The bearded Brigg, a member of the breaching team, wordlessly retrieved a tiny plastic bottle from his pocket and tossed it to him. Vassago caught it with one hand, twisted the cap off, poured everything inside into his mouth, and crushed the contents with his teeth.
Along with the bitter, numbing sting on his tongue, his memories finally recovered a bit.
“So… I fell into that bottomless hole…”
“How the hell did you die? You were out for eight whole hours.”
“Ei…Eight hours?!”
Thunderstruck, Vassago jumped up, even forgetting his headache.
He glanced at the G-Shock on his left wrist, which indicated that it was 6:30 a.m., Japan Standard Time. Less than twelve hours before the time limit, when the armed teams of the Self Defence Force would leave the Aegis destroyer Nagato and break into the Ocean Turtle.
But more importantly —
Since he had been unconscious for eight hours, a couple of months should have passed in Underworld. How was the war? The mission to capture Alice?
But as though Critter had seen through Vassago’s shock, tsk-tsk, he clicked his tongue.
“Don’t stare so hard, your eyes are gonna fall out. Relax, when you died inside, the time acceleration rate had already been decreased to one.”
“O… One?!”
Then that meant nothing big should’ve happened inside. But wait, this is a huge problem in itself!
“Hey, four-eyes, do you really understand the situation? We only have twelve hours before the JSDF’s navy troops storm this place!”
Vassago shook Critter’s crew cut head, and the latter batted his hands away annoyingly.
“Of course I know. These are all orders from Captain Miller.”
Then, the “plan of attack” that Critter told him rendered Vassago speechless, even though he was a very experienced VRMMO player.
Before he left the system console in Obsidia, the imperial city in the eastern Dark Territory, Lieutenant Gabriel Miller had secretly given an order to Critter in the real world.
Create an advertisement website about a beta test for a new hardcore VRMMO freed from the laws — Underworld laws, of course — and write a connection client program. Then, set the acceleration rate to one by 12:00 a.m. on July 7, and at the same time, begin recruiting beta tester players from all across the US, he had said.
“With this restricted console, I can only see the coordinates of you and the captain, as well as the approximate distribution of the Units, so this operation was a backup plan in case the Human Empire’s resistance was fiercer than expected.”
Critter’s slim, long fingers danced across the keyboard, pulling up a map of the entire Underworld on the huge display.
On the world map that was shaped like a curved, inverted triangle, two red lines extended from the easternmost edge, all the way to the west.
“This is the movement log of you and the captain. Listen, you were just wandering around the eastern gate of the Human Empire, and then suddenly died.”
One of the red lines terminated with an ‘X’, south of the «Great Eastern Gate».
“But the commander went past you and is currently proceeding south. He even left the entire Dark Territory army at the north and moved alone. That means…”
“He’s either chasing after Alice or he’s already got her.”
Vassago muttered. Critter nodded and continued explaining.
“According to our original plan, when the remaining time goes down to less than eight hours, or when the Human Empire Army is completely destroyed, we’ll turn the acceleration rate all the way back up to 1,000 times. ‘Cause even so, we still have a full year of time in that world. Of course, when the acceleration rate resets, the US players diving in are all gonna get logged out because of a synchronization error, but as long as we win the war, who cares?”
“Then let’s turn the acceleration rate up now! There ain’t much left of the Human Empire Defense Army.”
“It’s not that simple. Come here, look, right here —”
Critter punched a key and magnified a section of the map.
A few kilometers south of the Great Eastern Gate that divided the Human Empire and the Dark Land, were plains, hills, and a forest, aligned vertically. The Human Empire had set up an ambush in the forest… In other words, that was where Vassago had died.
But somehow, between the forest and the plains, a gigantic valley had appeared almost 50 kilometers from the west to the east. Around that valley, clusters of extremely tiny dots were wobbling and squirming, displayed in different colors: red, black, and white.
“The red ones are those US players that I tossed into Underworld. A lot of them are gone, but there are still 20,000 left. And this black circle surrounded by the red, is the Dark Territory army. About 4,000.”
“H… Hey, hey, no matter how you look at it, the reds are attacking the blacks, aren’t they?”
“That’s because the fake beta test information only told them that they could let loose and kill all the highly realistic NPCs. To the US players diving in, there’s absolutely no difference between the Human Empire Army and the Dark Territory army. But, for some reason, the blacks are decreasing much slower than I expected. The Dark Territory army should be absolutely loyal to the Emperor, there’s no way they’re fighting against the US players, because they’re thought to be summoned by the Emperor.”
“They must’ve stuck to killing for so long that they can’t stop.”
“Well, let’s say these 4,000 black guys are about to be overrun anyway. Despite that, the real problem is over here, this little white group.”
Critter moved the cursor. Indeed, a group of very inconspicuous white dots was currently moving south — as if they were chasing behind Emperor Vector, or Captain Miller.
“Those guys are the Human Empire Army. Though they look tiny from this map, there are still about 700 of them. However, it would be very troublesome if they catch up to the captain, so we have to stop them.”
“Stop them? …What’re you gonna do?”
Critter did not directly answer Vassago’s question, but smirked shortly and continued to type on the keyboard.
He opened a new window on the map. Inside, an enormous red cloud was crawling against the flat black background.
“These guys are the US players that didn’t make the first connection, and are waiting for the second one. Once they reach 8,000, I’ll throw them at the Human Empire Army. They’ve got 28 times more people, so they’ll exterminate ‘em right away, right? Afterwards, we can raise the acceleration rate back to 1,000 times normal. That way, we can buy more than enough time for the captain to procure Alice and bring her to the system console at the southern end, right?”
“… If only it were that easy.”
Vassago retorted, stroking his rough beard.
“The Human Empire Army is much hardier than you’d imagine. Especially those guys called the Integrity Knights, they’re fucking insane; they totally destroyed the Dark Territory’s first wave, you know? If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t have pitifully died… like that…”
Just then, Vassago finally remembered.
Exactly how, and by whom he had been killed.
His breathing ceased and his eyes widened. In his head, a memory gradually recovered, of that goddess-like figure floating high up in the night sky, looking down upon him. He instinctively yelled in Japanese instead of English.
“— «The Flash»…!! Yeah… There’s no doubt, it’s gotta be that bitch…!!”
“Hah? What are you on about?”
Vassago grabbed Critter’s confused, crew cut head.
“Listen, you geek bastard! The Rath guys playing ostrich in the second control room did the same thing as your so-called ‘operation’!! In the Human Empire Army, there’re already Japanese VRMMO players mixed in with them!!”
“What?!”
Ignoring Critter’s incredulous face, Vassago sneered.
“Sinc
e Asuna «The Flash» is there, could it be, that guy’s dived in too? … Oh my god, how can I just stay here… Hey, I’m going back to the other side! Put me in together with those 20,000 reinforcements, and insert me at the white group’s position!!”
“You want to dive in again… But the black knight account you wasted is gone forever. Of course, if you don’t mind using the red soldier accounts just like the reinforcements, I have as many as you want.”
“I have an account… One that I’ve saved for so long.”
Kekek. Vassago’s throat emitted a laugh as he swiped a paper energy bar wrapper from the console, pulled a pen from Critter’s chest pocket, and quickly scribbled something down.
“Listen, use this ID and password to log into the homepage of the «The Seed Nexus» in Japan, and convert the saved character into Underworld. I’ll dive in using that account.”
Leaving those words behind, Vassago started running towards the door of the STL room.
But after a few steps, he abruptly stopped.
As he turned around, Vassago’s face was twisted into a truly savage leer, enough to strike fear into the notorious cyber criminal Critter. It was as if his vulgar, energetic, and rowdy soldier character was no more than one of his personae.
Then, Vassago walked towards Critter with catlike steps, and whispered another short instruction into his ear. Seconds later, the STL room had swallowed him, and the hacker watched the room door alone, that tiny scrap of paper grasped in his hand.
On that paper were three English letters and eight numerical digits. Critter had never known the meaning of the string of text ‘S’, ‘A’ and ‘O’.
***
As the Guardians were preparing to leave, Asuna ran through their crowd and came to the wagon behind the supply team. An overturned silver wheelchair appeared, along with a black-haired boy with his left hand slightly twitching, and two girls leaning towards him.
Ronye lifted her face when she heard the footsteps. Recognizing Asuna, her wet, teary face immediately looked ashamed, and she cried:
“A… Asuna-sama! Kirito-senpai kept… kept wanting to go outside… and then…”
Asuna bit her lip and nodded. She knelt in front of Kirito and gripped his left hand with her remaining right.
“I see… Alice… was taken away by the enemy’s Emperor. Kirito-kun must’ve felt it.”
“What?… Alice-sama was…?!”
Tiese cried in shock, her white face paling even further.
What broke this momentary silence was Kirito’s barely audible voice.
“Ah… uh…”
His left hand stirred, trying to caress what was left of Asuna’s left arm.
“Kirito-kun… Are you, worrying about me…?”
Asuna whispered gently. Just then, Ronye finally noticed Asuna’s injury and screamed.
“Ah, Asuna-sama! Your arm…!!”
“It’s okay. This is just a temporary injury for me…” she muttered. Asuna gently lifted her left arm, of which everything below the elbow had been cut off.
Higa Takeru had given her a very brief lecture about the «Mnemonic Visual» technology. Although all objects were created by The Seed program like in ALO, to Asuna and Kirito, who had dived in with STLs, and to Artificial Fluctlights like Tiese and the others, everything in this world was a «shared memory» loaded from the Main Visualizer, a different reality created through the power of imagination.
Super Account Stacia’s Life, or HP, was an astronomical number, almost reaching the system limit. Hence, if she were attacked with a normal weapon, even stabbed by hundreds and hundreds of swords, her Life would still not be reduced to zero.
But when the red soldier swung down the giant battleaxe and struck her left arm, Asuna was thoroughly and utterly terrified; she had thought, being hit with a battleaxe this big, my arm will be cut off, and her imagination was realized.
The same went for Kirito’s right hand. Although his Life value had already been restored, his arm had no way of returning to normal, because he continued to punish himself for everything.
Asuna placed her hand on her bandaged stump, concentrated her thoughts, closed her eyes and recited to herself with fervent tenacity.
I won’t be afraid of anything anymore. Until I’ve protected Kirito-kun and this world to the very end, I won’t lose to anyone… or anything.
White light concentrated onto the wound with a pop. As warm radiance silently spread, her left arm was restored.
Smiling at the two round-eyed girls who had just witnessed a miracle, Asuna reached out with her restored left hand and softly hugged Kirito’s head.
“See? I’m fine. I’ll definitely save Alice and bring her back. So… when that time comes, Kirito-kun, don’t blame yourself anymore…”
Asuna did not know whether or not her words could reach Kirito’s heart, but she felt that his emaciated body gradually became less tense. Asuna continued to hug him for several seconds, then stood up.
“We must immediately take the entire army and pursue the enemy Emperor. Knight Commander Bercouli has already taken the dragons after him, and we’ll be able to catch up to them up somewhere ahead for sure. During that time, I’ll leave Kirito-kun to you… Ronye-san, Tiese-san.”
“Y… Yes!”
“Leave him to us, Asuna-sama!”
Smiling at the two nodding girls and fighting back tears as she entrusted Kirito to Ronye, Asuna leapt off the carriage.
As soon as she stepped onto the ground, she caught sight of a tall swordswoman running over, who had also attended the “Memory Exposing Competition” last night with her and Ronye. Her silver armor was thoroughly stained with blood and dirt and her head was wrapped in a bandage, but she did not seem heavily injured.
“It’s great that you’re all right, Sortiliena-san.”
Hearing Asuna’s voice, the swordswoman performed an Underworld salute, and replied:
“I’m glad to see that Asuna-sama is fine as well… —It’s just that, I have just heard that Alice-sama has been captured by the enemy general…”
“Yes. I was just explaining to Ronye-san that Emperor Vector completely abandoned his own army and personally ambushed Alice-san. I didn’t expect him to do that, either…”
“… How can this be…”
With her newly restored left hand, Asuna tightly gripped a wide-eyed Sortiliena’s right shoulder.
“But all is not lost. Bercouli-san has already flown after Vector with the dragons. We will pursue them as well.”
“Understood.”
They nodded to each other, and hurried towards the center of the supply team decoy troops.
Under Integrity Knight Renri’s instruction, the Ascetic team had finished healing all of the wounded, and the 700 Guardians had almost completed preparations to move out. The Guardians were smoothly lining up around the Ascetic and supply teams.
After receiving Renri’s report that preparations were complete, Asuna issued him a new directive.
“You are the last remaining Integrity Knight, Renri. The order to move out should be given by you, the commander.”
“Y… Yes, I understand.”
The young knight’s expression was somewhat anxious, but he nodded resolutely, raised his right hand high into the air, and shouted orders in a carrying voice.
“Alice-sama has kindly protected us all in the battle at the Eastern Gate! It’s now our turn to fight for her! We shall take her back from the enemy, and return to the Human Empire together!”
“OH!!” Vigorous cries arose. Renri nodded, and sharply swung his right arm down.
“— All units, advance!”
Renri led the troops at the very front from his own dragon, Kazenui. He was followed by 400 Guardians, on horses or on foot, and the eight wagons loaded with supplies and a backup team of 300 began to move as well.
Only one dragon — Integrity Knight Sheyta’s dragon, stayed its ground obstinately and did not move. With scales as grayish-white as its owner’s hai
r, the dragon screeched kuurrr once it was freed from its reins, then flapped its wings and flew north — towards the battlefield south of the valley, where its owner had stayed behind.
In front of the wagons, Asuna thought as she shook back and forth on the horse with Sortiliena:
The final enemy is Emperor Vector.
His true identity was that of a person also from the real world, who existed here in the form of a virtual being. That was why, even if she had to go down with him, she must defeat him. For those who stayed behind to take on the red soldiers’ attack: Knight Sheyta, the one-eyed Fist Fighter Chief, and the 4,000 Fist Fighters.
A few minutes later, the troops emerged from the withered forest and entered the immense mortar-shaped basin. A thin road cut straight through the crater-like ground, leading southwards.
According to RPG convention, the end of such a road would be a special location, such as a city or ruins. Yet she had heard that the southern area of the Dark Territory was not occupied by any of the demihumans. In other words, this road ended at the «World End Altar», and Emperor Vector was somewhere on it with Integrity Knight Alice.
Emperor Vector’s dragon and Bercouli’s dragons in hot pursuit were all out of sight. However, 700 Human Empire soldiers still advanced along the road as quickly as they could; the ground rumbled with their footsteps.
Clearing the edge of the crater, charging downhill— just as the entire decoy unit reached the bottom.
Something was trembling.
Vvvvvv… m. A rumbling like the wings of an insect.
“…?”
Asuna looked up, left and right, and behind her.
Just as she looked straight ahead, she finally discovered the source of the noise.
Red, thin lines.
Hundreds of randomly flashing, tiny strings of text, falling out of the sky straight to the ground.
“……… No way………”
Asuna’s lips trembled, a broken voice leaking out.
— No way. Stop. No more…
But.
Zaaaa — !!
The roar of an explosion like torrential rainfall. Falling lines branched left and right, dropping in a downpour. They formed a high density screen along the edge of the crater, completely blocking the troops’ path.
Sword Art Online Volume 17 - Alicization Awakening Page 5