A/N: Hey everyone. I'm sorry these updates always take so long. This time was a mix of being too busy and a severe case of writer's block. I tried to not let it affect the quality of this chapter so I hope you all like it. Please review and tell me what you think.
Ren rubbed his groggy eyes as he woke up with a yawn. The virtual sun of Aincrad had risen not too long ago. Looking next to him, Ren could see Alice still fast asleep. A smile was painted on her face. It was that smile that scared him. Every day, there was a risk he'd lose that beautiful smile of hers. It was days like today that he was reminded of that fact the most. Today was the day for the next floor boss raid.
'The floor 89 boss' Ren thought to himself. 'Just how strong will it be?'
"Morning Ren"
Ren turned his head back to Alice to see her waking up as she looked up at him. He smiled back at her. No matter what, he'd protect her. That was the promise he made to both her and himself. "Morning Alice. Did you sleep well?"
"Yeah" Alice nodded. She looked at the time and sighed. "Looks like we better get ready. The raid meeting is in an hour."
Ren and Alice got up from the bed and changed into their combat equipment via the menu. Ren still felt worried about today. He always had the same feeling whenever they would go to fight a floor boss. Would anyone die today? If so, how many? As the main tactician of the front lines, these questions weighed heavily on him.
The couple walked outside and met up in the town square with several other front line players. Idle gossip was being passed around by several players as they waited for the meeting to start. Ren noticed the masked player Yaksha as well as several other members of his guild silently sitting around. The Amaterasu guild wasn't the most social guild anyway so that was no surprise. Also in the group of front line players were the Holy Dragon Alliance with Asami, another one of the front line tacticians. There had originally been five front line tacticians, but that number became four when Shino had sold out clearing group to the murder guild Laughing Coffin.
"Hey Ren" Asami waved with a cheerful smile. "You ready for today?"
"Of course" Ren said with a nod. Alice noticed a split second glare at her from the blonde girl. She didn't know why but Asami always seemed to have a hidden grudge against her for some reason.
As chatter among the high level players continued, Ren noticed Kirito walking over to them. The Black Swordsman waved over to them. "Hey guys. What's up?"
"Hey Kirito" Ren waved back. He soon noticed someone else was with him. It was a female player with short orange hair, almost the same color as Asuna's. She had blue eyes and wore light armor of the same color, with a hooded cloak and a metal breastplate. At her waist was a jagged dagger weapon.
"Oh that's right, you guys haven't met yet" Kirito realized. "Let me introduce you. This is Philia, a new member of the assault team."
"Nice to meet you Philia" Alice greeted with a cheerful smile as she reached out her hand.
Philia accepted the handshake with the black haired girl. "The pleasure's all mine. I hope I won't be a burden to you guys"
Recently, the assault team had recruited several lower level players to join them. It seemed Silica, Quint, and Sinon had lit a spark of hope in everyone that had gotten stuck up above floor 75. If those could level up and join the elites, why couldn't they? Eventually the assault team set up a training program to help the new recruits.
"So will she be in the boss fight today?" Ren asked.
Kirito nodded his head. "Yeah. Out of the new recruits, Philia, Sinon, Quint, and Silica are joining us for today's fight."
Ren had already gotten word that a few recruits would be in today's boss fight. Leafa had also decided to join in on the raid. Sinon had been assigned to his group as the seventh member. Her long range attacks with her bow had been very helpful in the past few boss fights. However for Silica, Quint, Leafa and the new girl called Philia, this would be their first one ever.
"I hope I won't be a burden on you guys" Philia told them. "I'm actually more of a treasure hunter player."
"Wait, you're a treasure hunter?!" Dagger exclaimed as she appeared out of nowhere. "As in a player that hunts for rare items?"
Philia nodded her head, somewhat nervously at the merchant's sudden arrival. "Y-Yeah. I wanted to join the assault team though, since I heard they were getting low on members"
Dagger raised her hand and offered a fist bump to Philia. "You and me are gonna be great friends. I'm Dagger, merchant extraordinaire."
"R-Right" Philia nodded. She leaned in towards Kirito and whispered in his ear. "Is she dangerous?"
"Only if you buy her wares" Kirito replied. "Other than that, she's ok"
"Sup guys!" Helios called out as he walked over to them. He looked at Kirito and Philia with a devilish grin on his face. "Another addition to the harem, eh Kirito?"
"Wh-What?! Of course not! Asuna is the only girl I love!" the Black Swordsman exclaimed with a blush on his face.
As if on cue, Asuna soon took the stage and addressed the crowd of players. "Alright everyone, today is the day for the fight against the boss of floor 89. As I'm sure some of you have heard, we will be including new recruits from the assault team's training program in today's raid. Let's work together with them and achieve victory so we can take one step closer to our day of freedom!"
Cheers of agreement were heard around the crowd. The new recruits had already been given their assigned parties. Sinon would act as the seventh member of Ren's party, as she had already had plenty of experience with the Wyvern Inferno guild. Silica, Quint, and Philia would be in a party together with Kirito, Asuna, Strea, and Leafa. The rest of the parties consisted of the other top guilds on the front lines.
After skipping through the dungeon with the help of a corridor crystal, the raid group stood in front of the door to the boss room. It was easy to see the nervous feeling Silica and the other newbies had, but that was to be expected. Boss raids were anything but easy. One false move, and even the strongest of players could end up dead.
"Is everyone ready?" Asuna asked, addressing the group. Everyone gave a collective nod and Asuna pushed the door to the boss room open. Silica took a deep breath to calm herself. Kirito noticed this and gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry Silica. Just stick close to me and Asuna and you'll be fine."
"R-Right! Thanks Kirito" Silica said with a nod.
"Attack!"
At Asuna's command, everyone charged into the room. As they rushed in, they could already see the boss glaring at them as they came to a stop.
The boss was a four-legged wolf-like beast. Its fur was the color of flames and its piercing red eyes had a look of bloodlust to them. The beast roared loudly as fire blazed around the walls of the room. Above its cursor read the boss's name, The Furious Fang.
"Let's do this everyone!" Asuna shouted. A collective roar of agreement was heard from the group and they all charged towards the boss.
"Sinon, aim for its knee joint!" Ren ordered.
"Got it!" Sinon nodded. She readied her arrow and fired it at the boss. The projectile hit its target dead center. The boss let out a cry of pain as it kneeled forward a bit.
"Riku, Philia, the leg!"
"On it!" they both replied. Riku and Philia's daggers lit up with an azure blue light as they each performed a spinning slash attack on the boss. With its leg now even more damaged, the Furious Fang was unable to move as it bent forward and fell slightly.
"Now everyone! Give him everything you've got!" Ren yelled. The room became lit up with a rainbow assortment of lights as players attacked the boss one after another with sword skills.
Quint charged at the boss a let out his best war cry. "Take this!" The slash from Quint's blade was minor compared to the other and more experienced front line players, but it still helped deplete the boss's health by a little. "Now Silica! Switch!"
"You got it!" Silica nodded as she charged at the large opponent. Quint moved out of the way as Silica activated her sword skill. As she moved in to attack, the bloodlust look in the boss's eyes returned.
"Silica, look out!" Kirito warned.
The young girl's eyes widened in surprise as a monstrous roar came from the boss, blowing her back. As she was midair, The Furious Fang swiped at her with its claws, sending her flying back. Quint leaped into the air and caught her, forcing him to take the blunt of the blow as they crashed onto the ground together. "You ok, Silica?"
"Quint! I'm so sorry, are you alright?!" Silica asked.
"Don't worry. I'm fine" Quint grunted as he got to his feet. A sudden breath from Pina enveloped him in light as his HP restored by a small amount. "Thanks Pina."
"Kyu!" the small dragon replied with a squeal.
"Guys, get out of there!" Ren called out. "It's right on top of you!"
Silica and Quint quickly turned their heads to see the boss lunging towards them. Silica held Pina tightly in her arms and Quint brought himself in front of Silica to absorb the attack. When it never came however, Quint opened his eyes to see Helios and Strea holding back the boss with their blades. Both of their feet were digging into the ground as they struggled to hold back the crushing weight of the boss's front legs.
"What are you waiting for?! Move it!" Helios barked at the duo.
Silica and Quint quickly nodded as they jumped back and got out of the way. As they retreated, they saw an arrow from Sinon fly past them and hit the boss's head. The attack forced the boss to ease up on its attack for a split second, which was all the time Helios and Strea needed to push the boss's font legs off them and perform a simultaneous attack on the two limbs. Alice charged forward and got under the boss. She delivered a powerful uppercut to the beast which forced its body upward and exposed its belly. Kirito took the opportunity given to him as he leaped at the boss, unleashing a devastating assault from his Elucidator and Dark Repulser. Both swords became veiled in light as he activated the Starburst Stream attack. He and Alice leaped back and got out of the way before their giant enemy came crashing back down.
Looking at the boss, Ren and the others could see its HP had fallen to its last health bar. No doubt this would be where the fight would really start. The Furious Fang got ready to attack as it growled angrily at the group.
"Let's end this guys! All or nothing!" Ren yelled. Everyone kicked off the ground and sped towards the boss, ready to finish it off. The boss charged forward as well, ready to meet the group of players head on. Sinon fired an arrow, but the boss wasn't willing to get hit by the girl's attack again. He leaped over both the arrow and the group of players and ran towards Sinon, who was all alone except for a couple of tanks whose job it was to guard her.
"Sinon, look out!" Ren exclaimed.
The brunette girl's eyes widened in fear as the beast charged towards her. The two tanks guarding her stepped forward to push it back, but they were easily dealt with as the boss roared loudly, breaking their defensive stances. Before they could recover, the boss stomped its paw down on one of them, taking him out instantly. The second one was quickly dealt with as well as a swipe from the Furious Fang's tail sent him flying up. One bite from the boss was all it took to finish him off. Sinon's body froze up as the boss glared at her, ready to kill her next.
"Where do you think you're looking pal?!" Ren yelled as he leaped up onto the boss's back. He stabbed his blade down into the boss, digging it in as much as he could. The Furious Fang cried out in pain as it jerked its body around, trying to shake Ren off. The tactician desperately held onto his sword as he was shaken around. "Sinon, move!"
Finally snapping out of her shock, Sinon nodded and jumped away from the rampaging boss. It was just in time too, as Ren couldn't hang on any longer. Both he and his sword were sent flying off the boss's back.
"Ren!" Alice cried out. She ran over towards where her boyfriend was falling and caught him before he could crash onto the ground.
"Thanks Alice" Ren smiled as he tried to shake the dizziness away.
"Now's our chance guys! Finish it off!" Kirito yelled. Everyone charge at the boss, who now had its HP in the red. The Furious Fang swung its paw at them, but Helios knocked it back with his axe. Flashes of light surrounded the boss as blades tore through its body.
Alice looked at Ren with an eager grin. "You ready?"
"Always" Ren nodded back.
The couple charged at the boss with all the speed they could muster. Alice went first as she swung her scythe up around the boss's neck, leaving a large red gash. "Switch!"
Ren moved in as Alice fell back. His sword became veiled in light as he delivered one final barrage of slashes to the boss. The last health bar the boss had finally depleted and the beast shattered into fragments. The 'Congratulations' message appeared in front of them as they all fell back and took a moment to catch their breath.
Nobody was in the mood to celebrate their victory. Even though they had won, they had still lost players in the boss fight. It wasn't much, but the assault team was gradually losing players after every fight. Each fight was getting more and more dangerous. Out the surviving members of the raid party, Silica seemed to be the most shaken up.
'Am I really cut out for this?' Silica thought. 'Can I fight monsters this strong without holding everyone back?'
A sudden tap on the girl's shoulder made her turn around to see Kirito looking at her and Quint with a smile. "Great job you two. You did really well for your first floor boss fight."
"Th-Thanks Kirito" Silica replied with a fake smile to hide the anxiety she was feeling right now.
Once everyone recovered, the raid party walked up the stairs and proceeded to the next floor. When they arrived to the next floor, Ren and the others found themselves in the Floor 90 town of Yuyolunos. The town's buildings were unusually long, almost like motels. Certain parts of the town floated in the air, connected to the main part of town still fastened to the ground by long staircases. The most defining feature of the town itself was the large tower in the center of it. Its structure seemed similar to that of France's Eifel Tower but with less detail to its design.
"Floor 90" Leafa said aloud to nobody in particular. "Only ten more floors left till we reach the top"
Kirito nodded in agreement. "Yeah. We're getting close"
"That only means the danger is gonna get worse" Ren pointed out in a serious tone.
Most of the raid group fell into silence after that comment. Ren had a point. Cassualties were always coming their way in floor boss raids. If there weren't any, there were always at least a few close calls. Could they really keep going like this?
Ren and the others slowly walked to the teleport gate in town to activate it and go back to Arc Sophia. Ren sulked the entire way back with one thought in his mind. 'At this rate, we might not even have a raid group at all when we reach floor 100'
A/N: For those of you that have played Hollow Fragment, I know Philia has the whole Hollow Area backstory to her, but I decided to leave it out. I really don't think I'd be able to write out the whole story that takes place there so I decided to just insert her like this. There won't be any severe changes to her personality so you can rest assured that Philia will remain her usual self.
In any case, I hope you all liked the chapter and sorry again that these updates keep taking so long.