EQG: Sword Art Online - Aincrad

by Mindrop


Episode 34 - Star Spiders

Floor 42 – Front Line Floor 58
March 31 – Year 2
They were trekking through the Gnarled Forest, trying to find the ruins of the Castle of the Two Kings. Inside were the Star Spiders. Diemond was the only Wondercolt not with them. She was still training as an apprentice. After one attempted murder and an attempted armed robbery, there was no way for Bladescape to do it alone. The others wouldn’t let it happen. She had gone home to their Headquarters. If she hadn’t, then it would have been a different situation.

Their info said they would have to kill the spiders, which would drop the silk gland. There was no other way to get the silk gland. Doombunny wasn’t happy about that. She couldn’t do anything about it except help harvest them. Ashley would then carefully extract the silk from the gland in a way that she could spin it into thread.

They finally broke through the forest’s branches and snares to find themselves facing a ruined castle with two spires; one in the east and one in the west. A sharp ravine split the ground between them and the front gate. The fall was enough that they wouldn’t want to test if they could survive it. Stretched across it was an old rope bridge with sketchy wooden boards to walk across.

“I feel like I have been here before,” Bladescape said.

“Duh,” AFCK said. “You have. Or maybe you haven’t? We have though. This is almost exactly like our trip to find Nightmare Moon. Wow, that was a really long time ago.”

“Nightmare Moon?” Thunderborne asked. “Uh, we never did that.”

“Yes you have!” AFCK asserted. “I was there with you.”

Bladescape had recollections of a Nightmare Moon. A fairy tale from Equestria, and a holiday that surrounded it; Nightmare Night. Here that holiday was known as Halloween.

“Nightmare Moon?” Bladescape said. “AFCK, as in our Out of Town Friend’s Nightmare Moon? A legend from there?”

“Duh,” AFCK said again. “Why can’t you keep up? Yes, there. All of us, except for you Bladescape, went on an epic adventure there. And we have visited more often too! I found out I can play the pipe organ in the Castle of the Two Sisters.”

“AFCK,” Backbreaker said, trying to sort her out. “If we didn’t do it, but that is from that er...town. Then our friends did it, not us.”

“No,” AFCK chuckled. “We did it. If we go there, then you wouldn’t be able to tell a difference. We are them and they are us. They did it, so we did it. Like two sides of the same coin! I really hope they weren't doing anything important when we all got trapped in here.”

“AFCK,” Bladescape groaned. “No, Pinkie Pie. I mean Pinkie Pie. Pinkie, they are from another dimension. Di-men-sion. Not virtual reality. The NerveGear exists in our dimension and it can’t cross into their dimension.”

AFCK rolled her eyes. “You just don’t get it because both sides of your coin are with us, not split between Equestria and CHS.”

“Let’s just drop this,” Knightstar said, trying to fix her non-existent glasses. That nervous habit still happened. “This won’t get us anywhere.”

“I’ll go first!” Thunderborne declared. “To make sure it's safe.”

No one argued against that and Thunderborne made it across without any incident. The bridge was solid. It just looked worse than it was.

“So,” Kiefer said quietly to Bladescape after they had crossed the bridge. “Do I want a better explanation?”

Bladescape sighed. “I’ll give you the run-down as soon as we can focus. Hopefully the spiders won’t be that bad.”

They took the steps up to the double doors. The doors were solid hardwood and still intact. They pulled them open and Bladescape led them into the long hall. The roof was mostly missing. The center had a wide, red carpet rolled out to the thrones. The left throne was blue and had a moon as its symbol. The right throne was gold and had a sun symbol on the back. Each of them had separate stairs up to the throne. Above them were old tapestries that were worn and torn, each with their own symbol.

Hallways branched off to the side, mirroring each other. This throne room might be the only room that the two kings shared. The throne room had no spiders in it. The side hallways showed not just the wear and tear of the ages, but old webs as well.

They split into two parties and divided the castle. Bladescape brought AFCK, Doombunny, Backbreaker, and Kiefer. She let Astro and Thunderborne stay together. Their pair would balance out only having one tank.

Bladescape had taken her group down the sun side. The halls they walked down were as regal as the throne room. Other than the decorations, however, they didn’t have anything more than abandoned webs to indicate that the spiders were there.

The hallway opened up into a hall with a single throne. It was the Sun King’s private throne room. All along the walls were giant webs, with spiders to match their size.

The Star Spiders were simple black arachnids with a glowing blue star on the top of their abdomen. Eight eyes of the same glowing blue were on their faces. Their carapaces were smooth, with no hairs like many spiders had.

Astro and Dash were going to be able to handle their high webs very well. They could jump and run them through with ease because of Armor Pierce. Throwing Picks or Knives would bounce off their hard shells. It was a good thing Bladescape had sent them with the other party.

Some of the spiders began to rappel from their silk threads coming from their abdomens. They readied their weapons.

“I’ll go for the ones up high,” Bladescape said. “My acrobatics are not like Thunder’s but I can still get up that high.”

“Go for it,” Backbreaker said. “AFCK will back you up as well.”

“Okay!” AFCK said with a bounce. She was back to her normal self, at least on the outside. But She was getting more and more off the wall as the months went by.

Bladescape ran across the room to where the throne was. She leaped up to the wall, using it as a springboard to get to the corner. Her blade glowed and she cut half the supports, ignoring the spider on the web. She rolled and came out ready to fight. AFCK’s axe came down on the Star Spider’s head and it popped. Bladescape targeted the next one, going for it instead. It was easy to make them pop.

After the spiders were cleared out, Bladescape opened her menu. Out of it popped the main reward, the silk gland. It was about the size of a football and mostly solid in feel. They got one for each spider they killed. The exact number they needed was uncertain, so they had already chosen to hunt as many as possible. They gave decent XP and Col. They also dropped Star Spider Venom, which Doombunny could use to level up her skill.

Room by room they easily cleared the castle. Messages from the other party informed her that they were having just as easy of a time as they were. As they walked the hallways between the rooms with the spiders, Bladescape caught Kiefer up on the Wondercolts’ real past and their lives before SAO. It was brief, but she didn’t pull any punches when it came to their group’s mistakes.

The existence of magic and another dimension was taken surprisingly well. It turned out that Kiefer had believed in other dimensions existing for a while. A dimension where he was a pony was a bit of a shock, but it wasn't beyond his ability to believe.

Each party had cleared out their side of the castle and headed to meet up in the center. They arrived at the main throne room at the same time. There was no leaving though. The door was blocked off by a giant web. And that meant only one thing.

Bladescape looked back at the thrones. There were no spiders there, yet. They met in the center, but it didn’t trigger anything.

Bladescape had a plan. “Joltron, AFCK, Astro, and Thunder, go make a press on the door. Backbreaker, Kiefer, and I will move towards the thrones. The rest of you, keep watch on the roof and the hallways. This Flag Mob isn’t going to get the drop on us.”

They agreed and began to follow their orders. Astro and Thunder decided to rush the web over the front door. Joltron and AFCK had to try and catch up while not risking themselves too much. They had to be ready to protect the two of them. Thunder jumped high and cut at a support. It resisted the cut.

“The throne!” Bladescape called out as her search picked up movement. “Above!”

A black spider leg appeared and then the whole thing as it crawled into the hall. It was massive, barely able to fit inside the building. But its size was also their advantage. It would have a problem maneuvering. Two health bars came up beside the name: Subaru The Uniting Star Spider.

Bladescape formulated an immediate plan. “Backbreaker, Left. Joltron, Right. Center is Lessa, Knightstar, Doombunny, and AFCK. Left, Thunder, and Astro. Right is Kiefer and Bladescape.”

They followed the orders. The general idea was to apply pressure from all sides. It didn’t work as the Spider was able to move up the wall and around them.

“New plan?” Backbreaker gulped.

“Yeah,” Bladescape laughed. “Thunder, Astro, Kiefer, AFCK and I will use speed and agility to maneuver and pound it. Be ready to move in with shields and block us if we fail.”

“That's a big risk,” Joltron protested.

“But it will be fun!” Thunderborne declared, dashing off with Astro right behind.

AFCK giggled as she bounced after them. Kiefer followed Bladescape in. They were going to put every piece of damage dealing they could into this attack. A straight forward effort that would either be extremely rewarding, or very dangerous. Knightstar organized the rest of them into a protective wave that would be right behind them to act fast, while staying out of their way. Not only would it be fun for the attackers to go all out, sometimes the best strategy was speed hitting a boss.

Thunderborne unleashed a strong attacked, but then let Astro slide past to deliver an even stronger combo while Thunderborne took a slight movement penalty. She switched back in with perfect timing. AFCK bounced in right after with a single hit that took off a sizable chunk of HP. Subaru the Uniting Star Spider moved locations to avoid any more attacks, but it wasn’t far enough for the trailing attackers. Bladescape offered up the Sword Skill Heaven Splitter with Kiefer coming in right behind her.

With their three groups, Thunderborne and Astro, AFCK solo, and Bladescape and Kiefer, they took great risks with the pressure applied to the boss. They kept switching groups out. Another group was able to flank the spider to keep it cornered and from moving too much. It was a technique that rewarded them with a quick kill. But it was a technique they would never apply to anything but a low-level Flag Mob. The danger was too great otherwise, but they were very skilled at timing their switches properly.

Astro got the LAB. It was a cloak, but it wasn’t worth it. They were on Floor 42. The stats were below what they had, so it would be sold. It still warranted a round of high fives and fists bumps for her reward.

“That’s the last of the materials I need,” Bladescape announced. “I say we go straight to Lindarth and see Ashley!”

They decided to not walk back and used teleport crystals. They were valuable, but their stock was high enough it was worth it. The boss had dropped several blue teleport crystals as well.

Bladescape (SS): Lvl 79 – Two-Handed SwordSearchWeapon DefenseLeather Armor – First Aid – Battle Regeneration – Sprint – Acrobatics – Blade Throwing – Extended Weight Carry
Knightstar (TS): Lvl 68 – One-Handed SwordShieldEquipment AppraisalParry – First Aid – Battle Regeneration – Light Metal Armor – Search – Armor Pierce
Thunderborne (RBD): Lvl 71 – RapierSprintAcrobaticsArmor Pierce – First Aid – Battle Regeneration – Leather Armor – Weapon Defense – Extended Weight Carry – Search
Backbreaker (AJ): Lvl 74 – Heavy ShieldOne-Handed War HammerExtended Weight CarryHeavy Metal Armor – First Aid – Battle Regeneration – Fishing – Search – Martial Arts – Acrobatics
AFCK (PP): Lvl 71 – Two-Handed AxeParryCookingWeapon DefenseMartial Arts – First Aid – Battle Regeneration – Light Metal Armor – Thrown Weapon – Musical Instrument
Diemond (R): Lvl 71 – Heavy Shield – Mace – First Aid – Battle Regeneration – Heavy Metal Armor – TailoringLight Metal Armor ForgingHeavy Metal Armor Forging – Jewelry Making – Extended Weight Carry
Doombunny (FS): Lvl 68 – One-Handed Dagger – First Aid – HideSearchListening – Battle Regeneration – Fighting Spirit – Familiar Communication (Colorra) – Drug Mixing – Reveal
Astro (PS): Lvl 71 – Two-Handed Spear - Purchase Negotiation – Armor Pierce – Acrobatics – First Aid – Light Metal Armor – Battle Regeneration – Weapon Defense – Parry – Extended Wight Carry
Kiefer: Lvl 68 – One-Handed Curved Blade – Parry – Weapon Defense – First Aid – Battle Regeneration – Light Metal Armor – Slash Weapon Forging – Katana – Martial Arts
Lessa: Lvl 68 – One-Handed Sword – Shield – Light Metal Armor – First Aid – Battle Regeneration – Equipment Repair – Metal Equipment Repairing – Armor Pierce – Search
Joltron: Lvl 72 – One handed Axe – Heavy Shield – Heavy Metal Armor – First Aid – Battle Regeneration – Metal Refining – Blunt Weapon Forging – One Handed Weapon Creation – Two Handed Weapon Creation – Extended Weight Carry