It would all come down to how tough each of the enemy fighters was.
We can’t really pin our hopes on that, Leafa thought. She drew her long katana and stood next to Kirito. She could make out the enemy force clearly now, clanking heavily as they marched. Three large salamanders stood in front, covered in thicker armor than the group they’d encountered the other day. Each one had a menacing weapon in his left hand and a large metal shield in his right.
Something caught in Leafa’s mind. Because of ALO’s realistic simulation, handedness in the game was the same as in real life. The likelihood of all three of them being southpaws was low.
But before she could voice her suspicion, Kirito spoke up.
“It’s not that I don’t trust your skill in battle, but…do you think you could handle the backup this time?”
“Huh?”
“I want you to hang back and focus on healing. It’ll make it easier for me to fight.”
She looked at the double-edged sword in his hands again. He had a point—it would be very difficult to use such a weapon in a small space while keeping an eye out not to hit his ally. Being a healer wasn’t Leafa’s style, but she nodded to him and retreated until her back was nearly against the magic wall. They didn’t have time to argue over who did what.
Kirito crouched and twisted, pulling the sword as far behind him as it would go. The three lead salamanders bore down with the force of a tsunami. Kirito’s small body twisted until she could almost hear it creaking. Leafa could practically see the pent-up energy billowing around him. The distance closed, until—
“Sey!!”
With a shout, Kirito stomped his left foot forward and swung his glowing blue sword in a flat arc at the trio of crimson warriors. The air screamed as it was split, and the bridge shook with his force. It was the most powerful blow Leafa had seen Kirito unleash yet. However…
“Huh?!”
She looked on in shock. The three salamanders didn’t raise their weapons. Instead, they crowded close together, raising their heavy shields to form a protective barrier.
There was a deafening clang as Kirito’s sword hit the line of shields. The shock turned the air electric, and waves rippled out along the lake surface. But the soldiers had stood firm against his attack and only been pushed back inches.
Leafa hurriedly checked their HP. The warriors had each lost more than 10 percent. But soon the sound of spells echoed forth from behind them, and their bodies began glowing a light blue. Multiple healing spells refilled their health to maximum instantly.
The next moment, numerous orange balls of fire shot up from behind the fortress of steel that was the line of shields, arching up toward the ceiling of the great cave chamber before plunging down on Kirito’s location.
A great explosion turned the surface of the lake a deep red, swallowing the tiny black-clad figure.
“Kirito!” Leafa screamed. His HP bar plummeted all the way down to the yellow zone. In fact, given the extremely small variation in player HP values in ALO, it was a miracle it hadn’t killed him outright. She’d never seen such a precise, concentrated magical attack. With a shiver, she suddenly understood the enemy’s strategy.
They clearly knew that Kirito possessed an overwhelming physical attack, and they had concocted this tactic to counteract it.
The three heavies in the front made no move to attack. They simply held the line with their thick shields. No matter how powerful Kirito’s sword was, it could not inflict a fatal blow if he never reached their bodies. The remaining nine behind them were probably all mages. Some of them focused on healing the guards, and the others rained down their projectile flames. It was the kind of formation players assumed to tackle a powerful boss monster.
But why? Why would such a large group assemble just to go after Kirito and Leafa?
Leafa put that question on the back burner as she queued up a healing spell. Kirito reappeared out of the dying flames, and she cast the best healing spell she knew. His HP bar started refilling immediately, but it was clear that this would not do much in the long run.
Kirito understood the enemy’s strategy as well. Perhaps sensing that a protracted battle was unwinnable, he immediately swung back toward the shield-bearers, sword at the ready.
“Rahhh!!”
The gleaming black sword collided with the shields, sending out a blinding shower of sparks.
But the battle had already turned into a fatalistic numbers game.
The damage Kirito inflicted with each swing was recovered by the mages in the rear line and their healing spells. The next moment, the other mages cast their long-range attack spells, raining fire down upon him.
It was Leafa’s least favorite kind of battle: locked in a pattern, with no room for personal ability to sway the outcome. The only factor that would determine this fight was whether the mages’ mana or Kirito’s health would run out first. The outcome was clear.
Yet another hail of fireballs enveloped Kirito. The deluge of orange light picked him up and threw him backward against the ground.
ALO did not re-create any kind of “pain” in its sensory feedback, but out of the sensations it did feature, a direct hit from explosive magic was one of the most unpleasant. A roar rocked the brain, the skin burned and prickled, and the sense of balance was hit with a shock wave. The effects could sometimes carry over to the real body, causing headaches and dizziness that lasted for several hours.
“Rrh…aaagh!”
But every time Kirito was hit, he got back to his feet and swung his sword again. Even as she helplessly chanted recovery spells, Leafa could feel his pain vicariously. It was just a game. Anyone would give up facing these odds. It hurt to lose, but given the mathematical systems underlying the game, there would just be times when it was numerically impossible to win. So why…?
Leafa couldn’t stand to watch this keep happening to Kirito. She ran a few steps closer and shrieked, “It’s all right, Kirito! It’s only a few more hours of flight from Swilvane to start over! And we can buy again the items we lost. This is pointless!”
But Kirito barely turned his head, his voice low.
“No.”
His eyes were red with the reflection of the fire surrounding them.
“As long as I’m alive, I won’t stand to see a party member killed. It’s the one thing I refuse to allow.”
She was stunned into silence.
Different players had different reactions to an unwinnable situation. Some tried to awkwardly laugh it off, some shut their eyes and tensed up when the moment came, and some kept swinging wildly as long as they were able. But no matter the reaction, everyone who played the game gradually became accustomed to this virtual “death.” It was an unavoidable part of playing a VRMMORPG, and each player had to find acceptance in his or her own way. Otherwise, the game wasn’t a game.
But Leafa had never seen anything like the light that shone in Kirito’s eyes. They were brimming with a fierce desire to overcome the impossible mathematical odds against the two warriors and find a path to survival. For an instant, she even forgot that they were inside a game, a virtual world.
“Raaahhh!!”
Kirito bellowed, setting the very air to rattling. In the instant that the enemy’s fire relented, he made another reckless charge at the wall of shields. He dropped the sword to his right hand and made a fierce attempt with his left to grab the corner of a shield and pry it away. The salamander line broke at this unexpected move. He jammed his sword into the tiny space that opened in their defense.
Leafa had been playing the game since the start, and she’d never seen anything like this. He’d broken the line-of-shield defense at point-blank range without using any magic. It wasn’t even a proper attack; it wouldn’t do any real damage. But this act of apparent madness caused shouts of alarm from behind the wall.
“Damn! What does he think he’s—?”
Suddenly, a quiet voice sounded in Leafa’s ear. “Now’s our only chance!”
 
; She looked over to see Yui perched on her shoulder.
“Chance…?”
“The only uncertain variable is the enemy’s mental state. Use all of your remaining mana to protect against the next attack, any way you can!”
“B-but that would be…”
Like spitting into the ocean, she couldn’t finish. But Yui, supposedly just a rudimentary AI, was looking straight into her eyes with the same force of will she’d just seen from Kirito.
Leafa nodded in understanding and thrust her arms overhead. The enemy mages were already chanting the next fireball spell. But it was slower than usual, perhaps because they were trying to time their release. She rattled off spellwords as fast as she could. One slip of the tongue and the entire spell would fizzle, but she didn’t have a choice. Her lips and tongue moved as nimbly as they possibly could.
She was just an instant quicker to finish her cast. Countless tiny butterflies burst from her outstretched hands and enveloped Kirito’s body.
The next moment, the enemy spell went off. Another wave of fireballs shot through the air, descending with a screech like a bombing raid. Flowers of fire landed on Kirito as he clung to the wall of shields.
“Hrgh!”
Leafa shielded her face from the pressure of the blast and gritted her teeth. Each time Kirito’s protective magical field canceled out an exploding fireball, she lost a chunk off of her MP bar. Drinking a mana potion would never bring it back in time. Just as she was wondering what, if anything, this single act of protection was earning them, Yui yelled out in a piercing voice.
“Now, Papa!!”
Leafa trained her eyes forward with a start. Amid the crimson flames, Kirito stood up straight, sword at the ready. She could hear bits of spell chanting and consulted her memory to identify the words she caught.
But wasn’t that…illusion magic?
She held her breath for a moment, then ground her teeth. Kirito was casting an illusion spell that turned a player’s appearance into that of a monster. It was considered virtually useless in battle. A randomized process determined which monster, depending on the caster’s attack power, but in most cases the result was a weak, unimpressive mob. Not only that, but since the player’s statistics were not affected in any way, there was little to no fear from the transformation.
Leafa’s mana had dropped precipitously until it was less than 10 percent. She’d followed Yui’s lead on this roll of the dice, and the dice had failed her.
But she couldn’t blame them. In a skill-heavy game like this, knowledge was the greatest part of strength. Kirito had only started in the past few days, and it would be cruel to expect him to understand the usefulness of each and every one of the countless spellwords in the game.
She put her last bit of strength into her hand. The final round of the enemy’s fireballs would land at the same moment that her protective field died out. An even larger blast of fire erupted and slowly dissipated.
“Huh…?”
A wavering black shadow emerged from the wall of fire. For an instant, she thought her eyes were playing tricks on her. It was just too large to be right.
It was at least twice the height of the imposing salamanders. On a closer look, it appeared to be a giant, its back stooped.
“Is that…you, Kirito?” she mumbled. It was the only possibility. Clearly, this was Kirito’s transformed figure after his illusion spell—but the size…
As Leafa stood transfixed, the black shadow slowly raised its head. It wasn’t a giant. The head was elongated like a goat’s, and two long, malevolent horns curved from the back. The round eyes glowed red, and flame breath licked between its fangs.
The pitch-black skin of its upper body was knotted with muscle, and its brawny arms were long enough to touch the floor. A sinewy, whiplike tail extended from its waist. The only word to describe its appearance was demonic.
The salamanders froze still, as though their souls had all been removed. The black demon slowly turned its head to the ceiling and roared.
“Groaaahh!!”
This time it wasn’t hyperbole—the earth really did shake. Primal fear rose from the pit of their beings.
“Eeyaah!!”
One of the salamanders on the front line fell back a few steps, shrieking in terror. The monster darted forward with terrifying speed. A clawed hand slipped into the space between the shields, and a finger pierced the heavily armed warrior—and in the next instant, the salamander was gone, with only a red End Flame left in his place.
“Wha—?!”
The other two front salamanders uttered identical cries of alarm at seeing their partner felled in one blow. They lowered their shields and brandished their weapons left-handed, inching backward.
A furious shout arose from the mages in the rear, most likely from the group’s leader.
“Don’t break formation, you fools! It’s only his appearance and reach! He can’t damage us if you stay turtled up!”
But the warriors paid him no heed. The black demon roared deafeningly and pounced, gobbling the man on the right with its massive jaws and lifting the ones on the left in its claws. It dashed each of them fiercely, and two consecutive crunches signaled their end. The little red flames burst from their bodies like so much blood.
In the span of less than ten seconds, all three of the front warriors had been wiped out. Their leader regained his composure and barked out fresh commands, and the mages began casting anew. But these were pure mages, outfitted in no armor at all save red gloves—a far cry from the burly fighters who had manned the defense. The ebony demon hissing malevolent breath was having a far greater psychological effect than such spells ever managed, and the mages were terrified. Their casting speed was much slower than before.
Before they could finish the cast, the demon swiped viciously at the cluster of sorcerers. The two in front were helplessly tossed like rags, disintegrating into red fire mid-arc. The air was filled with the sound of screams and the breaking of glass. Without pause, the great trunk of its left arm snaked forward, and two more salamanders were cast aside.
The leader, recognizable by his more esoteric magical accessories, had once been safely in the middle of the pack, but now he was exposed, his gaunt face a rictus of panic. He fumbled his current spell, and the glow between his hands was snuffed into a cloud of black smoke.
Kirito’s demon took a rumbling step forward and unleashed another bellow. The salamander leader made a little gasping cry and waved his hands helplessly. “R-retreat! Retrea—”
But he couldn’t finish.
The demon crouched momentarily, then leaped forward. It landed in the midst of the huddled mages, the bridge shaking with the impact. What happened after that could not generously be called a “battle.”
Each time the demon’s claws swiped out, an End Flame resulted. One of them valiantly threw himself forward with his staff, but the beast’s fangs devoured him from the top down before he could take a single swing.
The leader nimbly avoided the blast radius but promptly threw himself over the side of the bridge, evidently giving up the fight for lost. A fountain of water erupted where he landed, and he took off swimming with considerable speed for the far shore.
With total equipment underneath a certain weight level, there was no fear of sinking in ALO. This was good news for the mage, who sped off rapidly from the bridge—until an enormous shadow emerged under the water.
A moment later, there was a loud splash, and the leader disappeared beneath the surface. Only his breath bubbled up as the shadow descended into the depths. Before it vanished altogether, the faint glow of a red flame glimmered from below.
Kirito’s demon showed no interest in the demise of the enemy leader. It raised the final, squealing victim in its hands, then pulled both ends as though wrenching him into two pieces.
Stunned into a trance at the scene of overwhelming violence, Leafa finally came back to her senses.
“No, Kirito! Leave him alive!” she shouted, racing
over to him while Yui nonchalantly remarked on the impressive spate of bloodshed that had just occurred. The demon stopped and turned, releasing the salamander’s body in midair with a dissatisfied grunt.
The mage fell to the bridge with an unpleasant splat and writhed in silent shock, his mouth opening and closing. Leafa let her katana rest unpleasantly between his legs. The scrape of the tip against the cobblestone set him trembling.
“I want some answers! Who ordered you to do this?” she demanded in what she thought was her most menacing growl, but that only seemed to snap the man out of his shock. He shook his head, pale-faced.
“G-go ahead and kill me!”
“Why, you—”
Meanwhile, the demon that had been watching over this scene slowly began to disintegrate into a black mist. Leafa looked up to see a small figure emerge from the dissipating cloud and land on the bridge.
“Boy oh boy, that was a good rampage,” Kirito said happily, cracking his neck and sheathing his sword over his back again. He crouched down next to the stunned salamander and patted the man’s shoulder.
“Hey, that was a good fight.”
“Huh…?”
He kept chatting with their helpless victim, his tone light. “It was a good strategy, it really was. If I were all alone, I wouldn’t have stood a chance.”
“Um, Kirito…”
“Hang on, I’ve got this.” He winked at Leafa. “Now, we’ve got a deal to discuss.”
Kirito pulled up a trade window and pointed out a list of items to the man. “Here’s all the items and yrd I earned from this fight. If you answer the simple questions we have for you, I might just give you all of this loot. How about that?”
The man opened and closed his mouth several times, staring at Kirito’s bright smile. He glanced around the vicinity—probably checking to confirm that the period of resurrection for all the other salamanders had expired, and they’d been teleported back to their save point far from here—before looking back at Kirito.