Break the Code

Has it been long enough yet?!

Chapter 4: A Glimmer of Hope

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Lera stood in the middle of the inn room, heaps of papers scattered around him in a disheveled mess. On his face, a wide triumphant grin. He cast a gaze along the front most papers, overlooking the drawings and the formulas. Yes, this was it. He had done it.
A silent chuckle escaped his lips. The smile grew even wider. Finally, they could finally move on.

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Charlotte let out a big yawn as she stumbled her way into the hallway of the inn. It was quite early, at least by her standards, or rather Lera's. The majority of the other players staying here - mainly the dungeon crawlers - were all still asleep. However, she doubted her snowy haired companion would be in bed now. She could've sworn that he never slept. She never went to bed after him, and never woke up before him. It wouldn't surprise her to find he stayed up almost all night on a regular basis, likely working double time every day. And yet he was still more optimistic than anyone else. Or at least, on the surface. She was pretty sure she could see faint traces of his real attitude just below the optimism. Something she wouldn't call despair however, unlike the faces she saw all around him. No, his cheerful demeanor was hiding rage. Pure hatred she couldn't describe nor fathom. To see it by itself might be frightening enough, but for it to be hidden behind a mask of kindness was truly terrifying. Lera had a past. Something to permanently scar him beyond repair, yet he was still perfectly capable of completely masking it.
In a game like this, everyone's life is on the line. And everyone's true nature begins to show in the face of danger to their well being. Yet Lera was being the optimistic beacon of hope they all needed. And here she was despairing that nearly a month in still had them at the first damned floor.
She had just descended down the stairs when she saw a glimpse of Lera speaking with that blue haired guy from the night before. He was talking with an oddly excited tone, which in turn was met with equal joy from Diavel. She cocked her head in curiosity as she approached the two of them. Halfway through the lobby Lera noticed her, and decoded to greet her with a loud shout. "Charlotte! I have some good news for you!"
Surprised, she came to face Lera and Diavel, who were for some reason fully dressed to go into the dungeon; in sharp contrast to the night gown she wore.
"What's up?" She asked, still slightly tired.
"We've found the boss room." Lera told her.
Charlotte blinked. Did she hear that right? "You what?"
"Well that's a bit unfair." Diavel spoke up. "It was really all you Lera. If you're right we can cut straight to the end of this floor."
"Wait, what?!" She exclaimed.
"I found out where the boss room is." Lera began to explain. "The dungeon is systematically generated, and the formulas can lead us right to the end. If it's right of course, I'd like to get a second opinion."
"Well if you want me to look at math equations, I doubt I'm going to be much help." Charlotte explained.
"I don't think that's even going to be necessary Lera." Diavel interjected. "From what you showed me, it leaves little doubt that this theory is correct. I really think you did it."
"I appreciate that." Lera responded, grinning at him.
"So then what are we going to do?" Charlotte asked. "We going there now or what?"
Lera shook his head. "Not yet. We're going to call a meeting of all the players working on clearing this floor. We'll need all the help we can get."
"I've tried to make friends with everyone that's been through the Dungeon, so I can contact them." Diavel offered. "We can all get together later this afternoon."
"The sooner the better. For all of us." Lera responded.
"Sounds good. I'll get to it then."
Diavel waved as he jogged out of the inn, leaving Lera and Charlotte alone.
"So I imagine you were up all night figuring that out weren't you?" She asked.
Lera smiled. "Mostly. It's not that big a deal, late nights are more than a common occurrence for me."
"Maybe." She said. "But you should at least get some rest before we fight the boss. Or you might just fall asleep fighting the boss." She actually gave a hint of concern, amusing Lera.
"There's no need to worry." He told her with a smile. "I have an uncanny ability to run with little to no sleep. I always have."
And that much was true. During his time spent as Zero, he was no stranger to all nighters. Not that it was even a big deal at all anymore. He would fight to the full extent of his abilities; and they could finally put a dent in this seemingly endless game.

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"I'd like to thank you all for coming today." Diavel spoke, addressing the small crowd gathered in the amphitheatre. "My name's Diavel, and I've got some pretty good news for you all."
He extended his hand to point toward Lera, who was standing off to the side. "Thanks to the efforts of our friend here, we have been able to locate the location of the boss room."
The statement had the effect of a bomb dropping on the audience. Everyone gasped, clearly surprised.
"Now I have to say," Lera spoke up, stepping next to Diavel. "This may not be one hundred percent accurate, but I believe I've figured out the algorithms behind the systematic generation of the dungeon. And theoretically, we can cut straight to the end of the dungeon."
There were numerous chatters among the group, some skeptical of Lera's claims.
"I know you may not be inclined to believe me, and dive headlong into the heart of uncertainty; but I know that I am done sitting by and accepting this fate. I am taking my life into my hands and betting everything I have on this. And if you're with me, then I think it's time we found out what the second floor looks like. We will escape this game!"
That however, was received by a round of cheers. He had played right at what they felt the most. Morale was low, and they all needed a little pep talk.
"I'd like for you guys to all form up into parties of six. The floor boss is no laughing matter; and we can better watch each other's backs that way." Diavel explained.
Lera watched as a few groups formed up, and took particular notice of the two outsiders up in the top row. "Now that you're all grouped up, let's discuss how we are going to take down the boss. First of all-"
Before Lera could continue, he was interrupted by a man who appeared atop the stairs of the amphitheatre. "My name's Kabaou, and before you go on, I just gotta get something off my chest."
Kabaou jumped down the stairs, coming to a stop center stage. "You're all familiar to the fact that seventeen hundred people have died so far, right? Well some of you have to apologize to them!"
Lera frowned, momentarily confused by what the man was spouting.
Doable however, knew just what it was. "Kabaou, you couldn't be referring to...the beta testers could you?"
"Yeah. The moment this whole thing started, they abandoned all of us. They took all the best hunting spots, and even took the easy quests. They left us to die, and some of us really did die! So they need to apologize for that. And they should give us all the stuff that they took to pay for it."
Lera shook his head, annoyed by Kabaou's reasoning. He stepped forward, catching the spokes haired man's attention. "So you believe that the beta testers should give you everything that they worked for because you were less off?" He scoffed. "The world isn't fair. If it was, none of us would be in this mess. The beta testers are not responsible for the deaths of the other players. After all," Lera produced a small book from his inventory. "They already provided you with all the information that they could. They've done more than anything you ever did Kabaou. From my point of view, you are far more responsible than they are. You look pretty well equipped after all." He finished with a glare, and Kabaou looked away.
"You're life is yours alone. Whether you succeed or fail is up to you. Don't leave it up to anyone else, because no one else is going to do it. That's why you are all here. You're all determined to seize your futures for yourselves."
Lera looked out among all the players gathered here. The ones who may just become his 'Black Knights.' Common everyday people forced to fight for their lives in a world designed to end them.
"So let's show everyone that this game of death can be beaten! Let us forge on to a bright future that we can all look forward to! There is a future waiting for us, outside of Sword Art Online!"
The group erupted into screaming cheers cascading into a loud roar. Lera grinned, he hadn't lost his touch.

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Lera marched through the dim dungeon corridors, spearheading the group using his map he worked out. He had no doubts about his theory, but he was certainly hoping it was taking him the right way.
"That was quite the performance back there you know. I think you'd be just perfect for the stage ya know?" Charlotte said, jogging to catch up to him.
He smiled. "You think? I was the vice president of my school once, so I'm no stranger to the idea."
"Really?" Charlotte replied. "I bet you would make a good guild leader."
"A guild leader?" Lera asked.
"Right, new to games. A group of players can form into an organization in order to help each other, provide support and go on explorations together and stuff."
"I see." Creating a guild may allow him to push through the game far easier. It wasn't a bad idea.
"You should create a guild Lera, it'd be fun." Charlotte suggested.
"I'll consider it." He answered.
After a moment of silence, Lera came to a sudden stop. "We're here."
A massive gate stood before them, torches set on either side illuminated the end of the dungeon. Inwardly, Lera felt relieved to find it. And everyone around him buzzed with excitement.
"Wow, you really found it." Charlotte commented.
"Nice job Lera." Diavel said from his side.
Lera turned to the rest of the players, and stretched out his arms. "Now then, let us seize our own future! Now we shall fight!"
He drew his simple rapier, a thin sword earned through his merits of questing literally 24/7. "Onward to victory!"
He pressed his hand against the door, shoving it open. He stepped into the room, which lit up in an ethereal glow.
Illfang, the Kobold Lord; stood in the center of the room. With a loud bellow, he leapt in front of the group, coming to a crash. He drew his axe and shield, flanked by three sentinels wielding maces.
"Groups P and Q, handle the sentinels. R and S flank from the sides! The rest of you, attack straight on!" He rushed forward, leading the charge. Following his oldest value, he took the first strike against the cobalt beast. Illfang took it with his shield, Charlotte then struck from the side, knocking him off balance. He took a blind swing toward them, forcing them back.
He watched as his flanking teams closed in, backing off to let them confuse him. He glanced at Illfang's health, noticing he had multiple bars of health. He recalled the tutorial book's information on him. Noting he would ultimately switch attack styles later on. But as his forward most teams whittled through Illfang's second health bar now, keeping this up would ensure victory.
More sentinels spawning prompted him to divert his backup teams to stopping them; and called everyone to group back together. His teams were getting too far apart, and separated, they made good targets for Illfang's sweeping axe strikes.
Lera lunged forward, stabbing into the boss's exposed back. Combined with the slashes of his fellow players, the beast reared back, roaring at the group.
He threw down his axe and shield, snarling at them.
"Get ready everyone!" He yelled. This was the moment that mattered the most, when they would succeed or die trying. But one of the options was successful. "Now cha-" he froze. Illfang drew his weapon, but it wasn't the one he expected.
The information was wrong.
Diavel rushed forward, charging alone head long toward the boss.
"Diavel no! That's not-" he grit his teeth, this wasn't good. Illfang lept upward, landing on one of the pillars in the room. Jumping back and forth between them. Diavel stood between the pillars, trying to keep track of the blurry beast bouncing around above him.
Out of instinct, Lera rushed forward in front of Diavel, taking a swipe across the chest from Illfang's Nodachi, the weapon that was supposed to be a talwar.
He gasped, coughing as he collapsed.
"Lera!" Charlotte screamed.
She, along with everyone else, rushed to surround him, creating a protective barrier around him.
"Lera, I-I'm so sorry I..." Diavel tried to apologize.
"Someone get me a potion!" Charlotte shouted, holding Lera in her arms. His vision fading, Lera's eyes slowly began to close.
Had he failed so soon?
The sounds around him blurred into a dull hum as he experienced death for the second time now. And out of the darkened abyss surrounding him, numbers began to swim across his vision. And a burning symbol of Geass emblazoned the flooding code. The bird sigil grew bigger, becoming a blinding light until-

He stood in a field, atop a rock overlooking a familiar valley. The dark skies covered by the second floor of Aincrad.
"What?"

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