February 2023 – The Knights of the Blood are formed and debut at the 26th floor boss meeting.
March 11th 2023 – The Jade Skull formed
March 16th 2023 – First member to join the JS, Sten
Terms to know:
Oi – A word to get someones attention, usually in a rude fashion.
Nii Nii (pronounced nee nee) – a slang term for Niisan, rarely ever used. Mostly in an emotional state.
Honorifics to know:
Senpai – Generally somebody in the same social class, but superior to you.
San – A general term, used for those who don't know each other well.
March 28th 2023 – Level 24 Outside of Panareze
"Ka-chan? What are you doing up there?" Aiden asked the girl on his shoulders as he felt a sudden heaviness on top of his head. "Oi! Did you fall asleep on me again?" He asked quietly.
"No. Just resting. Now stop bouncing." The sleepy girl responded to him.
"Stop bouncing? What a strange thing to say to another person." Aiden said to himself. "Anyways that means I stop walking. We need to keep going. We have to make it to this meeting so we can help out with the boss fight." He tried reasoning with her.
"Fine fine fine. Just let me sleep until we get there." Kaori lightly bonked Aiden on the head and began to fall asleep again.
He continued on his way, passing and being passed by a few other players along the road. Some of them he couldn't recognize, others he knew based on their uniform. A girl and a few others following her, dressed head to toe in white and red armor, caught up to them. "The KoB?" Aiden said to himself. The rest of his thoughts only being said in his head. No doubt heading to the meeting as well. As they passed, the girl leading them turned and gave Aiden a smile. He stopped in his tracks, a little in shock, and so did she.
"Um excuse me for asking, but you wouldn't happen to be Asuna with the Knights of the Blood Oath would you?" Aiden asked quietly to her. She nodded to him.
"I am, it's a pleasure to meet you..."
"Aiden. And my sleeping companion here is Kaori. She's actually a bit of a fan of yours. Would you mind if I introduce you to her?" Asuna smiled and approved. Aiden turned around so his back was to Asuna and started to wake Kaori up.
"Hey, Ka-chan. Wake up. I've got somebody who wants to meet you." She grumbled and looked up from her resting place.
"There's nobody here. Stop waking me up Niisan. I'm tired." Aiden turned around so Kaori could see Asuna. The knight smiled at Kaori and waved to her.
"Hi there, it's a pleasure to meet you Kaori. My name's Asuna." Kaori began to turn bright red. She scrambled to get off of Aiden's shoulders, then pulled him away from her, hiding her blushing face from Asuna.
"Nii-Nii! Why did you wake me up now! This is so embarrassing. I can't believe you would do this to Kaori!" The bashful girl scolded Aiden as he rubbed his neck and smiled, trying to apologize to her.
"I thought you looked cute up there. It must be nice knowing you can sleep comfortably and safely in this world." Asuna cut in. Kaori looked past Aiden over to her. Looking as if she was about to cry, she ran over and hugged Asuna, catching her off guard.
"Thank you for being so forgiving! I'm sorry that giant fool had to introduce me so awkwardly! You're the best Asuna-senpai!" Asuna kept a smile on, despite being a little uncomfortable, and hugged her back. She looked over to Aiden.
"S-senpai? I've never been called a senpai before."
"That's normal for her. It took her a week to stop calling me that." Aiden explained, leaving Asuna smiling.
"Not a problem Kaori-chan, although you don't have to call me senpai. It's flattering, but unnecessary in here. You can just call me Asuna." Asuna pat Kaori on the head. Kaori's smile beamed at her and ran back to Aiden's side.
"Then you can call me Ka-chan, Asuna!" Asuna nodded with a smile to the small girl.
"Wait why did you stop calling her that so quickly?" Kaori's innocent face looked at Aiden, and in a completely monotone voice she replied, "I like her more, duh." Aiden dropped to the floor, but then started to stand up again.
"So Asuna," Aiden, changing the subject. "are you and the other KoB headed to the boss raid meeting as well?" Asuna placed one hand on her hip and turned to her fellow knights.
"We are. I'm hoping this fight won't be a difficult one. However we've been a bit slower in clearing the floors lately. Although we have made remarkable progress, and almost nobody has died in the fights. This one should be a breeze as well and we'll get out of this prison in no time." She finished and her attention was back to the duo in front of her.
"I see. Well the Knights of the Blood made a grand spectacle at the last meeting. So I'm sure this one will be interesting as well. Shall we keep talking as we head on to the meeting?" Aiden offered to their newest friend.
"I would love to travel with Asuna!" Kaori shot up, only to feel the heat rise in her cheeks. "Er... w-we would I mean." Asuna covered her mouth to hide her laughter. "Your company will always be welcome Ka-chan." Asuna said through her laughter. The embarrassed girl sent off another bright smile to the girl she idolized. The new group began walking along the path reaching the meeting point in a few minutes. The meeting was in a large open stone room with a destroyed wall on one end. One person sat away from the rest of the group, against said wall. A man in a black cloak.
"Asuna-san, is that Kirito? The so called 'Beater'?" Aiden asked the Knight.
"Eh? Oh yeah that's him. He comes to these meeting and usually sits away from others to avoid conflict. Not a lot of people like him because of that title. However he still fights with us on the front lines, despite the others attitude and helps us win. He's a good guy, and very nice." Asuna explained. Aiden placed both hands behind his head and slowly walked over to Kirito.
"Hmmm, I see. Ka-chan, can you go with Asuna-san for a minute? I want to talk to him." Kaori nodded to him as Aiden slowly got closer to Kirito, which the swordsman noticed quickly.
"Oi!" Aiden's sudden outburst to the man caused him to jump a little.
"Eh... h-hi there. Can I help you?" Kirito asked with a confused look upon his face.
"I simply came for the meeting. But then I saw you over here and decided to talk to you." Aiden explained sitting down next to him.
"You want to talk to me? People may not like you as much if they see you fraternizing with a Beater." Kirito warned the large man, gesturing towards some other players who glared at both of them.
"And I could care less of what others think of me." Aiden quickly replied shooting intimidating glares back to those staring at him. "I respect you, so I wanted to meet you. Ka-chan respects Asuna-san so she wanted to meet her. It's that simple." Aiden began laying back in his make shift seat. Kirito wasn't so relaxed, rather confused.
"Ka-chan?" Aiden pointed over to the girl as she spoke with Asuna.
"She's the small crazy one over there next to Asuna-san. Her name is Kaori and she's my partner."
"I see. Then you wouldn't mind me asking for your name then would you? You do have me at a disadvantage." Kirito asked, turning towards the large man.
"Where are my manners." Aiden sat up and looked to Kirito. "I come to talk to somebody and I don't even introduce myself." He gestured a thumb towards his face and with a wink, introduced himself. "Name's Aiden, martial arts extraordinaire!"
"A pleasure. And I don't mean to sound rude, but did you want to talk to me about anything in particular?" Aiden put on one hell of a serious face.
"I want to get inside of the head of the person who took on a derogatory phrase like 'Beater' and turned it into a compliment. Why would someone who cared about others, make it so they stayed away from him?" Kirito looked back to the man with a raised eyebrow.
"What happened in that fight Kirito." Aiden leaned in closer. "I'm friends with Agil in real life and he still didn't really tell me. On the first floor boss room, many rumors have spread around about you. You don't have to answer my previous question. I'm simply voicing my mind right now. Personally I think what you do with yourself in this game is your choice." After Aiden finished, he rolled backwards back up to his feet.
"Oh... well thanks. I guess." Kirito said scratching his head.
"However. There are those that care for you Kirito. Even if you don't know it yet. Join a guild or party up with Asuna, she's rather impressive. Protect them. Let them protect you." Aiden smiled over to Kirito.
"I don't see what your point of this is. What are you trying to tell me?" Kirito questioned the large man. Aiden crouched down, almost making Kirito uncomfortable with how close their faces were to each other.
"You're reckless." Aiden said dryly followed by a smile. "And just that if you ever need a friend or some help, feel free to ask me or my partner Kaori. After all, nobody needs to do everything alone." Aiden stood back up and dropped down his menu. He found Kirito's name and sent a friend request. Soon after he walked away back to Kaori, leaving Kirito the privacy to decide for himself.
"Just keep that in the back of your head my friend. A pleasure meeting you." Aiden said as he walked away. He soon rejoined Kaori and Asuna.
"What was that all about?" Asuna asked him. Aiden simply shrugged and smiled at her.
"We'll find out in time I guess." Asuna sighed at his comment
"Very well. It's not my place to pry."
"Don't worry Asuna." Kaori said grabbing the side of her uniform, drawing her attention. "He does that often, but it usually mean something good." She explained to the rapier wielder.
"Well if you say so Ka-chan, then I believe you. Anyways, it's about that time. Let's get this meeting started!" Asuna and the rest of the KoB went to the center of the room, drawing everyone's attention and silencing the voices.
"Alright everyone. A few days ago, a small guild discovered the 27th floor boss room. They all went inside of the room, and found the boss. It's a large Metallic Elemental. All they did was peek. The plus side is they got away with everyone alive." The meeting carried on for a few more minutes, only to end in an argument between Asuna and Kirito about how the fight should go down. After another fifteen minutes of arguing the meeting came to a final decision and closed.
"Well Niisan, I think that could have gone a little better." Kaori said watching the players leave.
"Well the way I see it, those two just need some time together. They're very similar after getting to talk to them individually." Aiden thought as he watched Kirito leave the room behind everyone else.
"You know, you can't be reading into peoples minds like that. I think you need a degree for that." Kaori teased.
"Hey school is just a huge waste of time in my opinion. People just need to find a rich wife like I did." Aiden said defending himself. He soon felt the stinging sensation of a slap on the back of his leg, causing him to stumble down to one knee.
"Oi, Kaori be careful! That one kind of hurt!" He turned to see Kaori in position to climb up his back as the only word to leave her mouth was "Baka" Aiden became use to a sigh of defeat almost as much as blinking. Kaori finished climbing on his shoulders. And they came out of the structure.
"So what shall we do for the rest of the night? It could be our last." Kaori said staring up at the now night sky.
"Well I heard about this pub that has a few games in it that we could play. We can grab Sten and spend it having some fun." Aiden offered looking up to his small friend.
"Nah. I want a peaceful night. No loud games, no Baka, just a peaceful night. Why don't we just go to that safe zone that has a sky view."
"Hmmm not a bad idea. Just try and get some sleep this time."
"I'll try. Can I sleep on the way there?"
"Of course Ka-chan, get some rest."
Aiden walked on towards the safe zone carrying his small friend up top. He thought to himself about the next day. "I'm going to make sure you get through this Ka-chan, you've lost enough. And I'll make sure you have a happy life once more."
March 28th 2033 – Meeting to clear the 27th floor boss took place.
March 29th 2023 – 27th Floor Boss Room Corridor
"Alright, looks like everyone's here." Asuna said to the group of twenty five or so players in front of her each with their weapons drawn and ready. Only a handful didn't have their weapons drawn, including Aiden, Kirito and Asuna. Kaori however held onto a massive two handed war hammer. It's shaft had a silver and jade spiral leading up to the top of it. The hammer itself had a massive silver flat head that looked like it weighed more than Kaori herself. It had a jade colored skull engraved into it on it's sides that, due to the silver nature of the hammer, made it look like it had piercing silver eyes.
"The Knights of the Blood will be directing this mission. However make sure to always watch your HP and that of your parties. Let's all make it back from this without losing anyone." Asuna finished her speech and received a small cheer from everybody. She opened the door and all the players ran inside, starting to form a perimeter. Looking around the players saw a forge in the back along with ore rich walls.
"Oi! Has the boss been beaten or something?" A player called out.
"No he's here. Look over at the forge." Kirito said, pointing at the now operating forge. Slowly, the ore that was in the wall dropped into the forge. Lava flew out of it as each piece dropped into it.
"Oh good, I was hoping to have a boss that has to build himself." Aiden tried to joke, receiving a laugh from nobody except for Kaori.
"I just want you to know that I'm only laughing at Niisan because nobody thinks your funny." Aiden hung his head down and anime esque tears fell from his eyes.
"None of you are nice to me."
"LOOK!" A player shouted and everyone's attention was back on the forge. A massive metal like arm slammed into the ground, followed by a body.
"Everyone get ready, it's coming!" Kirito shouted out. The boss emerged from the forge. A massive black, four legged creature that look like solid rock, yet liquid. It's five red eyes pierced through each player.
«Orelund» It's name and dark red icon finally showed above.
"Yeah! It's party time!" Aiden shouted out smashing his fists together. As he did, two golden metal gauntlets appeared on his hands, each with a jade colored skull on top of his fists. They had large spikes on the knuckles and large sickles running down the length of each gauntlet.
"Alright everybody! Attack!" Asuna yelled, causing all the players to rush in, each party made of five players, two teams in front of it and three in the back. The two teams in front of it that drew it's aggro to control it, all had massive shields to block it's arms from smacking them away. In the meantime three other teams we're hitting the boss from all other sides. Continuously stabbing, slashing, cutting, and smashing it, four bars of health dropped rapidly down to only one. Then suddenly it stopped moving and turned into a solid rock like creature. Despite the players best attempts nobody hurt it.
"What's going on?" A girl yelled out. "Did we beat it?" Another player called out.
"It hardened it's body. More than likely to regenerate it's health. That would explain why we were able to take it down so fast." Kirito responded.
"Man we haven't fought a boss like this yet! This parties going crazy!" Aiden shouted, clearly the only one happy about the new boss type.
"We need to be ready, take this time to heal up." Asuna called to the group. Cracks began to form all over the bosses body. Soon, the entire creature exploded and sent metal fragments all out, heavily damaging all players unfortunate enough to not dodge or block them. The creature was now at three bars of health again, but also a different form and name. It now took the form of something like a three headed dragon like creature. It had no wings or hind legs, simply two arms and a tail. It's purple almost black hide amplified the red eye it bore at everyone in the room. All three of the heads looked up to the ceiling and shot fire up to it. Fire hit the ceiling igniting the entire room, leaving only the ground to not be ablaze. And finally a new name appeared over it's head.
«Hydraxious»
"Well this is a thing." Aiden commented on the transformed boss.
"Yeah but it's nothing we can't handle." Kaori said next to him. Aiden shot her a cheeky smile.
"Let's kill this damn thing!" He shouted. Everyone proceeded to charge it once again and lay into it. The monster began to adapt however. The three different heads acted as three different bosses, each fighting different groups that attacked it. The tank classes drawing the aggro was no longer a suitable strategy. Suddenly one of the players hitting the back side of it noticed something odd.
"Uh guys! We got a problem back here!" The player shouted. Aiden turned to see the man and his group back away from it's tail. "It's not taking any damage back here!" Another member of his group shouted out.
"It only takes damage if you hit one of the heads! Each head has it's own health bar as well!" Kirito told the raid party. The players started moving around to the front of it and focused on it's three heads. The boss periodically shot large blasts of fire at the group forcing them to stagger backwards. Taking advantage of the situation, the middle head reached forward, jaws ready to bite down.
"Be careful, don't get to close to it's mouth!" Aiden called to those in his group, now facing danger. Not fast enough though. It reached out and picked up a player in it's mouth and began crushing him high in the air. The man saw his end coming and frantically cried out.
"Help me! Aaaaahhhhh!" Thinking only to save his teammate Aiden charged the boss. His fists began glowing a radiant blue as he ran towards it. Once close enough he leapt into the air next to the jaw holding the man. He repeatedly punched away at the jaw, fists as fast as a machine gun, until it dropped the man. After the barrage he checked it's remaining health, only a bar and a half left on it after the continuous assault from all the players. Before he was even able to land on the ground the boss swung around and hit him with it's tail. The impact sent him across the room, slamming hard into the fire wall and dropping down to the ground with a thud.
"Nii Nii!" Kaori yelled as she ran over to him. He slowly started to get back up as she got to him. His health was in the red. "Heal!" She yelled out as she held a crystal next to him. As his health bar went back up she gave off a sigh of relief and rolled him over, holding his head in her lap.
"Baka! That move is to risky on a boss! You almost died!" Kaori yelled at him with a feint tear in her eye.
"I know I know, I'm sorry. But I managed to save that guy. That's good right?" He asked his friend with a weak smile.
"Yeah... but I would be all alone without you. I don't want to loose another Niisan. So try and be smarter you dummy." Kaori said with more tears in her eyes. Aiden sat up on his own and put a hand on her head.
"Niisan isn't going anywhere just yet. So let's go finish this fight." Kaori smiled at her friend. Standing up she turned to face the boss. Grabbing her hammer with both hands Kaori charged the boss, her hammer began glowing yellow. She slammed her hammer up into the center heads jaw and followed up with a jump over the head and by slamming it back down. This was just what was needed to drop the boss's middle health bar to nothing, leaving the first and second in the yellow and red respectively. With that, the head dropped down as if dead. The two remaining heads screeched out and shot another barrage of fire at the players.
"Hold your ground this time! Don't let it push you back! We can do this!" Asuna yelled to her comrades. Kirito and Asuna ran at the head still in yellow, hitting it was a continuous barrage of rapid strikes. If they were one person people would be really impressed with the fifteen hit combo the two of them pulled off together. Soon following, the head dropped leaving only the head in the red left. The boss stepped back into the corner of the inferno room with the players cornering it, they started closing in on it. Just like that a fast large object ran past the group and began throwing machine gun like punches into the creatures head. "You're mine!" Aiden yelled at the creature. It's health nearly depleted, he started spinning rapidly with a glowing red foot and threw a ferocious kick into the side of the hydra's head. After Aiden landed on the ground, «Hydraxious» let out one last howl before the third head dropped down and the entire creature burst into blue data polygons.
Congratulations!
The banner dropped down over his head.
"Great work everyone! It looks like we all made it through this one as well. Thanks to Aiden-san for saving Habari-san anyways." Asuna praised the group and Aiden. The man who was about to be eaten, Habari, stepped towards Aiden who was now crouched on the ground. Habari held out his hand.
"Yeah, seriously man. Thanks for saving my skin back there." Aiden waved his hand back at him, as if shooing him away.
"Shhh." Aiden said as he continued to stare at the drop screen menu in front of him.
"Um... I'm sorry?" Habari asked looking at the other players, just as confused as he. Kaori walked up behind Aiden and punched him hard in the back of the head.
"HEY! What the hell was that for! That hurt!" Aiden said turning around while holding the back of his head.
"You're being rude Niisan. So now tell everyone what you got." Kaori ridiculed the large man as if he were a child. He looked around at the others who were shooting him a strange look. Aiden smiled devilishly and shot up, hands on his hips.
"I haven't the slightest idea what it is!" Everyone else in the room simply collapsed out of grief. They all waved it off as nothing making Aiden slouch down and pretend to cry.
"None of you are nice to me." Asuna walked over to him with a smile and pat his back.
"Well anyways, good job on beating the boss you two. Let's head through the gate to the next floor shall we?" She said as she started walking away from the group towards the activation portal. Everyone else followed behind her, through the newly activated portal, except for Kirito, Kaori and Aiden. Kirito turned to the duo.
"Not many know about the martial arts quest. Those that do either can't complete it or ignore it. And kicking isn't something that you learn from the skill either." Aiden met his gaze.
"Guess I've been found out. Once I completed the quest all I could think of was fighting with my fists. So, I threw away my sword and focused on this. It was really dangerous at first. But soon I got a series of martial arts skills in my skills tree. Karate, Muay Thai and Jiu Jitsu. Once I started using those the mobs I fought were no challenge at all. Besides, I kind of figured it would make this game more interesting if I fought with my hands and feet rather than a sword." Aiden put on a big dorkish smile, making Kirito shake his head at the large man.
"Well it's rather impressive. Just try not to draw to much attention." Kirito turned and headed towards the gate, waving back to them.
"I like him." Aiden said blankly. Kaori let out a loud sigh and walked through the gate as well leaving Aiden all alone. He sank down once more.
"None of you are nice to me."
There we go! Chapter two, I'm trying a different writing style with this one. All to see how it goes over. The next chapter is a big one, so look forward to it! ;D