10Grueling. That's pretty much the word I'm just going to outright describe what I've had to do. One month has passed since the game has trapped us here and according to the stats, over 2,000 people have died.
Lost their lives entirely… in a video game.
It seems so… unreal that this is actually happening but we have no idea or evidence to contradict otherwise whether they are still alive outside or not. Even so, I haven't decided to just lay down and wait out this nightmare like I've seen plenty of people do. Thanks to Kirito, he and I have been farming and completing quests left and right to get our levels as high as we can and our pockets lined with as much cash as we can grab. Of course, my friend has a different way of playing and for whatever reason he's decided most often to become a solo player, much to my confusion. If this were a regular game, I'd understand the preference to solo it and all but here, we lose all out health, we're gone for good. Having a partner at least will make sure you got someone watching your back and helping you out should you are in dire need of it.
Although I guess whether this is a death game or not, the appeal of solo playing is still there. No one to watch out for and help, you can go at your own pace, all the experience and col you get will go straight to you rather than splitting it amongst your party. All the loot and rewards dropped is yours as well. Still, since Kirito is pretty much the one friend I've worked with mostly and I haven't seen Klein as much, I too have soloed when I can. I take care to make sure I know what I'm getting myself into and t not bite off more than I can chew. Plenty of healing potions and crystals in my inventory to make sure my health will be high up when I need it.
It's funny. I used to stockpile so many consumables and items because I never felt the need to use them or I always kept telling myself there would be an opportunity for me to use it later. Now I can't hold them anymore and I will use whatever I need at any opportunity.
After all, no respawning this time. Kayaba's playing for keeps.
In the month that's passed, we haven't made any progress on locating the 1st floors boss, even with Kirito and I's scouting of the floor. A lot of people are still being cautious when they travel so not many people are actively looking for the entrance to the boss.
Until now.
That's where we are right now. In a small coliseum where well over a dozen members of the more active fighters are gathered for news about the first floor boss.
"Okay, people! Now that everyone's here, let's get this meeting started. So anyway, I want to thank everyone for coming. Good to see you. My name is Diavel, and in this game, the job I rolled is knight!" Diavel, the bearer of the news, tells everyone from his spot on the middle of the ground floor
A lot of people end up laughing because that's not really a thing here. "Dude, there's no job system in this game!" One guy comments.
"You guys want to hear this or not?" Asking the question gets everyone to stop laughing so we can get to the important part of this meeting. "Right, anyway here's the deal. Our party found the boss room at the top of the tower today." This gets I and Kirito's attention at the first confirmation of the boss. Everyone else thinks so too as people start murmuring themselves. "First, we need to defeat the boss and make it to Floor Two. The next step is we have to tell everyone waiting in the {Town of Beginnings} that it is possible to beat this game! Fact is, it's our duty as the most capable players here! Do you agree or not?!" Diavel asks everyone loudly and proudly. Lots of people still wait at the {Town of Beginnings} for this to blow over or are resigned to stay there for the rest of their lives if need be. Taking down this boss will go a long way in boosting morale and showing that we aren't just trapped here. After some more murmuring and nods from everyone, small cheers, clapping and whistling can be heard in agreement. Even Kirito and I smile at this. Diavel continues, "Okay, glad to hear you're all with me on this, now let's figure out how we're going to beat the boss. First off, we'll team up into parties of six."
"Guh!" A sideways glance confirms Kirito isn't exactly fond of that what with the sudden gasp. Me, I'm indifferent… provided I pair up with competent people that can work together.
"A typical party doesn't stand a chance against a floor boss. We need a raid group made up of multiple parties." While Kirito momentarily freaks out as he examines everyone, Diavel continues to speak and explain why the need to pair up. A glance down myself shows that everyone was on the ball because the stands are pretty much devoid of people and down below, all partied up.
"Guess we better get to it, huh Kirito?"
"…"
"… Kirito?" I look back to find I am alone. "Wha-! Bu- You- uh?!" I look all around to try to find my friend until I see him off to the side with another person, this one wearing a cloak almost entirely. "Dude!" I lightly shout at having been left out high and dry by my friend. I get up and begin walking over to him, glaring maybe a little at the back of his head. While I get close though, I see Kirito open his menu and send the mysterious person a group invite. While I'm still annoyed, I smile at the act nonetheless. As soon as I stand behind him, the other person notices me.
"Looks like we aren't the only ones left out."
"Huh?" Kiriot turns back to me. "Oh hey. Sorry for leaving you back there but I just—"
Before he can finish speaking, I hold up my hand to stop him. Once he does, I sigh and relax a little. "Just… send me an invite before I tell you how annoyed I am you left me back there." I straight up demand. He chuckles embarrassingly and smiles sheepishly before he too sends me an invite. As soon as I get the window, I accept it instantly. 'Let's see who this is…' The names and health bars of my allies appear on the corner: Kirito and Asuna. 'Okay, we got a girl. Cool.' I nod and sit down next to them so we can continue to listen.
"All right. Looks like everyone's teamed up. Now then—"
"Hold up a sec!" Someone loudly interrupts Diavel. Some guy with spiky orange hair on top of the arena is the reason. With a bit of flair and to make sure everyone's eyes are on him, he proceeds to jump down the rows of seats several times at once before sliding to a stop at the bottom. "My name's Kibaou, got that?" He states, pointing his thumb to himself. "Before we take on the boss, I want to get something off my chest! We all know about the two thousand people who died so far, yeah? Well, some of you need to apologize to them right now!" He demands as he points to the stands where everyone is. 'I got a bad feeling about this.' I think and from the uneasy expression, so does Kirito.
"Kibaou, I think I know who you're referring to. You mean the ones who were ex-beta testers, right?" Diavel asks and he's right.
"'Course I mean them! The day this stupid ass game started, the beta guys just got up and vanished, right? They ditched all us beginners! They snagged all the good hunting spots, and they grabbed all the easy quests too! They were the only ones getting stronger in here. This whole time, they've ignored us like we were nothing. Hell, I bet there are some of them here! Come on out, beta testers! We should make them apologize to us, and we should make them all give up their money and the items they got! They can't expect the party to trust them when they don't trust us! Why should we?!" Kibaou goes off loudly to everyone, voicing his displeasure at the beta testers. Looking to Kirito, he looks incredibly uncomfortable about the accusation and looks conflicted about it all. I'm not surprised to be honest. That is kind of something we did on the first day. After we separated from Klein, Kirito immediately started leading me around to find all the good stuff that would help us considerably. That of course meant lots of other people got the short end of the straw since they didn't know exactly how to go about things. Still, I place my hand on his shoulder, calming him down some as I give him a comforting smile. He smiles back.
"Can I say something?" A new voice speaks ups, getting our attention. Another guy, big guy, African American holding a giant axe, two handed variant most likely, like my sword, walks down the steps and steps up to Kibaou. The guy is tense and I'm not surprised why. This new guy is easily a head taller than him. "Hey, my name's Agil. Kibaou right? I want to make sure I'm on the same page. You say the ex-beta testers should be blamed for the rookies' deaths because they didn't help them, and you want them to apologize and give up their winnings. I leave anything out?" He reexplains what Kibaou said earlier.
"No, you didn't."
"The item store hands these out for free. It's a guidebook. You got one, didn't you?" Agil asks as he pulls out a small book.
"Sure I got one. So, what about it?
"You know who was handing these out? The ex-beta testers." I smile at the bomb Agil just dropped on everyone. More murmurs and the conflicted look Kibaou has is satisfying. "Listen up! Everyone had equal access to this information. Even so, lots of players still died. I didn't come here to point fingers at anyone. I'm here 'cause I want to learn from those players' deaths. I'm here because I want to find out how we're gonna beat the boss." I smile at Agil's small little speech and he's not wrong. We are here to beat the boss after all. That's what this meeting is for to begin with. Because I had Kirito show me the ropes, I didn't grab the book myself, too busy leveling up and farming, but maybe I can learn a thing or two if I check out the guidebook. With one last look to Kibaou, Agil returns to his seat. I smirk at the defeated frustrated look Kibaou has as he returns to his seat in a huff.
"Okay, can we get back to the meeting now?" Diavel resumes speaking, "For info on the boss, it's all in here, the latest issue of the guidebook you just heard about. According to the book, the boss's name is {Illfang the Kobold Lord}. Also, he'll be surrounded by his minions… the {Ruin Kobold Sentinels}. Illfang carries an axe and a buckler. He has four health bars, and when the last one turns red, he switches to a curved sword type weapon called a Talwar. He can change his patterns of attack, too. That's it for the briefing. As for the distribution of loot, money will be divided equally among everyone. The party that defeats the boss gets the EXP; and whoever gets an item, gets to keep it. Any objections?" After explaining everything, he asks everyone. Despite a few murmurings, no one says anything to him. "Good! We leave tomorrow at ten in the morning! Meeting adjourned, people." The meeting concluded, everyone begins to mill about doing their own thing.
Before Kirito and I can do anything, our third party member, Asuna, leaves without so much as a notice to us or a word. We both stare as she leaves our view entirely before Kirito sighs. I pat his shoulder to get his attention on me. "I'm gonna go stock up my supplies. Wanna come with?" I offer to him. Since we're all in a party, we can track and find out where each of us are so if we need to find each other, whether its something or to prepare for the boss battle, we can find each other well enough
"Hm, thanks but I think I'm just going to relax for a bit. Go on without me."
"Alright then. See you when its time." I get up and walk out of the area. Grabbing my supplies is one thing but I'm gonna need to make sure I'm mentally prepared for it as well. 'I should to the same as him, later.'
I spent the majority of the day farming a bit more col so I can buy more potions and crystals for use in the upcoming battle. Once I've gotten enough cash, it was simply to head to the stores and stock up on what I needed. Mostly what I got was an abundance of healing items, along with some speed enhancing crystals. Crystals aren't cheap and the booster I got definitely was not. I only have a few so I have to make sure I make them count. My biggest weakness in my two-handed sword is the slow movement I'll be hampered with. Reach and strength aren't a problem but if I suddenly get ganked and somehow cut off from everyone, I don't want my slow movement to lead to my downfall. Remembering from them meeting and the handbook I picked up, it's possible Illfangs minions are more of a swarm attack strategy along with distractions from him the real target. Too many gang up on one player and their a goner.
If it was just one opponent, I wouldn't bother. Multiple… that's a different matter entirely. As soon as it started getting dark and having gotten everything I needed, I payed for a hotel room until tomorrow and spent a few hours straight sitting and easing my mind into it. One thing I've come to learn is that you can have all the items you need for a situation, have the strength, speed, and knowledge to go along with it… but it'll be all for nothing if you aren't prepared for it mentally. I even took a small nap but mostly I spent the time mentally preparing myself for my first real battle, knowing exactly what the stakes are. As soon as it was starting to get late, I decided to go ahead and find the other two in my party, just to make sure we're good to go. That's where I find myself walking through the streets, passing by players of the frontlines as they relax a bit before we go into combat tomorrow. Soon enough, I manage to track them to a small street off the main path where they are conversing. I come up behind the two as catch the last part of their conversation.
"Okay. Why are you here?" Kirito asks as I tread slowly and quietly.
"So I don't lose sight of who I am. I don't want to lock myself in a room in the {Town of Beginnings} and slowly rot away. I'd rather stay the way I am till the last moment. Even if a monster beats me and I die, I won't lose to this game or this world, no matter what." Asuna states firmly with conviction. While I don't like how she seems so keen and comes off as almost eager to die, I can appreciate the fact that she doesn't want to sit around doing nothing. She wants to do something. 'Good on ya'.'
"I wouldn't want a party member dying on me, so try not to die tomorrow." Kirito advices her to do for tomorrow. On that we can agree wholeheartedly.
"These should help then." I make my presence known as I reach to the spot between them and place the healing items down between them. They both look on in surprise at my sudden appearance.
"Dude! When'd you get here?!" Kirito asks loudly, surprise clearly evident in his voice.
"… Just now." My friend gives me a deadpan look before he sighs with closed eyes and Asuna turns away from me. "Anyway, I went ahead and stocked up on essentials for the upcoming fight. Also grabbed some extra healing supplies for you guys so you can focus on resting and preparing rather than shopping." I offer as I continue to place down a few more of them, split evenly between them
"Oh, thanks." Kirito is grateful for the gesture and pockets his share.
"Good. Nice work." Asuna says in a huff. I'm not sure if its because she hasn't warmed up to me or because she didn't like how I surprised them.
With a shake of my head, I walk around them and prepare to head on my way. "Anyway, its getting kind of late. I'm gonna turn in early. See you two when its time."
"See ya."
"Bye." My teammates says their byes as I walk away to my hotel room. I don't go too far though before I stop. "Hey." I say. Even though I'm not looking at them, I know their looking at me now. Slowly, I turn around and stare at the both of them. "We watch each other's backs. No matter what. I'd prefer it if we lived to see this thing through." Having said my piece, I continue on.
It's time. The raid group ready to take on the first floor boss of this game walks through the {Forest Field} towards where we were told where our target is. We're all walking in a long column along the safest, fastest route we have to the boss room. It was pretty much generally agreed upon by everyone, either vocally or silently, to go as a group to minimize the possibility of being attacked and exhausting our resources in skirmishes encountered on the way. No one wants to waste their healing items on a random encounter when we're heading for a Boss.
"Let's go over it again." Kirito decides to do a quick recap of our role in the upcoming fight. "We're the backup. So, our target's gonna be the boss's minions, the {Ruin Kobold Sentinels}."
"Got it." I reply in confirmation I know what we need to do.
"I know." Asuna does as well.
"I'll use a sword skill to knock their weapons up and out of the way. When I do, one of you switch and jump in."
"What's a switch?" Asuna asks.
While I'm not too caught up in the question, I hear Kirito audibly gasp. "Okay, level with me. Is this the first time you've ever been in a party?"
"Uh-huh."
While I and Asuna continue to walk, we notice Kirito lag behind… like a lot. Stopping and turning back we see him stare at her in surprise. He then slumps forward and sighs. I chuckle lightly at a sort of repeat predicament Kirito has kind of found himself in. I step up to him and pat his back. "Your just a teacher for noobs, aren't 'cha?" I ask him quietly so Asuna doesn't here. After all, he did help me and Klein the first time when we played the game. Here he goes again.
At the dejected sad head nod, I pat his back comfortingly.
We stop in front of the door to the boss room where Diavel turns back to us all. "Listen up, everyone. I've only got one thing to say to you. Let's win!" Everyone steels themselves. 'Straight and to the point… I like it.' "Come on!" Ready as we'll ever be, he opens the door and lets us in. As everyone begins to slowly pour in with my team in the back, the room starts off dark but when the majority of us enter, the entire large room lights up with torches sparking to life with fire, giving us a clear and unobstructed view of our opponent. {Illfang The Kobold Lord}, that giant fat red lizard lets out a mighty loud roar and readies his axe and shield. His minions spawn and snarl before they all charge us together. "Commence attack!" With a point of his sword, the preparation everyone has been waiting for up until this moment has started. The frontliners let out various war cry's as they charge the enemy as one, ready to fight and show this game what we're made of.
As the battle rages, the assigned troops and squads move in to attack and tear illfangs health down as much as possible with Diavel coordinating everyone. His orders range to all the different squads and groups to do what they need to do. From attacking and defending to when to switch out and heal.
Elsewhere is where we are. "Squads D, E and F, keep those minions off us!"
"Yeah, you got it!" Kirito yells to our leader and moves in to engage one of the sentinels. Like we planned for us to engage the minions, Kirito blocks its attack before he attacks and knocks enemy's weapon out of its grip. "Switch!"
"Go for it Asuna!" I shout at her and she takes it.
"I'm on it!" She sprints forward, running low to the ground with her weapon ready to thrust and attack the open enemy Kirito left for her. I am utterly surprised by the sheer speed that she exhibits. If I didn't know better I'm pretty sure she pushed herself into an agility/speed build because holy crap she closes the distance in no time at all and attacks the open enemy with some sort of flurry stab sword skill. The minion is riddled various stabs wounds and slashes all around its body before it dies soon after.
"Wow." I mutter in awe at how quick she was.
Three new sentinels spawn and move in to engage her. "Switch!" She yells and jumps backs.
"Vendicar!"
"On it!" I reply and move to engage the three new sentinels coming at her. Gripping my sword with both hands, letting it drag just above the ground behind me to my right, I move past her for my turn to engage them. The sentinels snarl in preparation to attack me as they move to attack as one. At the opening they leave themselves in, I smile and ready my sword skill. Like before, my sword glows and as soon as they get close enough, in a single swipe I hit all three of them. My {Cyclone} sword skill rips through them from down to the right to the upper left, cutting a red diagonal line across all three of them. Reach was my advantage here so my long sword easily cut through them before they could get close enough to hit me with theirs, if only barely. Still it was successful as one after another, they disappear in explosive polygons and I step back to quickly assess the situation.
"Nice work." Kirito compliments me as moves up to me.
"Thanks." I reply before looking to where our main team is fighting.
"Looks like the guidebook was right." Kibaou mutters as we watch the boss establish his final form now that he's on his last bar of health. With another roar he tosses away his axe and shield and begins to grab his final weapon.
"Stay back! I've got it!" Suddenly Diavel charges forward ahead of everyone, intent on taking on the last of the boss by himself.
'Wait. That's not right. The plan was to surround him.' I recall the plan that was instructed for each and every single one of us to do. Nonetheless, Illfang pulls out his weapon for us to see.
"Wait, stop!" Kirito suddenly shouts towards our reckless leader. "It's no good! Get out of there!" Whatever it is that he was trying to do, It's too late for Kirito to give the warning as the boss moves at an ungodly speed all over the place. Diavel is left completely open at the speed and Illfang closes the distance to the lone fighter in an instant. With one swipe, a deep giant red cut tears through Diavel's body, and his health.
"Diavel! No!" Kibaou cry's out as we watch our leader go flying away and impact the ground far away from the boss. No one else can get to him as Illfang begins to engage the others.
"Diavel!" While Kirito runs over to our downed leader, I run at the minion that he pushed back earlier and before it can attack him from behind I run my sword straight through the monster and push him away from my friend. It lets out a squeal from the hit but disintegrates soon after once I push it against the ground. Not wanting to take anymore chances, I run up and move into a defense position near Kirito while he tends to Diavel. "What the hell were you thinking?" Kirito begins to scold him but before he can give him the healing item, he pushes Kirito's hand back.
"You know… you were a beta-tester too, weren't you?" Even injured, Diavel manages to say to Kirito, both surprising him and me a little.
"You were after the Last Attack Bonus… the rare item. You're just like me, a beta-tester." 'Beta-tester? Diavel your one?' I'll admit, I was kind of fooled by that to be honest, and it does explain his willingness just now in trying to finish Illfang alone.
"Please… you have to… defeat the boss… for everyone here!"
The cracking of glass through the air finally makes me look back and my eyes widen as it finally sets in. With his final words spoken, Diavel is gone. His body completely shatters into millions of virtual pieces, erasing his existence before our very eyes. Thing is though, a lot of times I saw and heard that familiar breaking noise over and over again during the time here in this game. Usually, its when an item breaks or I and my friends kill a monster. Only now… it's a player.
This is… I think this is the first time I've seen a player die before my very eyes. He's gone and nothing is going to bring him back. 'This… this is a death game. I've known our lives are on the line but I didn't… It didn't hit me until now.' My thoughts slowly peel off as slowly look over at my own shell-shocked friend. The realization is sinking in for him as well. His look of surprised horror slowly morphs into a neutral look before he looks… ready, for something. From the slow stand up and grip of his sword, I think he knows its time for us to take off the kiddy gloves, and fight for the others for a change.
"I'll go too." Asuna wastes now time in coming up to Kirito's left and voicing her support.
"I've got your back." I move up to Kirito's right side in support of his oncoming attack as well. 'No way am I being left out now.' I think as I grip my sword behind me tightly.
"Okay." He nods at his teams backup and before long Illfang has already pushed back the other members of our raid group and left himself open for us to engage. We take the opportunity as we run. "We'll hit him just like we did the minions!" We move forward and are running full sprint towards the only enemy left in this entire place.
"You got it."
"Right." Asuna and I voice our agreement as we ready ourselves when Illfang spots us.
Like before, Kirito moves in to engage him first while Asuna and I wait for the opportunity to strike. Both fighters weapons ignite with the use of their sword skills. "Switch!" Asuna and I move in to attack him. Unfortunately, his recovery time seems to have increased as well as I catch a glimpse of his eye staring right at us. "Look out!" Kirito's warning comes just in time as I barely manage to put up my sword to block, bracing the flat of the blade with my hand towards him. Even so, the force of the hit forces me to slide back several feet away from him. I'm more concerned with my partner as she has no means at all to defend herself from such a brutal attack. As I slide back, my breath hitches as I see his blade tear into her form. Relief washes over me though as it's quickly revealed that what he hit was in fact Asuna's cloak. It tears off her and breaks apart, allowing us to see her face and long flow of beautiful orange hair. That doesn't stop her though as while I was knocked back away, Asuna is able to stab into and deal a small amount of damage. She jumps back to put some distance from the enemy but it isn't much.
"He's coming back!" Kirito shouts and moves in to engage. I move as well. The first attack was shaky but now that we know, we implement our plan again and again. Kirito deflects the different attacks while Asuna and I attack him while he's vulnerable. This time we make sure theirs almost no time between Kirito's deflection and our attacks so as to prevent a quick recovery from the boss and pull another opportunity to try to decapitate us. After a few successful attempts, we manage to take out a large chunk of the boss's health. 'We're doing it! We can do this!' I can't help but happily think as with a few more hits, he's as good as dead.
My happiness is cut short as when we move in to do another combo attack, the boss wises up to our plan and when Kirito intends to deflect the attack, the boss goes into a feint, making my friend miss and leaves him completely open as Illfangs giant sword cuts into his stomach and sends him flying back through the air and into Asuna. "KIRITO! ASUNA!" I yell my comrade's names as the red mark from the monsters slash on Kirito is clear as day on his chest. The momentum of the hit sends him flying back and slams into Asuna, sending the both of them rolling and sprawling onto the ground behind me as I watch helplessly. A quick of Kirito's health shows he nearly lost his entire health from that hit, leaving him with a small amount of HP left. Not enough to take another one of those attacks that's for sure. As soon as I turn back to Illfang though, he is already on me, forcing me to attempt to block his attack but even when I do, I am still sent flying back through the air until I land past my friends. I stab my sword into the ground as I hit the ground, stopping me from going too far away. As soon as I stand back up, my eyes widen in horror as I see Illfang already on top of my team, sword poised and ready to end them in one swipe.
"RRRaaaaaaaaaaahhh!"
'Not on my watch!' "Nooo! HRAAAAAHH!" With a cry of my own, my {Lightning Thrust} sword skill, the first sword skill is used in this game, activates and like a blur, I push past my friends and intercept Illfangs attack on my friends. In a momentary flash of light, both our weapons clash, making I and the boss recoil harshly. That still doesn't stop either of us though as the monster angrily roars back and tries to hit me again. I pull my sword back in front of me and with a loud 'clang' both our weapons impact each other and we hold each other there, weapons locked. I grit my teeth and hold myself firm as I use every ounce of my strength to hold this monster here. Even though I'm holding him, I still manage to look back and look into the surprised wide eyes of my party members. "Get your health back up… NOW!" I begin to say before I accentuate the last word by pushing Illfang back. In the moment of his weapon going up, I twist my sword around to slash at his exposed stomach.
My attack comes in slow so it gives him just enough time to jump far back and well out of my reach. Now that we have a respite in the fight, its time I get serious. "Hurry up and get back on your feet. I'll cover you." I say to my team behind me as I quickly pull out a crystal. The speed enhancing crystal to be exact. After confirming its use, the item shatters in my hand but in an instant, I can already feel the effects on my body. My breath quickens as my body goes into overdrive. 'Let's do this!' "COME ON!" I yell out my challenge and after tightening my grip, I hear people call out to me from behind but the outside world deafens as I dash forward. The effects of the crystal are evident on me as Illfang and I charge each other, my speed pushing and on par with my opponent as we both close the distance in no time at all.
The world slows but my senses are faster as we both bring our blades up to meet each other. While this is happening, I barely notice that I'm letting out a war cry until our blades connect. Like before, the 'clang' rings out as we delve into a repertoire of blades impacting against each other. Thanks to the speed enhancement, I can keep up with Illfangs attacks but only barely. His attacks are also very strong but I manage to hold my own by mostly deflecting his attacks away from me. My blade moves all around me as I stand my ground and continue to impact his weapon with my own. The impact of our weapons doesn't seem to faze him all that much as he continues to try to chop me down to size but it still does have an effect on me. The sheer force of the impacts reverberates along the length of my weapon, into my hands and shake my entire body to its core. A quick look to my health bar shows my friends are back in the majority of green but I am slowly losing mine. Even though Illfang isn't directly hitting me, the force of his attacks slowly nip away at my health. 'I have to force him back… soon.' While I continue to defend against him, I keep an eye out for an opportunity against him.
One anger fueled overhead strike is all I need. 'Now!' Just before the blade connects to me, I hold the handle of my sword above and angle it to my left. Sparks fly off as Illfangs Nodachi scrapes along my blade, the edge barely nicking my cheek before it slams into the ground to my left.
He's completely open.
"Hrrraaah!" With all my might, I pull the weapon up and into Illfangs side. As much as I would have liked to have run my entire blade into his gut, he was still fast enough to move out of the way, but not entirely. I smirk in satisfaction as the first quarter of my blades end cuts into his side and leaves a nasty red mark from my hit. Even though I hit him, he's still determined to fight and end me. He completely turns around to his right at an ungodly speed and my eyes widen as his weapon comes careening towards my face from his left. I barely have time to pull the flat part of my sword in front of me before it impacts. "AArrhhhh!" I yell as he hits me full on in my block stance. Because I wasn't able to brace myself, a piece of his blade cuts into my chest as I'm completely thrown off my feet and sent hurtling through the air.
"Vendicar!" I vaguely hear someone call out my name as I flip through the air before impacting hard against the ground. I grunt as I roll on the ground over and over again before I end up sliding on my front. I groan after the rough treatment and look up. My sword slides up next to me and Illfang is being harassed by some players so his focus isn't on me anymore. I even see Agil leading the group as they take on the monster. Taking the opportunity, I quickly down a healing potion and breathe in relief as I watch my health go up some. It's not full, but it's enough. "Vendicar!" A glance to the side shows Kirito and Asuna running up to me. "Are you alright?" Kirito asks me concerned.
"Tch." I smirk and get up onto one knee before I grab my sword and press the tip into the ground. "I'm good. I'm not done yet." I growl and push myself onto my feet with my sword. "You two good to go?" I ask them now.
"We're fine now. Here. Top yourself off." Asuna offers me another health potion. Not wanting to argue or take any chances, I quickly take the item and down it, finishing filling up my health bar.
"Thanks. Now… I'm tired of seeing that thing live any longer. What about you two?" I ask with a slight smirk as I begin walking forward.
"Heh! Couldn't agree more!" Asuna walks up next to me as our speed turns to a jog.
"Ditto to that!" Kirito moves up as well before our speed turns to a full-blown sprint. 'We will defeat this monster! We will end it! FOR YOU DIAVEL!' The speed enhancement has already expired but now that I have my team with me, I don't have to be as fast anymore. My eyes train on the beast as it knocks down the other players and prepares to kill more players. 'NO MORE!'
"Watch out!" Kirito pulls ahead of us and activates his sword skill, "You're going down!" Again, like clockwork, he deflects Illfangs attack, preventing any damage from befalling our allies and forcing the boss away from everyone. "Come on, Asuna, Vendicar! Help me beat this sucker! One last attack!"
"You got it!" Asuna yells.
"Right behind you!" I confirm as well that I'm with them. If I wasn't, I would never forgive myself.
As one, we all yell as sprint forward to attack him… one… last… time. Kirito deflects his attack while Asuna hits him. Her attack forces him to drop his sword, leaving him completely vulnerable for me next. I move in, launching my {Lightning Thrust} and stab right into his stomach before he can dodge it. He roars in pain at my attack but I'm not done with him yet. With a mighty heave, I pull my blade out to my left, tearing it out the right side of illfangs stomach and pushing me away, giving Kirito the opening he needs to finish him. Not even a second passes from me leaving him does Kirito run his blade all the way along the boss. His cut starts from the stomach of the boss and I watch with satisfaction as his blade is pushed upwards along the body. Illfang is completely helpless as Kirito's final attack cuts through the entirety of his body all the way up to that bastards ugly face. One final cut and Kirito finishes running his blade through our enemy.
Silence overtakes the entire room as we watch the last of the bosses health drain until finally, he shatters before our very eyes. No one says a word until we see the very last particle that once was {Illfang The Kobold Lord} disappear into complete nothingness.
As soon as the {Congratulations} indicator message pops up overhead, "We did it!" Cheers and roars of applause go out all over the place as it sinks in we just killed the boss. The 1st floor boss! The first boss in this entire game and we just killed it.
"We did it… we did it…" I can't help but mutter the words over and over again as I collapse onto my knees close to Kirito, who is also on the ground breathing heavily. While in reality I'm not technically tired, just the sheer chaos we had to deal with was draining in of itself, even if it is just mentally.
"Nice job. We did it." Asuna comes up and compliments out loud, no doubt to all of us for those attacks we launched without remorse.
"That was some fine swordsmanship." Even Agil comes by to offer his compliments. "The both of you. Congratulations, today's victory is all thanks to the both of you." Kirito I'm not surprised at the compliment but I am surprised at it directed at me too.
"Wha-… I-I don't think…" I stutter a little.
"C'mon. When you took on Illfang all by yourself like that? That was pretty impressive." Agil reminds me of what I did.
"You saved us. Thank you." Asuna thanks me. Now that I think about, that was something I did. 'Oh… yeah. I attacked the boss… alone… in that moment. Wow.' I lightly shake my head as they look at Kirito.
"And you? You had some serious guts to have your teammates go up against the boss like that. Your plans of attack were the turning point."
"…No." I'm not the only one in a bit of denial at the compliment as Kirito says no. Even so, that doesn't stop the people from cheering and voicing their happiness at us. We both look at the cheering crowds, in somewhat disbelief that its for us, before we turn to each other and smirk.
"Stop cheering!" All at once, everyone does just what the voice had demanded. We look back to the crowd of people towards the origin of the voice. "Why'd you do it, huh? Why'd you let Diavel die?!" It doesn't take a genius to figure out the angered voice is Kibaou as he yells from past the group of players.
"Let him die?" Kirito mutters the question confused.
This sets off the sad but angry Kibaou as he stares at us angrily. "That's what I said. Admit it! You knew the technique the boss was gonna use. You could've told us! Then Diavel would've stood a chance… He wouldn't have to die!" He angrily states and explains the whole thing out loud for everyone. 'What? Oh no. When Kirito yelled for Diavel to get back, he caught on. This isn't good.' I grit my teeth and clench my hands at Kibaou's action. Already his words are spawning doubt as people begin to talk amongst themselves about the whole situation. 'I knew I didn't like that guy the second he opened his mouth.'
"I know why he knew!" After a few tense seconds of whispered murmurings from everyone, another guy catches on and begins to spur the crowd as he points an accused finger at my friend. "He used to be a beta-tester! Think about it! He knew the boss's attack patterns! He knew, but he kept it from us! And I bet he's not the only beta-tester here! Come on, show yourselves!" The angry jackass demands loudly of everyone here.
And just like that, all the happiness, joy and elation that came from killing the boss is gone in an instant, replaced by uncomfortable paranoia. Murmurs, glances and steely gazes are swapped by everyone as they all look at each other warily. Comrades in arms now turned against each other at the idea one of them may be a secret beta-tester. Asuna and Agil walk away from us and proceed to Kibaou to hopefully try to talk some sense into the guy and keep this from spiraling out of control. Already I'm seeing plenty of people start to become really tense about the whole beta-tester affair and its starting to worry me. 'We can't have people turning on each other like this. We need people to work together for future battles with the bosses and we need to trust each other to combat them! This is bad… really bad… something has to- what's with the laughing?'
"Eh hehe…" The laughing. The laughing pulls me from my thought as to who is chuckling at a time like this. As it continues on, I find out its none other than Kirito that's laughing. "… Hahahahaa… So, you guys think I used to be a beta-tester. It's not cool to put me in the same class with those noobs." We all stare at him as he talks and stands up.
"What'd you say?!" Kibaou isn't exactly happy with the words, actually I think any words for that matter that come from Kirito's mouth he'll be angry with, that he says. Not to mention the laughing to go along with it.
"You heard me. Most of the thousand people who scored a slot in SAO's beta were rookies. They were so green, they didn't even know how to level up. Hell, even you guys are better than they were." Everyone stares at him surprised as we casually walks through the crowd of people, making them part like the Red Sea due to his presence as he continues to speak. "But me, I'm nothing like those guys, man. During the beta, I made it to floors that were higher than any of the other testers. That's a fact. I knew about the boss, 'cause I fought tons of monsters with way more sword skills on higher floors!" 'God damn Kirito. You're really playing with fire with this stunt.' And I don't even know why he's speaking like this. "I know a bunch of other things, too. More than you can imagine. More than any info broker."
"W-What the hell? If that's true, then you're worse than a beta-tester! You're a goddamn cheater, that's what you are!" Kibaous words spark anger amongst everyone as now people start yelling and shouting insults at my friend. Using my sword I push myself up onto my feet and I slowly make my way against the main body group of players, prepared to help Kirito if people start rioting against him. 'Logically, may not be the best option to ally with the center of everyone anger… but he helped me with my first steps in this game. I owe him.'
"He's a beta-tester and a cheater! He's a Beater!" One guy yells.
"A beater… Yeah, that's good. I like it." That comment makes everyone gasp and me stop next to some people. I'm still surprised at how he's acting now too. Nothing like how when I first met him. This seems… odd. "Okay, you can call me a beater. Just make sure you don't confuse me with those beta-testers anymore." To accentuate his words, he opens up his inventory and puts on an entirely new armor piece for himself. A long black cloak appears on his form and bristles for a second before settling on him As Kirito begins to walk away through everyone, I'm trying to rack my head around why on earth he just pissed everyone off like that and made himself out to be a bad guy basically. As soon as he passes by me, the last person in the group of players, his head remains forward but the corner of his eye shifts to me… and he smiles.
Not… bad smiling like he was when he was talking to everyone. That sort of… evil dark smirk he was giving everyone as he was angering everyone. No this one was feels more… genuine. 'What?' My mouth gapes open as he walks towards the stairs leading to the next floor door. My view shifts back to the others and it's when I look at everyone, the realization of Kirito's action sets in as I look around and see everyone's expressions. Before, everyone was completely on edge and casting dangerous looks at nearly everyone here. Now all that anger is directed at my departing friend. I cast one last glance at Kirito's back before my lips lightly curl upwards, 'So that's your play huh? Wow… good on you, Kirito.' I smile towards him at the sacrifice and target he placed on his back before I finally let myself relax. After I sheathe my sword on my back, I get ready to follow after him when I see Asuna run to catch up to him. As soon as she passes me, I turn back to everyone else in the room.
"You know… that's the thing about beta's. Your prepared for the full game… but no matter what, its never the finished product. No one, except Kayaba, could have predicted the attack." I make sure I speak just loud enough for them all to hear what I say. It's the truth. Betas are basically demo models for the full release, where changes are made and new mechanics are added that were most likely never in the beta in the first place. You can't expect everything to be the same.
Not wanting to be a part of the crowd anymore, I run to catch up to Asuna and Kirito. "Wait!" She shouts for him to stop, and he does. I stop a few steps behind her. "When we were fighting the boss, you called me by my name."
"I wasn't trying to be rude. Did I mess up the pronunciation?" He apologizes and asks her.
"How'd you even know it?" She asks of him how. I look at her confused a little on her odd question. A quick glance up on my vision shows all three of our health bars and names. 'How did you she not see that?'
Nonetheless, Kirito shows her how we knew. "If you look right about here," He points at the general spot in his field of vision, "You'll see another two HP gauges under yours. There's a couple names written right next to them, yeah?"
I step up some more until I'm on the same level as Asuna and see her eyes move a little and concentrate.
"Ki-ri-to…" She slowly pronounces my friends name. "Kirito? Your name's Kirito." She finally gets it.
"Yeah." He confirms it.
Asuna purses her lips before she begins to chuckle then full on laugh at the new spot of info she has. "I'm so dumb. It was there the whole time and I never knew." She takes another look before turning to me. "And your… Ve-ndi-car?"
"Heh…" I smirk and shake my head no. "Ven-di-car. Vendicar. At your service, Asuna." I good heartedly reply. After the mess back on the boss floor, the mood is starting to lighten up, even a little, for us you know. She smiles nonetheless before nodding and turning to Kirito.
"You can become powerful here on your own. But if the day comes when someone you trust invites you to join a guild, don't turn it down, 'cause there're limits to what a solo player can do." Even though the mood is somewhat light, Kirito gives us some cryptic and but smart advice in hindsight. Soloing has been fun and somewhat nice not having to deal with other people, but this was on the first floor. The higher floors will most likely start to introduce more and more powerful enemies for us to face. By that point, their skills, tactics and techniques will get more complicated and harder to counteract. Having some teammates can help make sure you stay alive in those scenarios.
"But, you're solo." Asuna points out that little fact about Kirito. Truthfully, Kirito is the closest friend I have in this place but we rarely hung out at all during our time here, only working on a couple quests together but not much else. Without any other words, Kirito proceeds to disband our little group and opens the door to the next area. None of us say anything as he walks off past the door into a whole new area. From his demeanor, it doesn't look like he's going to take his own advice.
I sigh and turn to Asuna. She continues to stare at my friends slowly disappearing form before her shoulders slump. She perks up, or gasps more likely, as a new window pops up in front of her.
{Vendicar sent you a Friend Request}
[Accept] [Decline]
She stares at the window for a few seconds before turning to me. I simply shrug at her. 'I guess… we did kind of just go through hell.' After a moment of staring, she smiles and hits accept. "Thanks." I smile.
"Why though?" She asks before I turn to go. I stay staring off at the door for a few more seconds before letting out a breath of air.
"Because… we're gonna need to work together. If we're going to get ourselves and every other player out of here, we need to make sure we can work together, not throw others to the wolves, I.e. Kibaou." As soon as I mention his name, her lips curl into a small frown before I continue talking. "We just worked together in taking out the first floor boss of this death game. We went through a trial by fire together and despite being new… you were amazing back there." I hold no bars in complimenting her. Her speed was by far the best, no doubt.
She blushes and looks away. "O-oh I don't think—"
"Asuna…" I stop her and look at her straight up. "You have skill. More than other people. Your gonna go far. There's no doubt about that." I begin to make my way up the steps and walk backwards towards the door. "If we're going to beat this game, I like being friends with people I both like and know are not gonna get themselves killed so easily. Speaking of, I better go make sure he doesn't get himself killed." I smile at her one last time before I turn towards the door and walk through it. "Be seeing you Asuna! I hope to meet you again in the future!" I call back one last time before I'm completely enveloped by the pathway to the next area.
'1 floor down… 99 more to go.' My foot steps onto the ground of the second floor. As I look up to the sky, my hand grips my sword before I pull out and hold it out to me. 'Time to get to work.' I grip the handle with both hands, holding it close to me as I point it to the sky… and sprint forward.
First off, I want to apologize for how late this has been uploaded. For the past few weeks I've been focusing and working on some tests and a project I have for some classes and being that we're practically right on top of finals week, I've had to double down and make sure I got everything set up and properly in order to turn everything in. I've still got the rest of this week to do stuff too so whatever story I'm going to be working on next won't be worked on as hard.
Still, I did like how this chapter turned out and the fighting that came with it. When I first saw Kirito be labeled a Beater and basically piss off everyone, at first I was utterly confused on why he did that when it seemed sort of out of character and not like him, but then after some time it kind of began to make sense as to why he did it and it made me like him more. Nothing pretty much makes people work together more than having a common enemy. An enemy did Kirito make himself to be for a lot of people. That was pretty cool and admirable of him.
Reviews:
NetherOrbit: In truth, I wish I could have done more to deviate from the main episode but their wasn't much in the first episode. This is only the first chapter so you can expect some changes and challenges Vendicar will meet eventually.
After playing For Honor, it was pretty cool of the finesse they were able to show for such a big weapon the Warden carry's and I thought of some ideas of how to go about it in SAO. Klein already had the samurai aspect taken along with the Katana, my personal favorite sword type, so instead, I'll go with the two-handed longsword. This will be interesting.
Most of the ire I've seen of people for the show stems of how they portrayed Kirito but I don't care about that. You are right on the potential they could have capitalized on with the characters but basically when with 'this is enough.'
I will follow the main plot and episodes closely as I progress my story but their will be times where a chapter will largely be my own and give my character his moments and struggles. Hopefully I can make everything an enjoyable experience. Thank you for the review.
Anonymous Ideas: Yes. Yes it will be good.
FractionOfASecond: 15.
Kevito100: You and me both.
xXSpades231Xx: Its one of those moments where you just can't wait for the time to change and signify the start of something epic you've been waiting to play and be a part of. Be honest, have you had at least one of those moments in your life when your waiting for something to start online, a game or an event, and they tell you it happens on a specific day and you wait till midnight for it start, only to realize that your in a different time zone and it starts several hours later than what you originally thought. Then you proceed to angrily mutter to yourself before trying to go to sleep?
… I think I'm getting off topic. Let me just continue with your other review.
To be fair, it is the very first chapter of the story and their wasn't a whole lot that can be done in the first episode. Future chapters and episodes will hopefully bring out more of what Vendicar can do and what he stands for in his journey against all sorts of obstacles, both physical and mentally exhausting obstacles. Even though it's only the surface of what I have to show for, thanks for the… fair number. Hopefully, I can change your mind and bring that number up some more with progress. Thanks for the reviews.
Now that Vendicar has gotten some hardcore action on his person via the first floor boss and has seen first hand someone die, its time for him to not half-ass his fighting and level progression. It's only going to get harder from here on out.
Thank you all for the support of this new story of mine. Go ahead and fave, follow, review, whatever you want to do. But most of all everyone, make sure to have a great day and have fun reading.