Chapter 3- July 15th 2024- "Breaking Point"

68th floor- Labyrinth

The sounds of combat rung out around the pseudo-stone walls of the 68th floor labyrinth. Every clash of weapons and swoop of a blade echoed up and down as I fought hard against three Void Tusks, Strange creatures that resembled the Dire Tusk boss but had four arms and very unpredictable attack patterns.

They had kept me on the defensive for going on 5 minutes by this point and my arms began to tire from the never ending deflections. Normally by this point I would have worked out my opponents attacks and found a vulnerability to exploit, but these guys were proving troublesome. It was lucky that I was using the glaive that Lisbeth had forged for me, its additional speed and easier to pull off deflections had saved me several times already and if I was going to win this fight without using an emergency teleport crystal it would prove instrumental.

The Void Tusks managed to back me into a corner and their algorithms must have determined this was to their advantage since their attacks increased in power. However this increase in power meant a drop in speed and seeing my opportunity between strikes I planted one foot on the wall behind me and pushed off hard. As I spun over the heads of the mobs I activated a simple Vertical sword skill bringing my glaive slicing through one of the tusks. The enemy exploded in a shower of stars but the fight was not yet over. Upon landing I instantly activated another sword skill, this time a Horizontal Square. Going into a fast spin I unleased a 4 hit combo at blistering speed which obliterated another of the tusks. The final one unleashed a flurry of blows and managed to land a solid hit across my chest plate and to my dismay shaved off a quarter of my health.

Ok can't take too many like that I thought to myself as the blows continued to rain down. It was after a well-timed parry which managed to block two of the tusks arms simultaneously that I saw my opening. I drew back my glaive and activated a Rage Spike. In the blink of an eye I passed the remaining Tusk leaving behind nothing but a green blur. Behind me I heard the familiar sound of the death of another mob and the victory screen appeared before me. The screen stated that I had received a rare item, an Upgrade Stone.

Checking my inventory I realised that it was a material used to upgrade gear which only spawns on higher floors. Certainly explains why I haven't heard of it before I thought. Then another thought rang out like hammer colliding with a gong: Gotta get Lisbeth to take a look! I felt a flush of excitement, but before I grabbed my teleport crystal I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. Glancing to my left I saw the huge black door of a boss room.

"Wow, how did I miss that I was this close" I mused. After quickly putting down a Corridor Crystal I then teleported back to the assault team HQ in Marten. It wasn't until I arrived that I noticed the sun had already gone down. However there was a lot of commotion as numerous members of the Knights of the Blood Oath came marching by. Some seemed wounded and most seemed dejected. As they went past I saw Asuna among them and hurriedly made my way to her.

"Hey Asuna what's up? What's this about?" I said as I caught up to her.

"Not here, meet me in the cathedral in 10 minutes" she replied while picking up the pace. Slightly confused and worried I made my way to the cathedral.


As promised Asuna arrived after 10 minutes and slumped down on one of the pews with a sigh. As I approached she glared up at me. At first I thought that I had done something wrong to earn her Ire, it was then that I saw the tears in her eyes.

"What's happened?" I asked now very concerned about what could have rattled the great Lightning Flash Asuna.

"Those bastards in the Laughing Coffin…" she began, taking a pause to compose herself. "We got word of where we could find some holed up, but when we got there… it was an ambush and they had kidnapped two innocent players as bait."

"Shit" was the only reply I could muster.

"We lost 4 members of the Blood Oath today, two were from the assault team and worst of all we couldn't even save the players they had used to draw us in." Asuna's tears began flowing faster as she sobbed to herself.

Laughing Coffin, the murder guild, I had run into them before. These sadistic people had entirely given up on their humanity and actively hunted other players, either for money or the sheer thrill of it. This was the third time in a row that Laughing Coffin had fooled one of the larger guilds into a misstep and it had made them far bolder. I had even heard rumours of them ambushing large parties of players and making them fight to death just to please themselves.

I could do nothing but stand there silent. Asuna had always seemed like an unmovable object in the face of anything this game could throw at her, but now she seemed so vulnerable. After a minute or so Asuna again spoke.

"I'm not going to allow them to win. These bastards need to be imprisoned or taken out for good".

"I agree but the way I see it, there are a few issues you'll need to deal with first" I responded.

"Go on." Asuna said as she looked to me for advice.

"Well first off it's obvious that a full fighting force is not going to work against Laughing Coffin, they can just pick its members off one at a time. What is needed is a surgical strike by a specialist team with some of the best fighters we have. Second since they seem to know exactly when the large guilds are moving against them they must have spies in all of them."

At that Asunas eyes went wide. "I thought that too but when I mentioned it to the commander he told me I was just being paranoid." Asuna looked down at the floor for a few seconds before looking back up, the fire and determination she was known for again burned in her eyes. "I know what I need to do". She stood up and nodded at me before continuing. "I'll send you a message soon with instructions. I know you are not going to like taking orders but Laughing Coffin is too dangerous to let your pride get in the way."

"Not at all, I want these guys gone as much as you do. And there's no way I can do it alone. I'm in."

Asuna nodded again before turning and walking towards the exit. She stopped before leaving and called back "Forget you saw me like that" and left.

The boss can wait I thought and placed the corridor crystal into my inventory.

A/N: So there we go for now.

I hope people really enjoy this story and if you do make sure to drop me a message :D I should be uploading Chapter 4 in a couple of days so make sure to follow :)