[i]Mere hours had passed since Natsuki had woken up, and once again returned to the world of ALfheim Online...[/i]

Athena marched her way through the halls of the beautiful instanced dungeon, which was designed to resemble a grand palace hall, complete with smooth, ivory-white pillars, polished marbled floors, and curtains accented with gold. The bright light outside streamed in through the gaps of the curtains, filling the hall with a heavenly glow. This deceptively beautiful dungeon was not a particularly high-difficulty area, nor was its treasure particularly bountiful. The true "treasure" that Athena sought was the challenge of putting her newfound blade [i]Wraithslayer[/i], which sat faithfully in its scabbard at her side, to the test against this dungeon's final boss.

Moving past the tall stone doors and entering into what appeared to be the palace dungeon's throne room, Athena came to a slow halt as her eyes took in the wonderful sight that lay before her. The grand hall's ceiling towered far above, through a tiny opening, a few bright rays of light shone through, falling upon the two empty cushioned seats, undoubtedly belonging to the King and Queen of the castle. Having already been to this area before through a past quest, Athena already knew that no such King or Queen existed in the game. This room, devoid of any valuable treasures, was designed solely with the intention of being trap for unsuspecting players.

[b]"You have trespassed upon hallowed ground, intruder. Your presence will be cleansed accordingly."[/b] A loud, booming disembodied voice spoke, filling the room with its presence as the heavy stone doors slammed shut behind her. A slight smirk crept across Athena's face as the boss's AI went through its preset routine. Athena's sword hand remained empty by her side as she waited for the boss to finally make its appearance. Her shield which she carried in her off-hand, had not yet been raised.

As the echo of the boss's announcement finally faded, a humanoid shape shimmered into view as the game system constructed the virtual manifestation of the boss's physical form - a giant, silver-plated armored knight that stood easily twice the height as Athena's own character. In its armored right gauntlet, the system formed a giant heavy greatsword, which the armored knight easily lifted upwards with a single hand. Above the boss's head, a green single HP bar filled up, along with the text "Royal Guardian Knight" which indicated the boss's name.

[color=a187be]"Oh, don't worry about me. I'll be gone before you know it."[/color] Athena responded half-heartedly in a bored tone, clearly not the least intimidated by the giant's imposing presence. Of course, the boss's AI was not programmed with enough sophistication to respond to player verbal interactions, and it simply responded by lifting its heavy greatsword above its shoulders, readying its first attack.

As the armored knight suddenly swung its greatsword downwards at Athena's head, she responded by drawing out her sword, which instantly wrapped itself in the cloak of invisibility granted by its [i]Invisible Weapon[/i] item effect. Fluidly chaining together the act of drawing her sword with the swing of her counterattack, the invisible blade struck against the knight's own weapon. In the real world, one would expect that the weapon with greater mass would easily overpower the one with lighter mass, but the two colliding blades were  recognized by the game's system as being approximately equal in terms of raw statistics, with Athena's weapon having the advantage. With a shower of blue and yellow sparks, Athena's [i]Wraithslayer[/i] overpowered the giant greatsword, causing the boss's weapon to bounce back with great force, leaving it open to further attacks.

[i][color=a187be]My sword has a length of approximately ninety centimeters, I should be able to strike it from this range...[/color][/i] Athena thought to herself, as she quickly calculated the approximate dimensions of her invisible blade, and swiftly lunged with the blade with a powerful thrust into the knight's armor, sending its HP bar shooting down by about 30%. The knight responded by uttering out a pained gasp which echoed through its plated helmet, transforming the gasp into a savagely monstrous roar, and immediately counterattacked by blindly swinging down its weapon where Athena stood. Anticipating the counterattack, Athena evaded by stepping to the side, letting the blade smash into the stone floor beneath, instantly causing it to crumble into rubble. Not allowing the knight the opportunity to recover from her last attack, Athena lashed out with her sword with several lightning-quick strikes of her invisible blade, causing the boss's single HP bar dropping in increments of 10% per strike, with such speed that it appeared that she was wielding a whip rather than a sword.

With her 7-strike attack, the armored knight froze in mid-motion where it stood, the HP bar above its head now completely drained of green color, disappearing from view moments later.

[b]"A knight with an invisible sword? What is this... madness?"[/b] The armored knight's booming voice echoed around Athena as its physical form burst into countless shards of blue light, slowly fading into nothingness. As Athena returned her sword to its scabbard, she could not help but pause to think for a moment about the knight's strange remark before its death. It was eerily similar to the corpse monster that she had fought the previous day, where it seemed to act with a strange intelligence unlike any other AI in the game. Athena shook her head in an attempt to shake off the thought. It seemed ridiculous then, and it seemed even more ridiculous now. Besides, it wasn't uncommon for dungeon bosses to speak a line of preset dialogue upon death on occasion.

Just as the loot window appeared from where the armored knight boss dematerialized, a second window appeared above it. Curious, Athena tapped open the second window, revealing a short message from Arina, the Cait Sith archer that she had grouped up with just yesterday. 

[i]"Hey, what's up? Want to meet up again?"[/i] The message read.

Having her day's plans already set, Athena was almost ready to politely decline Arina's invitation, but then she suddenly remembered the archer's parting words from the previous day.

[color=ed1c24][i]"I don't know what all loot you guys got but if it's a weapon and you would like it improved or enchanted then talk to me! I'm kind of the number one crafter in this game."[/i][/color]

[color=a187be][i]Well, I guess my sword could use an upgrade if the Cait Sith could manage it. It's weapon statistics are barely better than my old longsword...[/i][/color] Athena thought to herself as she glanced at the sheathed sword at her side. For a boss-drop weapon it was rather unremarkable in terms of pure numerical statistics, but the added item effect might also make it more difficult for the average player to upgrade. With her character's skills more oriented towards creating and improving heavy armor, Athena was hopelessly unable to make any improvements herself. Turning her attention back to the boss loot window, Athena tapped through the onscreen menus to retrieve her loot. As expected, the loot wasn't particularly impressive due to the relatively low difficulty of the boss compared to her own character's statistics, but the amount of [i]Yrd[/i] that she obtained from the boss would help pay for half a month of rent at a comfortable inn in a capital city. It was a pity that she couldn't make this luxurious palace her own player home - the boss and other monsters would eventually respawn to reclaim its halls within a day's time.

As soon as she re-emerged from the palace's outer entrance, Athena stretched out her character's wings and took flight towards Cait Sith territory. Even though the races weren't currently in active conflict, it remained somewhat unnerving to travel to another race's territory, where it was possible to be attacked without the possibility for counterattacking due to the game's safe zone system. Athena hoped that the temporary presence of a lone Salamander character wouldn't raise too much attention by the Cait Sith inhabitants.

Using the locator function of her Friend List, Athena made her way through the skies to the town where Arina was located, her eyes easily making out the distinctive appearance of a typical blacksmith shop. Carefully making a discreet landing so as to avoid unnecessary attention by the Cait Sith players nearby, Athena made her way directly towards Arina's blacksmith shop, making sure to close the door behind her rather than letting it close by itself.

[color=a187be]"Hello, Arina, it's good to see you again. I was thinking about taking you up on your offer from yesterday. The weapon I received from the boss is proving itself to be useful, but it could use some upgrading if you're up for the challenge."[/color] Athena greeted the Cait Sith player as she retrieved the [i]Wraithslayer[/i] from its scabbard.

[color=a187be]"...And as you can see, handling it might be a little... difficult."[/color] Athena finished her sentence as the sword melted away from sight in her hands. Noticing that she and Arina weren't the only two in the shop, Athena then saw another player standing nearby, who was clearly not a Cait Sith, quickly recognizing him as the Spriggan player that she had grouped up yesterday.

[color=a187be]"Oh, didn't see you over there. Good to see you again, Kite."[/color] Athena greeted the Spriggan with her usual polite manner of speaking.