Sword Art Online: Frontier Mira

Chapter 10: Defiance in Death

Sword Art Online: Frontier Mira

Chapter 10: Defiance in Death

Warning: The ending of this chapter may make some squeamish. Read at your own risk.

No more dank depths, instead the familiar canyons and sand of Oblivia. At the mouth of the cave, three women, a man, and a bulb emerged from the darkness. In front of them was a sight foreign to the desert environment. Underneath rock arches lie a massive lake, with its back to the sea. On either side, rivers fed out like arms off a torso.

"Just here. Down that river is where friends should be. Rico should go now, goods won't sell themselves!"

After being thanked, Rico took out a small light from his bag, and dived back into the shadows. The remaining quartet looked toward the lake, tempted to get a quick drink, but they noticed a small peninsula in the center. On it lie tiny structures, which they assumed to be the caravan. They took a note of the location, then turned the other way, following the riverbank. Nothing they hadn't seen before, canyons, sand, and alien plants. Further down, a loud shriek pierced the sky, followed by the blast of a rifle. The others must have gotten into another fight along the way.

"Hey! Did you hear that? That sounded like Sinonon's gun!" Asuna was really worried about her condition.

"No questioning that! Let's hurry!"

They rapidly increased their pace, as the gunfire in the distance became clearer. Seeing the river and the land drop, Asuna, Leafa, and Kirito took a huge leap off the ledge, where Silica, Sinon, Liz, and Klein were fighting off some living flowers. Yui took a different approach and used her shield to slide down the side of the wall, achieving the same landing position.

"We're here! Ready to fight!"

Without turning around, Sinon quickly summarized the situation. "Good. More false flora ambushed us. Nothing too big. Just the things we saw earlier. Five of them."

She shot a bullet at one of them, knocking it down to the ground. Silica thrust her knife into its stomach to finish it, while Liz guarded her from the other four.

Sinon lowered her gun. "Four of them."

The creatures were circling Liz, trying their best to flank her, but Silica kept blasting them away with her raygun.

"Alright Silica, things are looking good."

"Yeah, yeah!"

Sinon had ceased providing sniper support, as two of the beasts swiped at her javelin. By quickly hopping back, she avoided the disarming strikes, and prepared to counter. She thrust three times at one, swept the area in front of her, and ended by lunging forward, while her spear was coated in electricity. The head punctured deep into the flower of one enemy, as blue sparks shot across its body. The second one, while wounded, charged Sinon from her right side, but was blown away by a distant Klein's gunfire.

"Got 'em! We're kicking ass out here! If Kirito were here to watch, man! He'd be ecstatic!"

There was only one left, this one much larger than the four lower mobs. The offensive party slowly approached it, backing it into a corner. It darted its head between Liz, Silica, and Sinon, deciding which one was the most valuable target.

"Okay, on the count of three, we charge. One, two..." Liz tucked herself behind her shield.

Under intense pressure, the brute charged her.

"Three- WHOA, WHOA!"

Her head popped out to see a bullet reflect off her shield and into the sand. In the distance, Kirito stood with his gun drawn, aimed toward her. Gunpowder and smoke blew away from the barrel, freshly ignited. His first shot had grazed the side of the bug, drawing its aggro.