Sword Art Online: Eclipse

Chapter Five: New Challengers Approaching!

Cold should've been considered a type of pain. If it was, I wouldn't have felt the blistering freeze, and my numb hands could have held my sword better. Snow prickled my cheeks as I drew my sword over my head, heat radiate from the green blade. A small furry creature bleated at me from the height of my chest. The «Penguin Knight» shook its tiny hooded head in preparation and hefted its buckler. I ripped my blade down and slashed at the fuzzy monster. Fire fried the air between us, the flightless bird squeaked in alarm and rose its rapier, but my arming sword had already slashed through its wool coat.

An angry squawk retaliated with a sword as the «Penguin Knight» countered. A familiar sensation tugged gently at the base of my spine as my «Evasion» pulled me out of the glowing sword's path. My pure coat fluttered behind me, and a bit inside of me, as I warmed my sword again. I saw the bird's body vibrate aggressively and I knew what was coming next. The small creature leaped into the sky, dived back down, landed on its belly, and started to slide swiftly in right towards me. Heat and steel interrupted the knight's path. The momentum carried the polygons of the monster past me before it dissolved.

"Huzzah!" Magenta's voice exclaimed from behind me. I turned to watch as she slipped down the hills followed by the rest of my «Party». I tried to drag my eyes away from Magenta' new outfit, but it was really revealing. Her shoulderless «Passionate Coat» covered most of her body which wasn't much. It's red base color popped against the green accents a collar was attached to the coat with leather strips, which showed off a black chocker. The «Adorning Chestplate» only went down to her midriff-revealing just a bit skin that her coat didn't cover. I managed to yank my vision off of her body and onto her laughing face as she recovered from her fall.

Four other people followed her, MaDKiD and Muramasa gently made their way down the side of the snow-capped hill. The shield user's auburn hair was flaked with snow while his partner's golden locks shimmered with flecks of ice. Then there were the two newest members to the party that we had picked up. A skinny boy with golden tunic masked by brown chest piece cautioned his partner who held his hand to guide herself down. She wore a vivid royal blue one-piece dress with golden frills and buckle, showing off that it was rare loot. Her outfit was completed with a white cape and lute, and a white feathered hat on her head. It was definitely more reasonable than Magenta's outfit.

"I told you he could kill one on his own," Magenta said pridefully to MaDKiD, "even if he does nerf himself."

MaDKiD shrugged, "He has a good hold on the dumb «Motion» system but still, if he wasn't gimpping himself with that old gear he could do much better."

"What do you mean? This stuff does me good," I pouted. I presented my sword in front of him. It was a «Greenish Sword», "it's been upgraded to its max level and this coat," I tugged at my Coat of Glitch, "gives me the Eclipse buff and rare «Evasion» bonus."

MaDKiD waved his hand back and forth, "Sure, but the sword is from «Floor Four» and your coat has taken up more resources to keep repairing than it would to just make better armor."

"I think as long as it works then it should be fine," the nervous boy, Nautilus, stated, "I mean I have kept this armor since March and that's when you guys were stuck on the first floor right?"

"We were on «Floor Twenty-Five» though," the girl, Yuna, perked up, "so technically our gear is better than most of the stuff here."

"Ding, ding, ding," MaDKiD sang sarcastically, "we should go up to a floor higher than «Floor Eight» so you can get stuff that is better than loot you got two months ago."

"You mean you have had this stuff since before you met us?" Nautilus awed.

"We only met you guys like two weeks ago." Magenta reminded, "We started exploring floors three weeks before that, but he still hasn't changed gear," she cocked an eye at me.