Jinx and I nodded and Gerg whistled, obviously impressed. After completing the event quest, both of us had received the reward, which had been the apparently large amount of money. At first, I wasn't sure if it was a lot of money, I thought to myself, walking a short distance towards the World Tree in the distance. Each MMO can have a different rate of currency value. In some games, a million would equal the same as 100,000 would in another.
"So, what are you gonna spend the money on?" Kitty asked, taking her right hand claw off of her belt and fitting it back on. She seemed rather energetic for someone who had just tattooed symbols on eight different people, including herself; then again, the process for placing a guild tattoo on a player was considerably easier in VRMMOs than in the real world.
"Well, I've already spent mine on a penthouse in Pooka territory," Jinx claimed, smiling widely. "It's completely furnished and upgraded; looks like I'll be living the high life from now on."
"Wait, when did you do that?" I asked, turning to look at him. "And why would you get a house on ALfheim if we're gonna be in New Aincrad?"
"I bought it through an auction message when you were logging off," Jinx explained, crossing his arms with pride. "And you can use a special teleport crystal to go from your house to any cleared floor in New Aincrad."
"So, what are you gonna use your money for?" Gerg asked, stepping forward, his armor clanking slightly as he moved. "Planning on buying a big house too?"
I thought deeply for a few moments before answering. As a general rule, I tended to be a horrible budget planner and saver. "I'm going to save the majority of it, seeing as how it's a kind of free money," I said, opening my trade window and selecting Gerg. "The rest of it is going to you to open your old shop."
"Wait, really?" the Leprechaun said as the trade window popped up on his side. I nodded and he tapped the <<accept >> button. "I can't wait to have 'Belts and Blades' in business again!"
"Why don't you go ahead of us?" I suggested, rotating my shoulders and stretching. "I'm gonna take the rest of the guild on a dungeon raid to gather some money for the old guild house."
"Sure thing boss," Gerg said, giving me a hasty salute before shooting off into the air towards the World Tree. I watched his figure grow smaller in the distance and wondered briefly how he could move so fast even though he was so big.
"So... a dungeon raid?" Vin asked, coming up behind me. I turned around and saw that he was wearing a coy expression and I exhaled a sigh of relief. It had been a while before I had been the leader of anything and I was still getting used to giving orders.
"If all of you guys are up to it," I replied, spreading my wings and smiling. From the excited faces of my guild members, I could tell that they were more than ready to fight together again. "Now, how do we get to Aincrad?"
"The teleport statue to the Town of Beginnings is in Yggdrasil City," Mattias answered, making a motion to push his glasses farther up on his nose, but then, realizing that he wasn't wearing any, dropped his hand to his side.
"Wait, you mean Alne, right?" I asked, moving my wings around and hearing the satisfying sound of them moving in the wind.
"No, Yggdrasil City is in the branches of the World Tree," Mattias said, putting his staff on his back and activating his wings. "We can either take the elevator from Alne up to it or we can just fly up to the city."
Seeing Kitty and Auser activate their wings in preparation for takeoff, I nodded. "Let's take the most direct path, guys," I ordered resisting the urge to get a running start before flying. Crouching down low, I pushed off of the ground with all of my strength. Feeling myself hurtling through the air, I couldn't help myself as a little grin made its way to my face.
Like pieces of a broken rainbow, my companions took to the sky with me and sped towards the upper branches of Yggdrasil. Propelling myself forward, I managed to level myself with Kitty, who turned her head to smile at me.
"So, will we have to take any breaks on the way there to regain flying power?" I asked, stretching my hands out in front of me as if I were grasping at the clouds above.
"We don't need to anymore," Mattias answered from behind me; he was the last person in the pack but he didn't seem to be struggling to keep up. "After the game was acquired by Ymir, unlimited flight was given to all the races."
"So... it's like Aion but with unlimited flight and nine races instead of two," I observed out loud, turning the palms of my hands towards me. It's been a while since I've been back in my element, I thought to myself. What if I've lost my touch?
"What's Aion?" Auser asked, dipping the left side of his body to move closer to me. His crimson hair was being whipped by the wind and I realized that the scar on his forehead must have been erased when he transferred his avatar from SAO. Although we never did get a full explanation as to where the scar was from, the general assumption was that it was just another byproduct of a fight.
"Aion is the MMO where Kit and I first met," I said, glancing over at the Cait Sith flying next to me. "In fact, you could say she's the whole reason why I ever decided to move to Japan."
"That's not true..." Kitty murmured, facing the rushing ground below. I thought I could see the hints of a blush on her cheeks, but I couldn't see what her face looked like.
"It totally is," I insisted, bumping into her playfully. "If it wasn't for my amazing driver in APB, I would have never gotten high enough on my ranks to earn enough money to come to Japan."
Kitty continued to stare at the ground for a while and I started to wonder if I had done something wrong. She was the only person from Japan that I knew before coming to the country and we had always been very close. In fact, if it wasn't for her, I wouldn't have ever met Vin, one of my best friends and roommates. After a moment of awkward silence, my friend looked up at me with a flushed face and said, "E-Eric would you l-like to-"
"Kraaayyyhhh!"
Seeing something blue flash in front of me, I backpedaled and almost did an unintended back flip in the air. Feeling myself sink in the sky, I quickly righted myself and started to hover instead. The rest of my guild stopped and moved towards me.
"I'm so sorry!" a high pitched voice cried above me and I looked up to see a familiar face. With two large cat ears and a blue trench coat-like armor set, the girl from that fateful day on floor 47 was hovering above me. A pale blue feathered dragon was flying around her head and crying, obviously in shock from almost getting ran into. That must be the familiar that she was trying to revive with the <<Pneuma Flower>>, I thought to myself. It's fairly common for former SAO players to import their familiars and pets from the old game.
I waved that I was okay and said, "Who is that girl?" Waving back but not hearing my comment, the Cait Sith spun around and continued flying up towards Yggdrasil City. Seeing that her skirt was rather short, I averted my eyes from the spectacle that the girl was unknowingly putting on.
"That's Silica, one of the few beast tamers from SAO," Jinx said, once again showing the benefits of being socially connected. "Apparently she's a friend of Kirito's and goes to our school; I've never seen her though."
"That reminds me!" Kitty exclaimed, obviously over whatever had been bothering her before. I briefly wondered what it had been that she had wanted to ask me. "I know a breaker from SAO that is playing ALO too!"
"Wait, a breaker?" I asked, raising my eyebrows in surprise. "Why didn't you invite her to the guild?"
"Well... I met her sort of after you got that one nickname.... the "bane" one," she replied, ducking her head slightly as she said the last part. "Anyways she was this little girl and a tamer."
"How little?" Mattias asked, speeding up slightly to hear in on the conversation. His short, baby blue hair was dancing in the wind and his eyes were wide and interested. Why does he care? I wondered, looking up at my two guild members who hadn't spoken since we started flying.
Vin and Jesse were flying and holding hands, their wings just barely touching each other's. I felt something pang in my chest and I quickly put my hand over my heart. What on earth was that? I thought, removing my hand as the feeling passed. It's not like me to get like that from seeing couples.
"I'm not sure, but she looked about eight or nine," Kitty answered, spinning around in the air and looking up at the clouds for a moment before turning around again. "Why do you want to know?"
"That's impossible," Mattias said, shaking his head. I perked up, focusing on the human database that was my friend. "Sword Art Online had an age restriction: she would have been kicked out."
"Maybe she lied on the age screen," I suggested, shrugging. "Anyways, what made her a breaker, Kit?"
"Well, the thing about her that was different was that she never used a weapon," Kitty said, her voice taking on a secretive tone as she spoke. I raised my eyebrows and gave her a quizzical look to indicate for her to continue. "She somehow managed to tame one of those astrotech monsters from floor 15: it was this big suit of armor with a lance."
"Well, that's cool and all but I'm still wondering what you were gonna ask Aiken before he almost ran into Silica's pet," Jinx remarked coyly. I looked up at him and saw a mischievous glint in his eye; I had the strange feeling that he somehow knew what she had wanted to ask me.
"You're still on my bad list, Jinx," Kitty said, turning her head to glare at the Pooka. I sensed the anger coming off of her and wondered why the two of them could never seem to get along. Jinx could make friends with almost anyone and everyone; however, Kitty seemed to be immune to his charm. In fact, she seemed to respond to his antics and goofy behavior negatively.
As the two of them started to bicker back and forth, I thought back to when Darkness Falls was first labeled as SAO's only breaker guild.
The term "breaker" doesn't just apply to class and race exploits, though; any underrated skill or ability is up for grabs for the specialized players. In all honesty, breakers are horrible in PVE combat, leading most players to believe that they are horrible at the game. However, breakers are at a specific advantage over other players in PVP combat; by not following the predetermined norm in choosing how they use their skills and attacks, breakers create unique fighting styles that can't be countered or predicted easily.
January 9th, 2023
"Oh
yeah, that's another hit!" Kitty
cried as her short sword landed a critical hit on the spot on her opponents leg that his armor didn't
cover. Swinging with her left arm, her
blade clashed with the soldier's broadsword.
She stabbed forward with her right arm, the sharp edge of her short
sword glancing off of his thick chestguard.
Quickly bending backwards to avoid the player's wide swing, Kitty swiped
upwards again with her left hand, landing yet another hit on the soft spot on
his leg."Arrrggghhhh!" her dueling opponent yelled, charging at my guild member with his sword pointed forward. Kitty quickly slide to the side, deflecting the blade up towards the sky with the sword in her left hand. With his defense completely gone, Kitty pierced him in the chest with her right hand weapon, successfully bringing his health down to yellow.
"Guess that means I win.... again," Kitty said, pointing up at the winner icon above her head. I chuckled and started to walk over to her to congratulate her before I was stopped by the loser of the duel.
"You're hacking!" he accused, pointing a quivering finger at my friend. The crowd that had gathered to watch my companion wipe the floor with the Divine Dragon Alliance guild member gasped and started to murmur amongst each other. "How else are you able to Dual Wield?"
"I'm not a hacker!" Kitty shouted, her voice shaking slightly. "I'm not dual wielding either! I'm a breaker!" I started slightly at the statement; VRMMOs weren't very common, at least before SAO started, but "breaker" was one of the old MMO terms that didn't seem to pertain to the new type of gameplay.
Calming down a little from her outburst, Kitty unsheathed her short sword from its scabbard on her belt and continued. "You see this? It's only one blade; you can't 'dual wield' without two swords right?" she said, starting to throw the sword from one hand to the other. "This is a skill called <<Weapon Switch>> and everyone has it."
There was muttering from the mass of players that had gathered since the elite guild member's accusation and the sound of player menus opening as they checked to see if Kitty's claim was true. I knew that my friend was telling the truth; in fact, she was the first one who demonstrated to me what you could do with a high level of <<Weapon Switch>>.
"Most players don't bother with it because they don't see it as really being useful," Kitty explained, watching the crowd from the corner of her eye. "But with a high level of <<Weapon Switch>>, you can start an attack with your sword in one hand and end it with another." She smiled as several admiring voices started to murmur excitedly.
"You're a breaker?!" the DDA member remarked as he stood up with a tinge of disbelief in his voice. "In this death game? You'd rather study skills that'll only help you in PVP fighting than actually getting better so you can help on the front lines?!"
"What? No, this is just the way I want to-" Kitty started as the crowd's tone started to change from awe to disgust.
"Your guild leader's a breaker too, isn't he?" the player claimed, encouraged by the players around him. "That's why he uses so many projectile weapons, huh? I bet everyone in Darkness Falls is a breaker and you're all waiting to kill us when you get the chance."
"That's ridiculous!" I retorted, walking forward and drawing the light iron long sword that Gerg had made for me a week ago. "Despite how much I want to kick your butt right now, I don't plan on ever killing you or any other player. We're a breaker guild, not a PK guild." I briefly thought about the fiery tempered player that we had just recently recruited and the two oldest members of my guild. Hopefully they won't mind being in a breaker guild even though Selwyn, Jinx, and the new guy aren't breakers, I thought to myself.
"You said it yourself," the soldier scoffed, turning and facing the crowd. "Anyone who wants to risk their lives in this death game and be a 'breaker', we'll be sure to send them to you and your guild." A few sarcastic chuckles rose from the crowd and I gritted my teeth as anger started to bubble within me.
"And we'll welcome them with open hands," I said, raising my voice to be heard by everyone in the area. "It's stupid to turn someone away from a guild just because they don't fight like you want them to; we need to protect as many players as we can in this game." I sheathed my sword and motioned for Kitty and Vin to follow me outside of the dueling house of the twelfth floor.
From that day on, Darkness Falls became known as the "breaker guild" and we were looked down on from the elite guilds, such as DDA and the Knights of the Blood Oath. Because of the obvious lack of breakers in that death game, we never got any applications from players wanting to join the game. In fact, after we recruited Jesse, we never got any new players and stayed a small guild in comparison to other guilds.
"I'm foaming at the mouth for some action, chief," Auser said, drawing his sword and giving me a wide, foam-less grin. The rest of the remaining members of my guild nodded in confirmation; we were going in as an attack party with no one playing as the tank, in true VRMMO style. In all honesty, the tank position is sort of an archaic term when it comes to VR games; with improved AI, mobs tended to be trickier to defend against and smart enough to see past simple diversions and taunts.
"I'm ready when you guys are," Mattias remarked, tapping his staff against the ground. The Undine would be providing protective magic and healing in the heat of battle, while Jinx protected both him and I from melee enemies. I noticed briefly that the ends of his staff were adorned with bright cyan crystals and I wondered how he came across it. From what I could tell, it was an ultra rare monster drop, seeing as how blacksmiths couldn't make magic weapons and how detailed the design of the weapon was.
"Alright then, everyone get into position. Vin and Jes: I want you two in front," I ordered, grabbing the end of my bow from where it hung on my back and expanding it with my right hand. "At least until we come across some aggressive mobs; then, Auser can take point if he wants."
The Salamander nodded gratefully at me from his spot beside of Kitty and turned to follow the two Imps into the forbidding dungeon. I thought about the Cait Sith that had now equipped her claws again in preparation for the upcoming fights. When I had mentioned earlier that we should have guild uniforms, at least for official guild raids and business, she had almost jumped on top of me. She begged me to let her design the outfits and I had relented, not seeing why she shouldn't be the one to do so.
I chuckled to myself as I thought about my quirky, artistic friend and Jinx turned around to look at me. "What's so funny?" he asked, the corners of his mouth curling upwards. I started to answer when the two members at the front of the group stopped suddenly.
"We've got a group of two enemies coming!" Vin shouted, unsheathing his sword and holding it in front of him in one hand. I grinned despite myself; every time I saw that stance, I could always tell that someone was going to be hitting the ground, losing yet another fight with the "Dark Duelist"
I pulled my bow up in front of me and notched an arrow before using my Night Vision skill to identify the enemy. Deciding not to use torches before going farther into the cave to prevent traps at the beginning, we had agreed to rely on both my eyesight and the duo in front's. I soon was able to observe two figures scuttling towards us with what appeared to be clubs with nails imbedded in them.
I quickly fired my projectile before grabbing another arrow and readying it. With a soft thud, it hit my target and the goblin-like creature stumbled back a few steps. Taking advantage of its disorientation, I let go of my finger that was holding back the bowstring and watched as the arrow raced through the tunnel air. It hit the tiny humanoid enemy, which shivered slightly before it exploded in a bright display of polygons. The flash illuminated the cave for a short amount of time, showing the location of the other mob, which had slowed down when his companion was killed.
"Only two arrows to take it down? This'll be too easy," Auser said, holding his left hand up in a claw motion. "Ek verpa einn brandr muspilli, kalla bresta bani, steypa lundr drótt." Bright, glowing symbols surrounded him in the shape of cylinder as he spoke the incantation quickly, almost blurring the foreign words together. A flaming ball of fire formed in his hand and he thrust it towards the spot where the enemy had appeared in the flash of light.
"No Auser, wait!" Mattias shouted, moving as if to grab the Salamander. However, his cry was in vain as the projectile was already in route to the mob. The fire ball lighted up the cave as it raced towards its target and I saw hundreds of eyes staring at me from holes in the tunnel walls. Wait, what? I thought to myself, regretting that we hadn't picked a floor dungeon that we could have harvested intel about. Unfortunately, floor 24 had almost exclusively been cleared by the Divine Dragon Alliance in SAO, which didn't share any information about quests or enemies that they encountered. Furthermore, Kirito and his group hadn't released information about this dungeon when they completed it in ALO.
The missile soon hit the mob and exploded in a large cloud of debris and smoke, successfully killing the enemy. Hearing the sound of a plethora of bare feet moving around in the darkness, I gripped my bow tighter and notched an arrow. My night vision wasn't nearly as high or developed as Vin's, so I could only see the enemies that were in my range.
"Sounds like we're gonna need a light sooner rather than later," Jinx remarked, stabbing his halberd into the ground and clasping his hands together. "Oss náða nótt lysa auga." The circling golden symbols appeared around him like they did with Auser, but this time a familiar tune from an old video game played from somewhere and a glowing sphere of light appeared from within the Pooka's chest and floated up to the ceiling.
The light effectively illuminated the entire cavern and I switched off my night vision and gasped. Hundreds of little goblin creatures were scurrying towards us, brandishing makeshift weapons. Their skin was a deep red and their faces were scrunched up, almost as if in eternal fury. I let fly one of my arrows and gave a battle cry, ready to take on this army. My comrades echoed my shout and charged forward bravely.
"How did you know that this would happen?" I asked Mattias in between taking shots at two goblin enemies who were trying to flank Jesse. "That the goblins would swarm us?"
"They're called Kobold Infantrymen," he replied, keeping a steady eye on the group's HP and pointing at one of the creatures that had foolishly surrounded Kitty. She spun around, twisting her body in the air like a leaf caught in a whirlwind, and slashed through the group with her dual claws. "And I didn't know; I took a guess, based on the fact that one enemy was so weak. It's an attack strategy: get tons of underlings together and overpower the player by ambushing them."
Thinking back to SAO, I shuddered to think how many players died while trying to clear this dungeon; back then, a lot of players still hadn't developed their <<Night Vision>> skill and would have brought torches into the cave. I killed three Kobolds that had started to charge Auser and stopped briefly to watch the fiery swordsman slash through the hordes of enemies that blocked his path from the rest of the group.
"God, it feels so good to fight after not being able to because of Ansoni," Auser exclaimed, cutting one of the mobs in half. His anger-filled face carried a tinge of happiness and I felt my heartbeat increase as I looked at the picture of terror.
"Speaking about Ansoni, how is he healing up?" I asked Jinx, who was fighting off the few Kobolds that managed to get past the front lines. I finished off the mobs that were around Kitty and gestured for her to move closer to Auser's position.
"He's still got to wear the bandages but he should be able to take them off soon," Jinx answered, knocking one of the enemies into the air, where it exploded into a shimmering array of light. I nodded, firing at the enemies that were still arriving to the spot where my group was fighting. Ansoni, Jinx and Auser's roommate, apparently used to watch the two of them whenever they Full Dived and wait for them to come back anxiously. A couple weeks ago, Auser logged out to see his roommate leaning over him and freaked out, breaking his nose with a hard punch. After that, Ansoni stuck to just hiding his roommates' AmuSpheres and complaining about their obsessions with VRMMOs.
Even though the enemies were still pouring in, I could tell that we were still going to be fine; Vin and Jesse's duel fighting style was a thing of beauty that I considered to be stronger than any one player out there. The duo would split up, cutting down enemies with their katanas and then converge again, almost if in a dance of their own. Back to back, the two duelists mirrored each other's blow for their own and fought as one unit.
"Ek svartr þrír geirr muspilli" Jesse chanted, holding her unarmed hand in front of her as if motioned for the coming horde to stop. As she spoke, the same circle of words surrounded her again and I saw something on her blade that terrified me. Near where the hilt would be, there was a mass of material that I took to be artistic licensing on the generic hilt design. However, a large, grotesque eye blinked open and moved to look at me. When the symbols faded around her, three beams of dark purple energy fired from her hand, hitting a group of Kobolds and the gross orb disappeared behind its lids.
"Um, Jes? Did your sword just wink at me?" I shouted to be heard above the sounds of battle. I shot a particularly ugly Kobold that had managed to get past Jinx and knocked it out of the way with my bow. A warning come up that my weapon's durability had been decreased by 50 points and I made a mental note to not do that again.
"Hmm? Oh yeah, it does that," she said, ducking down low and kick sweeping a couple mobs that had made their way past her offense. "It's an event drop and that eye opens up every time that I use a spell." She flipped over the grounded group of enemies and slashed downwards, creating a brilliant display of white light.
By now, the remaining Kobold Infantrymen's numbers were probably somewhere around 40 or 30 and I sensed a change in the attack patterns. Looking up, I saw a figure appear at the point where the tunnel curved downwards. Pulling the bowstring back, I waited until the enemy moved closer before I would fire.
Waiting until about 20 meters from the nearest player, the mob started to run towards my guild mates. I tensed up, waiting until I could get a clear shot at the fast moving figure, which was taller than the Kobolds. It finally stopped, turning towards me and lifting the spear that it had been holding in its hand in the air. I started to loosen my fingers that were holding the arrow back when I noticed its obviously human face.
Although I could clearly see that it was an enemy NPC, I froze up as flashes of the faces of hundreds of dead SAO players, killed in their hospitals where they had been kept alive until then, appeared in front of me. I tried to move, to do something, but my muscles wouldn't respond as the enemy lunged forward and threw its weapon at me.
As the spear hurtled at me, I came to the realization that when it hit me, it would be killing blow; even though it was moving fast, I could still tell that it was going to hit me in the face and it would take my health down to zero. When the spear was about one meter away from me, I started to close my eyes when the flash of light reflecting off of steel made my eyelids flutter open again.
"Vin!" Jinx shouted, pulling Orenmir out of the cave floor where it was lodged. The spear lay in two pieces in front of me, where it soon burst into shinning polygons. Putting two and two together, I turned to look at my best friend with gratitude.
The Imp turned back to see what Jinx wanted and quickly assessed the situation. "I need someone to take that enemy out!" he ordered, taking his spot as second-in-command. That was quick, I thought, dazed slightly. Is that how quickly he took command in SAO when I went on my hunts?
"I've got it!" Auser yelled triumphantly, charging at the spear-thrower. Confused by having to change targets so quickly, the mob froze, allowing the Salamander to slash it wide across its chest and stab it in the arm.
Seeing my teammate attack the NPC shook me out of my reverie and I launched the arrow that I had been holding back for so long at a group of Kobolds in between where Jesse and Kitty were fighting their respective enemies. Successfully gained the agro of the enemies, I fired a quickly volley of arrows at them, killing them in matter of seconds.
I notched another arrow and raised my bow before realizing that no one was fighting anymore. Kitty nudged the body of one of the Kobolds that was still lying down on the ground and yelped when it burst into the familiar dying animation. Vin and Jesse gave each other a high five and then hugged while Mattias leaned against his staff. The Undine only had to heal once or twice during the fight and was obviously put off by this fact.
"Thanks for helping me out there, Aus," I said, clapping the Salamander on his back in gratitude. My guild member moved away from me with an annoyed smile and raised his hands in defense.
"Who said you could give me a nickname?" he said, reminding me that, unlike most of my friends, I hadn't introduced him to the shortened moniker that I called him by in my mind.
"I think it's a pretty good name, Aus," Jinx said, rubbing his head and ducking away from the steaming player. I chuckled as the Salamander started to chase my quartermaster around in a circle.
Where would I be without them? I wondered to myself, smiling at their camaraderie. We all protected each other with our lives in SAO and would probably do so again if given the choice.
PoH's words echoed in my mind and my mood shifted. What if I'm only endangering them by being around them? I thought to myself as I started to walk further into the dungeon, my heart growing heavier with each step.
Great job with details and visualizations.
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