A/N: Hi! This is my first attempt in doing a Sword Art Online Fic.

…

The Iron Maiden

…

Floor 13

January 8, 2023

Damn it! DAMN IT!

"SHIGEO!"

The player who admired her husband to the point that she would give her life to save her party leader had pushed her in time to prevent her from getting crushed by the massive stalactite that fell down after the field boss had spawned inside the dungeon.

What the hell should I do?!

Her party was trapped from the other side. There was no way in hell that she would be able to break through with only an assault spear. She didn't even have enough points attributed to STR. Soon enough, she heard screams of absolute horror as the tremor that the huge field boss came stronger and more deadly.

"SHIGEO! HANG IN THERE!"

The soldier started chipping away the stalactite with his spear but to no avail, she wasn't getting anywhere due to the stalactite giving the «Immortal Object» sign. When she had realized that the stalactite was an immortal object, she hoped that something else could work and she equipped her one-handed hammer and she had hoped that it would work but it gave the same result as with her spear.

I failed…

With all of her hope of saving her husband and the rest of her party gone, she dropped onto her knees and let go of her weapons. She could hear screams of agony and sounds of avatars shattering into glass and polygons inside the cave and her team, her friends, and her husband were dying and she wasn't there with them.

Tears trickled down her cheeks and she was speechless. Her body froze in fear and the player tried to muster up her strength once more but she found that she just could not do it anymore. She had finally gave up to the death game called «Sword Art Online».

"SETSUKO! I HAVE ALWAYS LOVED YOU! PROMISE ME THAT YOU'LL LIVE THROUGH THE END AND REMEMBER ME!"

Setsuko froze and had said nothing. In less than a second, she heard players simultaneously die as their avatars shatter into polygons. There were seven of them in her party and she heard six die in both the virtual world and the real world.

He's gone…

The young widow returned to the thirteenth floor alone. Taft was still somewhat lively since the front lines was still in the fifteenth floor. She had to report to the headquarters on how she lost everyone and how she had lived. For her, her husband sacrificed the lives of his soldiers and his own while saving her.

Setsuko entered the mid-sized building that served as the Army Liberation Squad's Temporary Headquarters. He was greeted by two NPC guards that never moved unless trouble came which rarely happens. Setsuko walked through the large courtyard before she was interrupted by another player and asked her if she could do him a favor. Setsuko having lost her entire party in less than a minute, she could not gather herself to answer. Instead, she kept on walking while ignoring the player.

"What's wrong with her?" the player murmured.

Setsuko chose to ignore the player instead of lashing out on him and continued walking at the same pace. She had to open the main door that led to the hallway. The hallway was filled with dozens of players and NPC vendors. The hallway was wide enough to easily fit hundreds of people without anyone crowding over each other. Setsuko took the first left and she was met with more people.

She reached the guild master's quarters outside. She then knocked on the door. After a couple seconds, a player came out of the room and escorted Setsuko inside. The leader was looking down on his interface filled with text about the current situation regarding the «Army Liberation Squad». The guild master closed the text interface and documents on his desk and looked up and moved his head where Setsuko was standing.

"Ah, please sit down Elise-san."

Setsuko took her time walking the large distance between her and the guild master's desk.

"I'm sorry for your loss but I have news for you. You're to be reassigned to a new party and you're the one who's going to lead them. As we have shortages for players like you, I don't think you can complain with this. It's a direct order from me."

"Kibaou!" Setsuko exclaimed angrily, "I just lost my whole squad! Why can't I have time to mourn over what happened?"

"I am very well aware but I'm afraid I can't do anything about that right now. Sylvaro-san was a really good fighter and friend. But like I said earlier, you can't do anything about it right now and I will make sure that his name will be remembered soon enough."

Kibaou dismissed her and ordered her to give him a full report by sundown via private message. Setsuko stood up from her seat. Kibaou didn't bother to stand up and only looked at the widow for a brief second before returning to his own business. By this time, Setsuko had failed to control her anger and sorrow and let a single tear loose and it trickled down to her chin before dropping down to the floor.

Damn him!

Setsuko turned her back to the commander and was escorted by the same player who let her in. Once outside, Setsuko apologized for making such an inconvenience to the player and left the vicinity.

Setsuko pressed the send button before closing her player interface. She sighed in relief from being finished with having to relive the moments where she had to lose her husband and her friends. She then lifted herself up to her feet from the bed in the inn she was staying in.

Today, Setsuko was to go to floor eight to meet his new party members. From there, she has to train them until they can become fit enough to be called one of the clearers in the raid group of the death game that they were forcefully trapped in.

She had made herself leave the room and head downstairs to eat some breakfast. After eating a healthy meal of pancakes and paying the innkeeper for the meal, she made her way outside only to be met by one of her friends.

"Hey…," she said, "Elise, I apologize for intruding but I heard that Sylvaro is gone…"

Setsuko's eyes opened wide from the mention of his name and only said clearly and without remorse, "You don't have to apologize, Aria-san. It's all my fault now that he's gone."

Setsuko had trouble sleeping yesterday and kept thinking how cold the room was without him. She was rarely seen without her husband but now that he's gone, Setsuko had finally able to manage calm down and accept that her beloved is gone.

"Elise, um… would you like to get some breakfast before you go wherever you need to go to please?" Aria asked, more like pleaded while trying to be cute to persuade the widow to come with her.

"Aria that dirty Kibaou ordered me to go to the mid-levels to help out this small party. I've never met them before and he said that it was kind of urgent that I meet them. I don't know if I'll have the time to go with you for breakfast. I mean I appreciate you offering me to go with you bu-"

Aria reached her hand forward and she put her two fingers over Setsuko's mouth.

"Hush now, Elise-san," Aria teased and grinned, "I'm pretty sure those people can wait an hour or two and they'd understand that I took you out for breakfast. It's not like it's the end of the world now, is it? The front lines are still in the fifteenth floor and that's eighty-five floors away from finishing the game."

"I guess you're right," Setsuko said, faintly smiling and admitting defeat.

The two headed to a small coffee shop that was run by a young couple. The two sat down on the far end of the establishment away from the entrance and ordered omelets just to save some col. They had sat opposite of each other so that they could talk face-to-face.

Even after her friend's small speech, Aria could see the troubled look that haunted Setsuko's face. She was barely touching her food and if she were to take a bite, Setsuko took in very small portions.

"Hey, Elise, could you lighten up? I feel like I'm going to get depressed too" Aria joked as lightly as she could without being offensive.

Setsuko sighed, chuckled slightly, and replied, "You're right. I look depressing, don't I?"

Aria nodded.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Setsuko stayed silent although her thoughts was telling her to say yes. Instead, she just slightly nodded and it was enough to be seen by Aria.

"Okay… where do we start?" Aria asked herself, pausing for a while to think about it, "I think you need to move on. I don't mean anything by that. You still have Sylvaro-san in your memories right? I think he'd want you to live on and remember him for who he was."

"T-That's what he said before-"

Setsuko's tears which had been welling up the night before finally broke and went down her cheeks. She had finally broke down after losing something that was precious to her. Aria stood up and sat next to her and she put her arms on her shoulders to comfort Setsuko.

"It's alright. It's better for you to talk about it than to keep it all pent up inside you. You're a strong woman and I know that you can overcome this. I'm sure Sylvaro-san wants you to be happy."

"Yeah…"

"Come on, Elise. Let's keep eating. That'll probably cheer you up!"

The two talked about Setsuko and what she was feeling. She was angry and sad at the same time. She was angry that Kibaou was such a power-hungry guild master and he would do anything to get what he wants which he already had with Setsuko. She felt sadness that he had lost his only husband in the real world and the virtual world and that she didn't have time to visit the Monument of Life which was the only memento of the dead in this world. The two friends continued to talk for twenty minutes. After doing so, Setsuko's emotions were at ease and her heart was somewhat lightened from the burden that she kept with herself.

Setsuko and Aria left the coffee shop after paying one of the owners for the meal that they ate. The two separated ways and Setsuko headed for the teleportation gate. Along the way, she bought enough potions to last her a few weeks while training with her new party.

"Teleport Frieven."

Floor 8

January 10, 2023

Setsuko was told that the party members were doing some farming for col and experience points. She decided to wait for them at the inn that they were staying in so she bought a room for the night in case they don't come back soon.

To pass time, Setsuko opened up his inventory materialized some of her own food that she had stored in case something like this would happen. Although her mind told her that she was full, Setsuko went through three bowls of food and she was still hungry since she was in a virtual world and she wasn't really eating in real life. Maybe this was her way to grieve, she thought to herself, still eating another bowl after materializing another set of food just for her.

After she had eaten her fill, she put the bowls back in her inventory feeling very stuffed. Touching her own stomach, she didn't feel like the food had actually went through her body rather was only registered by the system to her mind that she was full and she couldn't eat any longer.

"I wonder if the doctors had put us in the same room at the hospital. They probably would've buried him without me…" Setsuko started talking and digressing to herself about her circumstances and what had happened in the real world. If she woke up, is her house and her job going to be still there? Probably not. She just lost everything dear to her.

Half an hour had passed, Setsuko managed to get up from the bed and got out of the room. She waited outside to pass more time but for her own convenience, a small party arrived at the inn with loads of drops from what Setsuko deduced since they were jubilant and were showing off some of their equipment. Setsuko stood up straight and approached the players.

"You must be the group of players that I was sent to train," Setsuko said sternly, "My name is Elise and for next few weeks or most likely months, I will be you mentor in this death game and I will show you how to fight in the front lines so that you players can join the raid group."

"Ah! Elise-san," one of the players exclaimed, "We're sorry for making you wait. Our leader got way too excited and wanted to look decent when you came so we went farming. It's not like Weiss-san got anything good anyway. Hehe."

"Hey! Be grateful that we even went farming. We've got enough col to last us exactly a month! You even got a weapon drop so stop talking!" Weiss got flustered that of all people in his party, he was the only one who came back without anything in hand other than materials for upgrading equipment.

"Ahem…"

One of the female players stepped up and slapped Weiss on the back.

"Elise-sama, my name is Misako and I apologize for my friend's behavior. He's just had a bad day from not getting drops whatsoever. But since now that we're here, we can have dinner. Won't you join us Elise-sama?"

"Oh no. I can't do that," Setsuko said, "After all, it's your col that you've earned and you should spend it on yourselves. Besides, I just ate not too long ago."

"But would you care to still join us and talk?"

"Sure."

Setsuko re-entered the inn along with the group and they sat down at one of the tables by the small diner that was inside the inn.

"Elise-sama, I apologize for not introducing ourselves earlier. My name is Misako as you heard earlier and you already know Weiss-san and the troublesome guy over there is Hai-Hai."

"You can call me Hai-sama! That's easier to say than two 'Hai's'."

"Hai's just fine," Setsuko said.

"Aw! You're no fun."

"Anway, our forward's name is," Misako pointed at him, "Jin who doesn't really talk much even in the real world. And we picked Jin and her," now pointing at the other girl, "one day while we were out farming a couple weeks ago. Her name's Ayne. She doesn't talk much either."

Ayne's face not visible since she was wearing a hooded cloak that was big enough to conceal her face.

"I heard she cries every night!" Hai-Hai teased. Ayne shot a look at him and it made Hai shut up almost instantaneously.

"That's pretty much it. You heard Weiss is our leader, at least until today. Elise-sama, thank you for taking your time with us today. We really appreciate it!"

The small party invited Setsuko into their party and started eating. The temptations led Setsuko to start eating again although she was going to pay for hers.

The following morning, the party set out with refreshed supplies and they had visited a player blacksmith beforehand in order to repair their equipment. Setsuko led the players to a small village that was located approximately one kilometer from Frieven village. From there, Setsuko had the group do some small exercises that was meant to boost their AGI and their STR. Hai kept complaining that they should be killing mobs instead of doing this. Setsuko then made her do more work which Hai eventually started hating more.

After the exercise routine, Setsuko and the others went inside a dungeon so she could test out their abilities. Without surprise, everyone was capable of handling themselves especially Ayne, who was extremely good with using her one-handed curved sword skills, although they lacked teamwork. Their forward was minding their own business and their DPS dealers were running amok around the dungeon floor but keeping enough distance between them and the party as to not get lost. Hai who was their support was surprisingly having fun because the support was the most boring yet the hardest job to do, at least to Setsuko since Hai was clearly having fun protecting his friends from trash mobs that might ambush them.

All Setsuko was doing was to evaluate them and nothing else. She would occasionally help out if someone got into serious trouble, but other than that, Setsuko stayed away from the mobs, letting Hai farm to his heart's content. It kept her safe away from the mobs so she couldn't complain.

The group continued to farm and grind for EXP. Points for three more hours. Setsuko noticed that they weren't the slightest of getting tired. It's like they could still keep it up for another three hours or so. Setsuko hasn't done anything but observe them fight the mobs inside the dungeon.

The day had gone down and the group managed to get some almost rare loots and equipment. Weiss, the most unlucky guy in the group, still has not been able to get any single drop for his avatar except for col and monster drops. Hai teased him again and tried to cheer him up by promising him a large meal after they get to the frontlines with the clearers.

"Hey, Elise-sama," Misako called out before catching up and walking alongside her, "What do you do in the Aincrad Liberation Squad? I'm just curious."

"Oh, um…, I lead the scouting missions and we scouts always go look for information that could help us beat the floor boss. My team…" Setsuko stopped talking as memories of her husband poured into her mind.

"Your team what?" Misako asked curiously.

Setsuko mentally slapped herself to keep herself together.

For Shigeo… I have to be strong…

"My team usually goes into boss rooms first to figure out the attack patterns and anything that we could use to defeat it. So my team and I are usually at least ten levels above the floor number just so we could be safe…"

"That's so cool! I wish I could just be like you, Elise-sama!"

"NO!" Setsuko snapped.

Setsuko realized what she just shouted out loud. Her eyes widened and she put both of her hands onto her mouth from the shock. Misako flinched her whole body and took a step back away from Setsuko. The others had heard this as well and moved their heads towards her in confusion.

"Elise-sama, are you alright?" Misako asked, starting to get worried.

A single tear trickled down her cheek and the light from the moon reflected on the tear streak making her tear shine out. Misako immediately noticed this and approached her. Setsuko tried to back off and get away from the group from shame and embarrassment.

"I-I need some time alone…" Setsuko left immediately after telling them.

The following day, Setsuko showed her face to the group and apologized about her abrupt behavior last night. She couldn't sleep well at all. Maybe she was being overprotective of the young people who were in front of her since she lost everyone in one of their scouting missions.

Weiss, Jin, Hai, and Ayne didn't really seem to figure out why she had snapped at Misako the previous night and Setsuko was able to quickly pick up that Misako was definitely worried about her. Misako asked her what had happened and Setsuko indirectly replied saying that she "lost" her party without giving too much details about her team's deaths.

They continued their training without having any real problems. They gained some levels, equipment, and various things just from grinding. Setsuko was somehow able to be at ease now that she was able to tell somebody about her problems like Aria. Maybe she is right, Setsuko thought to herself, I have to talk about it.

The day went on as usual. Weiss didn't get anything and the rest did. But this time, Setsuko was able to give tips to everyone about teamwork. Somehow, the group started working together and Jin was actually tanking for the whole team and the rest, who pretty much DPS dealers did their jobs. Ayne, however, was still minding her own business but she would occasionally pitch in with the team effort now and then. She still has to work on that, Setsuko thought.

Setsuko approached her and told her what she had thought and Ayne just nodded to show that she understood what she was saying. Setsuko hoped that a lot of things would change before they get to where the clearers are. Just not the scouts for Kibaou. Anything but Kibaou's guild.

Floor 17 – Frontline

January 23, 2023

Setsuko's party had gathered enough col and enough gear that they could actually fight in the frontlines. The entire party's levels were well above the safety margin for each floor. Their downside was that they have never fought an actual floor boss with the exception of Setsuko whose job was to discover information about floor bosses. Ever since she was assigned with her current party, ALS's scouts had somewhat decreased in their numbers. The members were quitting due to Setsuko being gone. Which led to Setsuko thinking: Why was I sent to train these people?

Kibaou was standing on top of a massive boulder overlooking a wide forest. Around him were members of the ALS and a bunch of small and medium sized guilds and solo players. Setsuko's party was amongst them. Since she held some power over the large guild, Setsuko was able to go through the crowd fairly easily. She and her party reached Kibaou who was looking at his own player interface, playing and sorting his inventory.

Kibaou sensed their presence and exited off of his interface and moved his head to meet them.

"Ah! Jin-sama, I see that you've gotten stronger. With you by our side, we can now easily beat that floor boss."

As per usual, Jin had said nothing and simply nodded.

That's why he sent me to train these people… That bastard!

The rest of the party was shocked at the revelation with Jin and his relations with Kibaou. Ever since Setsuko snapped at Misako a few weeks earlier, she had opened up to the entire group and told them about Kibaou and his treachery and greed for power along with Lind, another one of Kibaou's "friends" and Jin just somehow convinced Setsuko that he was her ally.

Without anyone noticing, Jin left the party and requested to join Kibaou's. All eyes of the party glared at Jin for betraying them without them knowing.

"You can go now," Kibaou ordered, "You've done your job well…"

"Elise."

"You've done your job well, Elise-san."

With that, they left the top of the boulder angrily. The group was left with six members. Setsuko was affected the most. Her life had been ruined once again by Kibaou. First, he does nothing about my husband and my friends. Then he steals our only forward!

Misako glanced at Setsuko and noticed the anger that was trying to burst free from her. Knowing her history, she approached her and rubbed her back and comforted her to try and ease her anger for Kibaou. They left the vicinity to search for a solo that they could use as a forward.

The boss raid for the seventeenth floor her party was going to partake was to start in an hour after preparations of the large guilds like the Divine Dragon Alliance and her own guild the Aincrad Liberation Squad. Setsuko made preparations to keep her friends alive. She bought healing and teleport crystals with her own money and gave them to her party. Weiss wanted to pay her back but she politely declined his offer. She also had them repair their equipment to make sure that their weapons and armor wouldn't break while fighting the field boss. After all of those preparations, they still had half an hour to spare so all of them decided to go eat before they go to battle.

A large number of players were clearing out the trash mobs in front of the large dungeon door that led to the floor boss' lair. Setsuko's party was standing in front of the door not able to do much about the trash mobs since their party was very small compared to the guilds around them.

"Are you ready to fight the boss? This is your first time battling one if I recall," Setsuko addressed to her party.

"Well, I'm ready as I'll ever be Elise-san. I'm sure that I'm speaking for my friends as well," Misako answered, smiling at Setsuko.

"Okay, here's our battle strategy. Since our forward is gone and we still couldn't find someone who could tank for us, our only option is to rely on DDA's forwards and we'll have to switch with them for every rotation. Thanks to that dirty Kibaou, his relations with that guild is pretty well off. Ayne, you're our heavy DPS dealer. I want you to inflict as much damage as possible within seven seconds after switching with the tanks and then retreat. That way you can be safe. Weiss and Hai, both of you just do what I trained both of you to do. And last of all, Misako, stay with me. We'll work together and we'll switch out with the tanks just like Ayne."

"Okay! Let's do this!"

The gate was opened by a group of people who only gave the door a slight push before it automatically allowed itself to fully open. Someone from the back shouted and every clearer present with the exception of a few yelled battle cries and ran into the room. Once everyone was inside the boss room, the chandeliers that hung up the ceiling lit up on their own. This was not surprising to anyone anymore since they were stuck in a death game.

A marble throne stood in the very far end of the huge room where the boss of the floor was sitting down. The boss had a golden crown and the owner's face was sullen, grey, and plump. The boss looked depressed but had the fierceness of violent king. His right elbow was resting on the right arm of the throne and his own right arm and fist extending to his cheek and the other arm on his lap. The boss did not seem to be very interested in the players that had just trespassed his own throne room. The clearers went nearer to the boss and it triggered the boss to divert his vision to the players and stood up. The large humanoid king raised both his legs and placed his feet down at the floor causing a slight tremor, unsettling some of the clearers.

The boss exerted a huge amount of force through his legs and cracked the floor. The boss jumped and while in mid-air, it unsheathed a large two-handed sword from his sheath that was resting on his hip. The blade was encrusted with sharp purple gem shards that reflected the light that illuminated the entire boss room. Once the large sword was in the boss' hands, the room's color suddenly turned into a purple hue. It was beautiful in its own way and to the players, it was a terrifying means of death in the game. The clearers saw this and immediately retreated as if they already knew that this was going to happen. The forwards organized themselves in an arch to allow some space between the boss and them when the boss landed In front of them.

Then boss landed as had been expected and four health bars appeared to the left of its face and above it appeared and read «Edward, the Corrupted».

Setsuko and the others went into positions and Setsuko ordered Misako to stay by her. They went behind a line of tanks and were waited patiently for the boss to attack. If the scouts for the ALS were accurate, the boss would first strike the ones nearest which were the forwards. If the tanks are able to block it perfectly, the boss would be thrown out of rotation and it would leave them a crucial ten seconds to deal as much damage as they could.

As expected, the corrupted king raised its sword with both his hands and lunged forward bringing his sword down to strike some players. A group of tanks stepped forward and formed a defensive barrier to block the attack. As the jeweled sword came down, the forwards that were going to block it reinforced their shields by tightening their grips to the shield.

CLANG!

The tanks had somehow managed to block the attack despite the force the corrupted king gave. Setsuko immediately signaled Ayne to start attacking. Weiss and Hai rushed to the corrupted king and started to slash at the boss with their weapons.

"Misako, follow me!"

Setsuko ran up to the corrupted king and unleashed a sword skill. The blade on Setsuko's spear turned bright blue which led her to lunge forward to the boss' right leg. From there, she swung her spear in a mechanical way that was programmed by the game. She swung her spear at the boss multiple times before the sword skill ended.

"Switch!" Setsuko shouted.

Misako followed her order without saying anything. Misako dashed forward with her rapier pointing at the corrupted king's leg. She then activated the Sword Skill Linear in a successively to maximize her damage output.

Everyone in the boss room fought the corrupted king for a couple more rotations before finally killing the boss. A small party went ahead to activate the floor gate for the next floor and the rest returned back to the nearby town.

This isn't done yet. I needed to post today for various reasons. I will continue with an update.