3 Years: 210 Days: 14 Hours: 47 Minutes: 47 Seconds Remaining
The interior of the first-floor dungeon is damp and musty. It is only partially illuminated by imperfectly place torches. It winds around in a labyrinth fashion, slowly climbing up to the second floor of the massive castle. I'm currently roughly ninety percent of the way to the final boss room that connects the two floors. I've spent close to the last thirty hours in the dungeon, filling out my map data and attempting to find the boss room.
The official launch of SAO was close to a month ago, and unlike everyone around me, I had enjoyed every second of it. Every strike I made with my sword was a reminder of how at home I felt in this world. Fortunately, it seemed that eating more regularly within the game was filling out the face of my avatar. Why Kayaba would have programmed the system to do something like that I can't tell, but I'm just glad that I'm not getting as many weird stares. Even so, it would take far more than just eating more to undo what I had done to my body on the other side.
Then again, even if I still looked sickly, I hardly interact with humans outside of Argo and she wasn't one to ask questions. Which is why I currently found myself in a dilemma. I stood facing a cloaked figure who was fighting off a group of mobs called kobold sentinels. Since they guarded the first-floor dungeon they were a fairly difficult enemy to deal with. However, the figure was holding its own just fine. Although its movements were unrefined, it seemed to have natural talent.
Despite that, I could tell the figure wasn't going to last much longer. From the glimpses I got of the figure's blade I could tell it was about to break. Additionally, it was a low-tier rapier, not something that was very effective against the high-level monsters in this dungeon. Aside from their equipment, the rest of which was also beginner gear, the figure was clearly exhausted. I couldn't tell which one would break first the figure's gear or their spirit.
I was left with a choice to make. Normally when I encountered another player I would move along or head in a different direction without a word. If I stayed uniform with my routine whoever this figure was would most likely have their existence crossed out like so many others. As I stood in my indecision, the figure managed to finish their battle. The figure straightened itself up, breathing heavily, before promptly collapsing.
I sighed and made my decision.
3 Years: 210 Days: 13 Hours: 56 Minutes: 27 Seconds Remaining
The girl under the hooded cloak slowly opened her eyes. She hadn't exactly been expecting to wake up again, under any circumstance. When she had finished off the last group of kobold sentinels she knew she had given everything she had. She had collapsed like so many others, resigning herself to the inevitable. However, when she woke up, she was greeted by an unexpected view. She was currently lying in one of the dungeon's safe areas; a roughly circular room with small braziers marking the entrance.
As she slowly rose, she noticed a boy sitting directly across from her. His clothes seemed to fit very loosely and the only armor he wore was a light chestplate. Her first thought was that he must have been passing by and dragged her to a safe area, but even though that was the most logical explanation, the idea just seemed ludicrous when inspecting his physique. She pegged him for around thirteen or fourteen and although his height seemed to match his age, the boy was far from healthy. Upon noticing that she had woken up he seemed to mumble something to himself.
"I'm sorry did you say something?", the girl asked the boy.
"Not really, just commenting that you were awake."
"Why am here?"
"Right to the point I see, for all you know I could have just found you here", the boy said in a mocking tone.
"Did you?"
"No, I carried you here after I found you passed out in a more dangerous portion of the dungeon. You should be more careful though, if I hadn't been walking by you very well could have been killed."
"Would that be such a bad thing?", she asked almost without thinking.
The boy stared at her in silence for a moment. He said and stood up.
"Very well then. If that's what you think, there's no use in saving someone who doesn't want to be saved."
That answer caught her completely off guard. His tone had gone from deadpan with a hint of playfulness to cold and flat in the matter of moment. She had implied exactly what she was doing in this dungeon and unlike any other player she had met in the game, this boy had done nothing to try to stop her. She watched as he started to walk off towards one of the many paths leading out of the safe area.
"Wait", she said.
The boy halted his motion.
"Yes?", he said, his tone back to normal.
"What's your name?", she asked.
Unlike most players she met, his name was not displayed below his cursor.
"Kirito", the boy replied.
She thought for a moment about how Kirito had reacted to her earlier statement and realized what he was trying to say. What would her parents think if she saw her now? They had always taught her to firm with what she believed and to never give in. It was strange, all it took was this boy's unconventional reaction to her death wish for her to realize how foolish she was being. She had no idea what had motivated the boy to act the way he had but she knew she couldn't keep acting like death was an acceptable way out of this game.
"I'm Asuna, and… I'll take that under advisement."
3 Years: 210 Days: 8 Hours: 33 Minutes: 13 Seconds Remaining
In all honesty, Asuna's answer was relieving. From what I could tell I was dealing with someone suicidal. It appeared she wasn't in as bad of a condition as I first anticipated though. After she replied I had left her to sort herself out. I'm the last person who should be meddling in business like that. Now, several hours later, I was returning to the town of Tolbana. From what I'd heard a party of high-level players had found and been scouting the boss room. Today they had invited several dozen of the best players in order to plan for a boss raid. I had told the girl about the meeting in hopes that she would be able to do something productive with her abilities.
The town of Tolbana was surrounded by a low stone wall and the houses were made with tight limestone brickwork and tiled roof. The town is fairly large with three inns and a multitude of NPC houses and shops. I still had another hour until the meeting but I thought it couldn't hurt to get there early.
And then I was yanked into an alleyway. I immediately unsheathed my sword and went into a defensive position. Then I heard harmless laughter. After a moment I recognized that the figure in front of me was Argo.
"That gets you every time!", she cackled.
"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up", I said while putting my sword back into its sheath.
"You're on your way to the boss raid meeting, right? I had some business in town earlier and I happened to see you walking with your head in the clouds."
"Guess this is my fault then."
"Ha, I won't stop messing with you until it stops working", she said with a sly smile.
"Yeah, yeah, I get it. So, what are you doing in Tolbana?"
"Speaking with the leader of the group who found the dungeon."
"Did he ask for information on the boss?"
"Of course. I gave it to him. I may want to protect my beta tester status but not enough to take away hurt a raid party's chances for beating the floor."
"Hmmm, quite surprising coming from you."
Argo raises her eyebrows.
"What exactly are you implying there."
"Oh nothing, well I'm off. I have some vague business to take care of."
"Hey, you-"
I cut her off as I turn the corner chuckling to myself. Despite how she seems, she's surprisingly sensitive about her self-image. I hear her running to catch up to me.
"You can't just walk off."
"What was it you said again, I won't stop messing with you until it stops working?"
"Yeah, yeah. I get it, don't dish it out unless you can take it."
We walk in silence for a moment.
"What's your plan for the first boss raid."
"Not sure yet. I get what you're implying and trust me when I say I intend to work for the good of the group, not just myself."
"Hmmm. surprising."
I let out an exasperated sigh.
"Are we just going to keep repeat ourselves?"
"You know me, I have to have the last laugh."
"Yeah, yeah...wait a second, not again."
Argo starts laughing mercilessly.
"But seriously, no showing off or going for secret bonuses, right?"
"Was it really that big of a problem."
She looks at me incredulously for a moment.
"YES! You seriously haven't caught on yet?"
Back in the beta, I had a habit of being...overly aggressive when fighting. I usually attempted to go for special bonuses for pulling off combos or getting the last attack.
"It appears I may have been making a few people just the smallest bit upset."
"Uh yeah, you think?!", she scoffs.
The two of us continue walking until we reach a mildly worn out amphitheater that is the location for today's meeting.
"I suppose this is it", I say in an overly dramatic voice laced with a mock accent.
"This is where we part, kind sir", Argo says, in a voice mimicking mine and then burst out laughing, "I don't know how you pull off talking like that with a straight face."
I chuckle a bit, "See you around, Argo..."
By the time I look up again she's already gone.
"Oh come on", I sigh to myself.
I turn back to the amphitheater. A fair group of people has already gathered for the meeting. I take a seat closer to the top and survey the group. A recognize a few of them as prominent top players that I occasionally see or hear about, but most of them are unknown to me. After a moment I decide to sort through my inventory before I notice something. I received a friend request. I open it to find my worst fear confirmed. It's from TommyBoi420. He found me. I can't just decline it, then he'll know I got it and will come after we with even more enthusiasm than before. But before I can do anything a player's voice pulls me back from my playful musings.
"I see that most of you have arrived, so let's get started."
I bring my attention back to the amphitheater and close the menu. A male player with dyed blue hair stands in the center talking to the audience in a relaxed tone. He wears fairly high leveled armor and I even recognize his breastplate from the beta version of the Arachnid's Nest dungeon. I turn my attention momentarily to the audience. It seems to have filled out a bit more. To my relief I see the cloaked girl named Asuna sitting on the opposite end of the raised stone seating.
"My name is Diavel, and I would like to personally like to thank you all for coming to discuss our plans for the boss raid. As many you have probably heard my party discovered the boss room yesterday!"
As Diavel pauses, there's a modest bit of clapping and cheering.
"Our current plan is to form the group today and attack it tomorrow afternoon."
There's a bit of murmuring in the crowd.
"I know many of you think this is premature and I encourage you to speak up if you disagree with our plans. Working together is essential if we want to succeed. In response to your concerns, however, usually, I would agree that in this situation scouting out the boss might be best. However, I think that this boss raid must be completed as soon as possible. Anyone who has returned to the Town of Beginnings will know that player morale is abysmal. Over the past month, over two thousand people have died. What's even more shocking though is that close to two-thirds of those deaths are the result of suicide."
Diavel is being perfectly honest about our situation, I know because it's one of the pieces of information Argo and I discuss regularly. The crowd's response is mixed, those who already knew about the miserable statistic have their heads hung and those who are just hearing how bad it really is, have a mixture of shock and horror on their faces.
"I know horrible that sounds, but that makes it more important than ever that we defeat this boss as soon as we can. Every day people are sinking into despair and hopelessness. As the strongest players right now, we need to lead the charge! It's our job to show people that this game can be beaten!"
His words are simple but effective, the crowd's mood had taken a one-eighty. The clapping and cheering starts slowly but quickly crescendos. He makes a good point but going in underprepared could have the opposite effect. It's just as important to beat the boss the first time as it is to do it quickly. If we lose it's likely it will make the situation even worse.
"Thank you, thank you. I'm glad you're on board, but I want to assure you, we're not going to be going in completely unprepared."
Wow, it's like he's reading my mind.
"We collaborated with some beta testers in order to obtain information on the boss."
The crowd tenses up at these words.
"You cooperated with the beta testers? They've done nothing but take advantage of us since this game started."
A male player with spiky orange hair stands up.
"We can't trust them to give us accurate information! Look at how they've acted for this past month. They take all the easy quests and hunting spots and leave the rest of us in the dust. You were just talking about how we need to work together to succeed, then hold the beta testers accountable for their actions."
The murmurs of agreement I hear in the crowd don't surprise me at all. Even if no one else was going to say it, most people here probably shared the same view. However, one player close to the front stands up in response.
"If I may interject, I think some of your claims are slightly off base."
The player who stood up has dark skin and a shaved head. The man probably stood two heads taller than me and his shoulder are much broader. Overall, he has a very imposing figure.
"I believe some of what you said is accurate. Many of the beta testers are exactly as you described them, manipulative and without a care for the well-being of the other players. However, that doesn't mean all of them are. We can't judge potential allies unfairly just because they're beta testers, in fact, that's denying us a potential source of information. I'm not saying you need to forgive the beta testers, but consider that some of them are truly trying to help. I've met the beta testers that Diavel's group got their information from and I can vouch that they're trustworthy."
The orange-haired player seems to want to say something but eventually backs down. The two both return to their seats and Diavel starts speaking again.
"Although I think that Kibaou made several valid points, I would rather not bring the issue of beta testers into this raid. As Agil said denying their help is nothing more than shooting ourselves in the foot."
Diavel seems to have the crowd back on his side as he continues talking.
"According to the beta testers the boss Illfang, the Kobold use an ax and buckler and only uses basic ax-type sword skills. This means that our best bet is probably going to be rotating groups of tanks and DPS fighters. My party will be group A as most of us are DPS fight and along with a group B, composed of tanks, which Agil has volunteered to lead, we will take the front. We'll form group C and D to attack from the flank, these two groups will attack in order to create openings for the A and B groups as well as for additional damage. Any volunteers to for these group?"
Diavel efficiently takes the volunteers and organizes them based on their stats and their previous party members. He must have been playing MMOs for a while considering how well he is able to devise this plan.
"That takes care of the groups who will attack the boss directly. The beta testers have informed us that the boss spawn minions called Ruin Kobold Sentinels. Our final three groups E, F and G will keep the Kobold sentinels occupied. Kibaou has volunteered to lead these group. Let's get the rest of you grouped up now."
Diavel returns to grouping players. I sit for a while in admiration of his skills at leading before I notice he his walking up to me.
"I notice you aren't joining any groups", he states.
"Oh, um, yeah..."
"Look I'm going to be straight with you. I know about your reputation as a beta tester and I know you haven't been doing much to help the new players."
I tense up quite a bit.
"However, I'm glad you came to help today. I know you're a skilled player so you'll definitely be an asset to us in the coming battle. But I also know that you have a habit of prioritizing your own gain. I want to use you in the frontal assault group but I need you to promise that you will stick to my plan and not try to be a hero."
"I understand, I promise I won't do anything to hinder the frontal assault group", I say out of relief.
"Okay, thanks. Come and meet me after we finish the meeting."
As Diavel returned to taking care of other things, I looked around the crowd. The player named Asuna had gotten grouped into one of the sentinel groups, and she seemed to be getting along fairly well.
"Alright, now that everyone has been put into parties, there's one more thing I would like to mention. According to the beta testers, once Illfang loses three health bars he will switch from his basic weapon to using a talwar which uses basic one-handed curved sword skills. When we get to this point our strategy will remain the same although we will have to remain even more cautious. Your group leaders will inform you further about the specifics of our strategy. We will regroup tomorrow two o' clock. Until then do whatever you can to prepare for the battle tomorrow."
Groups of players leave the amphitheater, presumably to discuss strategy further. Remembering my promise to Diavel I walk up to his party. Diavel notices my approach.
"There you are Kirito. I'd like to meet my party. This is Contentorth, BizzareJackson, Cyanide, Matrix, Piper, and Shiya. Guys this is Kirito, he's going to be helping us."
Surprisingly none of them seem to distrustful and they welcome me to the group as Diavel sends me a party invite.
"Now if I could get back to the boss raid, our job is to switch with the group B members when there's opening in boss's defenses. Group B will be taking most of the damage while C and D attempt to stun the boss or knock it off balance, when those opportunities arrive, we'll switch with group B and use our most powerful attack to lower the boss's health as much as possible. Whenever our health gets too low, we'll back off to a safe distance and use potions to recover. The goal is to always have at least half of our party fighting at once."
"Sounds good", the one name Jackson says.
"No complaints here", Matrix agrees.
"In that case, what do you think we should do now?", Shiya asks.
"I say we head back to the Inn and relax. No need to over prepare". Contentorth says.
"Fine with me", Diavel says. "By the way, where are you staying Kirito?"
"Oh, um, a farmhouse on the outskirts of town."
"Cool, do you want to come back to the inn we're staying at for a little while? You could stand to get to know us a little before tomorrow", Piper asks.
"Sure, I guess."
I curse myself because for some reason Diavel and his party are hard for me to talk to and getting into uncomfortable situations is the last thing I want to do. There's nothing like Klein's group from a couple weeks ago.
"Cool, follow us then."
I follow the group back to one of the bigger inns in the town. The bottom floor of the building serves as a tavern and so we all sit down at a table in the corner. The group begins talking about trivial bits of information involving quests and battles that they heard about. Normally, I'm constantly on some sort of quest or grinding for XP so just sitting around with these people was making me feel fidgety. It was already fairly late in the day so after sitting around watching them for a couple hours I told them I had to leave. Diavel came to see me off. After we left the building, he asked me a question.
"Is there a problem, you barely talked at all?"
"Not particularly", I said ambiguously.
"Look I'm sorry if I made you nervous when we were talking earlier."
As I suspected, Diavel is really good at reading people.
"It's just… have you been to the Town of Beginnings, recently?", Diavel continues.
"I've gone back only a couple of times since the game started."
"Then you must have seen how miserable everyone is there."
"Of course."
Diavel sighs and looks up toward the ceiling of the floor above us.
"You must have realized it too. How important it is that we beat the first floor. It's been a whole month and we've made close to no progress. It's just going to keep getting worse if we can't give the players some hope."
"I saw someone jump off the edge last time I went to the Town of Beginnings", I add on a whim.
"I'm sorry, that must have been horrible. Look... many people might not view it like this, but this first battle crucial. We have to prove that this game can be beaten and we have to do it as quickly as possible. I hope that if we can, we won't have to live our lives in this game in fear. That's why I was concerned about what you would do."
I looked at Diavel in surprise, I had guessed that he was aware of our precarious situation but I didn't know he had such a clear vision for the future of the game.
"Diavel, I'll do what I can to make sure that this raid is successful. Despite my reputation, I hope you can trust that I want something similar to you."
"Thanks, Kirito. See you tomorrow then?"
"Yep."
3 Years: 209 Days: 4 Hours: 13 Minutes: 37 Seconds Remaining
Together with Diavel's party, I walk through the first-floor dungeon to the boss room. So far, we have had no trouble dealing with the monsters that spawn throughout the dungeon. That was until a couple of kobold jump out from behind a corner. Although they were not difficult to defeat Piper and Shiya nearly fell over out of surprise and Matrix lets out a small scream. Needless to say, the kobolds weren't long for this world.
"Congrats, you've fallen victim to horror's most overused cliche, the jumpscare", I respond dryly.
Diavel chuckles and Jackson starts to laugh.
Piper looks at me with an annoyed look and says, "I liked you better when you weren't talking."
Jackson and Diavel started laughing even harder. As we continue, I look back on the other parties. Asuna ended up in Kibaou's party, and I catch Kibaou glaring at me from behind. I suppose he probably guesses I'm a beta tester. Matrix notices where I'm looking.
"Don't let Kibaou get to you. He's especially distrustful of beta testers because his entire party got killed as a result of faulty information a beta tester gave him."
"That certainly explains a lot. That's really awful though, did the beta tester give him faulty information on purpose?"
"The beta tester confessed after the fact."
"That's horrible! I might not have gone out of my way to help anyone but at least I didn't try to harm anyone intentionally."
"That's true, but the way I see it, many of the beta testers are just as scared as we are. I don't think that they're doing it maliciously, but rather they're trying to do anything they can to survive."
"Hmm, that would be nice."
"You say that like you think I'm wrong."
"Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there are people out there like that. But you can't just assume that everyone is a good person."
Matrix looks at me curiously for a moment before replying.
"I suppose."
We both fall quiet, but the silence doesn't last very long as the door to the boss room becomes visible. The boss raid party of close to fifty people approaches the door and Diavel turns around to address them.
"It's time everyone. After a month of struggling, we will finally advance. We will show the players that this game can be beaten. I'll give you a few minutes to make sure all of your items are in order, but there is no need to delay any further than that."
I marvel once again at Diavel's ability to talk to a crowd. Everyone lets out a cheer and then moves to check their inventories. Although I'm confident everything is in place, I look through mine as well just to give myself something to do.
Before I know it Diavel stands before the massive door and pushes it open. The room in front of us is a massive hall. Pillars line both side and a royal red pathway leads up to a throne on a raised platform at the end of the hall. Behind the throne, I can see stairs snaking upwards to the next floor. I know from experience we won't be able to climb them until the boss is defeated though. As the group enters torches on the pillars light in a sequential fashion providing a deep red lighting. When they reach the end of the hall Illfang becomes visible. He's coated in blue and gray fur which fits tightly over his massive girth. The creature is at least twice as tall as Agil and sports a snout rather than a mouth. His red eyes practically glow as he leaps across the room to meet us. Our forces quickly assemble into formation, groups B, C and D surrounding the boss and E, F and G moving into place to take of the sentinels which have just begun spawning.
Our group waits as the other main attack groups counter Illfang's attack in an attempt to knock him off balance or stun him. Momentarily I see an opening and the group B member yells "switch". We charge forward and unleash a horizontal skill across the lower part of the Illfang's stomach. I almost try to chain the skill but remembering my promise to Diavel and I yell switch after waiting out the brief post skill delay. I quickly fall into line with the patterns of the boss and we slowly manage to whittle down his health without any hiccups. Most of our main offense is able to stay in battle with only a few rotating out for potions occasionally. Diavel's team works really well together and additionally, they seem to have cooperated with Agil's team before, based on the way I've seen them interacting. Needless to say, it reminds of one of the things I like most about MMOs, the feeling of working together to achieve a common goal, something I was never able to do in the real world.
Eventually, I notice that my health is getting dangerously low. I decide to back off and take a potion.
"Diavel I'm backing off to take a potion!"
"Go ahead", he says, looking at my health bar.
I dance backward and use one of my restorative potions. In SAO, potions regenerate health slowly. Eventually, health crystals are unlocked, which allows someone to regenerate health immediately, but those are hard to obtain even when after are unlocking, so it's generally best to stick with health potions until you're a higher level. As I heal, I survey the battle. The sentinel groups are doing a good job of taking care of Illfang's minions. I see the girl named Asuna execute a well-placed jab with her rapier and, satisfied, I turn back to Illfang himself. I know I need to get back into battle as soon as I finish healing so that I can help with the final push. Just then I notice Diavel making the strike that brings Illfang down to one health bar. Illfang lets out a roar and throws away his ax and buckler. That's when the program deviates from the beta test. Illfang unsheathes a nodachi instead of a talwar. My stomach drops. Although the nodachi is the same type of weapon it's more advanced and can use higher caliber curved sword skills.
"Watch out, that's not a Talwar it's a Nodachi!"
Upon hearing this Diavel retreats and lets the other groups continue looking for an opening. Except that no one was prepared for the advanced sword skills that Illfang is using. With only a few strikes, Illfang manages to break the formation and scatter groups B, C and D. In the midst of the chaos Diavel desperately grapples for control of the situation. He orders the players with enough health to group up and gives the others enough time to use potions. Although he manages to form a defense, the group isn't able to properly hold back Illfang. Slowly the last line of defense is pushed back. I curse myself that I let my health get so low. It still isn't high enough for it to be safe for me to return to battle, but I feel like I should be helping. If nothing else I could give them some quick tips on evading the deadlier strikes. Even so, my instincts keep me in place. I'm not even at half health left, going in now would be suicidal.
Then I watch in horror as it happens. Diavel is caught in a post-skill movement lock and Illfang activates a deadly three hit combo.
3 Years: 209 Days: 3 Hours: 41 Minutes: 42 Seconds Remaining
Diavel's body is flung through the air. As he lands, I take off running. It only takes a few seconds but by the time I get to Diavel, his health has already reached the red zone.
3 Years: 209 Days: 3 Hours: 41 Minutes: 34 Seconds Remaining
His health points reach zero and he tells me something in a choked voice.
3 Years: 209 Days: 3 Hours: 41 Minutes: 33 Seconds Remaining
No.
3 Years: 209 Days: 3 Hours: 41 Minutes: 32 Seconds Remaining
Wait.
3 Years: 209 Days: 3 Hours: 41 Minutes: 31 Seconds Remaining
This isn't how it's supposed to go.
3 Years: 209 Days: 3 Hours: 41 Minutes: 30 Seconds Remaining
You were supposed to show the player that the game could be beaten. You were supposed to lead them...
3 Years: 209 Days: 3 Hours: 41 Minutes: 29 Seconds Remaining
[Player dafadfea-ef2a-4b00-beeb-44b622504371 has died.]
Diavel's limp form glows white and shatters into polygons. Somewhere in a hospital, another EKG monitor flatlines. I kneel there with a slack expression. Without their leader, the last line of defense is about to be broken. Sorry Diavel, but it looks like I'm going to have to try to play the hero after all.
I dash up to the boss, straight past the nearly broken line of defense and using all the skills at my disposal in an attempt to defend against the boss. It doesn't last long though. After parrying no more three swings I see a strike I can't avoid. Except that it never connects. The player named Agil parries the hit and the remnants of his group run up to help. From the other side, Kibaou's group dashes up help, having finished off most of the sentinels. Together we make a final push until finally, the girl named Asuna sends out one more rapier strike that pierces the boss right through the stomach. It HP falls to zero and Illfang shatters into polygons.
The room remains in silence for a moment before the entire party breathes a collective sigh of relief. Then, I get congratulated as if I'm some sort of hero.
The player named Agil tells me, "Man that took guts, but it bought me just enough time to finish healing. We couldn't have done it without you."
There's a small bit of cheering for me.
"We couldn't have done it without Diavel either."
The room falls back into silence and we turn around to see Jackson staring me down.
"Why didn't you tell us about the Nodachi."
Jackson pauses and shakes for a moment.
"You're just another beta tester, aren't you? You didn't care if we made it out alive, did you?!."
Matrix stands up and stares me down as well.
"Maybe you were right, I wanted to give you and the other beta testers the benefit of the doubt, but maybe you are just as bad as the others."
Everyone stares at me as if they're seeing me for the first time.
Then Kibaou speaks up, "He's probably not the only one here either. Which means that every one of the beta testers in this room withheld information. This is why I was worried in the first place. We shouldn't accept help from the people who have already shown that they are willing to lie and manipulate us, and just look at where it got us."
This situation is going south fast. If this keeps up the players might turn on the beta testers, especially Argo, who gave them the information in the first place. I have to do something. Diavel wanted us to work together to beat this game and if don't do anything the players are going to turn on each other. But… I'm scared. Being faced with all these people staring me down I'm only able barely able to talk in a quiet voice.
"Not many would have known that was a nodachi. I only know because I made it to the tenth floor in the beta test. They were an integral part of the challenge on that floor so I had those skills memorized."
Jackson speaks up again, "Then why didn't you do anything. I saw you just standing back there as Diavel was killed."
Jackson was right. I curse myself for not being able to help, I had plenty of time to run up and at least tell them how to handle the skill. Matrix was right, just like everyone else I was scared for my life and because of that I couldn't act at the crucial moment. Kibaou was right, I'm no better than the player who gave his party faulty information. So... I turn away and leave. I run away from my problems. It's what I've always done. It's the only thing I know how to do. Part of me wants to stay and try to fix the situation but I'm scared. Scared of the prospect of having to face my own mistakes. So, I walk away. People throw insults at me, they blame me for Diavel's death. I glance back to see the player named Asuna with a disgusted look on her face. I speed up and climb the stairs at the end of the hall. I push open the doors to the second floor and look down on the world that had turned its players against me.