A/N:

Apologies in advance, this is going to be a longer chapter than I expected. It didn't feel right to split this next part up into multiple chapters, so unfortunately that means a significantly longer read. It's almost twice as long as a normal chapter, actually, so think of this as a double-post.

Here's hoping it's worth it though! Enjoy!

He had his answer.

Kirito had returned late that night after a surprisingly helpful conversation with Yuna, the musician on the 1st floor. He'd returned so late, in fact, that he entered his room to find Leonn already passed out on one of the beds, his body splayed out in a way that could not possibly be comfortable. Were this the real world, the team's resident maul user would undoubtedly be waking up with a very stiff neck.

Now it was the next morning, and Kirito had decided to wake up early for whatever reason. Part of him still wanted to still think over his answer to his friends' question the day prior, but the more and more he thought about it, the more obvious it became what his answer would be. Now he sat in the lobby of the inn, patiently waiting for his friends to awake so he could break the news to them.

The wait was unbearable, honestly.

"Good morning, Kirito." A familiar voice called out from behind him. Kirito turned and glanced over his shoulder to see Asuna descending the stairs. Somehow he knew she would be the first to join him. She was the most outspoken proponent for him leading a guild and something told him she was just as anxious to hear his answer as he was to give it.

"Morning, Asuna." He replied with a warm smile. "Sleep well?"

"Well enough." The fencer answered as she took a seat next to him. "Have you come to a decision? I'm not trying to pressure you, but I am curious."

"No, it's fine." Kirito assured her. "I have, actually, but I want to wait for everyone else before I tell you all."

"That's fair, I suppose." Asuna said, her gaze focused on the table in front of them. Rather, it seemed unfocused as clearly her thoughts were elsewhere.

"I… I do want to thank you, though." Kirito said with some hesitation, snapping Asuna out of her trance.

She gave him an inquisitive look. "What for?"

"For opening up like that yesterday." Kirito said. "I'm flattered that you trust me - well, us - enough to share something like that. I had no idea you thought that highly of us, and that couldn't have been easy to say out loud."

Asuna gave a warm smile. "It was the truth. I'm happy to have met you all, even if you do sometimes drive me crazy with your self-sacrificing antics."

Kirito chuckled. "Yeah, Sinon's pointed out that habit of mine far too many times for my liking."

"We'll just have to keep you in line from now on then." Asuna said with a wink, shifting her hands nervously atop the table.

Kirito felt his chest tighten at that. "Heh, not sure I like the way that sounds."

A few moments of comfortable silence followed, both swordsman and fencer having said their piece. Kirito looked out a nearby window to see the town outside waking up, the sounds of a busy npc-driven town reaching his ears. He could almost even smell the scent of baked goods that were probably being sold at the market nearby. It could have also been the food being served at a nearby table, too, but Kirito paid it no mind.

*Ahem.*

Kirito and Asuna turned and looked over their shoulders to see Leonn, Liz, and Sinon standing at the foot of the stairs. Leonn had his arms crossed and was wearing a smirk on his face. Liz had one hand on her hip and wore a similar grin, though hers seemed more mischievous in nature. Sinon wore a more tame and subtle smirk and simply shook her head.

"Are we interrupting something?" Leonn said with an eyebrow raised.

Asuna looked genuinely confused at his question. "No, why? We were just waiting for you all to wake up."

"Could've fooled me." Leonn gave a quick nod towards the table. More specifically, the space on the table between Kirito and Asuna. Kirito furrowed his brow, not really sure exactly what their friend was gesturing towards. He and Asuna shifted their gaze back to the tabletop, only for their eyes to snap wide open at what was resting between them.

Asuna's fingers were touching Kirito's.

"EEP!" Asuna cried out, retrieving her hand with startling speed and in the same motion reflexively slapped Kirito's face with her other hand, sending him careening out of his chair and onto the floor.

"Ow, hey!" Kirito cried out, clutching the side of his face out of habit. It didn't hurt, nor did it do damage to his avatar because of the protections of the safe zone, but he'd felt the blow to his ego nonetheless. "What was that for?!"

Asuna's face was flushed, both at the compromising position they were in and for the scene they were making in the inn's common room. "N-never mind! Now that everyone's here, we can figure out the plan for today."

Kirito was about to go off on a tirade but realized that she was right. Now that everyone was here, he could make the announcement he wanted to make. Being able to move on from that embarrassing moment was just icing on the cake.

"She's right." Kirito said as he stood up and re-took his seat. "I want to talk about what we discussed last night."

With that particular topic brought to the forefront, the mood changed to one of a more serious nature as the others took their seats around the table. Everyone at the table looked toward Kirito, waiting with seemingly bated breath.

"I did some thinking last night." Kirito began, his eyes looking over the surface of the table, unfocused, while his mind tried to piece together a coherent sentence. "A lot of thinking, actually."

Silence reigned over the table as Kirito tried to formulate his next thoughts. It was several moments later before he continued.

"I don't think I'm the best choice to lead a guild…"

Everyone's expressions dropped at that. Leonn crossed his arms and looked disappointed in this turn of events. Asuna and Liz looked mildly angered, and Sinon simply shook her head as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"... but the rest of you think I am, so I have to at least try. If not for myself or for you, then for those whose lives we're trying to save. If us forming a guild helps the frontline become more organized and balanced, and as a result keeps casualties to a minimum then it'll be worth it."

Leonn raised an eyebrow at the sudden reversal, and the girls all looked shocked at the turn in opinion. Where Asuna's face had previously been flush with embarrassment, now it was flush with what could only be described as pride as she smiled. Liz grinned and subtly pumped a fist in victory. Sinon's once neutral expression turned into a smile as well.

"Let's do it." Kirito said, his voice filled with determination. "Let's form a guild."

"Yes!" Liz exclaimed, giving Leonn - who unfortunately found himself sitting next to her - a punch in the shoulder as she tried (and failed) to contain her excitement. The man-turned-punching-bag mouthed the word 'ow' as he looked towards the offending blacksmith. Her expression turned sheepish as she realized what she'd done. "Heh, sorry."

Kirito spared a dubious glance at his blacksmith's outburst. "Anyway, we should figure out guild roles. We need a vice leader and at least one officer. Vice leaders help support and lead the guild, and officers are the next step down."

"So who are you thinking of for those jobs, Kirito?" Asuna asked, her excitement giving way to curiosity.

"Well, I had someone in mind for vice leader, but I want to hear what you all think." Kirito said, looking around the table.

"I think it's obvious who's going to be vice lead." Sinon said matter-of-factly.

All eyes looked towards a particular chestnut-haired fencer at the table. After a moment, Asuna seemed to realize that they were all looking at her and her face flushed yet again. "W-wait, why me?!"

"I'm glad everyone's on the same page." Kirito chuckled before he turned fully to face Asuna. "A vice leader isn't just second-in-command. They help keep the leader in check and prevent them from making rash mistakes. I trust you to do that."

Asuna's confusion turned to determination at that point, and she nodded in response. "I'll do my best. I did say I'd keep you in line, didn't I?"

Leonn, Liz, and Sinon shared confused looks between themselves, clearly not understanding or remembering when Asuna said something like that. Leonn eventually looked towards Kirito for some semblance of an answer, but the swordsman just shook his head to dismiss the question.

"Good." Kirito said as he visibly relaxed. "You and I can decide on an officer later. For now, though, we should probably go to the 3rd floor and start the guild quest."

Kirito stood up from his seat and was quickly followed by the others. As they walked out the door and into town, they began walking towards the teleporter with newfound purpose. Kirito glanced over his shoulder as they passed through the market, the teleporter now in sight on the opposite end of the bazaar.

"So what should we call ourselves?"

Asuna legitimately thought she was done with spiders.

As it turned out, there was a small quest involved with the creation of a guild. In order to form their guild banner, they needed to obtain the silk of the spider queen inside. Something about 'only the finest of silks needed to form such an illustrious guild banner'. Kirito reasoned that this was the game's way of testing the teamwork and coordination between a group of players before they officially became a guild.

It made sense, she supposed.

If a group of players couldn't cooperate enough to take down a small mini-boss like the spider queen, there was no way they would survive as a full-fledged guild. She also remembered Kirito mentioning something about it when they encountered Kibaou and his at-the-time unformed guild, but she also remembered that the members of the ALS had run away from the boss. Why would they flee from a creature they needed to kill to complete their quest? Weird. Maybe something had changed since then?

Nonetheless, that didn't mean she enjoyed the prospect of going back into those godforsaken spider caves again. Once was tolerable. Twice was cruel and unusual.

"Didn't there used to be more spiders here?" Liz asked, looking around the clearing. After an hour of trekking through the wilds of the 3rd floor, the group found themselves at the familiar cave entrance, but with nary a spider in sight.

"I thought so, too." Leonn said as he furrowed his brow. "Maybe there are others already here?"

Kirito drew his sword and took point as they walked into the entrance of the cave. "Maybe. We shouldn't let down our guard, though. We may be at a higher level than before but that poison and the webs will still be an issue."

Asuna and the rest of her party drew their weapons in response. She remembered all too well getting blasted by that spider queen's webs the first time they fought that mini-boss. Granted, Liz took the brunt of the attack after she'd leapt in the way last time, but that sensation of being sticky, slowed, and restrained was something Asuna was not keen on experiencing a second time.

Ugh.

The fencer squinted as she tried to peer into the darkness. Last time they had Kizmel to help guide their path with her enhanced eyesight. Here they were not so lucky, and the torch Kirito lit just now wasn't much help.

"I miss Kizmel." Liz said. Sinon reached over and patted her back to comfort her.

"We'll see her when we resume the Elf War quest on the 4th floor." Kirito assured her before a look of uncertainty crossed his face. "Well, maybe. She didn't exist in the beta, so I don't really know."

"She did say she was going up to the next floor." Asuna reminded everyone. "I think we'll see her there. Hopefully."

Everyone fell into silence from then on. Part of that silence could be attributed to thoughts and memories of their Dark Elven friend, but the rest of it was the realization that they were still in hostile territory. They could not afford to be so careless as to attract undue attention towards themselves. Slowly, carefully, they crept along, using the torchlight to guide their path as best they could.

Still, strangely, they encountered no spiders.

"Okay, what the hell." Leonn said with a huff. "I'm not complaining, but where are all the creepy-crawlies?"

"Look." Kirito said, bringing his torch up to a nearby stone wall. There looked to be remnants of webbing stuck to the wall.

"Yeah, it's a bunch of webs." Sinon said, her voice laced with just the faintest hint of sarcasm. "We're in a spider cave. That's not… oh, I see what you mean."

"What? What is it?" Liz asked, suddenly curious as to what she missed.

"Look at this web here." Kirito gestured with his torch. "Now look at the webs above us. The webs above us are actually part of the environment. The web here doesn't look permanent. It looks fresh."

"Fresh?" Asuna asked, making the mistake to poke the clump of webbing with her finger. She immediately came to regret that decision as she pulled her finger away, drawing a thick line of sticky, mucous-like web from her finger to the wall. "Shouldn't have done that."

Leonn chuckled before manifesting a rag from his inventory and handing it to Asuna, which she used to wipe the webbing off her hand with. Leonn turned towards Liz and tilted his head back towards the web on the cave wall. "Yep, looks like the kinda gunk the spider mobs around here shoot."

"... Which means that spiders were here." Asuna concluded, garnering a nod of affirmation from Kirito and Leonn. "Which also means that we're not alone here. There are other players in this cave."

"Exactly." Kirito said with a nod. "Keep an eye out. They might not be too happy that we're here competing with them."

As they left behind the web-covered cave wall, the group found themselves in the chamber they'd once used to hide from Kibaou in. Like the rest of the cave before it, this section seemed similarly cleared out of any hostile creatures. Asuna spotted the corpse of that Dark Elven scout involved in the Elf War campaign; she instantly recoiled at the sight of its particularly grotesque and mummified features. She'd already seen it once, and that was enough for her.

"You don't think whoever is in here is trying to complete the guild quest?" Asuna asked, looking over towards Kirito. The swordsman seemed to be intently studying their surroundings.

"Maybe." He mused. "They could also be working on the Elf War campaign quest. Hard to tell how many there might be here since there's not many ways to tell the number of players who've been in an area. What we saw could be the work of a group of players or one or two very skilled players."

Asuna glanced up at the ramp to the uppermost chamber of the spider cave and remembered how they'd fought the spider queen on the ramp itself. Kirito at the time had insisted on engaging the boss early to capitalize on any progress Kibaou's group had made. It was a strategy that seemed cheap and confusing for Asuna at the time, but now she knew better.

Any advantage squandered meant possible death.

That wasn't to say that Kirito advocated cheap and underhanded tactics against other players. Asuna had heard of the kind of kill-stealing tactics groups like the DKB would resort to in order to gain a competitive edge over other players. In the case of the spider queen back then, her group had stepped in to take advantage of the opportunity, but that was only when it was made abundantly obvious that Kibaou and the ALS wanted no part in the kill. Groups like the DKB would purposefully poach kills by waiting to attack until the last moment. They were little more than parasites in that sense, leeching off of the hard work of others and reaping the same benefits with minimal work. Not to mention it was no secret just how competitive they got when it came to last-attack bonuses from bosses. The fight against the Bullbous Bow and the scuffle that ensued during the last moments of the fight was evidence of that.

Asuna was ripped away from her thoughts when she heard something echo down the ramp. It sounded like feet scuffling, the hum of sword skills, and she could barely make out the sounds of talking.

"Kirito." The fencer said, drawing the swordsman's attention to her. "Sounds like combat coming from up the ramp."

"That's where we need to go, right?" Liz asked, gesturing up the ramp with her warhammer. "I don't want to crowd them out, but…"

"It's fine." Kirito said. "We'll head up there. If they're after the same thing, maybe we can team up and get this done quicker. Worst comes to worst, we back off and let them finish their business before we do ours."

Asuna nodded, following her leader up the ramp towards the sounds of battle. She subconsciously gripped the hilt of her rapier tighter, ready to jump into combat at a moment's notice. She hoped that these people - given the different tones and pitches it was safe to assume that it was multiple rather than just one - wouldn't be too upset with their group encroaching on their mobs. As they neared the top of the ramp, she could begin to clearly hear what was being said by the other group.

"Switch!" A feminine voice shouted.

"Watch those webs!" A male voice warned.

"Cover her while she heals up!" Another male voice said.

The sound of glass shattering echoed through the cavern, but as Asuna and the rest of her group neared the top of the ramp, it was easy to see that the deaths had belonged to the spider mobs, not any players. She breathed a sigh of relief at that; she'd only witnessed one player die so far - that being Diavel - and didn't want to see that again if she could help it.

There were four players in total before them, panting heavily; no doubt taking on this entire cave was an exhausting venture for them. Two boys and two girls, with the boys and one of the girls looking to be around the same age as her own group. The remaining girl looked to be on the younger side, which struck Asuna as odd. They were still recovering from their fight and didn't seem to notice Kirito's group just yet, which was fine. There was no need to alarm them so quickly after they'd just finished their fight.

It seemed someone in her group had different ideas, though.

"You guys were having a spider-slaying party and we weren't invited?" Leonn said, strolling forward and past Asuna in a surprisingly nonchalant manner. "And here I thought we were friends!"

The other group wheeled around at Leonn's casually sarcastic greeting and, much to Asuna's surprise, all looked equally elated and confused. A flurry of greetings, both warm and baffled, erupted in quick succession.

"Leonn?!"

"Silica! Geeou!"

"Sinon!"

"Nautilus!"

"Yuna?"

"Kirito?"

The two groups came together to seemingly exchange greetings and pleasantries, much to the surprise of Asuna and Liz, who stood back in absolute confusion as to what was unfolding before them. Liz leaned over towards Asuna in order to whisper in her ear without being heard by the others.

"Do… we know these people?" The blacksmith asked timidly, glancing back and forth between the seven people in front of them.

"I… don't… think so?" Asuna seemed to ask more than answer. She raised her voice a little so that the others could hear her. "Leonn, Kirito?"

Leonn looked over his shoulder and seemed to just notice Liz and Asuna standing back. "Oh, right! Come on over, these are some friends of ours."

Asuna and Liz, now understanding at least some of what was going on, stepped forward and gave friendly smiles.

"This is Geeou, Silica, Yuna, and Nautilus." Leonn began, gesturing to each person as they were introduced. "Sinon and I met them on the 2nd floor some time back to take on the Bullbous Bow."

"And this is our group." Sinon interjected in a much more friendly manner than Asuna was used to seeing out of the archer. "This is Kirito, Asuna, and Liz."

"Nice to meet you all." Asuna and Liz said at the same time, giving friendly waves in greeting.

"Oh, we've met." Kirito chuckled, looking towards Yuna.

"Good to see you again, Kirito, even if it was sooner than we expected." The white-hatted girl said in reply.

"Wait, when did you two meet?" Leonn asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Yesterday, when I was still thinking over the whole 'guild' thing. Yuna gave me some much-needed perspective." Kirito answered as he gave a slight smile.

Asuna felt her eye twitch suddenly, but shook it off as she addressed Yuna. "So you're the one who talked some sense into this one, huh?"

"Wait, guild thing?" Nautilus asked. "Leonn told us you weren't part of a guild. Are you all making one?"

"Yep!" Liz answered. "We had a good sit-down and decided to make a guild!"

"That's great!" Geeou said, looking just a little too enthusiastic. "Based on what Argo's told us, this might be what the frontline needs. I'm glad you decided to make one of your own instead of joining one of the existing guilds."

"Eep!" Silica suddenly cried out, drawing the attention of everyone around. "Pina, stop clawing into my back and come say hi! They're friends!"

Asuna watched in awe as a small winged creature, resembling a tiny blue dragon, crawled up from behind Silica and perched itself on top of her head. The rest of Kirito's group looked similarly awestruck at the small and seemingly friendly creature that gave out a chirp in greeting.

"This is Pina!" Silica exclaimed with no small amount of pride. "She's a Feathered Little Dragon I found on this floor!"

"A pet?" Leonn asked, prompting some very excited nodding from Silica. "I didn't know SAO had a pet taming system."

"Not in the beta, it didn't." Kirito said as he stared at Pina with incredulity. "That's definitely new."

"Yeah!" Silica exclaimed. "She even heals us too with her breath!"

"Well, that's handy." Sinon said with a smirk.

Seeing the conversation turn from introductions and pleasantries to idle chit-chat, Asuna decided to try to bring things back on track.

"What are you all doing here?" Asuna asked before she grimaced. "Sorry, that came out wrong. Are you all working on a quest?"

"We are, actually." Geeou said, stepping forward. It seemed the flaxen-haired boy was their party leader. "We're working on the Elf War campaign quest and we need to kill the queen in here for one of her fangs."

"We're here for the same thing, actually." Kirito said. "The queen drops some silk we need for the guild quest, but we can wait until you all are done."

"Why don't we team up then?" Geeou suggested, extending a hand forward. "It's not like we're competing for the same drop, and it would probably be easier and faster if we worked together against a mini-boss like this, right?"

Asuna looked over at Kirito, who seemed to be carefully considering the offer. After a second or two, he smiled and took Geeou's hand, giving it a good shake.

"Alright then." The black-haired swordsman agreed. "Let's do it."

Kirito pulled up his menu and made a series of swipes and taps; given that he hadn't set his menu to visible, Asuna had no idea what he was doing. The result was apparent enough once Geeou tapped on his menu once. Asuna looked up at her HUD to see that a raid group had been formed between Kirito's and Geeou's groups. She saw four more player nameplates and health bars appear just below her own party's, yet clearly separated to indicate the two different groups. She even spotted a smaller nameplate and health bar for Pina, displaying just below Silica's.

With a nod of agreement, the nine players strode forward towards the chamber beyond, within which Asuna could see the mini-boss they'd bested once before, the ((Nephila Regina)). The sounds of weapons being drawn echoed through the cavern as the nine players spread out, ready to engage the boss.

"Watch for her jump attack." Kirito warned, looking over at Geeou's group. "When she lands, she sends out a shockwave. You'll need to jump to avoid it."

Geeou and the other members of his group nodded before looking back over at the spider queen.

"Let's go!" Kirito roared. "Leonn! Liz! Grab its attention!"

"On it!" The two tanks shouted in reply.

Liz, being the more nimble of the two, rushed in and engaged with a swift overhead swing of her warhammer, quickly bashing its head and grabbing its attention. The spider queen screeched in response, lunging forward to bite the blacksmith and inject its venom. However, the blacksmith was ready for the attack, raising her shield to block the fangs before they could apply their debilitating venom.

Leonn side-stepped his fellow tank and came down hard with an overhead swing of his own, the impact causing the spider queen's head to jerk downward suddenly and violently. Geeou and Nautilus took up the flanks, executing horizontal slashes along the front two legs before shooting past to reposition themselves near the spider's abdomen. Yuna and Silica drew close, seeking to take advantage of the opening afforded by their new tanks. Silica was first, slashing across the spider's eyes twice with her dagger before she retreated behind Liz, allowing Yuna to perform the same attack. Unlike her younger counterpart, Yuna continued forward and joined Nautilus along the queen's left flank.

Meanwhile, Asuna had circled around alongside Kirito, perfectly positioned to attack the queen's right flank. With nary a word between them, the fencer and the swordsman launched themselves forward, with Asuna executing a series of thrusts at the spider's legs. Kirito quickly followed behind, jumping over her and carving a vertical slash across the top of the queen's abdomen before landing on the other side of the boss.

The spider queen lurched back, much to the surprise of the two tanks that used to be in its face. With yet another screech, the ((Nephila Regina)) raised herself off the ground and brought her abdomen beneath her, aiming its point at the raid group and spraying webs everywhere in a cone.

"Webs! Watch it!" Kirito shouted as he rolled forward and to the side, narrowly missing the webs flying past him.

Asuna, Yuna, and Geeou quickly side-stepped the cone of webs erupting from the queen's abdomen, but Nautilus was slower to respond. As he went to dodge out of the way, the webs nicked his foot and anchored it to the ground, causing the ashen-haired swordsman to abruptly stop and slam into the ground.

"Damn!" Nautilus grumbled as he used his free hand to try to rip the webbing off of his foot.

Leonn, Liz, and Silica unfortunately found themselves directly in the line of fire. Leonn, in a moment of surprising speed, quickly turned around and grabbed Liz and Silica before literally throwing them to the side and clear of the web spray. Both the blacksmith and the dragon tamer slammed to the floor roughly, but away from the web attack. Unfortunately, that left Leonn to be caught up in the webbed area, and the tank soon found himself completely covered by webs and pinned to the floor face down.

"Leonn!" Liz cried out, quickly getting to her feet and running back towards her fellow tank. She was stopped by Kirito, who held her back as the webs continued to fly forth.

"We can't get close to him with that spray still going!" Kirito warned. Asuna and the others who were still unaffected tried to circle around towards the backside of the queen, but were dissuaded from the attempt when the queen's back legs lashed out.

"Sinon!" Kirito shouted out. "Just like last time!"

"You got it." The archer replied calmly, nocking an arrow and bringing the bowstring back. After holding it for a second, the arrow lit up with a bright cyan light. She exhaled and let the arrow fly, sending it shooting forward where it slammed into the spider queen's eyes. The sudden attack on its face caused the queen to stagger backward and stop spraying her webs everywhere. It brought up a leg to swipe away at its eyes before looking over towards Sinon. The archer seemed to know exactly what was coming and quickly began to run parallel to the cavern walls in a wide circle to distract the boss. The spider queen took the bait, skittering off to chase down the pesky archer who'd partially blinded it.

Asuna ran forward, sparing a glance over at Liz and Yuna, who were already at work getting Leonn and Nautilus out of the webs. The fencer broke off from her initial pursuit to help get Leonn up and moving again. She trusted that Sinon could keep its attention just a little while longer until Kirito could catch up.

"Go, they need a tank." Leonn said as Liz freed his arm. "Sinon can only hold it off so long."

"I've got him, go!" Asuna shouted as she ran up and started ripping webbing off of the pinned tank. Silica slid to a stop next to her and began to pull off webs as well. Pina dismounted from her shoulder and tried ripping off webbing with its little mouth.

"Thanks." Liz said with a nod before running up to join Kirito and Geeou, who were already dancing around the boss with a flurry of slashes and thrusts. Nautilus, now freed of his own webs, followed Yuna as they lent their sword and dagger to the assault.

With the boss otherwise occupied by five people, Asuna shifted her focus back to Leonn and his predicament. She noticed Pina stop pulling on the webs to breathe a cool blue mist over Leonn. Asuna looked up at her HUD to see that the tank was slowly regaining health. She chuckled.

"That is handy." Asuna remarked, shooting Silica a smile as she ripped off a chunk of webbing. "How'd you get her?"

"I know, right?!" Silica exclaimed as she pulled off two fistfuls of webs. "I found her in the forest and saved her from some spiders."

"That's… sweet!" Asuna grunted, pulling off the final clump of webbing with no small amount of effort. "No wonder she's so attached to you."

Leonn pushed himself off the ground and dusted himself off. "Thanks. Feel like I need a bath now."

"That was me last time." Asuna said with a laugh as she drew her rapier. "Now, let's get back in there."

"Don't need to tell me twice." Leonn said, picking his maul off the ground and charging forward.

"Yeah!" Silica shouted with a fist in the air. Pina jumped back onto her shoulder before the young dragon tamer ran forward, hot on Leonn's heels. "We've got this!"

Asuna shook her head and chuckled before she too sprinted forward. Looking up at the boss's health points, she could see that in the time it took her and Silica to free Leonn, the rest of the raid had managed to bring the spider queen's health bar down to its last legs. The last health bar was in the yellow.

Leonn was first to reach the spider queen, slamming into its side with a shoulder charge and throwing it off-balance from the impact. Silica immediately followed, running up one of its legs and vaulting herself on top of the spider's abdomen. Asuna couldn't help but be impressed by the unorthodox approach to attacking the boss as she watched the dragon tamer repeatedly stab downward with her dagger.

"Nice of you to join us!" Liz shouted out as she blocked a leg sweeping out towards her.

"Sorry about that, I kinda got caught up in something!" Leonn replied, wearing a shit-eating grin as he swung at the enormous spider.

"Less talking, more killing!" Sinon shouted from off to the side while loosing several arrows into the spider queen.

Yuna and Nautilus started laughing while they were attacking the spider, seemingly amused by the casual banter. Geeou sidled up next to Kirito before the two started circling the boss, landing strike after strike in rapid succession.

Asuna was about to dash in herself when the spider queen crouched down for a moment.

"She's gonna jump!" Kirito shouted. "Get ready!"

Everyone backed off almost immediately and braced themselves to jump when the spider landed. Silica plunged her dagger downward and splayed herself across the spider's abdomen, bracing herself as best she could while on its back.

The spider queen jumped straight up and much to Asuna's surprise, began spraying webs below while she was in mid-air. Everyone's eyes went wide at the attack as they lunged to the side to avoid the webs. Fortunately, all eight players on the ground were able to successfully dodge the web spray.

Unfortunately, this put them in a poor position to avoid the shockwave that came after.

A cacophony of cries and grunts rang out as the eight grounded players were thrust back, skidding across the stone floor or slamming into a nearby wall. Asuna looked up to see that everyone had taken a heavy hit to the health bar from that shockwave. The lowest was Nautilus, who was toeing the line between yellow and red. Asuna also saw that everyone was afflicted with a short stun debuff, meaning that for the next second, no one could move.

A second is normally not a very long period of time, but in the heat of combat every little bit counts. During that one second lull, the spider queen ran forward, baring its fangs at a helpless Nautilus, who could only stare wide-eyed at the gargantuan arachnid now barrelling his way.

"No!" Yuna cried out.

The arachnid reared back and Asuna could see its fangs glistening with green venom. It flung its face downward to impale the poor boy and finish him off. Time seemed to slow as the fangs inched closer and closer to Nautilus's face, whose expression could only be described as absolutely terrified.

Asuna blinked.

The next thing she knew, a cloud of polygons and pixels in the general shape of the spider queen bombarded downward as the mini-boss exploded. Nautilus raised a hand to shield himself from the shower of blue polygons, a look of confusion replacing what used to be terror. His hand lowered slightly as the reality of the situation began to set in, only for Silica to come crashing into him, sending the duo tumbling backward.

"...What?" The ashen-haired swordsman muttered as he looked up at the little girl now splayed out across his stomach.

"S-sorry!" Silica squealed as she pushed herself off of him. Once she was off of the swordsman and recovered, she thrust a fist into the air. "We did it!"

Kirito walked up to Asuna, looking completely baffled at what transpired. "What just happened?"

"I'm… not sure myself." The fencer replied, looking over the rest of their raid group. Yuna had rushed over to Nautilus's side with a health potion in hand. Liz was helping Leonn stand up while Sinon and Geeou stood up and started walking over to Kirito and Asuna.

"Silica was still on its back when it landed." Sinon informed them with a faint smile. "Since she wasn't hit by the shockwave, she just kept stabbing it until it died."

The four looked at each other, trying to gauge each others' reactions. No one really knew how to respond to that. After a moment of awkward silence, they erupted in laughter at how ridiculous the situation was. No one expected Silica, of all people, to land the killing blow and inadvertently save Nautilus from an untimely demise.

Leonn walked over, clutching what appeared to be a large cluster of silk in his hands. "Not how I expected that fight to go, but we have what we came for."

Silica also walked over, holding a large fang in her free hand. "We got the fang!"

It wasn't long before all nine players reconvened together and started walking out of the cave together. Asuna looked over the new friends she'd made during that scuffle. Leonn and Nautilus were deep in a conversation at the rear of the group; what exactly they were talking about Asuna couldn't hear exactly. Yuna, Silica, Liz, and Sinon were also happily conversing amongst themselves; the little dragon tamer seemed to be boasting about Yuna's musical ability, much to the bard's embarrassment. Asuna found herself walking next to Kirito and Geeou, who were discussing their plans for the near future.

"So are you all heading back to the Dark Elf village?" Kirito asked the flaxen-haired boy.

"We were going to, but I think we should probably head back to town first to repair and recover." Geeou replied, drawing his sword and examining its worn surface.

Asuna glanced down at the sword before looking back up. "You know, Liz is a blacksmith. I'm sure she'd be happy to repair your group's weapons."

"She's a blacksmith and a Clearer?!" Geeou exclaimed. "How does she find the time to do both?"

"We're… not entirely sure how she does it either." Kirito admitted with a chuckle.

"What about you all?" Geeou asked. "What's next for you?"

"We're heading back to town too so we can finish this quest and create our guild." Kirito answered.

"I think it's really great that you're starting your own guild." Geeou said with sincerity. "We've been watching the broadcasts ever since they started and I, for one, think you'll do a great job at helping lead the Clearers."

Kirito awkwardly scratched his cheek out of embarrassment. "Thanks. Wasn't my idea, though."

"We had to corner Kirito and convince him to start up and lead a guild." Asuna chimed in.

"Really?" Geeou asked, a look of mild shock painted on his face. "You're a natural leader, so I figured you'd be great at it."

"That's what we said. I'm just glad he came to his senses." Asuna said with a giggle. She turned to Geeou. "What about your group? You think you'll start or join a guild?"

"We've been talking about it, especially now that we're so close to joining the frontline." Geeou admitted. "We can't see starting a guild with just the four of us, so we've been talking about which guild to join."

Asuna threw a pointed look towards Kirito, who simply arched an eyebrow in confusion. She nodded her head to the side towards Geeou, doing her best to silently communicate to Kirito what she was implying. His eyes widened as he got the message.

"Well…" Kirito trailed. "I know we all just met. Well, you've all known Leonn and Sinon for a while now, and I only met Yuna yesterday, so I guess we're not necessarily new to each other…"

"Kirito." Asuna half-snapped, trying to bring him back on track.

"If you all are looking for a guild, you could always join ours if you want." Kirito suggested with some hesitation. "We understand if you don't want to. "

All conversations behind them almost immediately ceased. The trio in front stopped abruptly, both at the question posed and the deafening silence behind them. Kirito, Asuna, and Geeou slowly looked behind them to see the other six looking at them intently.

"Well? What do you all think?" Geeou asked, looking at the members of his group. Yuna gave a warm smile and a thumbs-up. Nautilus crossed his arms and had a smirk on his face. Silica was practically trembling with excitement while Pina looked worriedly at her master, never having seen her in this state before.

Geeou chuckled. "Well, I guess that answers that. We're in."

"Yes!" Silica shouted, accidentally throwing Pina off her shoulder in her excitement. The feathered dragon recovered quickly enough before circling back around and landing on her master's head.

"What's the name of the guild?" Geeou asked.

"We've been tossing around a few ideas, but now that you're all on board, I'd like to hear your thoughts." Kirito replied.

All nine members of the soon-to-be-formed guild clustered together as they walked back to town, spending the next hour discussing names. As they entered the building where the guild quest giver resided, they had finally decided on a name they were happy with.

"... that makes sense, seeing as how we're sort of… different… compared to the other Clearers." Yuna said diplomatically as she pushed the door open, the first to enter the rather refined looking building.

"I like it." Silica said as she followed behind. "It makes us sound like badasses."

Geeou looked startled at his youngest companion's colorful language before he eventually recovered. "I… agree. More importantly, I'm glad the name doesn't sound like an army or military. The opposite, actually."

"That's what I was thinking too." Leonn said as he entered and stopped to hold the door open for everyone else following behind. "And I think the adjective we chose is fitting, even if it is a little unusual."

"You can thank Asuna for that adjective." Sinon chuckled as she entered the building. "She's probably the most educated out of us all."

Asuna looked flustered as she entered the building and stepped to the side. "It's not that unusual of a word!"

Kirito was the last to enter after Nautilus and Liz, taking the door from Leonn and closing it. He walked forward, directly towards the guild quest NPC, a portly man sporting a full moustache and a cleanly shaven head. As soon as Kirito entered the NPC's programmed range, the portly man brightened up and addressed the black-haired swordsman.

"Ah, I see you've returned!" The guild commissioner stated. "I take it you were successful in retrieving the queen's silk?"

Kirito opened his inventory and manifested the clump of silk before presenting it to the man. "Yep, here you go."

The man took the silk and expertly began weaving it into a regal-looking banner, taking the suggestions and orders from the group as they told him how it was going to look. After five minutes, the portly man presented the completed guild banner to Kirito.

The mostly white banner was shaped like a rectangle with an adjoining triangle on the farthest side, a shape Asuna pointed out was called a gonfalon. It had an elaborate black trim shaped like intertwining braids or branches that ran the entire perimeter of the banner. In the center of the banner were two black swords which were crossed and pointing upwards in the shape of an 'X'. The top of the banner was cut to resemble the battlements of a castle wall, with their staggered square shapes, and the bottom had three black tassels hanging, two from the sides and one from the pointed bottom.

"There you are, your guild banner!" The NPC exclaimed, his smile bright as he took pride in his work. "A truly regal and noble banner befitting heroes of your caliber. What shall you call yourselves?"

Kirito looked behind at the eight assembled players who would be the first members of his new guild. Each wore a look of pride on their face. Asuna, in particular, was exuberant at witnessing this next major step in their journey. No longer would they be a group of outcasts among the frontline, simply tagging along for the ride. Now they were a force to be reckoned with - not that they weren't before - and in a position to help lead the Clearers to victory and, more importantly, to safety. They were official now, and she had no doubt that they would soon make a name for themselves.

Kirito looked at the guild commissioner with a smile on his face and a gleam in his eye.

"The Resolute Renegades."

A/N:

Finally!

Twenty-two whole chapters later and we have our guild. I didn't want to rush the formation of the guild, so hopefully the wait wasn't too excruciating. Some of you might be wondering about the name, especially given that it doesn't follow the typical guild naming conventions of the established larger canonical guilds, like the Knight of the Blood Oath, Aincrad Liberation Squad, Dragon Knights Brigade, etc. Since this group is small, only numbering nine strong (so far…), I decided to follow the patterns of the smaller guilds like Fuurinkazan or The Legend Braves. They don't need something large and grandiose for a guild name, they would probably want something simple but also something that makes a statement. I will say that coming up with an original guild name was one of the hardest things I've had to do for this fanfic. I didn't want the name to sound too similar to other guild names I've seen in other fics.

The "main" part of the guild name I wanted to represent this group's strong will and encompass how they view themselves compared to the other Clearer guilds. Kirito's always been a bit of a rebel and outcast, unafraid of painting himself in a negative light if it means saving others from a similar fate or torment. You know, our favorite self-sacrificing edgy boi. I didn't want to be cliche and settle for "Rebels" so I went for the next best thing, "Renegades". I'm also a sucker for alliteration, so I wanted the adjective to have the same first consonant. Resolute, meaning "admirably purposeful, determined, and unwavering" seemed the best choice not only because it describes their attitude towards clearing the death game, but it's also a gratuitous nod to the title of this fanfic. Sue me.

As always, a thank you and shout out to everyone who has left a review in the past. Reading everyone's reviews helps me gauge interest and potential errors, and frankly helps give me the motivation to keep this story going! I count myself lucky that everyone so far has (seemingly) liked the story and offers constructive criticism instead of reckless story-bashing. In any case, we've passed a huge milestone in this story, so thanks for sticking around this long!

Until next week!