AN: Two chapters in less than a month, and now this one?! Is Authoress getting a schedule? Pft, no, I just got really struck by inspiration, hence the almost 10,000 word 10th chapter, and writing that out got me in a groove. And don't get used to the almost 10,000 word chapters, because I'm not guaranteeing it'll continue. Also I don't know how to write accents, so Fleur's speech is written normally.

Review responses:

Dragonlily22 aka the guest who keeps writing 35(I counted) 'please's in a row then asks me to continue my stories: I appreciate the enthusiasm, but you're getting a bit spammy. Please tone it down a bit. I'm not mad or anything, but you've posted it five times on Nephilim Witch and once over on Unbound. Like I said I appreciate the enthusiasm, just dial it back a bit please. Still, glad you like my stories so much. Plot bunnies attack me at all times of the day. I usually just let them play out in my head a bit then move on, but Jurassic Kunoichi was a particularly persistent one, and it started a domino effect causing Nephilim Witch, Unbound, and Scarlett Rose to be born. I've also got the beginnings of two other stories on my phone, but I don't want to post them till I've gotten the four I've got now sorted out. Which considering I keep adding to them when I get inspiration for them, means I'm probably going to have a lot prewritten by the time they each get their first chapters up. So, since you seem to like my fanfics, keep an eye out for them. They'll show up eventually.

Mike blinked as he woke up. He was still sitting in the chair by Marzanna's bed, but he was slumped over. There was a new man in the room with them now. The man tilted his head at him, when he spoke it was in accented English, "Are you alright?" Mike nodded hesitantly, "What happened?"

Mike glanced at his tense mother, "Who's he? Why's he here?"

Lily's tone was clipped, "Didn't say. All he told us it that he's a government official."

The man flashed a placating smile, "I also said I didn't want to repeat myself. Now that the young man is awake I'll explain. My name is Kikuoka Seijirou, or rather by your customs, Seijirou Kikuoka. My current job is with the SAO task force, which keeps tabs on all those people trapped. We're also trying to find a way to shut down Sword Art Online and release the players. For this conversation, you should also know I'm a squib, so you don't need to worry about the statue of secrecy. There are 23 players who are magicals. Due to the whole magic and technology not mixing very well, we keep a closer eye on them. So when the magic detecting runes placed in this room started going off, I came to find out what was going on." he paused the let them absorb that, then focused on Mike, "So, I'll ask again, what happened?"

Lily eyed Kikuoka in suspicion for a minute, then nodded, "Marzanna and Mike are twins. They haven't seen each other in eight years, so they're magic and bond were resynchronizing."

Kikuoka looked incredulous, "Eight years? But if they're twins-"

Lily cut him off, "They don't share the same father. It's complicated, and none of your business. The only thing you need to know for the purpose of this conversation is that a spell allowed me to become pregnant with Mike while I was less than a month pregnant with Marzanna. Like regular magical twins, their magic entwined together, and the twin bond was created. Since they don't have the same father though, they're bond is much weaker than most. This proved to be a boon, since it allowed them to be separated without consequences." She gave him a moment to think about that, then continued, "Now, there's something I want to know before you question my son. Since some of your little task force is aware of magic, and you guys are in charge of the SAO players, what precautions are you taking for the magical players? After all, you people surely realize that while they'd normally be too old to have bursts of accidental magic, the extreme circumstances could cause discharges of magic."

Kikuoka hummed, "Yes, we did realize that. Do you see that purple IV drip? The nurses attending magicals have been told it's for a medical condition, and to never let it run out. It's actually a potion that inhibits magic. We're hoping that it'll be enough to stop or curb any pulses of magic from messing with the NerveGear and potentially causing it to kill them. In case it isn't enough, our next priority is to minimize casualties. So the rooms with magical players are laced with magic absorbing runes, so that none escapes the room, and possibly kill other players as well." He turned back to Mike, "If your minds were trying to match back up, then surely you know something. The SAO task force may have nearly all the information available on SAO's players, but we know practically nothing about the game itself. We don't even know the rules and conditions of the game. When Kayaba released the instructions not to attempt to remove the players NerveGear, he only told us that whether or not the players returned was up to them. We don't even know how they'll come back. So anything you know would help."

Mike blinked then sorted through the information he got from his sisters mind, "The rules are simple, but brutal. Your health bar is your life. If your HP drops to zero, in other words if you die in the game, the NerveGear kills the player in real life. To get stronger and increase their chances of survival, players have to level up. The cities are safe zones. Unless you accept a challenge to fight another player, which is called a duel, it's impossible for a player's health to drop in a city." pausing to think for moment, he noticed Kikuoka writing everything down, though his phone also seemed to be recording the conversation. He only knew what it was a phone from Marzanna's memories, "I might be forgetting some of the more complex stuff, but those are the most basic rules. The conditions are simple in concept, but difficult in practice. There are 100 floors in SAO. Players start on the bottom floor in the Town of Beginnings. To advance to the next floor, players must first make their way to the labyrinth of that floor. A labyrinth is a massive tower connecting one floor to the next, making them all 100 meters tall, and the only way to reach unexplored floors. To even enter the labyrinth, players must first defeat a field boss blocking the entrance. Once they enter they need to navigate the labyrinth. All labyrinths have twenty floors each, and as their name suggests, the labyrinths are mazes filed to the brim with winding paths, traps, monsters, hidden rooms, and dead ends. After finding their way to the 20th floor of a labyrinth, players must then fight the floor boss to access the next floor. The main goal is to make it to the 100th floor and beat the final boss. If even a single player can do that, every player will be released. Those are the rules and conditions made by Kayaba Akihiko. What else do you want to know? If I have the answer I'll tell you."

Everyone was silent for a few minutes, then Dante made an agitated growl, "Fucking hell! They have to beat that entire twisted game on one life? I mean, I've heard of one life runs, but most people can't do that in regular video games, where you push a button and your character completes the action for you. In this game they have to actually do everything themselves."

Kikuoka nodded wearily, then sighed, "Do you know the general mental health of the players? How many floors have they cleared? And how many players are actively trying to clear the game?"

Mike sighed, "Given the circumstances, it's not surprising that depression, fear, and anxiety run rampant through the majority of the players. For the first month of the game almost all of the players were either too scared to leave to Town of Beginnings, or to focused on grinding to level up to actively make attempts to clear the game. Only a measly 40ish players were mapping the labyrinth looking for the boss room." He paused and glanced at Marzanna, "Marzanna and her party member Kirito were, and still are, in that group that's focused on clearing the game. Anyway, because there were so few players mapping the labyrinth, they didn't find and defeat the boss until almost a month later. Since the first boss was beaten though, the number of players dedicated to clearing the game has risen, but it's still a tiny 200ish people. They're currently on the fifth floor, and averaging," he thought for a moment, "eight and a half days per floor."

Nero cursed for a minute in a brutal sounding language, a moment later Mike's realized that while he couldn't understand him, he recognized it as the devil dialect of the demonic language. A moment later Dante said something in the same language. Nero angrily snapped back and they argued for a few moments. Then Nero exploded in English, "Don't tell me to calm down! Think about what Mike just said for a minute Dante! Even if they keep that eight and a half average, it'll still take them almost 25 months to compete the other 95 floors! Almost two and a half years Dante. And that's only if they keep their current pace, as the game gets harder they'll probably take longer!"

Deafening silence followed Nero's outburst, and he finally lost his anger, slumping in defeat. Kikuoka shifted, "I know you probably don't want to hear this, but an eight day average to beat a mini-boss, navigate a massive twenty floor maze to find a boss, and grind until they're strong enough to safely beat the boss is actually a pretty good time. They're moving rather quickly."

Nero glared at him, all but hissing, "I know that. That just makes it worse though, because it means they probably won't be able to cut that time down."

There was silence for a few minutes then Mike remembered, "Oh ya. I talked to Marzanna."

Nero, Dante, and Lily snapped their gazes back to him. Nero spoke in a hurried manner, "What'd she say?

Mike tilted his head, "She said to tell you guys that she's fine, and she loves and misses you." turning to Nero he continued, "Also she told me she had a book on water related magic in her devil bringer, and wanted you to retrieve it for me. The second task of that stupid tournament I'm being forced to compete in will probably have something to do with water. So she said I could borrow it."

Nero nodded, then moved over to Marzanna, and grabbed her left hand. Nero closed his eyes in concentration, and a moment later a blue glow passed from Marzanna's hand to his. He pulled his hand away and with another flash of blue he was holding an incredibly thick and very old book. In thick bold black letters on the front was its title, 'Wæter Wiccedom'(1). Mike took it carefully. He was a bit annoyed with his sister. She hadn't told him the book was old. He didn't care how old the information was as long as it helped him, but what if he damaged the book? A book this old wasn't easily replaced. It would be just his luck that after eight years apart, the first thing he does is destroy an irreplaceable belonging of his sister's.

Mike walked into the library. He had gotten back from visiting his sister half an hour ago. The first thing he did was go to his dorm to grab the egg, a change of clothes, and a towel. He put those and his sister's book in his school bag, after emptying it of course. Then went to find Hermione. The library was always a good place to start. Sure enough, he found her in the third out of the way table he checked. He hadn't even known those tables were there until Hermione showed them to him, they were so out of the way they were practically hidden.

She looked up when he sat in the chair next to her. He was a bit happy when she closed the book she'd been reading to give him her full attention. Hermione didn't do that far just anyone. Hermione looked him over for a minute, "You look happy. I take it your sister's doing well?"

Mike grinned, "It seemed like she was more than fine to me." she gave him a baffled look, so he elaborated, "Since we're twins and we've been separated for so long, our bond immediately tried to repair itself as soon as I got close enough to the hospital. Due to that, when we got to her room I ended up seeing some of her memories and talking to her. She's defiantly got a crush on her party member, though she's completely in denial." Hermione's lips twitched in amusement, then he grew serious, "Anyway, I know she saw some of my memories too, because she knew about the tournament, and the egg without me telling her."

Hermione immediately leaned towards him in interest, "Did she have anything to say about the egg?"

Mike then glanced around and cast a quick muffliato, "Apparently the screeching is Mermish. So she figured the second task has something to do with water. She told me I'll understand the egg if I listen to it underwater."

Hermione nodded, "She thinks it's a water based task? Understandable, and I agree that it's likely. Even muggles know mermaids are aquatic creatures. Have you listened to the egg yet?"

Mike shook his head, "No. Not yet, I just got back a little bit ago. I stopped by my dorm, then came straight here to talk to you. My sister let me borrow this for the second task. I don't think I need to tell you this, but I'll say it anyway. This is very old and belongs to my sister, so be careful with it."

He pinned her with serious heavy look for a moment, then pulled the book out and gently handed it to Hermione, who took it with equal care. She was wide eyed as she looked the book over, then glanced at the first few pages, "This is in old English!" at his confused look she exclaimed in exasperation, "It means it has to be at least nine hundred years old!(2)" she ran her fingers over the page it was open to in near reverence, "Where'd your sister even get this?"

He shrugged, "No clue, but if the fact her mindscape was half enormous library was any indication, I think you guys would get along like a house on fire. Not to mention I'm pretty sure it's not the only stupidly old book on magic she owns. I know for a fact she has a scroll on ancient Egyptian magic purification rituals from ancient Egypt." he grinned at her, "Anyway, since you would've demanded to read it anyway, I figured I'd drop it off with you, then ask McGonagall if I can use the perfects' bathroom, since the regular dorms don't have tubs, and I need to listen to this egg. Just remember to be careful with the book. It's not like Marzanna can replace it easily if it gets ruined."

Hermione snorted, "You don't need to tell me that. I'm well aware how fragile the book is, and the impossibility of replacing it. Now go. McGonagall should be in her office this time of day."

February 24th, 2023- 110 days since SAO launch:

The second task was starting. Apparently he was supposed to retrieve 'something he'd sorely miss'. Marzanna's book had been a godsend. It didn't just have spells, it also had mentioned plants and enchanted objects. Hermione read the entire book in two days, and promptly told him about gillyweed. He asked Snape where he could buy some, but the Professor just gave him enough to last two hours, then taught him a spell to change back into a human before the gillyweed wore off. His only explanation was that gillyweed was difficult to obtain, it was impossible to breath out of water under gillyweeds' influence, and that Marzanna and Lily would kill him if he let anything happen to him.

Now Mike was anxiously waiting for the task to start. He wanted the tournament over and done with. When Ludo Bagman started the countdown, he put the gillyweed on his mouth. After swallowing it he started to grow flippers and gills. Bagman started the second task before the transformation was complete, but he jumped into the water immediately anyway, as he couldn't breathe because of the gills.

As soon as the transformation finished he cast one of the many spells he learned from Marzanna's book. It detected human shaped beings within five miles of the caster. He'd learned it to be able to find the mermaids, but it also showed him where the other champions were. To his shock the spell also revealed four humans in the Mer village. Swimming in that direction, he kept the spell active and kept an eye on the other champions' progress. When he was halfway to the village, his spell detected Fleur Delacour thrash for a few moments then shoot towards the surface. He figured she must've been attacked by something, and forced to forfeit this portion of the tournament. He hadn't even known he was allowed to forfeit until the previous day. Needless to say, he'd been rather annoyed no one had told him before. The only reason he was even trying to complete the second task was because he wanted to know who was trying to kill him, and the only way he'd find out is if he wins the tournament. He just hoped he didn't end up getting himself killed.

Upon reaching the hostages he immediately saw Hermione and started swimming towards her. When he got close he saw that they were in some sort of sleep, and a fine stream of bubbles was coming from each of them. Cutting Hermione free with a spell, he glanced at the other hostages and froze. The hostage to Hermione's right was a little girl who looked almost exactly like Fleur, he assumed they were sisters. The girl looked about eight years old. The problem was that unlike the other three, she was wide awake. She was also staring at him with pleading terror filled eyes. Why was she scared? Surely they'd explained what they were doing to the four before tying them to the bottom of the lake. Why was she even awake though? A moment later it hit him like a bludgeoning curse. At the wand weighing Fleur had said the Veela hair was from her grandmother. Which meant Fleur and her sister were part Veela. Righteous fury immediately burned through him. It was common knowledge that water magic never took correctly to Veela, due to them being fire elementals. And they stupidly tied one to the bottom of a lake?!

"You're Fleur's sister, aren't you?" He didn't like the way the water garbled his speech, but the little girl apparently understood anyway, because she nodded, "Then you're Veela." she nodded again, "Hold on. I'll free you."

However when he went to cut her rope, one of the mermaids near the hostages pointed their spear at him, "Only one! No more. Not yours."

He shook his head, "She's part Veela, she won't survive down here, and her sister was already forced to retreat."

The mermaid hissed, "Veela?! In our waters?! No one said anything about Veela!"

She, at least he thought it was female, shouted for a bit more, drawing a crowd, then subsided into angry muttering. A few moments later the crowd parted for another mermaid. It looked between the muttering mermaid and him, "What's going on here?"

Mike glanced at the other mermaid before hesitantly explaining, "This little girl is part Veela. Her sister was supposed to rescue her, but got attacked and had to forfeit. I'm assuming any unclaimed hostages will be returned once all champions have left the lake, but she won't survive that long. From how slowly my spell is showing me Cedric moving, she'll drown long before he arrives. So I was trying to take her with me. It's not her fault, she doesn't want to be here."

The newly arrived mer hissed, "How dare they put a little Veela in our lake?!" there was agitated murmuring from the crowd, then the one who had spoken visibly forced itself to calm down, "Very well. You may take the Veela. Now go."

Nodding his thanks, he cut her rope with a spell, grabbed her and Hermione, then swam to the surface. As soon as he broke the surface, Hermione woke up, and the little girl coughed up water, then flung her arms around his neck clutching him tightly. Hermione shook her head to get rid of her disorientation.

She gave him a questioning look when she saw Fleur's sister, he explained before she could ask, "She's Fleur's sister. They're both quarter Veela at least. Fleur was forced to forfeit."

Hermione's eyes widened in understanding, "In that case, let's hurry and get her out of the water. Her family's probably worried sick about her anyway."

It was difficult to swim with Fleur's sister clinging to him, but she wouldn't let go, and was terrified, so he made it work. As soon as they were close enough they heard Fleur screaming and shouting hysterically in French. She kept shouting the name Gabrielle. Mike shifted the girl clinging to him until he could see her face, "Is your name Gabrielle?" she nodded, "You should call out to your sister. She hasn't seen you, and she's scared for you."

The little girl nodded slowly, then twisted a bit in it arms and started yelling in French. Fleur immediately whipped around to look at them, then yelled Gabrielle's name in relief. As soon as they reached the platform, Fleur yanked out of a confused Madame Maxime's arms, and pulled Gabrielle up out of the water and into her arms.

The swim had not made him forget his fury. So as soon as he was on the platform, and sure Gabrielle was safe, he rounded on the judges, "Who the fuck thought it was a good idea to put a Merlin damned Veela on the bottom of the lake?!"

Maxime's eyes widened in horror, so she'd either forgotten the Delacour heritage, or hadn't known in the first place. As much as he didn't like the man, Karkaroff clearly hadn't known either, and had turned almost as white as a ghost. Bagman looked nervous, and Dumbledore gave him a disapproving look. Fuck him. He could be as disapproving as he wanted, this was not ok, and he wasn't dropping the issue anytime soon.

Dumbledore was certainly going to attempt to get him too though, "Now Mike, there's no reason-"

That just made him angrier, "No reason for what! You people almost killed an eight year old girl! Or are you seriously trying to tell me you don't know that supplemental water spells don't work on Veela?"

Maxine had bowed her head, apparently willing to take his well-deserved fury. Karkaroff was glaring at Bagman and Dumbledore now. Bagman was nearly cowering behind Dumbledore, who was now looking at him sharply, "Be that as it may, this is not the place-"

Mike growled, "What's wrong. Don't want to admit you made a mistake? Well you fucking did! Or is it that you don't want people to know that the great Dumbledore messed up badly, almost killing a little girl? To fucking bad. You-"

To his surprise it was Potter who cut him off, he hadn't even known the man had come to see the tasks, "That is enough Mike! You are way out of line! I doubt Dumbledore knew she was part Veela. You're blowing this way out of proportion."

Hermione exploded before he could, "Out of proportion?! A little girl almost died! This reaction is entirely justified. And even if they didn't know, that's still a horrible mistake! They should've made sure it was safe to put her down there first!"

Potter glared at her, but before he could respond Fleur beat him to it, as she moved so she was standing next to Mike, "You idiot's stupidity nearly killed my sister. An eight year old girl. You should be ashamed of yourselves." glaring at the judges for a few more seconds, she turned to him and smiled gratefully, kissed him on each cheek, then pulled him into a hug, "Thank you. Thank you so much. I don't know what I would've done if my sister died because of me. You didn't have to save her, but you did. So I'll be grateful for the rest of my life. The Delacour family owes you a life debt."

Mike flushed and looked away, he didn't dare try and say they didn't owe him the debt. It was a grave insult, as it implies you don't believe the person worth saving. So instead he simply said, "I only did what any half decent person would. Anyway, will she be ok?"

Fleur shook her head, "You'd be surprised at what knowing the person you're looking at isn't completely human does to people. Gabrielle is with your school's healer, Pomfrey. I think that's her name anyway."

Mike nodded, "It is." with a final dark look at the judges and Potter, he grabbed Hermione's hand and Fleur's arm, then lead them away, "Come on, let's go get some pepper up potion. I don't want to catch a cold, and I don't want you girls too either."

Hanna and Kirito were in a sub-dungeon on the tenth floor, the current front line. Argo had gotten info that there was a sub-dungeon, called «The Catacombs of the Damned», that the beta testers hadn't discovered. The beta testers had only been on the tenth floor for two days before the beta ended, so it wasn't surprising. What was surprising was the fact no one had made it past the first room, most didn't even make it through the hallway leading up to the room. The only players on the tenth floor were the clearers, whose current average level was 31. The fact they couldn't get too far was telling about how difficult the dungeon was.

However, with their new routine of grinding in the labyrinth at night, Hanna was level 39, and Kirito had just reached level 40(3). They hadn't hidden their grinding strategy, but no one had started doing it despite the results. It had the side effect of changing people's opinions of them. People hated them less, instead thinking them insane. Which meant the term «Beater» had changed a bit. Instead of just meaning someone who's a beta tester and cheater, it had changed to someone who's a beta tester, cheater, and is also utterly insane. Which was nice. An unwanted and unintended side effect of making themselves out to be bad guys, and subsequently coining the term beater, was that other people started being labeled beaters. The addition of insanity being a requirement of beaters had all but put a stop to that. Which was great as far as Hanna was concerned. Kirito had started the beater thing to stop discrimination again beta testers. So when they heard other people were being labeled beaters, he'd blamed himself. The things it'd done to him... Hanna didn't like to think about it. She was grateful it was mostly over.

Anyway, due to their levels they decided to take a shot at the catacombs. The decision may have also been partially made because they actually were a little crazy, not that either of them would ever admit it.

Kirito eyed the entrance to the catacombs, "Think it's cooler in there?"

Hanna snorted. The tenth floor was a desert. Which had led to Hanna discovering that Kirito hated the heat. He got moody, irritable, and was generally a complete grouch. She hoped there wasn't another desert floor later, but since there was a limited number of biomes, and 100 floors, she wasn't counting on it. Thankfully different types of forests were the most common floor theme, so she wasn't expecting to come across very many of them. She may not know if there were any more, or how many there were, but she definitely knew one thing. They were not participating in clearing anymore deserts, Kirito's grouchyness was ridiculous. Kirito had told her that he loved the cold, so she really hoped the next floor was a tundra or something, if just to get Kirito to stop being moody.

Hanna tilted her head, "Probably, but it's equally likely that it'll smell horrible in there. I hope you're not scared of ghosts. The mobs in there are undoubtedly types of undead."

Kirito snorted, and pushed the dungeons door, "So? Come on, I want to get out of this damn heat."

Hanna rolled her eyes at Kirito's rude tone, and followed him inside. They were in a hallway that was bare for the first 20 feet. After that there were upright coffins that were inside alcoves in the walls. Going down the hall connected to the door, it rapidly cooled. Hanna sighed in relief as Kirito, who was walking a bit in front of her, slowly relaxed. The peace was broken by an inhuman shriek as one of the coffins burst open. Out of it stepped a mummy looking creature. It was thinly wrapped, patches of decayed grey skin could be seen, and it was dragging a large axe. A red cursor appeared over its health bar and name, which was «Revenant Executioner».

Hanna and Kirito immediately drew their weapons, and readied themselves. With another piercing shriek it began to walk towards them. It was slow, but if the large axe was any indication, it probably traded speed for damage, and she'd be willing to bet it also had a large amount if health as well. If this was just the first mob she could see why others failed. The hallway was very narrow, so once the Revenant swung its weapon the only way to dodge was backwards. Which would quickly become an issue for parties of four or more. It would hamper her and Kirito too, especially since the hallways were so narrow switching would be nearly impossible, but they'd manage.

Still short tempered and irritable from the heat, Kirito quickly lost patience and rushed the Revenant. Hanna's first instinct was to get closer so they could switch quicker, but she knew that would just limit Kirito even more than the narrow hallway had, so she stayed back. As soon as Kirito got within rang the Revenant shifted its weight and started pulling the axe into position to swing. Kirito got five quick slashes, then jumped back as the Revenant swung its axe. Even though Kirito was level 40, he barely took a little less than an eighth of its health. As soon as the Revenant was done with its swing, Kirito continued his attack. The process repeated until the Revenant was down to a quarter of its health. Then Kirito risked a sword skill that finished the Revenant off.

After that they encountered sixteen more Revenants. She let Kirito deal with most of them, since fighting seemed to be a stress reliever for him, but she killed five of them that came up behind them while he was fighting. It was clearly meant to be a trap that enclosed players attempting the dungeon, and could easily be deadly. Especially if the Revenants got close enough to each other, as that would limit the already tiny space further. Players leaving before they even reached the first room made a lot more sense after that.

The hallway ended after that, opening up into a room full of coffins, about a hundred of them. They were neatly lined up in rows of ten, and they were all full of Revenants. Thankfully they didn't all come out at the same time, but a quarter of them came out to start, and every time they defeated one another would awaken. Hanna decided it was a tricky dungeon. The hallway had been designed to give bigger parties trouble, while the first room was made to be difficult for smaller parties.

Hanna glanced at Kirito after finishing her last Revenant off, he was waiting for her, having already finished. Thankfully he wasn't being impatient anymore, having calmed down after a good fight in the cool room. Though it was cooler in here, she'd been right about the smell. It smelled of stale air and decay. Which was not pleasant. Even less so when combined.

Hanna rolled her shoulders, then sheathed her falcata as she moved over to him, "So do you want to just keep going, or see if we can find anything hidden in here?"

Kirito tilted his head in thought for a minute, "Let's look around. That last hallway probably forced most people to come back with smaller parties. So, the most likely reason no one made it pass this room was because they couldn't clear it out before retreating. There probably were a few parties who cleared it, then retreated. Even if they searched the room, they might not have found everything, if there's anything to find to begin with."

Hanna nodded, and they separated to search the room. After twenty minutes with no success, Kirito huffed, then started towards the door to the next area, "I guess there's nothing here. Let's just go." she made no move to follow, which Kirito noticed quickly. He walked back to her, "Hanna? What's wrong?"

Hanna shook her head, "Nothing, just... With the coffins, how dim it is, and the fact they just fought undead in here, this room would creep most people out. Enough that they'd leave as soon as they were done fighting. Which makes it the perfect place to hide something, because only the players brave enough to stick around will find it. It just doesn't seem right for it to be empty."

Kirito narrowed his eyes, "Creepy. Bravery. Don't tell me..." Hanna gave him a questioning look, "Did you look in the coffins? I didn't."

Hanna's eyes widened, and she slowly shook her head. She looked away from him, and back towards the coffins. There was silence for a moment, then she shifted, "So. Up for some grave robbing?"

Kirito snorted, "'Grave robbing'? They're just places the mobs were hiding. They're not actual graves. No, I'm actually more concerned about how stupid I'll look of I'm wrong."

She laughed lightly at his admission, "Don't wanna embarrass yourself in front of a girl Kirito? Don't worry, I won't laugh at you."

He grinned at her briefly, then turned back to the coffins, "So, you start on this end going left to right, and I'll start from the other end going right to left."

Hanna nodded, and they split up. There turned out to be nothing in the coffins, so they went through the door to the next hallway, which was just as narrow as the first. It also had upright coffins like the previous, but none of them opened as they walked along. However after two minutes of walking, an ominous breeze started up.

Hanna glanced at Kirito, "There shouldn't be any wind in here, but it is a video game. So, the question is why?"

Kirito shrugged, and lifted his sword just in case. A few tense moments passed, then the wind kicked up harshly, blowing all the torches out, plunging the corridor into darkness. Hanna heard Kirito shift, "I've never seen any as items, but I don't suppose you have a touch?"

She started to shake her head, then remembered he couldn't see her, "No." paused as something occurred to her, then activated a sword skill with her claw, it immediately started to glow green, "All I've got is this. It's not very bright, but at least we can see."

Kirito sighed, "Be careful where you step. This would be the perfect spot to put traps."

Hanna nodded, and they started to move. However they had barely taken twenty steps before something started coming out of a coffin, but it wasn't a Revenant. It was a ghost of some sort, it wasn't like what most media depicted ghosts as though. Instead of being a luminescent pearly white, it was darker than night. Covered by a ragged cloak of some sort, the only things visible were its clawed hands, it's red glowing eyes, and it's mouth full of needle sharp teeth, the inside of which was emitting a glow similar to its eyes(4).

Its name and health bar appeared a moment later, it was called «Vengeful Wraith». Two more joined the first almost immediately. The Wraiths quickly proved to be the opposite of the Revenants. They moved extremely fast, but did little damage and had a small amount of health. Hanna took point for these, as she was faster than Kirito. She was limited to her falcata, as while their eyes and mouths glowed, she didn't want to fight them in the dark.

The first one fell quickly, as she turned to the next one though, she quickly found it slashing at her with its claws. The other was coming up behind her, and with the narrowness of the hallway there was only one way to dodge. So she instinctively cartwheeled out of the way. The mobs nearly crashed into each other, and the firsts attack hit the one that had been coming up behind her. She narrowed her eyes, the second ones health dropped a little. Mobs could hurt each other? She didn't think that was possible, but the proof in the second Wraiths health bar was right in front of her. Interesting. At that point the second one charged her, but seven lightning fast slashes shattered it into polygons, and the third fell quickly after.

Kirito walked up to her, and she quickly looked at him, "Did you see that? After I cartwheeled?"

Kirito gave her a confused look, "No, I didn't see anything in particular. Why? What happened?"

Hanna narrowed her eyes, "The one that was attacking me actually hurt the one that was at my back. I saw its health drop from the attack."

Kirito's eyes widened for a split second, then narrowed in thought as he slowly spoke, "Well, players have to be careful not to hit each other, and while this game is many things, it's also fair. If we can accidentally hurt each other, it makes sense the mobs can as well. Still, that's something we need to tell Argo. While I doubt it'll be a huge help to anyone, it might. So we should get her to add it into the latest guidebook."

Hanna nodded. As they made their way down the hallway there were in fact a few traps. Even with the low light from her claw they managed to see most of them, but they accidentally activated a few they didn't notice. One of them almost went through Kirito's neck, and while decapitation wouldn't happen unless you were low on health, being a neck shot it would've taken a huge chunk of his health points. Soon after, they found out that the Wraiths had a special ability. They could make a Banshee-like scream, and if you were too close when they did you became momentarily paralyzed. While a bit of a bother, it wasn't a huge issue until they reached the second room, which was pretty much exactly like the first, only with fifty more coffins. However a sixth of the coffins contained Wraiths. Their screams were very troublesome then, as the paralysis gave the Revenants time to hit you. Thankfully, only three Wraiths emerged at a time. Even so, by the time they'd cleared that room both of their health bars were in the yellow.

Kirito glanced at her, "You wanna check the coffins while I check the rest of the room?"

Hanna shrugged, "Sure."

She started near the hallway they came from and slowly made her way towards the door. On her thirteenth row of coffins, she found something, "Hey! I found a button!"

Kirito looked over, "Well, push it then."

She did exactly that. Immediately there was a click followed by the sound of stones heavily grinding against each other, and the coffin slid to the side revealing a chest embedded into the ground. Kirito walked up, "Do you wanna open it, or should I?

Hanna shrugged, so Kirito leaned down and opened it. The inside was empty, but all chests were. Instead a window popped up in front of Kirito. It was solid grey to her, since he hadn't made it viewable to her, but he immediately changed that. She read the widow over,

'Chest found! Items received:

50,000 col

Three Teleport crystals

Cloak of the Void'

Hanna tilted her head, "Cloak of the Void?"

Kirito glanced at her, then got rid of the chest menu. As he stood up, he quickly made his way to the cloak, then made his menu visible to her. She leaned over to read over his shoulder, at the top was the items name, followed by its stats, which were rather high. Below that was the item description, 'Created from the cloaks of one hundred Wraiths, the Cloak of the Void makes its wearer nearly invisible, and boosts damage dealt from the shadows, making it the perfect cloak for an assassin.

+20% to Hiding

+20% to Tracking

2x damage done while undetected

2x damage dealt with daggers and claws'

Kirito hummed, "Nice." Hanna nodded, he glanced at her, then started manipulating the widow, "Well, I've got my coat already. So you can have the cloak."

Hanna tilted her head, "You sure? I mean, I know you use the coat so people can identify you as 'the beater Kirito', and are kinda attached to it, but that cloak's stronger."

Kirito nodded, "Ya. Besides, my «Coat of Midnight» has a hiding buff too. Admittedly, it's only a 5% boost, but it still has it. Plus, it boosts claw damage, so it's better suited for you anyway."

Hanna nodded, then clicked accept when a trade menu popped in front of her without adding anything, "If you're sure." opening her menu, She quickly equipped her new cloak, "With loot like that in here, I doubt there's anything else hidden, but let's check anyway."

Hanna ended up being right, as there was nothing else, in any of the other coffins or anywhere else. So they moved on. The next hallway was thankfully lit, and wide enough for two people to fight together comfortably, but there were both Revenants and Wraiths, and they always attacked at the same time. Without speaking, it was decided Hanna would deal with the Wraiths while Kirito took the Revenants. After half an hour, they reached a massive golden door. It was defiantly the dungeons boss room.

Sharing a quick glance with Kirito, Hanna pushed her hand against the door, but it didn't budge. Hanna scowled, "Are you kidding me?! It's locked?! What, beating the rest of your stupid dungeon wasn't enough for you?"

Kirito sighed, "Calm down Hanna. I know this dungeon is frustrating, but losing your temper won't solve anything. Let's just look for a way to open it here, then make our way back to see if we missed something important."

Hanna huffed angrily, then at Kirito's pointed look forced herself to take a calming breath, "Ok, let's just look for the stupid thing. I'm completely done with this dungeon. I'll take the left side."

Five minutes later Kirito called out to her, "Found something."

Looking over she saw Kirito crouched on the floor, staring at the wall. Walking up to him, she saw he was looking at a circular hole in the wall. Crouching next to him her leaned over to look in, but saw nothing as it was completely dark. Activating a skill with her claw, and holding it up only revealed a few inches inside. What little she could see was bare.

They both stared for a minute. Then she let her skill fizzle out, and lowered her claw, "Whatchya wanna bet you gotta stick your arm in there."

Kirito snorted, "Not a single col." he paused, "It is my arm going in, isn't it."

His tone was a bit defeated, and it was definitely a statement rather than a question. Hanna nodded without hesitation, "Yup. Don't worry. I doubt anything will happen." at his deadpan look, she rolled her eyes, "I'm serious. Think about it. The Revenants, the coffin switch, the dark hallway with Wraiths and traps, the Wraiths themselves. This entire dungeon is designed to scare people. It's less of a test of strength, and more of a test of nerves. So even if something does happen, I doubt it'll be that dangerous. It'll probably be more scary than anything. The worst it can do is cut your hand off, which a healing potion can grow back in a few hours. Besides, in case you've forgotten, you can't feel pain, so even if it does take your arm off, it's not like it'll hurt."

Kirito sighed, then nodded. Just as he was about to put his hand in, he paused, "Ok, I'll admit everything you said was true, but what if it doesn't just take my hand off? What if it also poisons me or something? The combination of a poison and lost limb status effects could kill me rather quickly, depending on the poisons level."

Hanna paused as she realized he was right, then quickly opened and manipulated her menu. Pulling out a healing crystal she held onto it, "Then I'll just use this. It'll regrow the limb instantly, which will buy us enough time to deal with any other debuffs."

Kirito nodded, then reached into the hole. A moment later there was a click, and the boss door began to open. Kirito froze, "Hanna?"

"Yes?"

"Something just grabbed my arm. I can't pull it out."

Hanna frowned, "Did it grab you as soon as you pushed the button, or was there a small delay?"

"Immediately."

Hanna's frown deepened, "I swear, this better not be a trap designed to make parties leave someone behind while they fight the boss. If it is, I can guarantee you it won't let go until the boss is defeated."

Kirito pursed his lips, "I think it might be. After all if something was going to happen, it would've done so already. Right?"

Hanna shook her head, "Not necessarily. There could be a wait so that the player either has time to panic, or so they're tensely waiting for something to-" there was a large click from the wall, then a loud metallic grinding noise started, "-happen."

Kirito shifted as best he could, "Saw about to cut off my arm, or loud noise only meant to scare me?"

Hanna glanced at him, "50/50."

"Figured as much."

The waited in silence as the grinding noise slowly got closer, and Kirito began to instinctively tense up. It lasted about a minute, then the noise abruptly stopped. A moment later there was a loud click, and Kirito quickly pulled his completely intact arm back. He frowned as he rubbed his wrist, "Hanna?" she hummed as she pocketed the health crystal. She'd already pulled it out, so she figured she'd keep it out in case they needed it for the boss fight. Kirito shifted, "This dungeon sucks."

She snorted in amusement, "Come on. We've got a beat down to give to a boss."

He grinned lightly. Then stood up and followed her. They paused in the doorway as they got a look at the room. It was enormous, with intricate carvings on the walls, and equally intricate pillars neatly lined up in two rows ten feet from the walls. Other than that it was almost completely bare, as the only thing in the room was a massive stone on a raised platform at the end of the room.

Kirito tilted his head, "Let me guess, the stone is really a massive coffin and when we get close the boss will burst out."

Hanna shook her head, "Nah. They did the bursting coffin thing for the Revenants. It'll try to jump scare us, by popping up out of nowhere as we make out way to the stone coffin thing."

Kirito tilted his head, then nodded in agreement. They shared a look, then readied their weapons. Twenty feet in the door closed behind them, but they only spared it a glance. Halfway to the maybe coffin, the ground cracked open five feet in front of them, and a massive claw of bone tried to crush them. As they jumped back to avoid the attack, the ground began to break apart, and a large dragon pulled itself out. It was almost entirely bone. What little skin there was, covered its neck, then followed the spikes jutting up from its spine to its tail, and was between the bones of its wings, but there were many holes torn into it. Its claws were razor sharp, and its tail ended in a needle like point. Its large head had a spike protruding from between its eyes, which were glowing blue(5). It had two health bars, and its name was above them, «Livjatan the Dracolich».

Kirito glanced at her, then took point. Darting in he slashed at its head four times, then was forced to jump back, to avoid a lightning fast bite. She darted in as he dated away, then started manually going through the motions of a six hit falcata skill. After the fifth one though, she abruptly shifted to a different skill. When the boss froze as its algorithms tried to figure the attack out, she charged an actual skill, a ten hit medium damage falcata skill called «Ember Song». She unfroze from the skill use, then jumped back when Kirito called for a switch. He rushed by her with a skill ready, then hit the boss with it. She recognized it as the heavy damage four hit skill «Vertical Square». At that point the boss unfroze and swiped at Kirito. When he jumped back it used the momentum from its attack to stab its tail at him like a spear. Kirito blocked, but her jaw dropped when it took a sixteenth of his health anyway. This was a mini-boss on the tenth floor, and Kirito was level 40! It shouldn't be able to do that much damage when Kirito blocks!

Darting forward she called for Kirito to switch. Left slash with her falcata, right slash with her claw, diagonally up then down back the same path, back to her sword for three rapid back and forth slashes while she charged a skill with her claw. Release the claw skill, «Lions Fury», which causes a stun debuff for ten seconds. With that she bought Kirito the time to use a potion, then switched with him again. He immediately hit the boss with five rapid slashes, then seemed to shift his balance before following it up with three more hits. The boss froze again, and with a jolt she realized he'd used her tactic of manually starting a sword skill, then switching to another partway through.

Chancing a glance the Dracolich's health, she was relieved to see it only had half of its second bar left. With how overpowered it seemed, she'd been worried it had a ridiculous amount of health. She supposed it kinda did. Being a level ten boss, which she was beginning to doubt, it should already be dead due to the level difference between it and them. She was beginning to think this dungeon was one you were supposed to come back to later. She wasn't going to complain though, it was almost dead, and if she was right they'd get some amazing gear incredibly early. Actually, this being a dungeon you were supposed to return to later would explain the «Cloak of the Void». While she'd been looking at its health, she charged up Ember song again. Then switched with Kirito so he could charge a heavy skill. Switching again Kirito hit it with his skill just as it unfroze.

To their horror though, the boss wasn't finished off, and immediately lunged for Kirito just as the glow from his sword started to die down. Hanna was too far away to interfere in time. Just as she stepped forward to try and reach him, Kirito's fist began to glow blue. The «Martial Arts» skill they'd gotten together. But he shouldn't be able to use it, he'd freeze in a second from using the previous skill. That second proved to be all he needed to activate the skill, and punch the boss in the face full on. It froze, then a moment later shattered into millions of blue polygons.

Hanna stared at Kirito's back. Game or not, he just killed a dragon, by punching it in the face. Punched a dragon. To death. In the face. An undead dragon to boot. She'd known he was kind and sweet, that he was playful, if a bit of a sleepy head, and he was highly intelligent too. Apparently being all those things wasn't enough for him though, he's gotta be a badass too. She flushed. Damn her family's weakness for stylish badassery! She'd almost managed to convince herself she didn't have a crush on him, as she thought the death game situation made it entirely inappropriate. There went that down the drain. She'd never be able to deny it now.

Kirito turned to her as he unfroze from the skill. She shook herself out of her thoughts, "What was that?'

Kirito shrugged, "I don't know actually. I guess if you charge and release it before the skill cool down kicks in, you can chain skills together. I wanna do some experimenting with it later."

Hanna nodded, "Sure. If you need any help just ask."

He smiled gently, "I know. Now, how about we stop ignoring these windows and see what our troubles got us?"

Hanna nodded with a grin, then looked down at the window. The usual large 'Congratulations!' banner was at the top. Under that it said, 'Congratulations on beating Livjatan the Dracolich! Please select your reward:

Cursed Claw

Blade of Decay

Tainted Scythe

Bloodbound Axe

Scourge of the Damned

Star-crossed Whip of Misfortune'

The scythe and Axe were mildly tempting, but the time it took to reequip made them unworth it. Hanna glanced at Kirito, "I've got Blade of the Damned and Cursed Claw over here."

Kirito nodded, "Same. You take the claw, I'll take the sword, and if it's a falcata it's yours."

Hanna nodded, clicked the claw, then confirmed her choice. Opening her menu, Hanna quickly went into her equipment to check out the new weapon. Clicking the weapon to look at its stats she stared. Then she laughed. Maniacally. Kirito gave her a strange look that was a weird cross between concerned and weary. She stopped, then coughed awkwardly while looking away from him. A glance at her menu had her grinning insanely.

Kirito shifted away, "Should I be worried?"

She pushed the button to make her menu readable to other players, then pushed hey menu towards him, "Read it out loud. I wanna make sure I'm understanding it correctly."

He gave her one last weary glance then turned his attention to the menu, "Cursed Claw." he frowned briefly as he looked the stats over, "This things weaker than the claws in the Town of Beginnings." Hanna made an impatient 'go on' gesture, he sighed, "This cursed weapon absorbs the souls of its victims. With every mob or player the wielder slays with it, this claw's strength grows. The stronger the slain, the bigger the growth, this claw's potential is nearly limitless. Claw level: 1 Xp: 0%(6)"

Kirito gaped at the menu for a minute, then started laughing incredulously. Hanna grinned at him, "I know, right?!"

He shook his head, "That's-" cut off for a minute, then huffed a small laugh, "Damn. You really are a goddess of luck."

(1): Old English, it means Water Witchcraft.

(2): I looked it up, old English is dated to have been used from 450-1150.

(3): This level gap won't grow that quickly anymore, but it will pretty much stay there, since it's because of how they grind, and no one else is willing to do the same thing.

(4): I looked up wraiths, this description is based off this image- vignette4. wikia. nocookie forgottenrealms / images / f / f3 / 4e _ wraith. jpg / revision / latest? cb = 20081013213240

(5): looked up undead dragons. Image the Dracolich is based off of- vignette3. wikia. nocookie forgottenrealms / images / 7 / 7e / Dracolich _ -_ Fred _ Hooper. jpg / revision / latest? cb = 20090519092335

(6): Idea gotten from rougehunter11's fanfic 'The Beaters' and used with their permission.