Sword Art Online - Volume 8 - Early and Late Read online

  It looked like the black short spear was an enhanced weapon that focused on continuous damage. I could see several spikes on the spear.

  I immediately recovered from my shock and shouted out,

  “PULL IT OUT!!”

  The man glanced at me slightly, and then slowly moved his hands and got ready to pull the spear out. However, a weapon that’s embedded deep inside the body couldn’t be moved that easily. Of course, there’s the possibility that he’s unable to use strength because of fear.

  The man who’s being hanged on the wall was about at least 10m away from the ground. Even with my agility, I couldn’t reach him if I jumped up.

  Then, could I use a throwing pick or something to cut the rope? But if I missed the rope and hit the man, and if his HP ended up dropping to zero…

  Normally speaking, this place was still within the area, so there’s absolutely no chance of that happening. But speaking of which, if that were the case, that spear wouldn’t cause any damage.

  As I thought about this, Asuna’s sharp shout entered my ears.

  “GO DOWN BELOW TO CATCH HIM!”

  And then, she rushed towards the entrance of the church at a lightning quick speed. It seemed that she was trying to use the stairs inside to climb up to the second level and slice the rope.

  “Got it!”

  I rush behind Asuna as I shouted, and hurriedly ran down to the spot below where the man in the air was dangling.

  ——However.

  As I ran halfway through, the man wearing a large helmet suddenly widened his eyes and stared at a certain spot in the air. I immediately sensed that he’s looking at something.

  He’s looking at his HP bar, or more accurately, the moment the HP bar became zero.

  As the crowd shouted and screamed in the plaza, the man seemed to yell out something.

  And then —— a flash of blue light appeared in the night sky together with the sound of countless glass breaking, but I could only look up blankly at the polygons that scattered.

  The rope that lost the object it was holding slammed into the wall. A second later, the black short spear that fell —— or the weapon —— let out a heavy metallic sound as it stabbed into the stone floor on the ground.

  The screams let out by countless players overwhelmed even the peaceful sounding BGM.

  I was thoroughly shocked, but I still tried to widen my eyes and look around in the wide space around the church. The reason why I was doing this —— was to find something that would definitely appear.

  In other words, «The victory message of the winner in a duel».

  This was the main street, which meant that it’s still inside the effective range of the «Anti-Criminal Code». If the player HP was damaged and even caused death here, there’s only one possibility.

  The person had agreed to a decisive mode duel and lost.

  There was no other way. This had to be it.

  In that case, as the man died, there should have been a system window like «Winner/name, match time minutes/seconds» nearby. If I see the window, I could tell who the guy who used the short spear to kill the man in full-plate armor was.

  ——However.

  “…Where is it…”

  I couldn’t help but mutter.

  The system window didn’t appear. There was no sign of it at all around the plaza, and it would only appear for 30 seconds.

  “Everyone! Help find the system window that shows who won!”

  I shouted out at the overwhelming commotion. The other players immediately understood my intention and started to look around for the window.

  However, no one shouted out saying that they found the target. It’s been past 15 seconds.

  Did it mean that it was inside the building? Did the window appear in the room on the second level of the church where the rope dangled out from? If that’s the case, Asuna should be able to see it.

  The moment I thought of that, «The Flash» in her white knight uniform appeared at the window where the incident happened.

  “Asuna! Are there any windows in the room?”

  Normally, I wouldn’t call her name out directly out of fear, but I had immediately asked her without adding a ‘-san’ just for the sake of gaining time. However, the face that was as pale as the clothing shook left and right.

  “None! There’s no system window or anyone inside!”

  “…Why…”

  I muttered as I still looked around. A few seconds later, I heard a slight whisper.

  “…It’s impossible now. It’s been more than 30 seconds…”

  I passed by the nun who was often stationed at the first level of the church and immediately climbed up the stairs deep inside the building.

  On the second level, there were 4 small rooms that were just like single-person inns, but unlike inns, they couldn’t be locked. I passed by three rooms, and couldn’t find any players hiding inside, whether it’s by the «Player Search» skill or by sight. I bit my lips and walked into the 4th small room where the incident happened.

  Asuna, who turned her head from the window to look at me, was still looking strong, but I could tell that her heart was really shaken. In fact, even I couldn’t hide my tense eyebrows.

  “There’s no one else inside the church.”

  I reported, and the sub-leader of the KoB immediately asked back.

  “Is it possible for the person to have some cloak with invisibility capabilities?”

  “Even at the frontlines, I haven’t found anything that can negate the effects of my player search ability. For added precaution, I’ve requested other players to block the church entrance. Even if the person’s invisible, he will touch the other players once they go out and will be immediately caught. There’s no back door here, and this is the only room with a window.

  “Yeah…I understand. Look at this.”

  Asuna nodded her head, and then pointed at a corner of the room with her finger that was covered in the white glove.

  There was simply a wooden table placed over there. This furniture that couldn’t be moved was a so-called «Position-locked object».

  On one of the table’s legs, there was a thin-looking yet sturdy rope tied there. It was tied, but in fact, not actually tied by hand. Someone just needed to call out the rope item window, click on the «tie» button and then chose what to tie. Once tied, the rope would definitely not break or loosen unless the weight on the rope was too heavy or it was cut by a blade.

  The black glossy rope took up about 2 meters length inside the room before extending outside. One couldn’t see it from here, but the tip was tied in a loop, and the full-plate armor man was dangling from the loop.

  “Hmm…”

  After pondering for a while, I tilted my head and asked,

  “What’s going on?”

  “If this is a normal situation…”

  Asuna answered me while tilting her head as well.

  “…The dueling opponent of that player tied this rope, stabbed the short spear into his chest, and then stuffed the victim’s neck into the loop before pushing him off…something like that…”

  “Was he deliberately showing it to everyone…? No, before that…”

  I forcefully took a deep breath, and then declared with a clear voice,

  “There’s no window of victory declaration anywhere, and the people standing at the plaza didn’t see it at all. If there was a duel, there should be a window appearing nearby.”

  “But…that’s impossible.”

  She gave a sharp rebuttal.

  “In the «area», the player’s HP bar can only be damaged through an accepted duel with the other side, right? You should know that.”

  “…Yeah, that’s truly the case.”

  Both of us stared at each other and remained silent.

  It’s like what Asuna said; what happened just now couldn’t possibly happen. And for all we knew, only one player died while everyone was watching. We don’t know who, what or how this happened.
/>   The voices of commotion that continued to come from the plaza outside the window could be heard. It seemed that they were noticing the anomaly in this ‘incident’ too.

  Soon after, Asuna looked straight at me and said,

  “We can’t leave this alone. If someone really finds a «PK skill inside the area», we’ll have to hurry up and find a way to counter and announce this, or else there will definitely be a huge commotion.”

  “…It’s rare for me to have such a moment with you, but I wholeheartedly agree with you.”

  After seeing me nod my head, «The Flash» gave a wry smile and quickly reached her hand out to me.

  “Then, you’re going to help me solve this case. I’ll say this first. There’s no time for you to sleep.”

  “You’re the one who’s been sleeping…”

  I grumbled softly and reached my hand out.

  And then, the hastily assembled detective and assistant —— though the roles aren’t clear —— joined together their white gloved and black gloved hands.

  Part 2

  After retrieving the rope «evidence», Asuna and I left the room and returned to the entrance of the church. As for the other piece of evidence, the black short spear, I had already put it into my item storage before we moved.

  I had requested two players I knew to watch the entrance. I thanked them and raised my doubts, but no one actually moved through here. I returned to the plaza and raised my hand to the crowd watching the commotion before shouting out loud,

  “SORRY. TO THE EYEWITNESS WHO FIRST SPOTTED THIS, IF YOU’RE STILL AROUND, CAN WE TALK TO YOU?”

  After a few seconds, a girl timidly walked out from the crowd. I’d never met this person before. She was equipped with an ordinary one-handed sword made by an NPC. It seemed that she was someone who came here to sightsee from the middle levels.

  What was vexing was that this girl actually showed a frightened expression after seeing me. Asuna then substituted me and walked in front of me before saying to her in a gentle tone,

  “Sorry for bothering you after you saw such a horrifying thing. Your name is?”

  “I…I’m called «Yoruko».”

  I really have a slight impression on this slightly trembling voice, and couldn’t help but ask.

  “Were you the one…who gave the first scream?”

  “Ye…Yes…”

  The female player called Yoruko nodded; shaking her slightly curly deep-blue hair in the process. From the appearance of her avatar, she was probably about 17-18 years old.

  The simple large eyes that were of the same color as her hair suddenly let out tears.

  “I…I…I’m a friend of the person who was just killed. We agreed to come here to have a meal today, but we got lost here…and…and then…”

  It seemed that she couldn’t continue on as she could only use her hand to cover her mouth.

  Asuna gently patted her slightly trembling shoulders and brought her into the church, there were many benches that were lined together, and Asuna let her sit down on one of them before sitting beside her.

  As for me, I stood slightly further off as I waited for the girl to calm down. If she saw exactly how her friend was killed viciously, that would be a huge trauma the likes of which we couldn’t even imagine.

  Asuna gently stroked Yoruko’s back for a while, and Yoruko finally stopped crying before apologizing in a faint whispering tone.

  “It’s alright. We can wait. Can you talk to us slowly once you’ve calmed down?”

  “Yes…I-I’m a lot better now.”

  Unexpectedly, Yoruko’s rather strong as she straightened her back while Asuna patted it, and nodded.

  “That guy is…called «Kains». We used to be in the same guild…and would now occasionally team up together or have meals together…and today, we originally came here to eat…”

  She forcefully closed her eyes, and then continued on in a trembling voice.

  “…But there were too many people here, so we got lost at the plaza…as I was looking around, suddenly, someone —— «Kains» dropped out from the window of this church and was dangling in the air…and there was a short spear stabbed into his chest…”

  “Did you see anyone else around?”

  After hearing Asuna’s question, Yoruko immediately quietened down.

  She then slowly and clearly nodded.

  “Yes…it was just for a moment, but I felt like I saw…someone standing behind «Kains»…”

  I clenched my fists subconsciously.

  Was the criminal in that room? If that’s the case, the criminal pushed the victim —— «Kains» out of the window and got away while everyone’s looking.

  In that case, the criminal must have used some sort of equipment with a stealth ability equipment, but such an item effect would naturally weaken when moving. Speaking of which, does the criminal have some high level hidden skill to make up for this flaw?

  At this moment, my mind thought of the dangerous-sounding term «Assassin».

  Don’t tell me there’s really a weapon system that even Asuna and I don’t know of? If such a skill can negate the Anti-Criminal code…?

  Asuna may have thought the same thing as me as her back shuddered. However, she immediately raised her head up and asked Yoruko,

  “Was that profile someone you know?”

  “…”

  Yoruko closed her lips and pondered for a while, and after a few seconds, shook her head to indicate that she didn’t. After seeing her indicate so, it was my turn to ask with my calmest possible voice,

  “Well…it may not be the best time to ask this, but do you have any clues…? Like any reason why Kains-san was killed…”

  Just like what I was worried about, Yoruko immediately stiffened the moment she heard that. It couldn’t be helped, since I was asking a girl who just witnessed her friend being killed whether there was any reason for revenge. This question may be rude, but it couldn’t be ignored. If she knew of anyone that hated Kains, that would become a powerful clue.

  But this time, Yoruko shook her head again.

  I was somewhat disappointed, but I simply said “I see, sorry.”

  Of course, it may be that Yoruko didn’t know. However, the criminal that killed «Kains» could either be a real killer or a «Player Killer» in this MMORPG. In this PK, they’re basically players who existed to kill other players. The red players who were massacring through Aincrad in the darkness were this kind of players.

  In other words, one person, out of the hundreds of players who are said to be criminals, killers or have the tendency to be such, may have killed «Kains» inside the area through such a mysterious means. To be honest, I really don’t know how to find the killer from so many people.

  Asuna seemed to have reached the same conclusion as she weakly sighed.

  As Yoruko indicated that she didn’t dare to walk downstairs alone, Asuna and I sent her to the nearest inn before returning to the transfer gate plaza.

  30 minutes had passed since this incident happened, and the surrounding people were starting to decrease in number. However, there were still about 20 players at the scene. Most of them were clearing members, waiting for the report from both Asuna and me.

  Asuna and I first explained to them that the name of the murder victim was called «Kains», and the way he was killed was unknown. I then told them that there’s likely an «Inside area PK» skill that might exist.

  “…That’s how things are. Everyone is to be careful when walking on the streets. If possible, please warn other players too.”

  I concluded, and the rest nodded with a stern expression.

  “Got it. I’ll ask those selling information to publish this on the newspapers…”

  A player representative of a large guild answered, and everyone scattered. I glanced over at the clock in the corner of my eye and found that it’s just past 7pm, which caused me to be somewhat shocked.

  “Then…what do we do next?”

  I asked Asuna b
eside me, and she immediately answered,

  “Let’s check the evidence we have first, especially the rope and short spear. If we know its origin, we might be able to find the criminal.”

  “I see…since we can’t find the motive, let’s start from the evidence, shall we? In that case, we have to use the Inspection skill. You probably…never added this skill, right?”

  “I guess you didn’t too…speaking of which…”

  At this moment, Asuna’s expression started to change. She stared at me and said,

  “Can you please stop referring to me with «you, you, you»!?”

  “Eh? Ah, I see…then…should I use «-san»? «sub-leader»? Or «The Flash-sama»…?”

  The last one is how her fanclub always called her. What she thought of that was clearly seen when Asuna’s facial expression became tense and she burned me through with a laser stare. She then looked aside and said,

  “Just call me «Asuna». Didn’t you call me that before?”

  “Un-Understood.”

  I, who felt scared, obediently nodded and hurriedly dragged the topic back.

  “As for the Inspection skill…do you have any friends you know of with it…?”

  “Hmm~”

  She pondered for a while, and quickly shook her head.

  “I have a friend who runs a weapons store, but it’s the busiest time at this point, and I really can’t ask her to help me out immediately….”

  It’s true that this is the time players who finished their adventures would run into a weapons store to repair or buy weapons.

  “In that case, I’ll have to ask the boss of a merchandise shop. That large-axe warrior’s proficiency is a little unnerving for me though…”

  “Are you talking about…that very tall man? I think he’s called…Egil or something, right?”

  Asuna asked me as I immediately called out the message window and started typing.

  “But the merchandise store should be rather busy now, right?”

  “Who cares?”

  I answered and immediately pressed the send button.

  Asuna and I walked out from the transfer gate, and immediately reached the main street of the 50th floor «Algade», where the buzz and chaos remained as usual.