Accel World Vol 3 Chapter 11 (1/2)

Chapter 11

One hour later, he was resurrected.

Death in the Unlimited Neutral Field was very strange indeed. The surrounding scenery changed to a black and white monochrome, his body became transparent like smoke, and could gently move around, but could not go beyond a ten meter radius from the death position.

A small digital number was carved in the center of his view, starting at 60:00:00, and when it became zero, finally the field colors and the avatar body itself was recovered.

While looking down at the pretty big crater he made, Haruyuki said the first thing he thought of.

“...It seems like 100% without doubt that she is Kuroyukihime senpai’s friend...”

And then he held both hands at his waist, and looked up at the towering vertical rock wall —— old Tokyo tower in front of him.

“...The next meeting, that means... means...”

...Climb to the top. Would be what it meant.

After shaking his head, he sighed deeply. Something like this was said, ‘The lion throwing its cub down a bottomless ravine’, but that probably should be story about it being a Good Job staying alive after being dropped.

However, unlike the lion, Haruyuki’s avatar has two skillfully moveable hands. More than that, his body is as light as possible, and power is as the words said can go through rocks.

“...I will climb.”

He whispered as if saying to himself, and Haruyuki held both hands into fists.

Even if it was a 300 meter continuous vertical rock wall, it was not a smooth flat surface like gla.s.s. There were numerous gaps where hands and feet could cling to, and it should be possible to dig small holes.

Planning to carve his determination at the beginning, he lowered his waist, and held his right hand at waist level.

“Uryaa!!”

The punch that was thrust out with that psyche, bore a hole deep into the reddish brown rock, and sank in about 20cm deep.

He put his right foot there solidly, lifted his body up, then Haruyuki’s left hand held onto a crack a bit higher.

Moving his sight left and right, and after drawing the starting route in his head, he lifted his avatar up with just his left hand. Towards the step he aimed for, this time the tip of his left foot was firmly set.

Actually, climbing like this in the virtual s.p.a.ce, was not his first time. Carrying a rifle in jungle and mountainous terrain shooting games, climbing cliffs like this was a worthy strategy for blindsiding the enemy team. In order to gain that tactical advantage, he even borrowed rock climbing VR training software from the library.

The trick for free climbing is, to precisely imagine the optimal route at the start, and do not stick too close to the surface of the rock.

Looking ahead to the limit of his vision, with where and how to place his four limbs drawn in detail in his thoughts, Haruyuki continued to climb the rock wall in a steady pace.

As if it was a race, the sun that dyed the eastern sky red also inched its position upwards. The color of the morning glow eventually disappeared, and the sky was changed to a eerie yellow.

How many holds he had grabbed onto, he had already forgotten. The top was melted into the sky so it could not be seen, and if he looked down, the ground should be far away. However he did not look towards his feet even once, and while facing the sky, he innocently and honestly challenged the cliff. He was mostly not conscious of it himself, but the concentration that he put to various «Games» like this, was without doubt mostly the only and greatest ability of the person called Arita Haruyuki.

That well-honed nerve, captured the slight shaking of the air from far away. It was a sign of the gusts that was a feature of the Wilderness stage. Immediately, Haruyuki’s both hands thrust into the cracks in the rocks and firmly held on, with his body tightly close to the surface.

A few seconds later, the atmosphere shook with a rumble, and a strong gust that was like a giant blowing came attacking Haruyuki as if to shake him off. However, while not even feeling any fear, Haruyuki calmly waited for the wind to stop. Since, the slender and slippery body of Silver Crow without any protrusion should offer no resistance to the wind. That meant Haruyuki believed that he would not be blown away by just wind, and it was actually like that.

The nasty giant finally gave up, and after Haruyuki took a small breath, he again continued the ascent.

At the time that the sun reached straight above, and started leaning slightly west.

Finally, the tip of the rock wall that seemed to continue infinitely, drew a sharp arc in the sky. The tip of that cylinder, was the top where Sky Raker waited.

The distance should still be over 100 meters. However at this pace, he should reach it before night time. Now that he thought about it, Sky Raker’s “So that you can remember well the stew’s taste” words, and the smile she showed after Haruyuki said that he would wake up properly tomorrow, were probably predictions that Haruyuki could not climb this old Tokyo tower in one day.

‘—— I will show you that I can reach the top today!’

With that determination, however with no carelessness, Haruyuki attacked the rock surface using steady movements. The wind gusts that changed direction in the afternoon, came attacking with increased frequency, but all of them pa.s.sed by with Haruyuki sticking to the wall.

The sky’s color slowly became more saturated, and the climb that started at dawn soon reached nine hours. He was indeed starting to feel tired, and as he ground his teeth in frustration, Haruyuki’s nose captured a slight floral scent. Furthermore, the spring’s noise, and the faint blue light of the portal also reached his ears and eyes.

Soon. Just 20, no, 15 more meters.

If he finished climbing on his first try, then even Sky Raker should be shocked, so Haruyuki enthusiastically increased his hands and feet speed ——

—— At that time.

Something he had not felt till now, a ‘Ring Ring’ kind of high resonance sound shook the atmosphere. The echo from unlimited number of bells being sounded from far away at the same time, made Haruyuki lift his face up, and look at the eastern horizon.

And then he groaned.

“Ah... not good...”

Coming into his view, was what came falling down from the sky, the s.h.i.+ne of the aura that gently caressed the earth.

It was a «Transition». An ultra large phenomenon that changed the attribute of all of Unlimited Neutral Field.

Haruyuki quickly looked back, and started climbing the wall surface at double the speed he had been going till now. Occasionally his limbs slipped, and he felt a cold sweat, but his fingers grabbed hold of a gap while in danger and held on. Without waiting for his heart to calm down, he again jumped towards his next hold.

As if to hurry Haruyuki on like that, the aura closed in at tremendous speed from the east, and the bell sounds grew louder. The surfaces that were caressed by the seven color light curtain had the reddish brown wilderness colors dispersed in a poof, and was reborn in a new form. That was right, it was refres.h.i.+ng this world. After the «Transition», the Enemy that were killed were replaced, and the stage that was destroyed was repaired. There was no Enemy around this tower, but the latter was a problem. If he was caught in the aura, then the holes that Silver Crow’s sharp hands thrust into the rock wall, would probably ——.

“U... O...!”

Haruyuki shouted, and the final distance were mostly climbed while running on all fours.

However, he was five meters short.

Numerous bell sounds pressed against his ears, and the seven color s.h.i.+ne painted all of his view, and in the next instant, Haruyuki’s hands and legs were thrown away from the wall with a repulsive force that could not be denied.

“s.h.i.+tt... Nooo...”

He clawed the air with his hands, trying to get close to the wall once more, but that effort was also in vain.

“Wa... a... a... ——”

Haruyuki died again.

After he was resurrected one hour later, the world was already covered by sunset, and it was no longer the red wilderness.

The ground was made up of properly arranged stone pavement. And then the old Tokyo Tower in front of him was, changed to a bluish black s.h.i.+ning metal plate jointed steel tower. It was the «Demonic City» stage.

“...”

Haruyuki slump down to sit on the hard stone pavement, and gave a deep sigh. If this was a normal game, then at this point he would hit his pillow in his room for distraction, but right now he could not logout, and he did not have the energy for it.

However, for his first try, he almost climbed to the top. Sky Raker seemed to have sounded like this training would take weeks, or at worse even longer. If it was like that, then he could say that he had done pretty well. He strongly held his two fists with, ‘I will absolutely climb it next time’.

He really wanted to tackle the wall again right now, but thought that it would not be possible at night. Planning to challenge it again the first thing tomorrow morning, Haruyuki sneaked into a suitable building in the surrounding, and lay down at one side of a safe looking room.

It might be recoil of concentrating for nine hours continuously, he was suddenly attacked by a strong drowsiness, and without the chance to feel hungry, Haruyuki fell straight into sleep.

However, in the third morning of his dive in the Unlimited Neutral Field.

Haruyuki’s eyes popped out from sudden shock.

Last night he was careless and did not notice it, but the Demonic City stage’s old Tokyo Tower was similar to Suns.h.i.+ne City where he fought Chrome Disaster, both made up of smooth and hard steel plates. Since there were no windows, there were also no ladders. Instead of that, not a single crack where his fingertips could hold onto could be seen. That meant, there was no way for him to climb it.

“...Then, I can just make my own holes.”

He muttered, then after knocking on the steel with his fingertip.

Like yesterday, Haruyuki punched using his held fist with all his strength.

And then jumped up as he screamed.

“Ouch... ch ——-!”

The sharp pain that was increased two times of the lower field, made him hold his right hand while jumping around, and he stared at the place he hit, but the bluish black wall did not have a single dent. Indestructible object —— that could not be, but probably it was not possible to open a hole without a heat ray or drill, and of course Silver Crow was not equipped with something like those.

“...Does that mean I have to wait for the next «Transition»...”

He cursed while grinding his teeth, but how many days later would the next aura visit be, and whether the next time will be a destroyable attribute, he had absolutely no idea. The sudden sense of frustration, made Haruyuki slump down to his knees.

That head, was suddenly hit by something with a thump.

“Huh!?”

When he jumped up in consternation, he saw that a white cloth bag was dropped there. He quickly looked up, but the steel color spire extended infinitely into the gray sky, and no one could be seen.

However that bag was dropped by Sky Raker’s hand, which Haruyuki had no doubt. He picked it up in amazement, untied the knot, and found out that inside contained a large round bread, and a small piece of paper.

At that moment, he was immediately attacked by a virtual empty stomach feeling, so Haruyuki bit into the large bread as the lower half of his helmet slid up with a hum. It was plain bread with nothing inside, but even so he thought it was somewhat warm, fragrant and incredibly delicious, so he was absorbed in eating.

Soon half of it was gone, then Haruyuki finally turned the paper around, and read the words written there in elegant handwriting.

—— [The mind power training had already started. Yesterday, why were you not blown away by the wind, please think about that.]

“...Huh?”

After reading it once, he could not grasp her intent at all.

This wall climbing, was actually before the «Incarnate System» training, or put another way something like basic training, which Haruyuki understood. Even in Kung Fu movies, before the master taught martial arts, wasn’t there a lot of stair climbing?

And then, ‘Why were you not blown away by the wind?’, that sentence also made no sense. That was because he was holding on tightly, of course. Also, Silver Crow’s body has low air resistance. That was why when he stuck to the wall, the wind pa.s.sed by his back...

“Ah...”

Suddenly, Haruyuki made a small shout. He felt that he was close to something important. While involuntarily chewing the rest of the bread, he again continued to think.

Mind power was, a method of using image power to control avatar or object.

Yesterday, when Haruyuki was sticking to the rock wall while enduring the wind, he did not even think about being blown away. If it was Silver Crow’s slender and smooth body, he believed that any kind of wind gust would pa.s.s by, and that became the actual case.

Maybe, that was —— at that time, the «Incarnate System» power was already being used? Did strongly drawing the image that the wind would pa.s.s through him actually lessen the wind pressure?

In that case, in the same manner, would he be able to deal with this steel wall?

After putting the last piece of bread into his mouth, the helmet closed shut, and Haruyuki stared hard at his right hand.

The five fingers could not be any smaller, nor sharper. And the silver armor gave off a really hard looking s.h.i.+ne.

‘—— Not punch, it should be a jab.’

Thinking so naturally, he lined up the five fingers together and extended them straight out. When the wrist was steady, the parts in front of the elbow looked exactly like a sword.

He lowered his waist to half of his height, and this time stared at the wall in front.

The bluish black s.h.i.+ning steel plates looked truly tough, however, it was just a stage background. Without any consciousness, it just exists. That meant its physical shape, was only a series of code recorded in the Brain Burst server somewhere.

If he could not even open a hole in such thing, then how could he call himself a dueler. If it was that person, Black King, Black Lotus, then without doubt she would cut this degree of walls apart like b.u.t.ter without even getting worked up.

He held his fingers extended right hand at waist level. ‘Suu, Haa’, deep breaths, then one more breath in ——.

“...Haa!!”

With that psyche, he thrust straight out.

With a ‘Giin!’ sharp sound, bluish white sparks flew apart. All of his finger joints, wrist, and elbow had a sharp pain running through them that made his eyes dazzle. The HP gauge in his view’s upper left was slightly shaved.

He involuntarily moaned, and Haruyuki slumped down to his knees there, but when he looked up, it certainly existed there. Carved in the smooth wall, was about 1cm long, 1mm deep sharp scar.

‘—— It will work!’ Right after that thought, he also yelled ‘Not enough!’.

His image power was still not enough. He thought of his fingers as fingers and arm as arm, and that was why he was hurt. Think of them as a sword. Similar to that person, a sword that can pierce through various things, and cut them apart.

He stood up, and again sharply extended his fingers. Thinking for a bit, he bent his thumb to the side of the palm, then from elbow to the tip of his middle finger, was made up of a sharp line as if it was designed like that from the beginning.

And then from now on, instead of holding at waist level, held a bit higher to near shoulder level, drawn back to the limit. The left hand held out mostly in front, turned horizontally. Just like the motion he saw from Black Lotus’s special skill, «Death By Piercing».

“...Shaa!!”

The sound this time, was somewhat higher and clearer echo compared to the previous one. A lightning like pain again made him ground his teeth, but the scar that the wall sustained was a little bit deeper.

That day eventually ended with him single mindedly continuing to thrust against the wall.

He gradually stopped feeling pain, and by sunset, his fingertip ate in about 3mm, but that was still not at a level that could support him for climbing the wall. However Haruyuki did not feel terribly impatient, and returned to his sleeping place from yesterday while feeling satisfied from the heavy fatigue.

‘What I am doing now, might be just some kind of escape.’

He could not help but think like that while laying there. Using «Acceleration» to extend the time, and fast forward his problem with Chiyuri, Tak.u.mu, and Noumi was an actual fact. But right now, he was happy while single mindedly concentrate on what he was doing, and it was saving him. Closing his eyes, Haruyuki again slept like the dead.

Morning on the fourth day.

He stood at the same place as yesterday, and stared at the numerous scars carved on the steel wall s.h.i.+ning bluish light, as Haruyuki once again thought.

The direction of his image should be correct. His fingertips being hard and sharp, and his arm’s thrusting power was being drawn in thought. But, he felt that he was missing something.

While mumbling, he was again directly hit on his head by a cloth bag. Quickly picking it up, he face the sky and shout ‘Itadakimasu’, then bit into the bread inside.

Today also, came with a piece of message. After opening it excitedly, that was ——.

[Do your best, Karasu-kun ♡].

It was only that, and while embarra.s.sed by the symbol at the end, Haruyuki sighed with a snort. He was expecting a similar hint as yesterday, but nothing else was written.

This would mean, ‘I already know all I need to know’, it would be like that.

While thinking that, Haruyuki finished eating the bread, and again desperately worked his head.

Mind power. Will from the mind. Image power. Inside his ears, Sky Raker’s words replayed.

‘——- Listen... Image power! That is truly, us Burst Linker’s secret true power.’

Wait... a minute. Something very similar to that was said, long ago... very long ago, by that person also.

At the moment he thought of that, that sound freshly replayed from deep in his memory.

‘—— Listen, Haruyuki-kun. You are fast. You will become faster than anyone else. Faster than me, and the other Kings as well. Speed is truly Burst Linker’s greatest power.’

There was no way he could forget it. That, was right before Kuroyukihime used her final command «Physical Full Burst» to save Haruyuki, the words she left after being prepared for her own death.

Kuroyukihime at that time, should definitely have known about Burst Linker’s hidden «Incarnate System». However, she expressed the greatest power as «Speed» instead of «Image Power». That meant ——

These two, are the same thing.

The word «Speed» that Kuroyukihime used, did not just mean the duel avatar’s movement speed in the field. It was the brain connected to the Neuro Linker, the signal speed sent out by the consciousness. The speed of response between this world and himself. That meant, how close to the essence of the world, it would be like that.

“With image... control...”

Muttering, Haruyuki held his right hand up.

Not power. It was speed. What he should image was that. Move to the limit of speed. Get as close to the world as possible. And a.s.similate with it.

“...Fuu.”

With a slight exhale, Haruyuki’s right hand thrust out with an image of light.

In fact, a dim but definite white light path floated through the s.p.a.ce. A ‘Shukiin!’ sound, like something from some kind of musical instrument beautifully sounded.

After seeing his fingers buried over 5mm deep in the steel wall, Haruyuki strongly clenched his left hand.