Chapter 15.
"...what is this?"
I asked G.o.dfree quietly.
"Hmm, I already know what happened between you two. But since you"re comrades within the same guild from now on, I thought this would be a good opportunity to work out the bad blood between you two."
As I watched G.o.dfree laugh with his head up in the air, Kuradeel slowly walked towards me.
I tensed and prepared to react to any situation. Even though we were in a safe area, there was no telling what he might do.
But against all my expectations, Kuradeel suddenly bowed. He then muttered in a barely-audible voice under his long hair.
"I"m...sorry for causing you trouble last time..."
This time I was genuinely shocked. My jaw dropped in amazement and I was left wordless.
"I won"t act so rudely again... I hope you will forgive me..."
I couldn"t see his expression under his long, greasy hair.
"Ah...yeah..."
As I forced myself to nod, I wondered what in the world had happened. Did he get a personality altering surgery or something?
"Yes, yes. Well, that"s all taken care of now!!"
G.o.dfree gave another hearty laugh. I felt really suspicious; Kuradeel must be up to something, but I couldn"t guess from looking at his lowered head. In contrast to its overstated emotions, SAO had a hard time portraying subtle expressions. I could only accept his apology for now, but I reminded myself not to let my guard down.
The last member arrived after a while, and then we set off for the labyrinth. Just as I began to step into my pace, G.o.dfree stopped me with a gruff voice: "Wait... Today"s training will be done under the most realistic circ.u.mstances. I want to see how well you deal with dangerous situations, so I will be taking all of your crystals."
"...even our teleport crystals?"
G.o.dfree only nodded in response. I hesitated. Crystals, especially teleport crystals, were the last safety net in this death game. I had never been without them. I was about to refuse, but a problem here might put Asuna in a problematic situation, so I decided to hold back my words.
Seeing as Kuradeel and the other member handed over their crystals obediently, I had no choice but to follow. G.o.dfree even carefully checked my inventory afterwards.
"Hmm, good. Then let"s go!"
At G.o.dfree"s order, we walked out of Grandum and journeyed towards the Labyrinth Area that we could see to the far west.
The fifty-fifth floor training area was a desolate wasteland almost devoid of vegetation. I wanted to finish the training quickly, so I suggested running all the way to the labyrinth, but it was rejected by a single wave of G.o.dfree"s hand. It was most probably because he had focused on raising his strength stats and disregarded his dexterity. I could only give up and continue to tread through the endless wilderness.
We ran into monsters a couple of times. But when it came to this, I had no time to wait patiently for G.o.dfree"s orders, so I simply cut them down right away.
Eventually, after making it past a number of tall, rocky mountains, the gray limestone of the labyrinth finally came into view...
"Okay, we"re taking a break here!"
After G.o.dfree announced this in his gruff voice, the party stopped.
I wanted to just rush through the labyrinth; but since I figured it"d be overruled even if I brought it up, I simply sighed and sat down on a rock. It was already nearly midday.
"I"ll hand the food out."
G.o.dfree then called up four leather pouches and threw them to the members. I caught mine with one hand and opened it without any expectations. Inside were a water bottle and some hard bread that were sold at NPC stores.
I opened the bottle and swallowed a mouthful while cursing my bad luck; I would be eating Asuna"s handmade sandwiches right now if everything had gone as we had planned.
Then, I suddenly noticed that Kuradeel was sitting on a distant rock. He hadn"t even touched his pouch, and those eyes beneath his long hair glanced darkly in our direction.
What on earth was he looking at...?
A cold feeling abruptly pa.s.sed through my body. He was waiting for something. That something...it most probably- I immediately threw the bottle away and tried to spit the liquid out of my mouth.
But it was too late. Strength suddenly left my body and I collapsed. The HP bar came up at the edge of my vision; it was surrounded by a green line that wasn"t usually there.
There was no mistaking it; it was a paralysis poison.
When I looked around, I discovered that G.o.dfree and the other member were also writhing on the ground. I immediately reached inside my pouch with my left forearm, but this only intensified my panic. I had already handed all my antidote crystals and teleport crystals to G.o.dfree. I still had a potion, but it didn"t have any effect on paralysis.
"Ku...kukuku..."
Shrill laughter reached my ears. As he sat on the rock, Kuradeel held his stomach with both hands and bent over in laughter. His heavily lidded eyes revealed the crazed ecstasy that I remembered all too well.
"Waha! Haha! Hyahahahaha!!"
He guffawed towards the skies, seemingly unable to control himself. G.o.dfree stared at him with a stupefied expression.
"What...what is this...? Wasn"t the water...prepared by...you, Kuradeel..."
"G.o.dfree! Quick, use an antidote crystal!!"
After hearing my shout, G.o.dfree finally began to rummage through the pouch at his side.
"Hya-!!"
With a strange scream, Kuradeel jumped off his rock and kicked aside G.o.dfree"s left hand with his boot. A green crystal rolled out of G.o.dfree"s hand. Kuradeel picked it up, then stuck his hand in G.o.dfree"s pouch, took out the remaining crystals, and put them into his own pouch.
Everything was over.
"Kuradeel...what, what are you doing...? Is this some sort of...training exercise?"
"Re-tard!!"
Kuradeel said as he kicked G.o.dfree, who still didn"t understand the situation and muttered these stupid things, in the mouth.
"Argh!"
G.o.dfree"s HP went down a little, and at the same time Kuradeel"s cursor changed from yellow to the orange color of criminal status. But this didn"t change anything. There was no way that someone would pa.s.s by on a floor that had already been cleared.
"G.o.dfree-san, I always thought you were an idiot, but I never imagined that you were this hopeless. Is even your brain made out of muscle?"
Kuradeel"s sharp laughter echoed across the wastelands.
"There are still a lot of things that I want to say to you...but it wouldn"t do to waste my time with appetizers..."
Kuradeel drew his two-handed sword as he spoke. He raised it high into the air and stretched out his thin body. Sunlight reflected off the thick blade as he waved it about.
"W-Wait, Kuradeel! You...what...what are you saying...isn"t...isn"t this training...?"
"Just shut up and die."
Kuradeel spat out and swung his sword down without mercy. A heavy and dull noise sounded, and G.o.dfree"s HP greatly decreased.
G.o.dfree finally grasped the seriousness of the situation and started screaming. But it was already too late.
Twice, thrice, the sword came down with a merciless glint, and G.o.dfree"s HP reduced noticeably with each swing. Then, when it reached the red area, Kuradeel stopped.
Just as I thought that he wouldn"t commit murder no matter how crazy he was, Kuradeel reversed his grip on the sword and slowly pushed it into G.o.dfree. As G.o.dfree"s HP went down bit by bit, Kuradeel began to press his entire weight against the sword.
"Aaaaaaaahhh!!"
"Hyahahahaha!!"
While G.o.dfree"s wailing became louder, Kuradeel began mixing in a strange scream of his own. The sword dug into G.o.dfree"s body slowly and his HP reduced at a steady pace- While the other member and I watched silently, Kuradeel"s sword penetrated completely through G.o.dfree, and his HP bar reached zero at the same time. G.o.dfree most probably didn"t understand what was going on even as his body shattered into countless shards.
Kuradeel slowly pulled his sword out of the ground, then spun his head around like a clockwork doll and looked at the other member.
"Ah!! Ahhh!!"
With these short screams, the member flailed around in an attempt to escape. Kuradeel then started walking towards him in odd steps.
"...I have nothing against you...but according to my scenario, only I can return alive..."
He raised his sword while muttering to himself.
"Aaaahh!"
"You wanna hear~? You see, our party-"
He swung it down; his ears deaf to the member"s screams.
"Was ambushed in the wilderness by a large group of PKers-."
Another swing.
"We fought bravely, but all three had died-."
And another.
"I was the only one remaining, but I drove back the criminals and managed to stay alive before returning to HQ-."
After the fourth attack, the member"s HP vanished. A sound effect that sent shivers down my body resonated. But Kuradeel looked as if he had heard the voice of a G.o.ddess. He stood there, in the middle of the explosion of shards, and listened to it with a blissful expression on his face.
It wasn"t his first time...
I was sure of this. His cursor may have turned to the orange color of criminals" only moments ago, but there were plenty of despicable ways to kill people without triggering it. However, understanding this fact now didn"t solve anything.
Finally, Kuradeel turned to look my way, with an uncontrollable mirth spreading across his face. He slowly walked towards me, his sword making an unbearable noise as he dragged it along the ground.
"Hey."
He crouched down next to me, who was still sprawled on the ground, and said in a whisper.
"Because of an idiot like you, I had to kill two completely innocent people."
"You seem quite happy about it though."
I responded as I looked desperately for a way out of this situation. The only thing that moved was my mouth and my left arm. Because the paralysis condition kept one from opening the menu window, it also forbade the player from sending any messages. Even though I knew it wouldn"t do me much good, I struggled to move my left hand, which was inside Kuradeel"s blind spot, while I continued to talk.
"Why did a person like you join the KoB? A criminal guild would have suited you better."
"Keh, why are you asking something so obvious? It"s because of that girl."
He said this with his raspy voice and licked his lips. When I realized that he was talking about Asuna my blood began to boil.
"You d.a.m.n b.a.s.t.a.r.d...!"
"Woah, why are you glaring at me like that? It"s just a game isn"t it...? Don"t worry. I"ll look after your precious sub-leader for you. After all, I have a lot of useful items."
Kuradeel picked up the poisoned water bottle and then shook it to produce some splashing sounds. Then he gave an awkward wink and kept talking.
"And you just said something very interesting, that a criminal guild would suit me more."
"...well, it"s just the truth."
"I was complimenting you. You"re pretty sharp."
Kekekeke.