SAO 15 - Alicization Invading

by Reki Kawahara

  Bercouli suddenly looked to the sky with a spasm-like jerk.

  “Men…Mentor-sama…?”

  At Alice’s inquiry, the Knight Commander said something unexpected.

  “Somewhere far, far away, a wave of great fighting intent expanded in an instant, and disappeared… Someone I know has died…”

  Part 4

  The Ten Feudal Lords that formed the Dark Empire Ten Feudal Lord Meeting were completely different in personality, character, and hidden ambitions, but there was one aspect that they were all the same in.

  That was their better understanding than anyone else of the one law that [Power dominates all].

  It was better to say that this law was carved into them since youth, and through endless diligence — training themselves or eliminating non-conformists — they ultimately mounted the summit of this world that washed blood away with blood.

  Therefore, when the other nine Feudal Lords, who stood in line with Dark General Shasta in the Throne Room, saw the rightmost Dark Knight draw his sword against the Emperor with sudden vigor, none of them felt surprised in their hearts.

  In fact, most understood it as “Oh, you’re brave enough to make a move here; you’re pretty bold.” Even the Elders of the Orcs and Ogres whose language skills and intelligence had deteriorated over three hundred years, thought “Now we can see this Emperor guy’s power,” flashing their beast-like eyes sharply. Even the young Fist Fighter Leader, who respectfully regarded Shasta as an equal who trained to better his own battle techniques, offered silent words of support: “Since you’ve pulled out your sword, slash the Emperor.”

  Within them, there were only two who predicted this situation seconds before it happened.

  One of them was the Dark Sorceress Guild Leader, D.I.L. She harbored intense feelings of enmity towards Shasta; long since planning to kidnap the Dark General’s lover, she had known Lipia’s appearance for a long time.

  Therefore, she was contrarily even more surprised when she saw Lipia’s frozen head. Predicting that this would probably cause Shasta to explode in anger and draw his sword, D deliberated over what to do in that situation.

  Although she wanted to backstab Shasta and do the Emperor a favor to take advantage of him, D eventually chose to watch from the sidelines. If Shasta lost against the Emperor, then all would be well; if Shasta won, he would be deeply wounded, and then she would scorch her enemy and take over the Dark Empire herself. D chuckled silently as she suppressed her excitement by licking her lips.

  But there was another person who had noticed the Dark General’s intent of betrayal —

  And now immediately took action.

  ***

  With only the word “KILL” in his mind, Shasta violently swung his beloved sword.

  If only the intensity of the «Incarnation» fused into the Slash was measured, it already clearly passed his strike while he crossed blades with Integrity Knight Bercouli. His rage and exclamation were so intense that the Armament Full Control Art, which would ordinarily require a prolix incantation, was immediately evoked.

  Shasta’s longsword «Hazy Mist» was a Divine Instrument-class Object automatically generated two hundred years ago in the Underworld as part of the VRMMO package. Its property was [Water]; now, reflecting Shasta’s extremely strong murderous intent, the blade transformed into a mist-like shadow without losing its absolute killing power.

  The special quality of the Hazy Mist in the state of Armament Full Control was to completely omit the attacking process of what all swords inherently held, [dealing damage by splitting or running through the target object with a sharp blade]. In the instant that one touched the long stream of mist, damage akin to a normal slash would be dealt to his Life. In other words, other than avoiding it, all forms of defense would be meaningless.

  In the instant that Shasta drew his sword, Gabriel Miller, as Emperor Vector, drew his own sword from his waist and was about to parry his opponent’s attack.

  If things continued like this, Shasta’s mist blade would pass through Gabriel’s sword, strike Gabriel’s body, and inject all of the compressed killing intent.

  However, as he was moved at lightning speed, right before he released the killing blow.

  Shasta froze.

  He did not know when, but under his left shoulder on the Dark General’s heavy armor, within a joint of the thick plating, a throwing needle was stuck deeply there.

  The one slowly standing up behind him was a ghostly thin figure entirely wrapped in a dark gray robe.

  The Leader of the Assassin’s Guild, Fer Za. The one hiding behind shadows who had the weakest existence among the ten Feudal Lords and uttered almost not a word during conferences. He glided forward, perhaps in the most striking way he ever had in his life.

  Fer Za was able to notice Shasta’s actions before everything happened only because he was the most cowardly and neurotic of the ten Feudal Lords.

  The Assassin’s Guild was actually a family where weaklings congregated. It was a group created for people who was born giftless in physicality, magic, wealth or other qualities, but rejecting a torturing, freedomless life of slavery, in order to hone the [Poison Technique] that was shunned even by the Dark Territory.

  The poisonous Objects in the Underworld, such as a portion of insects, snakes, and plants, were originally configured as a part of the Load Tests. Therefore, their effects were restricted to the level that the inhabitants could easily recover if they used the required knowledge. Conversely speaking, there was virtually no way to obtain enough strength from it to confront Art rituals and swords.

  However, the people who founded the Assassin’s Guild invented the «condensation» technique unconceived even by «RATH» technicians, and over an immensely long period of time, painstakingly produced and strengthened poison. The Assassin’s Guild headquarters set deep under the slum streets of this castle-centered city even had a large cauldron that had been boiling the juice of poisonous fruits for a hundred years, and numerous pots that collected poisonous snakes from everywhere to make them cannibalize each other.

  But the painstakingly completed [Lethal Toxin] instead brewed up a tragic internal strife, rampant with clandestine killings within the Guild. Different from Art rituals and all weapons, it was extremely difficult to search out the poisonous attacker since the poison’s effects may be delayed.

  Therefore, it was inevitable that the Guild leader would be unable to stay alive if he was not extremely paranoid. He must be able to notice the eyesight of those around him, no, even be able to feel an insignificant sliver of murderous intent hiding in the air.

  To Fer Za, the killing intent released by Shasta once he saw Lipia’s head was stronger than even the smell of blood.

  And Dark General Shasta was the person whom Fer Za despised the most in the world.

  The number of assassination plots he had planned and discarded until now was countless. He was confident that he could achieve the murder. However, if the cause of death was discovered to be poisoning, anyone would know it was the Assassin Guild’s doing. An hour after Shasta’s death, the immeasurably powerful Dark Knights would have attacked the Assassin’s Guild headquarters and quickly kill them all. A direct battle would have no victor.

  But, now, if it was in this instant.

  He was in the right by piercing his enemy’s body with well-sharpened poisonous darts. Because in the seconds that he drew his sword to take the Emperor’s head, Shasta was no longer a Dark Knight, or a Feudal Lord; he was a mere traitor.

  The things that Fer Za pulled out of his robes and threw were hidden weapons passed down through generations of leaders of the Assasin’s Guild. They were extremely thin metallic needles by the name of [Rubelir Toxic Steel], cut from a dangerous ore capable of secreting numbing toxin, and concealable in one’s palm. After they were hollowed out, various poisons could be stored inside.

  Stored inside was a lethal toxin, a collection of the essence of the Assassin Guild’s techniques. Gathering rare p
arasites by the name of [Blood Corroding Leeches], crushing fifty thousand of them together, and a number of condensations and filtrations would yield only a single drop of the poisonous liquid. Since all attempts to breed and raise this type of leech had failed, just the task of creating one drop of poisonous liquid would require an extremely high effort.

  Of course, one thing that Fer Za could not possibly know was that every moving creature in the Underworld were all generated by the system according to specified values per each area unit; other than livestock Units, such as sheep and cows, all other artificial breeding was impossible.

  In other words, the poisonous needle that Fer Za released was concentrated with all of the power of the Assassin’s Guild from the material used to the poisonous liquid inside. Simultaneously, they could also be described as the crystallization of the resentment of the weak who had suffered hundreds of years of abuse.

  ***

  As Shasta had concentrated all of his willpower onto his swinging sword, he almost failed to notice the pain of a metallic needle piercing deeply into his body.

  But in the instant that he prepared to jump high towards the Throne, his entire body became as heavy as lead, and he suddenly widened his eyes.

  His feet lost their strength; as he dropped to one knee with a crack, he finally felt a foreign object in his left abdomen.

  — Poison?

  After a split-second thought, before an ice-like numbness spread to his left hand, he quickly pulled out the needle. As Shasta realized that this small, toy-like weapon was gleaming a brilliant green, he quickly understood that it was the accursed Rubelir Toxic Steel and immediately began chanting a counter-Art.

  However, travelling at a terrifying speed, the coldness spread to his entire body from his left abdomen, quickly reaching his mouth. His tongue lost all feeling before he could finish just the activation command [System Call]; he could not even clench his teeth.

  His left hand was also paralyzed; the poisonous needle made a slight sound as it slipped out of his hand and dropped onto the black marble floor.

  Finally, his right hand that was holding his longsword high also began to drop slowly, and at the same time the longsword’s Release Recollection state was also lifted: the blade transformed from gray mist back into its tangible form and its tip touched the floor.

  He was frozen to exactly the same pose as he was before he drew his sword: left knee on the floor with his head bowed. The black lap of a robe silently appeared in Shasta’s vision.

  — Fer Za.

  — I didn’t expect to be ambushed by this guy.

  “… You’re definitely thinking… ‘How could I lose to this unmentionable little thing’, aren’t you, Biksul.”

  Hearing a scratchy sound from above, Shasta could only move his eyes and put on a severe expression.

  — What makes a guy like you address me with such familiarity…?

  “You want to say that I don’t have a good reason to call you by your name, right? But, it’s definitely not the first time I’ve called you Biksul, you know?”

  Slowly coiling his robes on the floor and kneeling down to the same height, the Assassin’s face took up the majority of Shasta’s vision. But a deep hood completely obscured the light and all was shrouded in darkness except for his protruding chin.

  The chin moved as if it was trembling, and an even scratchier voice flowed out of the darkness.

  “You… don’t remember, do you? The faces of many kids whom you completely defeated in the Youth School, and one of them who could not bear the humiliation, jumped into a water ditch, disappeared from the school forever.”

  — What? What is this man saying? The Youth School?

  As the son born of a nameless Knight, Shasta was shut into a Youth School affiliated with the Dark Knights from the moment when he could grasp a wooden sword, regardless of whether he agreed or not. From then on, what remained in his memory was the day-to-day training that his life depended on. He won practically every selection test; when he caught his breath he had already been appointed as an Officer of the Dark Knights, selected by his mentor, the former Knight Commander — that was half of his torrential life, devoid of any opportunity to look back upon it.

  Of course, he had no way of remembering the kids whom he had swung wooden swords with together thirty years ago.

  “…But, I forgot not a single day, you know. From the time when I floated to the underground culvert, picked up by the Assassin’s Guild, in the eternity during which I was freely ordered around as a slave, I’ve always remembered… I built up my knowledge, invented many new poisons, and eventually became the leader of the Guild. As the price to pay, I lost so much… But all of it was for vengeance, Biksul.”

  At the same as the contorted voice broke off, the hood tilted slightly, and Fer Za exposed his face in front of Shasta’s eyes.

  He still could not remember. No, even if Shasta could completely remember his former classmates, he would not have recalled this man’s name, because, perhaps due to some unknown effects of the poison, Fer Za’s face was severely deteriorated, into a form so bizarre that even an Orc would be frightened.

  Within the hood that was pulled down again, there were only two eyes flashing an intense light.

  “The poison now injected into your body is developed specifically to kill you, collected drop by drop, spending time on it long enough to drive one crazy. According to my experiments, it can even kill a large-type Ground Dragon with a Life higher than 30,000 in under an hour. With your Life, I’m afraid there are only two or three minutes left. So… It’s time for payback. My hatred and humiliation that I imbued onto you.”

  — Hatred, huh?

  Shasta moved his eyes away from Fer Za and stared at the poisonous needle lying on the black marble floor.

  — I was driven by rage and hatred to murder the Emperor. Fer Za injected this weapon with exactly the same strength to kill me. Therefore, my Slash stopped. The «Incarnation of Slaughter» cannot win against the «Incarnation of Righteousness». Before, the sword technique I mastered when I crossed swords with that man… Integrity Knight Commander Bercouli; in the last critical moment, I still forgot it all…

  Unable to support even his position with one knee against the ground, Shasta fell to the left and slid onto the floor.

  In the middle of his blurred vision, at where the needle pointed—

  There was the cube of ice inside the silver bowl.

  ***

  Fer Za, the avenger originally named Ferrius Zalgatis, opened his eyes wide, as if he was savoring the instance of joy he had worked so hard for.

  Dark General Shasta, who had been playing with glory, was now lying under Fer Za’s feet. His skin, tough for his age, had turned the color of dirt; his sharp gaze was fading away, and his breath was close to stopping.

  What an ugly and pitiful way of dying.

  Yet Shasta’s death also proved the superiority of Poisoning Techniques over swordsmanship and Dark Sorcery. With this new kind of complex poison made out of Rubelir Toxic Steel and Blood Corroding Leeches, just one needle would not only forcefully prevent the enemies from drawing swords or chanting Arts, but also induce their rapid death.

  After seeing this sight, the Emperor on the Throne would also realize how valuable the Assassin’s Guild was. When mass-production of the new poison was complete, there would be no more need to please the Knights and Sorcerers. He could redeem his name, return to the Zalgatis Clan that disowned him, and take over the family as a new dictator…

  Fer Za, whose entire body shook as he was intoxicated in the zenith of exuberance, completely overlooked the fact that outside his field of vision, the blade of Shasta’s sword was slowly melting back into mist.