The atmosphere was certainly on the tense side after that. Klein's guildmates stared warily. Kirito could almost see the gears turning in their heads, taking what little scraps of gossip they'd heard while 'out of the loop' and piecing it together. That the Black Swordsman, the infamously selfish and callous beta tester, was none other than their guildmaster's wayward 'friend'.
"Whoah whoah whoah, slow down," Klein said. "Debts? Bounty? You're gonna have to be way more specific here."
"You don't read the news much, do you?" the lead ranger replied.
"Meh. Effort. Besides, the guys and I have been up north training with secret Shaolin monks to hone our techniques and shit for a while. Haven't really kept up with developments. Gimme the short version."
"Short version is that your 'friend' robbed an entire forty-man raid of the rewards for all their hard work and got four people killed. That we know of. And in doing so, left another guild 300,000 col in debt. So if you don't mind, we are going to collect every last scrap of it from him. One way or another."
Why god dammit why why did they have to follow him why couldn't they have just left him alone why couldn't they have just left it be he'd left Titan's Hand alone why couldn't they do the same for him what was he going to do he couldn't move he could barely think and now Klein was going to realize what a horrible mistake he made ever even trying to be his friend and-
"Sooooo... basically you're going to kill him and sell everything he owns right?" Klein said, breaking the silence and Kirito's stupor in one sentence.
"... yeah?"
"Cool motive, bro. Still murder."
Kirito blinked. So did the ranger. And most of the assembled Dragon Alliance players too, come to think of it. Klein looked over each shoulder, left and right, at his assembled guild-mates. All five of them stared ahead, steely-eyed, hands on their weapons.
"See, we've got this policy. Kind of radical, don't know if you've heard it yet. It's 'don't murder people and definitely don't let people murder people when we can do something about it'. I hope it'll catch on eventually." Klein slowly and deliberately drew his sword as he spoke, ignoring how twitchy the Dragon Alliance got. It was a nodachi, the long black and silver crescent curving far over the shoulder he rested it on. Which, Kirito realized flatly, was his. Ill-Fang's, technically.
"... you're really gonna do this?" The ranger seemed more confused than anything. "For some guy you don't even know? He doesn't have a bounty on his head for fun. He's a killer and a thief and a liar, and the rest of us are gonna be a whole lot better off once he's gone."
"I haven't known him for long. That doesn't mean I don't know him. After all, he only went off on his own way back when we first got stuck here because I told him to. So teeeechnicallyyyyyy I guess it's my fault." Klein grinned. "Also we just plain don't like you guys. Seriously, you take all the jobs and your dress sense is terrible.
"Are you insane!? Take a look around! There's twelve of us and seven of you. Unless you've got another party in your pocket, I'd strongly suggest packing it in. You're not the mark. You can still walk away."
Kirito shot Klein the most significant look he could muster. Mentally screaming at him. Take the deal. Walk away. This is my fight. Not that he stood any chance. He could take two, that was all he could be sure of. Three maybe. Not enough.
"Walk away? Why would I walk away when we've got you outnumbered?"
Dead silence ruled the clearing for a solid five seconds.
"... run that by me again?"
"Well..." Klein turned and did a brief headcount. "My buddy Kirito here is worth three of you. I, of course, am worth four. Each of my guys is worth two of yours- well, Dale is worth four from a mass perspective if nothing else."
"Fuck you Klein," his overweight guild-mate said without taking his eyes off the Dragon Alliance.
"So that comes to..." Klein paused again, tapping the air and scratching his head as he worked it out. The Dragon Alliance ranger opposite him seemed to be slowly tilting his head until it was perpendicular to the ground. "Nineteen on twelve. Close odds, bro. You wanna rethink your bet, or take a spin?"
A chuckle drifted across the cold winter night air from the Dragon Alliance party. A chuckle that became guffaws that became an uproarious group laugh. Klein weathered it all with a pleasant smile on his face, even as the ranger opposite him wiped a tear from his eye.
"Ahahaha. Haha oh you actually had me going for a second," he said. Then he drew his sword, the flat of the blade singing loudly against the metal rim of his scabbard. The sound was mirrored half a dozen times over at least among his followers. "Then I realized that you've been keeping us out here in the freezing fucking cold wasting our time for God knows how long. And that you're really just some new try-hard guild that really doesn't get how the world works now. And, most importantly, that you're a fucking idiot."
Kirito's HUD ticked. The final second of Christmas Eve ticked away. It was now 12 in the morning on Christmas Day.
There were sleigh bells in the distance.
"An idiot that knows how to keep track of the time," Klein said.
Next came the rumbling. Like an earthquake that was steadily drawing closer, an earth-shaking physical force that brought memories of the raid on Ill-Fang's lair rushing back. He could see it too - how could he not? - in the distance. A solid wall, an avalanche of snow, stampeding towards them with not a care for any tree or stone that lay in its path. Trees so thick-trunked that Kirito could have never wrapped his arms around them completely splintered like balsa wood as they were flung out of the way. Its wake alone was enough to uproot or crack the forest around it, the ancient wood splitting like gunshots. The rumbling began to resolve itself. Not just the sheer amount of snow being ploughed aside like water but hoofbeats.
"NOPE." The Dragon Alliance ranger conveyed a great deal of emotions in a single word. Then he scrabbled inside his coat and practically tore his teleport crystal free. It took five seconds tops between his first movement and the last one of the dozen-strong hunting party to vanish into pillars of blue light and bright white pixels.
"... you planned that!?" Kirito found his voice again with a screech that was not unlike a cat whose tail had just been trodden on.
"Yep! Down to the last second. But not really, I made it up on the spot. Anyway how about being a good sport and sticking around to help us nail this guy?" Klein wrapped his arm around Kirito's shoulders and yanked him over. Kirito slipped free with easily.
"No! Klein you've got to get your friends and run!"
"Hey, we paid good money to know that this event even existed!" Klein protested. "But mostly 'fuck you if you think I'm letting you fight it alone'. Probably should've mentioned that first."
"Please!"
If Klein replied, he didn't hear it. Or see it, for that matter. The sleigh breached the forest at last and turned sharply, spraying the seven of them down in a thick blizzard of freezing snow. It stung at Kirito like a thousand tiny daggers, making his eyes burn, blinding him. He recoiled and rubbed his eyes vigorously to clear them, hands still firmly on his swords.
A soft little 'thump'. The sleigh, having drifted hard enough to leave a truly enormous furrow in the powder snow, hit the fir tree in the middle of the clearing with the siding. For a moment all was still, the silence broken only by the faint snorting of the reindeer as they waited. Their view of the sleigh's driver was obscured by the truly enormous sack that sat on the back, tied up tight with rope as thick as an arm.
The driver stood up in his seat. The back of an old red hood. Grimy and dark with age, fur lining that might once have been white. A towering tree in its own right. A mountain. A mountain that slowly turned to the left and set its foot down on the sleigh step.
Crrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeak. Designed and built as sturdily as it was, even then it threatened to give way completely under the creature's immense bulk. For a moment, Kirito thought it really would. The entire sleigh leaned dangerously to the left. The giant's's other leg came down. Thumpf. An colossal black boot of leather thick enough to be armour sank into the snow. Thumpf. Down came the other. The sleight rocked back to its upright position. The silence remained unbroken, Kirito and Klein's guild gingerly backing away to give the giant some space. They all held their breath.
Long, heavy strides. Deep craters in the snow where the giant trod, like the fossilized footprints of beasts from ages past. He circled his sleigh and began to untie the sack with hands big enough to palm Kirito's entire body.
"Maybe he's going to give us presents," Klein whispered.
The immense cord was tossed away. The giant thrust his arm shoulder-deep into the sack, rooting around in it for something. Something very long, they realized as he began to pull it out. Something very long and very heavy.
WHUMPF. A haft that came up to the giant's collarbone. An immense, bearded head. Double-bladed. Still so heavy that it was mostly buried in the snow. Jólnir's weapon of choice. Ready for them.
"That is not a present," Klein said.
Kirito didn't hear him. Wouldn't have cared if he did. The boss was in front of him now. He was here. He was ready. The next few moments were all that mattered. Slashing, hacking, cutting, stabbing, until there was nothing left of Jólnir. Until he could use the revival item and bring Sachi back to tell her just how sorry he was that she'd ever had the fucking misfortune to have him in her life.
So he moved. It wasn't a conscious thing, of course. He'd stopped being conscious during fights a long time ago. He just kind of sat back and went along for the ride as his muscles moved on their own, sending him forging ahead through the snow before Klein's guild even had a chance to react. Was he screaming? Was that out loud or just in his head? It didn't matter anyway. Jólnir ripped his axe from the snow and swung, but Kirito was too fast. He was already inside his swing, leaping, stabbing. Swords sinking in halfway, arrested by the sheer bulk and density of the giant. He had to struggle to rip them free. A struggle that cost him dearly as Jólnir swept him off his chest with a vicious backhand.
Kirito bounced twice, rolled and skidded. He left a long furrow, like a meteorite only recently come to earth. He didn't stop to check his health bar. He righted himself almost immediately, digging the pommels of his swords into the snow arrest his flight. Something like a snarl escaped him. He could feel the winter air biting at his bared teeth. There was a red fog over his mind that stopped him doing anything more than charge even as Jólnir slowly opened his coat.
There was a brief glimpse of underarmour, some kind of scale or ringmail. That wasn't the point. For nearly the moment it pulled back the flap of its coat, a strange aura swirled around the exposed area. Wispy and ice-white, like a magical portal. Its purpose soon became clear as metre-long spears of jagged, razored ice spewed forth.
Kirito had no idea what he would have done. Could have done. All he knew is that his body wanted to sprint right through the storm, slashing wildly to deflect and parry as many as he could, and just keep going. What would it even matter if they hit him.
None of them did. One moment he was charging to meet them and the next he was rolling over and over, the world spinning around him as something heavy bore him across the clearing like a missile. He wound up beneath it, nearly pinned by the weight. He struggled reflexively, muscles straining, hissing air through clenched teeth as if rabid. Then he noticed two things. First was the face of the person who had tackled him. Second was the blood slowly trickling onto his coat.
"Klein!"
