<<These Machines Kill Masters>>
An angry rumble filled the air as a squadron of grotesque wasps dove beneath the tree line, surrounding their victim from all sides with a swarming efficiency, their black eyes and yellow mandibles forming hateful masks. A lone beginner mage might have been able to take three or four, perhaps even a half dozen
Coarser Vespidae.
There were a lot more than a half dozen.
A flight of three broke formation, dive bombing the blue haired girl that they had made their target. Three quivering barbed stingers, the size of knives and glistening with venom, attempted to skewer her body. She dodged with a snarl on her face.
In her usual game she didn't typically have such a front row seat to the monsters as she blew them away with precision armor piercing firepower.
And all because she'd gone soft . . .
Try a new game, they said.
It'll by fun, they said.
If not for the esteem with which she held her new friends, Asada Shino wouldn't have even given the notion a second thought. Although visiting ALfheim proved to be a good bit of fun, as one of the most fearsome players of Gun Gale Online, the sniper Sinon, she was in no hurry to make any other game her home, not even for Kirito.
But Kirito wasn't the one who had asked her. It had been Asuna. Shino had found it almost impossible to dislike the person introduced by Kazuto as his girlfriend, it became apparent very quickly that Asuna didn't have a single mean spirited bone in her body, unlike most privileged girls. And when she called Shino 'Sinono!' in that sing song greeting, so happy to have another girl around, it was very hard to resist what was ultimately a fairly modest request.
'Kazuto-kun is going to be busy over summer break. Why don't you try this game with us?'
She'd had a little extra money that month from trading in some rare loot she'd found while dungeon diving . . .
And so, Asada Shino had found herself flipping down the visor of her Amusphere and diving into the world of <<Chalice of Heroes Online>>.
Of course, where someone like Kirito had no doubt jumped right in, Sinon was a more methodical sort. She'd done her research before even touching the game. Which was why she was thoroughly unsurprised to open her eyes in the middle of a forest clearing, at the center of which was situated some circular ancient stone ruins.
She wasn't in any hurry. The online guide had read that the tutorial area wouldn't spawn in its first practice monsters until a player summoned their servant companion. Of course, it was a good idea to be prepared once that happened because the monsters would begin their attack almost immediately.
'I doubt Kirito read that far before jumping in . . . I'm sure he'll be okay . . . probably . . .'
She took some times to acclimate herself to her new avatar, opening the status window and going over the basics. Since she'd transferred her account, her avatar greatly resembled her Gun Gale persona, though, she paused as she touched the sides of her head, it seemed this game took note of other popular games in a player's history, while she had ears of a normal human fashion, her hair style had retained small 'tufts' that evoked her time as a Cait Syth.
'Well, I guess that's not too bad.' She thought, before stretching out and giving her avatar a few test hops, getting a feel for how agility was calibrated in this game.
While 'Mages' were expected to support their summoned 'Servant' and avoid the thick of battle, that wasn't to say they couldn't or shouldn't fight on their own or, equally often, in support of their servant. In fact, Sinon had already assigned her starting skill point to 'Alchemy' in order to get at the enchanted weapons unlock that would allow her to open up 'enchanted musketry'. In the meantime, she had access to a small number of starting spells.
'Well, might as well get started.' She cast her eyes back to the circular ruins that took up the center of the zone. You were supposed to use places like this to summon your servant . . .
"Did I do it right?" Sinon wondered as she spared a glance from the swarm to check on the center of the ruins, where her summoning had seemingly completed. The smoke had just about cleared and she could begin to make out something moving in a haphazard fashion. Maybe there was a <<Fumble>> mechanic in this game. Had she'd missed that part?
No, she thought, while the exact nature of a summoned servant was only partly controlled by the player, it was impossible to fail, that much had been made very clear in the tutorial information she had read.
"So I guess I have to buy time, huh?" Sinon frowned, really, this was such a pain.
Luckily, the basic combat magic of CHO took more than a few cues from the spell and flight mechanics of ALO. Anyone who had become accustomed to those chants and free flight mechanics could mostly translate their skills quickly to the 'magecraft' of this game. That had no doubt been a deliberate decision when trying to tempt players over.
It was useful in any case, as Sinon triggered a basic attack spell from the palm of her outthrust hand directly into the face of an oncoming
Coarser Vespedia, the mob moving with such great speed that its shattering fragments passed over her like flower petals carried on a gust of wind. It was a good start, but not enough. Sinon's ears twitched, she didn't need her Cait hearing to tell that the mobs were at her back now too, her sniper's instincts were blaring like a siren inside her head, she couldn't defend in every direction at once.
A wasp to her left began its attack motion, half way between it's starting place and Sinon, it was intercepted by a black dart and promptly shattered. The same started to happen to the others. One by one, and then two by two. The swarm dwindled, and as they did, the survivors gathered for a final kamikaze attack against Sinon.
Seven left, now five, two, one . . . The last wasp plunged straight for her heart . . . It failed to land the killing blow as something much bigger than a throwing knife intercepted it with the edge of a short, straight, sword.
Silken black hair, and golden eyes of such inhuman focus, for just a split second, Sinon wondered if she and Kirito had stumbled into each other. Stranger things had happened. But that surprise passed quickly, she was very certain that this one was truly female, her clothing revealing enough of the contours of her petite body that there could be no doubt.
Some kind of 'ninja' Sinon reckoned. There had been ninja-like characters in ALO, of course, mostly among the Spriggans and Imps she'd encountered. The young woman gave off a distinctly 'impish' impression, in any case.
The wasp and 'ninja parted' and for a moment something seemed wrong as the woman stumbled, her motions becoming erratic, her limbs jerked and shuddered as if attacked by spasms before regaining their fluidity as she sped back up, turning on the staggered wasp and cutting it cleanly in two before it could recover.
And just like that, the battle was finished.
Sinon, well versed in how these sorts of things worked in VR, brought up her menu and confirmed her suspicions. Right there in her setting, the second status sheet for her servant had appeared. Which meant this woman was her NPC partner . . . although perhaps 'woman' wasn't precisely the right word . . .
The Ninja trembled faintly as it sheathed its sword, but it was less like shivering and more like the subtle irregularities of a slightly malfunctioning machine. Unsurprising. Where bare, porcelain, skin was exposed, Sinon observed finely sculpted seams, and the mechanisms of ball joints at the shoulders and elbows. The hands were intricate mechanisms. If anything it was halfway between a doll and a mechanical type mob.
But it was her servant, her new partner, so there was no reason to be rude.
"Hey, you alright?" Sinon asked. Maybe it was a little silly, a little stupid to ask, but the NPCs in this game were supposed to have impressive AI. Certainly a step above what was normal in her home game of GGO. "Can you hear me?"
The Ninja's mouth opened and a grating voice, as if poorly recorded on old analogue tech, spilled forth. "Mana cells at thirteen percent and charging." Then a pause its frame trembled, at that moment it looked far less alive then when it had been fighting. "Conclusion, master detected. Start up sequence complete. Calibrating. Hello." Then again. "Hello." The grating started to fade. "Hello." A last time. The voice now sounded a good deal more human, though with a strong tinge of detachment.
The Ninja . . . doll . . . robot . . . Turned to face Sinon and proceeded to kneel like an actual ninja retainer. " Designation : Kato Danzo, Assassin Class. Danzo asks you forgive this rickety karakuri body, Danzo shall serve to the best of her ability."
