Horunka Village
Annoyance was truthfully all I felt when we reached the village, I hadn't really believed that it would be that difficult to level up in this game. But here we were on the second day inside Horunka village I had barely passed into level 4. Though I guess I should take that win as is because I'm pretty sure I remember Kirito still being level 1 when they realized it was a death game. That kill race on the boars had really given us a boost that I'm sure none of the other players would have had the chance to do.
Also unlike Kirito had done previously, I suggested we at least attack the monsters closest to us as we ran. This is where we developed our fighting style, you see in my mind I wondered why we should have to use switches or target separate monsters at all. The way I saw it if both of us attacked a monster in tandem it would be the quickest way to defeat said monsters.
"Hey Kirito." I spoke to him as we continued running, seeing a boar pop up in the distance.
"Ya?" He questioned looking at me, but drawing his sword in preparation.
"I want to try something, you attack the boar like you usually would." He looked at me confused.
"What are you going to try?" I just smirked at him and nodded to the boar as I pulled out both daggers.
"You'll see, just focus on your part." He looked as if he wanted to ask for clarification but we were rapidly approaching the boar. Sighing he began the motion for his one hit sword skill, I followed close behind and as his sword came down on the boar and slashed through I pounced. Nearly instantly my right blade lashed into the critical point at the boars neck, and immediately went into my tried and true combo for dispatching the over grown pigs. My stab was swiftly followed by 2 quick jabs to the heart and lungs with my left blade, when the boar began to turn towards me I pivoted into my left foot and with a quick turn dealt a vicious kick to the side of its head, stunning it.
Seizing the opportunity Kirito, now relieved of his skill cooldown, activated the same skill and finished off the boar into a plume of polygonal shards. He turned to me with an expression of anger and slight worry.
"That was incredibly dangerous! What if I would have hit you?" He yelled at me and I just held up my hand in defense with a grin.
"Like I would have let you. Besides even you must realize how effective this fighting style is. We killed that boar in half the time it takes either of us to kill it solo. You because you have your pause times in between your sword skills, and me because I have to use so many hits to take them down. And that was with only me working off your moves, imagine as we get further and slowly become more in sync to the point that it's just second nature." He looked at me shocked before delving into contemplation, I just stood there already knowing that he would see my point.
Eventually he reluctantly nodded his head.
"But what about when we come across new monsters?" I shake my head at his weak attempt at arguing the point.
"I'll follow your lead, you're the beta tester after all. But don't worry about me, I'll jump in and out of your way before you go to take your next swing." He still doesn't look wholly convinced but nods anyways and we continue running to Horunka.
As soon as we hit the village Kirito ran to the various shops and we both stacked up on potions and antidotes. He upgraded a couple of items, but i personally kept what I had. I'm sure there will be better weapons and armor to come soon and I didn't want to waste money on something I'd ditch in a few days. Finally we left those shops and went to a house that was at the back of the village. This was wear the quest to get the anneal blade began apparently. Honestly as an anime only watcher I didn't know a whole lot about the actual early game or the game itself in general, so I just followed his lead.
Long story short this woman wanted us to go fetch a medicinal component from a carnivorous plant, in return she would give us a blade passed down by her ancestors. The more I hear about this quest I feel like I remember it and realize this is when Kirito witnesses his first death of SAO from another person trying to monster PK him for the quest item. Honestly I was debating getting the sword as well since it was a one handed sword according to Kirito, and I could technically dual wield it with my best dagger in my off hand.
Though it's staunch difference in size and weight could prove an annoyance, so I shrugged off the thought and just stuck with my 2 daggers. I turn to Kirito as we exit the woman's house.
"How long do you think until another player makes it here?" He looks to me and thinks briefly.
"Probably 2-3 hours. With us having been level 3 before leaving and we both obviously put stats into our speed considering our pace. Though that's just a best case scenario, if someone did like us and rushed straight here? Then even if they were level one they could be just 30 minutes behind since we had been killing monsters along the way." I nod and we begin walking towards the forest.
"Then lets get as much time in as we can. If we grind hard enough we should be able to stay an area ahead of all the other players, ya?" Kirito pondered as walked and nodded.
"Ya, the Little Nepenthes are fairly weak and with my experience and your unerring accuracy for crit attacks we should be able to kill them easily. You just have to watch out for their corrosive spit attacks. Also, there is a trick monster that looks like it's flowering but it actually will release a cloud that attracts the others in the area." He said seriously and I returned it with an equally serious nod as we went back to silence until we reached our first monster.
Confirming their was no bulb and sadly no flower we attacked, once again I followed his lead. Dipping in and out to strike the creature at its weak points as Kirito seemed to garner the most of the monster's attention. This time I was the one to finish it off and with the mob being a similar level to us we got more xp than we had been receiving from the boars. I looked to Kirito and grinned.
"I think we can go faster, let's pick up the pace." He stared back at me for a second before grinning widely.
"Alright, if you think you can keep up?" He challenged as the next Little Nepenthes appeared and I smirked back.
"Before long you'll realize I'm no dead weight." He smiled at this as we rushed side by side toward the creature. He engaged head on and I knees slid past it and under the corrosive spit, digging my knee in the ground to stop myself I popped up and slashed right as Kirito's sword skill sliced through the plant monster. I released 3 rapid strikes as usual, this time using only slashing attacks rather than mixing stabs. As soon as my 3rd slash connected the plant was switching its focus from Kirito to me and at that same time Kirito hit it with his next sword skill.
We effectively traded agro back and forth on the monsters we fought using this method, and just like the boars it worked to perfection on this plant creature also. As Kirito scored the killing blow he looked toward me with excitement evident on his face, even in spite of our status of being trapped in the death game.
"Don't worry Shinji. I already know you're not dead weight. I couldn't think of anyone else I'd rather have watching my back in this game… this death game." He said seriously and I gave a thankful smile before pointing toward another plant approaching. Gripping our respective weapons we leapt into motion and began taking down plant after plant as they came at us.
In the span of just 15 minutes we had already dispatched some 40 Little Nepenthes, it only took that long as we had to actively go out and find more. Their spawn rates dramatically longer than the boars we were used to. Me and Kirito had just hit level 5 from the last Little Nepenthes and Kirito had told me of how players in a party usually said "gratz" whenever a player leveled up.
However we both noticed someone approaching in the distance and activated our hiding skill, sneaking to the edge of the path.
"I swear I saw 2 cursors he just a moment ago." He muttered to himself. With a nod from Kirito, he called from behind the tree he was taking cover behind.
"What do you want?" The stranger jumped from the sudden yell and whipped side to before looking in the general direction of Kirito, but not sure exactly where he was. I took this opportunity to sneak across the road and position myself behind him.
"I- I uh was hoping to join you in the quest. You are on the quest to get the anneal blade, right?" The boy asked and Kirito didn't respond right away.
"You know it's not a group quest right? Only one person can get it per dropped item." I could see the guy's shoulder sag a little from released tension.
"Ya, but it will be much faster with 2 of us. The more we kill also increases the spawn chance of the monster we need. Come on, what do you say?" He finishes and Kirito pauses before stepping out from behind his tree so I did the same dropping my hiding skill. He whipped around to me as I made my presence known and his previously relaxed state vanished slightly and he was once again on edge.
"Then I guess 3 of us will be even better." I say as I move to stand beside Kirito and look at the man we now knew was named Kopel. He looked nervous but nodded his head quickly.
"You're quite right. With 3 of us this will go much faster." I send Kirito a private message saying let's not fight the way we usually do. It might not be that big of a deal and I doubt this guy would try to attack us, but I did know he tries to monster pk Kirito. I'll just have to handle that when the time comes.
We fought with this guy for over an hour and I had to say that I was quite impressed. Of course we had to go at a slightly slower pace, but we were still killing around the same amount of monster due to it being 3 of us. In that time we had killed nearly 200 Nepenthes and the guy was now level and me and Kirito were almost level 6. The xp needed to level up continuously growing was beginning to annoy me again when we watched this guy go from level 1 to 4 in the time we still hadn't cleared level 5. It just showed me how much grinding would be in this.
I was broken from my thoughts when a flowering Nepenthes spawned, but also a fruited one. Kopel went after the fruited one to hold it off while me and Kirito were supposed to finish the flowering one as quickly as possible. And we did, we finished it off swiftly to find Kopel looking at us with brief hesitation before activating a skill to hit the bulging fruit on the plant. Kirito was stunned and I had to shake his shoulder to get ready as I began to see 30 different cursors appear in the distant forest.
Kopel ran and dove into a bush before activating his hiding skill, evident by his cursor disappearing. I felt a chill run down my back, but not out of fear, but if excitement. This was the first time in this world that I felt that death was actually a possibility, and it grounded me in the moment and brought a strange peace over me. I drew my second dagger that I hadn't been using since Kopel had joined up with us and looked to Kirito before shaking him again.
His eyes looked cold, but they lacked any anger, even his voice lacked any bite to it as he spoke.
"Kopel…I'm guessing you didn't know, It's your first time taking Hiding, right? It's a useful skill, but it's not all-powerful. The thing is, it doesn't work very well on monsters who rely on senses other than sight. Such as the Little Nepenthes." I nearly maniacal grin was plastered on my face as I held in my laughter at this idiot. The guy was a beta tester, and clearly didn't think this all the way through. I was glad for the hood of my charcoal grey cloak covering my face in shadow, as I'm sure my smile would have set even Kirito on edge.
The smile remained and grew when I saw that the majority of the monsters actually went towards Kopel who was still hiding in the bush hoping that Kirito was bluffing. At the level we were at now Kirito could kill the little Nepenthes in one hit, but that's only if he used sword skills and that would ultimately wear him out quicker. His sword was also getting closer to breaking, but my daggers still had quite a bit of life left to them.
"Kirito, follow my lead. Your sword is close to breaking right?" Getting a nod from him I continue.
"My daggers are still good for a while and I have a couple of weak daggers that have been dropped. Just follow me up, I'm going to get them to where you can finish them with one strike without you having to use sword skills." He looks at me shocked before gaining a determined look and glint in his eyes and he faces forward, holding his sword out in front.
"Lead the way." He said calmly
[Kirito POV]
I stared out at the approaching horde and felt fear grip me as my thoughts tried to catch up with what I was seeing. I couldn't understand why Kopel would do this, was he trying to commit suicide and drag us with him. When I realized what he was actually after I couldn't bring myself to even be angry, I just accepted it. He had embraced this death game in a way that I hadn't yet. In a way he saw it for what it truly was, and he didn't have any reservations in doing what he felt needed to be done for him to continue to live. Even if it meant sacrificing 2 innocent players.
That thought caused me to look at Shinji as I remembered that I was the one who brought him here. I had suggested him getting a NerveGear and SAO while he recovered, and he hasn't complained once since coming here. I had been taking that notion for granted, his general willingness to follow my lead to progress. It honestly made the illusion of everything that much harder to break through. Kopel fixed that though, I guess he did something good.
"Kirito, follow my lead. Your sword is close to breaking right?" Shinji brought me out of my thoughts and I just absently nodded my head at him. His voice was calm and sounded reliable, it was comforting. His hood had been up this whole time, but he had pushed it down and I could see his features. His dull brown hair and similarly dull brown eyes looked directly at me, he was as plain as they come and I honestly don't mean that in any insulting way. If anything his plain and dull looks provided a comfort that I couldn't understand.
Ironically he added personality to the surroundings, it felt as if things would be empty without his presence, at least for me. I was glad he was here, I really didn't want to be alone in this world. Selfishly I was relieved that he was here with me, that I had dragged him into SAO. I just hope he doesn't hate me for it.
"My daggers are still good for a while and I have a couple of weak daggers that have been dropped. Just follow me up, I'm going to get them to where you can finish them with one strike without you having to use sword skills." His words caused my eyes to widen, but I quickly settled into a determined stare as I turned to look ahead at the approaching horde with him.
"Lead the way." Was all I said and I could see him grin out of the corner of my eye. And then I followed. I had never truthfully paid too close attention to Shinji's movements before. Even when I knew he almost tied me in the boar killing race, for some reason it just felt like it was supposed to happen and I never questioned it further. Now though, his skill was on full display.
I thought of how he would time his attacks perfectly with mine in a way that continually traded the monsters attention. I never stopped and thought about how difficult that actually is. He has to have full confidence in me to not mess up, calculate what the monster is going to do and the he himself can't mess up. Isn't that putting too much to chance? Does he really have that much faith in my capabilities.
I almost didn't finish the first monster off as I watched his movements, and was mesmerized. Complete and utter efficiency was the only the way to describe the way he moved. No wasted movements, as he targeted weak points. Leaping and sliding and flipping around the attacks the creature sent at him. I could only assume he had put the majority if not all his stats into agility while I had been pushing more towards strength.
It was so easy, for me at least. The mobs almost seemed to be funneled towards me purposely and they were all just a single strike from death. As soon as he got them to that point he moved to the next not doubting for even a second that I would fail to kill the monster he left for me. Soon we heard an agonizing cry and I looked momentarily to see Kopel getting swarmed and eventually falling.
My eyes were brought back by a quick shot from Shinji and I refocused on doing my part in all this. 5 minutes later we had finished our horde and began working on the ones that killed Kopel. I thought that I should feel bad for his death, but at the moment I couldn't bring myself to. I just continued cutting down the Nepenthes that were sent my way and was surprised when we killed the final one it also was a flowering one.
It dropped the ovule and Shinji picked it up before smiling.
"Looks like I'll get to complete the quest too, and you'll get a second anneal blade." I cocked my head in confusion. Didn't he want the blade too? After all it was a good sword so I asked him as such.
"Nah, I thought about when you told me about the sword, but it would be too unruly and annoyance for the way I fight. I'll just stick with my trusty daggers." He said patting his daggers that were positioned on his waist.
"Thanks Shinji. I'll owe you one." He grinned again and nodded.
"You bet you will." He had made me completely forget about the dead Kopel, and I was already looking forward to where our journey in this death game would take us. The ding of a level up went off and Shinji looked back to me after checking his screen.
"Gratz!" He said.
"Gratz, Shinji." I replied.
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Author's Note
Bit of a longer chapter, don't expect them to all be this long sorry! Hope you all enjoyed and I hope I described the fight scene well enough. I wanted Shinji's fighting style to almost seem acrobatic. Also as they progress they are going to become even more in sync with their duo fighting style and it will no longer be Shinji fighting around Kirito but then actively fighting together.
See ya next time.