My Laughing Coffin [SAO fan-fiction]

Chapter 4: The Spyde Quest

Rolling harvestable wheat fields as far as the eye could see, to the right the sound of water falls crashing into the river below filled my ears, the aroma of baking bread filling my nose, the soft tickle of the wheat grass, and the sweet taste of honey thrilling my taste buds. Floor 20 was a sensational level in this iron castle of hell. As if none of this was real and it was all just a beautiful dream, like my very existance in this world was a blessing regardless of how messed up this place truly was.

Nomad and Lavander held the same look of wonderful sensation on their faces. With my arms slightly outstretched so that my hands brushed across the top of the wheat fields, I began to walk and absorb my surroundings even further. The sun was in a mid-rise position, despite having been in full rise before entering the portal, because of this the sky was a dazzling orange. Birds flew in the distance I could faintly hear their kaws.

We stood on a small wheat hill on the out most edge of Floor 20, this gave us the highest advantage point besides the mountains parallel to our own position which may or may not be accessible to players. On the flat wheat covered fields below us, seemingly a mile or so away, standing in the center of the floor was our safe haven. The safe zone on this floor looked like a large collection of farms with a central bundle of builds huddle tightly together at the innermost part of all the structures. "Truly magnificent...." Lavender mumbled.

Having broken my silence I peered over at our future companion and gazed with a look barely containing my awe. Her slick black hair reflected the sunlight and the orange light rays shined gently on her otherwise slightly pale complexion. For the first time I'd seen since floor 12; Nomad had his hood down. Curly brown hair in the form of a box on top of his head emphasized his blend of African American/ Caucasian ethnicity. You couldn't tell under his hood, but Nomad himself was actually a rather handsome teenagers. A moderately strong jaw line, freshly edge up hair style, and brown eyes that seemed soft yet filled with anger and hatred toward this world and yet they held some form of acceptance to his surroundings.

If Aincrad had taught me anything after being trapped in this world; it's that just like Earth and real life, Aincrad is a beautiful world. A place that even though our bodies don't exist in this world. Our experiences in this place could sometimes be more real... more raw.... than the ones that exist in our true lives. This feeling of complete tranquility established the true meaning of Sword Art Online. A world to open our eyes to the beauty of this world, rather than the conspiracy and greed polluted world that all the players of Sword Art Online chose to call home.

Look at me rambling... I'm so easily won over by a complex combination of 1's and 0's. Nomad was the first to take off, seizing the opportunity to explore the new floor. Lavender was second giggling in pure joy as she did, I smiled and gave chase after the two. Aside from the sound of monsters spawning, our laughter filled the air.

We were the first ones of the remaining SAO survivors to enter Floor 20's safe zone. As I passed through the transparent barrier into a safe zone I got a notification.

You Are Now Entering Spyde

I was exhausted by now. We had not only been grinding through the last dungeon, but now we had ran a mile in under 5 minutes. The double doors we had entered through was now a spec on the horizon, a spec that I would not like to revisit till later on.

"What should we do first?" I asked excited for any suggestions.

Personally I was thinking more along the lines of eat, sleep, eat some more, then explore. "We need to activate the teleportation crystal in the town square." Lavender said, abruptly taking the role of commander.

I found it odd that she said "we". Seeing as how she had yet to accept our invitation to join Nomad and myself.

The trip to the center of town took nearly triple the time of us racing towards Spyde. Between Lavender's constant observing of the NPC's armor and weapons, Nomad's impressive ability to get us lost through the maze of a town, and my own exhausted walking pace slowed us down massively.

Lavender stopped at another weapons merchant, interacted with the NPC, frowned, then continued to follow Nomad. She had a worried and distasteful look on her face, it kind of put me on edge. She truly was a scary girl. "So where are we now?" I questioned for the fifth time as I caught up with Nomad.

He grunted at my constant pestering. "I'm still not sure, Spyde isn't like the normal towns. There aren't any main roads leading towards the town square."

He was right, I hadn't noticed it till now but, Spyde had no obvious paths to anywhere. It was like a giant maze with shops sprouting here and there.

"There!" Lavender shouted. I turned my attention away from Nomad to see the town square.

Spyde's town square was nothing much. Had benches dotting the area and at the focal point of the square was a pond. There were stone bridges leading towards the middle of the pond where on a sandbar was a small quartz structure. It was a simple square platform with a single pillar for each corner. "Is that the teleportation crystal?" Nomad asked.

Lavender nodded and walked towards the closest bridge. I looked at Nomad confused as to why she had seemed so annoyed. He shrugged and we silently followed her to the quartz platform. As soon as she stepped foot onto the scaffold a window popped up in front of her, this caused Lavender to retreat a step in shock.

Confusingly I took a step onto the teleport platform and as expected the same pop-up appeared in front of me.

                       !!WARNING!!

   In order to activate the Safe Zone's inns, weapon shops, armor shops, buyable properties, teleportation crystal, instant heal, and monster protection features. The quest "Widow Spinner" must be completed.

The sun dipped under the horizon and immediately all the NPC's packed up their goods and retreated into any nearby home. I tensed up at the sight of this ghastly behavior. I drew my axe. What the fuck is going on!?

The town was pitch black. A inching feeling of fear nagged at my very being. Kiyaba had to be joking... he would make this game fair for everyone right? This was the only town in view! And it was a damn trap!?

Spontaneously all the street lanterns bursted into life. Illuminating the streets of Spyde. I found myself overtaken by the feeling of violent terror that fiercely lashed out against my consciousness. Hissing filled the streets of Spyde as my knees began to knock into one another. An army consisting of an array of eight, glowing, red eyes began appearing with their hisses becoming more sinister and doom defining as they moved closer to us with jagged and unpredictable movements. "My god...." Lavender mumbled through a shaky voice.

I watched as the confidence melted from Lavander's personality, as Nomad's silent demeanor turned to that of a scared child, and as my own calm and collected state shifted into a frantic panic.

Thousands of claw tipped leg, poison spitting, giant sized, hissing, arachnid demons from hell came into the dim light of the town square.