Calibur SS


 * Not to be confused with the original Caliber story.

Caliber SS (キャリバー SS版) is an alternate version of the Caliber side-story with a different ending. It answers what would the outcome of the adventure have been if Klein had not saved Freyja.

Plot
The quest to retrieve «Excaliber» from the base of Jötunheimr was revealed to the public. However, unlike how Kazuto (Kirito) and Suguha (Leafa) expected, it was not a quest to clear the Inverted Ice Pyramid, but another quest to slaughter all beast-type Evil Gods and the sword had yet to be obtained. After Kazuto and Suguha called Asuna, Shino (Sinon), Ryoutarou (Klein) Keiko (Silica) and Rika (Lisbeth) to form a party of seven to attempt raiding the ice pyramid again, they gathered at Lisbeth's shop in Yggdrasil City to prepare and then came to Jötunheimr via a secret passage that Kirito and Leafa had found nearly a year before. There, they called Tonkii to transport them to the dungeon, but the creature instead took them downwards, until they were able to clearly see what was happening on the ground, where they saw players co-operating with the humanoid-type Evil Gods to wipe out the beast-type Evil Gods. At that moment, an NPC calling herself «The Queen of the Lake», Urðr appeared. She told them of a once beautiful Jötunheimr where the roots of the World Tree touched the floor and the endless void in the center of the land was filled with water of the purest quality. The Frost Giants had used the «Holy Sword Excaliber» to cut off the roots of the great tree and this resulted in Jötunheimr turning into a frozen wasteland. After telling that the quest to slaughter the beast-type gods would result in the humanoid-type Evil Gods to invading Alfheim and would reward a «Fake Sword Caliburn», instead of the real Holy Sword Excaliber, Urðr requested the fairies to enter inverted ice pyramid dungeon, called Thrymheimr, and retrieve the real sword from a plinth to return Jötunheimr to its former state before the beast-type gods are all slaughtered. The party then entered the upside-down pyramid to clear its four floors and obtain Excaliber.

Klein exclaimed after seeing Kirito perform his Outside System Skill, Skill Connect, to what Kirito did not pay too much attention. Then Leafa informed that they had almost one hour before the quest ended in failure, so they started running towards the next floor. There, they encounter an NPC asking for help, but because it could be a trap, they left her and continued on their way to the boss room.

Although the fairies fought bravely, in the end, the time ran out while half of the boss's HP was still remaining. Thrym laughed at them as he ejected them from the Thrymheimr castle and made his castle ascend to the surface, triggering the Ragnarök event and destroying Alne, along with the players' houses and items. As Kirito and the others watched the mass destruction, Yui informed them that the items were refunded in money and others were stored in their owners' storage. Suddenly, a GM, called Marinca, who was happy to know that the items were saved, appeared and explained to them that this chaos was mostly her fault.

After talking with Marinca, they decided to try to stop Thrym again, but they would wait one and a half hours to rest and try again. Kazuto woke up in his bed and started thinking, but then Suguha entered his room and Kazuto told her that everything would be fine. He then started thinking and noticed that they had committed an error in leaving Freyja, and because of it, they had failed the quest.

Trivia

 * The beginning of Caliber SS is identical to the original Caliber. The plot of Caliber SS starts diverging at the point where Klein was supposed to save Freyja, though major changes to the plot only begin at the part of the boss battle where Freyja asks the fairies to retrieve her treasure. Until then, the only changes to the boss battle are the removal of references to Freyja.
 * Caliber SS (June 10, 2011) was officially published before volume 8 (August 10, 2011), which included the original Caliber story.

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Caliber SS