Note: Since this fanfic is obviously going to feature quite a bit of combat, my characters are going to be using skills. I will warn you all now that most of the skills my characters will use will be ones of my own creation.
I hope you enjoy chapter 2!
The door to the boss room creaked open and the two players were greeted by the room they had visited numerous times now to defeat the constantly respawning boss. Said boss was already in the room, which seemed odd to Chrome, normally it didn't show up until they went further into the frozen colosseum-like room. He quickly saw why it was there though. Scattered across the floor were several players that the boss monster called Frozen King was now approaching with his massive claymore.
"Arcadia, let's go!" Chrome called out, charging forward with his sword and shield ready.
"Right behind you!" the purple-haired woman called in response.
One of the fallen players called out something to Chrome but he wasn't listening, he was far too busy bludgeoning the ice covered king across the head with his shield. The Frozen King turned and swung his claymore at Chrome who had anticipated the attack and was already rolling to the left to avoid.
"Too slow frosty!" the sword and shield user remarked with a grin as he rose to his feet once more. The boss let out a loud groan and ran at Chrome, his iced over armour clinking and his tattered cape flowing behind him.
The heavy overhead swing came as no surprise to Chrome as he raised his shield and blocked it easily. He'd fought this particular boss enough times now to know its attack patterns. He checked the king's HP, he was down to his last bar, the other players had done pretty well but it was obviously their first time fighting this guy. Chrome delivered a quick thrust that chipped off a small amount of his enemy's HP before jumping back. "Switch!"
Arcadia charged forward, swinging her massive axe in a wide arc that cleaved into the Frozen King's back, sending the boss stumbling forward. "We're not finished yet!" Arcadia yelled, jumping into the air and bringing her axe down on the Frozen King's head. Both her and Chrome watched as the boss' HP gauge fell to zero and it was defeated, Arcadia receiving the last hit bonus.
"His helmet as usual?" Chrome asked, sheathing his sword.
"Unfortunately," she sighed, "I'll get his armour one of these days."
"What the hell did you do?!" a rapidly approaching voice snapped. Chrome looked up to see the group of players he had seen before approaching him.
"Well, pretty sure I just saved you all," Chrome commented, his hand moving towards the handle of his sword. He spotted a tattoo on the neck of each player. A skull with a sword through it. They were Death Gamers.
Death Gamers were a group of players who emerged when Aincrad was added to New ALfheim Online. Although a player was free to die in this new Aincrad, Death Gamers felt as though this tarnished what Sword Art Online had been. Any player who chose to be a Death Gamer played as though one would still die if their avatar was killed in-game. If they were killed by a monster, they would log out and instantly delete their account. Death Gamers made up approximately thirty percent of the players that played in Aincrad regularly.
Chrome really hated dealing with these guys, it usually went south pretty quickly. He had been the end of several Death Gamers since he started playing, he wasn't very popular amongst them because of it.
"You stole our kill! We've been grinding for a week to kill that boss and you came and killed it on us!" the young man Chrome assumed to be the leader said. Arcadia sighed, she knew where this was going.
"Stole your kill? Ha! I saved your sorry hides is what we did. If it wasn't for us, all five of you would be logging out and deleting your accounts right about now!" Chrome said, staring into the eyes of the spear user before him. "Seriously, all of you DGamers are so uptight."
"You… I'll cut you down right here!" the spearman yelled.
"Go right ahead, I'll just respawn back in town. Doesn't bother me."
"Kotaru, maybe we should just drop it. He did allow us to keep playing after all…," a dagger user in the back of the group said.
"Shut it Haiden! This guy pisses me off. You know who he is don't you? This guy is the D Hunter, Chrome!" Kotaru said, pointing a finger at Chrome.
"D Hunter huh…," Chrome said, raising an eyebrow with a half-smile. Arcadia let out a small sigh and took a few steps back. Things had passed the point of no return now. "Not a bad title, I can live with that I suppose," Chrome said with a dark chuckle.
"I'm gonna cut this guy down right now and teach him not to screw with the Death Gamers," Kotaru said, drawing his spear. Chrome casually drew his sword and stepped away from Kotaru a few paces.
"So how's this gonna go down? A duel?" Chrome asked, twirling his sword around in his hand. Kotaru charged forward with a roar and Chrome shrugged. "Guess not," he said, raising his shield to block the thrust. He watched as his opponent's cursor turned orange, now all of his own attacks would be regarded as self-defence.
Chrome stepped around the next few thrust attacks, batting the occasional one away with his large shield. He counted each attack as it came. Three, four, five, six. Now Chrome's sword clashed out, opening a stream of data in Kotaru's upper right arm. He watched his opponent's HP bar decrease slightly and jumped back as Kotaru's spear came at him in an arc.
"Stand still murderer!" the spearman yelled, lunging forth once more.
"Why? So you can stab me? How stupid do you think I am?" Chrome called out, jumping over a low sweep. "Seriously… the same attacks over and over again, I really don't know how you got this far up."
"Shut up!"
Chrome blocked yet another straight thrust with his shield. This was seriously getting ridiculous, he thought to himself. He sighed and jumped back, taking up a crouching position, his shield raised.
"Last chance Kotaru, surrender or I'll end this now."
"Like hell I'm gonna give up, and who said you could use my name?!"
Chrome shook his head and watched as Kotaru jumped into the air, aiming for a downwards stab. Just as expected. The blade of Chrome sword and his shield both turned purple and the swordsman took a deep breath. Kotaru came closer and Arcadia put her hand on her axe, watching his companions.
As Kotaru's face twisted in a psychotic grin as his spear came down. Chrome stood up and his next actions took but seconds. His shield intercepted the spearhead, batting the weapon to the side, leaving Kotaru defenceless as Chrome's sword came up in a devastating vertical arc, a trail of purple following the blade. As his Guardian Wave skill connected, Chrome watched as Kotaru's HP gauge sank down to the red and disappeared.
A look of shock crossed the spearman's face before his body exploded into pixels and he vanished. There was a gasp from the rest of his party as their hands went to their weapons. However a glance from Chrome and the sight of Arcadia drawing her axe was enough to end that train of thought before it could be finished.
"Arcadia, let's go. We're done here," Chrome said as he sheathed his sword and took a teleport crystal from his inventory. Arcadia put her axe away and did the same, scowling at the DGamers before raising it high.
"Teleport, Lindas," they spoke in unison. In seconds they were gone.
Chrome took a seat on a bench by the waterway running through town. Arcadia chose to stand on the small bridge to his left. The two stood in silence for a few minutes before Arcadia decided to speak.
"How many does that make now?" she asked.
"I've lost count. I wouldn't be surprised if I start getting hunted soon," he replied.
"Do you honestly have to kill them every time?"
"I give them a fair chance to surrender, it's not my fault that they're too insane to accept it. I'm not responsible for the actions of those people, their faults belong to them alone."
"This is why I'm your only adventuring partner isn't it?"
"No, you're my only adventuring partner because I haven't found a way to make you leave yet." The two smiled slightly at the comment. "Dammit… I really don't wanna go to school tomorrow," Chrome groaned, looking up at the sky.
"Well fake sick and we can grind all day," Arcadia said with a huge grin. She was far too eager for that to happen, Chrome thought.
"Not a chance. I'm not giving you reason to take more time off work. You're supposed to be a role model you know?"
"Hey! I am a perfectly good role model when it comes to my job."
Chrome couldn't help but laugh. After a few seconds of pouting Arcadia joined in. The two spent a while talking idly before Arcadia decided to log out. The two said goodbye and Arcadia headed off to the inn so she could leave. Chrome on the other hand figured he might as well go and level some more, it was only just past lunchtime in the real world after all.