SAOK: Braving the Depths

This article, , is the ninth chapter of Sword Art Online (Kenji). It is the final chapter in the aforementioned work to take place in 2022, with subsequent chapters occurring after the New Year.

Darkness.

The unknown.

That was what awaited «Brightscale» per the conclusion of a small quest-chain on the the 5th Floor of Aincrad. The Town of Mananarena sat between Karluin, main town on the 5th Floor, and the labyrinth tower. The front-runners didn't seem to be at all bothered about Mananarena or the second area beyond its borders: «The Dead Woods». Whatever had gotten under their skins had caused them to look towards the tower with a degree of focus I hadn't seen since this game began.

In a way it was frightening.

It was the main reason why Arashi and I had came to the conclusion that we'd rather avoid whatever was going on between the DKB and ALS and focus on our own levelling for now. It was currently 17:36 on the 30th of December, 2022, and we'd just finished «Suspicious Goods», «Tracking the Goods» and «Playing Bandit». The Floor had only been open for the third day and already the front-runners where pushing ahead. Middle-of-the-road players like ourselves where still scarce so we'd actually been the only players actually doing quests in Mananarena.

That was how we came to be the first players in Aincrad to walk down the steps into the underground dungeon identified by our merchant quest giver as the «Dead Woods Mausoleum». The final quest in the chain was dubbed «Securing the Mausoleum» and since we'd been questing in two teams to tackle the «Elf War» this had actually been the first time all six of us had been together in over a week.

The twins, understandably, where in the town of Karluin taking advantage of the relic craze. I'd left my «Scimitar» +8 with Sheila and was currently making do with my «Pale Edge» +4 because it was finally time to say goodbye to it. Akiye was going to break it down into an ingot and see about getting some high-end materials to use in the forging of my new sword.

I was actually giddy with excitement at the thought.

Ryne drew my attention. "Kishi, time to spill the beans." She chirped in my ear. "I think you've kept us in suspense long enough."

Oh. That. "Yeeaaaah, about that." I thought hesitantly.

I wanted to reassure her and tell her 'you bet' but I couldn't do it. The quest-chain leading to the Mausoleum in the official release had existed in the beta -- I had even completed it -- but no where had it mentioned a dungeon located in «The Dead Woods». As far as the beta was concerned the «Dead Woods Mausoleum» did not exist. The chain of quests that led us here essentially boiled down to a local merchant noticing a number of antiquated items coming onto the market and he was suspicious of their origin. The players where required to first spy on the suspected merchant, then to track his goods, and finally to apprehend the NPC's involved.

That was where the beta chain ended. In the official release the origin of the goods was finally revealed to have come from the mausoleum and the final quest called for the place to be cleared out.

I had to come clean.

"... We can't do that."

It was Arashi who had broken the silence however.

"This dungeon wasn't in the beta." I added. "We might recognise the mobs and what attacks they'll use but as far as traps and loot, we're as much in the dark this time as you guys."

The atmosphere was turning sombre and my brain refused to work out a way to reassure everyone. Asuka was looking ahead with doubt in her eyes, Jiro was suddenly very interested in the floor beneath his feet, and Ryne was shooting glances back towards the entrance. Even Arashi wasn't coming forward to say anything; he just stood there with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face.

Shiro, thankfully, saw a silver lining that he was willing to share with the group.

"It'll make for good practice." He said casually. "We wouldn't be able to rely on yours and Arashi's beta knowledge forever. There was always going to be a point we'd hit when the beta testers reached the end of their own experience. I'm game if the rest of you are. We'll just have to be more careful than usual."

I smiled. He was the Tank of my Team A so naturally I depended on him but even outside battle the guy was a pillar.

"... What he said." And I stood beside Shiro and pointed towards him with my thumb.

"I'll take point. Shiro'll take up the rear." Arashi finally found his voice as he rolled his eyes. "Asuka will be behind me looking for traps and behind her will be Jiro. Kishi and Ryne can hang out in the middle."

"Oh, yay!" Ryne exclaimed. "We get to be the sandwich filling!"

Our resolve restored by a good old laugh we began our mission to clear the dungeon. The monsters had been kind enough not to target us and as soon as we got close I realised why: we were dealing with the undead. Skeletons and shambling corpses to be precise, and it appeared that these variety of undead disliked being away from their place of original internment unless provoked.

Asuka was hiding behind me and not shadowing Arashi looking for traps.

"Why did they have to be dead!?"

I had to call bullshit.

"You mean to tell me that you can fight man-bulls the size of houses, who happen to be about as wide as a bus, with arms like tree-trunks but you get scared of a little ol' skeleton? How does that compute?"

My view of the dungeon shifted visibly and roughly 5% went off my HP bar. Yet her player cursor never shifted colour once. She was as green as the proverbial grass on the other side of the hill.

"Hax! You just slugged me!!"

"I can't help it if a skeleton creeps me out! I didn't even like biology..."

"Can we focus!?" Arashi bellowed.

"... Can you not shout?" Shiro added from the back. "Or that will happen."

Arashi's loudness only served to bring down the undead on us. As he had turned around to ask his question his back was exposed to the nearest skeleton, who came lunging at him with a sword! But instead of Arashi suffering damage it was the skeleton who got cleaved in two. Arashi had used Back Rush -- a counter-stroke used when the player is outflanked and approached from the rear. His strike consisted of one fluid horizontal strike to the base of the skeleton's spinal cord and sent its top sailing harmlessly past and over his shoulder from momentum alone, whilst the bottom half collapsed into a heap of bones at his feet before promptly dispersing into polygons.

"Eeeeeeeeeeyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

The reason for Asuka's scream should have been obvious. The skeleton half that did not die had landed right at her feet and was currently crawling along the ground and reaching towards her ankle. I had gotten back to my feet by this time but found myself unable to even swing my sword. Asuka had leapt across the distance between us -- very possible with her Agility stat -- and threw her arms around me.

"Oh, for the love of-"

My Strength stat was high enough to carry a player decked out in lightweight armor should the need arise and thankfully I didn't drop her. With her in my arms bridle-style I dropped low, balancing on one leg, and managed to initiate my roundhouse Water Moon kick.

The skeleton died in short order.

"Are you gonna be alright?"

"... Nope,"

The remainder of the undead attracted by Arashi's shout where mopped up in short order. Unfortunately paralysis didn't effect the skeletons -- no muscles to paralyse. The shambling corpses, however, where a different story. A single tap from Jiro's spear with paralysis Level 2 was enough to send them crashing to the ground.

That was when I stepped in to stop them dispatching the corpses.

"Okay, Asuka, time to face your fears! This dude is paralysed as you can see. So have at it."

It was probably the single-most hesitant Sword Skill I'd ever seen performed in my time playing SAO. Flurry of Blows: a five-strike combination attack comprising four swift jabs and finished off with an uppercut attack. 80% of the Sword Skill comprised piercing damage whilst the final 20% was slashing damage.

"Now, shall we continue?" I said at last. "We're wasting daylight."

The first floor of the dungeon was a long tunnel with ten total adjoining rooms, poor lighting in every nook, and a dusty aesthetic. The stone floor was cracked, walls where crumbling, and all one could hear the farther you went was the sounds of bone stepping on stone.

There was three chests in total and one room with a wall that my «Searching» Skill found suspicious. This led into a hidden room where the third treasure chest was located. The whole room screamed "IT'S A TRAP" and Asuka knelt down to examine the chest. It was only recently that I'd spoken to her about her Skill layout. I knew she had «Wild Dance» slotted, which was her combat Skill denoting proficiency with Claw and Knuckle-type weaponry, and «Sprint», which was a two-fold effect: the first was a burst of speed that was activated by the player, whilst the second was a passive increase in the player's effectiveness at dodging strikes.

It turned out she also had «Trap Dismantling» and «Picking» Skills. In essence she was a typical depiction of an RPG staple: the thief.

In short order the trap was disarmed and the lock opened.

"Ohhhhh, a pile of money. 30,000 cor!? Wow. That's kind of a lot is't it?"

"Sweeeeeet!" Ryne exclaimed.

"This is a milestone floor." Jiro pointed out. "Maybe we can expect better chests from now on?"

"Wouldn't bank on it." Arashi answered. "The first two chests weren't anything to write home about."

He was right of course. They'd been simple ore drops used in the upgrading of weapons and armor. Again my mind drifted to my soon-to-be-new-sword.

Our party loot rules where basic. Money was automatically split equally among the members of the party with a share of it going towards the guild chest. Material items, such as monster parts and ore, went into a shared inventory that anyone of us could dip into for equipment upgrades and the like. Equipment drops were randomised but we'd established pretty early -- before the guild had even been formed in fact -- that pieces useful to your comrades build and not necessarily to your own should be offered up. That was why I had offered the «Stalker Boots» from the «Fallen Elf Commander» to Ryne only to then give them to Asuka. It was also why Arashi and I had given Shiro gear back when he first joined our party.

We advanced further.

The farther we went the more coffins had been bust open and consequently the amount of undead increased too. The light also began to dim and we where soon required to advance with torches. As a one-handed curved sword user and a one-handed «Chakram» thrower Ryne and I took up that duty. Arashi, Jiro and myself led the line and as soon as one mob died Ryne targeted the next with her «Chakram» and drew them into range. All the while Asuka stepped through the line disabling traps and opening chests.

We mapped the entire 2nd Floor and found four chests. Two of these had been booby-trapped as well and their contents puzzled all of us save Ryne.

"Their dusty." Asuka noted.

She materialised the two items. One was clearly a sword of some kind whilst the other was a large piece of cloth. The sword was rusty and worn whilst the cloth was threadbare and caked with dust.

"They need to be appraised." Ryne supplied. "Remember the relics? Same idea."

The difficulty of the mobs increased the further we went in. The third floor was less of a ruin than the rest of the dungeon and we actually started to see undisturbed coffins. There were less monsters roaming around but they where significantly stronger, with cursors sometimes appearing purple. The darker a cursor was the more powerful a monster -- they where usually red. Pink meant weak. Purple meant strong. Then there was black. It was held at the moment that if a monster with a black cursor appeared and you hadn't tripped its aggro the best thing to do was run. If you engaged it... well. It was nice knowing you.

Only two chests on this floor and surprise surprise! They where rigged. Asuka tinkered with one for a moment before disengaging the trap and opening the lock, which yielded a single item. The second opened without issue and yielded us more ore. Asuka materialised the item and held it out for inspection.

"Hmmm, some kind of vial? Any ideas?"

"Stow it. We'll have Elise take a look at it later."

I consulted my map. The greyed out areas on the 3rd Floor consisted of only a single area now and that was likely to be the final area, where we'd likely find the boss, or the stairs leading down to another floor. My last guess turned out to be the right one. The stairs led down to an expansive circular chamber with a single large stone coffin in the centre.

As soon as we collectively entered the room the door behind us slammed shut and our torches went out.

"Shit," I muttered.

It was more luck than anything that we survived. I figured if we where going to be attacked then we'd be attacked from the front. So I readied my one defensive Sword Skill and stepped out in-front of Arashi. Shunt -- a horizontal push activated when the hand is placed against the backside of the blade and the user pushes with both arms. Luckily I didn't push empty air and the characteristic clang of two Sword Skills colliding filled the cylindrical room! The clang isn't what drew my attention however. It was the audible snap that followed.

My «Pale Edge» +4 had snapped right along the edge.

"Son of a-!!!"

"Torches!!" Arashi bellowed, which completely drowned out my expletive.

The «Pale Edge» had been my backup Sword and my «Scimitar» was with Sheila. My only other sword was the weapon I started the game with enhanced with +1 to Sharpness. With the illumination of Ryne's torch I leapt back as Arashi caught aggro in his usual manner and pulled up the sub-folder leading to weaponry in my inventory.

"Thanks, old friend. Do me one more favour please and help me beat this thing."

The «Bronze Sabre» +1 (1S) materialised out of my inventory and into my right-hand. It glowed slightly as all buffed weapons did, its slender blade reflecting the nearby torchlight, and I pulled it free of the black-as-night sheath in one fluid motion. The hilt was familiar in my hand. It was lighter than I was used to but I'd adapt. I'd have to.

I directed my gaze upwards as another audible clang reverberated through the room.

«Armored Revenant». 3 HP bars. And a cursor so purple it may as well have been black.

I couldn't see anything beyond an armored red suit and a massive greatsword this thing managed to wield with one-hand. It made the two-handed sword I affectionately called "Arashi's monstrosity" look like a Goddamn toothpick.

"We need to fall-back!!" Ryne called.

"We can't!" Asuka called. "The doors locked and I can't pick it!"

So we stood and fought. My personal DPS was shot to hell and back because of my weapon but it did allow me to fire off a Leaver and apply a DoT, so at least I was contributing something to the overall damage. Arashi and Shiro swapped as often as their pot rotation would allow whilst Asuka and Jiro picked up my slack. Even when you took into consideration my damage from a Sword Skill and a successive Martial Art Sword Skill my damage had been tanked into the floor. Even Ryne was out performing me!

My pride was at an all-time low and maybe that was why I pushed so hard for the LA. But my «Bronze Sabre» with its one point to Sharpness yielded up to me one more kill. It bit deeply into the opening of the boss's T-visor helmet and the last bit of red on its HP bar emptied. I said a silent thank you to the weapon that had carried me during my first days in the game and had once again came to my rescue now.

The LA: «Gloves of the Defiant».

"Fitting,"

"I thought you sold that." Arashi said.

"... I couldn't bring myself to do it. Good thing, too. It saved my ass today."

The defeat of the boss caused a wall to tumble down at the back of the room and this led back towards the entrance. That I should have foreseen. Not because of my beta knowledge but because of my knowledge of games, and RPG's specifically.

"The monsters... they're gone." Jiro pointed out.

"I need sleeeeeeeep." Asuka interjected. "I've had enough of tombs, thank you very much!"

We returned to Mananarena and turned our quest in before deciding it best to push on to Karluin. I fired off a quick message to the twins telling them we'd be back shortly and when we crashed through the door of the inn we'd been staying at on the 5th Floor the girls greeted us cheerily with drinks and food. We looked like we'd been dragged through a couple of hedges backwards and the refreshments actually tasted good.

In no time flat all of us where heading to our beds.

I went to my deluxe room -- bought for the simple reason the room had two double beds -- and collapsed face-first into mine. The twins where already fast asleep in theirs.

I mumbled "goodnight" into my pillow and was soon sleeping soundly...

End.