Dungeon Oratoria Online

Chapter 1

Hey Everyone,

Welcome to my new story. It's a crossover set in the SAO universe, but uses the world of Danmachi as the basis for the 'game'. As someone who loves both of these series I hope my appreciation for both of them comes through without biasing one side or the other. With that said though this focuses far more on the SAO characters than the Danmachi ones.

I'm trying to write it in such a way that you don't need to have read either of the series before to understand what is going on. If some point isn't clear that should be, please let me know so I can correct it.

For anyone who has read/watched Danmachi, you'll most likely be very confused at the start with some of the differences. These will all get explained in due time.

So, with no further ado, enjoy.

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Dungeon Oratoria Online

Prologue - A New Era

Smoke hung thick in the air, obscuring the pale Autumn sun. Beneath its baleful gaze, patches of ground still smoldered and were encased with devouring tongues of flame. Amidst the ash lay the outlines of bodies, some whole, most not. Surrounding the desolate ground, high bleak cliffs.

Pushed against those cliffs was the source of that destruction. Roaring at the sky, the obsidian dragon spread its wings. However, the monster made no attempt to take off, the holes through its once proud skin prevented that. Damage dealt by the sacrifice of many.

Opening its great maw, the god of monsters bellowed its disdain upon the remainder of the puny figures left before it. Nevertheless, no fire came. The battle which had stretched for hours had drained it of the ability. While the dragon still stood tall, it was out of time. With flight taken from it, and its greatest weapon expired, a long bloody battle to the death would commence.

It had slaughtered hundreds, thousands even in this battle alone. But no matter how many it killed, more kept coming. An entire plain had been scorched bare, the heat so great that even the black rock underneath melted under the great blasts. Despite this, the warriors persevered. To rid the world of the last of the three great monsters. A paltry few warriors were left, but the dragon knew, it would lose this race of endurance.

This should have been a happy day, the coming of a new era. Brought in by the greatest heroes of the time. But from the earth crept knowledge into the dragon. The power to use an ability it shouldn't have. A gift from its mother.

Curling in on itself, the dragon tucked in head, wings and tail into as tight of a ball as it could manage. Everything was being sacrificed to pull off this one move. For it to succeed, the stone at the center of its chest needed to survive.

From its chest rumbled a voice so deep it was almost inaudible. Its presence drove the remaining heroes into a frenzy to kill the beast. For the deep rumbling was the incantation of a spell. While they didn't know what it would do, the result could only be bad. Every one of the people left alive deserved the title hero. Having slain countless monsters and achieved momentous deeds, they were the best the world had to offer. Together they beat on the unmoving form of the king of monsters. Mythical blades slashed and powerful spells descended. Slowly, the scales, stronger than any steel, began to break off. The assortment of collisions filled the air with a deadening cacophony of noise. Yet, through it all, the rumbling continued.