Progressive Factor

The One Where They Hate Natural Dungeons

“Kirito, Asuna, Koharu, Jaymes--it would seem there are other visitors to this nest.”

“Yeah. It must be other pla...human warriors. We have reasons to avoid encountering them, Kizmel.”

“I do as well.” The elf looks around and points to a divot in the wall. “Let us hide there for a moment.”

“Huh? How can we hide with the light of the torches all around,” Asuna questions, which Kizmel answers with a grin.

“The people of the forest have their own ways of deception.” Kizmel ushers everyone into the divot, barely able to contain all five bodies at once. Kizmel placed herself against Kirito while the other girls sandwiched Jaymes, and the elf used her cape to cover them in the darkness. “Extinguish the torches.” Four torches dropped into a puddle on the floor, and the five were blanketed in darkness.

If Kirito really looked at the three other humans, he’d probably expose the entire group, either trying to hold his laughter or saying something stupid. Instinctively he faces forward, with the cape hiding them from sight but able to see what’s on the other side from its interior. This was much better than Kirito’s Hiding skill--they were 95% hidden--making the black swordsman quite jealous, just like the ring.

Asuna interrupts Kirito’s jealousy by squeaking out a question as low as possible. “You… You were saying earlier, Kirito?”

“...Oh, right. The people coming up from behind us are on that quest. It’s the guild creation quest, the one the other frontier players were desperate to get started.”

“Quiet,” Kizmel commands. “They’ll pass by soon.” Soon, indeed, as ten seconds later, Kirito and his companions can see heavily-armored players passing by. He believes there has to be between five or six players in this party, but he can’t identify which of the two major groups it is until a familiar rough shout bounces off the dark walls.

“What the hell? All the chests have been ransacked already!”

“Kibaou, “Jaymes whispers. “Of course, we run into him.”

“You prefer Lind?”

“Good point, Ko.”

Kirito holds his hand up just as Kibaou begins to pass by. He’s sure the spiky-haired man didn’t hear anything, but by coincidence, he happened to face the hollow the five are hiding, dropping the percentage to 90%. Not enough to reveal them, but it scared Kirito a little. It went back up as Kibaou passed, followed by three more people of ALS. Kizmel waits until the ALS’ footsteps are drowned out by distance, then straightens up and removes her cape.

Following Kirito and Kizmel out the hollow first is Asuna, looking relieved to be out of her weird positioning against Jaymes’s back and worried as she looks down the dark path ALS ventured. “I felt more nervous than when we face monsters.”

“Yeah. It probably wouldn’t have turned into a battle if they’d seen us, though.”

“Well, they might have demanded that we share what we found in the chests.”

“I dunno. I don’t think even he would go that far… I hope.”

Koharu shrugs as she dusts her tunic off. “No. Kibaou owes Jaymes and me, so if anything, we’d convince him to let us go.”