Here is Chapter 4. Now,as you guys can probably guess, I'll be filling in certain time skips with my own events. However, I know that there are certain events in the manga/light novel where there's a few more scenes and events that weren't in the anime. So if anyone can leave a link to a good website where I can read either for free, (Since I'm completely broke), that'd be great.
Disclaimer: I don't own Assassination Classroom or Sword Art Online. Assassination Classroom is owned Yusei Matsui and Shuiesha. Sword Art Online is owned by Reki Kawahara and Shuiesha.
"One! Two! Three! Four!" Hotaru called out as she swung her dagger around. She and Nagisa were out in the fields, practicing knife drills. True to Nagisa's word, he decided to teach her knifework. She was picking them up at a decent rate. The trio had been training for the entirety of the last two weeks. They had managed to get Hotaru up to level 16. Nagisa and Kazuto were both at around level 20.
They had also gotten a good upgrade each. Hotaru traded her ore to get a Steel Knife. The Steel Knife had slightly less durability than her Iron Knife, but it would still last longer in the long run due to its much greater attack stat. It was also slightly longer, giving her slightly more range.
Nagisa had traded his Tin Katana for a decent Chromium Katana, which he had the option to name. The katana had more durability and attack, but a similar weight to his Tin Katana. Kazuto's sword is the same as before, but he bought a Leather Vest for more defense. Nagisa also made Hotaru get a vest since her health points and mobility was rather low. Just in time to. The first floor boss had been discovered.
Many players were meeting up to plan an attack on the boss. Nagisa and Hotaru decided on one more training session before the meeting. As the two trained, Nagisa observed the younger girl as she practiced. Hotaru wasn't naturally gifted, nor did she have many other talents that could've been interwoven with her skill. Even so, she more than made up for it with her enthusiasm, allowing her to pick up techniques at a fairly quick pace.
"Hey! Guys!" Kazuto called to them at the bottom of the hill. "You'd better wrap it up if you want to get to the meeting on time!"
"All right!" Nagisa called down. He turned to Hotaru. "Let's wrap it up with a quick spar. If you can hit me within 3 minutes, you win."
"Okay!" Hotaru said. She dropped into a decent stance, knife in a reverse grip. Nagisa dropped into his own stance, barehanded, after setting up a timer for 3 minutes and 10 seconds.
"Here I come!" Hotaru said determinedly. When the timer reached the 3 minute mark, she charged at Nagisa. Nagisa parried her initial attack with a slap to her hand, before knocking her back with a solid kick. She scrambled to her feet and attacked again. Nagisa blocked her attacks easily. She attacked even more quickly, only for Nagisa to continue to slap her hands away. Trying to get past it, she lashed out a kick, only for Nagisa to block with his own kick. Getting frustrated by the continuous blocks, Hotaru attacked with a stab, but over shot. Seizing this, Nagisa grabbed her by the arm and threw her over his shoulder. Yelping, she rolled down the hill towards Kazuto, who stepped to the side.
"Times up!" Nagisa called. Hotaru groaned as she stood up shakingly. "Still a ways to go, but you're definitely getting better."
"Really?" Hotaru asked skeptically. "I still can't come close to hitting you, even though it had been almost two weeks."
"You really think you'd be able to beat with your two weeks being pitted against my three years?" Nagisa deadpanned. Hotaru blushed slightly as she realized just how silly that had sounded. Kazuto chuckled as he gave her a Lesser Health Potion.
During their time together, Hotaru had decided to learn the Brewing Skill when she reached level 15. She could only make Lesser Health Potions and Lesser Mana Potions, but they still save a massive amount of Col. The three also had become much closer to each other over the two weeks as well, with Hotaru quickly becoming the little sister of the group.
"Well, let's go to the meeting. We only have a couple minutes." Kazuto told the two blue heads. They nodded as they walked to the town. They eventually reached an ampitheater-like location.
"Shakespeare in the house." Nagisa snickered. Kazuto laughed while Hotaru smiled in amusement. It did seem like a Shakespearean setting. Looking around, Nagisa's smile slightly wavered as he realized that Karma and Kayano weren't around. He frowned when he saw a man with brown cactus style hair and a goatee. A look at Hotaru, who nodded, confirmed that that man was Kibaou, the man who's trying to ruin the beta testers. The three sat a distance away from him, and waited for the meeting to start. Soon, another man took the stage.
"There are a lot of people with teal hair huh?" Kazuto muttered, chin on his palm as he leaned forward.
"That's not teal, it's too dark. It's more aqua colored." Nagisa answered as he crossed his arms.
"There's a difference?"
"Hello everyone!" the man called out, grabbing the attention of every player. "My name is Diavel. If we had official classes, then I'd be a knight most likely." he joked.
"A knight? Come on, there's no class system in this game!" a player called back. The group chuckled lightly, breaking the ice.
"Okay, let's get right into this meeting. As you guys know, my party and I were exploring a dungeon, and during that quest, we managed to discover the location of the boss room." murmurs broke out as some players processed this.
'So he's the one who found the boss.' Nagisa thought to himself.
"I called you all specifically because you guys are the highest leveled. We all are. As a result, we have the duty to find a way to beat this floor, and make it to the second floor. Our victory won't just make us closer to the finish, it'll inspire the others. We'll show to the other players that we can beat this game, that we can leave. Isn't that right!? Don't you think so!?" Diavel asked, fire encasing his words. Silence filled the stadium for a few seconds, before a player began clapping. One became two, and soon, Diavel was being showered by a flood of applause and whistles.
"We'll beat that boss, and avenge the 2 thousand who died! Then, we'll continue to level a trail of glory as we climb up the ranks. And we'll make sure that Kayaba bastard gets what's coming at him!" he yelled, much to the crowd's approval. Nagisa and Kazuto smiled as Hotaru clapped. Diavel certainly knew how to work a crowd.
"Now, as for the boss, I think it's be better if everyone were to form parties with each other. The raid will be more successful the more players we recruit." Diavel instructed. Nagisa, Kazuto, and Hotaru smiled at each other, before Hotaru noticed a lone female player by herself. She was mostly hidden by a cloak, and had a rapier at her side.
"Nagisa," she pointed at the girl. Nagisa looked, before pushing Kazuto towards her.
"Go for it. You need to practice social interactions." he ordered. Kazuto threw him a look, before rapidly scooting over to the girl.
"Hey, did no one want you in their group?" he asked. The cloaked girl shook her head.
"No, I just didn't want to bother anyone. They all seem to have their own friends." she answered curtly.
"Well, how about you join us? We could use another female." Kazuto pointed to the duo, who waved. The girl heistitated, but nodded. Kazuto sent her a party invite, which she accepted.
'Asuna, huh?' he thought, reading the name that appeared under his cursor. He waved over the other two.
"Hey. Asuna, right?" Nagisa greeted. Asuna tensed.
"How do you know my name?" she asked quietly.
"Look under your cursor. Our names should be there." Hotaru pointed at the air. Asuna looked, and sure enough, three names had appeared under there.
"Kirito, Shisa, and Thorua?" she read. Kazuto and Naigsa cringed as Hotaru nodded happily.
"Yeah, but you can just call us by our real names. I'm Nagisa, he's Kazuto, and this little girl is Hotaru." Nagisa gestured to himself and Kazuto, before placing a hand on Hotaru's head. "Are you okay with just your player name?"
"What do you mean real names? What are player names?" Asuna asked. Kazuto and Nagisa looked at her in shock.
"Asuna's your real name?" Nagisa asked the fencer. She frowned.
"Yes. Why?"
"Well, people don't really use their actual name for their player ID, to protect their real identity." Kirito explained.
"Oh. Sorry, this is my first time playing a game online." Asuna apologized, embarrassed.
"It's fine! So as long as no one else knows it's your real name, you should be fine. Nothing to apologize about." Nagisa quickly replied. Their attention was drawn by Diavel, who spoke again.
"Now that we're all-"
"Hold it!" a voice called out. Nagisa looked in disapproval when he saw that the speaker was Kibaou. Kibaou leapt down the stairs and landed in front of Diavel, who looked rather annoyed.
"Let me guess, beta testers?" he snarked.
"That's right. They owe an apology to the 2 thousand people who died! They're selfish, and just as bad as Kayaba!" Kibaou yelled. The crowd began to murmur, but were interrupted.
"You're wrong!" Hotaru shouted. She stood up in defiance, but withered at Kibaou's harsh glare.
"You wanna come here and say that!?" he yelled in anger. Nagisa stood abruptly, and walked down the steps, a cold look in his eyes. People around him shivered at the dark aura he gave off. Kibaou was quiet, but his own glare was directed at Nagisa.
"My party member is correct. You are wrong." Nagisa said coolly as he stood in front of the man. Kibaou looked down on Nagisa with a sneer.
"Oh yeah? They didn't lift a finger to help any of us. They just took all the good hunting spots and loot. They should give up all their Col and items, and bow down in apology to the 2 thousand dead."
"For something they didn't do? And why those things specifically? Why not information?" Nagisa countered.
"Why are you defending them? Are you one?" Kibaou accused.
"No. But one beta tester willingly gave her life to protect me and my friends." Nagisa answered calmly. It was true. Kayano was the beta tester he was referring to. She died trying to fight off the Fake Reaper, but was brought back by Korosensei.
"Congratulations! That moron was one-in-a thousand." Kibaou growled. Nagisa's eyes flashed. He drew his sword and held it against Kibaou's throat. Shouts and sounds of protests rose, only to be silenced by Nagisa's cold glare. Kibaou gulped, but stood firm.
"You have quite the nerve, pretending to care that 2 thousand people died, and then insulting the deceased." Nagisa growled. He sheathed his blade and crossed his arms.
"And as for your statement that the beta testers never even tried to help us, you're wrong. Not even an hour after the announcement, a beta tester published a map available to everyone, telling the locations of good hunting grounds. Were some of them taken by other beta testers? Maybe. But everyone had access to the locations. There's no way for you to prove that the beta testers were the only ones who did it. Your entire charade is just a web of unbiased accusations towards certain people."
"That's not all." The two turned and saw a large man stand up and walk towards them.
"And who the hell are you?" Kibaou snapped. He backed up as the man walked up and towered over him.
"I am known by many names. Mountain Slayer. Thunder Lion. The Chocolate Axe. But you, you two can call me, Tiffany." he said dramatically. Nagisa and Kibaou sweatdropped.
"Tiffany, huh. That's a, uh, pretty masculine name." Kibaou said awkwardly. Tiffany gave him a weird look.
"Shouldn't be. It's a woman's name. And you seriously believed that? It's Agil, not Tiffany." Agil said.
"...Kay, I don't know how to talk to you."
"Then just let him talk." Nagisa said as he walked back to his party.
"Thanks. Now, did you get this free guidebook?" Agil asked as he pulled out said book.
"Yeah, so what?"
"It was put together by the beta testers." Agil explained. Murmurs broke out again at the info.
"It's filled to the brim with information on leveling up and surviving the game. It also has information in it about the bosses on each floor, up to floor 9. Everything we need. Can you still say that the beta testers did nothing after hearing this." Agil explained to both Kibaou and the crowd. Kibaou was silent, and Diavel took over.
"Thank you for explaining this Agil. Now, regarding this book, we're going to use it to figure out how to beat the boss of the first floor, Illfang the Kobold Lord. According to the guide book, Illfang the Kobold Lord uses an axe-and-shield weapon combo. When its fourth health bar reaches the red, it switches to a Talwar. It also has waves of minions that it'll send at us. That's the gist of it. Now, let's get over the initial plan." Diavel said.
-Line Break-
"Well, that was fun." Nagisa said. He and the rest of his party were eating in the plaza. They each had pieces of bread, and while they were rather boring and tough, Kazuto and Nagisa supplied the group with cream that they smeared onto the bread.
"For you and me maybe. Asuna was quiet, but Hotaru was freaking out when you just stood up and went down to that jerk." Kazuto smirked.
"Of course I did! That man is scary!" Hotaru whined.
"He's a bully, trying to make excuses and place blame to gain more items. He complains about the lack of items, yet he demands Col." Asuna spoke quietly. She munched onto her cream covered bread.
'She reminds me of Hayami.' Nagisa thought dryly.
"So, Asuna. Do you know how to use the Parry function?" he asked.
"No."
"Is it your first time in a party?" Kazuto asked.
"Yes." Nagisa and Kazuto sweatdropped.
'This might take a while.' They then took the next few minutes to explain to Asuna how to parry. They had to attack right before the mobs attack. When they do, they switch positions with their partners. Said partners attack with their attack skill. A simple enough set of actions. They went to the fields for some short practice.
Since Nagisa was the best, they decided that he would pair up with Hotaru, while Kazuto and Asuna teamed up. As they walked into the town to turn in for the night, Nagisa spotted a familiar redhead.
"Karma!" he called. The beta tester turned and smiled at the assassin as he walked up to them.
"Hey Nagisa. Glad to see you aren't dead yet." Karma replied.
"Same here. Let me introduce you guys to my party. You already know Kirito."
"Yep. Hey there Ki." Karma greeted. Kazuto and Karma bumped fists.
"This little girl is Hotaru." Nagisa gestured to the girl next to him.
"It's a mini-you! Well, a mini-er you." Karma teased, but yelped as Nagisa gave a sharp kick to the shin.
"And this here is Asuna." the cloaked fencer nodded slightly.
"You got quite the party here for ya, huh?" Karma stated. Nagisa nodded. The team was coming along quite nicely.
"So, how's Kayano?" he asked.
"She's doing good. We're trying to help the beginner players get used to the combat system. You should come by some time. We can use your help teaching." Karma told Nagisa.
"Sounds great! I'll be sure to do that." Nagisa was excited. He loved teaching people, especially in fighting techniques."
"Nagisa, we'll go ahead." Kazuto told him. Nagisa nodded as the party left for the inn they were staying in. Nagisa and Karma took a walk around the plaza, making small talk. Nagisa told Karma about how Hotaru knew Korosensei, and how he's been training her in knife tactics.
"Not surprised that the octopus let everything slip. He really doesn't know the meaning of state secret, did he?"
"Nope." Nagisa laughed slightly. They walked in silence for a while, until Karma broke the ice.
"So Nagisa, what are you gonna be doing tomorrow?" Karma asked.
"I'll be going on the boss raid tomorrow. We were just coming back from some extra training."
"The boss raid?" Karma furrowed his brow. "Be careful about that. Kayano and I found that there are several things different from the beta test. No telling what would be different about the boss."
"Really?" Nagisa was surprised. Everything Kazuto had told him matched up with what they encountered. "I'll keep my guard up and tell Diavel this info."
"Keep your guard up around Diavel too. That guy cares quite a bit about fame and glory. Don't let him scam you."
"Huh. Another mask covering the truth. All right, thanks Karma." Nagisa frowned. He should've seen this coming. People that are charismatic tend to have some darker side to them, whether a small one or dangerous one.
"Don't let that stop you from the raid. He may have a darker side to him, but he does legitimately care about the thousands of people in this game." Karma explained.
"Okay, I-" Nagisa was cut off by a sudden pop up from Kazuto.
'Nagisa, Hotaru got her hands on some booze while I was getting us some snacks, and now she and Asuna are going nuts. Please help!' the message read. Nagisa sighed in irritation,
"I gotta go. Somehow Hotaru got her hands on booze."
"How-? You know what, I'm not even gonna ask."
Thanks for reading. Since Asuna was the only one who got a vote, she's in the story instead of Sinon. I hope you all like how I wrote Kibaou and the meeting. I really don't like the guy, so I might act a little more hostile in my writing against him. That's all for now. As per the usual, leave a review to let me know what you thought. Azure Out!