December 10, 2022 Second Floor, Labyrinth region.
“What did Diavel say about those murals we found?” Kirito and Shindo stood back-to-back, facing more than a dozen Golden Bull Vanguards, a species of monster unique to the Second Floor Labyrinth.
“He said they’ll take every possible precaution when the time comes.
There were already two Floor Bosses on the Second Floor during the beta.” Shindo brought Splitter down in a vertical slash, striking directly between the Golden Bull Vanguard’s two short curved horns—the monster’s weak point.
Its HP bar dropped sharply.
He followed with a broad horizontal sweep of the nodachi, carving out a fan-shaped attack zone in front of him.
The weakened monsters caught in its path were swept away at once, leaving a temporary empty space around him.
“And now there’s a very real chance we’ll be fighting three Floor Bosses instead.” The ground began to tremble.
Shindo looked toward the source.
“Something big is coming, Kirito.” Kirito had finished clearing the monsters on his side as well.
He immediately noticed the vibrations traveling through the stone floor.
Whatever was approaching had some serious weight behind it.
The two swordsmen turned toward the passage ahead, sword and nodachi poised.
Clank…
clank…
The sound came from extremely heavy armor striking against itself with every step.
Three larger monsters eventually emerged into view.
The two on either side were Golden Bull Iron Guards, both covered in heavy armor.
Between them stood an even rarer and more dangerous elite— a Golden Bull Thrower.
SAO had neither mages nor traditional magic capable of providing wide-area attacks or guaranteed long-range hits.
As a result, true ranged attackers were relatively uncommon among NPCs, monsters, and players alike.
The Golden Bull Thrower was one of the rare elite MOBs that possessed genuine ranged attacks.
More importantly, it had an unusually high chance of dropping a unique ranged weapon.
Neither Shindo nor Kirito had any intention of letting this one get away.
The corners of their gazes met.
The competitive spark between them was unmistakable.
One breath later, both charged.
Shindo, whose build leaned heavily toward STR, lowered his center of gravity.
His knees bent as he leaned backward and slipped past the stone wall of the Labyrinth, holding the long nodachi horizontally beside him.
Splitter flashed through the exposed gap behind one Golden Bull Iron Guard’s armored knee.
The monster lost the support of its left leg while running and toppled diagonally forward, crashing directly into the path of the second Iron Guard.
Kirito took advantage of his higher AGI.
He planted a foot against the vertical stone wall and ran several steps along it.
Blue light gathered around the one-handed sword in his hand before «Slant» cut through both Golden Bull Iron Guards in a single passing attack.
While the two armored monsters stumbled over each other, Kirito and Shindo ignored them completely and headed straight for the Golden Bull Thrower.
Seeing the two players rushing toward it, the Thrower hurled the circular blade in its hand.
Both swordsmen shifted aside.
The heavy spinning weapon screamed past their faces with barely any room to spare before crashing into the ground behind them.
Neither Shindo nor Kirito slowed appreciably.
Pale-red particles covered their blades.
Two curved wounds appeared across the Golden Bull Thrower’s body before it could retrieve its weapon.
“Switch!” Kirito leaped onto the chain stretched taut between the Thrower and its thrown weapon and ran directly along it.
«Linear» finished charging.
His Anneal Blade +6 pierced through the monster’s neck.
Its HP plummeted.
Behind Shindo, one of the Golden Bull Iron Guards recovered and swung its curved blade toward him.
Shindo moved first.
A streak of silver flashed from Splitter.
The nodachi flicked into the Iron Guard’s abdomen like the tongue of a snake, then Shindo turned with the motion and brought the long blade down across its completely exposed chest.
The monster shattered where it stood.
“Kirito, I’m ahead now.” Kirito straightened.
The last traces of blue light faded from his Anneal Blade +6 while crystalline fragments drifted around him.
“Shindo, getting confident before the fight’s actually over usually doesn’t end well.” “Then let’s use that thing to decide the winner.” Shindo looked delighted as he pointed Splitter toward the now-isolated Golden Bull Thrower.
“Exactly what I was thinking.” …
Two minutes later, the Golden Bull Thrower crashed to the ground and shattered.
Kirito’s EXP bar jumped forward by a sizable amount.
Shindo’s filled completely.
Level 16.
For the first time in days, he had put an entire numerical level between himself and Kirito and reclaimed his precious position at the top.
Kirito, however, was staring at his loot window.
A strangely shaped weapon had appeared at the top of his inventory.
“Shindo, you may have won the EXP contest, but the rare drop came to me.” “A Chakram?” “Yeah.” Kirito materialized it briefly before shrugging.
“I’d rather stick with a one-handed sword.
Want it?” Shindo thought of Nautilus.
It might actually be useful for him.
“How much?” “Friend price.
Forty thousand col.” Kirito raised four fingers without the slightest shame.
“That’ll cover the money I’m missing for the enhancement-boosting items I want.” “Fine.” Shindo transferred the money and stored the Chakram in his inventory.
After exchanging several other drops with Kirito, he decided it was time to return to Taran Village.
His inventory was almost full again.
The increase in his personal carrying capacity simply could not keep up with the intensity of his grinding.
“Kirito, heading back to Taran?” “Later.
Do you still have any weight capacity left?
If you do, take some of my drops back and sell them too.” Despite phrasing it as a request, Kirito did not sound remotely apologetic.
Then again, Shindo had been even worse to him during the beta.
“Yeah, yeah.” Shindo covered his face and reluctantly accepted his role as delivery boy.
…
The Second Floor Labyrinth was extremely close to Taran Village.
The journey was even shorter than the distance between Tolbana and the First Floor Labyrinth, and Shindo needed only around ten minutes to reach the village’s safe zone.
Once inside, he stopped at an inn and bought one of the local specialties.
A Taran Bun.
Its wrapper was thin but pleasantly chewy, while the meat filling inside was rich with flavorful juices.
For the lower floors of Aincrad, it qualified as a genuine delicacy even though it provided no status buffs whatsoever.
Shindo was enjoying the bun with tea when a notification appeared on his main menu.
He opened it.
A message from Asuna.
Shindo promptly finished the rest of the bun with all the elegance of someone completing another combat encounter, checked Asuna’s location on his map, and hurried off to find her.
“Asuna, I’m here.” He found her standing alone outside Taran Village’s prayer hall, wrapped in her red cloak.
“Where are Mito and Aiko?” Asuna turned.
Her expression brightened immediately when she saw him, but a trace of disappointment followed soon afterward.
“Mito and Aiko should still be training on the rocky mountain, I think.” She touched one slender finger to her lips and tilted her head slightly.
Shindo was still more concerned by the sadness he had seen in her expression a moment earlier.
“You don’t look very happy.” “Um…
Shindo-kun.” Asuna hesitated.
“My Wind Fleuret suffered a catastrophic enhancement failure and turned into an ordinary rapier.” ‘So that’s what she looked so miserable about.’ “A catastrophic failure?” Shindo’s expression became more serious.
“Don’t panic.
Tell me exactly what happened.” “Okay.” Asuna brushed the hem of her red pleated skirt behind her and sat on a walnut bench.
Then she lightly patted the empty space beside her.
Shindo awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck before removing Splitter from his back and sitting beside her.
“A player with a very high «Smithing» proficiency recently arrived in Taran Village.
I heard he used to be part of the front-line group too.” Asuna opened her inventory.
“He even uses an Iron Smithing Hammer for enhancement.” What she materialized, however, was nothing more than a completely ordinary Iron Rapier.
It was the sort of weapon available from nearly any weapon shop on the Second Floor and normally traded between players for no more than two or three thousand col.
“Maybe everything went too smoothly when I was collecting enhancement materials today, so I got careless…” Asuna handed Shindo the weapon that had supposedly once been her Wind Fleuret +4.
“I collected a lot of enhancement materials around the rocky mountains near Marome Village, and then I happened to meet a player blacksmith with a really high enhancement success rate, so I thought…” Her voice trailed away.
The expression on her face was painful enough to make Shindo feel bad for her.
“I see.” He took the ordinary rapier and examined it.
Somewhere in the memories of his previous life, the rough outline of this incident surfaced.
A small smile appeared on his face.
“Asuna, can you tell me where this player blacksmith is?” “You want to try having something enhanced too?” “Yeah.” Shindo looked entirely confident.
“No matter how I think about it, a catastrophic enhancement failure like this is strange.
Normally, something like that shouldn’t happen.” He glanced at her.
“Besides, somehow the word unlucky just doesn’t suit you.” Asuna looked at him.
Her hazel eyes softened, and her lips curved into a gentle smile unlike any Shindo had seen from her before.
“Even if I know you’re only saying that to make me feel better, I’m still happy you said it.” “R-Really…?” Shindo immediately turned his eyes forward.
For some reason, looking directly at her had suddenly become difficult.
…
Asuna led him to the player blacksmith’s temporary shop.
Calling it a shop was generous.
The entire business consisted of a Merchant Carpet, an expensive item that allowed a player to establish a temporary stall almost anywhere.
The carpet was crowded with equipment required for smithing and enhancement: a smelting furnace, an anvil, and various tools.
Resting beside the enhancement anvil was unmistakably an Iron Smithing Hammer.
At a glance, the setup looked considerably more professional than the NPC smithies in villages that still relied on Bronze Smithing Hammers.
The player’s enhancement success rate should therefore have been higher.
It was true that the probability of successful enhancement dropped as a weapon accumulated more successful upgrades.
Even so, a supposed catastrophic failure that transformed an enhanced rare weapon into a completely ordinary one was another matter entirely.
Then Shindo looked at the shopkeeper.
A small male player wearing a brown apron sat behind the stall, his compact build almost making him resemble a gnome.
Shindo approached with a mild smile.
“Nezha.” “Uh…
ah…” The small player snapped out of his daze.
When he recognized the distinctive nodachi on Shindo’s back, he immediately rose to his feet.
“You’re…
one of the heroes from the Boss raid…” Shindo raised a hand, signaling him not to make a big deal of it.
“Just call me Shindo, Nezha.
We fought in the same raid, didn’t we?” “You…
you remember me?” Nezha looked at Shindo.
Then his eyes moved toward Asuna standing beside him.
His nervousness immediately became something closer to panic.
“Yeah.
Party H was assigned to the Kobold Sentinels, but I was paying attention to what everyone was doing during the raid.” Shindo glanced around.
“Speaking of which, where are the rest of your teammates?” There was no sign of Nezha’s usual companions.
“They…
should be out leveling.” The disappointment in Nezha’s voice was impossible to hide.
His already small figure somehow seemed to shrink even further.
“You didn’t go with them?
You’ll fall behind in EXP like that.” “I…
I’m not suited for fighting.” Nezha lowered his head.
“So I decided to become a blacksmith instead…” Shindo sighed.
The reaction only made Nezha look more confused.
“Nezha, you’re FNC, aren’t you?” Nezha froze.
“Why…
why would you think that?” “During the Boss raid, there was an obvious difference between your movements and those of the other five members of Party H.” Shindo kept his voice calm.
“You also Switched more often and used POTs much more frequently than everyone else.” He paused, carefully choosing his words so Nezha would not misunderstand.
“Your reactions and movements were stiff.
Sometimes you practically froze in place.” Shindo continued gently.
“Someone with severe FullDive Non-Conformity can experience delayed movement, freezing, or even become temporarily unable to move when facing the most basic low-level MOB.” He looked directly at him.
“Your teammates in the Legend Braves know about it too, don’t they?” “Shindo-kun, I don’t know what you mean by ‘Legend Braves’…” Nezha’s eyes darted away.
His panic became even more obvious, and his hands twisted nervously together.
“Nezha.” Shindo’s tone remained soft.
“You want to fight beside your friends in the Legend Braves, don’t you?” Nezha stopped moving.
“Even if you’re FNC, are you really satisfied being left behind here by yourself while everyone else goes out to fight?” Nezha finally forced himself to look up.
“What exactly are you trying to say, Shindo-kun?” “Using the system’s Quick Change function to scam customers during enhancement attempts.” Shindo rested a hand on Nezha’s shoulder.
He did not squeeze.
“Did you really think nobody would eventually notice?” Nezha went pale.
“If the front-line players you’ve cheated learn what happened, then it won’t only be you.” Shindo’s expression became serious.
“The members of the Legend Braves who pushed you into doing this—and benefited from it—will be condemned by the entire player community too.” “I…
I’m sorry.” Nezha’s voice broke.
He had never been particularly strong emotionally, and merely imagining the consequences Shindo described was enough to overwhelm him.
“Apologize properly to the people you’ve deceived and return what belongs to them.” Shindo gave his shoulder a light pat.
“As for the person behind the scheme and the other Legend Braves who benefited from it, don’t worry.” “I’ll help you talk to them.” “Shindo-kun…
thank you.” Nezha’s voice was already thick with tears.
Then he clenched both fists and walked toward Asuna.
He stopped in front of her.
Bent deeply at the waist.
And held out a weapon with both hands.
“Miss Asuna…
this is your Wind Fleuret +4.” His voice trembled.
“I’m truly, truly sorry.” Asuna was visibly startled by the solemnity of the apology and quickly waved her hands.
“Mr.
Nezha, please don’t blame yourself forever.” Her voice was gentle.
“If you’re willing to stop what you were doing, make things right, and sincerely apologize, I’m sure the other players will forgive you too.” “I’m so sorry…” Nezha kept his head lowered as tears fell.
He could not bring himself to look Asuna in the eyes again.
…
In the end, Shindo and Asuna stood together and watched Nezha walk away.
Neither felt particularly good about what had happened.
“Shindo-kun…
something like this really is…” Asuna’s lips moved, but she could not bring herself to finish the thought.
Shindo understood anyway.
“Everyone trapped in this world is struggling in their own way.” He held the restored weapon out to her.
“All we can do is make sure we’re still walking down the right path ourselves.” Asuna accepted her Wind Fleuret +4.
Their eyes met.
Then she nodded softly.
“Mm.”