Chapter 2: The Briefing

-November 6th, 6:00 pm-

"Why the hell are we running?" Charlie yelled as we ran out of town.

"In an MMO there are limited resources. Once everyone realizes that the area around the Town of Beginnings will be farmed dry, were heading to the next town now to get ahead of everyone else." Ryuk explained as I focused on leading us away from the town center. Soon enough we were outside the town and slowed down to focus on any mobs we would encounter. After two hours and 10 fights we finally made it to Harunka village. Extremely tired and worn out we decided to find an inn and get some shut eye. Looking at the map of the area I led everyone to a small inn called the Holly inn. As we walked in we noticed we weren't the only one's here. He had short black hair and a one handed sword strapped to his back.

"How the hell did someone beat us here?" Nyssa said confused. He glanced at us and walked up the stairs away from us. Walking up to the innkeeper I noticed one other name in the inn's register "Kirito" the name seemed familiar so I filed it away for later. Having only enough col for 3 rooms we decided Charlie and I would share, Nyssa and Kallen would share which left Ryuk by himself.

"Why am I always the one who winds up alone?" he asked.

"Because you're a dick." Kallen said matter of factly. With that we headed upstairs and went into our separate rooms. I tried sleeping for a few hours but couldn't fall asleep. I got up to go walking around town. I made it to the door of the inn before someone grabbed my hand; I spun around surprised to see Charlie looking worried.

"Can't sleep either." She nodded and we walked out into the night. We walked for an hour before we found a bench underneath a giant oak tree in the middle of a plaza. We just sat there for a while looking up at the starry sky painted ceiling of the first floor.

"I don't want to die here. It's just some dumb game." Charlie said barely louder than a whisper. I pulled her closer to me.

"You won't, I promise. I will do everything and anything I can to make sure you survive this. Just please listen and do as I tell you, and I promise you will make out of here alive."

"Now I know I won't die. In all the time we've been together you've never once broken your promise." she smiled and said sleepily. At this point she was lying down using my leg as a pillow. After a few minutes I noticed she had fallen asleep. Unwilling to wake her and being extremely tired myself I decided to leave her be, ten minutes later I was asleep as well. I woke up the next morning confused about where I was, and then I remembered yesterday. I woke Charlie from her sleep and we headed back to the inn. After gathering everyone we decided to head out and farm mobs for levels and col. After about ten hours of killing boars we decided to call it a day and head back. I looked at the HUD to see what level everyone was. Atticus-8, Charlie-3, Kallen-4, Nyssa-3, and Ryuk-5. In ten hours we had all leveled pretty well, plus we got some decent drops. I had gotten a pair of black combat boots which gave +2 Speed. Charlie had gotten a black battle skirt with red trim which gave +3 agility. Kallen and Ryuk both got new swords. And Nyssa unfortunately did not get anything worth mentioning. Arriving back in Harunka we noticed more players had shown up.

"Well looks like we're not alone anymore." Nyssa said as we went back to the inn. We rented 3 rooms again before the inn became full and then headed out to get dinner. We found a nice café on the other side of town and sat down to eat.

"So what now?" Kallen asked looking at me along with everyone else.

"We continue to level until the boss is discovered, which shouldn't take long. Then depending on everyone's level we decide whether or not to participate." I explained and went on to explain the basic rules of how to survive to everyone. After dinner we decided to split up and do whatever we felt like. Ryuk went back to the inn for the night, Kallen and Nyssa decided to wander around and look at the various shops, which left me and Charlie to walk around alone again.

"About last night, thanks again for reassuring Me." Charlie started as we walked.

"No problem it's what I'm here for."

"But why did you make it sound as if you didn't plan on making out of here alive yourself."

"Because when I said I'd do anything to keep you safe I meant it. Whether it is killing someone else or even sacrificing mys-." Before I could finish I was viciously slapped across the face.

"DON'T EVER THINK OF KILLING YOURSELF." She screamed at me while hugging me tightly.

"I don't know what I'd do if I lost you." She said this time barely louder than a whisper. I pulled her closer, kissed her forehead.

"Alright I promise, never again. I don't know what I'd do without you either."

"You always know what to say to cheer me up."

"That's why I'm the best boyfriend ever." I smiled looking down into her eyes.

"Yes you are." She smiled and leaned in for a kiss; I obliged and kissed her back.

-December 3rd, 5:20 pm-

It's been a month since the death game began, and we are still stuck on the first floor. But that should change soon; the boss room had finally been found. In ten minutes a strategy meeting would be held to decide on how to deal with the boss.

"I still don't understand why we have to go. I mean Atticus is a beta tester he knows how to deal with it." Ryuk was complaining.

"Just because I was a tester doesn't mean I have all the answers for this game."

"True but you of all people should remember something as important as the first boss of the game." Kallen countered.

"Okay you caught me, I know about the boss. But that was beta which means they've changed things the boss might be different. So we should go find out what we can and plan accordingly." With that we entered the meeting area and sat down. After a few minutes a guy with long blue hair, a sword and a shield walked onto the stage.

"Welcome and thank you for coming to this meeting. My name is Diavel and the job I rolled is knight." He started.

"Yeah and I'm the fucking tooth fairy." Ryuk mumbled which landed him a punch on the shoulder from both Kallen and Nyssa.

"Alright now for the real matter at hand. My party found the boss room at the top of the tower today." Everyone immediately went silent at the news.

"We need to beat the boss and clear the floor to show everyone that this game can be beat. Now everyone group together into groups of 6. A normal party doesn't stand a chance against the boss. We have to form a raid party consisting of multiple smaller parties." He said then gave us time to form our parties.

"Well we only need 2 others and were good." Charlie said happily.

"3 more you're not coming Charlie." I stated.

"What the hell do you mean I'm not coming?"

"You're under leveled and I'm not willing to risk your life."

"What about Ryuk he's only three levels ahead of me and he's going?"

"In an MMO three levels makes a huge difference also he grew up playing games like this."

"That's so unfair what if you died in that fight wha-."

"YOU ARE GOING TO STAY AT THE INN AND WAIT THAT IS FINAL." I almost screamed at her.

"I'm not going to die. During the beta I was one of the top three players, I didn't die in the first floor fight. Also I'm level 13, Nyssa is 11, Kallen is 12 and Ryuk is 10. Everyone but you is level 10 or above. And what if you died you think I'd be any better off then you if I died." I said much calmer then my previous outburst.

"Fine I'll stay here but promise me you won't die out there or I swear to god I will never forgive you." She almost crying by the end.

"Don't worry about Atticus I'll be there watching his back." Ryuk said as he put me in a headlock.

"I think that's what she's worried about." Kallen said smiling next to me.

"Damn Kallen that's cold. You know I'd never hurt Atticus, Charlie would kill me if I even thought about punching him." Ryuk responded to which everyone started laughing.

"All right now that that's settled back to the meeting." Diavel started again.

"th-."

"Wait just one second." Diavel started and was interrupted by a short kid with short orange spiky hair. He jumped down from the top of the steps and landed on the stage next to Diavel.

"My name's Kibaou got it." The spiky hair kid started.

"Before we take on the boss theirs something I wanna say. You've all heard about the two thousand players who died already. Well some of you have to apologize for them." I paled slightly realizing he was probably talking about the beta testers.

"Kibaou you're talking about the beta testers correct?" Diavel asked.

"Of course I do. The day this game started the beta testers up and vanished leaving us to fend for ourselves while they took all the good hunting spots and all the easy quests. This whole time they were the only ones getting any stronger. They've just ignored us this whole time. Hell there's probably some of them here. Get out here beta testers. We should make them apologize for what they've done, not only that but we should make them give up all their items and the money they've gathered. They can't expect the party to trust them if they don't trust us. Why should we?" He finished, crossing his arms with a look of disdain on his face. Everything was silent for a few minutes. I noticed two or three other players shifting nervously. Kirito the player we saw at the inn the first night was one of them. I was about ready to get up, walk up to Kibaou and knock some sense into him, when finally someone spoke up.

"Can I say something?" and with that a giant black bald man with a two-handed axe walked on stage and up to Kibaou. Kibaou noticed his sized and visibly tensed up.

"The name's Agil. I just wanna make sure I'm on the same page as you. You say the beta testers are responsible for the two thousand players who died, and they should apologize and give up their winnings, I'm I right?"

"Yeah." Kibaou said nervously.

"The item store hands these out for free." Agil said while lifting a book and turning to the crowd.

"It's a guidebook you got one right?"

"Yeah so?"

"You know who was handing them out? It was the ex-beta testers." And with that everyone leaned forward to better hear what was being said. Agil paused and waited for the information to sink in.

"Everyone had equal access to the boss but even still lots of players died. Now I didn't come here to point fingers, I came here to learn from their deaths and to find out how to beat the boss." With that Agil looked to Kibaou who just grunted and went to sit down. Agil followed him and sat down as well.

"Alright now back to the meeting." Diavel said turning to the crowd.

"For info on the boss it's all in here the latest issue of the guidebook. According to the book the bosses name is Illfang the Kobold Lord. He will be surrounded by his minions the ruin kobold sentinels. He carries a one-handed axe and a buckler. He has four health bars and when the last bar turns red he switches to a curved sword type called a Talwar, his attack pattern will also change."

"That's seems kinda unfair." Charlie said looking at me slightly worried.

"Don't worry he did the same thing in the beta." I responded, but even I was worried. I mean why would Kayaba leave everything the same as in the beta, it just didn't feel right.

"All right that's it for the briefing. Now for loot distribution, all money will be shared equally among participants, the party who defeats the boss gets the EXP and whoever gets an item keeps it. Any objections?" silence followed his question.

"Good. We leave at ten AM tomorrow so get some rest. Meeting over." With that we all got up and left.

"Hey you guys have room for 2 more?" A voice said from behind us. Turning around we saw a short player with short blond hair and a pair of glasses. He had a double sided sword on his back. Next to him was a taller player with medium length brown hair and freckles around his face. He had a one-handed axe on his belt and a shield on his back.

"Sure. But are you sure you guys wanna participate you might die." Nyssa said.

"Yes were sure. Anything to help get us out of the game faster." The brown haired player asked. I shrugged and sent off two party invites. They clicked yes and two new health bars popped up under the other 5. Seamuz and Ace were the names of our two new companions.

"So who's Seamuz and who's Ace?" Kallen asked.

"I'm Seamuz." The brown haired player said.

"Which makes you our Ace up the sleeve?" Ryuk said

"That was easily the worst joke you've ever said. I'm Kallen by the way, this dumbass is Ryuk." Kallen said.

"I'm Nyssa, nice to meet you." Nyssa said before Ryuk could say anything. She then shook both Seamuz and Ace's hands.

"I'm Charlie. If I come off as nervous or defensive it's not you I'm just not good at meeting new people in video games" Charlie said looking very nervous.

"Atticus." I said walking up behind Charlie and putting my arm around her trying to calm her, it worked, after a few seconds she wasn't as tense and started leaning on me.

"Nice to meet you all." Ace said shaking everyone's hand.

"Same." Seamuz said, also shaking everyone's hand. And with that we headed out to get some rest.