"Can I have you attention please, the 5th floor strategy meeting is about to begin." Kirito went to his seat at the head of the table everyone was sitting at, the chosen location for this meeting was a mansion at the head of Tundra Village. Everyone went to there seats and quietened down waiting for Kirito's instructions. "Thank you, before I begin I'd like to congratulate everyone on the progress we've made over the past few weeks, in this time we've beaten 3 more floors putting us on floor 5 now. This is way faster than what we did last time so thank you everyone, really." Kirito smiled at the group and the tension in the air that every strategy meeting creates was quickly lifted. "Now" Kirito said with a more serious tone. "Floor 5 has added and extra level of difficulty to the game with players now not only having to survive against monsters, but also the environment itself. It's easy to get lost on the snow storms generated on this floor so sticking to your party's is going to be crucial. These blizzards are making navigating the floor more difficult than it should be, so we'll be sure o make this problem our top priority and deal with it ASAP.
"How are we just gonna 'deal with it?'" Asked Klein.
"By defeating the Snow Dragon, Iceious." Nervous looks were exchanged around the table. "We'll be doing quests across this floor and gathering as much info as possible before fighting Iceious, going in with as much intel as possible has been the smartest strategy across all these floors so sticking to this method only makes sense. For this we'll be sending specific parties to go and complete different quests, check your messages to see what role you've been given." Jyenka opened his notifications but didn't see anything there. "Odd..." he thought to himself.
"Hey Taijou, did you get a message?" Jyenka said looking at Taijou's menu.
"No, what about you ThirtySix?" ThirtySix closed his menu and shook his head in response.
"Commander, my party hasn't received a message yet." Exclaimed Silvia.
"That's because the role your part will be playing is the main offence, You guys will join up with my party to take out Iceious." The group of assault team members began murmuring and exchanging looks at each other. "putting a bunch of rookies on the front line?" "This job should be going to the highest level players." Everyone quieten down!" Kirito said standing up. "This decision is final, I have faith in Silvia's party that they can hold there own against this floors mini boss." The group went silent and Silvia stood up.
We won't let you down!" she said determinedly. Jyenka and Taijou looked at each other nodding there heads.
"Other party's, we'd like to have your quests completed by the end of tomorrow so me and Silvia's parties can take on Iceious the next day. Dismissed!" Everyone began to get up out of there seats and leave the mansion. When Jyenka, Taijou and ThirtySix left, Silvia was out the front waiting for them.
"We've been assigned a pretty important role for this mission so I expect all of you to train hard and raise your level as much as possible tomorrow, the assault team has put there trust in us so we have to show them we can do it." She said with a stern but confident tone. "Jyenka, you'll be coming with me tomorrow." She said turning to face him.
"Why?" Asked Jyenka.
"There's someone I want you to meet, he should be able to help you acquire some new sword skills"
"Wait for it..." Jyenka thought to himself
"Because your current ones are so weak." Silvia added.
"And there's that backhanded comment" Said Jyenka with a crooked smile.
"I just don't want you holding back the rest of the group, and this weapon class you've chosen has the potential to be incredibly strong. You have a knack for it so it'd be a shame to see that go to waste." Silvia began to walk off. Jyenka paused waiting for another insult to be thrown his way, Silvia turned around.
"Here comes another one..." Jyenka thought to himself.
"I'll send you a message tomorrow morning letting you know were to meet me, see ya then." She said then continued to walk off. Jyenka was left pleasantly surprised hearing Silvia say something genuinely nice to him.
A bell chimed in an infinite void of darkness, each chime sounded like it had more echo than the last, flashes of images showing corridors and hallways appeared between each chime. The common detail between each image was the darkness at the end of each place and the red mist floating around the air. The images kept on appearing and the chimes kept getting louder and louder and louder until, the chiming stopped and and image of a stairwell appeared, unlike the other images this one didn't go away. The stairwell was different to the other images, instead of showing darkness at the end of it a bright red light glowed where the darkness would normally be. The red light glinted and flashed when suddenly, Jyenka sat bolt up right. His head ached and his ears rang. Jyenka clutched the left side of his face and clenched his teethe in pain. The aching vanished after 5 seconds leaving Jyenka perplexed sitting upright his bed. A notification popped up in his menu, it was a message from Silvia reading:
"Meet me outside the village library at 8:30am game time"
Jyenka looked at his in game clock showing 8:20am. "Shit" he thought letting out a small groan.
"Your late!" Silvia said angrily at Jyenka who had just arrived outside the library.
"It's like 8:35, plus I only woke up when you sent me that message" Jyenka retorted.
"Doesn't sound like my problem" Silvia responded turning around. "Anyway, come on, he's waiting." Silvia opened the doors to the library.
"He? Who's He?" Asked a confused Jyenka following her inside.
"He's the greatest info broker in Aincrad, you have any questions he can answer them. I'm hoping we can get some info about double-bladed sword skills." Silvia approached another door and began to open it.
"Ok, what's this players name?" When Jyenka finished saying this the door Silvia had her hands on swung open and standing there with his back to the 2 of them was a man in a yellow coat with a bright yellow top hat, he turned around revealing his white handlebar moustache and monocle over his right eye.
"Jyenka I'd like you to meet Aincrad finest info broker, Cleric." A smile appeared under Clerics moustache and he nodded his head.
"You must be Jyenka, the boy Silvia wouldn't stop talking about yesterday." Silvia's face went red.
"W-Wa-I wasn't!-"
"I'm only messing with you" said Cleric calmingly. "However, she did tell me that you were in the market for some double-bladed sword skills?" he asked turning around to the bookshelf behind him.
"Oh, yeah. Do you know any good ones I can get?" asked Jyenka hopefully. Silvia went off to another aisle in the library.
"I know of a few, but it won't be easy"
"That's fine, if it means I can get stronger than I'll do it."
"Your courage is admirable, but a lust for strength often ends in ruin." Cleric said relatively seriously.
"I just... I want to be able to protect my friends when they need me!" Jyenka said with more confidence. Cleric paused for a second and then turned back around to face Jyenka.
"There's one that you can get on this floor, it's a new type of skill added to the game as part of the DLC."
"Really? How do I get it?" asked Jyenka excitedly.
"Apparently players with this weapon type can acquire this skill through fighting Iceious the Snow Dragon."
"Really!? that's perfect!" Jyenka shouted pumping his fist in the air. Cleric looked a little confused.
"I must admit, I haven't seen a player this keen to run into danger before." Said Cleric with a concerned tone.
"Oh no, the danger part sucks, it's just that I'm gonna fight that boss with another party tomorrow." Cleric pauses again and then chuckles. "What?" asked Jyenka.
"Your an interesting one Jyenka, you sound like some big-shot hero yet your so, human."
"Um, thanks I guess..." Said Jyenka, a little confused. "Anyway, how do I get this skill, do I just need to defeat Iceious?"
"No it's not that simple, this is a new type of skill and therefore it requires a new method to achieve it." Said Cleric reaching up and grabbing a book from the shelf next to him. "The skill type is called an 'Impulse Skill' I'm not sure how to acquire it but judging by the name it sounds like something you just sort of 'pick up on the fly.' Sorry I can't be any more specific than that."
"It's ok, what you told me is enough" said Jyenka.
"Jyenka, you almost done yet?" Silvia said reappearing from the aisle she was in.
"Yeah I'm done" Jyenka said looking back at Silvia. "Thank you Cleric but I gotta go now."
"Wait, before you go..." Cleric reached in between the pages of the book he was holding. "Take this!" he said pulling a small round coin from in between one of the pages of the book and throwing it at Jyenka. Jyenka caught the coin in his right hand and opened his palm to look at it.
"1... Col..." Jyenka said a little disappointed.
"Use it wisely" Said cleric giving him a wink.
"C'mon Jyenka wrap it up!" demanded Silvia.
"Yeah, yeah I'm coming Silvy" said Jyenka turning back to follow Silvia out of the library.
The next day Jyenka, Taijou, ThirtySIx and Silvia all waited outside the entrance to Tundra village waiting for Kirito's party to show up.
"What did you get up to yesterday Taijou?" asked Jyenka.
"Me and ThirtySix went to the local hunting grounds, have you seen how good ThirtySix is with a spear?" replied Taijou.
"I totally can't get a read on that guy" said Jyenka.
"Same" agreed Taijou.
"Sorry for the wait." Said a familiar voice.
"We had to fight some monsters on the way here" said Leafa.
"Weird way of saying you slept in." commented Lisbeth.
"Ok everyone, let's introduce ourselves before we go out to fight this thing. Guys, this is Silvia, Jyenka, Taijou, and ThirtySix. Silvia's party, this is Klein, Leafa, Asuna, Lisbeth and Silica."
"It's good to meet you all" Asuna said while smiling.
"Likewise, it's good to see so many strong female players." Said Silvia in response.
"Ok, with introductions out of the way, let's go beat this mini boss!"
"Yeah!" shouted everyone. The group began trudging through the snow heading south-west to were the den of Iceious was supposed to be.
"We'll know were close when the snow storm hits, fortunately I've provided us all with a potion that'll remove any snow storm de-buffs. This boss has 3 main attacks, It can breathe blue fire, shoot icicles from it's wings and create large gusts of wind. Dodging the fire and icicles will be the most important thing, the gusts of wind won't damage you but you wouldn't want to be hit by it regardless. The best opportunities to attack this boss will be when it lands to recharge it's wings after firing it's icicles, also ThirtySix might be able to knock it out of the sky using his spear throwing skill. You think you can do that for us?" Kirito looked up at ThirtySix
"I cannot guarantee that it will work, but I'll try it" ThirtySix said in his typical relaxed tone.
"My main strategy will be to run in when the boss is on cool down, strike it quickly and then back off. What about you Jyenka? Jyenka...?" said Taijou looking to his left, however, Jyenka was deep in thought. "Impulse skill... Impulse Skill... Cleric said that I might just pick it up on the fly, but how? plus I don't even know what I'm looking for, do I just try different things, when will I know it's triggered-" "Jyenka you in there?" asked Taijou.
"O-Oh uh yeah, sorry" stammered Jyenka.
"Don't let the nerves get to you to much" said Silvia condescendingly.
"I'm not nervous" said Jyenka confidently. Just as he finished saying this something glinted in the corner of his eye, he heard a small whizz shoot past his face. Looking back he saw a metal needle sticking out of the tree behind him. "What the- What was that!?" He said looking back to were the needle had come from. Taijou activated his search ability and began looking around.
"I don't see anythi-" a cloaked figure leapt up behind Taijou raising it's dagger to strike him
"Taijou! Watch your back!" Shouted Jyenka but Taijou would react to late. He clenched his teethe bracing for the knife to strike him when ThirtySix's spear appeared in front of him blocking the attack. A loud clang rang out from the weapons and the hooded figure jumped back.
"Thanks ThirtySix, that was too close." Taijou said breathing heavily.
"Who are you!?" called out Silvia to the cloaked figure. It stood up, hiding it's face under the cloaks hood. Silvia quickly grabbed her axe and pointed it at the figure. "If you don't talk, I'll make you." she said with a serious tone. Kirito jumped in between both of them putting his hands up.
"Let's not jump straight to violence!" He shouted trying to calm everyone down. As he did this the cloaked figure began to walk towards him. Kirito calmly turned to face the person but just then they vanished. Everyone looked around frantically.
"What happened? where'd they go-" Then Jyenka stopped, he stopped as he felt his body go weak. He looked up at his HP bar to see it dropping rapidly, then looked down at the dagger that had been driven through his stomach. He let out a gasp and then collapsed.
"Jyenka!" shouted Silvia. The hooded figure raised it's knife to deal the final blow when suddenly they were struck by a sword, they were sent flying back and the hood of there cloak was blown off.
"You'll pay for that!" Said an angry Taijou through clenched teethe holding his 1 handed sword out in front of him. He quickly calmed down however when he saw the person under the hood, it was a girl. She had short purple hair with tired grey eyes similar to Jyenka's before he came to this world. She had a blank expression on her face, yet she looked so sad at the same time. Her player name, now revealed to everyone after it being concealed under the hood of her cloak, was Shoko.
"Why are you attacking us?" asked Taijou more calmly this time. The girl replied in a quiet, shy voice.
"I can't let you beat this game, I can't let you banish us back to the real world." Taijou gave her a confused look before quickly taking a stance with his sword to block Shoko's next wave of attacks. Silvia rushed over to Jyenka and poured a HP regen potion down his throat.
"You idiot! How could you be so careless!" she said angrily after poring all the liquid into Jyenka's mouth.
"How.. the hell... was I supposed to see that coming..." grunted Jyenka as he tried to sit up.
"Don't move to much, sure this HP regen will heal you but you also currently still have a hole in your stomach, that will take some time to regenerate."
Shoko continued to trade blows with Taijou before Kirito jumped in and stood by Taijou's side.
"Careful Kirito, she's stronger than she looks." Said Taijou a little shaken from holding off her attacks.
"It's ok, I don't intend to fight" Kirito looked Shoko in the eyes. "Before you said 'banish us to the real world.' that makes the real world sound like a bad thing doesn't it?"
"That's because it is" Shoko said in response. "The real world is cruel, the real world doesn't forgive, the real world will kick you to the curb and never help you up again. But here, here I can start again, here I can be free, here I can live without having to worry about the harsh reality." Shoko looked around at all the party members. "That is why I won't let you beat this game." Everyone stood still not knowing what to say.
"So... you think the real world sucks as well?" said Jyenka who was still laying in the snow with the stab wound from Shoko. She paused and turned around. "Ya know, I get it. I hated my life before this game, every day felt longer and longer and all I could do was keep on going, slowly losing my will to get up the next morning."
"T-Then you understand right? This world is an incredible opportunity for people like us" Shoko said with a little more emotion.
"Sure, but your using this as an opportunity to restart, I'm using this as an opportunity to move forward." Shoko paused again. "The last thing I did before I entered this world was curse the real world, but it's this world that's made me realize the great things about the real world." Jyenka began to slowly sit up, struggling through the weakness of his body. "I made friends... I found a purpose, I found a will to keep... living." Shoko tried to say something but no noise came out of her mouth. She finally found the strength to speak.
"Your lying, You don't know how cruel reality is!" Shoko stammered, holding back tears.
"I might not... But I know that moving forward is something that anyone can do... Sure life might through a lot of shit your way... but all that does is bring out the true strength of people when they overcome it!" Jyenka began to rise to his feet.
"Why... Why are you doing this for me? I tried to kill you!" A smile slowly appeared across Jyenka's face.
"I can't be this worlds hero... If I can't even help one person in need." Just then a large roar echoed from the distance. Everyone turned around to see Iceious charging at them. The beast roared again and shot a blue fire ball directly at Shoko. She staired at the projectile charging at her knowing full well she couldn't react in time. Suddenly a oddly satisfying 'twang!' sound played and a flash of a double-bladed sword reflected the fire ball. Jyenka stood in front of Shoko, they knife wound still deep but not bad enough that Jyenka was out of commission. A notification appeared on Jyenka's screen, it read:
"New Impulse Skill Unlocked: Parry"
Jyenka turned around and looked at Shoko with a shaky smile on his face. "Whadya say? Mind giving us a hand with this boss?"
To be continued...