Seething in anger, Xena punched the wall outside of the Amphitheater causing a message board that read «Immortal Object» as contact was made.
"Don't go blaming us, κώλος." Xena spoke through her teeth as she looked down at her feet. "We didn't know this would happen." Despite being angry, Xena sighed and let her arm fall to her side. She knew herself that even if she had gotten angry, it wouldn't have mattered since everyone had the same thought, but only the man she saw make his way to the from the theater was the one who expressed his disgust. "Let's just go out and get more mats." With that in mind, Xena made her way to Tolbana's NPC Blacksmith.
Walking past a man twice her height, the man of raven black hair with ice blue eyes and smooth alabaster skin walked past the small girl without so much as a glance. As the goth looking man walked up to an NPC, he spoke rather softly.
"I've finished your request." Catching the NPC's attention, the man NPC spoke up.
"Ah, lad, you finished. Let's see." As a window opened in front of the NPC, the man sent over what looked to be Dire Wolf claws. "Yup it's all here. Here's your pay. I hope you'll be available again I might need your to grab these again."
And with that the quest was completed, seeing his level rise up, Diz walked around the town of Tolbana to notice everyone talking amongst themselves. Getting closer to a group of players, the tall man in black overhead their conversation.
"So, we go tomorrow?" One player asked.
"That seems to be the plan." Another responded.
"Finally, after a month, we finally get to move up to the 2nd Floor." A third answered.
"They found the Boss Room?" Curious about the situation, Diz decided to place himself close to the chatter to listen in on each and every conversation, at least until something else caught his attention.
"JUST GIVE IT HERE, YOU BRAT!" A man yelled without restraint, as he held a young girl's wrist.
"LET GO!" Xena yelled back as she tried to pull her arm out of the man's grasp. "I worked hard for these mats, they're mine!"
In a fit of rage, the man tossed Xena to the ground. The fall was enough to make her drop one of her mats that she was going to use for upgrading her sword. Rushing to grab it, Xena managed to place her hand on it, but the man went and stomped on her hand, causing the young girl to grunt out in pain.
As the man began to smile wickedly at the girl's pained expression, he bent down and began to try to forcibly take the mat that was currently in her hand.
"You just had to go and make this difficult." But before he could, the man was launched by the sound of a sword skill. Now realizing that someone attacked him, the man looked back to see Diz standing in between Xena and him. "What the hell are you doing?!" The man asked in a fit of rage.
"Stopping you." Diz answered as he moved his hand through his hair.
"Who's that?" Xena thought to herself as she looked up through her hair.
"OH, I see." The man's smile soon began to grow as he began to think of what to say. "It's because she's cute, huh? Well, hate to break it to you buddy, but that girl you're defending is a beta tester."
"Hoo…" Looking back, Diz noticed the young, tan-skinned girl looked down to the ground, then began to go through his menu. "I honestly don't care if she is or isn't a beta tester." Then a window appeared in front of the man. "Accept it, otherwise you'll be nothing but a man who will be known to only lie to get his way."
Diz's words pissed the man off, as he accepted without much question. Watching from a distance, Sean looked from Diz to Xena, who had managed to get onto her feet and backed away from the fight, then to the man who caused the ruckus. As the counter soon began to count down, Sean wore a smirk on his face.
"What's so funny?" Sayori asked as she approached.
"Oh, nothing." Sean answered with a soft smile, to which Sayori blushed at. "What's wrong with you?"
"Nothing." Sayori answered swiftly as she looked away from Sean.
Then the timer's time ran out, before the man even had a chance to charge at Diz, the 6-foot-tall man, rushed past the man without warning and held a katana to the man's neck.
"Surrender." Diz spoke in a harsh tone.
"I…I SURRENDER!" As the man said that the battle ended in a one-sided victory. For Diz at least.
Placing his longsword back in its sheath that hung from his shoulder, Diz looked back with an unenthusiastic look face. As he approached the man who was on all 4 looking down on the ground, Diz began to speak.
"And just so you know, she's not a beta tester." The man looked up to see Diz standing in front of him, casting a shadow on the bully player's face. "I am." And with those words, Diz walked away and out of Tolbana.
.
Outside the gates of Tolbana…
.
Seen going through his menu, Diz began to check what he had and what he needed to get. After a few moments, Diz began to hear footsteps approach him. Not looking away from his menu for even a second, Diz spoke up.
"If you've come to thank me, don't bother." Diz spoke in a rather harsh tone.
"I'm not here to thank you. Just came to ask for your name." Xena spoke up. Now looking away from his menu, Diz took note of Xena's appearance.
"Diz." The man in black introduced himself.
"Xena." Xena answered in a soft smile, which caught Diz off-guard. Approaching Diz more, Xena began to give the man a once over. After she was satisfied with what she saw, the young girl began to speak. "So…for a guy…you're not half bad." Taking a few steps back to allow the man some breathing space, Diz looked up just to see Xena spin around and placed her hand behind her back. "You're a 6.5 out of 10 for me." Xena smiled over her shoulder. "But sadly, you're not my type." Xena's smiled turned from a soft, endearing smile, to that of a smirk. "See ya." And with that the young ginger-haired girl skipped away.
On the other hand, Diz was having a breakdown on what he might have done wrong. But I'd rather let him save face, and not share it to the world.
Seen walking away from Tolbana, the bully player stomped his feet and yelled out in anger, as he was upset that his plan to get mats easily from other players went up in flames because of Diz's interference.
"If it wasn't for that black samurai…well I would have been living the easy life." The man spoke through his teeth, as his anger just radiated off of him, but he soon became unaware of another player behind him.
"OH, so you bully players into giving you their hard earned materials so you can live the easy life. Pretty arrogant of you to do so." But even as the bully player turned around, all he saw was an orange cursor before his world became black.
A few moments later, a scream was heard, but it was silenced by the night.
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The Next Day, in the Early Morning…
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Making their way up the last pillar on Floor 1 just a few hours before the Boss Raid, Shirou and his party looked around for anything that might seem out of place. This was due to Shimizu getting a quest after helping an NPC who was being attacked by a giant Kobold Knight out in the West Field just outside of the 1st Floor Forest.
"So…" Makoto spoke up as he looked around to see no mob in sight. "The NPC said there was information for the Boss in this Pillar right?"
"He said One of the Pillars." Hinata corrected her brother as she looked around only to see a dead end in front of her and walls to her side. "Since no one checked this Pillar out, Shirou thought if there was any info on the boss, it'd be here."
"This is pointless." Shimizu added as she leaned against the dead-end wall. "We're not going to find anything here. We've been here for a few hours already. Let's get back so we can at least catch up with the-" But before she could finish her sentence, she heard something unlock then shatter and afterwards she fell backwards. "Whoa!"
"Thanks, I guess." Shirou answered as he held his hand out to help Shimizu up. "So, anyone have any idea how that happened?"
"Nope." Both twins answered.
"I think I do." Shimizu answered as she opened her menu to notice an item she had equipped suddenly missing. "The bracelet I received as a reward for helping the NPC and had equipped, just vanished, so I checked my inventory only to see it gone. Maybe it was a key?"
"Probably…Well then.." Entering the room, the four players began to look around, and noticed how isolated and dusty it was. "What type of room is this?" Shirou asked as he looked back to his group while still walking forward.
"I think this was the room that Kobold Knight managed to escape from, or at least that what I think the NPC was mentioning." As she was saying this, Hinata's foot smacked something that rattled as it moved. Looking down, Hinata noticed a skeleton and screamed to the top of her lungs, while jumping into her brother's arms.
"Huh? A skeleton's in here. Who would've though?" Shirou spoke up as he knelt down and placed the skeleton's hand on his head.
"Don't touch it!" Hinata screamed only to hear something ring in front of her."
"Hey, I got an item." Opening the item, Shirou noticed it was a single sheet of paper.
"What does it say?"
"Let's see." Shirou looked at the paper in the dimly lit hallway.
To Warriors of the Coming Days
Forgive me for Placing you Upon This Stage
My setback may leave you in disarray
But fret not for I leave you with Wisdom today
As Shirou read what was on the paper, Hinata, having managed to calm down, began to walk around to see cave paintings of what looked to be Illfang. But as she stared at the painting, she couldn't help but find it odd. While the first painting showed several stick figures of people armed fighting against the beast, the beast had what looked to be a shield and axe, but another had the Boss dawning what looked to be nothing like a Talwar. Seeing this, Hinata began to back up, since she was there during the beta test when they fought against Illfang.
Illfang the Kobold Lord is its Name
Two weapons it will have on him…
Not even finishing what was written, Shirou froze on what he saw.
"Shirou…why did you stop?" Makoto asked.
"We have to rush to the boss room…Now!" Shirou and Hinata spoke in a scary synchrony as they both rushed out of the room and onto the hallway.
"Use all of your SP if you have to we need to rush to the Boss Room, everyone's walking into a death trap!" Shirou yelled out as the four managed to rush out of the Pillar in record time.
.
Meanwhile, just outside of the Boss Room…
.
As Diavel began giving his speech, Xena pulled her hood over her face and began to look behind her. About 44 people have joined in this raid, and if they failed, 44 will die. That alone sat on her conscious, and it hurt her.
"Now, let's beat this Boss and move up to Floor 2!" Diavel spoke in a chivalrous tone as he turned around and placed his hand on the door and it opened as a response.
"Well…no turning back now." Xena spoke to herself as she placed her hand on her blade as she rushed in right behind Diavel.
As everyone entered the Boss Room, it was pitch black inside with the only light entering coming from the hallway outside of the Boss Room.
"Where is it?" Xena thought to herself as she looked around while staying right behind Diavel. "Do you see him?" Xena asked the man in blue.
"No. Do you?" Diavel asked as he stepped closer into the Boss Room while whispering to Xena.
But just then, the room lit up like a Christmas Tree and revealed the boss at the end of the room. With just a single jump Illfang the Kobold Lord was right in front of the group. Commencing the attack, the raid party didn't hesitate to begin fighting.
"Alright, let's get to it." Sean spoke up as he began to rush towards a minion.
"Right behind you." Sayori yelled after, as she pulled out her two-handed sword and rushed behind him.
Leading with a battle cry, Sayori was the first to strike at the minion that appeared before her.
.
In the Hallway leading to the Boss Room…
.
Taking out another mob, Shirou rushed forward to try and lessen the burden on everyone around him, the amount of time he was taking on mobs was minimal, but the speed in which he was clearing them out was outstanding.
"Come on! They're probably in there already!" Shirou exclaimed as he rushed forward.
"Right." Everyone else answered as they followed suit.
As they passed mobs that spawned in the already empty hallway, Shirou just rushed past them.
"Leave them! We don't have time!" Despite the mobs following the group, Shirou's speed, as well as his groups was far faster than the mobs could keep up with.
"Uh, we have a problem!" Makoto yelled towards Shirou as he noticed the more mobs spawning in and began to catch up to the group. "I think we're being aggroed!"
Hearing her brother yell that, Hinata stopped herself and took out a mob that had rushed past her. Hearing the explosion of the tiny particles, Shirou turned around to see Hinata standing in front of the mob army that had followed them. Just as he was about to stop and try to assist Hinata, Makoto began to push Shirou forward.
"But your sister's back there!" He yelled as he was pushed forward.
"I know!" Makoto yelled. "But just trust your team!" Gritting his teeth so hard, Shirou continued running forward.
"You better stay alive, you hear me?!" Shirou yelled back as he continued forward.
"Easier said than done." Hinata spoke back in a whisper as prepared for battle. "Now then, come a become my XP, will ya?" Letting out a battle cry, Hinata rushed head long into the fray that came to her.
This action was then followed by Makoto, then finally Shimizu, in hopes of giving Shirou some breathing room to get to the Boss Room uninterrupted. Running with all his might, Shirou noticed a pair of large doors just up ahead. Pushing himself as hard as he could, he believed that in just a few moments, he would be able to save everyone from the suicide mission. But without warning, something made contact to his side, launching him away from the Boss Room entrance. Struggling to get up, Shirou looked in front of him to see a large Kobold Knight with a ball and chain as it walked slowly towards the young man.
"Out of my…WAY!" Shirou yelled out as he rushed toward the mob knight, sword in hand.
.
.
Taking another strike at the minion, Sean looked back to see Illfang's health dropping into the red.
"Alright, we're almost done, now everyone needs to…" But something unexpected happened, something Sean never expected to happen.
"Alright everyone back up, Xena and I got this." Diavel ordered everyone to retreat, but Xena and Diavel rushed forward with a small smile on their faces.
"Wait, I thought the plan was to attack the boss all at once." But seeing Diavel smile at someone, it became clear as to what was happening. "He's going after the Last Attack Bonus!" But as he looked towards Illfang, he noticed the Boss pull out a sword with a shorter handle, but a thicker blade. "Hold on that's not a Talwar!" But before he could scream out, someone else beat him to the punch.
"Stop! That's not a Talwar, it's a Nodachi!" This player yelled out, which caused both Xena and Diavel to stop in their tracks.
As Xena looked forward, she noticed that what the player said was true, but by then it was too late. Illfang jumped up and began to pounce from every pillar before landing in front of Xena. Doing her best to move out of the way, Xena barely received a scratch on her leg, but the force of Illfang's swing tossed her halfway across the room. As for Diavel, he was sliced once. Despite the cut being minimal, it was obvious that Illfang wasn't done with his attack.
"DIAVEL!" Xena exclaimed as she tried and rushed to her partner. "No, I won't make in time!" Seeing all hope in saving her ally, Xena's world began to slow down, until a bright white light sped through the Boss Room and landed in front of Diavel.
Without warning, Illfang's blade bounced back revealing Shirou as the one who caused the white light. But without even acknowledging anyone around him, he rushed towards the boss without any hesitation.
"Sayori!" Sean yelled out, catching the brunette's attention. "Go help him! His health is in the red!"
"Right!" Sayori yelled back as she rushed to the front of the Assault Team.
Leading with a battle cry, Shirou rushed with a ferocity stronger than anyone had ever anticipated. So strong in fact, that the people around him froze from shock. Taking the first decisive strike against Illfang, Shirou began to attack without letting up, dodging when needed, attacking when he could.
As Sayori came in just a few seconds after Shirou, she tried to attack, only to caused herself, as well as Shirou, to collide.
"Watch it!" Shirou yelled out as he narrowly avoided the Boss's blade.
"Sorry!" Sayori yelled back. "Come on, Sayori. Match his rhythm!" As Sayori began to count, in intervals of 1 to 5, she began to see Shirou's pattern. "Ok, 1…" Dodging to her left to stay out of Shirou's way. "2..." Rushing around Illfang to stay out of sight. "3…" Seeing Shirou attack from the front, Sayori rushed in. "4!..." Getting her two-handed sword ready, Sayori went on the offense. "5!" Taking a strike, Sayori stopped Illfang from attacking, giving enough time for Shirou to jump back from its attack.
"THAT'S IT!" Shirou exclaimed with a wide grin as he went for an attack.
"Let's go!" Following after Shirou, Sayori rushed forward, now confident that she won't be a burden to the man leading the charge.
Getting up and looking at her health, Xena noticed it was still in the yellow, nowhere near the red. After realizing what had happened, Xena looked back to see Diavel's health in the red. Rushing to her feet, Xena pulled out a healing potion and knelt by Diavel's side.
"Here." The ginger-haired girl said in a rush as she brought the potion close to him, but the blue-haired man pushed her hand away. "I said drink it!" Forcing Diavel's hand down, Xena practically forced the potion in the young man's mouth and forced him to drink it.
Tossing the empty bottle, Xena noticed the wound Diavel received vanish and his health beginning to climb back up towards the yellow. Sighing a breath of relief, Xena felt her arm being tugged. Looking down, Xena noticed Diavel staring up at her.
"Go and help them." Diavel spoke weakly.
Not letting up their fight, both Shirou and Sayori began to fight in sync that Illfang couldn't keep up with the two warriors and just began to swing his sword all randomly. Despite this, the two warriors dodged the attacks easily. Continuously looking from the boss to its health, Shirou noticed how low his health had become.
"Good just a bit more." Shirou thought to himself as he switched out with Xena who had just joined the fight. Pulling out an Emergency Crystal, Shirou used it on himself and saw that his health had jumped back into the green. Sighing a breath of relief, Shirou rushed forward. "Time to finish this!"
As the boss's attacks became more and more unpredictable, Shirou, Sayori and Xena all had to keep their distance as they tried to attack. Going in for the attack as Xena and Sayori parried Illfang's attack, activating a sword skill in that moment as the boss's sword went up into the air. Hoping to land a strike on his side, Shirou pushed forward, seeing the end just in sight.
But, like all things, it was never going to work. In that moment, as Shirou's blade went straight, sword skill fully active, Illfang's blade curved around his. Seeing this, Shirou forcibly canceled his sword skill, and quickly parried his blade against the oncoming attack before he became paralyzed from the aftershock. Unable to move quickly enough, Shirou's body was sent flying straight towards Xena. Seeing this, Sayori became too distracted to see the incoming attack.
"Watch out!" Shirou grunted as he tried to push himself up. Now remembering she was still in a fight, Sayori noticed the Nodachi heading straight for her.
Parrying the incoming blade as best she could, Sayori's efforts were in vain as she was sent flying back straight into the supporting pillar behind her. Opening her eyes after the shock, Sayori noticed that Illfang was headed straight for Shirou and Xena.
"Watch out!" She yelled out, only to see Xena pull herself out from under Shirou and noticed Illfang's approach. Holding her sword above her head, Xena awaited what could have been the strike that ended her life.
"Haaa!" Someone's war cry rang out as a sword skill launched Illfang the Kobold Lord back, stopping its nearly fatal attack. "Thank you. I can't thank you enough for saving Diavel. Allow us to handle the rest." A young boy, probably around 13, turned around to face both Shirou and Xena. His black hair swaying with his movements. As he looked back towards the Floor 1 Boss, another player came to his side.
"Hey, thanks for taking care of Hinata and Makoto. Truly." This Red Riding Hood caped player said as she threw off her cape and placed her hand on her rapier. "Let's go."
With the defeat of Illfang the Kobold Lord, everyone began to cheer on their victory, and celebrate the fact that no one died, but someone ended the joyous moment with words of hate.
"STOP CHEERING!" The person yelled, catching everyone attention.
As everyone turned to see who yelled to the top of their lungs, they noticed a man of light brown hair spike up like an iron spike ball, with a small goatee.
"Why'd you do it?" Kibao asked. "Why did you keep that info from us?!" Stunned at Kibao's words, Shirou was about to go and speak up when suddenly someone else spoke up before him.
"I know why, it's cause he used to be a Beta Tester. He knew and he kept it from us!" Someone else spoke up after Kibao, which then suddenly turned everyone's attention from the victory celebration they had to an all-out scream-fest towards the young boy of black hair.
Hearing laughter Shirou turned around and noticed the young man of black hair laughing rather psychotically. In that moment, Shimizu and the twins managed to enter the boss room, just in time to hear the boy's speech.
"So, you guys think I used to be a beta tester." The boy stood up as he spoke. "It's best not to put in the same class as those newbs." Walking through the crowd of players, the boy began to speak more. "You heard me. Most of the thousand players who scored a slot in SAOs beta were rookies. They were so green, they didn't even know how to level up. Hell, even you guys were better than they were." When the boy said that murmurs began to be heard, echoing in the silent Boss Room.
"What's happening?" Shimizu thought to herself as she saw everyone gathered around one player.
"But me…I'm nothing like those guys man." Standing confident in front of Kibao, the young boy placed his hand on his hip and continued his speech. "I've made it to higher floors, and defeated a ton more bosses then they have. I knew about the boss's attack because of that." Smiling confidently, the boy stared directly into Kibao's eyes. "I know a bunch of things more, more than you can image. More than any info broker."
"My god." Kibao spoke up after finding his voice once again. "You're worse than a beta tester…YOU'RE A GODDAMN CHEATER, THAT'S WHAT YOU ARE!"
As soon as Kibao said this, the people around him began to explode in rage and one person even spoke up and created a name.
"He's a beta tester and a cheater…He's a BEATER!"
"A beater, huh?" The boy spoke up once again and he went through his menu. "Yeah, I like that. Okay, call me a beater." Then he equipped a new item, a cloak of dark blue with white dots that seem to represent stars. "Just don't mix me up with those beta testers."
And with that he began to walk away in stride. But before he walked to far, Shirou opened his menu and sent the boy a friend request. The sudden request caught the boy off guard, and he looked back as a result only to see Shirou's eyes holding the same look he always had on him since the beginning of the death game.
Smiling at what appeared to be the eyes of hope for the young black-haired boy, the boy accepted, then turned his attention towards his female partner.
Getting up to his feet, Shirou then turned his attention towards Kibao and the gang behind him. Walking up without so much as a turning glance to everyone around him, all the other players turned and watched as Shirou walked towards Kibaou.
"What do you want?" Kibaou asked as Shirou walked past him and towards another player.
"What?" The player asked before being punched in the stomach.
"Hey!" But before Kibaou could even more, Shirou swiftly pulled out his blade and pointed it at Kibao.
"There was quest." Was the first thing Shirou said, which caught the spike-haired man's attention. "That quest told me and my party what we thought we knew, and a little more."
"What are you talking about?" Kibaou asked, wondering where Shirou was going with this.
"That quest told us what weapons the boss was using, and I managed to tell the boy who just walked away, who then yelled it out." Lying through his teeth, Shirou looked up to see Kibaou with a stunned look on his face. "Despite my best attempts to get here, it was almost futile when I saw Diavel getting hit. That's when I made my move."
"Wait…so you're telling me, there was quest for this boss?" As everyone began to look at Shirou, then at Kibaou, they were more stunned than confused. "Why didn't you…"
"Because my voice wasn't strong enough, so that boy yelled it out louder. He didn't do anything wrong…" Walking up and practically putting his face on Kibaou's, Shirou looked directly into eyes of the man in front of him. "You should be thanking him, not blaming him." Then dropping his sword on the ground, Shirou began to walk away.
"Where are you going?!" Kibaou exclaimed.
"Simple, to the 2nd Floor." Shirou answered without hesitation.
"Without your sword!?" Kibaou asked, confused as hell as to what was going on.
"Why, you blamed a man who wasn't a beta tester. So, blame me too." But before he took another step, Shirou spoke over his shoulder. "But, if you need any help, I'm more than willing to give it, that's if you want any help from a Beater."