Hello my faithful readers, Naintarlow here.
This chapter came out a little late and to boot it's still not the raid but its another setup sorry about that. This scene will be important soon but it clashes so much against the mood and setup of the rest of the raid that I decided to post it as a chapter of its own. but next chapter will be definitely the raid so hang in there
Thank you for the support you shown this fic, do enjoy this little moment of levity for the group, things will change soon enough
Level 16 Step into the Abyss
Natsu stared at his character screen in front of him with a thoughtful frown as he waited for the others to arrive. Their team, which would be going after Laughing Coffin, was gathering in his guild's mansion, where they will use a corridor crystal to get close to their headquarters. And it was slow-going, leaving the anxious swordsman alone with his thoughts.
He knew what they were going into would be dangerous and most would call it foolhardy and reckless, but they did not have a choice. If they weren't able to cut off Laughing Coffin's head now, the entire frontline could fall into chaos and that would be a fatal blow to their clearing progress. It was soon becoming a whole year since they were trapped in this game, yet they were not even halfway up, and now, more than ever, the players needed good news. A lot of good news.
Yet even since the others left for their respective gathering places, he couldn't help but feel that something was wrong. It may have been chalked up to nervousness but his life was saved a lot of times because of these gut feelings and he chose not to disregard it. Nonetheless, there was nothing he could do, aside from waiting for the raid.
"Anxious?" a voice from next to him broke him out of his morose thoughts, prompting Natsu to look up from where he sat on a bench, perplexed.
The infamous beater, the Black Swordsman Kirito stood there, leaning on the wall with his arms crossed. Instead of the usually blank or lazy expression on his face, the older teen was frowning heavily while watching the rest of their party gather, talk in hushed tones and make last-minute preparations.
"There is no way I couldn't be." the young guild leader admitted with his shoulders slumping."It doesn't help that our group is splitting up, we are used to working as a large group, it will be strange not having Ken or Basil to back me up in a pinch. You?"
"It's completely natural. We are not going to fight against computer-generated opponents, but real, breathing humans who will be doing their best to kill us. Honestly, I am terrified but I have to force myself through this." he said, then awkwardly reached out and patted Natsu's shoulder. A lot of things could be said about Kirito, both good and bad, but he wasn't and probably would never be good at social interactions."And you will have both me and Buzz to back you up, so I think you will be alright."
"Damn right you are, it will be alright. I didn't babysit these little kids for so long to have them die on me now." Buzz commented with a gruff laugh as he walked up to them, spear lazily resting on his shoulder.
He wore new armor, his old one was a little worn down and it was due for a replacement anyway, with its low stats. His new was shiny, with a lion motif on his shoulders, and the middle of his chest plate, a little bit outlandish for the normally much more practical Buzz but it strangely suited him. He wore forest green clothes under it.
"Buzz please, stop treating me like a kid." Natsu asked, just barely stopping himself from whining. It wouldn't help his argument at all.
"Nah, it's way too much. I'll probably keep it up until you get some hair on your chest." he said, laughing to himself at Natsu's pout
"You do realize our bodies are nothing but lines of code, and probably won't change despite the passage of time?" Kirito asked with a raised eyebrow. People were getting so used to this life inside the game that sometimes they tended to forget that their bodies weren't their real bodies.
"Exactly." was his answer, causing both teens to sweatdrop.
"Well, at least you have me to guard your back." Kirito turned to Natsu, acting nonplussed, causing him to snort and say a quiet thank you.
With the little interaction gone, the black swordsman turned back to Buzz, the brief moment of levity over.
"How are things looking? Are the others ready?"
"Slowly but yeah. We are only waiting for the stragglers now and for the boss team to send word." Buzz explained as he scratched his jaw as he looked over the softly conversing players. "Of course most of them thought we would face a boss, instead of PKers so it will take a little time to set in but they are a tough bunch. We will be ready." there was obvious pride in his voice.
'Since when did Buzz get so soft?' Natsu thought with amusement as he followed his mentor's example and looked over the gathered players.
He recognized most of them from their faces, all of them were frequent players on the frontline, which made sense. Out of the three teams, they would have probably the hardest time. While the boss team had to face the resurrected form of the 25th boss, they were aware of his patterns and more than ready for him and the inevitable Laughing Coffin attack, with their backup waiting for them. Their team, on the other hand, will be going to a largely unknown dungeon, facing human opponents by themselves, with how many traps. They needed the best or at least those they could spare from the boss battle without making it suspicious.
Already, the lack of both Black Swordsman and Orange Blaze could tip off any Laughing Coffin member keeping their eye on the cleaners but that was a risk they had to take.
Out of the gathered players, he even recognized a few people he could call acquaintances. He spotted Asuna's bodyguard Climb, with 5 other members of KoB gathering in one of the corners, the young man looking anxious and out of place among the slightly older players. He also spotted Monroe and Syrukko, from Klein's guild quietly conversing with a few solo players who showed up. There were also a couple of members of their guild in their raid group, though none other than him and Buzz were present from the core of their guild.
The others were in different groups, with Ken, Basil, and Agil in the boss group, while the brothers in the backup group. It was needed for their stronger members to be stretched thin so to speak, so each group would have sufficient strength with them, should the opposition turn out worse than they expected. But knowing this, wasn't the same as liking it.
"Do we have enough ropes with us to secure all the potential prisoners." Kirito asked out of the blue after a beat of silence.
The ropes he was talking about were the Ropes of Binding, a new item that was found on the 26th floor as a quest reward. They were not well-known at this time, even among the frontliners but it was just what they needed. If a person was tied up with them, it would be almost impossible for them to move either their arms or legs, making them immobile. And while others can easily cut them free, it was the perfect item for their upcoming raid.
Applying it wasn't the easiest even with a target that wasn't actively resisting but if they wanted to avoid casualties and end up killing as few of their enemies, who after all they did were still humans trapped here in this game just as much as them, it was their best shot.
"Thankfully we probably have enough for all three teams." It was Natsu who answered the solo player, a sheepish smile on his face."It wasn't easy, but ever since our first encounter with Laughing Coffin, our guild farmed that quest, knowing those ropes will come in handy if worst comes to worst. And now it did just that, I'm kind of happy we did that."
"I see."
The three once again, silently watching the preparations before Kirito's attention was diverted by a glowing icon appearing in front of him. Grunting in annoyance, yet still, with a small, fond smile on his face, Kirito stepped away from his resting place, the other two fronttliners looking at him curiously.
"Those idiots, I told them I'm not available today." he muttered to himself before he waved the others off. "Just a few acquaintances who wanted my help, despite telling them that I'm busy." he told them when they didn't seem to want to let things go.
"Wait, you have acquaintances?" Buzz asked back, his tone disbelieving.
"That's basically friends in Kirito speak." Natsu added with an awed expression.
The black-haired teen felt his eyes twitch in annoyance at their visible shock. He wasn't that bad, was he? On second thought, maybe he was but his pride didn't let him admit it.
"Well I will be somewhere else, away from you. Call me when we are moving out." he said to them instead as he walked away, offering a lazy wave as he was busy looking at the opened window in front of him.
Buzz and Natsu looked in the direction the swordsman disappeared, not at all surprised. Kirito, despite clearly trying to not do it at times, tended to suddenly leave the conversation when he wasn't feeling up to talk to others. It was a quirk of his that they got used to. Thankfully Kirito liked them so it was rare, it was much more common with players he didn't have a good relationship with.
They were caught off-guard when a voice suddenly came next to their ears.
"What are guys doing?"
Liz asked curiously, only to blink in shock when both teen and grown man shrieked as they jumped far more than she thought they could based on their stats and landed on their butts in a disgraceful heap.
"Liz? What are you doing here?" Natsu asked, looking curiously at the blacksmith as he rubbed his aching backside, only for his eyes to widen a moment, furiously looking at the perplexed girl and the direction a certain swordsman left."How are you doing that?"
"How am I doing what?" she asked back, not understanding.
Next to them, Buzz stood up, grumbling to himself about sneaky brats before he simply shook his head and stalked away, toward a few members of the DDA who seemed to loudly talk about something, borderline arguing.
"Kirito was just here, talking to us. Then the moment he leaves, you suddenly turn up as if nothing was wrong. How can you always miss Kirito just by a hair's breadth." Natsu demanded from her before he stopped as an outrageous idea occurred to him. "Don't tell me...you and Kirito are the same and you hide your involvement with the frontline by crossdressing in a black coat?" he accused her as he pointed his finger at her.
For her part, Lis had an annoyed expression on her face as she reached up and massaged her temples.
"I don't even want to start how many things are wrong with that conclusion. It's so surprising how childish you can be despite the fact that you act so mature most of the time. Guess you are still a kid." She ignored his pout as she opened a menu in front of her and soon a trading menu opened in front of him, with a large amount of throwing picks placed in it."Here, I was asked to make a batch for everyone."
"Throwing picks? What for?" he asked curiously as he accepted the trade without a thought, before bringing up his menu and started observing his newly acquired weapon.
It looked like any ordinary throwing pick with its quality slightly better courtesy of Liz's blacksmith skills but nothing extraordinary especially considering that throwing picks were hardly able to do much damage. He heard some people trying to use it as a main weapon, during the first few months of the game but the idea was quickly thrown out the window. Nowadays only a few used it, mostly on a whim or to aggro enemies from a distance.
"They are poisoned?" he wondered out loud when he noticed the status debuff property that was added to them.
Giving a weapon such property was easier said than done and required a lot of skill, a skill that Liz had a lot of but it still couldn't have been easy or cheap. Still, with a simple weapon like throwing picks, it might have been easier, he guessed since they had low durability and were used up very quickly.
"It was my idea." a voice said from next to him. The teen blinked in surprise when he found Argo, in her usual cloaked attire standing next to him with a sly grin on her face. "I thought if it worked so well for Laughing Coffin, there's no reason not to use it ourselves."
"Argo." he explained with a surprised yelp before he smiled at the girl. A moment later the smile turned a little brittle as he let out a choked sound as his whole face turned red and he practically jumped away from her.
He didn't know how or why but after the party yesterday he woke up with the older girl cuddling to him, causing the reserved teen to freak out and embarrass himself. He still couldn't look even in her direction without feeling like his face trying to turn into a literal sun.
For her part, the information only blushed slightly which was thankfully mostly hidden under her hood, and acted as if nothing was wrong.
Lisbeth just watched the two of them with a confused expression, eyebrows raised silently asking for an explanation but no one wanted to really answer her.
"Wo-wouldn't you need the throwing skill to use that in battle?" the brown-haired guild leader stuttered out after he was able to gain slight control over his most recent freakout.
"If you wanted to use them properly, yes but you wouldn't need to. It will simply be a useful tool to get the PKers immobilized while you tie them up. Even stabbing them in the middle of a battle will do and I trust your skills enough that I know you can pull it off." Argo informed him, giving him an honest smile that didn't help with his still red face.
"Ah, that makes sense." he agreed with a nod, silently making a note to himself to equip the picks before the battle so he could have it on hand without the need to materialize it. After all, a few seconds was the difference between life and death during a battle.
"Well, all I want to say is please stay safe okay?" Liz spoke up, giving a brief hug to the surprised boy. "You promised you to let me make a new sword for you, so come back in one piece."
"I will do my best." he promised with a resolute look on his face.
"That's all I can ask of you." she said with a gentle smile. She opened her mouth to say something more when a sudden silence ran through the whole room as various people had small windows appearing in front of them, indicating a message."Just what's going on?"
Argo and Natsu didn't answer at first, both looking at their own messages with a frown and a resigned grimace on their faces respectively. Their eyes met, only offering a grim to the other, silently knowing the time has come.
"The message is from the raid party in the 27th boss room." it was Natsu who answered her as she absently looked over the gathered players who were gathering together, all of their faces resolute."The time for us to move out has come."
Without another, the Orange Blaze and the Rat moved over to Buzz, who was busy directing the stragglers and making sure everything was ready. The blacksmith could only watch their back as they got farther and farther away from her, wishing for once that she focused more on her combat abilities so she could walk with them, instead of watching them from behind, hoping the weapons she made for them would turn the tide in their favor.
Most of all, she had a horrible feeling that she saw some of them for the last time.
-0-
The forest around them silent, with no sounds of animals or monsters around and it seemed even the general background music of the floor seemed to cease its constant loop as the last members of the raid party stepped through the corridor portal.
Natsu was standing next to Buzz as they surveyed the players forming their predetermined parties of six, the nervousness and tension in the air could almost be physically touched but it was expected. None of them were really sure what they were walking into but all of them knew what would happen if they let this opportunity slip through their fingers.
"Attention." the spear wielder called out to them. Thankfully in a few seconds, everyone stopped talking and looked at the vice-leader of the KotSR. "I know most of you are already aware but I will repeat it for everyone's sake. This will not be a boss battle. It will not be a fight against computer-generated enemies. We will be facing living, breathing humans, the same us as, who would love nothing more than to kill each of us. We will be raiding the Laughing Coffin's hideout and possibly stop this PK bullshit once and for all."
He looked over the gathered players, all of them returning his gaze with a determined expression. Most of them were nervous, anxious, afraid, or simply felt sick at the thought of fighting and
possibly killing fellow humans but all of that was buried under with the single resolution that everyone, their fellow frontliners, the support players, and all the other people still hiding on the 1st floor counted on them, now more than ever before.
"This is your last chance. The portal back to our guild mansion closes in less than a minute. If anyone, for whatever reason doesn't want to participate turn back down. There's no shame in that, it's not exactly the kind of fight we signed up for when we faced the first boss. All of you were given ropes and throwing picks that cause paralysis, in order to subdue the enemy but I won't lie to you. Our enemy is relentless, have no qualms against killing and despite our best efforts it's doubtless people will die, both on our side and theirs as well."There was an uneasy shudder that went through the crowd as people understood the severity of the situation. "Either turn back now or step forward and show no hesitation." Buzz didn't raise his voice but it carried over the clearing they gathered in easily.
Players looked at each other, friends and comrades met the others' gaze and some more readily, some with reluctance but nodded, their decision already made. Nobody moved towards the portal that soon faded away, despite whatever misgivings they may have had about the situation, they chose to make a stand.
Looking at them, Buzz couldn't stop the proud smile from appearing on his face, giving a nod of respect to them, before turning toward Natsu who stepped forward as the players looked at him curiously.
While as usual, Buzz handled most of the talking, both he and Argo agreed that Natsu should also be on the front to direct the players. They said and Natsu couldn't argue that seeing one of the leaders of a large guild leading a charge would help the morale and currently they needed every advantage they could get their hands on.
"Thank you for remaining. We will move out in five minutes, the dungeon we are heading into is just a little distance away so everyone, stay vigilant." he told them, standing as tall and proud as his short stature allowed."The map data has been forwarded to everyone, please study it, it won't be easy to navigate once we are inside. According to our info, we should have the numerical and level advantage but don't underestimate the enemy, their best weapon is traps and various tricks, like poison and ambushes. Please gather around your assigned teams and get ready. Stay safe, all of you." he told them sincerely before giving a bow and stepping back.
In his mind, he thought he didn't look at all impressive and this would have been more inspiring if this speech had been done by either Kirito or Buzz.
What he failed to understand is that the players in front of him were veterans of several boss fights. They saw him fighting alongside them numerous times, his reckless actions saving their lives many times and all of them respected him for the determination he had on the battlefield. Not to mention, he was one of the youngest players in all of the game, never mind just the frontline, yet here he was, leading the charge once again. It was reassuring for a lot of them.
"Nice speech." Buzz complimented him with a grin as he messed up his hair, much to Natsu's protests."Get yourself ready while I go and make a round, to make sure everyone has everything."
"Yeah, yeah." he grumbled as the man walked away with a smirk before turning to Argo who was smirking at their antics. "I'm ready, so no point doing anything. You need help with something?" he asked and was thankful that the serious atmosphere around them prevented him from thinking of the morning.
In response the information broker shook her head as they walked toward where the rest of Natsu's group was gathering, a few players looking at the two of them curiously. While Argo spent a lot of time with Natsu and his friend circle, it mostly happened when they were at the mansion or by themselves, while maintaining a mostly professional relationship during strategy meetings.
That of course made a lot of people a bit surprised to see them chatting with the ease of long-time friends. No doubt, Argo will have a new batch of rumors, this time involving herself on her hands soon.
"I will be out of the fighting." she explained, reminding him of her role in the raid. "I will be your contact with the outside, taking a watch hidden in front of the entrance, so if there is any information coming from the other groups I would be able to update you quickly. Plus watch if anyone tries to run away in this direction or if sudden reinforcements try to come back or something similar. Anyway, I am more worried about-" she started to stay but she was cut off as someone stood in their way.
"Natsu. Argo." the figure wore the familiar medium armor with dragon motif, used by most members of DDA greeted them, looking extremely familiar to the brown-haired teen for some reason.
The man was a few years older than him, with a one-handed sword on his waist and a kite shield on his back. He was holding a helmet in his hands, showing a handsome face with blue hair pulled into a ponytail, save for two strands of hair that framed his fame.
He was very familiar to Natsu but more than that, looking at him, a sense of wrongness washed over him. It was different than when he faced Morgana, with her words that most felt wrong but looking at man, he seemed as if what he was seeing didn't match up with reality, he could describe the feeling no other way. But that did not make any sense, everyone looked their real selves, thanks to Kayaba's surprise in the first place.
He was so surprised and caught off-guard by it, he almost forgot that the man greeted them, looking like he knew them, not a real surprise there, and was obviously waiting for a response. He shook himself out of his thoughts as Argo spoke up.
"Diavel." she greeted with a neutral expression, even if her eyes slightly hardened at seeing the leader of the 1st-floor clearing party.
Natsu's eyes widened as he made the connection. He remembered rushing and saving the self-proclaimed knight's life just barely, sacrificing his sword in the process. A large crisis was averted that day but since then he didn't hear much from Diavel. For a while he retreated, staying out of the limelight and while he worked as a frontliner and cleared dungeons, he didn't see him at a single boss battle since then. After that, he fell into anonymity, the veterans of the 1st boss fight remembering him with various amounts of fondness but it was clear he would never be a leader after people like Kibaou, Lind and later he and Heathcliff stepped up and took charge.
He did remember both Buzz and Argo confirm that the man was a former beta tester without a doubt who tried to get the last attack bonus for himself. That, and his efforts before the battle to stop Kirito from doing the same out of spite or for whatever reason, made his opinion of him a little less favorable.
"Diavel-san." he greeted the knight, forcing a welcoming smile on his face, despite the feeling of wrongness that took over whenever he focused on the older teen."How are you? I didn't know you would join our raid group."
While he was very much involved with organizing the raid groups, that didn't mean he was aware of every little change or knew all the members by heart. It was very much possible that he simply didn't notice Diavel's name come up since even now he had a hard time recalling the older teen.
If he noticed their less than enthusiastic welcome, the self-proclaimed knight didn't show it, only giving them a charismatic smile.
"Considering everything, reasonably well. It will be an honor to fight again with you Natsu-kun, I'm looking forward to how much you grew since the raid on the first floor."
As he looked at him, there was something in his gaze that unnerved Natsu. For the life of him, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was not quite right and with his attention focused on him, that feeling only grew, until he had trouble keeping up his smile and not grimacing.
Argo seemed to pick up on his feelings somewhat because she stepped forward, subtly shielding Diavel's view of him.
"I have to say, didn't hear much from you for a while. What brought you here, you usually stay out of raids and such things." she asked, a note of suspicion in her tone.
At her words, the teen lost his smile, a dark expression overtaking his face that monumentally stunned both of them.
"Payback." he answered, barely withholding a growl."Two days ago my hunting party was attacked by Laughing Coffin and I lost three of my friends to them. I'm here to even a score."
"My condolences." Natsu muttered a little taken aback, reminded of what happened during his first encounter with the guild, the loss Roger and the two young kids suffered. But at the same time, the bad feeling in the back of his head was also deepened by the venom he heard in Diavel's voice.
A moment later the blue-haired knight's expression cleaned, offering a tight smile to Natsu.
"Anyway, I should be going and take charge of my team. Good luck out there, I will be watching your back." he told him, offering a wave to the two of them before he left.
With Diavel's attention no longer on him, Natsu let a frown show on his face, as he looked in the direction that he went. For some reason, those words felt especially ominous to him.
"What's wrong?" Argo's quiet voice reminded him that he was not alone and he turned back to her. She was looking at him carefully, worry evident on her face.
"Nothing." he was quick to answer, not wanting to burden her with these strange feelings of his.
Instead of letting the subject go, the blonde girl just rolled her eyes as she reached up and gently tugged on his ear, causing him to let out a small cry in surprise.
"You are a terrible liar." she stated with an unamused expression as she let go of him."Now, will you tell me what's wrong? Something to do with Diavel?"
"I, it's a little hard to tell." he said, hesitating but a stern glare from the information broker didn't give him much of a choice."I just, looking at him I've got this sudden bad feeling. As if I was in some sort of danger."
Much to his surprise, instead of dismissing his feeling like he expected, just like he had almost done it, Argo seemed to consider what he said seriously.
"Is it similar to how you felt around Morgana?" she asked with a curious tilt of her head.
He blinked in surprise, forgetting she was one of the few he told her how he had a feeling that something was not right with the woman before she showed her true colors but he believed she was only humoring him, instead of taking it seriously. Seems like he thought wrong.
"It's a lot stronger and, instead of her words and actions feeling wrong, for the lack of a better term, with Diavel it was different. I felt as if reality didn't match with what I was seeing." he said, doing his best to explain it but was probably doing a horrible job of it.
Rather than dismissing him, Argo's frown only deepened as she turned in the direction the former beta tester went, her mind working furiously, trying to make sense of what he was feeling.
"I wonder..." she trailed off, looking unsure and hesitant.
"Anyway, it's probably, just my nerves." Natsu hurried to say, wanting to believe that lie but even to his ears the excuse felt weak.
"Don't doubt yourself." came a rather stern reprimand but Argo's face softened a moment later. "But it's time to finally move, the raid party seems to be ready to start. Go, I will look into it while I wait to hear back from your group." she said, acting a little distracted.
With a surprise, Natsu looked around and she was right, almost everyone was in their assigned group, doing their last-minute preparations, determination clear on their faces.
He was about to hurry and join his and Buzz's group when Argo stopped him, wrapping her arms around him and drawing him into her embrace. Despite being a little shorter than the information broker, he found himself being hugged by Argo as she rested her head on his collarbone.
To no one's surprise, he immediately blushed like a flaming tomato, especially as he realized that they were out in the open and that some people were witnessing Argo in such a vulnerable moment but thankfully those people only gave them amused smiles before turning away, not drawing any more attention to it.
With no other choice, he rested his head on the top of hers as he wrapped his arms around her, returning the embrace.
"You have to promise me, that you will come back." she softly demanded from him. To Natsu, it looked as if she was on the verge of crying."Don't do anything stupid, no recklessness this time. Just...just come back, okay?"
He could do nothing but stand there, a small frown on his face. It felt a little surreal, to him Argo was someone who couldn't even be shaken, one of the strongest people he met in this game. She was always so confident, in herself, in her information, and even them. To see her like this, made his heart hurt, and felt he had no words that could help her.
This will be different from a boss fight, he knew that. They usually had some prior information on bosses before the battle, an idea of what to expect but the most deciding factor was that it was nothing more than a computer-generated enemy. No matter how strong or tricky it could be, it was still a program bound by its pattern and most importantly wasn't really alive. In his head he knew what that difference should mean, in his heart, he silently questioned if he would be able to bring himself to do what was necessary.
"I can't promise that." he answered her honestly, feeling like he was the greatest jerk ever."I can only do my best and hope it will be enough."
"Guess, that's all I can ask for." she said with a chuckle as she stepped away from him. Argo's face was suspiciously hidden under her hood as she pointed toward the players ready to move out. "Go then, your team is waiting."
He gave her a resolute nod as they parted, Argo quickly disappearing among the foliage, probably to scout ahead and Natsu walked next to Buzz and the rest of his group.
Along with the spear user, there were four other members of their guild. Not people that Natsu knew all that personally since their guild became larger than the original seven players, but he knew that they were nonetheless talented and trustworthy people. There was a scimitar user, two who used a shield and a one-handed sword combo and the last one was a hammer user of all things.
"You ready?" Buzz asked when he arrived, though he didn't turn to face him. Instead, he watched the forest around them, as if fearing an ambush so close to the Laughing Coffin hideout.
"As ready as I could ever be." he answered as he checked he equipped the throwing picks, resting on a small, easy to access pouch on his belt.
Done with the last of his preparations he looked over the clearing, watching the gathered force of cleaners. 42 people, 7 full parties, that would take the plunge into the abyss and face it head-on.
"A large party of our players is currently engaging the 27th boss, and Laughing Coffin will attack them any moment." Natsu spoke up. He didn't have to speak loudly, his voice easily carried across the clearing in the silence. "They have a backup of rested and capable players hiding in wait, so they will be alright. They will defeat the boss and repel the ambush, which means the PKers will run like the coward they are. Who's with me to welcome them back properly?"
A rumble ran through the gathered players, no one spoke up, not wanting to give away their positions but the nodding heads and resolute eyes were more than enough to give across the message. They were ready to finally be the ones on the offensive.
"Move out." he silently ordered before turning around and leading the way toward the dungeon of the red guild, Buzz and the rest of his group following after him.
It was a silent trip, nobody spoke, deep inside knew that this is the point of no going back. Whatever happens, they will face it as one and they will emerge victoriously. They had to.
Natsu reached up to his sword, hand closing around the handle. It will not be easy but he will pull through. After all, he made a promise and he intended to keep it.