Sword Art Online - Volume 7 - Mother's Rosario

by Reki Kawahara

  “NUOOOHHH!!”

  The guy finally let out a roar of anger and raised his battleaxe as he got ready to swing it down at Yuuki. This player was really a player who’s a squad captain of a famous guild as his attacks were really fast. However, «Absolute Sword» Yuuki merely continued to swing the sword in her swords without hurry.

  *DING!* A sharp metallic sound rang, and the trajectory of the axe was deflected slightly, grazing past Yuuki’s red hair by several centimeters above the head. Normally, weapons can only use the «Parrying» skill when facing weapons of similar weight. However, Yuuki’s thin longsword that looked no different from a rapier deflected the large battleaxe. This was due to the lightning-quick swinging speed. It’s impossible to be so agile unless the player avatar, nerves and the AmuSphere that links them both are all as one.

  How much experience did she have to gain just to reach that level? Asuna looked really amazed as she watched Yuuki fight in front of her. At this moment, Yuuki’s sword started to let out a blue glow. She activated a sword skill.

  The Gnome warrior’s feet were unstable as he was parried by a full-force attack, and a stab, a horizontal slash, a slice down and an uppercut; four attacks in all exploded as they were aimed at his face. The light blue the tip of the sword drew out surrounded the Gnome’s body and let out an intense glow. This was the straight 4 consecutive hit «Vertical Square»

  “GUAA…!!”

  With a cry, the Gnome’s body was blown several meters away and landed on the ground. The HP bar immediately dropped into the red zone. He should have realized this as his eyes that were glancing at the upper right corner seemed to bulge out from their sockets.

  As his eyes went back to Yuuki, the expression on his face went from shock to anger.

  “Tha…That’s despicable, attacking like that all of a sudden…!”

  As the leader started to yell back in a seemingly random manner, about 20 of his allies finally managed to recover and got into battle mode. The players that were in charge of the frontlines scattered and drew their weapons.

  Asuna instinctively drew her World Tree wand and repeated what Yuuki said inside her mind.

  ――Asuna, some things have to done through forceful means for the other party to understand.

  This definitely wasn’t something thought up randomly at the last moment, but a belief this mysterious girl called Yuuki had. That’s because she always followed this example. She would challenge countless opponents on the streets in duels and use this to interact with them.

  …I see…you’re kind of right in that sense…

  As Asuna wordlessly muttered, her face subconsciously showed a smile. If she continued to back away because she was scared of fighting against other people or revenge, the meaning of playing VRMMO will be lost. The sword at her waist wasn’t a mere ornament, and it definitely wasn’t some heavy burden.

  Asuna took a step forward with determination and arrived beside Yuuki. Jun and Shiune were standing beside Asuna, and Tecchi, Nori and Taruken were standing beside Yuuki.

  Perhaps the enemy that outnumbered this group of 7, three to one, seemed to realize something as they couldn’t help but back away.

  Then, what broke this tense atmosphere――

  Wasn’t the enemy in front, but the numerous footsteps that came all the way here. The Gnome warrior looked over behind Asuna and company and showed a smile of victory.

  “…!”

  Asuna gasped and thought Why at such an inopportune time? and turned her head around. Numerous colored cassocks then appeared in front of them. Most of the guild emblems shown were a «Sagittarius», but some of them were the emblems of a «Shield and Horse». In other words, the people that came were the other half of the alliance the Gnome was waiting for, and there should be about 30 of them.

  Even if Yuuki was that powerful, it’s hard to win when being pinned down by an enemy that’s 7 times their size on both front and back. The spells and arrows that can be fired from behind would be enough to wear their HP down to nothing.

  ――All because of my hesitation…

  Asuna felt regret as she bit her lips tight. If she had followed Yuuki’s belief right from the beginning, they could have at least broken through the 20 people in front of them and entered the boss room.

  Just as Asuna was about to open her mouth and apologize, Yuuki, who was on her left, tapped her hand. The Imp girl’s emotions were passed through the skin in the virtual world.

  ――Sorry, Asuna. My impatience dragged you down. But I don’t regret doing this. Ever since we met, I’ve never seen you show such a beautiful smile.

  Asuna held Yuuki’s hand and answered this whisper that seemed to appear in her mind.

  ――I should be the one apologizing for not being able to help out. We might not be able to do it on this level, but we’ll definitely beat the next level’s boss.

  Shiune and company seemed to feel the duo’s interactions as they all nodded, formed a circle and faced the enemies on both sides. The 30 people that came rushing in front behind seemed to have understood the current situation as everyone drew their weapons.

  Right now, they could only fight until the end. Asuna made her decision and raised her shortwand to chant the offensive spell. On seeing her actions, the Cait Sith claw warrior revealed his carnivorous nature and yelled,

  “STILL STRUGGLING TILL THE END…”

  ――But just when he was about to declare victory.

  Something that was far beyond what Asuna and all the players’ expectations happened.

  “That…That is…?”

  The one who first noticed the anomaly was Nori, who had the nightvision ability. A second later, Asuna witnessed that phenomenon too.

  At this moment, the enemy forces were already 20m in front of them, however, behind them, on the gradually curved wall of the corridor, there was a kind of…or rather, a certain person was dashing over here. As it was really too fast, only a black shadow could be seen.

  That’s the «Wall Run» that all lightweight elves could use. The only ones who could use them were Sylphs, Undines, Cait Siths, Imps and Spriggans. Normally, 10m would be the limit, but the shadow in front of them ran for about 30m. This highly difficult action can only be done through an exaggerated sprinting speed.

  The moment she realized this, or rather, the moment she saw that vague figure, Asuna knew who that intruder was.

  The profile ran at a really fast speed, dashed on the wall, past the reinforcements, and easily landed on the ground. His speed slowed down with the large amount of sparks caused by the sparks on the soles rubbing against the ground. He arrived in between the main forces and Asuna’s company and stopped while having his face facing Asuna’s group.

  That person was wearing tight-fitting black leather pants and a black longcoat, had short black hair that was bucked aside, and had a slightly large one-handed sword on his back.

  Also, the black leather scabbard had a pure white wyvern emblem on it. That was the trademark of the «Lizbet Weapons shop» that was opened at the streets of the world tree city. The sword was forged from a rare metal from Jötunheimr; it was a masterpiece from a close friend of Asuna.

  The right hand of the black-clothed swordsman quickly reached for the light blue blade from behind, and then *Clang!* stabbed it into the stone floor beside him. The 30 veteran explorers all stopped like they were shocked by his presence.

  Then, the words this uninvited guest said actually echoed what the Gnome said to Asuna.

  “Sorry, this place is currently sealed off.”

  This voice was rather clear even though there was no feeling of deposition, and caused the group of 30 that just appeared, the 20 people behind Asuna, and the Sleeping Knights to be completely speechless.

  The first one who responded at this defiant attitude was a skinny Salamander that was standing at the front of the reinforcements. He shook his dark red hair and gave a look of disbelief and said,

  “Oi oi, «Blackie». Even you c
an’t stop so many of us here, right?”

  This swordsman who was called lots of nicknames because of his black attire shrugged and answered,

  “Really? Why don’t we try it?”

  This thick-skinned attitude caused the Salamander, who seemed to be the leader of the guild alliance, smile wryly and raise his right hand.

  “That’s true. Then, try it…mages, roast him.”

  *BACHK!* Once he said that, this person snapped his fingers, and the back of the group immediately chanted their spell words quickly. Whether it was the response or the voices, one could tell that they were highly trained. Asuna wanted to chant a healing spell, but the 20 advance troops that were closing in from behind wouldn’t allow her to do so.

  At this moment, the Spriggan that entered tilted his head slightly.

  Ever since both of them knew each other, and even when the avatars were different, Asuna saw that confident smile on his left cheek countless times. The next moment, the glow of the spells shot out behind that human wall and immediately covered a black shadow over that smile.

  The «Black Swordsman» Kirito saw the seven high-level attack spells that were shot at him and didn’t react at all. No, it was too late for him to react. All the spells were of the «Single Homing» type, and there’s no way to dodge these attacks through movement in this corridor that’s only 5m wide and where he couldn’t fly.

  Kirito drew the longsword and rested it on his right shoulder. At this moment, the blade let out a dark red light effect. It was a sword skill――

  The next moment, all sorts of colored lights, explosions and the shocked expressions of more than 50 people filled the entire narrow hall.

  Kirito used the 7 consecutive hit skill «Deadly Sins» to take on all the attack spells that came over… or rather, ‘sliced’ them up.

  “No…No way…”

  Even the «Absolute Sword» Yuuki could only mutter in disbelief. Asuna could understand her feelings, but if she herself was shocked by this level of exaggeration, reckless and radical actions, she couldn’t be a friend of this VRMMO player called Kirito.

  This was Kirito’s own skill that was created outside the system, called «Spell Blast».

  Kirito’s specialty in old Aincrad was to use the sword skills to attack the weak points of the enemy’s weapons instead of attacking the enemy, the outside system skill called «Arms Blast». Though that amazing skill itself required superhuman reflexes and extremely intricate aiming skills, it was harder to slice spells here in ALO.

  As attack spells themselves aren’t solid physical objects, and they look like a mass of light effects, the ‘hit designation’ can only be created when hitting the center of the spells. Also, the center of the spell must not be hit by an ordinary attack, but by a sword skill that hits it at the point at high speeds. That’s because the solid nature of a normal weapon couldn’t negate magic. In contrast, a sword skill would have some form of elemental damage like earth, water, fire, wind, light and darkness. However, it was already more than just insane to try and capture the center of the spell when using a sword swing that couldn’t be controlled due to system assistance, and almost impossible.

  In fact, Lyfa, Cline and Asuna themselves once tried to learn this «magic blast» skill with Kirito, and had to give up after 3 days. Even Kirito himself noted that he gained experience from ‘Using a sword to slice bullets’ in the other world called «Gun Gale Online» when he transferred there. On hearing Kirito say with a straight look that ‘No high speed spell will ever be faster than a rifle bullet’, even Asuna, who was already at the level of being unsurprised by just about anything, could only stand there in shock.

  Because of this reason, one could tell that Kirito was likely, no, definitely the only person who could use the «magic break» skill in Alfheim. And he secretly trained this himself, and never used this in a duel or a group hunt, so now it should be the first time a large guild saw this for once.

  “…What in the world…”

  The long-haired Salamander muttered out, and from behind, they could hear voices ‘He sliced magic!’ ‘That’s not a coincidence, right?’ ‘That’s why I said…’ and all sorts of voices.

  However, the other party was a guild that specializes in taking down the boss and reacted. Under the Salamander’s orders, the frontline fighters drew their weapons, the rangers showed their lances and arrows, and the backup started chanting again. This time, it didn’t look to be a «single homing» type, but also seemed to include «multi-homing» types and «Area ballistic» types.

  Kirito again turned around, nodded quickly at Asuna, and pointed 3 fingers with his left hand.

  Of course, this wasn’t a victory sign to change the situation, but one with the meaning ‘I’ll help you stall them for 3 minutes’. Of course, he didn’t think that he could beat 30 enemies alone.

  At this moment, Asuna finally understood the reason why Kirito appeared here.

  Once he heard Asuna say that she wanted to help the Sleeping Knights conquer this level, he knew that the gang would be obstructed by a large guild. Kirito was most likely lurking in the entrance area of the dungeon, and noticed the guild alliance’s movements. Once he saw that Asuna and company couldn’t fight off against such numbers, he intended to sacrifice himself to buy time as he caught up.

  3 minutes. 180 seconds. It would be a twinkle of an eye in the house of forests, but it would be a long time in a fight against players. Asuna doesn’t doubt Kirito’s ability, but could he really hang on for 3 minutes against so many people? Would it be wise to send someone to escort Kirito from the gang of 7 here…?

  Just when Asuna was hesitating about this, two things interrupted her thoughts.

  First, Kirito put his left hand behind his back and grabbed onto the hilt of the second sword he materialized, and drew it with a clear sound. That was a glamorous looking golden longsword. It wasn’t made by a swordsmith, but a legendary weapon sealed in the deepest parts of the underground water Jötunheimr, the «Holy Sword Excaliber». In order to get this sword, the gang got Lyfa’s friend, the flying-type evil-god «Tonkii» to reach the limit of the party and challenge it. They had to face near complete annihilation in the boss battles. However, the back of Kirito’s profile as he went back to using two swords became ever so reliable, and Asuna felt that the hard work back then was worth it.

  The pressure released by the golden longsword called the backup to slowly back away. As if taking advantage of the moment the enemy wavered, a roar suddenly echoed right from the back of the group.

  “UWOOOAAAAAAHHH!!! I’M HERE TOO, EVEN THOUGH YOU CAN’T SEE ME!!!”

  That somewhat crude and hoarse voice was undoubtedly from that familiar katana user Cline. Asuna couldn’t help but tiptoe to look behind, and could barely see that straight flowing red hair that was tied with a bandana. It seemed that Kirito wasn’t the only one who came to inspect the dungeon. But why did he appear after some time?

  “TOO SLOW. WHAT IN THE WORLD WERE YOU DOING!?”

  On the human wall side, Kirito shouted out, and on the opposite end, Cline yelled back,

  “SORRY, I GOT LOST!!”

  Asuna nearly fell down, but steadied herself, and noticed that little figure that was waving over from Kirito’s shoulder. It was the navigation pixie Yui, who was also their ‘daughter’. Her cute smile showed a ray of warmth into Asuna’s heart.

  ――Thank you Yui-chan, thank you, Cline.

  ――I love you the most, Kirito-kun.

  After muttering this deep inside her heart, Asuna immediately whispered to Yuuki beside her.

  “We should be alright if we leave this to them. Just focus on breaking through the 20 people in front of us and head into the boss room.”

  “Okay, got it.” Yuuki blinked a few times, and then answered with a clear voice.

  She turned around, looking like she was going to activate her sword skill and raised the sword above her head. Jun and Shiune on her right and Tecchi, Nori and Taruken on her left noticed
the purple effect noticed the purple light effect and got into battle positions.

  The 20 member advance party that hadn’t grasped the situation completely and the Gnome warrior who was the leader noticed Asuna’s company actions and got ready to fight back.

  As the sound of magic and sword skills clashing resounded behind, Asuna yelled,

  “…LET’S GO!”

  With Yuuki leading, the 7 of them got into a wedge formation and rushed out. The Gnome and his followers roared and charged over.

  The moment both sides clashed, *GAGAANN!!* The sound of impact exploded, and several light effects appeared at the same time. A chaotic battle royale began, and every corner of the corridor was filled with the sound of blades clashing against each other.

  Asuna had personally experienced Yuuki’s skills by dueling her, and at this point, she could tell that the other members were comparable. Even when fighting against players who have become monsters, they were able to swing their weapons and fight.

  Jun’s two-handed sword and Tecchi’s heavy mace were all able to use their weights to break the enemy down from the front. Taruken’s spear and Nori’s Quarter staff would attack during the opening. Yuuki herself used her superb dodging ability to easily dodge past several blades that were closing in on her and rush into the enemy’s clutches, using devastating slashes to attack.

  When facing the enemy that outnumbered them, the members of the Sleeping Knights could be said to be fighting valiantly. However, the enemy group wouldn’t break like that ―― that’s because the mages behind continued to chant healing spells.

  In this huge battle, there would be some unexpected damage. Other than Yuuki, the other members’ HP were starting to decrease. Asuna and Shiune started to chant their healing spells.

  At this moment, 2 shadows from the enemies came rushing over that them. They were assassin-type players with sharp daggers and wearing light leather armor.

  Asuna noticed that these were the Sylphs that were hidden in front of the boss room several minutes ago, and instinctively changed her spell. She used her specialty speed chant to finish reciting in 2 seconds. The two Sylphs had light streams of water appearing at their feet, and their feet that were bound caused them to fall.