Sword Art Online Version Vongola

by Nain Tarlow

11 year old Sawada Tsunayoshi was one of the ten thousand players who logged into Sword Art Online. He found freedom in this virtual word far away from anything associated with Dame-Tsuna. Now, as the Death Game begins, watch as the swordsman Natsu takes his first steps into this world and grow into the leader he was meant to be.

9. Level 8

Hello everyone, Naintarlow here.

A little later than I would have liked, but here is the next chapter.

Regarding the reactions to the little opening I made, I'm sorry if it angered anybody. I always liked whenever I saw up and I thought it was nice to try something like this. But not everybody likes the same things, and this is a fact of life. Hopefully, I didn't alienate those who didn't like the opening.

Nevertheless, here comes the next chapter following a little time skip.

I hope you enjoy it and feel free to leave reviews.

Level 8 The mystery in the labyrinth

The very earth trembled beneath his feet violently, as Natsu pushed his body forward, fear gripping his heart. He could hear loud cries, pleas for help and mercy from the end of the long hall he was running to. It was tearing him apart, the raw terror in those voices. He wasn't sure he was ready to face anything that could generate that kind of fear.

The faithful presence of Ken and Basil at his side helped a little, the others only a step behind them. He spotted the black coat of Kirito a few meters in front of him, his blade already drawn.

"What in the nine hells did that idiot think he was doing?" cursed Buzz's voice from behind him, but the sound was mostly lost in the sound of his heartbeats in his ear.

"We are almost there." panted Basil, exhaustion clear in his voice.

Before long they reached the boss room and Natsu's heart fell as he looked around. Several players were lying on the ground, some in the middle of standing up while some laid there unmoving, caught in the effect of paralysis. But the truth was there were too few of them. They know about the 40 person team Kibaou sent, yet no matter how he looked, he could barely spot fifteen people left. It was a heartbreaking sight.

"Lookout." cried out Kirito in alarm. Looking up Natsu met with an enormous black arm descending straight at him.

He tried to move, willed his legs to move with all his heart, but he was stuck in place. All he could do was watch as the end came closer and closer, his friends' cries echoing around him. He didn't want to die!

-0-

"No!" cried out Natsu, as he jumped out of his bed, terrified, part of him still in the grasp of the nightmare. He panted on the floor, shivering as he slowly recognized his room.

Despite his protest, the others gave him a large room with a big double-sized bed, saying if he was the guild leader he should have the room to show for it. Aside from the large bed with orange covers the room was sparse, with a pretty standard looking desk and a few decorations such as a dresser without any practical function, an empty shelf, or two. It was not much, but it was his, his little retreat in this virtual world.

Finally calming down, he was able to stand up, looking around the darkroom, with only the faint light of the moon providing some source of light. The clock at the edge of his vision read 4 am and Natsu couldn't help but let out a weary sigh. He knew himself well enough to know he wouldn't go back to sleep, no matter how tired he felt.

He left his room and began the trek down to the kitchen. Thankfully the rooms once closed were soundproofed, so he didn't have to worry about waking up the others. Still, he couldn't help but shiver as he walked through the dark, silent corridors.

He was never any good with anything horror related. He was so frightened when they encountered skeleton themed mobs on the 23rd floor for the first time, that he clung to Buzz like a koala bear and didn't let him go until they arrived back at the mansion, much to the older man's annoyance. The nightmare he just was woken up from also didn't help.

Stepping into the kitchen, after a quick manipulation of his menu he ignited a soft, small light, dismissing the darkness. Natsu approached the fridge, opening up its inventory and scrolling down to the item he was looking for: warm milk.

One of the most convenient things about the system that most items stored in an inventory remained in stasis, its status not changing with a few exceptions. Thanks to that, he didn't need to bother having to warm his milk, instead, he could simply bring up the pre-heated one that he could enjoy to his heart's content.

Natsu just finished his glass of milk, when a voice sounded just behind him.

"Can't sleep, kid?"

Letting out a frightened yelp, he spun around thrusting forward the empty glass as if he could use it as a weapon. As his heart slowly calmed down he made it out through the dim light the amused form of Buzz, the older man apparently fighting to hold back his amusement.

"Please don't do that. You know I scare easily." Natsu pleaded as he tiredly leaned on the table.

Buzz simply ignored him as he stepped into the kitchen properly and took a seat, looking comfortable and well-rested, unlike him.

"You are up early again." he commented airily, even though he stared at the young boy sharply. Natsu did not meet his eyes and instead looked down at his glass, trying not to look guilty."Nightmare?" Buzz asked knowingly, a note of compassion in his voice.

He only nodded in response, and the older man just sat there and waited for him to talk. Sadly, this was not the first time they did this.

"It was the 25th floor." he said in the end, his whole body trembled from the simple memory of what happened.

With a sigh Buzz stood up and walked next to him, placing his large hand in his shoulder and giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"You know we couldn't have done anything to change the outcome. It was Kibaou's fault, not yours. You shouldn't blame yourself." he told him, meeting his eyes with a firm stare.

"I know that intellectually, but still," he looked out the window where the very first rays of 'sunshine' began to appear. No matter how artificial it was, it was still a beautiful sight." never before was it so apparent how dangerous this game was. Up until now, we heard about some people dying, even saw someone die before me, but never on this scale. We did everything to not lose anyone in boss battles, yet this happened. I don't know Buzz, it's hard to get past something like that."

The older man stayed silent for a while, also watching the sunrise as he tried to get his thoughts organized.

"It's not gonna be easy, I can't lie about that. We're gonna lose people, that's a certainty, maybe even a friend. But we will go forward, and we will get out in the end." Natsu gave him a tentative smile, so he continued. "Why don't we make a pact, just between the two of us. If either of us goes out, but the other doesn't, the one who survived visits the other's family to finish the journey, what do you say?" Buzz looked away once again, his gaze looking far further than the edge of the floor."For me, it would be my daughter, Keiko. She's a little, sweet thing, doubt that she remembers much of me, but to me, she is the world."

Natsu stayed silent, joining Buzz in his silent vigil. The sun was almost completely out of the horizon when he spoke up, his voice soft but with a note of determination hidden within it.

"Nana. My mother. She raised me while dad was abroad working most of my life. She's really sweet and it would mean so much to her, that I had such good friends here." his voice cracked a bit towards the end, but he continued, not crying, no matter how easy it would have been. He wanted to find the strength to go forward, not to remain behind.

"Then we have a deal." said Buzz, patting his head fondly, much to his annoyance."You're gonna be alright?"

"Yes." he answered softly, not taking his eyes off the view before him.

"Good."

-0-

The teleport gate on the 27th floor activated with a brilliant light, letting Natsu, Basil, Biggs, and Wedge materialize and step away. This city had a simple medieval theme, while the floor itself consisted of smaller forests and hilly terrains.

Not missing a beat, they started to purposely walk towards the edge of the city. Despite this floor being the current frontline, the usual horde of people, both cleaners, mid-players, and the constant chatter was notably absent. It was no surprise, since the fight against the 25th boss, the whole atmosphere was a lot grimmer than it used to be.

Not taking the time to organize a meeting of the cleaner guilds, Kibaou ventured out alone with most of the ALS to fight the boss. As soon as they were notified about it, Kirito, Natsu's group along with Klein and Fuurinkazaan, raced towards the boss room to help out, all the while cursing Kibaou for his recklessness. They were too late, however.

Both Argo and Buzz advised them repeatedly to remain cautious, who knew what surprises Kayaba hid in the game. The 25th boss was leagues stronger than the 24th that they beat without any difficulty and as they later learned, stronger than even the 26th that came after. Kibaou and his men had little chance, especially they did not even have a concrete plan against the boss. It took 25 floors for someone on the frontline to die, and it was a massacre.

By the time the reinforcements arrived, the boss killed more than half of the ALS's men and only lost a quarter of its overall HP. The following battle was long and brutal. They weren't able to adequately prepare for facing the boss and were taken off-guard quite a few times, with only luck and the other intervention saving many of them. It was a nightmare that still haunted Natsu.

Among the frontline players after that grueling victory, everything changed. Gone was the joking, hopeful atmosphere that hung around them before. Up until that point they didn't lose anybody, slowly but surely they were getting closer to their end goal, but that 'victory' was a slap on the face. It reminded them that no matter their equipment or their high levels, they still only got one life in this death game. It caused many of them to outright quit and simply go to the lower levels where they would be safe.

Their internal structure also went over large changes. Kibaou pulled out what was left of the ALS, leaving the frontlines officially. At the same time MMO Today also pulled out, choosing to focus on supporting lower-level players instead, their frontliners going to other guilds. Kaiser Dragons tried to seize the chance to be the undisposed leading guild, merging with two smaller but still very strong guilds, creating a new guild called Holy Dragon Alliance, trying to gain their place as the strongest guild with quantity instead of quality.

It would have worked if not for the arrival of a brand new guild, the Knights of the Blood Oath. They were led by a completely unknown player, a shield user by the name of Heathcliff, who appeared at the 26th boss meeting as if he was meant to be there all along. Later at the boss battle, he proved himself, almost singlehandedly holding back the boss so the cleaners could organize themselves properly. A lot of people who left MMO Today, and a lot of smaller guilds and solo players soon joined, swayed by the silent charisma of Heathcliff. Personally, Natsu always felt something off with the man, so he tried not to interact much with him, even if he needed to as officially he was their guild leader. On the plus side, the KOB's subcommander was Asuna, who he much preferred to work with. Incidentally, Heathcliff seemed to leave most things to her, so it worked out well.

It was an even bigger surprise that for some reason both their guild and Klein's became much more important, second only to the two great guilds. Both their guilds gained new members, the keepers of seven rings going from a humble seven people, into guild consisting of a staggering (at least to him) eighteen members. Likewise, Fuurinkazaan had twice as many members as before, mostly those who broke away from ALS and MMO Today.

At least the mansion was being used to it's fullest, though Natsu missed the family-like atmosphere just with the seven of them and Argo whenever she crashed at their place, which was quite often.

"It's strange to see so few people at a frontline city." commented Basil as they neared the wall surrounding the city, fewer and fewer buildings around them."I barely even saw a player merchant in the center square and they used to thrive in new cities."

"Can't be helped, I guess." shrugged his shoulders Wedge who was less cheerful than normal."It's been almost a month since the 25th, yet we still only beat one boss. They are mostly waiting around if the frontline is stuck for good or not." he explained further when Natsu gave him a confused look.

It's not like their slow progress was only because of what happened with Kibaou. This floor's labyrinth lived up to its name more than any other they faced. It was vast and oftentimes confusing with confusing pathways and enfilade of rooms. Not to mention that with the political instability as Buzz called it, it was hard to have guilds work together and share critical map data, so they essentially had to go in blind with only the data they and Klein's group was able to gather until now.

They continued to walk in silence as they left the city and began to walk straight towards the labyrinth. Staying on the road let them avoid most of the mobs running around, the few who insisted on getting their way were easily dispatched between the four of them. Time only made working together with all that simpler.

As they neared the pillar that led to the next floor, Wedge felt the need to speak up, when he spotted once again a troubled expression on Natsu's face.

"What's troubling you little boss?" he asked, using the teasing nickname that he called him ever since the first floor.

Natsu stopped in his tracks, turning towards his friends, meeting their questioning stares. He gave an uncertain answer in response, looking around as if he felt in danger.

"Sorry, I just have a really bad feeling about this." he said, hoping the feeling of being watched would go away.

"You had to say this." said an amused Wedge, grinning at them."If we find a space battle station capable of destroying planets I'm blaming you." his grin faltered at the uncomprehending look from the two younger kids."Come on, Star Wars? The New Hope?" he grew more and more distressed as they only stared at him with blank faces. "How did you not see Star Wars? What are they teaching kids these days?" he asked.

"You're not that older than us." answered back Natsu, still not getting what was the problem.

"What kind of childhood did you guys have?" Wedge asked, still shell-shocked, not hearing him at all. He turned toward Biggs who gave a slow, long blink to give his version of shock. "What did happen to the world where little kids don't know Star Wars?" he turned back to Natsu and Basil, an almost manic determination in his eyes."It's decided then, no matter what we are getting out of this game and then I'm gonna strap you down to chairs and make you watch Star Wars, you hear me? Do you hear me, Kayaba? You can't stop me." He shouted up to the heavens, or the ceiling in this case. Thankfully no one living was around them as far as they could see.

Wedge and Biggs marched onward with renewed determination, whispering furiously to each other, waving their arms. Or more like Wedge was, while Biggs throw in a few comments once in a while. Natsu and Basil stayed at their spot, looking at the two older teens warily.

"What just happened?" asked Basil in the end, glancing questioningly at the brown-haired teen.

"No idea. And I don't want to know." he answered, feeling like he witnessed something not meant for his eyes.

They shared another look, before hurrying after the brothers, who finally seemed to calm down from their tirade. Once again they were silent as the group reached the edge of the labyrinth, only encountering a few monsters and no other players.

Before venturing in, they stopped to check they have everything they needed. There was a quick check of their weapons' and armors' durability, ensuring they had enough health potions and crystal and everyone had their emergency teleport crystal in case things became dicy. After the careful survey, with a nod shared between them they went in.

As if they stepped into a whole different world, everything changed around them in an instant. Gone were the open fields and green forests, they were walking in a dark, narrow tunnel, the floor cobbled and slippery from some kind of water that seemed to drop from the ceiling. The labyrinth of the 27th floor was a literal medieval catacomb. This whole place still creeped out most players, even though they were exploring it for the past 3 weeks.

The hallways were narrow, only two people could walk next to each other comfortably, while also able to draw their weapons if attacked. It was also dark, with torches placed in 5-meter intervals, but all it accomplished that the players jumped at every little shadow, fearing an ambush by sneaky enemies. There was also a constant sound of water dripping down, which was maddening after you spent hours running around in circles. To make matters worse, there were skeletons thrown around haphazardly at the ground, creeping out players especially since some of it tended to turn out to some hiding monster.

They gathered around Wedge who called up the available map data, updated with the progress Klein's group made the day before. The place was a literal maze, with still quite a few intersections that they haven't explored yet, with no clue where the boss room could be located.

"There." he said pointing at an intersection not far from them."There's still one corridor we have to check out, it could be as good a place to start as any. What do you think, little boss?" he asked, seeing the younger boy intently looking at the map.

Looking up, surprised at being called out, Natsu let out a sheepish chuckle when it was evident he was not paying attention at Wedge. Instead of being offended, he only smirked indicating he should speak up.

"I think we should start from here instead." he told them, pointing at the edge of their explored part of their map. "This s where Klein pulled out yesterday and according to him, they found stronger monsters around there. It could indicate being closer to the boss." that was not necessarily true, but they learned after all this time, it was better to follow Natsu's feelings, because nine times out of ten he would be right.

"Alright then." answered Wedge without missing a beat, indicating with his hand than they should go, the map remained to hover in front of him.

They quickly formed a line, Basil in front, shield held in front of him, ready to block any sudden attack. Behind him was Natsu, hand resting on his sword's handle, ready to counterattack right after Basil blocked an attack. Wedge was right after him, looking at the map and giving directions. Biggs brought up the rear. The big guy was a literal tank, especially with the heavy armor he began to wear not that long ago, easily able to shrug off an ambush from the back.

Some would say they were overly cautious, but this is the approach most players on the frontline tended to follow nowadays. Better slow and careful than hasty and dead, as Buzz liked to say.

-0-

"Raarrgh!" cried out a skeleton despite not having any vocal cords, raising his two-handed ax to strike. He was wearing rusty armor that was full of holes, a Viking helmet on his face that seemed to verge of falling off, and had a few arrows poking out of his rib cage for good measure.

Before the hit could strike, Basil stunned the creature with his shield glowing a light blue, the skill shield bash connecting without any difficulty.

"Switch!" he cried out, before stepping to the side, letting Natsu close the distance, damaging the disoriented skeleton with a well-placed horizontal. Thankfully the skill had a low cooldown, so almost immediately he was able to land two simple attacks, not wasting time with a sword skill. In response the skeleton warrior swung his ax at him, prompting him to hold up his sword in two hands to parry the attack.

He was pushed back by the force of the swing, mentally groaning at the slight pain from his arms. He should have dodged it, instead of trying to block it. There was a reason he focused more on agility than strength.

Before he could counterattack or his enemy could try another attack, Basil appeared on the side, his sword already mid-motion of the vertical skill. With a quick slash, he struck the skeleton, his sword slicing through the armor and bone of the monster. With a quiet roar, the skeleton burst into polygons, disappearing after a moment.

He gave a thankful nod to the Italian boy, lowering his sword and trying to get some feeling back into his arms. Looking to the other end of the corridor he saw Wedge and Biggs also dispatched the skeleton that attacked them from behind and were walking back to them. Their surroundings didn't change much despite being much deeper in the labyrinth, only that the light the torches gave seemed to gradually grow weaker and they were ambushed by monsters more often.

"Guess you were right, little boss." Wedge said with a smirk as they reached them, rapier lazily resting on his shoulder."The enemies are getting tougher, it probably means we are on the right track. Who knows, maybe we will find the boss room today?" Natsu gave a noncommital shrug at Wedge's question, his eyes scanning the darkness before them.

There was an unspoken race between most 'top' guilds about who could find each boss room first as if it would give some kind of prestige to them. Personally, Natsu didn't see the point of it. He simply explored labyrinths with his friends, if they or others found a boss room then he would go and participate in the boss fight. No need to complicate something that didn't need to.

"So, how's your 'bad feeling'?" asked Wedge conversationally from behind Natsu as they once again formed a line and began to cautiously move forward. Despite the almost audible quotation marks, there was no sarcasm in his voice, something he appreciated.

Unlike his classmates from the real-life, his new friends didn't make fun of him or called him stupid when he didn't understand something first or said something they didn't understand at first. They were patient, explaining game mechanics that sometimes went over his head or stopping him from acting recklessly. He couldn't ask for better friends.

"Nothing changed." that was true. He still felt uneasy about this whole venture. This was not the first time they explored this labyrinth but until now he never felt so concerned about their safety. "I would probably feel better if there were more of us." he admitted to the older boy.

After all, rarely did they ever went to the frontline floor in anything less than a full party, neither Buzz nor Agil ready to repeat the time where Ken, Basil, and Natsu almost ended up overwhelmed at the quest for Natsu's sword.

"Can't be helped, I suppose." said Wedge, trying to sound nonchalant, but he still looked uncomfortable. Thankfully the two younger kids didn't notice it because he was behind them. "Ken was supposed to join us, but Lisbeth asked him to help her find some new ingots and also level up her hammer skills." he shook his head, giving a little smirk."I don't envy him, it's the game equivalent of a girl taking you with her for shopping and making you carry everything. Klein and his guild are off farming to upgrade their equipment, Agil is overseeing the new members, trying to get them up to our standards, and Buzz is..probably doing some sort of work for Argo." he told them, though sounded uncertain at the last part. Unseen by Natsu or Basil, the two brothers shared a guilty look.

They once again descended into silence as they began to make their way among the corridors, only interrupted when they stopped the fight the occasional monster. Thankfully, while the small width of the corridors made it harder for them to move as freely as they were used to, it also worked in their favor, because it made it hard for the mobs to overwhelm them with large numbers.

"I don't really want to know how bad this could be if we weren't over-leveled for this floor." said Wedge, rolling his shoulders as they regrouped. It was almost two hours since they first entered the labyrinth, the frequency of ambushes only growing the deeper they ventured.

"At least we are making good progress." said Basil, walking in front of them, looking into the darkness warily. "I see an intersection ahead." he informed them as they walked near it.

"Finally. I feared this would be a dead-end, we had been walking straight for at least half an hour." cheered the rapier user, as they all fastened their pace."Maybe we would find the boss room at last?"

"Possible." shrugged Natsu, who continued to keep a lookout for any enemies, even as he tried to catch up with the others."That or some kind of treasure chest waiting for us." Either way, they could still call the day productive.

The corridor they were following split into two, going into different directions. That was by itself was not very surprising, what was that the left one seemed to lead up, while the right one led into a lower level. Up until now, the labyrinth seemed to be on one level, not multiple ones like some labyrinth on lower levels.

"Oh man, you want to tell me there's probably more levels of this thing?" whined Wedge, grabbing his head in frustration."It already feels like more work than we needed to put in the last ten floors, and now this? Which way should we even go?"

"Well, common sense would say we should go up since the labyrinth connects to the floor above." said Natsu, shrugging when all three of them looking at him in question."But common sense is not something that game has a lot, so who knows?"

Basil opened his mouth to answer, but he was cut off when a frightened scream rang, followed by the sounds of fighting. As one they looked in the direction of the right corridor, that seemed to go down, where the sounds seemed to originate. Not wasting a moment to think, Natsu was off running towards the danger, Basil quickly following him.

"Nevermind." said Wedge to himself, before along with Biggs ran after the younger kids."You know this is why Buzz never lets you go anywhere alone?" he shouted to Natsu but was ignored by the young boy.

After a little while the ground evened out, the route they followed broking into 3 different corridors. It did not slow down the brown-haired swordsman, who turned to the right with such confidence as if he knew exactly where he was going. Meanwhile, the sounds became so much more desperate, making him push his body to reach them in time, though he tried not to lose his friends because he was not a fool to think he alone would make a big enough difference whatever those people were fighting against.

The fighting sounded almost next to him as he ran into a long tunnel, uncaring in he passed any monsters or that the weak light the torches gave became weaker every step he took. Just before he could truly disappear into the darkness, a strong light appeared at the end of the tunnel, prompting him to force his virtual body to its limits.

As he burst out of it, the sudden change in lighting blinded him for a second, making him stop, less he ran into someone or something. He blinked furiously, trying to will himself to see, while he also heard his friends stop behind him, probably just as blind as him.

His vision cleared after repeated blinks, and Natsu couldn't help but let out a soft gasp as soon as he could see. They were in what looked like an underground arena, a spacious hall with a dozen openings similar to the one they exited. The ceiling was shining as if it was a sun, lighting up the whole hall A pained cry rang out, turning his and his friends' attention to the center of the arena.

A skeleton stood there, bigger than any they have seen up until now, easily twice the height of Biggs, one of the tallest people he had seen. Instead of a human skeleton, it looked like a lizard, with a long tail and elongated skull. It had very little armor, only just a beaten up pauldron and a metal helmet that seemed to miss almost half of itself. it also had some tattered pants on, with a long sheath hanging from this back. The monster waved around a nodachi, that also looked like it went through a grinder, it's attention completely focused on the group of players surrounding it.

There were in total of six people around the skeleton, in various conditions. Three of them seemed to be down for the count, two men and a girl, riddled with various injuries, hanging onto life by a thread from the looks of it. Before they stood a large man in heavy armor, his large shield paced in front of him defensively. There was also a young woman using a spear and an older man using a mace with a shield on the other side of the skeleton, desperately trying to redirect its attention.

Unfortunately, the monster seemed to care little for them, content in focusing its attention on the shield user trying to defend his friends. Fortunately, the four of them managed to stumble on them just in time to help out.

"Doesn't that look a lot like Illfang?" asked Wedge from his side as he caught sight of what must be the labyrinth's miniboss. His tone was surprised and intrigued at the same time."Why does he have to torment us even after his death?"

Now that he mentioned it, the rampaging skeleton did remind Natsu of the boss of the first floor, who almost broke their progress before it could even start, by changing behavior patterns compared to the beta test and catching most of them off-guard.

Focusing on it, its basic information namely its name and HP were revealed. Its name was Illfang, the Undead Kobold, lending credence to Wedge's words. It looked like after being defeated on the first floor the Kobold Kind was 'reborn' as an undead miniboss. Talk about demoting.

Still, the thought of once again facing Illfang sent a tingle of fear through Natsu. Illfang was the first boss, the first serious enemy they faced. The battle against him was the one that really sent home what it meant to fight in the frontline. Most of the time they went in blind, never really sure what they would face. Every moment and every skill counted, tipping the scale between life and death. And now the first enemy, the first hurdle they passed came back with a vengeance.

He gripped his sword tighter, forcing himself to not linger on these thoughts. He may not like the thought of taking Illfang on once more, but there was a group of people in danger and never let it be said that the Keepers of Seven Rings ever left someone in trouble.

"That doesn't matter." he said more to himself, than to the others, but it gained their attention. He quickly surveyed the battlefield, widening his eyes at the positions of the still fighting players, having and inkling what would the Undead Kobold do next. "Biggs, go cover those injured." the big guy nodded simply, before setting off to aid the shield user that tried to defend his comrades. "Basil, cover me, we go against the boss." the blonde boy only nodded, a resolute look in his eyes. He turned towards Wedge, but the older boy cut him off, rapier ready for the oncoming fight.

"Make me an opening and I'll take it." he said confidently.

"Alright. Let's go!" he ordered, and for a moment he wondered how much he changed if he could order and plan as he did just now, but he soon forgot about it, concentrating on the here and now. Dread filled him as he recognized the move Illfang was about to initiate, after all, he came close to dying, trying to block that one."Get away from there! He's about to use an AOE attack!" he shouted, trying to warm the other players.

Unfortunately, his warning came too late. With around half of his HP lost, surrounded by players on two sides, Illfang activated one of his most dangerous sword skills, Tsumujiguruma. It was the omnidirectional, AOE attack that stunned the large part of the raid party when they were first caught off guard by the change in weapons back on the first floor and almost cost Diavel his life.

But this was different. They were aware of the attack the miniboss planned on using, since their first encounter, they fought more than their share of enemies using katana skills and they had a counterattack in place.

As Illfang crouched down, Natus, Basil, and Wedge willed their bodies to run faster than ever before, to make it in time. The skeleton jumped up, turning his body in mid-air, the nodachi began to shine with a purple light.

The moment Illfang reached the ground, but before the skill was actually launched, Natsu felt that for a moment, the whole world stood still. He saw with perfect clarity, Basil running ahead of him, shield already placed in front of his body, to block most of the attack. From the corner of his eyes, he saw the three fallen players trying to get out of the way, Biggs pull their defender back, so he could avoid the brunt of the ranged skill, on the other side the spear wielder had reacted quickly enough to back away, but the mace-user was stuck back at the blast zone. He felt Wedge running behind him, already readying his own sword skill, just like him.

He felt his nonexistent virtual muscles tense, the system taking over his conscious movements as he took Sonic Leap's activation pose. In this moment of clarity, he could see how beautiful this world could have been if they weren't trapped in it. Every day he was amazed how real this world looked, even though there was always a sense of something missing, that would make him remember that it was only virtual, but now, in the middle of a battle, he could truly appreciate it. He could finally understand how could Kirito spend days out in the fields, not just because he wanted to escape and go home, but he genuinely liked fighting, something Natsu could understand. There was a lure in it, and the excitement of living their fantasies, to be the heroes they wanted to be even since they were little kids.

He couldn't help but smile, even as the moment finally ended and the world once again moved at its normal speed as Illfang launched the high-level katana skill.

"Basil." he called out, but it was not needed, as his friend already braced himself to cover both Natsu and Wedge from the ranged attack. He absently noted the mace wielder caught in the attack, his body hurling away, helpless, affected by the stun, the others mostly coming out of the attack unscathed.

The purple light of the Kobold's sword skill only began to dissipate when Natsu made his move. The Tsumujiguruma was a high-level sword skill and while it could deal a massive amount of damage, like most sword skills it had a serious downside. This skill had an extremely long post-motion delay that wouldn't be a problem normally if every enemy was affected by the skill and its Stun debuff but could be easily exploited if one knew the mechanics of it well enough.

He stepped away from Basil, who was thrown back a little by the power of Illfang's attack, and used one of his most frequent sword skill, his opening gambit, Sonic Leap. He felt the system overtake his movements, directing him towards the still frozen skeleton in a charge. Concentrating, he willed himself not to aim to the chest, instead he charged towards the arm that held the nodachi.

Unlike old MMO's, in this game, it did matter where you were able to strike your enemy. The damage could change based on which limb you hit, but it was more than that. If you strike a limb like the arms or legs with enough force, you can unbalance your opponent, which could be even more dangerous than a simple stun debuff. Of course, it also came with risks. Your enemy could read your attack and counter you when you open yourself like that, and with skilled enemies with quick enough reflexes, they could simply recover soon enough that any advantage is lost too quickly to be worth the risks. It also stood for the monsters they faced, since according to Kirito, they seemed to be more intelligent, more difficult to beat as they ascended, toward the 100th floor.

But against an enemy trapped by post-motion delay, it was a child's play. That's why Natsu's Sonic Leap landed on Illfang's arm, further unbalancing the large monster and preventing a swift counterattack the moment when the undead could move again. Lowering his body as much he could, he sailed past Illfang, immediately feeling himself freezing as his own delay kicked in. But it was alright since he would be moving sooner than Illfang since Sonic Leap was a basic skill with a shorter penalty and more importantly, he opened up the miniboss fully to receive the skill Wedge was charging.

Flashing Penetrator was a rapier skill, that at first looked a lot like Sonic Leap, if not a little more inconvenient to use. It needed a large speed to build up before launching itself, so against players or in the middle of a battle, it was not advised to use it since it could be easily countered. But as a surprise attack, it was very effective, even though it was only a one-hit skill, it had a lot of power behind him.

Wedge's rapier shined with white light, he was moving so fast he left a trail of light behind him, reminiscent of a comet, the run towards Illfang was more than enough to fuel and start his skill. He may not have the fame Asuna had, who was already nicknamed as the Flash for her exceptional speed, but he was still one of the strongest rapier users currently in-game. With the opportunity Natsu created for him, he launched his attack, landing it in the middle of the former first-floor boss's chest, where he had the most chance of not missing because of the space between bones.

A sonic boom rang through the room as Illfang, already unbalanced form stumbled back from the force of the blow. Unfortunately, while it took out a large part of its remaining HP it was not enough to finish the job. Already, the Undead Kobold raised his sword to attack Wedge, but Basil was already there covering the older boy.

Seeing the mace user slowly getting back to his feet, the spear user at his side, trying to attack Illfang from behind. Natsu called out to them.

"Don't surround him, or he will use the AOE attack once again." he advised, before turning his attention back to the battle raging on."Form a half circle to keep him getting past us.

"Right." he heard a gruff voice, but he couldn't spare them any more attention. He quickly caught up to Basil and Wedge and began to pepper the miniboss with various attacks.

They alternated between attacking and defending, depending on who Illfang focused on. Basil mostly bunkered down and tanked attacks heading his way, while Natsu and Wedge dodged and tried to keep out of effective range. Soon it became a strange cat and mouse game where the roles switched repeatedly.

He soon felt himself pick up the pace of the battle, his every sense concentrating on the fight. He stuck to simple attacks, with a few horizontals and verticals thrown in whenever Illfang's attention was elsewhere. Buzz and Kirito made sure that in their different ways to drill the rules of combat in solo and small numbers. Control your pace, don't overextend, pick your battles. Be ready to change an attack into a parry at any second, don't stay in one place, and don't let yourself be surrounded. Don't bother with fancy high-level sword skills if the enemy has plenty of HP and you can't be sure that they won't counter you. Keep in mind the post-motion delay of skills, look for any tells on the enemy of what skill it would use and use it against him, but don't leave yourself open. These and many other warnings rang in his head as they slowly but surely chipped away the skeleton lizard's health while avoiding the worst of its attacks.

He figured the injured players were pulled into a safe distance, because soon both the spear and mace users joined them, while Biggs made his way back to Wedge's side. They began to work together in effective small groups, further forcing Illfang to divide its attention.

Seeing Biggs and Wedge work together was quite something, any person who knew a little about fighting could tell this. Biggs had the strength and durability to play the role of an indestructible wall that will make you regret lingering close to his reach, while Wedge had the agility and accuracy to step out from behind his brother and pepper any enemy with countless deadly thrust before retreating. They did not need any words to communicate, the brothers seemed to read each other's minds as they supported each other.

The unknown duo fought in a similar way, the mace user using his shield to soak up damage and attack mercilessly in close quarters, while the other used her polearm to attack from a safe distance, leaving the man to defend her if she happened to overextend herself.

Natsu and Basil, on the other hand, used a different tactic. They both used one-handed swords and trained with each other for almost half a year, they knew each other very well and which skills they preferred. Instead of simply switching, their attack could be described as an incredibly choreographed dance. They fought close to each other, several times almost bumping into the other if not for the precise knowledge of how the other moved and fought. They practically spammed sword skills one after other, carefully timing their attacks so whenever either of them froze the other was leading with a new attack, not letting Illfang any room to strike back. Whenever they were forced into defense, Basil simply blocked while Natsu slipped past the easily telegraphed attacks.

Illfang may have had the upper hand when it faced the original group of players, but whatever advantages it had were lost with the joining of four high-leveled players who worked seamlessly together, and three of them vividly remembered his attack patterns that the undead version of the monster did not change one bit. Before long, the skeleton lizard gave a soundless roar while it tried to back away, only a few chips remaining of his health.

"Natsu." cried out Wedge, before Biggs ran forward, stopping in front of the wildly swinging nodachi. He dug his toes in as the sword directly struck his shield, letting out an audible grunt but not moving an inch. With the attack blocked, Illfang's skeleton body staggered back, leaving itself completely open to Natsu who ran forward the moment the opportunity presented itself.

His sword shining in orange light, he unleashed his strongest current skill, Sharp Nail, the skill that partially earned him the nickname, Orange Blaze. The three-hit combo struck Illfang, slicing through bone with ease, extinguishing the last of the kobold's second life.

With a helpless roar, the miniboss fell back, body bursting into little polygons before landing on the ground. With the abrupt end of the battle, a silence descended on the large hall, broken by the sound of rapid breathing from the 6 fighters.

"And this time do us all a favor and stay dead." shouted Wedge out of nowhere, panting in exhaustion.

The others looked at him in surprise, before suddenly all four of them began laughing, the heavyweight of battle coming off. It was not their hardest battle to date, they knew the enemy's patterns well before and it lost most of it's HP by the time they joined in, but Illfang was the first boss Natsu, Biggs and Wedge faced and the thought of once again going up against it, was mentally exhausting.

When they calmed down, the mace user walked towards them, while favoring his right side, still feeling pain from catching the Tsumujiguruma point-blank. The woman wasn't with him, probably went to check over the others.

"Thank you for your help." he said in a deep, gruff voice. He was one of the oldest players Natsu met in the game, with faint wrinkles around his eyes and his hair greying out. He was a short, blocky man, with a stern expression. He wore a simple set of armor, nothing really standing out, though they hanged out around Lis and Agil enough to easily see good craftsmanship when they saw one. Still, it was not as high-leveled as their own. His shield was a simple green, round shield with a small piece coming out of it. "If it wasn't for you we wouldn't have gotten away unscathed." from his expression alone he seemed like a prideful man, who had difficulty accepting help.

Wedge met Natsu's eyes and a simple nod of his head indicated that the younger boy should speak for their group. Both he and Buzz tended to do this to him. At first, he thought that being named guild leader was more of a joke thing, but both of them, with Agil occasionally joining, practically forced him to act as their leader, spokesperson, and generally man up as Buzz once eloquently put it.

He put on a smile on his face as he sheathed his sword and turned to the older man.

"No problem. We were happy to help." he told him sincerely."You did most of the hard work, we just finished it."

"There is no need to be so humble. Roger may not be able to admit it, but we were at the end of our rope. your help couldn't have come at a better time." said a regal, feminine voice next to him. Looking to the side, he saw the rest of the other group walking to them, led by the spear user. The large shielder helped one of the injured men walk, while the other two followed slowly, thankful smiles on their faces.

The woman on the lead was tall, lithe with long blonde hair that she wore in a simple braid. Her armor was slightly more stylish and decorated than Roger's. She had grey eyes that and a kind face, though her high cheekbones gave her a slightly regal look. Her spear that rested on her back seemed to be a real beauty, decorated with gold carvings, and easily higher leveled than the rest of her group's gear. It had a large ruby gem resting in the crossguard.

The large man who shielded his friends was large in every sense of the world. Unlike Biggs who was simply tall, broad-shouldered with a generous amount of muscle, this man was large in the way that he was in a simple word fat. His stomach bulged outward, barely contained by the heavy armor he wore. He was older than them, probably in his mid-twenties, he had short black hair and little, beady eyes. He looked their way with a not too impressed expression, despite saving his hide just now.

The young man he was helping was a teen around Wedge's age. He had long brown hair that he wore in a traditional knot. Along with his samurai armor and katana at his side, he looked like he was a samurai straight from the feudal era. He looked weary and had an apologetic smile on his face, as he slowly limped towards them.

The last two were around Natsu's age, surprising since there were very few players under the age of 13, and save for Basil, Ken, and him, they tended to avoid the frontline. As a matter of fact, Natsu knew from Argo that there was a church in the City of Beginning, where an older player decided to take in and look after the younger kids who were too afraid to leave the safety of the town. That's why, despite being part of the cleaners since the 1st floor, most people who haven't seen him up close tended to be surprised that the famous Orange Blaze was just a kid.

The boy of the pair was a kid with curiously bright orange hair and circular glasses. he seemed to be wearing chainmail of sorts, along with a large two-handed sword on his back. It wasn't as unusual as one would believe at first glance, despite the slightly comical look. This wasn't the real world, in Sao as long as someone completed the level and stat requirements once could wield any weapon. Theoretically, even a toddler, if it had the requirements, could wave a two-handed sword around like it was no big deal.

The boy did look a little shaken, understandable after what happened, but he looked his way with such awe on his face, Natsu felt a little self-conscious. Thanks to his infamous moniker, many people knew his name but most people he interacted with were frontliners just like himself. From them, he got looks of respect, an acknowledgment as a comrade, or maybe plain surprise, but no one ever looked at him in such blatant awe, at least not that he knew of.

The young girl had dark red hair, that framed her face in a bowl cut with grey eyes that reminded Natsu of a brewing storm for some reason. She wore lighter armor, a simple leather armor appropriate for her level, and had a dagger strapped to her belt. Out of the six players, she was the most afraid, trembling as they approached them, fearfully looking at the place where Illfang disappeared.

Natsu had to wonder, why she was here if she was so afraid. He was around other people enough to know how one looked when they almost died, but that was more shock than fear. But he could tell, she was carrying that almost paralyzing fear with her long before they encountered the skeleton remains of the Kobold King, so had to wonder, why was she here in the first place.

"No problem." said Wedge, throwing an arm around Natsu and tousling his hair much to his protest."We are no stranger to dangers, thanks to our reckless leader."

"Get off me." he tried to squirm out of the older boy's grasp to no avail. The other group simply blinked in astonishment at the sudden change of attitude. Gone was the confident swordsman that directed them in the fight and now he looked and acted his age. According to Argo, it could be quite jarring to those who were not familiar with him.

"We were happy to help." ever the polite one, Basil easily ignored the quarreling duo and bowed in a traditional Japanese manner. Biggs simply remained silent in the background, watching in amusement.

Natsu and Wedge were interrupted when the blonde woman began laughing, putting her hand on her mouth, trying to hold it back. She seemed genuinely amused at them, but for some reason, Natsu got the feeling she was acting.

"Pleased to make your acquaintance." she said after she calmed down, mirroring Basil's bow. "I'm Morgana. You already met Roger." she said, pointing to the older man, who gave a crisp nod.

"Hi, there. Name's Ian." the katana user waved at them with his free, easy-going smile on his face. "The big guy is, Grumpleshorken, but we simply call him Grumpy." the large man helping him gave a simple grunt at that, continuing to stare distrustfully at Natsu's group.

"And this is Fives and Annabelle." Morgana continued, gesturing to the younger kids, who only stared at them in awe and shock respectively.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Wedge, and this is my brother Biggs." introduced themselves Wedge, his brother nodding them amicably."This is Basil and the short one is our little boss, Natsu."

"I'm not short! I still have a lot of growing up to do." cried out Natsu, feeling outraged. Ever since Buzz began constantly commenting on his height, he found out it bothered him. Of course, it only prompted Wedge to do as well, whenever he was bored enough.

"You are the Orange Blaze!" cried out Fives suddenly, scaring Annabelle standing at his side. He blushed for a moment when he noticed everyone looking at him, but he soldiered on, talking to Natsu quickly."You are one of the strongest players in the game, and the youngest to boot. I heard a lot about you, how you killed the 5th-floor boss with a single skill, that you are a former beta tester who reached the 50th floor all by himself, and you were trained by the Black Swordsman. I want to be just as strong warrior like you." he rambled on, stars almost literally shining in his eyes.

Overwhelmed by the blatant hero-worship from the boy, especially as most of his life with the exception of Ken and Basil, kids his age mocked and bullied him frequently, Natsu backed away, feeling embarrassed. He almost tried to hide behind Basil, he was so not used to this. He didn't even have any idea where those outrageous rumors came from.

If he tried to stop and think about it, the answer was obvious in hindsight. Argo.

"Everyone alright?" asked Wedge, for once trying to cut the brown-haired boy a break.

"Yes, thank you." answered Morgana."We thought we were well-equipped for this dungeon and save for this one, the other monsters were nothing we couldn't deal with."

"You guys made it look easy." quipped Ian, finally standing by himself, healed up.

"We were at an advantage." told him Natsu, happy to think about something else."This miniboss shared the name and its attack pattern with the first-floor boss, Illfang, the Kobold King." Morgana and her group looked surprised at that. "Except Basil, we were all there at that boss battle and were already aware of how to counter its attacks."

"That's certainly impressive." Roger agreed with a nod, before looking at his friends."I think it's time we turn back. We made good progress, no need to try our luck needlessly." Morgana agreed with a firm nod, while Fives gave a longing look at Natsu's group, but agreed as well. Soon the others also agreed with him.

"Oh, before you go, do you guys mind comparing map data?" asked Wedge when they seemed ready to go back."We think we have a good part of the labyrinth mapped out already, but it could be a big help if you took a different route. If we're lucky we may even find the boss room.

"Certainly. This is the least we can do for the help you gave us." agreed Morgana, after she and Roger shared a look. With that, both she and Wedge opened up their menus to bring out the maps of the labyrinth.

Meanwhile, Natsu looked around, eying the opening leading into this hall, feeling on edge. He felt a small tingling sensation on the back of his head as if someone was watching him. And yes, Fives still looked at him like he hung the moon, Natsu felt it was someone else. And since the Death Game started he certainly learned to trust his feelings.

Before he could contemplate more a quiet gasp from Morgana and a shocked shout from Wedge turned his attention back to his friends.

"What's going on?" demanded Wedge from the menu he was looking at intently, furiously tapping it.

"What's wrong?" asked Roger as he stepped closer to Morgana, who also tried to manipulate her menu.

"Bring out your map data, all of you." Wedge told everyone, his voice not carrying any of the mirths he used almost all the time. He was completely serious.

Natsu did as he asked, the others quickly following suit, and opened his menu, quickly finding the map menu point. He tapped on it but was shocked to find that instead of the map coming up, all he got was static with the error message 'No Map Data Available' in bright red.

"What does that mean?" asked Ian, sounding confused. A quick look around confirmed that everyone saw the same scene before them.

Natsu looked around, eying the identical tunnels, knowing that it would be impossible to tell where they have come. It was also a moot point, they were deep enough in the labyrinth they couldn't have remembered the whole way back.

"It means, things are going to get complicated." said Wedge quietly, sharing a worried look with Natsu. They both knew the prudent thing would be pulling back, cutting their losses, and inform other players about this twist so they could be better prepared.

"Do you have teleport crystal on you?" asked Basil."With no map and no idea what we are going up against, it would be a good idea if you went back to town."

Unfortunately, they didn't seem to be having any luck. Annabelle's head snapőped towards Roger a fearful, panicked look on her face, while Morgana shifted uncomfortably. Roger had a pained look on his face as he shook his head.

"We don't have any. We poured all our money for the equipment and potions, figuring we could handle ourselves." he admitted.

"We only have one crystal per person with us." said Wedge, and from the look of the others' faces told Natsu what they were thinking. There was no reason for his group. to risk themselves for strangers they just met. It was logical to retreat, even if it meant leaving them behind to fend for themselves. It didn't mean he agreed with it.

"Guess we have no choice but stick together." he told them with a small smile, causing even the still distrustful Grumpy to blink in shock."This game is nothing but fair in a deathly, detached manner. If we look around long enough we ough to find something that restores our maps."

It was true. Despite being a game, where if you reach 0 HP you die, the game was fair in its own way. It made sense. If Kayaba wanted to kill them, all he had to do is to have all nerve gear fry the players. Instead, he made them play this death game. He did not make things easy, no one was invincible but even in the direst situations there were always ways to escape, one only had to find them. Survival of the fittest in its finest, where only those could thrive who can adapt to the changing circumstances.

"You are right, little boss." there was obvious relief in Wedge's voice. He didn't want to leave Roger and his group behind, but he also needed to look out for Natsu and Basil. He did not want to make this decision and was thankful for Natsu to take it off of his shoulders. Looking at his other friends, he saw both Basil and Bigss smiling at him in support, happy for his decision.

"Then we once again thank you for your help." said Morgana graciously, after giving a look to Grumpy who was a moment away from objects.

"Then let's get going." Ian said with a forced smile, trying to ease the tense atmosphere.

-0-

From the shadows of one of the tunnels, two figures were watching the two groups as they tried to decide where to go. They wore long, black cloaks that helped them blend into the darkness. Both of them were fairly short and thin, though one of them was clearly female.

"Big Sister, I'm bored. When can I kill them?" one of the figures whined in a high-pitched voice while playing with a dagger. Their wrist was visible, showing a tattoo of a coffin with eyes and a laughing mouth.

"Try to be a little more patient." the other answered in a stern, feminine voice."Let the little flies fly around, while we weave around our pretty trap." she turned around and began to walk away, quietly giggling to herself."After all, the difference between us and them is that we are predators. And they are our prey."