“Well, that was nerve-wracking...but at least it all ended safely,” Asuna said. She took two steps back from the lip of the flat mountaintop, sat down on a rock, and looked up at me, crossing her legs.
“Well? What is it about those heroes?”
I nervously looked back down at the far end of the basin, where the fifteen combatants were gathered together and raising a victorious cheer. However, there seemed to be differing degrees of celebration–Lind’s royal-blue team and the colorless Braves were truly rejoicing, while Kibaou’s moss-green team was a bit muted. Probably because it was Lind’s scimitar, Pale Edge, that had scored the last attack on the boss. I couldn’t tell how much it was powered up at this distance, but the strength of its glow suggested that a considerable amount of work had gone into it.
I fixed Orlando the paladin with another gaze before I turned back to Asuna. He was standing boldly right next to Lind, sword raised in the air.
Asuna’s cape hood was off, and the morning light shone dazzingly in her light brown eyes. It was as though they stared right through my avatar and into my soul. There was no use hiding anything at this point. I summoned my courage and began to explain.
“...Nezha the blacksmith is one of the Legend Braves.”
“Wha...? So...you mean...”
I nodded. “Nezha’s upgrading fraud was done at the order of their leader, Orlando. I think. Do you know exactly when Nezha’s Smith Shop first set up in Urbus?”
“Umm...I think it was the very day that the second floor was opened.”
“So it’s only been a week. But even bilking one or two high-powered Wind Fleurets or Anneal Blades a day would make them a ton of money. At least ten–no, twenty times what you’d make in a day from farming monsters. Remember what you said earlier? Orlando’s group was weak, but they made up for it with good gear. Weapon skills have to be raised through experience in battle, but weapon upgrades...”
“...are easy if you’ve got the money. So that’s what’s going on,” she said, her voice hard. Asuna bolted to her feet and glared down at the battlefield, then turned to the path that wound down the mountainside. I rushed to stop her.
“W-wait, hang on! I know how you feel, but we have no proof yet.”
“So you’re just going to let them get away with it?”
“If we don’t at least figure out how exactly they’re performing the trick, people will accuse us of defamation. There are no GMs in this world, but you don’t want the majority of people treating you like an enemy. It’s too late for me, but I’d hate to see you slapped with the beater tag and–”
A finger jabbed right at my face stopped me mid-sentence.
“We’re about to go adventuring in the dungeon together, and that’s what you’re trying to protect me from? Anyway, your point is taken. If we don’t have any proof or explanation, the only thing we’re producing is empty accusations...”
She pulled her finger back to her chin and looked down, her voice softening. “I’ll try to come up with some ideas of my own.
Something that won’t just expose how their weapon-switching trick works but also give us solid proof.”
There was a different kind of fire blazing in the fencer’s eyes now, and I had no choice but to agree with her.
Once the victorious battle party turned and headed back to Marome to restock supplies, we descended the mountain and stealthily raced across the narrow basin. The right to set the first footprint on the southern side of the second floor belonged to Lind or Kibaou, but we didn’t have the patience to sit around and wait for them. Plus, they seemed competitive enough that they’d waste time arguing about who got there first.
The far end of the basin turned into a narrow, winding canyon. The walls were nearly vertical and so sheer that not a single handhold could be seen. There was no climbing them.
We took a breather in the empty gorge after our sprint, then headed through the exit to a brand-new sight–well, for Asuna, at least.
The flattop mountains with two or three levels were the same, but the gentle grasslands of the northern area were replaced by thick jungle. Vines and ivy crawled up the sides of the mountains, and clumps of fog here and there made visibility poor.
There was one thing clearly visible through all of the fog, however, looming over everything on the far side of the jungle. The labyrinth tower of the second floor stretched all three hundred feet to the bottom of the floor above. It seemed thinner than the first-floor labyrinth, but it was still a good eight hundred feet across. It was really more like a coliseum than a tower.
We stared at the shape in the distance until Asuna finally broke the silence.
“...What’s that?”
I suspected that she was referring to the two protuberances extending from the upper half of the tower.
“Bull horns.”
“B-bull?”
“When we get closer, you’ll see a huge relief of a bull on the side of the tower. It’s kind of the theme of the second floor.”
“I just figured that giant one they killed was the last of the ox things...”
“Not even close. The Moo-Moo Kingdom is only getting started. The ones ahead are certainly beefy, but they don’t look very tasty.” I coughed to hide my embarrassment at that terrible pun and clapped my hands to switch gears. “Well, let’s get going. The last village is about half a mile to the southeast, and beyond that is the labyrinth. We could do all the quests in the village and still reach the tower before noon. It’s actually safer and quicker to take the detour to the left, rather than going straight through the forest.”
Just as I was getting ready to start hiking, I noticed that Asuna was watching me with a strange expression.
“...What is it?”
“Nothing...” She coughed as well, then looked serious again. “This isn’t meant to be sarcastic, it’s an honest opinion.”
“...Y-yes?”
“With all that knowledge, you’re very handy to have around. Everyone should have one of you.”
I had no idea how to respond to that comment. Asuna strode past me and turned her head.
“Come on, let’s go. I want to get into that tower before Lind’s group catches up.”
8
“Eek...no! Stay away!”
The beautiful girl’s eyes were wide with fear as a menacing silhouette plodded closer.
It sounded like a scene from a suspenseful horror film, but it would not be following the Hollywood template for much longer.
“I told you...to stay the hell away!” she roared, and dashed forward rather than backward. The large attacker reacted by waving its crude two-handed hammer, but her right hand shot forward like lightning before it could hit the target.
The rippling thrust caught the attacker directly on its exposed chest. Brilliant beams of light exploded outward, and the hammers progress slowed. Normally at this point, the player should dart backward and evade, but the girl plunged farther onward, pulling her rapier back and unleashing another attack. Two strikes hit the thick chest high and low, and the half-naked body writhed in pain.
“Brmooooh!!”
It leaned back and emitted a death cry, short horns and ring-pierced snout in clear profile. The massive body tipped backward, then stopped in mid-fall. The rippling muscles turned to hard glass and cracks trickled down the surface, emitting blue light until it finally exploded.
The combo was Linear and the two-strike Parallel Sting, and the creature was a Lesser Taurus Striker, a humanoid with the head of a bull. The fencer bent over, panting heavily, and turned to fix me with an angry look.
“That...was a bull!”
Two hours had passed since Asuna and I reached the second-floor labyrinth, the first players in Aincrad to set foot inside of it. Kibaou and Lind’s parties were probably down on the first level of the tower, gnashing their teeth over the ransacked chests they found, but if I had to be stuck with the “evil beater” role, I might as well
reap the benefits. The initial locations of the treasure chests were about 80 percent unchanged from the beta, so I steered us from one to the other, with the occasional battle in between. Once we reached the second floors, we finally met one of the true masters of the labyrinth–a Taurus.
“Well, I guess they’re closer to human than bull,” I admitted. I had no idea why Asuna was so upset about this. “But this is pretty much what minotaurs are like in every MMO. So people call them ‘bulls’ or ‘cows’ as a nickname”
“...Minotaurs? Like from Greek mythology?”
The anger in her eyes subsided slightly. It seemed that she had a fondness for topics related to studying and learning. I wasn’t particularly well versed in mythology, but my little sister had always liked the stories, and I had read them to her when she was young. I nodded and tried to recall some nuggets of information.
“Y-yeah, that’s the kind. The legendary minotaur lived in a, dungeon on the island of Crete–they called it the labyrinthos in Greek. Anyway, the hero Theseus delves into the dungeon and kills the minotaur. It’s a very game-like scenario, so the minotaur has been a classic RPG enemy type for years and years. In this game, they take out the “mino” part and just call them tauruses.”
“Well, that makes sense. Isn’t the mino in minotaur from King Minos of Crete?”
“Huh? So you’re saying that calling it ‘mino’, for short would be incorrect?”
“Of course. After Minos died, he became the judge of the dead in Hades. So it’s probably best that you don’t call them that.”
This discussion seemed to have taken the edge off of Asuna’s anger, so I tried to take advantage of the opportunity.
“So, erm...Miss Asuna, what was it about that mino–I mean, taurus, that didn’t meet your approval...?”
She glared at me side-eyed. “It wasn’t wearing, well...hardly anything at all! Just a tiny little scrap of cloth around the waist. It was practically sexual harassment! I wish the harassment code would kick in and send it to the prison of Blackiron Palace.”
“Ah...I see.”
The lower tauruses did indeed feature minimal clothing compared to the kobolds and goblins of the first floor. If you removed the bull head, they were basically nearly naked muscle men–quite a shock to (I assumed) a pampered rich girl from an all girls’ school.
But that left one big problem. One of the chests I’d just opened had a set of armor called Mighty Straps of Leather. Not only did it have excellent defense, it also granted a strength boost. However, when equipped, it turned the wearer’s torso naked except for a few strategically placed leather straps. No other clothes or armor could be worn over or under it. I figured the dungeon was a discreet enough place for it, and was planning to change the next time we found a safe room, but Asuna’s reaction to the taurus causing me to reconsider. Still, it was a shame to waste such a great piece of loot. Should I offer it to her, or banish it for having no value to the party?
“Hey, Asuna...I got a strap-style armor with magical effects from a chest back there.”
Suddenly, her eyes were three times as frosty as when she had dispatched the taurus.
“Yes, and?”
“......Um...Just thinking, not many people will look good in that. Maybe he would. You know, the tank leader from the first boss raid...”
“Agil? Yes, I suppose he would look the part. I met him at the reconnaissance mission for the Bullbous Bow yesterday.”
I hid my surprise with an expert poker face, secretly relieved that I had avoided stepping on a landmine.
“O-oh really? But he wasn’t in the actual battle today, was he?”
“I don’t think he really gets along with Lind or Kibaou. But he did say he’ll be there for the floor boss, so you’ll see him there. Why don’t you give it to him then?”
“G-good idea. So anyway, do you think you can handle the mino...I mean, taurus’s Numbing Impact?”
“Oh, just call them minos already. I think I’ll be fine after another two or three encounters.”
“Okay. The boss’s numbing effect is way wider than the normal ones, but the timing works the exact same way. Anyway, shall we go to the next block?”
She nodded without a hint of fatigue, got to her feet, and started marching off toward the exit.
We defeated four more tauruses after that, but they were timed to pop at set intervals, so you couldn’t hunt tons of them even if you wanted. Our inventories were bulging with loot from the monsters and chests we’d run across, and luckily for us, we were able to leave the labyrinth without running into any other players.
At a safe zone near the entrance, I flipped open my map tab and found that we’d almost entirely filled in the blank space for the first two levels. If I turned that data into a scroll and sold it, I could make some pretty good cash, but the evil beater wasn’t enough of a merchant to make a business out of map data. I decided to offer it to Argo the Rat free of charge.
In a way, it didn’t seem fair. By tomorrow, Argo would be selling the latest strategy guide out of the nearest town, based on intel provided by me and the other former beta testers, and I’d have to spend five hundred col for it. But I couldn’t complain too much. She claimed that the funds she earned selling the guide to the top players went into producing a free version for middle-zone folks who were still catching up.
I switched tabs and shot her an instant message with the map data, then yawned widely and looked up at the sky. Looming over the overgrown jungle was not actual sky, but the bottom of the third floor. Yet the sunset rays coming from the outer perimeter of Aincrad cast that lid overhead in a brilliant, beautiful orange.
“Today is December ninth...a Friday. It’s got to be winter on the other side by now,” Asuna murmured. I gave that some thought.
“I read in some article that, depending on the floor, some places in Aincrad are actually modeled after the current weather conditions. Maybe if we climb a little bit higher, it’ll really be winter.”
“I don’t know whether I want that or not. Oh, but...” She trailed off. I turned to look at her. Her lips were pursed, but I couldn’t tell if she was feeling angry or shy. “It was just an idea. What if we reach a floor with proper seasons by Christmas, and it snows that day?”
“Oh...good point. It’s already December. By Christmas would mean...fifteen days left. I sure hope we finish this floor by then...”
“Well, that’s not very ambitious of you. I want to be through here within a week–no, five days. I’m exhausted from all these cows.”
“Oxhausted?”
I couldn’t help it. She stared at me blank-faced for several seconds, then her cheeks went bright red, and she stomped on my foot just softly enough not to cause damage. The fencer promptly turned and stormed off toward the town, forcing me to run after her.
We walked for twenty minutes down the stone path through the jungle, evading battles whenever we could, and only stopped for breath once we reached the limits of Taran, the village that would serve as base for the boss raid.
As I suspected, the main street was already packed with players. Once the Bullbous Bow that blocked the path was defeated, many who’d been staying in Marome made their way here, I carefully removed my black leather coat and covered half my face with the bandanna that Asuna loved to hate.
She couldn’t complain, though; she was wearing her own hooded cape low over her face. Unfortunately, her reason and mine were almost polar opposites.
“So, um...I’m going to go meet Argo in a little bit,” I muttered as we walked along the side of the street. Asuna’s nod was barely visible beneath her hood.
“That’s perfect. I have my own reason...my own business to do with her. I’ll join you.”
“A-ahh.”
I had no reason whatsoever to be afraid of Asuna and Argo in the same place, which made it very strange that I felt a sudden panic. I tried to hide the shiver that ran down my back by showing her to the bar where w
e’d meet up.
But before I could, a sound hit my ears. I nearly missed it at first, so I focused and caught it directly.
The regular clanging of metal on metal. Not as melodious as a musical instrument–tough and hardy, like a tool.
“–!!”
Asuna and I shared a look and turned together in the direction of the sound: the eastern plaza of Taran. We proceeded quickly toward the plaza, stifling the urge to sprint. When we got there, our expectations were not betrayed.
A carpet was laid out with an array of metal weapons and a simple wooden sign. A portable forge and anvil. Seated on a folding chair, swinging away with his hammer, was a short blacksmith. It was Nezha. A member of the Legend Braves, and Aincrad’s first upgrade scammer.
“The nerve he’s got. You saw through his deception yesterday, and instead of laying low, he’s setup in the latest town,” Asuna whispered with distaste from the shadow of a pillar. I was going to agree but changed my tack at the last second.
“Actually...Maybe the fact that he’s here in Taran is a sign of caution. I mean, he has no way of knowing that we’d be here at the same time. Maybe he’s just avoiding Urbus for now, since that’s where his fraud was discovered.”
“It doesn’t change the fact that he’s got nerve. I mean, if he’s going to change towns just to set up shop again...it means he’s still going to do his weapon-switching trick, right?”
She silently mouthed the words “weapon-switching,” then bit her lip. There was anger in her face, of course, but also a number of other emotions. My skill at reading expressions was near zero, so I had no way of knowing exactly what was on her mind. But it seemed to me that there was something like sadness shining in those eyes, within the darkness of her hood.
I turned to look back at Nezha, who was a good sixty feet away, and said, “He probably will. He’ll just be more careful about choosing his victims...”
Sword Art Online Progressive - Volume 01 Page 9