I do not own Sword Art Online or any of the characters.

Hunt

Kirito ducked under a tree on the twenty sixth floor and then helped Sachi after him. Her level had fallen behind the others so Kirito had decided to train her personally until she was stronger. He had also decided she was better off as a lancer than a sword and shield user.

"Thank you for training me," Sachi smiled.

"Of course," Kirito smiled. "And when I'm done with you, you'll be able to kill all of them. What do you say?"

"Sounds like fun," Sachi grinned.

He nodded and sent her a team request and she accepted. They would both get experience from any kills but until they dissolved their team, the others experience wouldn't affect them and vice versa. They continued through the forest, looking for anything at all that they could fight. Finally a pair of monsters sprinted out of the trees at them. Both looked like gnomes and wielded weapons. One a sword about a foot and a half long and the other a miniature axe.

Kirito blocked both blades, shoving them back then stepped back past Sachi.

"Tag, you're it," Kirito whispered.

Sachi nodded and stepped forward, jabbing her spear at one gnome and the other slashed it aside, the one she had attacked speeding toward her.

"Use an ability," Kirito instructed.

Sachi pulled her lance back, the entire weapon beginning to glow before she spun, lance arching through the air and smashing into both gnomes, launching them away. They both exploded on impact and Kirito clapped both eyebrows raised.

"That was impressive," Kirito stated. "I haven't seen that one before. What else can you do?"

Sachi showed him a few more abilities, one being a lunging stab, one being a blocking ability where she spun her lance, and one being where she threw it then it reappeared in her hand. He was impressed by the techniques she had and could see she was happy that he liked the abilities.

"Alright, the next one is all you," Kirito stated. "Think you can handle it?"

Sachi nodded. no sooner had she agreed did a massive spider shoot out of the trees. It leapt at them and they scattered. It turned toward Kirito who ducked behind a tree then leapt away as it exploded.

That can't be... Kirito began but trailed off as Sachi's lance embedded itself in the spider's rear. "Sachi no!"

Too late. The Spider wheeled around just as the lance returned to Sachi. The spider spit a massive net of webbing and Sachi held her lance out, spinning it. The net was shredded and Sachi activated another ability, lunging forward and driving the lance into the spider's face. She ripped it back out and leapt back as the spider leaned back, roaring and slashing at her with its legs. She looked at its life bar and paled. It had barely lost a sliver of health.

Just as she saw this, Kirito leapt over the spider with a sword in each hand, flipping and slashing an 'X' in its face and landed on his feet, spinning and slashing it across its stomach before bringing both swords straight up its body. Then the spider exploded and Kirito went into his menu, putting his whitish blue sword away and swapping his skills, making sure to not let Sachi see what he had equipped.

"That spider seemed a lot stronger than the gnomes," Sachi spoke up after a minute of sorting through her level up alerts. "I leveled up twice from that."

"It was from four floors up," Kirito stated. "A friend of mine told me about them."

"I know you're a higher level than you let on," Sachi stated. "I don't know why you don't want us to know but I'm not going to ask. So, how did the spider get down here?"

"I don't know," Kirito admitted. "There's a weaker version near here but they're not that fast and don't have nearly that much health."

"What do we do?" Sachi questioned.

"Be more careful," Kirito stated. "I'll keep my sword out and ready. If you need me I'll step in. We'll both get XP from it anyway."

Sachi nodded and they both continued through the forest. Kirito kept his sword out and ready but it wasn't necessary.

Read and review.