Sword Art Online - Volume 2 - Aincrad (Side Stories)

by Reki Kawahara

  Unwilling to spend time fighting against the small fries, I started running after checking that no one was chasing after me from behind. With the level I managed to gain during the past one month, my agility went up a lot, and my feet that stepped on the snow were as light as feathers. The aching pain that came from the temple never disappeared, but it caused my mind to be unable to sleep at all.

  After about 10 minutes of running, I arrived at the entrance of the forest maze. This field dungeon was segregated by numerous 4-sided polygons, and as the areas were connected to each other, it could be said to be impossible to break through if there’s no map.

  After opening the map, I stared at the marked areas and went into. After memorizing the path in my mind, I went alone into that silent forest.

  After two battles that I couldn’t avoid, I entered the area in front of all the trees that covered the target without any difficulty. There was still more than 30 minutes.

  Then, I would be fighting against this boss monster alone that would likely take my life—a high chance at that. I couldn’t feel any fear inside. Or rather, maybe that’s what I was expecting. To die in battle to revive Sachi may be the only way I could accept death—

  I didn’t want to say something heroic like I’m looking for my resting place. I caused Sachi and the other four allies to die meaninglessly, and I have no right to look for a significance in dying.

  What’s the point of doing this? Sachi once asked me. And I answered her, there was none.

  Right now, I could finally turn those words into reality. Sachi died meaninglessly in this meaningless death game SAO that the insane genius Kayaba Akihito created. With that, I’ll die in a place no one would notice, not remembered by anyone, and to die meaninglessly like that.

  If, I beat that boss and survive, that revival item would turn from rumor to reality. That was what I thought. Sachi’s soul would return from the Death Road or the River Styx, and then I can finally hear her last words. Finally—just finally, let me wait for this moment…

  Just when I was ready to step forward and finish walking the last few meters, several players appeared from the warp point behind me. I jumped back in shock as I held the hilt of my sword behind me.

  What appeared was a group of 10 people, and standing right in front was a samurai guy in light armor, a katana on his waist, and a headscarf—Cline.

  The main members of the Fuurinkazan guild each looked nervous as they moved closer to me from the warp point behind them. I continued to look at Cline’s face and squeeze out a hoarse voice.

  “…Were you following me?”

  Cline grabbed the hair that was made straight by the bandana and nodded.

  “Yeah. We have someone with good tracking skill.”

  “Why me?”

  “Because I bought the information that you bought all the tree coordinates, and for safety measure, I went to look at the sentry gate at the 49th level, but found that you were moving towards the level where there was no information on. I felt that your battle ability and gaming instincts were really strong, stronger than the clearing group…even more than that Heathcliff. So…Kirito, you can’t die at a place like this.”

  Cline reached out his right hand, pointed his finger at me and shouted,

  “GIVE UP ON THAT RECKLESS SOLO ATTACK AND PARTY WITH US! LET THE PERSON WHO GETS THE REVIVAL ITEM DROP KEEP IT, OKAY!?”

  “…In that case…”

  I couldn’t believe that Cline said that to me because he viewed me as a friend, that he was worried about me.

  “In that case, it’s meaningless…I have to attack alone…”

  I wielded my sword hilt tightly, and my mind was burning crazily and somewhat unconsciously think.

  —Let’s just kill everyone.

  In the past, when the death game started, I abandoned Cline, this beginner who didn’t know anything, and went on to the next town. I regretted over this for a long time, and was relieved that Cline was able to live on in such a fine fashion.

  At that time, I was seriously wondering, do I have to achieve my aim even if I had to slay one of my few friends and fall as a red player? My heart was weakly screaming that this was meaningless. However, the other side was giving a voice, hoping that I would die meaninglessly, but was roared back in an overwhelming fashion.

  I really believed that if I drew my sword slightly then, I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from that moment on. And Cline was looking at me sadly while my right hand trembled and continued to struggle.

  At that moment, a 3rd group of intruders arrived.

  Also, this group wasn’t just 10, but about 3 times the party. I stared at that large party blankly and muttered to Cline, who turned back in a similarly shocked manner,

  “Seemed like you guys were followed too, Cline.”

  “…Ahh, looks that way…”

  At the boundary that looked like it was 50m away, there were people I recently saw at the anthill, staring wordlessly at Fuurinkazan and me. The Fuurinkazan swordsman that was standing beside Cline leaned beside the leader’s face and whispered,

  “Those guys are the «Sacred Dragon Alliance», a group of guys who can become orange just to attack the flag boss.”

  I heard that name often too. Their name was as famous as the Knights of the Blood, the largest guild amongst the clearing group. Those guys should each be below me in level, but I had no belief in beating that many people.

  But—perhaps the outcome should be the same.

  Suddenly, I felt that whether I was killed by a boss monster or a guild, it would all be meaninglessly. But then again, at least it would be a better choice than fighting with Cline, right?

  I decided to draw my sword from my back. I was lazy to even think. I just needed to be like a robot and focus on swinging my sword, destroy everything in front of me until I break down.

  However, Cline’s shout caused my hand to stop.

  “DAMN IT! THOSE BASTARDS!”

  The katana user drew out the weapon at his waist faster than I could and growled at me from behin.

  “Get over there, Kirito! Leave this to me! Go beat the boss! I won’t allow you to die though! I won’t forgive you if you dare to die in front of me! Never!”

  “…”

  There wasn’t much time left. I turned my back on Cline and entered the last warp point without saying thanks.

  The large fir trees, the location where I memorized, and the curves of the memories, they were all standing there silently. There didn’t seem to be any other 4-sided areas of trees as the landscape was glowing with pure white snow, and it looked like a barren land with all life extinguished.

  As the timer in the corner of my eye reached zero, an alarm sounded from somewhere, and I lifted my head and looked over at the treetop.

  The pitch-black night sky, or rather, with the base of the upper level as background, those lines of light continued to reach over. Looking at them closely, I found that it was a strangely-shaped monster dragging a giant sled.

  As it reached the top of the trees, a black shadow flew down from the sled, and I took a few steps back.

  What landed hard and scattered the snow was a monster that was 3 times my size. It was still a human appearance, but his arms were extremely long, and because his body was bent forward, those arms almost touched the ground. The small red eyes were glowing under the abnormal bulge on the forehead of the shadow. The lower half of the face was full of curly grey beard, and the length even reached the waist.

  Strangely, this monster was wearing a red and white shirt, a cone-shaped hat that was of the same color, wielding an axe with the right hand, and a large bag full of things on the left hand. The designer who designed this guy probably wanted to let a large group of players to be scared yet amused once they see this ridiculous ugly version of a boss Santa Claus. But to me, who’s facing this «Nicholas the Apostate» solo, the appearance of the boss wasn’t important.

  Nicholas may be starting to say the lines for this mission as
he got ready to move his tangled beard.

  “Shut up!”

  As I muttered this, I drew my sword, and my right foot kicked hard into the thick layer of snow.

  Part 4

  It has been more than a year since I started playing SAO, but this was the first time my HP bar had entered the red zone.

  After the defeated target’s polygon shattered, it left only a sack behind. There wasn’t a single restoration crystal left in my inventory, I had never come this close to death before. Even though I survived, there was no happiness or comfort in my heart. Instead, I felt an emotion closer to disappointment. Why did I survive?

  As I returned my sword back to its scabbard, the sack glowed and then disappeared. All the items that were dropped by the target should have registered in my inventory. Taking a deep breathe, I raised my trembling hand and called up the inventory window.

  The inventory window has many tabs with names that would irritate most players. Weapons & Armor, Jewels/Ores, Crystals, and even Food Ingredients, I scrolled through the window filled with item tabs to find a single item.

  A few seconds later, the item that I was searching for entered my line of sight.

  It was called «Divine Stone of Returning Soul».

  My heart started to beat frantically, it felt as though blood had just started flowing through the part of the heart that was numbed for the past several days- several months.

  Ca…. Can I revive Sachi? If this can be done, wouldn’t it mean that, Keita, Tetsuo, and the souls of every player who lost their life in SAO since the beginning haven’t been destroyed…?

  This may be my only chance to see Sachi again. Just thinking of that made my heart skip a beat. No matter what curses or swears that might be thrown at me or any consequences that might befall because of my lies, this time I would hug her tightly with both my arms and look into the pair of black coloured eyes and say words from the bottom of my heart. It is not that you will never die, but it is me who is going protect you. To fulfil that promise, I will work hard to make myself stronger.

  After several failed attempts to select the stone from the window due to my trembling hands, I finally managed to materialise the «Divine Stone of Returning Soul». Floating above the inventory window is a rainbow-coloured jewel stone around the size of an egg with such beauty that was unable to be put into words.

  “Sachi…….Sachi…..”

  Calling out her name, I tapped the jewel stone, then clicked on the help menu by the window, simple instructions appeared on the panel in a familiar font style.

  [The item can be used on the player’s shortcut menu or holding the materialised item and shouting «Revive .. Player Name», the effect will only work and revive the fallen player during the time frame between death of the player to the disappearance of item’s effect light. (approximately 10 seconds)]

  Approximately 10 seconds.

  This phrase that seemed as if it was added intentionally, clearly and cruelly announcing that Sachi will never be revived.

  Approximately 10 seconds. This is from the time when a player’s HP falls to zero, and the body shattering into polygons, to NERvGear sending out electrical signals to fry the player’s brain in the real world. I cannot help but imagine how Sachi must have felt during the short span of 10 seconds, from her body disappearing till her NERvGear frying its owner’s brain. It must of been extremely painful for her. In this span of 10 seconds, what was she thinking? I cursed myself repeatedly…..

  “Ugg..Ahhhhhh. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…”

  I let out an animal-like scream.

  Grabbing the Divine Stone of Returning Soul that was floating above the inventory tab, I threw it with all my might onto the snowy ground.

  “Ahh… Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

  I stamped on the crystal furiously with my shoe while screaming. However, the crystal continued to glow steadily without affect from the stamping, there was not even a single scratch, much less a crack on it. I screamed with all my might, shoved both my hand into the ground and using my fingers I grabbed the accumulated snow, in the end I continue my screaming while rolling on the snow.

  It is meaningless, everything is meaningless. It does not matter if it is Sachi died while being scared and in pain, or me challenging the Christmas special target, NO, living in this world or the fact that 10,000 players are trapped in here totally has no meaning. I finally understood it now, this is the only truth.

  I did not know how long I kept this up, no matter how I scream, how I shout, I did not feel any urge to cry. It is because this factitious body of mine lack that function? Finally, wearily I stood up, picked up the holy crystal that was buried in the snow and head toward the portal that lead to the previous area of the dungeon.

  There is only Cline and the members of «Fuurinkazan» remaining in the forest. The members of «Sacred Dragon Alliance» were nowhere to be seen. As I walk toward the katana-wielder who was sitting on the ground, I checked to see that there was no loss in numbers.

  It’s obvious that Cline was the only one who was tired, but not as much as I did. I could guess that he negotiated with the Sacred Dragon Alliance and fought a duel. However, my heart wasn’t feeling grateful.

  The katana user saw me walk over, and his expression showed ease. However, his lips stiffened after seeing my expression.

  “………..Kirito…………”

  I dropped the holy crystal on the knee of Cline who was calling my name in a low and coarse voice.

  “This is the revival item, but it cannot be used on people who have die long ago. Take it and save the next person who die in front of you.”

  As I was preparing to head toward the exit after saying that, Cline grabbed my coat.

  “Kirito… Kirito……”

  It shocked me to look at him with tears flowing down his fully-beard cheeks.

  “Kirito… You… You must survive…. Even if all the others perish… You must survive till the end…..”

  I pulled the sleeve of my coat from Cline’s hands, who cried on as he repeated for me to continue living on.

  “Good-Bye.”

  After saying that, I made my way out from the forest in a lost manner.

  By the time I was aware of my surroundings, I was back in the room at the inn at 49th storey without any recollection of how I made my way back.

  The time is around 3am.

  I started thinking what I should do from this point onwards. For the past one month, the revival item was the motivation for me to continue surviving. Although it existed, it wasn’t the item that I wanted.

  After thinking for a while, I decided to head off and fight the boss of this level once dawn broke. If I beat that guy, I would continue on to beat the boss of the 50th level, and then, I’ll continue on to the 51st.

  I couldn’t think of any other ending for a stupid clown. After making this decision, my feelings relaxed, and I just sat on the chair like that. Not seeing anything, not thinking about anything, but waiting for morning to arrive.

  The moonlight that shone down through the window started changing positions bit by bit, and finally, it was replaced by a grey daybreak. I didn’t know how many hours did I not sleep, but it felt good for a final morning after the worst night.

  As the clock on the wall ticked to 7am, I got ready to get up from the chair, and a strange alarm rang in my ears.

  Looking around, I couldn’t find anything that could be the source of the sound. Finally, at the corner of my sights, I found a prompting purple signal from the main window flickering away, and I moved my fingers.

  What glowed was the same item window Sachi and I shared. There was a limited use item. I scrolled the screen down in a puzzled manner, and found the timer activated message record crystal.

  I took the crystal out, removed the window and placed it on the table.

  After clicking on the glowing crystal, I heard that memorable voice of Sachi.

  Kirito, Merry Christmas.

  At the time when you hear this
message, I am probably dead. That is because if I am still alive, I had decided to remove this crystal from the shared inventory on Christmas eve and let you hear what I have to say personally.

  That… Let me clarify why I have recorded this message.

  I, probably, will not survive for long. Of course, this does not mean that I doubt the capability of the Kirito and the «Black Cats of the Full Moon» guild. This is because Kirito is very strong and the rest of the members are getting stronger by the day.

  How should I explain this….. A very close friend of mine from another guild lost her life. Being a timid person like me, she only hunted in safe areas but because of her bad luck, she was killed by mobs on her way back to town. After that I pondered over various stuffs and I came to a conclusion. To continue surviving in this world, it matters not how strong your companions are, if you do not have the will to live or the determination to survive no matter what, death definitely awaits.

  For me.. Truthfully, ever since the first time I stepped into the beginner practice area I was and have been very afraid. Actually, I never intended to leave the Starting City. Although I was very close to members from the Black Cats of the Full Moon in the real world and I enjoyed the time we spent together, but I hate going into battles. I probably will die eventually if I continue to hold this attitude in battle. This is not cause by anyone, the problem lies with me.

  Ever since that night, you’ve been telling me it’s alright every night and that I won’t die. That is why if by any chance I die, you’ll definitely blame yourself for it and won’t forgive yourself. This is also the reason why I thought of recording this message. I would like to tell Kirito, it isn’t your fault. If there is any problem, it would be me. The date will be set on the next Christmas, because I would like to at least try to survive until then, hoping to walk down the snowy street together with you.

  Actually…. I knew how strong Kirito is. One time, when I woke up from Kirito’s bed, I accidentally saw your level from your opened status window behind you.