AN: This actually takes place a month after the last chapter.

Also, Worker72, are you telepathic?

And, I had lot's of time today to complete a new chapter.

You're welcome.

I never actually listened to the opening, 'till now. And it's awesome. The lyrics actually contradict the show somewhat.

Crossing Field by LiSA, is actually one of my inspirations.

Chapter 6: Red, at April 11, PST, at the latest.

Chapter 5: The Elementals

Floor 11: Taft

Asuna stood over Sachi's tombstone. She hasn't quite got over it, but, Kirito thought, at least she calmed down. She stayed silent, but there is no doubt that Asuna is projecting her thoughts to the grave. Klein looked to the guild, fiddling with grass.

"You guys go train. We're close to beating the halfway boss." The guild, what they refer to as Party Two, as Kirito, Asuna, and Klein were Party One, departed.

"So, what should we do?" Issin spoke. Kunimittz glanced at the path before them. A giant bear started to go in front of them.

"Aw, crap. Dale, you go."

"Why is it always me?" The stocky man complained.

"Harry Two, you go." The second twin grinned, and started to charge, mace glowing. The bear roared, and got his face smashed in.

[Exp: 100 Col: 150 Items: None]

"The enemies here suck." Harry Two whined.

"Yeah, let's go to another area, and threaten our lives more!" Kunimittz said in a sarcastic voice.

"Don't we usually do that?" Dynamm said bluntly.

"Yeah, you're right. Let's go somewhere harder." They teleported to a higher floor.

Floor 50

"The frontline's starting to gather up." Issin noticed a Knights of the Blood Oath sub-leader.

"Do you think we have a reputation?" Dale asked them. The group answered, the voices resulting in a buzz of noise.

"It's not like we have fans or anything. Nicknames, I guess?"

"But we did do stuff. Like, Klein did that clashing thing with the 27th boss."

"Yeah, he countered the boss' ten hit combo, and killed it. He got his katana from that, right?"

"Guys, bottom line." Dale clarified. The whole group looked at him.

"No."

"Even if we do have one, no one recognized it."

"Yeah, you're right. KoB gets the credit." They walked out of town. The floor was almost half the size of Floor One, but it was still big nonetheless.

A story arc revolved on demonic type monsters populating this floor. So, lots of unique demonic type items were accrued on this one.

"Hopefully we'll get a cool thing in this floor," Their conversation was cut off by a ghost.

[Dark Shade Lvl. 60] The ghost was black, almost a gas, and was only distinguishable by it's glowing red eyes, and a black sword, the edge lined with blood.

"Level 60?"

"Not going to matter," Issin charged, and his unique spear, one with two prongs, captured what appeared to be it's neck.

"Dale!" He managed to cry out, until he was tossed. He hit the dirt, health in 75%. The Greatsword wielder activated his weapon, and slashed, and kept slashing, sword skills chaining into each other. The ghost disintegrated.

[Two-Handed Sword level increased to 980]

"Dale, that was cool." Dynamm admitted. Then he spotted another shade.

"But this one's going to be better!" Dynamm charged the apparition, and blocked it's attack. He commenced [Vorpal Strike]. He lunged at it, sword glowing yellow. The thrust quickly turned into a barrage of strikes, all at the same point, delivering massive damage. The shade disintegrated.

"That could only be achieved with a skill level of 950."

"My turn!" Kunimittz yelled, getting in the unannounced competition. He eyed another identical shade, and activated [Eagle Claw]. The spear glowed green, and he unleashed multiple thrusts, going so fast, the area between him and the shade was a blur. The shade staggered back, and the skill ended with one final stab. There were a lot more shades in front of them.

The game began.

Klein looked around the gloomy forest, trying to find them. Party Two has been gone for three hours. He heard a sword skill activate, and he ran towards the sound.

He found the the twins battling out a shade, projecting their excitement onto the enemy. It finally disintegrated. The rest were sitting down against trees, panting.

"What did you guys do?"

"Killed shades." Klein looked around the forest.

"How many?"

"Like, ten." Issin replied.

"Each." Harry One added.

"Dynamm won." The guy in question raised his tired arms in victory."

"But his sword broke."

"Shut up, Kunimittz, I have a new one, remember, I got it from the elevent-no, twelfth, one."

"Come on, guys. We need to clear this floor."

"When?"

"Now." The group groaned in unison.

"What happened here?" Asuna caught up with Klein.

"They trained, with your mentality."

The guild walked through the dungeon. Party Two just struggled along behind them. Issin, however, caught up.

"Kirito, I was thinking that we should separate the second party,"

"For what?"

"Like, separating the offensive from the defensive, so it'll be easier to manage."

"Alright," Kirito nodded. "Hey!" He turned around, facing the fatigued warriors.

"Dynamm, separate and form a party with Issin."

"Kirito, we're here." Asuna shook him. He turned around, and was face to face with Heathcliff.

"Hello, Fūrin Kazan." Heathcliff turned around and addressed everyone.

"The Knights of the Blood Oath will be the vanguard. Divine Dragon Alliance will attack from the sides. The rest will provide support." Everyone obeyed his command. Heathcliff and his guild held off the 25th boss, replacing the Aincrad Liberation Army. And that boss was particularly hard, eliminating 1/3 of the Assault Team.

Heathcliff then pushed the door open.

"Attack!" Everyone charged into the dark room. Some braziers lit, with pure red fire, filling the room with a eerie red glow,

The boss revealed itself.

A giant warrior, 80 feet tall, and entirely gaseous. It's silver-etched black armor is supported by the smoke, like an exoskeleton. Red eyes were the only distinction of the smoke, and it carried a giant spiked war hammer, with a black shaft, and a head with one side blunt, the other pointed.

[Dark Shade Knight]

The KoB advanced, starting to block the attacks. The knight retaliated with a giant smash, causing disarray among the ranks. The DDA started to attack on it's sides. Kirito ran towards the front.

"Party 2, go to the KoB!" Dale started to run past the red knights, and started to parry the hammer. He got smashed to the side in the second hit.

"The health crystals don't work!" One KoB warrior shouted, until he was knocked aside and disintegrated.

The battle was going poorly. One quarter of Heathcliff's guild was gone. One half was in critical health. DDA is now the main target of the demon knight's weapon. Heathcliff went forward, blocking it's attacks.

That shield is indestructible! Kirito thought. It seems that Heathcliff's holding it off. Kirito looked at the support guilds. Minor damage.

Close enough.

"The main guilds are weak! It's up to us now!" Kirito now charged at the boss, with the support guilds behind his back.

"Party 2! Distract it, but dodge attacks! Party 3, lead the guilds in attacking the boss on it's sides! Asuna, Klein, come with me!" Kirito shouted rapidly. Dynamm started raising his sword, and went toward it's feet. Heathcliff stepped aside in surprise. Kirito ran past him, and started to jump, and attack the stomach. Party 2 dodged a hit, and the war hammer was buried under the floor.

Asuna took the chance.

She ran up the shaft of the weapon, followed by Klein, and landed multiple hits in the helmet, immediately followed by Klein, who activated [Ukifune], upper cutting it.

Dale looked at the KoB, and started to run towards them.

"Dale, what is it?" Kunimittz shouted, then leapt sideways, avoiding a smash.

"Getting support!" Dale started tossing potions at members.

"You have to help!"

Kirito couldn't keep up. All his skills are on cooldown. Kirito faced a choice.

Help allies, or,

Destroy the boss as quick as possible. Killing the boss quickly might prevent casualties, and it's already at the last bar of HP. But it would be extremely hard.

Screw it, he thought. Both.

"Dynamm, split the group in half, and help the guilds!" Kirito de-equipped his sword, and wore heavy knuckle-spiked gauntlets.

Time to switch to the back-up skill. Martial Arts.

Now, it's just Fūrin Kazan remaining to fight the boss.

The hammer buried into the tortured floor, for the final time.

All three dashed up the shaft.

"All at once!" Kirito yelled. Then, they jumped for the helmet, the weapons glowing.

Kirito looked behind him. The knight froze, and exploded into countless particles.

[Congratulations! Last Attack Bonus: 2 Mega Cor Obtained: Elucidator].

The guilds started to cheer.

"Fūrin Kazan!"

"The Elementals!"

"Elementals? That's new." Dynamm muttered.

"Well, our guild name are elements," Issin commented.

"Elucidator?" Klein asked.

"I don't have enough STR to wield it, actually." Kirito explained.

"What's the damage stat?" Asuna peeked at Kirito's menu.

"…700+" All three jaws dropped.

"We have two million Cor, so, we should get a house." Klein tried to convince Kirito. They were on the 51st floor's main town square, debating on what to get. The halfway floor victory was enough to cheer Asuna up, even if for a little while.

"Guys, I have a suggestion." Issin announced.

"They're calling us The Elementals, so I think that we should name our parties, like Mountain Party for the forwards."

"That's actually cool," Kirito agreed. "Go ahead, name."

"We don't actually have any Hiding-oriented members, so, Party Two will be called Mountain. Me and Dynamm, Fire. You three," Issin looked at them analytically.

"Wind."