Sword Art Online Progressive Volume 02


 * This article is about the original Progressive light novel volume. You may be looking for the manga adaptation.

Sword Art Online Progressive Volume 2 (ソードアート・オンライン プログレッシブ 002, Sōdo Āto Onrain Puroguresshibu 002) is the second installment in the "Progressive" series, a reboot of the original Sword Art Online light novel series written by Kawahara Reki. This volume covers the events that took place while clearing the 3rd Floor of Aincrad. It was released on December 10, 2013.

Part 1
As Kirito and Asuna climbed the stairs to the 3rd Floor, the former declared that their next destination was, in a sense, the true starting point of Sword Art Online (SAO), as it marked the first appearance of human mobs that were indistinguishable from players, aside from their color cursors, and, like Non-Player Characters (NPCs), could talk and utilize expert sword skills.

After entering the 3rd Floor, Asuna enchantedly marveled at their surroundings, vast forest of gigantic trees, while Kirito messaged Argo about the clearing of the 2nd Floor and the opening of the 3rd Floor within the hour. He then asked Asuna if she would mind following him on a detour from the path to the main city to take care of an errand. Knowing that what he wanted to accomplish would best be handled first, she agreed to hold off on repairing and restocking for supplies for the time being, and the two set off for the next village.

After five minutes of walking, Kirito, sensing a change in the air, warned Asuna of the design and denizens of their current location: the Forest of Wavering Mists. Asuna in turn alerted Kirito of a Treant Sapling approaching them from behind.

After dispatching the monster, which brought them some distance into the forest, they returned to the path and Kirito revealed the task he had wanted to do was a quest initiation and inquired Asuna about her hearing. Kirito explained that they were listening for the clashing of blades, which they heard coming from southwest of their position and set out for

Kirito and Asuna came upon a clearing where two NPCs, a light-colored man and a dark-colored woman, were locked in combat with each other. Drawing attention to the NPCs' pointed ears and the quest markers above their heads, Kirito explained that both elves, a Forest Elf and a Dark Elf respectively, were questgivers for a campaign quest lasting until the 9th Floor, adding that they were only allowed to choose one questline; starting over or switching sides was not permitted. Asuna decided that they should follow the same route Kirito took in the beta test, and correctly deduced he chose the Dark Elf woman. Kirito warned that, as both NPCs were elite mobs, it would be impossible for both players to prevail against either of them. He explained that once half of their hit points (HP) were depleted, the other elf would unleash a special attack to win the fight, omitting that the Dark Elf, Kizmel, would sacrifice herself in the process.

Kirito and Asuna jumped into the clearing and pointed their blades at the Forest Elf. Twenty minutes later, Kirito and the Forest Elven Hallowed Knight expressed their shock as the latter collapsed to the ground in defeat, the players' HP still barely above half; something Kirito had thought impossible based on his experience in the beta test.

Part 2
As Kirito recollected how the questline would have proceeded had both elves died as scheduled, the Forest Elf's body disappeared, leaving behind a bag of leaves containing the Jade Key quest item. Kirito gently prodded Asuna and Kizmel's attention to the item, the latter of whom retrieved the bag in relief. Thanking the players for their help, she invited them to accompany her to the Dark Elf Base to the south, where the Dark Elf Commander would reward them for their assistance and allow them to initiate the next quest. While Kirito debated whether or not to risk collapsing from exhaustion from their constant struggles since the 2nd Floor Boss fight by continuing straight into the campaign, Asuna accepted the invitation with a nuanced response. Accepting the affirmative reply, Kizmel joined the party and began leading the humans to their destination. Wondering how an NPC could possess such a natural conversation ability, Kirito checked Kizmel's name and color cursor to confirm she was not actually a player.

The Dark Elf Royal Guard directed Kirito and Asuna through the misty forest with efficiency, dispatching any enemies they encountered and bringing them within sight of the base's black flags. When Asuna commented on the quickness of their journey, Kizmel proudly stated they would not have found it so easily without her aid, as a Forest Sinking charm had been cast on the camp. Asuna wondered at the presence of charms in a world without magic, prompting KIrito to begin to explain that magic was deliberately excluded from SAO to enforce mandatory melee combat for the players, but was interrupted by Kizmel's clarification that their charms were but a shadow of the magic possessed by her people, the Dark Elves of Lysula, before they were separated from the earth. Kirito remembered that unlike other RPGs, SAO had a conspicuous absence of a backstory, and speculated Akihiko had deliberately made it that way so that the players could write the story themselves. Kirito felt compelled to ask Kizmel for more details on the history of Aincrad and her people, but stifled his curiosity and reminded himself their first priority was to beat the game and return to the real world.

As the group approached the base, they saw two Dark Elf soldiers guarding the entrance. Asuna worried about having to fight them, but Kirito assured her they would be fine as long as long as they did not assault them. Passing by the guards without incident, the players found themselves in a broad space filled with tents and other Dark Elves, which Kirito remarked was bigger than in the beta. As they walked toward the largest tent, Kirito explained to Asuna that their current location was an instance, a temporary area created for each party participating in the quest so as to reduce complications and interruptions between them. Confirming that they had temporarily vanished from the 3rd Floor map to move to the camp, Asuna questioned if they could leave at anytime.

At the Dark Elf commander's tent, Kirito and Asuna were given rewards and new equipment for the safe return of Kizmel and the Jade Key. After they each chose a ring boosting their stats, the commander initiated the second quest of the campaign, and the group left the tent. Thanking the humans again for their help, Kizmel asked for their names, much to Kirito's shock. After the players clarified the pronunciation of their names, the Dark Elf knight offered to either teleport them close to the main town with a charm or to lend them the use of a tent for the night. Sensing Kirito's desire to take advantage of free food and lodgings while the questline was still active, Asuna accepted the offer. When Kizmel offered the use of her tent as they had no spares, Kirito suddenly realized that since Kizmel had survived, they would be sharing living quarters with her, which Asuna quickly comprehended. As Kizmel left for the dining tent, Asuna asked Kirito if it was possible for them to change their answer and have the Dark Elf send them to the town, which the beater sadly replied negatively.

Within Kizmel's tent, Asuna set the boundary between her and Kirito's living spaces before they both removed their armor and weapons. While resting on the furs meant for beds, Kirito explained to Asuna the basic story of the Elf War quest series, of the Dark Elves and Forest Elves fighting over six keys to a location on the higher floors called the Sanctuary, wherein a powerful item was sealed. Asuna grew concerned that the choice of sides offered at the beginning of the campaign meant they would have to fight or compete with other players working with the Forest Elves, but Kirito assured her that the questline had been designed so that different parties could have their own independent storyline, so that they could be at different points in the story and have different endings. Though Asuna was reassured that the victory of one side in the quest would not mean the defeat of the other, she was still uneasy with the concept of instances, which would mean multiple duplicates of the same NPC would be generated for each party in the campaign. Kirito remembered how the sickly little NPC girl Agatha from the Secret Medicine of the Forest quest on the 1st Floor would be caught in a cycle of disease and recovery each time a player accepted and finished the quest, and understood how the Elf War was an expanded version of the concept, but informed Asuna such an outcome was unavoidable without the game sacrificing fairness for story consistency.

At 6:00 P.M., a horn blew to signify the hour as Kizmel entered the tent. She apologized for the simplicity of the camp, but offered the services of the dining and bathing tents, as well her own assistance. When Asuna immediately left the tent to take advantage of the latter service, Kirito pondered on whether to focus on sleep or food when Kizmel disrobed for resting. Distracted by her appearance and form, he was pulled out of the tent by Asuna. As he followed the fencer, he suddenly remembered about the high level of the Dark Elf blacksmith and reminded her to upgrade her Wind Fleuret to the maximum while they could, allowing it to last until the middle of the 3rd Floor. Recalling how she had nearly lost her weapon through the blacksmithing scam on the 2nd Floor, Asuna recollected how Kirito told her she could melt down an old sword as material for a new one and decided to have her Wind Fleuret reborn as a new blade rather than risk a failure upgrade if she would be outlasting it. Accepting her decision, Kirito began heading for the blacksmith's tent, but Asuna prioritized having a bath first.

While Kirito contemplated on the possible effects of elven bathwater on players and how such an activity seemed pointless in the beta, he and Asuna arrived at the bathing tent, wherein only a single bath was contained. Apprehensive at the possibility of male Dark Elves coming inside while she was bathing in a place outside the Area without her equipment on, Asuna suggested having one of them standing guard outside while the other took their bath. Remembering how he had accidentally allowed Argo to enter the bathroom while Asuna was still bathing back on the 1st Floor, Kirito volunteered to take guard first and have his bath after hers, before sitting next to a support pillar, while doing his best to ignore Asuna's sounds of contentment from within the tent.

Part 3
After Asuna and Kirito finished their turns bathing, they had a satisfactory dinner in the dining tent before returning to Kizmel's tent. Upon finding the Dark Elf already sleeping peacefully, the players took their places on the furs and fell asleep as well. Seven hours later, Kirito suddenly awoke at 2:00 A.M.; unable to return to sleep and seeing Kizmel had disappeared, he exited the tent to find no one but the sentries moving in the camp. After some thought, he decided to look behind the commander's tent to find Kizmel dispiritedly standing in front of three gravestones, dressed in only thin underclothes. Sensing the human approaching her, Kizmel advised him to rest himself fully, but accepted his thanks for allowing them the use of her quarters. When Kirito examined the leftmost grave she was surveying and the name thereon, Kizmel explained it belonged to her sister Tilnel, who had perished the previous month after the Dark Elf advance forces had descended to the 2nd Floor. Wondering how much the Dark Elves knew about Aincrad, Kirito elected to wait until Asuna was present and instead asked about Tilnel. Kizmel revealed her sister was a herbalist who was only skilled in carrying a dagger and had been at the rear vanguard when Forest Elven Falconers launched an ambush from behind them.

While Kirito silently grimaced on the deadly effectiveness of the Falconers, Kizmel recommended him to sit, then drunk from a wineskin of moontear herb wine before offering some to Kirito. After he had his sample, Kizmel poured the rest onto Tilnel's grave marker, explaining it had been her sister's favorite beverage and admitting she had snuck it out of the castle in hopes of sharing it with her, though she never had the opportunity. Crouching, Kizmel confessed her willingness to die when she had accepted the Jade Key retrieval mission and attributed Kirito and Asuna's intervention to the act of the gods she had lost faith in. Rebuking himself for not understanding Kizmel's situation before accepting the Elf War campaign and for not giving his all to protect himself and everyone, Kirito declared that he and Asuna had arrived and helped her of their own volition, and that they would accompany her to the end, to which Kizmel pledged to defend them for as long as they were together.

When Kirito and Kizmel returned to the tent about an hour later, they found Asuna already dressed and prepared for departure, who questioned Kirito on his whereabouts upon seeing him without his equipment and Kizmel in only her undergarments. Skeptically regarding his claim that he had been ready beforehand, she accompanied them as they left the base camp at 3:00 A.M. for the next quest, stopping to wonder at palely blue moonlit beauty of their surroundings, which even Kirito could not help but marvel at. Pausing to wait for Asuna, Kizmel softly remarked of the reminder of Tilnel's similar love for the night forest, before quietly urging them to continue their journey.

The second part of the Elf War questline consisted of locating the randomly generated nest of poisonous spider monsters that had been disrupting the elven patrol. While walking through the forest, Kirito, concerned with the constant threat of poison during their mission, verified with Asuna the number of antidote potions they possessed. Remembering that potions could not be used on other people, Kirito confirmed with Kizmel her own supply thereof, who proudly revealed such items would be redundant on her due to the abilities of her ring, which she had received along with her sword and knighthood from the Lysulan Queen and would permit the usage of a purifying charm on herself every ten minutes. As Kirito contemplated in amazement the existence of an accessory with unlimited poison cure usage, albeit conditionally, sensing his desire, Kizmel awkwardly informed him the ring would not work on humans. Kirito denied ever wanting her ring as Asuna teased him on requesting equipment from the opposite sex, prompting him to accuse her of doing the same. As the players stopped to glare at each other, Kizmel uneasily warned them of two monsters approaching them, moving to intercept the one coming from the right while leaving them to deal with the one advancing from the front.

As the creature, revealed to be a Thicket Spider, drew closer, Kirito warned Asuna of its attack patterns, though she took offense at his choice of words for his description of its anatomy. After both players each landed a blow on their opponent, Kirito became distracted wondering if the fencer was arachnophobic, allowing the Thicket Spider to leap at him. Desperately trying to avoid being afflicted with a Tumble status and subsequently left open to attack, Kirito fell backwards and flipped the monster upside down with a Martial Arts skill, then finished it with a sword skill. After Kirito and Asuna congratulated each other on their victory with a high five, Kizmel, who had already defeated her opponent, joined the latter in reprimanding the former for his lapse in concentration. When Kirito revealed the reason for his distractedness, Asuna exasperatedly declared she could not afford to be afraid of monsters' appearances. Kizmel was sadly amused at her attitude, as it reminded her of her sister's refusal to be intimidated of corporal monsters. Asuna, who had been secretly informed of Tilnel's story by Kirito earlier, respectfully remained silent alongside her partner.

Seeing Kirito and Asuna's expressions, Kizmel regained her composure and apologized, then inquired on the gesture they had performed. Asuna explained the meaning and promptly demonstrated it with the Dark Elven Royal Guard, who did not find the sensation unpleasant, despite the elves' general aversion to body contact. When Kirito repeated the feat with her, he suddenly remembered his encounter with Klein outside the Town of Beginnings on the first day of the game, and how he abandoned him after Akihiko's revelation and tutorial on the new rules of the game. Returning to his senses, he found the girls looking anxiously at him and reassured them he was alright. Kizmel turned their attention back to their task and directed them to move northwest where the spiders had appeared, which should lead them to the nest. As they resumed their journey, Asuna worriedly asked Kirito about Kizmel's mention of corporal monsters, perturbed at the thought of the possible existence of ghostly creatures in SAO. Kirito disclosed that he had never seen such beings in the beta test and his lack of knowledge on physical combat with immaterial enemies, which did not seem to reassure Asuna.

After a few more battles with the spiders, the trio found the spiders' nest, set within a cave in the side of a small hill. Asuna expressed annoyance at having to fight the small spiders moving around the entrance, to which Kirito explained they were only critters. When Asuna confused the term for a noise-making creature, Kirito clarified that it referred to non-interactable background animals meant only for show. Asuna complained on having to rely on Kirito for description of game terms and requested him to create a slang glossary for her. Kizmel amusedly remarked on the lack of unification in the human tongue and accredited it to the existence of nine human nations before the Great Separation. Kirito recalled when every player began suffering sudden disconnections for an hour a month prior, presumably due to the transfer of their bodies to hospitals, but sensed Kizmel was referring to another phenomenon, one related to the creation of Aincrad. Before he could ask the Dark Elf any questions on the subject, she declared they needed to investigate the cave to discover more concrete evidence on the spiders.

As the group proceeded through the first floor of the dungeon, Kirito and Asuna felt uneasy due to the limitations on their combat while wielding torches to illuminate the darkness, but Kizmel's elven night vision allowed them enough time to prepare themselves when enemies approached. After they had almost mapped the entire level, taking contents from chests along the way, Kirito was discussing the details of quests on the 3rd Floor when he suddenly realized that players working on the guild formation quest would be visiting their location around the same time as them. At that moment, they heard another party drawing near from behind them. Wishing to avoid encountering them, Kizmel directed her companions to extinguish their torches and pressed them against the wall, using the concealment abilities of her cloak to hide them from sight. Several seconds later, they heard one player, revealed to be Kibaou, loudly complain in shock about the empty chests. Not long after, he and the rest of the party, following another player wearing a chain coif and wielding a one-handed ax and shield, passed by Kizmel and the others' hiding spot.

When Kibaou's party had moved out of earshot, Kirito and Asuna expressed their relief and nervousness at managing to avert contact with them. Kizmel inquired on their relationship with the other players, Kirito briefly explained the tensions between the humans, to which Kizmel likened their relationship to that among the elven knight brigades. After Asuna declared she would join Kizmel's faction, the Pagoda Knights, if given the opportunity, Kizmel revealed that no human had ever been knight by the Dark Elven queen before, though their accomplishments could grant her an audience. As Asuna welcomed the news, Kirito decided to refrain from informing her of how the Lysulan castle had remained closed even after the completion of the Elf War campaign while he handed her torch to her and reignited his. When he checked the map to see they only needed to explore two more rooms, one of which contained the stairs to the second floor which had been undoubtedly taken by KIbaou's group, Kizmel commented on how it had been a while since she had last seen the usage of the Mystic Scribing charm, which permitted humans to store knowledge and physical items in a small space.

Adaption Notes

 * Dark Elven Royal Guard, Dark Elven Wolf Handler, Forest Elven Hallowed Knight, and Forest Elven Falconer were Dark Elf Sentry, Dark Elf Wolf Handler, Forest Elf Officer, and Forest Elf Falconer in web version respectively.

Errors

 * The page for the start of Concerto of Black and White is dated November 2022, despite the story actually taking place in December 2022.

Trivia

 * Progressive Volume 02 is Kawahara Reki's thirtieth published book.

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Volumen 2 (Progressive) ru:Sword Art Online: Progressive (Ранобэ, Том 2)