SAO x Dark Souls Volume 1: Cinders of Aincrad

Aincrad Pt. 11: The Abyss Watchers

Once Silica and I revived Pina, I returned to the shared home me and Koharu had. When I walked through the door, I saw everyone waiting for me. They all stopped talking and looked at me in silence as I closed the door.

Klein: Care to explain why you disappear off the face of Aincrad and then resurface over half a year later?

Agil: I also want answers.

Asuna: I think I speak for all of us when I say this, U/n. We need you to help us clear Aincrad, but we can't rely on you if you run off every time something bad happens to those that are close to you. Can we trust that you'll stick with us this time?

"Yes. After what almost happened last time, I realized that I need to stop running" I said

Kirito: Im glad you finally came to your senses. Now could you kindly explain what you did while you were awol?

"It started shortly after the extinction of our old guild. I wandered from place to place, getting stronger with each passing day. Then one day, I was exploring a cave and stumbled across a place that wasn't supposed to be here" I said

Klein: What do you mean by that?

"Are any of you familiar with Dark Souls 3?" I asked

Everyone but Kirito shook their heads. I would have to do a lot more explaining than I'd originally anticipated.

"It is a game in the Soulsborne series, the games of which are known for their extraordinary difficulty, vague stories, the vast array of armor and weaponry, and thrilling soundtracks. The area I came across was the hub world of the third Dark Souls game. When I reached it, a message popped up on my screen saying that said I'd been chosen to undertake a quest that mirrored the goal of the player in DS3" I said

Agil: How come it's not a widespread quest that everyone can work toward?

"The Souls games aren't meant to be cleared by groups. They're strictly single-player games. You can summon other players to help you defeat a boss, but they can't help you clear the different areas of the game. The same logic applied to this quest. Since I was the first one to find the area, I was the first one to gain access to the quest. It carried on like that until recently. I'd gone back to the hub area, Firelink Shrine, to repair and upgrade my equipment. Before I set off to fight the next boss on my list, I came across another player who'd gotten the quest" I said

Kirito: Koharu.

"Yes. She and I teamed up to clear the quest together, but we came across a roadblock not long after our alliance was formed. We'd defeated all the bosses that we could, clearing the way to the first major story-related boss which brings me to the next point of explanation. In DS3, there are four bosses you need to defeat to progress with the goal of the game. They're called Lords of Cinder and the goal of the player is to kill them all, bring their ashes back to Firelink Shrine, and defeat the manifestation of the past lords, a knight called the Soul of Cinder. The first Lord of Cinder, a group of warriors known as the Abyss Watchers, was the boss Koharu and I had been looking for. According to Kirito, the assault team has found it but cannot defeat it" I said

Asuna: That's right. We were able to locate the boss room but we can't enter it. We saw the boss inside, but we were unable to enter. We did everything we could think of. We did every quest and looked everywhere we possibly could for an item we may have missed but came up empty-handed.

Kirito: Knowing what we know now, I think I know why we couldn't access it before.

"You're probably right," I said

Agil: Care to clue us in you two?

Kirito: My working theory is that we need the holder of the quest to be part of the raid group that takes on the boss, thereby opening the boss room and allowing us to fight it. I believe U/n is the key. A key to a lock that, until now, has hindered our progression.