Chapter 7

"…When we get back to the town, the first thing we should build is a

bathhouse," Alice said with a sigh, sitting on one of the canoe's seats.

Normally, I would reply with something like "We can worry about bathing

later. Use the river if you really want to," but in this case, I had to agree with

her. Ahead of Alice, Argo murmured, "A bath would be nice," and Kuro added a

little "Gaur…"

The boss monster of the cave behind the falls was a giant slug. Its proper

name was the Stinking Snail—Argo explained to me what the English words

meant—and I had to agree with them. The gigantic ten-foot slug expelled a

truly abominable-smelling liquid that had more of an effect on our willpower

than our HP.

Of course, the smelly liquid was more than just odorous; it inflicted a trio of

status effects in gradual MP loss, vision abnormalities, and increased cooldown

time. Plus, the battlefield was a dome-shaped cavern in which the slug raced

across the ceiling at high speed, forcing us to chase after it in the canoe and

perform jumping sword skills just to hit it.

The slug's actual physical attack value was low, so after a while, we stopped

trying to dodge the liquid attacks and just powered through with sword skills,

but we were so covered in disgusting slimy coating at the end of the battle that

we couldn't be bothered to even celebrate our level-ups. The first thing we did

was dive into the cavern lake to wash off the slime, but I could still smell it

somehow.

"So…the boat is taking us to our destination, ya said…right?" Argo asked. I

stopped sniffing myself and looked up. The underground lake boss chamber

seemed like a dead end, but when the creature died, a wall in the back rumbled

upward to reveal a new waterway. We proceeded onward, but I couldn't guess

what we'd find ahead. And the same rumbling sounded after we went through,

so I had to assume there was no going back to that boss chamber.

"In New Aincrad, there would be a staircase to the next floor…," I mumbled

without thinking.

Alice seized on that. "Speaking of which…what happened to New Aincrad

after it fell?"

"Huh? Well…it's probably still where it landed, right?"

Neither Alice nor I had witnessed the spectacle of the gigantic floating castle

smashing into the earth, but according to Liz and Silica, it was on par with the

Tunguska event. I thought, You didn't see the Tunguska event happen, either,

but according to Yui, who still had access to the map data at the time, the fall

completely destroyed the first through twenty-fifth floors of New Aincrad, so it

must have been a hell of an impact.

Alice had heard all that, too, so I gave her a quizzical look. The knight pouted.

"Yes, I know that. But my question is: Can anyone still get inside?"

"Oh…Hmm, I'm not sure about that. If we can get close, we might spot a

route that takes us inside…You wanna go there?"

"Yes, I suppose. I've been curious."

"About what?"

"All the players who died as a result of New Aincrad's fall would have

resurrected at the Stiss Ruins. But what happened to the people who lived in

the towns and villages on all those floors?"

"...!"

I sucked in a sharp breath. Yes, there were many civilian NPCs who lived in

New Aincrad. What had happened to them when those twenty-five floors were

obliterated? NPCs in ALO were immortal as a general rule, so they probably

wouldn't take damage and die like players would, but I hadn't heard anything

about others being teleported to the ruins. Plus, there was the possibility that

they were now like the NPCs of Unital Ring, such as the Bashin and Patter, who

were certainly not invincible.

"…Argo, do you know what happened to New Aincrad's NPCs?"

"Nope. I didn't look into that…," the info dealer admitted, prompting Alice's

expression to grow severe.

At this point in time, Alice understood logically what NPCs in a VRMMO really

were. But emotionally, she was still finding it difficult to keep them separate. I

couldn't blame her; the residents of the Underworld had souls—fluctlights—

just like any biological person, but in some senses, they were like NPCs, too.

And I didn't want to think of simple question-and-answer AI NPCs as emptyheaded game objects that moved around like robots.

"…After we get back to the forest, we'll go check on what happened to New

Aincrad," I murmured. Alice glanced at me, then nodded.

The dugout canoe slid silently down the natural canal. I checked the map

screen, but you couldn't see the world map while in a dungeon, so I couldn't

begin to guess where we actually were in the world. But in terms of direction, at

the very least, we weren't getting farther away from the Great Zelletelio Forest

—I told myself.

After switching to my inventory, I noted, "Oh, by the way, we got a

magicrystal from that slug boss."

Argo spun around at attention. "You did, Kiri-boy? But it didn't use any magic

on us."

"Wouldn't it be gamer's common sense that only enemies who use magic can

drop magicrystals?"

"Urgh…" She blanched but recovered with a quick grin. "So what kind of

magicrystal is it?"

"Let's see…"

I sorted my inventory by most recent, then found what I was looking for just

under the slug's bodily materials.

"It says…magicrystal of rot."

"Rot? What does that mean?" Alice wondered.

"Rotting. Corruption."

"...Then it is a magicrystal for decay magic?"

"I…suppose so. You wanna eat it, Alice?"

"No thank you," said the knight at once.

I turned to the info dealer. "You want, Argo?"

"I'll pass."

"..."

I thought, Awww, c'mon! but I knew saying it out loud would lead to some

unpleasant conversation. Before I could close my inventory, however, Argo said,

"That reminds me…wasn't there a magicrystal sort o' thing the willow tree

ghost dropped, Kiri-boy?"

"Huh? Oh…right, there was."

The vengeful wraith left a pale-blue light behind when it dissipated, and I'd

run up the trunk of the tree to grab it. I scrolled through my item list, all the

way past the materials I collected in the cave, then the food I bought in the

ruins, then…

"Oh…hey, this one looks good! It's a magicrystal of ice."

"Oooh, not bad. Go ahead and learn it."

"Huh…? Me? Are you sure?"

I looked at Argo, then Alice. Both of them nodded encouragingly. I moved to

press the button to materialize the magicrystal but stopped myself.

"…No. I'll hold off," I said.

"Why?" asked Alice.

I considered the question, then said, "Well, I've started down the Brawn

ability tree, right? I think it would be better to give the magic skills to people

focusing on Sagacity instead."

This was true, but it wasn't my only reason. In an emotional, not rational

sense, I didn't think ice magic would suit me. Ice magic—or more specifically,

frost arts—were the specialty of a late, close friend of mine. I was never able to

make more than five frost elements at a time, but he could handle up to seven

or eight.

Alice could sense my sentiments, and she flashed a gentle smile. "I see. Then

you should hold on to that ice magicrystal until we can find the right person to

take it."

"I'll do that," I said, starting to close the window, but Argo spoke up again.

"In that case, learn the decay magic instead."

"Awww…I don't want that! Dark magic would be better…"

"Really? You're gonna be picky about this? Your MP ain't doin' anything else

right now, so find a use for them!"

Then you learn it! I thought. But in terms of overall MP, I had more, being

level-18—I'd leveled-up in the fight against the giant slug—while Argo had just

reached level-11, having gained three. The only way to increase proficiency in a

magic skill was repeated use, so having more MP meant more chances to cast

spells.

"…All right," I said, summoning my courage and materializing the magicrystal

of decay.

It was an orb about half an inch across. The size was the same as the fire

magicrystal I'd given Yui yesterday, but unlike that beautiful ruby-red orb, this

one was a cloudy gray, like boiled sludge.

To learn a magic skill, I had to put this magicrystal in my mouth and break it

with my teeth. When Yui did it, she breathed out fire. So what was going to

happen when I…?

"Go on—hurry up," urged Argo.

She's totally enjoying this! I thought ruefully. But I bravely stuck the gray

stone in my mouth. It was slick and hard, but it had no flavor for now. I caught it

between my right molars and added steady pressure.

Eventually, there was a cracking sensation. Resigning myself to the

consequences, I bit down.

"...…Bleaaaargh!!"

Despite being in the presence of ladies, I covered my mouth with my hands,

hunched over, and gagged for all I was worth. I didn't have any other choice,

because when the orb burst, it filled my mouth with a liquid possessing the

most putrid taste and odor I'd ever experienced in my entire life, real or virtual.

If I had to compare it to something…No, trying to think of a real comparison was

actually going to make me puke.

"W…wada…Wadduh…" I groaned, thrusting out my hand. Argo handed me a

simple vessel full of well water—a hollowed-out fruit. I grabbed it, removed the

top, and desperately downed the chilly water. Even after finishing every last

drop, the horrible aftertaste did not disappear, but at least I'd gotten over the

convulsions.

"…Th-thanks…"

I handed back the vessel. A new message appeared before my eyes.

Decay magic skill gained. Proficiency has risen to 1.

"...…"

Just the sight of the word decay made my stomach roil again. If the

requirement to gain the skill was not spitting out that horrible liquid, I'm sure

nine out of ten people would have failed the test.

In any case, I was now the second magician—no, magic swordsman?—after

Yui. I went over to my skill window to check the details, and it said there was

only one spell I could use with a proficiency of 1.

"What's this…? Rotten Shot: Shoot a mass of something rotten. Something

rotten…? Like what? And what kind of a name is that…?" I grumbled, while Argo

looked like she was desperately trying not to burst into screams of laughter.

"Go on and use it," she dared me.

"If you laugh, I'm hitting you with the second one," I warned, tapping on the

decay magic name, then read the tips that appeared. It said that the basic

gesture for activating decay magic was to extend your hands in a rounded

shape, like holding a ball, touching the tips of your fingers together. After trying

it, I had to admit that compared to the gesture for fire magic—pressing your

right palm to your left fist—this one didn't look as cool.

But the magic did activate, and a greenish-gray light infused my hands. Next

came the finger motions for Rotten Shot. This one was simple: pulling my hands

apart so that my fingertips were eight inches apart instead. Between them, an

orb the size of an orange appeared, the same color as the aura. Its surface

rippled with liquid like a living creature. It truly did look like "something rotten."

A light-purple targeting circle was visible, too. It was currently stuck on the

bottom of the canoe, but when I lifted my hands, the circle moved, too, until it

was over Argo's face. The other two didn't seem to be able to see it.

I was briefly tempted by a mischievous streak to let it fly right now; I had to

stop myself by thinking, You're about to be eighteen years old, so act like it!

Instead, I moved the targeting circle to a stalactite hanging over the riverbank

to the left, and I squeezed my hands to fire.

The gray orb shot out with a horrible splurp! sound. It struck the middle of the

stalactite, right on target, and splattered everywhere. Nothing more happened,

however. It was a very slender and delicate stalactite, but there wasn't a single

crack on it.

"…Doesn't seem like it does much physical damage," Argo noted dryly.

"But maybe it will serve well as a way to harass enemies?" Alice added in an

attempt to be helpful. Kuro just swished its tail at the prow of the canoe, trying

not to get caught in the middle of this.

Even without having any abilities in the Sagacity ability tree, I had enough MP

to shoot three consecutive Rotten Shots, so I kept blasting the darkness with

wasted shot after wasted shot to up my magic proficiency. After fifteen

minutes, something changed up ahead. There was a vague, reflective blue shine

everywhere—moonlight was entering the cave.

I didn't want to jinx it by saying "There's the exit!" out loud, so I silently kept

the oar moving. Argo and Alice were staring straight ahead. The waterway

narrowed bit by bit, then began to bend left and right until I started to worry

that the sixteen-foot canoe might actually get wedged in a curve.

Then, without warning, the walls were gone. The canoe glided forward onto a

large, flowing surface. It was a river.

Behind us, there was a narrow opening at one spot in a sheer rock wall. With

all of the protrusions, it would probably look like any other hollow from a

distance. I quickly opened my world map and saw that we were right at the

middle point between the falls where we entered the dungeon and the

southern tip of the Great Zelletelio Forest. That would mean this was the same

Maruba River that Alice and I had traveled down hours earlier. With that in

mind, the scenery did seem familiar to me.

"…So there was a cave entrance right here," Alice murmured.

"I never even noticed it," I replied. "But I'm sure the door in the boss chamber

wouldn't have opened from this side, so it would have been just a dead-end

cave."

"Do you really suppose we couldn't have opened it?" she asked.

"Hmm, I don't know…"

In game logic, you might be able to get through the back door once the boss

was already beaten, but Unital Ring also seemed determined to overturn such

assumptions. The best way to find out was to try it, but I didn't want to be

anywhere near that cave for a while.

"Well, in any case, we got this boat past that waterfall. So ya didn't hafta

break it down after all," said Argo. She lifted her hands high and took a deep

breath. Alice closed her eyes in brief relaxation, and even Kuro performed a

very catlike stretch at the end of the boat.

For a moment, I stopped rowing the canoe and breathed the fresh air deep

into my lungs. However, it did not loosen the feeling of blockage at my throat.

I'd probably have to live with that sensation until I dispelled the curse.

The game clock in the lower right of my vision said that it had just passed

midnight. It felt like we'd been in the cave for ages, but it had been only about

an hour. Even going upstream, the canoe could manage a speed of twelve miles

per hour, so from here, we could get back to the Zelletelio Forest in about thirty

minutes, assuming no trouble.

I switched my open window to the message tab, then typed up a quick text to

Asuna: Everyone safe. Be back before one. Then, another thought coming to me,

I added, Happy birthday.