Link Start: Danger In Virtual Worlds

Chapter 13: Never Ending Fight

Dates: Infinityverse Day 332-368

Before I really begin writing about what happened on floors 34-36, let me explain a few relevant things. On the 35th Floor, there's the medieval Europe style village Mishe, Forest Of Wandering (which must be escaped within a time limit if entered as it's a dungeon where you can't teleport out), and some other locations which are in Integral Factor but probably not OG Aincrad. The floor boss for the floor is Stig the Sticky Thing. It is weak to slash and holy. When it's fought against, it spawns in a few small slime monsters to go along with it. Additionally, when it reaches half health, it will release a very toxic gas if I'm remembering correctly. The boss has a lot of health of course and looks truly evil. It is also much more gray than your typical fantasy world slime. It doesn't stay in one place. It just keeps moving around the dungeon it's in. If it weren't for the fact that I did a character quest in SAO Integral Factor last month where it is the boss to beat, I wouldn't have been able to talk about this because of the limits to what I recall based on what I know and understand while in my original body. There's little to no information on Floors 34 and 36 online so I won't be able to describe what was there very well unfortunately. It's true I could make up everything about the floors for the sake of storytelling but I'm not willing to do that at all. After all, I don't like getting things wrong that much. And I don't like exaggerating the stories I tell of my interdimensional adventures either. I want to write them as accurately as I can with the information I have. That being said, we really did reach Floor 34 on Day 332 as planned.

I look around: "So this is the 34th Floor, huh? It may seem like it was a bad idea for most of us to be kept in the dark about this floor up to now. However, I don't think that way because the info should have been shared at any time. Even right now before we move forward in it. That and we've been so busy all this time." Kirito nods: "Yeah, that's the gist of it. Don't worry, I think I'll just fill you in as we move deeper into this floor. For now, we'll stick with the others until we determine it's safe to split up." It didn't take long for that to happen. The monsters didn't seem too difficult to slay. Things seemed fine at first. But we weren't reckless. A plan was devised on the previous floor in light of the chaos we've been dealing with lately. Several parties now form squads together for each floor to better encourage teamwork and cooperation. It is also a way to make sure no one gets kidnapped or ambushed like has happened in the past. This way, we'll be much more ready for the enemy for now on. In fact, this would become key. Doofensmirtz complains: "Man, these monsters are too easy! Like come on, I felt much more in danger when Perry the Platypus and I were always fighting each other!" Susan Test replies: "Don't jinx us." Monogram adds: "We have to stay alert." I actually feel relieved that I will get to be around more of our comrades for now on. This is going to make surviving Aincrad that much easier. But then, we hear a noise. Eva exclaims: "What the hell was that?!" M replies: "I do not know but it can't be anything good. A rustle in a location like this implies an ambush by the enemy." I speak up: "I agree with you. We have to be very alert from here on out." That's when a large ambush conducted by Laughing Coffin occurs.

They trap us in by surrounding us on all sides. Goku shouts: "We got this! We can beat them! I saw this coming from a mile away!" It's worth noting that Goku switched back to using his fists for combat even though that's a very difficult path in this death game. It means he can only rely on his STR and AGI stats to increase his DPS as well as potions and other buffs. Before any of the LC members attack, Bowling appears in the sky and turns himself into a giant. He laughs and speaks to all of us on the 34th Floor: "Foolish Assault Team! Now that you are here, prepare for a never ending battle! To end it, one side has to completely kill the other! I'm going to enjoy this! My Laughing Coffin will kill all of you one way or another! There's no escape! If you want to keep progressing in Aincrad, you'll have to kill all of them and then, face me and kill me too! It can go on for as many floors as you want! I don't care if you have to fight the floor bosses! Laughing Coffin will try to kill you at any moment for now on! Hahahaha! But wait! There's more! More and more fools from various worlds are logging into this game and becoming Laughing Coffin members! You were on the verge of destroying Laughing Coffin completely several times but you can't do anything close to that now that I'm in charge of them! All of you magicless hazbans will die first! War criminals, corrupt politicians and law enforcement, the few who still remain from my old faction, and more are amongst those logging in! With such a collection of evil brewing, all your souls will soon belong to the Orichalcos God! And with your souls, the dragon will destroy all I seem undesirable! All of Aincrad will be cleansed as that is now my plan! Once Aincrad is all mine including the worlds that have been merged with it, I will escape from this digital world and continue my campaign across the multiverse while working alongside Don Thousand and his faction until I turn on them! For now, I will leave you all to suffer! Hahahahaha! If you can manage to crush my subordinates, I'll gladly show my face again! Bye! Prepare to die!"

He leaves. I sigh: "He wasn't so direct several years ago. He generally liked to run things in the background so I didn't see much of him until the final battle with him. He only appeared during a lot of the major incidents and such. Not all though." Sinon speaks: "This situation isn't good. Wait, I hear the sound of teleportation." Silica looks scared: "Not again! We're going to be teleported to a Roblox game!" Lisbeth readies her mace: "We'll have to survive it until it somehow ends while also dealing with Laughing Coffin. This can't be good at all." I sigh again: "Well, here we go again. Watch the Floor Boss for this floor show up at some point and force us to really fight to survive. And then, with it dead, we'll still have to fight our way through the Laughing Coffin members and other enemies to be able to activate the teleport gate to the next floor." Beerus groans: "I hate this game! I wish I could just destroy it but in here, my powers have been stripped from me!" One of the Laughing Coffin members laughs and speaks in a tough southern accent: "This is going to be fun. We're going to kill y'all and you ain't gonna be able to do anything about it. After all, many of us came to this game to eliminate the freaks who are amongst you. I'm talking those nasty *racist insult*, confused *transphobic insult*, filthy *homophobic insult*, blood poisoning *anti-semitic insult*, and so on!" I reply: "Let me get this straight, you came here to this death game with the risk of dying for real to satisfy your cravings for your despicable bigoted forms of hatred?" "You can call it what you want but I call it freedom! After all, an American should be free to insult anyone who's different and even: kill them!" "That's just messed up."

We find ourselves teleported to the game Survive Area 51 which I think we dealt with previously but I can't exactly remember. If we did, it sure wasn't as hard as it was going to be this time. I look around: "Why did it have to be this game? There's so many horrors lying in wait underground. Sonic.exe, aliens, zombies, horror movie killers, Slenderman, and more. I have a feeling all of the horrors have become much harder as part of the merge with Aincrad. That means we are going to be in it deep." Before we even tried to go underground, monsters appeared on the surface. I ready Graceful Protector: "Damn it. Damn it. Here they all come. There's even some xenomorphs.. That's really bad." The LC member from before laughs again: "You ain't got a chance now! When this is over, I will really begin to make America great again!" And so, the fight begins. We struggle for hours on the surface of this version of Area 51. We fight and we fight, killing respawning monster after respawning monster while also being engaged in struggles with LC. I hear Sonic shout: "We can do this! Even in this game, they still can't catch me!" Knuckles while punching the enemy with gauntlet weapons on his hands replies: "Stop being so optimistic! Focus on the fight instead, Sonic!" "Don't be a party pooper, Knuckles!" "Watch it, you!" Finally, we soon managed to get down underground by breaking through the enemy forces. A lot of Laughing Coffin members die: some of them at my hands. "Damn it! How many enemies do we have to kill? I never wanted this. If I didn't have to kill, I wouldn't kill at all! Haaaaaa! We won't lose. Not after everything we've been through! I've lost so many of my dear loved ones in this game. I will keep fighting for them as a major motivator! Take this and this!" Now that we're underground, we face hordes of monsters coming our way. In fact, every horror in the game is coming for us all.

There's even some enemies who weren't originally in Survive Area 51 such as the clowns from Killer Klowns From Outer Space and malevolent American, Russian, British, and Canadian politicians. Seeing the clowns, I shout: "See those big clowns? Pop their noses and they'll explode!" Pito laughs: "I'll take care of them! This is going to be fun!" Eva shouts: "Don't let your guards down! These cowards may be a bit unwilling to do a few things but they're still dangerous!" Another Laughing Coffin member goes nuts as they say: "Unwilling, you say?! No, we've just been holding back! But now that you have gotten this far, there's no more point! We're going to kill all of you and enjoy every single moment of it!" If I had to guess, the way to escape the game is to find a teleport button that will bring us out of the underground area. I think that was a feature in the game already but it's been so long since I've really played it from the safety of home on a electronic device that I can't exactly recall if that's true or not. I think it is but I'm not completely sure. That's just how it is, I guess. But that can't be the only clearing condition. Maybe we have to rack up enough points killing the monsters/horrors AND defeat the 34th Floor Boss. As time went on, things continued to get harder and harder. We kept being brought close to the brink of death. None of us have died yet thanks to the crystals that save us from the brink of death. However, it's also true that the enemy is getting tougher. Something that didn't happen in Survive Area 51 was the enemies getting harder to beat every single time they respawned. Each time they did now, they got just a little bit stronger. Not only that but horrors that normally wouldn't get close to you if you are far away are hunting all of us. Someone tried to close the door to the room Sonic.exe spawns in but that failed. To make matters worse, the guns the game normally provides in specific areas are nowhere to be found. Neither is the ammo.

Talk about making a Roblox game that much harder to survive. Piccolo speaks in concern: "If this keeps up for much longer, we won't be able to make it out of this alive. I suggest that anyone unwilling to kill steps up and puts things aside because right now, killing our foes is the only way to make it out of here alive. The entire Assault Team has been teleported here but it's still getting more difficult to survive here." Yet another LC member cackles: "That's right! We got you right where we want you! It won't be long until all of you die!" Tsunade replies: "That won't happen! We will fight you and we will defeat you!" A couple hours later, we're still fighting but are so exhausted. Most of the LC members who tp'ed with us have been killed. And yet, more of them come over as reinforcements. This is a true bloodbath. Kizmel shouts: "Perhaps we should one day restore favor from the Sacred Trees! But for now, we must not try anything with them! Everyone! Keep fighting! Don't ever give up for a single moment! This is the fight of our lives!" Her words boost morale. I activate Artist's Eye: "I'm on the dredges of my strength. I must begin using this ability of mine for as long as I can! With it, I'll impale as many enemies with black metal rods as possible!" That's exactly what I do. We can't afford to think of sparing any enemies at the moment. They are far too bloodthirsty and many in number for any kind of peaceful conversation to have an effect on them. Not even Silica's pleas have worked on them. Same with Yui and Aqua's. My actions help lead to a domino effect of clever plans and actions being executed. Together, they turn the tables on our foes, increasing the number defeated substantially.

With all of that going on, we are slowly getting closer to doing something more direct about the respawning monsters. Jesse, his friends, and other Minecraftians lead operations to literally block up the spawn pads the horrors are respawning through. The hope is to stop them from respawning ever again. I end up helping provide cover for some of those who are a part of that operation. If it succeeds, Laughing Coffin won't be able to overwhelm us as much anymore. "Haaaaaa! Get ready! We aren't going to stop for anything!" The plan to block up the spawn pads with Minecraft blocks works like a charm. Thus, the number of horrors we have to face starts shrinking exponentially until not even Slenderman is a threat to us anymore. Each horror started out being as tough to kill as something about 1/16th the strength of a field boss so by the time they were prevented from respawning again, they were at best as tough to kill as something twice as strong as a field boss. We somehow managed to not lose anyone in all of this fighting. With the horrors dealt with, a high ranking Laughing Coffin member panics: "No! We're going to start dying faster! We cannot allow this to continue! On the next floor, the former members of DOMA will join in and avenge those of us who fall! Just you wait Assault Team and BRAINS Collective! Laughing Coffin, let's kill as many of these fools as we can!" But then, the ground begins to shake violently. The 34th Floor Boss appears. We notice this right away thanks to the boss's health bar appearing in our vision. Heathcliffe shouts: "The Floor Boss is here! Please be extra careful from now on!" And so, we are divided up into fighting the Floor Boss and Laughing Coffin. It was an incredibly difficult boss fight. We almost lost a lot of people but somehow, we still managed to win without actually losing anyone.

Once the FB was defeated, the LC members panic despite the fact they were never attacked by the horrors or the FB. It's as if Bowling changed the programming of all those enemies to be friendly/passive towards LC. A LC member screams: "Now, we're really done for! Can't you see it?! A lot of the Assault Team members just leveled up!" Another replies: "Don't be a worrywart! There's more reinforcements coming! They aren't going anywhere! Even if we die, it will be worth it if it means these fools all die in the end!" That's when Shikamaru speaks loudly: "A teleport gate out of here has been discovered!" Yui replies: "Thank goodness I was able to hack into the system long enough to add that.." Since the horrors are no longer constantly respawning, we are able to immediately start heading the way that is without too much trouble. The Justice League member Shining Knight exclaims: "We have to escape immediately! There are too many enemies! I don't know how much longer I can hold on.." Wonder Woman replies: "None of us know how long we can stand against all of this if it keeps up. Just don't give up!" All of us start heading to the teleport gate with Laughing Coffin in hot pursuit as they continue to replenish and grow in number. Sinon and others with ranged weapons are picking them off while continuing to run. That makes it a bit easier to keep going. Vegeta yells: "Damn these enemies! They're so persistent! Leave us alone damn it! Let us get out of here!" A foe laughs: "You think we'd do that?! Wrong. Not a chance!" Bulma shouts: "We'll see about that! When we're done with you, you'll be begging for mercy if you aren't already dead!" Ellegard states: "We have to do more to slow Laughing Coffin down!" She pulls out some of her inventions and begins using them against Laughing Coffin. Ivor grumbles: "Very well.. I guess I will just to have to do harder to be a ninja!"

PAMA speaks: "I will be useful. I know what I'm about to do goes against what I've been able to learn from all of you but I don't have any other choice." PAMA ends up taking control of the minds of some of the LC members to hold them back. All of us keep moving and gradually push LC member after LC member back until there's a clear distinction between our 2 groups which didn't exist before. Before, Laughing Coffin members were mixed in with us and kept trying to kill us from close range. Now, that's no longer the case and thankfully so. We are getting close to the way out. We all do what we can while still running to get away from the LC members. And one by one, we leave the Roblox game through the teleport gate. We find ourselves at the sight of the teleport gate to the next floor. The LC members flood in right behind us. Kirito shouts: "Someone! Activate the teleport gate! We need to get out of here! There's no time! We're outnumbered!" I don't see who manages to activate it because I needed to help keep our foes back with my gun. But once it was activated, Marceline yells: "Everyone! It's activated!" We all get the hell out of there as soon as possible. Once all of us have safely made it to the other side, Argo chuckles: "With all of those traps and diversions we managed to set up, it will be a few minutes before they catch up. Nyehahahaha." Konan speaks: "We're all far too exhausted to keep fighting for much longer. Our best course of action is to hide until we are ready to fight again." Twilight Sparkle replies: "I agree with you. We prepared for the worst so we'll have plenty of food for a couple weeks in each of our inventories. It's a relief we discovered that we can craft sleeping tents." Argo nods: "From what I see, this floor is a little different from what I remember. That big cave over there wasn't there before. That's a great place to hide."

Someone says: "It's so cold here.." I nod: "We better set ourselves up in that cave until we're ready to fight again. If someone could cover our tracks once we get there, that would be great." Roddy speaks up: "I can do that! I'm still a snow golem after all!" And so, we all head into the cave. While Roddy covers our many many footsteps, Jesse and co are at the heart of the operation to seal up the cave to keep us warm and to ensure Laughing Coffin won't be able to find us. Just before the last stone and snow blocks are placed, Roddy enters, having taken care of his task. Just in time too because once the cave is hidden, it isn't long before our foes arrive. One of them says: "Where the hell did the Assault Team go?!" Amelda and the other remaining ex-DOMA members appear at this moment. Amelda replies: "They haven't gone too far. Congratulations on managing to exhaust them to the brink. They will likely be in a nearby town or hidden area. I should know: I did survive a war as a child after all until my former master saved me. Or more like, he supposedly did when he was the man behind the war to begin with." Varon adds: "There's no way they managed to get to a safe location in time. They're probably still finding a