Raptor Gang
Chapter 4
Six parties, add two solo players. That's what made up the Raiding Party. By the game's standards, it wasn't even a full Raiding Party, but everyone was at least the approved safety-net level, and my party (who we decided would be the boss's focus party due to our versatility and strengths) was rather over-leveled by what was also the game's (assumed) standards.
To contest Illfang the Kobold Lord, three parties plus the solo players were instructed to deal with the Ruin Kobold Sentinel mob spawns. That left my party, Diabel's party and a third party to deal with Illfang himself. The strategy here was simple in theory, each party that stood face-to-face with Illfang had two people able to tank, two people as damage dealers, and that left two utility spots. Both Diabel's party and the third group rounded off with sword-and-shield users able to both tank and be damage dealers.
My party was a little bit different, only cause we were a five-person party instead of six. Jando and I would switch as the main tank with our parrying abilities, Oden and Silica were the main damage dealers. Agil was instructed to be ready to either switch in if me or Jando failed at tanking, or if Oden or Silica were unable to get away from Illfang quickly enough.
Well, this is what we all agreed on. It was time to see if we could run this live and make it through successfully. The doors finished opening and the room lit-up in its brilliant blend of blinding colors, signifying the Floor Boss fight. Illfang jumped down from his throne and there was no hesitation as he started his charge toward us, with a line of Sentinels walling in front of him.
This was planned for however, and Kibaou and his party rushed out to stop the Sentinels in their tracks as me and Oden sprinted ahead to meet the Floor Boss. I made the first parry, Oden landed the first hit on Illfang, almost immediately, and I had to grin as I watched the first bar of health drop a bit. Nothing too large, but enough that everyone in the Raiding Party knew that Illfang was now injured.
And this was the pace set for the first part of the battle. I opted more often than not to switch in and face the boss as I had worked on my parrying and strength since the scouting and was the only person in the Raiding Party who didn't lose health when locked in a parry with Illfang. And frankly, I was rather enjoying myself. My entire party switched out with Diabel's and I reflected in our downtime that this was the experience that made MMOs the incredibly fun games that they were. I figured everyone here was more worried about their own safety as opposed to enjoying this "game" but I was certainly having fun.
Diabel's party switched out with the third party (Squad C) sooner than I expected and I got in position to switch in myself, Oden taking position behind me to the right. I smiled, fully aware of the threat of dying, but still elated that I could enjoy this as the game it should've been.
Diabel called the order to switch and I rushed in now knowing what to expect and manage to land a clean Diagonal on Illfang quickly following it up with a defensive Vertical. My next Horizontal was blocked by the buckler, but I still anticipated the follow-up attack and got my parry in just in time to lock and Oden and Silica came in with a pincer-formation attack with both Jando and Agil ready to cover them in case they picked up any aggro. They didn't though and the attention stayed on me as I traded a few blows with Illfang. Diabel called out a switch, and my group backed out except me, even though I should have.
Something about following orders keeps people alive, but I was never a militant type – that was Oden's shtick. I only stayed long enough to trade a few more blows before switching out with a shield user and taking in everyone else's situation. Squad C's tanks had the least amount of health of anyone, so I told them to sit the next rotation out and heal, and my group will jump in again after Squad B.
Further, the mob control groups were doing an excellent job of keeping the Sentinel's off of us. Though they kept respawning at a ridiculous rate, the parties dealing with them effectively formed into pairs as suggested and were systematically taking them down almost as fast as they were spawning.
The battle raged on in this matter for the better part of an hour before things went drastically wrong.
A little over half of the boss's health was gone and Squad C was about to switch in for Squad B. Though C fought valiantly as a whole, they were most likely the weakest between my party and B as they had taken the most damage so far. The tank that had less health stepped up to face Illfang but at some point hesitated, or perhaps was simply too slow, I wasn't too sure. I wasn't too focused on the situation until the tank took a direct hit and was sent flying into the back-up tank for Squad C. Both of their health bars dropped well below half, almost near where red started. Squad C continued to deteriorate as the damage dealer was now wide open and under attack. Eventually, he was sent flying as well, his health now in the red.
To make things worse, all the Ruin Kobold Sentinels seemed to register our plight and focused onto the most injured players like a shark that had a taste of blood.
"Cover them! Hurry!" I tell my party as I run out to meet Illfang before he reaches them himself. Due to his focus on other players I actually manage to land a very clean hit from behind before we proceed to trade blows with each other. More often than not, my attacks are stopped by the shield and I'm forced to reset my sword to catch the axe, or else execute a dodge. Between just the Kobold Lord and I, we were at a decisive stalemate, unable to gain the upper hand on each other at all, but things go sour fast when a Sentinel spawns and targets the closest thing to it: me.
Realizing I wasn't going to be able to keep up with another opponent, I jump back and try to maneuver so that the Sentinel is between me and Kobold, but I can't get around quickly enough while having to block its poleaxe at the same time. Timing a hit to knock the poleaxe away, I'm immediately forced to dodge backwards to avoid Illfang's axe. The Sentinel by now has reset and is readying another Sword Skill. Illfang, however, is still finishing his swing – I opt to attack him, despite knowing the outcome.
Illfang blocks; I'm unable to bring my large two-hander by into position to block the poleaxe that hits my side, so I didn't bother trying instead tanking the blow and trying to catch both the Sentinel and Illfang in one wide Horizontal immediatyl after. The attack knocks back the Sentinel, but is blocked by Illfang's axe. I refuse to let him hold a parry and breakaway, getting Illfang between me and his minion before blocking a fast attack and responding with a chain of Sword Skills.
By now, I was out of ideas, all I could do was stand toe-to-toe with Illfang until I messed up or the Sentinel came back around – which it did sooner than I expected. I was pushed back entirely on the defensive, unable to get off one attack without leaving myself open to either enemy. I was stringing mainly Diagonals as they were the easiest to chain together, though the odd Horizontal was thrown in. I even managed to get one solid blow on the Sentinel at some point and possibly had caused Illfang to block an attack or two as well. I couldn't be sure, all my focus was entirely on the giant axe that I was dancing a dangerous duet with.
I'm not sure how much time passed, I recall wondering if someone out of the forty-some players was going to step up and save my ass, when I finally was outmaneuvered. A combined attack from two different angles left me wide open no matter which way I defended. I blocked Illfang knowing his attacks hit much harder, and much to my surprise, an Anneal Blade came up and knocked away the poleaxe that was singing for my head, and even more surprising than that was a blur of motion that attacked the Sentinel and destroyed it. I glanced at my saviors quick enough to recognize that it was not in fact Jando who wielded this particular Anneal Blade, but a black-haired swordsman who I've met once before, and his partner who was a slim figure in a cloak wielding a rapier.
I grunted out a quick thanks before breaking the parry I was in and proceeding to continue my spar with Illfang. At this point, I figured it was only a matter of time before at least Oden got back into position. It took a few minutes, but eventually I was able to trade off with Jando and down what I realized was my first health potion of this battle. And I needed it too, Illfang and his Kobold minion were able to drop my health down to about thirty-five percent left, well into yellow.
The normal battle pace set at the beginning returned, but most of Squad C were shaken up pretty hard, almost all of us could tell, Diabel entered the fray himself and my party spent more time focusing on Illfang so that C wouldn't be in too much danger, but most of us were tiring, myself included.
Thankfully, we were reaching the end of the battle. Silica landed the hit that forced Illfang to change style and toss his axe and buckler away, for a sword.
Except, that wasn't a talwar like we were expecting.
My perception of time slowed, I had heard Diabel yell something or other and run out, but I don't think he had any idea that something was wrong. I heard someone else behind me yell something as well, but I didn't quite register it. I started chasing after Diabel.
I didn't recognize exactly what the sword Illfang pulled out was, other than not a curve-sword class. I had to guess katana class, but I wasn't sure how to fight that, though the Sword Skills were known. Diabel started a skill at the same time Illfang did. I couldn't identify it based on stance, all I could do was react once it started, but I still was running to catch up to Diabel.
What little I knew of katana skills came from NPCs in the beta – that katanas focused purely on offensive speed and accuracy, good for landing high frequency critical hits and the skills were great for one-on-one dueling, but could wildly execute area attacks around the user. Surrounding Illfang now would have to only be done with tanks, and more importantly, everyone would need a switch-out partner.
The Kobold Lord dashed towards Diabel much faster than I had anticipated it could. He wasn't ready at all and the attack sent him flying but Illfang wasn't finished. He dashed forward again intent on landing a follow-up blow that Diabel would find impossible to block or dodge, though I was on an intercept course. I wouldn't get directly in-between the two in time but I'd get close enough to land an attack on Illfang. And that was enough.
Illfang's attack was successfully interrupted, but now its ire was directed wholly at me. I didn't like my chances, but I had no other choice. I couldn't be stopped here. If I was, then I really would have been nothing but talk and I'm not accepting that. I attacked first. None of my blows connected with Illfang as he wielded the katana readily enough to block all my attacks, but I could not let up.
I was in over my head though, the strength of a katana is in its speed and I'm a two-handed swordsman. One of my Diagonals got knocked back strongly and Illfang followed it up near instantly and I got knocked back a good five or six meters. I had no time to get back on my feet as I hear the whistling of the large katana and right before it connects, Agil knocks it back with a well timed Whirlwind skill. Its all I can do to thank him and jump back while pulling out my second potion.
Jando was about ready to switch in, but he did not need to bother as Kirito and his partner and rushed out to take on Illfang. And I had to admit, I was pretty impressed at their teamwork. Kirito was able to successfully block all the attacks from Illfang without losing health, and his partner could step in and land an attack at speeds that rivaled Oden's. At one point, I notice that Kirito manages to block the same attack that I did earlier, and I saw the same results start to play out in my head. I was about to yell at him to duck, but a blur of motion and suddenly his partner was lined up to attack again, except for all that speed, it still wasn't going to be enough.
"Asuna!" I hear Kirito yell, and just in time as I realize that is who the cloaked figure must be as she ducks and the katanas swings past her head ripping the cloak off and I get a glimpse at a lot of brown hair and slim figure before she executes a Linear, knocking Illfang back further. They continued to chip away at the rest of the boss's health before Illfang gets a lucky hit in on Kirito, knocking him back into Asuna.
And once again, Agil to the rescue with a second money-shot Whirlwind. Several things happened at this point and I did not exactly keep track of all of it. Yelling was coming from behind us where the rest of the raiding party most likely was, Illfang was spinning around after being blocked by Agil, Jando had sprinted up and started a Sword Skill, Oden was shouting "Look out!" and Kirito was being helped up by his partner.
A loud clang and Jando caught the katana in a parry, but there were Sentinels running at him. Oden dashed out to meet one, I followed swiftly, tearing my eyes away from Illfang. I saw Silica right beside me, that is until she dashed out and attacked the Sentinel I was running towards.
"Switch!" she yelled out, and I swung down the hardest Vertical I could and watched the Sentinel explode into pieces. Oden was dealing with his effectively, but slower as it was just himself. Yet more Sentinels were charging towards us. I looked back at the other squads about to scream bloody murder at them when I heard a different scream overtake my ears.
Turning I saw Illfang falling backward, a large slash mark across its body, and Kirito just landing from I'm assuming a dash of some sort. What perhaps caught my attention the most was the HP bars of Illfang.
All of four of them were completely empty.
And with that, Illfang the Kobold Lord exploded into several hundreds of polygons before disappearing from existance. A short pause, and then a big "Congratulations!" appeared above the throne.
Another short pause, and then cheering. Yelling, whooping, hell I might've even smiled, but I'm not too sure. At this moment, I realized how incredibly tired I actually was, and how detached and far away everything seemed to be. I fell back against a pillar and glanced at my rewards screen. An insane amount of experience and col, and three items. I open up my inventory to find a two Healing Crystals and a healing potion superior to anything available on the first floor.
By the time I had gotten all this information processed in my own mind, people were chatting with one another excitedly and swapping items and whatnot. I glanced around, finding most of my party gathered around Jando who seemed to be holding a curve sword of some sort. Agil was talking to Kirito's partner, Asuna, and as for Kirito himself, he was still standing alone going through his interface. The rest of the Raiding Party was scattered about. I got up and started to walk towards Kirito to congratulate him on the getting the Last Attack Bonus, but Agil beat me to it.
"Hey, congratulations, that was splendid swordsmanship. This victory belongs to you." Agil said to Kirito.
"I totally agree, you saved my ass more than once in there, thank you. You deserve that Last Attack Bonus." I added, catching up to them.
Kirito looked at us, and it seemed like he was about to say something when a yell grabbed our attention.
"That filthy beta tester! He waited to attack the boss just so he could get the Last Attack! He doesn't deserve it at all!"
I turned to see the asshat that managed to garner much of my ire since I met him. Man I did not want to deal with him now. Unfortunately, the situation was escalating rapidly and I hadn't even managed to get in a word in edgewise.
"He knew the boss's final form better than anyone here, but he didn't come out and tell anyone, and left us all in danger! Just because he wanted that the last attack!" and other various sentiments such as these were being all yelled out at will now, and frankly, I was at a lost. They weren't focused on me for whatever reason, but Kirito was getting ragged on hard, and he did not deserve any bit of it, well, in my opinion. I glanced around, Silica wore a sad expression on her face, Oden's face was silent and almost unreadable, Jando was glancing between the various people yelling, Agil and Asuna both were trying to reason with Kiboau. I looked back at Kirito, but his head was down and I couldn't see his face.
Then I saw Diabel step out of the crowd, his armor destroyed, but himself still in one piece though he looked worse for wear. He grabbed Kibaou on the shoulder and had started saying something to him, but I couldn't make it out, and before I could move closer to listen, I heard the oddest sound.
Laughter. Coming from only one possible person behind me. I turned to see Kirito laughing loudly – hell, almost maniacally – before walking slowly towards the group of those who were accusing him of foul play.
"Look around, and tell me how many people are in this Raiding Party. It can't be more than forty people, and of those forty, I bet there are not more than three beta testers here. That's because most of the thousand beta testers sucked, and didn't even know how to level up. All of you here now are better than most of them. But me? I'm not just any beta tester. I made it higher than any other during the beta test. I knew the boss's techniques because I fought with mobs that had katana skills on floors much higher up. I know more than any information broker as well." Kirito spoke, the timbre of his voice a quiet drawl.
"That's... that's worse than any beta tester! You're cheating! You're a cheater!" someone said. I had to roll my eyes at that, at the obscene asininity of these players. But the yells of "Beta tester!" and "Cheater!" just continued and I looked back at Kirito to find him smiling.
"Beater... huh." he drew out slowly. "I like it." With that, he manipulated his interface and equipped what I assumed was the Last Attack Bonus Item. "From now on, don't confuse me with those newbies." And he turned around and headed toward the large door that led to the next floor.
I looked back at the Raiding Party to find them all dumbstruck with surprise, confusion, and possibly fear. I wanted nothing else to do with them. Meeting Diabel's eyes, I nodded before grabbing my friends' attention with a "Ssst" and giving the rally hand signal. Knowing they would follow I turned and followed Kirito's footsteps only to find him engaged in conversation with Asuna at the top of the stairs. As we caught up to them, all I could make out was a question that Asuna asked Kirito.
"What about you?"
Not knowing the context, I didn't say anything as my party approached them. Kirito however chose not to answer instead turning to me.
"It's Saxon right? I'm sorry about that, I didn't intend for you to be considered a 'beater' as well." he apologized.
I smiled and shook my head. "No, that was well done back there, and you're right in that the beta testers don't deserve the stigma many of them got. Besides, I prolly earned the name beater myself. I'll carry that cross." At this, I looked back at Jando, Oden, and Silica. "I spose this means you guys'll carry the stigma with me." I said it as a statement, but Oden caught the underlying question.
"You know it. Jesus wasn't alone when he carried his cross either." he told me. I laughed.
"Lets not run too far with this metaphor." I told them before turning back to Kirito. "I think Diabel's plan was to go back to the Town of Beginnings and let everyone know the good news. I think Agil wanted to go with him to. So that leaves it to us to find the next town. Would both of you like to party with us? We'd be a full six person team."
Kirito looked tempted, but something crossed his features and he shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I'm going to be a solo player from here on out... Take care." he told us before opening the door and disappearing through it.
Asuna started to take a step and follow him, but I put a hand on her shoulder before she stepped through, "Heya, we don't know each other, but I imagine we'll prolly see you again for the next Floor Boss. However, can I ask you a favor: keep an eye on Kirito. This game isn't kind to solo players at all. Every life here is precious, but I doubt we can afford to lose someone of his caliber."
She stared at me blankly for a few moments before asking, "Well, sure, but why me?"
"You seem to be the only person he seems to get along with now. He was a loner from what I knew in the beta, and I see it carried over. And now that he's a known beater... well... you know." I trailed off.
Asuna looked troubled as she turned to face where Kirito disappeared through the door. She turned back to me with a more resolute look on her face, however, "Okay. I'll try. I think I owe it to him anyway."
I nodded at that, "By the way, I'm Saxon, and my friends here are..."
Three days had pass since the defeat of Illfang the Kobold Lord and our finding of the first town on the second floor, Urbus City. The partying and high spirits still haven't stopped. When the first wave of people teleported up after my group activated the Teleport Gate at the Urbus City Plaza, my entire party was instantly swarmed by people who wanted to congratulate or thank us. It had taken three hours before we were able to breakaway, realize Silica was missing, find her swamped in admirers, save her, and leave the city. I realized since anyone could access Urbus City via Teleport Gate freely, and the mob fields in the surrounding area were going to fill up quickly. I wanted to move quicker. Thankfully, I knew roughly how to get to the next town, Marome Village, with relative ease.
On some level, I had to envy Kirito and Asuna, as I know for sure they had to have spent the three hours I lost grinding hard on mobs in the area. And I desperately wanted to hit the next level as well as make some money. I haven't mentioned it to my friends yet, but I was ready to formalize a guild between us.
The guild creation process was relatively simple, only requiring a minimum of three agreeing players, a title, banner, and a substantial amount of col. Of course, everything but the last part was easy. In fact, that's why there were currently no known guilds, other than the Army, which dominated the first floor now.
A guild charter cost 500,000 col.
In the beta, leveling scaled quicker and the first floor had taken less than a week to clear. Furthermore, I do not recall the any of the floor bosses in beta dropping so much experience or col. The results in the live death game were at least tripled that of the beta test, an abnormality compared to the rest of the game.
Albiet, given the scale of how much experience was needed to level, I only went from twenty percent experience to ninety percent whereas most lower level people had leveled, but seventy percent was taking more than a day to get normally.
On top of that, the col rates didn't decrease from beta, and considering "playing" was basically all we did, col income was pretty high for my party. Ergo, if we pooled even a little bit, half-a-million wasn't unaffordable at all. Since I wanted to create the guild myself, basically becoming the official leader, I wanted to front most of the money, so grinding on newer, more rewarding enemies was high on my priority list.
And as we made our way to Marome Village, I explained just that to my friends, asking that they collectively pitch in 150,000 total col to round out the 350,000 I was fronting. Everyone agreed readily, which brought a load off my mind as I had no idea how the idea was going to be received, especially after I mentioned the guild cost.
I also learned as we traveled that I was the only one in my party that earned a substantial amount of col from Illfang, everyone else got really sweet items of some sort, the best of which was Jando's brand new Kopis, a wickedly strong curve sword that was every bit an equal to his already upgraded Anneal Blade. While the Kopis only had six possible upgrades levels, it base damage was higher than the Anneal Blade's and it also boasted a slightly better durability as well. Furthermore, it was known that curve swords were better at landing critical hits compared to straight sword, but kept the high damage that katanas lacked. While parrying is better down with a straight sword, it was definitely still possible with a straight sword, Jando would just have to watch out for heavier attacks and know when to dodge.
Of course, this would only come with practice. And its not like we had anything else to do now that we were approaching Marome Village.
It was several hours later when we finished grinding for the evening and returned to Marome to unload anything excessive. We had already booked an inn when we first checked in and would be meeting at the well in the center of the village after we were done selling, trading, eating, and whatnot. While we all generally stuck together, it wasn't always the case in a safe-zone where we would split up for small things: wanting to eat something different, needing to visit other kinds of shops, etc. Since I was doing nothing but selling, I decided to go straight for an NPC since I realistically didn't expect player merchants to have ventured this far out so quickly. Though the items would disappear to the system, at least I was getting some col for it, though that would eventually go into the system soon enough as well. I bought some food and headed out to the agreed tavern where the rest of my party would meet me for a much needed debrief of our current situation.
When Jando finally meandered in, I addressed everyone, talking of the normal day-to-day things, such as level quotas for this floor, skill review, and any new develops with information from NPCs. I had bought a journal which I used to keep track of anything noteworthy we found. There were so many NPCs in one town however that often one town filled more than one or two pages; anything such as drop rumors, extra skill information, dungeon rumors, and special events (which I noted down with a star) went into my journal. Our debriefs over the next couple of days would take longer than they had previously considering most of Floor Two was unexplored.
And this one in particular was going to be something special.
We all pretty much ate as we talked, and when we reached the end of the usual information, and similarly our meals, I brought back up my idea of starting a guild.
"I think its about time we gave ourselves an identity. We're prolly going to be recognizable from this point on, so lets make a statement about it. Call me vain, but you two know we would be doing this eventually, regardless of our status." I posed, addressing the second part to Oden and Jando. And it was true, in all the previous MMOs we had played, we created a guild or faction specifically for ourselves, if nothing else but for more sense of unity. However, SAO took everything out of context of a normal MMO. While I wanted to carry some pride of being one of the first official guilds that would be clearers on the frontlines, that very status would carry the message I've been telling people from day one: we were going to clear this game. That was our ultimate goal, our precept, what unified further than our normal bonds of friendship, and what separated us from the rest.
Everyone here, Silica included, knew that this goal had been at the front of my mind. It was the drive behind my every attack, the fuel I used to push everyone to do their best, the reason I wasn't so uncomfortable with stepping forward into the spotlight and taking a stand. Jando had, a week or so earlier commented that I might've started becoming obsessed with it.
Nobody disagreed.
And I just laughed.
And for whatever reason, they stayed with me, through it all. I remembered when Silica would initially tremble at the sight of anything bigger than her, and over several days, would get progressively better at dealing with her fears, her confidence growing with each level.
Jando, almost constantly switching between weapon classes, never once complained that we were all pulling ahead in skills because we knew our focus, and worked just as hard as the rest of us to make up for it. He now seemed resolute in use the Curve Sword skill class.
And Oden relegated all his skills to something useful pertaining to battle, searching, listening, claws and throwing picks, Oden was perhaps the most versatile of any of us in combat.
We were not a full party, but we certainly were more than enough for a guild in my eyes. And as I collected the money from everyone, to be able to afford the incredibly high-priced guild charter, Jando posed the question that I had waited a good while to come.
"So, you know what our guild is going to be called?" he asked.
"Yeah. Raptor Gang."
Author's Notes
I'm SOOOOOOOOOO sorry this two weeks longer than I originally anticipated.
I did have a majority of it written two weekends back, but as I was in the MIDDLE of saving it, Open Office freaks the fuck out on me and I lose EVERYTHING. Super demotivational.
But I did deliver what I intended: intro Kirito and Asuna, as well as show why Raptor Gang is the name of this story. If anyone is curious, there is no real backstory behind why specifically Raptor Gang. It is just a name after all.
Thank you all for reading, favoriting, following, and/or reviewing! I 'preciates all the things!
To address two of the reviews:
ShadowFreddyRaven: Sorry, but I do not understand Spanish.
starburst98: You are perceptive! Don't worry, I love tension and drama, and shit well be hitting the fan soon, I'm just not too sure when. D= hahaha
And thank you Meru-64!
So, hope y'all enjoyed Chapter 4, 5 will come soon, but IRL has been nothing but difficult, so no promises.
As always, I own nothing but Saxon and the mistakes.
One final thought: the anime is sposed to come out in English dub sometime soon. I'm a fan of dub myself so I'm looking forward to it. Hopefully they do it right!
