December 31, 2024
Floor 76: Arc Sophia
As I was finishing a few drinks at Agil's Shop to celebrate for the coming of the new year, I scrolled through my friends list and seeing a whole slew of messages from everyone wishing me a happy New Year or asking me to join them for a New Year's party. I figured I would have a whole big party with them closer to the end of the day and just wanted to spend a bit of time to myself beforehand. Those plans were shattered as a familiar screech filled my ears, and a noticeable weight started to press down against my head. I chuckled as I lifted my hand up to pet the recognizable animal.
"Why good morning, Pina. Where is your tamer today?"
Silica- Pina! How many times have I told you that landing on people's head without permission is rude?
The pigtailed dragon tamer came into my field of vison a=with puffed up cheeks towards her winged friend. I chuckle a bit and grab Pina off of me.
"What!? You rest on other heads that aren't mine!? I've been betrayed... it's like a dagger in my heart..."
Silica started to giggle as Pina started to paw my face, knowing that I was teasing her. I let her go to fly back to her master before addressing Silica directly.
"And how is my favorite dragon tamer?"
Silica- I'm doing ok, especially since I was looking for you. Great timing, I suppose.
"Looking for me? What's going on? Is everything ok?"
Silica- Well you know how Pina ate a teleport crystal a while back and it powered her up?
"Yes. Has she eaten anymore crystals?"
Silica- Not really but I think I found an item that we can use to power her up!
"Really? That's great news! What kind of item is it? What power up does it grant?"
Silica- Well... that's why I wanted to find you. I haven't got quite that far in my investigation yet. Feathered dragons are a rare breed of monster, and I haven't met anyone who's ever used this power up on one. But it does seem that there's an item that can be used to power up familiars. The only problem is that no one knows quite how to use it.
"Is the item the same thing as a crystal? Or a food item?"
Silica- It's called "Evolution Ore" and, though it's unclear what kind of effects it has, there's no question that it's a power up item. Apparently, no monster has been found yet that'll eat it but...
"If Pina is brave enough to swallow a crystal whole, I doubt a piece of metal ore will slow her down. It's worth a try regardless. Do you know where we can get a hold of it?"
Silica- I heard that there was a flower monster in the 78th floor dungeons that drops it.
Flower monsters... god damn it... knowing how things went on the Hill of Memories, this will not end well...
"Listen Silica, I don't doubt that you can handle yourself but maybe I should deal with this by myself. I don't want you getting hurt by fighting these things."
Silica- Why? Are they big and scary?
"Imagine what we dealt with on the Hill of Memories and imagine them being nastier..."
Silica looked down a bit upset and contemplating whether or not she should give up on the adventure. I let out a small sigh and decided to take a risk.
"But... if I'm there with you... we should be able to handle them with ease."
Silica- Really!? Oh thank you thank you thank you!
She ran up to me and hugged me really tight, causing me to chuckle and hug her back.
"It's not a problem Silica. Let's get this show on the road so we can be back for the New Years party."
Silica- Roger that!
Pina- Scrawww!
December 31, 2024
Floor 78: Chasm of Malevolence
Entering the dungeon, we quickly took care of a few Golem enemies before advancing deeper inside.
"Ok Silica, you and Pina stay close to me. Your daggers deal less damage to these guys. I can switch to a mace to deal more to them."
Silica- Ok, you've got it.
She stuck close to me until we turned a corner and noticed a few flower monsters gathered in a room. They were squirming and worming their way around the room while slowly swaying their tendril like arms back and forth.
"Lovely..."
Silica- Urgh... squirmy, slimy monsters make me sick...
"As long as we stick together and stay strong, we'll be able to handle whatever comes our way. Speaking of which, get ready. I'm going to draw their attention."
Silica- Got it...
I step in front of Silica, switch my weapon to a mace and bash it against my shield, earning the attention of the flowered freaks who start rushing towards us. The noises they made as they approached were more than unpleasant.
Silica- Ew! Gooey... slimy... stinky... yuck and double yuck! This sucks!
As one of them jumps at me, I swing my mace hard like a baseball bat and knock the disgusting creature back, dazing it as it struggled to get back up.
"I know these creatures suck to fight but there's a good reason for it! You want those items, right?"
Silica- I do, but that doesn't mean I have to like them!
Trust me, I don't like them any more than you do...
"Don't worry Silica, just keep fighting! The enemy is targeting us so we both need to stand our ground!"
Silica- Says the guy with a shield! At least you can keep them at bay!
One of the flower monsters start to chase Silica down, who in turn started jumping and running away from the thing.
Silica- So gross! Leave me alone! Seriously, stay over there! I'll bash you!
As the monster continued to chase her down, Silica skidded to a halt and activated a sword skill, lunging forward and cutting clean through the monster and shattering it.
"That's the spirit! Keep it up Silica!"
I swing my mace at another flower and cave its skull in causing it to shatter as well.
I hate these things... if Silica wasn't involved with this investigation, I would've never done this shit...
As we kept killing the flowers, more kept spawning in and taking their comrades place, causing me and Silica to get annoyed.
Silica- So we just have to keep fighting until they drop the item? That's so unfair! Can't they just give it to us so we can leave already!?
"Maybe if we kill them all at once, they'll stop spawning and drop the item!"
We both look at each other and give each other a nod before rushing towards the group of flowers and activating a sword skill together.
Silica- Gravity Magnum!
"Power Strike!"
While Silica stayed on the ground and unleashed a massive AOE attack, I leapt into the air and slammed my mace hard down on the ground, causing a massive shockwave and finishing the flowers off. Multiple shattering noises rang out in the room as all of the flowers had been defeated. As the final one shattered, a piece of metal fell down to the ground.
"That's the Evolution Ore we're after, right?"
Silica- Yes! That's it! We did it Kazzu! Let me go grab Pina and have her gobble it up!
Before she could grab the ore and go find Pina, a huge monstrous version of the flower monster spawned right in front of her and snatched her up.
"SILICA!"
Shit! Looks like this is the mother of those things!
Silica- Kazzu!!!! Save me! Oh gross! What is all of this dribbly, sticky stuff!
Looking closer, the flower was exuding a green slime all over its teeth and tendrils. The slime seemed to not harm the flower, but I noticed that it started to burn the clothes right off of Silica. It was disintegrating her armor.
Oh fuck no...
"Hang on Silica! I'll get you out of there! Just be careful! The slime is burning your armor off!"
Silica- My armor!? Oh no! Oh no! Kazzu, don't look! Please, please don't look at me!!!
Having flashbacks to the Hill of Memories, I stood frozen. I didn't know how to save her without looking and she wasn't going to be able to save herself like she did before. Not seeing any alternative, I got ready to attack, keeping my eyes on the creature only.
"Sorry, but I can't win if I don't keep my eyes open Silica. If this keeps up, your armor will fully be destroyed, and you'll start to take damage."
Silica would start to tear up at the situation but looked over my way and nodded at me, seeing no way out of this mess.
Silica- Ok, just hurry! I'm not going to have a shred of armor pretty soon!
Seeing that this was no time to mess around, I switched to my gauntlets and started to attack the monster. As most of its tendrils we focused on Silica, I was able to land more attacks before it switched its focus to me. More tendrils came out of the beast and started to swing at me. Thanks to my reaction time, I was able to avoid all of its attacks and land a final blow, piercing the beasts' stomach with my fist and causing it to shatter and drop Silica. I quickly caught her and looked away from her body, even though I could feel her skin against my hand.
Why does this bullshit happen to just me?
Hearing Silica sniffle caused me to look at her for a moment before quickly jumping to action. I set her down, opened my inventory and pulled my hoodie out. I quickly hand it to her and turn away.
"Sorry Silica... if only I didn't freeze... I would've won the battle sooner..."
Silica- No, it's not your fault Kazzu... you haven't done anything wrong...
A few more seconds of silence passes by while she held my hoodie close. After a while, she would walk up and press her head against my back. I jumped slightly but kept calm as she spoke.
Silica- Did you... see? Any part of me?
"I only saw bits of exposed skin... nothing too vulgar... nothing... revealing..."
Silica- So you managed to handle a fight with that thing without seeing any revealing parts of me?
"Well... I'm not 100% sure but... I might have seen something... but I was focused on the fight to focus on your body..."
Silica would remain quiet, and I felt bad for her.
Poor girl... why didn't I push her more into staying in town...?
Silica- I should be ashamed... but... I'm glad it was you who saw me and not Kirito, Klien or some random player...
"Well, like I said, I don't know what I saw... but... I'm glad you're ok..."
Silica- I'm only ok because you were here with me... I was honestly thinking about coming here alone... I'm glad I didn't...
"I'm glad you didn't either but it still could've ended better..."
We would remain silent for a few more seconds before she reached for my hand and held it tight.
Silica- You know... if you want to turn around and talk to me normally... I... wouldn't be ashamed or freak out...
"Silica... unless you have that hoodie on, you are still naked..."
Silica- .....I know.....
A small blush appears on my face before I clear my throat. I close my eyes and turn around, grabbing the hoodie from her hands and putting it on top of her. I try to get the hoodie on without touching her but my fingers brush against her sides every here and there. Eventually, I do get the thing on and open my eyes to see her in my hoodie, which was oversized for her. It fortunately covered her lower half as well to where I could only see her legs.
"There... that should do it until we get back to Arc Sophia..."
Silica- Kazzu... you... are the best... you know that?
"I'm nothing special Silica... I just want to get you out of here before more monsters come around and tear my hoodie off of you..."
I grab her hand and pull out a teleport crystal. She smiles and does the same while tightening her grip on my hand. We both raised our crystals high in the air and vanished, heading back to the town we called home.
December 31, 2024
Floor 76: Arc Sophia
Once we hit the town, I quickly pull my shield out and continue to cover Silica as we quickly moved through the town. People were looking at us curiously while others were whispering under their breath.
Silica- This is so embarrassing... thank you for covering me...
"Don't thank me yet... let's just hurry to Agil's..."
We rushed through the town square and made it inside before anyone else could see us. As we rushed over to her room, Kirito and a bunch of the others including Ashtry and Kiyo noticed a half naked Silica in my hoodie and me rushing her upstairs.
Kirito- What the hell!?
Kiyo- Mama, why is Papa rushing Silica to her room? And why was she wearing his hoodie?
Ashtry- Great question Kiyo... let me go ask him...
She gets up quickly and follows me and Silica upstairs.
Agil- Anyone want to bet on how badly she's gonna hurt him?
Kirito- I bet 50 Col that he ends up getting kicked in the nuts...
Lisbeth- 100 on him having a black eye...
Leafa- I'll pass on that bet... surely something happened for them to be in that situation...
Lisbeth- If that something is what I think it is, me and Ashtry are going to have words with that boy...
Klien- Why would you be involved in that conversation? You aren't his girlfriend.
Lisbeth- That's... exactly right... I'm not in a relationship with Kazzu at all and I just love gossip.
Lisbeth would laugh nervously before shutting her mouth and looking at the staircase. Meanwhile, I would get Silica in her room and shut the door behind her, breathing a sigh of relief and leaning against the door from outside her room.
Thank God no one confronted us about that...
Ashtry- So, did you have a good time with Silica out on a "mission"?
Fuck me...
"Ashtry... I know it looks bad but let me explain..."
She let out a giggle and nudged me gently, wrapping an arm around me and kissing my cheek.
Ashtry- My prince, you can relax. I'm not going to immediately assume the worst without you explaining. I'm not that judgmental unlike how Liz can be. So what happened?
I explained what happened during our mission to find the item Silica wanted. The whole time, Ashtry's grip on me got tighter until I was done with my story. She let out a sigh and let me go, smiling at me and rubbing my cheek.
Ashtry- Well... Silica is right about one thing. You are the best.
She pulled me in closer and whispered in my ear, causing me to blush due to how close she was.
Ashtry- You two are so cute together...
"Ash!"
She let out a giggle and kissed me again before walking away.
Ashtry- I'm just saying, you're a real ladies' man my prince. I'm not surprised that she's fallen for you. As long as you remember who you had first, I don't mind having an open relationship.
"It seems unfair to you though..."
Ashtry- Kazzu, I seriously don't mind it. I think it's both sweet and romantic that you are able to touch people's hearts the way you do. Just try not to go overboard.
"And... how will I know that I've gone overboard?"
Ashtry- Oh, I'll let you know.
She winks at me and with a sway to her hips, walks down the stairs and out of sight.
That woman is something else...
Silica- Hey um... Kazzu?
She would speak to me from the other side of the door. I would turn my head over to the door so she could hear me better.
"Yes Silica?"
Silica- Thank you for everything today... I'll give this crystal to Pina as soon as possible and let you know what has changed with her.
"Sounds like a plan. Do you need anything else?"
Silica- Well...
As she was about to tell me more, we could both hear a massive collective of people chanting and counting down. I completely forgot that it was New Years and chuckled.
"Looks like the new year is almost here..."
Silica- Yea... I guess so...
10...
9...
8...
7...
6...
5...
4...
3...
2...
1...
As the new year began and before I could say it to Silica, she burst out of her room fully clothed, grabbed me by the collar and planted a passionate kiss on my lips. I was shocked at first, but I gave in and kissed her back, running my fingers through her hair and pulling her closer to me. Both of our moan vibrated in our mouths and after a few seconds we both pulled back and blushed hard. Even though we were beet red, we both shared a laugh with each other until the moment was interrupted by someone clearing their throat. We both turn towards the noise and see both Lisbeth and Ashtry smirking at us.
Lisbeth- So are you going to just sit there...
Ashtry- Or do we get New Years kisses as well?
I feel like this open relationship is both a blessing and a miracle... regardless, I'm loving my life right now...