Chapter 32: Chapter 31
Chapter 31: Update
Location: Third Floor. City: Zumfut.
Sitting inside a makeshift office in a small room, Sharia sat in front of a desk, reading a paper laid out before him.
It contained information compiled by Argo concerning the Third Floor, both from the Beta and the current version of the game.
Moreover, there was also a lot of other compiled information regarding a certain user.
"Morte is his name, huh?"
As much as Sharia wanted to blacklist his name, he couldn't do so without evidence.
And speaking of evidence… it seemed the player had tricked—or so he thinks—Kirito into fighting a one-on-one duel with him.
"Ahn. I've never used the duelling system before; I kind of want to try it."
The male thought with a shake of his head before deflating back on his chair.
"And Kibaou's report is the same too."
Yikes. They were trying to pit. Aincrad Liberation Squad and Shicksal against each other.
Bad move.
When thinking about it from a certain perspective, Sharia, currently, had gathered the largest and strongest force in SAO currently.
Most high-levelled players, from Kirito to Asuna to Diabel and Lind, and down to even acquaintances like Egil—
It was safe to say if Sharia really wanted to hold a crusade or purge, he could gather an insane amount of Force with just a click of a button.
And this force will only grow stronger in the future.
Not to mention, even he himself is quite a force to reckon with.
Of course, he hadn't been sitting idle and doing nothing.
Having this much free time, he had gone back to basics—back to the fundamentals of swordsmanship.
Along with that, he had taken some lessons with Diabel, who introduced him more to SAO's system skills.
Apparently, «Crimson Meteor Fall» was related to an existing sword-skill called:
«Meteor Break».
A 7-hit sword skill composition of the martial arts and one-handed sword skills.
And even a sword skill under the Meteor Series called «Meteor Fall»:
–A 2-hit sword skill composition of the one-handed sword and martial arts skills.
And what do you know? He happens to meet the requirements for said skills.
Not that he could unlock the «Meteor Series» right now, as it would even take longer for him to do so.
However, when he does, it'd be far stronger.
Since it's a composite skill, at the time of acquisition, and with a few modding and composition, it would give him a far better effect than normal.
Integration at this point was even more so important.
His skills were getting longer and more of a pain to manage, so he simply gave Diabel a skill list and told the knight to tidy it up.
Naturally, Sharia never specified, but knowing the knight, he would keep it classified even if Sharia didn't ask.
After all, Diabel himself didn't ask questions.
He simply gave that trusting smile and went ahead with the task without hesitation.
As such–
Most of Sharia's skills had been integrated into existing skill sets as subskills.
At the very least, his skill list now looked something like this:
«Sword Mastery LV.5»
[Integrated Sword Skills]:
- [Vertical].
- [Horizontal].
- [Thrust].
- [Cross Arc].
- [Guard Break].
- [Parry].
- [Sonic leap].
«Extra Skill: Martial Arts»
[Integrated Skills]:
- [Martial Arts LV.3].
- [Evasion skill: Mutō—Unarmed (Null Sword) Style: Sonic Sway LV.1].
«Outside System Original Skill»
[Integrated Skills]:
- [Skill Connect LV.3].
- [Skill Connect: End Action Lv.2]
- [Crimson Meteor Fall LV.2].
«Non-Combat Skill»
[Integrated Skills]:
- [Negotiation LV. 2].
- [Stealth LV. 2].
This way, even grinding is a lot more pleasing.
And that said, that's why he continued taking breaks.
It wouldn't do to rely on skills alone.
Blackie is the type to use his skills manually rather than relying on the system assist.
In that sense, Blackie was more skilled than Sharia.
And while Blackie beat him through prior Kendo experience, Sharia beat him in terms of options thanks to his diverse skill set which grants composite effects.
Speed Boost for example. Sharia has lots of composite bonuses invested in speed though the player himself isn't aware.
Other than that, they match in terms of flexibility and adaptation.
Yes. The only edge Sharia currently has above Kirito is level and skills.
But if anything, this only makes Sharia happy.
After all, every one person needs a rival for them to have a reason to keep getting stronger.
More so true for Kirito than him.
All that aside.
"Ahhh. All this paperwork is turning my head. Is this what being a Guildmaster is….?"
"Can I resign?"
It was a funny joke that wasn't funny in any sort of way.
Should the likes of Diabel and Lind hear such a word, they'd most undoubtedly pass out on the spot.
"Haah. Forget it. There's no avoiding it."
Picking up the next paper, Sharia's mouth curled into an O shape as he read through.
"Seems like the Legend Braves are doing their best too."
Even with the setback Sharia imposed on them, it seems like it only made them grow stronger.
It hadn't even been up to two weeks, and they'd gotten good gears and ascended to the second floor.
"That's impressive. Or maybe not."
Sharia mused as he rested against his chair in a more relaxed manner.
"They were higher-level before, for the first floor, so it was only a matter of time before they made it up."
"Which means it must have been a gear problem, I reckon."
The Anneal Blade—when one isn't buying it from the market at the standard price of 16k Cols—is a little too pricey in the early days.
The only solution was to grind a side quest for it.
With Sharia seizing all their stolen equipment and them offering their Cols to other players as atonement, they had literally started from zero.
"Which means they all took quests, saved the money from those quests and their grinds, and bought enough gear."
"You know what? I take back my previous takeback; that's impressive."
"If they want to join Shicksal in the future, perhaps we can let them have a sub-squad of their own. Their teamwork should be relatively good."
For people who once scammed people, it turned out they were actually decent people, as their leader himself was ready to sacrifice himself for the rest of them.
"Laughing Coffin, huh? When I'm done with the likes of you, I'll be the one laughing in front of your coffin."
Just as Sharia was about to move on to the next report, a knock echoed in his room.
"Hm? Who's there?"
"It's me, Lind, Lord Sharia."
"Huh? Come in."
The door creaked open as Lind entered the makeshift office they had set up for Sharia.
"Uhh… What's with the new look?"
Sharia said, eyeing the other self-proclaimed left-hand man.
No, he actually was, but still...
Originally, this guy was a Diabel fan and a glazer, even going so far as to copy his style flow-for-flow by dressing like him and even mimicking his hairstyle.
But now, Lind had a different look.
His brown hair was now dyed black, and he wore grey clothes to match.
"Oh? You noticed. I have donned this look as a respect to—"
Ah, he's started again, Sharia thought as he let the man continue rambling on and on.
"—And that is why I decided on this look."
Lind looked rather proud of the fact that Sharia was the inspiration behind his change of appearance, but the teen felt embarrassed, if anything.
"That's all good and all, but what's happening right now?"
"Ah yes. How could I forget? The mission is ongoing."
A quick recap of the entire operation is this:
Upon Morte's assumed manipulation, SKL (Shicksal) and ALS (Aincrad Liberation Squad) had taken the forest elf and dark elf sides, respectively.
One of the questlines for those on the side of the forest elves was to deliver supplies to the forest elf base.
In contrast, the aligning quest for the dark elf side involved stealing the commanding orders from the dark elf base.
"We have proceeded according to your wish. However, because of ALS, a riot has been sparked."
"Riot?"
Sharia, who had been listening attentively, suddenly choked on his saliva.
He never asked for or wished for something like a riot; how did they come to such conclusions?
"Diabel…."
It had to be that guy.
He didn't know why, but he pictured the knight with a bright smile while making that plan.
And he was right.
Since both sides were obstructing each other from clearing their current questline, and Kibaou especially was being adamant, talking about injustice and such, Diabel had proposed a riot.
Since neither side was willing to back down.
'What is that guy doing? He should know better than to treat that quest as a diversion—'
"Wait, that's it! A diversion!"
Sharia suddenly slapped his hands on the table as he connected the dots.
Certain people were left in the dark. The only ones who knew of the main plan itself were Sharia, Diabel, and Argo.
I see. By proposing that, he's buying Asuna and Argo time to complete the Dark Elf questline.
Since Kirito was on the Dark Elf questline. He was sure Kirito would complete it; hence he—Sharia—and Diabel had also agreed to go down that quest route.
And now that Kirito was having his hands full with Morte.
Argo had gone to support Asuna for the infiltration mission since that was her specialty.
'A dumb yet brilliant tactic indeed.'
"Is there anything wrong?"
"Ah no. Diabel is doing a good job; I reckon the campaign quest will finish soon."
Sharia said while sitting down back with a smile.
As expected, story quests like this weren't his suite.
"Oh? Then I guess the forest elves we were supporting would win, no?"
Lind suddenly asked, making Sharia look up at him with a smirk.
"No. The dark elves would win the war."
Hearing that, Lind's eyebrows shot up.
While Sharia himself wasn't participating in the quest, with his and Diabel's plans, winning the war would only make sense, no?
Why was it the other way around?
He couldn't imagine.
But for his leader to say something like that with certainty, then it'd surely go.
'Does that mean Lord Sharia is personal… no. There's no use thinking about this.'
"I don't see why you're confused. Trust Diabel; everything that has happened is still within calculation."
"Neither will ALS win."
It was a smart move.
Diabel had advised Sharia to keep the information they had as secret as possible, within a select group of people with power.
It wasn't surprising that Lind was oblivious—even the plan Diabel laid out for them was a ruse.
"So, that was it, huh?"
Lind let out a small laugh.
As expected of the person he looks up to.
Even he was fooled.
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