NIGHT

it had been a while since the twenty-seventh floor had opened up. every floor had its own set of challenges before the labyrinth could be found -- either a duration to wait through, a quest chain to be completed; somewhere, some condition had to be met. even if the players hadn't been keeping track of what it was. but that was what the eyes and ears of aincrad were for; brokers to alleviate their work. despite this, however, it was about due time they got off their laurels to push towards that exodus at some point. not for sake of placing their peace behind them, but rather, it was a nece

night exhaled, moving forward -- the gap she closed within seconds was just enough time for her to watch nari clear the path beyond, if only a straggler remained. oathkeeper set to her side, she let cardinal drift her towards the first target in a chain, the lunge forward barely grazing her partner's spear as it was pulled backwards. with the tip of her blade sated, then came her second attack, weapon drawn behind her as her hands searched the system for a tug. her eyes were set upon the back of the goblin still fleeing from before. a slight shift of her foot forward, and night knew she w

"Yer gonna pay for that one, lass." "Try me." the readiness to evade was probably important. for night's rush forward upon noticing the backdoor fly open was in the boatswains' introductions, and she hadn't thought twice about where her ally would've been before she struck. one slash downwards -- her first attack towards the burlier once he'd been slammed to the floor, the cut across his entire form was the man's death sentence before he disintegrated to the ether. following through her momentum, a rounded slash, curved horizontal, tore into more environment than opponents. woo

only a syllable long. it was efficient, so night nodded to the title. though, it was a blank look that met nari's gaze when the look was shot her way. the player tilted her head, raising her hand in a wave. whatever message her companion had wanted to relay was completely missed. past the mountainside, into the fields and forests -- they were closer to the goblin encampment than she realized, and night hadn't time to respond once her tank raised her shield. orders given, and the player was ready to follow through, had there not been another rustle from behind as nari's steps thundered dow

just one more, they'd figured, before checking in. through the way they came from, despite knowing the dangers of it. upon first peer into the corridor, night noticed the stationed group missing; a clatter from the opposite direction drew her attention as to why. because instead of listening in from the other side of the bedroom, two of the personnel were trying to barge in from the door the duo had left through earlier. and night thanked her lucky stars she'd remembered to hit the lock before she closed it, if only to buy them some time. that left the question of where the rest of the in

"huh?" caught off-guard, her shift gave the fight enough reprieve for hirru to charge in, culling the remaining elemental she'd yet to cut down. and given she hadn't the time to jump back into the fight after that call -- "yeah, and holy," was all she could return, watching the cedar figment disassemble into sparkling hues. though she didn't give either the enhancements much thought beyond their power, their make. night was surprised to even know their effects could've been made out after all, knowing how it varied between players, even weapons. some drew the night sky, yet hers had

stealth -- sure. night was keen on that route of action, too, had it just been herself alone. but it was easier to go in guns blazing, she thought, despite dazia's combat preference. "then you sneak in," the player commented, oathkeeper forging in her hands as her ally started to move. "where it counts, i'll play distraction." and where it counted was the first moment she'd walked in. the doorway was notably enough to fit a human about twice the size of either the woman, and hence there was enough space for the assassin to round the room had there been a need to. five targets in their per

the player found herself fumbling and fidgeting at the exclamation from her other. quaintly adorable -- the enthusiasm almost brought a smile, too, to her face. if anything, she would've wanted to ask about the legend being spoken of, but found herself short on voice the moment the ideas of knights had been dropped. if anything, night found herself awfully shy. she'd only hummed at the call to move, tailing after nari as her companion skittered off. dazed, but not terribly impeded on movement, her pace matched with gianna's, making sure the third wheel wasn't going to be left behind. afte

the words on the first page helped soothe her concerns none about the book's existence. and night winced, upon reading it, because it felt biblical in nature. the part about accumulating guilt and purging sins especially. and night hadn't the capacity to consider the bible, only enough to tolerate its existence, so she pulled herself inwards with a fold of her arms. mostly busied thinking about what the warning was meant to pose. 'seek out your pain, and know peace.' how was torment supposed to guide someone to tranquility? the player bit her tongue, right as the wagon was pulled to

between the conviction (“We’ll help.”), the almost-immediate uncertainty paired with cutesy eyes (“We’ll help…right?”), and the words spoken as though they were a unit (“We can’t just leave a village undefended to face against a dragon. That’s just…that’s not us."), it was beginning to become difficult for night to keep her cool. she'd feigned a wince; old habits died hard, but a flick of the fox ears upon nari's hood helped keep her eagerness in check. half the reason why she wanted not to go anywhere, only tempered by the silly, cuddly hoodie -- she did wonder why that vest out of all others

"night," she shot back, pulling dazia up to her feet. the other woman was short, approximately an inch lesser than night's own height; unknowingly, the player adjusted immediately. "how much of this quest do you know about? besides --" and she rolled her eyes "-- whatever you'd heard about me speaking to the sailor back on land." depending on dazia's answer, night would nod, arms folded, her head turned towards the shack. the pirates' gathering hall. she gestured to it with the jab of her thumb. "they're inside," she explained. "illegal activities require a hideaway." and the criminals mu

'a vengeful princess who considered them her sworn enemy?' "stop, stop." night was caught off-guard from that description. if this was cardinal's way of setting up hidden factions and alliances, surely this would've been placed in some quest or another. but she hadn't heard of royalty nor bloodlines with regards to player heritage. and neither was she certain that description would've fit a video game's narrative, either. because they hadn't been creative enough to step out of the 'saviour complex' trope yet. so... that just meant another player, right...? but she wasn't keen on foll

her attention was immediately stolen by nari's cries, notice directed towards the skies. and she'd looked up, unaware of the creature, wariness only growing due to the size of the shadow cast upon their ledge. it was by surprise, then, to find out that ormi was just as pretty as nari had mentioned. albeit, she hadn't expected to have gathered scales off their new encounter, as her partner had mentioned. before the player could respond to her companion's thoughts about decorum, ormi interrupted nari's fangirling with a voice that boomed ethereal. a thunderous sound that shook her eve

no, wait. the last she remembered, the other side of the boat was empty. now, she wasn't sure when the shawl had appeared on her vessel. between the times she'd looked away, too engrossed in getting her hands right upon the handles of the oars, and the habit of watching her destination grow closer and closer by the paddle, there had to be some reason why there was cargo loaded onto a once-empty rowboat. because she wasn't hellbent on being some pirate's delivery player. night stepped out of the vehicle, eyes set upon the stowaway object and her pace rounding towards the matted rag. a

"whatever in the world does that mean...?" night huffed, before following her companion down the tunnel. past the nest was a different entrance towards the small cave, the enclave opening up to a larger ledge that acted as a look-out. angled towards a number of fields, each connected to another, adjacent, square patches of green overlapping each other. surrounded by darker greens of forest clusters, the sight, though lovely to observe, appeared unremarkable as the player searched the scenery for any signs of a notable landmark she could tie to the floor. there were none. part of nig

there was space in the boat for just another person, in case she ever tagged along with someone else. and, given the width of the boat, had a party squeezed in, the players would've made way for four just fine. instead, alone, night simply rowed her way out to sea, away from the pier, gaze looking out towards the horizon. boat rowing was tough work. it almost made her glad that she wasn't the one in charge of the controls for the most part. just think, how much effort would she have to have expended if someone else had gotten in the boat with her? the thought of it alone was already makin

players unknown. and the woman nearly let out a gasp at hearing the flow of unnatural words to her tongue out of nari. she hadn't understood what was said in the slightest. a new friend? it sounded like more. most likely ones the player either made before her time or during when they weren't on good terms. night found herself cautious, eying the entrants. introduced to one -- jomei -- and not the other, though the player wouldn't have blamed her other for not remembering. there were just so many players in aincrad, after all. though she'd wanted query about the message sent out (afte

a boat. "your... uncle's... rowboat." "yeah." night tried not to look disgruntled, looking to the water, noticing the seemingly shoddy rowboat tied to one of the pier's pillars with a rope. a hand placed at the pillar, her dissatisfaction still bled through when her gaze went to the sailor. "so, let me get this straight. you wouldn't stake your life on this expedition, but you'd stake... your uncle's rowboat just in case a stranger would've followed through on your request." "yeah." her eyes shot to the skies, offended. "and what happens if i lose it?" "well

thread summary. [total] + 8978xp | [(333 * 14 * 1) + 3500] * 1.1 + 14246col | (xp * 0.15) + 12500 + 400

because all that mattered at the end of the day was the reward she'd get from cardinal. something about good work for having slain the drakes' mothers, and she wondered for a brief moment if cardinal knew just how dark that prospect sounded, if it knew of the guilt it would leave behind on players who thought upon it too much, sympathized with the drakes a little too hard. and part of her mind went drifting to a poor little boy, now a grown man -- the kind of person who'd sworn to brave only the darkest aspects of humanity, to build a home for the ones wanting shelter out of it, the man who ha

her hold on reality was failing her. only a matter of time no less than ten minutes away from people, and she was already on several trains of thought that she wished to get off from, knowing that she was in light of some npc else. but what else was to be asked of her -- a handover of the fangs in her hands, and it would've been completed, right? night's thoughts were foggy when the foreman offered his hand out as she approached him, something about her job passing through his lips. and she'd wanted to say something to fill in the gaps -- usually, that's what players were meant to do, wer

as quietly as she started out on her journey, her exiting the cave entrance was to as much fanfare. she felt the glow of the floor return to her sights, and night needed to blink twice, maybe more, in order for her gaze to adjust to colours once again. almost like being greeted by the sun in a long while, despite the saturation not being her problem, the exhale she released, light as it was, went to appreciate the fact that she hadn't chosen to bury herself underground in any regard. because the last she could recall of the twenty-first was route zero, and its peculiarities aside, it did seem

so came the way home. and night knew which route to take despite having half the fear that she would get lost -- because part of her knew that she was good with spaces, if not directions, that at least in her memory she could trust to know that she was going the right way. that her mind was good at creating landmarks where there shouldn't be any, good at remembering that the road she came from had at least one disheveled nest that was now tarnished, definitely her fault, and it lingered with a guilt she didn't wish to carry but felt it her responsibility to do so, anyway. passing it, she

she thought upon the irony of finding the players best suited for her -- how, in her local circle of the alphabet mafia, of course they'd both be tanks, affection thrown her way. and she wondered, for a moment, if there was some regret lingering from how she hadn't managed to cherish yuki well enough that remained in how she treated nari -- the thought that she was building upon something lost that she wished she should've chased upon with her other friend only revisited in that shared affection. or was it just her mind playing tricks on her again, for overthinking, considering on her own