Sword Art Online - Volume 8 - Early and Late

by Reki Kawahara

  Returning the gaze from below back to the front, it was a terrific scene difficult to describe with words.

  The countless roots crept about——the roots of Yggdrasil stood tall above Alfheim ground—— it seemed like they were supporting the thin blue ice block protruding sharply from the canopy, which was our destination, the «Aerial Dungeon», that was shaped like an inverted pyramid. Its base was three hundred meters on each side, and its height was about the same. The myriad of rooms and passages which had been dug inside the ice could be seen from this distance, as well as the huge shadow hovering there.

  Finally, my vision moved to the sharp tip at the bottom of the inverted pyramid.

  Even with the increased night vision of the Spriggan race’s special trait, it was still hard to see the shining gold light which blinked briefly. At the depth of that shining light resided the strongest incentive, ALO’s strongest legendary class weapon, the «Holy Sword Excaliber», was sealed there.

  After the general status confirmation had been completed, Asuna then held her right hand up and started reciting the smooth spell words. At that moment, the body of all members were wrapped in a thin blue light, and a small icon lit up under the HP gauge at the upper left of their vision. Immediately, the chill went away as if we wore a first class down jacket. It was the freeze resistance boost supporting spell.

  “Okay.”

  Lyfa nodded after hearing Asuna voice, her right fingers were applied to her lips and she whistled a high pitch.

  Several seconds later, Kwooo―……n, a distant cry mixed with the sound of the wind slowly approached. Contrasting the dark void background, a white shade could be seen ascending.

  A flat rice paddle used in Japanese cuisine. It is used to stir and to serve rice, and to mix vinegar into the rice for sushi.

  From the side of the body, it looked like a spatulated fish, or a shamoji, with four pairs, eight fins resembling white wings stretched out. Hanging from the lower side of the body were numerous ivy-like tentacles. Its head had three black eyes on each of the three sides, and an extended long nose. The evil-god which «emergence» from the elephant-jellyfish into this strange yet beautiful form, was Tonkii.

  “Tonkii-saaaaan!”

  From Asuna’s shoulder, Yui called out with all her voice, the strange evil-god cried Oo―n once again. It ascended in a spiral movement after flapping its strong wings. With its shape becoming larger, the four new comers retraced their steps back up the stairs.

  “It’s alright, this guy is herbivorous.”

  After I said that, Lyfa turned around and grinned.

  “But, the other day I gave him fish I brought from above ground, he ate them all in one bite though.”

  “…………H-Heh.”

  Klein and the others took another step back, but the narrow stairs had no more room for them to retreat. Once Tonkii was right in front of us, it stretched its long nose from its face which still resembled an elephant’s, and with its bushy haired tip —— stroked Klein’s standing hair.

  “Ubyrho!?”

  I pushed the back of Katana user who made an odd sound without mercy.

  “Hurry, go ride on its back.”

  “E…Even you say that, I, not riding American cars and flying elephants was the last will of my grandfather……”

  “The other day at the Dicey Café, your grandfather just gave me handmade dried persimmons, didn’t he? It was delicious too, please bring me more next time!”

  I pushed his back again after saying that, Klein fearfully stepped on Tonkii’s shoulder and moved to its flat back. Subsequently was Sinon, who had no fear as usual, followed by the animal lover Silica who seemed to have included Tonkii into her target. Lisbeth said in an unexpected girly voice “Yokkorasho!” while following, then Lyfa and Asuna who weren’t first timers jumped on, lastly me, lightly scratching the base of Tonkii’s nose before jumping onto the back of the evil-god class monster, which had a total length of more than ten meters.

  “Alright, Tonkii, please bring us to the dungeon entrance!”

  Lyfa who sat right behind its neck shouted, Tonkii raised its long nose and cried again, then slowly flapped its eight wings to move forward.

  For me, this was the fifth time riding on the back of «Tonkii», the flight type evil-god, including when we were just playing around . Even if I didn’t mention it, I thought about it every time. It was——

  “……Hey, what happens if we fall from here?”

  That, was what I thought, frankly asked by Lisbeth who sat right behind me.

  That’s right. It was the principle of Jötunheimr that all the fairy tribes couldn’t fly here, and damage would be applied upon falling from a high altitude. Depending on the skill value, damage would occur when falling from over ten meters, and falling from more than thirty meters would certainly lead to instant death.

  However, Tonkii’s current flight altitude was in the region of a thousand meters. There was no need to think about what would happen if we fell from this height. Of course there were some safety measures —— like grabbing the tentacles below its belly —— but I’d rather not have to do so.

  While everyone seemed to have the similar concern in their minds; only Lyfa, the «Speed Holic» who sat in front, along with Yui who moved to sit on her head, and Pina who was embraced by Silica, were feeling comfortable.

  The one who answered Lis’ question was Asuna who sat stickily beside her. With a somewhat stiff expression, she looked at me and smiled, then said,

  “There was a person who climbed the pillar connecting to the next layer in the old Aincrad and fell down, I’m sure that person would experiment falling from here in the future too.”

  “……Falling from this height, aren’t cats more suitable for that?”

  The two felines immediately made a serious look and shook their heads repeatedly.

  During the exchange, Tonkii was still flapping its four pairs of wings, slowly gliding through the air. Up ahead was the terrace entrance to the aerial dungeon made out of ice, the entrance was located at the top side of the inverted pyramid. Hopefully it’ll be a safe ride until the end——

  I secretly wished that. At that moment,

  Without any warning, Tonkii folded all its wings into sharp angles and broke into a rapid dive.

  “Uwaaaaah!?”

  Was the loud yell by the two men.

  “Kyaaaaa!”

  The high scream by the girls group.

  “Yaho——————!”

  That was Lyfa.

  Both my hands desperately grabbed at the hair, which grew thickly on its wide back, to withstand the rushing wind pressure. The diving angle seemed to be almost vertical, the ground below progressively approaching. But why did it suddenly do this? Every ride up till now was always a slow patrol course between the tree root stairs and the ice terrace.

  Was it tired of being used as a taxi? Or did the fish Lyfa gave it before weigh heavily in its stomach?

  While thinking about things which wouldn’t be beneficial to my health, the details of the ground covered in ice and snow was getting much higher precision. It seemed Tonkii was aiming for the southern border of the huge pit, the «Void». Yes, it was the place where Lyfa and I once fought with the Undine raid party trying to kill Tonkii.

  Immediately after that, the sudden decelerating G caused our bodies to bend over and stick to the evil-god’s back. Tonkii spread out its folded wings, applying the brakes to the nose dive. At least it looked like it didn’t want to litter the ground with its luggage. I lifted up my body while exhaling in relief.

  I looked downwards from Tonkii’s back once it started cruising horizontally again, the altitude was already at about fifty meters. Now the state of the ground was clearly visible, like a high detailed aviation photo. Dead trees with sharp icicles hanging. Frozen rivers and lakes. then——

  “…………Ah……!?”

  Lyfa who sat on Tonkii’s head raised her voice sharply and stretched her body
. She then pointed to a spot on the ground as she squeezed out her voice that sounded almost like a scream.

  “O..Onii-chan, look there!!”

  Hearing that, the other five and I gazed to the front left, in the direction Lyfa pointed her finger.

  Suddenly a dazzling flash effect burst up, and shot into my eyes which was accustomed to the dim light. Then, a bass sound followed after a slight delay. Based on this, it was a large scale attack spell, no doubt about it.

  Tonkii made a sad Krrru―n cry. The reason for the cry was found shortly,

  A popular traditional Japanese confection.

  The attack was focused on the manjū-like body sitting over the long tentacles, with the long nose and big ears of an elephant, it was a large jellyfish monster. The same type as Tonkii before undergoing «emergence», no doubt about it.

  Then, the attack was from a large scale raid party with more than thirty members. With colorful hair color and the varying body sizes, it seemed to be a force of mixed races. If looking at just that, it could be said that it was just the normal «Evil-god hunt party». But what Lyfa saw which we didn’t, was the fact that it was not only the players that attacked the elephant-jellyfish.

  With the height of about six or seven times that of the Gnome’s, while having the form of a human, it had four arms and three faces lined up vertically. Its skin color was like pallid steel, its dull red eyes had the reminiscence of burning coal.

  It was the same as the humanoid evil-god monster which tried to kill Tonkii the first time we met. Each of its arms held a steel-like crude sword, the blunt blades repeatedly slammed into the elephant-jellyfish’s back. Its hard shell cracked and the bodily fluid gushed out while the players continued firing spells, arrows, and sword skills into those cracks.

  “What’s……going on there? Did someone tame that humanoid evil-god?”

  Asuna whispered as she panted. Silica shook her head vigorously and answered,

  “That’s impossible! The tame success rate on evil-god class monsters, even with maximum skill and full equipment boosts is still 0.00%!”

  “That means……”

  Klein stroked his bristling red hair while groaning.

  “That was, how to say it……«Hitch a ride» is the term? Attacking the elephant-jellyfish along with those attacks from the four arms and taking credit of the final blow at the end……”

  MMORPG term, meaning controlling to whom the monster should focus its attacks on, which is usually the tank party's duty.

  “But I wonder about the hate control in that situation.”

  Sinon commented calmly despite her eyebrows drawing tightly together. Certainly it was as Sinon said, for the evil-god’s action patterns, it would be no surprise if it turned its attention to the players if they fired a spell or skill nearby, even if they did not cause any damage.

  Unable to understand the reason, we bit our lips while looking at the scene, finally the large body of the elephant-jellyfish evil-god trembled and fell down on its side to the snowy field. At that point, the iron swords and the large spells rushed on——

  “Hyrrrrrrruuuu……”

  The elephant-jellyfish screamed in agony before its body turned into a large amount of polygon pieces and scattered away.

  Kwoooo…… Tonkii made a sad sound again. Lyfa, who sat on its head, was trembling, and on her head, Yui also faced downward with a sad expression.

  Unable to find any words to comfort Lyfa and Yui, my glance remained fixed on the raid party down below.

  Suddenly, my eyes widened in surprise.

  The four armed giant that was not under tame, incitement, or dazed state, raised its foot and roared in victory; the several dozen players also lightly made a guts pose, then both sides started to move to claim the new target.

  “W..Why don’t they fight each other!?”

  A hoarse voice leaked from Asuna who was beside me, she then seemed to notice something and lifted her face,

  “Ah……there, look!”

  She pointed at the hill on the far right side. The battle effect also flickered violently from there. I focused my eyes and could see the large group of players, this time with the assistance of two humanoid evil-gods. It looked like they were hunting the alligator type evil-god with many legs.

  “What the heck is going on here……?”

  To Klein’s confused question, Lisbeth murmured in a low voice,

  “……Maybe it was what Asuna said above just now, the new slaughter type quest in Jötunheimr……? The assistance from the humanoid evil-gods to exterminate the animal type evil-gods……it seemed……”

  “…………!”

  Upon hearing that, all of them inhaled at the same time.

  MMORPG term for monster.

  It was probably so. If it was during the quest, it was possible to have a joint force with specific mobs. But what was the reason for the quest reward being related to the «Holy Sword Excaliber»? That sword was sealed inside the humanoid evil-god’s stronghold, which means, one couldn’t get it without defeating those humanoids……

  Thinking up to this point, I looked up due to the reflection from the big ice pyramid above.

  However, that was not where the source of light was. Because at the furthest end of Tonkii’s back, where no one sat, particles of light appeared without a sound, and condensed —— to produce a human shape.

  The long garment in the shape of robe. The wavy blond hair flowing from the back to the feet. The lady with elegance and a transcendental beautiful face.

  But a word surged out of my mouth, and at the same time, Klein’s, who had quickly turned around, which wasn’t supposed to be said to a woman.

  “Hu…………”

  “…………ge!”

  However, that could be forgivable. The height of the lady was, based on our estimation, more than three meters.

  Fortunately, the first words from the mysterious huge lady to us sounded like she didn’t appear to be hurt by our words, her serene expression remained as she opened her lips. The flowing voice, unlike that of a player’s, was tinged with a solemn effect.

  Commonly known as Urd or Urth, one of the three Norns in Norse mythology.

  “I am «Queen of the Lake» Urth.”

  The huge blond onee-san continued talking to us.

  “Ye fairies who bonded with our kin.”

  Kin? I twisted my neck with doubt in my mind. It seemed those words were directed toward us, who were hovering on Tonkii, Was this lady the friend of those animal type evil-gods inhabited in Jötunheimr?, I thought that, but……

  At that point I finally realized the huge lady who called herself «Queen of the Lake» in front of me was 100% not human. The skirt of her long blond hair was like tapered, divided, and undulated tentacles; The limbs inside the robe that could be seen were covered by pearly scales. Similar to Tonkii, the strange form of large creature which chose to borrow human appearance —— But even so, I was still impressed.

  “To you, my two sisters and I have but one request. Please save this country from the invasion of the «Frost Giant Tribe».”

  What I thought while listening to the story was Firstly, this giant lady is «What»?

  The color cursor didn’t come out even when focusing on the vision, and it was certainly not the figure from a player’s enchanting spell. Was it a harmless event NPC? Was it a trap set by the aggressive quest Mob? Or was it an avatar controlled by a human GM? I couldn’t make a conclusion.

  Then unexpectedly, I felt a modest weight on my left shoulder. And at the same time, in a cute whisper from Yui.

  “Papa, that person is an NPC. But it’s a little strange. It seems not to talk based on the fixed response routine like NPC usually do. Its core program is connected to the language engine module.”

  “……So, it’s a kind of AI then?”

  “Yes, Papa.”

  While thinking about what Yui said, I continued to listen to the lady’s story.

  NPC ——
the «Queen of the Lake Urth» turned her pearly sparkling right hand toward the vast underground world and said,

  “This «Jötunheimr» was once like your «Alfheim», with the blessings from the world tree Yggdrasil, covered in the beautiful water and greenery. We, the «Rock Giant Tribe» and those beast kin lived together in harmony.”

  At the same time as those words, the surrounding scenery covered in snow and ice soundlessly shook and dimmed. Appearing as if it was a layer of illusion, was the scene in Urth’s story. The world filled with plants, flower fields, and pure water. It could be said it was even richer than the Gnome or Salamander territories up above.

  Even more surprising, behind Queen Urth where the bottomless pit «Great Void» was, in this other world it wasn’t there. Instead, there was a lake filled with sparkling transparent water. The thickly huddled roots of the world tree from the canopy in this world reached the lake without spreading in other directions.

  On the summit of the roots over the water surface existed houses made from logs, no, a town was probably more suitable. The scene was similar to the central capital Aarun up on the surface.

  Urth lowered her right hand, and the illusory scene disappeared. The chilled ice world of Jötunheimr returned, she looked indifferent, but I might have imagined seeing her with sadness filled eyes, as she continued to speak.

  The king of Jötunheimr, known as Thrymr or Thrym in plain English

  Or Wayland the Smith, is a legendary master blacksmith in Norse mythology.

  “——In addition, on Jötunheimr’s lower plane, the country of ice «Niflheimr» existed. The land was ruled by the king of frost giant tribe «Þrym», he once transformed into a wolf and did infiltrate this country, then stole the Excaliber, «The sword which cut all of steel and tree», forged by the god of blacksmith Völundr and threw it into «Urth’s Spring» at the center of this world. The sword severed the thick roots of the world tree, and in that instant, Jötunheimr no longer received the blessings from Yggdrasil.

  This time Urth lifted her left hand, and the illusory screen regenerated. We could only wordlessly watch the overwhelming scene.