Sword Art Online - Volume 9 - Alicization Beginning

  “Oi, look up! What’s going on today? Another 2 white Ium brats came running here!”

  At the same time, there were cackles, *gigi*, *gigi*, coming from all over the dome. From the nearest one, the goblins all raised their machetes and stood up, giving off hungry looks.

  “WHAT DO WE DO~? DO WE TAKE THEM AWAY AS WELL!?”

  A goblin shouted initially. At this moment, the roar could be heard from behind, and all the goblins stopped laughing. From amidst the monsters, there was a goblin that was twice as large as the other goblins, looking like an officer-class.

  This guy was equipped with scale mail, and the forehead had a decorative feather that was of primary colors. The eyes that had a tinge of red below the feather let out an overwhelming evil and icy cold-like intellect that could cause anyone to faint. The goblin leader smirked and bared its yellow untidy teeth before saying in a hoarse voice,

  “We won’t earn much even if we take the male Ium. Too much of a hassle. Let’s just kill them all and turn them into meat.”

  Kill.

  To what extent should I accept this term? I was lost.

  I should be able to take away the possibility of real death here, where my physical body would actually take a fatal blow. These goblins couldn’t possibly hurt my physical body lying in the STL in the real world.

  But even so, I couldn’t assume that this would be the same as an ordinary VRMMO and think that it would be just a bad status. That’s because, in this world, there was no revival magic or items that existed —other than the Central area of the Church. If I got killed by them here, this «Kirito» will most likely meet his end.

  Then, if I died, what would have happened to me, the consciousness of the main body?

  Would I have woken up in the Roppongi headquarters of RATH, and had the operator Higa Takeru hand me a drink while saying ‘you’ve worked hard’? Or would I have gotten awake in that forest alone? Or would I became a bodiless soul that can only watch this world being destroyed?

  Also, in this situation— what would became of the fates of Eugeo and Selka if they died here?

  Unlike me, who had this «personal medium» that was my brain, they, Fluctlights who were kept inside some sort of large memory installation, may disappear completely once they died… that sort of thing was possible, right?

  Oh yeah… Selka, where was she?

  I interrupted my thoughts and focused on the scene in front of her.

  As according to the instructions of the goblin leader, the four henchmen dragged their machetes as they walked over to us, slowly, carefreely, baring their teeth and cackling, looking like they really intended to kill us.

  The other goblins, that totalled more than 20, showed excited expressions, all cackling with delight, *gigi*. Behind them, I finally found the one I was looking for. I couldn’t see clearly in the darkness, but Selka, in her black nun habit, was lying on a crude cart. Her body was tied up with a straw rope, her eyes closed tightly, but her expression looked like she should have just passed out.

  If I remembered clearly, the goblin leader just now had said that male «Ium» —possibly referring to humans— couldn’t be sold even if they’re taken back, so they’ll be killed.

  On the other hand, the girl would be sold. They intended to kidnap Selka, take her back to the land of darkness and sell her as goods. If this continued without us doing anything, Eugeo and I would likely be killed, but the fate that awaited Selka would be even crueller. I couldn’t just give up and let it become a part of simulation, absolutely not. She, like me, was a human— and just a 12-year-old girl at that.

  In that case, what I should do—

  “There’s only one choice.”

  I muttered. Beside me, the frozen body of Eugeo moved.

  We had to save Selka no matter what, even if I had to sacrifice my temporary life.

  Of course, it wasn’t that simple. The difference in battle strength was too great. While the 30 goblins were all equipped with machetes and armor equipment, we didn’t even have a stick in hand. But even so, we had to go. What led to this situation were my careless words in the first place.

  “Eugeo.”

  I stared in front and quickly whispered.

  “Listen up. We’re going to save Selka. Don’t move.”

  “Got it.” I immediately heard the response. Just as what I expected, the heart within him was rather strong.

  “I’ll count to three, and then we’ll knock down those four at the front to break through them. Our sizes are different, and we’ll definitely succeed if we’re not scared. I’ll take the left, you take the right, and we’ll throw the fires into the lake. Don’t throw away the lit grass. Once the flames are out, pick up a sword from the ground and cover my back. Don’t think of trying to beat them. I’ll use this chance to deal with the big one.”

  “…I’ve never swung a sword before.”

  “It’s similar to the axe. Let’s go… one, two, three!”

  We were on ice, but Eugeo and I didn’t slip as we ran at the fastest speed we could muster. We kept praying that this luck would continue till the end, and I roared out from the bottom of my abdomen.

  “UWOOOOHHHH!!!”

  Eugeo was slower by a bit as he shouted “WAAAAAHHHH!!!’ It sounded like a scream, but it did seem to be effective as the 4 goblins widened their yellowish-green eyes. However, they probably weren’t stunned by the shouts, but by the fact that the «Ium brats» lunged at them.

  I ran 10 paces, kept my body down and aimed for the leftmost goblin and the one beside it. My right shoulder lunged right over. Maybe it was the unexpected action and the correction effect of the difference in size that the two goblins turned twice and skidded off on the ice. I looked aside, and Eugeo’s hit succeeded beautifully as the goblins rolled aside like turtle shells rolling.

  I continued to run as I charged and accelerated towards the goblin circle. Likely, these guys didn’t seem to have much response ability as all of them could only look over blankly without standing up at all, including the leader.

  Yes. Just stay around like that and don’t move! I prayed as if I was scolding them as I ran past the gaps between the goblins and dashed across the last few meters.

  At that moment, the goblin leader, who seemed to have a slightly higher intelligence than the rest, roared angrily,

  “DON’T LET THEM GET NEAR THE FIRE—”

  But he was a little late. Eugeo and I rushed to the fires and kicked them to the water surface. A large amount of firedust scattered around as the two large bonfire sank into the black water surface, leaving behind a *syuuu* sound as they were put out with a pile of white steam.

  The dome was immediately in complete darkness for a moment— and then, a faint bluish-white light scattered the darkness. It was the light on the bristlegrass that Eugeo was holding with his left hand.

  At that moment, two lucky things happened.

  The goblins surrounding us all screamed out, some covering their faces and some turning their backs. I looked over and saw that even the goblin leader facing the lake was bending his upper body back and using his left hand to cover its eyes.

  “Kirito… this is…?”

  Eugeo whispered in surprise. I simply answered him.

  “Most likely…these guys are scared of this light. Now’s our chance!”

  From the weapons placed messily around the lake, I took out a crude straight sword that looked like a large metal sheet and a curved knife with a slightly wider volume at the front end. I put the knife in Eugeo’s hands.

  “This knife is used like an axe. Listen, use the bristlegrass’ light to hold them off and chase off the guys closing in.”

  “Ki…Kirito?”

  “I’ll take that one down.”

  I simply answered and looked at the goblin leader that was glaring angrily from through the gaps between the fingers covering his face. I held the straight sword with both hands and quickly swung it left and right. Unlike its appearance, it felt a little dull, but
it was a lot better than the Sword of Blue Rose that was overly heavy.

  “GURAAH! YOU IUM BRAT…YOU DARE TO TAKE ON THIS «LIZARD KILLER UGACHI»-SAMA!?”

  The leader glared at me with one eye and closed in on me as it roared, drawing the large machete at its waist with its right hand. The pitch black blade had blood that seemed to show signs of rust on it, giving an abnormal pressure.

  Can I beat him—!?

  Facing this enemy who wasn’t tall, but a lot heavier and more muscular than me, I panicked for an instant. However, I immediately gritted my teeth and moved forward. If I didn’t beat this guy and save Selka, it would became a situation in which I have brought about the worst fate to her when I came to this world. Size wasn’t a problem. In the Former Aincrad, I had had countless battles against enemies 3-4 times larger than me under the condition that I would really die if I lost.

  “NO! I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE YOU ON! —I’M GOING TO OVERCOME YOU!”

  I shouted, partly directed at the leader and partly directed at myself as I immediately dashed through the remaining distance.

  My left foot took a large step forward, using the sword to slash down at the left shoulder of enemy diagonally.

  I didn’t underestimate the enemy, but the goblin leader’s reaction was a lot faster than what I had imagined. It ignored my attack pattern and swung its machete horizontally. I kept my body down and barely managed to dodge it. I felt that my some of my hair touched it since it felt like they were ripped off. My sword hit home, but only shattered the metallic shoulder armor.

  I would have been overwhelmed by force if I stopped. Having such a thought, I kept my center of gravity low and moved beside the enemy, aiming for the opened flank of the abdomen before swinging a horizontal attack. This time was the same as well. Even though I had the feeling, I couldn’t break through the simple scale mail, and only managed to send maybe 5-6 sheets of metal flying.

  SHARPEN YOUR OWN SWORD PROPERLY! I told off the owner of the sword in my heart, dodging the counterattacking strike that came swinging down from above. The thick blade of the machete pierced through the ice floor on the ground, and I shuddered in fear of the goblin’s arm muscles.

  I definitely couldn’t handle this if I simply used single attacks. I made this decision, and while the goblin recovered from its frozen stiff state, I took a huge step forward and launched my counterattack. My body started to move on its own in a semi-automatic manner as it once again moved in a similar way to the countless moved it did in other words, the killer technique called «Sword Skills».

  At this moment, a phenomenon I had never imagined before happened.

  My sword let out a very weak light that still remained. At the same time, my body flashed through at a speed that far exceeded the physics of this world. It was as if someone was pushing me with an invisible hand from behind.

  The first strike that came swinging upwards from the bottom right position grazed past the enemy’s left leg and stopped his motion.

  The second strike that swung from left to right horizontally sliced the chest plate of the armor and made a light cut on the flesh inside.

  The third strike that quickly swung down from the top right side sliced apart the left arm the enemy raised to defend himself from slightly below the elbow.

  The fresh blood that came out from the sliced off surface was shown as pitch black under the bluish-white light. The left arm of the goblin that flew off, *kurukuru* fell into the lake on the left side, letting out a heavy water splash.

  —I won!

  As I firmly believed this, I was thoroughly shocked.

  That attack just now… the three-continuous-strikes sword skill for one-handed swords, «Sharp Nail», wasn’t just an appearance, but in fact it really happened. In the midst of slashing, the blade let out red trajectories in the air, and my body was accelerated by an invisible force. In other words, it was «System Assist» by a «Light Effect».

  In other words, in this world, Underworld, sword skills really existed. The sword skills were installed into the system of the boosted world. ‘Recreation of imagination’ couldn’t explain this phenomenon. I almost didn’t realize that the skill I released was one. The system detected my initial motions and let out the sword skill through assist to correct my actions. If not, such a phenomenon couldn’t have happened.

  But if that was the case, there was a new question.

  Yesterday, I used the single sword skill «Horizontal» with the «Sword of Blue Rose» in order to cut down the demonic tree Gigas Cedar. That was an elementary skill that was a lot easier than «Sharp Nail»— just an ordinary swing. However, the system never helped me. The sword didn’t glow, and my body didn’t accelerate. The blade missed its target, and I fell in an awkward manner.

  However, why was I able to use a sword skill at this moment? Was it because this was a real battle? But how did the system decide whether the player was seriously battling…?

  As I made this thought, I blinked. In the old SAO, there wasn’t much of an opening. I would be still after doing a continuous skill, and the enemy, having been greatly hurt, would be unable to move for the time being.

  But— in this world, even with the sword skills, it isn’t a VRMMO game. I foolishly forgot about that.

  The goblin leader with its left arm sliced off was different from the polygon monsters, as it did not stop for even a moment. Its flashing yellow eyes didn’t show any signs of fear nor emptiness, just overwhelming hatred inside. The pitch black blood flowed out from the wound as a scalding roar—

  “GAUUAAAA!!!”

  And quickly swung the machete in its right hand.

  I couldn’t dodge the incoming heavy blade that was flying horizontally in time. The area near the tip grazed my left shoulder, and the pressure alone sent me flying by more than 2m as my back landed hard on the icy surface.

  At this moment, the goblin leader finally crouched down and put the machete in its mouth and used the right hand to grab onto the sliced off part of the left arm. *Misa misa* - a terrifying sound could be heard. The goblin leader forcefully crushed the flesh to stop the bleeding. Its actions obviously weren’t of the standard kind of AI. Yes… I had noticed it the moment that thing declared its name to be «Ugachi». This wasn’t a battle between player and monster, but two people wielding weapons trying to kill each other.

  “Kirito! Are you hit!?”

  Slightly further away, Eugeo used his right hand to hold on to the curved knife while his left hand held onto the glowing grass to hold off the goblin’s henchmen.

  I wanted to say ‘It’s just a scratch’, but my stiff tongue couldn’t move like I thought as I nodded with a trembling voice. As I used one hand to support myself onto the icy surface as I stood up—

  A burning feeling came out from the left shoulder, feeling like it was going to burn through all my nerves. *Saka saka* - sparks appeared in my sight. I couldn’t help but cry out as my throat let out a groan.

  Such— tremendous pain!

  It was far more than my pain tolerance could handle. I couldn’t do anything other than curl myself and pant lightly. Even so, I still tried to look behind to see the damaged part of my shoulder. The sleeve on the tunic was completely ripped off, revealing a large and ugly wound on the skin. It was more like a wound ripped by a giant claw than a sword wound. The skin and the flesh under it was completely shaved off as bright-red blood continued to spurt out. My left arm was only left with a numbing hot feeling as my fingertips were unable to move, as though they didn’t belong to me.

  How could this possibly be the virtual world? I cried out inside my mind.

  The point of the so-called virtual world was to eliminate all of reality’s pains and difficulties, ugliness and filth, and achieve an environment that was clean and comfortable, right? What was the point of realistically creating such a level of pain and suffering? No— This pain was more than it would be realistically. If I had such an injury in real life, I would probably secrete brain chemicals or
end up in a coma as a defensive mechanism, right? It wasn’t possible for someone to endure such a level of pain…

  —Maybe that was not it.

  I tried hard to look away from my wound and mocked myself before changing my thoughts.

  I, this person called Kirigaya Kazuto, was completely unused to real pain. In real life, I never had any severe injuries ever since I grew up. When I was forced by grandfather to learn kendo, I quickly gave up. It was tough when I went through recuperation after SAO, but it was thanks to the most advanced training machines and supplementary medication that I didn’t have to worry about pain.

  Of course, there was nothing much to be said more about the virtual world. The Nerve Gear and AmuSphere had had a pain absorption function that could remove them almost completely, and the level it did so was such that I would wonder if it was too overprotective. Because of this, damage in battles was just a simple increase or decrease in Hit Points. Oh yeah, if such pain existed in Aincrad, I would definitely be unable to leave the Starting City.

  Underworld was a dreamland that was created, and also another reality.

  I was uncertain how many days it was before, but I could finally understand the significance of the words I said to Agil in his shop. The so-called reality referred to real pain, hardship and sorrow. Only those who could endure these things that strike them, and overcome them, could get stronger in that world. The goblin leader, no, Ugachi already understood this, and I had never thought of this before.

  At the front end of my vision, blurred by tears, Ugachi stopped the bleeding on the sliced off left arm and silently watched me. Its eyes shot out a look of utter vengeance as the surrounding air seemed to rumble. It put the machete it was biting on into its right hand and swung it. *Vun*.

  “…Such humiliation, you’ll never repay that even if I dice you up and devour you alive…however, let’s do this.”

  Ugachi swirled the machete over its head *Vun, vun* and slowly closed in. I looked away from him, watching Selka, who was lying after being tied up tightly. My mind was thinking that I had to stand up, to stand up and fight, but my body just couldn’t move. It felt like the negative impression that had developed in me had become a restraint in reality and bound me…