Sword Art Online
Worldwide
Chapter 6 – One Of A Hundred
A scream. A sound of a weapon piercing virtual flesh. Something wooshed past me and landed somewhere behind me with a heavy thud. I had barely even registered what had happened. All I knew is that one of our comrades had definitely taken heavy damage. I heard a yell echo somewhere in the distance, a yell of desperation and panic.
"D-Diavel!"
~An Hour Earlier~
I sighed silently as I trudged my heavy boots after staircase after staircase in an endless exhausting struggle. The heavy door we had seen past The Sinful Boneward lead into a long rock tunnel, which then led to the base of an enormous tower. Each floor was massive, and it was easy to get lost. Worse is, that some of the players had heard from info brokers that it contained more than 30 floors.
Of course there was the possibility that the info was broken, or not true, but none of us could afford to follow that knowledge, and get our hopes up. We all just hoped that we would get through this harsh struggle without using up too much of our strength. We had to save our strength for the boss battle after all.
This also brought another dilemma though. We had encountered many a monster on these floors, and we were beginning to run out of steam. Luckily, Diavel had advised us all to bring stamina potions for the rough battles ahead, but even so, we were going to run out at some point if this would continue for much longer.
I also had this nagging feeling that Celine was beginning to get tired. She was falling behind a lot, and every time we rested for a moment, she seemed like one of the players who were the least willing to get back up and keep fighting. I understood her, but even still, we were fighting for the freedom of many people. We couldn't let them down.
So I cheered her up and had her back the best I could. Not that I wasn't exhausted myself, that much has to be clear. But I knew we had to press on, or the last couple of month's fighting to find this place would have been pointless.
Finally, after having scaled staircase after staircase, we finally arrived at the last floor, which wasn't much of a floor in of itself. It seemed more like a plateau, a simple circle-round resting place where the staircase ended, leading up to a huge dark-grey metal door, formed and carved to resemble being decorated with skulls and bones of humans and animals.
I frowned quietly from nervousness and seriousness as I looked up at the huge door. I could feel the nervousness rise and bite at my chest, and I was desperate to shake it off. I couldn't show weakness now. The others, especially Celine, would pick up on it within a heartbeat. I told myself over and over that I had to be strong. Not that it helped much.
"Yo Sebastian! It's been a while!"
Suddenly I felt a clap on my shoulder and I whirled around to see who was talking to me. Lord and behold, it turned out to be Eva, waving at me with a big goofy grin.
"Eva!?" I yelped in surprise as I realized it was her "What are you doing here!? Didn't you say you couldn't be here!?"
"The guy I was supposed to meet cancelled last minute" She said with a smile "So I decided to come along and help you guys!"
"Alright, I take it you weren't around for the raiding team meeting, then?"
She excitedly shook her head, her long hair waving everywhere as she giggled.
"Not really, though I did hear from some NPC's where you were going" She said with a smirk.
"Alright, let's team up then" I said, sending her a request.
Soon, her name and HP points popped up at my HUD, and I smiled as I highfived her. I had never actually seen her in combat, but I had a feeling she would be a valuable addition to the team.
Since your name pops up on everyone's HUD when you join a team, the others quickly took notice, and everyone except the one called Asuna, came over to hear what was going on.
"Guys, this is Eva" I said with a smile as I introduced her to Kirito, Klein and Celine "I met her a while ago while taking a stroll through town"
"And he was very helpful" She said with a chuckle "It's good to meet you guys. I'll give a round on me at the inn when we all get back"
I nodded and chuckled softly. I had grown quite fond of the beer in the inn, so I wasn't about to say no to a free glass.
"That sounds good to me" I said with a chuckle "Too bad only Klein can get actually drunk though"
"Trust me kid, drink too much and you'll regret having every drunk at all"
We all laughed at this. It was nice how Eva's sudden appearance had managed to lift our spirits, and apparently it was spreading. Soon, everyone was in idle chatter, as if we weren't about to head in to what would certainly be someone's death.
I smiled quietly as we sat down in a circle and began dividing our rations between us. A loaf of bread, and some nice cooling wine was just what I had needed for my empty stomach and dry throat. While we chatted, drank and ate, I noticed that Asuna was standing by herself away from the rest of us, eating her rations alone. I frowned quietly, and decided to screw my normal nervousness, and invite her over.
"Yo uhm, Asuna right?"
She raised her head silently under her cloak. I was wondering why she wanted to hide her face like that, buy I was digressing.
"I was wondering if you wanted to join the rest of your team" I offered "We'd like to raise everyone's spirits, yours included"
She lowered her head again. It seemed like she were weighing her options. Weird, why would she stay away from her teammates like this? She didn't imply much when we discussed tactics before traveling, either. Maybe she was even more than a shut-in than I was? Even though that was near impossible.
After a while of pondering, she finally raised her head, and spoke to me for what I realized was the very first time.
"I'm happy for the offer, but…"
It was a quiet, and nervous voice. She clearly wasn't used to this much pressure.
"I would rather just deal with my demons on my own"
"Then why would you join a team? A team is supposed to support each other you know"
She looked down in shame. A long braid of hair fell down from her hair, and she yelped a bit in surprise before hurrying to put it back under her clothes.
"It seemed like a tactically good idea at the time" She mumbled softly "I just-"
"Then aren't you supposed to put your trust in your teammates?"
She gasped a bit in surprise as she looked back up at me. I could finally see her eyes under her hood. They were chocolate brown, maybe chestnut, like the braid of hair that had fallen from her hood.
"Huh?" She mumbled softly in wonder.
I smiled softly at her and took place beside her by the wall.
"If you want to survive in there, you have to trust your teammates" I said with a soft smile "If you don't trust in them to protect you, you won't get very far"
She stared at me in either wonder or confusion. I couldn't really tell because of that hood of hers.
"But if they end up being a drag, they'll only slow you down" She mumbled softly.
"That's when you take care of them" I said with a soft smile "You make sure to protect them no matter what. And then I promise you that they will dedicate everything they have to protect you too"
I had no idea if my words had had any effect on her. She stood in silence for a long time, the hood she was wearing covering her expression. After a while though, she finally nodded and stood away from the wall.
"Okay…" She mumbled silently "I'll come over in a moment okay? I just need to spawn the rest of my rations"
I nodded softly and smiled. Seemed like I had managed to see the advantages of a team, after all.
After having sat down and chatting with the others for a minute or two, Asuna came over with a smile and sat down between Kazuto and Klein. She took hold of her hood and pulled it down to reveal her face.
I had to admit, she was very beautiful. She didn't look like someone who were much older than 16 years old. She had very clean features, clean white skin, and lovely chestnut bright eyes, her long hair flowing down her back the same color as her eyes.
I chuckled quietly under my breath as I noticed how Kazuto stiffened up and blushed as he saw her face for the first time. I was sure that he was happy he had invited her into the battle party now.
After having eaten, drank and chatted for a while, Diavel finally raised himself to his feet, and addressed the crowd.
"Alright everyone, listen up" He slammed his sword to the ground in an imposing way "This is it. This is the battle of the first boss"
Everyone grew serious and began drawing their weapons. I could feel my muscles tense up in nervousness as I reached for my sword on my hip and drew it with a metallic cry.
"This is what we've been fighting for, for almost 2 months" He said with a frown "Let's go in there, and come out on the other side, victorious. Let's show the citizens of Aincrad, that this game really can be beat!"
The room exploded in a roar of cheers as Diavel turned away from us and pressed his palm to the huge iron door. The giant door opened with a deafening screak, and thumbed as they hit the wall. We reluctantly began to file into the room, weapons raised, each of us ready to jump at any threat that might jump out at us from a pillar.
When we had furthered about ten feet into the room, our surroundings were suddenly bathed in light. A magical fluid red, blue and yellow glow began to bathe us from the ceiling. It made it seem like the entire room and ceiling was fluid and living, but of course, it didn't fill anyone of us with joy. Instead, it filled us with intense tenseness and fear.
The door began to close behind us, and when we looked back up, the first floor boss and four of his minions were suddenly standing in front of us menacingly, a threatening red glow gleaming in his eyes, and his name materializing over his head.
"Illfang, The Kobold Lord"
And around him his minions, "The Cobold Sentinels"
I felt my grip tighten around the hilt of my sword in nervousness. A squeeze of my shoulders, and I turned my head to spot Celine and Eva on either side of me.
"It's okay" Celine said with a smile "We'll get through this. We beat the mini boss, just the two of us. We can do anything"
"And me and the others are here for backup!" Eva said with a smirk "We're practically invisible!"
I looked back at my little group. It was true, I had them by my side. And I had to get through thi, if not for my own sake, if not for my family's, then for theirs.
"Alright. Let's do it"
The battle had went well, most of it at least. With the combined efforts of all the teams, we quickly overwhelmed the Kobold Lord and his sentinels, to the point that he only had the pedestal of which his throne sat, to fight on and bite against us. We had him cornered, and with every jab and slash of our weapons we brought him closer and closer to the red zone of his health bar.
It was when he hit red though, that everything went to hell.
His eyes suddenly glowed red and he tossed his weapons away. We thought he had surrendered, when suddenly he pulled a giant blade from it's sheathe. In the blink of an eye he was suddenly gone, and everyone looked around themselves in surprised wonder.
"W-Where did he-! ARGH!"
Diavel couldn't even manage to complete his sentence. Without even seeing what had attacked him, he was suddenly sent sailing through the air, resembling a bird who had jut fallen out of it's nest. His body fell to the floor with a heavy thud, and he didn't get up.
"D-Diavel!"
I screamed and abandoned my post, as I ran over to Diavel and lifted his body, spawning a health potion on the way there. I pressed it to his lips and he drank, miraculously saving him just in the nick of time.
"Phew. I thought we had lost you there for a second" I said with a chuckle.
I helped him over to a nearby pillar and helped him lean against it before drawing my blade again.
"Stay here. You've done more than enough"
He nodded at me softly before I turned and ran back to the others.
It was a complete slaughterhouse. Men were flying left and right, and screams were filling all four corners of the room. The magical field around us had suddenly grown a dark purple, the air around us growing eerie as we desperately tried defending ourselves against our enemy.
I ran forward and screamed as I plunged my sword into his stomach. In a moment of newfound hope I looked up at him. But only saw a crazy evil smirk in return. My gaze went to his health. It had barely erased 200 HP from his total of 2000, where we could barely even hit or hurt him with his speed at the first place.
He smirked and before I could even realise what happened, I found myself sprawled across the room, my health depleted and my sword shattered.
"Dammit" I was bleeding from a wound in my stomach and from my lip, and got back up "How the hell are we supposed to deal with this guy!?"
Celine ran over and quickly gave me a health potion. The only weapons I had left in my inventory was a short sword, so I equipped it.
"If we try to surround and confuse him, we might have a chance" Celine said with a frown "Come on, we need your help"
I nodded quietly and sprinted back. Kirito, Asuna, Eva and Klein held the Kobold Lord back the best they could, along with the rest of the squadrons. We managed to back him up in a corner in combined effort, when he suddenly slashed downwards towards a bunch of spear users.
They screamed in fear, when Kirito, Klein and I, moved in front of them to parry his massive blade in combined succession. We even managed to put him off balance, which gave us enough space to move in on him even more.
Kirito, Celine and I screamed at the top of our lungs as we lunged forward and stabbed and slashed with all our might. The Kobold Lord fought back with his last bits strength, swinging downwards with a devastating blow. We dodged to the left and screamed again as we crossed our swords and used our last bit of strengths, to burry our sword deep into the pit of The Kobold Lord's stomach, a bright red wound forming across it's stomach and chest.
One last pitiful cry from it's jaws, and it suddenly swelled up and exploded in a sea of broken blue glass panes. I widened my eyes as I realized it. Everyone held their breath. When the "Congratulations" screen popped up, the hall exploded into cheers.
"YES! WE DID IT!"
Our little group of fighters ganged up and hugged each other in a group hug. After a while, when the cheering died down a bit, someone suddenly spoke up.
"Hey, who got the last hit bonus?"
Everyone looked around at each other, and suddenly a small screen popped up in front of both me, Kirito and Celine. We widened our eyes as we looked at the screens.
Each of us had hit the boss at the same time as a final blow, so we each unlocked an item. Celine had received a Fullmoon Trinket, Kirito a Coat Of Midnight, and I had received a sword of illusion, each of them giving a huge boost to a different stat. I was very happy to know that you could make yourself invisible temporarily with the sword skill my new sword granted me.
We each closed our screens and smiled.
"We've each received something" I said with a smirk.
After the crowd began to disperse, I made my way over to Diavel, and helped him up.
"You okay buddy?" I asked him with a smile.
He nodded softly and smiled.
"Yeah, just need some rest"
"Alright, i'll take you back to town after we've opened up for floor 2"
He nodded quietly and I began to working my way towards the staircase that had appeared behind Illfang's throne.
To think that we had beat the first floor boss without casualties. It was a wonderful feeling, and I couldn't have been more proud of everyone's efforts.
The other's quickly came over and Kirito and Klein began helping to carry Diavel on their own, leaving me to get some rest as well. When I was about to mount the steps, Asuna tugged at my sleeve.
"Hm? Yes?"
I asked her softly and turned towards her. She smiled and looked at me.
"That was amazing" She said "The way you, Kirito and Celine was fighting… I hope to follow in your footsteps"
I nodded softly and chuckled "I could always help you figuring out the menu if you want"
"Huh? How did you know I have trouble with the menu?"
"I've been noticing it when you were alone" I said with a chuckle "I've noticed how frustrated you are with it"
She pouted a bit and blushed.
"Don't tease me"
I chuckled and let her up the stairs along with the others. And when I walked softly, wondering how well we'd do on floor 2, I could have sworn I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I decided to ignore it and press ahead.
What I didn't know is that Celine was watching me from behind a pillar.
"Oh Sebastian… How can I ever tell you?"
A/N
Hey everyone! Hope you like today's chapter!
I've looked forward to this so much since last month. This will probably be the only chapter sadly, since I have been very busy this week.
Other than that, I don't really have much to say, besides once again, thank you for all your support, and keep reading guys.