Kirito
“...I don’t like these natural dungeons.”
“We’re going to need another bath.”
“I’m beginning to hate nature at this rate.”
“If only it were a bit brighter in here...”
Once the five reached their destination, they found a dark opening in the side of a hill. Outside the entrance were dozens of tiny “real-world-sized” spiders, which Kirito explained to Asuna were there for effect. Asuna showed her increasing disdain for gamer talk; immediately afterward, Koharu preemptively clamped Jaymes’ mouth before he even got a word out. Kizmel noticed the discrepancy in communication and referred to the untold story of the Great Separation again. The only separation they knew of was the one that happened a month ago when players would suddenly freeze in limbo randomly. It was thought this was a temporary disconnection as their natural bodies were transported. However, it would be a significant flaw in Kayaba’s plan if an internet disconnection could be a loophole in logging out.
In any case, they entered the dark, damp den of the arachnids, using torches to provide some light. Luckily for them, Kizmel can see in the dark; unfortunately for Jaymes, he had to give up his trusty shield to hold a torch in his off-hand like the other players. The other boy hadn’t complained or suffered in ability, so he must be used to fighting without his shield. Compared to Kirito, who feels somewhat off-balanced with a second item while fighting the speedy fishing spiders, Jaymes looks to be doing the same as always.
Too bad Kirito can’t carry two swords.
As they search the map out the first floor, Asuna brings up a question. “Hey, is this dungeon one of those...instance things? Or is it?”
“I believe the antonym of an instanced dungeon would be a public dungeon,” Kirito says, bringing Asuna away from Kizmel in case the NPC picks up and questions their language again. “The reason I know it’s public is because there are other quests that use this dungeon aside from ours.”
“Oh? Like what?”
“Well, there’s a pet-finding quest at the next village past the forest and another one from the main city of the floor…” Kirito slams his mouth shut and focuses on his hearing, thinking he heard distant scraping of metal. It might be a trick of the mind, but given they’ve spent almost an entire night on the floor…
“Hey, what’s wrong?”
“How many hours have we been on the third floor, guys?”
Koharu angles her head to the top right corner and shrugs. “Well over twelve hours, maybe fourteen or fifteen. Why?”
“Ugh...crap, that’s the exact timing.”
“Exact timing of what?”
“This is the location of a major quest you can start from the main city. There are a few different patterns to the quest, so it’s not guaranteed, but a solid percentage of players doing the quest are going to be coming here for an item. Depending on the size of the party, it might take them ten to fifteen hours for them to get here.” As Kirito says that, Kizmel freezes at the sound of more clanging metal. If she heard it, that confirms Kirito’s suspicions.
“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.”
Kizmel faces the three players and asks. “Did you know some of those people?”
“Um, kind of. We’re not exactly on friendly terms, you might say.”
“Oh? I heard that the humans in this castle had maintained a healthy peace for years.”
Forget explaining to Kizmel the difference between beta testers like Kirito, Jaymes, and Koharu and retail players like Asuna and Kibaou; Kirito would have a hard time explaining the difference between players and NPC humans, how they’re not ‘humans in this castle’ but from another world. “W-We wouldn’t come to blows, of course. And we help each other out when fighting big monsters...but we’re not friends.”
“I see. Then it must be like the relationship between my Pagoda Knights Brigade and the royal Sandalwood Knights.”
Asuna absorbs this new information with delight. “Oh, that’s lovely! Your knight brigades are named after trees? Are there any others?”
“There’s the Trifoliate Knights Brigade, the heavy units. We are not on good terms with them, either.”
“Ahh… In that case, if I get to join any of them, I’ll go with the Pagoda Knights.”
Kizmel grimaces somewhat awkwardly. “I’m afraid that there is no historical precedent for humans being award the knight’s sword from the queen of Lyusula. But based on your accomplishments, you might be able to win an audience with her.”
Asuna beams with optimism. “Really? Let’s keep it up then! Well, let’s keep going!” She takes one of the torches from Koharu, scraps it against the wall to light it, and walks with the other girls down the hallway. Kirito sighs and performs the same action, then looks at the vocally absent member of their party who stands in the hollow.
“How are you doing?”
Jaymes frowns as he lights his torch and walks in step with Kirito. “I don’t know if I just lived the teenage by fantasy or a future nightmare. All I know is I never want to be surrounded by women like that again in my life. Thank the heavens Kayaba prevented males from embarrassing hormonal situations.”
“That...we can agree on.”
“You know, there had to be a better idea than this!”
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After finding a scout’s insignia once they thoroughly investigated the first floor, Kirito’s party heard Kibaou’s running for their lives. It turns out they encountered Nephila Regina, the nest’s queen and boss, and unexpectedly they had to save the ALS. This ended up with Kirito hiding and letting ALS pass, then once the spider got within range, he thrust his sword into the spider’s flank and gained its attention. His party ran for their own lives until they came into a large enough room for the five to engage in combat.
Kirito has been used to Jaymes being party leader, though in retrospect, he has been the one to assume leadership. It was only natural Asuna and Kizmel asked him what to do, though Jaymes might have a point, there may have been a better way to do this.
Oh well. Worst-case scenario, its attacks have changed from the beta. Queen Nephila jabs with her front legs, has poison fangs, webbing from the rear, and a mighty, shockwave-inducing leap. He had no time to inform everyone of this before now, so he’ll have to do it as they fight. “When she jabs with her legs, the one that twitches will go first! If you don’t get outside her range, both will hit you.” On cue, Kirito leaps to the left as the front right leg twitches, a claw slamming where he once stood. He dodges the second leg, and once it pierces the ground, Kirito issues his command. “One sword skill!” Five sword skills light the room and strike the queen. She screeches as her first of two health bars falls slightly below halfway. With the five of them, as long as they play it safe, they may be able to finish her off in another five rounds. At least Kibaou’s group did some damage to help.
Once the hit delay wears off, Nephila skitters around and crunches up. “She’s gonna jump! We have to leap out of the way just before she lands. I’ll say when...Two, one, jump!” On cue, everyone leaps and evades the shockwave.
It only took them another minute and a half to finish Queen Nephila off (Kirito was shocked himself, but Kizmel’s presence probably helped). While the girls high-fived each other, Jaymes takes the initiative and steps out of the room first. Without saying a word, he read Kirito’s mind. By now, Kibaou’s group would have noticed they’re not being chased. He holds his hand up for the others to be silent, and then after a minute or so, the red and black warrior drops his hand.
It’s four in the morning. Just how long were ALS out in the wild?
“I don’t hear the Liberation Squad. Kirito, I’m assuming, since this is a guild quest, all guilds must complete it to be officially registered as one?”
“I’m not sure about that, to be honest.”
“Well, how long before the queen comes back?”
“At that size, it will take three hours at the minimum for the cave to generate enough spiritual power to give life to a new ruler.” The gamer boys look at each other and accept Kizmel’s answer. Her interpretation of respawning works for them.
Asuna, however, looks annoyed by this development. “With that much leeway, Kibaou’s team will have plenty of time to search the second level safely. So we ended up helping them without them realizing it. That kind of irks me.”
“Ha ha ha. As they say, ‘The forest sees all good deeds, and the insects all the bad.’ The Holy Tree will ensure you are blessed.”
“Us humans have a similar phrase. ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.’”
“I shall remember that, Koharu.”
As the girls chatted, Kirito drops to the ground and picks up an item called “Queen Spider’s Poison Fang.” Stashing it in his inventory, he joins Jaymes, who still stands by the room’s entrance. “In the beta, the party I was with came here twice; once for the emblem, second for the queen. If the commander’s list of quests hasn't changed in order, we should be able to complete two birds with one stone.”
Jaymes nods quite pleasingly. “Good. I'm not too fond of this place and love it when you can pick up a quest item early. Ladies, we’re heading back to base camp.” Kizmel and Asuna nods while Koharu messes with her partner by saluting and calling him ‘commander.’ The girls laugh (even Kizmel picked up on the joking tone), and Kirito can’t help but see--despite appearances between the two species and even the two humans--that they seem like sisters.
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Asuna
Kizmel left the party as soon as they returned to camp, allowing the humans to do the reporting. Luckily, Kirito’s gamble paid off, allowing them to complete the first two chapters of ten in one go. With the third quest in their log and new rewards (everyone chose magic pouches), the four humans leave the commander’s tent.
Deciding to let Kizmel rest or whatever she’s doing, Asuna reminds Kirito that it’s time for her to forge a new sword, which she would have gotten materials for in their previous excursions. Jaymes and Koharu seek to do the same, although Jaymes could get a little more mileage from his plus six Azure Sky Sword. They went ahead to go eat while Asuna dragged her exhausted companion--because they’re not partners, mind you--towards the blacksmith.
“Don’t worry, it’ll go fine…”
“...I’m not worried about anything at all,” Asuna responds, admittedly too fiercely.
“Okay.”
“Anyway, you’d better have saved up enough materials in battle. I don’t want to have to go farm for more because we’re a bit short.” She turns to Kirito, softening her voice just a bit. “It can’t always...be like this.”
“Huh? Like what?”
“I mean… I can’t keep asking you for what kind of materials to make a weapon or how to beat a certain kind of monster. I have to learn how to figure that stuff out for myself.”
“Ahh. But when we went to Nezha, you knew exactly which monsters dropped which upgrade materials.”
Asuna’s hooded face grins. “Only because I memorized the details that were important to me from Argo’s strategy guide. I don’t know anything that isn’t written down in a textbook. It’s the same as I was before I came here.”
Kirito hesitates in his answer but shakes his head once he has one. “It’s the same for me, too. I still have my beta knowledge to go on, but once that runs out, I’m just as lost.”
“You’re wrong. The knowledge gained from a book and the knowledge gained from experience are totally different things. The reason I'm so nervous about creating a single weapon is because I’ve never experienced it before.”
“Then you can experience things starting now. The most important thing is to survive and keep moving forward...that’s all. Use anything you can, as long as it’s for that purpose--whether it comes from Argo’s books or my brain. Each and every day will bring you more experience...and not the kind that comes in points.”
Asuna bows her head. “...Good point. It’s the start of another day.”
“Also, there’s one other thing I forgot to say.”
“Huh?”
“Unlike with weapon upgrading, there’s basically no fail state for crafting. So there’s really no reason to worry about--”
Asuna punches Kirito in the enough, hard enough for him to just feel it but not really hurt. Greatly annoyed with the black swordsman, she growls, “You could have mentioned that earlier,” and storms off.