CH 25 - BITTERSWEET
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sorry for not updating yesterday,
there was power outage at my region,
this was supposed to be out yesterday but enjoy.
expect the next one tomorrow.
thanks for your fellowship.
see ya
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Yuki was on crowd control duty, he couldn't afford to relax as his friends were in great peril right now.
Surrounded from all sides by gnomes, the nasty little buggers carrying pickaxes and golems.
They were spilling out from the open sides of the walls with no end in sight, with their glowing reds eyes sending chills to the spines of his comrades causing them to freeze up, leaving them selves open.
He appeared in front of his comrades slashing through the gnomes about to gang up on them with relative ease and breaking them from their stupor, reminding them of their precarious situation.
"Stay focused guys, we can do this, we can make it out of here, just cover each other's backs like we practiced" Yuki shouted, after dispatching the outliers of the approaching swarm without taking his sight off the enemy.
They quickly got into formation and began to counter attack, dealing blow after blow to the gnomes, ending them.
the golems were a little more difficult as they were taller and more durable than the gnomes and their reach was longer.
Kirito couldn't be found close to them but they could be assured that he would be safe as he has proven to be very resilient character so far but his aid would be highly appreciated right now.
Kanada flashed to sachi's side and cut the approaching golems legs off then stabbing it's head killing it off.
he took up guard by her side keeping watch as the others were busy fighting for their lives.
They would have already been overwhelmed by now if not for yuki saving them at crucial moments, stopping a hit to the back from the golems, killing of the majority of a group of gnomes aiming to surround a player with kanada occasionally helping out as he was the fastest among them besides yuki.
They couldn't keep up this pace forever and yuki had already spread him self too thin leaving a significant gap between himself and his team.
He wanted to quickly reduce the number of attackers to reduce the pressure on the group but he strayed too far from the team.
"HAAAAAAAAHHHHH"
A shout was heard in the room, alerting yuki to kirito's presence drawing near to the team while swinging his sword in a frenzy trying to quickly reach them.
Following his line of sight, he saw that his friends were about to be cornered and was about to rush back to help out even though he knew he would be too late to do anything.
he still dashed forward as fast as he could cutting down any enemy in his way, then he saw a black flash passing by all his teammates side before all their immediate enemies paused mid strike then exploded into fragments.
sachi was contending against a golem in front of her striking it's abdomen and pushing it back to the crowd behind it.
unaware of the swift whip like attack of the golem approaching her from behind, turning around, she was met with the stagnant figure of the striking golem before it burst into fragments, looking around her the same thing occurred to the monsters in her immediate vicinity.
Kanada, tetsuo and the others experienced similar situations except for yuki and kirito as they could hold their own.
Yuki noticed the situation and wanted to breath a sigh of relief and let go of his high tension state right now, but he couldn't do that cause he wasn't sure if they were out of the woods yet.
Resolving himself, he proceeded to brutally and methodically disable and dispatch all the enemies with extreme prejudice.
He appeared in front of the cluster of golems, jumping into their midst, he slashed all their legs in one smooth motion, jumping on the knee of the nearby golem, he lunged at it's head, stabbing his swords in to it's head, he jumped backward, flipping in the air and landed a kick to another golems head.
Jumping from one opponent to the other while in the air never touching the ground as he dismantled them completely, clearing this section of the room by him self.
Turning around after noticing the lack of fighting behind him, He saw his team mates talking to a new player and kirito by the side with a downcast look on his face and sachi trying to cheer him up.
Focusing on the masked figure, he immediately realized that it was michael,
so he approached them in a chipper mood, gratitude in his heart for michael's timely save.
He knew that he could have intervened sooner and avoided the situation in the first place but that was not his call to make so he just chose to be grateful.
{KIRITO"S POV}
Seeing the slowly approaching strike to sachi's back, kirito was sure that she would be dead if that attack connects so he wanted to stop it in way possible, but he was too far away, so he prayed, and hoped that someone would save her in his stead, anyone would do... Just save her.
Desperation could be seen in his eyes as the attack approached her in slow motion, he didn't even notice the dilemma of his other mates but he couldn't afford to right now and just like that, a miracle happened.
A black silhouette flashed by sachi's side and the attack stopped in motion before the golem and all other monsters close to her burst into fragments.
Seeing that sachi was safe, Kirito's eyes lit up with vigour and unleashed his wrath on the golems and gnomes approaching him.
He cut them down with each swing of his sword and practiced movements, taking down large amounts of the enemies in a short amount of time before he approached sachi and the rest.
They had an easier time dealing with the low number of monsters after regrouping with Kanada and tetsuo taking the lead.
Cutting down the last golem nearby, he stood beside them, checking their states and seeing they were doing okay, he focused on the fight and they quickly dispatched the enemies with his aid.
He saw an unknown figure approaching them, swiftly becoming alert but was thrown for a loop after seeing his teammates reaction to the stranger.
Kanada quickly approached him with the guys and sachi and offered their thanks for saving their lives to which he just responded with a nod, clearing things up for kirito as he realized that he was the miracle he prayed for, he didn't know how to feel at that very moment.
{3RD PERSON POV}
Michael has been following the group from afar as they moved through the labyrinth, he wanted to assess yuki's level so far, as for kirito, he hasn't improved so much since the last time they met.
He was bored out of his mind but that soon disappears as the group came across a trap door on their way out.
He knew it was so as he has heard about them but hasn't experienced one himself as they are rare to encounter.
Watching them go into the room, he quickly closed the distance between them and raised his stealth skill to the maximum, reducing his presence to very low level.
As soon as the chest in the room was open, the door was closed shut and the walls opened up leading to emergence of huge swarms of golems and gnomes.
He knew that this group wouldn't be able to hold their own against such odds except yuki and kirito but he already made up his mind to intervene once things become too difficult for them.
After fighting for awhile, all the teams were separated from each other and they were about to be annihilated.
Yuki and Kirito were far from the rest of their team members and they would be ambushed soon.
HIs ROH ( A/N :Rudimentary observation haki) was activated in full force, encompassing the whole room so he could see that they would be killed if he didn't intervene.
He activated his skill
He watched yuki's performance and was impressed with this team for surviving so long so he cleared out the rest of the mob before approaching them as he had a few words for them.
After they finished giving their thanks, They began to ask michael how he could move so fast, and how cool his outfit looks and how did he get so strong, all sorts of questions but he remained silent and didn't respond and waited for them to calm down but this didn't dampen their enthusiasm.
Yuki joined them shortly after and michael spoke for the first time.
"How do you guys feel?" He asked in a neutral tone.
Yuki knew that tone. He knew michael was feeling irritated but didn't understand why so he answered in their stead.
" Lucky to be alive, that was a dangerous situation that could have been avoided but we thank you for the save nonetheless"
The others were confused by the conversation but michael paid them no mind.
He looked to yuki and hummed at his response before looking to kirito who couldn't look him in the eyes as he already realized that this was michael, the same guy who thrashed him about at the WOLF PLAINS.
He knew what that look meant and he was downcast.
He could have done things differently, tried to be more honest with the team, used his full power from the start and not give them a false sense on security due to being carried and feeling stronger than they actually were.
His actions emboldened them to take this course of action.
He could argue that yuki was the same but they knew about his level but he lied to them and yuki was an infrequent player as well.
"I understand, I'm very sorry guys" kirito replied to michael before addressing the team.
By now yuki understood what was happening and wanted to stop kirito but one look from michael stopped him in his tracks.
"I'm sorry guys, I lied to you all, I lied about my level, I caused this mess, I'm really sorry." Kirito cried out feeling really sorry about his actions.
This revelation surprised everyone except sachi because she already knew but kirito didn't know that.
They quickly understood the reason for his apology as his presence made them take risks they weren't ready for and nearly cost them their lives.
They were feeling complicated, angry at his lies so far, sad that he couldn't trust them and grateful that he has been with them so far despite their lower stats.
"I'm sorry !!!!" Kirito said with his head still lowered.
Sachi approached him and hugged his head while caressing his hair and softly spoke.
"It's okay, It's okay"
The others watched on quietly as this scene carried on, still at the side of their minds they were still terrified that this could have been the end for them, if it hadn't been for the intervention of michael.
so they made sure to cherish this second opportunity that they've been given and act more cautiously from now on.
Michael looked at all this and just decided to give them some advice on choosing their battles more effectively, to never overestimate themselves as not everyone could be like him.
'well they look like they would be able to take care of themselves. I just hope they will take my advice to heart' Michael thought.
Looking at yuki at the side, he thought ' I hope he's okay with this'.
Hardening his heart, he let out a loud cough, drawing attention to himself as he began to speak
"Well......"
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