The Survival Logs || Sword Art Online Fanfic

Skill Research Arc: Chapter 25 - Sakura Entrance

And as I looked over the stone barrier lining the path, the bottom was occupied by what seemed like..... a settlement. A town.....no, a city, I had thought, judging by the design of those buildings, despite them being arranged in a rather irregular manner. While the city was positioned the middle, it was also surrounded by trees which covered until the inner walls. Still, the city took about 80% of the area, which by then had strongly reminded me of the Floors of Aincrad.

Assuming that the path was the only way to proceed anywhere, I followed it, gradually moving down the structure, as how the path was built. The end of the path brought me to the edge of the forest area, with Argo waiting for me there.

Having a closer look at the trees, I realized they weren't trees that grew in any of the Floors before.

"Are those bamboos?" I mumbled to myself.

The clearly segmented parts on the stems gave away that they were, indeed, bamboos, but they wouldn't be called stems anymore if they were as thick as normal tree trunks. Plus, they had branches and leaves on top of their trunks, which essentially made the forest.....look like a forest.

"Yer should be able to find the quest marker now." Argo informed me.

I opened up the quest navigation system with my menu and started my venture into the forest. It wasn't long before we got to the destination, which was an area scattered with a few wooden houses.

I spotted a campfire burning in the distance, and headed there, with Argo following me without a word. So far, all these places and locations were as what Argo had described to me last night, but I'd arrived at the point where I wouldn't know what would happen next.

At that point in time, a strong breeze of wind hit me squarely, pass my whole body. My eyes caught the sight of two figures appearing in a blur, several metres in front of me. The quest markers on top of their heads appeared as fast as they did.

I covered and blinked my eyes before getting a good look at the duo.

Both of them were wearing robes and cloth that covered every single part of their bodies except their heads, dressing as the kind of people I knew that came from the country of Japan.

Ninjas.

They were NPCs, no doubt about it. But their movements seemed too natural, even if they were too fast for me to analyze. Argo folded her arms and broke into.....a smile.

The male NPC spoke first with a tint of Japanese accent in his voice.

"Greetings. My name is Hakuro. What brings you, a visitor from the Floating Castle, to our humble village?"

Village? He called that giant circular settlement a village? Setting my thoughts aside, I responded appropriately.

"I have come to meet....the chief of your village."

Seeing as he didn't ask for my name, I didn't give mine.

Hakuro gave me a polite bow and answered, "Then you will have to go through an entrance trial in order for us to welcome you in."

"'Kay....and what would that be?" I asked.

The ninja moved his arms at flash speed, producing a pitch black dagger from whatever pocket he had on him.

"A trial in combat."

I turned to Argo, who was staring at me with a really wide grin. Those were such simple words, but they had no doubt in their meaning. So I was to face the NPC in a duel? That was sudden.

"It's just a duel to test the player doing the quest, and of course, it's in the 'Stop at Yellow' mode. Just so yer know, only half of the players who did this passed on their first try." Argo said in earnest.

I looked at the duel request window which had just popped up in front of me, and decided to let out all the thoughts I had been holding back since the tori gate entrance to Argo.

"A trial, huh? It's cool and all, but I really can't help but wanting to say that the setting of this quest, and the NPCs.....they all have that vibe of, you know, your country. I mean, for you, a Jap--"

KSHK.

My words were cut short by Argo's dagger blade, which was brandished right in front of my mouth. The shock froze me up, and my eyes rolled to see Argo with her face giving a message of 'I'm gonna cut you if you continue'. Well, maybe not exactly that message, but who would ever dare to do anything with a knife at their face?

Something had bugged at me while Argo sheathed back her dagger. The speed of her dagger, even if it was supposed to have a fast attack speed, moved way too fast to be true. In fact, Argo's dagger was in its sheath before she stunned me with it, so it was all the more impossible for her dagger to appear in her hand in an instant.

I could have pondered more about that strange move if I didn't have a duel request window still floating in front of me, waiting to be confirmed.

"....Um....just forget what I said ......let's continue....." I tapped on the accept button in the duel request window, and a floating window appeared on my right side diagonally.

The window displayed '60' as it materialized, and started to count down from that number. Hakuro moved back with a swift step and stayed there, poised with his dagger held at chest level. I took a few steps back as well, bringing out my spear, Crystal Poleshard+7.

Argo was already a few metres behind me, trying to get a good angle to watch the show. I held my spear with both hands in a stance like I always did, and prepared myself to clash blades 47 seconds from now.

I'd travelled so much just to trigger a quest marker hidden in the 32nd Floor, but I knew I couldn't just end the day with a well-deserved rest yet.

This Japanese style campaign quest.........had only just begun.

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