The next day, on the grasslands south of Marome Village— “Shindo-kun, behind you!” Before the warning had even finished, Shindo reversed the nodachi in his hands and thrust blindly behind himself.
The long, arcing blade drove straight through the head of the charging Trembling Ox, sinking all the way through its body before the monster finally came to a halt less than half a meter from Shindo.
Then it shattered into streaming light.
Shindo rolled the nodachi smoothly through one hand, caught it by the hilt, and slid it back into the scabbard planted at an angle in the grass.
The sheath itself was enormous, measuring nearly two-thirds of his height.
Between securing the Last Attack against Illfang the Kobold Lord and the grinding they had done that morning, Shindo had become the first among them to reach Level 15, overtaking Kirito, who had apparently spent the entire previous night grinding but had made no further gains today.
Yuuki and Aiko had kept pace closely behind him and reached Level 14.
Asuna, Mito, and Nautilus were slightly farther back at Level 13.
Yuna, who possessed almost no direct combat capability, had benefited from both the party’s favorable EXP distribution and what seemed to be the game’s experience compensation system.
She had just managed to reach Level 11.
Shindo tilted his head back and drained an entire recovery potion, restoring his HP to full.
Then he looked toward Asuna and the others, who were taking the opportunity to catch their breath.
“Are you all that curious about the ‘special Skill’ those guys were bothering Argo about yesterday?” “Mm…
it’s hard not to be curious.” Asuna frowned, trying to remember.
“Those…
Windmill Ninja people were chasing Argo around pretty relentlessly.” She had completely mangled the name Fūma Ninja Army.
Perhaps their behavior had been so obnoxious that none of the girls had paid much attention to anything beyond the fact that they had been harassing Argo.
Mito and the others did not bother correcting her either.
“Well, if we keep heading south toward the rocky mountains, we’ll eventually find the mysterious NPC who teaches that Extra Skill.” Aiko stepped closer.
“Are you going, Shindo-kun?” “Yeah.
That Extra Skill is pretty useful.” Shindo answered without hesitation.
“I’m coming too!” Nautilus’s obsession with becoming stronger remained as intense as ever.
He had finally managed to get his hands on Shindo’s old Anneal Blade +4 the previous night, which had only made him more enthusiastic.
“Shindo-kun, can we come too?” Asuna looked at him questioningly.
Her hazel eyes caught the light with an almost lively brilliance, and after meeting her gaze, Shindo found it surprisingly difficult to refuse.
“Fine.” The group followed the trail extending south from Marome Village.
After crossing the broad northern grasslands of the Second Floor and passing through a region of rolling hills, they eventually reached a towering rocky mountain near the great canyon that divided the northern and southern halves of the floor.
Snow dusted the summit.
Below the mountainside, however, the landscape remained yellow-brown with withered vegetation.
After climbing the mountain path for some time, Shindo finally reached the top.
A thin layer of white covered the summit.
Against that pale snow stood a single patch of darker color—a wooden hut with a bare, lifeless tree beside it.
Two figures were beneath that tree.
One had a green cursor floating over his head.
He was an elderly monk seated on the veranda, quietly brewing hot tea over a small stove that released a thin stream of smoke.
Despite his age, his body was remarkably powerful, packed with dense muscle, while a thick white beard covered his jaw.
The other person was standing out in the freezing snow.
Kirito.
He was repeatedly striking a massive black boulder with the edge of his palm, achieving almost nothing despite his efforts.
Even more conspicuously, three black lines had been painted across each of his cheeks like Argo’s trademark whiskers.
“Yo, Kirito.” Shindo walked over and greeted him.
“Shindo?
Why are you here?” Kirito looked genuinely surprised.
He had only learned about the mysterious NPC who taught the Extra Skill through Argo.
“I already knew about this place from the beta.” Shindo glanced at the boulder.
“«Martial Arts» is a seriously useful Skill.
If your weapon’s Durability ever gets too low, you’re stuck relying on your fists and feet.” Shindo approached the ascetic monk seated beneath the hut’s eaves and brought his hands together respectfully.
“Young man, do you wish to train under me?” “Yes, Master.” “The training will be extremely difficult.” “Exactly what I’m looking for.” “Then you will undertake the same training as that young man.
Your training ends only when you have shattered the black stone.” The icon over the old monk’s head changed from an exclamation mark to a yellow question mark.
He turned and entered the wooden hut.
A short while later, he emerged carrying another enormous black boulder and motioned for Shindo to follow Kirito’s example and begin training out in the snow.
“…” Shindo had just opened his mouth to agree when a calligraphy brush suddenly appeared in the monk’s hand.
Before Shindo could even react, the brush moved faster than his eyes could follow.
Three black lines appeared on each of his cheeks.
Exactly like Argo’s trademark rat whiskers.
“So that’s where Miss Argo got those whiskers.” Asuna covered her mouth as she laughed softly.
Mito and the others soon joined her.
Shindo looked back at them with considerably more amusement than embarrassment.
“Asuna, if you want to learn «Martial Arts» too, you’re going to end up looking exactly like this.” Asuna immediately glared at him.
…
Two days later…
Persistence could wear through stone.
In Shindo’s case, almost literally.
The black boulder before him possessed Durability approaching the Indestructible Object threshold, but after two days of relentless effort, his final knife-hand strike broke through its defense.
The stone split apart.
Shindo successfully acquired «Martial Arts».
Asuna, Mito, Nautilus, and the others were still struggling through their own training nearby.
Crack!
Another boulder split.
Kirito stared at the two halves lying in front of him.
His ordeal was finally over as well.
“Congratulations, Kirito.
What are you doing next?” “Sleeping.” Kirito had spent two straight days barely resting because he wanted to finish the ascetic training as quickly as possible.
“Figured as much.
Just don’t use it as an excuse to sneak off and start grinding again.” Shindo folded his arms and tried to look perfectly relaxed.
In reality, he was exhausted too.
“Diavel sent me a message this morning,” Kirito said.
“Apparently they’ve already pushed into this floor’s Labyrinth area.
He also asked where the hell we’ve disappeared to…” Looking completely drained, Kirito shuffled over to the wooden veranda and sat down.
He wiped the black markings from his cheeks with the back of his hand.
Naturally, before completing the training, those whiskers could not be removed by any means.
“The rest of the front-line players have probably gathered in Taran Village by now, since it’s the closest settlement to the Labyrinth.” Shindo accepted two cups of hot tea from the monk and handed one to Kirito.
“Yeah.
Everyone except us.” Shindo stretched himself out across the veranda.
The snowfall had stopped, and strangely enough, the air no longer felt particularly cold.
“Maybe we should just skip this Boss raid.” “Probably not a good idea.
Diavel might personally bring the entire front line up here to drag us back.” They had barely finished speaking when system windows suddenly appeared in front of both of them.
Shindo glanced at his.
A message from Argo.
He turned toward Kirito.
“Argo?” “You too?” Kirito immediately asked.
Both of them sat upright and opened the messages as quickly as possible.
“‘In the forest near the Labyrinth area—'” Their eyes met.
Something was wrong.
Argo would not have messaged both of them at the same time unless she had run into some kind of serious problem.
“Sorry, Mito, Aiko,” Shindo called toward the others.
“Once you’ve finished training, head to Taran Village.
We’ll meet you there.” “Okay.” Asuna and the others could tell from Shindo and Kirito’s expressions that something important had happened.
They nodded without argument.
After quickly saying goodbye to the ascetic monk, Shindo and Kirito sprinted down the mountain at full speed.
On the lowest floors of Aincrad, advanced consumables such as Teleport Crystals were not yet sold, and even if they had been, their prices would have been prohibitively high.
Whenever something happened on the early floors, there was only one real option.
Run.
Both players swiped through the air and replaced one of their current Skills with «Sprint».
After accelerating across a sufficient distance, they entered full Sprint state.
The northern and southern halves of the Second Floor were separated by a gigantic canyon.
The northern region consisted largely of broad grasslands and rocky mountains, while the southern half was narrower and dominated by dense forests and mountain slopes smothered in vines.
Several extremely long stone bridges crossed the canyon and connected the two regions.
Fortunately, the mountain containing the Martial Arts master’s hut was not far from the nearest bridge.
Another system window suddenly appeared.
Shindo opened it.
Argo had sent them her current location.
The two continued forward without slowing.
A roaming Jagged Worm appeared on the stone bridge ahead and barely had time to react before two streaks of red and blue light tore through it.
«Linear».
The monster shattered behind them.
Even though the Hate range of Second Floor monsters was roughly twice that of their First Floor counterparts, the creatures had little chance against two players tearing across the map as though they were being chased by death itself.
Following the system map, Shindo and Kirito reached the vicinity of Argo’s coordinates several dozen minutes later.
Both were breathing hard now.
They slowed down and began moving carefully through the dense forest.
Every so often, a Red Spotted Beetle dropped from one of the tall trees overhead.
Being struck by one could inflict a stun effect.
Shindo and Kirito were both far too alert to be caught off guard, however, so the monsters accomplished little beyond slowing their progress.
“I don’t remember the area being like this during the beta.” Kirito sounded uncertain.
“Maybe it wasn’t.” Shindo kept scanning the trees.
“During the beta, we were focused almost entirely on pushing toward Floor Bosses.
It’s not like we thoroughly investigated every corner of every floor.” Something moved behind him.
Shindo pivoted and drove a fist straight into an Ambush Slime attempting to attack from his blind spot.
The monster burst apart.
Creatures like these normally inhabited the lower reaches beneath the canyon bridges and frequently ambushed careless players.
The deeper the two advanced, the brighter the forest ahead became.
Once their EP had fully recovered, Shindo and Kirito accelerated again and burst through the trees.
A ruin stood before them.
It was almost completely concealed beneath dense vegetation and hanging vines.
Argo was perched on a rocky ledge above its entrance, keeping watch.
The moment she heard movement from the forest, she leaped down and landed in front of them.
“What happened, Argo?!” Shindo and Kirito had rushed here at full speed, expecting some kind of emergency.
Instead, Argo was completely unharmed.
There was not even the slightest indication that she had been in danger.
“Argo found a ruin!” She raised one finger dramatically toward the entrance behind her.
“And pay attention—this ruin didn’t exist during the beta!” Her expression turned unusually serious.
“But Big Sis’s stats are specialized for speed, so fighting in cramped spaces isn’t exactly my strong point.
That’s why I thought of you two.” Shindo closed his eyes.
He drew in a deep breath.
Then slowly exhaled the frustration that had built up in his chest.
Afterward, he stepped toward Argo and raised one hand.
“Shindo-kun, what are you—” A short while later, Argo was clutching the top of her head with both hands and puffing out her cheeks indignantly.
“I told you not to mess with Argo’s hair!
It gets all tangled!” Kirito chuckled and patted Shindo on the shoulder.
“So, Shindo.
Want to check it out?” “Well, we came all the way here.” Shindo held Argo at arm’s length by pressing one palm against the top of her head while she tried to hit his shoulder with tiny fists.
“No point going back empty-handed.” He glanced toward the dark entrance.
“Argo, did you bring anything for lighting?” “Hmph!” Argo opened her main menu.
“As a professional information broker and explorer, do you really think I’d come somewhere like this unprepared?” She materialized several torches from her inventory and handed them to Shindo and Kirito.
“Here.” “I’ll take point.” Shindo lit his torch.
“Hunter’s Glory gives me some resistance against contamination and control effects, so I’m the safest choice.” “Shindo-kun is so reliable.
Big Sis is starting to think I’d pay a fortune in col to buy you.” Shindo smiled.
“I’m not saying you couldn’t.” Argo blinked.
Shindo had already turned away.
Holding the burning torch in front of him, he stepped into the pitch-black ruin.
“Kirito-boy.” Argo slowly turned toward Kirito.
“You heard that, right?” “Huh?
Ah…
yeah.
I heard it.” Kirito scratched awkwardly near his ear.
“Did Shindo-kun suddenly figure something out today?” Argo looked deeply suspicious.
“How weird…” “If you two don’t come in soon, I’m leaving you behind.” Shindo’s voice drifted out from the narrow stone passage inside the ruin, accompanied by a slowly fading echo.
“Let’s go, Argo.” The two temporarily abandoned the mystery and hurried after him.
Despite being called a ruin—and despite looking fairly substantial from the outside—the interior did not resemble a typical treasure chamber.
There were no hidden piles of rare equipment.
No secret chests.
No obvious valuables at all.
The narrow entrance passage eventually opened into a broad interior courtyard.
And at the deepest point of the ruin, covering the walls all around them, were elaborate carved murals.
Whatever writing had once accompanied them had deteriorated beyond recognition.
There was no practical way to decipher the inscriptions now.
All they could do was interpret the images themselves.
“Argo.
Shindo.
Look over here.” Kirito appeared to have noticed something.
The other two joined him.
Carved into the wall were several figures resembling humanoid bulls.
One wielded two iron hammers.
Another stood before something resembling a swirling teleportation portal, holding an enormous hammer above its head with both hands.
Inside the vortex was a much larger figure wearing a crown.
Shindo and Kirito spoke at exactly the same time.
“The Second Floor Boss from the beta!” Both of them had participated in the Second Floor clear during the Closed Beta Test.
Argo’s expression immediately became serious.
“Then could this mural be showing us what changed in the official version?” “Very possible.” Shindo and Kirito both nodded.
For once, Argo looked every bit the professional information broker.
Shindo slowly exhaled.
“Then this Boss raid might be a lot nastier than we were expecting…” The three remained gathered before the mural, studying every carved detail they could find.
And for a very long time, none of them moved.