Sword Art Online - Volume 2 - Aincrad (Side Stories)

  “So that’s it, there are quite a lot of rare items that pops up only once in unexplored dungeons, after all. They must have made quite a profit from it.”

  “Well, that’s not quite true.”

  Yuriel’s tone of voice was dyed with slight traces of pleasure.

  “Despite it being on the base floor, the degree of difficulty for that dungeon was dreadfully high… Even among the base monsters there, their levels are close to those around the sixtieth floor. It seems like even the advance party led by Kibaou himself got broken up and chased around, barely escaping with their lives by teleporting out. Thanks to those recklessly used crystals, we went deep in the red and all.

  “Hahaha, I see.”

  Yuriel responded to Kirito’s laugh with a smile, but soon sank into gloom.

  “However, right now, that’s the reason why saving Sinker became difficult. The corridor crystal that Kibaou used was made by marking a spot rather deep in that he got through to, as he ran here and there, away from the monsters… Sinker is probably at the tip of that marked spot. It’s not quite impossible for me to handle the monsters there if it’s one-on-one, but consecutive battles would be totally hopeless. —I apologise, but the two of you will…”

  “Ah, well, if it’s around the sixtieth floor…”

  “We should be able to handle it somehow.”

  Following up on Kirito’s statement, Asuna nodded. For the dungeon on the sixtieth floor, a level of 70 was needed to amply clear it, but Asuna had currently reached level 87, while Kirito’s had easily exceeded 90. With that, it should be possible to break through the dungeon even while protecting Yui, and she released the tension in her shoulders with relief. However, Yuriel continued her speech without changing her anxious-looking expression.

  “…Also, there’s another matter of concern. It’s information gotten from the players who participated in the advance party, but deep in the dungeon… a humongous monster was sighted; something at the rank of a boss…”

  “…”

  Asuna exchanged glances with Kirito.

  “The boss might be that one from around sixtieth floor… How was the boss from there again?”

  “Eh, well, I believe… it was something like an armored warrior formed from stone.”

  “Ah, that one, huh. …It wasn’t too hard, if I’m not wrong…”

  Facing towards Yuriel, she gave another nod.

  “Well, as for that, we should probably be able to handle it as well.”

  “In that case, I’m relieved!”

  Yuriel finally slackened her jaws, and continued her words while squinting, as though she was looking at something dazzling.

  “That’s right… The both of you have always experienced boss battles… I’m sorry, to take up your precious time…”

  “No, we’re on break right now, after all.”

  Asuna flustered, waving her hands.

  As they exchanged those conversations, the form of a huge building, shining with a black luster, began appearing in the streets beyond them. It was the largest establishment of the Starting City, the «Black Iron Castle». In the hall right after entering through the main gate, the «Monument of Life», with the names of every player listed on it, was erected there, and although anyone could enter up till that point, most of the deeper grounds inside were completely under the control of the Army.

  Yuriel did not head for the main entrance to the castle, moving around to the back. The high castle walls, and the deep moat encircling it, denying intruders, continued on forever. There was absolutely no human traffic.

  After walking on for several minutes, the place where Yuriel came to a stop, was a stairway that descended from the road, down towards somewhere close to the water’s surface of the moat. Peering in, there was a dark passage wide open, on the right side at the tip of the stairs.

  “We will enter the castle’s sewers from here, and head for the entrance to the dungeon. It might be a little dark and narrow though…”

  Yuriel cut off her words there, glancing at Yui, within Kirito’s arms, with concern. With that, Yui scowled as though she was upset,

  “Yui isn’t scared!”

  and insisted so. A smile unintentionally leaked from Asuna, as she looked at the situation.

  To Yuriel, Yui was explained with nothing more than a, “We’re living together.” She did not try to pry into anything beyond that, but she probably had reservations about bringing her along to the dungeon, as expected.

  Asuna spoke as to alleviate her worries.

  “It’s alright; this child is much more alert than she appears, after all.”

  “Yep. She will definitely become a fine swordswoman in the future.”

  With Kirito’s remark, Asuna exchanged glances with him and smiled, and Yuriel gave a deep nod.

  “Well then, let’s go!”

  “Nuooooo”

  And the sword gripped by the right hand cut through the monster with a slash,

  “Ryaaaaaaa”

  And the sword gripped by the left hand blew it away with a bang.

  Equipping two swords for the first time in a while, Kirito released all the energy saved up from his holiday, laying waste to the swarms of enemies without pause, one after another. Asuna, holding onto Yui’s hand, and Yuriel, gripping onto her metal whip, had no chance to do anything at all. Each time the groups of enemies, comprising of huge frog-type monsters covered in slime, crayfish-type monsters carrying onto pincers of a black sheen, and such appeared, what assaulted them with reckless fury were the swords from the left and right, tearing through everything surrounding them, finishing the enemies off.

  Asuna’s mind just went, “Oh, geez,” but Yuriel gazed upon Kirito’s berserker-style with wonder, her mouth agape. It was probably a spectacle much too different from her knowledge of combat. With Yui cheering on with an innocent “Papa, do your best”, the tension in the air evaporated even further.

  Dozens of minutes had passed since heading from the dark and moist underground water supply, until invading this dungeon made from black stones. It was more wide, deep and filled with monsters than expected, but with Kirito breaking the game balance, swinging around his pair of swords with vigor, the two swordswomen suffered from nearly zero fatigue.

  “We… Well, I’m a little sorry about this, leaving it all to you…”

  Towards the apologetic-looking Yuriel, with her head bowed down, Asuna replied with a wry smile.

  “No, that thing’s already enthralled, after all… It’s fine just letting him do everything.”

  “Hey, what’s with that, that’s horrible.”

  Kirito, back from devastating the group, sulked as Asuna’s words reached his ears.

  “Want to switch, then?”

  “…Ju- just a bit more.”

  Asuna and Yuriel ended up smiling as they met each other’s glances.

  After the silver-haired whip user waved her left hand, displaying the map, she pointed out the glowing point that represented a friend marker, showing Sinker’s present position. As she did not have the map to the dungeon, the path towards the glowing point was blank, but they had already shortened seventy percent of the total distance.

  “Sinker’s position hadn’t moved for several days. I believe that he should probably be in a safe area. If we’re able to reach all the way there, we can just use crystals to withdraw, so… I’m sorry, I’ll be counting on you for just a little longer.”

  Yuriel lowered her head, and Kirito frantically waved his hands.

  “N- No, we’re doing it because we want to, and there’s items dropping as well, so…”

  “Oh?”

  Asuna asked in return by reflex.

  “Did something good drop?”

  “Yup.”

  Kirito nimbly manipulated the window, and a dark red meat appeared from its surface with a clacking sound. Asuna’s face froze, thinking about how grotesque it must feel.

  “Wha… Just what is that?”

  “Frog
meat! You’ll definitely say that its tastiness is comparable to its strangeness, so be sure to cook it later.”

  “I. Won’t. Do it!!”

  Asuna shouted out, and opened up her window as well. Accessing the inventory shared with Kirito, she dragged the character string going, «Scavenger Meat x24», and mercilessly tossed it onto the trash bin mark.

  “Ah! Aaaaaa…”

  Looking upon the utterly dejected-looking Kirito speaking in a bitter tone, Yuriel could not help but end up laughing, holding onto her stomach, even as she tried to stifle it. At that moment,

  “Big sis, you finally laughed!”

  Yui cried out delightedly. She too, grinned broadly.

  Looking at that, it took Asuna back— recalling what had happened back then. The day before, the time Yui went into spasms was also right after the children had all laughed together, having repelled those guys from the Army. It seems that the girl had a unique sensitivity towards the smiles of people around her. Whether that was the personality she was born with, or perhaps due all the painful feelings she had suffered till now— Asuna instinctively held up Yui in her arms, hugging her closely. She swore within her heart, that she will always smile when beside this child.

  “Well, let’s go on!”

  To Asuna’s voice, the party stepped forth, heading ever further into the depths.

  The groups of monsters mainly made up of aquatic-based creatures from the time they entered the dungeon changed into those from the specter family, such as zombies and ghosts, as they descended the stairs, sending intense chills down Asuna’s heart, but Kirito’s pair of swords continued slaughtering the appearing enemies in mere instants, not showing the slightest hint of hesitation.

  Normally, it is not quite well-regarded for a high levelled player to go wild in a hunting field far below theirs, but there was no need to mind about that this time, as there weren’t even anyone else there. If there was time available, it would be a chance to work towards levelling up Yuriel, who was content being the support, but rescuing Sinker takes precedence in the present.

  In the two hours that passed in the blink of an eye, the distance between the current position displayed on the map, and where Sinker’s location was, thought to be the safe zone, steadily narrowed down.

  It was completely unknown just how many had already been downed, as Kirito’s swords blew that particular black skeleton swordsman into pieces, and they finally caught sight of a passage glimmering with warm light just beyond there.

  “Ah, it’s the safe zone!”

  As Asuna spoke, Kirito nodded as well, having confirmed with his detection skill.

  “There’s a player alone inside. It’s safe.”

  “Sinker!”

  Yuriel shouted out and ran with her metal armour clinking, unable to hold herself back any longer. Kirito lowered his two swords and hurried behind her, along with Asuna holding onto Yui.

  Running towards the light, as they went through the road that bended to the right for several seconds, a large fork in the road and beyond that, a small room, soon came into view.

  To their eyes, accustomed to the darkness, the room was filled with light bright enough to blind them, and a single man stood in the entranceway. His face was shaded due to the backlight, but he was wildly waving his arms in their direction.

  “Yurieeel!!”

  The moment he confirmed the figures, the man roared out her name. Yuriel waved her left hand as well, running ever quicker.

  “Sinkeeer!!”

  As if his voice was mixed with tears, the man’s cry—

  “Don’t come any closeeer!! That road is…!!”

  On hearing that, Asuna slowed down her pace, startled. But it did not seem to have reached Yuriel’s ears. She was rushing straight towards the room.

  In that moment.

  Several metres before the room, in the blind spot on the right side, on the path intersecting the road that the three were running through, an unexpected single yellow cursor appeared. Asuna promptly checked the name. The display was «The Fatal-scythe»—

  With the meaning of a scythe that decides fate, it had the defining “The” attached to it. The proof of a boss monster.

  “Nooo!! Yuriel-san, get back!!”

  Asuna screamed. The yellow cursor smoothly moved towards the left, closing in towards the intersection of the crossroads. At this rate, Yuriel will run into it at the crossing. There were barely seconds left.

  “Ku-!!”

  Suddenly, Kirito who had been running on Asuna’s left seemed to— have vanished. In reality, he had dashed off at a tremendous speed. The surrounding walls quivered with the sound of that impact.

  He travelled several meters with a force at the level of teleportation, and as Kirito held onto Yuriel from behind her with his right hand, he thrust the sword in his left into the bedrock with all his might. A tremendous metallic sound. Countless sparks. An urgent brake enough to burn the very air, in the space in front of the pair that barely managed to stop before the crossroads, the ground roared as it tremored, and a gigantic black shadow crossed.

  The yellow cursor that lunged into the passage on the left stopped after roughly ten meters. The monster of unknown stature coolly changed its direction, and appeared to charge in once again.

  Kirito released Yuriel, and withdrawing the sword he pierced into the floor, he jumped into the left passage. Asuna followed behind frantically.

  Shaking Yuriel, who had fell due to shock, back to her senses, she pushed her towards the opposite side of the crossing. Letting Yui down from her arms and entrusting her with Yuriel, Asuna left a short call.

  “Please retreat into the safe zone with this child!”

  The whip-user nodded with her face white, and having confirmed that she carried Yui towards the room, Asuna drew her rapier as she turned to the left.

  The sight of Kirito’s back, staying still in his dual blades stance, entered her vision. What laid further in— was a being of two and a half meters, a humanoid silhouette clad in flapping black robes.

  Within the hood, the arms peeking out from the cuffs, were darkness, corporeal and wriggling as they coiled about. Within its murky face, all that occupied it were a pair of energetic eyeballs, their blood vessels visible, looking down at the couple. It wielded a huge black scythe in its right hand. From the edge of that cruel curve, viscid red blots trickled down, drop by drop. As a whole, it had a figure just like that of the supposed god of death.

  The death god’s eyeballs swirled around, and looked straight at Asuna. At that moment, chills ran through her entire body, as though her heart was gripped by pure fear.

  But its level should not be too much to deal with.

  With that thought in her head, the moment she readied her rapier once again, Kirito spoke coarsely, standing in front of her.

  “Asuna, get those three at the safe zone and escape with a crystal now.”

  “Eh…?”

  “This guy’s bad. Even my identification skill couldn’t find any data on it. In terms of power, it probably ranks among the ninety floor’s.”

  “…?”

  Asuna lost her breath and stiffened up as well. Even in those moments, the death god gradually moved through the air, closing in on the pair.

  “I’ll stall for some time, so hurry up and get out of here!!”

  “Ki- Kirito too, we should both…”

  “I’ll go after you! Hurry…!!”

  Even if the teleport crystal is a last resort measure for retreating, it is not an all-powerful tool. Between gripping the crystal, designating the destination, and actually completing the teleportation, there is a time lag of several seconds. If one were to receive an attack from a monster in that period of time, the teleportation will be cancelled. When the chain of command breaks down in parties, with people retreating purely to suit their own convenience popping up, the reason why the rest become casualties, unable to even stall for enough time to teleport, is due to this.

  Asuna was
at a loss. Even if the four of them teleport first, with Kirito’s running ability, he might be able to outrun the boss to reach the safe zone. However, the charging speed shown by the boss earlier was truly terrifying. If perhaps— she were to escape first, and after that, he doesn’t appear. That was a thought she could not bear.

  Asuna took a glance at the depths of the road on the right.

  —Sorry, Yui-chan. Even though I said that we’ll be together…

  Whispering so within her heart, she shouted out.

  “Yuriel-san, I’ll leave Yui to you! Please escape together, you three!”

  Yuriel shook her head, her expression frozen.

  “I won’t allow it… something like that…”

  “Hurry!!”

  It was then. The death god, swaying its wielded scythe, started charging with startling vigor, miasma spreading from the hem of its robes.

  Kirito crossed the swords in his hands, taking up an imposing stance before Asuna. Asuna frantically clung onto that back, meeting Kirito’s two swords with the one in her right hand. The death god, without a care for the three swords, swung the scythe down, aiming above the couple’s heads.

  A red flash. An impact.

  Asuna felt herself spinning round and round. Firstly, she was thrown onto the ground, then crashing into the ceiling on the rebound, and falling back down onto the ground once again. Her breathing stopped, and her field of vision began turning to darkness.

  Her consciousness hazy, she checked Kirito and her own HP bars, both of them had half shaved away from that single hit. The merciless yellow indicator conveyed the inability to survive the next attack. She has to get back up. That’s what she thinks, but her body can’t move—

  —And, at that moment.

  Short step after short step, she heard those soft footsteps close to her ears. Shifting her sight bewildered, childlike steps, like those of a kitten, advancing forward without a care for the impending danger, entered her vision.

  Slender hands and feet. Long, black hair. It was Yui, who should have been in the safe zone behind. Possessing a gaze without the slightest trace of fear, she stared straight at the gigantic god of death.