Equis Art Online II

As the players soared through the skies of Aarune, Twilight looked down at the ground. The once vibrant landscape was scorched in many places, and she had counted at least five groups of players heading towards their destinations.

"Where are we heading, Yui?" Kirito asked.

"Towards the Muspelheim portal gate. When we get there, a quest should start." Yui replied.

"'Kay." Twilight said.

After around five more minutes of flying, Yui called out suddenly.

"Heads up! Muspelheim portal incoming!" Yui said, and Kirito dived down. As the group set themselves down in a grove, Klein moved some bushes to reveal a small Flame giant squad, consisting of three giants, was patrolling around the gate. Then, a notification came up for each player.

QUEST-OVERTHROW

The king is here. Dethrone him.

REWARDS

Main

UNKNOWN

Possible

LEGENDARY ITEM

As each player accepted the quest, Kirito drew his sword, but Aries put his hand on Kirito's arm.

"Maybe...we don't need to fight these guys." Aries said, and he chanted Vanish into Night. As each player disappeared from sight, Kirito nodded and stepped out of the grove, with each player following.

"Man, those monsters are huge." Silica said, shivering slightly at the sight of them.

"Yeah. If these are regular Flame Giants, then I'm not sure how big Syrt's gonna be." Lizbeth replied.

"Ssh. They can't see, but they can hear us." Aries said. "We still have to avoid them."

As they neared the portal, Aries noticed the timer for the spell.

15 Seconds remaining!

"Get to cover!" he whispered, and each player dived behind one of the many pieces of masonry dotting the ruins near the portal. Then, the ground began to shake. One of the flame giants walked near the portal and stopped. He growled and spun, looking around.

"Sirvl, what's wrong?" A second flame giant walked up.

"Meh. Right now I'm contemplating my reason for existence." Sirvl said meekly. (Every member of the group dropped their jaws at this.)

"I don't care! Sit down! Dinner's ready!" a third giant said irritably, pulling Sirvl over to a large campfire, with a boar roasting on a tripod. As the flame giants began to eat, Sirvl sighed.

"We should've had a nice quiche." he said miserably.

"Alright, that's IT!" The third giant said angrily, storming over to the first.. "Instead of eating it simple like every good flame giant should, you always wanna do something fancy with it! So shut up and eat your boar!" the third said.

"But quiche is so delicious!" the first one said. "It's rich and creamy and…"

"SHUT UP!" the third said.

As the flame giants continued to argue over the merits of quiche, Kirito and the group looked at them in shock and a mixture of emotions that could be summed up with "What the HELL am I watching right now?"

"That's...something I did not expect.." Sinon said, her eyebrows raised as high as they would go.

"Did Pinkie teach that first giant how to cook? I mean, when I think of a giant, I'm pretty sure they eat meat raw, with bloodstained teeth and meat juice dripping down their chest.. Not sure if I've read anything about them eating quiche or contemplating the meaning of life." Twilight said.

"Yeah. I'm not sure we need to see this. Let's get going." Kirito said, activating the gate. As they were about to step in, there was a loud cry of pain, and the group turned to see the third flame giant viciously punching the first one in the face repeatedly, while the second one just sat there, eating his boar. Kirito sighed, shrugged, and led the group through the portal. As everyone except Aries entered, the three Stupid Flame Giants kept arguing, now over the third's ability to cook. As Aries entered last, he sighed, turned around, and entered.