“Well, if it’s equivalent to the sixtieth floor…”
“I think we can handle ourselves.” Asuna finished Kirito’s sentence. Delving into the sixtieth-floor dungeon with a proper safety margin meant being at least Level 70. Asuna was presently at Level 87, and Kirito was more than 90. They would probably be able to clear the dungeon while protecting Yui at the same time, a thought that relieved her. But Yuriel still showed concern.
“All right, but…there’s one other thing that worries me. According to one of the members of that advance party, there was a giant monster deep in the dungeon…A boss-level encounter.”
“…”
Asuna and Kirito shared a look.
“Do you suppose the boss is also equivalent to the sixtieth floor? What was the boss on that one?”
“I think…that was the armored samurai guy made out of stone.”
“Oh, that one…It wasn’t too tough, was it?”
They turned to Yuriel and nodded.
“I think we’ll be able to handle it.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful to hear!”
Yuriel finally allowed herself a smile, her eyes squinting as though staring into something bright.
“So you’ve actually been through boss fights before…I’m so sorry to have taken your valuable time like this…”
“It’s okay, we’re on leave now,” Asuna hastily clarified.
As their conversation went on, a massive, gleaming black structure came into view ahead. It was Blackiron Palace, the largest building in the Town of Beginnings. Right inside the front door was a chamber containing the Monument of Life, the epitaph that contained the names of all the players inside the game. Anyone was free to visit this entry chamber, but the Army had complete control of everything beyond it.
Yuriel guided them not into the front entrance of the palace but around the back. The tall castle walls and deep moat that kept out intruders were uniform around the length of the perimeter. Not a single soul passed them on the street.
After several minutes of walking, Yuriel stopped at a staircase that ran from the street down to the surface of the moat water. Peering over, they saw that the stairs led not to the water’s edge but down into a dark hallway cut into the stone slope.
“This leads to the sewers beneath the palace, which is where we’ll find the entrance to the dungeon. I’m afraid it’s rather dark and cramped…” She trailed off, glancing with concern at Yui, still in Kirito’s arms. Yui grimaced and piped up, affronted.
“I’m not scared!”
Asuna couldn’t help but giggle.
The only thing they’d told Yuriel about Yui was that she was “living with them.” Yuriel didn’t pry any further, but she was clearly uncertain about bringing the girl into a dangerous dungeon.
Asuna hastened to reassure her. “Don’t worry. She’s much tougher than she seems.”
“Yep. She’ll be a great warrior one day,” Kirito added, laughing as he met Asuna’s glance. Yuriel nodded in satisfaction.
“Let’s get going, then!”
“Nwaaaah!”
The sword in his right hand slashed straight through the monster.
“Ryaaaa!”
The sword in his left knocked it flying.
In his first use of Dual Blades in quite some time, Kirito was unleashing on their hapless foes all the pent-up energy that had accumulated during his vacation time. There was no room for Asuna, who was holding Yui’s hand, or Yuriel and her metal whip. Each time they met a group of giant frogs with slimy skin or crayfish with massive gleaming pincers, Kirito rushed forward with reckless abandon, his swirling limbs creating a gale of destruction that decimated everything in its path.
Asuna could only sigh in exasperation, but Yuriel’s eyes and mouth were gaping as she witnessed Kirito’s berserk performance. It must have been a sight completely beyond her experience in battle. Yui’s cheerful chants of “Good luck, Papa” only made the scene more comical.
A few dozen minutes had passed since they’d entered the black stone dungeon from the dark, dank sewers. It was larger, deeper, and more populated with monsters than they’d expected, but thanks to Kirito’s game-breaking Dual Blades, the two women weren’t tired in the least.
“I…I’m sorry. Now it feels like I’m just having you do all the dirty work,” Yuriel muttered apologetically. Asuna grinned weakly.
“No, trust me, he’s just…sick. Let him get it out of his system.”
“Wow, that was mean.” Kirito’s ears pricked up as he returned from slaughtering his latest batch of victims. “Want to switch places, then?”
“In a little bit.”
Asuna and Yuriel looked at each other, grinning.
The silver-haired whipmaster waved a hand to bring up her map and pointed out the flashing friend marker that indicated Thinker’s location. Because they didn’t have the map for the dungeon, the space between them and Thinker was blank, but they’d already covered at least 70 percent of the distance.
“Thinker’s location has not moved for several days. I believe he’s inside a safe area. If we can just reach him, we’ll be able to teleport him out…Thanks for your help. We’re almost there.”
Kirito hurriedly waved his hands in supplication when Yuriel bowed to him.
“N-no, really, I’m doing it for the fun of it. Plus there are the items…”
“Oh?” Asuna spoke up. “Find anything worthwhile?”
“Yep.”
Kirito quickly zipped through his menu and soon, a reddish-black chunk of meat appeared with a splat. Asuna pulled away from the grotesque blob.
“Ugh…what is that?”
“Frog meat! They say the grossest stuff can be the tastiest sometimes. Can you cook it for me?”
“Eww! No way!!” she screamed, opening her own window. She and Kirito shared an inventory, and she quickly scanned it until she found an entry labeled SCAVENGE TOAD MEAT X24, then dragged it into the trash icon.
“What? Nooooo…”
Kirito’s piteous wail sent Yuriel doubling over, clutching her stomach with laughter. Yui piped up in that instant, beaming happily. “She finally laughed!”
Asuna thought back and realized it was true. Yui’s spasms yesterday had happened just after they’d driven off the Army soldiers and brought the children to laughs and cheers. It was as though the little girl was especially sensitive to laughter somehow. Did it have something to do with her original personality, or had her trauma done this to her? Asuna lifted Yui up and hugged her tightly. She swore that she would give the girl as many laughs as she could take.
“Let’s keep moving!”
And farther into the depths they went.
When they’d first entered the dungeon, most of the monsters they had encountered were aquatic creatures, but the deeper they delved, the more undead they ran across: zombies, ghosts, and the like. Those sent a chill through Asuna’s chest, but Kirito’s two swords instantly sent the spirits to an eternal rest.
Normally it was considered poor behavior for a player to rampage freely through an area below his or her recommended level, but with no one around to offend, they were free to do as they pleased. If time had permitted, Asuna might have suggested allowing Yuriel to play a supporting role so that she could gain valuable experience and level up, but Thinker’s rescue was their primary goal.
Two hours passed in a blink, and in that time the distance between their location and the potential safe area where they would find Thinker was closing slowly but steadily. After the umpteenth black skeleton warrior had fallen to Kirito’s blades, they spotted a corridor filled with warm, inviting light.
“A-ha! The safety zone!” Asuna cried. Kirito ran a Search skill check and nodded.
“There’s one player inside. It’s green.”
“Thinker!”
Yuriel leaped forward, her metal armor clanking, unable to hold herself back. Kirito and Asuna hurried after her, swords and scion still clutched in their hands.
They ran down the hallway toward the source of the light, curving to the right until they reached a large intersection. A small room was visible on the other end of it.
The room’s light was nearly blinding after their eyes had been so accustomed to the gloom of the dungeon, but they could see a man standing inside it. The backlight prevented them from seeing his face, but he was waving his arms at them wildly.
“Yurieeeel!!”
He shouted as soon as he recognized her. Yuriel returned his wave and began running faster.
“Thinkerrr!!”
The tears were audible in her voice, but his next scream drowned her out.
“Stay back!! The corridor is—!”
Asuna warily slowed her pace, but Yuriel did not hear him. She was racing directly for the lit room.
The next instant—
A single yellow cursor appeared from the right side of the blind intersection, just a few meters before the safe room. Asuna quickly checked the name that appeared: THE FATAL SCYTHE.
It was a unique name with a definitive “the” before it—the mark of a boss monster.
“Yuriel, stop! Come back!!” she screamed. The yellow cursor slid left, approaching the intersection. It was going to collide with the woman. They had only a few seconds left.
“Ksh!!”
Suddenly, Kirito, who had been running ahead at Asuna’s left, vanished…or so it seemed. But he’d actually sped forward with blinding speed, a shock wave rattling off the walls.
He practically blinked across the remaining meters, grabbing Yuriel from behind with his right hand and plunging his left-hand sword into the paving stones. There was an enormous metal screech. Sparks flew. They’d stopped just before the open intersection so quickly that the air practically burned. In the next instant, a massive black shadow rumbling past crossed that empty space.
The yellow cursor shot about ten meters down the left corridor before stopping. The unseen creature slowly turned around and appeared to ready itself for another charge.
Kirito let go of Yuriel and pulled his sword from the stones before taking off down that left branch. Asuna hurried after him.
She helped the dazed Yuriel to her feet and pushed her across the intersection, then plopped Yui into Yuriel’s arms.
“Take her into the safe area with you!”
The whipmaster nodded, her face pale, then picked up Yui and headed for the light. Satisfied, Asuna drew her rapier and turned back to the left corridor.
Before her was Kirito’s back, his two swords drawn. Beyond him was a large, vaguely human silhouette in a tattered black robe, hovering two and a half meters tall.
The inside of the hood and the arms extended from the sleeves were squirming with a dense darkness. Two bulging, bloodshot eyes were visible within a sunken, darkened face, and they were trained directly on the humans below. The creature clutched a large black scythe in its right hand. Viscous red drops hung from the vicious curve of the weapon. It was the very image of the Grim Reaper.
The reaper’s eyeballs swiveled to stare at Asuna. A dread chill ran through her entire body, as though her heart had been gripped by terror’s hand.
It can’t be that dangerous from a statistical perspective, she told herself. But as she readied her rapier, Kirito’s ragged voice sounded from up front.
“Asuna, go back to the others in the safe area and teleport them out of here at once.”
“Huh…?”
“This one’s bad news. I can’t even see its data with my Identification skill. I think it has to be ranked for the ninetieth floor or above…”
“…?!”
Asuna swallowed hard, her body stiffening. As they talked, the reaper began weaving its way through the air toward them.
“I’ll buy us time; now go!!”
“N-no, you have to come with us…”
“I’ll be right behind you! Hurry!!”
Even a teleport crystal, the last line of defense, is not an infallible tool. The process takes several seconds, from holding the crystal to indicating a destination to the completion of the teleportation. If a monster hits the player before it finishes, the process is canceled. This inability to complete teleportation is a common cause of death when a party’s discipline breaks down and members attempt an emergency escape.
Asuna was torn. If she turned back and helped the others escape, Kirito’s legs were fast enough that he might be able to find an opportunity to turn and reach the safe area on his own. But the monster’s initial charge was frightfully quick. What if she made it out, and he never reappeared? The thought was unbearable.
Asuna glanced quickly down the right-hand corridor.
I’m sorry, Yui. I promised we’d stick together…
“Yuriel, take Yui and teleport out of here!” she shouted. Yuriel shook her head, her face frozen in horror.
“No…I can’t…”
“Hurry!!”
In the next moment, the reaper, its scythe held at the ready, plunged forward with terrible speed, dark miasma spilling from its sleeves.
Kirito crossed his swords before him, standing tall in front of Asuna. She clung desperately to his back, adding her rapier to his Dual Blades. The reaper gave no thought to their weapons, swinging its massive scythe down at their heads.
A red flash. A shock wave.
Asuna felt herself spinning round and round. She struck the floor, bounced up to smack against the ceiling, then crashed to the stones again. Her breath stopped. Her vision darkened.
In her daze, she checked their HP and saw that both had been knocked to less than half by that single hit. The unfeeling yellow bar told her that she wouldn’t survive the next such attack. I have to stand, but my body won’t move…
But the next instant—
She heard little tapping footsteps. Asuna glanced toward them with a start and saw someone running toward them like a clumsy kitten unaware of the peril it approached.
Fragile limbs. Long black hair. But Yui was supposed to be back in the safe area. She looked up at the giant reaper without an ounce of fear in her eyes.
“No! Get out of the way!!” Kirito screamed, desperately trying to raise himself off the ground. The creature was slowly raising its heavy scythe again. If Yui was caught in its wide swing path, her HP would certainly be wiped out entirely. Asuna tried to shout, to call out a warning, but her mouth was frozen.
In the next moment, however, something impossible happened.
“It’s all right, Papa, Mama.”
Yui’s body floated up into midair.
She didn’t jump. It was a graceful motion, as though she were beating invisible wings, until she came to a stop two meters off the ground. Her right hand, so very tiny, was raised up high.
“No…No, Yui! You have to get out of here!”
But Asuna’s scream was drowned out by the reaper’s massive scythe, which came mercilessly downward with a visible trail of reddish-black light. As the wickedly sharp point came into contact with Yui’s pure white palm—
It met a brilliant purple barrier and bounced back with a massive blast. Asuna stared with astonishment at the system tag that floated around Yui’s hand.
IMMORTAL OBJECT. A designation for in-game elements that could not be killed—an impossible status for a player.
The black reaper’s eyes bulged and swiveled as though baffled by this unexpected outcome. The next moment, something even more shocking occurred.
With a fwoom!, crimson flames swirled around Yui’s outstretched hand. They burst outward for a moment before contracting into an elongated rectangular shape. Within moments, the shape had refined itself into a massive blade. A gleaming edge materialized within the flames, extending, extending…
The sword in Yui’s little hand easily eclipsed her own height. The dank corridor was lit by the gleam of the blade, like a metal just before it melted. Yui’s thick winter clothes burned away in an instant, as though enveloped in the blade’s fire. Beneath those charred remains, she was wear
ing her original white one-piece dress. Mysteriously enough, both the dress and her long black hair showed no signs of being affected by the flame.
The giant sword, longer than she was tall, rotated once…
And without a moment of hesitation, Yui plunged toward the black reaper, her blade tracing a path of fire.
The boss monster was only a system procedure, acting on simple algorithms, but it seemed as though those bulging, bloodshot eyes were filled with fear.
Yui rocketed through the air, clad in a vortex of flames. The reaper held its scythe in front of itself, taking a defensive posture as though it feared the tiny girl. Yui met it head-on, swinging her enormous, blazing sword.
The fiery blade connected with the horizontal hilt of the scythe. For an instant, both figures stopped.
But Yui’s sword immediately returned to life. As though cutting through solid metal with impossible heat, the glowing weapon slowly bit through the scythe. Yui’s hair and dress and the reaper’s robe were blown backward so powerfully they threatened to rip away. Occasional spark clouds, bursting to life, lit the dim dungeon in harsh orange light.
Eventually, the reaper’s scythe went bwoom and split cleanly in two. An instant later, the pillar of fire that was Yui’s weapon smashed directly into the boss’s face, unleashing all of its pent-up energy.
“Hng…!!”
Asuna and Kirito had to narrow their eyes and cover their faces at the power of the ensuing fireball. At the same time that Yui brought down the blade vertically, the fireball burst, enveloping the massive creature in a crimson whirlpool that carried it down the hallway. Behind the roar of the blast was the dying screech of the monster.
When they opened their eyes again, the boss was gone. Tiny flames licked the stones here and there, sputtering remnants of the prior inferno. In the midst of all that stood Yui, head down. Her blade was resting on the ground, point down, melting back into flames the way it had materialized.