Hey guys, I'm back again with another chapter for you all. Thanks for the crazy support on this story. After only being up for a few hours this story managed to get 17 followers! That literally made my day. I hope you guys continue to like and support this story as well as my other story. Anyways, it's story time!

January 11, 2023. Forest Path, Colessia Outskirts, First Floor, Aincrad.

Kirito and Asuna walked together behind the main body of the raid group. The force had left Colessia that morning and had been slowly making its way to the dungeon, stopping once or twice to deal with monsters that guarded the path that wound through the forest that surrounded the dungeon like a moat surrounding a fortress. Most of the monsters avoided them because their group was so large, but that didn't stop them from following, hoping to get a chance to defeat a player in battle.

"Alright, let's go over the plan," Kirito said, making sure Asuna was paying attention to him. "Our job to attack the boss's minions, the Ruin Kobold Sentinels. We'll be able to deal with them best if one of us blocks their attacks and then the other switch's in to attack."

"Switch?"

Kirito stopped and turned to Asuna. "Be honest with me. Is this the first time you've fought in a party?" Asuna nodded. Kirito sighed. This is gonna be a long walk.

January 11, 2023. First Floor Dungeon, Level 10, First Floor, Aincrad.

Diabel stood in front of the massive obsidian doors that opened into the boss room, facing the group of warriors that were all waiting to hear what he would say.

"Alright everyone, this is it. The boss is right through this door. You all remember the plan?" Nods from everyone in the attack force. "Alright, then let's do this, and show everyone that we will beat this game!"

The group roared in approval as Diabel turned towards the doors and, with a mighty shove, pushed them wide open.

Everyone rushed into the room at once, and soon they all stood together in the dark room.

"Where is it?" one guy said.

Suddenly, the entire room lit up, but there were no sources of light. From what they could see, the blueish glow seemed to originate from the walls and ceiling, which were now a blueish color with swirls of other various colors flowing through it.

They all stood in what looked like a throne room. The room was three stories high and seemed to be about half a mile long, with pillars lining a path of stone bricks that lead to a giant gray throne. Upon the throne was the boss. As they watched, he stood and leaped high into the air, landing right in front of the raid group.

'Illfang the Kobold Lord' appeared along with four health bars above his head. He stood about four meters tall and had a massive stomach. His blood red skin was covered with what looked like random pieces of samurai armor. As they watched, Illfang pulled an axe made of bone and a large buckler shield out of nowhere and roared. Directly in front of it, three pillars of blue-white light appeared and were then replaced by three kobolds in heavy armor that wielded giant war hammers.

"Alright, commence the attack!" Diabel bellowed as the raid party split into groups and began trying to surround the boss. Kirito and Asuna ran straight for the one of the three Ruin Kobold Sentinels while another group charged the other two. They fought for what seemed like hours, with each kobold they slew, another appeared to take its place. Behind them, Kirito could hear the sounds of battle as the raid group slowly depleted the boss's health bar. Off to his left he heard Diabel issuing orders from his vantage point near a fallen pillar.

As Kirito watched another sentinel disappear with the sound of breaking glass, he turned as he heard a horrible roar from Illfang. The raid group was quickly putting distance between themselves and the red skinned monster they were fighting. Kirito looked above his head and saw that the fourth health bar was finally in the red. As he watched, he noticed Diabel running towards the boss.

"I'll take it from here!"

But I thought the plan was to finish him off all at once while we had him surrounded.

Diabel stopped a few meters in front of the boss as his sword was enveloped in a golden light as he prepared a sword skill to finish off the boss.

And then Illfang drew his new weapon. But it wasn't a talwar. It was a Nodachi.

Oh shit!

"Diabel stop!" Kirito shouted as he began to run towards the raid leader.

Ignoring him, Diabel charged at the boss, which nimbly leaped into the air and began jumping from pillar to pillar so fast that no one in the group was able to follow him. Suddenly, with a final leap, Illfang landed right in front of Diabel, the shockwave throwing the young man up in the air. Before the knight could react, the boss slammed his giant sword into Diabels chest, sending him flying.

"Diabel!"

A few people began to run towards their leader, but were forced to stop as Illfang jumped into the middle of the group and forced them to defend themselves from his barrage of attacks.

Kirito ran to where Diabel had landed and knelt beside the young warrior.

"What were you thinking?" he said, pulling a red potion out of his inventory and trying to get Diabel to drink it. Diabel reached up and stopped Kirito's hand, giving him a sad look.

"You know why… You were in the beta test too, weren't you?"

Suddenly it clicked for Kirito. "You were after the final attack bonus. The rare item."

Diabel nodded, his health slowly draining as the damage from being flung across the room slowly caught up with him.

"Kirito… promise me… that you'll destroy this world… that you'll… get them out…" Diabel said, tightening his grip on Kirito's hand. "Promise me…" and with that Diabel shattered into dozens of blue crystal shards that slowly faded from view as Kirito continued to stare at the spot where the young warrior had laid moments ago.

He's dead…

He must have sat there for longer than he thought, because the next thing he knew there was a hand on his shoulder and Asuna was standing next to him. "Come on, we still have to beat the boss."

Kirito pushed himself up and turned towards where the rest of the raid group was holding off the giant monster. It looked like so far no one else had died, but Illfangs health had barely dropped since he had last looked. Seeing the beast that had killed Diabel slashing and hacking at more players filled Kirito with rage as he once again drew his sword.

"Here's the plan," he said to Asuna. "We'll handle him just like we did the minions. One of us blocks his attack and the other switches in to attack."

Asuna gave him a confident nod and then bolted towards the boss alongside Kirito. The group saw them coming and parted to let them through. Once Illfang saw the duo and swung his Nodachi at them, Kirito stepped out in front of Asuna and parried the blow with his sword.

"Switch!"

Asuna darted forward and prepared to attack the boss. Suddenly, Illfang tensed up and began to bring his sword forward in a stab.

"Asuna!"

Just in time, Asuna managed to twist and barely dodging the blade. However, as she dodged, her red cloak was hit by the attack, shattering it into shards of crystal, revealing a stunning girl wearing white clothing with long auburn hair. Undeterred, Asuna continued her attack, landing dozens of hits as she thrust her sword faster than the human eye could see.

"Switch!"

Kirito jumped in front again and blocked once more, before switching back out to let Asuna attack again. As she jumped back to Kirito's side, he turned to her, a fierce determination in his eyes. "Together this time." She nodded and prepared for another attack. As one, they dashed forward.

Kirito pulled ahead and blocked another attack from the boss. As he did this he felt a large force hit him in the side. The boss had brought around his giant fist and hit Kirito as he blocked.

Kirito was sent flying back into Asuna, and both went sprawling. Looking back at the boss, they saw him leap high into the air, sword raised as it hurtled towards them. So this is it, Kirito thought as he watched the blade. Suddenly a shadow appeared above him, followed by a grunt and the sound of metal hitting metal.

"We'll hold him off until your ready to fight again." Agil said as he pushed the boss away. He charged at the boss, followed by his party.

"Hey! Quick, drink this!" Asuna said as she raised a potion to his lips. As he felt his strength returning, he saw Illfang swipe at Agil's group and send them sprawling. He then watched as the boss once again attempted the same attack Agil had saved them from.

Kirito was on his feet in an instant as he ran to intercept the attack. He managed to barely block the attack and forced the boss back once more as Asuna rejoined him.

"Here we go!" Kirito said, raising his sword above his head as it began to glow with a bright blue light. He deftly brought it down, leaving a glowing red line down the front of the boss's gut, and then followed by leaping up, his sword still stuck into Illfangs body. As he rose, the sword followed until it finally exited the boss's body through the top of his head.

Illfang froze. Everyone watched in awe as the final health bar dropped to zero, and Illfang the Kobold Lord shattered into hundreds of crystal shards, which were replaced by a large message the read 'Congratulations!'.

Everyone cheered as windows appeared before everyone, informing them of the experience and items they had gotten from the fight. Without anyone seeing Kirito shut a second window that had appeared before him. The last attack bonus…

"We did it!"

"Hell yeah!"

"We won!"

"Good job." Agil said, reaching down to pull Kirito to his feet.

"Thanks for saving us back there."

"Don't mention it."

"Just shut up!"

Everyone turned to see who had shouted, and all eyes landed on Kibaou, sitting on the floor with a pained look on his face.

"Why… Why did you let him die?"

"What are you…"

"You knew what attack pattern the boss was gonna use!" Kibaou said, pointing an accusing finger at Kirito.

"You know what, I'll bet he was a beta tester!" one of Kibaou's party member exclaimed.

"Now wait just a minute…" Agil said, stepping forward.

Kirito began to think as the argument continued. I can't allow Kibaou to rave on the beta testers, but nothing I do will make him stop. What can I do to put an end to it…?

Kirito smiled. It's worth a shot.

Everyone went silent as they turned to Kirito, who had begun laughing. Even Kibaou seemed surprised as Kirito stood up from where he had been crouching.

"Beta testers, huh? Don't compare me to those noobs." He said, slowly turning towards the crowd behind him.

"Wha… what the…?" Kibaou stuttered.

"Most of the beta testers were as green as grass when they started playing. Even some of you are better than they were." Kirito said, slowly making his way to the center of the group.

"So don't compare me to them. During the beta test, I made it to higher floors than every other beta tester. I recognized the boss's attack pattern because I've fought monsters on higher floors with more advanced attack patterns."

"Your worse than a beta tester… you're a god damn cheater!"

"A beta tester and a cheater?"

"He's a Beater!"

Kirito forced a smile. "A Beater, huh? Good, just don't mix me up with those beta testers again." He said, going into his inventory and equipping the item he had gotten from the last attack bonus, the Cloak of Midnight.

Feeling he had done enough, he began making his way towards the doors that had appeared to take them to the second floor. As he mounted the steps he heard foot falls behind him.

"Wait."

He stopped as Asuna stared at him.

"During the battle you said my name."

"Sorry, I wasn't trying to be rude. Did I mispronounce it?"

"How did you know it?"

Kirito smiled and half turned towards her. "Under your health bar there should be a second hp gauge."

Asuna glanced up at her health and saw that he was right, there was a second health bar and a name.

"Ki-ri-to. Kirito. That's your name?"

Kirito didn't answer as he manipulated his menu and dissolved their party. As she watched, his health bar disappeared from her view.

Kirito turned back towards the door and pushed them open. Just as he was about to step through, a window appeared in front of him, catching him by surprise.

Asuna wants you to join her party.

He slowly turned around to face Asuna, who now stood at the top of the steps a few feet in front of him.

"What are you doing?"

"You may have fooled everyone else down there, but I saw how you reacted when Diabel died. You're not the evil person you made them think you are, and I won't let you go out there to face their hate by yourself. Even if you say no, there is nothing to stop me from following you." Asuna said, staring at him with an unwavering stare.

For a while, neither of them moved. Then Kirito sighed and hit accept. Asuna smiled and walked up to him.

"Come on, we have a floor to explore."

And there we have it. Man, I really enjoyed writing that. Well, the story has begun, so now all that's left is to see how things turn out! Any ways thank you all for reading and supporting me and my stories. If anyone has an idea or suggestion or anything, please leave a review or pm me. I love hearing from you guys so don't be shy, I promise I won't bite most of you. Anyways guys, I'll see you all next time. Peace!