The Red Player (A Sword Art Online story)

Chapter 9: Floor 13

Chapter 9: Floor 13

Piifalo

Somewhere behind me cheers erupt throughout the town, causing to snap awake, and jump straight up in surprise. My head slams into the wooden board above and I fall back to the ground in pain. Above me a sign appears in purple on the board saying “immortal object.”

“Yeah yeah i get it.” I groan as I crawl out from underneath the overhang. “I can't afford to lose anymore health as it is.” My health bar is at a lowly 1/8 still.

The cheers within the city begin to subside and return to the usual noise level. Behind me I hear Ashas yawn deeply and stretch her arms into the air. How the hell did she sleep through that? I wonder. She pushes my coat off of herself, grabs it, and the hands it to me.

“Thanks,” she says smiling brightly once again.
“Don't mention it,” I say looking toward the gate. “Any idea what all that cheering was in town?”

“What cheering?” She says, confused.

“Well that helps,” I say under my breath. “Come on, let’s check it out.” I turn and make my way to the entrance of the stone-walled town. Directly in the center of the town is a sign that says “FLOOR 12 CLEARED.” How long was I out for?

Ashas

Floor 12 has been cleared already? But Piifalo is still here? Who else could have possibly done it? Piifalo clenches his fist and walks up to the nearest player, a kid slightly younger than Piifalo.

“Hey who cleared floor 12 just now?” He says, clearly annoyed.

The boy gives off a bright smile filled with relief. “Oh that was the assault team. Rumor has it they spent the past week or so grinding for levels non-stop. They beat the floor 11 and 12 boss in a single night. Who knows what level they are now?” Piifalo clamps his teeth down noticeably hard.

“Yeah, who knows?” he says with a faint growl. Without another word he storms off to the center of Mokénop town. I jog to catch up.

“Where are we going?” I ask delicately. Poor Piifalo. He’s been having such great difficulty in his fights recently, and now there’s a group of people with such outstanding levels? After last night I’ll help him through anything!

“Should that be obvious?” He says sharply. “I’m going to floor 12 to get stronger. I’ll fight the assault team themselves if I have to.”

In the middle of town is the teleporter to the different towns. A brilliant blue light shines into the sky from a large circular stone pad in the ground. Piifalo steps on without hesitation, and I walk on along with him. The moment my foot makes contact with the stone, he calls out “Floor 13!”

A blinding white light fills the world around us, growing in size and brightness until it’s all I can see. Moments later the light dies down and I find myself in a completely unfamiliar area. Its an expansive piece of land, entirely surrounded by ocean. My boots drop into loose sand, littered with spots of black and white. At the top my screen are the words “Roeo town.”

I reach out for Piifalo’s arm without looking, but there’s nothing there. I wave my arm around blindly, but no avail. I turn my head rapidly to where he was not long ago, but all that’s left are footprints in the sand. I search desperately to find that he’s already far ahead speaking with another player, who seems distressed. I rush ahead to see what he’s talking about.

The first words I hear are of the player, who also appears to be slightly younger than Piifalo. He has light brown hair and wears simple light armor with a basic one-handed sword. I wonder how he got here with such lame gear. He’s nothing compared to me, let alone Piifalo! The player shouts out with great distress in his voice. “The volcano is dangerous! Please be careful!” although his voice does not sound quite human.

Piifalo sighs deeply and impatiently. “Yes, yes I get it! Now please shut up!” he points his thumb at the player and looks at me with regret in his eyes. “I know I always say that if you die it’s not my fault, but I am honestly very sorry this time. This is so much worse than death. I went to find the nearest NPC (non-playable-character) with a quest, but I swear to god this thing will not shut up. Now we have to find some sword or whatever it was he left in the volcano that’s nearby.”

“Please help! I have left my prized sword deep in the volcano!” the NPC yells. “But the volcano is dangerous! Please be careful!”

“I swear to god if you say that again your prized head will be deep in the volcano!” Piifalo fumes. Piifalo breathes deeply once again. “So are you coming or not?” he asks, slightly calmed.

My eyes shoot up and my heart skips a beat before starting to run a marathon. “A-am I c-coming?” I ask in shock.

“Well yeah, if you are I’ll send you a party invitation.” He says nonchalantly.

P-party invitation? My breathing shoots to new heights. He’s asking if I want to join his party? I can feel red flood my face. “Yes! Of course!” I say without hesitation. He opens up his menu with his left hand.

“Alright cool,” he says. He opens his mouth to continue when the NPC takes a breath to start speaking.

“Please hel-” without a moments notice Piifalo rushes over and grabs the NPC by the hair and smashes him to the ground before firmly planting his foot in his back. “Don’t worry. NPC’s have infinite health and can’t feel pain, if that’s what you’re wondering.” I guess he saw me wince for a second. “Alright, here it is.” He navigates through his menu before a window appears on my screen.

“Do you want to join a party with Piifalo?” it says with a blue circle and red x as options. A light smile spreads across my face as my finger taps the circle. “Congratulations! You are now in a party with Piifalo.”

End of chapter 9. What is Roeo an anagram of?