Floor 79

The Tri-Roof Tavern and Inn must have been programmed to look well used and musty. After defeating the boss, Agil practically dragged me directly to the first tavern he saw so we could catch up. It's dusty interior evoked a warm, homely feeling, and the cold beverage in my hand only added to it.

"Alright, spill it," Agil said after waiting several minutes for me to speak without provocation. "What's there to talk about," I replied, to which he looked me dead in the eyes with a glare he must have practiced several times over.

"Fine, I'll tell you everything," I finally gave in, "but first you have to tell me your story." Agil was visibly displeased with my constant resistance.

"Well, after you abandoned the rest of us," he fixed me with another glare, "the rest of us had to fend for ourselves. With their leader gone, the Knights of the Blood Oath started to fall apart rapidly. Some broke off into small guilds, while some tried to keep it intact. Those who were most loyal to Healthcl-, I mean Kayaba," my fists clenched at the name, "were practically lynched. Almost everybody thought they were in on it, that they had help him deceive them, or that they were game admins themselves and were the ones keeping the players trapped.

"The theories kept piling up and piling up until someone attempted to take order by declaring themselves the new guild leader. That only made matters worse as others tried to take over as well, thinking they were more suited to lead the masses. From there, like I said, everything came to ruin." I listened intently, even though I already knew most of this information. I had been in hiding, but I wasn't a hermit. I still read the news files and knew what was going on...partially. I turned down the idea to remind Agil of this fact, and instead resorted something that would get him on track. "So what does all this have to do with you," I asked.

"I rounded up the majority of those that had stayed, and as many of those that would come back, and reformed them into a new guild, led by me."

I chuckled slightly. "Really? You started a guild?" I had never pictured Agil to be the leading role model type. "What about your trading shop?"

"I had to give it up. Since the Knights were the main front line guild, progress was slowing down. After, I led them through the 77th boss, it was an almost unanimous vote that I be elected the new guild leader." He paused and looked down at his drink. "I couldn't stand to keep the name though. There was too much bad blood mixed in. So we took another vote, and the desk ion to change it came out 38 to 12. Hence forth, I declared us The Black Swordsmen." He took another pause.

The Black Swordsmen, huh? Not as catchy as Knights of the Blood Oath, I thought to myself. I did, however, deeply appreciate the reference to our mutual friend. "It's a good name," I said.

"I figured it would be like an entire eulogy wrapped up into one name. It was all I could do to honor Kirito." I nodded my head slowly. "It's a good name," I said again. We had an involuntary moment of silence for our fallen friends before Agil indicated it was my turn to share.

"First off, can I asked you a question," I inquired.

There was a brief sigh. "If it will make you talk, go for it."

"When you saw me, you thought I was dead, and that I stole these swords from...myself." Agil nodded but said nothing. "So my question is, why didn't you know if I was dead or not?" Seeing his blank stare, I elaborated further.

"There is a wall in the town of beginnings that lists all those that have died so far. Did you never check?" Understanding took hold of him, and he shook his head.

"No. I never dared to look. I went there once and saw their names," I nodded my own understanding. I had also ventured to the wall once and saw their names imprinted upon the surface. It was almost sacrilegious to see them clumped together with all the rest as if they weren't significant in any way. "After that, I couldn't bare the thought of going there again and seeing your name somewhere along the list. Once I saw you at the fight, I almost broke down completely. One of the men had to hold me back at one point. I was so enraged that I was about to finish you off while you were passed out." I gave a quick and silent thankyou to whoever had held him back.

With the answer to my question given, I started from the beginning. I was surprised at how little I had done within the two months I was missing. Most of my stories were close encounters with high level mobs and insignificant quests. Like I said before, there really wasn't much to tell. I was in the middle of the story of the army grunt right before the last boss, when suddenly a player burst into the shop and rushed straight up to Agil and saluted. I paused, and looked him up and down.

The player was obviously from the guild Agil commanded, his armor being the same dark green and black uniform the man interrupting us wore. He looked at me and chose to whisper whatever he had to say to Agil instead of saying it out loud. I was slightly offended, but more so with the intrusion than the disrespect. I leaned back in my chair and waited for him to finish.

Agil's eyes widened, and he looked from the peon to me. He dismissed him with a wave of his hand and spoke to me. "A scouting party just discovered the location of the next boss!"

What!? Already? Sure, the floors are getting smaller and smaller with each one we go up, and therefore the dungeons are easier to find, but surely this discovery is impossibly premature.

"What," I said out loud. "How is that possible?"

"Ahem, sir." It was the interloper who now spoke, both to me and Agil. "The scouting party has... Uh... 'requested' your presence at the boss."

(X)

It took us only a few minutes to reach the coordinates given to us. It was obvious why it was found so fast; the entrance was as inconspicuous as someone wearing pink at a black and white ball. The dungeon was inside a giant ivory tower located in the middle of the forest directly outside the town. The single steeple poked out from above the treeline and could be seen from anywhere within the woods.

The entire way up was completely devoid of any hostile resistance and we made it to the doors within another few minutes. Standing in front were two men, both wearing the uniform of The Black Swordsmen. One guy I recognized from the last fight, the other was completely unfamiliar. Agil greeted them both and they stepped forward.

"Sir. It's definitely the boss, no doubt about it," the first man assured us.

"Have you looked inside," Agil inquired. I already started preparing my gear and readied a couple health pots and handed a teleport crystal to Agil. I assumed the other two had some for themselves, being a scouting party and all.

"No, sir." I nodded. Normally, I would question how they knew it was the boss when they hadn't even been inside, but it was at the top of the floor with giant oak doors inlaid with gold. It wasn't hard to discern.

"Well, as long as we are here, might as well take a look." Agil opened his menu and summoned his giant battle axe. We all held our teleport crystals in one hand and the second man slowly pushed open the door...

...

...

We crept into the room, but there was nothing there. The absence of the assumed boss completely distracted my mind from the absence of the other figure. The first man was not with us. Realizing this, I spun around and found him still in the doorway. We were standing well within the center of the large room, but I could see his sharp features curl into a cruel smile. My eyes widened as realization slapped me in the face.

I called out to Agil and sprinted towards the door as the man slammed it shut, leaving us three stranded within the boss room with no way out. As the door locks clicked, fires spread out from the edge of the circular room, surrounding us and keeping me from getting to the door. Turning around, I looked about the room.

Statues were littered everywhere, all looking the same. At the far wall, a similar statue towered above the rest. As my gaze landed upon its face, it's eyes lit up, and the stone slowly fell away from the wall, revealing the creature beneath it.

We were trapped.

(X)

Author's Note: yes, I know this chapter is late.