Sword Art Online: Black Ranger

Chapter four: Beater

A/N: I do not own sword art online, any material used from the light novels, manga or anime is profit free.

This chapter is a key event within Aincrad, I hope it pleases you:

Edit: Checked a few grammar errors and corrected them

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Floor 1 - Boss Room

A small buzz was heard as Kirito took aim at the floor one boss, a small creature of a firefly size appeared, Kirito was aware of its presence but he paid little mind to it as at the moment he had bigger problems to deal with.

Eyes hard as steel Kirito stared down the floor one boss, the black knights bow pointed directly at the monster, the Sentinels were all destroyed and now only Illfang the Kobold Lord stood before him.

As the Grey-Blue furred boss let out another roar, Kirito continued to stare at the monster. His cloak once again blew back by the intensity of the roar, the roar nearly pushed his hood back that was covering his face. Kirito released the arrow into the boss, as the arrow travelled he switched to his swords. As soon as the arrow collided with Illfang the Kobold Lord it let out a screech and began to charge at Kirito.

As it began its attack Kirito began to dodge, he was surprised by the power behind the creatures attacks if he got hit by one it would do some serious damage, as he continued to dodge the ongoing attacks from Illfang. He couldn't help but smile as the boss continued its attempts to kill Kirito. Illfang was slightly more powerful in the beta, his attacks could kill three players at once, but now this boss was no stronger then a monster located on the fifthteenth floor, just as Kirito thought the boss was getting slower with its attacks. He was hit with its shield, flipping backwards Kirito stabbed his sword into the ground to stop himself from going back any further.

As his cloak broke and shattered into particles from the damage sustained, Kirito looked up at his health he saw it had taken a third of his health, turning back to the boss he quickly had to dodge as Illfang went to stab him, if it wasn't for his quick reactions, he would of probably of been dead.

As the two continued to stare down at each other Kirito readied his off hand sword, it was time to show this beast who was the true master of the sword.

0o0o0o0

Floor 1 - Tower - Level 19

As another goat warrior fell and blasted into particles. A group of four began to run again their destination was the boss room. They needed to get their fast otherwise their party member was going to die. As they reached the next staircase that would take them to the boss room they were swarmed by goat warriors. As the group was surrounded they stood in a circle.

"So Dale how many do you think there are?"

Dale turned to his friend and smirked, looking at the mob that had surrounded them he answered: "Judging from the numbers, maybe around twenty, but who has time to count right Klein?"

Grinning, Klein pulled out his Katana and readied his weapon. He had unlocked the sword three days ago, it was fairly simple to unlock all that was required to unlock the sword was swiping your sword downwards one hundred times. It was the easiest sword to unlock.

Looking at the group, the female member of the team had cold eyes it sort of freaked him out seeing her eyes so intense but when you knew Kirito was fighting a boss, you couldn't help but focus.

"Emily, Lets finish this quickly and meet up with Kirito"

Nodding to Klein, Emily pulled out her sword and readied it was going to be a hard battle but just as the group was about to attack the goat warriors, there was a blast of particles from behind and there was a cry from the goat warriors as they turned and attacked the ones who dared to attack them.

As the mob continued to change targets, Emily and co leaped into action and began to attack the warriors from behind. One by one they fell as as the last warrior fell, the group stored their weapons and looked at the ones who had saved them.

Before them stood a raid party of eighteen players, now raid parties were multiple parties going to attack a single target, this usually happened when there was a boss battle.

A Blue Haired player and an orange haired player stepped forward, the blue haired player had a calm expression but the orange player decided to speak.

"Oh its you lot, where's your wise ass friend? did he leave you behind"

Klein and the others had to stop Emily from walking over and slapping the player, Emily's eyes were cold as steel as she looked at the offending player. Just as Emily was about to retaliate, the blue haired player spoke up.

"Enough Kibaou, sorry about that, he's not really good at socializing with people, I'm Diavel and I'm a knight"

Emily gave a snort and looked at the player called Diavel, he was a tall thin player that had armour over a blue shirt. Emily could tell he was a beta player from the way he carried himself, removing herself from the grip Klein and Dale had her in she spoke.

"I'm Emya, thank for you saving us"

Turning to walk up the stairs Diavel spoke up again, he had a cold expression and was looking intensely at Emily's group.

"You guys are heading for the boss room, why not tag along with us, it should be easier with you guys joining us"

As Emily stood on the first step she turned and look at him, it would be wise not to tell him that Kirito was already in the room and was fighting the boss, depending on the situation in the room, they could join the raid party and help Kirito if they needed.

Signaling the group to come together they discussed their options, after a few minutes Emily turned back to Diavel.

"We'll help you, but we will need an additional group member, were one short at the moment"

Diavel raised an eyebrow at her response, the raid group they had formed had parties of four to six members. The group before him already had that much but if they needed an extra player then that was fine. Looking around he saw a lone player wearing a red hood, Signalling the player over, he turned back to Emily.

"You can have this player then, they don't have a group, so this should be fine"

Nodding, Emily sent the player a party invite. As Kirito was unavailable to do group leader roles, Emily was made the default sub-leader for the party, this meant she had the same privileges as Kirito.

As the player joined the party, Emily smiled as she saw the name:

"Asuna huh? please to have you aboard"

The player now identified as Asuna nodded and the raid group proceeded up the staircase, as they trudged up the stairs, Emily's group minus Asuna continued to hope that Kirito was ok.

0o0o0

Real world - Kirigaya Household

As Suguha watched TV there was no word of a boss battle happening, she was currently watching a channel called MMO Today, this channel gave the latest details in MMO's and development within the games industry. she only started watching this channel to get a better understanding of why her cousin played such games, as she continued to watch the tv the announcement that followed was a shock.

"Sorry to interrupt but we are going to go live to Aincrad now to watch the floor one boss fight that is on going at the moment"

As the image changed to a room with flames, a cloaked player took aim at a monster called Illfang the Kobold Lord. it was the same player from last week and they were taking on the Boss alone, he either really crazy or really good.

As the player released the arrow the monster known as Illfang the Kobold Lord began to charge forward, the player then began dodging the oncoming attacks from the monster, Suguha couldn't help but feel impressed, the dodging the player was doing was incredible.

Suddenly the player was hit by the shield Illfang was holding and they were sent flying.

As the player dug their sword into the ground to stop them from going back any further, the cloak shattered and Suguha gave a scream.

Hearing her daughter scream, Suguha's mother ran into the room and looked at her daughter, it was like she had seen a ghost. Looking at the TV she dropped the glass that was in her hand and put a hand to her mouth.

There was Kazuto fighting a monster, and this was being streamed for all the world to see, as she sat down next to her daughter, she couldn't help but break down, her deceased sister had entrusted her son to her, to ensure he was safe. But here he was fighting a beast that could end his life, as tried to stop the tears that were going to fall, she looked at the screen and remembered.

Kazuto was a fighter and wouldn't be killed by this monster. They stream itself had finally recognized the player and had brought up the HP bar and status of the player.

Kazuto had chosen the name Kirito, why he had chosen that name was a mystery to her but what concerned her the most was his HP had taken a dent, it was a third down, while the boss's health was four times as much.

As the the Beast let out another roar, fear settled throughout the household. The fear that Kazuto was going to die.

0o0o0o

As Illfang released another roar, Kirito released the skill Swing Slash as soon as his off hand sword had left his hand, Kirito ran at the boss and lunged at him as the sword stuck out of Illfang the Kobold Lord. The stunned boss was helpless as Kirito pulled out the sword and delivered a second blow with his main weapon.

The Boss cried out in main as one of the health bars dropped to zero,seeing that he needed to put some distance between the Boss and himself, as the the floor boss knocked Kirito's health to just under half way, Kirito unleashed Moonlit Burst The five hit combo slashed Illfang in five different locations, Illfang was then blasted into the chamber door and took additional damage. The second bar was nearly halfway down and the way the fight was going it was only going to get worse and he forgot to bring teleport crystals and to make matters worse the entrance was blocked by the floor boss.

Cursing his luck Kirito pulled out a health crystal, he began to heal himself this fight had taken a toll on him but he had to be careful otherwise he'd be dead before the others would arrive. Kirito knew Emily and company would rush after him once he sent the message but now it was a tactical fight, he would be unable to use another crystal for another ten minutes.

As Illfang got up from its place by the door, it seemed to look around for a second before screeching again and running towards Kirito. Readying his blades, Kirito ran towards Illfang and knee slid through the beasts legs all the while striking the monster.

As the monster turned around it lost its footing and fell to the floor. Running up toward the downed floor boss. Kirito began another Moonlit Burst sword skill and blasted him into the chamber wall, the knock back damage had pushed the health into the last two bars as the boss got up Kirito Began to use Swing Slash, as his off hand sword stuck into Illfang Kirito delivered a second blow before pulling the off hand sword out.

As the off hand word was pulled out its durability ran out and the sword smashed into particles, this signalled the end of the original sword but this also meant the duel blade abilities were locked out.

As Kirito looked at his off hand, he looked at the floor boss and suddenly found himself thrown across the room and into the door. Stumbling to get up the floor boss began to charge at Kirito again as the boss went for the finishing blow. Kirito rolled the side and knocked the boss's blade away.

He needed to utilize the single blade system to its full ability, knocking the boss slightly back with the skill Slant Kirito went back on the offensive. As the boss raged, both swords clashed and the sound of metal was heard throughout the room. As Illfang tried to slash Kirito back, Kirito rolled to the side so he was only hit in the ribs before he began to use a custom skill called Spin Slash.

Spin Slash was a custom move and could be used in both a dual wielding and single wielding scenario, the move made the user drive the sword or swords into the monster or player before the weaponry was twisted and slashed downwards. The move caused great pain and internal bleeding and had a cool down of a minute.

As Illfang health dropped into the red on the final bar it threw down its sword and shield and pulled out a more deadlier weapon. The sword it pulled out was a nōdachi, having seen the sword on a higher floor, Kirito pulled back slightly and quickly looked at his health it was nearly in the red, if he got hit with that he'd probably be dead.

As Illfang went for an attack with the nōdachi, Kirito managed to block the sword and counted by performing another Spin Slash, the bleeding got worse and the health on Illfang the Kobold Lord was nearly out, deciding to finish the job Kirito decided to finish things with «Vertical Arc». The first hit of the skill was a diagonal slash from top-left to bottom-middle. As the sword approached the floor, Kirito quickly readjusted his wrist and performed another diagonal slash from bottom-middle to top-right.

As the skill finished Kirito pulled back and watched as Illfang the Kobold Lord fell to the floor and broke into millions of particles. Sighing Kirito unequipped his bow from his equipment and sat against the wall, he lost a lot of gear in that fight as he looked up as a small window appeared.

The window congratulated him on finishing the floor and gave him the last attack bonus, the item in question was the coat of midnight. Kirito snorted at the irony of it all.

As Kirito was about to attach the item he had received, the doors opened looking toward the opened door, Kirito saw a familiar figure.

0o0o0o0o0

A few minutes earlier

As the raid group walked towards the door that held the boss. Emily was looking at the party member screen, Kirito was taking loads of damage. They needed to pick up the pace otherwise they would be too late.

Most of the group noticed that as well, though Asuna was surprised that the player wasn't with the group, what they could be doing was anyone guess. Stopping outside the room they suddenly heard a roar and and screech coming from inside the room.

Diavel quickly ran to the door and tried to open it, it sounded like someone was inside the room. probably an idiotic player decided to solo the boss. As the raid group tried to push to door open they couldn't help but think maybe the boss was blocking the door.

As they continued to push a sound of particles was heard. Many players feared that the player or players that had gone inside their had died.

As they managed to open the door, Emily saw Kirito sitting against the wall, his sword was in his right hand and resting on the floor. As Klein and Emily rushed over to their fallen ally. Kirito looked like he had been to hell and back.

After patching Kirito up with Health crystal, Emily proceeded to hit Kirito.

"Why didn't you warp out, didn't we tell you not to fight solo.."

She then broke down and cried into his shoulder, Klein looked at his friend and gave him a grin:

"See you got a new sword, wheres your old one?"

Kirito's eyes glazed over as he remembered his sword shattering into pieces, looking at klein he returned the grin.

"I lost it, durability ran out"

As Kirito proceeded to stand up he looked at Emily and smiled.

"I needed to see its skills, I forgot teleport crystals and i couldn't run because by mistake I blasted the boss into the door. Sorry to have worried you"

A cough was heard as Diavel motioned he wished to speak but was beat to the punch by Kibaou:

"How'd you do it anyway?"

Kirito just looked at the boy and with a cold glaze that made everyone shiver he replied:

"Do what?"

Kibaou growled and replied: "How did you defeat the boss!"

There were a few murmurs of agreement in the raid party, they had formed this party a day ago and it came to nothing as a player had managed to solo the boss.

Kirito's eye became cold, this player was getting on his nerve, just as he was about to reply a voice from the raid group was heard.

"He must of been beta test, that's why he knew how to defeat the boss."

Kibaou seemed to agree and shoved Kirito, making him fall to the ground

"Now hand over all the items you got and we'll forgive you"

As members of the raid party tried to calm down Kibaou who was shouting about killing all the beta players. In order to protect other beta players he did the only thing necessary.

Getting up from off the floor Kirito began to laugh and as he laughed the entire room turned to him, some wore a look of confusion others were a little creeped out by Kirito's sudden outburst.

"So you guys thought I was a beta tester? I wish you wouldn't compare me to those newbies.

Most of the thousand beta testers were beginners who didn't even know how to level up. You guys are much better than they are." Spoke Kirito as he walked in front of everyone. Turning around Kirito's eyes are covered by his hair.

"But I'm not like them, I made it higher than all of them. The reason why I knew how to beat the boss is because I fought monsters on higher floors with much harder skills. I know a lot more to, more than any information broker" Smirked Kirito.

Kibaou who had remained quiet during the speech began to rage again about how he was a cheater, there were others who agreed with Kibaou and began shouting as well. As this carried on one word came out which made Kirito smirk.

"Beater. I like the sound of that" This statement seemed to freak a few players out including Kibaou, as Kirito brought up his menu he continued to speak.

"That's right I am a Beater. From now on, don't confuse me with the other testers"

Attaching his acquired Coat of Midnight, Kirito walked to the first floor warp gate. As he walked to the gate there were some beta testers in the raid group who looked up at Kirito. He had decided to take the burden of being the most hated tester. And for some that was too much.

There were several footsteps that ran up to Kirito, Turning around he saw Asuna and his friends next to him as well as others from the raid group who didn't agree with Kibaou. As Kirito was about to speak up Kibaou decided he was going to add fuel to the fire.

"If you guys go with him, you're all traitors and as such you will be hunted down"

There were a few gasps from the room, Kibaou was speaking about killing players. In a game where death meant death in real life"

"Ok Kibaou thats enough" shouted Diavel. The leader of the raid group who had kept quiet up to this point had spoken up. As all heads turned to Diavel who decided Kibaou had gone on long enough. Kirito's group decided it was time to leave, as they went to push open the door Diavel turned and spoke towards Kirito.

"Why don't we team up, together we could clear the game" His fist was clenched and he had fire within his eyes. Diavel's eyes had hatred and passion. Hatred for Kirito for most likely beating the boss before him and passion for recognizing a strong player.

Kirito gave a chuckle before pushing the door open, as the group walked towards the warp gate. Kirito replied.

"Well firstly I don't know you and secondly I can beat the game with these guys."

Diavel just looked at Kirito's retreating form as he processed, the current event he had been rejected. He decided Kirito's words were a form of declaration of war and he smirked he wouldn't lose to the likes of him. The raid group had been cut in half and as the remaining raid members watched Kirito's group walk away, there were some regretting the choice of not running up at the same time as the others.

As the door closed Diavel turned to Kibaou and the latter looked up in fear as Diavel walked towards him.

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A/N: Ok chapter complete, Do tell me what you thought of the way i handled this, hopefully it went well.

Grammar wise i think its fine but i'll check it again later. right now I think getting it posted is more important.

please review, follow and share.