The Red Player (A Sword Art Online story)

Chapter 11: Tsunami

Chapter 11: Tsunami

Piifalo

I grab Ashas’ hand and pull her to her feet. She brushes the dust off of her armor with her hands and smiles. I turn away and continue down the dungeon. I guess that with all the lava the room suddenly became hot.

“Come on,” I say to Ashas who had stopped to look down at the pool of magma regretfully. “It was just an NPC. Neither of us really need the quest money, I usually sleep outside anyways. That special sword he wouldn’t shut up about is still there and we can take it no problem.” Ashas forces herself to pull her eyes away, but it’s clear she feels uneasy. What’s so hard about it? It’s just an NPC.

The long corridor is almost identical to the last, just a long, dark and empty hallway. After that last battle part of me wants to be more cautious, and have a more ready plan - but even more so I want to have a true one versus one fight, in which I can crush my opponent single-handedly. In the last battle I was glad Ashas had intervened, or else I could have easily ended up dead, but for the same reason, it was a completely hollow victory. I may have become a level 35.5 from that fight, but still I have a deep need to be the strongest that has not been satisfied in a long time. Before I know it I’m smiling widely. Ashas asks what’s wrong, but it brush it off.

Nearly halfway to the next room Ashas stops me with a sharp whisper. “Have you detected any enemies yet?” She asks with evident fear in her voice. I answer truthfully that no, I hadn’t, but I can’t help but wonder what if I had. Would I tell her?

Without warning my detection skill suddenly goes off like a gun. Enemies. Everywhere. They spawn and grow like wildfire all over my HUD in all directions. Humanoid lizards all equipped with light armor, shields and short swords charge inward from the next room, the previous one and even some spawn within the hallway, and they’re all level 25’s. (I’m really good at remembering important details which is exactly why I forgot to mention that Ashas is a level 33 and as I said earlier Piifalo is 35.5)

The hordes rush towards us without leaving any time for me to think. I draw my Devotion and manage to land some hits on a few, taking our about half of the lizard’s health with each hit, but in no time at all I’m swarmed. Damn it this must have been a trap room and I fell for it.

The lizards attack rapidly and from every direction, making it nearly impossible to block. My health is dropping fast and I’ve only taken out 4 out of 15 of them.

Behind me I hear Ashas cry out in pain. Her knife must be utterly useless against enemies like these. I want nothing more than to pull away just for a second and take them out one by one, then see how they scream! The hall is so densely crowded I can barely move at all, though. It took less than 30 seconds for my health to drop down to half.

Come one, there must be some way to break free! I consider using combat reflexes, but I’d burn out of energy long before I can finish them. Heh, I was just saying how I wanted to crush my opponents but I can’t even take out some level 25’s. Frustration builds inside me, and I can feel my anger boiling my blood. I’m surprised their swords don’t melt. Still, I can’t help laughing in spite of myself. Already my health is at ¼ and continues to fall fast.

My body is covered with so many stab wounds and cuts that by now it all feels the same. As my health plummets to my last moments the swords feel like nothing more than gentle waves pushing me softly to sleep.

“Is this how my story will end?” I wonder. “The champion Piifalo, swept away by the stream…”My eyes close as my health sinks to its last points. In my mind, as I wait for death I can see it. It’s the last message I will ever see. A dark red hexagon that reads “You are dead.” My mind sinks into it’s last moments of consciousness as I hate myself for letting this happen to myself… to Ashas.

Just then I can feel it. Vast amounts of power washing over me, building up and engulfing me like a high tide. This ocean of power burns, scorching hotter even than the volcano; burning as hot as the sun. “Hell no!” I scream as my eyes snap open. “These tiny ripples have no power! IM GOING TO CRUSH THEM!” the monsters step back in fear as my power explodes. “I’ll destroy them with my own strength! Two-handed sword skill number 23: Burning Tsunami!”

Instantly my vision turns blood red, and time ceases to move. I grab Devotion with all of my strength and swing hard in a gigantic arc. My fiery red blade slices through my enemies with no resistance. Without stopping I spin around and wipe out the remaining enemies.

Finally my vision returns to normal along with the time, but my breathing remains intensely aggressive. I look around at all of the monsters I hit, who remained completely still. I hold Devotion tightly with one hand and stab it into the ground. Less than a second later all of the bodies of my enemies shatter simultaneously.

This massive clearing allows me to see the group of enemies still crowding Ashas. In the top left of my screen I can see that Ashas’ health is nearly depleted. She has only 7 monsters on her, I think I can beat them myself. I can’t stop my eyes from flickering to my own health bar, which remains at 10 points, barely alive. “Like hell that’s gonna stop me,” growl piercingly.

Without another moment’s thought I rush forward to save her, but my legs suddenly buckle beneath me, and I fall to the ground. “What the hell?” I groan weakly. “My legs, they’ve stopped working…” Almost immediately I can feel myself on the verge of passing out, but I hold on with everything I have left.

The monster’s swords run through her body mercilessly. “A-Ashas…” the world around me begins to fade as I grasp at what little energy I still have. Every part of my mind screams in agonizing pain and anguish to give up, but still I push myself forward.  My body is slowly growing numb, and shutting down, but somehow my arm still reaches out desperately has her health plunges.

Then it stops. Her health sits barely above zero, unchanging. The sound of shattering glass follows. I look around hopefully, finding that all of the lizards have disappeared. Ashas lies down incapacitated. I long to search for the cause, but my body won’t move at all. Suddenly a voice calls out to me.

“Motto, motto!....” the disembodied voice says. “That’s what your eyes were pleading as you traversed this dungeon.” The voice is somewhat deep and harsh. “Even as you lay on your deathbed, and your friend there is slowly dying you were begging to kill. And your breathing was so desperately aggressive. Your desire to fight was endless. Through your last attack it was especially obvious how you wanted to win by any means necessary.”

Down from the ceiling drops a tall, old, white haired man, standing at least a half-foot taller than me. In his hands is a bo staff at least as tall as he is. The staff is black and blue with a glimmering faint blue crystal on top. Even through his age his strength is evident through not just his muscles but his presence as well. His unwavering confidence shakes me to the bone. Even if I could manage another Burning Tsunami I doubt it would come close to hurting him.

“I bet you are now wondering if you can kill me right now. I’ll save you the trouble and tell you that you can’t. Not even at your full strength.” His voice is booming and powerful. His words force a belligerent smile out of me. We just met and I hate him already.

End of chapter 11. Whew, that was exciting, wasn’t it?

In case you were wondering “motto” means “more” in Japanese.