“I will definitely take at least one of you with me to the grave. If you are not afraid of the «Death Penality»[2], come at me.”
Lyfa said in a low voice. The salamanders on both sides were enraged by her defiance, and raised their lances. The leader controlled them by raising both of his hands and said:
“Give it up, your wings have reached the limit. We’re still flying.”
Indeed, it was as he said. In ALO, if a player on the ground is attacked by an enemy in the air, they find themselves at a complete disadvantage. Moreover, this wasn’t just one flying enemy, but three. But Lyfa would not give up. She would not hand over the money and beg for mercy.
“What a stubborn girl. Ah well, I guess it was inevitable.”
Even the leader shrugged his shoulders, prepared his lance, and took to the air. The other two Salamanders took their controllers in their left hand and followed suit.
Even facing the three lances at the same time, Lyfa prepared to fully attack the closest enemy. She focused all of her strength on her blade. The three salamanders surrounded Lyfa and she was getting ready to charge the enemy, when something unexpected occurred.
Shrubs behind them suddenly began to shake, and a shadow jumped out and tore past the Salamanders’ side, turned in the air, and after a few circuits around the clearing fell to the ground with a banging sound.
At this unexpected event, the three Salamanders and Lyfa froze for a moment then looked at the intruder.
“Arg, ouch. This is probably a crash landing.”
This voice with no tension came from a lightly dark skinned male player while standing up. His black hair stood in natural spikes, and his large eyes gave an impression of mischief. Behind him stretched dark greyish-blue wings that marked him as a member of the Spriggan race.
What was a far eastern border territory Spriggan doing in this area? While thinking that, Lyfa started checking up his equipment. Plain black tunic and trousers which is not armor, and an inferior sword – no matter how I look at it, he’s using the initial equipment. A beginner coming out to the depths of the neutral zone, what was he thinking?
No matter how you look, he was a novice. Lyfa did not want him to see this cruel hunting scene, without thinking she called out.
“What are you doing? Quickly, run away!!”
But the black boy did not move. Did he not know that players of different races are allowed, and by the rules even encouraged, to kill him? After putting something in his breast pocket with his right hand,he looked at Lyfa and then at the hovering Salamanders and said:
“Three soldiers attacking one girl, that’s a bit much isn’t it?”
“What did you say?”
This speech enraged the two Salamanders at the back. They moved to sandwich the boy from the front and rear, surrounding him while still in the air. They lowered their lances and prepared to charge.
“Damn”
Lyfa wanted to go and help, but couldn’t move carelessly because the leader was still in the sky in front of her.
“Idiot, how dare you come out here so nonchalantly? Well, just as you want, we’ll have some fun hunting you, too!”
The boy was standing in front of the Salamanders whose armor clattered as they lowered their visors. As the two Salamanders lowered their lances to charge, their wings produced a brilliant ruby light. The Salamander in front started his attack while the one behind waited for a few seconds longer, planning to take advantage of the difference in timing to kill the boy when he dodged the first attack.
It wasn’t something a newbie could cope with. I don’t want to see the moment the lances pierce through his body, Lyfa thought. She bit her lips and was about to look away, but before that.
I still couldn’t believe what happened.
With his right hand still covering the pocket, he casually stuck out his left hand and caught the tip of the lance that was aiming at his life. Light and sound rippled through the air signaling the activation of the skill: «Guard». Lyfa could not believe what she saw, surprise forcing her eyes to go wide and her jaw to drop. The boy used the Salamander’s momentum to throw him into his companion approaching from behind.
“Woo ah ah ah ah ah!”
Screams were ripped from the two Salamanders as they collided and sank to the ground in a clatter of metal.
The boy wheeled around, and while grabbing the hilt of his sword shot a puzzled look at Lyfa.
“These people, does it matter if I cut them?”
“Of course not, that was what they were planning to do to you just a moment ago.”
Lyfa answered in utter amazement.
“I see that, well, excuse me for a moment.”
The boy drew his shabby sword with his right hand, and let it hang loosely toward the ground. After saying something fairly daring, Lyfa expected him to immediately start attacking, but he didn’t move. Then, he put his left foot forward, adjusted his center of gravity and suddenly…
Boom!! The boy disappeared at the same time as some sort of sound impacted her. A sonic boom!?! Lyfa had fought against many enemies, but had never seen such an attack, her eyes couldn’t even follow the boy’s movement. As she hurriedly turned her head to the right, the boy stopped moving with his body low to the ground far away from where he had started. He completed his technique by swinging his sword toward his sheathe.
Among the two Salamanders, one of them became wrapped in the red of End Frame as he tried to stand up. His body quickly turned to ashes and dispersed to the four winds, leaving only a Remain Light.
Way too Fast!!
Lyfa shuddered. This action and the attack were beyond anything she had ever seen, in a whole different dimension. Her body trembled with elation at what just happened.
In this world, only one thing controls how fast you can move: the speed at which your brain receives signals from the «Full Dive» system and reacts to them. Amusphere sends signals to the brain’s cognitive faculties, then the brain processes these signals and produces signals which control the motor functions of the body. These signals are then intercepted by the Amusphere system. The faster a player’s brain is able to do this, the faster the player can move in the game. Innate reflexes are one of the things that determine how fast this happens but the speed is also improved with experience, so the longer one plays the faster they can move.
This is not to boast, but Lyfa’s speed is within the top 5 of all Sylphs. Her speed has been forged by training her reflexes for many years and honed by a year of playing ALO. She had been confident that no matter who she encountered, one-on-one her speed would not lose out to anyone.
Lyfa and the Salamander leader were still dumbfounded as the boy stood up and turned toward them, once again gracefully bringing his sword into position.
The other Salamander, whose charge was dodged, still didn’t seem to know what happened. He was still moving in the opposite direction while trying to find the boy who had disappeared from in front of him.
The boy once again attacked without mercy, rushing towards the confused Salamander. I definitely won’t miss it this time Lyfa thought as she concentrated on the boy’s movement with her eyes wide open.
The initial motion was not all that fast, but it seemed to sway. However, that was only until he took the first real step of his attack and…
The atmosphere was hazy and seemed to shake with the noise. I somehow saw it this time. Like watching a movie on fast-forward, Lyfa’s eyes were able to catch most but not all of the frames. The sword of the boy jumped from its lowered position and cuts the Salamander in two. Even the effect flash couldn’t quite keep up with him. The boy moved several meters forward, stopping with the sword held high. Once again a spray of fire erupted, announcing the second Salamander’s death.
Lyfa was so entranced by the speed that she only now noticed how much damage the boy’s attacks were doing. The two Salamander’s HP bars, which had been almost half full, quickly disappeared. In short, the boy’s attacks were as astounding
as his speed.
ALO attack formula is not complicated. It depends on four things: Power of the weapon itself, where on the opponent’s body the attack hits, attack speed, and the armor worn by the opponent. On this occasion, the attack power of weapon was almost the lowest, while the Salamander’s armor was really quite high level. The strength of his attacks came from the boy’s accuracy and overwhelming speed.
The boy settled into a relaxed posture and looked up at the leader of the Salamanders who was still hovering in the air. With his sword leaning against his shoulder, the boy opened his mouth and said:
“So, are you going to fight?”
The boy’s words were completely untouched by tension. Even the Salamander had to smile.
“No, I do not have a chance of winning, forget it. I will give you my items if you ask for them. My Magic skill is close to 900, and the «Death Penality»[2] will make all my work a waste.”
“You are an honest man.”
The boy laughed briefly, and turned his gaze to Lyfa.
“You there, young lady, what do you want? If you want to fight him, I will not disturb you.”
Throwing everything into chaos and causing so much commotion, then actually saying such a thing, Lyfa had to laugh. He’s the type that can come into a battlefield and deflate everyone’s fighting spirit.
“I’m good too. Next time I will win, Mr. Salamander.”
“To be honest, fighting you one-on-one, I do not think I could win.”
Finished, the Salamander spread his wings and flew away, leaving a trail of red light. Then, leaving the trees shaking with his passage, he disappeared into the distance in the dark sky. That left only Lyfa and the black clad boy in the clearing with the two Remain Light. A minute later, they too disappeared.
As she looked at the boy, Lyfa tensed up again.
“So, what should I do? Should I thank you? Should I run away? Or should we fight?”
He swung his blade once from right to left and put it away with the sound of a blade being sheathed.
“Ah, for me it’s the knight of justice saving the princess from the villains, like that.”
He laughed with a grin.
“Moved by gratitude, the crying princess will come for a hug.”
“Are you an idiot?”
Lyfa cried out unintentionally, her face blushing.
“I would rather fight you!”
“Ha ha, kidding kidding.”
While looking at the boy laughing happily, Lyfa ground her teeth in anger. She was considering how to get back at him when, suddenly a voice came from nowhere.
“That’s right, I can’t allow that.”
It was a young girl’s voice. Looking around restlessly, Lyfa did not see anything moving in the shadows. At this point, the boy looked a bit flustered and said:
“Ah, hey, I told you not to come out!”
Lyfa turned to look at the boy’s breast pocket as something glittering jumped out. It was a small being, who then hovered near his face making a slight buzzing sound.
“Only mama and me can stick to papa!”
“Pa, Papa!?”
Lyfa moved a few steps closer, only to find a palm-sized fairy creature. It was a navigation pixie that could be summoned from the help window. But, if that was the case, it should only be able to answer basic questions related to the game.
Lyfa forgot to be wary of the boy, her gaze fixed intently on the flying pixie.
“Oh, no, this is…”
The boy hurriedly wrapped both hands around the pixie and brought it close to him, a slightly forced smile plastered to his face. Lyfa looked at the pixie in the boy’s hands and asked:
“Hey, is that a «Private Pixie»?”
“Huh?”
“It was a special promotion when the game first came out, there was a lottery of sorts and the winners received a Private Pixie. This is the first time I’ve ever seen one.”
“Ah, I woo goo!”
The Pixie started to say something, but was interrupted when the boy placed a finger over her mouth.
“Yes, yes, that must be it. I have good luck with lotteries.”
“Well, fuu…”
Lyfa looked the Spriggan boy over again, studying him from top to bottom.
“Wh…What is it?”
“You’re a weirdo. You obviously started the game when it first came out, but you are still using the initial equipment. Or so I thought but you are strong.”
“Ah this, actually, this account was created in the old days, but I only started recently. I was playing another VRMMO for a long time.”
“Really?”
Lyfa thought that might just make sense. If he was familiar with the Amusphere because he had been playing other games, then it might just be possible to achieve that insane speed of his.
“Having said that, you are obviously part of the Spriggan race, but why are you here? Your race’s territory is to the far east isn’t it?”
“I… I got lost.”
“Lost??”
At his helpless answer, Lyfa shouted in spite of herself.
“Even a person who has no sense of direction has limits… You are too strange”
Laughter bubbled up from the bottom of her chest when she saw the boy’s strained expression. After a while, Lyfa put the sword that was still in her hand back into its sheath and said:
“Well, anyway, I guess I have to thank you. Thank you for helping me, I am Lyfa.”
“I am Kirito, and this child is Yui.”
When the boy opened his hands, the pixie flew out with her cheeks puffed out in a sulking expression. She bowed to Lyfa then flew to Kirito’s shoulder and sat down.
Lyfa was a little surprised to realize she wanted to talk to this boy named Kirito. It wasn’t too unusual for her to make friends in this world, as she didn’t go out of her way to avoid other players. He doesn’t look like a bad person, Lyfa thought to herself, and said:
“So, what do you plan on doing now?”
“Well, I don’t really have any plans.”
“This…ah. Well then, let me treat you to a drink to thank you, alright?”
After hearing this, the young man named Kirito laughed with a smile on his face. Lyfa looked at his smile and thought it was a smile from the heart. People who are able to laugh so openly and show such emotion in the VR world are rare.
“That makes me happy, I was actually looking for someone who could tell me a lot of things.”
“A lot of things?”
“Things about this world… especially…”
He stopped his smile as his eyes shift to the northeast.
“That tree thing.”
“The World Tree? Sure. Even if I look like this, I’m actually a veteran player. Let’s see, even though a bit far, there’s a neutral village to the north, let’s fly there.”
“Isn’t the town of Sylvain closer?”
Lyfa was a little shocked and looked at Kirito’s face before answering…
“Though that is true… Do you really know nothing? That is Sylph territory.”
“Is there a problem?”
Hearing Kirito say this, Lyfa was at a loss of words.
“…The problem…I guess you could call it that. Anyway since it is Sylph territory, you won’t be able to attack within the town, but any Sylph will be able to attack you.”
“Ah, I see. But the people won’t attack me if I’m with Lyfa-san, will they? I really wanted to see the country of the Sylphs, I’ve heard it’s beautiful.”
“Just call me Lyfa. You really are a strange person. Well…I don’t mind trying, but I can’t guarantee your safety.”
Lyfa shook her shoulders and replied. Well, wanting to visit her beloved Sylph capital wasn’t a bad thing. Since Spriggans are rarely seen around here, bringing him with me will probably cause quite a stir, Lyfa thought with a mind full of mischief.
“Well then, we’ll fly to Sylvain. It will be getting busy soon.”
Lyfa said
as she checked a window to see the time in the real world. It was now four o’clock in the afternoon. She couldn’t stay in this “dive” much longer.
Lyfa, whose flight ability had almost finished recharging, spread her wings which started to gently glow and vibrate. Kirito tilted his head to the side, looking puzzled, and asked:
“Lyfa, is it possible you can fly without the secondary controller?
“Ah, yes. You?”
“I just learned how to use it recently.”
Kirito, moved his left hand to make the gesture of grabbing something.
“I see, there’s a trick for voluntary flight. People who can do it will soon be able to, let’s try it. Don’t bring out the controller then turn away, so your back is to me.”
“Like so?”
Kirito turned his body in a half circle, his back wasn’t that wide, Lyfa extended her index fingers to touch a bit above his shoulder blades. The pixie on his shoulder watched in fascination.
“The place I touch, remember it.”
“OK.”
“It might be called voluntary flight, but that isn’t just flying by imagination. What you have to do is learn to grow the virtual bone and muscle that become your wings, then learn how to move them.”
“Virtual bone…and muscle…”
Kirito repeated in an ambiguous voice. As he said that, his shoulder blades started twitching. From the place Lyfa had touched, grey wings pushed through his clothes. At first they moved awkwardly, but as they became synchronized his wings started moving as one.
“Oh, yeah, just like that. First move your shoulders and muscles to grasp the feeling of wing movement.”
Once she said that, the muscles in his back started to quickly contract. With that, his wings began to vibrate and Lyfa could hear a humming noise.
“That’s it! Now, more strongly!”
“Um um um”
Lyfa, stretched her arms as far as they would go and left her hands on Kirito’s back until his wings were producing sufficient thrust. At that moment, Lyfa suddenly pushed up on his back with all her might.
“Whoa!?”
Once airborne, the Spriggan shot up like a rocket.
“Oh…Oh…Oh…Wow!”
Kirito’s body immediately became smaller and smaller, his screams quickly becoming too distant to hear. With the rustling of leaves, he quickly disappeared beyond the distant treetops.