[F4-PP] Absolution

[Alkor 0]

Absolute Zero

The Fourth floor was a place Alkor knew far too well. Some of his best memories, and some of his worst since coming to Aincrad were shared with others here. He came here when he needed to think, and when there were quests to do. Right now, he'd heard about a boss he'd once defeated alongside Zelrius coming back with a vengeance. Avalanche had returned, complete with monstrous new stats and an enviornmental hazard that would prove lethal to any Player who came underprepared to face them. 

Luckily for Alkor, the Player who sought him out for this particular venture came with a great deal of information prepared beforehand. She asked for him to prepare accordingly, and together they would face the boss. Since they were fairly even in level, it would present a challenge unlike all of the times he had run through such quests alongside higher level Players and felt absolutely useless. This was his opportunity to shine on his own, without anyone else to give him wings and elevate him higher.

It was the chance he had been waiting for.

Alkor lv. 42

HP: 860 | EN: 84 | D: 14 | M: 48 | A: 4 | E: 1 | BLI: 24

T2 Demon CS [Blightsteel] x2 Damage | Blight

T2 Perfect LA [Nightmare Bomber] 2 Mitigation | Evasion

T1 Perfect Trinket [Eye of Osiris] x3 Accuracy

skills: 

r5 CS

r5 LA

r3 Familiar (fighter)

Survival

mods:

Athletics

Ferocity

Precision

 

[Assassin 0]

Assassin's wandering spirit had brought her to the fourth floor. She needed to get stronger, but bugging sis about doing quests all the time just made her feel really annoying. After what happened on the sixth floor, she found herself looking over her shoulder a lot. Putting out a want for help with this boss was the right call. She got a call for it nearly instantly.

Heading to the snowy fourth floor, she would look for the man who called himself Alkor. He was probably going to judge her for her age when they first meet, but maybe he'll just look past it and fight the boss.

After finally finding him with the description that he provided the teenager waved him down. The leopard that was her partner growled slightly as they closed in, but she calmed her pet quickly. "Sorry, she doesn't like meeting new people. Very protective. I'm Assassin."

Spoiler

Name: Assassin
Level: 31
HP: 620/620
EN: 62/62

Stats:
Damage: 12
Mitigation: 30
Evasion: 2
Accuracy: 2
PARA VEN
PHASE
BLD:12

Equipped Gear:
Weapon: Shadow's Infection: Bld; Para V.; Phase
Armor: Dark Cloak(LA): MIT II; EVA I
Misc: Fastening Belts(Tri): ACC II; EVA I

Skills:
Dagger [Rank 5]
Light Armor [Rank 3]

Extra Skills:
Familiar Mastery: Fighter
Survival

Mods:

Battle Ready Inventory:
Teleportation Crystal*1

Housing Buffs:
Rested: -1 energy cost for the first two expenditures of each combat
Relaxed: Increases out of combat HP regen by (5 * Tier HP) and decreases full energy regen to 2 Out of Combat Posts.

Guild Hall Buffs:

Scents of the Wild:

Wedding Ring:

[Alkor 0]

The crow cawed overhead.

Alkor glanced up, then followed the circling avian's lead to look toward the newcomer.  A girl, perhaps young or perhaps simply small- neither of which mattered, because she had put out the request, and his only job was to fill it. The darkly dressed swordsman held out a hand in greeting, and she promptly introduced herself and excused her familiar.

Yatagarasu alighted on his upraised wrist, and as the bird crept up his arm to perch on his shoulder, Alkor gave a knowing smile. "I appreciate you taking the time to contact me for this quest. I've been trying my best to improve and get stronger so I can stand on the Frontlines, but this is the first real chance I've had to face a difficult foe without the help of someone much stronger.  So, this is as good an opportunity for me as it is lucrative."

He bowed and then swiped open his inventory. "I took the liberty of preparing all the items we would need for the fight. Let me go ahead and send them your way."

Alkor opens a trade window

x1 Kobe Steak (Food, Protein)

x1 Ramune Soda (Food, Antioxidant) 

to Assassin

[Assassin 0]

The items appeared in her inventory after accepting the trade. It was a bunch off Japanese style food. How long had it been since she had a meal like this? Probably forever. Even before she got trapped in the game, the orphanage never cooked something this extravagant. Opening her new food and downing the portions that she could, she could see the buffs added on her heads-up display.

"Thank you." The girl said happily as she at the last of the steak. "I... I just need to get stronger." She says simply when Alkor explains his triumph to the frontlines. That was the last place that she wanted to be. All she needed to do was survive. "This quest doesn't have a lot of enemies in it does it? I can only attack a single enemy at once. Thanks to dagger. Most weapons are kind of heavy and I like to stay fast."

Eating Kobe Steak and Ramune Soda
New Stats:  Assassin | HP:620/620 | EN:62/62 | DMG:14 | MIT:10 | EVA:2 | ACC:2 | PARA VEN | PHASE | BLD:12 | Antioxidant

[Alkor 0]

"To my knowledge, there's only one enemy," he answered honestly, "if you're afraid, you can wait for me to get a bit ahead in damage before you jump in so that your threat stays behind mine and the big guy doesn't notice you."

Alkor understood the desire to become stronger. It drove him just as fiercely as any other Player in this game, if not more so. He took a seat to ingest the food himself, and made sure to gulp down a quick potion as well. Hopefully this would be over quickly enough that they need not worry about the Massive Ice beast taking either one of their lives. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and exhaled sharply.

"I don't plan on slowing down, but I also don't plan on letting anyone die," he told her. "So let's do our best."

Alkor didn't intend to lose now, not when he was so close to his goal. 

Alkor's stats (alter)

 

HP: 950/950 (OH) | EN: 84 | D: 20 (PRO, D. Pot) | M: 18 (PRO) | A: 4 | E: 3 | BLI: 24

[Negates the next status effect used against him]

Alkor used: Kobe Steak - Protein

Ika Shogayaki - Overhealth

Ramune Soda - Antioxidants

Ramen Bowl - Evasion

Liquor of Light: damage 3

Edited October 10, 2020 by Alkor

[Assassin 0]

Assassin wasn't a coward. If she was, she'd be hiding from the group of people that were apparently chasing her. Their name was Laughing Coffin or something? She couldn't remember, just that psycho trying to kill her. If he was any weaker, she would have killed him right there.

"You can pull it's attention away from me and I'll jump in after. I'm small but I can do a lot more than I look. Nee-chan's dagger is really strong. She let me have it so I can protect myself." The girl explained allowing Alkor to lead the way. It felt weird not questing with Hidden. She was always there to protect her in someway. It seemed like her way of being her for her was by using this dagger. Shadow's Infection would be a boon to this battle for sure. "I'm ready for the fight. I just killed a mountain, I can handle this."

[Alkor 0]

A Mountain? Alkor wondered quietly as they began their approach. The area where the creature spawned was sparse, not rife with creatures and devoid of any kind of life. Only the wind howled here, and only the raging snow kept them company. It was a whiteout hell, and when Alkor stepped up to the edge of a frozen over lake, the world seemed to stop entirely for a moment. His eyes skimmed the horizon from left to right and back, and then he got the deathly cold chill down his spine. The beast was awake.

"Stay back!" he called to Assassin as he ripped the blade from its sheath. The earth beneath them trembled and a world rending bellow tore out all around them. The ice that frosted the lake over began to splinter and shatter as Avalanche rose up from the murky depths. He felt his heart beating out of his chest as the name of the creature appeared overhead. <<Avalanche, the Absolute Zero>>

It was more massive by far than the original field boss, and much more menacing. Everything in him screamed to flee in order to preserve his life. Alkor refused to listen. "Alright, get ready," he said under his breath. "You got this."

The snowstorm immediately seemed to exacerbate as the beast glowed down at them, and Alkor felt a certain sluggishness tugging at his body. If not for that potion to increase his speed and reaction time, he thought he might have ground to a half entirely. 

Alkor: HP: 950/950 (OH) | EN: 84/84 | D: 20 (PRO, D. Pot) | M: 18 (PRO) | A: 4 | E: 1 (-2) | BLI: 24 | Antiox x1

Assassin: 

Avalanche, the Absolute Zero: 

HP: 850 - MIT: 75 - DMG: 200 - Freeze: 2 (Will Freeze on Natural Rolls of 8-10) - ACC: 3 - EVA: -2

Damage Increase on a Natural Roll of 9: 50 - Damage Increase on a Natural Roll of 10: 100

Abilities:

<<Grand Slam>> : On a CD of 12, this boss will raise its arm and slam against everyone in your party, dealing damage to everyone and freezing them in place.

<<Zero Degree Weather>> : The boss radiates negative weather that forces the players to have -2 in their evasion, this cannot be avoided with Survival

[Assassin 0]

Assassin was quiet for most of the walk. She had already mentioned Nee-chan, and she didn't want to draw attention to her unnecessarily. The crunch of snow beneath her feet changed to click of boot against ice. Looking down at her feet, she could see the Avalanche through the water. Alkor must have noticed too as he screamed for her to fall back. Assassin paid no mind.

"Made of earth or made of ice, another mountain to topple." The girl sighs, instead charging towards the point where the ice golem will break the ice. Jamming her  dagger into the frozen platform, she rides a chunk up with the colossal glacier as it rises. Splitting her way off the chunk of ice, Assassin leaps straight for the bosses head. If he listened close enough, he could hear her say something in her native language, which would obviously translate if he had that function active. "Korosu."

Shadow's Infection claws it's paralytic abilities into the titan's body when the dagger is jammed directly into what she assumed was it's eye. Ice cracks and explodes as the ice golem falls to the ground, landing just before Alkor. Assassin pulls her dagger free of the skull of the beast and looks to Alkor, a fierceness in her eyes. Yet she stays in silence.

---

Spoiler

Assassin | HP:620/620 | EN:62/62 | DMG:14 | MIT:10 | EVA:2 | ACC:2 | PARA VEN | PHASE | BLD:12 | Antioxidant
Alkor: HP : 950/950 (OH) | EN: 84/84 | D: 20 (PRO, D. Pot) | M: 18 (PRO) | A: 4 | E: 1 (-2) | BLI: 24 | Antiox x1

Avalanche | HP: 743/850 -(14*13)-75 - MIT: 75 - DMG: 200 - Freeze: 2 (Will Freeze on Natural Rolls of 8-10) - ACC: 3 - EVA: -2 [PARALYZED]

 

[Alkor 0]

Korosu?

Alkor blinked rapidly at the girl as she uttered a Japanese word that most people just didn't use. It was strange for someone to say 'kill,' even in a game, unless they were a little unhinged. Then again, most of the people he had met inside Aincrad didn't speak the best Japanese if they weren't, and the native speakers were more than willing to speak English. That was true in Japan, too. They learned to speak English from the time they were very young because the US dominated the global economy with the so-called "almighty dollar."

That was less important than the task at hand, though. His eyes flicked toward the beast that, in her swiftness, the deceptively small Player had afflicted with Paralysis. That would be enough to get this started without any danger to her, but he had to get ahead of her before the creature was able to swipe back at them.

He had an overabundance of health by comparison, and she'd asked him to assure her survival. His own was just as important, so together, they'd topple this mountain of a beast. Just like she'd said.

"負けられない!" (I won't lose!)

Alkor howled the words as he exploded into motion, ripping past the girl and flinging himself airborne. The youth, golden eyes burning with resolve, sank his blade deep in the creature's flank and let his weight drag the blade downward with him. Avalanche gave a thunderous, agonized roar as it summoned forth an even angrier blizzard, turning its gaze toward the Players that had offended it.

Certainly, it would not allow this trespass lightly.

 

Alkor- ID# 172242 Battle: 9

Avalanche is afflicted with Blight

Avalanche- Paralyzed

[1]Assassin | HP:620/620 | EN:62/62 | DMG:14 | MIT:10 | EVA:2 | ACC:2 | PARA VEN | PHASE | BLD:12 | Antioxidant
[2]Alkor: HP : 950/950 (OH) | EN: 73/84 (-11) | D: 20 (PRO, D. Pot) | M: 18 (PRO) | A: 4 | E: 1 (-2) | BLI: 24 | Antiox x1

Avalanche | HP: 576/850 - (20+1+1=22×11=242-75=167) - MIT: 75 - DMG: 200 - Freeze: 2 (Will Freeze on Natural Rolls of 8-10) - ACC: 3 - EVA: -2 [PARALYZED] [BLIGHT 0/2]

 

Edited October 13, 2020 by Alkor

[Assassin 0]

The colossal beast rose once more. It wasn't ready to give up in an fight to the death, no matter how uncertain the odds were for it. Assassin latched on to the back of the giant, moving along with it as stood back to full height. Nothing more than an insect biting at the titan's skin, Assassin climbed onto the shoulder of the beast and stabbed the blade into the ice where the things neck was. Her blood red dagger chipped chunks of ice off with each attack.

"舐めるなよ!" The girl screamed again in native tongue. Continuing to pester and skitter around the shoulders of the Absolute Zero, Assassin's tiny dagger stung more and more with every slash that she was able to get off. The Absolute Zero was starting to get really annoyed with her. It's attention was back on her. Using it's massive arms, it attempt to crush her like a fly. The girl simply speeds around it, avoiding it's attacks by sliding around and down it's body.

---

Translation note: 舐めるなよ! = Don't Underestimate me!

Spoiler

[2]Assassin | HP: 620/620 | EN: 41/62 -(11) | DMG: 14 | MIT: 10 | EVA: 2 | ACC: 2 | PARA VEN | PHASE | BLD:12 | Antioxidant
[2]Alkor: HP : 950/950 (OH) | EN: 73/84 | D: 20 (PRO, D. Pot) | M: 18 (PRO) | A: 4 | E: 1 (-2) | BLI: 24 | Antiox x1

Avalanche | HP: 469/850 - (-(13*12)-75=107) - MIT: 75 - DMG: 200 - Freeze: 2 (Will Freeze on Natural Rolls of 8-10) - ACC: 3 - EVA: -2 [PARALYZED] [BLIGHT 0/2]

 

[Alkor 0]

He heard her words and blinked rapidly. Perhaps it was some sort of strange slang he had never heard, because what it sounded like she had said was something his mind would never have thought twice about. Like eating tide pods or drinking bleach, licking little girls just was not high on his list of priorities. He made a note to ask her what she'd meant by it, and possibly where she had lived to speak with that particular speech pattern. If nothing else, someone had been naughty and taught a little girl something she should not have been saying.

That said, it was far less important than the massive fist that just barely missed connecting with his face. Alkor used his blade to bat away the massive fist, already on a vector away from him. His weapon ripped across the surface of its icy chitin, and the swordsman was repelled by the sheer force of the blow. He recovered quickly, jumping off the balls of his feet to land on the creature's hefty arm and begin his own, dangerous ascent toward the proverbial mountain top.

Alkor surged upward with his blade at the ready, and when he was near eye level with Avalanche, he called out. "Here we go!"

He turned in the air as he stepped off, like a child about to pencil dive into a pool. His momentum carried him down in a straight line, parallel to Avalanche's torso, and he jabbed his weapon into its body. The blade bit deep, and his body stalled halfway down. He felt the resistance tug at him and he skidded to a halt with his feet against its body. His eyes widened when the field boss brought its hand up to slap him dead like a mosquito.

"Too..." Alkor grunted as he tore at the weapon, one creak at a time dislodging it from the ice. His descent renewed, the effort from Avalanche narrowly missed crushing him; but Alkor had already done the damage. "...slow!!!"

 

ID# 172297 Battle: 2 (+6) [Hit]

20 +1 = 21 x 11 = 231 - 75 = 156

1

10

2

6

Avalanche

  6-1 = 5 [Avalanche misses]

[2]Assassin | HP: 620/620 | EN: 41/62  | DMG: 14 | MIT: 10 | EVA: 2 | ACC: 2 | PARA VEN | PHASE | BLD:12 | Antioxidant
[3]Alkor: HP : 950/950 (OH) | EN: 63/84 (-11) | D: 20 (PRO, D. Pot) | M: 18 (PRO) | A: 4 | E: 1 (-2) | BLI: 24 | Antiox x1

Avalanche | HP: 289/850 -  (-156)(-24) MIT: 75 - DMG: 200 - Freeze: 2 (Will Freeze on Natural Rolls of 8-10) - ACC: 3 - EVA: -2  [BLIGHT 1/2] 

Edited October 13, 2020 by Alkor

[Assassin 0]

With it's health dropping below half, Assassin was ready to finish it off. Switching her grip on Shadow's Infection's hilt, the girl slashes the back of the beast's head with blinding speed. Every little slash whittled down it's health even further and further until it dropped into the red. It would be nice if she could paralyze it again, but as long it dies in the long run, it doesn't matter too much.

She figured that with the amount of damage that Alkor could output, she her attacks would be over kill. With that being realized, she dug her dagger into it's back and started her decent to the ice below. No way she was falling out of the sky like she had with the colossus. Sliding down the back of the beast, Assassin looked at everyone's health. No damage taken. This game was easier than she thought. If she knew that, she would have left the beginning town much earlier.

---

Spoiler

[2]Assassin | HP: 620/620 | EN: 42/62  | DMG: 14 | MIT: 10 | EVA: 2 | ACC: 2 | PARA VEN | PHASE | BLD:12 | Antioxidant
[3]Alkor: HP : 950/950 (OH) | EN: 63/84 (-11) | D: 20 (PRO, D. Pot) | M: 18 (PRO) | A: 4 | E: 1 (-2) | BLI: 24 | Antiox x1

Avalanche | HP: 182/850 - (182-75) - MIT: 75 - DMG: 200 - Freeze: 2 (Will Freeze on Natural Rolls of 8-10) - ACC: 3 - EVA: -2  [BLIGHT 1/2] 

 

[Alkor 0]

The girl hit it again, and Alkor nodded approvingly. Together, they had managed to get this far without incident. That meant the chances of survival had gone up exponentially. It also made him more wary of danger. He almost didn't see the attack coming, and even though he ultimately did, he wasn't able to get out of the way. 

Avalanche lifted both arms and brought its fists angrily down, beating against the tundra. The world quaked beneath its rage, and true to its given name, the snow that covered the floor came to life. Like a tidal wave of powder, it swept up and over, churning around like an opaque sea. Alkor kept his guard up, but somehow knew that there was no avoiding the attack that came next. Instead, he put himself between the field boss and Assassin, his blade held now in high guard. He wasn't a tank. He couldn't hope to soak damage. What he could do was take what the beast dished out and ensure it didn't claim the life of another Player.

The storm was wild. It tossed them as the Avalanche threw the Players skyward, and at the last second before the Absolute Zero reached out to grab them out of the air, Alkor managed to push the girl out of the way. "Here!" he called. "This is your chance! I'll take the brunt of this, you find an opening and finish the job!"

Avalanche was visibly writhing from the infection Alkor had afflicted it with, so as it focused its frigid anger entirely on him, Assassin would go free and unnoticed. The perfect opportunity for her to live up to her name. Meanwhile, Avalanche caught Alkor in its hand, raised him up...

He felt lightheaded, and vertigo set in...

...then brought him crashing downward, opening its hand at the last second so as to crush him entirely under its palm.

Unfortunately for Avalanche, Alkor got his blade wedged between the two of them. In that moment, he turned his body and used his hips to crank the blade into position, then caught himself on the balls of his feet. Instead of crushing him, the mid level Player and the Field Boss were at odds, Alkor staving off an attack intended to utterly crush him, and the beast cutting himself on Blightsteel.

Alkor had made a small miracle.

 

 

ID# 172326 Battle: 3

3+6= 9 [Hit]

20+1= 21+11= 231-75= 156

ID# 172327 MOB: 9

250-48= 202 Damage

[2]Assassin | HP: 620/620 | EN: 42/62  | DMG: 14 | MIT: 10 | EVA: 2 | ACC: 2 | PARA VEN | PHASE | BLD:12 | Antioxidant
[3]Alkor: HP : 748/950 (OH) (-202) | EN: 63/84 (-11) | D: 20 (PRO, D. Pot) | M: 18 (PRO) | A: 4 | E: 1 (-2) | BLI: 24 | Antiox x1

Avalanche | HP: 2/850 - (-156)(-24) - MIT: 75 - DMG: 200 - Freeze: 2 (Will Freeze on Natural Rolls of 8-10) - ACC: 3 - EVA: -2  [BLIGHT 2/2] 

 

Edited October 13, 2020 by Alkor

[Assassin 0]

Assassin flopped in the air when the Absolute Zero from the shaking tundra, but things got especially dangerous when it tossed them into a salad. Up in the air, the mutated avalanche was fit to end this by clapping the two of them like flies out of the sky. Nothing would be left of them.

Alkor wasn't content to let this happen. He gave her a good shove, making sure the attack doesn't collect the both of them. Alkor on the other hand wasn't so lucky. It grabbed him and slammed him in to the ground without remorse. It barely had anymore health to take another hit. No remorse for him then.

With a spin, Assassin cleared the snow on her decent. The blade in her hand shinned brightly red through the white mist of snow. Like a tornado of death, she split the ice down the middle as she fell. The Absolute Zero cracked in half and shattered into pieces, leaving Assassin suspended in the air falling to the earth. Quick thinking, the girl used her cloak. She untied the thing from around her neck and held the corners to slow her decent slightly. It was enough to keep her from dying on impact but her health bar took a heavy hit when she did land. "Gah!" She exclaimed as she landed.

---

Spoiler

[2]Assassin | HP: 320/620  -(300)[fall damage flavor] | EN: 33/62  | DMG: 14 | MIT: 10 | EVA: 2 | ACC: 2 | PARA VEN | PHASE | BLD:12 | Antioxidant
[3]Alkor: HP : 748/950 (OH) (-202) | EN: 63/84 | D: 20 (PRO, D. Pot) | M: 18 (PRO) | A: 4 | E: 1 (-2) | BLI: 24 | Antiox x1

Avalanche | HP: 2/850 -  - MIT: 75 - DMG: 200 - Freeze: 2 (Will Freeze on Natural Rolls of 8-10) - ACC: 3 - EVA: -2

 

[Alkor 0]

The weight was dispelled after five, maybe ten long and excruciating seconds. Though he felt no pain, the pressure made his shoulders, elbows, and wrists want to buckle. One knee came severely close to touching down, but he endured. Assassin doled out the blow that decided the battle, and for that, Alkor was grateful. It would have been much more difficult to withstand another round of punishment like that. He wondered if Chase had felt that way when he had to manhandle Ki'Raion for him.

Alkor pushed the thought from his mind because the comparison seemed ridiculous. He looked concerned for a moment as he turned to look for Assassin, but she glided slowly toward safety. It wasn't enough to prevent fall damage entirely, but she came nowhere near death. He exhaled a sigh of relief.

"So, uh," he asked, "where are you from? Your dialect is a little weird compared to what I'm used to, I think..."

Edited October 13, 2020 by Alkor

[Assassin 0]

Once the pain of the fall damage subsided after a second, Assassin stood to her feet and tied the cloak back around her neck with a sigh. That was a rough fight that she was sure she couldn't have done on her own.

When she turned back to Alkor, he seemed content with that ending to the fight. Hyou came from the trees out of safety and rejoined her master, rubbing against her leg. The girl gave her a light pet in return.

Alkor's voice caught her attention. Where was she from? Kind of a personal question that she wasn't sure how to answer. "Um...I'm... from the orphanage? What does dialect mean? I don't know that word." Assassin said, starting to walk towards town again. She wanted a nap now that this was all over. Maybe Hidden was home and they could hang out or something. Needed a bite to eat too.

[Alkor 0]

"Ah... ah. Hmmm."

Alkor tilted his head and placed a hand to his chin as he contemplated the situation. Was she as young as she looked? He doubted she was uneducated, because it took a decent amount of effort to figure out the NerveGear. What really bothered him is that she said something strange. The girl was from an orphanage. Normally, people from that kind of situation couldn't afford the expenses that went into an undertaking like SAO. She must have had some kind of benefactor, or...

No, ask her yourself. Don't just go making guesses about people and their circumstances. 

"The way you talk," he said. "Its an interesting type of Japanese. I've never heard it before, and I've lived pretty close to Sendai for a few years. Where did you learn to speak that way?"

He could have spoken to her entirely in Japanese, but it felt so foreign to him. He had grown up in the States, so English was his first language, much to his grandparents chagrin. He was third generation immigrant, but his grandparents went back to Japan ten, twenty years ago. They had grown up in the US after the Second World War, but as time went on, they got tired of the culture, the politics, and the people. They longed for the traditions they grew up on.

They'd practically begged his parents to come back, and his parents only agreed once his grandmother was nearing her deathbed. 

[Assassin 0]

Assassin blinked a few times. She couldn't figure out what the man was trying to get from her. Asking her where she learned to speak the way she did. "Uh... the caretaker when we had school sessions?" She choked out, completely unsure of how she was supposed to be answering that. Was there some other way she was expected to reply?

"I don't know what you want me to tell you. I grew up in an orphanage without parents and my caretaker taught me how to speak. Is that what you're trying to figure out? In what way was anything that I said weird enough to ask me such a question?" This conversation was starting to remind her about the real world and how little she cared to actually see it again. She wondered what Kobayashi would say to her when she woke up and how the other kids in the orphanage would treat her for stealing a game console from them.

[Alkor 0]

"I guess, err," Alkor stammered. He wasn't expecting any type of frustration or pushback from such a simple question. He blinked several times before his composure returned. It's okay, you didn't actually say anything wrong. Breathe. This is an odd situation, it's alright to be a little disoriented. "I just meant, like, what prefecture? What city?" he recanted the question to be a bit more specific. Maybe she knew one of those answers? 

I'm guessing she hasn't had much in the way of Geography lessons.

"It's just that compared to your generic Japanese, the colloquial-" Alkor stopped himself. If she didn't know where she was relative to Japan itself, she certainly wasn't going to know a word like colloquial. "Your slang," he corrected himself. "Certain things you say, they're probably unique to the place where you grew up. So, it confused me because the translation was different from what I've learned."

[Assassin 0]

Assassin was still a little confused but sooner or later she would just shake it off. The girl shrugged and sighed at least that second mountain of monster was dead. She needed the experience. "I'm not sure what the prefe- um, pre-fect-ture is. Its been a long time since I've seen home its kind of fuzzy when I try to think about it."

It was a slight lie just to get off the topic of the situation. She wasn't sure what he wanted to get from her, so she was just going to avoid it and be a little sly. Truth be told, she did remember a lot about what her life was like before she was trapped in Sword Art Online. She just didn't like talking about it with others in too much depth. Hopefully her ally would understand that and leave it there. "Well, that's all I needed today. Thank you for your help. If I need someone's help later, I'll remember you."