by Miguel .
I had experienced “Infiltration,” the sixth quest of the campaign, during the beta. To complete it, I had to steal a scroll of orders from the forest elf camp. In it were top-secret commands from the leader of the forest elves, who was situated in their home base at the north end of the forest. Having done it before, I knew the contents of that “top secret” mission: to use a disguising charm and steal the Jade Key from the dark elf base. If that mission failed, the agent was to wait for reinforcements and lead an assault on the base...
In the beta, I was in a party of four with another four hired dark elves, and we led a midnight assault on the camp, killing all the enemy soldiers to steal those orders. If I tried to complete this quest with Asuna, Kizmel, and some of the soldiers from the base, we would probably have to use the same method.
But now, I felt a strong resistance to that idea. I didn’t want to force Asuna and Kizmel to kill a number of forest elves in their sleep, even if they were our foes.
I knew that was an illogical, meaningless, emotional reaction. And it was easy to imagine that if I completed the quest on my own and informed Asuna of that fact, she would be furious.
I could have explained it all to her, attempted to convince her. But Asuna–and likely Kizmel as well–would have resisted my request that she stay back at the base. And the way I intended to beat the quest was only possible alone.
My idea was not to steal it by the sword. I was going to sneak into the camp by myself and take it through stealth.
Now that a single fatal mistake was permanent, and I couldn’t just revive myself at Blackiron Palace, it was the height of stupidity to take such a risk on nothing more than an emotional reaction. Even worse, this quest had no bearing on clearing this floor and furthering the ultimate goal of freedom.
But even if I hadn’t teamed up with Asuna on the second floor and had adventured alone on the third floor instead–which easily could have happened on a whim–I would still be tackling this campaign quest alone. I’d have to complete the quest to steal the orders as a solo player anyway.
I had plans. Based on the title of “Infiltration,” one assumed that the quest had been designed for a player to beat it without drawing his sword. By the end of the beta, the orthodox strategy was for a player with a good Hiding skill to sneak in and do the job alone. At this point in time, my level and skill proficiency was far above what the quest required.
On the other hand, there was no guarantee I wouldn’t cause an accident of some kind and be forced to fight the entire camp on my own.
But after the week and five days I’d spent with Asuna on the last two floors, I understood that my personal values were shifting. In the past, I cared for nothing but effective mob farming, quick quest completion, and maximum money and experience gain. That was what I needed to tackle the ultimate goal of winning my freedom–fixed parties and the background stories of quests were extraneous fluff that only got in my way.
But what if there was something here just as important as efficiency? I couldn’t express what that thing might be in words yet. But here I was, hiking through the woods at night alone, for that mysterious sake. Something I treasured enough to open myself to incredible risk.
Despite being lost in thought, I managed to travel over a mile without drawing the attention of any nocturnal mobs and arrived at my destination just before one o’clock.
The forest elf advance camp was located atop a hill looking over a river that ran through the Forest of Wavering Mists from east to west. There was only one entrance to the semicircular fence that surrounded the camp. There were guards manning the entrance, of course, and my Hiding skill was woefully inadequate to sneak through without detection. I might be able to bump the Hide Rate number a bit with Kizmel’s Mistmoon Cloak, but from what she told me, it did not work quite as well against other elves. I supposed that was why the forest elves had to use disguises to sneak into the dark elf base–a similar invisibility cloak would not have done the trick.
So infiltration via the entrance was off the table. The brittle fence, made of dead, whitened wood, would split with a deafening crack when pushed against, so climbing was not an option either. But as a proper beater, I knew the way in, of course. If I descended to the river a safe distance away from the camp and snuck along the waterside, I could position myself just below the tent with the item I needed. There was a sheer cliff over twenty feet tall from the foot of the canyon to the top of the hill, but there were roots conveniently placed just so an opportunistic climber could scale the wall, as long as he wasn’t outfitted in heavy armor–theoretically.
If I managed to pull this off, I could sell that nugget of info to Argo for the second volume of her Elf War guide. Lind’s guild were the only other people attempting the campaign for now, but the information would be very useful to those who wanted to catch up to the frontline team.
I circled the hill from the south to the west and found a relatively gentle slope that would take me down to the foot of the cliff. I stared out at the pleasantly gushing river, spotting the occasional shadow of a large fish beneath the surface. I was in the mood to fish one up and salt grill it, but I didn’t have the Fishing or Cooking skills. That reminded me of Asuna’s hobby Tailoring skill, but I had to scold myself for getting distracted during a mission. I steadily slipped along the rocky shore.
After about ten yards along the water, aided by nothing but a pale sliver of moonlight, I came to a dead stop. It felt like someone was watching me.
I scanned the surroundings, but there was no silhouette of man, beast, or insect, either in front, behind, or above. The idea that I could “feel” someone’s gaze was even more impossible in Aincrad than in real life. Detecting other players and moving objects in the game required direct visual, auditory, or olfactory signals from the NerveGear. It was absolutely impossible for me to notice that someone was watching.
Even still, I couldn’t move. I was held still by a dread chill, something I’d felt several times since being trapped in this game of death. I continued to look around, rooted to the spot.
In the end, what made the difference–possibly between life and death–was the Spotting Bonus mod I’d earned for reaching skill level 100 in Search. As the name suggested, this mod made it easier to find hiding targets.
As my gaze swept from right to left, I detected a vague, shifting outline in the shadows on the far bank. I stared hard at the spot, wide-eyed. If someone was hiding there, my constant gaze would be dropping their Hide Rate. But if I was focusing on the wrong spot, my would-be attacker could slip around my backside and catch me by surprise.
For ten seconds I concentrated on the far bank, resisting the urge to turn around.
Suddenly, color bloomed within the shadow. A figure appeared as though from the cliff itself. The mod was meant to help me against the forest elves, but the cursor that appeared over the figure was not the yellow of an NPC or the red of a monster, but the green of a player.
After the cursor, I saw the dark gray of scale mail. It did not appear to be metallic but close-fitting scales that clung to his torso and gleamed wetly. His gloves and boots were made of the same material. A longsword hung at his left hip. And dangling from his head to his shoulders, a fine, chain mail coif...
“...You,” I growled.
It was him. The man I saw in Lind’s party three days earlier. The newest member of the DKB, who I’d just learned was named Morte.
But why would he be here in the middle of the night, all alone?
No.
There was something more important than that. Morte was hiding–and he stayed hidden as I entered the canyon.
Hiding itself was not a crime. I did the exact same thing when Kibaou’s party passed by in the queen spider’s dungeon. But Morte did not happen to be here and then hastily hid when he noticed me coming. If that was the case, I’d have noticed him first, thanks to the Search Distance Bonus mod I earned at skill level 50–or at the very least, we’d have detected each other simultane
ously.
No, Morte had been hiding here all along. He expected someone to come through this passage at the foot of the hill behind the camp. Someone who had to be pursuing the Elf War quest, on the side of the dark elves.’ Only two people on the third floor currently fit that description: me and Asuna.
He was waiting for us.
Pure, righteous fire must have poured out of my eyes in that moment of understanding. Just twenty feet away, his right hand twitched.
But in the next instant, a bright, cheery voice that was completely out of place broke the silence.
“Welp, looks like I got spotted!”
Just a bit louder, and his voice would have been audible in the camp above. He lifted his fish-scale gloves and made a show of pretend applause without actually making a clapping noise.
“Pretty good job. I’ve never been revealed like that at this distance, in this kind of darkness. And you totally spotted me on a sheer hunch, not with your eyes at first, right? You don’t have some kind of Sixth Sense extra skill, do you?”
His voice contained both a playful, boyish innocence and a grating theatricality. He was about my height and size, but I couldn’t see his face due to the coif that hung down to his nose.
Upon closer look, the border of that metal hood was torn and ragged, with fine tendrils of chain that hung down like locks of hair. It was probably just the design of the item, not a sign of wear and tear, but it looked creepy all the same.
“You’re Morte from the DKB?”
He had been using reasonably polite speech, so I could have stood to return that level of courtesy, but I wasn’t in the mood after learning that he’d been trying to spy on me. The man didn’t seem to be bothered by my brusque response. He did the show of fake applause again.
“You get your info quick for not hanging around the town at all. Yep, the name’s Morte. Guess you could say naming’s not my forte, ha-ha-haaa.”
I recoiled a bit at his slimy evasion of my curiosity. I’d never run across someone of his type in SAO. Klein had been a breezy, lighthearted kind of guy before the game turned deadly, but compared to him, this Morte fellow was totally inscrutable.
He bowed politely, dangling chains jingling. I took a step toward him.
“I don’t suppose I need to introduce myself. Seems clear you were hiding with the expectation that I’d pass through the area.”
“Ha-ha, why, you make it sound like I was waiting to ambush you, Kirito,” he said casually, indicating that he knew my name. There was a wide grin on his face, but as usual, I couldn’t see his eyes.
“Sound like? That’s what you were doing,” I accused, barely holding back the bile I felt rising to my throat for reasons unknown. Morte’s smile never wavered, and he shuffled his shoulders in some strange mockery of a dance.
“Well, you got me, then.”
“...Was it on Lind’s orders?”
“Ha-ha-ha, y’know, he’s got potential, I’ll admit. But no, this was my decision. I mean, Lind’s not a beater; he just wouldn’t understand. How could he know that you’d pass by this river to sneak into the camp?”
“But you did know...which means you were a beta tester, too.”
“Just call me a beater. It’s a stupid nickname, but that’s what I like about it. Did you know that ‘beater’ is the name of a kitchen implement in English? Like for beating eggs. Makes you want to whip everything in this game up into a froth, ha-ha-haaa!”
Even at low volume, his bubbly voice was crystal clear, and he remained steadfastly polite. So why did I find it all so annoying?
I took a step back, intending to demonstrate that I would not put up with his silly chatter without a point.
“If you were waiting for me, then get to the point. As I know you’re aware, I’ve got a quest to complete.”
“Gosh, this Elf War quest really takes me back. I hear that only like three people managed to complete the whole questline in the beta, including you. I ran out of time before I could finish.”
Morte held up his hands in panic as I started to turn my heel. “Whoa, hang on, friend. I’ll tell you what I want. What I’m asking for.”
“...Asking for?”
“That’s right. Look, here’s the deal: I’m asking if you can forget about this quest and turn back.”
I stared at him in stunned silence, then shrugged my shoulders just as theatrically as he had earlier. “You know I’m not going to turn back now. And what does it have to do with you? The DKB’s working the forest elf side of the campaign, right?”
One of the basic rules of the Elf War quest was that each party proceeded individually. The main bases of either side were instanced maps, and it was impossible for Party A completing quests on the dark elf story line to somehow disadvantage Party B as they worked the forest elf story. Yes, the individual quests sometimes overlapped at non-instanced locations, such as the spider cave earlier and this camp now, so that multiple parties could be in the same place at the same time. But with a bit of waiting, everyone could complete their goals safely. Besides, Lind’s team was on the forest elf side, so they wouldn’t even get the quest to steal the commander’s orders.
So whether I completed this quest or not, it would have no effect on Morte or the DKB.
But Morte simply grinned, jangling the metal threads of his hood, and wagged an index finger back and forth.
“Actually, it is my business. I’m afraid I can’t actually explain how it is, though. I mean, if I could do that, I wouldn’t have been hiding, would I? Ha-ha-haaa.”
“...What?” I nearly overlooked the menace hidden within his statement. My eyes narrowed. “You’re saying...that you weren’t hiding in order to call out to me and negotiate...but to interfere and stop me by force?”
“Why, that would be silly of me. I mean, I’d get tagged as an orange player if that was the case. That’d be an awful easy way to get kicked out of the guild I just joined, ha-ha-haaa,” he said, waving his hips back and forth. But the menace returned with his next statement.
“The thing is, I won’t get flagged just for performing a song, see? I really like singing, you understand. If they had karaoke in one of these towns, I’d be hanging out there all the time.”
...What are you...? I wondered, eyes narrowed. Then I understood.
Morte was threatening to cause a racket as I was trying to infiltrate the camp. The dozen or so elven warriors sleeping in their tents would immediately burst out, ready to fight. If I was spotted by that many foes at once, it would be difficult to escape. If I was unlucky, and they surrounded me...
“So you’re trying to MPK me,” I murmured, remembering what had happened forty days before. The face of the man who’d tried to kill me remotely through a monster trap steadily faded from my memory, replaced by Morte’s.
But the mysterious beta tester didn’t play up his devious plot. He grinned disarmingly.
“Oh, I’m not suggesting anything that awful. I mean, you’d be able to slip right out of their grasp, wouldn’t you? All I’m asking is that you hold off on that quest for a day.”
“A day...? What difference will a day make?”
“Well...”
He slowly held up his hands and made an X over his mouth with his index fingers.
“Sorry! That’s a secret! But you’ll understand, come tomorrow. All I’m asking is that you go back to wherever you’re hanging out for tonight.”
“And if I refuse?”
I was getting tired of his slimy, smarmy nature. I wanted this meeting over with.
Morte took the fingers off his mouth and pointed them directly at me instead.
“Why don’t we settle it the way we did in the beta? You remember how guild members would settle disputes, don’t you?”
“...With a coin toss?”
“Ha-haaa, but you wouldn’t accept that result, would you? No, I’m talking about the other way. The cool, exciting way.”
It took me two seconds to realize what Morte was suggesting. For ano
ther two seconds, I glared at the swordsman on the far bank. When I spoke, my voice was as low and gravelly as it could go.
“...Are you being serious?”
“Oh, my serious switch is always on, partner.”
He lowered his left index finger and used it to trace the pommel of the Anneal Blade at his waist.
That settled it. Morte was proposing a duel.
The idea of a dueling system itself was not new to MMORPGs. Many games that otherwise removed the ability to PK implemented a dueling system where two players could agree to fight. In SAO, PK-ing was legal outside of towns, but anyone who committed a PK became a criminal, which turned their cursor from green to orange and prevented them from entering town.
Duels, on the other hand, were legal anywhere and invoked no crimes. They happened with wild frequency in the beta, as a test of strength or a means of settling scores.
But once the retail game came out, I had never challenged or been challenged to a duel. Even in a duel, when a player’s HP reached zero, he was dead. Which meant that in today’s Aincrad...
“...If we duel, one of us will die.”
Morte practically squirmed in delight at my observation.
“Well, Kirito, if you insist...Kidding, kidding! I mean, a complete duel would be super-dangerous, right? Oh, but it’s much safer in halffinish mode. That way, the duel ends as soon as one of us gets to the yellow zone. A lot milder, if you ask me, ha-ha-haaa.”
Aside from the “full-finish mode,” in which a duel continued until one player’s HP reached zero, there were a “halffinish mode,” where an HP bar down to 50 percent ended the duel, and a “first-strike mode,” where the first clean hit won the match.
Unsurprisingly, the over-before-you-blinked first-strike mode and the unsatisfying halffinish mode were rarely ever used in the beta; I’d forgotten they even existed. But as Morte said, a halffinish duel would not result in death.
It was dangerous to allow yourself to lose 50 percent of your HP, the very numerical embodiment of life in Aincrad. But if I refused, Morte could make good on his promise to shout and disrupt my quest. Then again, even if I dueled him and won, he could still break his word and shout anyway...