When word got out of the new limited-time raid event, everyone agreed it was way too gimmicky. To participate, you would have to wear a ring that slowly lowered your stats to a certain level, supposedly so that everyone could face the raid boss at the difficulty level the developer intended. Why couldn't the de-leveling just happen immediately prior to the raid, everyone wondered. To make matters worse, the way de-leveling worked was by shrinking the player, which wasn't something most people wanted to experience in virtual-reality. By the time the process finished, you'd be completely and utterly at the mercy of even the weakest enemies in the game.
Normally, no one would have wanted to take part in something like that. You'd have to be a total masochist or a real weirdo to be interested. But when the reward for clearing the raid was revealed, tens of thousands of people reluctantly signed up anyway. Simply put, it was the most powerful sword in the game–something so broken it could trivialize almost every enemy encounter and carry even the mashiest, most unthinking player through most floors.
Enticed by the reward, Kirito was one of the first players to visit the registration booth. After signing up, he received the special shrinking ring and put it on. As soon as he did, the ring was stuck to his finger and could no longer be unequipped. Supposedly it would disappear when it finished de-leveling him, and after the raid he'd receive an item that would let him grow back to normal and also shrink back down if he ever wanted to. Why the game couldn't just grow him back automatically was beyond him. All anyone could guess was that there was so much spaghetti code in the game as a whole that this was the only way it could be made to work.
It was annoying, but he'd put up with anything for the sake of that killer sword. He could practically feel it in his hands already as he made his way back home to his wife Asuna and their adopted daughter Yui.
“Welcome home, Kirito!” Asuna said as she opened wide the door of their log house to receive him. When they saw each other, the both of them froze as they noticed that Kirito was now a few centimeters shorter than her, not a few taller like he usually was. They stood looking at each other for a moment, until Asuna raised a hand to her mouth and snickered. “So you didn't back out in the end, huh? Looks like I'm gonna be the taller one between us for a change!” She patted his head and ruffled his hair teasingly, until he rolled his eyes and firmly pushed her hand away.
“Yeah, well, don't get used to it. It's just three more days until the raid, and then I'll go back to normal.”
“I still can't believe you're going through with it. Do you even have any idea how small you're going to shrink?”
“No, they never announced that.”
“So what you're saying is you might keep shrinking until you're as small as my toes?” She lifted her bare foot, wiggling her toes to demonstrate.
Kirito rolled his eyes. Asuna had been teasing him nonstop about how small he would end up ever since he told her he'd be taking part in the event. The way she went on about it, you'd think she'd been dreaming about something like this her whole life. Kirito could already tell he'd be in for a whole lot more teasing as his shrinking progressed, but he was willing to put up with that too for the sake of his reward.
“Daddy!” Yui called out as soon as she stepped into the living room and saw him. Asuna stepped aside as Yui ran towards him, letting their daughter pounce on Kirito. As she hugged him, Kirito grabbed her in his arms and spun her around twice before setting her back down. “Daddy, are you going to shrink really tiny?”
“Maybe, maybe not. It could be that this is as small as I'm going to get. But don't worry, Yui, it's only going to be for a few days. After that your dad's gonna be back to normal.”
“He-he! I bet you're gonna be as small as our toes! I can't wait to play with you when you're all tiny and cute!” Yui said.
Kirito was taken aback by how excited she sounded. “Eh? You really want to see me shrink that small?”
“Look, Yui! Daddy's already shorter than mommy!” Asuna said, pulling him close so they were shoulder to shoulder and moving a hand back and forth to compare their heights.
“Okay, that's enough teasing. Anyway, I only came to say hi before I head out for some grinding.”
“Grinding? But aren't you going to get de-leveled all the way when you go on the raid?”
“Sure, but I can still hone my skills for the fight, and maybe nab some useful items.”
“And are you sure you can handle it by yourself? You haven't lost too much power yet?”
“Let me see.” Kirito pulled up his character screen. “Looks like I've only lost three percent of my stats so far. Pretty sure I'll be fine.”
“You lost three percent after what, half an hour? You're gonna be way weaker before long. I should go along and make sure things don't get too hot for you to handle.”
Kirito shrugged. “If you say so. Come on, let's get going while I'm still big enough for this. Yui, you stay here for now, okay? We'll be back in a couple hours.”
“Okay. Take care, daddy!” Yui said, waving at her parents as they left for the layer's labyrinth.
For the next two hours Kirito would do nothing but battle, slicing up monster after monster to hone his tactics for the raid boss. The boss's identity was still a mystery to everyone, so he couldn't be too sure what he'd need for it; he'd just have to practice all his moves for now. At first he hardly noticed any difference from his reduced level—the monsters here were all weak enough that he could one-shot all the common enemy mooks. But as he got smaller, the enemies got tougher. He started needing two good attacks to defeat them, then three, then four right after that. Asuna mostly stayed back and watched him deal with all of them, not bothering any monsters that didn't come after her first.
Kirito's stamina was starting to run low as the expedition neared two hours in, but he could still handle every enemy encounter that came his way until they ran into a whole pack of maroon wolves. By then he had lost about a third of his height and stood around four feet tall, head and shoulders shorter than Asuna. The monsters took too many hits to defeat, and there were too many of them for him to handle alone. He managed to thin out their numbers a bit, but then they knocked him to the ground and might have ripped out his throat if Asuna hadn't stepped in to cut them all in half.
“You okay, Kirito?” she asked, crouching next to him while he caught his breath and let his stamina recharge.
“Yeah, I'm fine. Guess I reached my limit. Thanks for the help, Asuna. Just wish I could have gotten a little bit more practice today.”
“Don't sweat it, I'm sure you don't need it anyways. If you really want to practice, we'll find you some other way to train later. But for now, let's just get you home, little guy!” Asuna surprised Kirito by hooking her arms under his back and his knees, then standing up to lift him as easily as if she were carrying a little kid.
“H-hey, put me down! I can still walk fine on my own!”
Asuna giggled. “Nope, sorry! You're too short and cute to be left on your own! I'll carry you all the way back home. You just sit tight and get your energy back in the meantime,” she said, carrying him despite his protestations. He tried to convince her to set him down, but eventually he gave up and let her do what she wanted, crossing his arms in a huff and turning away in embarrassment.
It was late in the day when they were coming back, the waters of the lake shimmering brightly with the light of the setting sun. Before they reached their home Kirito jumped out of Asuna's arms and almost fell flat on his face as he was surprised by the distance to the ground. He'd kept shrinking since leaving the labyrinth, and now he was another six inches shorter. The top of his head didn't even come up to Asuna's breasts now, as he saw when he looked up at her in awe, really understanding for the first time what it would mean for him to keep shrinking smaller. Even someone as slender as Asuna already seemed like a towering amazon to him, easily strong enough to knock him out in a single blow. It made his gut roil to think of how gigantic she would look if he ended up shorter than her knees.
“You okay, Kirito?” she asked mischievously once she saw his stunned expression, walking right up to him so he had to crane his head back to see her face. She looked so big and intimidating with that grin she wore that Kirito couldn't help but take a step back. “What's wrong? Scared I'll do something to you out here?” She reached over and patted his head. “Come on, let's go say hi to Yui. I'm sure she'll be happy when she sees how small you are.”
Yui. That's right. Kirito hadn't even thought about how big she would be compared to him now. He probably wouldn't even reach her chin.
Sure enough, when they were back in their home a minute later and Yui was rushing over to greet them, the both of them stopped in their tracks as soon as they saw each other, taking in how much things had changed between them. Yui's “daddy” barely reached her shoulders now, and she looked like almost as much of an amazon as Asuna did. Grinning, she walked right up to Kirito until she was looking down at him and he up at her. “Hi, daddy!” she said, draping her arms over his shoulders and pulling him closer with her hands at his back until he was hugged right up against her, unable to step away until she let him go. “How did your grinding go? Did you beat all those big bad monsters by yourself, or did mommy have to rescue you?”
“Well, I did beat most of them by myself...” he muttered, hoping Asuna wouldn't say anything.
“Oh, sure, he beat most of them, until he got too short and almost got eaten by a pack of wolves.” Kirito frowned at Asuna, upset that she'd revealed his failure, but as soon as she met his eyes he looked away submissively.
“Yeah, well, I probably could've beat them all still if I just remembered to grab a stamina potion first. Even at the end they weren't that tough, I was just getting tired, and anyway I only wanted to spend a couple hours grinding so it's not like I cut the session short because of it. I would've kept going if I'd wanted to.” He tried to sound as strong and confident as he could, but Yui and Asuna giggled all the same.
He got upset but he didn't say anything about it. He didn't dare, not when they were both so much bigger than him. Simply being here with his back to the wall and the both of them standing in front of him already had him feeling cornered. Maybe Asuna noticed it, though, because right after that she stepped back and pulled Yui away. “Alright, let's give Daddy some time to rest. Come here, Yui; why don't you help me make some food for us?”
Kirito breathed a sigh of relief when they left him alone. Not that he was relieved for long. Even simply looking around at his home and seeing how huge everything was reminded him that he was going to spend a lot of time being really small and vulnerable. Despite their teasing, he was glad to have Yui and Asuna around to take care of him, or else who knew if he'd survive until the day of the raid. “I wonder if everyone else who signed up also has people to take care of them.”
The rest of the day went by fairly normal, without too much teasing . It was getting late and he was still tired from all that grinding so he decided to go to bed right after dinner, bidding the others good night.
He still hadn't fallen asleep when Asuna came in. By then he was down to half his normal height, so she looked positively gigantic to him. She quietly stripped off her clothes and put them away, until she wore only her underwear. Then, standing in front of the window, her beautiful figure outlined by the moonlight filtered through the white curtains, she turned to Kirito and smiled.
Normally Kirito's first thought would have been about how beautiful she was, but now, the first thing he noticed was how tall she looked to him. And to think he hadn't finished shrinking yet. How big would she be when he did? Would he really end up as small as her toes?
He was a bit nervous as she walked around to the other side of the bed and climbed on, her huge body making everything move. She lay down next to him, a big and terrifying presence. Even with his back turned to her he could feel her amusement, and tried to push it out of his mind. But then her hand fell on his chest and pulled him closer, until he was pressed against her.
“Why are you sleeping all the way over there?” she murmured. “It's way more comfortable here with me~.” Holding him close with both hands, she rolled onto her back and lifted him up along with her so that he lay atop her body, his head resting on her chest and his feet down on her lap. Her hands covered his chest and stomach, and the warmth of her body blanketed him all over. She laughed softly. “Good night, Kirito~.”
“G-good night,” he said. He lay stiffly on her at first, but after a while, when she was fast asleep and he could feel the gentle rhythm of her breathing beneath him, he started relaxing and before long fell asleep on her.
Giantess World
Story Notes:
Anonymous commission. Since it's going to be 5 chapters, I decided to publish it as its own thing instead of in the commissions collection.
Author's Chapter Notes: