Chapter 8

The party of eight, all men, raved as they downed bowls of Asuna's bear meat

stew.

In the meantime, Asuna, Alice, Leafa, and I sat by the smelting furnace, poring

over the map data from the man in the leather armor.

The problem was that there was apparently no means of directly sharing map

data with another player, so instead, he'd used charcoal to draw on some

cheap, crude paper. Still, it was enough to make out the features of the

surrounding area.

The forest we'd fallen into with our log cabin extended an unknown distance

to the north, but it also went another four and a half miles to the south. By

following the river south through the forest, you eventually reached a short but

treacherous mountain range that bounded its southern edge, on the other side

of which was an arid wasteland. There was essentially no water out there, so if

you left the river behind, you'd run out of hydration very soon.

The river branched to the west in the wasteland, and the men had originally

tried to follow that tributary, but when they reached a basin with more plant

life inside, they were attacked by NPCs bearing metal spears and axes. They

couldn't communicate with them, so they had to run for their lives and lost two

members of their party in the process.

To the south of the basin, it was even more desolate, and that was where

New Aincrad had fallen. On a direct line from the edge of the forest, it was

about six miles away. There was major damage to the flying castle, and the

bottom twenty or thirty floors had been completely destroyed. The man in the

leather armor swore that they hadn't seen any living players nearby.

That made me wonder if all the players who were stuck in New Aincrad when

it fell had died on impact and been eternally shut out of the world of Unital

Ring. But it wasn't the case, apparently; death being expulsion from the game

only started after the mysterious voice gave its message and the timer started,

after nine o'clock. So where did the players who died before that revive…?

Farther south from the highlands where New Aincrad fell, the terrain became

grassland. Water and food were fairly plentiful, and he said there was a giant

ruined city there. Apparently, that ruin, which was very similar to Alne, the

capital city of Alfheim, was the official starting point for the players who'd been

converted from ALO—and the spawn point if you died prior to nine AM. Just

after five o'clock, when everything started, about four thousand ALO players

(including a thousand-plus who died and came back to life when New Aincrad

fell) were tossed into those ruins without a tutorial or explanation of any kind.

The chaos and confusion had been extraordinary.

Nearly half the players logged off to avoid the chaos or to seek more

information. The other half got to work figuring out where they were. They left

the ruins, hunted small game, tried out elementary crafting, and built simple

bases…until some players started to range farther out from the ruins in search

of better materials. This party was one of the groups formed by those intrepid

pioneers.

The smaller man with the dagger finished up their story for us.

"In open-world survival games like this, you can't just putz around with wood

and stone at the start. Iron is crucial. You have to run for an area with iron ore

in order to build a proper base…and that's an ironclad rule."

"Well…I suppose that wasn't the worst trade imaginable for our bear meat,"

said Leafa, causing Alice to giggle.

"Let's not be unbearable now."

"You get negative ten points for that pun."

Asuna smirked at that one, too, and examined the hand-drawn map once

more. "If Liz's group crashed with New Aincrad and then revived, they would

have gone back to these ruins, too. And that's a good…fifteen miles from

here…"

I pointed at the map and cautioned, "Only on a straight line. It's at least

eighteen following the river…But knowing Liz and Silica, I doubt they'd just sit

around and behave at the starting point…"

"That's a good point," Asuna said. Alice and Leafa agreed.

Yui was accompanying Lisbeth and Silica, but our sweet daughter was not

necessarily the careful and conservative type, either. If they'd left the ruins

area, there was almost no chance we could run into them at random by

searching. We'd have to make contact with them in the real world first.

Asuna realized the same thing. She stroked the sleeping agamid's head and

announced, "I'm going to log off for a second to send another message to them

and Yui. I want to draw this map on a real piece of paper and attach it to the email, too, so it might take a few minutes. Watch my body and this little one

here."

"All right. We'll take care of you," I said. Alice added, "Leave it to us," and

Leafa commented, "See you soon!" Then Asuna rested her back against the

smelting furnace, opened her ring menu, glanced at us again, then pressed the

LOG OUT button. Her avatar closed its eyes and went limp. As the other players

had said, it did not disappear.

"Hmm…I'm used to rotating log-outs in ALO, where your avatar stays behind,"

Leafa said, rubbing the giant agamid's head in Asuna's stead, "but this could

last, like, ten hours at a time, while we're at school and stuff. Doesn't that put

students at a major disadvantage playing this?"

"Students and people with jobs are at a disadvantage in every MMO," I

pointed out.

For some reason, Alice gave me a sidelong glare. "I am neither a student nor

an employee, but I do not have all day free to myself."

"W-well, of course. I know how abusive Rath can be to people…"

"Really? This is coming from the guy who wants to work at Rath?" Leafa

snapped. I hunched my neck, and Alice gave me a very meaningful smile.

We couldn't really discuss or decide anything until Asuna came back, so I

decided to resume my blacksmithing work. I put away the hand-drawn map

we'd traded eight portions of bear soup for and got to my feet. The way she

was leaned back against the furnace with her eyes closed, Asuna appeared to

be sleeping, but I didn't have to worry about her waking up if I smacked the

hammer right near her head. As for the giant agamid sleeping next to her…I

could always apologize if it woke up.

With Alice and Leafa watching, I sat at the anvil, picked up the hammer, and

twirled it in my fingers to look cool. Then I set the production menu to NAILS and

readied a new ingot on the surface of the anvil…

"Um, pardon me," said a voice behind my back. I promptly stopped the

forward motion of my arm, turned around on the log seat, and saw the daggeruser standing there with an empty bowl in his hand.

The two girls felt a little stiff to me, so I sent them a quick glance and got up,

taking a few steps out to face the dagger-user.

"What is it?"

"Oh, I was just going to thank you for the meal. We've been eating bugs and

rats and things on the way here. I've never tasted such good meat before," he

said.

"I'm glad to hear it."

"What should we do with the dishes?"

"Just leave them on the ground."

"Got it."

He lifted the bowl and made to turn back around but stopped himself and

faced me again. He stared at me piercingly through his long bangs.

"Hey…I apologize in advance if I'm wrong about this," he said, sounding

hesitant, as though he couldn't believe what he was about to say, "but are you

the runner-up from the ALO unified tournament they held back in February—

Kirito?"

I stopped myself from denying it on reflex. I couldn't guarantee we'd never

end up trading or otherwise exposing our player names to each other. If I

denied it up front, I'd have to come up with an alias if necessary. And despite

what I said to Asuna, I wasn't any good at coming up with names, either.

"Uh…well…yeah, that's me," I admitted.

The shorter man's face lit up. "Really?! Wow! I had a hunch when I first saw

you…Sorry, do you mind if I shake your hand?!"

He strode over excitedly, which made it difficult for me to protest that I

wasn't really big on things like that. I had no choice but to extend my hand.

The dagger-user took it in his own and shook up and down. The force of it

caused the bowl to slip out of his left hand. It hit the ground and splintered to

pieces with a great crash.

"Ohhh, I'm so sorry!" he wailed.

But at the same time, I felt a sensation that was both hot and cold, like a

cramp but also like numbness. I looked down without a word to see a metal

blade he had in his left hand, stabbed deep into my stomach.

*

"Kirito!" yelled Alice and Leafa. I had already pulled my hand free and

retreated as quickly as I could. The dagger slipped from my stomach, the brightred damage effects gleaming like threads on my skin.

I drew the stone knife from my back waistband and checked my HP bar. It had

been full before but was now under half. One blow did all that?! I was stunned,

but then again, I had zero armor on now, and the other man's dagger was a

valuable metal weapon. If I hadn't gained all those levels, it would have killed

me for sure.

The enemy expected that to happen, clearly. He narrowed his eyes with

surprise and exclaimed, "No way. I got a clean hit in on you, but it only went

down half…? Did you power level or something?"

I was under no obligation to tell him that I had. Instead, Alice and Leafa

jumped out in front of me, brandishing their stone knife and ax.

"What was that for?!"

"You cheap coward!"

But the dagger-user was unaffected by the anti-PK squad. At last, a cursor

appeared over his head, so I examined it.

Because he had attacked me, the spindles of the cursor were a deep ruby red.

Beneath the slowly rotating HP bar was his character name: Mocri. I didn't

recognize the name, but that didn't mean I'd never interacted with him before.

Holding my left hand to the wound on my stomach, I demanded, "Are you with

Laughing Coffin?"

Mocri the dagger-user blinked with surprise, then twitched his head to deny

it. "N…no, no, I'm no historical big shot like that. I'm just a gamer, man."

"You didn't hesitate an instant when you stabbed me."

"No, no, no, I totally did. My heart was beating out of my chest."

Based on Mocri's mocking tone, I couldn't tell if he stabbed me as an act of

treacherous role-playing or if he was a true pleasure killer like the people from

Laughing Coffin. I wasn't as firmly anti-PK across the board as Alice; in games

where PKing was a thing, it was the right of the player to engage in it, and if

someone came after me, I was willing to fight back. But I wasn't going to get

along with anyone who chose betrayal over cooperation in the midst of a

strange, unprecedented situation like this.

The man in the leather armor and the rest of the group chatting enjoyably on

the east side of the clearing noticed the situation at last, and they got to their

feet and ran over this way. The eight of them must have been in a party

together, because they all had red cursors over their heads now. Alice's and

Leafa's were green, so red was probably the color of a criminal. Or…no, the

concept of crime and law probably didn't exist here. It was just a regular old

hostile classification.

"What the hell did you do, Mocri?!" shrieked the man in leather armor. The

one in scale armor and the other five looked quite panicked. My initial reaction

to this was to guess that Mocri's attack on me was an individual move on his

part.

Then Mocri glanced at the man in leather and said, "Bolan, that's Kirito the

spriggan! Second place from the tournament! And he's already crafting iron!

Once he starts making swords and armor, we're in trouble, even with our

numbers! We gotta kill him while he's still naked!"

The other seven promptly began to rumble and murmur. I had no idea people

in general knew my name that well, but thinking about it now, coming in second

in the central tournament of all nine races of ALO was like getting second place

in Gun Gale Online's Bullet of Bullets tournament. Any player who was

interested in PvP combat would at least check out the names of who won…I

supposed.

The man in the leather armor named Bolan gazed at me wide-eyed, then

looked at Mocri and back.

"Well…I guess that settles that," he said.

"Whaaat?!" exclaimed Leafa. She jabbed a finger at Bolan's face and said,

"No, it doesn't! Why is that a convincing argument?! We have no intention of

fighting with you at all! He's the one who started attacking us!"

Bolan looked like he was searching for the right words. Eventually, he

remarked, "You still don't get it."

"Don't get what?" Alice said, seething.

He shrugged. "This isn't just a simple survival game or some PK-friendly battle

royale. We're being put to a race. What did the announcement say? To the

first…all shall be given."

"…And you know what all is in this case?" I asked him.

Bolan grimaced with chagrin. "No, I don't…but you can tell this is just as crazy

as that SAO Incident, right? All the VRMMOs with decent name recognition—

not just ALO, but Asuka Empire and LunaSca and ApoDe and GGO—and

thousands upon thousands of players got converted into this place. And if you

end up in first, you get something. Don't you want to know what that is?"

"Not to the point of killing total strangers," I retorted.

Bolan ran his fingers through his short hair. "Well, that's just your fault for

being Kirito."

"Wh-what's that supposed to mean?"

"Any ALO player's going to know you're tough. A player like you, falling in this

sheltered location with a house and everything? And with iron already

acquired? Once you get your base set up and your gear together, you'll be

unstoppable. But right now, you're a caveman with a rock for a weapon.

Everyone can recognize this is the moment to take you out."

"You're being paranoid. We're only making iron to repair our cabin. I have

zero interest in trampling over you to be the 'first' or whatever."

"Maybe not now, you don't. But what about when you're done repairing your

house? You won't be interested in learning the secrets of this world?"

Bolan grinned and put a hand on his longsword. Alice and Leafa snapped into

combat positions, and even the giant agamid growled behind us; apparently, it

had woken up.

But Bolan didn't draw his weapon. He seemed to be very confident in their

advantage.

"Luck is on our side. We were nobodies in ALO, not fit to lick your boots, but

because of the equipment we brought over, we didn't hit the weight limit after

the game's grace period ended. All the best players are wandering around the

starting ruins with grass clothes and rocks for weapons, just like you. So we're

going to make use of this advantage we've got," he announced, drawing his

sword loudly. The steel blade was anything but "crude" as it gleamed in the

firelight. The six men behind him had their weapons out, too.

If their gear came from ALO, that would explain how it could take out half of

my HP in one hit. In a proper collision in battle, his sword would shatter my

stone knife. The situation was heavily weighted against us, but it wasn't my

style to give up and be killed without a fight. Alice and Leafa would certainly

agree with me there.

Bolan didn't need to hear a statement to know our response. His face grew

tense, and he barked, "Ten, Garth, kill the woman lying there. Doarn and Meito,

get the cat-eared girl. Tetsuriki and Chap, the ponytail. Mocri and I will deal

with Kirito."

They were clear and decisive orders from a natural leader. But I wasn't just

standing around listening, either.

"Alice, Leafa, don't bother parrying. Focus on dodging and wait for an

opening!" I said, just loud enough for them to hear. They replied promptly to

indicate they understood. Lastly, I gave our final member some instruction.

"Aga, protect Asuna!"

I had no idea if Asuna's pet agamid actually accepted my orders as given, but

it did quack firmly in response. It wasn't a thornspike cave bear, but the longbilled giant agamid inhabited the same region, so it had to be a pretty tough

monster, too. I wouldn't be surprised if its numerical stats were much higher

than mine without any armor on. I had no choice but to trust it to protect its

master from these players with the equipment they'd ported over.

"Raaaah!"

The enemy group, now split up into pairs, roared as they charged at us. Alice

fled to the right, while Leafa took the left, and I stood my ground, awaiting the

attack of Bolan in his leather armor and Mocri with his dagger.

Two against one in the open was a bad situation, so I wanted to lure them

toward the forest around the clearing if possible, but I couldn't leave Asuna's

side while she was logged out. No matter how powerful the giant agamid might

be, its loyalty parameter was going to be at its lowest just after being tamed. I

had to accept the possibility that it might turn and flee as soon as it got hurt.

"Hraah!"

Bolan came in with a deliberate yell and a swing of his sword. It probably was

half for show, a way to grab my attention so Mocri could stab me from the side.

Keeping the swift shanker in the corner of my eye to the right, I sidestepped the

sword to the left. I tried to circle around to Bolan's back, but Mocri kept up

persistently. So I changed course and made a hard right turn. Both Bolan and

Mocri only had on light armor, but in terms of mobility, nothing was quicker

than no armor at all.

As I expected, Mocri couldn't quite keep up, and I caught sight of his

defenseless left side. I thrust out the stone knife and slashed his left arm. A few

bits of red sprayed, and his circular HP bar lost about 5 percent. I wished I could

use a sword skill, but the skill I inherited was One-Handed Sword, so I could only

use basic skills with the knife.

My enemies, however, had no healing potions to use, I assumed, so if I could

build up the damage on them, I had a chance of winning. I jumped back for

distance, rather than going in deeper for more.

Mocri only temporarily faltered. When he regained balance, he glanced at his

HP bar and the corner of his mouth curled upward.

"There's that second-place talent."

"Don't get distracted by your admiration," Bolan warned, but the other player

just said "We're only getting started" and took another stance. I dropped my

weight and readied for the next attack.

For now, Alice and Leafa hadn't suffered any major damage. The giant

agamid's menacing bill was keeping Asuna's two attackers at bay. It had been

about ten minutes since she logged off. The time was ripe for her to return.

"Yah!"

This time Mocri struck first. His smaller avatar leaned all the way forward into

a charge that nearly scraped the ground. Bolan ran right behind him.

I couldn't avoid them by backing up. And if I jumped, Bolan could easily hit me

in the air. My only choices were right or left. Last time, I moved left, so…Right!

Making full use of my near-zero equipment weight, I jumped right without

any kind of preparatory motion. They wouldn't be able to keep up, and while

Mocri was changing directions, I'd go after Bolan, I decided on the spot.

But when I was about to push off that foot, Mocri stuck out his left hand

behind him, while still in his leaning posture, and Bolan grabbed it with his own

left hand. That pulled Mocri into a sudden stop and swung him to the side. This

extreme turn, impossible on his own, allowed the stabby one to continue

rushing at me.

"Rrgh!"

I swiped with my free hand at the blade rushing up toward my stomach. My

aim was for the side of it, of course, but it split my skin, which was enough to

take another chunk of HP. I had 45 percent of my HP remaining.

Once again, I backed away and asked them, "You two didn't meet here, did

you?"

"Not exactly. Mocri, Tetsuriki, and I go way back in ALO."

"That makes sense…"

Based on their teamwork without even eye contact, much less vocal cues, I

had to bump my mental assessment of them up at least two levels. They called

themselves nobodies, but they had a lot of experience and confidence in PvP as

a team.

Mocri sensed my rising worry and smirked again. "Sorry, man, but we're

gonna wrap this one up. I've got the hang of it by now."

"The hang of it…? That's kind of a vague thing to say."

"Well, that's just what Sensei teaches. Don't only look at one part of the

opponent; grasp the whole. Then you'll know what they're aiming for—and

what they don't like, you see."

"Sensei…?" I repeated, squinting.

Bolan smacked Mocri on the shoulder. "Hey."

"I know, I know. Let's do the thing now."

Mocri slid to the left, and Bolan drifted right, forming a triangle with me, each

side being ten feet long. The dagger was readied low, and the sword was up

high. Both of them began to shine brilliantly in the dark of night.

Sword skills!

If either of them hit me, I was going to die. And with them coming from both

right and left, and high and low, the difficulty of completely dodging them rose

significantly. The orthodox strategy here would be to take initiative and attack

one of them first, but I couldn't use sword skills now. With a normal attack, my

stone knife might easily shatter just from hitting their armor, much less

weapons.

From all the adrenaline, it felt like my sense of time was elongated, such that I

could feel the entire battlefield.

In the distance, Alice and Leafa were also trapped in triangle formations like

me, targeted by sword skills from either side. All three of us were going to die

together at this rate. We had to find a way to survive this moment and look for

a chance to turn the tables. But how…?

"Quaaaaack!!"

At that moment, a high-pitched roar and some screams rose above the din.

The giant agamid had bitten one of the men. The tips of Bolan's and Mocri's

weapons twitched, and the glow of the pre-skill effect flickered. Instantly, I

launched myself off the ground with all my power.

Of course, my adversaries wouldn't have been completely taken aback by the

possibility that I would charge toward them. But given my lack of armor, they

had to consider it a very long shot. So their sword skills executed just a fraction

of a second too late. It wasn't a significant gap of time in a PvE setting, but that

could be enough to seal your fate in PvP.

"Nraaah!" "Chieee!"

Bolan's longsword skill Vertical came high from the right, and Mocri's dagger

skill Canine thrust upward from below on the left. I leaped straight forward and

twisted, curving myself like a high jumper.

The sword passed just over my throat as my head tilted back, and the dagger

passed beneath my arched back, leaving me with only a brief chilly sensation.

Aware that I'd lost a tiny fraction of my HP, I twisted twice before landing and

immediately took off running. My target was one of the foes fighting Leafa. Not

because she was my sister, but because she was six feet closer than Alice.

You're on your own this time, Alice! I thought, willing the words to her mind,

as I sank my knife deep into the unprotected back of the enemy.

There was a foreboding cracking sensation. The durability of the knife, so

abused by the bark-stripping process, had given out at last. But while the enemy

was stunned, Leafa slid out of the trap they'd set up and headed with me to

help Alice.

But we needn't have bothered.

Because standing there, knife sunk to the hilt into the side of one of the

enemies attacking Alice, was Asuna.

"…Asuna!" Leafa exclaimed with surprise. I couldn't blame her; just three

seconds ago, Asuna was leaning against the furnace in a logged-out state.

In the first second after coming back, she had grasped the situation, spent

another second drawing her weapon and going into a run, and crossed ten

yards to attack the unsuspecting enemy with the third. It was an incredible

piece of pure reaction—but it came at a cost. Asuna's knife also failed to

withstand the shock and crumbled to pieces.

Without missing a beat, Alice escaped her attackers and said, "This way!" We

ran after her and wound up standing with our backs to the cabin wall. A

moment later, the giant agamid joined us and purred, rubbing its head against

Asuna.

It had fought hard to protect its master. Its green scales were torn here and

there, and its proud bill was all cut and scraped. But after a gentle caress from

Asuna, it lifted its head with brave determination.

The enemy group had been momentarily confused, but on Bolan's signal, they

regrouped and formed a semicircle around us. They were done with taunting

and closed in steadily from a distance of ten yards, swords and axes held before

them. We'd injured some of them, but all eight were still in good fighting

condition.

But on our side, only Leafa's stone ax and Alice's stone knife were left.

Unfortunately, I had to admit that victory was even less likely than before. That

left escape as our next best option, but if we fled, they'd take up shelter in our

cabin and make it their base. I didn't know how the system ownership of the log

cabin might be affected, but going by typical survival RPG rules, there was a

good chance they'd officially take it over if they occupied it for a certain length

of time.

To run or go down in defeat?

I couldn't pick either of those options. I bit my lip with agonized frustration.

"Quee…?" the giant agamid remarked with a questioning note in its voice.

Then something happened that I would never have predicted. A number of

shapes jumped out from the woods behind Bolan's group.

I would have expected a respawned thornspike cave bear, but it was clearly

not the case. They were thin and bipedal, obviously human. They weren't

carrying any kind of light, so I couldn't identify them at all. There were six…no,

seven of them. I could also see a very small shape behind them, like a child.

Bolan's group noticed the new visitors a moment later and turned around,

pointing their weapons the other way.

A tall figure that I guessed was male, standing at the lead of this mystery

group, lifted something long and thin like a spear and bellowed.

" , !!"

They were words…presumably. But muffled and distorted, like there were

several layers of noise filtering over the voice, making it impossible to derive

any meaning from them. Whatever the voice said, the figure's companions

understood, fanning out to the sides of the spearman with axes and curved

swords of their own.

Intuition told me these were NPCs, not players. That was quickly corroborated

by Bolan's friends, who reacted with panic.

"Th-the natives from the basin!"

"What are they doing here?!"

"They're dangerous!"

If these NPCs were tough enough to scare Bolan's team with their inherited

gear, they had to be the real deal. It was that very turn-the-tables moment I'd

been hoping for—if we were lucky. But it probably wasn't going to work out

that well. It would be too convenient to assume the NPCs would attack Bolan's

group and leave us alone.

If there was a way to make use of this situation, it would be to launch a pincer

attack the moment the NPCs struck, then run away as quickly as possible. I

didn't foresee NPCs camping out in our player home, so as long as we came

back before too long…

But once again, the situation swerved in a direction I did not anticipate.

Cla-cla-cla-cla-cla-cla-cla-clang! There was a rapid series of high-pitched

metallic noises. It was coming from behind the group of NPCs. At first, I thought

it was a brass gong or some similar tool to summon more companions, but the

rhythm was too fast for that. It wasn't like an instrument, but an anvil or

something, being smacked by a hammer…

"Anvil…," I murmured, realizing it was an anvil. Behind the row of NPCs, which

Bolan called natives from the basin, was the furnace, casting table, and anvil

that I'd built. One of the NPCs was striking my anvil.

But why? Just to make noise? Or was it a message to others, after all?

It was unsettling our opponents, who spoke among themselves in hoarse

voices.

"What are they doing…? That's not good, is it?"

"Well, we can't just run away without anything to show for it. If we take this

spot over, we can make new weapons and armor for everyone."

"What should we do, Bolan?"

After a brief silence, I heard Bolan say, "Tetsuriki, Chap, Doarn: Keep the NPCs

at bay. But don't attack them. The other five of us will take out Kirito's group as

quickly as possible."

Here we go.

I put my fists up, preparing for combat just as Bolan, Mocri, and three others

turned on the spot.

The anvil striking sound had stopped, but no NPC reinforcements were

coming out of the woods, and the six or seven of them were still standing there

with their weapons up, nothing more. If they weren't going to attack, then

nothing had really changed for us. Eight or five opponents, we were still at a

major disadvantage.

I thought I heard a faint rustling from the woods to our right. Initially, I

suspected one of our enemies was circling around through the trees, but there

were still eight red cursors in the clearing with us. A bear would make more

noise than what I was hearing, so it was probably some small animal instead. I

ignored it and focused on the enemies ahead.

The group of five slowly closed the distance, their weapons at the ready. As

soon as we were within range, they were going to launch into sword skills all at

once. It was the ultimate orthodox move, no wrinkles—but that was what made

it hard to counter.

The only trick I still had up my nonexistent sleeve was the stock of stones I

had packed in my inventory, just under the carrying weight limit. Should I climb

up onto the cabin roof and try the avalanche method again, while the others

fought off the bad guys? No, that only worked on the bear because its actions

were simplistic and predictable. The players would recognize what I was up to

as soon as the rocks started to appear on the roof—and zip out of the way in

time.

What to do? What to—?

"Use this, Papa!"

" ?!"

My breath caught in my throat at the voice that came from below. My eyes

shot downward, and I saw a black-haired girl in a white dress covered by leather

armor, crouching and looking up at me with big eyes. Eyes as black as the night

sky, sparkling with stars.

"Yui?!" Asuna and I cried simultaneously, trying to pick up our daughter

without thinking. She held up a hand to stop us, then used her other hand to

make a gesture. I saw a small window that said Yui has sent a trade request. Do

you accept?

A trade?! But Yui isn't supposed to have an inventory! I thought, shocked by

this impossible request—but I hit the ACCEPT button on pure impulse. Up popped

an error message that said Not enough carrying capacity. I'd have to do

something with all those rocks to make the trade.

"Hey, what are they doing?!" yelled one of the enemies, noticing our trade

window. An instant later, I heard Bolan shout, "Don't let them do that! Charge!"

Feet struck the ground. I didn't have time to organize my inventory. They

would soon be upon us.

In a blink, I opened my ring menu and hit the SKILLS icon, slid my finger over,

and selected Stone Furnace from the list of craftable items under the

Stoneworking skill.

Immediately, there was a gigantic purple mass taking up the space about ten

feet in front of me: the ghost object indicator that I could use to place the

furnace once it was crafted. I put my fingers together and spread them

outward, sending the ghost sliding rapidly along the ground toward Bolan's

group.

If any of them had experience doing larger construction, this wouldn't work.

But since they were all using weapons they'd brought in from ALO, they

probably had no need to build crafting equipment. So if my hope was accurate…

"Whoa, what the hell?!" Mocri wailed, toppling over in an attempt to avoid

the ghost. The other four jumped out of the way to either side. I pinched my

fingers inward to pull the ghost back, then sent it shooting out again. This time,

Bolan pulled off a very impressive backflip to avoid it.

But of course, this kind of visual trick to cause chaos was not going to last very

long.

"Hey, isn't that what shows up when you build something?!" one of them

shouted, and Bolan's eyes and mouth opened briefly.

"Dammit!" he swore. "Stupid prank…That purple thing has no physical form,

you guys! Ignore it and charge!"

Mocri and the others howled in response and regrouped near Bolan. They got

their weapons ready and rushed us as one solid mass.

I moved my right hand again, placing the ghost in the space between them

and us. They weren't dodging out of the way this time. If anything, they were

running faster, charging headfirst toward the object they now knew was

harmless.

And they were right. The ghost was harmless.

But just before Bolan made contact, I clenched my hand into a fist.

Da-thud! An enormous stone furnace fell into place right where the ghost

was. A split second later, Bolan slammed directly into the thick stone wall, with

the others piling against him immediately after. The impact was loud enough

that the furnace shook. They bounced backward without a word and fell onto

their backs.

I would have checked to see how much HP that had taken off their cursors, if I

had the time. The next few seconds would mean the difference between life

and death.

I turned and accepted the trade offer from Yui, which I'd left open this whole

time. Completing the furnace had consumed the majority of the stone in my

inventory, and five new items promptly teleported into my now-spacious item

storage. Their names were fine iron chest armor, fine iron waist armor, fine iron

shin guards, fine iron gauntlets, and fine iron longsword.

Setting aside the immediate question of how Yui ended up with these things, I

used the fastest finger speed possible—perhaps as fast as the time I once

switched my skill and weapons to Dual Blades style when fighting the

Gleameyes, boss of the seventy-fourth floor of Aincrad—to drop all these items

onto my equipment mannequin.

Pale light surrounded my body, and the armor appeared on me. The design

wasn't anything fancy, but the steel-blue metal had a deep shine that told me

the adjective fine wasn't just for show. I didn't much go for metal armor that

limited my mobility, but after spending hours exposed to the elements, the

weight of this protection was reassuring on my skin.

Lastly, light shone on my left hip and took the form of a sword. I grabbed the

sheath with my left hand and rested my right on Yui's head.

"Thank you, Yui. I'll take care of the rest."

"Yes, Papa!" she said with delight. I gave Asuna, Alice, and Leafa an eye signal

and a firm nod.

"…I'll be right back!"

And then I was off like a shot. I drew my sword in a whirl and held it above my

shoulder. The whirring sound of the sword skill warming up sent all the blood in

my body into a feverish heat.

Up ahead, my five opponents were getting back to their feet after crashing

into the new furnace. The axman closest to me gaped when he saw me. He

started to shout something, but it was too late.

"Aaaah!" I howled, activating the charging skill Sonic Leap. A streak of lightgreen tore through the darkness toward my target's left shoulder.

Djunk! I felt hard feedback against my wrist, reminiscent of the sensation of

the stone knife breaking, but the iron sword stayed utterly firm in transferring

the full power of the sword skill. The axman flew backward, spraying red

effects, and slammed against the ground. One hit took out over 80 percent of

his HP.

A smaller shadow burst toward me from the left while I was immobilized

following my big attack. It was quick and decisive, the action of someone used

to fighting with sword skills. Mocri.

The dagger that stabbed me in the stomach minutes ago took on a yellow

shine. That was the motion for the charging attack Rapid Bite.

"Shaaaa!"

Mocri zoomed forward. My delay wore off, but I didn't have time to use a

sword skill in return. I couldn't evade it with footwork, either.

Instead, I let his dagger approach as far as possible, pointed right at my heart,

and used the flat of my longsword blade to block the tip. My free hand pushed

against the backside of the sword; this was a defensive technique known as a

two-handed block that could diminish the power of an enemy sword skill.

Kshiannng! Two pieces of metal scraped against each other, and orange

sparks burned the darkness. Blocking a big sword skill from a heavy two-handed

weapon like this carried a real risk of ruining your weapon, but a dagger

shouldn't be a problem.

The yellow light flickered, blinked, and went out…and I immediately swept

Mocri's leg from under him with a swipe of my own. He lost his balance and

threw his arms out in an attempt to keep from falling. From there, I set my

sword flat at waist height on my left.

"I still owe you one!" I whispered, activating a new sword skill. Indigo light

infused the humming blade as it swiped parallel with the ground and drove

deep into Mocri's side. While there, it rotated ninety degrees and ripped up

through his torso.

"Gaaah!"

Even without pain, the sensation of having your avatar's guts torn up was

unbearable. Mocri groaned, but he had not yet paid enough of a price for

abusing the rules of hospitality in an attempt to kill us all. After traveling from

stomach to chest, my sword surged forward with explosive power. It was the

three-part One-Handed Sword skill Savage Fulcrum.

Thrown backward by the force of the thrust, Mocri's body jettisoned a

frightening amount of damage light and landed at the feet of Bolan and the

rest, who were starting to run. His ring-shaped HP indicator rapidly diminished

until it was gone.

I expected his body to remain, like the bear's, but I couldn't have predicted

what happened next. The empty HP bar rotated rapidly, growing and growing

until it turned into a string of numbers. The numerals 0000:03:02:45 clearly had

the same format as the menu in the center of the ring. In other words, from the

point Mocri heard the mysterious voice, and the true survival game began until

his death, he survived for three hours, two minutes, and forty-five seconds.

The wheel of numbers stopped spinning and vanished, right as the sharp

spindles that ran through the center of the cursor shot downward like bullets,

piercing his body. The avatar dissolved into a multitude of rings that came apart

in long ribbons, rising into the night sky.

Lastly, a large black cloth fell from above and landed with a heavy thump.

That was probably his items and equipment. Bolan watched it with stunned

disbelief, then his head shot up to glare at me. He pointed his longsword in my

direction and shouted, "The rest of you, ignore the natives and surround Kirito!

Do whatever it takes to kill him, if nothing else!"

The man in scale armor named Tetsuriki briefly hesitated, then bellowed and

readied his weapon, the two-handed war hammer. He and his companions

charged. The NPCs remained in their formation around the ironworking area

and did not move.

There were six enemies left. Now that they were watching out for my sword

skills, it would not be easy for me to beat them all on my own, but in order to

protect Asuna, Alice, Leafa, and Yui, I had to do it. I'd have to avoid using big

moves with long delays and whittle them down with regular attacks and quick

skills instead. Once I beat their leader, victory would be in sight.

I took my stance, waiting for the six of them to reach me in their horizontal

line.

And then, as though waiting for that very action—two shapes leaped forward

past the NPCs and sprinted toward Bolan's group from behind, as quietly as

they could. They'd been watching this entire time; why choose this moment to

attack…? But a split second later, my suspicion turned to shock.

They weren't NPCs.

The people were dressed in simple leather gear, but the recognizable

hairstyles, and most of all, the little dragon hovering over the head of one of

them, were unmistakable. It was Lisbeth and Silica, who had fallen to earth with

New Aincrad.

That explained the sound of the hammering earlier. It wasn't a signal; it was

actual blacksmithing at work: Lisbeth had used my anvil, sheets, and ingots to

make the armor and sword I was wearing now. Then she'd given them to Yui,

who had used her small size to sneak around the forest to deliver them to me.

Silica got a bit of a lead on Lisbeth and smiled as she saw me. Now I didn't

need to worry about holding back on the big skills. My two longtime

companions could back me up.

"Hey!" Tetsuriki shouted as he finally realized there were two more people in

the area. The instant I sensed that the formation had faltered, I held out my left

hand and drew back the sword as far as I could with my right. A high-pitched

whine filled the night, and deep-red light surged from the sword's tip.

The sound grew thicker, deepening into a metallic roar. The instant I sensed

the system's movement adjustment kicking in, I leaped forward with all my

strength.

It was the single-hit heavy attack Vorpal Strike.

Once in the air, I unleashed all my pent-up power. The tip of the sword

barreled forward, sending a spear the color of blood toward Bolan's chest.

"Aaaaah!" he shrieked. Like I had a moment earlier, he turned his sword

sideways in an attempt to block it. But the crimson spear shattered the thick

weapon like glass and dug itself deep into his chest, past his leather guard.

After the loss of their leader and second-in-command, it did not take long for

the enemy group to completely break down. I was going to let them go if they

decided to run, but the way they chose to fight to the last man was admirable.

Then again, maybe they weren't truly dedicated teammates. After all, the

mysterious voice said all shall be given to the first, so even if their group had

been successful, they were fated to kill one another in the end, no matter what.

The last one standing was Tetsuriki, the one with scale armor and the large

hammer, but he was totally unable to keep up with Silica's quick, acrobatic

movements and perished when she slammed a Rapid Bite into the back of his

neck.

After the eighth bag of dropped items fell from the sky, I wasn't quite sure

what to do next. I wanted to thank Lisbeth and Silica for their great help in the

fight, I wanted to run over to Asuna where she held Yui at the side of the cabin,

I wanted to compliment Alice and Leafa for their efforts, and I was curious

about the NPCs still waiting on the west side of the clearing.

I decided the first priority should be confirming our safety.

With that in mind, I strode over to Silica as I put away my sword. The little

dragon on her head spread its wings and cooed in greeting.

"Uh…so…Pina converted over, too, then," I said a bit awkwardly. Silica gave

me a look that conveyed Really? That's your first comment? but it quickly

turned into a smile.

"Yes. Liz brought over her favorite mace and blacksmithing hammer, but I

only had my dagger…so I think Pina came over by being treated like an item."

"That makes me wonder if the cait sith dragon riders got to bring their

mounts…"

"You know, that might be right. But dragons eat a lot of food, so I bet it would

be tough to keep them fed," she said.

In the meantime, Lisbeth walked up and gave me a once-over, resting her chin

in her hand. "Hmm. You look pretty good in metal armor."

"Oh yeah. You made this, huh? Thanks, Liz, you saved me."

"You can find a more material way to thank me in the near future."

"Uh…right…"

Asuna came over from the cabin, and I reached out to ruffle Yui's hair with

both hands. The ticklish smile she gave me filled my heart with love, but there

were so many questions to ask that I didn't even know where to start.

The girls hugged with tears in their eyes, while I stood nearby murmuring

prompts like "Sooo, ummm, well…"

Eventually, Alice glanced at the NPCs behind us and asked, "Liz, are they not

hostile to us?"

"Huh? Oh, they're fine. Those are the Bashin. Ever since Silica had a

showdown with their chief, we've been on friendly terms."

"Wh-what? You make it sound like a manga about street delinquents," Leafa

said.

Silica waved her hands in protest. "N-no, no, it wasn't some big showdown

thing!"

"It practically was," Lisbeth insisted. She beckoned toward the five NPCs with

their weapons raised. They spoke to each other for a moment, then slowly

approached. It did not look like simple algorithmic behavior to me. They were

probably high-level AIs, just like some of the special NPCs in the old SAO days.

Their spear-toting leader spoke to Yui, for some reason. As before, I couldn't

make out what he was saying in the least.

" ?"

" , ," Yui replied in the same language. Everyone aside from Liz and

Silica looked shocked by this. After a few more statements from each side, Yui

switched back to Japanese to speak to me.

"So you fell here with the house?"

"Er…yeah, we did. The whole floor split off from the main body of New

Aincrad…"

"Apparently, the Bashin saw the house falling from their settlement. They

came here to discover what fell into the forest, and the three of us are helping

them with that mission, in exchange for receiving some of their equipment."

"…Oh, I see…"

In other words, Yui, Silica, and Liz had crossed the wasteland to get here

without knowing that they'd find Asuna and me. I had to thank the VR gods and

the Bashin who escorted our friends here. I faced the spearman and hesitantly

held out my hand.

"Th…thank you."

I didn't expect him to understand me, and he gave me a suspicious look, but

he did eventually extend a rough, powerful hand to squeeze mine briefly before

pulling away. That would have to do as far as signs of friendship for now.

But then I noticed something glinting on the chest of the Bashin man's wellworn leather armor. I squinted harder and saw, tied on a leather cord and

fashioned into the shape of a tusk, a piece of glass.

"Oh…wh-where did you get that?!" I shouted, pointing at the necklace. The

spearman glanced down at his chest, then smiled proudly and lifted up the cord

to show me.

After peppering him with questions, aided by Yui's interpreting, I learned that

the silica material used to make glass was on the highland across the river, and

the secondary ingredient of wood ash could be acquired by burning any old

plant. In fact, an examination of the spot where Alice lit our first campfire

turned up a number of gray clumps. The stone furnace could be used to melt

them down, so at least that second furnace I dropped in the middle of the

clearing wasn't going to be a total waste of resources.

He also told me where the flax grew that we could harvest to make linseed

oil. At last, we had a lead on all the different materials needed to repair the log

cabin. After we thanked them, Asuna served more bear meat soup, which the

Bashin ate with delight. It turned out that they considered thornspike cave bear

the greatest of delicacies.

We saw the satisfied Bashin off as they returned to their settlement and then

exhaled as a group. It was after one AM. We had a bit more than three hours to

go before the cabin collapsed for good.

"There is still much to do," Alice said, clapping her hands.

Lisbeth bent and stretched her arm like she was doing warm-up exercises,

then said in her usual energetic tone, "I'm so glad we were able to meet before

the cabin fell apart! I'll make those iron sheets and nails and such. You worry

about getting the other materials."

"Uh, s-sure…That's cool, but since you made the armor and sword for me, we

might be a little short on iron ingots," I said, imagining that we'd have to go

back to the bear cave for more ore or even melt down the new armor to recoup

the material.

But Silica just grinned and pointed at the pile of sacks in the center of the

clearing. "It's all right! If we melt down the gear those PKers dropped, I'm sure

we'll get plenty of new iron!"

"…Ah. Yeah. That makes sense."

It was a very logical idea, but I still couldn't help but glance at Asuna, Alice,

and Leafa with alarm.