SAO part 7: The finishing blow.
The Night arrived in the real world, but unlike Aincrad with its fantasy theme it wasn't beautiful, especially with most the star aren't visible because of the light pollution.
But people didn't have time to care about the stars because a disaster nobody was expecting happened.
SAO creator Kayaba Akihiko turned his game into a death game and locked 10,000 players inside of it.
The government knows about the accident after they received a lot of reports of people dying after taking their Nerve Gear by force or after they received Kayaba's message.
The government did the correct choice and started to take and secure SAO players to the hospitals to make sure about their conditions because they weren't able to find Kayaba no matter how they researched.
It like Kayaba vanished from this world, and any method the government do can't find Kayaba. But the government kept researching without stopping.
The internet exploded after the accident was known to the media and all the victim's families rushed to SAO company to blame them.
The company didn't know Kayaba's intentions or how would they release a death game, but they were helpless against the angry crowds that were blocked by the guards while all the employing kept cursing Kayaba in their hearts.
When Japan was experiencing SAO consequences. There was a simple apartment, but weirdly no one was coming close to this apartment like it didn't exist.
The room lights were off and there was just a fight light coming from a helmet on a boy head sleeping on the bed.
But the bizarre thing is... The boy's head was releasing faint steam.
In a place where nobody could see, a blue humanoid creature was floating above the boy and looking at him and a few metallic creatures were on the boy's body.
Akashi(DIO) stands were forced to appear after they sensed a strong mental energy being used by Akashi(DIO).
'...d4c...' suddenly D4C raised his head because of a sound but he didn't hear it correctly.
'...d4c...' D4C looked at Metallica and asked if he heard this sound in his head.
'D4C!!!' D4C suddenly flinched before looking at Akashi(DIO) that wasn't moving, but had smoke rising from his head through the Nerve Gear.
'Take... Two energy... Potions... And... Pour them inside... My mouth' Even if the sound was very faint, D4C understood it before taking two energy potions from Akashi(DIO) space.
Telling Metallica to use iron in Akashi(DIO) body to open his mouth, D4C poured the two potions directly in Akashi(DIO) mouth while watching the liquid instantly turn into energy the moment in contacted Akashi(DIO) mouth.
---
Inside the first floor of SAO, to be exact, the deep forest to the west.
There was a tall blond man laying on the ground on his face.
The man wasn't moving a single muscle and his right arm wasn't there. It was just a red polygons getting fixed together bit by bit.
Suddenly, the man started to twitch before using his remaining arm to raise his upper body from the ground.
"DIO IS GOING TO BE A WEREWOLF IN PART 9!!!" Akashi(DIO) opened his eyes and said the first thing that came in his mind.
"Eh?... Ah, right. I defeated that boss" Akashi(DIO) remembered where he is after shaking his head a few times.
Slowly rising from the ground, Akashi(DIO) looked at his torn arm to see a small screen next to it.
[Debuff: Torn arm. Duration 2:32:45.
Unable to equip any armor or weapons on this arm.
-20% crit hit rate. -30% Skill launch speed.
Skill CD doubles.]
"At least I drank that potion or a bleeding status wouldn't be fun" Akashi(DIO) thought if he died from bleeding after defeating the boss that arrow will keep laughing at him even if he loses his ability to speak.
[HP 22%]
Looking at his HP bar Akashi(DIO) health potions and start to drink them until his HP was full and his arm grew back.
Torn limbs in SAO can be counted as a debuff, but they can be fixed quickly by drinking multiple potions while having the HP bar full.
[HP 100%]
Akashi(DIO) moved his arm a few times while nodding before using SAO's menu to see that it been 4 minutes after he defeated the werewolf.
Manipulating the menu, Akashi(DIO) looked at his old messages.
[Level up! You're level 5 now!]
[Level up! You're level 6 now!]
[Level up! You're level 7 now!]
[Skill scroll: Moon Sight.
[Moonlight Werewolf teeth...Claws... Leather]
[Solo & Last attack bonus: Dark Moon (Gauntlets) ]
[Key item: Tattered book (1/3)]
"..." Akashi(DIO) didn't feel surprised by the EXP, but he raised his eyebrow when he saw the gauntlets and the skill scroll.
<There are skills scrolls that drop from monsters here? Our game should learn from SAO> Akashi(DIO) looked at the gauntlet and the skill properties.
----
Dark Moon(Gauntlets).
Slightly increase damage.
Greatly increase defense at the hands position while slightly increase the overall defense.
Blood steal(Recover 1% HP from total damage you do in every attack)
--
Skill scroll: Moon Sight LVL 1
Night vision.
Increase critical hits rate and damage by 1% during the day and 2% during the night
--
"..." Akashi(DIO) looked at gauntlet propriety of blood stealing without turning his eyes.
Even though the skill is good, especially the damage increase, but Akashi(DIO) wasn't able to turn his eyes from the blood steal because.
"Finally... A vampire theme weapon. This's a big step in DIO phantom blood skill tree" Akashi(DIO) smiled before he held his head in pain.
"... My head still hurt...*Sigh*... I should call it a day and leave" Akashi(DIO) choose to equip the gauntlet as a blue light flashed and a dark shiny gantlet with some sort of metal claws that resemble the boss werewolf on top of it before using the scroll to learn the skill.
The moment Akashi(DIO) learned the skill, the night turned into daylight. Akashi(DIO) started to blink while activating and deactivating the skill just because it was satisfying.
After that, Akashi(DIO) pulled the book in his inventory and looked at it. The book was old and filled with weird symbols that didn't make sense.
---
Key item: Tattered book (1/3)
An old book that might have important information, but it needs the other parts to be complete.
"...Don't tell me there are other link quests... I'll leave it in my inventory and think about it later" Akashi(DIO) put back the book and prepared to leave the place but he remembered something.
<I'm playing two games> Akashi(DIO) didn't want to say anything about the game out loud because who knows if Kayaba is watching before using his mind to activate the game menu while walking.
[Task 3 complete... The player can finish the mission at any time]
<My guarantee... Hm?> Akashi(DIO) saw his skill and talent list have an exclamation mark before he clicked on it.
The talents still the same, but a new skill been added made Akashi(DIO) twitch his eyebrows.
---
Eye of the Mind (True)[Rank-D/Level 4](Passive):
Description: A Powerful capacity for observation, refined through training, discipline, and experience. A danger-avoidance ability that utilizes the intelligence collected up to the current time as the basis in order to predict the opponent's activity and change the current situation. This is not a result of talent, but an overwhelming amount of combat experience.
Passive: Slightly increase the player observation ability.
Note: The amount of observation and prediction is linked to the skill level and rank.
---
"...This feels like something from Type-Moon... Even the description is the same..." Akashi(DIO) looked at the skill while refreshing his knowledge about how shameless this game is.
"And why it didn't show up in all that fighting in the training ground? Don't tell me this something about facing death or something" Akashi(DIO) said before closing the game menu.
This was the missing piece that Akashi(DIO) needed to win the fight. Because his eyes were almost disabled, Akashi(DIO) needed another approach to back it up, and that approach was his instinct rather than just pure information calculation about the target.
"...*Sigh*... Another step in the Emiya skill tree... Maybe I should choose blacksmith skill here... But why do I feel a cooking skill is more relevant" Akashi(DIO) kept muttering while walking in the path with all the trees destroyed and admiring the destruction that the Moonlight werewolf train did in his way.
Walking for a while, Akashi(DIO) remembered something before he walked to his left inside the forest.
walking a few steps, Akashi(DIO) arrived at a spot where a person was knocked out next to a tree.
Akashi(DIO) walked closer and saw the person more closely.
It was a girl who has brown eyes and curly auburn hair while wearing a hooded cloak and also has whiskers on her face. But she was Unconscious and her HP is yellow.
"Hmmm..." Akashi(DIO) put his hand on his chin while thinking about what he should do here before he hit his palm with his fist in realization.
Akashi(DIO) got closer to the girl and did what every gentleman DIO will do... Kicking her to wake up.
"Hey, are you alive..." Akashi(DIO) hit the girl with few light kicks, but she didn't respond.
"Did she disconnect, or she's lagging?" Akashi(DIO) said before the girl started to twitch before opening her eyes slightly.
"...Ugh... What happened?" the girl held her head while standing up slowly before she looked at Akashi(DIO) face.
"Ah... YOU'RE THAT GUY FROM EARLIER!!!" the girl said in shock, but more anger as she looked at Akashi(DIO).
"What did you do to me!?" the girl asked but Akashi(DIO) shrugged his shoulders.
"Thank you for choosing Moonlight Werewolf train sponsored by DIO as your transportation service. We don't accept refunds and any complaints from you will be ignored. Have a nice day" Akashi(DIO) said before turning and walking away.
"Eh?... " the girl stood there in confusion while Akashi(DIO) walked away.
<With this... She can go die somewhere else while it has nothing to do with me> Akashi(DIO) thought while walking but he heard footsteps behind him, so he turned over and looked at the girl with an angry expression.
"Do you think you can just do that to me and go like this?!" the girl said while gritting her teeth.
"Yes" Akashi(DIO) said instantly with a blank face.
"YOU!!!..." the girl raised her fist and said in an angry tone before she calmed herself.
"Yes... It's okay... I just want to talk about my compensation" the girl said with a smile.
"Oh?..." Akashi(DIO) said in a deep voice while his hair covered his eyes.
"Let's see, for almost killing me there. I want 10,000 col as a starting" the girl started to count something while Akashi(DIO) walked towards her, but she didn't notice because she was busy counting.
"... And this, but you know. I can just forget everything if you gave me the information about th-" the girl didn't finish her words because Akashi(DIO) shoved a health potion up her mouth.
"...*Cough*...*Cough*... WHAT WAS THAT FOR!!??" the girl that was forced to drink the health potion screamed at Akashi(DIO) that was walking away again.
"You wanted compensation, so I gave you your HP back. You don't need to thank me" Akashi(DIO) said while walking away.
"This isn't over!" the girl said while trying to run after Akashi(DIO) but he suddenly turned over and send a huge menacing aura that made her stop immediately.
"You know... I, DIO, had a very unlucky day... From a death game to a very powerful opponent, and lastly, an event that I didn't expect almost took my life while facing another opponent..." Akashi(DIO) menacing aura grew with every word he said while the girl started shaking.
"But do you know what was the worst part while facing that opponent?" Akashi(DIO) asked while the girl shook her head.
"Because the battle was very intense..." Akashi(DIO) said while clutching his fist.
<This guy is scary! But for information...> the girl thought while withstanding Akashi(DIO) menacing aura.
"I...I... Wasn't able to do my battle cry!" Akashi(DIO) menacing aura vanished while he covered his face.
"... Eh?" the girl said as her brain wasn't able to comprehend the situation.
<The greatness comes with a price... I'll make sure my level and stats are enough next time> Akashi(DIO) thought while walking and disappearing into the forest.
"What?... HEY WAIT!!!" the girl that recovered rushed towards Akashi(DIO) but she didn't find anything.
"Hiding? Dammit!" the girl got angry again while hitting the tree with her leg in frustration because she doesn't have <<Reveal>> skill now.
Meanwhile, Akashi(DIO) already left the area next to the girl while walking towards Falken's cabin because he needs to confirm this quest.
Walking for a while, Akashi(DIO) felt he stepped on something.
<This's weird, there was nothing in the front...> Akashi(DIO) stepped few times.
"...Ugh..." looking down, Akashi(DIO) saw a blue hair player, but he was Unconscious.
"Another victim... This place and angle... Hisss" Akashi(DIO) took a cold breath because he understood what happened to this guy.
This's the location where Akashi(DIO) met the poor boar that got thrown by the werewolf. And by this angle and direction, this guy was hit in the head by... The boar a*s.
"This was a critical hit in a critical hit... I don't know if I'm the unlucky now" Akashi(DIO) watched the player red HP bar while thinking.
<I stepped on his stomach three times, but he still didn't wake up... Even that girl woke up when I hit her lightly... And if he can't dodge why don't he have an armor?> Akashi(DIO) thought before taking a health potion and pouring it inside the blue hair player mouth.
"...Ugh... What happened?" Akashi(DIO) watched the blue hair player waking up while raising his eyebrow.
<No awareness... Even that girl from earlier had her hand always close to her knife, but this guy... He hasn't even woke up yet... Less than a regular player> Akashi(DIO) watched the drowsy player before walking a few steps away.
"A customer from our Moonlight Werewolf transportation services was so happy with our services and couldn't wait to share it with another person, and you were the closest person here" Akashi(DIO) said while walking away.
"Next time... If you can't dodge, do yourself a favor and buy an armor" Akashi(DIO) said while activating <<Hiding>> and disappearing in the shadows.
"What?" the player still confused but Akashi(DIO) already walked away.
Akashi(DIO) kept rushing until he arrived at Falken's cabin and saw two people there.
The first person was a slightly chubby guy with a giant mustache and fancy clothes. This is the mayor of the city next to this forest.
The second person was a handsome man with a shining armor and a smile that hurt Akashi(DIO) eyes when looking at it.
"Ah... Adventurer your here" the mayor said with a smile.
"It pleasure to meet you again adventurer... Did you find something suspicious?" the knight said with a serious tone.
Akashi(DIO) didn't talk and confirmed his quest.
[Level up! You're level 8 now!]
Akashi(DIO) watched his level and col's increase while the knight and the mayor had shocked faces.
"Falken was... I should have known" the mayor lowered his head down, but the knight put his hand on his shoulder.
"Don't blame yourself, everyone makes mistakes. We just need to unite and defeat this evil from our land" the knight said with a high spirit while the mayor nodded seriously and Akashi(DIO) felt his eyes hurting again.
"Adventurer did this event linked with the accident of madam rosary?" the mayor asked.
"..." Akashi(DIO) kept silent.
"I see... so it was almost the same, but what about the scroll in the labyrinth?" the knight said while holding his chin.
"..." Akashi(DIO) is still silent.
"The scroll leads you here, but the clues ended" the knight said with a frown.
"Things are getting more complicated... What do you think adventurer?" the mayor said.
"..."
"HAHAHAHAHA... That right we only need to stick together and we will reveal all the secrets" the mayor laughed.
"..."
"Of course, but adventurer, because this is an emergency, can you inform me about the baron last words" the knight said.
"..."
"Ah! sorry, your right I can't deny the last wish of an honest man like the baron... Thank you for showing me my mistake" the knight smiled.
"..."
"HAHAHAHA!!! you were always brave from the moment I know you when we fought that demonic boar... " the knight started laughing.
"..."
"Sorry for the interruption, but we don't have time and you must be tired adventurer. Please take this" the mayor gave Akashi(DIO) the <<Reveal LVL 20>> scroll.
"..."
"I also need to give you something for all your help. Please pick one of these" the knight said while a list appeared in front of Akashi(DIO).
<Finally... Now what to choose?> Akashi(DIO) kept looking through the list of moonlight series until he spotted a dagger.
<This... This's perfect> Akashi(DIO) thought before choosing the knife.
----
Moonlight knife.
Increase the attack damage.
20% crit hit damage.
Hidden under the moon: If you were in <<Hiding>> effect while killing the target instantly, the effect of the skill will not be canceled.
---
<My backstab weapon...> Akashi(DIO) watched the knife with an evil smile.
"As I expected!" suddenly, the knight said with high spirit.
"What?" Akashi(DIO) felt confused.
"I'm sorry for testing you, but again you showed me how noble you are" the knight said while apologizing.
"Excuse me?" Akashi(DIO) didn't understand what's going on.
"Indeed, what a noble spirit... Picking the cheapest weapons because he doesn't want to become a burden" the mayor suddenly said.
"I think you misunderstood, I just wan-" Akashi(DIO) wanted to talk, but he got interrupted.
"I'm glad I have brought this with me today... Adventurer DIO. I knight captain Alex, announce. You are officially a knight" Alex said while giving Akashi(DIO) a badge.
---
Knight Honor Badge.
Anything you buy from NPC in this and the next 10 floors will have 20% discount
---
"..." Akashi(DIO) watched the badge in his hand in silence.
"I know you are happy but you earned this badge... For the next meeting adventurer" Alex said while taking a teleportation stone and disappearing.
"Have a safe journey adventurer" the mayor took the same stone and left this place.
After the two men left a light screen appeared in front of Akashi(DIO).
---
Hidden truth part 17. Chasing after the clues. LVL 15.
Because Alex and the mayor were busy, you weren't able to give them the book. But because of your noble spirit, you choose to look for the clues yourself.
Find the other book parts to unlock the other quests.
Rewards: open the next line of quests.
---
"..." Akashi(DIO) stood in his place with the dagger and the badge while the windblown his clothes slightly.
"...*Sigh*...I just wanted to stab people" Akashi(DIO) said before putting the items in his inventory and moving towards the town.
Walking for a while, Akashi(DIO) reached the town and rushed to the nearest inn and booked a room before lying on the bed instantly.
"What a day... At least I can relax now" Akashi(DIO) said while feeling his eyelids getting heavy and almost feeling to sleep, but he heard something made him open his bloodshot eyes wide open
'I AM BAAAAAAAAAACK... Did you miss me?' the voice of the arrow that resembles Joseph Joestar sounded in Akashi(DIO) head at this moment but he didn't answer him.
'Hm?... He must have missed me very much' the arrow said because Akashi(DIO) now is... Unconscious.
And with this, the first day in SAO ended. With Akashi(DIO) proving that karma is really a b*tch because after causing two players to be Unconscious, he's now Unconscious.