Hello everyone! Sorry it has been a while. I had major writer's block trying to write the fighting scene and make it different from the others. Hope everyone is staying safe and healthy from this awful virus! Please make sure to wash your hands and take care of yourselves! And for those that are stuck at home, try not to go crazy! Hope this chapter helps a little!

Chapter Twenty-Four

It was a quiet journey to Yggdrasil's room. Stark tried starting a conversation between their party and I, but after the third time of me ignoring him, he finally got the hint. It killed me to see the hurt look on his face, but I didn't want to risk speaking and having the boys recognize my voice.

Instead I got to watch the kicked puppy dog look on Stark's face, and it broke my heart. I knew I was acting like a snotty bitch, and I hated every moment of it. This guy was the sweetest, most joyful boy I had ever met, he didn't deserve the treatment I was giving him.

On the other hand, everyone seemed to ignore Kirito. Sometimes the other boys shot him a glare, but no one spoke to him. I was severely shocked that Kirito was even with them. He hated partying with Charr, and wouldn't unless I begged him to. So why was he still with them, even when I wasn't around? I figured he would be off on his own, trying to fight solo. Like I was doing. Not staying with my friends and hanging his head in what seemed to be despair.

I was so lost in my own thoughts, I didn't notice the large group stop. I bumped into the person walking in front of me, who I recognized as a mid tier member of the KBO guild. He gave me a disgusted look, as if I stepped in dog poop on the way over, before haughtily turning to face forward once more. I hated top guilders in any game, they always thought they were better than other players, even though I could kick his ass in five seconds weaponless.

Asuna called from the front of the crowd, reminding everyone to stick to their assignments and "no playing hero," as she put it. With her speech finished, she turned and stalked into the boss's chamber, her guild following close behind.

Like always, Charr's party and I were one of the last to enter the room. I felt like I was back in high school where the popular kids got the best of everything while the social outcasts got the crap end of the stick, as my father would say. In this case, the popular guilds got the chance to defeat the boss while the smaller parties or guilds were segregated to fight the small fry. It sucked because the party that takes out the boss gets the items and the experience that dropped.

Ah, the perks of being part of a guild. I didn't blame Asuna for joining the biggest assault guild in the game. She gets the safety of numbers while also getting the perks of defeating the floor bosses.

My thoughts were interrupted by the sight of the giant tree growing in the middle of the room. This thing was massive. It stood at least thirty feet high and a gaping maw filled with teeth-like spikes. Two thick branches protruded from each side, four arms in total, ending in clawed hands. Dotting the branches were leaves and some kind of flower buds. Many roots broke free from the ground to move the tree around the room. The name, Yggdrasil of the Ash, hovered over the tree's green-leafed head along with four green health bars.

An ear-splitting screech left the tree's mouth and in response, nine smaller trees erupted from the ground. These trees looked almost exactly like Yggdrasil, but with only two arms instead of four. They also lacked the leaves, though they still had the strange flower buds. They were about half the height of the floor boss, standing at about ten to fifteen feet high with only a single health bar.

Boy, was I glad I spent all of that time beating Shandra the Phoenix Queen until she dropped the flaming warhammer I now carried. Trees and plants were susceptible to fire weapons along with slashing attacks. Which meant I had an advantage over these monster trees. Though my warhammer was considered a blunt weapon instead of a slashing weapon. An axe or sword would have been a better choice for this fight.

With a mighty roar that rivaled any boss, the raiding party split into their respective teams and began to battle.

Charr's party and I hurriedly made our way to one of the smaller tree monsters that was furthest from the entrance. Kirito reached the tree first, immediately slashing with his single black sword.

I wondered why he wasn't using his dual wield, it would do twice the amount of damage due to attacking with two swords instead of one. It made no sense that he would hide that skill, especially in a boss fight. In these battles, it was imperative to take out the small fry as soon as possible, and once they were defeated those parties can help the main group in killing the boss.

So what could possibly be his reasoning for hiding such a powerful skill?

Finally, I reached the tree monster. Perfect timing, as the tree was slashing towards Kirito with one of its clawed hands. I quickly cut in front of him and brought up my shield to block the attack, while simultaneously bringing my warhammer down on the monster's arm. A slight orange flame appeared from the contact, leaving a charred spot and a small bit of ash floating in the air.

Kirito and I ducked the next swipe from the tree and I noticed that the rest of the party had arrived. Agil swung with his mighty two-handed axe, gouging a deep groove right below its snarling mouth. Maybe we should call Agil "the woodcutter" from now on. I chuckled in my head.

Bang! I was knocked off of my feet by the tree's next punch. I hadn't been paying enough attention and this helmet restricted my vision massively. I knew there was a reason why not many players wore helmets, or if they did they wore something with an open face. But hiding was more important at the moment.

"Yo, Mauradin! You okay over there?" Agil called over to me from the other side of the tree before rolling to the side to avoid the trees next attack.

I jumped back to my feet and nodded my answer. I had to be more careful or I was going to end up joining the many players who lost their lives in this world.

Sidestepping to avoid the root-like foot that came stomping toward me, I slashed my warhammer across the limb. I inwardly cringed at my handling of my weapon. I had to remember that I was no longer using a sword, which meant less slashing and more banging. Hopefully no one noticed my screwup, though I was sure the only one who would know the difference would be Stark. He was really the only one with the knowledge of the differences due to his proficiency with all weapon types. Agil might have seen the difference, but as he uses two handed axes, and sometimes hammers, I highly doubt he would focus on the nuances of a single handed hammer compared to a sword.

Luckily, it looked like Stark was too busy to be watching me.

I ran closer to the tree monster to get a better angle. As I reached the enemy, I was jostled by someone who had the same idea. In my aggravation I snarled out, "watch it!" at them before turning to see who it was that had gotten in my way. A pair of black eyes glared back at me before they looked back at our opponent.

Kirito cross slashed an X into the tree's back, followed by a side swipe before he had to jump out of the way of a clawed hand trying to strike him. I ducked under the same attack and swung my hammer into the bark, leaving behind another smoldering mark. Two more hits of my hammer later, and the tree released another high pitched screech while red cracks spread out from where my last attack hit. The tree monster had sustained a burn! This would help wheedle down the monster's health even faster!

With a roar and a shake of its branches, the flower buds opened up and released a cloud of yellow spore. Kirito and I couldn't get out in time and became paralyzed. I let out a groan of frustration and tensed myself for the hit I could see coming towards us. We were thrown a few feet away, ending up in a heap on the floor.

Kirito landed with his chest draped over my back and his head resting against my right shoulder. I heard a muffled curse come from him before the paralysis faded and we were back on our feet. "Stay out of my way!" Kirito yelled at me before we both made our way towards the tree monster. I didn't blame him for his outburst. It's not like I had been nice to him or his party this whole time.

The burn from my last hit helped more than I had ever expected, perfect timing too as Kirito and I were out of commission for about fifteen seconds. Another dozen or so attacks later by our party and the monster shattered into blue shards, floating into the air before disappearing. With this tree out of the way, we were free to help the KBO guild defeat Yggdrasil.

I quickly opened my inventory and proceeded to drink a High Potion to heal myself. It would take two minutes for the potion to heal me fully, so in the meantime I turned my attention to the battle still raging on.

Yggdrasil had only lost one of his health bars in the time it took us to defeat our opponent. I glanced around the room to see that none of the smaller parties had lost members, thankfully. I couldn't tell if the main group were missing any players, as they were a mass of white around the boss.

When my health reached three quarters, Yggdrasil let out a fearsome roar. This roar was less of a screech than before, meaning something different was going to happen. Then the buds covering the monster burst open to release a dark purple cloud.

Poison. The main group would need time to use antidotes and crystals to get rid of the poison.

I wouldn't be able to move through the crowd before we started losing players from Yggdrasil's next attack. I could always try to climb over-

A hand suddenly grabbed my arm and started turning to swing me. Before they let me go I looked up to see a black blur before they released my hand. I flew over the crowd in the perfect position to bash my shield into the monster's face. I slammed the pointed side of my warhammer into the bark and used it along with the point of my shield to climb into the branches of the tree, as if they were ice picks.

I hammered away at as many branches as I could, watching the health bar drop faster now that the tree was losing parts of itself. Yggdrasil let out another roar, he was going to release his poison spores again, and I was still sitting in his branches.

"Sarasheem, get out of there!" I heard Kirito's voice scream.

I immediately dropped out of the branches, right into a fist aimed at the crowd that had started to reform. The hit smashed into my helmet and I was thrown over the crowd, again, and slammed into a wall, head first. My mouth let out an oof and I released a groan as my body finally hit the wall before falling to the floor. I swear I saw stars as I laid on my stomach, incapacitated.

It was this point that I realized that I could see the whole room: the durability of my helmet had reached zero from that one attack. My disguise had failed. Now everyone could see my face. I couldn't hide from my old party any longer. I was screwed.

"You idiot! What were you thinking?" A voice above me said. I would know that voice anywhere, I thought as a pair of black gloved hands lifted my head into his lap. I looked up into twin pools of shadow-colored eyes.

I reached up to cup his cheek in my hand. I had missed him so much these last few weeks. "How-" I croaked. I cleared my throat before trying again, "how'd you know it was me?"

"We had a feeling when a random top player joined the assault team that no one had heard of. I wasn't completely sure until I threw you and you did the swing like always." Kirito chuckled brokenly.

"Is Sarasheem okay?" A panting Stark dropped to his knees beside us. He must have run after me when Yggdrasil punched me into the wall.

"I'm all for the happy reunion, but we still have a boss to beat." Charr puffed as he joined the group. He threw a potion at me. "We will discuss everything after the battle, so don't go running off again or there will be hell to pay next time we find you. I would break my rule of not hitting a woman in anger."

I shivered at the anger flashing in Charr's eyes. I never had his anger directed towards me before, and I hoped I never did again. Those red eyes of his were terrifying when he was furious.

Back on my feet, with some help from Kirito and Stark, I marched my way over to Yggdrasil with my party once again at my back. For the first time since I left the amphitheatre, I felt truly at home.