The Masked Hero {SAO X Male Reader}

Queen of the Lake

You, Koharu, Yui, Kirito, and the others were all on the back of Tonky. While he was taking you, Koharu, Yui, Kirito, and the others through the sky.

Liz: Hey, I wonder what would happen if we fell from up here?

Leafa: I'm pretty sure the one who once plummeted from a pillar outside Aincrad trying to climb the next level. I'm sure he'll experiment that one day.

Raijin: You're still making fun of me?

Yui: It was funny.

Raijin: *sighs* You two...

Koharu was giggling also.

Raijin: You also?

Koharu: Leafa had a video saved and she showed it to me.

Raijin: When did they add that?

Koharu: On the last update.

Kirito: Speaking of falling from heights, wouldn't that be right up a cat-type's alley?

Sinon and Silica shook their heads. Tonky flew down fast while you and the others were hanging on for dear life while Leafa was actually enjoying herself.

Leafa: Raijin, look at this.

You looked over to see players and the giant monster attacking Tonky's kind.

Asuna: What is going on?

Raijin: That's probably the quest you were talking about earlier, Koharu, Asuna. They might be helping the giants kill Tonky's kind and once they do it'll reward them Excalibur. But I doubt that. The quest they're taking is probably a fake.

Silica: How are you so sure?

Raijin: Call it a gut feeling.

Something spawned behind you, Kirito, and Klein. You, Kirito, and Klein looked behnd to see a giant floating woman.

Urd: I am the Queen of the Lake... Urd. O Fairies who have bonded with my kinsmen. My two younger sisters and I have a request to make of you. Please, we wish you to save this country from the Frost Giant tribe's attack.

Yui: Daddy, that person is an NPC. But it's a little strange. Unlike normal NPCs, her speech doesn't adhere to the fixed-response routine. She's connected to a language engine module, which is close in scale to a core program.

Raijin: So in other words she's an AI.

Yui: Yes.

Urd: In the past, Jotunheim, like your Alfheim, once received the blessings of Yggdrasil, the World Tree. It was covered in beautiful water and greenery. We, the hill giant tribe, and the beasts who are our kinfolk, lived in harmony. Further below Jotunheim, a country of ice, Niflheim, exists. This realm is ruled over by the king of the Frost Giant Tribe, Thrymr, who infiltrated this country, and took the "sword that slices through all steel and trees," Excalibur... hurling it into Urd's Spring at the center of this realm. The sword severed the thickest roots of the World Tree, and in that instant, Jotunheim lost the blessings it had been receiving from Yggdrasil.

Raijin: And that would be Excalibur?

Urd: The Frost Giant Tribe under Thrymr's rule advanced on Jotunheim from Niflheim in full force, built a great number of castles and fortresses, and captured many of us from the Hill Giant Tribe, imprisoning us. Upon the mass of i e once known as Urd's Spring, they built the massive castle, Thrymheim, and seized control of this land. My two sisters and I escaped to the bottom of a certain frozen lake, but we no longer have the power that we once did. The Frost Giant Tribe were not satisfied, and are trying to annihilate our kin, the beasts who've survived in this land to this day. Because by doing so, my powers will be totally extinguished, and that will allow Thrymheim to float up to Alfheim above it.

Klein: But if that happens then the city of Arun will be destroyed.

Urd: King Thrymr's objective is to seal Alfheim in ice and snow, and to attack unti he reaches the top of Yggdrasil, the World Tree. In order to obtain the Golden Apple, said to grow there. Frustrated by their inability to wipe out our kinfolk, Thrymr and the generals of the Frost Giant Tribe have now begun to use even the power of you fairies. Luring you in by offering Excalibur as a reward, he is trying to make you hunt out kinfolk into extinction. However, it is impossible for King Thrymr to bestow that sword upon others. For when Thrymheim loses Excalibur, the blessings of Yggdrasil will return to this land and that castle will melt away.

Koharu: Raijin, you were right.

Raijin: Huh, I even doubted myself.

Sinon: Uh, what?

Urd: Most likely, Thrymr is planning to bestow the Forged Sword Calibrun, which looks exactly like Excalibur.

Leafa: That's unfair! Can a king actually do that?

Urd: That very unfairness is Thrymr's most powerful weapon. However, he has made one mistake. In order to gain the fairies' cooperation, he has sent most of the giants under his control from Thrymheim to the ground. At this time, that castle's defenses are thinner than they've ever been before.

Raijin: I see.

Urd made a gem appear in the sky and you catch it.

Urd: When this rock turns completely pitch-black our kinfolk will have been hunted to extinction and it will serve as proof that my powers have vanished. O Fairies, please infiltrate Thrymheim and extract Excalibur from its main plinth. I am counting on you, O Fairies.

Urd disappeares. After you and the others accepted the quest from Urd. Tonky was flying towards the entrance of the dungeon.

Asuna: Somehow, this is shaping up to be one amazing event.

Sinon: This is a normal quest... right? But for a normal quest, it just seems too ambitious... If the animal-type beast-gods are wiped out, didn't she say that the Frost Giant Tribe would seize control of the surface next?

Kirito: Yeah. But would the admins go that far without any update or event notifications? Normally, they'd give you at least a week's advance notice, right?

Leafa: But we just gotta do it for Tonky's sake, Onii-chan.

Kirito: You're right. We came here today in the first place to storm that castle and grab Excalibur, right? If their defenses are thin, who could ask for more?

Kirito equipped his other sword to dual-wield.

Klein: All right! This is the last great quest of the year! Let's score big and get ourselves on the front page of tomorrow's MMO Tomorrow!

Everybody: Right!

Tonky lands in front of the entrance. You and the others get off and you stand in front of the entrance.

Raijin: Let's go!

You and the others all ran inside the dungeon to not waste may time.