Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chapter 1:

Kaede and Risa left the game store, both giddy as they left with a NerveGear in Kaede’s hands. “Finally! It took almost a month, but we finally got you a NerveGear! Now we can play Sword World Online together!” Risa exclaimed, stars twinkling in her eyes.

Kaede laughed at Risa’s enthusiasm, but then looked a little more serious. “Risa… are you sure you want me to join you on this journey? I mean, I’ve never messed around with VR before… and I’ve never played an MMO before… I’m just nervous I’ll hold you back…” she explained, only to be silenced by Risa gently grabbing her face and squishing her cheeks a little.

“Kaede… if I wasn’t sure that I wanted my best friend to join me in such an awesome game, I wouldn’t have invited you, much less helped you buy that NerveGear using the last of my allowance from the last three months… Trust me, you WILL be joining me in the game Sword World Online, and we are going to have so much fun doing it!” She said- no, she told Kaede. Afterwards she gave a warm smile to her black haired friend… “Okay? So stop doubting yourself already! Besides, I got the awesome opportunity to play the beta, so I know how to get us to floor two faster than anybody else!” Risa added.

Kaede couldn’t help but share her happiness and kind demeanor. She walked with Risa until eventually they got to Kaede’s house, where they worked together to set up Kaede’s NerveGear. After about 30 minutes of work, calibration, and fiddling with wires, it was ready!

Shortly after their successful preparations, Risa had to leave to get home and take care of some homework and studying. The two said their goodbyes and, like that, Kaede was able to traverse little landscapes as a sort of teaser for how the NerveGear feels and functions…

She got to walk through a meadow and feel the cool breeze, pet cows, and smell the flowers! She went to a virtual café where she got to experience tasty pastries and coffee served by real people in a virtual landscape. She even went rock climbing with an AI Professional. It was all so real, and it made her even more excited to experience the world of swords!

One Week Later… In just three minutes, Sword World Online would be open to the public. Kaede called up Risa to share her excitement with her. However, when the call opened, Risa’s smile was much less enthusiastic than Kaede hoped. “Hey Kaede… sorry, I have some bad news…” she started. “…I didn’t do so well on my test this week, so I’m not allowed to play any video games until next week, if I manage to get a better grade that is…” she explained before groaning.

Kaede frowned a little. “You want me to wait until you can join me, then?” She offered, but Risa quickly put her hands up.

“Oh no, I could never ask that of you! Just join in, get a feel for the game, get a head start, and next week I promise I’ll join you!” Risa replied, when she heard her mother’s voice call with annoyance. “Oop- gotta go! I’ll talk to you later!” Risa said, before promptly getting off the call.

And so, hesitantly, Kaede got herself comfy in her bed, her NerveGear plugged in so she wouldn’t lose any battery life, and she put on the headset. She then closed her eyes, and smiled.

“Link Start!”

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Kaede opened her eyes, and instead of her bedroom, she was now within a blue, endless void of moving lights. A box appeared in front of her. “Choose your name:” it read. Kaede thought about it for a moment. “Well, Kaede means Maple in English, so I’ll choose that! M-A-P-L-E… Maple!” she said, typing her new name into the box.

She then got to choose her class. She didn’t like the idea of getting hurt in this game, so she opted to choose the “Great Shielder” Class. This would provide her with a Tower Shield and a small dagger. Perfect for somebody looking for defensive prowess! She pushed the button on the floating screen for this class, and another asked her if she was sure of her decision. She of course hit the button again, and she was whisked away in blue, green, and purple particles…

Like that, she appeared in a large fantasy town, other people appearing in blue beams of light. A box appeared in front of her, which read “Welcome, to Sword World Online!”

Her jaw nearly hit the floor, taking in all the sights, sounds, and textures. She looked down and saw her more appropriate attire for a world such as this, and could feel the older fabric of the shirt. She crouched down and touched the ground, feeling every little bump and crevice in the stone roads. It all felt and seemed so real…

Quickly panic entered the girl’s mind as she wondered where her giant shield was. In her frantic state she was flailing her arms, and accidentally opened the menu. She curiously looked at the floating circles, squares and rectangles, opening one that was labeled “Equipment”. She found the shield, pressed on it, pressed “Equip”, and she found the shield appeared in her hand in a beautiful blue light!

“Wooooaaaaahhhh!! That’s so cool!” She said as she held her shield happily. She let go of it, and just like that it vanished again. She repeated this process two more times before she then saw a window labeled “stats”. She saw she could increase her stats with the extra points she started the game with and when she focused on one, she could see what it did.

That’s when she noticed “Vitality” which decreased the amount of damage she would take… perfect! Like that, she pressed the plus button until eventually it and all the other ones disappeared. Just like that, she had put all of her points into vitality, and began to explore.

She then saw two people beginning to head out into the wilds. She ran up to them quickly. “H-Hey, excuse me! Got room for one more?” She asked quickly, and the two turned around to see Maple looking up at them hopefully. The one with black hair spoke up first. “Alright, fine by me. I was just headed off to show this guy the ropes. You seem pretty new too, so may as well help you too!” He replied, then the red haired male piped up. “Hell yeah! The more the merrier!”

Just like that, the three of them formed a party and headed out where boar spawn in, and Kirito taught them the art of combat. When Maple didn’t end up dodging or blocking a boar in time, however, it rammed right into her and… her HP Bar didn’t go down at all! Kirito and the red haired guy who was later dubbed Klein were both surprised by this.

“H-Huh?? Your Health should have definitely gone lower after that! I mean mine certainly did! Not by a lot, but still!” Klein spoke up.

Maple then showed the two her stats, and the other players shared a mix of surprise, hilarity, and remorse for laughing when they saw the numbers. Zero in everything except for Vitality. Her vitality was certainly nothing to scoff at, not in the least bit, but the fact that she only put points into that was what made it even more hilarious.

“Sorry for laughing- Maple was it?- but you’ve gotta understand, you can’t just put all of your points into one stat in a game like this!” Klein explained. He then continued “You want to spread your stats out more so you can do more things! It’s fine to put more into one stat than the others but if you don’t have a mix of everything then you’re just a defensive wall with an overwhelming number of weaknesses…”

Maple thought about this, then smiled smugly. “Then I guess I’ll have to be the first to successfully play a game like this with only one stat then, huh?” She replied with a twinkle in her eye. As she said this, she actively continued to push the plus button to add 5 levels worth of stats into Vitality. When her party members looked at her stats again, her Vitality already read 32! The two guys were absolutely floored, both by her stubbornness and her clear disregard for the way the game is meant to function. Kirito then sighed.

“Oh well, I guess it can’t be helped. Anyways, I know a good place where we can farm more levels. I was in the Beta after all.” Kirito explained, but Klein reluctantly told them he was having a pizza tonight and was going to help his friends after dinner. That’s when Klein noticed something was off…. The Log Out button. It was still there, but the words were gone. He tried pressing it but it did nothing…

Kirito and Maple tried the same and it failed for them as well. They each were greatly confused by this revelation. Maple started to freak out, but Kirito reassured her, assuming it was just a bug and that Admins would fix the issue. However as he said this, the three of them were forcefully teleported back to the town of beginnings.

They soon saw the sky turn red, the town now surrounded by a dome made of hexagons. The sky began to bleed, and from the blood came forth a large, imposing figure floating above them all.

“Hello. My name is Akihiko Kayaba, and welcome to Sword World Online…” He began. “Some of you have probably noticed this, but the log out feature no longer is functional. You can no longer log out. If somebody on the outside attempts to log you out by force, the NerveGear will send a shock to your brain, which will instantly kill you. The same will happen if your HP ever hits Zero, meaning if you die in the game, you’ll die in real life… The only way to escape is to clear all 100 floors of Aincrad.” Then, he opened up his menu. “Lastly, I put a little present in each of your inventories. I hope you all enjoy it.” he said. That’s when everybody in spawn selected the item. Everybody’s appearances suddenly changed to those of their real world counterparts! Kirito, Klein, and Maple, as well as everybody else around them, all of their avatars were transformed to reveal their true appearance.

Maple was hyperventilating. She not only was told she was trapped in this game, but she was going to die unless she and everybody else beat this game without dying even once?! Worst of all, she wouldn’t even be able to see her Mom or Dad?? She fell to her knees, crying as everybody else around her panicked. Suddenly she felt someone grab her shoulder. It was Klein!

“There you are! Maple, we’ve gotta find Kirito!” He exclaimed, grabbed her hand, and swiftly helped her up as they ran to find the black haired beta tester. Eventually the two found him, and Klein offered him a spot in his guild with his friends.

Kirito declined the offer however, deciding to go off on his own. This confused both players in front of him, but Kirito ran off. “Aww man… I was so stoked to have a beta tester in my guild… Well, Maple? How about you?” He asked.

Unlike Kirito, Maple was much more inclined to join Klein’s guild which would later be called “Fuurinkazan”. As they met up, began leveling up, and learned more about each other as a team, Maple realized that maybe, just maybe, things were starting to look up for them!

Meanwhile, outside of the virtual world...

Risa was currently pinned to the wall. She reached to move past the man holding her there only to have her hand slammed wrist first into the wall hard enough it left a hole. “NO! YOU’RE NOT GOING IN THERE!” He screamed in her face, spit flying from his wide open mouth as he berated her.

For you see, Kayaba broadcasted his announcement live from within the game. Everybody in the virtual and real worlds knew what happened. Risa couldn’t see herself living for god knows how long without her best friend. So, she tried to log into Sword World Online to find and help Kaede. Her parents, who came to comfort their distressed daughter, saw her attempting this and immediately pulled her away from the NerveGear…

Risa sobbed, desperately trying to break from his grasp to no avail. This was something that never happened before for her. Her father was not a violent man, so for him to use such physical force was something incomprehensible for her. She finally stopped trying, and she fell to her knees. Her father came down with her and attempted to comfort her… Maple was basically gone.

And there was nothing they could do about it…

Chapter Text

It has been a month since this nightmare began. 2000 people have died, and the first floor hasn’t even been cleared!

Maple, Klein, and the rest of their merry little guild watched as a warhammer came down upon the final goblin. His head shattered into thousands of blue shards of code as the dungeon was then cleared. Then, a chest appeared in a brilliant blue light at the end of the room. Klein was the first to open it, when he saw inside a bunch of gold and a puke green tower shield.

“Hey, Maple? You want this?” Klein asked. The two performed a “trade” (more like Maple received the shield and Klein got nothing in return) and Maple examined the equipment. It was definitely better than her current shield, but it looked so much worse. By this point, Maple had obtained a set of Iron Armor and an Iron Tower Shield. She was definitely the party tank!

Despite the superior stats, Maple shook her head. “I’ll keep it, but I’m probably just gonna sell it when we get back to Tolbana in the morning.” She said with a shrug. That’s when a menu appeared in front of her. “Ooh! I gained a level!” She exclaimed, then started putting all of her points into Vitality again. All of this was much to the chagrin of her guildmates.

Klein shrugged, then pulled out his teleport crystal. “Well, your loss, I guess… I’m gonna head to bed. I heard the front liners are planning their attack against Illfang in the morning so I’m getting up bright and early to attend. Anyone coming with?” Klein said to his friends. The other guild members including Maple pulled out their crystals and were warped away to Fuurinkazan’s Guild Hall! Unfortunately, there was a glitch in the teleport that caused them to appear outside the hall. This resulted in shock and horror at the sight of abnormally large bees around their home, one of which was wearing a cute little crown. Almost instantly, her highness and the other bees aggro’d onto them.

Almost like it was muscle memory to them, everyone got into position. Maple moved to the front, held her shield out in front of her, and watched as her shield and HP were completely unaffected by the Queen’s mighty sting. However when royalty flew upwards, it shot some venom out at Maple directly. She was unable to block it in time, but as it hit her right in the face, she assumed she would be fine. However, as she wiped the venom away from her eyes, Maple could see she was afflicted with a “Poisoned” condition, and was beginning to take damage despite her nigh impregnable defenses.

This made Maple begin to worry, until she discovered this damage was only 5 per second and… well, her HP stat could handle it, to say the least… As she took the damage, the Queen Bee flew in for another stab, only for Maple to counter with one of her own. The Queen was defeated, and a steel ring fell to the floor. She picked it up to add to her inventory before she ran in to help her friends. She took more poison shots from the bees, and eventually something appeared in front of her. <> She then noticed she was taking less damage than before, though only by a little bit. “Guys! I just got poison resistance from that fight!” Maple announced.

Klein chuckled a little. “Yeah, probably because you had ten bees and a queen bee swarming you almost the entire fight…” He said with a hint of sarcasm. That’s when he noticed Maple examining an item. A Ring. He looked over her shoulder to see the description…

Ring of the Forest Queen Bee

[Vit +6] Auto Recovery: Recovers 10% of maximum health every 10 minutes.

Klein’s eyes widened a little. “Yeah, I’d recommend you equip that immediately!” Klein told her, and Maple didn’t need telling twice. Plus it had a cute little bee design so she couldn’t help but put it on! Maple then used an antidote crystal, and like that she was now cured of her ailment! Klein then stretched a little. “Alright guys and gal, I’m headed to bed… Who’s joinin’ me?” He asked, not even waiting for a response from the others before he walked inside…

Maple and the other guild members entered the Guild House, and as Maple was falling asleep in her bed, she saw a small screen appear in front of her.

Giant Killing: Acquired

Effect: When 4 of your stats, (other than HP/MP) are lower than your opponent’s, your stats other than HP/MP are multiplied by 2

Acquire: Alone, subjugate a monster with four stats (other than HP/MP) higher than your own.

Maple did the math in her head, grinning from ear to ear when she realized what this meant. “128 times 2… 256!” She whispered to herself, resisting the urge to express her excitement with her now sleeping friends. She waved away the menu, and drifted off to sleep. Maple was excited for the next day…

Maple awoke really early that morning. She looked around and saw everybody else was still asleep. “I guess I could grind a little while I wait for the others…” she thought aloud in a whisper. She then walked outside, yawning. However when she walked outside, she saw no monsters. She decided it would be a better idea to just sleep under the tree. After all, it was a beautiful day outside. Birds were singing, flowers were blooming. The sun was nice and warm and there was a tree she could perfectly lay under. Like that, she lie under said tree, hands behind her head, and drifted off to sleep again…

Maple had no idea how long she was asleep, all she knew was that it was suddenly interrupted by a tickling sensation in her armpit. She jolted awake with a squeaky laugh, and as she came to her senses, she realized she was completely covered in disgusting, oversized bugs! Maple let out a scream of terror as she randomly stabbed at the ground with her dagger, missing each time due to her lack of composure and the frantic nature of her stabbing. After a few seconds of that, she then saw a new screen pop up.

Total Defense: Acquired

Multiplies VIT by 2, Required points to increase [STR][AGI][INT] increased by multiplied by 3

Acquire: Receive attacks continuously for an hour while dealing and receiving no damage.

Maple smiled for a moment when suddenly she heard a voice behind her. “Hey, Maple! You okay? At first I thought I heard you laughing and then you screamed and-” Klein spoke, then immediately stopped when he saw the bugs.

“Y-Yeah… I fell asleep out here. But look! I got a new skill!” Maple exclaimed, and showed him "Total Defense". Klein read the effects and his eyes widened.

“Wait so you now have a permanent double to your already absurd Vitality stat??”

“...Quadruple.” Maple replied simply. Klein looked like his eyes were about to fall out.

“...Pardon?!”

“Well, last night after the Bee fight, I got this skill too!” She said, and showed him her "Giant Killing"

“So… you get two double bonuses to your Vitality stat… at all times, because you only put points into Vitality? Am I getting that correct?” Klein replied, and Maple nodded. “And on top of all of that, you got a ring that gives you back health over the course of ten minutes…” Klein added, and Maple giggled a little as she nodded. She could also see how ridiculous this was… and she loved it!

“Yep! Pretty cool, huh?” She asked Klein in response. Klein just went over to the bugs, not saying a word, and started slashing away at them… He was already too tired for this.

“It doesn’t help that you also have that ‘Shield Attack’ skill from beating mobs with your shield out of instinct a week ago…” Klein simply said. Maple’s eyes widened. “W-Wait! You’re right!” she exclaimed, and pulled up the skill.

Shield Attack

Effect: A shield attack with power dependent on VIT. Knockback effect (small).

Maple’s eyes sparkled, especially when she read the number of her vitality.

_________________________
Maple LV 16 Great Shielder

HP: 200/200

[STR] 0
[AGI] 0
[INT] 0
[VIT] 512 (128 x2 x2)
[DEX] 0
—---------------------------------------

The amount of damage she could deal with one bash from her shield was absolutely nuts to her. On top of that her Vitality was far greater than her HP! Over double in fact! And when she looked at her guild member’s stats, none of them even exceeded 100! That’s when the other guild members came out, and after the bugs were beaten, they headed toward Tolbana along the path. Maple led the group so that any mobs would attack her invincible avatar as opposed to her vastly squishier friends.

Sure enough, a large pack of Dire Wolves would lunge directly at Maple and bite her. However, her HP wouldn’t even decrease by a single point while the other members cut down the mobs! As this plan advanced, Maple saw yet another skill appear in front of her!

Provocation

Effect: Draws the Monster’s attention to one point. Cooldown Duration is 3 minutes.

Acquire: Steal more than 10 monster’s attention at once.

As she was reading this, the monsters around her were vanquished. She decided to hide this one for now, since Klein was already exhausted from her never-ending list of skills. He then used his signature sword skill "Reaver" to cut through the last 4 Wolves instantly. The battle was won, and Klein gained a level up from that. He allocated his points, and the push continued.

They arrived in Tolbana, where a man named Diavel was already telling other players of the plan to take down Illfang, the Kobold Lord! He shared with each of the present players a guide book written by Beta Testers, which contained useful info like good locations to farm XP, gather resources, and even how to defeat Illfang. Klein, Maple, and the rest of the guild stood to the side. Klein whispered to the others. “You guys just wanna go gather more resources?” Klein asked his friends.

Maple looked a little surprised by his words, and so did the rest of his friends. He continued. “Look, as awesome as fighting this boss would seem, I don’t want to take any risks just yet.” He started, then pulled up a menu showing the guild’s collective resources. “We don’t have a lot of materials for new weapons and armor, our funds are low after we bought Maple that new armor she’s wearing. Let’s face it guys, our best bet would be to just continue grinding and come back at a later time.” Klein explained. The group agreed this would be for the best… So, Fuurinkazan would head off to go find more dungeons while the first floor was cleared without them…

As Maple laid in bed, she saw she had a notification in her inbox. It told of how two players, Kirito and Asuna, saved everybody and took down Illfang, with Kirito dealing the final blow. When she read the name, she smiled. At least Kirito was doing well… She looked at Klein, who was in his own bed, already asleep after countless tiring hours of grinding new materials for the guild… As Maple drifted off to sleep, she wondered how Risa was doing, as well as her mother and father….

“Link Start!”

Chapter Text

Maple, Klein, and the rest of the guild decided to celebrate by sharing the closest thing to beer in this world. Klein was the one who got the final hit in on the 10th floor Boss, and decided to use a portion of the extra gold he received to buy drinks for his whole guild!

That’s when Maple saw a notice appear in front of her. A Christmas Event was taking place soon, where the one who defeats this event boss would receive a “special item”. Maple grinned from ear to ear and then saw Klein’s expression. He was ecstatic! A chance to get a one-of-a-kind item from an event was not something he was ready to give up.

So, Fuurinkazan continued to grow in strength. They grinded, trained, and leveled up their weapon skills (and shield skills in Maple’s Case). This continued until, eventually, Klein thought they were ready. Through scouting, one of the guild members found roughly where the boss would spawn, and set up a destination with a bunch of teleport crystals to head there so they would be the first to the quest.

Then, the guild teleported to the location. Maple, Klein, and everybody else appeared, and saw Kirito in front of them! After initial greetings, Klein offered to have the guild help Kirito obtain this item, as it was rumored to be an item that could revive players. Kirito refused, and that’s when behind Fuurinkazan, the guild known as “The Divine Dragon Alliance” appeared.

Klein thought on what he would do next, eventually deciding the best option was to help Kirito get himself the item. He told Kirito to go fight the boss, and Kirito ran in, reluctantly leaving behind his first two friends of this game…

Within seconds, mass warfare ensues. The Holy Dragon alliance had the obvious advantage of numbers, and by a large amount too. Regardless, as several soldiers ran down Dale and Dynamm, Maple jumped in front of them and took the blow with her large shield. Her HP didn’t even budge!

Dale and Dynamm jumped out from behind their friend and slashed at two of the HDA Soldiers, which worked well until they were ready to fight back. Quickly the two hid behind Maple again. With a sigh to her friend’s admitted ignorance, she bounced away the blades of these two enemies, and used a Shield Attack on them. In an instant, they shattered into blue and green crystal shards…

Maple’s eyes widened. This was the first time she’d killed a player. Her mind began to race as she realized what that all meant. She was especially panic-stricken when she saw the mortified expressions of the other soldiers who were fighting alongside the ones she killed. She could feel her heart beating out of her chest, to the point she could barely hear or notice anything.

Even the sensation of their swords slashing right through Maple’s body didn’t seem to phase her dazed state… it took Dale shaking her by her shoulders to come back to reality. That’s when she saw Dynamm was about to face an overhead strike. She was about to run to save him, only for her 0 in agility to catch up with her. So, as she watched the sword plummet down towards Dynamm, with not even a second to spare, she could only say one… simple… word…

“Cover!!”

Just like that, Maple vanished and reappeared between Dynamm and the HDA Soldier. She blocked the blow, and counter attacked with her dagger to send him staggering backwards. She held her shield firm, and briefly glanced at Dynamm. “Sorry… I’m here now! You okay, Dynamm?” She asked him. He nodded with a nervous ‘Uh-huh’ and a few beads of sweat dripping down his face. “Good. Now, get out of here! I’ll hold them off as long as possible!

Dynamm and Dale didn’t need telling twice. They scrambled backwards, pulling their teleport crystals out and vanishing into the cool night breeze in a blue pillar of light. Klein, Harry, and Issin were fighting off several HDA Soldiers, only for Harry and Issin to take severe damage. Maple swiftly pulled out two healing crystals, used them on her two friends, and joined Klein in the push!

Several HDA Soldiers fell in the struggle, one even dying from a combination of Klein’s high strength and Maple’s Shield Attack. Maple still blamed that one on herself. The Holy Dragon Alliance quickly retreated themselves as they realized how powerful Maple and Klein really were! As each one that didn’t fall victim vanished with teleport crystals, Maple began to feel sick. She wasn’t inflicted with a poison condition… she wasn’t even injured. She felt sick because this was the first time she’d killed a player, knowing what would happen when you die in this sick, twisted game.

Maple didn’t have much time to mourn however, as Kirito then appeared from the boss fight. Before Klein could really get a conversation going, Kirito tossed Maple a small orb of an item. “It revives players, just like the rumor said… only, within 10 seconds of death, that is.”

Maple wanted to comfort Kirito, but he was already walking away. He couldn’t bring himself to speak to anyone right now. It was the only way he could bring back this girl named Sachi from his guild, but they’re gone now. Forever.

After the events of tonight, Maple had to do a lot of thinking. A difficult decision had to be made. She didn’t want to admit it, but Kirito’s newfound refusal to join Guilds was justified, and Maple started to wonder if she should start doing the same… after all, they are two of the strongest players in the game…

“YOU’RE WHAT?!” Klein exclaimed in surprise. He couldn’t believe his ears. Nobody else in Fuurinkazan could understand what was just said…

“I said I’m leaving the Guild… I’m sorry, but you guys look like you’ll do fine without me. Plus, I don’t know what I would do if any of you died out there tonight.” Maple explained calmly.

At first Klein was going to protest, but he backed down… “I understand… just stay safe, and keep us in mind…” he told her. Maple nodded with a smile, and went through the menu to find the “Leave Guild” button. She pressed it, and spoke.
“Teleport, Taft”

*one month later*

Maple let out a scream as she narrowly avoided a blast of purple ooze. Curiosity had gotten the better of her. She saw a cave and decided she wanted to check it out. Unfortunately it contained a boss level monster. Even worse, by entering the room she started the boss fight. This caused a barrier to form within the entrance/exit of the cave, making escape impossible. The only way out would be to defeat the boss.

She was then shot with another jet of poisonous liquid. Thankfully it didn’t do too much damage, but it still managed a decent amount. That’s when another menu popped up…

Poison Resist: Moderate

That’s when Maple had an idea. With the loads of Healing Crystals she owned, she was going to take shot after shot of poison, and heal herself so she could gain an immunity. As the poison resist increases kept coming, Maple used her last crystal.

Eventually, as she saw her health enter the red, and she began to realize how foolish of a plan this was… she stopped taking damage… she opened her eyes.

Poison Immunity: Aquired!

Like that, she began to use her Shield Attack on the dragon, and it went down with ease… she then noticed a chest appear, and a notification. Because she was the first person to beat this boss solo, she got a special reward in the form of new Black Rose Armor and a shield called Replica of the Dark Night, as well as a new short sword called the New Moon. She happily equipped her new spoils, and left the cave, using a teleport crystal to return to Taft…

As she appeared, she started to walk away from the teleport center. She was a few feet away when somebody else teleported in not far behind her.

“K-Kaede?”

Maple quickly turned around. She couldn’t remember the voice who said it, but she couldn’t think of anybody in this game that knew her real name. Just as she turned to face the person who said it, she was tackled to the floor, arms completely wrapped around her in a vice-like grip. Tears cascading down the attacker’s face and rolling off the shiny new armor…

“I thought I’d never find you… I’m so glad you’re safe…” the person said. That’s when Maple realized…

“Risa?!”

Chapter Text

Maple and Risa entered the nameless Taft Inn, with Maple using some of the Col she’d earned over her time with Fuurikazan to purchase her bestie a sweet treat to have while they caught up. The NPC waitress was barely even a few feet away from the table when the question that was eating her up for the last few minutes finally burst out of her.

“H-How are you here?? The SWO Servers were blocked off on day one!” She asked. Admittedly she knew Risa could have just joined on day one, but that felt unlikely to Maple. Risa would have found her sooner then.

Risa looked down. “I-It’s Sally…” Risa, now dubbed Sally, replied. Maple looked at her username and nodded in understanding.

“Well, to answer your question, it all started on SWO’s launch day…”

*two months ago*

Risa had just heard the awful news. Her best friend, along with 10,000 others, were now trapped within a video game. Risa felt like hell for not being there with her best friend. Her mind started to race in all terrible directions.

Mainly, she was thinking about how Kaede was going to die without her help, since she knew Kaede hadn’t had the foggiest idea of how to play a video game more complex than Tetris.

So she set up her NerveGear, got in bed, and began the magic words. “Link Sta-“

Quickly the NerveGear was removed. She could only assume she made the mistake of not properly securing the device to her head. As the device went, she was hoisted up off the bed, taken out of the room and slammed against the wall very unexpectedly by her father…

She kept herself up to date on SWO’s events through online forums and social media groups made for “Loved Ones of SWO Players”. Risa actually became a little famous for supposedly being the best friend of Maple, who was doing just fine for herself in the game. She could hold down those worries a little longer knowing Kaede was safe and sound as “Maple: The Living Fortress of Aincrad”.

Despite the good news, however, she found herself still browsing. She couldn’t shake the awful feeling that she should be there. She couldn’t stand the thought of standing behind and watching as her friend could possibly die out there. Even if her defenses were “impenetrable” the game could end up nerfing her, and then she’s screwed. Risa jumped into her bed, and quickly put on the NerveGear.

From within the device, she logged in to her account and entered the game Sword World Online. All she had to do was say it again. “Link Start!!” she said. Naturally, she said it loud enough it alerted her parents. They quickly barged into the room, and found the unconscious body of Risa on the bed, her head within that damned helmet. Her mother began to cry whilst her father consoled her. They were already beginning to mourn…

Risa watched as her new life was finally beginning, where she could finally reunite with Kaede… or Maple as she was known now. Her vision went completely black until… finally…

“Access Denied”
“You are not whitelisted”

Risa stood in the inky, endless void. All that was around was this horrible hexagon. She screamed and cried, knowing her only shot was ripped away from her. Even in the real world tears began to form, unbeknownst to her family. They were about to leave the room when the girl sniffled, and sat up. They were about to berate her when they saw her eyes. They could see a look of defeat, pain, and suffering all wrapped up in their precious daughter… they couldn’t bring themselves to say anything.

“It wouldn’t let me in…” She muttered. “The game is blocked off from any new players coming in…” She added, and her parents came in to console her now. While the adults met relief, Risa was left with unparalleled anguish. This time, it was set in stone. She would not see Kaede again until this game was beaten…

She would desperately look around the internet for ways to get in. To no avail. That is, until she got a private message. The sender was somebody named “Oberon”. She read the message tentatively, unsure if this was somebody looking to talk, or another creep trying to ask him questions about Maple.

“Hello, Risa. I am Oberon. Myself and my lead team of programmers and scientists are looking for a way to get players out of Sword World Online. Seeing as how you are best friends with the legendary, unkillable warrior Maple in the real world, we figured you’d be a perfect fit for our experiment. After all, your many trophies and achievements in the world of gaming prove you’d be an incredible asset to your fellow players.”

Risa’s heart stopped. She tried to figure out a response to this creepy message. Even if it were in good faith, it was still a bizarre message. They could just be fans of hers, but that was unlikely. She started to figure out her response, typing carefully.

“Oh! I take it you guys are fans of mine, then? Well, I would be happy to help you guys with this experiment! Though, I’m going to need a bit more info about what we’re doing specifically before I consent to anything. I hope you don’t mind, I’m just trying to be thorough and safe.”

A few minutes had passed before the next message

“We’re going to hook you up to a NerveGear and break through the SWO firewall, sending you right in! It will be just like anybody else who logged in on day one. Thank you for your consideration. We hope you agree.”

Risa’s eyes widened when she read that. It seemed way too easy but… it felt like she had to at least try. Her fingers tapped against the keys as she thought about doing this. Eventually she clicked send, and it was all set in motion.

“Okay, where and when?”

Just like that, the following day, she got an address from Oberon. After she got out of school, she hopped on her bike and rode. It took around 50 minutes to an hour, but she eventually saw the large letters of the building. “Rect Progress”. She soon entered, and immediately she was greeted by a man in a suit.

“Hello, are you Risa?” He asked, extending a hand. Risa apprehensively took his hand into her own and shook it, nodding. “Great!” He said, pulling his hand away. “I’m Sugou Nobuyuki, but you already know me as…”

“Oberon.” Risa interjected, a little surprised by what she saw. Sugou smiled at her and gestured towards an elevator.

“Come with me.” He said. The two of them walked into the elevator, Sugou using a keycard to grant access to the lower levels. The doors eventually opened, revealing a large lab. Several high tech computers were being utilized by coders and scientists. There was a NerveGear hooked up directly to the biggest computer in the room.

Risa’s eyes sparkled at the sights in front of her. Sugou then pointed to the NerveGear. “We’re about to begin testing. Please set yourself up in the NerveGear. We’ll be right here if anything goes wrong.” He reassured her. She didn’t need telling twice, and she was laid down on a surprisingly comfy hospital bed and hooked into the NerveGear. Just like that, her body went limp and she was hooked in.

She found herself in a black void again. She then saw a large red wall. As she walked closer to it, she could see it was made of rapidly rising ones and zeros. She tried punching the wall, but it repelled her backwards. She flew a few feet up and much further back before she landed on her back.

She began to sit up, noticing someone walk out of the firewall. It was a person, made of the same red binary, holding a shield of the same type. It’s outline and figure looked just like Maple…

Risa, angrily ran in to punch the code creature. It blocked her punch and pushed her back a few feet. She ran in again, reeling back. In an instant, a dagger made of green binary appeared in her hand and slashed at it, breaking through a part of the shield.

Risa looked surprised, then smirked. She jumped and slashed at the creature, each cut severing a chunk of code from the person until there was nothing left. She ran up to the wall and continued cutting, digging through this firewall through the power of constant attempts to break through it. Eventually, she could see the other side. It was just a pinhole, but it was just enough,

She cut, and cut, and cut, until suddenly she was pulled right through. She screamed out to the void in fear as she was pulled to the other side by the mysterious force within the code.

As everything else drifted away from her, she wondered if she would really make it to the game. Eventually, everything went dark, and she figured this was the end..

Then, her eyes opened. She was in a fantasy town, and a small holographic square appeared in front of her that read “Welcome to Sword World Online”.

Risa in excitement and impulse quickly ran around looking for someone to help guide her to the upper floors, so she could go find Kaede… Maple… whatever her name is now…

From the real world, the large screen Risa was hooked up to said “Access Granted”. They did it. They got a person into Sword World Online post launch! Sugou smirked as he saw this. “Good… great even. Finally, our plan is almost ready. Keep working on making the hole bigger! We need to make sure this is flawless for when Sword World is beaten!” He told them, and everyone continued working on the next phase of Rect Progress’ plan.

Risa finished explaining her side of the story to Maple, the two having finished their delicious desserts. “Geez… you went through so much… b-but why?? You knew this was a death game! You know the risks, yet you came anyway! Why??”

“Because, we’re best friends… I couldn’t leave you to deal with this alone. Even if you’re doing well, it looks like you don’t have a guild anymore. What happened to Klein and those other guys?”

Risa didn’t expect however, in the middle of her questioning, to get grabbed by Maple. Her expression filled with anger. “Because we’re friends?? Because we’re friends?! I have been risking my life out here in this hellhole, and you decide to join just so you’d see me again??” Maple demanded. Through somewhat tear-filled eyes, Sally nodded. She couldn’t understand why Maple was upset with her…

“Well, now you’re on this suicide mission trying to keep up with the rest of us.” Maple added, then sighed, seeing Sally was on the verge of tears. “Sally, I’m not trying to be mean but you came in here knowing we’re out here fighting for our lives daily for a stupid and selfish reason. You should have stayed with your family, friends, gone on without me. I’m fine, I haven’t taken damage in months… you just threw your whole life away over this… I hope you make your decision worth it…” Maple said, a little more calm now.

“Well, in any case, I guess we should party up. That way we can safely get you leveled up behind my absurd defenses. It might take a bit to kill mobs though, they nerfed Shield Attack so I can’t one-shot anything anymore with it…” she explained to Risa, who was confused. That made Maple chuckle. For once, she had to teach Risa about a video game, not the other way around…

Chapter Text

Maple held her shield up, watching as a large plant monster with a flower for a head lifted a vine-like tentacle up and slammed it down on Maple. Thanks to her incredible Vitality, she blocked the hit like it were an oversized pool noodle.

Sally leapt up, and carved right through the monster in one slash, causing it to lose its illusory form and disintegrate into little blue shards. In front of Sally, a message box appeared to inform her that she leveled up again.

It had only been a month, and Sally (formerly known as Risa) had made significant progress in leveling up her avatar. Especially considering how long it took the rest of the players to get here. Sally mostly focused on Agility. Though, unlike her indestructible best friend, she did not focus only on this stat, opting to put attention to all of her other stats too so she could do “just a little bit of everything”.

Sally watched with a grin as their opponent was whisked away to nothingness, then took a good look at her weapon. Sally had this dagger specially enchanted to fit her special play style. Despite what was described when this game was being developed, SWO did have a little bit of magic involved.

This was in the form of little things like the healing and teleporting crystals, potions, and as they got further into the game it was discovered that those with a higher Intelligence stat could level up a new skill known as Enchanting. This allowed weapons to be given special properties similar to the already present “Unique Skills” to the weapon.

Sally’s Dagger, Airstrike, dealt double damage whenever its user was airborne. This allowed her to rack up a lot of damage quickly. This, combined with her skills, made her a very dangerous opponent. She was virtually impossible to touch while also being incredibly difficult to defend against. If your name isn’t Maple that is.

That’s when Maple and Sally heard two voices getting closer. Sally got ready to strike with her dagger, but Maple held out a hand to stop her friend. “Hang on a second…. I recognize that voice…” Maple muttered. Sally was able to hear this thanks to her high level Straining skill.

That’s when they saw the pair coming along the trail. The Black Swordsman: Kirito, and a little girl was with him. Sally immediately recognized him from her time on the “Friends/Family of Sword World Online Players” Forums as well as numerous news articles on the subject. Being in the presence of someone so famous and powerful made her stammer as she tried to collect her thoughts.

“Hey, Kirito!” Maple suddenly called out, prompting a very shocked ‘huh?!’ to come out of Sally. Before she could respond, Kirito looked and smiled at his old friend.

“Hey, Maple! How’s it been? I heard you left Klein’s guild a while back.” He responded, and the girl nodded.

“Yeah, I realized I needed to go off and start my own guild. Sally here is my first member!” She said proudly. Kirito gave her a slight glance and a smirk.

“Your only member?” He asked smugly, and Maple blushed.

“Shut uuuup!” She responded, flustered. “S-So, what brings you and…” she took a second to read the girl’s username. “…Silica here on floor 47?”

“Her pet feathered dragon, Pina, got killed by some apes. We’re completing the necessary steps to revive it. We’re actually on our way to collect the final component.”

Maple and Sally looked at each other, then back to Kirito. “You can get pets in this game??”

“Yeah! Though it’s a really rare drop that can only come from floor Mini-Bosses.” Kirito explained. Maple thought about what he meant for a moment, until she remembered. The Poison Hydra she fought shortly after leaving Fuurikazan. That must’ve been a floor Mini-Boss.

She smiled widely. “Thank you for the information, Kirito!” She said, and the four said their goodbyes. Kirito and Silica continued on their quest, while Maple and Sally decided it was a good idea to go off and try to obtain a pet!

After asking other players on the town message boards, they were told of a mini-boss on floor 50. A large crystal-like ice bird named Silverwing who could reportedly shoot the ice that made its wings like a volley of arrows. It also used the newly added “piercing damage” in its attacks.

This made Maple a little nervous. See, when the Cardinal System caught wind to how much of a “problem” Maple would be, they decided to add a counter to her absurdity. Piercing Damage. It usually dealt mediocre damage, but the damage could not be resisted, and ignored the Vitality Stat in exchange for only dealing a set amount of damage.

If this boss did a lot of attacks really quickly, or didn’t follow the ‘low damage output’ rule, then Maple feared she would be useless in this fight since she couldn’t dodge well, only defend. Sally didn’t seem worried at all, however. This at first confused Maple, until Sally explained.

“I can dodge Silverwing’s attacks. I’ll deal the main damage while you occasionally use ‘Provocation’ to redirect it’s attacks to you. This should cause the Boss to switch targets long enough for you to heal, and continue the process. We’ll beat that bird in no time!”

Her plan sounded great on paper, but having been in this game for over a year at this point, Maple knew that Boss Fights weren’t easy at all. Even the Mini-Bosses took a lot of strategy to beat for anyone. That is, until she remembered how she beat the Poison Hydra…

That memory made her decide it was worth the risk. Maple got up and smiled to Sally with a nod. “Alright… let’s do it!” Maple exclaimed, pulling up a mini-map. The player who told her about this pointed to where the bird was rumored to be taking residence, and she marked that location. Immediately the Map pointed her towards the teleport pad, so she could get to floor 50.

Before they left, however, the player spoke up. “By the way, I heard I can use those crystals it drops after the fight to make some nice, high quality gear. If you could share some with me I will happily create some gear for you at half price!” They said, smiling at the pair.

Maple and Sally nodded enthusiastically. “Oh that would be awesome! Thank you… uhhh…” Sally started, then remembered she could look above their head to see their name. “…Iz!” She added at the end, with a nervous giggle. Despite how long it’s been since she joined, she was still getting used to having the ability to read names above people’s heads. It was a very neat feature of living in a video game, though.

Maple and Sally hopped on and waved to their potential new friend before vanishing in a flash of light to Floor 50. They immediately set off on this adventure! They traversed icy landscapes, snowy forests flooded with sentient snowmen, and made their way eventually to an ice cave leading to a staircase. Yep, this was the mini-boss room!

The two girls steadily walked down, until eventually the exit behind them was closed off by a light blue Forcefield. Maple nervously looked behind her before continuing down. On the last few steps, the bird revealed itself from the ceiling in its camouflage, and rained ice crystals down upon them. Maple hid underneath her shield like a makeshift umbrella. This, thankfully, protected her from the onslaught. Sally however had sidestepped away from the attack, and ran towards Silverwing and leapt at him, taking a mighty slash at his left talon.

Silverwing screeched in pain, immediately pushing off the wall and flying a good distance away before firing its signature projectile at the Swashbuckler. Sally attempted to evade, but a few crystals were injected to her leg. This caused her to trip up, sliding as she grit her teeth to not let out a sound and show any weakness. She gripped her dagger tighter and leapt to her feet as fast as she could. She couldn’t quite react quick enough, however, when she saw Maple was the target of Silverwing’s next attack. Sally lunged towards the action, hoping she’d be able to at least disrupt it before it dealt any major damage to Maple.

Maple held her shield firm against the crystals that rained down on her. However, her shield was not perfect, and unfortunately a crystal just so happened to graze her leg. It was enough to create a wound, and cause damage however. Thankfully this was a video game, so all Maple had to worry about was her visible red marking now crossing her calf. However… that triggered an unusual response in Maple.

“Ack!” She let out as the blow lowered her HP. However, a thought crossed her mind. “Wait… why was that… kind of refreshing??” She asked herself. Then, another cut landed, and another, each one sending a rush of adrenaline to the black haired girl’s brain. She felt like a nice cool wave had just hit her. The pain was almost bringing joy to Maple, until she noticed her HP bar was three fourths full. That wasn’t a good sign. Quickly, Maple got her head back in the game.

Thankfully, Maple didn’t have to worry at the moment, as Sally had come to her rescue. Sally was standing atop the bird’s back, using its neck for leverage as her dagger was plunged into its back. Maple then had an idea! “Cover Move!” She yelled, vanishing.

She soon appeared beside Sally, and stabbed Silverwing as well! The two could see they were severely depleting it’s numerous Health Bars. Thanks to Airstrike’s damage output, and the extra poison damage Maple’s short sword could deal, Silverwing was no match.

Silverwing fell from the air, the girls jumping off as fast as they could before he hit the ground. Slowly, he evaporated into polygons, and a chest appeared in the middle of the cave. An exit also appeared behind the chest.

Both girls collapsed to the ground, using each other for support. Maple looked at her health and… hadn’t realized how many times she really got hit in that fight. Her heart was racing for the first time in a long while. She used a heal crystal on herself, and watched her HP slowly go back up.

Eventually she had the strength to stand, and could go see what was in the chest alongside Sally. What they found inside made them both very happy. A pair of eggs! One green, and the other white with a little red. Maple picked up the green one while Sally got the white. They both watched as a menu appeared in front of them, telling them they got 50 Silverwing crystals, a “Mysterious Egg”, and “Skill Medals”. Curious, Maple opened her menu and analyzed the item. It could allow her to gain any one skill in the directory. One time use!

The two girls exited the cave with their eggs in hand. They both grabbed a teleport crystal, and vanished to the town on floor 50…

Maple and Sally went back to Floor 47, meeting up with Iz and giving her all the crystals. Iz was very excited, as she set to work converting them into materials for crafting. “Thank you both so much! Why don’t we friend each other so I can notify you when the materials are ready for you to use!” She suggested. Maple and Sally agreed, and the friendships were formed!

“Are you sure you’re okay with giving us this new stuff at Half Price, though?” Maple asked. As awesome as those prices are, she didn’t think it was exactly a good business model to take up. “I would love to! It’s not every day you get to make high quality gear for the impenetrable fortress herself!” Iz exclaimed, making Maple blush at her own recognition. She had made a little bit of a cult following during her time in SWO. Maple and Sally bowed, said their thank yous, and left the shop, happy to have made a new friend out of a blacksmith! They grabbed their Teleport Crystals and went off to floor With that, Maple and Sally’s guild, The Maple Tree, begins! They packed their belongings into transportation crystals, and moved into their newly found secret base in a tree. Maple smiled as she set herself up. The guild is getting stronger, and so will she once the egg hatches. Until then, Maple and Sally made a makeshift nest on the coffee table, placing the egg there while the two sat and talked. The two finally felt at home…

Chapter Text

Maple and Sally currently sat on floor 39, where it was mostly based on oceanic travel. It was a good place to get gear for fishing/water-related skills and items. They were currently on the resident town’s beach, enjoying the feeling of the sand between their toes, and the cool water washing it off.

They also held their new eggs in their laps. It had only been two days since the eggs were put in their possession, and they were admittedly a little impatient to see what their new buddies would look like. Maple was looking over the egg’s design and smiled. “Mine is green, and this pattern looks like scales… I bet this is a poisonous dragon!” Maple exclaimed.

Sally giggled at Maple’s wild assumption and looked down at hers. I don’t really know what mine could be. But I’ll love them either way!” Sally replied, and Maple couldn’t help but agree.

“Yeah… no matter what!” She exclaimed, giving her green egg a little kiss. Right where she kissed, a crack formed in the shell. Quickly Maple began to panic. “W-WAIT! OH GOD! I-I’M SO SORRY, EGG!” She exclaimed, fearing she just accidentally killed her pet before it even lived.

Sally then heard a sound from her egg. She looked to see hers gained a crack as well. “M-Maple!” She called. “It’s okay! I think they’re hatching!” Sally calmly told her. Maple looked back to her egg and saw slowly the cracks were growing along the shell. Both of the eggs continued to crack, until eventually they both broke open with a burst of light!

Within Maple’s egg, an adorable little turtle awoke, peering up at her with curious eyes. Meanwhile, Sally was looking at a little white Fox Cub who was sniffing in Sally’s general direction. It looked like a little Kitsune in terms of color and appearance. Maple and Sally already were in awe of these little babies! Maple then felt something. On her right hand, she discovered a small green ring was just put on her finger. She looked in her inventory to see what this was.

“Bridge of Bonds: By equipping this ring in your “Pet” slot, you become Turtle’s owner! Turtle’s Original Owner is: Maple”

Maple read the message. She was at first excited but that was quickly snuffed by a small detail she noticed. Its name was just ‘Turtle’. She squinted at her little companion for a moment trying to come up with a suitable name. Soon, the perfect name came to her. “I know! I’ll call you Syrup! We’ll be Maple and Syrup! It’s the perfect combo!”

Sally heard Maple say this and looked down at her little cub. “Well, in that case… I’ll call you Oboro! A pretty fitting name for a little cutie like you!” She told the kitsune. Sally scratched his head, which Oboro was happy to receive.

Maple analyzed the item again, and saw the message had changed! This brought Maple great happiness, knowing the turtle’s name was set in stone.

“Bridge of Bonds: By equipping this ring in your “Pet” slot, you become Syrup’s owner! Syrup’s Original Owner is: Maple”

Maple picked up the Turtle and held him close to her chest. She had always wanted a pet, and Syrup was the closest thing. Hell, that IS his purpose.

While Maple cuddled Syrup in her arms, Sally started to look at the Pet skill directory and looked at both “General Skills” and “Kitsune Cub” skills. Sally was unsurprised by what she saw, the skills for Kitsune Cubs were mostly based directly on their inspirations, going for the control over fire and illusion aspects.

Sally couldn’t help but be excited when she saw skills such as “Shadow Clone” or “Quick Shadow” that boosted her Swashbuckling abilities to act more like a Ninja! “Oooh… Oboro has some pretty cool skills he can learn!” She said, telling Maple what kinds of skills she saw in Oboro’s species’ directory…

Maple, curious, looked over the skill directories herself, and after seeing he mostly had nature-related abilities such as “Mother Nature” or “Petals of Sleep”, but then she noticed a general skill that companions could get. Megamorph!

Maple quickly spoke up. “I have to level up Syrup, and FAST!” The tank announced, much to Sally’s confusion and curiosity. Maple didn’t explain, only giving Sally a wink and saying “Just Trust me, this is going to be so cool!”. This did not ease any of her worries, however.

Maple smiled and looked out to the water. For a moment, she forgot that this wasn’t real. She could really feel the warm sun on her body, the cool water wash over her legs, and the sand beneath and between her toes, and yet… none of it was real. It was a little unsettling for Maple, but she was so used to it now that she didn’t mind it as much anymore.

Sally sighed when she couldn’t think of what Maple was planning. Pets were such a new thing that she didn’t think they could be exploited so soon. Leave it to the former Noobie to come up with something, though. As she pet Oboro’s head, she began to wonder how her parents were doing. It had been almost two months since she seemingly disappeared on them, her body now within the walls of Rect Progress. Just before her thoughts could get dark, she quickly spoke up.

“H-Hey Maple?”

Maple curiously looked at Sally, tilting her head slightly. Sally continued “I heard there was a Mini-Boss on this floor. Maybe we should go take it on, together! There will probably be a lot of EXP for Oboro and Syrup.” She proposed, and Maple’s eyes sparkled.

“Ooooh! Yeah! Let’s do it!” Maple cheered, and the girls stood up. The two walked into the water to wash off the digital sand before equipping their proper gear.

“We have to move on foot, though. It would be best if we retreated our pets to their bonds…” Sally said, watching as Oboro vanished in a brilliant white light, the light now absorbed into the ring around her finger. Maple did the same for Syrup.

Sally pulled up a mini-map, showing Maple an indicator she placed where someone said the Boss would be. Maple hopped on Sally’s shoulders and she was off to the races! Maple whooped and hollered as she felt the absolutely incredible rush of speed that Sally gets to experience every day! The wind was flying through her hair as if she stuck her head out of a car window.

Faster and faster, the duo moved. They kept going until Sally came to a skidding stop. The two now stood in front of the entrance of a cave. Maple slowly got off Sally’s shoulders. “Alright… this is the Boss Room?” Maple asked. Sally nodded, and the two walked down the stone stairs. Only to find a pond within the cave.

Sally, noticing something was off about this pond, dipped her leg into the water, deeper and deeper, holding on to the floor as she felt around for the bottom of the water. “Yeah, that’s what I figured…” she said as she stood up. Maple tilted her head in confusion, prompting Sally to explain.

“It looks like this is some kind of sea creature. Probably a Kraken or something like that. I’ve trained a lot of swimming and water-based skills, so I think I can make it. You, on the other hand… do you happen to have anything for underwater in your inventory?” Sally asked, and Maple shook her head. “That’s what I figured… sorry Maple, but I’ve gotta do this one myself.” She said as she was pulling up her Skill List.

Sally showed how she currently had a skill called Diving at level 6, as shown in Roman Numerals. Maple carefully read the skill to see why she was showing it off.

Diving VI:

You have spent so much time swimming underwater that can hold your breath for much longer than the average person. You can hold your breath for a number of minutes equal to your level in this skill x4

(6 x 4 = 24)

“Twenty Four?! I normally can’t hold my breath for barely more than a minute! That’s awesome! You’re perfect for underwater fights!” Maple exclaimed as if Sally was unaware of her own underwater prowess.

Maple opened up her hand, causing her Crescent Moon shortsword to appear. “Here. I know you’ve leveled up in Daggers and not Shortswords, but it might be able to help you during the battle.” She said as she handed it to Sally. Sally took it and placed it in her inventory, thanking Maple for it.

Maple gave Sally a hug, which prompted confusion at first until Sally remembered what was going on. This wasn’t like any other games she had played before. If her avatar died in this fight, that was the end of it all. Sally was a little nervous, but shook off this dread and dove down into the water. Sure enough, it led to an underwater cave system.

Sally swam at speeds that would make any Olympic swimmer green with envy, jetting through the labyrinth of underwater tunnels until she found one larger-than-life cylindrical room filled with water. When she looked down she saw nothing but what seemed like a void. When she looked up, however, she discovered that the room was not quite filled with water to the ceiling.

Immediately, Sally swam to the top and took some very much-needed breaths of air. Once her breath was restored, she took one really deep breath of air and dove down again. As she headed down, she then saw two piercing red eyes open, alerting her to the beginning of the fight.

“They must have wanted to make the fight fairer, so they allowed anybody down here to catch their breath before the fight began. How generous…” She thought, a little sarcasm near the end as two spear-like objects flew forward right at her.

As she dodged the two shots, she took a closer look. They were tentacles! Sally looked back down and saw a Kraken rising up towards her menacingly. At record speed, Sally dashed down at the Kraken and slashed with her Dagger, Airstrike. At each slash the beast screeched in pain, and quickly retracted its tentacles to grab and toss Sally further away to the depths.

Sally reacted by utilizing her Phantom World skill to split off into four Sallys. Only one of them was real, and they all swam off in different directions to confuse the creature. The Kraken reached out and slashed a tentacle at one. She dodged the first attack, but wasn’t as lucky on the second. However, the body fizzled out, revealing it was an illusion. Naturally this annoyed the Kraken, causing it to slash its tentacles around the waters wildly and let out a screech, similarly to a misbehaving child.

Quickly Sally and her Phantom World clones managed to swim away from the beast. After its tantrum was finished, it regained composure and began to aim its large body at Sally. “Wait, it wasn’t doing this before… Did I unlock some kind of second phase??” She asked, despite knowing nobody would answer.

Like a torpedo, the kraken jet forward at Sally. She attempted to dodge, but she didn’t quite make it out of the way, being shoved into a wall by the Kraken. She forced down a scream of pain so as not to lose oxygen, and glanced at her quickly dwindling health bar. Before she could take any more damage, she wriggled out from where the Kraken had her pinned and swam behind him. That’s when she equipped Maple’s Crescent Moon, slashing at the boss.

Even though the initial attack did minimal damage, Sally noticed that as the short sword slashed in the water, it left a cloudy trail of dark purple behind. Sally looked at the weapon for a moment, until she remembered.

Crescent Moon gave Maple the ability to deal additional poison damage to her enemies. This was represented by the dagger occasionally releasing a single drop of poison from the tip like an overflowing needle. As such, when the Shortsword stabbed or slashed somebody, it would inject the poison inside into the victim through the wound.

Apparently, this had a fun reaction with the water, as the liquid would now spread around the water. Knowing this, Sally smiled mischievously as she began swimming at top speeds, spreading the poisonous cloud around the Kraken.

It tried to grab her, but due to the poison clouds, she was completely obscured from its vision, and so the Kraken missed. Eventually, the giant squid let out a loud shriek, that pushed Sally away forcefully. However, as she was sent flying backward through the water, she noticed the poison cloud trail was beginning to bleed further in the water. That’s when she noticed its health bar was getting lowered at an extreme rate.

She waited it out, when suddenly two tentacles shot forward and ensnared her. Desperately she tried to wriggle free, however, the beast’s grip was like a vice as it pulled her in towards the poison clouds of her own creation.

Suddenly, his grip loosened, and he released her meat inches from the impending doom… she watched as he was shattered into endless blue and green polygonal shards…

Sally’s arms shot up in victory, as though she would have cheered if she had the ability to speak. She then felt herself getting lowered to the floor of the boss room. She was at first confused until she noticed the top of the water was lowering! The boss room was being drained of its water!

Sally took in a large gasp of air as her head got above water, and then she looked to see a more pirate-esque Treasure Chest in front of her. She got up and walked towards it, placing a single hand on it, causing it to open…

—————————————————————

Maple sat at the entrance of the cave, with a special little Turtle in her lap. Maple was playing with Syrup, giving plenty of pets, and even looking over his skill directory.

“If I got you those skills…” she started, then began to mutter. Syrup’s head tilted in curiosity. Maple looked at the Turtle again. “Aww… don’t mind me, cutie… Just thinking about something.” She responded as the reptile began nuzzling her cheek.

As the two waited, suddenly a medal manifested in Maple’s hand, and a screen appeared in front of her, telling her she was awarded EXP and even leveled up. Syrup leveled up quite a few times too! “Oooh! Looks like Sally beat the miniboss!” Maple exclaimed happily, prompting a little cheer from her companion. Sure enough, after a few more minutes, Sally came out of the entrance of the cave. “Congrats, Sally!” She exclaimed, giving her bestie a big hug!

Sally blushed a little from the sudden assault. “O-Oh! It was nothing… actually, you really helped a lot back there!” She told Maple, which prompted a similar head tilt of curiosity. Sally then explained. “Well, even though I haven’t leveled up Shortswords, some of my skills work with in-general one-handed weapons. So, I still dealt a good amount of damage. But also, the poison your sword releases apparently spreads in water. So, you’d be very useful in underwater combat. Provided of course, you get something to help your breath holding…” Sally explained, handing Maple back her Crescent Moon in the process.

Maple happily took back the weapon. “Well, thank you very much, Sally! And thanks to the medals we both got, I can very easily get those skills for Syrup now!” She replied, and started scrolling through her Pet Skill Directory to collect her prizes.

Maple picked up her turtle, and Sally let out Oboro as they began to move to an open area so Maple could show off what she bought with the skill medal.

The two stood in an open area, Syrup about 50 feet away from the players. “Okay, Syrup! Use Megamorph!” She exclaimed, suddenly running at the little monster and jumping over him. Suddenly, Syrup began to grow, getting bigger and bigger until he was the size of three houses. Maple now sat at the top of the turtle’s shell. Sally’s eyes were as wide as saucers, and Maple called down. “Check it out, Sally! Now we can ride Syrup around instead of walk! Isn’t that awesome?!” the living fortress asked.

Sally just shook her head in shock and muttered. “Jeez, Maple… you’re gonna break this game if you’re not careful…”

Maple laughed as her plan was successful so far, and she hadn’t even shown off the full plan yet! The Living Fortress then got an alert. A message from Klein, surprisingly.

“Hey, Maple! Me and the boys found the boss room and are planning out an all-out assault on the boss in a few days with the Knights of the Blood Oath. Wanna come with?”

Maple responded quickly. “Heck yeah! Sally and I will head over now to strategize!”

Just like that, Maple shrunk her turtle down and told Sally the situation. Sally got excited, and the two left to go meet Klein and the others…

Chapter Text

Maple and Sally appeared within the teleport gate of Sabulo, the city of Sand. Sally looked at her holographic map for a reminder of where to go.

This floor was based on a seemingly endless desert, with a few oases around here or there. The place was inhabited by creatures such as large snakes, vultures, and Scorpions of varying sizes. Not to mention the mummies of the night, and the occasional blinding sandstorms that arose at random.

“Okay, so according to the map… there it is!” Sally exclaimed, pointing to the Pyramid structure in the distance. The two walked over to it, when Maple noticed an old friend near the entrance, seemingly looking for somebody.

It was Klein! It appeared he was even wearing some heavy armor and took up a Great Shield, which admittedly made Maple a little curious. Regardless, she went up to her old guild leader and smiled widely. “How’re ya doing, old friend?” She asked.

He looked back and down to Maple. “Umm… Hi… do I know you?” He asked.

Maple laughed a little. “Hahaha! Always such a kidder, Kleiiiiiii…..” she started, even giving him a punch in the arm before she noticed his username. That wasn’t Klein… it was a guy named Chrome.

“-iiiiii see I had you mistaken…” Maple finished, blushing in embarrassment. The guy now known as Chrome, however, just laughed.

“Don’t worry about it, Maple! People would get me and Klein confused back IRL all the time!” He replied with his own, heartier laughter. As he finished, however, Klein ran up to them.

“Whew… sorry I’m a little late, Maple… There were these Wyrms surrounding the pathway back, so we had to beat them before we could…. Hey, Chrome…” Klein spoke, begrudgingly when he addressed his doppelgänger.

Sally seemed very confused. Maple, however, was the first to speak up of the two girls. “Oh! You guys are brothers?” She asked, prompting a nod from Chrome, and a scoff of annoyance from Klein. “Then, why didn’t you guys start a guild together?” She asked.

“Well, Klein here’s just jealous I’m further ahead than he is.” Chrome said, patting his brother’s head with a gauntlet-coated hand.

Klein, however, smacked the hand away. “Well, yeah! Cause you, Kirito, and that Payne guy people have been talking about recently, have all gotten so far by just being solo players. Must be pretty lonely for you.” Klein replied, then continued with a scoff. “At least I have people around me to call friends! Right Maple?”

Maple nodded a little. “Yeah! Though, I know Kirito’s doing well. He seems to make friends everywhere he goes! The last time I saw him he was helping this Silica girl revive her beloved pet dragon!” She replied, and Klein just shrugged.

“Ah, well, whatever, then! Let’s get into the meeting already. If we’re lucky maybe they didn’t start yet…” he said, clearly just wanting to end the conversation…

Maple felt a little bad but ultimately was just confused by her former leader’s behavior. He wasn’t really the type to get jealous like that. Or, at least, she never saw it.

The four entered, Chrome and Klein headed off on their own paths while Maple and Sally stuck together.

“Ah! Glad you decided to come, Maple!” A voice greeted. It seemed to be coming from the center of the room. When Maple looked to see who spoke, she saw a girl with long, reddish Orange hair, wearing a white and red outfit that could barely count as armor. Similar to Sally, the more she thought about it. However, when she noticed the sheathed Rapier on the girl’s left hip, it made more sense. Also like Sally, she chose a lightweight outfit to better her mobility.

Maple walked over to the lady, curiously. “Thanks! Though, I don’t think I’ve caught your name…” she said, not wanting to come across as rude, especially if this girl turned out to be someone famous.

The redhead smiled widely. “Oh! Then allow me to introduce myself. I’m Asuna, a commander of the Knights of the Blood Oath, and a lead strategist of the front lines. Glad you could join us. We could use your famous defenses in the fight against Anubis!” She exclaimed, gesturing to a seemingly empty space around the table. “Somebody else was supposed to show up, but… it looks like he couldn’t be bothered..” she said, additional grimace near the end of her statement.

Maple and Sally moved towards this new open spot, with Sally behind her as the first iteration of the plan was being explained to Maple. Sally didn’t really like the plan, however, Maple seemed to be on board with it. She seemed to even LIKE the plan!

Asuna proposed that Maple would lead the front-lining Tanks to keep Anubis’ attention while the DPS would bob and weave in and out to keep the damage coming. The strategy would hopefully result in nobody getting hurt.

Sally got worried when Maple actually began to contribute to the idea, putting her own life on the line for the rest of the players. The idea just made Sally scared. It had only been a month since she joined Maple on this journey and she didn’t want to lose Maple for real this time.

Regardless of how Sally felt, after careful consideration, the plan was ready to execute, and everyone dispersed. Before the players could leave, however, Asuna spoke up. “Remember, we’re going to take on Anubis in one week, so get whatever gear you will need ready, and we’ll begin the assault at noon!” She explained.

Sally and Maple headed out, with Sally looking back with a concerned expression. The fact they were so okay with sending people out to “soak damage” didn’t feel right to her. She couldn’t argue with the results, however. After all, in the last 5 months, they’ve gotten over halfway through the game, even if they have significantly slowed down over time.

Sally then suddenly hugged Maple. She hugged back in this sudden embrace. It was numb to Maple, but it at least helped her to know it made Sally happy. Even if she had no idea why Sally was in such a “huggy” mood.

Sally let go of Maple, bashful. “S-Sorry… I just.. I don’t like their plan. Sending you guys out there to take the brunt of the blows while the DPS players are safely attacking from behind… in any other video game I’d say go for it, but this is life and death…” Sally began to explain herself, only for Maple to put a single hand on her head.

“Don’t worry. I’ve made it 5 months as ‘The Living Fortress’, I can certainly make it another 5 the exact same way.” She replied with a calming smile. Maple couldn’t help but chuckle a little. When Sally looked up at her in confusion, Maple began to explain. “heh… Sorry, It’s just funny… You were always the level-headed one, and I was the ‘little sister’ between the two of us. Now I guess the roles are reversed…”

Sally started to chuckle too, knowing Maple was right. Eventually, the two made it to the teleport gate, and appeared in Floor 23, then each using a teleport crystal to appear in Maple Tree’s base.

The two sat down in their living room chairs when Sally spoke. “By the way, I’ve been meaning to ask… How did you become known as ‘The Living Fortress’? They never revealed the story on the news…”

Maple looked a little perplexed. “Huh, I could’ve sworn they would have told the story when it happened… I guess somebody forgot…” she mused, then smiled. “Well, it happened about two weeks after we beat floor one… the front-liners were breezing through bosses left and right…”

===================================================================

It was Floor 10, set within a gigantic forest, the sky obscured by a roof of endless leaves. This area was crawling with bloodlusted forest creatures for mobs. A player known as Heathcliffe as well as a few other strong players found the boss room, which was down a spiral staircase within a gigantic tree.

Heathcliffe had become the designated strategist for boss fights after the last 8 boss rushes since Diabel’s death had strategies amounting to “hit it till it dies!”. It didn’t take much convincing for the other players to follow his plans, after seeing his stats and the stats of his party members.

Klein finally felt himself and the rest of Fuurikazan were ready to do this boss along with the rest of the Front Liners. Maple’s defense would fit in perfectly with the tanks while the rest of the guild played a large chain of DPS. Just like their usual formation when a bigger mob reared its head!

Klein told the guild, and they all rejoiced knowing they would finally be of some use to others. Maple especially was thrilled. She hadn’t actually fought a boss monster before, and the smaller mobs were starting to bore her, as it was originally feeling like a nice massage but now it just felt like pins and needles wherever they hit.

As the guild got closer to the meeting spot for the boss fight, Maple looked to Klein. “Umm… Klein?” She spoke up, continuing when he looked down at her. “Whatever happens… know that it has been an amazing time, being in your guild. You guys are the main reason I am still sane, despite this situation we’re in… You guys are my best friends here and assuming we survive this, and the rest of the game, I hope we get to be friends in the real world!”

Klein first gave her a disapproving look. “Don’t talk like that, Maple… ‘assuming we survive this…’ hah!” He replied, his expression changing to a grin of cockiness. “Please… we probably have the best tank in the game! And with our combined damage output, we’ll beat this guy for sure!” He added, and after a few seconds, he finished by saying: “although, I’m glad to hear that… I know you were really missing your family and your best friend… good to know we at least provided that role for you here… that being said…” he crouched a little and put a finger right in her face, almost like scolding a child. “You better introduce me to her when we meet up out there!” He said, then the two began to laugh, their worries washing away for the last few minutes of the trip…

Just like that, Fuurikazan joined the Front-Liners as they traveled down the staircase of the tree. Eventually, they entered a large cavern, and as the last person touched the floor, the entire staircase vanished. Soon, a drumming sound could be heard echoing around the cavern. Then, a group of monkeys forming a circle around the players started to close in… The health bars above their heads revealed them to be known as Ravager Monkeys. Then, the boss came out from the shadows. He was an abnormally enlarged Gorilla, decorated with tribal tattoos and wielding a large wooden staff etched with a totem pole at the end facing the cool air. With that “cutscene” finished, he began to beat his chest like a drum, and the health bars appeared next to his head. Like that, the fight against Rhakhan, the Ruthless began…

The Front Line Tanks jumped in ahead of the other players. Rhakhan’s little servants summoned spears to their hands, beginning to poke and jab at the Tanks. However, the defense managed to stay firm and push through the mobs, cutting and slashing them down with their swords, axes, and other weapons.

Maple specifically was just blocking the incoming attacks while Klein attacked from behind her. Together they made surprisingly quick work of the monkeys that attacked them.

That’s when a shadow began to loom over them, and a few other players. Klein and Maple looked up and saw the staff coming down on them. Before either could really react, they were all bashed on top of the head and sent to the floor.

Maple instinctively winced in pain… except there was no pain there… she looked at her health and noticed she hadn’t even taken a point of damage. Before either could get to their feet, however, Rhakhan was already gone. They looked around and then finally found him. He was in the middle of a spin attack, and as he actually performed the “attack” part, three tanks were sent flying and shattered into millions of blue to green particles… Maple gasped and quickly shook her head. “No! No more!” She exclaimed, then looked to Klein. “Klein, I need your help!” She exclaimed, with a plan in mind.

====================================
On the opposite end of the cavern, a boy with black hair, black robes, and a longsword was managing to fight off several of Rhakhan’s little Ravager Monkeys.

That’s when one managed to sneak up behind the player, and leaped up with his spear to perform a falling stab from behind. Just as he turned to see the attack coming at him, a sword slashed just above his head, and into the monkey’s abdomen, cleaving it perfectly in half before it shattered as well…

The black-haired player looked to his savior and smirked. “Well, well, well, if it isn’t Payne… Fancy seeing another Solo player around here on the front lines.” He said, and the Blonde now dubbed Payne chuckled a little at the statement.

“Couldn’t miss a boss rush! Not after I missed the last one… I assume you feel the same way, Kirito?” Payne replied to him. Kirito found himself with a similar reaction to Payne’s.

“Alright, you got me. Enough talk, though…” he said, his expression turning serious as his eyes looked around. “We’re surrounded.” He said, noting how there was no gap between each Ravager.

The two stood together, back to back, their weapons at the ready. After five seconds, the Ravagers ran in, and the Two Solo Players yelled out as their weapons rang through the air, ready for an all-out assault…

==================================================================

Players were managing to hold their own, except the horde of monkeys just kept coming. When one went down another seemed to almost immediately take its place. It was beginning to Overwhelm the players. The worst part was they were just barely done with the first health bar. They were beginning to lose hope…

Rhakhan was getting a sweep attack ready. The Tanks were ready to defend the DPS with their lives, knowing they were needed for this to end in victory…

The initial swing began, and was almost immediately stopped… the soon-to-be targets were confused until they looked and saw one girl had gotten in the way and was defending with just her tower shield. She also currently sat on another player’s shoulders, but he didn’t even seem to be putting any extra effort to the push. The players were in too much awe to move, but Maple turned her head with an aggressive expression. “Why are you just staring?! Now’s your opportunity! Hurry, he’ll make his next attack soon!” She yelled, and sure enough, a flurry of attacks flared over Rhakhan. In response, he let out a scream, and jumped back, then made a leap forward, reeling his fist back to get off a momentum-based punch.

Suddenly, Klein and Maple were in front again. Rhakhan punched only for it to be immediately stopped by Maple’s defenses. The players around her were in shock, awe, and overall couldn’t believe what they were witnessing… As Rhakhan started to stand up again to prepare his next attack, Maple jumped off of Klein’s shoulders, bashing the gorilla in the face with her shield. Suddenly over half of his remaining HP vanished, dropping from one whole bar and one-fourth to a third of his last bar.

Just before he could attack again, Maple yelled ‘Provocation’, forcing him to attack her, also to no effect… over the course of 30 seconds, the rest of the health was drained, and Rhakhan was defeated.

Kirito, who had still been fighting alongside Payne, saw the end of the fight and couldn’t help but stare. Payne was also impressed by Maple’s Vitality. Players started to swarm Maple (and by extension, Klein) and started asking her questions, most being related to how Maple got to be so defensive.

Maple blushed profusely as she tried to speak up, however, her stage freight kicked in and she froze…

Klein gently grabbed Maple’s hand and raised it, similarly to what he’d see from referees in Boxing and Wrestling matches. “Three Cheers for Maple, the unstoppable fortress of Aincrad! Hip-hip!”

“HOORAY!!”

As Klein continued the cheers, Maple watched as everyone was ecstatic because of her. It was the first time that she really felt popular, and for a good reason.

With that, the players warped to the town of beginnings to celebrate their victory with as much Booze as they could stomach. They had earned it. Along with the festivities, the players added Maple to a list of the top players in the game, and gave her the title of Unstoppable Fortress officially, alongside The Black Swordsman Kirito and Payne the Powerhouse. Though, some would still mess it up…

===================================================================

“Ohhhh! So Klein gave you the title?” Sally mused. Maple nodded, and then looked at her friend’s list, stopping on Klein.

“I wonder how he’s doing…” Maple thought aloud. Syrup, seeing Maple’s somewhat sad expression, quickly came to her aid with Turtle Nuzzles… Maple hugged the little turtle and smiled at Sally again. Maple then shook her head. “Now, come on Sally, let’s get a plan going…”

Chapter Text

Maple and Sally currently rode on an enlarged Syrup’s shell. The turtle was trudging along, going through the sands of Anuht, the desert floor the players had currently made it to.

The two girls had just been informed by Iz about a rare drop from the even rarer Tramplers that roamed these lands. Tramplers were aggressive elephant-like mobs. Their tusks could supposedly be harvested and used to make crude, but highly effective weapons. Glass Cannons, as most players referred to them.

Maple could tell Syrup was starting to slow down, so she cupped her hands over her mouth. “You’ve got this, Syrup! Woohoo!” She cheered, hoping to give the enormous turtle the encouragement he needed to keep going. The big reptile suddenly seemed a lot more energetic, and started running through the sand leaving big, circular pits as he moved.

Sally held on tightly to Maple, who was seemingly having the time of her life, whooping and hollering as her pet picked up speed. That’s when she noticed a menu pop up in front of her.

Encourage: Acquired!

Effect: Doubles the base stats of your pet for 10 minutes (Cooldown: 30 minutes)

Acquire: Cheer on your pet while it is actively using its lowest stat.

Maple happily cheered on Syrup, who was absolutely zooming through the desert towards the farming zone. Eventually they could see a few mummies in the distance, one of which was riding a Trampler! Sally, seeing this, got up onto one knee as they got closer.

Before Maple could ask what she was doing, Sally leapt off the creature, sailing through the air and slashing right through the elephant. In an instant, it was split in two and shattered.

Maple looked at Sally with pure shock and awe. “That… was so cool.” She simply muttered, then saw another message box appear in front of her.

“Trampler Tusk x1”

When Sally hopped back on, Maple could see Sally also got one, and 500 experience. Nothing incredible, but still a nice haul for the two of them in Maple’s eyes. After all, they both got a tusk for Iz! Like that, Syrup seemed to be exhausted, and the good boy shrunk down to normal size.

Maple held up her hand, and Syrup’s Bridge of Bonds started flowing a brilliant green. Syrup was then absorbed into the green ring. Both girls pulled out a teleport crystal each. “Teleport: Sabulo!” They both exclaimed, and disappeared in blue light…

The two appeared in Sabulo, and quickly left to Floor 47’s Floria, finding Iz’s Blacksmith Shop. When the two entered, they saw someone else was in there with her. A man named Agil. The two appeared to be deep in conversation.

“And then I told him! I said- ‘You really wanna sell this? It’s an S-Class Ingredient!’ Should’ve just taken the rabbit and ate like a king…” he said, Iz chuckling. That’s when she noticed the girls in the doorway.

“Oh! Hey guys! Don’t mind us, this is my friend. He’s a fellow blacksmith! Agil, meet Maple and Sally!” She introduced.

Upon hearing Maple’s name, Agil sprung to his feet. “Maple?? As in, the impenetrable fortress Maple??” He inquired. Maple was quick to extend her hand to the man.

“hehe! Yup! The one and only!” She replied, and the eager blacksmith gave her a firm handshake.

“It’s an absolute honor!” He told her. He then sat back down, and Maple and Sally opened their inventories. They each made a trade request with Iz. There, they gave her the Trampler Tusks she was looking for.

Iz paid them their col for their services, and the girls took their leave. Maple looked to Sally with a smile. “Alright, shall we head back to Maple Tree? We can make sure we have everything before the Anubis Raid?” She asked. Sally nodded and the girls headed to Floria’s teleport gate.

On their way, however, they started hearing a commotion. Two male players walked passed. They couldn’t help but overhear a conversation.

“…and Kirito just challenged him??” One spoke, clearly surprised by whatever the other’s previous statement was.

“Yeah! The fight’s going on in, like, 5 minutes! If we head back to town we’ll be able to see it!” The other replied enthusiastically.

Before either girl could even ask questions, however, a message popped up in front of each of them. “Kirito has invited you to spectate his match! Accept?” Maple read aloud. “Of course!” She added as she pushed the ‘Yes’ Button. Sally pressed as well, and the two teleported.

When the light was cleared, they could see a large open meadow. They stood behind Kirito, and a familiar face stood on the other side. Payne. Kirito turned back to look at the two and smiled. “Hey! Glad you guys could make it!” He said, briefly looking back at Payne.

Maple gave Kirito a hug before asking “What’s going on here? A fight?”

Kirito explained. “This is Floria’s version of a PvP arena. You get sent here for any ‘official’ challenges so there’s no interruptions.” He explained. Maple thought it was an awesome concept, but Sally was a little apprehensive.

“Why are you fighting him in the first place, Kirito??” Sally asked incredulously. She couldn’t comprehend the sense behind doing something like this.

“Well…he was saying there was somebody in this game he was planning to fight. He never told me who, but clearly this guy must be something else if one of the top 10 players in all of Sword World is nervous. So, he asked me to give him a match so he could see if he was good enough to keep up with the guy… as you can see, I accepted…” he replied, at first serious in expression, but now a slight smirk formed. “So, you ready over there, Payne? Cause I’m about to bring it!” He added, looking back to his adversary.

“Pffft… is that the best line you could come up with?? Let’s hope your sword skills are better than your people skills…” Payne replied casually, entering a fighting stance…

Kirito brandished his black blade, and dashed forward at near lightning speed. Payne could clearly see it coming however, as before Maple could even register what had happened she could already hear three consecutive sword clashes. After the sounds of all the clashes pierced through the air, she could feel three shockwaves fly off the two before they stood sword to sword, staring each other down. Payne had blocked every single swing by The Black Swordsman, and Kirito was clearly impressed.

Following a few more seconds of staring each other down, Payne moved one hand away from his sword, and aggressively pressed his open hand into Kirito’s abdomen. Suddenly he was blown away from Payne, sent flying backwards at incredible speeds. Kirito managed to backflip and stab his sword into the ground, slowing him down until he could land on his feet.

Kirito stood, and twirled his sword in the air before taking another stance. Kirito’s sword began glowing green before activating his sword skill Howling Octave! Each thrust Kirito took was swiftly parried by Payne. Then Kirito slashed downwards, which caught Payne off guard. Before he could even anticipate the next attack, the sword swung back up again! Payne was pushed back a couple inches before he was quickly under attack again! Kirito was slashing and thrusting his blade at Payne while his defenses were opened, but Kirito began to notice something…

Payne wasn’t taking anywhere near as much damage as he should have… despite what Kirito knew about Payne he was certainly a DPS character, but his defenses were high enough to make Kirito’s attacks look puny by comparison. For all the damage Kirito was doing to Payne in this swift opening, most other players would have lost the duel by now. Payne was certainly different.

Sally’s eyes glossed over with green, using her high level Insight skill to try and look into what was going on, hoping to give Kirito a distinct answer that would help him win. That was when she saw Payne’s name, level, and class. She could also see Kirito’s for comparison. Kirito was a Level 53 Warrior, running a high Strength, high Dexterity build similar to herself as made obvious by his high speed sword swings. Payne, on the other hand, was a level 70… Greatshielder?! Sally’s eyes widened, which Maple saw out of the corner of her eye. “Is everything okay Sally?” she asked.

Sally didn’t acknowledge Maple’s question. Instead, she quickly called out to Kirito. “Kirito! Payne is a greatshielder! That’s why your attacks are doing so little damage!” she exclaimed. Though, she couldn’t quite figure out how he was dealing so much damage in one blow in return. Payne looked back to Sally with a slight smile.

“Ah! Playing a Rogue Build, are we? High detection, insight, and stealth to perform recon on your next target. Well, you’re not wrong. I AM a Greatshielder. That’s mostly for the defensive perks...” he explained before pushing back against Kirito. Quickly the Black Swordsman rushed back in on the offensive. However, this time, Payne sidestepped at the last possible second, his sword ready for an upper slash counterattack. “...Mirror Flash.” He said simply as his sword began glowing a bright white. Like that, he slashed and sent Kirito tumbling to the floor. His health bar entered the yellow, but stopped as soon as it hit red. Like that, the game congratulated Payne on his victory over Kirito.

Payne helped up Kirito and gave him a few healing potions until eventually he was at full health. He then began talking with the three players. “I can’t say who I’m going to fight. If I did, he’d send anybody who’d listen to him to hunt me down until I was killed. Even with stats like mine, enough people could take me down given enough time…” he admitted.

Sally spoke up immediately after. “Well then why don’t you bring reinforcements?? I’m sure the four of us could handle anything that he throws at us!” she exclaimed, before Maple shot her a glare. Sally was a little surprised, but shyly quieted down…

Maple just smiled at Payne after. “I’ll be rooting for you, Payne! Whoever you’re going in to fight, I’m sure you’ll kick his butt! Just don’t get yourself killed. After all, we’re gonna need you for the final fight on the 100th Floor.” she stated before he turned to leave. He walked out of the PvP zone, and vanished in the same brilliant blue light. It had lost its charm over time, however…

Kirito, Sally, and Maple all left as well, returning to where they were prior to the fight. Kirito was nowhere to be seen, but Maple and Sally kept onward. After all, they had a raid to prepare for…