December 22nd, 2022. Aincrad Standard Time: 1200. Current Highest Floor: 4

Using my tired legs to lift myself off the floor, I put my right hand on the wall for support. I guess everyone had already guessed that I wanted to leave, as they followed suit. Perks of being a guild leader, I guess, you have an army of slaves at your leisure.

"Jeez, how much longer do we have in this dungeon?"
"If we take our time to explore, we should be done in approximately twenty minutes with this dungeon."
"Thanks, Atlas. Now I can dreadfully walk while counting down twenty minutes."
"I have a name you know."

To Zenji's annoyance, she popped her tongue out.

Megumi "Sayori" Kayano. A childish guild member and one who is quick to make assumptions. But she's the guild's personal blacksmith, so I'm not complaining... much.

In unison, we exited the safe room and continued along what seemed like an endless corridor. It didn't help that blood and claw markings splattered the cave walls, almost to deter players away just with the fear factor alone. There were skeletons and piles of bones just scattered around the dungeon, along with rats hurriedly zooming around and about. Kayaba, you've outdone yourself. You've truly created an immersive experience. You know how I know that?

I didn't have to turn around to realise Megumi had dug her face into Ikuno's chest. She filled my ears with shrieks and whining at the slightest sound, with Ikuno calming her down.

Kaede was the closest one walking next to me, but we weren't exactly standing next to one another. She had distance between us, as I speculated she was too mad from the night before to want to interact with me.

Just 2 minutes into our journey, my eyes fell upon a room carved out of our left side. Kaede followed closely behind me, her hand poised near her sword.

The room was quite empty. Tiles made up the ground, almost like a dance floor. There was a changing of the tiles in the centre of the room, revealing a chest atop a pedestal. The room suddenly rumbled. Red sirens blared at the corners, and the entrance to the room was closed with a fast-moving stone door crashing down.

We both drew out our Anneal Blades, and out of thin air, dozens of Granite Elementals and Dwarf Miners started surrounding us. She gritted her teeth as she lunged towards one of the Granite Elementals, avoiding its overhead attack. With a handful of them circling her, she got what she wanted as, with the blink of an eye, she had slashed in a circle around her.

The trap was designed to kill unsuspecting squads, as the mob's levels closely matched ours. They did not die to a single strike, and Kaede was in the thick of most of them.

In an instant, I leapt off the ground and ran towards a narrow gap between the mobs. As I approached, I straightened my posture by raising my arms above my head and lifted my feet off the ground, jumping through the opening. After turning my body 180 degrees, I planted my feet on the ground to stop the momentum. Standing up, I held my sword in front of me, ending up next to Kaede.

"Just let me handle this."
"Kaede, please, let me help you. We can finish them together and get through this. Just listen to me."
"Whatever." She rolled her eyes.

I rolled my eyes back as we both raised our swords to parry incoming attacks from the Granite Elementals. I threw mine off-balance, ducking underneath another's attacks. I activated Horizontal Arc as my sword glowed blue and sliced the mob in a left-to-right motion before flipping my wrists to do the same in a reversed path. A moment after the mob shattering, I noticed three more arms coming toward me. "Kaede!" I cried.

I activated Slant by imitating the drawing of the sword from my waist, parrying the attacks and knocking them off their balance as Kaede jumped in to finish them with Sharp Nail, a three-hit skill that had landed and shattered all three attackers.

Hearing another imminent attack, I turned around to another Granite Elemental swinging its arm down, but since I didn't have enough time to react with a sword skill, I had to raise my sword to block with both hands. While I gripped my sword and tried to hold my own in the clash, it became clear that I was in an unpleasant situation when the edges started showing tiny cracks.

My temper had flared up. I don't know what hit me. I had never yelled at anyone, much less a female. In any other instance, I would keep my frustration to myself. But in this case, I don't know what happened.

"Kaede, I created this guild for a safe haven! For players like you! For players who have so little hope left, I wanted you to feel you had worth in this godforsaken world! Why can't you see that?! So please," my voice trembled as my sword struggled to keep afloat, "don't throw away your life for nothing. No one deserves to die, especially you."

My sword shattered, the impact sending me crashing into the wall. My health bar rapidly pummelled into the red zone. This was it. My eyes began closing, my vision fading by the second. I fell to my knees, holding myself up with my weakened hands. I would've died. I should've died.

"Heal!"

I opened my eyes as I witnessed a miracle. I raised my head in surprise at a sudden hug from a sobbing Kaede. I lowered my arms to place them around Kaede, who rested her head on my chest and sobbed into the leather tunic I had hidden beneath my cloak.

In between sobs, she spoke in a soft tone, her voice quivering, "I'm sorry. If you don't want me around anymore, I understand..."

I ran my hand through the thick strands of her hair. "Kaede, I understand. But I would like you to stay."

While her face was turning red, she forced a small smile, even as her lips twitched.

The door blocking our escape had to be lifted just at this moment. The party had all gathered inside, wondering what all the commotion was about. I glanced at them and saw that it relieved them to see that we were okay.

"I'm glad you guys are okay." Ikuno smiled.
Kenji shook his head. "I'm disappointed in you, Hide. You made a girl cry."
"Eat shit."
"There's not much else to this dungeon. So I guess we're done here." Ryoma pulled out a teleport crystal, prompting everyone to do the same.

My gaze dropped to Kaede, who was still clinging to my chest. "I'll be with you in a moment."

As everyone nodded, they teleported out.