Disclamer: I do not own Sword Art Online or its characters. I only own the fan made characters Slasher, Alice and Dino, that is all.

A/N: Hey guys, welcome to chapter four of The Adventures of John Smith. I know I said last time to not expect another chapter soon, but I still think a few months is still too long, so, read this, and keep on hoping I know what to write next.

-Thrasher

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Chapter Four

Torvana

The next day, we all met up in the town square after getting essential supplies, I don't want Alice mad at me again so I get extra supplies…just in case. Also, I'd rather not die before we even beat the first boss.

"Hey Slasher, there you are. Are you finally done?" Dino called out to me. Evidently, I am the last to arrive. It was just before noon, so the whole group (that's including everyone else who was at the meeting yesterday) were in the town square.

"Yeah, sorry it took so long; I wanted to get extra stuff so one of us won't hurt me." I said, motioning to Alice. Within a second, I felt a tap on my head. It wasn't really a surprise who it was; I knew she would do this if I teased her more. "Anyway, I got us extra potions and stuff. You know, for a game that doesn't have magic, I find it weird that it has potions…it could just be me though."

Before anyone could reply to me, Diabel stepped up and motioned for us to go. "Alright you guys, it's noon, it's time to head off!"

30 minutes later

"Hey, do you think we should talk about our strategy?" Alice asked me. Dino was obviously interested to hear what our strategy would be.

"Ok, here is what we're going to do. Alice, since we're taking out the Sentinels that spawn with Illfang, you and I will be doing the Switch like we've been doing this whole time. Dino," I said, motioning to him "you will just smash them into a pulp, like, uh, like you always do." Not knowing what else he could do. Alice chuckled at that. I don't know if it's good or not, she's usually so serious. I don't know, it kinda made me nervous. I wasn't the only one to notice her laugh, Dino looked dumbfounded as well. Alice stopped laughing and looked kind of embarrassed.

"What? I laugh too you know." She had a blush on her face. This made us even more dumbstruck.

Dino and I looked at each other. "That did not just happen. Did it?" Alice was blushing even darker. It wasn't much longer until we reached the entrance of the dungeon.

"Alright everyone, don't get separated! This dungeon is a maze!" Diabel was saying.

Being the joker I am, I couldn't stop myself from saying "So you scouted this dungeon out? I don't know about anyone else, but that's pretty amazing." Out of that I got a few giggles. Even more giggles out of Alice.

"Very funny, Slasher, was it?" Diabel didn't look very impressed. "Now, just remember, don't get separated. Once we get to the boss room, we go with the plan, no deviations. Got it?" Everyone yelled in agreement.

2 hours later

Outside the Boss Room

After traversing the dungeon, we finally made it to the big doors. This was it; this was our first boss room. Dino had the biggest smile on his face. Alice had a look of grim determination on hers. That left me wondering how my face looked. "Hey Slasher, don't look so worried there." Well, Dino just answered my question. "This'll go fine; you don't have to worry about a thing." He said after a hard slap on the back.

"I guess so. Hey, when we make it through, drinks are on you ok man?" I said, perking up a little bit. We both laughed to try and wash away the nervousness.

"Men, always thinking about the drink." Alice said, rolling her eyes.

"Alright everybody, it's time. Just remember, stick to the plan. Teams A, B, and C will attack Illfang, and teams D, E, and F will keep the sentinels off us. Now, let's go!" Diabel had one last thing to say before the fight.

Everybody cheered in agreement while Diabel had opened the door. We all ran into the room. At first it didn't seem like there was anything in here, but when we got to the middle, the whole place lit up. At the end of the room was Illfang, the Kobold Lord. It roared at us, warning us of the coming attack. "Commence attack!"

URA! Shouting out a warcry from an old anime I watched with my dad as it came out, I charged ahead at the Sentinels. I tell you, they're pretty easy enemies for a boss fight. Of course, we weren't fighting the boss itself, which was left to the other teams. Alice and I took down 3 Sentinels within the first 5 minutes. Dino, as we expected, could hold his own even against five Sentinels.

"Hey look! It's reached the point where it switches styles!" I turned to look as Alice kept going at another Sentinel. I saw Diabel stop the others from attacking the boss, he had a smirk on his face.

"Oh that idiot." I heard Dino mumble. "He can't possibly be going for that."

I turn to Dino and tried to ask him get what, but I saw his face change from battle ready to shock. I turn to look back at the scene and notice Diabel flying across the room. "Dino, keep the Sentinels off us, we'll go try and help Diabel!"

"Got'cha!" Dino yelled as he swung his hammer. He hit three Sentinels when he swung in a wide arc. Well, he can take care of himself, now we need to get to Diabel.

"It's a good thing Dino's as strong as he is, or I wouldn't have left him with the Sentinels." I mumble to myself. I notice Alice looking at me. "I wouldn't intentionally danger a friend." I try to reassure myself.

"Are you sure you can keep this party in check?" Alice started questioning me. I can see a look of suspicion.

"As long as you're here with me, I think I can keep us all alive." I declared in a quiet voice. "Just as long as we can keep being a party, we can keep being al-" I tried to finish my sentence, but I heard something that made my blood run cold. I look back in horror and see Dino on the ground with Illfang in the end of the attack pose. My eyes widened, I lost my balance, I couldn't see clearly. "No. No. No!" The events that happened after were a blur, I couldn't remember exactly what happened, but I do remember the black haired boy next to me as the four of us attacked and defeated Illfang.

"Dino. Dino, are you alright?" After the battle, we got to Dino. Diabel had already died, we couldn't do anything for him, as he had refused all help. But we noticed Dino didn't shatter out of existence. "I'm sorry Dino, I didn't think this would happen. I didn't think that Illfang would target you." I started apologizing to Dino. I started getting tears in my eyes, "I don't want anything to happen to this party. Not to Alice, not to you, and not to anyone else that will be affiliated with us." The tears started streaming down my face.

With a strained voice, Dino tried reassuring me. "It's fine Slasher, there's no way we could have stopped this. Listen, don't stop trying to clear this game. We need as many people on the front lines as we can. As you said, as long as we're together, we can conquer anything." Dino was struggling to get up.

"Dino, you should stay down for now, and have this." I handed him a particularly strong healing potion. He took it and drained it in one gulp. "Now, just lay down and relax, you should start feeling the effect of the potion in a few minutes."

The black haired swordsman appeared by my side. "It's a good thing he survived, but we lost a great man today. My name is Kirito, I wish I could meet you in a better time than now, but as we probably won't meet again for a while, I figured this would be the best time."

"Slasher, my friend on the ground is Dino, and this woman here is Alice." I said, introducing my party. Alice had kept quiet this whole time but acknowledged when I introduced her.

"Whoa, I feel much better now." Dino shot upright. Every one cheered when he recovered.

"Everyone, shut up!" Oh man, not him again. "Diabel died today, why are you cheering!?" Kibaou had started speaking up. "He knew what the bosses next attacks would be, and he left him to die!" He pointed to Kirito and I respectively. "What are you guys?! Beta testers? Cheaters?!"

"Hey now, calm down. Let's talk when our heads are a bit cooler than they are now." Egil tried to diffuse the situation.

"No, they knew what was going to happen, they knew what the monsters next attack would be. But they kept it to themselves. You guys are worse than cheaters, you're beaters!" I heard the crowd agreeing with this guy. All of a sudden I hear Kirito start laughing.

"It's true, we are Beaters. And we don't want you to mix us in with those newbs the testers. We know everything about this game. We made it further than any of the other testers. We know what will happen in the other levels." While Kirito was speaking, he was manipulating his menu. He appeared to be putting on a cloak. I see, so he must've gotten the last attack bonus. I was wondering who got it. "If you want to live, you shouldn't be anywhere near us, we don't care if you get left behind." Kirito finished putting on his cloak and started leaving for the door.

Everyone else was stunned, no one could speak. I decided that I should follow him and ask him a few questions. "Alice, listen, I need you to stay here with Dino for a second, I wanna question our new friend about something." Alice nodded grimly. I started catching up to Kirito.

"Didn't you hear what I said? I said you should leave me alone, or else you will die." Kirito said calmly.

"You said that about me too. Why?"

"I figured they'd just tear you apart if I didn't help you."

"Well, I think you just created problems for both of us. I don't mind, but it will be harder for my party to get around." I started laughing. "As long as I know you're a good guy, I can trust you, my whole party can."

"That's good to know, but I'd still keep my distance from me." Kirito tried to keep his distance between us.

"Well, if you ever need a favour, I owe you one. I should return to my party." I bid him farewell and started walking back to Dino and Alice. I noticed his partner going up to follow him after she noticed I finished talking to him.

Dino was standing now, and talking with Egil. "Oh, he's back. So, is everything alright?" Dino questioned.

"Everything's fine my friend, how are you?" I worried that he wouldn't be fine.

"As great as I can be. That potion works wonders, where'd you get it?"

Well, I did some extra quests while you guys were asleep." I said sheepishly. Alice's expression changed, she now looked as though she was both jealous and worried. "I'm fine Alice, I still here you know? But I was thinking of asking you to help heal me after I came back." I started joking around again. Yet again, she gave me an icy look. She started walking up to me and gave a good smack to the head. "Yeah, I think I might've gone too far with that one, sorry." I apologized. Dino and Egil started laughing.

"So, should we start heading out? I want to see the new level." Alice had piped in her request. I started laughing again.

"Alright you guys, let's get a move on. Level two, I hope you're ready, The San Rose Survivors will conquer you too!" I shouted gleefully.

"That's still a stupid name." Alice mumbled.