(three weeks after the game started, current front line floor: 1)

Kazeshi and Suku walked around a grassy field, mapping out the paths and landmarks. There was something bothering Suku since last week, but she hadn't bothered to ask Kazeshi yet. "Hey, you told me that that black mamba from a week ago was super-rare, right?"

Remembering the horrible experience, Kazeshi nodded.

"If that's true, are there any others we should worry about?"

Kazeshi went through the monster list he had memorized. "None that are that dangerous. You have to be extremely lucky, or rather unlucky, to run into something that powerful. Although, being in a party makes the chances of stronger enemies appearing higher. You can use the Switch maneuver and give your team a bigger advantage, but most solo-ers isolate themselves to avoid hazardous enemies. Any others that were in the beta had high endurance, but thankfully were weaker than that mamba. Of course, I don't know much about the complete version. Kayaba may have added a few more ugly surprises for us."

Suku was surprised at how much Kazeshi seemed to know about the game mechanics. "Do you play these types of games often, cause you certainly know more than the average player."

After hesitating for a moment, Kazeshi responded, "I frequent RPGs and MMOs, and these types of patterns are pretty common. I also researched the game a little with others who fought in parties. Everything matches up, so that's the algorithm we think fits."

That few seconds of hesitation made Suku a little suspicious. Oh well, she thought. He'll share with me when he feels like it. "So, where are we headed?"

Kazeshi put his attention back to the map. "So far, we've mainly been doing side quests and things like that to power ourselves up. I thought that maybe we could try the dungeon, now that we've become fairly decent."

"You sure?"

Smiling, Kazeshi replied, "Yeah. I think I know you enough to know that you won't let a party member die." Suku stopped walking. "What's wrong?"

She shook her head. "It's nothing." They continued to the dungeon, as Suku smiled to herself again.

Floor 1 Dungeon Entrance…

"What is that?" Kazeshi stood with his arms crossed, examining the entrance to the first floor dungeon. In the doorway to the dungeon, a gigantic turtle shell was blocking the way. The shell was just big enough so that a person couldn't enter the dungeon on either side of it. Painted over the shell were intricate red designs that resembled flames.

Suku stepped closer to it. "You haven't seen anything like this before?"

"Careful," Kazeshi warned. "I don't know what that is, and I'm not risking anyone standing next to it until I can figure it out." He scrolled through the monsters list he compiled. "There was an enemy back in the beta that was pretty much a giant snapping turtle, but it didn't have that kind of design on it. In other words, those are significant in some way or form. We'll flank it to inspect it." Kazeshi drew Bloody Claymore. Ever since the fight with Little Nepent, he had decided to keep the blade as a primary choice.

Suku unsheathed her Anneal Blade and went around the left side of the shell, with Kazeshi going around the opposite. The shell didn't respond at all to their tactics. Realizing she was risking her hand, Suku approached the shell and traced a small segment of the design with her hand.

Suddenly, the markings on the shell began to glow and the shell began shaking. Flames erupted out of the holes in the shell. "Get back, Suku!" Kazeshi moved so he was face to face with the shell. After nearly having her clothes catch fire, Suku ran to Kazeshi's side.

The creature inside the shell began to awaken and emerged from the shell. The body of the monster did resemble a turtle, having four limbs and a tail that were outside the shell, but the head was more snake-like than turtle. It had a snout that protruded from the face and had sharp teeth. Small embers floated out of the nostrils.

Kazeshi sighed. "They put in a dragon turtle? Seriously?"

Suku kept her eye on the monster. "This wasn't in the beta?"

Kazeshi shook his head.

"Do you know anything about it?"

Trying to remember any details, Kazeshi said, "It's a mythical Chinese creature. The combination of an Azure Dragon and Black Tortoise, which are two of the four mythical creatures in the Chinese constellations, the others being the Vermillion Bird and White Tiger. Thank goodness there's no mythical combination of those two, heh heh… oh, crap." As Kazeshi was speaking, he was beginning to hear a roar and looked up. Circling over them was a tiger with wings and talons. "And since there wasn't one, they made one. Well played, Kayaba. I'm SO killing that guy!"

The Tiger Bird landed on top of the Dragon Turtle's shell and let out a shriek (more evidence of its half-bird build). Suku examined the enemy data that was open to them. "They're both about our level. Which one do you want?"

Once again, Kazeshi shook his head. "It's a bad idea to split up. My guess is that the two are linked in some way, so if one of us drags one of them too far away, it'll turn around and both will be attacking the other person. I'm better for defense since I have the thicker blade, so you try to deal some damage."

"Right."

Kazeshi charged at the two enemies. The Tiger Bird flew towards Kazeshi and extended its talons. The claws were deflected off Kazeshi's blade. "Switch!" Suku took a swing at the incoming Tiger Bird. Caught off-guard, the creature tried to dodge, but Suku's Anneal Blade caught the animal at the top of a claw and severed it from the leg. The Tiger Bird roared in pain.

Kazeshi took Bloody Claymore and tried to overhead cut the Dragon Turtle, but the head withdrew into the shell and Kazeshi's claymore met the shell with a ring. The vibrations sent up his arms stunned Kazeshi and the Dragon Turtle's head emerged as the design glowed again and it blasted Kazeshi with a fireball. He was sent flying back and landed on Suku. "Ouch."

The two stood back up and quickly examined the situation. "I'm thinking that the Dragon Turtle is the most dangerous. It's too protective so we can't get a hit in," Kazeshi explained.

Suku nodded. "So, should we deal with the griffin-wannabe?"

Kazeshi grinned. "We should. You distract him, and I'll kill it."

The Tiger Bird was eager to avenge its claw and blasted towards Suku. "Looks like it won't need much convincing." Suku charged at the beast, but just as the two were to clash, Suku jumped, landed on the creature's back, then kicked off, forcing it even lower to the ground, and just within the reach of Kazeshi's sword. Kazeshi swung as the beast flew by and cut the animal in half, turning it into polygonal fragments.

"One down. And I've got an idea for the last one. The only time the head is out of the shell is when the mouth opens." Kazeshi turned his head to look at Suku. "You catch my drift?"

Suku nodded. They dashed around the Dragon Turtle and began to stab the legs. The legs withdrew, and as the monster brought out its head to roar in pain, Kazeshi and Suku moved to its head and stabbed it in the eyes. The creature's health bar slowed dropped as the swords twisted in its skull. Eventually, the Dragon Turtle disappeared and the victory windows for Kazeshi and Suku appeared. "That seemed a bit easy, didn't it?" Suku questioned.

"Don't forget, we're still on floor one. Nothing should be too difficult for us, yet." Kazeshi was scanning the window, and found two interesting items: a Turtle Shell and Hawk Talon. These could be useful. Kazeshi added the items to his inventory, then faced Suku. "You ready to move on?"