Sword art online: Aincrad's Flash

Closing his menu, Toyo glanced around. From their position in the outer sections, it was easy to see the tall stone wall tower above the buildings as it enclosed the perimeter of the city in the distance. Following it with his eyes, Toyo soon spotted the gatehouse.

It was time to see what wildness waits for us!!! =

"Ready?" he asked.

Jae nodded reluctantly. "Let's go."

Following their minimaps, they took the shortest route to the main gate and started off. They were silent as they walked, and with each step, Jae felt his stomach tighten. Beads of sweat began to form on his face and neck again, but he ignored them and made an effort to keep an even pace with Toyo. His mouth had gone dry, and the cold fear he felt within him continued to worsen, silently urging him to turn back and hide within the safety of the Town of Beginnings, bu

the refused to fall to panic again. If they were going to survive, they had to act.

If Toyo could handle the new reality they had just been thrust into, so could he.

They saw fewer and fewer players as they closed the distance to the main gate. The buildings here were smaller, less concentrated, and even the NPCs seemed more scarce. The stone wall now loomed high overhead, and atop the battlements, Toyo could see NPC guards in white armor gazing out over the other side.

Upon arriving at the open gate, which consisted of two huge wooden double doors framed with steel, both Toyo and Jae paused to look outside. To their surprise, the area beyond the safe zone looked anything but threatening; green, rolling fields stretched across the horizon, with the occasional steep hill breaking up the plain and a few trees to dot the lush landscape.

Hundreds of stocky wild boars calmly roamed the terrain, horned snouts to the ground as they fed on flowers and tall grass. It was only in the distance, out beyond the furthest extent of the greenery, that Toyo could make out a slightly harsher forest environment.

Throughout the rolling grassland, he could see scattered players- probably around a hundred at most- approaching or battling the wild boars, their beginner swords flashing as they cut down the beasts. Most fought in groups ranging from mere two-man teams to parties of half a dozen or more, but there were also a few who fought alone, and who seemed to be rotating the area methodically.

"Looks safe enough out here." Toyo poodrew his rusty sword- which was heavier than he had expected and started forward. "Come on. We might have already missed out on some early game loot."

"First we need to learn how to fight," Toyo reminded as he followed behind. "Let's start small, see how we do against one of these boars."

With weapons ready, they advanced cautiously forward, inching further and further into the grassland while occasionally checking behind to make sure that the Town of Beginnings was still within view. The walls of the city loomed behind them now, like a clear borderline between safety and mortal danger.

Biting back his worry, Jae kept a firm grip on his beginner sword and stayed beside Toyo. The rusty level one common weapon hardly inspired confidence, but it did feel good to have something with which to defend himself.

As they moved up, they scanned the area for any boars that weren't part of a larger pack, which took a little longer than expected: several players operating alone seemed to have had the same idea, and deliberately targeted any isolated boar they could find.

After finally closing in on alone one roaming at the base of a small hill and identifying it as Level One, both Toyo and Jae paused and looked to each other.

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"Attack it together?" Jae suggested.

Toyo nodded. "We'll move in and-"

With a snort, the boar raised its head and locked eyes with them. For the briefest of instants, no one moved.

And then the boar let out an enraged squeal and launched itself directly at them.

"Shit!" Toyo cried in alarm. "It targeted us!"

"Move!"

Without a second thought, Toyo dived out of the way of the incoming creature while, simultaneously, Jae tried to jump in the other direction.

The boar's tusks whizzed past Toyo's side at the last second, barely missing him, but Jae wasn't so lucky. One of the animal's tusks gored deep into his leg, knocking him off his feet as he let out a scream of pain.

The large boar, now maddened by the blood, hit the ground with him, but was immediately back on its hooves a second later and proceeded to shake violently in an attempt to rip it's tusk free.

Jae's cries of pain quickly escalated to new heights, and, at the same time, his health bar began to plummet.

Jumping back up, Toyo didn't hesitate and immediately charged the monster before it could hurt his brother any worse. Clutching his beginner sword awkwardly in both hands, he raised the weapon over his head and brought it down hard, slashing open a long, deep gash across the length of the boar's furry back.

With a squeal, the injured animal lashed itself around to face a new threat and managed to tear its tusk free of Jae's leg in the process, spilling crimson droplets of blood out into the air. Before Toyo could strike it again, it slammed into him full force, lifted him clear off his feet, and launched him a good foot into the air.

It felt like he had just been hit by a train.