== Kokoro Connect Spanish Pending Project ==
The project has the first CH fully been translated completely by me. Adding the fact also it has a forum now ( done by BakaSenpai). What else must be done so it can be a full project now?--[[User:RandomBeaner|RandomBeaner]] ([[User talk:RandomBeaner|talk]]) 20:27, 22 October 2012 (CDT)

==Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon: German==

Hey, would Magi no Figur make any sense in German? Or any combination of said words? I have the feeling that the 'no' is just Japanized German, but I wanted to check and make sure. Thanks a lot! -[[User:YoakeNoHikari|YoakeNoHikari]] 14:19, 29 November 2011 (CST)

I don't have the novel right now, but from what I can remember it says...Actually, I don't remember the Kanji, but furigana say マギノフィグーア/Maginofiguua. (I think.) I think the no is a Japanese particle, but I'm unsure since it's all in katakana. The object in question seems to be a magic focus, and since the users use techniques with German names i.e Weiss/Schwarz Floren, I assumed this was German too.

When I see the raw again, I'll confirm. And no, unfortunately I don't know German to translate it into German ^^ -[[User:YoakeNoHikari|YoakeNoHikari]] 15:16, 29 November 2011 (CST)

I'm unsure about 'floren', but I thought that it meant flowers, yes. I haven't actually seen it in action yet - just heard the name.

As for the focus thing, it's a strange object; one of them is a speedometer and the other is a dragonfly-frame, so they're rather inane items. I think that the author was indeed using 'no' as a Japanese particle, since your interpretations are quite far off from the romaji.

Thanks for all the help! -[[User:YoakeNoHikari|YoakeNoHikari]] 15:58, 29 November 2011 (CST

I think I'll go with Magi no Figur, since I don't want to deviate too far from the author's pronunciation, and it does seem to make sense if we look at 'no' as the particle. Once again, thanks for the help! -[[User:YoakeNoHikari|YoakeNoHikari]] 16:53, 29 November 2011 (CST)

== hi ==

----hi
my japanese is accetable. but I can u teach me to register senpai ?

I want to enlist for traslator . but I don't know how. - by ([[user:Kili|Kili]])

Register for what? For a chapter? At the forum? Or what did you mean? Do you know what you want to translate? If you do, visit the registration page of the respective project and register there for the chapter you wish to translate: (put your name behind the chosen chapter using <nowiki>[[user:Kili|Kili]]</nowiki>) Also it could help if you contact the project supervisor or one of the active translators of your chosen project (for further information/help) also you could leave word behind in the forum where the project is discussed of your intention to translate. --[[User:Darklor|Darklor]] 18:08, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

== thax ==

I done reading to aru majutsu no index chapter 9. So i want to post it in here. Sorry but still realy noob. - by (--9 December 2009 [[user:Kili|Kili]])

So you want to translate Chapter 9 of which volume? Or did you mean Volume 9 into English? So register the chapter you like to translate here: [[To_Aru_Majutsu_no_Index:Registration Page|Registration]] (The reason behind registering is to prevent unnecessary double work aka lost translation work)

Or do you wish to create an Alternate Language Project for your language? Or Both?

Or do you ask how to create a new page for a translated chapter? (An easy way to accomplish is through red links like [[To_Aru_Majutsu_no_Index:Volume9_Chapter1|Chapter 1]] (<nowiki>[[To_Aru_Majutsu_no_Index:Volume9_Chapter1|Chapter 1]]</nowiki> Where you can then add your translation)--[[User:Darklor|Darklor]] 22:12, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

thank you so much. I will post it both if I can. I will rise my name. lol (--9 December 2009 [[user:Kili|Kili]])

hi
I want to resume my job in to aru majutsu no index bahasa indonesia
I'm focus on vol 1 and 6. but I'll finish vol 6 first.
hope you can help me. (--June 2011 [[user:Kili|Kili]])

==How to link to a Translation Notes page==
'''<nowiki>*</nowiki>1:''' Bla Bla or look there, how the outcome for MariMite21 looks like:[[Maria-sama_ga_Miteru:Volume21_Translator's_Notes]]

==Hi (-.-)b==
Hi, I am a university student that is why I have yet to sign up on the forums but I will sign up as soon as possible however at the moment I am kind of busy, but I will make constant updates to Hidan no Aria.--[[User:Seoulfighter|Seoulfighter]] 23:27, 9 May 2010 (UTC)

I see if that is the case maybe I'll work on the third volume then... Can you give me the contact information for the individual who wants to translate the second ch. because I don't want to do useless work >_<! Also if someone does pick up Hidan no Aria since I'm a slow translator I can work on other projects. Like I was looking up on the forum I could potentially pick up kampfer because I have the first ten volumes or so... Or I can work on 7 nights or baka to testo. if no ones working on that, but ya if you can just fill me in on whats not being translated because I have almost all the novels on this site in raws. I just want the practice of translating xD!
--[[User:Seoulfighter|Seoulfighter]] 09:33, 10 May 2010 (UTC)

yeah I sent undying a pm but i have not found the Hidan no Aria thread. Unless the thread that you linked me to was the hidan no aria thread xD.
--[[User:Seoulfighter|Seoulfighter]] 18:52, 10 May 2010 (UTC)

Hey so I started working on Kampfer, and I was just wondering where should I put up the first chapter when I'm done. Currently I have one page translated, and only 36 more pgs to go xD.
--[[User:Seoulfighter|Seoulfighter]] 08:37, 11 May 2010 (UTC)

Hey Darklor I can't make a teaser page since it says I'm not a registered user which means its being completely lame... Can you help me figure out a way to create a teaser page while I try to finish the first chapter of Kampfer? Also is undying dead?? He doesn't reply to my PM...
--[[User:Seoulfighter|Seoulfighter]] 09:06, 11 May 2010 (UTC)

Finished making the Teaser Page After slaving away for the last hour hahahahahhaha! xP
--[[User:Seoulfighter|Seoulfighter]] 18:28, 11 May 2010 (UTC)--

== RE: Hi! ==

Yes, thank you. But, how should I start doing that? Is there any easy-to-follow guide here where I can start translating? If possible, is there a link for me to get the RAWs for the chapters that haven't been translated; specifically, volume 13 onwards? --Tomoya13

==Machine Translation==
Hey thanks for saying that now that you say it, Ill curse dis thing and anyone who does dis! -[[User:EDGE04|EDGE04]]

Huh? What do you mean? What have you said? --[[User:Darklor|Darklor]] 17:17, 13 June 2010 (UTC)

== About your question==
Is a bit of both but to make long translations I'm not that motivated aslo I have more to learn in order to clear details so far I made the epilogue of Index vol.17 but there is more thing who needs to be improved.--[[User:Wilfriback|Wilfriback]] 16:31, 30 June 2010 (UTC)
If you can do that for me, doing it for myself is somehow embarrasing...as I said before I just made a little prologue.

Opps I mean the prologue.

No, I'm not Twi, I'm Wilfriback in OM.

Only the parts posted about the SS1 until now.--[[User:Wilfriback|Wilfriback]] 01:26, 13 July 2010 (UTC)

===SAO (de) ===
"Nach Anime release", damit mein ich natürlich, dass ich nach dem Anime release mit der Übersetzung beginne. Als Vorlage nehme ich die Originale LN-Version, aber hauptsächlich die bereits auf Englisch übersetzte Version. [[User:Shin Aku|- Shin Aku -]] 21:57, 16 August 2012 (GMT +1)

Nein noch nicht. Kannst du mir ein Link schicken, indem ich mal sehen kann, wie er schreibt? Ich hab atm. wenig Zeit. Ist kein muss, würde aber viel Zeit sparen. [[User:Shin Aku|- Shin Aku -]] 19:53, 17 August (GMT +1)

Hi Darklor, in letzter Zet habe ich bemerkt, dass irgendwelche IPs etwas an der Wikiseite von SAO (de) und Accel Work (de) verändern. Daher bitte ich dich (falls du Befugnisse hast), dass die beiden Projekte nur für angemeldete User änderbar sind.[[User:Shin Aku|- Shin Aku -]] 15:23, 17. November (GMT +1)

== Hidan no Aria ==

Alright I was just wondering about the Hidan no Aria because I was sorta like O_O when I saw those typos and thought to myself did I leave that their... Before realizing someone must have edited with typos. It is perfectly fine if you left it their for other editors to correct, but they made me stop. As I wanted to correct them because I like grammatically correct and literate sentences.

As for Undying his hard drive got erased, and he told me the whole project is now mine. So yeah I used the manga translation to catch up because it stuck true to the story for about 90%, the last 10% can be interpretive differences.
--[[User:Seoulfighter|Seoulfighter]] 00:54, 14 July 2010 (UTC)

So Undying is in Thailand, and I'm not sure if he is going to come back as a translator until he gets everything back to normal because there was apparently a huge state of emergency in Thailand. He had his computer confiscated and cleaned out, but that is probably the least of his problems so if he does it might be later. As of now he has not given me any impressions as to whether or not he will continue at a later time.
--[[User:Seoulfighter|Seoulfighter]] 03:20, 15 July 2010 (UTC)

>_< whoops my bad O_O I didn't check properly ahhahaa...>_< I'm going to go redirect the question to Spadey.
--[[User:Seoulfighter|Seoulfighter]] 08:22, 19 August 2010 (UTC)

o_O Nothing important but are you sure you got the right message? I'm from Thailand and I've never heard of anyone got his computer confiscated and cleaned out. Well hopefully he comes back.--[[User:Hypernova|Hypernova]] 10:02, 19 August 2010 (UTC)

== poll creation ==

Could you create the feedback thread for Kore wa Zombie desu ka? I don't have permission to create a poll... sorry for the trouble. --[[User:Saganatsu|Saganatsu]] 05:56, 3 March 2011 (UTC)

== Rental Magica Typo ==

Baaah, I don't know how that happened. Thanks Darklor, that was most definitely a typo. --[[User:Amazing Buffalo|Amazing Buffalo]] 01:50, 3 May 2011 (UCT)

== Collapsibility Upgrade ==

Umm. If it's not too much trouble could you take a look at [[MediaWiki_talk:Common.js|this]]. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] - [[User_talk:Zero2001|Talk]] - 18:07, 29 June 2011 (UCT)

I apologize if I seem annoying. I do understand that everyone here has other stuff to do. However that page cannot be edited by normal users like myself (Quite rightly so). For that I needed those higher up to understand my ideas. Even though they might reject my idea. I chose to risk it. Please help support collapsibility. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] - [[User_talk:Zero2001|Talk]] - 18:19, 30 June 2011 (UCT)

But as a supervisor your word does carry some weight, no? Help, ''please?'' (Puppy-eyes mode) [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] - [[User_talk:Zero2001|Talk]] - 16:06, 8 July 2011 (UCT)

== Reactivate Account ==

that's okay, my previous password still work fine --[[User:LiTTleDRAgo|LiTTleDRAgo]] 07:02, 19 November 2011 (CST)

== cakemanofdoom ==
Oh I see. Thanks. I didn't go to the forums for a long time, sorry about missing out on that info. Is he still active? Just wondering how he's doing with his Mushi to Medama chapter. [[User:Brynhilde|Brynhilde]]

== MA Series ==

I just saw your edit and I just wanted to say that Kyou Kara Maou is the name of the anime. MA Series or Maru-MA is the name of the novels. But I guess readers who have watched the anime would be more familiar with Kyou Kara Maou.
[[User:Stellarroze|Stellarroze]] 16:54, 30 January 2012 (CST)

We've decided on the name Maru-MA. :) [[User:Stellarroze|Stellarroze]] 09:49, 1 February 2012 (CST)

== Re: Translated Chapters ==

Oh, I see. I was going to change it since you asked, but it seems [[user:LiTTleDRAgo|LiTTleDRAgo]] has already updated the urls for me.

Ok, I'll keep using ~Brazilian Portuguese~ in the titles, then. Sorry if it was any inconvenience to you. --Tkern

== Deleted Talk Pages ==

the deleted talk pages is just redirect page

[[Talk:Bakemonogatari/Bakemonogatari/Tsubasa_Cat/003]] > [[Talk:Monogatari_Series::Bakemonogatari_Volume2/Tsubasa_Cat_003]]

==Oda Nobuna no Yabou German==
Sorry to bother you, but I've been told to talk to you about getting my project authorized. I completed chapter 1 of volume 1. Sorry if I'm at the wrong place, I already got Hidan no Aria German version, authorized, but I forgot whom I asked. [[User:AngelOfDeath|AngelOfDeath]] ([[User talk:AngelOfDeath|talk]])

==Yoshiaki==
Just looked at the boku H teaser... slthough i was more interested in the Yoshiaki Katsurai incident. can you tell me what that is? or give a link maybe?--[[User:Idiffer|Idiffer]] ([[User talk:Idiffer|talk]]) 15:25, 30 August 2012 (CDT)

== Ryuu to Aitsu... ==

Hi, sorry for the late reply. I'm 24 pages in to the first chapter. Right now, im not working on it but I will later. Yuusha isn't the same as Aitsu, but the word "勇者" is read as Yuusha. However it has Aitsu as furigana...
[[User:Stellarroze|Stellarroze]] ([[User talk:Stellarroze|talk]]) 18:47, 31 August 2012 (CDT)

True...well feel free to delete since I won't be working on it for awhile. When I do get back to it, I'll probably redo the translation as well since I'm not very happy with it as it was done a couple months ago. [[User:Stellarroze|Stellarroze]] ([[User talk:Stellarroze|talk]]) 09:27, 4 September 2012 (CDT)

== Reply ==

Hi there, I'm actually translating a volume of AW but I have something very complicated coming on RL in about a month or so, and that's why I've been thinking on staying as an editor for AW specially when there are submissions that needs proofreading. If somehow I get over with the 3d world, I'll put my name back under the translator's heading. :D --[[User:Lan013|Lan013]] ([[User talk:Lan013|talk]]) 07:11, 10 September 2012 (CDT)

Yes, around ~25 pages left to finish the volume I'm working on. --[[User:Lan013|Lan013]] ([[User talk:Lan013|talk]]) 01:55, 11 September 2012 (CDT)

Well, I'll leave it like that for a while. :D --[[User:Lan013|Lan013]] ([[User talk:Lan013|talk]]) 02:19, 11 September 2012 (CDT)

==sorry==

i accidentally click 'revert it back' while trying to check hyouka ID changes, please forgive me. [[User:Tony Yon|Tony]] ([[User talk:Tony Yon|talk]]) 05:08, 11 September 2012 (CDT)

==Gh==
oh, sorry. no. that page was a test page before i learned how to use user spaces. you can delete it... man, how do u find these things?)) PS. btw, sorry, i have like no time at all right now to create forum threads for russian projects right now--[[User:Idiffer|Idiffer]] ([[User talk:Idiffer|talk]]) 04:16, 12 September 2012 (CDT)

== Stalled projects ==

Do we really have to keep the stalled projects on the side bar? Like [[CubexCursedxCurious]] and [[7 Nights]]? And, what makes a project to be catagorized as stalled? --[[User:Chancs|Chancs]] ([[User talk:Chancs|talk]]) 04:17, 13 September 2012 (CDT)

Looking over the criteria for the stalled project template, I have found some teaser projects with no updated for near about two years. Can I go ahead with tagging them as under stalled? --[[User:Chancs|Chancs]] ([[User talk:Chancs|talk]]) 04:54, 13 September 2012 (CDT)

Oh, thanks for that. I had just pressed the "Edit" for adding the "stalled" tag over a teaser when 'received your message. :) --[[User:Chancs|Chancs]] ([[User talk:Chancs|talk]]) 04:19, 14 September 2012 (CDT)

== The Answer ==

Yup :P Thats just a random name I created for twitter xD --Vermiculo

== Hi ==

I uploaded the whole Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon 5A scans as I didn't see the section on the main page (and considering 5B is out sometime soon), I'm also cleaning and uploading english typesetting scans, but at the moment re-going through them and seeing what better fonts I use: http://i.imgur.com/AtaJS.jpg an example page I'm type setting, what do you think? Also nice to meet you, I'm a new editor helping out in whatever way I can. --Link2link8

== High School DxD Greek ==

I have created a [[High School DxD (Ελληνικά) registeration page|registeration page]] and a forum thread. What else do I need to do to get authorisation? --Dimitris3432

== Reply to PM (Eternal Dreamer) ==

Sorry I'm replying on your talk page like this, I'm currently not authorized to send PMs. Anyway, I first translated part of vol 4 and all of vol 5 for High School DxD starting at the beginning of summer, and right now I'm working on Accel World vol 4. (Check their registration pages if you wish to confirm).

--[[User:Eternal Dreamer|Eternal Dreamer]] ([[User talk:Eternal Dreamer|talk]]) 05:55, 25 October 2012 (CDT)

== Campione! Deutsch ==

Hallo Darklor, ich wollte fragen ob ich Campione! auf deutsch übersetzen dürfte. [[User:Kyoukou|Kyoukou]] 12:18, 01 November 2012

Ok danke für deine Antwort :) [[User: Kyoukou|Kyoukou]] 13:46 01 November 2012

Ich wollte nur fragen wie du "Princess Goddess" und "Heretic God" übersetzen würdest. Ich finde,dass sich "Gottprinzessin" und "Abweichernder Gott" nicht wirklich gut anhört. [[User: Kyoukou|Kyoukou]] 20:22 06. November 2012

Thx. Kann ich bis zu Samstag oder Freitag Zeit bekommen, bevor ich das erste Kapitel fertig habe? Schaffe es nicht bis morgen, weil ich nächste Woche 2 Schulaufgaben schreibe :( (Deutsch und Mathe) [[User:Kyoukou|Kyoukou]] 15:07 07.November.2012

wie soll ich es übersetzen, wenn die Götter in so einen komischen Dialekt reden? einfach ins normale Deutsch? [[User:Kyoukou|Kyoukou]] 16:48 10. November 2012

Die Götter sprechen in campione! halt altes Englisch wie z.B. "Thy" [[User:Kyoukou|Kyoukou]] 20:41 11. November 2012

Das Problem aber ist das ich nicht altes Deutsch/ alte Wörter weiß ^^' [[User:Kyoukou|Kyoukou]] 16.54 11. November 2012 (CET)
== Broken Machine Doll ==
No it is not a prank. Hayashi was the one who worked on volume 2. He has decided to delete it as well as remove himself from the B-T community because certain editors think they have the right to modify whatever they want when a translator kindly asks them not to. He'd kindly like to ask you to not restore it because he wants it to remain deleted. --‎Lllllllllllllllll

Since he did under his own power, he shouldn't be banned for doing it. If possible, can you unblock him? (It's not even possible for him to talk about his actions with you while banned. ^^;) [[User:Hobogunner|Hobogunner]] ([[User talk:Hobogunner|talk]]) 01:58, 5 November 2012 (CST)

Aren't the translations (now what is that word...sole property? ) of the translators? *scratches head* They have no obligation towards others to post or un-post their work. And I request for the same as mentioned by Hobogunner above. :) --[[User:Chancs|Chancs]] ([[User talk:Chancs|talk]]) 02:30, 5 November 2012 (CST)

Way to lay the blame for everything on me, ‎Lllllllllllllllll. Especially considering that it was your edit of removing my name from the Kikou Shoujo editor's list '''without any permission of any kind''' and then giving me a vindictive message on my talk page that led to this whole mess. I don't know why you're targeting me but please stop. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] - [[User_talk:Zero2001|Talk]] - 02:24, 5 November 2012 (CST)

Sorry Darklor for posting here. But I wanted to make this clear so that you don't get caught in this mess. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] - [[User_talk:Zero2001|Talk]] - 02:25, 5 November 2012 (CST)

And let's put an end to blaming. --[[User:Chancs|Chancs]] ([[User talk:Chancs|talk]]) 02:30, 5 November 2012 (CST)

This mess is far too large to avoid being caught in it, sadly. As for Hayashi's ban, I agree it does look like vandalism; however, it is in this case definitely not. He deleted his own translations which is by no means any cause for a temporary ban. If it was against something he himself did not upload, I would fully agree with the ban. This isn't the case, though, I see no reason for even a temporary ban. He has no intention to touch anything other than what he has uploaded himself, I can vouch for that. [[User:Hobogunner|Hobogunner]] ([[User talk:Hobogunner|talk]]) 02:36, 5 November 2012 (CST)

== -1 ==

Heyo Darklor,

I detailed everything about that on his [[User talk:Zero2001|talk page]]. It's sad, but B-T really can't afford to have him causing any more damage.

[[User:Darkoneko|DarkoNeko]] [[User_Talk:Darkoneko|talk]] 11:10, 10 November 2012 (CST)
:hm, am I wrong to assume you've been receiving PMs from him ? He has been desesperatly trying to "secretly" get people to his side by privately writing to them on the forum... already 4 people have contacted me to complain about the walls of text they've been getting from him.
:Block wise, you seems to think it's just about 『Kikou shoujo wa kizutsukanai』. That's probably what he told you. But I've been looking at the larger picture. Hell, I spent over 2 days investigating on that before acting.
:[[User:Darkoneko|DarkoNeko]] [[User_Talk:Darkoneko|talk]] 05:11, 12 November 2012 (CST)

== Okujou ==

Hi Darklor, yeah I plan to translate the entire volume, might take a little while but I'd like to try :P

I'm a bit particular about publishing anything that's not fully translated though (that's why I removed the Teaser tag), could you keep this under the rug for now? Once I've finished the whole volume I'll drop you a message ^^

Thanks in advanced!!

--[[User:HolyCow|HolyCow]] ([[User talk:HolyCow|talk]]) 22:30, 26 November 2012 (CST)

P/S: I'm surprised you managed to find the page XD 
P/P/S: I translate directly using the wiki, so if you see the page inactive for say, 2 months, feel free to assume me MIA and reapply the tag :)

:No problem, thanks mate :)
:--[[User:HolyCow|HolyCow]] ([[User talk:HolyCow|talk]]) 01:57, 27 November 2012 (CST)

::Oh yeah, kinda forgot about the recent changes page lol. A wiseman once told me, "The changelog knows everything" ;)
::--[[User:HolyCow|HolyCow]] ([[User talk:HolyCow|talk]]) 02:30, 27 November 2012 (CST)

User talk:Darklor

2012-11-27T07:57:10Z

HolyCow: /* Okujou */

Talk:Koushite Kare ha Okujou o Moyasu Koto Ni Shita

2012-11-27T07:17:13Z

HolyCow: Created page with "=== Regarding the Title === Strictly speaking, the Japanese title uses 'Kare', which is a gender-neutral equivalent of he/she. Since I can't think of any suitable English ter..."

=== Regarding the Title ===

Strictly speaking, the Japanese title uses 'Kare', which is a gender-neutral equivalent of he/she. Since I can't think of any suitable English term for it (... please do not suggest 'it'), and using a gender-specific term would be akin to a slight spoiler, I've chosen 'they' to preserve the neutrality. If you have any suggestions, please let me know :)
--[[User:HolyCow|HolyCow]] ([[User talk:HolyCow|talk]]) 01:17, 27 November 2012 (CST)

User:HolyCow

2012-11-27T07:13:50Z

2012-11-25T17:40:07Z

HolyCow:

{{Template:Abandoned}}

[[Image:GOTH.jpg|200px|thumb|Cover for the GOTH novel.]]

GOTH is a psychological horror novel written by Otsuichi. It contains 6 short stories and is centered around 'Boku' and his female classmate, Morino Yoru.

'''WARNING''': This novel may contain excessive details of Mutilation and Gore that some people may find offensive or disturbing.

== Release Schedule ==
This project has been officially terminated with the release of Tokyopop's translated version. If you like this series, please support them (and Otsu-ichi) by buying the translated novels!

*Official date: 7th October 2008
*ISBN: 1-4278-1137-7

=== Format Standards ===
*[[Format_guideline|General Format/Style Guideline]]

== Updates ==
*October 26, 2008
**Project officially terminated with the series hitting the shelves. All Chapters have been purged, save Chapter 1 which will remain on the wiki as a teaser of sorts. For more info, see the Discussion page.
**Thank you for reading GOTH! If you enjoyed reading it, please support Otsu-ichi by purchasing the translated novels by Tokyopop once they hit the shelves in your area!

== GOTH: Wristcut Incident by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otsu-ichi Otsuichi] ==

:* [[GOTH:GOTH|GOTH 暗黒系]]
:* Wristcut リストカット事件
:* Dog 犬
:* Twins 記憶
:* Grave 土
:* Voice 声
:* Author's Notes
:* [[GOTH:Translator's_Notes|Translator's Notes and References]]

== Project Staff ==

*Project Administrator: [[user:The naming game|The naming game]]
*Project Supervisor: [[User:HolyCow|HolyCow]]

=== Translators ===
::*[[User:HolyCow|HolyCow]]
::*[[user:The naming game|The naming game]]

This Project is officially terminated. We are not recruiting any more staff.

=== Editors ===
::*[[user:Darkoneko|Darkoneko]]
::*[[User:Smidge204|Smidge204]]

== Series Overview ==
* GOTH - Wristcut Incident: Yoru's Chapter / GOTH リストカット事件　夜の章 (角川文庫：ISBN 4044253048)
* GOTH - Wristcut Incident: Boku's Chapter / GOTH リストカット事件　僕の章 (角川文庫：ISBN 4044253056)
* GOTH - Wristcut Incident (Tankubon) / GOTH リストカット事件 (単行本)

Koushite Kare ha Okujou o Moyasu Koto Ni Shita

2012-11-25T17:14:33Z

HolyCow: /* Koushite Kare ha Okujou o Moyasu Koto Ni Shita */

[[Image:Okujou.jpg|thumb|Cover|250px]]

Koushite Kare ha Okujou o Moyasu Koto Ni Shita (こうして彼は屋上を燃やすことにした "And so, they burned the roof just like that") is a light novel written by Kamitsuki Rainy and illustrated by Ayakura Jyuu.

==Story Synopsis==
After being dumped by my boyfriend, I -- Miura Kana, made my way to the school's roof, intending to end my life. However, what I found there was a peculiar girl who called herself 'scarecrow' -- along with the venom-tongued 'Tinman' and the smiling 'Lion'

Lion told me, "Since we've all decided to die, why don't we first extract revenge before dying?"

And so, I became Dorothy, the one who would kill the Wicked Witch of the West and fulfill everyone's wishes, the 'Wizard of Oz'.

Underneath the clear blue sky, this was our only Sanctuary. Through interacting with others, we discovered what we lacked in our selves...

==Character Introduction==
<div>
<div style="float: left; width: 400px; margin: 5px 20px;">
Miura Kana (Dorothy)
[[Image:Okujou_Kana.jpg|left|link=]]
Used to like Ame-kun. 
Hates the rain. Currently in a state of insomnia.
</div>
<div style="float: left; width: 400px; margin: 5px 20px;">
Lion
[[Image:Okujou_Lion.jpg|left|link=]]
Likes peace, afternoon naps, and the blue sky. 
Because he lacks courage, he can't get angry.
</div>
 
<div style="float: left; width: 400px; margin: 5px 20px;">
Scarecrow
[[Image:Okujou_Scarecrow.jpg|left|link=]]
Likes lying, singing and the evening sky. 
Because she lacks intelligence, she can't cry.
</div>
<div style="float: left; width: 400px; margin: 5px 20px;">
Tinman
[[Image:Okujou_Tinman.jpg|left|link=]]
Likes being alone, reading and the night sky. 
Because he lacks a heart, he can't laugh.
</div>
 

== Format Standards ==
'''Every Chapter (after editing) must conform to the agreed points highlighted in the below guidelines'''
*[[Format_guideline|General Format/Style Guideline]]

== Updates ==
* Nothing yet :D

== Koushite Kare ha Okujou o Moyasu Koto Ni Shita ==

*[[Okujou:Illustrations|Illustrations]]
*[[Okujou:Prologue|Prologue]]
*[[Okujou:Dorothy_1|Dorothy (Part One)]] (50%)
*[[Okujou:Lion|Lion]]
*[[Okujou:Scarecrow|Scarecrow]]
*[[Okujou:Tinman|Tinman]]
*[[Okujou:Dorothy_2|Dorothy (Part Two)]]
*[[Okujou:Afterword1|Afterword]]

==Project Staff==

*Project Administrator:
*Project Supervisor: [[user:HolyCow|HolyCow]]

===Translators===
:*[[user:HolyCow|HolyCow]]

===Editors===

== Series Overview ==

* こうして彼は屋上を燃やすことにした (18 May 2011, ISBN 978-4-09-451270-0)

[[Category:Oneshot]]

File:Okujou 1.jpg

2012-11-25T17:13:31Z

HolyCow:

Okujou:Dorothy 1

2012-11-25T17:12:39Z

HolyCow: 50% done

'''Suddenly, a tornado tore the girl's house off the Earth, and hurled it together with her into the air --- With a loud thud, she landed on the far east side of the world, on top of a very wicked witch.'''

X X X

The rain would often evoke unpleasant memories of that day. That's why, I chose a rainy day to jump off the school roof.

I pushed open the yellow door and was greeted by a moody grey sky. The wind howled around around, causing me to shiver involuntarily. I tightened the knitted sweater I wore over my school uniform.

Before I jumped, there was something I needed to do. Leaving the door connecting to roof and the school staircase open, I took out my phone, and looked for Ame-kun's mail address from my list of past messages.

In my present state, just the mere sight of his name would be enough to make my heart throb,. This was different from the throbbing when we were still a couple - this was a painful throb which was almost unbearable.

That's why, not only did I delete all our phone conversation logs, I also deleted his phone number and mail address. However, I couldn't bear to delete all the previous text messages he sent me. Because they contained too many happy memories, I could never bring myself to delete them; words that were left for me by Ame-kun, whom I had deeply loved.

Deep inside though, I knew these words were nothing but his past self.

I deleted 『Re:』 from the title and composed my last message.

『I still love you. Without you, there is no meaning in living on.』

...... What should I do to be free of these feelings --- Loneliness and love... These feelings that pained him, and also pained me.

I hated myself for being so stubborn.

That's why, I had no other choice --- The only thing I could do, was end my own life.

--- Message sent.

After confirming the text which flashed across my phone's screen, I took a deep breath, and deleted all of his messages from my phone.

The melancholic sound of raindrops drifted by my ear. The autumn air was extremely cold.

It was a good thing I had my knitted sweater on. Otherwise, my summer uniform would be thoroughly soaked, and the thin fabric expose my undergarments. If the color of my bra could be easily discerned from my corpse, that would surely be too ugly a way to die.

The fence built around the roof to prevent people from accidentally falling over was really tall, I looked up at the obstacle I had no choice to climb over and sighed. The moment I placed a foot on it, it made a really exaggerated noise --- GASHAN.

--- GASHAN, GASHAN.

I originally thought I could climb this fence calmly. However, halfway up I couldn't help but recall Ame-kun's smile; the face of the one I loved the most. Thinking about his deep voice, thinking about his large hands... Thinking that the current him, would never smile at me ever again.

--- GASHAN, GASHAN.

This noise was a bit too obnoxious, I couldn't help but start crying.

--- GASHAN, GASHAN, GASHAN, GASHAN...... "GASHAN---!!"

"...Uwaa!"

Just as I was about to cross over the top, the fence suddenly shook violently, tipping me forward. I got a clear view of the ground below, and I grabbed hold of the fence in reflex.

--- Uwaa! That was close!! To think I almost fell off and died in an accident instead!

I turned back and looked below, wondering what just happened. A few meters away, I found out why a part of the fence that was shaking.

"GASHAN!! GUWASHAAAAAAAN!!"

"W-w-wait!! ... Eh?"

--- What was going on? Eh? ... A porcelain doll was kicking the fence?

To be precise --- A cute girl who looked exactly like a porcelain doll, was busy kicking the fence without a shred of mercy.

She wore the same type of uniform as me, so she should be from our school. However, seeing her petite frame it wouldn't be hard to pass her for a junior high school student, or even an elementary school kid. Every time she moved to kick the fence, her long, wavy, chest-length chestnut hair would away lightly.

As if betraying her gorgeous appearance that would look absolutely stunning if she danced, this girl was now kicking the fence will a murderous look on her face.

--- That's scary. What was she thinking, kicking the fence like that?!

As I was looking at her with a bewildered look on my face, she abruptly stopped kicking, and a pair of eyes turned towards me from under a red umbrella. The moment our sights crossed, I hurriedly shifted my gaze away.

"Crap..."

My senses told me to absolutely not get involved with her.

But as I cowered and shifted my gaze, she had already made her way to beneath my feet.

"W-what are you planning to do?"

Upon seeing her, I couldn't help but shiver. She raised her head and look up at me without expression, before slightly tilting her head. She was like a small kitten, I found myself unable to communicate with her.

"......"

Suddenly, she turned and started running. Her feet made a pitter-patter sound as they splashed across puddles on the conrete floor.

I followed her umbrella-touting silhouette, and saw her running towards a tall, skinny guy who looked in danger of being blown away by the wind any moment, who was lying on the ground with his back towards me. He lay next to the yellow door, under the small roof where the rain couldn't reach.

..... Was he there all this while? I never noticed him when I first came up to the roof...

The girl shouted at the guy, but all he did was turn back and yawn. She retaliated by kicking him like she had done earlier with the fence, and only then did he sit up lazily.

The girl stretched out her hand and pointed at me furiously, but her voice was still drowned by the rain, so I couldn't hear her. Was she telling him something about a weird girl climbing the roof fence?

The guy tried to lie down, but was once again kicked by the girl. Next she threw an umbrella beside him towards the center of the roof; only then did he start to chase after it hurriedly.

As he picked up and opened the umbrella, I finally got to see his face. He had a head of dry, black hair, and a pale white skin complexion that looked fairly unhealthy; this was further cemented by his frail and slender body and eyes. A red tie was wrapped around his thin neck, as he started to walk towards me.

"...... Err, you wouldn't be planning to jump down, right?"

"A-ah... Yes, I guess I was."

I accidentally replied without thinking. It was all because he asked me in a relaxed tone, as if he was asking about something completely natural like how was I feeling that day.

"Is that so..."

Perhaps worried that he would ask too much, he simply looked up beneath the umbrella and watched me. As a girl who had half her legs crossed above the fence above, I wasn't too thrilled at the idea of someone looking up at me from below.

"W-what?"

I scowled while staring at him, causing him to shirk back in fear.

"... I-it's nothing, p-please go on..."

--- I don't need you to tell me that! Who were these two people anyway?

At this moment, the girl from before planted herself between me and the guy, and finally said:

"Hey... Hey!! Let me ask you, do you think that girl is also one of those people who are better off dead?"

"Who knows? Though truthfully, she seems more like one of those people who don't matter even if they're alive or dead."

The voice that responded was much colder and sharper than the skinny guy from before.

--- Wait what? There's someone else?

I followed the girl's gaze as she turned backward, and let out a yelp in surprise. "E--!"

Judging from the current situation, the person should also be someone from our school. I couldn't make sure since I couldn't see the uniform he was wearing.

A piece of cloth. His entire body was wrapped in a long, white piece of cloth, from head to toe. His face was the only part of him that wasn't covered in cloth, along with his glasses. There was no mistaking it --- he was a mummy, albeit not a really convincing one costume-wise.

His glasses, drenched with rain, sparkled as he spoke.

"Ignore her, if she wants to die then let her die. It's nothing to do with us."

I wasn't planning on questioning him about his strange outfit. And just as he had said, they had nothing to do with me.

Gripping the fence, I took in the school roof in its entirety: On the left was the skinny, ever-smiling boy; on the right was doll-resembling girl with a deep gaze, and smack in the middle was the mummy. Was this what they meant by an unexpected development? For a moment I even wondered if any other weird people would start appearing.

"Why...?"

GASHAN--- the fence started shaking again. The red umbrella once again found itself beneath me.

"Why are you committing suicide...?"

[[Image:Okujou_1.jpg|thumb]]

Those pair of large round eyes were once again focused on me, as she poised the question with an innocent look on her face.

This time I ignored her, and placed my other leg over the fence --- Now all I had to do was jump. Please, all of you, just stop talking.

There was a small landing about a meter in length beyond the fence. As long as I stood on this landing and took a step forward, I could end my own life. A gust of wind blew and mercilessly flipped up my skirt. When I make the jump, it was possible that my skirt would end up flipped upwards. If I had knew earlier, I would have wore a pair of sport shorts underneath. Or should I jump with my hands pushing down my skirt?

The fierce wind that blew from beneath the building caused me to grip the fence tightly in reflex. From afar, I could hear the sound of thunder, as if a storm was approaching.

The scenario before me was even more frightening than I had imagined.

Okujou:Prologue

2012-11-25T12:25:13Z

HolyCow: Prologue done (It's only a page long lol)

"N-no!!"

--- I already have someone else I like... When I heard that from him, that was my first reaction.

"I'm sorry. I really am." He lowered his gaze.

The entire shop suddenly quieted down. I felt everyone turn their puzzled stares towards me, who was standing up with a french fry in hand. Realizing this, I hurried sat down.

"Uuu... Did I suddenly start dreaming?"

"... This is not a dream, Kana."

After that, I don't really remember the content of our conversation. I gazed at the droplets of rain beating down on the windows of the fast food outlet, only half paying attention to what he said --- "Let's break up." "Let's not see each other again." --- something like that.

"... Then... Ame-kun... You no longer have any feelings towards me..."

"--- Yeah, I'm sorry."

"...!"

I abruptly realized the french fry I had been holding on for so long was inside my mouth.

The soft french fry felt soggy and salty in my mouth.

The sky would not stop pouring, drenching me wet from head to toe.

--- That is why, I hate the rain.

Koushite Kare ha Okujou o Moyasu Koto Ni Shita

2012-11-25T12:09:44Z

HolyCow: /* Koushite Kare ha Okujou o Moyasu Koto Ni Shita */

[[Image:Okujou.jpg|thumb|Cover|250px]]

Koushite Kare ha Okujou o Moyasu Koto Ni Shita (こうして彼は屋上を燃やすことにした "And so, they burned the roof just like that") is a light novel written by Kamitsuki Rainy and illustrated by Ayakura Jyuu.

==Story Synopsis==
After being dumped by my boyfriend, I -- Miura Kana, made my way to the school's roof, intending to end my life. However, what I found there was a peculiar girl who called herself 'scarecrow' -- along with the venom-tongued 'Tinman' and the smiling 'Lion'

Lion told me, "Since we've all decided to die, why don't we first extract revenge before dying?"

And so, I became Dorothy, the one who would kill the Wicked Witch of the West and fulfill everyone's wishes, the 'Wizard of Oz'.

Underneath the clear blue sky, this was our only Sanctuary. Through interacting with others, we discovered what we lacked in our selves...

==Character Introduction==
<div>
<div style="float: left; width: 400px; margin: 5px 20px;">
Miura Kana (Dorothy)
[[Image:Okujou_Kana.jpg|left|link=]]
Used to like Ame-kun. 
Hates the rain. Currently in a state of insomnia.
</div>
<div style="float: left; width: 400px; margin: 5px 20px;">
Lion
[[Image:Okujou_Lion.jpg|left|link=]]
Likes peace, afternoon naps, and the blue sky. 
Because he lacks courage, he can't get angry.
</div>
 
<div style="float: left; width: 400px; margin: 5px 20px;">
Scarecrow
[[Image:Okujou_Scarecrow.jpg|left|link=]]
Likes lying, singing and the evening sky. 
Because she lacks intelligence, she can't cry.
</div>
<div style="float: left; width: 400px; margin: 5px 20px;">
Tinman
[[Image:Okujou_Tinman.jpg|left|link=]]
Likes being alone, reading and the night sky. 
Because he lacks a heart, he can't laugh.
</div>
 

== Format Standards ==
'''Every Chapter (after editing) must conform to the agreed points highlighted in the below guidelines'''
*[[Format_guideline|General Format/Style Guideline]]

== Updates ==
* Nothing yet :D

== Koushite Kare ha Okujou o Moyasu Koto Ni Shita ==

*[[Okujou:Illustrations|Illustrations]]
*[[Okujou:Prologue|Prologue]]
*[[Okujou:Dorothy_1|Dorothy (Part One)]]
*[[Okujou:Lion|Lion]]
*[[Okujou:Scarecrow|Scarecrow]]
*[[Okujou:Tinman|Tinman]]
*[[Okujou:Dorothy_2|Dorothy (Part Two)]]
*[[Okujou:Afterword1|Afterword]]

==Project Staff==

*Project Administrator:
*Project Supervisor: [[user:HolyCow|HolyCow]]

===Translators===
:*[[user:HolyCow|HolyCow]]

===Editors===

== Series Overview ==

* こうして彼は屋上を燃やすことにした (18 May 2011, ISBN 978-4-09-451270-0)

[[Category:Oneshot]]

Koushite Kare ha Okujou o Moyasu Koto Ni Shita

2012-11-25T12:08:43Z

HolyCow: Minor edits

[[Image:Okujou.jpg|thumb|Cover|250px]]

Koushite Kare ha Okujou o Moyasu Koto Ni Shita (こうして彼は屋上を燃やすことにした "And so, they burned the roof just like that") is a light novel written by Kamitsuki Rainy and illustrated by Ayakura Jyuu.

==Story Synopsis==
After being dumped by my boyfriend, I -- Miura Kana, made my way to the school's roof, intending to end my life. However, what I found there was a peculiar girl who called herself 'scarecrow' -- along with the venom-tongued 'Tinman' and the smiling 'Lion'

Lion told me, "Since we've all decided to die, why don't we first extract revenge before dying?"

And so, I became Dorothy, the one who would kill the Wicked Witch of the West and fulfill everyone's wishes, the 'Wizard of Oz'.

Underneath the clear blue sky, this was our only Sanctuary. Through interacting with others, we discovered what we lacked in our selves...

==Character Introduction==
<div>
<div style="float: left; width: 400px; margin: 5px 20px;">
Miura Kana (Dorothy)
[[Image:Okujou_Kana.jpg|left|link=]]
Used to like Ame-kun. 
Hates the rain. Currently in a state of insomnia.
</div>
<div style="float: left; width: 400px; margin: 5px 20px;">
Lion
[[Image:Okujou_Lion.jpg|left|link=]]
Likes peace, afternoon naps, and the blue sky. 
Because he lacks courage, he can't get angry.
</div>
 
<div style="float: left; width: 400px; margin: 5px 20px;">
Scarecrow
[[Image:Okujou_Scarecrow.jpg|left|link=]]
Likes lying, singing and the evening sky. 
Because she lacks intelligence, she can't cry.
</div>
<div style="float: left; width: 400px; margin: 5px 20px;">
Tinman
[[Image:Okujou_Tinman.jpg|left|link=]]
Likes being alone, reading and the night sky. 
Because he lacks a heart, he can't laugh.
</div>
 

== Format Standards ==
'''Every Chapter (after editing) must conform to the agreed points highlighted in the below guidelines'''
*[[Format_guideline|General Format/Style Guideline]]

== Updates ==
* Nothing yet :D

== Koushite Kare ha Okujou o Moyasu Koto Ni Shita ==

*[[Okujou:Illustrations|Illustrations]]
*[[Okujou:Dorothy_1|Dorothy (Part One)]]
*[[Okujou:Lion|Lion]]
*[[Okujou:Scarecrow|Scarecrow]]
*[[Okujou:Tinman|Tinman]]
*[[Okujou:Dorothy_2|Dorothy (Part Two)]]
*[[Okujou:Afterword1|Afterword]]

==Project Staff==

*Project Administrator:
*Project Supervisor: [[user:HolyCow|HolyCow]]

===Translators===
:*[[user:HolyCow|HolyCow]]

===Editors===

== Series Overview ==

* こうして彼は屋上を燃やすことにした (18 May 2011, ISBN 978-4-09-451270-0)

[[Category:Oneshot]]

Koushite Kare ha Okujou o Moyasu Koto Ni Shita

2012-11-25T12:07:19Z

2012-07-23T09:30:17Z

HolyCow: Caliber SS complete

== Translator's Note: ==
The Caliber SS is an alternate end to the Caliber story found in Volume 8. It takes part after Part 3 and follows a "What if Cline didn't save Freyja" scenario. In order to fully enjoy the chapter, it is recommended that one finish reading the normal end first (the entire Caliber story line).

The first half of this chapter is almost entirely the same as the the first half of Part 4 (with minor changes such as removing all references to Freyja) and was translated by [[User:BeginnerXP|BeginnerXP]]. The story diverges about halfway through, in the middle of the battle with Þrym. To make it easier to navigate, I broke the chapter into sections, the third section being where the story path diverges.

'''Note:''' Here SS means 少し失敗 (sukoshi shippai) which translates to Slight Failure. However since there are no synonyms for failure starting with the letter S, therefore the title has been left the same as it was in the original.

== Caliber SS ==
=== Part 1 ===
'''(TL Note: This part is pretty much the same as the beginning of Caliber: Part 4, except very near the end)'''

The katana user finished off the black Minotaur evil-god by stabbing it with his special skill, as if releasing the grudges he had kept up to this moment. Not paying any attention to the drop items on the spot the enemy avatar had burst apart, he turned around and yelled,

"Oi Kiritard! What did ya do just now!?"

That question obviously referred to my usage of one-handed sword skills while equipped with two swords, and explaining in detail would be very troublesome, so I obeyed my inner thoughts and said while giving my most troubled face,

"......Do I have to say it?"

"'Course! After seeing something like that!"

It seemed I had pressed Cline's curiosity button, and since it was unavoidable, I answered briefly,

"It was a skill outside the system, «Skill Connect»."

Oo―, was the sound which flowed out of Liz, Scilica, and Sinon mouth; suddenly Asuna pressed her fingertips to her right temple and growled,

"Um......somehow, I got a strong feeling of Déjà vu......"


"It's just your imagination."

I shrugged my shoulders and clapped my hand on our healer-sama's back, whom despite her support duty in the back row, had sneaked in during the battle with the gold Minotaur to deliver the killing blow.

"This is not the time for relaxed talk. Lyfa, how much time do we have left?"

"Ah, right."

After sheathing her long sword in its scabbard behind her waist, Lyfa held up the medallion hanging from her neck. From a few steps away, I could see that the light within the jewel was almost completely lost.

"......At the current pace, we still have an hour or two."

"I see. ――Yui, this dungeon structure has four floors right?"

I continued asking, so the little fairy sitting on my head the whole time responded clearly,

"Yes, the third floor is around seventy percent of the second floor size, the forth floor should be mostly the boss room."

"Thank you."

Stretching my right hand, my fingertips stroked my hair while I quickly considered the situation.

At this moment, in the Jötunheimr field far below us, the players accepting the «Frost Giant Tribe» side's quest and the hunting of the beast type evil-gods had gained momentum. The number of quest participants would only increase and not decrease. The remaining time was estimated to be around an hour. The battle with the last boss ―― probably «King Þrym» himself ―― should take about thirty minutes, we wouldn't be able to move to the third and forth floor within thirty minutes.


If there were a little more time, we could explain the situation to the players on the field, asking for their assistance in revoking the ongoing quest, but at this moment we didn't have enough time to go back to the ground. The other alternative was to message the fairy lord requesting reinforcements, but organizing a force in the capital city beyond the mountain range, moving it to the Aarun plateau, and reaching Jötunheimr from the dungeon stairs, by the time they did them the sun would have set.

In other words, with just seven people, we were in a hopeless situation. ―― Or rather, factoring in the failure of «Queen Urðr»'side quest from the Cardinal's automatic quest generator function, Þrymheimr castle would surface on Alfheim, and trigger the start of a large-scale campaign quest «Ragnarök». The fault was obviously the character who inherited its function from its creator.

Anyway――

"......In that case, I don't care if it's the king of the evil-gods or not, we will just «Smash» him for good!"

Lizbet said that with a slap on my back, the rest of them altogether went "Oo!" in agreement. Where did they get that recklessness from? While thinking that, I strongly nodded.

"――Alright, everyone's HP and MP have fully recovered right? Then let's clean up the third floor quickly!"

The combined voice echoed once more, seven people then kicked the floor, and started running, aiming for the boss' room on the lowest floor, which was visible through the ice.



Just as Yui said, the third floor was clearly narrower than the second floor. It was natural for the lower parts of an upside down pyramid, but this place was quite a narrow and also had a complicated passage. For a normal clearing, we would be confused by the gimmick of the paths, but we had, enshrined on my head, the Navigation Pixie-sama which could give the latest model of an intelligent car navigation system a run for its money.

Our trump card accessed the map data, and with her instructions, we could run through the winding passage at full speed. Even the gimmick puzzles using levers, gears, or stepping switches were cleared without any time used to solve them. If this affair were to be observed from the outside, there would be no mistake for them to think that we were doing a time attack for the fastest clearing.

We ran into the sub-boss twice, but we still reached the boss room of the third floor in only eighteen minutes. What awaited us there had twice the size of the Cyclops and Minotaur from the previous floors, both sides of its long lower body had ten pairs of centipede-like feet, it was clearly the creepy evil giant, but it didn't have much physical resistance. Of course its attack power was through the roof, so the HP gauge belonging to Cline and me were in the red so many times after being targeted by it. This battle, which made my stomach sore later, when I thought that either of us dying would lead to a wipe, went on for nine minutes.


During that time; Liz, Scilica, Sinon, and Pina tried their best to cut down the giant's feet one by one, I then finished it off with the «Skill Connect» which included multiple sword skills once it was unable to move. With our high spirits, we rushed into the fourth floor to beat King Þrym and his Niflheimr. Once we stepped into the passage leading to the boss room, we stopped, as in front of our eyes ―― a scene came into view.

It was a cage made of elongated icicles on the wall's edge.

Behind the fence caused by the stalactite growing sharply from both the ground and the ceiling, was a single figure. It was not of a giant's size. As it had collapsed on the ground, its accurate size was difficult to tell, but its body should be about the same height as the Undine Asuna's.

The skin was as white as the powdery snow lying thick around. The long flowing hair was a deep brown gold. The volume of the chest covered by the clothing that could be seen from her sorry state, it would be best not to say this out loud, as it could easily overwhelm all of our girl members. Both her hands and feet were shackled in the rugged ice.

The unexpected scene caused us to halt and feel worried, then the captive girl's shoulders made a sudden but subtle shake, as she lifted her face, with the blue chains ringing.

Her pupils were also of the same tea gold, like her hair. Her face, if it was a player avatar, would surely be because of overwhelming luck when it was created, or the account was bought with the large sum of money. However, her face was sublimed with the western European beauty, which was quite rare in this game.


Blinking once, her long eyelashes moved down then up, the girl said in a fine voice,

"Please...... Help me......out of here......"

The katana user was sucked aimlessly toward the ice cage, I grabbed and pulled the bandana tail which dangled from behind his head.

"It's a trap."

"Trap."

"That's a trap."

The last two were Sinon's and Liz's words.

Cline straightened his back and turned around, as he made a subtle expression while scratching his head.

"O-Oh......It's a trap. ......A trap, right?"

For the katana user on his death bed's sake, I asked in a small voice, "Yui?". The pixie on my head promptly replied,

"It's an NPC. Just like Urðr-san, there is connection to the language engine module. ――But, there is one difference. This person has the HP gauge enabled."

Normally, the HP gauge of the quest giving NPCs would be disabled to prevent them from taking damage. The exceptions were, when the NPC was the escort quest's objective, or the NPC was actually――


"A trap."

"It's a trap."

"I think it's a trap."

Asuna, Scilica, and Lyfa said at the same time.

His eyebrows made a 八 shape, his eyes widened, and his mouth was pursed; I patted Cline's shoulder who was stiff in those complex expressions and quickly said,

"Of course it could be possible that it isn't a trap, but now we don't have time for trial and error. We need to reach Þrym's place as early as possible, even if it is a second sooner."

"O......Oo, hmm, well, that's right, yeah."

Cline nodded slightly and moved his glance from the ice cage.

When we ran until just a few steps before reaching the stairs, the voice came again from behind,

"......Please...... anybody............"

――To be honest, I also had the urge to help her, as I didn't think that NPCs were merely the system's automatically generated moving objects, but dwellers living in this world. If this was in a normal quest progression, helping that girl, accompanying her, and as the story progressed until the end, hearing her laugh from behind, "Uhahahaha, you fool―", would still be amusing. However, we were not in the situation to take that unnecessary risk now.

=== Part 2 ===
'''(TL note: This part differs only slightly, removing references to Freyja etc)'''

The width of the descending stairs increased as we went down, and the decorative objects on the surrounding pillars and statues became more gorgeous at the same time. The «approaching boss room and resulting map data would be larger» tradition from Aincrad was also present here.

Standing at the end of the path were two wolves carved into the massive ice gate. So this was the throne room of King Þrym. About 10 meters away from the gate, I cautioned everyone to slow down, as I turned to gaze at the medallion Lyfa was wearing. The delicate light orbs which once adorned the medallion were now 90% tainted black. We probably only had around 30 minutes left.

I took a deep breath, and said:

“Based on the dungeon design, the BOSS should be behind those doors. This BOSS will be harder than the previous ones, we’ll need to do everything we can to defeat him. Before engaging, we’ll first identify his attack pattern and focus on defense. I’ll give the signal to counterattack. When the BOSS’s HP bar drops to yellow or red, his attack patterns will likely change again, so please be careful everyone.

I nodded and looked at the face of my companions, before adding:

“--- This is the last battle, let’s give it all we have!!”

“Yeah!”

This was the third cheer we had given since the start of this quest. Even Yui who was sitting on my head and Pina who was perched on Scilica’s shoulders cheered.

The gate began opening to both sides automatically once we were about five meters away. The cold air, along with a difficult to explain pressure, came from within. Asuna began re-applying supporting magics, and after confirming the numbers of buff icons below our HP/MP gauges, everyone made eye contact. We all nodded and rushed in at once.

The interior was an extraordinarily huge space in both horizontal and vertical directions. The wall and floor were blue ice, like the rest of the dungeon. The purple fire swayed eerily on the ice candles. High up on the ceiling were chandeliers of the same color, lined up. But what grabbed our attention was the dazzling reflection from the left and right wall lined along the interior.

Gold. Gold coins and ornaments, swords, armors, shields, sculptures and furniture, all kinds of golden objects were piled up to a scale where it was impossible to count. As the insides of the room sank into darkness, the full extent of the treasure was entirely unfathomable.

"............How much Yurudo are all these worth......?"

Inside the room; Lizbet, the only person who managed a player shop here murmured in a trance. “I should have emptied my inventory!” I thought, but I never mentioned this to anyone.

On the right side of the party, Cline slowly made his way towards the treasure mountain, as if motivated by his bushidō way of life. However, as he approached the treasure――

"...... A bug flew in."

The low frequency mutter could be heard from the dark open space deep within the room, causing the floor to tremble.

"I hear an annoying buzz. Where is it? I'll crush the bad bug."

Boom, the floor trembled. Boom, boom, the trembles approached, it sounded as if it were so heavy that it might break the ice floor.

Once it reached the lighting range, a human shape appeared.

Giant ―― wouldn't be a suitable word. The humanoid evil-god was huge even compared to the bosses we fought in this castle so far. Its height must be at least fifteen meters. Even if I jumped with full force, I wouldn't be able to reach the knee of those giant tree trunk sized legs.

Its skin color was dull blue, like lead. Dark brown fur coiled around its arms and legs, and I wondered what kind of large animal the fur came from. A single part of the plate armor on its waist had the size of a small boat. While the upper part of the body was bare, the prosperous muscle looked as if it was able to repel any weapons directed at it.

Its muscular chest had its blue beard hung over it. Its head above it sank into a silhouette and we could only see its outline. However, the gold crown on its forehead and the blue and bleak blinking eyes below shone brightly in the dark.

In the old Aincrad, the system limit of the floor height was a hundred meters, the boss room inside the labyrinth zone was also under the same rule, it was unavoidable for all boss monsters to had vertical size in moderation. So up until now, I had no experience in fighting with an enemy which I had to look up to. As I couldn't fly, how could I fight like this? The best I could do was cutting no higher than its shins.

While I was thinking about various things, the gigantic giant ―― the double expressions are necessary to describe its size ―― took another step closer, and laughed like a gong being hit,

"Hu, hu...... the Alfheim bugs? Creeping into this place under Urðr's seduction? How about this, you small fry. Just tell me where that woman is hiding, and you can take the gold in this room with you, hmm?"

With the enormous body and the crown on its forehead, along with the speech just now, this guy was the «Frost Giant King Þrym», no doubt about it.

It was Cline who faced and replied to the great giant, who was an AI like Urðr.

"......Heh, a warrior just needs to eat, sleep, and laugh! Don't bother trying to tame us with a cheap invitation like that!"

While we made subtle expressions of relief from behind, as in front of us, Cline pulled his beloved katana from its scabbard.

With that signal, the rest of us took out our weapons as well.

They might not be legendary class equipment, but all of them either carried the name of ancient class weapons, or were carved to a satisfactory level by the master smith Lizbet. However, the daring smile under the long moustache of the Giant King Þrym didn't fade due to the light from our weapons. Maybe it was natural, as our weapons to him were just slightly longer than toothpicks to him anyway.

The shining phosphorescence from the dark eye sockets glared at us from a very high place, the glance stopped at the eight person who stood there unarmed.

"......Ho, ho. I hear the buzzing of wings again. Very well then, I shall crush you beneath my feet, treat it as my gift, being turned into part of Jötunheimr!”

Thump, the giant king suddenly stepped forward, its large HP gauge appeared on the upper right of my field of vision. Moreover, it was stacked three layers. Cutting that off would be very troublesome.

As the HP gauge of those evil floor bosses in the new Aincrad were invisible in order to frustrate the player's mind, compared to those bosses, this battle's pace would be much easier to grasp.

"――Here it comes! Listen to Yui's instructions and focus on avoiding at the start!"

Immediately after my shout, Þrym raised his huge rock-like right fist high up near the ceiling ―― a blue frost storm wrapped its fist, then furiously swung down.

The last battle in Þrymheimr castle ―― but probably ―― was as expected, a large and fierce battle I had never experienced.

The King Þrym's early attack patterns were punches from both fists, three continuous stomping using the right foot, an ice breath in a straight line, and summoning twelve ice Dwarf minions from the ground.

The creation of the Dwarves was the most troublesome, but they were swiftly taken care of from the back of the party by Sinon's bow, cleaning them up in the blink of an eye by piercing their weak points with marvelous accuracy. The rest of the attacks were avoidable after observing its timing once, the counts from Yui also helped the three front row attackers in avoiding direct hits.

Once the defense was in place, it was finally the time to attack, however, this was certainly the hardest part. As I had feared, our swords could only reach Þrym's shins, and the thick fur protecting that area had high physical resistance, like the gold Minotaur. I took a small chance to attack it with a three hit sword skill, risking my HP to do so, but a low delay skill also had low attribute damage. The result was an unpleasant response, like hitting an indestructible object.

We fought hard in the battle for ten minutes before the first HP gauge finally depleted, causing the giant king to make an overpowered roar.

"Pattern changed! Be careful!"

As I shouted, Lyfa who was next to me said in a nervous voice,

"This is bad, Onii-chan. Only two lights remain in the medallion. We only have about ten minutes left." <!—As opposed to the “success side”, they are only given 10 minutes here -->

"............"

Þrym had three HP gauges. However, we took more than ten minutes to deplete one gauge. It could be said that cutting the remaining two gauges within ten minutes would be very difficult.

But, for this opponent, the «Skill Connect» wouldn't work like it did when we were fighting the gold Minotaur. During monster delay ―― or to say the delay occurring after its attack, «striking the weak point to create heavy concentrated damage» was needed. However, Þrym was weak to neither sword nor magic, so even if the sword skill connected four times, it wouldn't be able to make much change to that amount of HP.

As if seeing the moment of my impatience――

Þrym suddenly inhaled a large amount of the air, inflating his chest like a bellows.

An overpowering wind occurred, sucking in the five people in the front and mid rows. It's bad, this is surely the harbinger of a full force wide area of effect attack. For evading, first of all, the sucking power of the wind magic must be neutralized. While I was thinking this, to my left, Lyfa started reciting a spell.

But, there was probably not enough time once I noticed the enemy motion.

"Lyfa, everyone, take defense!"

At my call, Lyfa suspended the spell, crossed her arms in front and bent her body. All members took the same posture, in that moment,

From Þrym's mouth, which had sent out a breath in a straight line many times up until this point, released a wide conal diamond dust.

The shining pale wind wrapped around us. The cold which penetrated Asuna's buff made it feel like our skin was being torn off. Gin, gin, with a sharp sound, the avatars of five people froze at once. I tried to escape, but the thick shell of the ice completely locked my movements. Lyfa, Cline, Liz, Scilica with Pina being hugged tightly to her chest, and I turned into blue ice sculptures.

At the moment, our HP gauge still haven't decreased. But we couldn't feel at ease. As this kind of special skill would increase the damage taken in direct proportion to the time being suspended.

Þrym approached, then lifted up his massive right leg. Bad, pinch, danger. ―― as I screamed in my mind, at almost the same time,

"Nuuu―!"

With a thick roar, Þrym stomped furiously on the floor. The violent shock wave from it swallowed us while we were still frozen――

Gaching! the frightening sound of breaking echoed throughout the hall, those of us covered in ice shattered. My eyes went dark due to shock. My body slammed hard on the floor while the damage effect light continued on.

At the edge of my vision, the top five of seven HP gauges suddenly turned to a deep red.

While the five vanguards got caught in Þrym's large-scaled ranged attack, of course the two people in the back row weren't just watching.

Our HP gauges were taken by nearly eighty percent when suddenly, a soft blue light rained down on us, healing our wounds. It was Asuna's high ranked full recovery spell. The timing was perfect, which would be impossible to achieve without anticipating the occurrence of the damage and pre-casting the spell in advance.

However, in this game's large-scaled recovery magics, most of them were of the «Heal over Time» type, which didn't recovery all the lost HP instantly. So it'd be fatal if we were attacked again while our HP was still recovering.

Þrym stepped forward in order to deliver the final blow to us who finally stood up. The long beard that hung over its throat ―― was suddenly pierced by a rapid succession of fire arrows blazing bright red, causing a big explosion. It was Sinon's two-handed long bow sword skill «Explode Arrow». With ten percent physical, and ninety percent flame damage property striking the frost giant tribe's weak point, his HP gauge clearly decreased.

"Munuuuun!"

Þrym raised an angry voice and changed his direction to target Sinon. Flashy attacks on the enemy's weak point from the back row's damage dealers caused a massive amount of hate, taking over the hate of the vanguards, resulting in the enemy switching targets. It was a mistake beginners always did, but of course, this wasn't the case this time. Sinon acted as a decoy, knowing it would likely lead to her death, to buy us time for recovery.

"Sinon, give me thirty seconds!"

While shouting, I gulped down a recovery potion from my pouch. Next to me, the others also poured similar red liquids down their mouths. Pina, Scilica's partner, seemed to have narrowly survived because of its master's guard skill. In this world, unlike Aincrad, there was a pet resurrection spell, but taking time to do so during a battle would be very difficult.

My vision switched between the irritatingly slowly increasing HP gauge, and the blue Cait Sith's continuing to avoid Þrym's fierce attacks. Even though Sinon had come to ALO not long ago, her body control was spectacular. In GGO, as a sniper who forfeited all defensive skills, running away was the only way if an attacker type approached, that experience was probably still with her now.

"......Prepare the attack."

Removing my eyes off the HP gauge, which had finally came back up to eighty percent, I called my companions. Re-gripping both of my swords, I began to start counting, in that instant――

=== Part 3 ===
'''(TL Note: The story mainly diverges here)'''

“Onii-chan!”

Lyfa's trembling voice vibrated from my side.

“It's too late... The lights in the medallion, are gone...”

“What...?”

I held my breath and turned towards the large jewel on her chest. The jewel that seemed to be made of intricate carvings was almost completely black, save a small shred of light that remained near the bottom. Even as I spoke, it was gradually turning black.

That was to say, beneath the Ice Castle Þrymheimr, on the frozen fields of Jötunheimr, the beast-type evil gods, Tonkii and Urðr's brethren, were close to being completely slaughtered. In other words, we who had accepted the quest "Urðr's request" had failed, and the hundreds of players who took Þrym's quest had succeeded—

Even though my brain registered this fact, I couldn't accept it no matter what, as I stood there with my mouth wide open. From the looks on their faces, everyone felt the same too. Even so, I managed to pull myself together, and prepared to yell at Sinon, who was dodging Þrym's fierce attacks alone far away from the party, to retreat. However——

<nowiki>*</nowiki>DUUUN!* A huge shockwave shook the earth, and the wide floorboards started to vibrate.

I lost my balance and fell to the floor. Far away, Sinon slipped too, and Þrym raised his ice-covered right fist to smite her delicate body.

However, Þrym's movements seemed to have slowed down. Then, two things happened at once. First, Þrym's HP bar which had more than 60% HP remaining disappeared. Next, a string of red text messages flashed across my sight: “QUEST FAILED”.

“Uwa... Uwahahaha...”

Slowly lowering his fists, the king of Giants laughed out loud.

“Uwahahahaha...... I can feel it... I can feel it! The one who has constantly been opposing me and my brethren, that hateful woman's aura is finally gone! Wahahaha......”

Once again, the frozen ground—— No, the entire castle started to vibrate. The blue flames on the wall suddenly flared up, as if coming to life. The gleam in Þrym's eyes seemed to be magnified tenfold.

The five vanguards finally found the energy to stand and reunite with Asuna and Sinon. However, their faces no longer held that determined look they usually had. Ignoring the pitiful ones on the ground who had to spread their legs to even stand straight, Þrym let out a loud roar:

“Now! Now is the time my long-awaited wish will finally be fulfilled! Come forth... My brethren!”

His brethren? Who?

Just as I was lost in thought, huge crashes echoed throughout the throne room.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>CRASH!*

The mountain of treasure that was previously stacked high suddenly expanded, before crashing down towards the floor. And emerging from within were ——even though they weren't as tall as Þrym—— giants, with sick blue skin and sporting matching blue beards. These were undoubtedly Þrym's minions... The frost giants.

There were more than 30 of them. Creating miniature earthquakes as they walked, the lined up in a row at the center of the room, and placed one of their arms on their chests. They looked like statues from afar.

Seeing this scene full of muscle-bound males, most of us forgot about our failed quest and just stood there in shock. Even Yui, who was sitting on my head, didn't respond.

Again ignoring the fairies on the ground, Þrym lifted his head sternly, planted his left hand on his waist, and lifted his right fist high. Everyone else looked at the direction he pointed - the huge crystal chandelier.

No, that wasn't it. He was pointing to something beyond the chandelier, after penetrating the castle and the crust, the place he pointed to was——

Our kingdom, The Fairy Kingdom Alfheim.

My suspicions were affirmed as that large bearded mouth started moving.

"Let us go! With our breaths let us bury that kingdom blessed by Yggdrasil in a sheet of ice!!"

"ROAR!!!"

<nowiki>*</nowiki>DUM*, *DUM DUM*. The thirty giants and Þrym marched, the vibrations throwing us off our feet.

"Þrymheimr —— ATTACK!!"

<nowiki>*</nowiki>GOWAAAAAAAN!!* A huge shockwave vibrated throughout the castle. I tried to stabilize myself before realizing I had been put into some sort of Gravity Bind - a huge force was being applied to me from above. No, that wasn't it — I was being suppressed by the force of the floor — the castle moving upwards.

A huge crashed emanated from the castle's four walls, the loudest sound I had heard so far in ALO. This was undoubtedly the sound of the castle breaking through the boundary between Jötunheimr and Alfheim. Þrym's plan which Urðr spoke of, "To forever encase Alfheim in snow and make his way up Yggdrasil" had apparently been put into motion.

"...... What's going to happen... next......"

Hugging her war hammer near her chest, Lizbet asked. Of course, no one had an answer. The only one who knew who probably be the "Cardinal System" who created this quest. No, maybe it could be said that this world had been devoured by darkness to the point not even gods couldn't tell what would happen next.

The castle had been rising for about three minutes now. In the meantime, Þrym stood with his fist pointed towards the distance, like some warped representation of a legendary hero. The rest of the giants were going "OOR, OOAR!!" non-stop, while stamping their feet in unison.

Soon, there came the final, loudest crash yet, and the castle, as well as the giants, went silent.

I noticed that the throne, which had been dark until now, suddenly lit up. I watched as light trickled in from the north wall, like rays of gold. It was Sunlight, something the underground world of Jötunheimr shouldn't posses — the radiance of the sun.

Þrym slowly retraced his right fist, coming into contact with sunlight briefly. His face contorted in displeasure, as he tightened his fists. A low sounds escaped his throat, unlike anything an NPC usually produced. It seemed as if he was speaking to himself.

"... Look out, Æsir... I will reach the top of the world tree and overthrow Midgard, before taking over Asgard which all of you are cowardly hiding, and crush everything under my feet..."

Lifting his right leg, he stomped his feet, as if trampling someone who wasn't there. Then, as if suddenly remembering our existence, the king of giants turned his blueish white eyes towards us and said, with a smile.

"......Shouldn't you thank me, insects? Hurr~?"

"W-Why should we thank you, you bastard?"

Cline shouted, his red hair shot upright. Þrym looked at him in amusement and said while smiling:

"Uwahaha, because I saved you the time to travel back here from Jötunheimr! Look around you and behold my castle's true form."

The king of giants, snapped his fingers *SNAP!*, and—

Suddenly, the floor we had been standing on slid open, revealing a huge gaping hole.

"Waah!?"

I shouted in surprise, and the wings on my back started flapping instinctively. However, even though the castle was no longer in Jötunheimr, I still couldn't fly. Just like that, the seven fairies plus one more<ref> The plus one more is Yui</ref> plus a dragon<ref>Silica's tamed dragon, Pina</ref> fell into the newly formed hole. To be exact, only Scilica's pet dragon was capable of flight, but because her owner was gripping her so tightly in front of her chest, she wasn't able to do anything.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

The loudest scream was made my Asuna, who had a fear of falling from great heights. Lizbet and Scilica also made similar screams, while the cold Sinon actually shrugged and shook her head in midair. Even the speed freak Lyfa didn't scream "YAHOO" and instead clutched my left shoulder tightly.

"I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS YOU OLD GEEZER AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!"

Cline's curse trailed into a long scream, as the seven of us fell right down the hole.

Thinking back about it, Þrym has no reason to spare our lives back there, instead of dealing the finishing blow. Though one could probably argue that falling from such heights would lead to our deaths anyway. Just as I was thinking to use magic like 'Feather Fall', the darkness in front of me began to curve, before finally becoming an icy slope. With our behinds planted on the icy surface, we had no choice but to slide down the frozen ramp. Before long, a white light appeared in front of us, and quickly began expanding. At the same time, there was a change in the air——

"...... We're gonna fly! Get your wings ready!"

I shouted out, just before the entire party plunged into the void.

I spread my shoulders and commanded my wings to fly. This time, a very reliable flapping could be heard, and a propelling force wrapped around my body. Gently picking up Yui who was perched on my head with my right hand, I placed her in my front shirt pocket, and began flying upwards. I looked to my left and right, and soon everyone noticed me.

The scenery before me that was tinted with white slowly regained its original palette. Right in front of me was a blue sky above green field, and numerous white mountains. This was, without a doubt, The Valey of Aarun, located in central Alfheim.

From the looks of the earth, it seemed as if the castle was heading south of the valley. That is to say, the great World Tree should be behind me, along with the town of Aarun which rested near one of its roots.

However, I hesitated to look back. What had happened to the beautiful scenery of Aarun, this was something I was afraid to find out. That said, I couldn't continue flying straight either, or I would end up in Salamander territory. I decelerated and gradually came to a halt, hovering in midair.

Taking a deep breath, I turned around.

"...Oh... Ohhh......"

The stiffled cry came from Lyfa, who was to my right. It was followed by the surprised cries of the other six people.

The Central City Aarun, the capital of Alfheim which was bustling with life throughout the year —— no longer existed.

The world tree, even though it looked as grand as always, had something lodged near its roots. Numerous roots had been upturned, and just a few hours ago, a lively stonework city was supposed to be there. The stones that Aarun were built on were now scattered all over, like a mountain of rubble.

Taking its place was a huge, eight-sided crystalline object that reflected off all the sun's rays.

This was without a doubt the castle Þrymheimr. However, when observed from Jötunheimr, it was the shape of an inverted triangle. That was to say, what we had previously seen was only the bottom half of the castle. Perched on top of the inverted pyramid was another similar pyramid, and it was its sharp tip that had pierced through the earth's crust.

The queen of the lake Urðr had used her powers to keep Þrymheimr sealed, but as her kind perished, so did her power. The castle had then broke free of its chains and revealed its true form. It was about 300 meters wide, and the height from the tip to the base was approximately 300 times √2, around 424 meters. Only about one tenth had pierced through the rubble, the tip pushing upwards lunging greedily for the world tree's core. The world tree still held strong with its remaining 10 or so roots, but even then it seemed it would eventually fall.

I exhaled and glanced away from Þrymheimr, surveying my surroundings.

The original inhabitants of Aarun were scattered around the valleys. Looking like ruin excavators, countless players stood there transfixed, their gaze upon the ice castle which had caused the city's ruin. If a player was running a shop in Aarun or simply taking a rest in their own house, the sudden emergence of a huge block of ice that laid waste to the entire city would certainly be quite a surprise. Because the city was a designated safe zone, none of the players had their HP reduced, though after going through such a shock it wouldn't be a surprise if their lives were shortened in the real world.

I group of players were pointing at the ice castle, their mouths moving nonstop. Because fairies had enhanced hearing, I could faintly pick up what they were saying.

"...This kinda event is too much no? Even my house is gone..."

"That's right, and not even a word of warning! Its still quite some time away to the annual end of year event too..."

"The appearance of Aincrad wasn't announced either, but this is beyond what you'd call a surprise event I think..."

Even though they hadn't fully recovered from shock, but their emotions should be turning to rage soon enough. Just like the conversation I had heard early, the entire streets of Aarun——

"...Players who had houses in Aarun or item storages, what's going to happen to them?"

Lizbet, who was to my left, said, taking the words out of my mouth. Cline answered, seemingly robbed of spirit.

"Of course... Everything's gone, no matter how you look at it."

"No, it seems that property has been converted to Yurudo while items have been converted into scrolls and stored in the players' inventories."

This explanation came from Yui, who stuck her head out from my shirt pocket. Normally immovable objects could be converted into scrolls through the banker NPC. It seemed that even the Cardinal System wasn't cruel enough to remove players' items in an instant. It felt oddly heartwarming.

"......Is that true? At least some things can still be salvaged then..."

Just as Lizbeth was speaking.

A huge shrill scream from behind us interrupted her.

"Hey hey hey, is that true?! The scroll conversion I mean? Please please please tell me it's true!!!"

I turned around in surprise. About two meters away, a small girl wearing a round hat was standing, no, levitating in the air. A cloak was draped around her, and her right arm clutched a staff almost as tall as herself. From the rims of her hat, a large amount of golden curls fell forward, covering her eyes. Her skin was milky white, and her wings were pale yellow.

''...Who's that? No, before that, what race is she?'' Someone short enough for me to look downwards, she was either Cait Sith or a Leprechaun, but she didn't have the symbolic cat ears on her head of gold hair. Upon further pondering, I came to the conclusion that she was an NPC. If that was the case, her color cursor should be the same as Þrym.

To affirm my point, I looked straight at her and locked my cursor upon her veiled face.

However, a rectangular frame appeared at the top right corner of my vision, accompanied with a soft sound effect. This frame displayed the cursor information, and meant that the target was either a player or a monster. I nervously scanned her name. "Marinca", spelled entirely using alphabets. Wait, the ALO system shouldn't display names of unaccustomed players. No matter how much I racked my brains, I couldn't recall where had I met her before. If so, how was I able to see her name...?

"Ahh..."

Scilica, who was hugging Pina tightly against her chest, let out a soft gasp from behind me. A moment later, I finally understood.

There was a string of shining letters hovering above the mysterious girl — Marinca's cursor.

"GAME MASTER"

"W-Woah, aren't you a GM?! Wow, it's the first time I've seen one in ALO!"

Cline muttered in amazement. I was similarly shocked. A Game Master was, as the name implied, the ones who managed to world of Alfheim Online. They were positioned higher than the Cardinal System, in other words they were employees of the company running ALO.

As to how much influence a GM had in game, this differed among games. There were MMOs where GMs specially dived in to interact with players and announce of upcoming events, but I never heard of such things happening in ALO. To me, this was the first time I had seen a GM's Avatar in Alfheim.

"E-Erm, I'm sorry, I haven't told you my name... You can call me Marinca from Ymir..."

[[Image:Sword Art Online Caliber SS.jpeg|thumb]]

Ymir, this was the name of the company running ALO. After RECTO's dissolution, ALO was supposed to be shut down too. Ymir though decided to purchase the servers despite declining player population, just like gods who descending to save a doomed planet. However this wasn't revealed to the players. Even I didn't know much about the company, save that one of the employers was an old friend of Egil's.

Despite that, this GM, a supposed God in this world, gave me a feeling that she was unreliable. I shook my head, thinking of the current situation, and asked.

"...Erm, Marinca, you previously asked if the scroll conversion was true... Does that mean even Ymir doesn't know what's going on in Alfheim right now...?"

"Err——Erm... To be precise..."

Marinca lifted her staff into the air, twirled it for a moment, before saying:

"To be honest, this situation in Alfheim was just discovered not long ago."

"......W-What...?"

This low sound came from Asuna, who was standing on my right. Recognizing this voice full of agitation as the voice of "the sub-leader of the Knights of Blood" before going berserk, I hastily tried to stop her — but I was one step too late.

"What irresponsible words!! How long do you think this quest has been going on? Haven't you had ample opportunities to stop the script using administrator privileges?! To think none of you noticed this before Aarun crumbled, what are the game managers doing?"

"I'm s-s-sorry!!!"

As Asuna berated Marinca, Cline and I both tucked our heads away in fear, a habit inherited from attending her strategy meetings in the past. It was fortunate that Asuna didn't notice our gestures, as she moved a step forward —her shoes made a sound as they scrapped against the ground, this might just be me imagining things— and yelled in an enraged voice:

"Let's ignore the matter of how this happened in the first place — in a situation like this, wouldn't a simple Rollback be sufficient? How many hours can we rollback to?"

A rollback was the final measure in an MMO. Because the server was reverted back to a state in the past, it would reset all progress players' made in this time frame, including Yurudo and Experience. Of course, these were extremely important.

Even though we had took up "Urðr's request" to avoid complete destruction, we failed at the last moment. It should be dawning on the players who had taken "Þrym's quest" now, that they had indirectly caused Aarun's destruction, and the holy sword promised as a reward was nothing but the "Fake Sword Caliburn". Since things had progressed to such a level, a rollback was inevitable, and most players should be able to understand. Now to hope that the time lost was as minimal as possible. That was what I thought as I awaited Marinca's reply.

How would she reply? This GM who didn't look at a GM at all would probably stutter and smile clumsily at us.

"Well, about that... I checked the logs and it appears that the completion of the quest, in other words the beginning of this script, triggered a server backup..."

"W-What????"

This loud sound came from the seven of us. The GM's small stature quivered, as she continued nonchalantly.

"But it's such a relief that all the items were converted into scrolls! This is like casting an anchor windward... No, a blessing in disguise... That's not right either..."<ref>Marinca likes quoting idioms or proverbs when she speaks. She does this later on too.</ref>

"By the skin of your teeth"

In a low voice, Sinon who was situated behind me replied. "True, True", the rest of us agreed. Taking out a strand of spear mint from her pocket and placing it in her mouth, the sniper coolly asked:

"GM-kun, how did the situation get like this? Did the Cardinal System's 'automatic quest generation' feature malfunction?"

Upon hearing this, Marinca pouted "Uuuu" and said.

"Y-You sure know a lot! I've been working at Ymir for two weeks, and only known of Cardinal yesterday! No, I'm not joking!"

In these three sentences, there was at least one I was tempted to take a jab at, to the point my mouth was twitching on its own. Marinca waved her arms and said in an innocent tone:

"Wow, Cardinal sure is amazing! Not only can it identify bugs in quests, it can also fix dungeons with exploitable EXP mobs and even trace players with abnormal Yurudo and EXP stats!"

I suppose by Cardinal she was referring to the Cardinal System. This was one of its main advantages, of which we were all familiar of by now. In the old SAO, the Cardinal System often found our 'EXP farming spots' and quickly patched them. My lively daughter Yui was also part of the Cardinal System's low level processes; I shudder to imagine how powerful the computing levels of the Cardinal System are.

Marinca who probably had no idea the majority of us were SAO survivors, clasped her hands together.

"I also wish to one day reach Cardinal's level of administration! During yesterday's maintenance, even though it wasn't required, I still dived in from a specialized VR Console to monitor the situation up close. I even discovered many unused functions and models in the Quest interfaces. I thought that since the server was shut down, messing around a little wouldn't do any harm..."

"...Just like one of those movies, where the single press of a button would cause an explosion..."

Lyfa mumbled. I felt the same way too, but Marinca seemed to have missed that and continued her astonishing story as a GM.

"...But then, even when I turned the settings ON, nothing happened. So I continued watching the maintenance, and finally when it was time to reboot the server, I totally..."

"Forgot to turn the settings OFF, right?"

Asuna took another menacing step forward. Marinca immediately stopped talking and let out her third whimper.

"I-I'm the kind of person who is great at turning things like television, lights and air conditioners on, but I'm really bad when it comes to turning them off. I've been telling myself that in order to not cause trouble for others, I need to erm, mind my own business... Ahh, that's not it..."

This time Sinon didn't correct her. She continued staring straight ahead, with the spear mint still in her mouth. Maybe something about the Cath Sith's gaze caused Marinca to straighten up and finish her story.

"So um... After confirming the maintenance was complete, I slept for a while in the office. In the afternoon I was awoken by the shouts of other employees... It seemed that something huge had happened in-game. Looking at the situation, I had no idea if Cardinal was going on a rampage or kicking up a fuss... Actually, I was the one who had activated the 'Speed up mission' option! Ahh, this is the dream of every MMO operator — even though its freeware, its still capable of such intricate and powerful operations, Cardinal sure is awesome!! O-Oh yeah, where was I? Ahh yes, after I woke up, I was ordered to asses the situation in Aarun. Hearing that the players' items have been converted into scrolls is such a relief, like a blessing in disguise... No I mean... Ahh how should I put it!"

Taking our gazes off the GM who was frantically hugging her hat, we exchanges gazes.

"...Anyway, at least we now know the reason why the Cardinal System's quest suddenly accelerated."

Yui, who was resting in my front pocket, nodded after hearing my word.

"This fits the saying 'You can't hate a crying GM'<ref>Originally 'You can't hate a crying kid'</ref>pretty well"

"Yeah... Even the Cardinal System wouldn't be able to sit idly in dummy mode forever.<ref>Referring to the current situation of perfect autonomous server management, without the need for GMs</ref> Putting it in another perspective, it seems that the Cardinal System's finally shown its true potential..."

"It must be a desire that's been accumulating for months, finally exploding all at once."

We all agreed to Scilica's words. If we treated the Cardinal system as a living being instead of a regulating program, it wouldn't be too hard for us to understand its feelings. The question was, just how much power did the Cardinal System have? Even though the world was supposedly based on the Norse Mythology of Ragnarök and the «Twilight of the Gods» seemed to be a fitting final battle, but...

I looked at Lyfa, who was gazing up at the blue, frozen castle basked under the sun.

"From Þrym's speech it seems that the Frost Giants aim to reach the top of the World Tree. If we just ignore this, not only Aarun, even the entire Yggdrasil City could be decimated..."

"E-Ehh?!"

This came from Lizbeth, who owned a smithing shop in the city of Yggdrasil. Even though the Yurudo used for purchasing the shop and the items within were safe, it was hard to accept a giant flattening her shop which she had painstakingly spent months to acquire and decorate.

Asuna and I had previously rented a small house near Liz's shop in Yggdrasil City. After we moved to the 22nd floor of the floating castle Aincrad, I no longer had any reason to defend Yggdrasil City. However, there was one thing which made me uneasy.

"Say, Lyfa."

I said to the Slyph swordswoman, who turned towards me with her golden ponytail swishing in the wind. Searching my memory of the past ten or so minutes, I asked:

"Before we were ejected from the castle, that old geezer Þrym said something about what he would do after climbing the World Tree... Something about overthrowing Midgard. What exactly is Midgard?"

"Mmm, even though I've never heard about it in ALO, but according to Norse Mythology its supposedly one of the nine realms. Just like how Jötunheimr is the world of Frost Giants, Alfheim is the world of elves and Asgard is the world of gods... Midgard is the world of humans. But there is no human race available for ALO players."

Staring at my sister who was rapidly feeding us information, I muttered the only conclusion I came to.

"Then Midgard... Should probably refer to Aincard..."

"W-WHAT??"

This time it was Cline, who up until now had knitted his brows and crossed his arms, that screamed.

"Overthrow from the sky... The entire Aincrad? If that's the case, shouldn't the final act be starting..."

"Final act?"

"Of course... The 'Legendary Samurai Cline' Act"

Not even bothering to come up with a reply, I dragged the swordsman by his patterned bandana aside and looked at Asuna, asking her 'What do you think?' with my eyes.

Upon hearing that Aincrad, or more specifically 'The house in the forest on the 22nd floor' was in jeopardy, she should be in a state of panic. However, the expression on Asuna's face was unbelievably calm, and after a quick moment of thinking, she nodded her head.

"Yeah... I think that's possible. In the old SAO, all of the players were human. After being incorporated into ALO, it's possible that NPCs would designate that castle as the 'Human World Midgard'."

"H-How can that..."

With an expression that looked like she was about to cry, with her ears drooped down to the lowest, Scilica said in a pained voice. In perfect contradiction, the other Cait Sith who was waving her tail around like a Metronome, concluded the situation in an icy voice even colder than Asuna's.

"This means that if we don't stop the Frost Giants' imminent attack on Yggdrasil City and prevent them from obtaining the 'Golden Apple' on the tip of the World Tree, it might not only be Aarun and Yggdrasil City which lie in ruin, even Aincrad would be at danger of being destroyed. Let's not thinking about what they plan to do next. What we need to do now is to stop them at all costs... But what can we do to prevent that..."

Everyone nodded solemnly after listening to Sinon's report. True enough, we had failed the quest "Urðr's request", but the quest window didn't point us to a follow up quest. There was bound to be another opportunity to attack Þrymheimr castle in the future, but before that battle, King Þrym's HP bar was nonexistent. In this state he was no different from an unengageable NPC. This was what I was worried about the most, as even if we made preparations and stormed the throne room again, if we were unable to fight him it would be meaningless in the end.

However, the one who gave us our next clue was unexpectedly the clumsy GM Marinca.

"No worries, there's a way!"

"......"

All of us looked at the administrator who didn't look like one at all. Her gaze unshifting, Marincase puffed out her chest and said:

"I just checked Cardinal's quest generation status, it seems that an event will happen later at 3 in the afternoon! If you join that event, I'm sure you'll receive a follow up quest!"

"......Erm, I think Ymir should be capable to doing something from the outside, is that not?"

I asked casually. For the fourth time a whimper escaped Marinca. We could only hope that it was the last.

"Ah, I just received a message from my superiors, it seems there are only two options — Rollback to two weeks ago, or complete the Cardinal's Quest! Oh there's a postscript, 'Since you've been involved until now, take responsibility and join an in-game party in clearing the quest'! Ohh, this is like being paralyzed while you're poisoned!<ref>A pun on a proverb which roughly translates to 'adding snow to frost'. An English equivalent would be adding insult to injury.</ref>"

"That's why, please accept me into your party! Ahh the numbers don't matter, as a GM I can join as a special 8th member!"

Stunning silence.

Being able to hear such words, I don't think such opportunities will ever present themselves again.

I removed the AmuSphere from my head and continued lying down on my bed, stretching my rigid hands and feet.

A minimal amount of Winter Sunlight poured through the window into the room, landing on the surface of my alarm clock next to my bed before warmly reflecting off. The time was one thirty. The second chapter in our quest would continue only at three, hence it was vital that we ate and did any other things in the meantime. Due to this, we checked in an inn situated in the Aarun valley and logged out.

With all my might, I let out a deep sigh and said to myself.

"... Things sure have gotten bad huh..."

Cardinal - That is to say, the Cardinal System, even though it was a self sustaining, high level VRMMO management system, all this mess happened because it threw a ruckus. No, maybe the Cardinal System didn't think there was a problem. Instead of saying it 'managed' the world, a more appropriate term would be 'supported' it - that would be the reason for and proof of her (because of Marinca calling her affectionately, I couldn't help but visualize her as a female now) existence...

As I was lost in thought, there was a light knock on my door. Even though there wasn't a voice, I could guess who it was. Because aside from me, there was only someone else in this house.

"Please come in."

I sat up as the door opened with a 'Ka-chak'. I was confused for a moment - if it was the person I expected, the door should have opened with a 'Ka-chak-Pong' sound.

Slowly opening the door and peeking her head in, it was my sister Suguha after all. She wore the same green shirt as she did this morning, however her expression was different.

"Onii-chan... Before we have lunch, can we talk for a moment?"

Suguha looked very nervous, as if she was seeking assurance. I nodded and replied unsurely "Ahh... Un un". She quickly closed the door and hopped lightly across the floorboards, sitting on the other side of the bed.

Her fringe was trimmed just before her eyebrows. Lowering her head, she said softly.

"...... alright?"

At first I thought she meant Alfheim, but I quickly changed my mind. If she was worried about the Elven kingdom, Suguha would definitely shout energetically "We'll try harder this time!" or something to that effect. She was worried not about the current situation, but about her precious comrade.

I moved next to my sister and patted her back, saying:

"Of course he'll be alright. Right now he's not a monster but an NPC, even if someone else attacks him, he'll have no HP Bar. The next time we want to descend into Jötunheimr, he'll definitely come flying over when he hears our call."

Of course, the comrade in question was the Evil god-type monster Tonkii, which we had rode on plenty of times. Right now, in the underground world Jötunheimr, hundreds of players had accomplished "Þrym's quest", which meant all beast-type evil gods had been slain. Suguha was worried about whether or not Tonkii had been slain too.

"... And that guy, he's always flying up high above ground. It's impossible for players to fly in Jötunheimr, so swords and magic definitely can't reach him."

I added enthusiastically. Suguha finally looked up at me and smiled, saying:

"Yeah... That's right. Thank you Onii-chan, now I can finally be at ease."

Suguha tilted her body and rested her head on my right shoulder. My posture was already odd to begin with, with the added weight of Suguha's body, I lost my balance and fell onto the bed.

Suguha came tumbling down moments later, he head landing on my chest.

"Uwaa..."

Upon hearing her, I immediately tried to move my body, but it was once again squashed by something warm, as I sank further into the bed.

"Oi oi, Suguha..."

As I frantically moved my body, my brain searched for words to be used in this situation. My mind however failed me and I was unable to come up with anything to say. Suguha whispered into my ear:

"... The next quest starts at 3, there's still some time left. So for a while... Just let me..."

I had no idea what to do or what was going on. At the very least, I should stop moving. A nostalgic yet slightly different smell wafted through my nostrils, and from my chest I felt my heartbeat accelerate.

"...Unbelievable"

Suguha, who was lying on my right shoulder, squinted and looked at me straight in the eye.

"After something so monumental happened over there in 'that world', it feels unbelievable to be back here again. It's just like, that's reality, and this is the illusionary world..."

"Yeah... To an extent, I understand."

I continued speaking, momentarily forgetting my nervousness.

"It's surreal... Just like a dream. I've felt that before. It's like a dream I experience once I fall asleep in the inn over there..."

"... Yeah, just like that. A dream... That could be the case maybe."

Heh heh. That familiar, innocent face yet somehow appealing face let out a laugh, causing me to hold my breath.

I closed my eyes, not due to tiredness but because I felt a wave of drowsiness wash over me in this situation. Suguha's voice was like the trickling of a stream, comforting my senses.

"If this is a dream..."

--- If this is a dream?

"... Then let's redo the failed mission."

--- So that's it.

With my eyes closed, I let out a bitter laugh. Maybe because my concentration was waning due to being on the verge of sleep, but my gamer's instinct told me this.

We failed the quest "Urðr’s request"... Even though it was due to us being short-handed, I had this feeling that if we hadn't made a mistake or missed something somewhere, we might have been able to complete the quest.

The only point where a choice was offered in the game--- that would be......

It was here that I stopped thinking further and fell asleep. It might be a short nap till our next adventure in a matter of minutes... Or an infinite sleep where I would never wake up.

(End?)

<noinclude>

==References and Translation Notes==

<references />


</noinclude>

File:Sword Art Online Caliber SS.jpeg

2012-07-23T08:34:06Z

HolyCow:

Sword Art Online:Caliber SS

2012-07-23T08:33:22Z

HolyCow: 90% done, final epilogue coming up next

{{Incomplete|parts=3/?}}
== Translator's Note: ==
The Caliber SS is an alternate end to the Caliber story found in Volume 8. It takes part after Part 3 and follows a "What if Cline didn't save Freyja" scenario. In order to fully enjoy the chapter, it is recommended that one finish reading the normal end first (the entire Caliber story line).

The first half of this chapter is almost entirely the same as the the first half of Part 4 (with minor changes such as removing all references to Freyja) and was translated by [[User:BeginnerXP|BeginnerXP]]. The story diverges about halfway through, in the middle of the battle with Þrym. To make it easier to navigate, I broke the chapter into sections, the third section being where the story path diverges.

'''Note:''' Here SS means 少し失敗 (sukoshi shippai) which translates to Slight Failure. However since there are no synonyms for failure starting with the letter S, therefore the title has been left the same as it was in the original.

== Caliber SS ==
=== Part 1 ===
'''(TL Note: This part is exactly the same as the beginning of Caliber: Part 4)'''

The katana user finished off the black Minotaur evil-god by stabbing it with his special skill, as if releasing the grudges he had kept up to this moment. Not paying any attention to the drop items on the spot the enemy avatar had burst apart, he turned around and yelled,

"Oi Kiritard! What did ya do just now!?"

That question obviously referred to my usage of one-handed sword skills while equipped with two swords, and explaining in detail would be very troublesome, so I obeyed my inner thoughts and said while giving my most troubled face,

"......Do I have to say it?"

"'Course! After seeing something like that!"

It seemed I had pressed Cline's curiosity button, and since it was unavoidable, I answered briefly,

"It was a skill outside the system, «Skill Connect»."

Oo―, was the sound which flowed out of Liz, Scilica, and Sinon mouth; suddenly Asuna pressed her fingertips to her right temple and growled,

"Um......somehow, I got a strong feeling of Déjà vu......"


"It's just your imagination."

I shrugged my shoulders and clapped my hand on our healer-sama's back, whom despite her support duty in the back row, had sneaked in during the battle with the gold Minotaur to deliver the killing blow.

"This is not the time for relaxed talk. Lyfa, how much time do we have left?"

"Ah, right."

After sheathing her long sword in its scabbard behind her waist, Lyfa held up the medallion hanging from her neck. From a few steps away, I could see that the light within the jewel was almost completely lost.

"......At the current pace, we still have an hour or two."

"I see. ――Yui, this dungeon structure has four floors right?"

I continued asking, so the little fairy sitting on my head the whole time responded clearly,

"Yes, the third floor is around seventy percent of the second floor size, the forth floor should be mostly the boss room."

"Thank you."

Stretching my right hand, my fingertips stroked my hair while I quickly considered the situation.

At this moment, in the Jötunheimr field far below us, the players accepting the «Frost Giant Tribe» side's quest and the hunting of the beast type evil-gods had gained momentum. The number of quest participants would only increase and not decrease. The remaining time was estimated to be around an hour. The battle with the last boss ―― probably «King Þrym» himself ―― should take about thirty minutes, we wouldn't be able to move to the third and forth floor within thirty minutes.


If there were a little more time, we could explain the situation to the players on the field, asking for their assistance in revoking the ongoing quest, but at this moment we didn't have enough time to go back to the ground. The other alternative was to message the fairy lord requesting reinforcements, but organizing a force in the capital city beyond the mountain range, moving it to the Aarun plateau, and reaching Jötunheimr from the dungeon stairs, by the time they did them the sun would have set.

In other words, with just seven people, we were in a hopeless situation. ―― Or rather, factoring in the failure of «Queen Urðr»'side quest from the Cardinal's automatic quest generator function, Þrymheimr castle would surface on Alfheim, and trigger the start of a large-scale campaign quest «Ragnarök». The fault was obviously the character who inherited its function from its creator.

Anyway――

"......In that case, I don't care if it's the king of the evil-gods or not, we will just «Smash» him for good!"

Lizbet said that with a slap on my back, the rest of them altogether went "Oo!" in agreement. Where did they get that recklessness from? While thinking that, I strongly nodded.

"――Alright, everyone's HP and MP have fully recovered right? Then let's clean up the third floor quickly!"

The combined voice echoed once more, seven people then kicked the floor, and started running, aiming for the boss' room on the lowest floor, which was visible through the ice.



Just as Yui said, the third floor was clearly narrower than the second floor. It was natural for the lower parts of an upside down pyramid, but this place was quite a narrow and also had a complicated passage. For a normal clearing, we would be confused by the gimmick of the paths, but we had, enshrined on my head, the Navigation Pixie-sama which could give the latest model of an intelligent car navigation system a run for its money.

Our trump card accessed the map data, and with her instructions, we could run through the winding passage at full speed. Even the gimmick puzzles using levers, gears, or stepping switches were cleared without any time used to solve them. If this affair were to be observed from the outside, there would be no mistake for them to think that we were doing a time attack for the fastest clearing.

We ran into the sub-boss twice, but we still reached the boss room of the third floor in only eighteen minutes. What awaited us there had twice the size of the Cyclops and Minotaur from the previous floors, both sides of its long lower body had ten pairs of centipede-like feet, it was clearly the creepy evil giant, but it didn't have much physical resistance. Of course its attack power was through the roof, so the HP gauge belonging to Cline and me were in the red so many times after being targeted by it. This battle, which made my stomach sore later, when I thought that either of us dying would lead to a wipe, went on for nine minutes.


During that time; Liz, Scilica, Sinon, and Pina tried their best to cut down the giant's feet one by one, I then finished it off with the «Skill Connect» which included multiple sword skills once it was unable to move. With our high spirits, we rushed into the fourth floor to beat King Þrym and his Niflheimr. Once we stepped into the passage leading to the boss room, we stopped, as in front of our eyes ―― a scene came into view.

It was a cage made of elongated icicles on the wall's edge.

Behind the fence caused by the stalactite growing sharply from both the ground and the ceiling, was a single figure. It was not of a giant's size. As it had collapsed on the ground, its accurate size was difficult to tell, but its body should be about the same height as the Undine Asuna's.

The skin was as white as the powdery snow lying thick around. The long flowing hair was a deep brown gold. The volume of the chest covered by the clothing that could be seen from her sorry state, it would be best not to say this out loud, as it could easily overwhelm all of our girl members. Both her hands and feet were shackled in the rugged ice.

The unexpected scene caused us to halt and feel worried, then the captive girl's shoulders made a sudden but subtle shake, as she lifted her face, with the blue chains ringing.

Her pupils were also of the same tea gold, like her hair. Her face, if it was a player avatar, would surely be because of overwhelming luck when it was created, or the account was bought with the large sum of money. However, her face was sublimed with the western European beauty, which was quite rare in this game.


Blinking once, her long eyelashes moved down then up, the girl said in a fine voice,

"Please...... Help me......out of here......"

The katana user was sucked aimlessly toward the ice cage, I grabbed and pulled the bandana tail which dangled from behind his head.

"It's a trap."

"Trap."

"That's a trap."

The last two were Sinon's and Liz's words.

Cline straightened his back and turned around, as he made a subtle expression while scratching his head.

"O-Oh......it's a trap. ......A trap, right?"

For the katana user on his death bed's sake, I asked in a small voice, "Yui?". The pixie on my head promptly replied,

"It's an NPC. Just like Urðr-san, there is connection to the language engine module. ――But, there is one difference. This person has the HP gauge enabled."

Normally, the HP gauge of the quest giving NPCs would be disabled to prevent them from taking damage. The exceptions were, when the NPC was the escort quest's objective, or the NPC was actually――


"A trap."

"It's a trap."

"I think it's a trap."

Asuna, Scilica, and Lyfa said at the same time.

His eyebrows made a 八 shape, his eyes widened, and his mouth was pursed; I patted Cline's shoulder who was stiff in those complex expressions and quickly said,

"Of course it could be possible that it isn't a trap, but now we don't have time for trial and error. We need to reach Þrym's place as early as possible, even if it is a second sooner."

"O......Oo, hmm, well, that's right, yeah."

Cline nodded slightly and moved his glance from the ice cage.

When we ran until just a few steps before reaching the stairs, the voice came again from behind,

"......Please...... anybody............"

――To be honest, I also had the urge to help her, as I didn't think that NPCs were merely the system's automatically generated moving objects, but dwellers living in this world. If this was in a normal quest progression, helping that girl, accompanying her, and as the story progressed until the end, hearing her laugh from behind, "Uhahahaha, you fool―", would still be amusing. However, we were not in the situation to take that unnecessary risk now.

=== Part 2 ===
'''(TL note: This part differs only slightly, removing references to Freyja etc)'''

The width of the descending stairs increased as we went down, and the decorative objects on the surrounding pillars and statues became more gorgeous at the same time. The «approaching boss room and resulting map data would be larger» tradition from Aincrad was also present here.

Standing at the end of the path were two wolves carved into the massive ice gate. So this was the throne room of King Þrym. About 10 meters away from the gate, I cautioned everyone to slow down, as I turned to gaze at the medallion Lyfa was wearing. The delicate light orbs which once adorned the medallion were now 90% tainted black. We probably only had around 30 minutes left.

I took a deep breath, and said:

“Based on the dungeon design, the BOSS should be behind those doors. This BOSS will be harder than the previous ones, we’ll need to do everything we can to defeat him. Before engaging, we’ll first identify his attack pattern and focus on defense. I’ll give the signal to counterattack. When the BOSS’s HP bar drops to yellow or red, his attack patterns will likely change again, so please be careful everyone.

I nodded and looked at the face of my companions, before adding:

“--- This is the last battle, let’s give it all we have!!”

“Yeah!”

This was the third cheer we had given since the start of this quest. Even Yui who was sitting on my head and Pina who was perched on Scilica’s shoulders cheered.

The gate began opening to both sides automatically once we were about five meters away. The cold air, along with a difficult to explain pressure, came from within. Asuna began re-applying supporting magics, and after confirming the numbers of buff icons below our HP/MP gauges, everyone made eye contact. We all nodded and rushed in at once.

The interior was an extraordinarily huge space in both horizontal and vertical directions. The wall and floor were blue ice, like the rest of the dungeon. The purple fire swayed eerily on the ice candles. High up on the ceiling were chandeliers of the same color, lined up. But what grabbed our attention was the dazzling reflection from the left and right wall lined along the interior.

Gold. Gold coins and ornaments, swords, armors, shields, sculptures and furniture, all kinds of golden objects were piled up to a scale where it was impossible to count. As the insides of the room sank into darkness, the full extent of the treasure was entirely unfathomable.

"............How much Yurudo are all these worth......?"

Inside the room; Lizbet, the only person who managed a player shop here murmured in a trance. “I should have emptied my inventory!” I thought, but I never mentioned this to anyone.

On the right side of the party, Cline slowly made his way towards the treasure mountain, as if motivated by his bushidō way of life. However, as he approached the treasure――

"...... A bug flew in."

The low frequency mutter could be heard from the dark open space deep within the room, causing the floor to tremble.

"I hear an annoying buzz. Where is it? I'll crush the bad bug."

Boom, the floor trembled. Boom, boom, the trembles approached, it sounded as if it were so heavy that it might break the ice floor.

Once it reached the lighting range, a human shape appeared.

Giant ―― wouldn't be a suitable word. The humanoid evil-god was huge even compared to the bosses we fought in this castle so far. Its height must be at least fifteen meters. Even if I jumped with full force, I wouldn't be able to reach the knee of those giant tree trunk sized legs.

Its skin color was dull blue, like lead. Dark brown fur coiled around its arms and legs, and I wondered what kind of large animal the fur came from. A single part of the plate armor on its waist had the size of a small boat. While the upper part of the body was bare, the prosperous muscle looked as if it was able to repel any weapons directed at it.

Its muscular chest had its blue beard hung over it. Its head above it sank into a silhouette and we could only see its outline. However, the gold crown on its forehead and the blue and bleak blinking eyes below shone brightly in the dark.

In the old Aincrad, the system limit of the floor height was a hundred meters, the boss room inside the labyrinth zone was also under the same rule, it was unavoidable for all boss monsters to had vertical size in moderation. So up until now, I had no experience in fighting with an enemy which I had to look up to. As I couldn't fly, how could I fight like this? The best I could do was cutting no higher than its shins.

While I was thinking about various things, the gigantic giant ―― the double expressions are necessary to describe its size ―― took another step closer, and laughed like a gong being hit,

"Hu, hu...... the Alfheim bugs? Creeping into this place under Urðr's seduction? How about this, you small fry. Just tell me where that woman is hiding, and you can take the gold in this room with you, hmm?"

With the enormous body and the crown on its forehead, along with the speech just now, this guy was the «Frost Giant King Þrym», no doubt about it.

It was Cline who faced and replied to the great giant, who was an AI like Urðr.

"......Heh, a warrior just needs to eat, sleep, and laugh! Don't bother trying to tame us with a cheap invitation like that!"

While we made subtle expressions of relief from behind, as in front of us, Cline pulled his beloved katana from its scabbard.

With that signal, the rest of us took out our weapons as well.

They might not be legendary class equipment, but all of them either carried the name of ancient class weapons, or were carved to a satisfactory level by the master smith Lizbet. However, the daring smile under the long moustache of the Giant King Þrym didn't fade due to the light from our weapons. Maybe it was natural, as our weapons to him were just slightly longer than toothpicks to him anyway.

The shining phosphorescence from the dark eye sockets glared at us from a very high place, the glance stopped at the eight person who stood there unarmed.

"......Ho, ho. I hear the buzzing of wings again. Very well then, I shall crush you beneath my feet, treat it as my gift, being turned into part of Jötunheimr!”

Thump, the giant king suddenly stepped forward, its large HP gauge appeared on the upper right of my field of vision. Moreover, it was stacked three layers. Cutting that off would be very troublesome.

As the HP gauge of those evil floor bosses in the new Aincrad were invisible in order to frustrate the player's mind, compared to those bosses, this battle's pace would be much easier to grasp.

"――Here it comes! Listen to Yui's instructions and focus on avoiding at the start!"

Immediately after my shout, Þrym raised his huge rock-like right fist high up near the ceiling ―― a blue frost storm wrapped its fist, then furiously swung down.

The last battle in Þrymheimr castle ―― but probably ―― was as expected, a large and fierce battle I had never experienced.

The King Þrym's early attack patterns were punches from both fists, three continuous stomping using the right foot, an ice breath in a straight line, and summoning twelve ice Dwarf minions from the ground.

The creation of the Dwarves was the most troublesome, but they were swiftly taken care of from the back of the party by Sinon's bow, cleaning them up in the blink of an eye by piercing their weak points with marvelous accuracy. The rest of the attacks were avoidable after observing its timing once, the counts from Yui also helped the three front row attackers in avoiding direct hits.

Once the defense was in place, it was finally the time to attack, however, this was certainly the hardest part. As I had feared, our swords could only reach Þrym's shins, and the thick fur protecting that area had high physical resistance, like the gold Minotaur. I took a small chance to attack it with a three hit sword skill, risking my HP to do so, but a low delay skill also had low attribute damage. The result was an unpleasant response, like hitting an indestructible object.

We fought hard in the battle for ten minutes before the first HP gauge finally depleted, causing the giant king to make an overpowered roar.

"Pattern changed! Be careful!"

As I shouted, Lyfa who was next to me said in a nervous voice,

"This is bad, Onii-chan. Only two lights remain in the medallion. We only have about ten minutes left." <!—As opposed to the “success side”, they are only given 10 minutes here -->

"............"

Þrym had three HP gauges. However, we took more than ten minutes to deplete one gauge. It could be said that cutting the remaining two gauges within ten minutes would be very difficult.

But, for this opponent, the «Skill Connect» wouldn't work like it did when we were fighting the gold Minotaur. During monster delay ―― or to say the delay occurring after its attack, «striking the weak point to create heavy concentrated damage» was needed. However, Þrym was weak to neither sword nor magic, so even if the sword skill connected four times, it wouldn't be able to make much change to that amount of HP.

As if seeing the moment of my impatience――

Þrym suddenly inhaled a large amount of the air, inflating his chest like a bellows.

An overpowering wind occurred, sucking in the five people in the front and mid rows. It's bad, this is surely the harbinger of a full force wide area of effect attack. For evading, first of all, the sucking power of the wind magic must be neutralized. While I was thinking this, to my left, Lyfa started reciting a spell.

But, there was probably not enough time once I noticed the enemy motion.

"Lyfa, everyone, take defense!"

At my call, Lyfa suspended the spell, crossed her arms in front and bent her body. All members took the same posture, in that moment,

From Þrym's mouth, which had sent out a breath in a straight line many times up until this point, released a wide conal diamond dust.

The shining pale wind wrapped around us. The cold which penetrated Asuna's buff made it feel like our skin was being torn off. Gin, gin, with a sharp sound, the avatars of five people froze at once. I tried to escape, but the thick shell of the ice completely locked my movements. Lyfa, Cline, Liz, Scilica with Pina being hugged tightly to her chest, and I turned into blue ice sculptures.

At the moment, our HP gauge still haven't decreased. But we couldn't feel at ease. As this kind of special skill would increase the damage taken in direct proportion to the time being suspended.

Þrym approached, then lifted up his massive right leg. Bad, pinch, danger. ―― as I screamed in my mind, at almost the same time,

"Nuuu―!"

With a thick roar, Þrym stomped furiously on the floor. The violent shock wave from it swallowed us while we were still frozen――

Gaching! the frightening sound of breaking echoed throughout the hall, those of us covered in ice shattered. My eyes went dark due to shock. My body slammed hard on the floor while the damage effect light continued on.

At the edge of my vision, the top five of seven HP gauges suddenly turned to a deep red.

While the five vanguards got caught in Þrym's large-scaled ranged attack, of course the two people in the back row weren't just watching.

Our HP gauges were taken by nearly eighty percent when suddenly, a soft blue light rained down on us, healing our wounds. It was Asuna's high ranked full recovery spell. The timing was perfect, which would be impossible to achieve without anticipating the occurrence of the damage and pre-casting the spell in advance.

However, in this game's large-scaled recovery magics, most of them were of the «Heal over Time» type, which didn't recovery all the lost HP instantly. So it'd be fatal if we were attacked again while our HP was still recovering.

Þrym stepped forward in order to deliver the final blow to us who finally stood up. The long beard that hung over its throat ―― was suddenly pierced by a rapid succession of fire arrows blazing bright red, causing a big explosion. It was Sinon's two-handed long bow sword skill «Explode Arrow». With ten percent physical, and ninety percent flame damage property striking the frost giant tribe's weak point, his HP gauge clearly decreased.

"Munuuuun!"

Þrym raised an angry voice and changed his direction to target Sinon. Flashy attacks on the enemy's weak point from the back row's damage dealers caused a massive amount of hate, taking over the hate of the vanguards, resulting in the enemy switching targets. It was a mistake beginners always did, but of course, this wasn't the case this time. Sinon acted as a decoy, knowing it would likely lead to her death, to buy us time for recovery.

"Sinon, give me thirty seconds!"

While shouting, I gulped down a recovery potion from my pouch. Next to me, the others also poured similar red liquids down their mouths. Pina, Scilica's partner, seemed to have narrowly survived because of its master's guard skill. In this world, unlike Aincrad, there was a pet resurrection spell, but taking time to do so during a battle would be very difficult.

My vision switched between the irritatingly slowly increasing HP gauge, and the blue Cait Sith's continuing to avoid Þrym's fierce attacks. Even though Sinon had come to ALO not long ago, her body control was spectacular. In GGO, as a sniper who forfeited all defensive skills, running away was the only way if an attacker type approached, that experience was probably still with her now.

"......Prepare the attack."

Removing my eyes off the HP gauge, which had finally came back up to eighty percent, I called my companions. Re-gripping both of my swords, I began to start counting, in that instant――

=== Part 3 ===
<big>'''TL Note: The story diverges here'''</big>

“Onii-chan!”

Lyfa’s trembling voice vibrated from my side.

“It’s too late... The lights in the medallion, are gone...”

“What...”

I held my breath and turned towards the large jewel on her chest. The jewel that seemed to be made of intricate carvings was almost completely black, save a small shred of light that remained near the bottom. Even as I spoke, it was gradually turning black.

That was to say, beneath the Ice Castle Þrymheimr, on the frozen fields of Jötunheimr, the beast-type evil gods, Tonkii and Urðr’s brethren, were close to being completely slaughtered. In other words, we who had accepted the quest "Urðr’s request" had failed, and the hundreds of players who took Þrym's quest had succeeded---

Even though my brain registered this fact, I couldn’t accept it no matter what, as I stood there with my mouth wide open. From the looks on their faces, everyone felt the same too. Even so, I managed to pull myself together, and prepared to yell at Sinon, who was dodging Þrym’s fierce attacks alone far away from the party, to retreat. However---

DUUUN! A huge shockwave shook the earth, and the wide floorboards started to vibrate.

I lost my balance and fell to the floor. Far away, Sinon slipped too, and Þrym raised his ice-covered right fist to smite her delicate body.

However, Þrym’s movements seemed to have slowed down. Then, two things happened at once. First, Þrym’s HP bar which had more than 60% HP remaining disappeared. Next, a string of red text messages flashed across my sight: “QUEST FAILED”.

“Uwa... Uwahahaha...”

Slowly lowering his fists, the king of Giants laughed out loud.

“Uwahahahaha...... I can feel it... I can feel it! The one who has constantly been opposing me and my brethren, that hateful woman’s aura is finally gone! Wahahaha......”

Once again, the frozen ground--- No, the entire castle started to vibrate. The blue flames on the wall suddenly flared up, as if coming to life. The gleam in Þrym’s eyes seemed to be magnified tenfold.

The five vanguards finally found the energy to stand and reunite with Asuna and Sinon. However, their faces no longer held that determined look they usually had. Ignoring the pitiful ones on the ground who had to spread their legs to even stand straight, Þrym let out a loud roar:

“Now! Now is the time my long-awaited wish will finally be fulfilled! Come forth... My brethren!”

His brethren? Who?

Just as I was lost in thought, huge crashes echoed throughout the throne room.

CRASH!

The mountain of treasure that was previously stacked high suddenly expanded, before crashing down towards the floor. And emerging from within were ---even though they weren’t as tall as Þrym--- giants, with sick blue skin and sporting matching blue beards. These were undoubtedly Þrym’s minions... The frost giants.

There were more than 30 of them. Creating miniature earthquakes as they walked, the lined up in a row at the center of the room, and placed one of their arms on their chests. They looked like statues from afar.

Seeing this scene full of muscle-bound males, most of us forgot about our failed quest and just stood there in shock. Even Yui, who was sitting on my head, didn't respond.

Again ignoring the fairies on the ground, Þrym lifted his head sternly, planted his left hand on his waist, and lifted his right fist high. Everyone else looked at the direction he pointed - the huge crystal chandelier.

No, that wasn't it. He was pointing to something beyond the chandelier, after penetrating the castle and the crust, the place he pointed to was---

Our (gamers) kingdom, The Fairy Kingdom Alfheim.

My suspicions were affirmed as that large bearded mouth started moving.

"Let us go! With our breaths let us bury that kingdom blessed by Yggdrasil in a sheet of ice!!"

"ROAR!!!"

DUM, DUM DUM. The thirty giants and Þrym marched, the vibrations throwing us off our feet.

"Þrymheimr --- ATTACK!!"

GOWAAAAAAAN!! A huge shockwave vibrated throughout the castle. I tried to stabilize myself before realizing I had been put into some sort of Gravity Bind - a huge force was being applied to me from above. No, that wasn't it -- I was being suppressed by the force of the floor -- the castle moving upwards.

A huge crashed emanated from the castle's four walls, the loudest sound I had heard so far in ALO. This was undoubtedly the sound of the castle breaking through the boundary between Jötunheimr and Alfheim. Þrym's plan which Urðr spoke of, "To forever encase Alfheim in snow and make his way up Yggdrasil" had apparently been put into motion.

"...... What's going to happen... next......"

Hugging her war hammer near her chest, Lizbet asked. Of course, no one had an answer. The only one who knew who probably be the "Cardinal System" who created this quest. No, maybe it could be said that this world had been devoured by darkness to the point not even gods couldn't tell what would happen next.

The castle had been rising for about three minutes now. In the meantime, Þrym stood with his fist pointed towards the distance, like some warped representation of a legendary hero. The rest of the giants were going "OOR, OOAR!!" nonstop, while stamping their feet in unison.

Soon, there came the final, loudest crash yet, and the castle, as well as the giants, went silent.

I noticed that the throne, which had been dark until now, suddenly lit up. I watched as light trickled in from the north wall, like rays of gold. It was Sunlight, something the underground world of Jötunheimr shouldn't posses - the radiance of the sun.

Þrym slowly retraced his right fist, coming into contact with sunlight briefly. His face contorted in displeasure, as he tightened his fists. A low sounds escaped his throat, unlike anything an NPC usually produced. It seemed as if he was speaking to himself.

"... Look out, Æsir... I will reach the top of the world tree and overthrow Midgard, before taking over Asgard which all of you are cowardly hiding, and crush everything under my feet..."

Lifting his right leg, he stomped his feet, as if trampling someone who wasn't there. Then, as if suddenly remembering our existence, the king of giants turned his blueish white eyes towards us and said, with a smile.

"...... Shouldn't you thank me, insects? Hurr~?"

"W-why should we thank you, you bastard?"

Cline shouted, his red hair shot upright. Þrym looked at him in amusement and said while smiling:

"Uwahaha, because I saved you the time to travel back here from Jötunheimr! Look around you and behold my castle's true form."

The king of giants, snapped his fingers (SNAP!), and--

Suddenly, the floor we had been standing on slid open, revealing a huge gaping hole.

"Waah!?"

I shouted in surprise, and the wings on my back started flapping instinctively. However, even though the castle was no longer in Jötunheimr, I still couldn't fly. Just like that, the seven fairies plus one more (Yui) plus a dragon (Pina) fell into the newly formed hole. To be exact, only Scilica's pet dragon was capable of flight, but because her owner was gripping her so tightly in front of her chest, she wasn't able to do anything.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

The loudest scream was made my Asuna, who had a fear of falling from great heights. Lizbet and Scilica also made similar screams, while the cold Sinon actually shrugged and shook her head in midair. Even the speed freak Lyfa didn't scream "YAHOO" and instead clutched my left shoulder tightly.

"I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS YOU OLD GEEZER AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!"

Cline's curse trailed into a long scream, as the seven of us fell right down the hole.

Thinking back about it, Þrym has no reason to spare our lives back there, instead of dealing the finishing blow. Though one could probably argue that falling from such heights would lead to our deaths anyway. Just as I was thinking to use magic like 'Feather Fall', the darkness in front of me began to curve, before finally becoming an icy slope. With our behinds planted on the icy surface, we had no choice but to slide down the frozen ramp. Before long, a white light appeared in front of us, and quickly began expanding. At the same time, there was a change in the air---

"...... We're gonna fly! Get your wings ready!"

I shouted out, just before the entire party plunged into the void.

I spread my shoulders and commanded my wings to fly. This time, a very reliable flapping could be heard, and a propelling force wrapped around my body. Gently picking up Yui who was perched on my head with my right hand, I placed her in my front shirt pocket, and began flying upwards. I looked to my left and right, and soon everyone noticed me.

The scenery before me that was tinted with white slowly regained its original palette. Right in front of me was a blue sky above green field, and numerous white mountains. This was, without a doubt, The Valey of Aarun, located in central Alfheim.

From the looks of the earth, it seemed as if the castle was heading south of the valley. That is to say, the great World Tree should be behind me, along with the town of Aarun which rested near one of its roots.

However, I hesitated to look back. What had happened to the beautiful scenery of Aarun, this was something I was afraid to find out. That said, I couldn't continue flying straight either, or I would end up in Salamander territory. I decelerated and gradually came to a halt, hovering in midair.

Taking a deep breath, I turned around.

"... Oh... Ohhh......"

The stiffled cry came from Lyfa, who was to my right. It was followed by the surprised cries of the other six people.

The Central City Aarun, the capital of Alfheim which was bustling with life throughout the year --- no longer existed.

The world tree, even though it looked as grand as always, had something lodged near its roots. Numerous roots had been upturned, and just a few hours ago, a lively stonework city was supposed to be there. The stones that Aarun were built on were now scattered all over, like a mountain of rubble.

Taking its place was a huge, eight-sided crystalline object that reflected off all the sun's rays.

This was without a doubt the castle Þrymheimr. However, when observed from Jötunheimr, it was the shape of an inverted triangle. That was to say, what we had previously seen was only the bottom half of the castle. Perched on top of the inverted pyramid was another similar pyramid, and it was its sharp tip that had pierced through the earth's crust.

The queen of the lake Urðr had used her powers to keep Þrymheimr sealed, but as her kind perished, so did her power. The castle had then broke free of its chains and revealed its true form. It was about 300 meters wide, and the height from the tip to the base was approximately 300 times √2, around 424 meters. Only about one tenth had pierced through the rubble, the tip pushing upwards lunging greedily for the world tree's core. The world tree still held strong with its remaining 10 or so roots, but even then it seemed it would eventually fall.

I exhaled and glanced away from Þrymheimr, surveying my surroundings.

The original inhabitants of Aarun were scattered around the valleys. Looking like ruin excavators, countless players stood there transfixed, their gaze upon the ice castle which had caused the city's ruin. If a player was running a shop in Aarun or simply taking a rest in their own house, the sudden emergence of a huge block of ice that laid waste to the entire city would certainly be quite a surprise. Because the city was a designated safe zone, none of the players had their HP reduced, though after going through such a shock it wouldn't be a surprise if their lives were shortened in the real world.

I group of players were pointing at the ice castle, their mouths moving nonstop. Because fairies had enhanced hearing, I could faintly pick up what they were saying.

"... This kinda event is too much no? Even my house is gone..."

"That's right, and not even a word of warning! Its still quite some time away to the annual end of year event too..."

"The appearance of Aincrad wasn't announced either, but this is beyond what you'd call a surprise event I think..."

Even though they hadn't fully recovered from shock, but their emotions should be turning to rage soon enough. Just like the conversation I had heard early, the entire streets of Aarun---

"... Players who had houses in Aarun or item storages, what's going to happen to them?"

Lizbet, who was to my left, said, taking the words out of my mouth. Cline answered, seemingly robbed of spirit.

"Of course... Everything's gone, no matter how you look at it."

"No, it seems that property has been converted to Yurudo while items have been converted into scrolls and stored in the players' inventories."

This explanation came from Yui, who stuck her head out from my shirt pocket. Normally immovable objects could be converted into scrolls through the banker NPC. It seemed that even the Cardinal System wasn't cruel enough to remove players' items in an instant. It felt oddly heartwarming.

"...... Is that true? At least some things can still be salvaged then..."

Just as Lizbeth was speaking.

A huge shrill scream from behind us interrupted her.

"Hey hey hey, is that true?! The scroll conversion I mean? Please please please tell me it's true!!!"

I turned around in surprise. About two meters away, a small girl wearing a round hat was standing, no, levitating in the air. A cloak was draped around her, and her right arm clutched a staff almost as tall as herself. From the rims of her hat, a large amount of golden curls fell forward, covering her eyes. Her skin was milky white, and her wings were pale yellow.

... Who's that? No, before that, what race is she? Someone short enough for me to look downwards, she was either Cait Sith or a Leprechaun, but she didn't have the symbolic cat ears on her head of gold hair. Upon further pondering, I came to the conclusion that she was an NPC. If that was the case, her color cursor should be the same as Þrym.

To affirm my point, I looked straight at her and locked my cursor upon her veiled face.

However, a rectangular frame appeared at the top right corner of my vision, accompanied with a soft sound effect. This frame displayed the cursor information, and meant that the target was either a player or a monster. I nervously scanned her name. "Marinca", spelled entirely using alphabets. Wait, the ALO system shouldn't display names of unaccustomed players. No matter how much I racked my brains, I couldn't recall where had I met her before. If so, how was I able to see her name...?

"Ahh..."

Scilica (who was hugging Pina tightly against her chest) let out a soft gasp from behind me. A moment later, I finally understood.

There was a string of shining letters hovering above the mysterious girl - Marinca's cursor.

"GAME MASTER"

"W-woah, aren't you a GM?! Wow, it's the first time I've seen one in ALO!"

Cline muttered in amazement. I was similarly shocked. A Game Master was, as the name implied, the ones who managed to world of Alfheim Online. They were positioned higher than the Cardinal System, in other words they were employees of the company running ALO.

As to how much influence a GM had in game, this differed among games. There were MMOs where GMs specially dived in to interact with players and announce of upcoming events, but I never heard of such things happening in ALO. To me, this was the first time I had seen a GM's Avatar in Alfheim.

"E-erm, I'm sorry, I haven't told you my name... You can call me Marinca from Ymir..."

[[Image:Sword Art Online Caliber SS.jpeg|thumb]]

Ymir, this was the name of the company running ALO. After RECTO's dissolution, ALO was supposed to be shut down too. Ymir though decided to purchase the servers despite declining player population, just like gods who descending to save a doomed planet. However this wasn't revealed to the players. Even I didn't know much about the company, save that one of the employers was an old friend of Egil's.

Despite that, this GM, a supposed God in this world, gave me a feeling that she was unreliable. I shook my head, thinking of the current situation, and asked.

"... Erm, Marinca, you previously asked if the scroll conversion was true... Does that mean even Ymir doesn't know what's going on in Alfheim right now...?"

"Err---erm... To be precise..."

Marinca lifted her staff into the air, twirled it for a moment, before saying:

"To be honest, this situation in Alfheim was just discovered not long ago."

"...... W-what...?"

This low sound came from Asuna, who was standing on my right. Recognizing this voice full of agitation as the voice of "the sub-leader of the Knights of Blood" before going berserk, I hastily tried to stop her - but I was one step too late.

"What irresponsible words!! How long do you think this quest has been going on? Haven't you had ample opportunities to stop the script using administrator privileges?! To think none of you noticed this before Aarun crumbled, what are the game managers doing?"

"I'm s-s-sorry!!!"

As Asuna berated Marinca, Cline and I both tucked our heads away in fear, a habit inherited from attending her strategy meetings in the past. It was fortunate that Asuna didn't notice our gestures, as she moved a step forward -her shoes made a sound as they scrapped against the ground, this might just be me imagining things- and yelled in an enraged voice:

"Let's ignore the matter of how this happened in the first place - in a situation like this, wouldn't a simple Rollback be sufficient? How many hours can we rollback to?"

A rollback was the final measure in an MMO. Because the server was reverted back to a state in the past, it would reset all progress players' made in this time frame, including Yurudo and Experience. Of course, these were extremely important.

Even though we had took up "Urðr’s request" to avoid complete destruction, we failed at the last moment. It should be dawning on the players who had taken "Þrym's quest" now, that they had indirectly caused Aarun's destruction, and the holy sword promised as a reward was nothing but the "Fake Sword Caliburn". Since things had progressed to such a level, a rollback was inevitable, and most players should be able to understand. Now to hope that the time lost was as minimal as possible. That was what I thought as I awaited Marinca's reply.

How would she reply? This GM who didn't look at a GM at all would probably stutter and smile clumsily at us.

"Well, about that... I checked the logs and it appears that the completion of the quest, in other words the beginning of this script, triggered a server backup..."

"W-What????"

This loud sound came from the seven of us. The GM's small stature quivered, as she continued nonchalantly.

"But it's such a relief that all the items were converted into scrolls! This is like casting an anchor windward... No, a blessing in disguise... That's not right either..."<ref>Marinca likes quoting idioms or proverbs when she speaks. She does this later on too.</ref>

"By the skin of your teeth"

In a low voice, Sinon who was situated behind me replied. "Un un", the rest of us agreed. Taking out a strand of spear mint from her pocket and placing it in her mouth, the sniper coolly asked:

"GM-kun, how did the situation get like this? Did the Cardinal System's 'automatic quest generation' feature malfunction?"

Upon hearing this, Marinca pouted ("Uuuu") and said.

"Y-you sure know a lot! I've been working at Ymir for two weeks, and only known of Cardinal yesterday! No I'm not joking!"

In these three sentences, there was at least one I was tempted to take a jab at, to the point my mouth was twitching on its own. Marinca waved her arms and said in an innocent tone:

"Wow, Cardinal sure is amazing! Not only can it identify bugs in quests, it can also fix dungeons with exploitable EXP mobs and even trace players with abnormal Yurudo and EXP stats!"

I suppose by Cardinal she was referring to the Cardinal System. This was one of its main advantages, of which we were all familiar of by now. In the old SAO, the Cardinal System often found our 'EXP farming spots' and quickly patched them. My lively daughter Yui was also part of the Cardinal System's low level processes; I shudder to imagine how powerful the computing levels of the Cardinal System are.

Marinca who probably had no idea the majority of us were SAO survivors, clasped her hands together.

"I also wish to one day reach Cardinal's level of administration! During yesterday's maintenance, even though it wasn't required, I still dived in from a specialized VR Console to monitor the situation up close. I even discovered many unused functions and models in the Quest interfaces. I thought that since the server was shut down, messing around a little wouldn't do any harm..."

"... Just like one of those movies, where the single press of a button would cause an explosion..."

Lyfa mumbled. I felt the same way too, but Marinca seemed to have missed that and continued her astonishing story as a GM.

"... But then, even when I turned the settings ON, nothing happened. So I continued watching the maintenance, and finally when it was time to reboot the server, I totally..."

"Forgot to turn the settings OFF, right?"

Asuna took another menacing step forward. Marinca immediately stopped talking and let out her third whimper.

"I-I'm the kind of person who is great at turning things like television, lights and air conditioners on, but I'm really bad when it comes to turning them off. I've been telling myself that in order to not cause trouble for others, I need to erm, mind my own business... Ahh, that's not it..."

This time Sinon didn't correct her. She continued staring straight ahead, with the spear mint still in her mouth. Maybe something about the Cath Sith's gaze caused Marinca to straighten up and finish her story.

"So um... After confirming the maintenance was complete, I slept for a while in the office. In the afternoon I was awoken by the shouts of other employees... It seemed that something huge had happened in-game. Looking at the situation, I had no idea if Cardinal was going on a rampage or kicking up a fuss... Actually, I was the one who had activated the 'Speed up mission' option! Ahh, this is the dream of every MMO operator - even though its freeware, its still capable of such intricate and powerful operations, Cardinal sure is awesome!! O-oh yeah, where was I? Ahh yes, after I woke up, I was ordered to asses the situation in Aarun. Hearing that the players' items have been converted into scrolls is such a relief, like a blessing in disguise... No I mean... Ahh how should I put it!"

Taking our gazes off the GM who was frantically hugging her hat, we exchanges gazes.

"... Anyway, at least we now know the reason why the Cardinal System's quest suddenly accelerated."

Yui, who was resting in my front pocket, nodded after hearing my word.

"This fits the saying 'You can't hate a crying GM'<ref>Originally 'You can't hate a crying kid'</ref>pretty well"

"Yeah... Even the Cardinal System wouldn't be able to sit idly in dummy mode forever.<ref>Referring to the current situation of perfect autonomous server management, without the need for GMs</ref> Putting it in another perspective, it seems that the Cardinal System's finally shown its true potential..."

"It must be a desire that's been accumulating for months, finally exploding all at once."

We all agreed to Scilica's words. If we treated the Cardinal system as a living being instead of a regulating program, it wouldn't be too hard for us to understand its feelings. The question was, just how much power did the Cardinal System have? Even though the world was supposedly based on the Norse Mythology of Ragnarök and the «Twilight of the Gods» seemed to be a fitting final battle, but...

I looked at Lyfa, who was gazing up at the blue, frozen castle basked under the sun.

"From Þrym's speech it seems that the Frost Giants aim to reach the top of the World Tree. If we just ignore this, not only Aarun, even the entire Yggdrasil City could be decimated..."

"E-ehh?!"

This came from Lizbeth, who owned a smithing shop in the city of Yggdrasil. Even though the Yurudo used for purchasing the shop and the items within were safe, it was hard to accept a giant flattening her shop which she had painstakingly spent months to acquire and decorate.

Asuna and I had previously rented a small house near Liz's shop in Yggdrasil City. After we moved to the 22nd floor of the floating castle Aincrad, I no longer had any reason to defend Yggdrasil City. However, there was one thing which made me uneasy.

"Say, Lyfa."

I said to the Slyph swordswoman, who turned towards me with her golden ponytail swishing in the wind. Searching my memory of the past ten or so minutes, I asked:

"Before we were ejected from the castle, that old geezer Þrym said something about what he would do after climbing the World Tree... Something about overthrowing Midgard. What exactly is Midgard?"

"Mmm, even though I've never heard about it in ALO, but according to Norse Mythology its supposedly one of the nine realms. Just like how Jötunheimr is the world of Frost Giants, Alfheim is the world of elves and Asgard is the world of gods... Midgard is the world of humans. But there is no human race available for ALO players."

Staring at my sister who was rapidly feeding us information, I muttered the only conclusion I came to.

"Then Midgard... Should probably refer to Aincard..."

"W-WHAT??"

This time it was Cline, who up until now had knitted his brows and crossed his arms, that screamed.

"Overthrow from the sky... The entire Aincrad? If that's the case, shouldn't the final act be starting..."

"Final act?"

"Of course... The 'Legendary Samurai Cline' Act"

Not even bothering to come up with a reply, I dragged the swordsman by his patterned bandana aside and looked at Asuna, asking her 'What do you think?' with my eyes.

Upon hearing that Aincrad, or more specifically 'The house in the forest on the 22nd floor' was in jeopardy, she should be in a state of panic. However, the expression on Asuna's face was unbelievably calm, and after a quick moment of thinking, she nodded her head.

"Yeah... I think that's possible. In the old SAO, all of the players were human. After being incorporated into ALO, it's possible that NPCs would designate that castle as the 'Human World Midgard'."

"H-how can that..."

With an expression that looked like she was about to cry, with her ears drooped down to the lowest, Scilica said in a pained voice. In perfect contradiction, the other Cait Sith who was waving her tail around like a Metronome, concluded the situation in an icy voice even colder than Asuna's.

"This means that if we don't stop the Frost Giants' imminent attack on Yggdrasil City and prevent them from obtaining the 'Golden Apple' on the tip of the World Tree, it might not only be Aarun and Yggdrasil City which lie in ruin, even Aincrad would be at danger of being destroyed. Let's not thinking about what they plan to do next. What we need to do now is to stop them at all costs... But what can we do to prevent that..."

Everyone nodded solemnly after listening to Sinon's report. True enough, we had failed the quest "Urðr’s request", but the quest window didn't point us to a follow up quest. There was bound to be another opportunity to attack Þrymheimr castle in the future, but before that battle, King Þrym's HP bar was nonexistent. In this state he was no different from an unengageable NPC. This was what I was worried about the most, as even if we made preparations and stormed the throne room again, if we were unable to fight him it would be meaningless in the end.

However, the one who gave us our next clue was unexpectedly the clumsy GM Marinca.

"No worries, there's a way!"

"......"

All of us looked at the administrator who didn't look like one at all. Her gaze unshifting, Marincase puffed out her chest and said:

"I just checked Cardinal's quest generation status, it seems that an event will happen later at 3 in the afternoon! If you join that event, I'm sure you'll receive a follow up quest!"

"...... Erm, I think Ymir should be capable to doing something from the outside, is that not?"

I asked casually. For the fourth time a whimper escaped Marinca. We could only hope that it was the last.

"Ah, I just received a message from my superiors, it seems there are only two options - Rollback to two weeks ago, or complete the Cardinal's Quest! Oh there's a postscript, 'Since you've been involved until now, take responsibility and join an in-game party in clearing the quest'! Ohh, this is like being paralyzed while you're poisoned!<ref>A pun on a proverb which roughly translates to 'adding snow to frost'. An english equivalent would be adding insult to injury.</ref>"

"That's why, please accept me into your party! Ahh the numbers don't matter, as a GM I can join as a special 8th member!"

Stunning silence.

Being able to hear such words, I don't think such opportunities will ever present themselves again.

Sword Art Online:Caliber SS

2012-07-23T06:32:41Z

HolyCow: 70% done

{{Incomplete|parts=3/?}}
== Translator's Note: ==
The Caliber SS is an alternate end to the Caliber story found in Volume 8. It takes part after Part 3 and follows a "What if Cline didn't save Freyja" scenario. In order to fully enjoy the chapter, it is recommended that one finish reading the normal end first (the entire Caliber story line).

The first half of this chapter is almost entirely the same as the the first half of Part 4 (with minor changes such as removing all references to Freyja) and was translated by [[User:BeginnerXP|BeginnerXP]]. The story diverges about halfway through, in the middle of the battle with Þrym. To make it easier to navigate, I broke the chapter into sections, the third section being where the story path diverges.

'''Note:''' Here SS means 少し失敗 (sukoshi shippai) which translates to Slight Failure. However since there are no synonyms for failure starting with the letter S, therefore the title has been left the same as it was in the original.

== Caliber SS ==
=== Part 1 ===
'''(TL Note: This part is exactly the same as the beginning of Caliber: Part 4)'''

The katana user finished off the black Minotaur evil-god by stabbing it with his special skill, as if releasing the grudges he had kept up to this moment. Not paying any attention to the drop items on the spot the enemy avatar had burst apart, he turned around and yelled,

"Oi Kiritard! What did ya do just now!?"

That question obviously referred to my usage of one-handed sword skills while equipped with two swords, and explaining in detail would be very troublesome, so I obeyed my inner thoughts and said while giving my most troubled face,

"......Do I have to say it?"

"'Course! After seeing something like that!"

It seemed I had pressed Cline's curiosity button, and since it was unavoidable, I answered briefly,

"It was a skill outside the system, «Skill Connect»."

Oo―, was the sound which flowed out of Liz, Scilica, and Sinon mouth; suddenly Asuna pressed her fingertips to her right temple and growled,

"Um......somehow, I got a strong feeling of Déjà vu......"


"It's just your imagination."

I shrugged my shoulders and clapped my hand on our healer-sama's back, whom despite her support duty in the back row, had sneaked in during the battle with the gold Minotaur to deliver the killing blow.

"This is not the time for relaxed talk. Lyfa, how much time do we have left?"

"Ah, right."

After sheathing her long sword in its scabbard behind her waist, Lyfa held up the medallion hanging from her neck. From a few steps away, I could see that the light within the jewel was almost completely lost.

"......At the current pace, we still have an hour or two."

"I see. ――Yui, this dungeon structure has four floors right?"

I continued asking, so the little fairy sitting on my head the whole time responded clearly,

"Yes, the third floor is around seventy percent of the second floor size, the forth floor should be mostly the boss room."

"Thank you."

Stretching my right hand, my fingertips stroked my hair while I quickly considered the situation.

At this moment, in the Jötunheimr field far below us, the players accepting the «Frost Giant Tribe» side's quest and the hunting of the beast type evil-gods had gained momentum. The number of quest participants would only increase and not decrease. The remaining time was estimated to be around an hour. The battle with the last boss ―― probably «King Þrym» himself ―― should take about thirty minutes, we wouldn't be able to move to the third and forth floor within thirty minutes.


If there were a little more time, we could explain the situation to the players on the field, asking for their assistance in revoking the ongoing quest, but at this moment we didn't have enough time to go back to the ground. The other alternative was to message the fairy lord requesting reinforcements, but organizing a force in the capital city beyond the mountain range, moving it to the Aarun plateau, and reaching Jötunheimr from the dungeon stairs, by the time they did them the sun would have set.

In other words, with just seven people, we were in a hopeless situation. ―― Or rather, factoring in the failure of «Queen Urðr»'side quest from the Cardinal's automatic quest generator function, Þrymheimr castle would surface on Alfheim, and trigger the start of a large-scale campaign quest «Ragnarök». The fault was obviously the character who inherited its function from its creator.

Anyway――

"......In that case, I don't care if it's the king of the evil-gods or not, we will just «Smash» him for good!"

Lizbet said that with a slap on my back, the rest of them altogether went "Oo!" in agreement. Where did they get that recklessness from? While thinking that, I strongly nodded.

"――Alright, everyone's HP and MP have fully recovered right? Then let's clean up the third floor quickly!"

The combined voice echoed once more, seven people then kicked the floor, and started running, aiming for the boss' room on the lowest floor, which was visible through the ice.



Just as Yui said, the third floor was clearly narrower than the second floor. It was natural for the lower parts of an upside down pyramid, but this place was quite a narrow and also had a complicated passage. For a normal clearing, we would be confused by the gimmick of the paths, but we had, enshrined on my head, the Navigation Pixie-sama which could give the latest model of an intelligent car navigation system a run for its money.

Our trump card accessed the map data, and with her instructions, we could run through the winding passage at full speed. Even the gimmick puzzles using levers, gears, or stepping switches were cleared without any time used to solve them. If this affair were to be observed from the outside, there would be no mistake for them to think that we were doing a time attack for the fastest clearing.

We ran into the sub-boss twice, but we still reached the boss room of the third floor in only eighteen minutes. What awaited us there had twice the size of the Cyclops and Minotaur from the previous floors, both sides of its long lower body had ten pairs of centipede-like feet, it was clearly the creepy evil giant, but it didn't have much physical resistance. Of course its attack power was through the roof, so the HP gauge belonging to Cline and me were in the red so many times after being targeted by it. This battle, which made my stomach sore later, when I thought that either of us dying would lead to a wipe, went on for nine minutes.


During that time; Liz, Scilica, Sinon, and Pina tried their best to cut down the giant's feet one by one, I then finished it off with the «Skill Connect» which included multiple sword skills once it was unable to move. With our high spirits, we rushed into the fourth floor to beat King Þrym and his Niflheimr. Once we stepped into the passage leading to the boss room, we stopped, as in front of our eyes ―― a scene came into view.

It was a cage made of elongated icicles on the wall's edge.

Behind the fence caused by the stalactite growing sharply from both the ground and the ceiling, was a single figure. It was not of a giant's size. As it had collapsed on the ground, its accurate size was difficult to tell, but its body should be about the same height as the Undine Asuna's.

The skin was as white as the powdery snow lying thick around. The long flowing hair was a deep brown gold. The volume of the chest covered by the clothing that could be seen from her sorry state, it would be best not to say this out loud, as it could easily overwhelm all of our girl members. Both her hands and feet were shackled in the rugged ice.

The unexpected scene caused us to halt and feel worried, then the captive girl's shoulders made a sudden but subtle shake, as she lifted her face, with the blue chains ringing.

Her pupils were also of the same tea gold, like her hair. Her face, if it was a player avatar, would surely be because of overwhelming luck when it was created, or the account was bought with the large sum of money. However, her face was sublimed with the western European beauty, which was quite rare in this game.


Blinking once, her long eyelashes moved down then up, the girl said in a fine voice,

"Please...... Help me......out of here......"

The katana user was sucked aimlessly toward the ice cage, I grabbed and pulled the bandana tail which dangled from behind his head.

"It's a trap."

"Trap."

"That's a trap."

The last two were Sinon's and Liz's words.

Cline straightened his back and turned around, as he made a subtle expression while scratching his head.

"O-Oh......it's a trap. ......A trap, right?"

For the katana user on his death bed's sake, I asked in a small voice, "Yui?". The pixie on my head promptly replied,

"It's an NPC. Just like Urðr-san, there is connection to the language engine module. ――But, there is one difference. This person has the HP gauge enabled."

Normally, the HP gauge of the quest giving NPCs would be disabled to prevent them from taking damage. The exceptions were, when the NPC was the escort quest's objective, or the NPC was actually――


"A trap."

"It's a trap."

"I think it's a trap."

Asuna, Scilica, and Lyfa said at the same time.

His eyebrows made a 八 shape, his eyes widened, and his mouth was pursed; I patted Cline's shoulder who was stiff in those complex expressions and quickly said,

"Of course it could be possible that it isn't a trap, but now we don't have time for trial and error. We need to reach Þrym's place as early as possible, even if it is a second sooner."

"O......Oo, hmm, well, that's right, yeah."

Cline nodded slightly and moved his glance from the ice cage.

When we ran until just a few steps before reaching the stairs, the voice came again from behind,

"......Please...... anybody............"

――To be honest, I also had the urge to help her, as I didn't think that NPCs were merely the system's automatically generated moving objects, but dwellers living in this world. If this was in a normal quest progression, helping that girl, accompanying her, and as the story progressed until the end, hearing her laugh from behind, "Uhahahaha, you fool―", would still be amusing. However, we were not in the situation to take that unnecessary risk now.

=== Part 2 ===
'''(TL note: This part differs only slightly, removing references to Freyja etc)'''

The width of the descending stairs increased as we went down, and the decorative objects on the surrounding pillars and statues became more gorgeous at the same time. The «approaching boss room and resulting map data would be larger» tradition from Aincrad was also present here.

Standing at the end of the path were two wolves carved into the massive ice gate. So this was the throne room of King Þrym. About 10 meters away from the gate, I cautioned everyone to slow down, as I turned to gaze at the medallion Lyfa was wearing. The delicate light orbs which once adorned the medallion were now 90% tainted black. We probably only had around 30 minutes left.

I took a deep breath, and said:

“Based on the dungeon design, the BOSS should be behind those doors. This BOSS will be harder than the previous ones, we’ll need to do everything we can to defeat him. Before engaging, we’ll first identify his attack pattern and focus on defense. I’ll give the signal to counterattack. When the BOSS’s HP bar drops to yellow or red, his attack patterns will likely change again, so please be careful everyone.

I nodded and looked at the face of my companions, before adding:

“--- This is the last battle, let’s give it all we have!!”

“Yeah!”

This was the third cheer we had given since the start of this quest. Even Yui who was sitting on my head and Pina who was perched on Scilica’s shoulders cheered.

The gate began opening to both sides automatically once we were about five meters away. The cold air, along with a difficult to explain pressure, came from within. Asuna began re-applying supporting magics, and after confirming the numbers of buff icons below our HP/MP gauges, everyone made eye contact. We all nodded and rushed in at once.

The interior was an extraordinarily huge space in both horizontal and vertical directions. The wall and floor were blue ice, like the rest of the dungeon. The purple fire swayed eerily on the ice candles. High up on the ceiling were chandeliers of the same color, lined up. But what grabbed our attention was the dazzling reflection from the left and right wall lined along the interior.

Gold. Gold coins and ornaments, swords, armors, shields, sculptures and furniture, all kinds of golden objects were piled up to a scale where it was impossible to count. As the insides of the room sank into darkness, the full extent of the treasure was entirely unfathomable.

"............How much Yurudo are all these worth......?"

Inside the room; Lizbet, the only person who managed a player shop here murmured in a trance. “I should have emptied my inventory!” I thought, but I never mentioned this to anyone.

On the right side of the party, Cline slowly made his way towards the treasure mountain, as if motivated by his bushidō way of life. However, as he approached the treasure――

"...... A bug flew in."

The low frequency mutter could be heard from the dark open space deep within the room, causing the floor to tremble.

"I hear an annoying buzz. Where is it? I'll crush the bad bug."

Boom, the floor trembled. Boom, boom, the trembles approached, it sounded as if it were so heavy that it might break the ice floor.

Once it reached the lighting range, a human shape appeared.

Giant ―― wouldn't be a suitable word. The humanoid evil-god was huge even compared to the bosses we fought in this castle so far. Its height must be at least fifteen meters. Even if I jumped with full force, I wouldn't be able to reach the knee of those giant tree trunk sized legs.

Its skin color was dull blue, like lead. Dark brown fur coiled around its arms and legs, and I wondered what kind of large animal the fur came from. A single part of the plate armor on its waist had the size of a small boat. While the upper part of the body was bare, the prosperous muscle looked as if it was able to repel any weapons directed at it.

Its muscular chest had its blue beard hung over it. Its head above it sank into a silhouette and we could only see its outline. However, the gold crown on its forehead and the blue and bleak blinking eyes below shone brightly in the dark.

In the old Aincrad, the system limit of the floor height was a hundred meters, the boss room inside the labyrinth zone was also under the same rule, it was unavoidable for all boss monsters to had vertical size in moderation. So up until now, I had no experience in fighting with an enemy which I had to look up to. As I couldn't fly, how could I fight like this? The best I could do was cutting no higher than its shins.

While I was thinking about various things, the gigantic giant ―― the double expressions are necessary to describe its size ―― took another step closer, and laughed like a gong being hit,

"Hu, hu...... the Alfheim bugs? Creeping into this place under Urðr's seduction? How about this, you small fry. Just tell me where that woman is hiding, and you can take the gold in this room with you, hmm?"

With the enormous body and the crown on its forehead, along with the speech just now, this guy was the «Frost Giant King Þrym», no doubt about it.

It was Cline who faced and replied to the great giant, who was an AI like Urðr.

"......Heh, a warrior just needs to eat, sleep, and laugh! Don't bother trying to tame us with a cheap invitation like that!"

While we made subtle expressions of relief from behind, as in front of us, Cline pulled his beloved katana from its scabbard.

With that signal, the rest of us took out our weapons as well.

They might not be legendary class equipment, but all of them either carried the name of ancient class weapons, or were carved to a satisfactory level by the master smith Lizbet. However, the daring smile under the long moustache of the Giant King Þrym didn't fade due to the light from our weapons. Maybe it was natural, as our weapons to him were just slightly longer than toothpicks to him anyway.

The shining phosphorescence from the dark eye sockets glared at us from a very high place, the glance stopped at the eight person who stood there unarmed.

"......Ho, ho. I hear the buzzing of wings again. Very well then, I shall crush you beneath my feet, treat it as my gift, being turned into part of Jötunheimr!”

Thump, the giant king suddenly stepped forward, its large HP gauge appeared on the upper right of my field of vision. Moreover, it was stacked three layers. Cutting that off would be very troublesome.

As the HP gauge of those evil floor bosses in the new Aincrad were invisible in order to frustrate the player's mind, compared to those bosses, this battle's pace would be much easier to grasp.

"――Here it comes! Listen to Yui's instructions and focus on avoiding at the start!"

Immediately after my shout, Þrym raised his huge rock-like right fist high up near the ceiling ―― a blue frost storm wrapped its fist, then furiously swung down.

The last battle in Þrymheimr castle ―― but probably ―― was as expected, a large and fierce battle I had never experienced.

The King Þrym's early attack patterns were punches from both fists, three continuous stomping using the right foot, an ice breath in a straight line, and summoning twelve ice Dwarf minions from the ground.

The creation of the Dwarves was the most troublesome, but they were swiftly taken care of from the back of the party by Sinon's bow, cleaning them up in the blink of an eye by piercing their weak points with marvelous accuracy. The rest of the attacks were avoidable after observing its timing once, the counts from Yui also helped the three front row attackers in avoiding direct hits.

Once the defense was in place, it was finally the time to attack, however, this was certainly the hardest part. As I had feared, our swords could only reach Þrym's shins, and the thick fur protecting that area had high physical resistance, like the gold Minotaur. I took a small chance to attack it with a three hit sword skill, risking my HP to do so, but a low delay skill also had low attribute damage. The result was an unpleasant response, like hitting an indestructible object.

We fought hard in the battle for ten minutes before the first HP gauge finally depleted, causing the giant king to make an overpowered roar.

"Pattern changed! Be careful!"

As I shouted, Lyfa who was next to me said in a nervous voice,

"This is bad, Onii-chan. Only two lights remain in the medallion. We only have about ten minutes left." <!—As opposed to the “success side”, they are only given 10 minutes here -->

"............"

Þrym had three HP gauges. However, we took more than ten minutes to deplete one gauge. It could be said that cutting the remaining two gauges within ten minutes would be very difficult.

But, for this opponent, the «Skill Connect» wouldn't work like it did when we were fighting the gold Minotaur. During monster delay ―― or to say the delay occurring after its attack, «striking the weak point to create heavy concentrated damage» was needed. However, Þrym was weak to neither sword nor magic, so even if the sword skill connected four times, it wouldn't be able to make much change to that amount of HP.

As if seeing the moment of my impatience――

Þrym suddenly inhaled a large amount of the air, inflating his chest like a bellows.

An overpowering wind occurred, sucking in the five people in the front and mid rows. It's bad, this is surely the harbinger of a full force wide area of effect attack. For evading, first of all, the sucking power of the wind magic must be neutralized. While I was thinking this, to my left, Lyfa started reciting a spell.

But, there was probably not enough time once I noticed the enemy motion.

"Lyfa, everyone, take defense!"

At my call, Lyfa suspended the spell, crossed her arms in front and bent her body. All members took the same posture, in that moment,

From Þrym's mouth, which had sent out a breath in a straight line many times up until this point, released a wide conal diamond dust.

The shining pale wind wrapped around us. The cold which penetrated Asuna's buff made it feel like our skin was being torn off. Gin, gin, with a sharp sound, the avatars of five people froze at once. I tried to escape, but the thick shell of the ice completely locked my movements. Lyfa, Cline, Liz, Scilica with Pina being hugged tightly to her chest, and I turned into blue ice sculptures.

At the moment, our HP gauge still haven't decreased. But we couldn't feel at ease. As this kind of special skill would increase the damage taken in direct proportion to the time being suspended.

Þrym approached, then lifted up his massive right leg. Bad, pinch, danger. ―― as I screamed in my mind, at almost the same time,

"Nuuu―!"

With a thick roar, Þrym stomped furiously on the floor. The violent shock wave from it swallowed us while we were still frozen――

Gaching! the frightening sound of breaking echoed throughout the hall, those of us covered in ice shattered. My eyes went dark due to shock. My body slammed hard on the floor while the damage effect light continued on.

At the edge of my vision, the top five of seven HP gauges suddenly turned to a deep red.

While the five vanguards got caught in Þrym's large-scaled ranged attack, of course the two people in the back row weren't just watching.

Our HP gauges were taken by nearly eighty percent when suddenly, a soft blue light rained down on us, healing our wounds. It was Asuna's high ranked full recovery spell. The timing was perfect, which would be impossible to achieve without anticipating the occurrence of the damage and pre-casting the spell in advance.

However, in this game's large-scaled recovery magics, most of them were of the «Heal over Time» type, which didn't recovery all the lost HP instantly. So it'd be fatal if we were attacked again while our HP was still recovering.

Þrym stepped forward in order to deliver the final blow to us who finally stood up. The long beard that hung over its throat ―― was suddenly pierced by a rapid succession of fire arrows blazing bright red, causing a big explosion. It was Sinon's two-handed long bow sword skill «Explode Arrow». With ten percent physical, and ninety percent flame damage property striking the frost giant tribe's weak point, his HP gauge clearly decreased.

"Munuuuun!"

Þrym raised an angry voice and changed his direction to target Sinon. Flashy attacks on the enemy's weak point from the back row's damage dealers caused a massive amount of hate, taking over the hate of the vanguards, resulting in the enemy switching targets. It was a mistake beginners always did, but of course, this wasn't the case this time. Sinon acted as a decoy, knowing it would likely lead to her death, to buy us time for recovery.

"Sinon, give me thirty seconds!"

While shouting, I gulped down a recovery potion from my pouch. Next to me, the others also poured similar red liquids down their mouths. Pina, Scilica's partner, seemed to have narrowly survived because of its master's guard skill. In this world, unlike Aincrad, there was a pet resurrection spell, but taking time to do so during a battle would be very difficult.

My vision switched between the irritatingly slowly increasing HP gauge, and the blue Cait Sith's continuing to avoid Þrym's fierce attacks. Even though Sinon had come to ALO not long ago, her body control was spectacular. In GGO, as a sniper who forfeited all defensive skills, running away was the only way if an attacker type approached, that experience was probably still with her now.

"......Prepare the attack."

Removing my eyes off the HP gauge, which had finally came back up to eighty percent, I called my companions. Re-gripping both of my swords, I began to start counting, in that instant――

=== Part 3 ===
<big>'''TL Note: The story diverges here'''</big>

“Onii-chan!”

Lyfa’s trembling voice vibrated from my side.

“It’s too late... The lights in the medallion, are gone...”

“What...”

I held my breath and turned towards the large jewel on her chest. The jewel that seemed to be made of intricate carvings was almost completely black, save a small shred of light that remained near the bottom. Even as I spoke, it was gradually turning black.

That was to say, beneath the Ice Castle Þrymheimr, on the frozen fields of Jötunheimr, the beast-type evil gods, Tonkii and Urðr’s brethren, were close to being completely slaughtered. In other words, we who had accepted the quest “Urðr’s request” had failed, and the hundreds of players who took Þrym's quest had succeeded---

Even though my brain registered this fact, I couldn’t accept it no matter what, as I stood there with my mouth wide open. From the looks on their faces, everyone felt the same too. Even so, I managed to pull myself together, and prepared to yell at Sinon, who was dodging Þrym’s fierce attacks alone far away from the party, to retreat. However---

DUUUN! A huge shockwave shook the earth, and the wide floorboards started to vibrate.

I lost my balance and fell to the floor. Far away, Sinon slipped too, and Þrym raised his ice-covered right fist to smite her delicate body.

However, Þrym’s movements seemed to have slowed down. Then, two things happened at once. First, Þrym’s HP bar which had more than 60% HP remaining disappeared. Next, a string of red text messages flashed across my sight: “QUEST FAILED”.

“Uwa... Uwahahaha...”

Slowly lowering his fists, the king of Giants laughed out loud.

“Uwahahahaha...... I can feel it... I can feel it! The one who has constantly been opposing me and my brethren, that hateful woman’s aura is finally gone! Wahahaha......”

Once again, the frozen ground--- No, the entire castle started to vibrate. The blue flames on the wall suddenly flared up, as if coming to life. The gleam in Þrym’s eyes seemed to be magnified tenfold.

The five vanguards finally found the energy to stand and reunite with Asuna and Sinon. However, their faces no longer held that determined look they usually had. Ignoring the pitiful ones on the ground who had to spread their legs to even stand straight, Þrym let out a loud roar:

“Now! Now is the time my long-awaited wish will finally be fulfilled! Come forth... My brethren!”

His brethren? Who?

Just as I was lost in thought, huge crashes echoed throughout the throne room.

CRASH!

The mountain of treasure that was previously stacked high suddenly expanded, before crashing down towards the floor. And emerging from within were ---even though they weren’t as tall as Þrym--- giants, with sick blue skin and sporting matching blue beards. These were undoubtedly Þrym’s minions... The frost giants.

There were more than 30 of them. Creating miniature earthquakes as they walked, the lined up in a row at the center of the room, and placed one of their arms on their chests. They looked like statues from afar.

Seeing this scene full of muscle-bound males, most of us forgot about our failed quest and just stood there in shock. Even Yui, who was sitting on my head, didn't respond.

Again ignoring the fairies on the ground, Þrym lifted his head sternly, planted his left hand on his waist, and lifted his right fist high. Everyone else looked at the direction he pointed - the huge crystal chandelier.

No, that wasn't it. He was pointing to something beyond the chandelier, after penetrating the castle and the crust, the place he pointed to was---

Our (gamers) kingdom, The Fairy Kingdom Alfheim.

My suspicions were affirmed as that large bearded mouth started moving.

"Let us go! With our breaths let us bury that kingdom blessed by Yggdrasil in a sheet of ice!!"

"ROAR!!!"

DUM, DUM DUM. The thirty giants and Þrym marched, the vibrations throwing us off our feet.

"Þrymheimr --- ATTACK!!"

GOWAAAAAAAN!! A huge shockwave vibrated throughout the castle. I tried to stabilize myself before realizing I had been put into some sort of Gravity Bind - a huge force was being applied to me from above. No, that wasn't it -- I was being suppressed by the force of the floor -- the castle moving upwards.

A huge crashed emanated from the castle's four walls, the loudest sound I had heard so far in ALO. This was undoubtedly the sound of the castle breaking through the boundary between Jötunheimr and Alfheim. Þrym's plan which Urðr spoke of, "To forever encase Alfheim in snow and make his way up Yggdrasil" had apparently been put into motion.

"...... What's going to happen... next......"

Hugging her war hammer near her chest, Lizbet asked. Of course, no one had an answer. The only one who knew who probably be the "Cardinal System" who created this quest. No, maybe it could be said that this world had been devoured by darkness to the point not even gods couldn't tell what would happen next.

The castle had been rising for about three minutes now. In the meantime, Þrym stood with his fist pointed towards the distance, like some warped representation of a legendary hero. The rest of the giants were going "OOR, OOAR!!" nonstop, while stamping their feet in unison.

Soon, there came the final, loudest crash yet, and the castle, as well as the giants, went silent.

I noticed that the throne, which had been dark until now, suddenly lit up. I watched as light trickled in from the north wall, like rays of gold. It was Sunlight, something the underground world of Jötunheimr shouldn't posses - the radiance of the sun.

Þrym slowly retraced his right fist, coming into contact with sunlight briefly. His face contorted in displeasure, as he tightened his fists. A low sounds escaped his throat, unlike anything an NPC usually produced. It seemed as if he was speaking to himself.

"... Look out, Æsir... I will reach the top of the world tree and overthrow Midgard, before taking over Asgard which all of you are cowardly hiding, and crush everything under my feet..."

Lifting his right leg, he stomped his feet, as if trampling someone who wasn't there. Then, as if suddenly remembering our existence, the king of giants turned his blueish white eyes towards us and said, with a smile.

"...... Shouldn't you thank me, insects? Hurr~?"

"W-why should we thank you, you bastard?"

Cline shouted, his red hair shot upright. Þrym looked at him in amusement and said while smiling:

"Uwahaha, because I saved you the time to travel back here from Jötunheimr! Look around you and behold my castle's true form."

The king of giants, snapped his fingers (SNAP!), and--

Suddenly, the floor we had been standing on slid open, revealing a huge gaping hole.

"Waah!?"

I shouted in surprise, and the wings on my back started flapping instinctively. However, even though the castle was no longer in Jötunheimr, I still couldn't fly. Just like that, the seven fairies plus one more (Yui) plus a dragon (Pina) fell into the newly formed hole. To be exact, only Scilica's pet dragon was capable of flight, but because her owner was gripping her so tightly in front of her chest, she wasn't able to do anything.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

The loudest scream was made my Asuna, who had a fear of falling from great heights. Lizbet and Scilica also made similar screams, while the cold Sinon actually shrugged and shook her head in midair. Even the speed freak Lyfa didn't scream "YAHOO" and instead clutched my left shoulder tightly.

"I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS YOU OLD GEEZER AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!"

Cline's curse trailed into a long scream, as the seven of us fell right down the hole.

Thinking back about it, Þrym has no reason to spare our lives back there, instead of dealing the finishing blow. Though one could probably argue that falling from such heights would lead to our deaths anyway. Just as I was thinking to use magic like 'Feather Fall', the darkness in front of me began to curve, before finally becoming an icy slope. With our behinds planted on the icy surface, we had no choice but to slide down the frozen ramp. Before long, a white light appeared in front of us, and quickly began expanding. At the same time, there was a change in the air---

"...... We're gonna fly! Get your wings ready!"

I shouted out, just before the entire party plunged into the void.

I spread my shoulders and commanded my wings to fly. This time, a very reliable flapping could be heard, and a propelling force wrapped around my body. Gently picking up Yui who was perched on my head with my right hand, I placed her in my front shirt pocket, and began flying upwards. I looked to my left and right, and soon everyone noticed me.

The scenery before me that was tinted with white slowly regained its original palette. Right in front of me was a blue sky above green field, and numerous white mountains. This was, without a doubt, The Valey of Aarun, located in central Alfheim.

From the looks of the earth, it seemed as if the castle was heading south of the valley. That is to say, the great World Tree should be behind me, along with the town of Aarun which rested near one of its roots.

However, I hesitated to look back. What had happened to the beautiful scenery of Aarun, this was something I was afraid to find out. That said, I couldn't continue flying straight either, or I would end up in Salamander territory. I decelerated and gradually came to a halt, hovering in midair.

Taking a deep breath, I turned around.

"... Oh... Ohhh......"

The stiffled cry came from Lyfa, who was to my right. It was followed by the surprised cries of the other six people.

The Central City Aarun, the capital of Alfheim which was bustling with life throughout the year --- no longer existed.

The world tree, even though it looked as grand as always, had something lodged near its roots. Numerous roots had been upturned, and just a few hours ago, a lively stonework city was supposed to be there. The stones that Aarun were built on were now scattered all over, like a mountain of rubble.

Taking its place was a huge, eight-sided crystalline object that reflected off all the sun's rays.

This was without a doubt the castle Þrymheimr. However, when observed from Jötunheimr, it was the shape of an inverted triangle. That was to say, what we had previously seen was only the bottom half of the castle. Perched on top of the inverted pyramid was another similar pyramid, and it was its sharp tip that had pierced through the earth's crust.

The queen of the lake Urðr had used her powers to keep Þrymheimr sealed, but as her kind perished, so did her power. The castle had then broke free of its chains and revealed its true form. It was about 300 meters wide, and the height from the tip to the base was approximately 300 times √2, around 424 meters. Only about one tenth had pierced through the rubble, the tip pushing upwards lunging greedily for the world tree's core. The world tree still held strong with its remaining 10 or so roots, but even then it seemed it would eventually fall.

I exhaled and glanced away from Þrymheimr, surveying my surroundings.

The original inhabitants of Aarun were scattered around the valleys. Looking like ruin excavators, countless players stood there transfixed, their gaze upon the ice castle which had caused the city's ruin. If a player was running a shop in Aarun or simply taking a rest in their own house, the sudden emergence of a huge block of ice that laid waste to the entire city would certainly be quite a surprise. Because the city was a designated safe zone, none of the players had their HP reduced, though after going through such a shock it wouldn't be a surprise if their lives were shortened in the real world.

I group of players were pointing at the ice castle, their mouths moving nonstop. Because fairies had enhanced hearing, I could faintly pick up what they were saying.

"... This kinda event is too much no? Even my house is gone..."

"That's right, and not even a word of warning! Its still quite some time away to the annual end of year event too..."

"The appearance of Aincrad wasn't announced either, but this is beyond what you'd call a surprise event I think..."

Even though they hadn't fully recovered from shock, but their emotions should be turning to rage soon enough. Just like the conversation I had heard early, the entire streets of Aarun---

"... Players who had houses in Aarun or item storages, what's going to happen to them?"

Lizbet, who was to my left, said, taking the words out of my mouth. Cline answered, seemingly robbed of spirit.

"Of course... Everything's gone, no matter how you look at it."

"No, it seems that property has been converted to Yurudo while items have been converted into scrolls and stored in the players' inventories."

This explanation came from Yui, who stuck her head out from my shirt pocket. Normally immovable objects could be converted into scrolls through the banker NPC. It seemed that even the Cardinal System wasn't cruel enough to remove players' items in an instant. It felt oddly heartwarming.

"...... Is that true? At least some things can still be salvaged then..."

Just as Lizbeth was speaking.

A huge shrill scream from behind us interrupted her.

"Hey hey hey, is that true?! The scroll conversion I mean? Please please please tell me it's true!!!"

I turned around in surprise. About two meters away, a small girl wearing a round hat was standing, no, levitating in the air. A cloak was draped around her, and her right arm clutched a staff almost as tall as herself. From the rims of her hat, a large amount of golden curls fell forward, covering her eyes. Her skin was milky white, and her wings were pale yellow.

... Who's that? No, before that, what race is she? Someone short enough for me to look downwards, she was either Cait Sith or a Leprechaun, but she didn't have the symbolic cat ears on her head of gold hair. Upon further pondering, I came to the conclusion that she was an NPC. If that was the case, her color cursor should be the same as Þrym.

To affirm my point, I looked straight at her and locked my cursor upon her veiled face.

However, a rectangular frame appeared at the top right corner of my vision, accompanied with a soft sound effect. This frame displayed the cursor information, and meant that the target was either a player or a monster. I nervously scanned her name. "Marinca", spelled entirely using alphabets. Wait, the ALO system shouldn't display names of unaccustomed players. No matter how much I racked my brains, I couldn't recall where had I met her before. If so, how was I able to see her name...?

"Ahh..."

Scilica (who was hugging Pina tightly against her chest) let out a soft gasp from behind me. A moment later, I finally understood.

There was a string of shining letters hovering above the mysterious girl - Marinca's cursor.

"GAME MASTER"

"W-woah, aren't you a GM?! Wow, it's the first time I've seen one in ALO!"

Cline muttered in amazement. I was similarly shocked. A Game Master was, as the name implied, the ones who managed to world of Alfheim Online. They were positioned higher than the Cardinal System, in other words they were employees of the company running ALO.

As to how much influence a GM had in game, this differed among games. There were MMOs where GMs specially dived in to interact with players and announce of upcoming events, but I never heard of such things happening in ALO. To me, this was the first time I had seen a GM's Avatar in Alfheim.

"E-erm, I'm sorry, I haven't told you my name... You can call me Marinca from Ymir..."

**************** IMAGE ***************

Ymir, this was the name of the company running ALO. After RECTO's dissolution, ALO was supposed to be shut down too. Ymir though decided to purchase the servers despite declining player population, just like gods who descending to save a doomed planet. However this wasn't revealed to the players. Even I didn't know much about the company, save that one of the employers was an old friend of Egil's.

Despite that, this GM, a supposed God in this world, gave me a feeling that she was unreliable. I shook my head, thinking of the current situation, and asked.

"... Erm, Marinca, you previously asked if the scroll conversion was true... Does that mean even Ymir doesn't know what's going on in Alfheim right now...?"

"Err---erm... To be precise..."

Marinca lifted her staff into the air, twirled it for a moment, before saying:

"To be honest, this situation in Alfheim was just discovered not long ago."

"...... W-what...?"

This low sound came from Asuna, who was standing on my right. Recognizing this voice full of agitation as the voice of "the sub-leader of the Knights of Blood" before going berserk, I hastily tried to stop her - but I was one step too late.

"What irresponsible words!! How long do you think this quest has been going on? Haven't you had ample opportunities to stop the script using administrator privileges?! To think none of you noticed this before Aarun crumbled, what are the game managers doing?"

"I'm s-s-sorry!!!"

As Asuna berated Marinca, Cline and I both tucked our heads away in fear, a habit inherited from attending her strategy meetings in the past. It was fortunate that Asuna didn't notice our gestures, as she moved a step forward -her shoes made a sound as they scrapped against the ground, this might just be me imagining things- and yelled in an enraged voice:

"Let's ignore the matter of how this happened in the first place - in a situation like this, wouldn't a simple Rollback be sufficient? How many hours can we rollback to?"

A rollback was the final measure in an MMO. Because the server was reverted back to a state in the past, it would reset all progress players' made in this time frame, including Yurudo and Experience. Of course, these were extremely important.

Even though we had took up "Urðr’s request" to avoid complete destruction, we failed at the last moment. It should be dawning on the players who had taken "Þrym's quest" now, that they had indirectly caused Aarun's destruction, and the holy sword promised as a reward was nothing but the "Fake Sword Caliburn". Since things had progressed to such a level, a rollback was inevitable, and most players should be able to understand. Now to hope that the time lost was as minimal as possible. That was what I thought as I awaited Marinca's reply.

How would she reply? This GM who didn't look at a GM at all would probably stutter and smile clumsily at us.

"Well, about that... I checked the logs and it appears that the completion of the quest, in other words the beginning of this script, triggered a server backup..."

"W-What????"

This loud sound came from the seven of us. The GM's small stature quivered, as she continued nonchalantly.

"But it's such a relief that all the items were converted into scrolls! This is like casting an anchor windward... No, a blessing in disguise... That's not right either..."

"By the skin of your teeth"

In a low voice, Sinon who was situated behind me replied. "Un un", the rest of us agreed. Taking out a strand of spear mint from her pocket and placing it in her mouth, the sniper coolly asked:

"GM-kun, how did the situation get like this? Did the Cardinal System's 'automatic quest generation' feature malfunction?"

Upon hearing this, Marinca pouted ("Uuuu") and said.

"Y-you sure know a lot! I've been working at Ymir for two weeks, and only known of the Cardinal thingy yesterday! No I'm not joking!"

In these three sentences, there was at least one I was tempted to take a jab at, to the point my mouth was twitching on its own. Marinca waved her arms and said in an innocent tone:

"Wow, the Cardinal sure is amazing! Not only can it identify bugs in quests, it can also fix dungeons with exploitable EXP mobs and even trace players with abnormal Yurudo and EXP stats!"

This was the main advantage of the Cardinal System, which we were all familiar of by now. In the old SAO, the Cardinal System often found our 'EXP farming spots' and quickly patched them. My lively daughter Yui was also part of the Cardinal System's low level processes; I shudder to imagine how powerful the computing levels of the Cardinal System are.

Marinca who probably had no idea the majority of us were SAO survivors, clasped her hands together.

"I also wish to one day reach the Cardinal System's level of administration! During yesterday's maintenance, even though it wasn't required, I still dived in from a specialized VR Console to monitor the situation up close. I even discovered many unused functions and models in the Quest interfaces. I thought that since the server was shut down, messing around a little wouldn't do any harm..."

"... Just like one of those movies, where the single press of a button would cause an explosion..."

Lyfa mumbled. I felt the same way too, but Marinca seemed to have missed that and continued her astonishing story as a GM.

User talk:BeginnerXP

2012-07-23T05:02:19Z

HolyCow: /* SAO: Caliber SS */

Thanks for noticing my Accel World typo, guess I should switch that gear in my mind somehow. [[User:Xplorer30|Xplorer30]] - [[User_talk:Xplorer30|Talk]] 21:33, 25 January 2012 (CST)

Thanks you very much for your hard work in translating those projects.Although I haven't been around for long,at least let me give you a word of gratitude.Even though this is only a mere trivial words.Hopefully you'll still be around for helping here in your spare time.--[[User:User753|User753]]-[[User talk:User753|Talk]]- 21:20, 28 April 2012 (CDT)
== Sword Art Online:Salvia‎ ==

Done some minor editing to Sword Art Online:Salvia‎. Fixed up spelling and some grammer, as well as making some lines read clearer. Hope this meets your approval.--[[User:Ff7 freak|Ff7 freak]] 01:39, 6 February 2012 (CST)

Since I'm not native English speaker so my English skill still needs a lot of improvements, your corrections are very appreciated. Please continue your selfless contributions toward B-T community. --[[User:BeginnerXP|BeginnerXP]] 01:44, 6 February 2012 (CST)

Yeah, you were right with those "it's". Seems I was editing a bit to quickly for my own good and wasn't thinking properly. Fixed up thos bits and made a handful of few minor corrections--[[User:Ff7 freak|Ff7 freak]] 02:15, 6 February 2012 (CST)

You are awesome.

== SAO: Caliber SS ==
Just a quick question, will you be doing the web-version of the Caliber side story (the "Failure Side")? If you're not doing it may I translate it? :)

Thanks for the Caliber Arc, really enjoyed it :P

[[User:HolyCow|HolyCow]]

The Failure Side was published as Caliber SS in Dengeki Bunko, around July 2011. I only have the link for the Chinese RAW (which I grabbed off SF), drop me an email at holycow89 [at] gmail [dot] com if you want it :)

--[[User:HolyCow|HolyCow]] 23:09, 9 April 2012 (CDT)

Thanks, I'm at fault too for just disappearing without notice XD I've got some free time this week, and the SS is about 60% done anyway so I think I'll be able to finish it fine :P

--[[User:HolyCow|HolyCow]] 00:01, 23 July 2012 (CDT)

== Fonts I used in Sword Art Online ==

I've been caught up in college, so I haven't checked in for awhile. Anyway, if you still want the fonts I used, here they are.

This is from the text note I keep on it.

Eurostile Bold
«»
⌠⌡
―
Eras Demi ITC
Georgia Italic
§

38292c
fffeff
22191a
0b0b0d

== SAO Picture Texts ==

Hi. I have a request. Could you translate the Pictures shown on [[Talk:Sword Art Online#Volume 6]]. I'd like it if you could translate them in the next few days. Then I can photoshop the translations into the pictures. I've already done some of them. But I need the text for the untranslated ones. I just need the translations. Leave the photoshopping to me. Thanks. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] - [[User_talk:Zero2001|Talk]] - 11:41, 1 May 2012 (CDT)

That's all good. Thanks a lot. BTW here's how to add to the talk page:
<nowiki>
<gallery>
Image:Insert Image1 Name here.extension|Add Translated text here.
Image:Insert Image2 Name here.extension|Use for line spacing. And yes you need to use it twice or even thrice.
Image:Insert Image3 Name here.extension|Do not press enter until next picture in gallery.
Image:Insert Image4 Name here.extension|Then repeat the code as shown.
</gallery>
</nowiki>
And that's how you do it. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] - [[User_talk:Zero2001|Talk]] - 22:24, 1 May 2012 (CDT)

There are a few incomplete translations there. and one that also needs to be revised besides being completed. I've updated the talk page. Take a look. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] - [[User_talk:Zero2001|Talk]] - 22:38, 1 May 2012 (CDT)

Okay I'll begin work on the translated ones. I myself use and suggest using Anime Ace 2.0 or Wild Words. They are a similar font to the Japanese writing method and thus more popular. As for the pics, as long as they don't go over 2 MB I don't see any problem using the maximum settings. Vol9 pics are going to be a little bit of work since I'll need to fix the levels as well. BTW what are your thoughts on the de-dusting of [[Image:Sword Art Online Vol 06 -006.jpeg|50px]] and [[Image:Sword Art Online Vol 06 -007.jpeg|50px]]. I still have their photoshop files so any edits are still possible. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] - [[User_talk:Zero2001|Talk]] - 00:15, 2 May 2012 (CDT)

Allright, who translated these images(Horribly)? --[[User:Pryun|Pryun]] - [[User_talk:Pryun|Talk]] 01:13, 2 May 2012 (CDT)

To Pyrun: Translated or edited? If there is a problem in the traslation then tell me. I still have the PSD files. Correcting the mistakes would be easy for me. But no, I'm not gonna stop using the Anime Ace 2.0 font. It's the default for Japanese Scanlation. I will probably edit the others to reflect as well if it's no problem. If you think they're translated horribly then please talk about it on the talk page in the above link. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] - [[User_talk:Zero2001|Talk]] - 01:44, 2 May 2012 (CDT)

To BeginnerXP: Sorry about the redline. As for the bad quality ones they can be fixed. A little leveling and smudging or clone stamping will fix the problem. We can't keep waiting around forever. We have to make do with what we have. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] - [[User_talk:Zero2001|Talk]] - 01:44, 2 May 2012 (CDT)

To Zero2001: The default scanlation font for a long time was either [http://www.dafont.com/anim-ace.font Anime Ace] or Wild Words. However, some groups use different fonts depending on "compatibility" with the art material, particularly if it is a colour work or highly-stylized doujin. Non-hentai manga scanlators seem to be the most conservative in their choices by sticking to the default. With doujinshi-type scanlators, there seems to be greater willingness to vary font choices to suit the material rather than being required to stick to the defaults of Anime Ace or Wild Words. If you're not Zero and you're reading this, you may be interested in the manga editing tutorial info/links at [http://dynasty-recruit.pbworks.com/w/page/18436284/Editors Dynasty Scans Editor Recruit Info].
And to BeginnerXP: PM can be sent to me via the method on mytalk page. [http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=User_talk:Anime_Janai talk] - [[User:Anime Janai|Anime Janai]] 02:36, 15 May 2012 (CDT)

I am aware what to use for which circumstance. I just completed downloading all of Blambot's free fonts and am using NexusFonts font manager to manage them. I am already aware that Anime Ace 2.0 and Wild Words '''are''' mostly used. Thus the reason I chose Anime Ace 2.0. I definitely won't choose a horrendous font like comic-sans (urrrgh, the mere thought of that send shivers up my spine) so rest assured. Thanks for the input though. I'll be sure to consider it. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] - [[User_talk:Zero2001|Talk]] - 07:19, 15 May 2012 (CDT)

If you're undecided can you translate the text on the SAO pics. Then I can scanlate/photoshop them into the images themselves. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] - [[User_talk:Zero2001|Talk]] - 05:12, 7 June 2012 (CDT)

I'm not asking you to scanlate the whole thing. Just translate the text and write it into the Image page just as how you would write into chapter pages, via the edit button. As for the image quality, leave that to me, I'll soon upload a translated and enhanced version of File:Sword_Art_Online_Vol_07_-002-003.jpg. You'll see the quality improved. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] - [[User_talk:Zero2001|Talk]] - 11:36, 7 June 2012 (CDT)

== Accel World ==

Sorry I didn't blame user753 just that I do not know how baka-tsuki network works , as I haven't done my backup for that portion just yet and thus, I became panic.. not knowing what was going on... Yes.. I do appreciate his willingness to help, that's why I requested for his help through his talk. Thanks for letting me know how does the network works. I understand now. Cheers!! -- JinXiang - 22:42, 20 May 2012 (GMT+8). Replied via android.

Hey XP, if you're undecided on what to work on you might wanna think on [[Accel World]]. It set in the same universe as SAO but in the future and with completely new characters. We could really use your help over there. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] - [[User_talk:Zero2001|Talk]] - 11:25, 8 June 2012 (CDT)

==Sword Art Online: Volume 9==
Umm,BeginnerXP-san, this sentence: ''What she saw was, mismatched with the master's big frame hands' splendid movement —— but saying it that way might be rude —— while handling the silvery shaker.'' I think what Shino thought might be rude is saying about Egil's big frame hands,not his frame.Perhaps it could be reverted back or changed to: ''What she saw was, mismatched with the master's big frame hands' —— but saying it that way might be rude —— splendid movement while handling the silvery shaker.'' Well,the meaning it's not changed much.Please tell me about your opinion.Thanks before.--[[User:User753|User753]]-[[User talk:User753|Talk]]- 01:26, 21 May 2012 (CDT)

Umm...Actually,that's what I'm confused about.Whether it's about saying ''Egil's big frame hands'' that might be rude or saying ''Egil's big frame'' that might be rude.If I may give my opinion,I'd prefer about ''Egil's big frame hands.'' As Shino thought that although Egil's hands frame are big,he can move the shaker with his hands splendidly (I think it's because she thought his hands would move a little cruder than that,sorry about my languange).--[[User:User753|User753]]-[[User talk:User753|Talk]]- 03:03, 21 May 2012 (CDT)

''Egil's hands' big frames'' would be better. BTW why were we having SAO conversation in the Accel Word section. I've fixed it. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] - [[User_talk:Zero2001|Talk]] - 03:41, 21 May 2012 (CDT)

I made an adjustment, hope it won't cause confusion anymore, author said the hands movement mismatched to the big body, not big hands. If you can reword it better, please feel free to do so. I post here because it's easier than posting the same message on two talk pages. -- [[User:BeginnerXP|BeginnerXP]] - [[User_talk:BeginnerXP|Talk]] 03:56, 21 May 2012 (CDT)

Thank you very much for clearing the confusion,well I'm one that's confused about it.Well Zero2001-san,about the misplaced section...It's because at that time I wanted to talk with BeginnerXP-san to thank about AW first then asking about SAO.And then I forgot.--[[User:User753|User753]]-[[User talk:User753|Talk]]- 04:37, 21 May 2012 (CDT)

Awesome speed. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] - [[User_talk:Zero2001|Talk]] - 05:54, 22 May 2012 (CDT)

This is a random question from the twitter: after you're done with Vol9 will you continue working on Vol8?, since ive seen a couple of questions on the FB group too i might as well ask xD. Thanks for the work and yea Zero is right O.o awesome speed. [[User:Carj|Carj]] 00:30, 23 May 2012 (CDT)

No way, after Vol9 is the Aria Continuation. I've waited so long. But after that would be a good time to do vol8 ch1. I'd love it if you did. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] - [[User_talk:Zero2001|Talk]] - 07:18, 23 May 2012 (CDT)

[Copy/Paste from Carj's talk page] I actually wanted to do 'A Murder Case in the Area' back in March, but a certain thing made me switched to 'Caliber' instead. Now my focus is to see the completion of volume 9, however, as chapter 1 alone has more pages (214 pages) than the first three chapters combine (178 pages), which I spent 2 months to work on, when it finished, it's most likely that volume 10 would have already been released and I'd prefer to continue working on Alicization more. So, I don't think I could work on volume 8 in a foreseeable future. I will do ME7 sometimes later for the change of pace though (unless Pryun wants to take over, but he's super busy atm). -- [[User:BeginnerXP|BeginnerXP]] - [[User_talk:BeginnerXP|Talk]] 07:51, 23 May 2012 (CDT)

In that case I suggest putting up the parts of Volume 9 Chapter 1 as they're done. That way it'll be better for everyone. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] - [[User_talk:Zero2001|Talk]] - 00:27, 24 May 2012 (CDT)

Thank you for the translation.Have a pleasant break.^^.--[[User:User753|User753]]-[[User talk:User753|Talk]]- 02:26, 28 May 2012 (CDT)

Thank you for the translations. Have a nice break but please please don't drop SAO.. :(

Thank you for your kind comments, I really appreciated them. About SAO project, I took a leave for now, I'll decide my next project during this time I'm taking a break, as the novels & anime had been piled up too much now while I was working on SAO volume 9. -- [[User:BeginnerXP|BeginnerXP]] - [[User_talk:BeginnerXP|Talk]] 07:11, 28 May 2012 (CDT)

Greetings.Thank you for clearing the confusion about the Prologue II.And regarding that...what I mean by "copy that" is about your tn note about no change to the prologue...about 言わば...I'm sorry if my words were offensive somehow,I was just curious.Well then,see you next time.--[[User:User753|User753]]-[[User talk:User753|Talk]]- 12:33, 28 May 2012 (CDT)

== Signature ==

You might wanna modify your signature to include a link to your talk page. Like I have. Check your preferences for Signature. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] - [[User_talk:Zero2001|Talk]] - 00:22, 2 May 2012 (CDT)

== SAO Material Edition==

Hi! Thanks for deciding to continue with SAO!! --[[User:M.A.D|M.A.D]] 04:29, 3 June 2012 (CDT)

In that case, I thank you again, and in advance, for your future contributions ^^ With this, my.. er.. I mean the future of the fans of SAO is secured! Anyway, my offer with the editing stuffs still stand. Just PM me whenever you need :D --[[User:M.A.D|M.A.D]] 05:59, 3 June 2012 (CDT)

== Sword Art Online - Edits ==

Thank you very much for your feedback. and don't worry, i am definitely not offended, but rather grateful for your helpful suggestions.

First off, I will keep in mind what you said about keeping the script easy to understand from now on. Thanks for the tip, as I had not fully realized that fact and would have caused a great deal of confusion in my attempts to localize content for native English speakers. English may be my primary language, but it was not my first, so i completely understand.

As for the usage of the word warmth, i feel it would be a good fit for lack of a more appropriate synonym for 'temperature'. I have not read the original text(and I probably never will as i am not very proficient in Japanese), so I try to infer the general meaning, and I don't think warmth really detracts from the overall message too much. It's just that the word 'temperature' is a bit awkward in the text. :/

Quantum Light...oh, well this is embarrassing, i had not known that this was actually a company. Haha, my mistake. Sorry about the confusion. It just felt a bit awkward/out of place, but I guess I just made it worse, lol.

Ah, the eyes part. That one stumped me for a good few minutes. I interpreted 'rounded' eyes as when the corners of the eyes round out, like in anime(oh, you don't need to worry about my comprehension of Japanese culture/jokes, I've learned much from watching my fair share of anime, lol), giving off a 'softer' appearance, but if the true intent was to have widened eyes, as in the eyes widening into a round shape, then i see no problem with that either.

"S......Sorry that I laughed. But...... could it be, that was what ''troubled'' Kirito-kun until now?" Hmm, yes, i think that fits very well.

Thanks again for your feedback! You seem to really know your stuff-and your English seems really strong also! I look forward to working with you(your translations) more in the future. [[User:Jasou|Jasou]] 11:12, 20 June 2012 (CDT)

== SAO: Cradle of the Moon SS ==

Can we afford to wait? What if it gets taken down as well? How about just slapping a spoiler notification at the top of the page and leaving the choice to the viewers. But it's not like I can really translate it. A machine/google translation is what I can do at best. Would that be good enough? I have a feeling Vaelis wouldn't like it and would immediately revert my edits. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] - [[User_talk:Zero2001|Talk]] - 12:53, 16 July 2012 (CDT)

Ahh, thanks. That's a load of worry off my shoulders. I had the same opinion about google translate. I know it might be good at translating a few words or a phrase but the longer the text the more the mistakes. In fact, I tried looking at CotM SS through it and it was shock full of them. I feel at ease now that I know you copied it. I'll be looking forward to it. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] - [[User_talk:Zero2001|Talk]] - 14:32, 16 July 2012 (CDT)

User talk:BeginnerXP

2012-07-23T05:01:23Z

HolyCow: /* SAO: Caliber SS */

Thanks for noticing my Accel World typo, guess I should switch that gear in my mind somehow. [[User:Xplorer30|Xplorer30]] - [[User_talk:Xplorer30|Talk]] 21:33, 25 January 2012 (CST)

Thanks you very much for your hard work in translating those projects.Although I haven't been around for long,at least let me give you a word of gratitude.Even though this is only a mere trivial words.Hopefully you'll still be around for helping here in your spare time.--[[User:User753|User753]]-[[User talk:User753|Talk]]- 21:20, 28 April 2012 (CDT)
== Sword Art Online:Salvia‎ ==

Done some minor editing to Sword Art Online:Salvia‎. Fixed up spelling and some grammer, as well as making some lines read clearer. Hope this meets your approval.--[[User:Ff7 freak|Ff7 freak]] 01:39, 6 February 2012 (CST)

Since I'm not native English speaker so my English skill still needs a lot of improvements, your corrections are very appreciated. Please continue your selfless contributions toward B-T community. --[[User:BeginnerXP|BeginnerXP]] 01:44, 6 February 2012 (CST)

Yeah, you were right with those "it's". Seems I was editing a bit to quickly for my own good and wasn't thinking properly. Fixed up thos bits and made a handful of few minor corrections--[[User:Ff7 freak|Ff7 freak]] 02:15, 6 February 2012 (CST)

You are awesome.

== SAO: Caliber SS ==
Just a quick question, will you be doing the web-version of the Caliber side story (the "Failure Side")? If you're not doing it may I translate it? :)

Thanks for the Caliber Arc, really enjoyed it :P

[[User:HolyCow|HolyCow]]

The Failure Side was published as Caliber SS in Dengeki Bunko, around July 2011. I only have the link for the Chinese RAW (which I grabbed off SF), drop me an email at holycow89 [at] gmail [dot] com if you want it :)

--[[User:HolyCow|HolyCow]] 23:09, 9 April 2012 (CDT)

Thanks, I'm at fault too for just disappearing without notice XD I've got some free time this week, and the SS is about 60% done anyway so I think I'll be able to finish it fine :P

00:01, 23 July 2012 (CDT)

== Fonts I used in Sword Art Online ==

I've been caught up in college, so I haven't checked in for awhile. Anyway, if you still want the fonts I used, here they are.

This is from the text note I keep on it.

Eurostile Bold
«»
⌠⌡
―
Eras Demi ITC
Georgia Italic
§

38292c
fffeff
22191a
0b0b0d

== SAO Picture Texts ==

Hi. I have a request. Could you translate the Pictures shown on [[Talk:Sword Art Online#Volume 6]]. I'd like it if you could translate them in the next few days. Then I can photoshop the translations into the pictures. I've already done some of them. But I need the text for the untranslated ones. I just need the translations. Leave the photoshopping to me. Thanks. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] - [[User_talk:Zero2001|Talk]] - 11:41, 1 May 2012 (CDT)

That's all good. Thanks a lot. BTW here's how to add to the talk page:
<nowiki>
<gallery>
Image:Insert Image1 Name here.extension|Add Translated text here.
Image:Insert Image2 Name here.extension|Use for line spacing. And yes you need to use it twice or even thrice.
Image:Insert Image3 Name here.extension|Do not press enter until next picture in gallery.
Image:Insert Image4 Name here.extension|Then repeat the code as shown.
</gallery>
</nowiki>
And that's how you do it. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] - [[User_talk:Zero2001|Talk]] - 22:24, 1 May 2012 (CDT)

There are a few incomplete translations there. and one that also needs to be revised besides being completed. I've updated the talk page. Take a look. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] - [[User_talk:Zero2001|Talk]] - 22:38, 1 May 2012 (CDT)

Okay I'll begin work on the translated ones. I myself use and suggest using Anime Ace 2.0 or Wild Words. They are a similar font to the Japanese writing method and thus more popular. As for the pics, as long as they don't go over 2 MB I don't see any problem using the maximum settings. Vol9 pics are going to be a little bit of work since I'll need to fix the levels as well. BTW what are your thoughts on the de-dusting of [[Image:Sword Art Online Vol 06 -006.jpeg|50px]] and [[Image:Sword Art Online Vol 06 -007.jpeg|50px]]. I still have their photoshop files so any edits are still possible. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] - [[User_talk:Zero2001|Talk]] - 00:15, 2 May 2012 (CDT)

Allright, who translated these images(Horribly)? --[[User:Pryun|Pryun]] - [[User_talk:Pryun|Talk]] 01:13, 2 May 2012 (CDT)

To Pyrun: Translated or edited? If there is a problem in the traslation then tell me. I still have the PSD files. Correcting the mistakes would be easy for me. But no, I'm not gonna stop using the Anime Ace 2.0 font. It's the default for Japanese Scanlation. I will probably edit the others to reflect as well if it's no problem. If you think they're translated horribly then please talk about it on the talk page in the above link. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] - [[User_talk:Zero2001|Talk]] - 01:44, 2 May 2012 (CDT)

To BeginnerXP: Sorry about the redline. As for the bad quality ones they can be fixed. A little leveling and smudging or clone stamping will fix the problem. We can't keep waiting around forever. We have to make do with what we have. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] - [[User_talk:Zero2001|Talk]] - 01:44, 2 May 2012 (CDT)

To Zero2001: The default scanlation font for a long time was either [http://www.dafont.com/anim-ace.font Anime Ace] or Wild Words. However, some groups use different fonts depending on "compatibility" with the art material, particularly if it is a colour work or highly-stylized doujin. Non-hentai manga scanlators seem to be the most conservative in their choices by sticking to the default. With doujinshi-type scanlators, there seems to be greater willingness to vary font choices to suit the material rather than being required to stick to the defaults of Anime Ace or Wild Words. If you're not Zero and you're reading this, you may be interested in the manga editing tutorial info/links at [http://dynasty-recruit.pbworks.com/w/page/18436284/Editors Dynasty Scans Editor Recruit Info].
And to BeginnerXP: PM can be sent to me via the method on mytalk page. [http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=User_talk:Anime_Janai talk] - [[User:Anime Janai|Anime Janai]] 02:36, 15 May 2012 (CDT)

I am aware what to use for which circumstance. I just completed downloading all of Blambot's free fonts and am using NexusFonts font manager to manage them. I am already aware that Anime Ace 2.0 and Wild Words '''are''' mostly used. Thus the reason I chose Anime Ace 2.0. I definitely won't choose a horrendous font like comic-sans (urrrgh, the mere thought of that send shivers up my spine) so rest assured. Thanks for the input though. I'll be sure to consider it. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] - [[User_talk:Zero2001|Talk]] - 07:19, 15 May 2012 (CDT)

If you're undecided can you translate the text on the SAO pics. Then I can scanlate/photoshop them into the images themselves. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] - [[User_talk:Zero2001|Talk]] - 05:12, 7 June 2012 (CDT)

I'm not asking you to scanlate the whole thing. Just translate the text and write it into the Image page just as how you would write into chapter pages, via the edit button. As for the image quality, leave that to me, I'll soon upload a translated and enhanced version of File:Sword_Art_Online_Vol_07_-002-003.jpg. You'll see the quality improved. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] - [[User_talk:Zero2001|Talk]] - 11:36, 7 June 2012 (CDT)

== Accel World ==

Sorry I didn't blame user753 just that I do not know how baka-tsuki network works , as I haven't done my backup for that portion just yet and thus, I became panic.. not knowing what was going on... Yes.. I do appreciate his willingness to help, that's why I requested for his help through his talk. Thanks for letting me know how does the network works. I understand now. Cheers!! -- JinXiang - 22:42, 20 May 2012 (GMT+8). Replied via android.

Hey XP, if you're undecided on what to work on you might wanna think on [[Accel World]]. It set in the same universe as SAO but in the future and with completely new characters. We could really use your help over there. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] - [[User_talk:Zero2001|Talk]] - 11:25, 8 June 2012 (CDT)

==Sword Art Online: Volume 9==
Umm,BeginnerXP-san, this sentence: ''What she saw was, mismatched with the master's big frame hands' splendid movement —— but saying it that way might be rude —— while handling the silvery shaker.'' I think what Shino thought might be rude is saying about Egil's big frame hands,not his frame.Perhaps it could be reverted back or changed to: ''What she saw was, mismatched with the master's big frame hands' —— but saying it that way might be rude —— splendid movement while handling the silvery shaker.'' Well,the meaning it's not changed much.Please tell me about your opinion.Thanks before.--[[User:User753|User753]]-[[User talk:User753|Talk]]- 01:26, 21 May 2012 (CDT)

Umm...Actually,that's what I'm confused about.Whether it's about saying ''Egil's big frame hands'' that might be rude or saying ''Egil's big frame'' that might be rude.If I may give my opinion,I'd prefer about ''Egil's big frame hands.'' As Shino thought that although Egil's hands frame are big,he can move the shaker with his hands splendidly (I think it's because she thought his hands would move a little cruder than that,sorry about my languange).--[[User:User753|User753]]-[[User talk:User753|Talk]]- 03:03, 21 May 2012 (CDT)

''Egil's hands' big frames'' would be better. BTW why were we having SAO conversation in the Accel Word section. I've fixed it. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] - [[User_talk:Zero2001|Talk]] - 03:41, 21 May 2012 (CDT)

I made an adjustment, hope it won't cause confusion anymore, author said the hands movement mismatched to the big body, not big hands. If you can reword it better, please feel free to do so. I post here because it's easier than posting the same message on two talk pages. -- [[User:BeginnerXP|BeginnerXP]] - [[User_talk:BeginnerXP|Talk]] 03:56, 21 May 2012 (CDT)

Thank you very much for clearing the confusion,well I'm one that's confused about it.Well Zero2001-san,about the misplaced section...It's because at that time I wanted to talk with BeginnerXP-san to thank about AW first then asking about SAO.And then I forgot.--[[User:User753|User753]]-[[User talk:User753|Talk]]- 04:37, 21 May 2012 (CDT)

Awesome speed. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] - [[User_talk:Zero2001|Talk]] - 05:54, 22 May 2012 (CDT)

This is a random question from the twitter: after you're done with Vol9 will you continue working on Vol8?, since ive seen a couple of questions on the FB group too i might as well ask xD. Thanks for the work and yea Zero is right O.o awesome speed. [[User:Carj|Carj]] 00:30, 23 May 2012 (CDT)

No way, after Vol9 is the Aria Continuation. I've waited so long. But after that would be a good time to do vol8 ch1. I'd love it if you did. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] - [[User_talk:Zero2001|Talk]] - 07:18, 23 May 2012 (CDT)

[Copy/Paste from Carj's talk page] I actually wanted to do 'A Murder Case in the Area' back in March, but a certain thing made me switched to 'Caliber' instead. Now my focus is to see the completion of volume 9, however, as chapter 1 alone has more pages (214 pages) than the first three chapters combine (178 pages), which I spent 2 months to work on, when it finished, it's most likely that volume 10 would have already been released and I'd prefer to continue working on Alicization more. So, I don't think I could work on volume 8 in a foreseeable future. I will do ME7 sometimes later for the change of pace though (unless Pryun wants to take over, but he's super busy atm). -- [[User:BeginnerXP|BeginnerXP]] - [[User_talk:BeginnerXP|Talk]] 07:51, 23 May 2012 (CDT)

In that case I suggest putting up the parts of Volume 9 Chapter 1 as they're done. That way it'll be better for everyone. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] - [[User_talk:Zero2001|Talk]] - 00:27, 24 May 2012 (CDT)

Thank you for the translation.Have a pleasant break.^^.--[[User:User753|User753]]-[[User talk:User753|Talk]]- 02:26, 28 May 2012 (CDT)

Thank you for the translations. Have a nice break but please please don't drop SAO.. :(

Thank you for your kind comments, I really appreciated them. About SAO project, I took a leave for now, I'll decide my next project during this time I'm taking a break, as the novels & anime had been piled up too much now while I was working on SAO volume 9. -- [[User:BeginnerXP|BeginnerXP]] - [[User_talk:BeginnerXP|Talk]] 07:11, 28 May 2012 (CDT)

Greetings.Thank you for clearing the confusion about the Prologue II.And regarding that...what I mean by "copy that" is about your tn note about no change to the prologue...about 言わば...I'm sorry if my words were offensive somehow,I was just curious.Well then,see you next time.--[[User:User753|User753]]-[[User talk:User753|Talk]]- 12:33, 28 May 2012 (CDT)

== Signature ==

You might wanna modify your signature to include a link to your talk page. Like I have. Check your preferences for Signature. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] - [[User_talk:Zero2001|Talk]] - 00:22, 2 May 2012 (CDT)

== SAO Material Edition==

Hi! Thanks for deciding to continue with SAO!! --[[User:M.A.D|M.A.D]] 04:29, 3 June 2012 (CDT)

In that case, I thank you again, and in advance, for your future contributions ^^ With this, my.. er.. I mean the future of the fans of SAO is secured! Anyway, my offer with the editing stuffs still stand. Just PM me whenever you need :D --[[User:M.A.D|M.A.D]] 05:59, 3 June 2012 (CDT)

== Sword Art Online - Edits ==

Thank you very much for your feedback. and don't worry, i am definitely not offended, but rather grateful for your helpful suggestions.

First off, I will keep in mind what you said about keeping the script easy to understand from now on. Thanks for the tip, as I had not fully realized that fact and would have caused a great deal of confusion in my attempts to localize content for native English speakers. English may be my primary language, but it was not my first, so i completely understand.

As for the usage of the word warmth, i feel it would be a good fit for lack of a more appropriate synonym for 'temperature'. I have not read the original text(and I probably never will as i am not very proficient in Japanese), so I try to infer the general meaning, and I don't think warmth really detracts from the overall message too much. It's just that the word 'temperature' is a bit awkward in the text. :/

Quantum Light...oh, well this is embarrassing, i had not known that this was actually a company. Haha, my mistake. Sorry about the confusion. It just felt a bit awkward/out of place, but I guess I just made it worse, lol.

Ah, the eyes part. That one stumped me for a good few minutes. I interpreted 'rounded' eyes as when the corners of the eyes round out, like in anime(oh, you don't need to worry about my comprehension of Japanese culture/jokes, I've learned much from watching my fair share of anime, lol), giving off a 'softer' appearance, but if the true intent was to have widened eyes, as in the eyes widening into a round shape, then i see no problem with that either.

"S......Sorry that I laughed. But...... could it be, that was what ''troubled'' Kirito-kun until now?" Hmm, yes, i think that fits very well.

Thanks again for your feedback! You seem to really know your stuff-and your English seems really strong also! I look forward to working with you(your translations) more in the future. [[User:Jasou|Jasou]] 11:12, 20 June 2012 (CDT)

== SAO: Cradle of the Moon SS ==

Can we afford to wait? What if it gets taken down as well? How about just slapping a spoiler notification at the top of the page and leaving the choice to the viewers. But it's not like I can really translate it. A machine/google translation is what I can do at best. Would that be good enough? I have a feeling Vaelis wouldn't like it and would immediately revert my edits. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] - [[User_talk:Zero2001|Talk]] - 12:53, 16 July 2012 (CDT)

Ahh, thanks. That's a load of worry off my shoulders. I had the same opinion about google translate. I know it might be good at translating a few words or a phrase but the longer the text the more the mistakes. In fact, I tried looking at CotM SS through it and it was shock full of them. I feel at ease now that I know you copied it. I'll be looking forward to it. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] - [[User_talk:Zero2001|Talk]] - 14:32, 16 July 2012 (CDT)