Hey guys. Here's the new chapter. Longest one yet.

Hope you like it.

R&R

(MADE SOME MAJOR EDITS... FOR THOSE WHO READ IT, YOU CAN RE-READ AND SPOT THE PART WHERE EDITS HAVE BEEN MADE.)

(EDITED LAST SEPTEMBER 9, 2014)

CHAPTER 3:

Later that day, when Hiro reached the next location, known as Horunka Village, he chose to take a break for a while after fighting some Dire Wolves along the way. After a few minutes of resting, he immediately decided to take some quests. The known quests available for that time was «Secret Medicine of the Forest» and «Cows' Counter Attack». He was familiar with both quests due to the fact that he took on those while he was in the beta test. "I think I'll go for Secret Medicine of the Forest, first." Hiro said, making a decision after trying to decide which of the two quests he will choose. He then rushed towards a path that led to that quest. When he nearly reached the place, which was an NPC's house, he stopped in his tracks only to find out that a black haired boy and a slightly long brown haired boy entered the house.

"Damn, someone beat me to it." Hiro muttered, wanting to take on that quest. He could have just joined them and complete that quest together but he was not the type who would work well with others because he got used to working and accomplishing things on his own. "Guess, I got no other choice but to take Cows' Counter Attack quest... How boring." Hiro says to himself, underestimating the quest.

20:16 Aincrad Standard Time...

After completing the quest for almost an hour, Hiro had reached 'lvl 3', which he was not very pleased with, thinking that he could have reached level 4 or 5 in the other quest. He then decided to just walk around the streets of Horunka and see what the village had to offer. He then spotted a weapon shop and decided to check out some weapons. After that, he went to some tool shop where he bought some potions and healing potions.

"Now to get a room and call it a day." Hiro says after he realized that he was running out of cols and saw the time indicated was already '20:30'. He then decided to check in on the cheapest inn there was, he didn't mind if it was just a small room and had no bed, he would just have to settle sleeping on the floor with a blanket as long as it met his remaining budget.

While he was heading out of the shop, he heard some people were screaming, "Help! Somebody, please help!" A person with massive and bulky bald man with a brown goatee, who looked like someone who's of African heritage, approached them and asked what kind of help they needed.

"Please good sir, our friend is going to jump off of Aincrad! Please save him!" A girl from the group said, pleading the people to rescue their friend.

"Where is he?" The bald man asked as he looked like he was the type of person who was willing to lend a hand.

"He's at the edge of floor 1, let's hurry before he decides to jump!"

Hiro found this little charade quite amusing ,as he then too, followed to where the incident is taking place. When they reached the edge of Aincrad, they saw a person, a man to be specific, standing on top of the boundary of floor 1. It looked like the person was waiting for an audience as he began to speak. "So, you're all here! That's great!" The man said as he stretched his arms wide, happy to see the crowd.

"Arvin! Enough of this! Please come down now!" One of his friends shouted.

"No! I don't believe what that lunatic said! We're not going to die in real life if our HP drops to zero, and I'm going to prove this theory!" The man who we came to save, known as Arvin, said. "By jumping off from Aincrad, I will be disconnected from the server and regain consciousness!"

"Hmm... This is intriguing... I'd like to see that for myself..." Hiro thought with a small grin, also wanting to test that theory.

"Don't! We don't even have proof!"

"Neither does Kayaba! For all we know, those pictures and videos we saw were just lies to scare us!" Arvin said, clearly not convinced of what Kayaba showed them earlier.

"Just don't! Please! Let's just try to clear the game! It's safer that way!" One of Arvin's friends pleaded. The bald man stepped forward and tried to grab Arvin's leg, but Arvin quickly avoided that and kicked the bald man in the face.

"Don't you dare touch me!" Arvin warned with desperate look on his face.

"Please, Arvin! Just come down! We'll treat you to what ever you want!" One of his friends tried to bribe him but to no avail as Arvin waved his hand and turned around.

"See you on the other side, my friends..." He said as he jumped, never to be seen again.

The people that were there was shocked to see the stunt that Arvin pulled as his friends screamed and cried unending tears, knowing that he would never return. Hiro just stood there, dumbfounded as he recalled the look of desperation on Arvin's face. "Was he... Really that desperate to get out of this game?" Hiro thought in confusion as he left the others and went back to Horunka Village.

When Hiro checked in a cheap inn, he went to his room and settled in for the night. "Tonight's the first night being trapped in this world." Hiro muttered as he sat on his mattress on the corner of the room. "I wonder what that Arvin guy was thinking." He said placing his hands on the back of his head and lay down.

"Usually, in a story or novel, the people would want to desperately break out if they were trapped, and someone would stand out as the hero and save all the people, granting them the escape they wanted." He says, remembering how novels worked. "Same goes in this case, the players who hold their life dearly in the real world would want to get out, and like in the novels, the main character would lead them to their freedom." He added while facing the ceiling of his room.

"I wonder who'll be the main character that decides to clear the game and save the players." Hiro says, closing his eyes and falling asleep.

"Because..."

"I'll definitely not be that guy..."

"That's so pathetic..."

December 2, 2022...

A whole month has gone by since the game began and the imprisonment of the players inside Sword Art Online. Word around was that the game has now about 2,000 less players than when the game had started. Many of these cause of death was due to inexperience and suicide.

Since the start of the game, Hiro made use of the good quests he knew from the beta test. Although he underestimated all the quests on the 1st floor, it still helped him gain cols, and experience to boost his level higher. He even got some better gear, he now carries a Ninjato, a kind of short sword, instead of a standard dagger, which he got from completing a mission; also, he slightly changed his outfit to achieve a comfortable movement in his lower body. He changed his black pants into a dark brown pants that is just below his knees, and he now wears black sandals instead of black boots.

"Things are not going our way at all, we've already lost 20% and we're still stuck in floor 1." Hiro says leaning on a wall, he was now in a town called Tolbana because he was invited by Argo, a fellow beta tester and an info broker in this game, to join a meeting to discuss about the first floor boss. Even he was struggling on finding the whereabouts of the first floor boss.

"But, today though, things are about to change." He says, heading over to what seems to be an amphitheater.

"Okay, people. Settle down, now that everyone's here, let's get this meeting started." Hiro heard a blue haired man started speaking as he leaned on a wall instead of sitting down like the rest. Only a few were gathered, to which he found pleasant. "So anyway, I want to thank everyone for coming. Good to see you. My name is Diabel, and in this game," he slightly pound his chest, "the job I rolled is Knight." He said with a cheerful face.

Most of the players laughed and shouted at the statement as Hiro let out a chuckle. "There's no job system in this game... What a goofball... " Hiro said in his mind, thinking how ridiculous Diabel was when he said that. Eventually, the laugh died down as the so called knight began to speak again. "You guys wanna hear this or not?" Everyone pulled themselves together and got serious.

"Right, anyway, here's the deal. Our party found the boss room at the top of the tower today." Diabel notified as the players were astonished and skeptical at the information. "First, we need to defeat the boss and make it to floor 2... The next step is, we have to tell everyone waiting in the Town of Beginnings that it is possible to beat this game!" He said with a strong and persuasive tone. "Taking charge and ownership, huh? Will this be the guy to lead the players out and be the hero?" Hiro wondered, slightly amazed by Diabel's compelling words.

"Fact is, it's our duty as the most capable players here... Do you agree or not?" Diabel added. The players looked at each other with determination and then started to clap and cheer. Hiro continued to lean his back on the wall, looking at the players who were cheering while keeping an expressionless face. "Looks like we're making some progress..."

"Okay!" Diabel said, continuing the discussion. "Glad to hear you're all with me on this... Now, let's figure out how we're going to beat the boss... First off, we'll team up into parties of six." When Hiro heard this suggestion from Diabel, he just closed his eyes and stayed in his spot, not wanting to follow his instructions as Diabel continued. "A typical party doesn't stand a chance against the floor boss. We need a raid group made up of multiple parties."

Hiro knew that most of the groups had complete members; all of them seem to know each other, so he didn't want to bother joining their group, heck, he even didn't plan on joining one to begin with, the idea didn't interest him, he was better on his own, until two other people approached him.

"Uh, hey, excuse me, do you by any chance wanna party up with us?" A black haired boy, that looked like around his age, asked him.

"Why would you want me in your group?" Hiro inquired the black haired male, still closing his eyes and leaning on the wall.

"Well, because we just happened to notice you in the corner all by yourself, so we thought, why not invite you to join us. You heard what the guy just said, we can't beat the boss on our own. We need all the help we can get and it's just the two of us in our party." The male with black hair said, trying to convince Hiro to party with them.

"I don't need your pity; I'm better off by myself." Hiro says, not happy with the words the other male stated.

"No, no! It's not like that; I mean, you look like you can hold your own, but we have to work as a group, and it would only be for this fight."

"Fine..."

"Great! Glad to have you on board." The raven haired boy said as he sent Hiro an invitation to join their party. When Hiro accepted the invitation, the names of the two and their HP bar appeared just below his.

"Kirito? Asuna?" He thought, now knowing who they were with Kirito's name being familiar. "Where have I heard that name before?"

"Hiro?!" Kirito was surprised to see the name, as it also was familiar to him. "All right!" Diabel exclaimed as Kirito, Asuna, and Hiro turned their attention back at the stage. "Looks like everyone's teamed up... Now then, let's-"

"Hold up a sec!" A person from the audience interrupted Diabel as he skipped down the rows and landed in front of the gathered players. "Well, well, who could this be? A short guy with a cactus on his head? Get real..." Hiro snickered, thinking how this game has lots of anomaly. "My name's Kibaou, you got that?" The person, now known as Kibaou, introduced himself. "Before we take on the boss, I want to get something off my chest. We all know about the 2,000 people who died so far, yeah? Well, some of you need to apologize to 'em right now!" Kibaou stated with a firm tone as he pointed his finger at the crowd. Hiro glared at the man.

"Kibaou," Diabel began speaking again after he was interrupted, "I think I know who you're referring to... You mean the ones who are ex-beta testers, right?"

"Of course I mean them! Who else could I be referring to?! The day this stupid-ass game started, those bastards, the beta guys just up and vanished, right? They ditched all us beginners!"

Hiro just smirked at what Kibaou said; he knew that he was one of those so called 'bastards' who didn't even bother to help the newbies. "They snagged all the good hunting spots, and they grabbed all the easy quests too! They were the only ones getting stronger in here!" Kibaou complained as Hiro find it amusing knowing that this fellow was struggling all this time. "This whole time, they've ignored us like we're nothing." Kibaou gritted his teeth, getting himself worked up as he glared at some of the players, including Hiro. "Hell, I bet there's some of them here! Come on out, beta testers! We should make 'em apologize to us..." Hiro just narrowed his eyes on the cactus head. "How pesky can this guy get?"

"And we should make 'em give up their money and the items they got; they can't expect the party to trust 'em when they don't trust us... Why should we?" He started getting himself worked up all the more as he looked at Hiro's way. "You there!" He pointed at Hiro with a glare. "Yeah, you! I know you're one of them!" Kibaou shouted at Hiro, trying to reveal if he's truly one of the beta testers.

Hiro didn't flinch but kept an emotionless look. "Don't you try to hide it! With that outfit and gear, I'm sure you're a beta tester!"

"This guy's getting on my nerve..." Kirito and Asuna heard Hiro whispered. He finds it very irritating when someone yells at him, especially in public.

"Why don't you call out your buddies and start apologizing!"

Hiro started to find this guy really annoying. "What a wimp..."

"If you're not gonna apologize, then I'll just have to come up there and make you!"

"Will you shut the hell up?!" Hiro finally snapped. "What makes you think I'm a beta tester?! And what if I am? I'm not going to apologize to those dead weaklings!" The players were all taken by surprise at Hiro's sudden outburst as Kirito grabbed his shoulder to calm him down.

"Why you-" Kibaou snarled until he was cut off by a deep low voice.

"Can I say something?" A tall, bald man, carrying a big old axe, stood up and went down to the stage as Kibaou was frightened by his huge presence. Hiro was surprised to see the familiar man. He remembered seeing him during Arvin's tragic incident a month ago.

"Hey, the name's Agil... Kibaou, right?" His voice was strong and intimidating as Kibaou shrunk when he faced Agil. "I wanna make sure I'm on the same page... You say the beta testers should be blamed for the rookie's deaths because they didn't help, and you want them to apologize and give up their winnings... I leave anything out?"

"No, you didn't." Kibaou answered, trying to not get intimidated as Hiro smirked and wished that the big man would wipe the floor with Kibaou.

Agil then pulled out a small book for Kibaou to see. "The item store hands these out for free... It's a guide book... You got one, didn't you?" Hiro noticed the book he's holding as he had one too.

"Sure I got one... So what about it?"

"You know who was handing these out? The ex-beta testers." Whispers among the players swept through out the place as Hiro recalled contributing some few information about the game to Argo, and to other information dealers.

Agil turned around to the crowd as he continued. "Listen up. Everyone had equal access to this information. Even so, lot's players still died... Now I didn't come here to point fingers at anyone. I'm here 'cause I wanna learn from those player's deaths; I'm here 'cause I wanna find out how we're gonna beat the boss." Kirito was moved by Agil's speech while Hiro kept a stoic look, and Asuna, emotionless as ever because of her face being covered by her red hood. Agil turned around to face Kibaou again. Kibaou grunted and went back to take his sit followed by Agil.

"Okay, can we get back to the meeting now?" Diabel spoke again as the players nodded. "For info on the boss, it's all in here... The latest issue of the guidebook you just heard about." The players were surprised upon hearing there'd been a new issue released. "According to the book, the boss's name is Illfang the Kobold Lord. Also, he'll be surrounded by his minions, the Ruin Kobold Sentinels... Illfang carries an axe and a buckler. He has four health bars, and when the last one turns red, he switches to a curved sword-type weapon called a 'Talwar'. He can change his pattern of attack, too."

"Oh? So we can't read its movements... That just makes it more fun and challenging..." Hiro thought as he found the information somewhat interesting.

Murmurs were heard all around as Diabel closed the guide book. "That's it for the briefing. As for the distribution of loot, money will be divided equally among everyone; the party that defeats the boss gets the XP, and whoever gets an item, gets to keep it." Diabel made good terms as the players didn't bring up any argument. "Any objections?" Everyone seemed satisfied. "Good! We leave tomorrow at 10 in the morning. Meeting adjourned, people."

As soon as everyone had been dismissed, the players stood up and went to leave; some gathered with their parties while Kirito, Asuna, and Hiro remained silent. Kirito saw Kibaou and Diabel getting along as he turned to look at his party members only to find Asuna leaving first, then Hiro.

The sun had gone down as the lamps and street light had lit. Hiro was doing his routine, strolling around the town of Tolbana until he came across Kirito who was leaning on a wall. "Hey." Kirito called out to him.

"Is that really you, Hiro?" He asked the brown haired boy. "Unfortunately." Hiro answered with an emotionless face while crossing his arms. "I mean, you wouldn't be, by any chance, the one in the beta test?" Kirito asked in a whispering tone, making sure everyone wasn't listening. Hiro nodded as he remembered Kirito during their time in the beta. "Yeah, it's me."

"Cool. It's been a long time, hasn't it?"

"Yeah, a long time indeed."

"So, this is what you look liked in real life. I didn't recognize you earlier."

"Same here."

"I thought you wouldn't play SAO again after the beta?" Kirito whispered again, knowing that beta testers have bad reputations.

"Me too, I thought I won't play this cursed game, I wish I had fulfilled what I said, I wouldn't be stuck here if I did." Hiro says, his voice filled with regret.

"No one knew this would happen, though. I never imagined Kayaba could do this to us." Kirito says, looking down.

"..."

"Hey, you wanna juice or something? My treat." Kirito offers as Hiro nodded. "Sure, I'll go buy."

"Cool, there's a cafe over there that sells one of the best tasting beverages in Tolbana. I'll wait for you here." Kirito gave Hiro the cols to buy the drinks.

When Hiro bought the drinks, he saw Kirito sitting next to a person wearing a red hood and eating a piece of bread; he assumed the person to be Asuna, who is also a member of their party. Hiro walked over to them and tossed a drink to Kirito. "Here you go."

"You really think this tastes good?" The hooded girl asked, referring to the bread they were eating. "Uh-huh." Kirito said while munching on his bread. "Since I came to this town, I ended up eating at least one a day; 'course, I got a trick to make it taste better." Kirito then placed an item between him and Asuna. "Cream?" The hooded girl asked as she applied some in her bread and ate it, to which she clearly enjoyed the taste.

"I got it from the Heifer Strikes Back, that's the quest in the village before you get to this one. You wanna know how I did it?"

Asuna shook her head. "I appreciate the offer, but... I didn't come to this town to eat good food."

"Okay, why are you here?" Kirito asked while Hiro just crossed his arms and closed his eyes as he leaned on a wall.

"So I don't lose sight of who I am." Hiro raised an eyebrow at her statement.

"I don't wanna lock myself in a room in the Town of Beginnings and slowly rot away; I'd rather stay the way I am til the last moment." Kirito and Hiro just looked at her, listening to her words as she continued. "Even if a monster beats me and I die, I won't lose... To this game or this world, no matter what." She finished as Kirito ate his last piece of bread and said, "I wouldn't want a party member dying on me... So try not to die tomorrow."

"I'll definitely won't die; I still have a score to settle." Hiro blurted out, earning the attention of the two.

"What do you mean?" Kirito asked with curiosity.

"Nothing, forget I said that."

The three remained silent after that, none of them really know what topic to talk about until Kirito began a conversation.

"It's been a month, now; I wonder how our families are doing." Kirito puts his hands behind his head, concerned for his family.

"I'm sure everyone's fine." Hiro said assuring them.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Knowing my mom and sister, I'm sure they're okay." Kirito says putting his hands down. "How bout your family? Do you think they're fine as well?" He asked, looking at Hiro.

"I-I guess..." Hiro stutters a bit.

"How bout you?" Kirito bounced the question to their female companion.

"Well, I guess they're probably fine, too."

The three decided to end their little chat and head for their respective inns where they would take their rest and prepare for the big battle tomorrow.

December 3, 2022...

It was the day that they've been waiting for; the day to finally bring hope to everyone who had endured and survived the game so far. The raid party walked through the forest heading towards the boss room. Kirito, Asuna, and Hiro followed behind the rest as they began to come up with a strategy of their own. "Let's go over it again. We're the back up, so our target's going to be the boss's minions, the Ruin Kobold Sentinels." Kirito says to both Asuna and Hiro.

"I know." Asuna answered as she already knew the details and sounded like she doesn't want someone to keep on telling her that. Hiro was walking behind the two while closing his eyes, he also lacked enthusiasm at listening to Kirito go over the details as Kirito continued.

"I'll use a sword skill to knock their weapons up and out of the way. When I do, switch and jump in."

"What's a switch?" Asuna's question made Kirito give her a puzzled look as Hiro opened one eye.

Kirito turned to looked at Hiro then back to Asuna. "Okay, level with us. Is this the first time you've ever been with a party? "

"Uh-huh."

Kirito was taken aback as he slowly stopped in his tracks; he was completely dumbfounded by her answer. "How lucky can we get..." Hiro verbalized, thinking how unfortunate they were for having her in their party.

"Hey, it's not my fault for lacking any experience with parties." Asuna retorted at the statement.

"You could have told us, you know- so we wouldn't have this problem." Hiro responded without a care on what the female would think or feel.

"You think I'm a problem?" Asuna irked. "Fine. If that's what I am to you, you can go on ahead without me; I'll just head back to Tolbana." She stopped walking and began to turn around.

"Hey. Don't, he didn't mean that." Kirito grabbed her arm and tried to stop her from leaving.

"Let go of me." She said softly, trying to be patient.

"Now, hold on, red. I didn't say you're the problem. Geez." Hiro tried to clear the misunderstanding.

"Apologize." Asuna demanded, the hood still covered her face.

"Apologize for what? I didn't do anything."

"Hiro, just apologize." Kirito spoke after a few moments of just being silent.

"I don't normally apologize to people, so don't expect me to start with you." Hiro stated, getting irritated a bit.

"Hey guys! Pick up the pace, will you? We're almost there; the boss's room is up ahead." Agil called out at the three. Hiro put his hands inside his pockets as he went ahead of the two.

"Just don't mind him. He has his reasons for being that way." Kirito tried to comfort Asuna. "That jerk, who does he think he is?" Asuna grumbled walking behind Kirito as he began explaining about the basics and advantage of Switch.

When they reached the entrance where the boss was, everyone was tensed as Diabel gave a final remark. "Listen up, everyone. I've only got one thing to say to you- let's win!" After saying those words, Diabel's eyes remained on Hiro and Kirito for a moment, which Hiro noticed and was suspicious about it.

"Come on!" Diabel placed his hand on the surface of the giant door, to which it opened and revealed a dark room. The players entered carefully as they saw, from the distance, a huge figure sitting on a throne as its eyes beamed red in the shadows. Diabel went in first, leading his party as the environment of the room changed into something colorful. The huge figure soared into the air and landed in front of them. The enormous red monster with four health bars revealed itself to be Illfang the Kobold Lord. "This is it." Hiro said as the expected Sentinel minions were summoned. Diabel gave the order to commence the attack; the players charged in with a loud war cry.

It was a chaotic battle as Diabel stood in the rear, giving the command and placing the squads to where they're suppose to be. "Squads D, E, and F, keep those minions off us!" He ordered. "Yeah, you got it!" Kirito followed; Hiro sighed, not wanting to follow orders but chooses to do so. "Do we have to follow everything he says?" Hiro complained while slashing a minion.

"We don't have a choice! Just follow the plan!" Kirito said, blocking an attack from a sentinel in mid air. "Switch!" Kirito shouted; Asuna dashed in towards the sentinel. "I'm on it!" She did a sword skill that was quick and powerful.

"I thought she was a beginner..." Kirito thought, surprised by her movements.

"So she does have skills..." Hiro also thought, slightly impressed.

"Great job, Asuna." Kirito commended her as she gave a nod in return but confused on how he knew her name.

"Not bad, red. You're not useless, after all." Hiro says sarcastically but acknowledged her ability.

"..."

"Let's see what else you can do." Hiro provoked Asuna as she continued to charge towards the sentinels maintaining that incredible quickness.

Hiro and Kirito also activated their sword skills until they got surrounded and posed into a back to back position. "Just like in the beta?" Kirito reminisced their time during in the beta. "Yeah, but this time, it's not with wolves we're up against." Hiro answered as they both charged in the opposite direction from one another.

"How many sentinels are there?"

"I don't know just keep attacking! Their bound to run out any time soon!" Hiro noticed a bunch of sentinels ganging up on Asuna as one of them was about to strike her from behind. He quickly dashed in and blocked the attack. "Better watch your back, red. Or else you'll end up into a million pieces." Hiro smirked but didn't notice a sentinel from behind.

"Watch out!" Kirito called out as Asuna bolted behind Hiro and blocked the attack. "Better watch your back, jerk. Or else you're the one who's gonna end up into a million pieces." She stated, earning a glare from Hiro as they both slashed the sentinels.

Kirito smiled as he felt his party members getting along. He knew that his party was doing a good job on their part as he saw the boss with only one and a half health bars remaining. "We can do this..." He thought with determination as he striked his sword in the sentinels belly. Hiro was also pleased with their fighting as they heard Illfang growled and threw its weapons; its fourth health bar now on the red zone.

"Looks like the guide book was right." Kibaou said, grinning at the boss.

"Stand back! I got it!" Diabel suddenly sprinted towards the boss. "What's this?" Hiro questioned in his mind, suspicious of Diabel's actions.

"I thought the plan was for everyone in the group to surround it?" Kirito thought, confused as he watched him.

"Looks like someone has made other plans." Hiro muttered, to which Diabel slightly heard and turned to look at him and Kirito as he smirked.

"I knew it, he's a beta tester too; he's after the last attack bonus." Hiro said quietly, thinking how selfish Diabel was as Kirito's eyes were on the blue haired male.

When Illfang pulled out its sword, Kirito's eyes widen. "That's not a Talwar...!" Kirito thought, unexpected to see the weapon."It's a Nodachi...!" Hiro also thought, surprised to see that instead of a Talwar.

"This isn't like the beta!" Kirito and Hiro slashed the remaining sentinels.

"Wait; stop!" Kirito cried out as few heads, including Kibaou, turned to him. "It's no good! Get out of there!" Kirito shouted; Diabel didn't listen as he kept charging in towards the boss. Illfang suddenly jumped high and hopped from one pillar to another then landed a powerful slash across Diabel's body sending him flying and another hit, knocking him on the floor.

"Diabel! No!" Kibaou cried out as Illfang landed in the middle of the players as Kirito rushed to Diabel. "What the hell were you thinking?!" Kirito was concerned as he took a healing potion when he saw that Diabel's HP was in the red zone and still decreasing.

Before Kirito could give the potion, his hand was stopped by Diabel. "Y-You two were beta testers too, weren't you?" The blue haired male said as he saw Hiro standing behind Kirito; Kirito was shocked at what Diabel said.

"You were after the last attack bonus, the rare item. You're just like us, a beta tester!" Kirito stated.

"When I saw you both at the meeting yesterday, I suspected you two to be beta testers as well; I thought of you as rivals for the rare item." Diabel said, admitting his selfish ambitions.

"It was a well-thought plan, saving your strength while you let us do the dirty work; too bad it didn't go well." Hiro said coldly, looking down on the dying Diabel.

"I-I'm sorry... I'm guilty for being selfish... please... you have to... defeat the boss... for everyone here... " Diabel said his last words before bursting into a million shards. Kirito's face was filled with sadness, almost like he wanted to shed tears as he recalled his main objective, which was to survive, and compared it Diabel's objective.

"I thought he would be the hero... Guess I was wrong..."

Kirito then stood up and turned to face the boss, his eyes narrowing on the red monster. Asuna rushed to his left side. "I'll go too." Hiro stepped forward to Kirito's right. "Same here."

Kirito nodded then tightened his grip on his sword. "Okay." The three charged towards the boss as Kirito gave out his plan of attack. "We'll hit him just like we did the minions."

"You got it." Asuna responded; Hiro was just silent, locking his eyes on the boss. Kirito activated his sword skill and clashed it with the boss's own, knocking them both off balance as Kirito shouted, "Switch!"

Hiro soared through the air delivering a powerful slash with his sword, causing it to collide with the Nodachi, which sent Hiro a few steps back. "Switch!"

Asuna rushed in and activated her sword skill, trying to take advantage while Illfang was off balanced but to no avail as Illfang quickly recovered and slashed through her hood as she countered with her own blow, sending the monster flying. She landed gracefully in front of Kirito and Hiro to reveal a long chestnut-brown hair that fell down freely but was braided at the back.

The two boys just stared at Asuna, awestruck by her appearance without her hood. "That face... It's the girl from the town square..." Hiro thought, remembering the familiar-looking girl who bumped into him at the Town of Beginnings, during the first day when they were trapped.

Asuna glanced at the two boys that was staring at her, now being able to get a better look at them without her hood to obscure her vision. "It's him..." Asuna quickly thought, also remembering Hiro from the first day; she was surprised to see him being her teammate all this time.

"He's coming back!" Kirito shouted, breaking his stare as he stood up and rushed in to collided his sword with Illfang's. Hiro and Asuna sprinted in, delivering multiple strikes and blows to the boss, which in turn, blocked every hit all three gave.

Illfang launched its own blow again at Asuna, but was blocked when Kirito saw the attack and rushed in. The boss made a diagonal swing that surprised Kirito, sending him flying and crashed into Asuna, causing both to fall to the ground. Asuna got back up but saw Kirito's health bar decreasing as he tried his best to get up. Illfang jumped in front of them, preparing to deliver a fatal blow that could end their lives until Hiro and Agil jumped in and countered the attack with their sword and axe, sending the monster a few steps back.

"What's a matter? You two getting tired already?" Hiro sneered at Kirito and Asuna.

"We can hold this bastard off until your health's back up." Agil assured them as the other players made their move and charged in as well.

"You got it." Kirito said with gratitude as Agil and Hiro joined the fray. Asuna helped Kirito up after he took a healing potion. Hiro gave out the most hits as the players supported him while he gave them strategic ways on attacking the boss.

"Squad A! Focus on its right leg!"

"Squad C and D, support Squad B in preventing it from activating its sword skill!"

"The rest of you, circle around it! Make sure he doesn't have an opening to escape!"

Hiro was on a roll giving battle plans while launching big attacks of his own. "This is just like a game of chess where you almost have the king..."

When Illfang was able to create an opening, it jumped high in the air, preparing another sword skill. "Watch out!" Kirito then kicked off the ground and activated his sword skill, once again colliding with Illfang but this time, he was able to slash it's belly and sent it crashing on the ground. "C'mon Hiro! Asuna! Help me beat this sucker! One last attack!" Kirito called out, dashing towards Illfang.

"You got it!" Asuna responded, rushing in Kirito's side.

"Way ahead of you." Hiro answered, sprinting on the opposite side.

All three took turns in slashing, delivering strong blows and activating their sword skill at the boss; their faces determined with one goal in mind- to defeat Illfang the Kobold Lord and proceed to floor 2. Hiro raised his sword, attempting to strike the boss, only to find his sword breaking after the collision with the Nodachi. He quickly bounced back to avoid any hits from Illfang. "It's all yours!"

Kirito's eyes were filled with rage and intensity as he sliced Illfang on the side sending it to fly in the air; causing it to glow a bright light and then shattered into a thousand shards.

The battle with the boss was finally over as the Congratulations Screen appeared, causing everyone to celebrate the victory they achieved. Asuna reached out to Hiro saying, "Good job." Hiro just smirked accepting the support from her as he responded, "You're not half as bad as you looked." They both approached Kirito, who was still leaning and trying to catch his breath; the holographic screen appeared in front of him, notifying that he got the last attack bonus; the two pulled him up to his feet and commended him.

"Nice job." Asuna said, arms crossed as Agil approached the three. "That was some fine swordsmanship you three have shown; congratulations." He gave them a thumbs up. "Today's victory is all thanks to you." He added, looking at Kirito.

"No." Kirito tried to deny it but all the players clapped and cheered as Hiro patted him on his back. "Seriously though, good job." Kirito smiled at his statement but quickly remembered that his weapon was destroyed during the final moments of the battle. "Your sword! Are y-" Hiro cut him of saying, "It's alright, I'll get a new one now that floor 2 is made available for us." He assured Kirito, who in turn, gave him a nod.

"Stop cheering!" Everyone turned to see Kibaou sitting on the floor. "Why'd you do it, uh? Why'd you let Diabel die?"

"What is this wimp on now?" Hiro thought, raising an eyebrow.

"Let him die?" Kirito responded, confused as well as Kibaou raised his head. "That's what I said. Admit it! You knew the technique the boss was gonna use; you could have told us. Then Diabel would have stood a chance. He wouldn't have had to die!" The atmosphere had suddenly changed as murmurs began to spread among the players. "I know why he knew! He used to be a beta tester! Think about it, he knew the boss's attack patterns! He knew, but he kept it from us." Some random guy from the crowd said. "And I bet he's not the only beta tester around here. C'mon, show yourselves!"

"Looks like the jig is up..." Hiro glared at the accuser as people looked at each other with suspicious looks.

"Hey! That guy who was with him!" Another one shouted, this time pointing at Hiro.

"I knew he looked suspicious! His skills were advanced and he knew were the vital spots of the boss!"

"I bet that girl with them is also one, too! She was fast as hell!"

"Those three are beta testers!"

Shouts of accusations began to increase in the room as Hiro rushed forward and choked one of the accusers. "Shut up!" Hiro exclaimed as he tightened his hold on the accusing player's neck; the players were surprised at his violent action. "See! I knew he was a beta tester! And his planning to kill us, now that the cat's out of the bag!" Kibaou retorted as the other players unsheathed their swords preparing to attack Hiro. "Hey, calm down!" Agil grabbed Hiro's shoulder.

"This is bad... At this rate..." Kirito thought, worried for other's condition and well being.

Kirito began to laugh hysterically. "So you guys think I used to be a beta tester..." He began. "You're right..." He stood up. "But it's not cool to put me in the same class with him and those other noobs." Kirito said as he pointed at Hiro with a grin. "And don't bother harassing the girl, she's not a beta tester."

"What are you up to?" Hiro was confused at his actions.

"What'd you say?!" Kibaou was skeptical.

"You heard me. Most of the 1,000 people who scored a slot in SAO's beta were rookies. They were so green, they didn't even know how to level up. Hell, even you guys were better than they were." Kirito walked in the middle of the crowd, his hair covering his eyes as he continued. "But me, I'm nothing like those guys, man. During the beta, I made it to floors that were higher than any of the other testers. That's a fact. I knew about the boss 'cause I fought tons of monsters with way more sword skills on higher floors." His eyes were mocking the players. "I know a bunch of other things, too. More than you can imagine; more than any info broker."

"Wh-What the hell? If that's true, then your worst than a beta tester. You're a damn cheater, that's what you are!" Kibaou exclaimed at Kirito as the other players began to shout at him as well.

"He's a beta tester and a cheater! He's a beater!"

"A beater. Yeah, that's good." Everyone backed away, thinking that he was crazy for liking the term even though it was meant to insult and discriminate him. Kirito opened his main menu. "Okay, you can call me a beater. Just make sure you don't confuse me with those beta testers anymore." His sickening grin made everyone gave him furious looks as he chose an item and equipped it; a long black leather coat that fell over his shoulders.

"That must be the bonus item he got." Hiro thought; Kirito glanced at him, smirking as he headed for the stairs. Asuna ran after him, followed by Hiro, who placed his hands on his pockets and walked slowly to catch up to them while scowling at the accusing players. "I'll deal with you losers later."

"Yeah, you better run." Kibaou threatened him to which Hiro just smirked as he continued to walk away slowly.

Kirito walked up the stairs as Hiro had caught up with the two, just in time to hear Asuna speak. "Wait." Asuna said to Kirito, stopping him from taking any further steps. "When we were fighting the boss, you called me by my name." She asked, curious as to how he knew her name. "I wasn't trying to be rude, did I mess up the pronunciation?" He asked.

"How'd you even know?"

"If you look, right about here; you'll see another HP gauge under yours. There's a name written right next to it, yeah?" Kirito pointed at where the HP gauge was as Asuna looked closely to where he meant.

"Ki-rito... Hi-ro... Kirito? Hiro?" Asuna said, unsure of the pronunciation of the two names.

"Your name's Kirito." She said to him.

"And yours is Hiro." She turned to Hiro who was just standing in the lower ground.

"Yeah." Kirito responded, his bangs covered his eyes.

"I'm so dumb." She chuckled. "It was there the whole time and I never knew." She said with a cheerful face.

"How could she not noticed?" Hiro sighed, wanting to voice out but decided not to.

"You guys can become powerful here on your own. But if the day comes when someone you trust invites you to join a guild, don't turn it down; 'cause there are limits to what a solo player can do." Kirito stated.

"But... you're solo." She said softly as Kirito opened his main menu and disbanded the party. "Hiro..." Kirito began. "You and Asuna are skilled players. You guys should stick together and become even stronger."

Hiro didn't respond but maintained an emotionless mood.

"Take care of Asuna." Kirito said, turning to the door that opened and walked in.

The three didn't know what the future holds for them, or what fate lies for each individual as they ascend to the 2nd floor. It was a whole new journey for everyone who were trapped. Thinking if they'd ever see Kirito again as they watch him leave, Hiro stood there, buried deep within his thoughts and a small grin started to form on his face.

"We made it through the first floor... I'm coming, Kayaba. Just you wait."

That's it for chapter 3. Hope you enjoyed.

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Take care.