… where did Clance go?" As I turn around to look, I notice he's not back in the trees where we just were, where he was supposed to stay and keep an eye out. Jesto notices as well and begins looking around until he notices something that makes him stop. I follow and look where he's looking and find something much to my confusion. "Clance?" I question in confusion. Right there in front of us is someone standing there on the edge of the clearing. I recognize its Clance because of the cloak he was wearing. Thing is though, there is something very weird about this, is the fact that he was standing BEHIND us, and is now standing in FRONT of us. "But… how did…" I begin to ask until I notice he's looking at something in his inventory.
"Very nice." He answers. No longer is the stutter and hesitation he had before and now is a more… collected voice. "This is good." He swipes his inventory closed and pulls out his dagger. "I want to go ahead and say thanks for helping me get this treasure." As he talks though without turning around, my own confusion begins to melt away to realization, as well as the growing fury beginning to mount on Jesto next to me. "As a token of my thanks," Clance pulls out a small pick in his free hand. "Allow me to leave you with a parting gift."
*Fwish*
Before I can even react, if it weren't for the system registering it, I wouldn't have seen the small little throwing pick fly inches from my face behind me. Clance turned around to throw it, giving me a full view of his face now. Gone is the timid player I saw before, now is… something else from the wide chesire smile he has on his face. 'He's fast… really fast.' Jesto is now mad. Angry, very angry at the turn of events and at Clance for stealing our prize, but his voice and loud spouts of threats are muted to me as I slowly turn around. It doesn't take me long to find the trajectory as to where his pick went.
He didn't miss. It wasn't meant for me. 'Red.' That's the color Kirito had warned me about. Clance struck the red fruit hanging off one of the [Little Nepenthes] and the effect is already taking hold. The odor its emitting has already taken hold on the enemies around, as more of the same creature begin to rustle through the trees.
I turn back to Clance to and see he's not even fazed by the monsters closing in. "B-but… why?" I ask in disbelief. Jesto has finally noticed the monsters and has readied his spear.
Clance though, just continues smiling. "Why? Well, this… it's just more fun this way." One of the plant monsters begins to make his up from behind him as he gives us a small wave. "Tah-tah." Just as the monster slashes one of its vines straight at him, he activates his [Dash] and has moved. I can barely see the afterimage of him as he moves along the edge of the clearing, dodging more of the vines aiming to him before he ends up behind us and has gone through the trees.
"That little punk! I swear I'm going to kill him and take that weapon from his corpse if it's the last thing I do!" Jesto yells loudly in anger and grips his spear tighter.
"He betrayed us…" I mutter in disbelief, and how easily it was.
"No kidding Captain Obvious!" Jesto says to me in spite. "Now get it together!"
"He betrayed us…" I repeat as I slowly reach down for my sword.
"Will you shut up and help me already!" Jesto shouts angrily as he tries to block a vine swiping at him. He manages to before running his spear into the closest plant monster before pushing off it, dealing some damage but its still kicking. "Vendicar!"
"He betrayed us…" This time the word comes out in a growl as I stand up, sword held and ready to cleave my way into the enemy. One of the plant monsters comes right up to me and sends one of its vines straight at me. "And he will REGRET IT!" To punctuate my anger, I bring my sword where the vine is coming at me. Not only does the offending limb get cut clean off before it can strike me but my sword also cleaves its way half way through the [Little Nepenthes] body. It barely has time to let out a wail of pain before I rip my sword out and it explodes into pixels.
"Well its about time!" Jesto declares somewhat happily at my attack before he ducks under another attack and finishes off the monster he was attacking before. "C'mon! Let's hurry up and finish these guys so we can catch up to that little bastard." He growls angrily and reorients.
"He will not get away with this!" I grunt loudly in anger before I move up to two more monsters moving in. Both of them move to attack me but I bring my sword up and block the brunt of their attacks. When I do I let loose my [Cyclone] sword skill and tear the monsters heavily. They are just barely alive when I come out of it and am forced to take a couple hits from them before I finish them off. Thankfully I'm a fairly high level in comparison for this place so their attacks don't do enough damage for me to worry. With them gone, I turn around to see Jesto finishing off a monster after he ran his spear through it but another moves up behind him. "Jesto!" I shout his name and move myself into position. With my sword poised and aimed, I launch my [Lightning Thrust] straight at the flanking monster. In a flash I move through the clearing and embed my sword into the monster. It lets out a squeal as it thrashes about, teeth gnashing as I tries to dislodge me from it. I keep my sword planted into it as I watch its health drain down when it refocuses itself and tries to now attack me to dislodge my weapon from it, I take the chance to push myself away from it. "Switch!"
"Hraaa!" Jesto grunts loudly as rushes past me and stabs his spear straight into the monster. It lets out one final wail of pain before its health drains down to zero and it disappears. He steps back from where the monster just was and quickly looks around for anymore. "Is that it? That all of them?" He asks while still tightly gripping his spear.
"It looks like it… for now." I answer grimly and take a healing crystal to top off my health.
"Good. Now lets get out of here already so we can catch that little bastard." He angrily demands and begins to walk out of the clearing but my hand on his shoulder stops him. "What?! Get off me! What are you doing?!" He angrily asks as he tries to shake my hand off him but it stays there. He's staring at me angrily as I slowly let go of him and grip my sword with both hands tightly. He stares at what I'm staring at it and looks.
"I don't think we're going to catch up to him." I mutter lowly and worriedly as while the plant monsters are gone, the rest of the monsters of the forest begin to converge on us. Slowly, they begin to move out of the tree line to stalk up to us. Some of them I recognize as [Dire Wolfs] but others begin to emerge as well, even [Roaring Wolfs]. But dozens upon dozens of monsters of varying type come up to us and I don't bother naming all of them as I can't stop myself from shaking. 'Any one of these monsters we can kill easily, but this many all at once…'
"Great. This is just great." Jesto doesn't share my worried state as he simply just groans at the amount of enemies we now have to face instead of just going after the traitor that left us here to die. "At this rate we'll lose him for sure." He's not really focused on the idea of us dying here, but he's very confident instead of just wanting to go after our former teammate.
'I wish I had that confidence right now.' I can't help but think as my hands continue to shake as I hold my sword up. "W-we're going to die here." Now its my turn to stutter as I stare at the monsters ready to rip us apart.
"You can go ahead and die if you want." Jesto mutters behind me. "But I've got unfinished business with that bastard that stranded us here. And I will not be killed here because of him!" With a shout of anger mixed with bravery, he charges the closest enemy to him with a sword skill and kills them.
I glance backwards to him as he attacks but that is a mistake on my part. As soon as I took my eyes off my own enemies, one of them lunges at me. As I'm turning back to the front, I barely have time to pull up my sword to defend myself from the pair of jaws coming at me. I grunt loudly as the wolf throws itself onto me as a few of its teeth latch onto my shoulder. My health moves a little from the attack but not nearly as much as it would have if its entire jaw had latched onto my shoulder. I push the beast off me and swing my sword at it while it tries to get back up. It dies easily enough from the hit but I don't have time to rest. Something with a lot of legs jumps up and wraps itself around me from behind. I'm startled from the sudden hug from behind and I throw my arms out, my strength overpowering the monsters and forcing it to let go. When I turn around I see that the monster that attacked me was a spider-type monster that's like a black widow except it has horns on its head and much larger and deadlier fangs.
Fangs that are coated in a green liquid. It doesn't take a genius to know what that is but I don't have time to think as it launches itself right at me again. I step-dodge to the side, out of the way of its attack but I swing my sword into its path, making it land onto my weapon and die. Yet again, I don't have time to compose myself as I let out a loud grunt as something slashes me on my back. I step forward from the hit before turning around and swinging my sword at the same time, cleaving the wolf in two. Looking around, I barely manage to lean back and dodge a bee-like monster as I tries to impale me with its pronged stinger, instead it only cut me a little on the flyby. As it comes back around and gets ready to try to strike me again, I notice another getting ready to try to hit me and a couple more wolves getting ready to jump me again. This time though they all opt to attack me at once so I wait for the right opportunity. 'Wait… wait… wait…'
They charge me. 'NOW!' With a loud heaving yell to accompany my thought, my [Cyclone] skill activates and I whirl around as soon as the enemy gets close enough. In a twisting swipe my sword rips through all the enemy that was attacking me, making them all die and disappear into virtual polygons. Breathing heavily I stand back to my full height as the cooldown takes effect while I examine our situation. 'Theirs still a lot of enemies. I only took down a small number of them. And more might still be in the woods waiting to attack as soon as the first ones in the clearing are gone.' I quickly take a healing potion to bring my health back out of the yellow. 'But if we keep at it like this maybe, just maybe we can get though this. We just have to-'
"Aaaaaaahhhhh!" My eyes widen at the scream. I turn around and watch a horrifying sight. A pack of [Dire Wolves] surround Jesto with his screams being the result of one large one having latched onto him and tore itself away from him, red polygons flying through the air as the fake blood spews from his shoulder. At the same time, with his name on my HUD a red blood drop symbol has appeared and his health slowly drops, after the attack he sustained. 'He's bleeding!' I surmise right quickly from the attack. Alongside it, a poisoned symbol is there as I notice red circles on his body as well.
"Jes- Aarh!" I yell loudly as a pair of jaws stabs into my shoulder from behind. My anger flares up immensely and I let out a cry as I knock the wolf, imparting the bleeding on me as well before I chop it dead. Another yell comes from Jesto as he takes down a couple wolves but a spider monster shoots webbing at him, impairing and slowing his movement. "Noooo! Get away from him!" I cry out and charge his group, sword swinging all the while in fury.
"*Panting* C'mon Jesto! We're almost there! I can see it!" I shout through panted breaths. My partner is barely able to move as I'm forced to be the one to carry him. His right arm is slung around my shoulder as I desperately hobble with him back to the safety of the town. Health is barely in the yellow while Jesto's is much worse off; low in the yellow and is slowly dropping from a mixture of bleeding and poison. "We're almost there man! I can see it in the distance! We just have to get there and your ailments will disappear! Just stay with me!" I desperately move as fast as I can. 'So many… there were so many of them. We couldn't… keep them away.' The [Roaring Wolfs] were some of the worst too because once they lose half their health they howl and summon more to fight. We weren't able to take them all down either. We needed to run as soon as we ran out of healing items, but we didn't escape unscathed.
"Ughhhh." With a loud groan, all the support that Jesto barely gave me with his staggered moves is completely gone as he collapses, taking with him.
"Oof!" I grunt as I slam onto the ground. My eyes widen as I push myself onto my hands and knees and crawl over to my facedown teammate. "No… Nonononono nooo!" I say over and over again as try to shake him back to his feet. "C'mon! C'mon you idiot get up now! I can't carry you fast enough back to the safe zone! On your feet NOW!" I yell and desperately try to get him up. The bleeding ailment has dissipated from him but the poison is still in effect on him, which both slowly lowers his health and adds a small paralysis effect, limiting his movements. "Get up already!" I try to shake him once more before giving up. "Ahhh screw it! I'll god damn try!" I grab him by the shoulders and begin to pull as much as I can, inching him towards the safe zone that's still so far away. "You said you weren't going to die back there and I'm going to make sure you—" What I'm going to say is interrupted as one of his hands clamps on my arm, making me stop and look at him. He weakly holds my arm before slowly pushing himself up and onto his back, and just lays there. "…don't?" I finish saying in a confused manner at what he's doing.
"Ahhhhh… don't… bother…" He mutters quietly and tiredly. 'We both know… I'm done for." He states.
"No no, we can't just give up. We can't…" I trail off as I sit next to him and begin going through my inventory. Before this whole quest, it was stocked with healing items ready to use for when we are injured. "Theirs… theirs no-… I've got nothing. I've got to have… at least one… just one. Enough to get you to the safe zone. Just one!" Now its bare as I frantically go through my inventory, scrolling up and down repeatedly as I look for even one healing crystal or health potion. "I don't have… theirs…"
"Hey." Jesto says, snapping me from my searching to see him. He's just laying there on his back, staring up at the blue sky with a passive look on his face. "Thanks… for getting me out of there." Then… he smiles. "I did say I wasn't going to die in that forest."
"But… your still going to die." I point out, my voice beginning to break as I can't do anything to save the person in front of me.
"Heh… yeah… that sucks." He says with a quick chuckle.
"Do you… do you have… any… healing items? Did you… thoroughly check?" I say in hope, hope that he may have just missed even one.
Sadly, he slowly shakes his head no but doesn't let the small smile leave his face. "Nah. I got nothing. It's my fault too. I was always a bit more… confident than I would like now that I think about it. Didn't stock up on as much healing as I should have." He cranes his head a little, staring at me. "You practically threw your items to me. You kept me alive till this point." He takes my hand, much to my surprise, and squeezes it firmly. "Thanks."
I squeeze back but my shoulders slump as I am still depressed. "But I couldn't do more. I should have done more and you would be…" I can't even finish the sentence.
"You can't save everyone… and you can't save me. So do me a favor then?" I lean in, ready to hear what he's asking of me.
He looks me dead in the eyes, squeezes my hand roughly, his smile gone and anger replaces the look he had before. "Find that asshole who left us for dead… and make him pay." He venomously demands.
"I will." I answer without much hesitation. There is no way Clance is going to get away with what he did and I intend to find him.
"Hm." He smiles from my answer. "Good. Glad to hear. Here." He swipes his inventory open and inputs a few commands.
[Jesto would like to trade.]
[Accept] [Decline]
I'm a little confused by what he wants to give me but I accept anyway. By the time he's done, one new item is placed in my inventory. "Yo-your ring?"
"It's a good ring. Got it for a quest reward and I think… I think it will work well for you."
I stare at the ring now in my hands, not equipped but just in my hands. It's a silverish-gray ring with the top part of the wolfs head that would lay against ones finger as you wear it. "Thank you." I thank him and close my hand over it before placing it back in my inventory.
"Hey…" He grabs my hand tightly and brings both our hands to his chest, making me lean in. "Win." He says with a smile.
*CRACK*
My heart freezes. My breath hitches as he's gone. His body shatters in millions of polygons… before they dissipate… and he's gone.
'He's… gone. He's gone. He's gone.' The statement is repeated in my head several times. I continue to lay there, staring at where his body just was before only moments ago. I was so focused on what he was telling me that I didn't… I didn't notice just how much life he had left.
But he did. He knew. 'He's… gone.' The fact continues to repeat itself in my head, even as I slowly stand up and make my way to the safe zone.
My steps are slow and staggered, my health just barely in the yellow and anymore damage to me and I will hit the red. My hands lay against sides, my right hand gripping my sword as I let it drag behind me, leaving a line on the ground as it drags while my head is craned downwards towards the ground. I didn't know Jesto for longer than this stupid quest, but he was partner.
With Diavel, I saw him die right in front of me as well, but I didn't see him die like Kirito did. 'Is this how Kirito felt? When Diavel was right there in front of him, within arms reach and just… cracked into nothingness. Is this how he felt? What drove him to push forward and fight?' I didn't know Diavel so it didn't hit me as hard as I would have liked to see the guy die, and it was to a monster that he died, along with his own greed for the last attack bonus.
My steps stop several yards from the safe zone.
'Jesto… he died to a person.'
"Hey."
'He didn't die to a pre-programmed monster that was for all intents and purposes meant to kill us.'
"Hey buddy!"
'Clance… Clance was a person. An honest to god person who INTENTIONALLY left us to die. He wanted us dead.'
"Grrrrrrr!
"Hey buddy look out behind you!"
My lips purse tightly, my hands clench tightly as my eyes narrow. An indicator comes up because of the attack but I'm already moving. As I look up, I notice the same group of guys I saw before we left staring at me wide-eyed as I twist myself around to my left. My right arm brings my sword along with me, pulling through the air in front of me once I turn around completely. In an instant, three [Dire Wolfs] are attacking me, having followed me from the forest. My sword cuts through and destroys two of them but the third was out of my swords reach. Because of my attack method, my sword continues to my left without any means of me able to bring it back to attack.
But I know that.
My hand lets my sword go… and I outstretch my arms into a hug.
*Chomp*
I grit my teeth into a grunt as its jaws latch onto my shoulder. A quick glance to my health shows it falling into the red. As soon as it rips its teeth out, the bleed sets in and I will die.
I smile, and close my arms around it. The wolf lets out a yelp of surprise and unlatches itself from me, flailing around as it tries to scratch and bite me again but the hold I have on it prevents that. I just continue to smile at it as it vainly tries to end me. "Sorry boy, but your not going to get me today…" My arms begin to glow, readying my martial arts sword skill. "Or ever." The wolf straightens itself a little and readies to bite into my face. "[Crush]."
In a loud bone-crushing sound, my arms tighten around the wolfs body, making it jerk and spasm harshly from the crushing bear hug I give it. As soon as I do it, the wolf lays limply in my arms until I let go. Once I do, the monster breaks into polygons before it even hits the ground.
'No… a monster did kill Jesto.'
I stay standing there for a few more seconds in silence. At some point I hear voices behind me, maybe some murmurs, but its all white noise to me.
'And his name is Clance.'
I step to the side and grab my sword before sheathing it on my back. Once I have it back, I turn around and walk into the safe zone. Even with the threat of dying gone, that doesn't take away my angered state. My pressed tightened lips, teeth gritting behind them, slow methodical steps with a stare that would make many people avoid me, which it does as some people who saw me and are now stepping out of my way as I walk with a new purpose. No longer will I fight just to survive, nor just for my friends… but for the dead… for the voiceless…
'And I will Avenge my partner.'
Okay… wow… firstly I want to say everyone I am very very sorry for how long this took. I had a bit of a writers block when it comes to this story and my actual motivation for writing this story took a massive hit and I just felt… inadequate in thinking I could make this into a good story for you all. Basically after thinking a bit more on it, doing a bit more research than I originally had, as well as a few words of encouragement from some people, thanks again, I decided to just say screw it and get to work on this again.
Honestly, after having this chapter on the backlog for so long it feels good to finally be done with it and actually have it done and out. Although to be honest its maybe a bit less completed than I would have liked, maybe would have expanded on the fight a bit more, but I had this chapter incomplete for so long I just couldn't hold it up any longer and just wanted it out already. All in all I'd say the chapter is fairly decent, but not the best if I'm being honest with myself. I probably could do a little bit better but I just want to get this out and not waste anymore time in trying to figure out how.
Anyway, here are the review replie. Sorry its been awhile for me to reply to this one. Sorry Spades so I'm going to copy the reply in bold and reply in the non-bolded text.
Spades231: Cool second chapter. Sorry it took me so long to get around to it but just like you I also had finals, projects, and graduation fall upon me. But that's not important right now, what's important is how good this chapter came out. Also please don't be afraid to put out shorter chapter where Vendicar grinds levels as while it may seem like filler it while greatly deviate from the main show where time skips were. Everywhere.
Having interactive moments spread through the story in bite sized chunks instead of full chapter/episodes dedicated to adding to the harem will go a long way in improving SAO in any regard.
Also Vendicar X Liz for sure.
Quick question, will Vendicar start his own guild? Or just joking the K.O.B?
If he did start a guild what would it be called!?
Alright well thanks for the cool chapter. Have an awesome day/night, and I'll cya in the next one.
Thank you very much for your words and how you liked the chapter. I may try to make chapters shorter to get them out quicker but that never really was my forte, making short chapters. Always liked to get large ones out, at least over 5k words but I may do what I can to chunk them down or find good splitting points to get them out earlier, as well as do what I can to deviate from the main series to make things interesting.
For him starting a guild, or joining one, I don't think so. The idea of him starting a guild just never really occurred to me. Like Kirito, he's a solo player as well but he will team up with people if necessary, and preferably would like to with the people he's known a bit more. If he did start a guild, it would probably be called something similar to a certain other organization one of my more popular stories has in it, but he won't make a guild. Anyway, thank you for your words and I hope I continue to make the rest of this story good for you and everyone else who reads.
Okay but enough about me feeling sorry. In recent weeks I've been catching the new Sword Art Online season Alicization and I have to say it's a hell of way its developing that's for sure. I'm mostly following the dub that's been showing on Toonami so I may not be as far ahead as most other people are but I still like it nonetheless with how things are going. Already I have gotten some ideas on what to do for when my OC gets there, and hopefully if I can get my writing into gear I can eventually make it there. Still, a pretty interesting direction the show is going and I'm excited to see more of it.
Anyway, I wanna say I'm sorry again for the very long delay for this chapter and I'll do what I can to hopefully not take so damn long again. Thank you for your support and hope I can make all of you still interested in this. Go ahead and fave, follow, review, whatever you wish, and most of all have fun reading, and have a great day.