Angel in Mourning [SAO, Aincrad Arc]

[Erithemaeus]

(1.1) Surprise Check-up

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Tomohara Sugito woke up at the distinct sound of an opening menu.

The first thing he notices is that he wasn't alone.

The second he realizes is that someone was using their hand to access his menu.

The third thing he does is to take his would-be PKers by surprise.

With a yank of his hand, Sugito quickly shakes the cobwebs from his mind and rolls away, much to the alarmed panic of his would-be PKers.

After coming up from his roll, he quickly glances back towards the panicking voices, finding three orange cursors above their heads as they scampered back towards the nearby forest.

By this point, Sugito had already equipped his weapon, an odd-looking shortsword appearing in his hand while taking on a stance.

Yet, even as the sword skill whirred to completion, he realizes that the rest of the would-be PKers had fully-fled the quaint base camp, and Sugito feels himself surge forward in an arc of blue light, stopping a second later just as the penalty hits.

…

Not that he can even hit them if he wants to.

The spot that he was currently in is a safe area, after all. So it was more than obvious that would-be PKers would resort to sleep-PK instead of just hacking him to pieces until he died.

…

Sugito sighs. It was a short, despondent sound, barely even a whisper as he accesses his menu again, this time with his given consent. Quickly searching through his relatively barren friend list, he nevertheless finds a name to talk to, and quickly presses the tab marked 'Yusa'.

He waits a few seconds, thinking about what to write. It is only when has he thought of a sufficient start to a conversation that he begins typing out his message, and hits send.

[There's a trio of PKers hiding out near the base camp in Torchlit Woods.]

A yawn escapes his lips while he was in the middle of typing out the sentence. It seems that he still needed a bit more sleep.

Not that he would want to of course, but that was just semantics speaking. There was no room for semantics in the middle of a report.

Yusa replies a few seconds later, nothing more than a text pop-up from the short conversation. Quick. Sharp. To the point. As expected of them.

[You figured out where they're located?]

[No. I'll investigate right now, though. Might need a few more people to spread the net out, just in case they try to escape somewhere else. Plus, I don't like the thought of being cornered.]

Sugito yawns once more. Truly, this had been the first time in a few days since he had actually slept. Of course, there came the nightmares and everything, but grinding on the frontlines was tiring. Repairing weapons and armor was tiring. Restocking up on items was tiring. Yawning like this isn't helping her stress one bit.

[Tired from the frontlines?]

He blinks at that. And quickly types out a response.

[How'd you know?]

[Do you really think I wouldn't notice? You had bags on your eyes yesterday. Plus you moved like an old man.]

Another blink. Was he? Muddy memories told him that yes, he had been.

…

How embarrassing.

[… You got me.]

[You've been helping Floor 45 for who knows how long. It's all that we can do to help. Ever since that… you know…]

Sugito snorts at the reply. Everyone had lost something or someone in this accursed game. He was sure of it.

It nevertheless stung whenever it was brought up.

[If you know, you know. No need to elaborate any further.]

He winces at the messages that he sent. Sugito… hadn't been thinking when he sent that.

Starting to type another sentence, and--

[… Sorry.]

–It was really hard to be a decent person when everyone else was so understanding.

[Just don't do it intentionally, and we're fine.]

He replies back, shaking the odd-looking shortsword that he had equipped and watching as his weapon lengthened into a spear.

He hadn't bothered to scale down his equipment. Besides, it should last him for a while. Or at the very least, until he started going back on the frontlines again after a few days of rest and relaxation.

RNR that was getting farther away the longer he thought about it. Damn would-be PKers.

Why did they have to ambush him?

…

Because he was alone and in a safe zone far away from other players.

Alright, scrap that line of questioning. That was just inviting his own stupidity at the door. The real question he should be asking is if he should be going after would-be PKers when he was on his off-time.

They hadn't killed him, after all.

…

But they could kill someone else.

There was really no other choice, was there?

[I'm off. Anything else happen back at town?]

[Not much. A few players decided to move here, a few more players died. We did a vigil early in the morning, but you weren't responding to messages. You were probably sleeping by then.]

Oh. That was a bit… rude of him. He should've woken up earlier, then.

But hangovers were a pain to deal with.

…

Nevertheless, it wasn't a valid excuse.

[Flugel, are you sure you don't want to...you know, join our Guild?]

Sugito shakes his head at that, letting out a soft chuckle. Some things never change.

[Like I said, I'm fine with where I am right now. Frontliner or not, my answer's gonna stay the same. I do my job, and I do my best to relax here when the most stressful parts are over. Nothing's going to change that.]

Yusa replies back a few moments later. Sugito could certainly picture her grumbling along her reply.

[Well. I tried. See you back in town?]

[Mm.]

And with that, he closes the conversation, leaving Sugito alone in the safe zone once more. A campfire, a few tents.. some lanterns scattered around the perimeter. Nevertheless, it counts as a safe zone for all that it was worth – the very entrance to the Torchlit Forest.

There were a few quests in town that led here. A few scavenging quests, a few escort missions – others were simple monster exterminations. And while the field monsters here were around halfway his level, there was still the fact that he was alone, and with his current status, would be able to deal a moderate amount of damage even with his best equipment.

Given that his best equipment was in a stash close to the frontlines itself however, that meant that his gear was scaled down to the sort of equipment that one could find on Floor 45. Which meant that the monsters here were just as dangerous as the monsters on the frontlines.

Add in the fact that there's a large chance that he might be forced to defend against PKs the moment he entered the forest, and he had good reason to be cautious.

Checking his inventory to make sure that he hadn't dropped or traded anything to the would-be PKers (he didn't doubt that they would do so), Sugito was nevertheless pleasantly surprised that they hadn't stolen anything.

Healing crystals, check.

Teleport crystals, check.

Buffing crystals, check.

Duplicate armor and weapons, check.

Essential items, check.

Quest items: check.

Overall, everything seemed to be in order.

Sugito hums to himself, equipping his headgear at the last moment before stepping into the Torchlit Forest.

It was a good thing that his would-be PKers hadn't stolen the hat that he currently wore.

…

If they had…

…

He puts the thought out of his mind. There were more important things to do. Like getting his rest, for example. Ergo, he needs to get this done quick.

 

[Erithemaeus]

(1.2) Encounters

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[Moonlight Swing].

Graceful twin arcs of silver light cleave against the plant monster's thick flesh, stunning it for a short while as it screamed.

Most players for their first few times in encountering the monster would back off just in case it did a retaliation attack, but Sugito had enough experience in Floor 45 to know that it was the perfect time to lay on the DPS.

And it was also why he knew that he was doing more damage than he ought to.

Still, he continued on, seemingly unaware of the unseen 'help', and continued on with his skill chain. The penalty for [Moonlight Swing] had already been negated by the monster's stagger animations, which meant that he could go for another [Sword Skill].

[Twin Fang].

Two red flashes of light lashed out from the spear tip, digging deep into the plant monster and causing it to stagger once more.

It was obvious that the monsters of the Torchlit Forest punished those who took a more cautious approach to combat, given that the monsters were only stunned if enough DPS had been sustained within a relatively short timeframe.

It also meant that most people had to be quick in making sure to chain bursts of DPS together. A feat only to be done by those who knew the gimmick of the monsters in the Torchlit Forest, and those with enough game sense to know what skills to use in order to pile on the damage as well.

Ergo, frontliners. Or people who stayed in the floor for a long time. Or both, in Sugito's case.

[Moonlight Swing] to increase the damage of all [Sword Skills] on the target for 60s. [Twin Fang] to boost the attack damage of all weapons and [Sword Skills] by 2% for 20 seconds, able to be consequently stacked up to a maximum of five times before the penalty took hold.

Yet even now, he knew that it would be enough to kill the monster.

But it's not only the monster he was trying to aim at.

[Frenzied Impale].

With his body locked in a short wind-up animation, Sugito narrowed his eyes at the monster's HP. So close, yet so far. And even then, he could notice the telltale sign of chip damage.

Whoever these people were, they were good at keeping themselves hidden.

Sadly, he already knew that they were here.

The spear's tip shines with a golden glow, even as Sugito was carried forward by the sudden momentum. His spear ripped through the monster's remaining HP, and as the monster shatters from the sudden onslaught of damage, he meets the gaze of the panicked player behind it…

As expected, their player cursor was orange.

His eyes lock onto the would-be PKer's shield, coming up to defend them in a haze of light blue. Sugito's spear shines a light green…

[Sweep.]

And swings low, the other player's attempt to [Parry] his attack all but nullified as they were knocked off-balance with the spear's shaft, snaking underneath the other player's attempt to [Parry] high and sending them toppling to the floor.

With an almost-instantaneous seize of his body, Sugito quickly capitalizes on the opportunity and stabs the other player, watching as their HP dropped to around 30%.

They scream, just as more players with orange cursors appeared out of the bushes and charged towards him, falchion and axe glowing in accord.

Sugito narrows his eyes, picking up the first player just by the level disparity between them and tossing the unlucky sod towards their companion wielding a falchion.

Another scream echoes through the air of the forest as the first player's HP dropped to around 20%, but Sugito had already turned towards the other player with the axe.

He identifies the sword skill in milliseconds. He counters in a few more.

The player wielding the axe bellows as they heave their white-bladed axe, their sword skill carrying them through the last remaining meters before they enter Sugito's range.

In return, the haft of Sugito's spear shines a light blue, their arms spread along the spear's shaft just as the [Sword Skill] activates…

[Parry].

The axe swings. The haft of Sugito's spear moves to intercept.

In an instant, the arc of the axe was violently slammed downwards, the third player's momentum immediately halting with the counter. The player with the axe widens their eyes.

Sugito lets out a soft sigh.

[Twin Fang].

Two thrusts from Sugito's spear brings down his opponent's HP to around 40%, thanks to the buff coming from the previous cast of [Twin Fang].

The player with the axe screams, and Sugito's weapon clacks back into a shortsword as they surge forward and grab the player by the collar, sending them hurtling towards their companions.

Now that he had the advantage of range once more, Sugito's weapon lengthens back into a spear, his eyes narrow as he stares at the heap of the three would-be PKers before him.

"You guys done?"

Three sets of eyes balefully glare at Sugito, even as he opens his friends list and contacts Yusa once more.

[Got them.]

[Nice. All by yourself? You sure you need bringing the three of them back to town?]

He could see her face twisting into a wolfish grin at that. Still, there were more pressing matters.

Even if he could take them all on in a fight while running low on fumes, guarding them while they were transported back to town was right off. Sugito had his limits.

Spending around two and a half hours grinding through the Torchlit Forest through the same old monsters just waiting for a moment before his previous would-be PKers thought it fit to ambush him was somewhere along those lines.

Three hours were spent just tracking and subduing the bastards down. He wasn't going to put any more effort into this.

Or well, he'd stop putting the effort in as soon as help arrives.

Which meant putting a stop to Yusa's idiocy before it starts to take root.

[Not in the mood.]

[Man, you're no fun to tease. Ziebel said that they'll be there in around a few minutes or so. Think you can hold out until then?]

He stares at the trio of would-be PKers, all but giving each and every single one of them a smoldering stare. They didn't dare move.

Not after what happened just a few moments ago.

[Yes.]

[Gotcha. Yusa, out. I'll be prepping the firecrackers.]

They close the connection, and Sugito plants the butt of his spear into the ground, watching the trio of would-be PKers with a blank gaze.

All he had to do was wait.

…

He sucked at waiting.