CH 3 – On the Road Again
"Urk!" I let out a cry as I blocked a Frenzy Boar's attack with my newly-bought shield. An oversized blue-furred boar, it was deceptively fast for its size. However, despite t
attack, it only took away a very small bit of my shield's durability away. I pivoted and stabbed at the back of its head, where the Player's Guidebook said was its weak spot
enough, the monster exploded into particles with a single blow and I was rewarded with some Col and EXP.
I was avoiding this enemy for its threatening gaze and size, but the guidebook stated that it was the weakest of all enemy monsters in the game. I really should have read
manual more thoroughly before I set out the first time.
Regardless, another one bagged. Counting this one, I've killed a total of four of these things, as well as two Dire Wolves of them ever since I left the Starting City. There w
lots of monsters that littered the field, but luckily, I was able to find a somewhat safe road that was relatively sparse. Also, I figured that I should take my time so I'd get a
feel for what my virtual body could and couldn't handle.
Slightly fatigued, I drank a basic health potion and caught my breath, waiting for my HP to be full. The health potion that I had bought doesn't instantly give HP, it slowly
regenerates a set amount within a certain amount of time. I laid low for a while, taking a small break and scanning the area. My weapon and armor got some scratches an
dents, but still going strong. I need to be careful about durability management. Once a piece of equipment lost all durability, it disintegrates. It returns to the player's inve
rendered unusable until the player finds someone that can repair it, namely NPC blacksmiths or Players with Smithing Skills.
I've been at this for almost an hour now and leveled up a few times, but diminishing returns was starting to have a considerable effect. These things hit hard for their leve
should probably move on. Fortunately, I was making progress to Horunka and I saw that there were only a few monsters left directly in the way.
All in all, so far, so good. Except I only had two healing potions left. Spent all of my money on weapons and armor. I could try and go back to the Starting City for repair an
resupply, but I'm nearing Horunka and I don't exactly know the mob respawn times in this area. The worst-case scenario is that I'll be stuck halfway between Horunka and
Starting City, surrounded by wolves. Also, since I leveled up, my max HP is large enough that the healing potions available at the Starting City would only heal more or les
quarter of my max HP.
Now that I think about it, I haven't seen a single player farming for the monsters. Guess they moved on to safer or more lucrative farming places. Having nobody else but
damn things as company is pretty sad and unnerving. Huh, strange. Having played primarily single-player games my whole life, I thought I'd be used to being alone. Welp
gonna be ridin' solo for most of the time It's probably a good idea to get used to it as soon as possible. Or maybe I should join a party once in a while.
I think I've rested quite enough. The last thing I wanted to happen was more wolves re-spawning. I readied myself and slowly crept up to a Dire Wolf that was farther awa
the other ones. It noticed me moving towards it and slowly prowled towards me, growling menacingly.
The wolf then ran at full sprint. Steeling myself, I raised my shield. After consulting the Player Guidebook and fighting them repeatedly, I learned how to effectively block w
shield and how to receive an attack from those wolves without losing my footing. I blocked its attack perfectly without even staggering, fluidly swinging my shield outward
sending it past me. Before it can react, I turned around and hit it with Linear. Just like that, the mob died.
Alright, I got that one quickly with minimal damage. Really getting used to this. Time to pick up the pacMy thoughts were interrupted by a Dire Wolf leaping behind me, digging its claws into my back and toppling me over.
I fell on my face, almost letting go of my weapons. My HP went down by a quarter. Thank god I didn't cheap out on armor. Still, that was damn sloppy of me, letting myse
complacent. As I tried to regain my footing, the wolf jumped away from my back, running for a short distance before turning around and facing me.
It would have still been smooth sailing, if not for the fact that I heard a familiar barking behind me. Turning my head slightly, there's another Dire Wolf behind me, ready t
attack.
I froze at the realization. It was long enough that the wolf that attacked had cycled into its ready stance and was also barking towards me. Damn it, I missed my chance. I
distracted by the second one for too long. Instead of freezing up like a statue, I should have at least tried to attack when it was vulnerable.
Cue Music: Hellsing RAID OST – Survival on the Street of Insincerity
There were two Dire Wolves – one in front, and one behind. And both of them were ready to attack me.
Shit. Shit. Shit. This was my first time fighting two of these bastards at the same time. Before this encounter, I managed to lure one away without aggroing the others. Th
even worse because one was behind me.
I quickly took out a potion and drank it while I raised my shield and tried to pay attention to both of the wolves. Sensing my action, the wolf in front of me charged fangs f
also heard the wolf behind me also making a move. I raised my shield, blocking its lunge and landing past me. Before I had time to react, the second wolf was already in r
Panicking, I hurriedly blocked with my shield. I was successful in deflecting the attack, the wolf landing behind me. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to prepare myself for two
consecutive lunges, so I was sent reeling backwards. By that time it was too late to counter.
Now we're back to square one. One wolf behind and one in front. That, and how their attack patterns work, made me feel like I was a target of two people in a jousting
tournament.
This pattern repeated a few times. The wolves attacked one after the other, the consecutive attacks nullifying my ability to react. However, I was slowly but surely getting
the impact. Unfortunately, my armor's taken a beating, and the continuing onslaught was taking a toll on me. I need to change my tactics pretty soon.
...
Thinking about it, they've been the ones who were attacking first. It's about time I did something more...proactive.
Steeling myself, I waited for the wolf in front to make a move. Sure enough, the furry bastard ran at me full sprint. Showtime.
I charged towards the damn thing, my spear poised to stab. Reacting, the wolf lunged at an incredible speed, intending to surprise me and go past my spear's minimum ra
Too bad for you, I've got another present for you, you oversized mutt.
I tightened my grip on my shield and bent my arms, covering my right side. I brought my right side forward and, using all of my weight and momentum, rammed into the
It must've been a critical hit or something, because, upon contact, the wolf exploded into particles. Holy crap.
My feeling of elation was short-lived, as I heard heavy panting and loud footsteps behind me. Turns out Dire Wolf Number Two was a couple of meters away from turning m
mincemeat. I swung my spear as I turned to face it. I barely hit the damn thing with the shaft of my spear, sending it flying away from me and landing with an audible thu
quickly used Linear and killed it.
*Ding!* Level Up!
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Anime/Manga (/anime/) Sword Art Online (/anime/Sword-Art-Online/)
+ -
*Ding!* Spear Proficiency Up! New Skill: Three Talon Strike!
I planted my spear on the ground and leaned towards it, feeling very tired. Ooh, new skill. Not really in the mood right now to check what it does. Gonna take a look at tha
soon as I get to Horunka. Honestly, if this was real life I would've died of exhaustion after the third Dire Wolf. Thankfully, the NerveGear doesn't fully replicate physical stre
I let out a tired sigh as I looked at my gear. HP's above half, but not by much. Spear and armor's taken some hits but still good to go, but my shield looked like it'll fall apa
moment. I can't take much more of this. Hope this would be my last blunder for today. I turned around and continued my way to Horunka...
Only for my blood to freeze as three pairs of feral eyes stared back at me. Turns out, Aincrad wasn't done kicking my shit in. It hadn't even started yet.
There, standing in a row, were the last three Dire Wolves that were directly between me and the rest of the path to the city. All three of them were aggroed to me, and the
started barking.
My feet were still. My breath was light and my body felt cold to the core. Part of my mind told me to run. The other part told me not to bother. With my current stats, there
no way that I would've been able to outrun them.
The whole world felt like it was going in slow motion as the wolves all ran at me simultaneously. I blankly looked at their dirt-ridden claws that were eventually going to fin
way towards my body and wondered what it would feel like if their enormous teeth were to bite on my flesh.
They're getting closer now. I took a quick look at their faces. Their eyes were blood-red...trained towards me. Their faces were contorted into a feral grimace, baring their
and letting their saliva flow out of their mouths.
As they were almost in range, my vision went blurry, and then black...I could no longer see anything...not the trees nor the grass... not even the cause my impending dea
I could see is darkness...all I could hear was silence...all I could feel was solemn acceptanNO!
At that moment, something inside of me snapped.
LIVE! I WANT TO LIVE!
My vision went back in an instant. Feeling returned to my body. I raised my shield and struck with my spear. One of the wolves was hit straight on the head, reducing its H
zero. I braced myself and blocked the second wolf. It was successful, but my shield ran out of durability, disintegrating into particles and leaving my non-dominant right ar
open. While I was reeling, I let out a pained groan as the last wolf's attack was a critical hit on my right arm, tearing my whole arm off into particles. My HP's color went y
as it dropped below half. The two wolves landed behind me.
I turned around to face them. My eyes felt hot and I couldn't stop my arm and legs from shaking. But, I felt like I was on fire. My mind was screaming at me to kill the rab
bastards, the ones who dared to harm me.
My shield was gone, and so was my right arm. My HP's less than half and I was down to my last potion. I would have to drop my spear just to even start drinking it. The o
things standing in my way to Horunka were these growling pair of furry assholes who were at full health, both of them capable of taking my life in an instant.
Let's get to work!
I rushed toward the wolves. The wolves charged back. I jabbed my spear and it hit one of them, killing it. As I finished my attack, I darted to my side. The wolf managed t
the edge of my torso as it flung past me, my HP dropping deep into the red zone. The impact was strong enough that I was forced to kneel, eyeing the one responsible. I
managed to get back up right before he hit me with another lunge, using my spear to swat him away. The wolf's body hit the ground hard and before it could react any fur
followed up with a Linear aimed directly at its head. As expected, it disintegrated, along with my spear which lost all of its durability.
End Music
I breathed heavily. Now, there were no mobs directly blocking my way to Horunka. Exhausted, my knees gave out and I collapsed to my side onto the grassy field. Dark sp
appeared before my eyes. I was about to black out when I heard a familiar sound.
*Ding* Level Up! New Skill: Battle Healing!
Whoa, that was a close one. The last thing I wanted was to freaking take a nap that I probably won't wake up from. I got up and dusted myself. I inspected my right arm.
severed just above where my elbow should've been. I noticed a new status effect displayed on my HUD, Body Part Loss. It had a timer that was counting down. I assumed my arm would "grow back" once the debuff expires. I should read up on the details of this debuff.
I got up and drank my last potion, taking care to not drop it because my hand was shaking so much. Even though Horunka was just a short distance away and there were
enemies on sight, after what happened earlier I did not want to take any more chances. The potion began refilling my HP slightly. It wouldn't be enough to clear the red zo
hey, I'll take what I can get. I noticed that as soon as I drank the potion that the Body Part Loss timer counted down a bit faster. I was too shaken to even walk properly, s
trudged clumsily along the road before I finally reached the entrance.
"Oi! You alright?!" As I ventured inside, I heard someone shout towards my general direction.
I raised my head and looked at the source of the sound. A player was running towards me, looking shocked and concerned. He had long, red hair that pointed upwards,
supported by a bandana. His clothes were primarily colored red.
I looked back at them, confused, until I looked at where he was looking, which was myself. Being literally disarmed probably didn't help my image. "Yeah, I'm good! I just
to lie down for a bit!" I shouted back.
He came closer and handed me a potion. "Here. Use this for now."
I took it. "Thank you." I said before I drank the contents. My HP went up past the halfway point and its color turned back to green.
"You still don't look very good." He replied, giving a keen look on my arm. "Here, I'll lend you my shoulder. Let's find a place to sit you down."
"Yeah…good idea…thank you very much…"
He led me to a nearby bench and helped me seat. Now that he was closer, I got a closer look at him. He looked a bit older than me. His body's also a bit bigger and more t
His shirt was white, but his leather cuirass and pants were colored red. "Haah…thank you…sir…?"
"Klein. It's Klein."
"Thank you, Klein-san. Oh yeah, I'll pay for the potion now." I said as I started to bring my Player Menu up.
He stopped me. "Don't worry about it."
"You sure?"
"I'm sure. Instead, why don't you tell me what the hell happened to you?"
I looked down and sighed. "Yeah. Had a pretty nasty encounter with the monster on the way here. My gear's damaged and I'm out of potions, but hey, got good loot." I m
"And nobody was there to back you up?"
"Nope."
"And you still went on your own."
"Yep. I wanna play solo for a bit."
He sighed. "And I assume that you learned a lesson today."
"Yeah – to try and not be an idiot next time..." I muttered.
"Damn right." He raised a finger and pointed at one of the buildings. "That's the shop, and the inns are close by. Buy what you need and rest. SAO's not gonna get any eas
"Thanks, Klein-san."
"Just Klein's fine." He chuckled. "Though I gotta say, I've never seen someone's HP go to the red zone until you waltzed your way into the town."
"Well, that's what happens when you're alone and let your guard down in the middle of hostile territory." Seriously, I gotta stay concentrated next time. Also, this guy's pre
cool, as far as first impressions go.
"Also, while we're at it, I'll add you as a friend." He opened his Player Menu and pressed a few buttons. A little jingle rang. I opened my Player Menu, and it displayed a
notification -
Player Klein sent you a friend request.
"Not a bad idea." I pressed Accept. It displayed a notification, confirming my action.
As I did that, the Body Part Loss timer reached zero, and light emanated from where my right arm got cut off. The light stretched outward, tracing the shape of my arm un
finally, the light dissipated. And there was my arm, good as new. "Whew, to be honest, I was kinda nervous that that was permanent." I admitted.
"Congratulations. Now try and not lose it the next time." He said before he checked the time on his Player Menu. "Anyway, it's about time for me to go. You gonna be okay
"Yeah. I'll see you later."
"Alright. Stay safe." He nodded to me, and turned around, walking away. I bowed slightly as I watched him leave. Then, he stopped after a few steps. After a moment, he
back and walked towards me.
I sat straight and tilted my head. "What's up?"
"Hey, Riwet...do you want to group up with me? I've been leading a party with a couple of friends. They're IRL friends, and we've been playing these kinds of games toget
a long time." He paused for a bit, looking away. After a second, he looked at me and continued. "You got pretty banged up playing solo, so... how about it?"
I was tempted to accept, but I knew my answer.
"You're too kind, Klein...,"I started, "But sorry, not right now. I want to know how much I can accomplish alone. I just got too careless, I'll make sure it won't happen again
I don't want you to be responsible for me. I'll take your offer someday, but not right now."
"...alright. Just tell me when you change your mind." Klein replied. He turned around and went on his way. Again, I bowed slightly as I watched him leave.
Loading...Complete
Well, there I was again, lying on a bed, exhausted. A lamp was illuminating my room, tinting it with a soothing orange color. Pale moonlight gleamed from the window. The
was pretty simple and bare, but it's cheap, so no complaints here.
I sat up to the side, turned the lamp off and stared at the night sky through the window, perpendicular to my bed. Everything happened so fast. One minute I was making
and steady progress towards a new location, and before I knew it, I was already there, missing an arm and nearly dead. But hey, I still made it.
After taking in the night sky for a few moments, I opened my Player Menu. I had sold most of my old gear and bought new stuff. Learning from my previous mistake, I bo
lot of potions. Good thing that the healing potions in Horunka were more potent than the ones in the Starting City. They even had antidotes and stuff to cure debuffs.
I replaced my Starter clothing with the Traveler's Set, which is made up of a shirt, a pair of trousers, and with a pretty nifty pair of finger-less gloves. Interestingly, you ca
actually choose a color from a preset selection before purchasing. That was probably how Klein got red armor. I chose a navy blue color theme.
I managed to salvage my chest plate. The damages were repairable and the chest plate offered at the shop had more or less the same stats. I opted to repair my old one
bought small gauntlets and greaves.
For weapons, I sold what was left of my Small Iron Spear and bought a Steel Halberd. The Steel Halberd came in two different sizes. I chose the smaller one. It was about
same overall size as my old one, but it had a shorter grip, larger blade and a small axe head mounted on one side. It'll take a bit of time getting used to a slightly different
weapon, but I think access to slash-based attacks and Weapon Skills will be worth it.
I was able to replace my broken shield with the exact same one. That said, I need to start learning on how to effectively dodge blows and parry with my weapon. I don't re
know how effective tanking hits would be later in the game. Also, blocking felt like the wind was being beaten out of me. I don't like the feeling.
Finally, I bought a Dagger. It was relatively cheap, and I think it would be good for me to increase my Weapon Proficiency for other weapons. Unlike pole weapons, knives
have a minimum range, perfect if I want to mix up my tactics and fight up close and personal.
After checking my gear, I moved on to my Level tab. I allocated my points evenly throughout all of my stats but put a little bit more onto Strength. After that, I moved on
Skills tab and checked the new skills I unlocked. Other than the useful but basic stuff like Extended Weight Limit and Scanning, I looked at the last two ones I unlocked: Th
Talon Strike and Battle Healing.
Three Talon Strike is an interesting skill: it buffs the damage of my next two normal attacks for a short period of time. If I hit my enemy with my empowered strikes, rega
it was blocked or a direct hit, for a short time window I will gain access to a strong attack that breaks guard and launches the enemy in the air. Also, the post-motion delay
short, too. Pretty nice. I should try if I can follow up with a Linear when the target's on the air. I should also assume that the launch gets less effective if the target's bigge
might not be very effective against enemies that dodge well.
Battle Healing is a self-buff, restoring a percentage of my max HP for a certain duration. Wait a minute, percentage health regen instead of a set health regen? That's prett
effective. Sure, it's not much right now, but by being based on percentage, I'll heal even more every time my max HP increases. Even more interesting is it's additional
description, which states that the effectiveness of the spell increases by repeated use, leveling up, increasing Combat Skills, and repeatedly going in the red zone...what?
Hmm...well, my best bet is to just level up normally, but I should think of something that'll reliably get me in and out of the red zone to level that up. That something's pro
gonna be dangerous.
After checking my skills and gear, I closed my Player Menu and stared blankly at the night sky. It looked like the night sky in real life, no additional moon or magical pheno
Although, the stars were really visible and really pretty. Absolutely magnificent.
...
...well, I should probably get some shut-eye soon.
I stopped admiring the night sky and laid down on my bed, contemplating as I waited for sleep, my eyes staring blankly at the ceiling.
I don't know why, but despite coming that close to death, I still want to go out there and fight. Sure, I'm afraid, but, looking back, when I was able to kill those wolves and
up, it felt good. Really good. Maybe the feeling will go away as I spend more time on the battlefield. Or maybe it won't, and I just like killing stuff. Who knows, right?
I feel like a damn freak for thinking this, but I'm looking forward to tomorrow. I'll grow even stronger, and maybe, just maybe, I can help clear this damn game. But when
think about it, being excited to play a death game might be a symptom of a serious mental condition. But hey, I'm not insane! ...probably.
Well, at least Kayaba Akihiko had enough decency to not pit us against each other. I don't even want to think what would happen if SAO was a competitive multiplayer
deathmatch game.
Well, that's the cue for me to sleep. I closed my eyes and turned to my side. My mind wanders to weird places when I'm tired. Let's just say this: I don't know what's gonn
happen, but I will be ready, and I will win.
And I'm also definitely not insane.
...
...Probably.
Chapter End
A/N: Man, this was a bit longer than my last two chapters. Had fun writing this.
Other than that, I got nothing much to say, other than that I hope that my writing skills would improve little by little as I write the chapters, and also that I hope to make
that people enjoy.
That's all for now. Thank you very much, and have a good one