A/N: It's me back again guys and here's a new chapter of Tales of the Brave for you! Again I'm sorry for it being so long in between posts again but my course is still really busy. Anyway let me know what you think of it!

So it was here, the day was finally here when we would try to get off the first floor. In my mind it was kind of like the moon landing when Neil Armstrong first stepped out onto the moon, "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Maybe it wouldn't be remembered through the ages and maybe this wouldn't be taught in schools for years to come, but for the thousands of players still trapped in this game and fighting for a way out this was it. This was the first step in a long road that would lead to us out and back into the real world.

I woke up early the next morning, the truth was I barely slept all night, it was time to leave the comfort of training on the easier monsters which littered this level and move onwards and upwards into more dangerous locations where the rewards were greater but so were the risks. I spent the next thirty or so minutes trying to get some more sleep but that didn't look like it was going to happen as my mind was racing through all the worst case situations that could happen, so while the sun was still rising I made my way down the stairs and into the common room and saw a few other people who were sitting by themselves, most likely anxiously waiting for the time when we would

set off for the boss room.

I grabbed some breakfast from the innkeeper and sat myself down at one of the few remaining empty tables and just stared at the food I had just bought for a long time, I was only snapped out of this by someone tapping me the shoulder,

"Excuse me buddy, do you mind if I join you? There aren't any other tables free." I silently nodded my agreement without looking around and it wasn't until he sat down in front of me that I cracked a slight smile as I recognised him as the guy from the day before who was chasing after Miyu. It seemed as if he recognised me too as he blushed and spoke up,

"I can move if you want, you know I was chasing after your girl and everything,"

"It's alright, truth is she's just a friend. You just didn't seem to take no for an answer," I chuckled slightly as his face dropped again but he tried to perk himself up again quickly,

"Should have guessed that, I mean it did seem a little bit convenient that you turned up as she was running away. Maybe I got too desperate, truth is I had a girlfriend back in the real world but you know that's not going to last now I'm in here." My look of confusion must have prompted him to go on, "It's just that now this floor boss is here I wanted to spend what could be my last day with someone else, pretty pathetic right." He chuckled as he dug into the plate of food he had brought over as I dug into mine with a newfound hunger as we slipped into casual conversation.

After a while of trading stories about the real world more people started coming downstairs in preparation for the boss battle, the two of us became more quiet again and there was little conversation between us even as the noise in the room picked up, after a while he looked up from the table,

"Thanks for being around for now anyway CaleM, it means a lot,"

I smirked, "Don't make this all soppy now, and I'm sure you'll find someone to spend all these last days because you're not a bad looking lad, just not as good as me is all. It's Ryyu right?"

He stood up from the table and started openly laughing, "And here I thought we had some emotional connection and you can't even remember my name. Hopefully see you after the boss fight." He stopped laughed and grinned sheepishly as he moved off.

After another couple of minutes Miyu, Viktor and Nenru all came downstairs together which caused my good mood to vanish almost instantly, I just got up without a word and moved out the door and toward the meeting place for the beginning of the trek to the boss room, the others behind me didn't make a sound which I was glad for as I didn't really feel like speaking to them at the moment, they just trailed behind me and a grim silence filled the air between us.

We were some of the first people who reached the meeting point which was just as silent as most other places at the moment as the only players who had moved into Tolbana town were here for the boss fight, there were only a few people who were speaking during the time we were waiting there and even these people were silenced with hard looks from other people who more appreciated the seriousness of the situation we were all facing.

After a while another large group of players turned up along with Kirito and Asuna and we set off for the labyrinth. The walk was as silent as the meeting with the only people speaking were those who were explaining tactics and other necessities.

"…And that's where we switch and you come in for the final blow." Kirito was explaining the basic plan for beating some of the sentinals to Asuna.

"Switch, what's that?" Asuna seemed confused by the idea and the other 5 of us were surprised by her apparent lack of knowledge of how to work in a team. Nenru then approached Asuna,

"You have been in a team before, right Asuna?" He was trying to keep his emotions in check and when she shook her head he moved off and back to the three of us and turned, "Well, if that's the case then get out of my party."

Kirito lost his mild mannered attitude automatically as he stormed up to Nenru, "You can't just let go of someone because they don't have the experience!" He almost screamed at Nenru which caused some of the other players further ahead to turn back and start listening.

"Well I can and I just did. And unless the other three have any objections that's the way it's going to stay." He looked at me, Viktor and Miyu yet none of us had nothing to say but Miyu was staring daggers at Nenru who saw but for the time ignored it.

"Well if that's the case then I don't want to party with you either," Kirito had lost that sudden burst of anger and grabbed Asuna and stood still letting everyone else past, when Kirito and Asuna were out of earshot Miyu grabbed Nenru's arm and turned him round so she could look up at him with anger very apparent in her eyes.

"What was that about Nenru, or are you just a complete dick normally?" Nenru looked down at her hand very calmly and she let go of him before he started to speak, "Do you want someone like that in our party. Not that she's a bad person, but that she doesn't know what she's doing." Miyu looked shocked at his response but he continued, "I've got nothing against the girl but there are only three other people I care about in this bloody place and those people are those who are standing with me now and just to let you know I am not risking the lives of you three because some random girl doesn't know what switching is." He finished and turned back round to catch up with the main group as they entered the labyrinth.

Miyu just stood there shocked for a couple of seconds until Viktor placed a hand on her shoulder edging her forward, "His heart is in the right place Miyu, it just might not always seem that way. Isn't that right CaleM?" I nodded in agreement,

"He does care about his friends, especially in this place. Whether his heart is always in the right place, well that's more debatable." I flashed a weak smile toward them both before jogging to catch up with Nenru and others followed suit.

It took another hour for the group to clear the labyrinth and to end up at the boss room door but before any of us could approach the door Diabel stood in front of us and unsheathed his sword, "this is it people, this is the time when we can send a message to the players still hiding in the Town of Beginnings, the message that this game can be beaten." With that he turned his sword to the door and it ominously opened allowing everyone to charge in as one, with cheers of hope ringing among some of the players.

As the group got to what appeared to be the middle of the room, the lamps which hung from the columns which lined the grand hall lit and showed us the boss we were just about to face, he was as the handbook described and howled as four health bars appeared above its head and the sentinels spawned. There was a moments silence before Diabel gave the order to charge and then the battle had begun.

As the battle continued it seemed like it was going well, the health of the Illfang was decreasing at a good rate and there had been no casualties. The four of us were keeping the sentinels off of the main force while keeping our distance from Kirito and Asuna after Nenru cut them loose from our party.

It was a fairly basic boss fight with no casualties to speak of yet, Diabel was at the centre of everything with him barking orders out to the other smaller parties. When the final bar of Ilfang's HP entered the red ther beast let out another blood curdling roar before tossing aside its Talwar and its shield and drawing its new weapon from the pit of its back. When it did this Diabel shouted for everyone to stand aside as he charged the boss by himself, it struck me as odd as we were supposed to surround the boss and finish it that way.

Kirito then screamed out over everyone, "That's not a talwar, it's a nodoichi. Get back!" But by then it was too late, too late for Diabel anyway as with a surprising burst of speed it began to hop from pillar to pillar before pouncing on a confused looking Diabel with a vicious slash which sent him flying. As Kirito ran over to check on Diabel Ilfang began attacking a now helpless raiding party, decimating ranks and taking chunks off everyone's HP.

I just stood where I was near the back shocked by the devastation that Ilfang was now causing. Viktor and Miyu then came up to me and stood on either side. "CaleM, me and Miyu are going in, you're coming as well right?" Viktor put a more reassuring hand on my shoulder to make sure I heard him before the two of them rushed in.

"You can't be thinking of rushing in there can you CaleM?" Nenru had approached silently from behind and looked like he was ready to get out of here.

"We've got no choice, not now, not when Miyu and Viktor have just gone it. And besides we have to get out of this game somehow don't we." I smiled slightly which seemed odd given the situation we were in but still I unslung my axe with Nenru muttering under his breath and before we launched in there was a nod of understanding and a fiat bump and we charged in.

Ilfang was swinging at some weak player who was way out of his depth by the time I managed to intercept his attack, it made my feet dig into the stone slabs but the player managed to escape and I didn't take any damage, while the boss was recovering from its attack Nenru burst in from behind me and landed a basic thrust attack on its shoulder which caused it to stagger back and away from everyone else who were being ordered around by a joyful Viktor.

It looked like he was enjoying the battle even though this was a death game, it concerned me that he was enjoying it this much but at least he was taking command with Diabel down. When the four of use regrouped we charged in as one with me and Viktor in the lead but just before we engaged Ilfang it swung downwards which cause me to raise the pole of my axe to block it but the direction of its swing changed and the its blade ended up catching me in the side and I was blown away. My head hit the wall and with a cry of pain and fear I slid down the wall until I was sitting on the floor.

I saw my health slide down dangerously from full to about ten percent left. I wasn't the only who screamed at this as the next thing I knew Miyu was kneeling beside me almost in tears as she looked down at me,

"You can't die CaleM, not now, please please please!" She was sobbing by this point and it wasn't until I raised my arm to stop her that she calmed down and a look of relief spread across her face, "Nenru wanted to come but I made him stay and help Viktor, he's better there than here."

I chuckled weakly, while there was no pain the fear of dying made everything ache. "Yeah, he isn't the most sympathetic guy around." She seemed to be more relieved with every word I said and pulled out a health crystal which I gladly accepted and saw my health move back up into the yellow which made me feel a bit safer again. I tried to push myself back u to join in again after another few moments of rest but Miyu wasn't having any of it and pushed me back down again.

"The others can get on just fine without you, just take a break for now," even though I protested she was having none of it and she did seem to be right as Kirito and Asuna had joined in on the fight and were winning, more and more people were joining in now, so much that it seemed like Viktor and Nenru had been forced to the back of the line.

The fight didn't last much longer as Kirito and Asuna went in for the final attack together and managed to finish Ilfang, the Kobold Lord off. There was a moments silence while a message of congratulations appeared above everyone and the fact that we won slowly sunk into everyone, after a split second a cheer of relief let loose and people started laughing and dancing. People came up to Kirito to congratulate him on getting the last attack bonus, and finally I was allowed to get up,

"You can't do that every time I'm hurt Miyu, you do know that right?"

"I know, but I was just scared okay. It's just that…" She didn't get the chance to finish her sentence as Viktor and Nenru walked over to us and Nenru threw his arms around me in a surprising moment of emotion,

"You moron, you utter idiot. You don't die in here. We don't die in here, you understand that?" The rest f us were too shocked to see Nenru act like this and all I could do was nod in understanding.

"We were all worried when you got hit CaleM, not just Miyu and Nenru. Just Miyu shouted at Nenru to keep fighting while she ran over." Viktor finally found his voice, his face was just as pasty as Miyu's when she first rushed over. Before I could respond to the show of concern by the other three a different voice shouted over the elation,

"How could you!" It was Kibaou from the other day who was sitting on the floor with the other members of his party standing around him with grim looks on their faces, "You knew about the bosses different weapon and you didn't tell us about it, if not for you then Diabel might still be alive."

This was obviously aimed at Kirito as he was the one who seemed to know about the nodoichi not that it bothered anyone else really but at this time the players who a second ago were elated to have won were now looking at eachother with distrust.

"You're a Beta Tester, you must be! How else would you know about this!" Kibaou kept on going and it was affecting the others, Asuna and Agil from the other moved in front of Kirito and tried to calm everyone down,

"Look calm down everyone, there's obviously a reason for this, "Agil started but before he was allowed to go on the room filled with a chilling laugh which came from Kirito,

"Beta tester? I wish you would lump me with those kinds of players. You lot are better than they ever were, they barely knew how to level up. I knew about the different weapon because I encountered in on floors far higher than here."

The room burst out in a series of mutters, some louder than the others,

"You're not a beta tester, you're worse. You're a…Beater."

Kirito picked up on that, "Beater, I like it, it has a ring to it." He turned and made his way to the stairway to the next floor. When this situation had resolved itself we waited for a few moments more, talking with some of the players. The guy called Agil seemed to have a level head on him and was saying that he wanted to set up his own shop when he was able to, added to my friends list for future reference and we moved out and up to the next floor.

As we moved toward the stairs we passed Asuna and Nenru broke off and moved toward her, "Listen, about earlier. Maybe I was being a bit harsh on you, I just didn't want my friends to get hurt because of some mistake. Well I was wrong, it seems you can fight pretty dam well."

I just laughed as he seemed to be rather sheepish in admitting he was wrong and I moved on. However, we all heard Asuna giggle slightly which was strange as throughout the entire time we spoke to her throughout the couple of days she rarely made a sound, with that Miyu launched into conversation about all different things and seemed really animated. These two also added each other to their friends list and we moved on up the stairs and into the second floor.

The first floor was clear, the first boss defeated although not without casualties even though there was only one, it seemed like it could be a big loss. But still people always said onwards and upwards and that is what we had to do, not just figuratively but literally as well, there were still 99 floors left to clear but this was the first step, it would give the players hope and that was more important than people than people realised.

A/N: So guys. What did you think? Let me know, whether you do that by review or by PM, it's good for some constructive criticism. I won't make any promises about the timeline for the next post because I really don't know when. Anyway for now hope you enjoyed it and...

PEACE!