The Crystal Swordsman: Alfheim's Awakening

Ephemeral Light

A Few Days Later...

"Whew! Things have been much more difficult lately. I wonder if it has something to do with K's disappearance." Kirito finished cutting down a group of high level mobs. 

"I'll say. I swear he's upped the difficulty for the whole game at this point." Lizbeth commented.

"Sakuya did say that the magical presence in Alfheim had increased tenfold since Kieran's uprising." I backed that claim. 

"You've been referring to him by his real name a lot more." Asuna noticed.

"Hm? Oh, yeah. We live together now, so I find myself saying his name more often than his handle." I admitted.

"More times in the bedroom I imagine." Liz poked.

I just punched her in the arm.

"Hey! It's true, isn't it??" She rubbed the pain away.

"That's not the point." I flicked my hand, not out of pain, but out of relief. 

"You see him around the house then? Has he been coming out to eat?" Asuna asked.

I just shook my head. 

"If he does it's when I'm online, so I never see it." I told her. 

"Do you think that's on purpose?" Kirito brought into question K's past tendencies. 

"He wouldn't do something like that to me IRL. There must be a reason. He has to be fighting tooth and nail down there." I hugged my arms to comfort myself. 

"What should we do?" Liz spoke like there was no hope. 

I half glared at her, but then I had an idea. 

"We need to go spy on the Salamanders." I declared. 

"What?" Everyone all said.

"They're the ones that attacked us on the water. With Eugene down with K, their military force is more than insufficient right now. If we snoop around, we may be able to gain valuable intel for the upcoming war." I suggested.

"So it is war..." Asuna said softly. 

"Not if K can help it. And not if I can either." I vowed.

We glided to a nearby ridge that lay next to the Salamander kingdom. We walked the last of the way in order to avoid detection as we crested the cliffside. This was the first time we were doing reconnaissance as a full group, so it felt rather exhilarating for a lot of us. The fear of being detected kept us on our toes as we knelt low before nearing a close edge.

"Down." I directed everyone else who was more or less on their knees. 

They looked at me as I lowered myself and began to crawl on the ground. 

"Right. You must do this all the time as a sniper." Kirito noticed and followed along.

"More often than not." I agreed as we peered ahead. 

"Woah..." Lizbeth was the first to say.

Before us was the active construction of an external compound militarized wall. Even odder, it was made of some sort of iron or steel, metals that can only be forged with high heats and heavy hits. 

"My god..." Kirito was at a loss for words as we watched soldier after soldier carry bars and bolts. 

"They're initiating an industrial age." I took notice.