Sword Art Online 13: Alicization Dividing Part 6

This world had no equivalent for that parameter called 'mana points' in ALO. Any variant of the magic here, named 'sacred arts', could be repeatedly used without cease, as long as the user's system access authority qualified for it.

However, that didn't mean that it could be used infinitely, anywhere and anytime. The rule of this world, that each and every act of creation required resources, applied just as strictly to sacred arts. Usage of the arts must consume precious catalysts, the Lives for living beings, even humans, or the "s.p.a.ce resources" stored around the user.

48.

Chapter 10 - Integrity Knight Alice.

This s.p.a.ce resources thing had no numerical value to go by and was truly a troublesome matter to deal with. Basically, it was supplied through the sunlight or the fertility in soil. A place with fertile soil and basking in sufficient sunlight would be rich in sources, enough for even continuous casts of advanced sacred arts, but on the other hand, s.p.a.ce resources would be rapidly depleted in the room the sun cannot reach, of a building made from stone, requiring a long period of time before the resources would be recharged.

And abiding by the rule, Alice's and my present circ.u.mstances-stuck five hundred meters above the ground and the sun sinking into the horizon, were close to the worst possible conditions. To sum it up, the surrounding resources would be exhausted by the sacred arts I had repeatedly chanted and we would fail in creating those indispensable pitons for scaling the wall.

"System call! Generate metallic element! "

Atop my palm, stretched out straight and seeking the dim afterglow remaining, drifted desolate beads of silver light which vanished in a puff of smoke.

I sighed and Alice spoke in a voice just as worn-out from two meters below.

"...Creation of those apparatus must have greatly drained the sacred power in the area... We could even consider ourselves

49.

Chapter 10 - Integrity Knight Alice.

lucky if we could create one every hour after Solus sets... - How much have we climbed thus far?"

"Erm... I'm pretty sure we're almost done with the eighty-fifth floor."

"It is still far until the ninety-fifth floor, isn't it."

I stubbornly gazed at the vanis.h.i.+ng shade of violet in the skies, then nodded.

"Yeah... one way or another, it'l be too dangerous to climb when it's completely dark. Still... we can't exactly rest in this situation even if we were to settle down for the night..."

If worst comes to worst, we would have to rest while dangling off the chain, but with how we couldn't make any pitons and how they vanish after tens of minutes, we could only resort to our swords again as the support. But it was questionable if our swords' Lives could even hold until morning.

In hope that I could find something to hang the chain upon, like some protrusion, I glared at the wal overhead, unwilling to give up. And- "Ah..."

There were elaborate silhouettes sticking out from the wall, s.p.a.ced out regularly, just around eight meters above, weren't there. It appeared the mist coiling around the tower

50.

Chapter 10 - Integrity Knight Alice.

disappeared upon sunset and revealed the hidden objects'

visages.

"Hey, over there... do you see something?"

After I shouted out while pointing, Alice, near my feet, raised her face as well. Her blue eyes squinted and she answered.

"I do... could those be statues or something similar? That said, why would they be at such a high... There wouldn't be anyone around to look at them."

"It doesn't matter what they are as long as we can sit on them and rest. Still, there are still eight met... eight mel before reaching there. I could climb up there, but I guess I'll need another three metal rods..."

"Three... I see."

Alice could be seen pondering for a moment before she immediately nodded.

"Understood. I had planned to save this until it truly came in necessary, but... it appears now would be the time."

She leaned against the wall the moment she said thusly and removed the gauntlet equipped on her left hand. Staring at the armor that radiated a faint, golden light even in this shadowy darkness, she chanted the starting phrase for sacred arts.

A fleeting flash of light shot out as the chant, done several times more fluent than I could have, ended-the gauntlet had

51.

Chapter 10 - Integrity Knight Alice.

already changed its form into three pitons before I could process that. Perhaps Alice's form transformation art had been more cost-effective than element generation arts, for it bore fruit even in our surroundings' scantiness of resources.

"Do use these."

Alice fully extended her right hand, gripping onto the pitons, towards me who was two meters higher. I leaned my body over the foothold and received those precious tools with caution.

"Thanks, those'l help."

"Should the need arise, I do have some armor remaining, but..."

I gave the gorgeous breastplate covering Alice's upper half a glance and shook my head.

"No... let's keep that in reserve until the very end. Never know when we might need it..."

Slowly standing up, I stuck two among the three pitons Alice made for me into my belt and firmly gripped the last one.

"Uryaa!"

The golden stake I drove in with a shout pierced deep into the gap with an entirely different level of tenacity compared to the ones made from metal ic elements as expected. Climbing atop it via the horizontal bar exercise I'd gotten rather used to, I pulled Alice up with the lifeline.

52.

Chapter 10 - Integrity Knight Alice.

Repeating that process yet another time, I could clearly recognize that mysterious object even in the dim light upon getting within four meters of it.

It really was a stone statue. A narrow terrace stretched out left and right, as if surrounding the cathedral's outer walls, and several quite large statues lined up atop that.

However, those were no divine figures like the G.o.ddesses and angels I'd seen countless times within the tower.

They were shaped like humans, but their posture, with their legs crooked in a squat and their arms folded onto their laps, had no a.s.sociation with chasteness. Rugged, boorish muscles bulged on their limbs and wings, sharp as knives, extended from their backs.

And the statues' heads could be described as nothing other than grotesque. A rounded mouth was carved into its front at the end of a long arc. Their heads alone bore a close resemblance to weevils or something similar.

"Ugh... that's one gross design.

I muttered; "Eh...!? Th-Those are... the Dark Territory's...!"

and Alice let a surprised voice escape before that moment.

The crouching stone statue directly above me swayed its head left and right, and its circular mouth, that brought lampreys to

53.

Chapter 10 - Integrity Knight Alice.

mind, opened and shut bit by bit. It was no mere ornament carved from stone. That was-living.

If this was a quest set up in a VRMMO game in the real world, this was naturally the scene of an a.s.sault.

However, in this case, the scenario writer must have had quite a s.a.d.i.s.tic streak or was a complete novice. After all, we, the players, were on top of pitons that extruded less than even a mere forty centimeters from this perpendicular wal and couldn't take a single step.

An unwinnable event-those useless words scrol ed through my mind, but immediately shook them off. I had absolutely no hope for the development of some person das.h.i.+ngly saving us even if we were to fal . We would have to rack our brains and avert this crisis with our own strength. Otherwise, both Alice and I would die.

As I steeled my resolve, the winged stone statue began to change the tint of its entire body while trembling. Its skin, original y grayish-white like the wall, started changing into a viscous coal color from its tip.

Basaa! Without waiting for its black wings that caused that loud noise as they stretched out, I drew my sword from my waist. With my sight trained onto the winged monster, formerly a stone statue, I cal ed out to Alice two meters below.