Sword Art Online-Encroaching Shadows

Chapter 10

It was nearly six o'clock in the evening as the pair sat on the outskirts of the forest sharing another loaf of bread. Jayce watched the tree line noting the moving cursors of enemies too far away to attack. He wondered if there were people trapped in this game who had never played an MMO before. With the lack of understanding of how enemy creatures worked one would think that if you were within eyesight they would attack. Would you ever be able to feel safe if that were the case? Not everyone knew that there was a certain radius that dictated if a creature would become aggressive and attack.

"We're going on ten hours." Jemza said taking a drink of water.

"Yeah, I think I owe you now." The girl beside him returned the waterskin back into her inventory and shrugged.

"Nah, we've made quite a bit of experience so in the grand scheme of things, this was well worth it." The first two hours had been slow going. They operated with a higher margin of safety to make sure there was little danger involved while fighting the <<Little Nepenthes>>. After two hours of falling into a rhythm and understanding everything the creature was capable of they sped up. For eight hours straight they continuously killed the plant creatures, but failed to find one with the flower needed to cure the little girl.

The upside to such a long amount of time spent was that they accrued a large amount of experience. Both Jayce and Jemza were well into level eight now. Jemza in particular was ecstatic because that meant Jayce had earned six more points which he could throw into strength and not only meet the requirements to wield the quest reward sword, but also get closer to where his stats should be at this point.

"That's true. Well, shall we get back to it?" They both took a deep breath and pushed themselves to their feet. After returning to the forest and falling into their normal routine of attacking as a pair another two hours came and went. Night fell over the first floor of Aincrad which thankfully wasn't the same as it would be in the real world. If this were real the forest would be nearly pitch black. Since this was an MMO, the night hours were dark, but everything was always illuminated as if a full moon shone down on it.

The last <<Little Nepenthes>> shattered into fragments of light when Jemza retracted her dagger from its body. Jayce looked around the area making sure no other plant creatures were nearby before checking the time. His shoulders slumped after he thought about things for a few moment and came to a decision. Jemza had already spent so much time helping him, and it wasn't fair to ask any more of her.

"Let's go back. You've done enough and I don't think we'll ever see this thing." The white haired girl looked over at him cocking her head to the side.

"It's no trouble. Like I said, the experience is worth it." While her statement was true he still felt that this was a lost cause. The chances of the <<Little Nepenthes>> appearing with a flower was so minimal that the frustration had set in.

"We're far above the level of these things now, so the experience has greatly diminished. We would have to move on anyway. Let's..."

"Look!" Jemza interrupted him, grabbing his shoulder and spinning him around. Maybe it was due to the flood of relief within him, or just plain excitement, but without thinking he raised a hand to his shoulder placing it on top of hers. Ahead of them a few dozen yards away was a <<Little Nepenthes>>, a bright red flower sprouting from the top of its body.

"I've never seen anything so beautiful." Jayce said making the girl laugh. She didn't pull her hand away, but instead turned it and grabbed his hand tightly pulling him along.

"Come on!" Even with his higher agility score he still had to put a decent bit of effort in to keep up with her steps. What branches and logs she could effortlessly pass over without a second thought, he had to pay attention so as not to trip. She stopped just before entering the creature's threat range and turned her face towards him.