Chapter 9

Silica and her companions decided to set up a makeshift base just outside the

tunnel leading to the wasp dome.

They cleared away the brush, cut down trees, and carved out a flat space

about ten yards to the side. Sinon and Klein used their Stoneworking skill to

build a foundation, upon which Lisbeth crafted a simple hut with the Carpentry

skill. It would easily be shattered upon attack by any large monster, but they

only needed it to hold up until they conquered the wasp nest.

The reason for building a base was to stockpile resource items, particularly

lumber. There were probably hundreds of those giant wasps, which would

attack in coordination over a wide range, so it was quite likely that the classic

method of luring out one at a time where they were easier to manage would

not work. If they were surrounded by a swarm of wasps, it would make

escaping the tunnel harder, so the plan was to erect a simple defensive

structure within the dome—proposed by Sinon, who called it a "bunker."

Players weren't allowed to place structures on the ground in the wild in ALO,

but crafting was possible anywhere in Unital Ring, whether in a dungeon or on

top of a river, and a simple wall took no more than seconds to set up. If you

were used to the commands, it wouldn't be that hard to build a bunker while

you were in combat.

The real issue was how long a wooden bunker could withstand a barrage of

giant wasp attacks, and the only way to find out was to try it. It would be

another hour until a minimum number of members would be around to help

tackle the fight.

As an expert in sneaking, Friscoll volunteered to be the messenger to Ruis na

Ríg. It wasn't entirely clear how much they could trust him, but if his purpose

was to be the first to reach the goal, too, there couldn't be any benefit for him

to betray them now.

Silica weighed the different options and possibilities in her head as she fed

Pina and Misha. The bear ate plenty of harve meat and some blueberry-like

berries they harvested while cutting down bushes, then curled up next to the

shack and began to nap. Pina alighted on the massive bear and used it as a bed.

Lisbeth, grinning blissfully, watched the pets sleeping. Then her smile

vanished, and she muttered, "When Unital Ring's been beaten, this world will

turn back into ALO and GGO again, right?"

"Um…I suppose so?" Silica replied before she realized what Lisbeth was

thinking about. When someone reached the center of this world and Unital

Ring vanished, Misha, the other pets, and the Bashin and Patter would go with

it. Even newborn Yael would not be spared.

The fragility of virtual worlds was well-known to any VRMMO player. While

using the Seed Package to build a game lowered the initial costs, it also lowered

the resistance to shutting down games faster. In just the last year and a half,

dozens of games had been taken offline, and all the NPCs that lived in those

worlds had disappeared with them.

But the AI level of the Unital Ring NPCs was several levels above any other

game's. Every NPC here seemed equipped with the same level of intelligence as

only a few special NPCs in ALO, like the gods and giants. Even pets like Misha

and Kuro didn't just execute a few standard routines, but exhibited the ability

to understand complex orders, a sign of having their own AI.

Thousands of natives living in the vast world of Unital Ring vanishing in an

instant? It was out of their hands, but even still, it seemed cruel. However…

"Even if we're not the ones who beat the game, someone will…," Silica said,

condensing her thought process into one simple answer.

Lisbeth nodded. "For now, we don't have any option other than heading for

the goal."

"Yes. Let's do our best to beat this wasp nest."

They bumped knuckles, right as someone called for them from the other side

of the clearing. Silica waved, then trotted over to where Sinon and Klein were

waiting.

The four of them focused on collecting resources while they waited for more

players to arrive.

They'd need iron nails and sawed boards to make any proper wooden

construction, but the bunker only needed to last for the length of the battle, so

they made as many logs and ropes as they could, saving them up in the

stockpile space within the shack.

Forty minutes later, when they had just about filled up the capacity of the

shack, a number of footsteps approached from the southwest. They watched

warily, just in case, but the group that emerged through the woods was a party

much larger than what they'd expected.

In the lead was Friscoll, wearing a robe that made him look like a bagworm.

Behind him were Agil, Argo, and Leafa. Then there were Holgar, Dikkos, and a

few more ex-members of Mutasina's army; Zarion, Beeming, and more from

Insectsite; then three or four each of the Bashin and Patter. The group was

nearly twenty strong.

Silica walked over, her caution forgotten, and gave the group an abbreviated

greeting before telling Leafa, "I'm amazed you got this many! I know it's

Saturday, but it's still early…"

"Well, that's the thing," said Leafa, glancing at Friscoll, who was talking with

Agil and Klein about something. "He just went running all through Ruis na Ríg

and rounded everyone up. Seems like he even picked up Bashin and Patter

language at some point…"

"Guy's gonna put me outta business." Argo scowled. But then she smirked

and added, "I was the one who reached out to Zarion's group, though."

"Out of our group, only Agil, Argo, and Asuna have any fluency in English,"

Leafa noted, which was a fact. Kirito could speak a fair bit, too—he was

considering going to school in America, after all—but not to a native extent.

Silica was trying her best to study foreign language now, after she'd been totally

unable to explain herself to any of the other players in the Otherworld War,

since her speaking was very clumsy and she could only understand them if they

talked slowly and simply enough for her.

Since they had the Insectsite players on their side, she wanted to overcome

the intimidation from their appearances and be proactive in communicating, so

Silica walked over to where the group was chatting with the Patter.

But before she could say anything, Zarion the rhinoceros beetle turned to her

and said, at the very upper limit of the speed she could make out by ear, "Hey,

girl, these fluffies are saying they know about the giant hornets we're about to

fight."

"Really?" she replied, and turned to the three Patter.

The leader of the trio was Chett. She wore a light-green bandana around her

head, neatly designed leather armor, and had a gleaming pitchfork slung over

her back. She stood a bit over three feet tall and was a heroic figure who faced

the Life Harvester without fear—but now it seemed that her ears and snout

were slightly downcast.

"Silica, are you really going to fight the big green wasps?" Chett said, her

words crisp and clear thanks to Silica's hard work grinding up the Patter

language skill.

"Yes. We must pass through the place where the wasp nest is if we want to go

deeper into the forest," Silica replied. The two Patter warriors who stood

behind Chett—Chinoki on the right and Chilph on the left, if she recalled

correctly—both twitched their whiskers. The swarm of giant wasps was an

undeniable threat, but it seemed surprising to Silica that they would be so

frightened before they'd even seen the creatures.

"When I was a child, my nana told me that long, long ago, it was terrifying

green wasps that drove the Patter off the plains," said Chett before she

launched into the history of her people.

In the distant past, the Patter built a magnificent city on a rocky mountain to

the north of the Giyoru Savanna. They grew corn, raised honeybees, and lived in

peace.

But one day, the earth trembled and shook, and the side of the mountain

collapsed. Then a swarm of green wasps, bigger than anything they'd ever seen,

appeared and attacked the Patter. Those who fought back and those who ran

and hid were killed in equal numbers, and in no time the wasps had control

over the city. The survivors escaped to the savanna to the south, where

ferocious dinosaurs pushed them farther to the east, until a small handful of

just a few dozen reached the Great Wall of Gaiyu.

Since then, the Patter had eked out a meager existence inside the great wall,

living in fear of the frogs and lizards inside, dreaming of one day reaching the

land of promise to the far east…

The entire group had formed a circle to listen to the story. When Chett

finished, her big eyes dripped with tears.

Her reason to cry was quite understandable. They had reached the Great

Zelletelio Forest as they'd so dearly desired, only to encounter the same giant

wasps that had ruined their old city in its prime. That was surely worthy of

despair. It seemed to Silica that they were in danger of having all the Patter

decide to move out of Ruis na Ríg to a safer place.

"In that case, Chett, this is the perfect opportunity," said Sinon calmly. She'd

been listening quietly next to Silica the entire time.

Chett turned in her direction with surprise, and asked, "Opportunity? For

what?"

"For avenging your ancestors. I suppose they might be a different swarm from

the ones that destroyed your city, but they're clearly still the same species. Plus,

if we figure out how to vanquish them, we might have a chance to take back

your city one day. Assuming there's still a nest there."

"Take back our city…," repeated Chett, trying on the words for size. Her

drooping ears began to perk up bit by bit. Light returned to her darkened eyes,

and her whiskers stood at attention again.

She turned to look at Chinoki and Chilph, then said, surprisingly, "Our

ancestors were driven out by the green wasps, but they fought bravely. They

learned the wasps' weakness, and the elder told that secret to his children, who

told their children, and so on. I am the child of Chignook, our current elder. I

know the weakness."

After those who knew Patter filled in the others on what she had said, a

murmur of surprise ran through the group.

Most likely, learning how to defeat the giant wasps was supposed to follow

these steps: speak to all the NPCs around the Stiss Ruins where the ALO players

initially spawned, put together the clues to travel to the Great Wall of Gaiyu,

then clear some quests to earn the Patter's trust. But because Kirito's group, in

the process of finding Sinon, ended up taking the Patter all the way to Ruis na

Ríg, the process had been significantly abbreviated. This might be a big chance

to catch up to the Apocalyptic Date and Asuka Empire groups, who supposedly

had the lead for now.

Silica stepped forward and asked, "Wh-what is that weakness?"

"Lobelia flowers," stated the brave rat warrior firmly.