Chapter 3 Part 2

Instead of inspiring the black swordsman to learn further, this

suggestion sent his head slumping with a deep sigh.

"I thought I was playing games to get away from learning for-

eign vocabulary words…"

"Just so you know, the top-tier spells are made up of about

twenty words each."

"Ugh…I think I'll stick with being a pure fighter."

"No complaining! Now start over from the top."

They'd been in the cave for two hours. The ten or so battles

against orcs had been a breeze, and they had no fear of getting

lost, thanks to the map Leafa bought in Swilvane. According to

that map, they were nearly to a bridge that spanned a massive underground reservoir. On the other side of that bridge was the

mining city of Lugru.

Lugru was not as large as the mammoth underground fortress

that was the capital of gnome territory, but the ores and veins

were rich here, and many merchants and crafters gravitated to it.

Yet despite that, they ran across no other players on their trip.

The cave was not the best hunting ground, and most sylphs would

avoid a place where their advantage in flight was of little use.

There was enough space to the corridors to fly, but without any

sunlight or moonlight to refuel wing power, there was no way to

regain the charge.

Most sylphs who wanted to visit Alne for trading or tourist

purposes chose the much longer detour north to cait sith territory, thus avoiding the mountains. The cait siths, recognized by

their feline ears and tails, were experts in the Taming skill, which

allowed them to control monsters and animals. Throughout the

year of history in ALO, the cait siths had traded tamed mounts to

the sylphs, and they'd been on good terms. The lords of each territory had remained friendly, and some even said there would be

an official alliance soon.

Leafa had a number of cait sith friends, and she considered

using that route for this trip, but Kirito's obvious haste led her to

choose the shorter way. The underground route made her uneasy,

but so far, the going had been quick.

But Kirito's reasons for rushing to Alne and the World Tree

were still a mystery to her. His aloof demeanor made it difficult to

read his mind, but the way he tore through their battles told her

much about his haste.

Leafa remembered him saying that he was looking for someone. Trying to track down someone in a game who couldn't be

reached in real life wasn't that strange of a story. There was a bulletin board out front of the general store that was always packed

with wanted notices looking for specific players. It usually had to

do with grudges to settle or romantic entanglements, but those

didn't seem likely to apply to Kirito. Searching in Alne made

sense—but why the World Tree? It was unconquered territory at

this point. They might reach the foot of the tree, but they couldn't

made it to the top…

She continued mulling over this mystery as Kirito stumbled

over his spell words. Being lost in thought out in neutral territory

was a great way to get killed, but Yui alerted them to the presence

of nearby monsters with frightful precision, so there was no danger of ambush.

Several minutes later, when they were nearly at the lake, Leafa

was snapped out of her haze of thought—not by Yui but by a

sound effect very much like the ringing of an old phone.

She looked up with a start and called out to Kirito.

"Ack! I got a message. Sorry, hang on."

"Sure."

She stopped and touched the floating icon just below her

chest. A window opened at once and, sadly, Leafa knew exactly

who it would be from—her only registered friend in the game was

Recon. She scanned the message quickly, expecting it to be something pointless. But…

JUST LIKE WE THOUGHT! BE CAREFUL, S—

It ended abruptly, mid-message.

"What is this?" she muttered. It made no sense. What did he

think? What was she supposed to be careful about? And what was

that s at the end supposed to mean? If he were signing the message, it would have been an R. Did he accidentally send the message before he was done, or did he hit the extra letter by mistake?

"S, s, s…sa…shi…su?"

"What's wrong?" Kirito asked. Just as she was about to describe the message, Yui popped her head out of his shirt pocket.

"Papa, I'm detecting something approaching."

"Monsters?" He put a hand on the hilt of the giant sword slung

over his back. But Yui waved her head.

"No, players. Many of them…twelve."

"Twelve?!" Leafa was stunned. It was far too many for an ordinary battle party. Perhaps it was a sylph trading caravan on its

way to Lugru or Alne.

About once a month, a large trading caravan was arranged to

make a trip to the center of the map. But that was always widely

advertised for several days before the journey, in order to recruit

volunteers. There was no news of the sort on the bulletin board

when she checked this morning.

As long as that mysterious party was made of sylphs, there was

no need to fear. It seemed highly unlikely that such a large PK

gang would be waiting in a lonely place like this. But despite all of

that, Leafa felt uneasy.

"I have a bad feeling about this. We ought to hide and let them

pass."

"But…where?" Kirito looked around in confusion. They were

in the middle of a long, straight corridor. It was spacious, but

there were no branches down that they could hide under.

"Just leave that to me." Leafa grinned confidently, grabbing

Kirito's arm and pulling him toward a divot in the rock. She snuggled in close to him, trying to avoid feeling self-conscious, and

raised a hand for a magic spell.

A swirling vortex of shining green air sprang up from her feet

and enveloped both of them. Their vision was colored just a slight

shade of green, but it did mean they'd be virtually invisible from

the outside. She turned to Kirito next to her and whispered,

"Speak as quietly as possible. Make too much noise, and the spell

will break."

"Got it. Real handy spell to have."

Kirito scanned the space outside the veil of wind. Yui whispered from his pocket.

"They'll come into view in two minutes."

Leafa and Kirito pressed themselves against the rock wall.

After several tense seconds, Leafa heard the sound of approaching footsteps. She thought she heard the scrape of heavy metal

armor, which gave her pause.

Kirito stretched out his neck and peered in the direction of the

unidentified party.

"What…is that?"

"What is what? I don't see them yet."

"It doesn't look like a player…Is it a monster? It's like a little

tiny red bat…"

"?!"

Leafa's breath caught in her throat. She squinted into the

darkness—and saw that a small red shadow was indeed fluttering

toward them.

"Crap!"

The curse tore its way out of her throat, unbidden. She rolled

out of the hiding spot into the middle of the hallway. The concealing spell was broken, and Kirito hurriedly looked up, confused.

"H-hey, what's the big idea?"

"That's a Tracing Searcher—it's a high-level spell! We have to

crush it before it finds us!"

She held out both hands in front of her and began chanting. It

was a longer list of words than before, and when it finished,

countless needles of emerald green fired from her fingertips.

They screamed through the air and bore down on the red shadow.

The bat darted nimbly about, avoiding the projectiles for a

time, but their number was too great. Several needles eventually

brought it to the ground, where it went up in a tiny flame. Satisfied that the job was done, Leafa turned back to Kirito and

screamed, "We've got to run for the town, Kirito!"

"Huh? Shouldn't we hide again?"

"The enemy knows we killed their tracer. Once they get up to

this spot, they'll unleash a swarm of searchers—we can't hide anymore. Besides, that was a fire familiar, which means the party on

our heels are—"

"Salamanders!" he finished. The heavy metallic marching was

growing closer. Leafa turned back and caught a glimpse of red

light in the darkness.

"Let's go."

They took off running.

Leafa checked her map as they moved, noting that their current path would take them to the large underground lake very

soon. The cave tunnel turned into a bridge splitting the lake, and

on the other side was the gate to Lugru, the mining city. In such

neutral cities, there was no attacking between player factions, so

despite their numbers, the enemy could not hurt them there.

But why such a large party of salamanders…?

Leafa bit her lip. The presence of the tracer meant that they'd

been tracking her all along. But Yui's search ability had been in

full effect since they left Swilvane. They shouldn't have had the

chance. The only way they could have done this was if the spell

had been cast on them while they were in town.

There were sylphs who could use fire magic, of course. Each

fairy race had an affinity for a certain kind of magic—wind magic

for sylphs, earth magic for gnomes, and so on—but any player

could learn any magic, provided he or she worked hard enough

for it.

But that red bat she'd squashed was a high-level spell combining the pursuit abilities of a tracer and the scrying abilities of a

searcher. It would be a herculean effort for a non-salamander to

learn a fire spell that advanced. Which meant…

"There was a salamander inside Swilvane?" she muttered to

herself as they ran. But that was nearly unthinkable. Swilvane

was comparatively open to other races, but salamanders were the

enemy, and were subject to considerable scrutiny. If the powerful

NPC guardians had noticed any, they would have advanced with

blades swinging. There were very few ways to evade that kind of

protection…

"Hey, the lake!"

Kirito's cry snapped Leafa back to the matter at hand. She

looked up to see the rough stone floor turning to cobblestones

ahead, followed by a wide aperture and the dull shine of dark blue

water.

The stone bridge extended straight over the center of the lake

until it reached the looming castle gate of Lugru on the other side,

its wall reaching right to the ceiling of the enormous chamber. If

they could just get inside the city, they'd have won the game of

tag.

Momentarily relieved, she turned to look back again. There

was still quite a gap between them and the red light of their pursuers. She redoubled the pace of her run, feeling confident.

The temperature was slightly cooler over the bridge. They

raced through air heavy with the smell of water.

"Looks like we're going to make it."

"Don't get sloppy and fall in the water—there's an enormous

monster in the lake."

Just as they reached a circular viewing platform in the dead

center of the bridge, two points of light shot through the darkness

over their heads from behind. It was the signature glint and

sound of a magic explosive. No doubt the salamanders had fired

them in desperation, but they failed to aim precisely.

They slowed down, preparing to let the bombs fall and then

run past them. The lights dropped about thirty feet ahead.

Leafa held her right arm in front of her face, bracing for the

blast, but what occurred took her by surprise. There was a heavy,

rumbling roar, and a towering rock face shot up from the surface

of the bridge ahead, blocking their progress. She scowled and

hissed a curse.

"Oh no…"

"What the—?"

Kirito's eyes went wide, but he didn't slow down. He loudly

drew the sword from his back and brandished it as he charged the

rock wall.

"Hey—Kirito!" She didn't have time to tell him it wouldn't

work. He struck the wall with all of his might, and then flew back

to land on his rear. There wasn't even a scratch on the brown rock

face.

"…It's pointless," she finished, holding her wings wide to skid

to a halt next to Kirito. The spriggan glared up at her.

"You could have told me that sooner…"

"Not with how fast you ran ahead. This is an earth-magic barrier; physical attacks won't hurt it. With enough attack spells, we

can knock it down, but…"

"We don't have that much time."

They turned around and saw a group of people clad in shining

bloodred armor starting out onto the bridge.

"I don't suppose…we could just fly around it. Maybe jump into

the water?" Kirito asked, but she shook her head.

"Nope. Like I just said, there's supposed to be an ultra-highlevel water dragon in this lake. Jumping in there without help

from an undine is suicide."

"Then I guess we just have to fight."

He readied his giant sword again as Leafa nodded, biting her

lip. "It's our only option…but it's not a good one. This is a very

high-level earth magic spell for a salamander to be using. There

must be an expert mage in their ranks."

Thanks to the narrow width of the bridge, it was at least a

guarantee that the enemy couldn't surround them. But it was two

against twelve, and they couldn't fly in the dungeon. Leafa

couldn't even make use of her greatest skill, aerial combat.

It would all come down to how tough each of the enemy fighters was.

We can't really pin our hopes on that, Leafa thought. She

drew her long katana and stood next to Kirito. She could make

out the enemy force clearly now, clanking heavily as they

marched. Three large salamanders stood in front, covered in

thicker armor than the group they'd encountered the other day.

Each one had a menacing weapon in his left hand and a large

metal shield in his right.

Something caught in Leafa's mind. Because of ALO's realistic

simulation, handedness in the game was the same as in real life.

The likelihood of all three of them being southpaws was low.

But before she could voice her suspicion, Kirito spoke up.

"It's not that I don't trust your skill in battle, but…do you think

you could handle the backup this time?"

"Huh?"

"I want you to hang back and focus on healing. It'll make it

easier for me to fight."

She looked at the double-edged sword in his hands again. He

had a point—it would be very difficult to use such a weapon in a

small space while keeping an eye out not to hit his ally. Being a

healer wasn't Leafa's style, but she nodded to him and retreated

until her back was nearly against the magic wall. They didn't have

time to argue over who did what.

Kirito crouched and twisted, pulling the sword as far behind

him as it would go. The three lead salamanders bore down with

the force of a tsunami. Kirito's small body twisted until she could

almost hear it creaking. Leafa could practically see the pent-up

energy billowing around him. The distance closed, until—

"Sey!!"

With a shout, Kirito stomped his left foot forward and swung

his glowing blue sword in a flat arc at the trio of crimson warriors. The air screamed as it was split, and the bridge shook with

his force. It was the most powerful blow Leafa had seen Kirito unleash yet. However…

"Huh?!"

She looked on in shock. The three salamanders didn't raise

their weapons. Instead, they crowded close together, raising their

heavy shields to form a protective barrier.

There was a deafening clang as Kirito's sword hit the line of

shields. The shock turned the air electric, and waves rippled out

along the lake surface. But the soldiers had stood firm against his

attack and only been pushed back inches.

Leafa hurriedly checked their HP. The warriors had each lost

more than 10 percent. But soon the sound of spells echoed forth

from behind them, and their bodies began glowing a light blue.

Multiple healing spells refilled their health to maximum instantly.

The next moment, numerous orange balls of fire shot up from

behind the fortress of steel that was the line of shields, arching up

toward the ceiling of the great cave chamber before plunging

down on Kirito's location.

A great explosion turned the surface of the lake a deep red,

swallowing the tiny black-clad figure.

"Kirito!" Leafa screamed. His HP bar plummeted all the way

down to the yellow zone. In fact, given the extremely small variation in player HP values in ALO, it was a miracle it hadn't killed

him outright. She'd never seen such a precise, concentrated magical attack. With a shiver, she suddenly understood the enemy's

strategy.

They clearly knew that Kirito possessed an overwhelming

physical attack, and they had concocted this tactic to counteract

it.

The three heavies in the front made no move to attack. They

simply held the line with their thick shields. No matter how powerful Kirito's sword was, it could not inflict a fatal blow if he never

reached their bodies. The remaining nine behind them were

probably all mages. Some of them focused on healing the guards,

and the others rained down their projectile flames. It was the

kind of formation players assumed to tackle a powerful boss

monster.

But why? Why would such a large group assemble just to go

after Kirito and Leafa?

Leafa put that question on the back burner as she queued up a

healing spell. Kirito reappeared out of the dying flames, and she

cast the best healing spell she knew. His HP bar started refilling

immediately, but it was clear that this would not do much in the

long run.

Kirito understood the enemy's strategy as well. Perhaps sensing that a protracted battle was unwinnable, he immediately

swung back toward the shield-bearers, sword at the ready.

"Rahhh!!"

The gleaming black sword collided with the shields, sending

out a blinding shower of sparks.

But the battle had already turned into a fatalistic numbers

game.

The damage Kirito inflicted with each swing was recovered by

the mages in the rear line and their healing spells. The next moment, the other mages cast their long-range attack spells, raining

fire down upon him.

It was Leafa's least favorite kind of battle: locked in a pattern,

with no room for personal ability to sway the outcome. The only

factor that would determine this fight was whether the mages'

mana or Kirito's health would run out first. The outcome was

clear.

Yet another hail of fireballs enveloped Kirito. The deluge of orange light picked him up and threw him backward against the

ground.

ALO did not re-create any kind of "pain" in its sensory feedback, but out of the sensations it did feature, a direct hit from explosive magic was one of the most unpleasant. A roar rocked the

brain, the skin burned and prickled, and the sense of balance was

hit with a shock wave. The effects could sometimes carry over to

the real body, causing headaches and dizziness that lasted for

several hours.

"Rrh…aaagh!"

But every time Kirito was hit, he got back to his feet and swung

his sword again. Even as she helplessly chanted recovery spells,

Leafa could feel his pain vicariously. It was just a game. Anyone

would give up facing these odds. It hurt to lose, but given the

mathematical systems underlying the game, there would just be

times when it was numerically impossible to win. So why…?

Leafa couldn't stand to watch this keep happening to Kirito.

She ran a few steps closer and shrieked, "It's all right, Kirito! It's

only a few more hours of flight from Swilvane to start over! And

we can buy again the items we lost. This is pointless!"

But Kirito barely turned his head, his voice low.

"No."

His eyes were red with the reflection of the fire surrounding

them.

"As long as I'm alive, I won't stand to see a party member

killed. It's the one thing I refuse to allow."

She was stunned into silence.

Different players had different reactions to an unwinnable situation. Some tried to awkwardly laugh it off, some shut their eyes

and tensed up when the moment came, and some kept swinging

wildly as long as they were able. But no matter the reaction,

everyone who played the game gradually became accustomed to

this virtual "death." It was an unavoidable part of playing a VRMMORPG, and each player had to find acceptance in his or her own

way. Otherwise, the game wasn't a game.

But Leafa had never seen anything like the light that shone in

Kirito's eyes. They were brimming with a fierce desire to overcome the impossible mathematical odds against the two warriors

and find a path to survival. For an instant, she even forgot that

they were inside a game, a virtual world.

"Raaahhh!!"

Kirito bellowed, setting the very air to rattling. In the instant

that the enemy's fire relented, he made another reckless charge at

the wall of shields. He dropped the sword to his right hand and

made a fierce attempt with his left to grab the corner of a shield

and pry it away. The salamander line broke at this unexpected

move. He jammed his sword into the tiny space that opened in

their defense.

Leafa had been playing the game since the start, and she'd

never seen anything like this. He'd broken the line-of-shield defense at point-blank range without using any magic. It wasn't

even a proper attack; it wouldn't do any real damage. But this act

of apparent madness caused shouts of alarm from behind the

wall.

"Damn! What does he think he's—?"

Suddenly, a quiet voice sounded in Leafa's ear. "Now's our

only chance!"

She looked over to see Yui perched on her shoulder.

"Chance…?"

"The only uncertain variable is the enemy's mental state. Use

all of your remaining mana to protect against the next attack, any

way you can!"

"B-but that would be…"

Like spitting into the ocean, she couldn't finish. But Yui, supposedly just a rudimentary AI, was looking straight into her eyes

with the same force of will she'd just seen from Kirito.

Leafa nodded in understanding and thrust her arms overhead.

The enemy mages were already chanting the next fireball spell.

But it was slower than usual, perhaps because they were trying to

time their release. She rattled off spellwords as fast as she could.

One slip of the tongue and the entire spell would fizzle, but she

didn't have a choice. Her lips and tongue moved as nimbly as they

possibly could.

She was just an instant quicker to finish her cast. Countless

tiny butterflies burst from her outstretched hands and enveloped

Kirito's body.

The next moment, the enemy spell went off. Another wave of

fireballs shot through the air, descending with a screech like a

bombing raid. Flowers of fire landed on Kirito as he clung to the

wall of shields.

"Hrgh!"

Leafa shielded her face from the pressure of the blast and gritted her teeth. Each time Kirito's protective magical field canceled

out an exploding fireball, she lost a chunk off of her MP bar.

Drinking a mana potion would never bring it back in time. Just as

she was wondering what, if anything, this single act of protection

was earning them, Yui yelled out in a piercing voice.

"Now, Papa!!"

Leafa trained her eyes forward with a start. Amid the crimson

flames, Kirito stood up straight, sword at the ready. She could

hear bits of spell chanting and consulted her memory to identify

the words she caught.

But wasn't that…illusion magic?

She held her breath for a moment, then ground her teeth. Kirito was casting an illusion spell that turned a player's appearance

into that of a monster. It was considered virtually useless in battle. A randomized process determined which monster, depending

on the caster's attack power, but in most cases the result was a

weak, unimpressive mob. Not only that, but since the player's statistics were not affected in any way, there was little to no fear

from the transformation.

Leafa's mana had dropped precipitously until it was less than

10 percent. She'd followed Yui's lead on this roll of the dice, and

the dice had failed her.

But she couldn't blame them. In a skill-heavy game like this,

knowledge was the greatest part of strength. Kirito had only

started in the past few days, and it would be cruel to expect him

to understand the usefulness of each and every one of the countless spellwords in the game.

She put her last bit of strength into her hand. The final round

of the enemy's fireballs would land at the same moment that her

protective field died out. An even larger blast of fire erupted and

slowly dissipated.

"Huh…?"

A wavering black shadow emerged from the wall of fire. For an

instant, she thought her eyes were playing tricks on her. It was

just too large to be right.

It was at least twice the height of the imposing salamanders.

On a closer look, it appeared to be a giant, its back stooped.

"Is that…you, Kirito?" she mumbled. It was the only possibility. Clearly, this was Kirito's transformed figure after his illusion

spell—but the size…

As Leafa stood transfixed, the black shadow slowly raised its

head. It wasn't a giant. The head was elongated like a goat's, and

two long, malevolent horns curved from the back. The round eyes

glowed red, and flame breath licked between its fangs.

The pitch-black skin of its upper body was knotted with muscle, and its brawny arms were long enough to touch the floor. A

sinewy, whiplike tail extended from its waist. The only word to

describe its appearance was demonic.

The salamanders froze still, as though their souls had all been

removed. The black demon slowly turned its head to the ceiling

and roared.

"Groaaahh!!"

This time it wasn't hyperbole—the earth really did shake. Primal fear rose from the pit of their beings.

"Eeyaah!!"

One of the salamanders on the front line fell back a few steps,

shrieking in terror. The monster darted forward with terrifying

speed. A clawed hand slipped into the space between the shields,

and a finger pierced the heavily armed warrior—and in the next

instant, the salamander was gone, with only a red End Flame left

in his place.

"Wha—?!"

The other two front salamanders uttered identical cries of

alarm at seeing their partner felled in one blow. They lowered

their shields and brandished their weapons left-handed, inching

backward.

A furious shout arose from the mages in the rear, most likely

from the group's leader.

"Don't break formation, you fools! It's only his appearance and

reach! He can't damage us if you stay turtled up!"

But the warriors paid him no heed. The black demon roared

deafeningly and pounced, gobbling the man on the right with its

massive jaws and lifting the ones on the left in its claws. It dashed

each of them fiercely, and two consecutive crunches signaled

their end. The little red flames burst from their bodies like so

much blood.

In the span of less than ten seconds, all three of the front warriors had been wiped out. Their leader regained his composure

and barked out fresh commands, and the mages began casting

anew. But these were pure mages, outfitted in no armor at all

save red gloves—a far cry from the burly fighters who had

manned the defense. The ebony demon hissing malevolent breath

was having a far greater psychological effect than such spells ever

managed, and the mages were terrified. Their casting speed was

much slower than before.

Before they could finish the cast, the demon swiped viciously

at the cluster of sorcerers. The two in front were helplessly tossed

like rags, disintegrating into red fire mid-arc. The air was filled

with the sound of screams and the breaking of glass. Without

pause, the great trunk of its left arm snaked forward, and two

more salamanders were cast aside.

The leader, recognizable by his more esoteric magical accessories, had once been safely in the middle of the pack, but now he

was exposed, his gaunt face a rictus of panic. He fumbled his current spell, and the glow between his hands was snuffed into a

cloud of black smoke.

Kirito's demon took a rumbling step forward and unleashed

another bellow. The salamander leader made a little gasping cry

and waved his hands helplessly. "R-retreat! Retrea—"

But he couldn't finish.

The demon crouched momentarily, then leaped forward. It

landed in the midst of the huddled mages, the bridge shaking

with the impact. What happened after that could not generously

be called a "battle."

Each time the demon's claws swiped out, an End Flame resulted. One of them valiantly threw himself forward with his staff,

but the beast's fangs devoured him from the top down before he

could take a single swing.

The leader nimbly avoided the blast radius but promptly threw

himself over the side of the bridge, evidently giving up the fight

for lost. A fountain of water erupted where he landed, and he took

off swimming with considerable speed for the far shore.

With total equipment underneath a certain weight level, there

was no fear of sinking in ALO. This was good news for the mage,

who sped off rapidly from the bridge—until an enormous shadow

emerged under the water.

A moment later, there was a loud splash, and the leader disappeared beneath the surface. Only his breath bubbled up as the

shadow descended into the depths. Before it vanished altogether,

the faint glow of a red flame glimmered from below.

Kirito's demon showed no interest in the demise of the enemy

leader. It raised the final, squealing victim in its hands, then

pulled both ends as though wrenching him into two pieces.

Stunned into a trance at the scene of overwhelming violence,

Leafa finally came back to her senses.

"No, Kirito! Leave him alive!" she shouted, racing over to him

while Yui nonchalantly remarked on the impressive spate of

bloodshed that had just occurred. The demon stopped and

turned, releasing the salamander's body in midair with a dissatisfied grunt.

The mage fell to the bridge with an unpleasant splat and

writhed in silent shock, his mouth opening and closing. Leafa let

her katana rest unpleasantly between his legs. The scrape of the

tip against the cobblestone set him trembling.

"I want some answers! Who ordered you to do this?" she demanded in what she thought was her most menacing growl, but

that only seemed to snap the man out of his shock. He shook his

head, pale-faced.

"G-go ahead and kill me!"

"Why, you—"

Meanwhile, the demon that had been watching over this scene

slowly began to disintegrate into a black mist. Leafa looked up to

see a small figure emerge from the dissipating cloud and land on

the bridge.

"Boy oh boy, that was a good rampage," Kirito said happily,

cracking his neck and sheathing his sword over his back again.

He crouched down next to the stunned salamander and patted

the man's shoulder.

"Hey, that was a good fight."

"Huh…?"

He kept chatting with their helpless victim, his tone light. "It

was a good strategy, it really was. If I were all alone, I wouldn't

have stood a chance."

"Um, Kirito…"

"Hang on, I've got this." He winked at Leafa. "Now, we've got a

deal to discuss."

Kirito pulled up a trade window and pointed out a list of items

to the man. "Here's all the items and yrd I earned from this fight.

If you answer the simple questions we have for you, I might just

give you all of this loot. How about that?"

The man opened and closed his mouth several times, staring

at Kirito's bright smile. He glanced around the vicinity—probably

checking to confirm that the period of resurrection for all the

other salamanders had expired, and they'd been teleported back

to their save point far from here—before looking back at Kirito.

"…Seriously?"

"Dead serious."

They traded devious smirks, and Leafa sighed to herself.

"Men…"

"Very disappointing, isn't it?" Yui muttered from her shoulder.

The two men exchanged nods of approval at the completion of

their transaction, seemingly oblivious to the stares of disgust

from the women.

Once the salamander started talking, he wouldn't stop.

"So earlier this evening, Gtacs—Oh, that's the leader of our

mage squad. Anyway, he sent me a text saying to get into the

game. I was eating dinner so I didn't want to go, but he said it was

mandatory. So I come online, and we're putting together, like,

more than a dozen people just to hunt down two? I was like,

'What kind of messed-up torture is this?' But then they said it was

the people who took down Kagemune yesterday, so I was like,

'Oh…'"

"Who's Kagemune?"

"The captain of the lancers. He's an expert sylph hunter, so it

was crazy when he got his butt whooped and had to turn tail and

flee yesterday. That was you, right?"

Leafa shared a glance with Kirito, grimacing at the term sylph

hunter. He was probably talking about the leader of the salamander squad they'd defeated the previous night.

"And what was this Gtacs doing, going after us?"

"It was an order from above him, apparently. Something about

how you were an obstacle to the plan…"

"What plan?"

"I dunno, it's some big-time business for the big-time 'manders. They don't explain things to a guy like me way down on the

totem pole, but it's something big, that's for sure. I saw a huge

army of folks flying off to the north when I logged in."

"North…"

Leafa put a finger to her lips and thought. Gatan, the salamander capital, was on the very southern edge of Alfheim. A line

drawn straight north from there would take them right to the very

mountain range they were currently beneath. To the west was the

entrance to the Lugru Corridor, and to the east was a gap in the

mountains called the Dragon's Valley. Whichever direction they

took, the next destination after that would be Alne, then the

World Tree.

"Are you trying to conquer the World Tree?" Leafa asked.

He shook his head. "No way. We learned our lesson after the

last disaster. We're saving up yrd to outfit everyone in the raid

party with ancient weapons. They're forcing everyone to raise a

huge quota…and we're not even halfway there yet."

"Hmm…"

"But that's all I know. You weren't lying about our deal, right?"

he asked Kirito.

"A real man never lies when it comes to a deal," the spriggan

boasted coolly. The salamander's face lit up in delight as he saw

the stacks of items and cash slide into his trade window.

Leafa had choice words for the man. "Isn't that your friends'

equipment? You don't feel guilty about taking it like this?"

He clucked his tongue. "You don't get it. They show off their

rare stuff all the damn time—that's what makes this even sweeter.

I'm not going to wear it, of course. I'll sell it all off and buy myself

a house or something."

The salamander announced that he'd take a few days on the

return trip, just to let the excitement cool down a bit, and took off

in the direction they'd come.

Leafa stared at Kirito, who was back to his normal self, marveling at how the desperate battle they'd undergone not ten minutes before seemed to have never happened.

"Hmm? What's up?"

"Oh, er…That giant demon was you, right?" she asked. Kirito

looked up and away, and then scratched his chin.

"Mmm, I guess so."

"You guess so…? Wasn't the entire plan to make the salamanders panic when they saw you as a monster?"

"Actually, I hadn't thought that far ahead…In fact, sometimes I

just kind of snap in battle, and I lose all memory of what happens…"

"That's scary!"

"But I do kind of remember that just now. I used the spell like

Yui suggested, and I felt myself getting really huge. And since I

lost my sword, I just had to use my hands…"

"You were also chewing on them!" Yui added gleefully from

Leafa's shoulder.

"Oh, right. You know, it was pretty fun getting to act like one

of the monsters for once."

Leafa felt an insatiable curiosity rise inside of her, and she hesitantly spoke her question aloud.

"So, um…did the salamanders have…a flavor?"

"They definitely had the texture of barbecued meat when it

gets just a little charred—"

"N-never mind, never mind!" She waved her hands in panic.

He abruptly snatched one of them.

"Grarh!" he snarled, opening wide and popping her fingers

into his mouth.

"Aaaaaargh!"

The surface of the underground lake rippled with Leafa's

scream and the resulting smack.

"Ugh, oww…"

Kirito mumbled and trudged along, rubbing the cheek that

Leafa had smacked with all her strength.

"That was your fault, Papa!"

"Tell me about it. How rude!"

Leafa and Yui were of one mind. Kirito pleaded his case, sulk-

ing like a scolded child.

"But I was just trying to make a witty, classy joke to break the

ice after that terrifying battle…"

"Next time you'll taste my sword, not my fingers." Leafa shut

her eyes and turned her face away, quickening her pace.

Before them loomed the massive stone gate, stretching all the

way to the ceiling of the cavern. They had reached the entrance to

Lugru, the mining city.

The plan was to spend a night here, to restock on supplies and

gather intelligence about the latest developments. The unexpected battle on the bridge had eaten a lot of time, and it was

nearly midnight in real life.

This was just the start of the busiest stretch of the day in ALO,

but Leafa was a student, so she made sure to always log out by

one o'clock. When she told Kirito, he thought for a moment, then

nodded in understanding.

Through the gate, they were greeted by the clanging of hammers, as well as the lively accompaniment from the NPC musicians that served as game BGM.

The city itself was not very large, but it was an impressive

sight; the rock walls lining the main thoroughfare were packed

with clusters of stores and workshops hawking equipment, materials, food, and drinks. There was a surprising number of players

crammed inside, and parties of relatively unfamiliar races like

pookas and leprechauns passed by, laughing and chatting.

"So this is Lugru, huh…?"

Leafa couldn't help but marvel at the novelty of the bustling

underground hub. She wandered over to the row of swords on

display at the nearest storefront. Even the least friendly shop-

keeper couldn't keep her from being excited about shopping.

She had just picked up a silver longsword from the stand to

appraise it when Kirito spoke up from behind her. "By the way…"

"Hmm?"

"Didn't you get some kind of message when we were attacked

by the salamanders? What was that about?"

"…Oh." Leafa spun around, her mouth agape. "I forgot."

She hurriedly opened a window and checked her message history. Even after rereading, Recon's warning made no sense. It

could have just been an issue with his connection that cut off the

end of it, but there were no signs of a follow-up.

In that case, she'd just have to ask him what he meant. But

when Leafa tried to respond, Recon's name was grayed out on the

friends list. He was already offline.

"Sheesh. Is he asleep?"

"Maybe you could check with him offline," Kirito suggested.

She didn't like bringing anything about Alfheim back to the

real world with her. She didn't visit any of the ALO community

sites, and she almost never discussed video games with Shinichi

Nagata in real life.

But she couldn't deny that something about that mysterious

message was eating away at her.

"Okay, can you wait here while I log off to check? Just watch

over my body for a few minutes. And Yui?"

The little fairy was still sitting on her shoulder. "Yes?"

"Watch Papa closely so he doesn't try any funny business."

"Aye-aye!"

"Oh, come on!" Kirito wailed, affronted. Leafa gave him a mischievous chuckle and sat down on a nearby bench.

She opened her menu and hit the log-out button, her fourth

trip of the day between worlds. Her mind began floating dizzily

upward toward the real world far, far above.

"Whew…"

Suguha sighed deeply at the fatigue she felt rising from another long dive.

She rolled over on the bed, AmuSphere still on her head, to

look at the alarm clock. Midori would be home very soon. Maybe

she should stick around to say hello…

Suguha reached over blindly and fumbled for the cell phone

she'd left on the headboard stand above her pillow. The phone's

EL panel was integrated into its exterior finish. It spit out a list of

messages that had arrived while she was in the game.

"What in the world?!"

Her eyes went wide. Twelve entries, all voice calls from

Shinichi Nagata. The AmuSphere was configured so that calls of a

certain priority—family, police, hospital—would automatically log

out the player. Since Nagata didn't fall under that category, she'd

missed all of these calls. But what was he calling about at this

time of night?

She popped the phone open, preparing to call him back, when

his thirteenth call of the evening flashed the shell of the phone

bright blue. She hit a button and put the device to her ear.

"Hi, Nagata? What's going on?"