Taking Care
Discord Link ~ https://discord.gg/smAesXp
***
"Hya!"
Tsh…
Another kobold fell prey to Silica's dagger as she appeared and disappeared in the field. When she got to level 6, Silica went ahead and chose the Sneaking skill to support her dagger skill. She jumped into the shadows and made use of the blind spots of many kobolds, killing them all.
Even when the game took in all the realism and fatal attacks are still fatal, the players still had to take into account the level and defense of the victim of their attacks.
'She's so skilled...'
Asuna had brought Silica to get some experience against the Kobolds, but after defeating the third kobold, Silica was already confident and quick in learning, being able to defeat many kobolds by herself.
"Silica! Stick close to me, don't wander too far away," said Asuna as she ran over to Silica and quickly took out the nearest Kobold to her.
Dealing more damage thanks to the completion rate… damage through the weapon… damage through the dagger Skill…
With all this damage added up together, the amount of damage Silica can successfully pull off is pretty amazing. She can easily deal criticals if she attacks vital spots and can easily one shot a kobold with no problem.
"Got it!" Silica quickly moved and exchanged four moves with a kobold before killing it with a hidden attack Sora had taught her. After taking down the kobold, Silica ran back to Asuna.
ROOOAAARRR!
Just when Silica and Asuna got back together, they heard a loud roar coming from the center of the boss room. With shocked looks on their faces, they turned to look at the boss who had his health chipped away by a lot already.
With his last health bar already cut down by half, the Kobold Lord threw away the weapon in his hand and took out a sleek and long Nodachi. With red eyes, the Kobold Lord lowered himself down on the ground and ran around the boss room, leaving behind a red blur.
"Watch out!"
Diavel jumped out and parried a surprise attack from the Kobold Lord, sending him flying back into one of the many pillars decorating the boss room.
Boom!
ROAR!
The Kobold Lord yelled out once more as it jumped in front of a large group of players and swung it's weapon, killing a few players. The players died with pale faces filled with incredulity as they were sent to their [Second Chance].
"Everyone! Cover me!" yelled out Asuna as she ran forward, calling for help from Silica, Princess, and Kirito.
Silica and Princess followed behind Asuna whilst Kirito went to check up on Diavel who was rapidly losing his health.
"Run and attack from the Kobold Lord's blind spots, Silica! Princess and I will launch an attack, drawing the Kobold Lord's attacks from you!"
Asuna ran quickly up to the Kobold Lord who was about to attack a group of players before Parrying the Kobold Lord. Whilst Asuna parried the Kobold Lord, Princess ran past Asuna and attacked the Kobold Lord's knee with a rapid
UARRGH!
The Kobold Lord roared in pain as a long cut appeared on it's knee, spilling blood.
Swinging it's nodachi angrily, the Kobold Lord smashed down the nearby pillars. Asuna and Princess rolled out of the way, dodging the Kobold Lord's attacks in time.
A second later and they would have lost a good chunk of their health to a simple attack of the Kobold Lord's.
<...>!
…
Asuna and Princess kept attacking the Kobold Lord, quickly chipping away at it's health. Once they were getting pushed back, the other players appeared to help them under the leadership of Agil, the man who had assisted them earlier.
Despite all the help from the other players, and Kirito who had also appeared to help, the Kobold Lord was still pushing them back.
Once a sliver of health was left, the Kobold Lord jumped back furthering the distance from the players who almost killed him. With a smirk, the Kobold Lord puffed up it's chest, ready to roar loudly and call upon it's underlings, the Kobold Sentinel.
"Someone stop it!"
"Do we have any archers?!"
"How about anyone with any type of throwing skill!"
"We're going to die!"
"Who's the leader?! Emergency Exit quick!!"
All the players were going mad, they knew that if the Kobold Lord manages to summon more Kobolds, they would die and lose. They would be surrounded by many Kobolds before being cut down and killed, sending them to their graveyards.
Their HP won't last any longer and they have no more Healing Crystals, so all they can do is pitifully wait for their impending deaths at the hands of the Kobolds.
Just as they were despairing, they all heard the Kobold Lord yell in pain. His large body trembled for a couple of seconds as the light within it's eyes dimmed and fell to the ground lifelessly.
Nobody looked at the dead Kobold Lord, instead they focused on the little girl on the Kobold Lord's back. Who was busily trying to remove her dagger from the back of the Kobold Lord.
"Silica! You did it!" Asuna was the first to recognize the little girl as she sprinted on over to the little girl, followed by Kirito and Princess.
[Congratulations!]
A screen appeared in front of many players, their levels were raised and the amount of money they had increased. Some received some nice items, but the real prize was awarded to Silica who dealt the final blow on the Kobold Lord.
The Coat of Midnight.
"That was amazing Silica!" said Kirito, with a wide smile plastered on his face. Never would he have thought to be glad to be still alive after being saved by someone younger than him.
Silica smiled and looked at the bonus she received very happily
'I will give this to Master!' she thought as she looked at the other rewards.
Besides the leveling up, the money, and the Coat of Midnight, Silica received another amazing reward. A new dagger, although not as good as the one Sora had made for her, it would still be worth some money.
'Maybe I can ask the Master to reforge it and make me a better dagger,' thought Silica as she clicked away the screens.
"Alright, let us head back now to the dojo," said Asuna as she walked over to the black door at the back of the Boss room.
However, just as everyone was getting ready to leave, they heard a worldwide announcement.
[The 10th Labyrinth Tower has been cleared! The next floor will now open up to the players and the Aincradians.]
[Teleport Gates have been updated!]
Once everyone heard the voice telling them of the next floor being open, they saw a bright light in front of them as some stairs appeared next to the black door.
Everyone cheered happily after seeing the stairs that lead to the next floor appeared. Most of the people quickly ran to the stairs, quickly running up it and into the next floor.
Asuna and her group instead went through the black door, heading back to Dragon City where Sora was waiting for them.
A whole day had passed since they departed from [Myriad Paths] to enter the boss raid. The ride to and from the Labyrinth Tower wasn't long, but the time waiting for the groups to fight the Kobold Lord was a long time.
The first group took 2 hours, the next one took 5 hours, and the next took 4 hours. Then, Diavel's group took 4 hours as well to go through the large amount of Kobolds and then the amount of time to take down the Kobold Lord.
A total of 15 hours.
Appearing outside the Labyrinth Tower, Asuna and the rest walked over to the Teleport Gate and went back to Dragon City.
…
In [Myriad Paths], Sora was standing in front of all the disciples training in the sword. He had a wide grin, and so did the kids, after hearing the next floor being opened.
Now that the next floor was open, Sora can go ahead and get multiple skills, like the Martial Artist skill.
Sora planned to do it once Asuna and the rest arrived so that he can have someone care for the children. Once he gets the skill, he can return and make a guild now that the function has been unlocked.
Since he has 15 skill slots free, Sora decided to go ahead and get many skills which he thought were important and he will use frequently in the real world. So, he quickly used up 13 skill slots to have two remaining for a skill he can get from the second floor and to leave a skill slot behind just in case.
[Two-Handed Spear Skill equipped.]
[Archery Skill equipped.]
[Dancing Skill equipped.]
[Acrobatics Skill equipped.]
[Calligraphy Skill equipped.]
[Painting Skill equipped.]
[Lumber Skill equipped.]
[Sculpting Skill equipped.]
[Inscriptions Skill equipped.] (A/N: The normal carving, not the magical version.)
[Beast Taming Skill equipped.]
[Hunting Skill equipped.]
[Cooking Skill equipped.]
[Musical Instrument Skill equipped.]
After equipping all these new skills, Sora nodded.
Although most skills seemed pretty useless separately and not of much importance in Sword Art Online, they were pretty important for Sora understanding further his martial arts.
Every move in martial arts, whether it is armed or unarmed, it is all like a dance. Whether the dance is free-style, composed, elegant, rough… it is like martial arts. The same went for acrobatics, not only does it make one more light on their feet and flexible, but it also helps with allowing to execute more moves in martial arts that are usually complicated.
The same went for any other skill… Lumber… Calligraphy… Painting… Inscriptions… etc.
Heck, even the Musical Instrument skill will help.
The form of martial arts could be derived from anywhere, it is something Sora slowly came to understand more and more. Even the gentle swaying of a tree's branches on a windy day can be interpreted as martial arts.
Even something as simple as the waves of a sea. One of the ways the waves were interpreted were as Wave Essence, and another way was Tidal Push. Both amazing techniques that can dramatically increase the power of a single hit.
After getting all those new skills, Sora went ahead and traded his Blade Throwing Skill for the general Throwing Skill. Since with the blade throwing skill limited the amount of weapons he can use to throw.
He had many nice weapons that he had forged that can be effective for throwing, but since he had the Blade Throwing Skill, he couldn't really use them at all. With the Blade Throwing Skill, he could only throw small blades and small items like pebbles.
With the general Throwing Skill, he could now even through spears and javelins!
"Master! I got you a nice item!"
Breaking him out of his thoughts, Silica entered the Dojo with a loud voice as she ran to Sora with a wide smile.
Sora smiled and turned to Silica, "Haha, you don't have to give me anything Silica."
Shaking his head, Sora tried sending Silica off before hearing Silica say that she won't go to sleep unless he accepts the item she will give him.
"Come on Master! You have to accept it," mumbled Silica in a low voice as she took the item and shoved it into Sora's hands.
Sora just stood there looking at Silica leave with a sigh. He didn't look at the item yet, but he placed it inside his inventory to look at later.
"Where's Kirito?" asked Sora as he looked at Asuna and Princess who had both walked in earlier when Silica gave him the item.
Asuna stepped forward and said, "He mentioned something about having to do some stuff on the second floor and dealing with something at Silver City on the first floor."
Since Kirito was a beta tester, he knew about the hidden skill in the second floor. The
Kirito didn't come back right away since he wanted to go and get the skill as quick as possible since it will help him out in getting more skills.
"Hm. Take care of these children Asuna, I have an errand to run," said Sora before putting on some dark red armor and the Dire Wolf Cape on. He grabbed the sword he made, a silver one-handed longsword, and walked out of the dojo before disappearing under the night sky.