Yua P.O.V
I was surprised, to say the least, to hear Flame's plan. It would be effective, but a tad...scary to pull off at least.
He muttered something about not being his first time and it made me wonder, what kind of life has he lived for him to know this kind of thing?
After he explained as much that was needed, he gave everyone a hard look. "Now what we need to do is find the boss as soon as possible. I need you to take in everyone willing to fight. Train as fast as possible. We need to become a single unified front for the lower level players."
"It makes sense does it not?" Lind inquired. "This is what we need, teamwork because no single individual or party can win this."
I personally thought that Flame might be able to take a boss on with Kirito and Asuna easily but I didn't voice that.
After the meeting was adjourned, Flame know his fate with Kibaou and simply waited for him outside of the pub.
Kibaou verbally assaulted Flame so much I feel like harassment tiles would show up at any moment. But they didn't, and Flame just sat on the steps of the pub with a scornful look on his face, taking it all before saying something that I only caught the end of.
"I'm nothing, always was and always will be. I won't act like I am. But one thing I'm not going to take is you treating me like I stuck us inside this damned game." Flame huffed. "Typical humans, they lash out at the closest thing to them, and in this case the beaters and beta testers. You think just because we know more than you, you should get rid of us because all of us are 'bad', well news flash, the reason I'm so high level is that I risk my hide every damn day for the sake of other players. I risk my life fighting nonstop in the forests and spawning places so newbies don't get killed and I balance that with training them and fighting on the frontlines. We can't waste our time Kibaou, you want to get out of here and so do I, many feel the same so why don't you butt out and let me free us in my way?"
After Kibaou and his posse left with a huff, Flame staggered to his feet. "Fuck it, I'll grind later." He went into the pub.
Apollo looked over his shoulder. "Maybe you should wait for him. Make sure he gets home and all."
I briefly panicked. "Why me?"
"He trusts you, plus I need to gather some supplies so we can grind Exost up to par with everyone."
.
Five hours later
.
I impatiently waited back and forth in front of the pub. Maybe I should check on him.
I didn't take Flame to be an alcoholic, and I still doubt he would be, he seemed disgusted at the thought of drinking in-game until the meeting. But as I said, I never know with him.
I walked back into the pub and he was slumped over the bar with more cups than I bothered to count around him.
A man with a flushed face (which I hope was due to his alcohol intake) noticed me staring at Flame with a bit of horror.
"Oi, Lil' miss, you a friend of his?" he asked, with a noticeable slurring of words but not too bad.
"Yes...do you think I should take him back to his place? How much has he had?" I asked.
"Prolly should take him back. He's too young for this kinda thing. Never drunk a day in his life, I could tell. He has a surprising tolerance, took about as much as a clearer would make in a day and he got drinks that were 50 col apiece."
50? That means he's had anywhere from 10 to 30 drinks! I hurried over to his side, ignoring the groan of protest that escaped his lips.
"Jus' on' more," he slurred, face flushed. He's drunk and out for the count alright.
"I think you've had enough," I grunted as I shifted his avatar's weight to be more comfortable as I half walked him, half dragged him. I hope he doesn't do this again, it felt like I'd have to wait until I'm at least level 30 to carry him with the way my stats are set to look.
"Fin," he murmured in my ear, this time his hot breath sent a jolt down my spine. Wasn't expecting that.
I shifted him again so now his arm was over my shoulder and he barely stood on his feet. His feet dragged a bit as he walked but we made good progress. It was nearing the early morning.
Would he have a hangover? Does even that work in SAO?
"Yua..." He muttered.
I turned my head over to him slightly.
"I'm sorry you had to see me like this," he muttered once again, and this time I wasn't sure I'd heard him.
"It's fine. Think of it as me paying you back for your kindness," I said, trying to play it off.
"My dad...he was obsessed with this kind of thing, enough that it became a problem so I didn't see him much growing up. At least I didn't like to see him. I hated drinking but I figured because this was a game and it wasn't exactly like the real thing..." He trailed off a little, letting me digest the words he was saying.
"That's fine, there are plenty of kids that don't like their fathers, or don't know them well," I said, trying to lighten the mood.
He let out a dry chuckle. "You're right about that. But I'll have to renew some of the vows I made while I was IRL. Gotta make 'em apply to SAO because even if we pick up the pace, we are likely to be stuck here for at least 2 years."
"Well then I hope we live through it all together," I said with a smile, and for the first time since the meeting, Flame smiled at me.
"I'd kiss you right about now but I'm about to pass out and you're dropping me," Flame said, causing my face to explode in red as I eep'ed and dropped him as my hand went to cover my face. Flame hit the ground with a thud but he laughed and smiled some more.
"Why did you drop him like that?" A new voice entered my ears, which heated up when I realized who it was. Achira.
Exost, Apollo and Achira had stayed awake to wait for us… But they had just seen that whole thing.
They joined in on Flame's laughter, and eventually, I giggled as well. But I felt a small pang in my heart. Does he just like teasing me?
Apollo hefted up Flame and carried him to the room we paid for (something we will likely be doing for him for a while) and came back to us waiting.
"He's conked out as soon as I laid him down," Apollo said with a chuckle. "How much did he drink?"
"A lot," I said looking in the direction of his room. "Do you think he'll be ok in the morning?"
"This is Flame we are talking about, it'll take more than a little alcohol to drown his burning passion," Exost joked, which earned an eye-roll from Achira.
"Bad puns aside, we need to discuss what we are going to be doing from now on regarding him," Achira said with a rigid stance. "Is he one of us, or not?"
"Well, I'd be all for having him," Apollo said gruffly. "The problem is that he keeps turnin' me down."
"Well that is strange, he normally seems very content with our presence. Maybe it's the aspect of danger that comes with him that he wants to leave us out of," Achira mused to herself.
"Then he wouldn't have kept his ties with Yua," Exost muttered. "I guess he likes you a lot for him to keep popping up."
I blushed heavily. "I-its not like that. Maybe he just likes keeping tabs on people he's saved. Hermes seemed to be pretty friendly with him."
"Someone sounds jealous." Exost teased. "What's wrong, afraid Flame likes the big ole milkers, if you catch my drift?"
My blush kept its intensity. "W-why would I worry about that?"
"Well, the fact that Hermes was practically crawling all over him. And she is the first one you brought up being closer to him. And we all know what she has that we don't."
I turned my head away from her. "You're being ridiculous. I hardly know the guy. Anyway, I also wouldn't mind joining forces with him."
"Yeah, maybe I can crank up the charm and steal 'em for myself," Exost says with an ever-growing smirk. "Ya never know, he could be into lolis."
I bit back a growl. That wasn't the case, right? Had he meant it when he said he'd kiss me?
"I say we should wait until we establish a guild" Achira said with finality. "And Yua should be the one to ask him as he is most likely to say yes to her."
"Wait, me?!" I exclaimed, feeling anxious. "Why can't you ask him?"
She shuddered a bit. "Sometimes, his eyes are unnerving, especially when we ask a question that could require great thought. He looks as if he is plotting a painful death for a sinner and I do not want to experience that again."
I tried to think of questions she might have asked him. The most complicated was 'What do you want to eat for lunch?'
Well, I had some time to prepare as we search for the boss room, and to assume we all survive the boss, and find our way to the guild quest.
Though Argo would likely have the data for that, for once I cursed Argo for having information.
I typed a message out to Argo.
Me: Hey do you know how to convince Flame to join our guild?
I waited patiently for a few moments before getting a response.
Argo: Well Ja-bou, is an odd guy. Leave it to big sis for the convincing.
Ja-bou? Bou is used like chan, used for young boys or babies. Once again, wondering how old Flame is. Maybe she knows his real name and saying Fla-bou would sound dumb.
"Argo says she'll help me." She NEVER did!
We all headed off to sleep, planning to go grinding in the dungeon the next day while searching for the boss chamber.
.
Flame P.O.V
.
I groaned as I sat up. "What the actual fuck happened last night?"
My head hurt like hell. I had to blink a few extra times for my eyes to adjust to the light and as soon as I stood up, I felt off-balance. I almost felt like I was on a ship, that was rolling through extra choppy waters.
I grabbed my head. God, The corner of my vision showed a small debuff, my health bar which was normally a bight nice looking green, was tinted a nasty brown and yellow. There was a small icon under my bar, a person that was slouched over a toilet and there were small little sick bubbles around them.
I rushed over to the bathroom and heaved. I puked for a solid 5 minutes before the debuff vanished.
Probably not the best way to get rid of the debuff, but if there is no booze in my system, it can't mess with it.
I equipped some fresh clothes (after all that drinking, something about me felt nasty, I'm probably going to bathe like Asuna does later).
I stumbled out of my room, wanting food. I was met with a startled-looking Yua. "Oh, your up. You feeling ok?"
"Yeah, I puked out all my avatars guts so I should be good, I'd be better if I had some food though."
She pulled out a piece of bread from her inventory and offered it to me, along with a small jar of jam.
Heavenly stuff by the way. I tore into the poor piece of bread that was given to me.
"Thanks, much better, let's get to grinding," I said with a small grin.
.
I let out a grunt as my glowing foot slammed into the face of a nearly finished Minotaur.
"Get back to Minos you dumb bull!" I yelled at it as it shattered into polygons.
"Oh, thanks Flame!" Yua said as she offered me a shy smile. I wanted to hit her lightly on the head and say 'Girl this ain't the time to be acting cute, pay more attention to the fight!'
Currently, we had managed to level everyone up a few good times, well besides me. I mainly covered their backs and jumped in when needed. That is all we did for the past ten days. I prioritized their lives and levels over mine, but it's ten days of nothing but grinding, I'm nearly level 20. Luckily they are around level 14.
"No problem Yua, keep your eye on the mobs this time ok?" I called over to her and she gave a firm nod.
I watched as she unleashed a glowing skill with her rapier. Apollo rushed forward and slammed the Bullman with a strong uppercut to which Exost ran up something and jumped down on the beast to land a downward finishing attack. They got solid teamwork, but their numbers are going to be a problem, I did not doubt in my mind that they will try and recruit me. As bad as it'd make me feel, I can't join them.
I'd only worry them, considering my habit of vanishing out of the blue.
I pulled my sword out and landed a flurry of glowing hits on the Minotaur behind them.
[Sacrificial Hunter]
It's around 5 hits, but the cooldown is pretty much nothing and it isn't very strong.
I finished the beast with a new skill I found while digging around in my latest 'toy'.
[Curb Stomp]
Both my feet glowed a bright purple as I placed them into a wide crouched stance. I braced myself, letting the system lock onto the mob I was aiming for. I jumped up to the beast's neck area, and swung my left foot out, shoving a pained snort out of its mouth, but I didn't stop there, my body swerve itself around so I could lock my legs around its neck. Which I did and the game let gravity exist, so my momentum would bring the beast crashing down.
It roared before turning into particles under my foot. Pretty damn good skill, but sadly I can't use it fully against mobs with a higher SRT stat than me or more than 4 times my size.
The chances of being able to use this on a boss are low but it's hella fun on these guys because they always seem so shocked.
I turned to the other to tell them I remember a loot room being nearby but I stopped when I noticed a large set of doors.
That...is not good.
.
Yua P.O.V
.
I glanced around the new gathered players. Ten days compared to the month was amazing in terms of finding the boss chamber.
Well not as much considering things were different now. We had an organized group now, all dedicated to our cause, freedom.
Currently present were Kibaou and Lind's full parties, not to mention their extra full parties that they will use when they form guilds. But everyone else wasn't connected to those two. Agil's party, our party, some other party led by a spear user, Kirito, and the Legend Braves.
Well, Flame had joined Kirito, saying it wasn't fair for him to be without anyone in this raid so he called up Hermes and Anhur to give us a hand but Hermes couldn't make it.
It was odd that Kirito was alone, Asuna must be off doing her own thing...related to the scam that is. Kirito and Asuna were the only important people not at the meeting, meaning they must be deeper in this than everyone else.
Asuna and Kirito are heavily needed in boss fights due to their undeniable skill, since Asuna isn't here to fight, it's safe to assume they trust Flame to be just as good, if not better than Asuna in a fight like this.
So our trump cards are Kirito and Flame for this fight. Not too shabby in my opinion.
Every player present would have read the latest guidebook, it would be suicide if they didn't. Back in the beta, instead of a small swarm of mobs with one boss, it would be two mobs. The main boss is [Baran, The General Taurus], and the side monster was [Nato, the Colonel Taurus].
In the beta, Nato had basically been a field boss fighting with a floor boss. But Illfang was changed in the beta, so it was highly likely that the boss here was changed as well. Everyone was on edge, no deaths this time rippled through our thoughts like a silent promise.
We were split into two parts, The four parties under Kibaou and Lind were fighting Baran while everyone else was told to handle Nato.
"Fucking assholes, they think they're better than us, always sticking us with the mobs," Apollo growled, looking more than eager to test out another one of his new skills...on the leaders that is.
"Relax, this time it is also a boss, rather than weak minions," Achira said as she placed a hand on his arm, which could be taken as a cute couple sign for one to calm down, but I think she was doing it to yank his arm back in case he tries anything.
We all made some last-minute checks with our gear before heading in. Flame looked deep in thought when I noticed he had taken a shield. Odd.
The Legend Braves were trying to convince Lind to let them in on the action of fighting the main boss. It wasn't unexpected, they wanted simply what everyone else probably wanted.
When they failed they walked over to us.
"It would seem we are to be comrades in this battle against Colonel Nato," Orlando spoke, sounding much like a roleplayer but at the same time, not.
Agil stepped forward and shook his hand. "Pleasure to meet you, the name's Agil."
"This is our first meeting, but if you do not mind, may I call thee Sir Agil?"
Without commenting on the roleplaying, Agil gave the man's hand a firm shake. "Sure. Nice to be working with you Orlando."
He now faced us. "And may I call thee Sir Apollo and Sir Wang?"
Wang seemed to be the leader of the other group. Both Wang and Apollo told him it was nice to work with him while we all laughed.
That left Kirito and Flame. "And thee, Black Swordsman and Blood Ninja. Thy prowess on the field is undeniable and a wondrous sight to all who have been blessed to see it. I see why thy titles are duly acquired, The source of these names is unfamiliar to me, but you are indeed the Bea-"
"Blackie and Speedy," Agil cut in, trying to prevent the throwing of insults. Apparently, Flame was categorized as a beater now. It wouldn't be good if they were called that in the face, even if Orlando had no idea that it was an insult. "That's what we call them."
"I see. In that case Sir Blackie and Sir Speedy?"
"Now hold on-" Kirito started but was cut off by Apollo grinning ear to ear.
"That is perfect. I can't think of anything better."
"Now in my case, no, you may call me Flame." Flame had said. "I'm not that fast."
"I see, Sir Flame."
"There we go, I like this fellow," Flame chuckled. "He knows how to show respect to his 'superiors,'" Flame said, making the air quotes with his fingers.
Lind called us over along with the raiding party. "Everyone is assigned and last-minute checks have been made. Let us open these doors and bring honor-"
"Wait a minute." Agil interrupted. "We are 100% clear on one thing here, correct? Even if we have the information from the beta here, we don't know if everything is the same and will retreat as soon as we notice, correct?"
Lind nodded, this was a very justifiable thing to be worried about. "Yes. If we notice different patterns from the boss, we will pull back and rethink our approach."
Flame cleared his throat to gain everyone's attention. "As it stands, we have two people here that were in the actual fight during the beta. Feel free to ask me or Kirto questions."
Kirito glared at Flame before speaking. "At the very least, the Taurus mobs I've dealt with so far have the same attacks as in the beta. The boss used variations of those attacks, and likely still does. However double debuffs must be avoided at all costs."
"What are double debuffs?" I asked.
This time Flame took the wheel. "The boss, both I think, could inflict the stun debuff. Which makes movement difficult. However, if you get hit twice, the debuff is buffed. Instead of adding time, it upgraded itself into Paralysis and every player that got hit by it didn't make it through the whole fight."
That means if too many players get paralyzed we won't win this.
"Be extra careful. The overall stat build of the Taurus mobs I've fought is slightly different. Less into defense and more into offense. They hit harder than before. It's not noticeable with the fodder mobs, but with the bosses, they could be big changes," Flame also warned.
"Now, let us go!" Lind exclaimed as he pushed the doors open. We all rushed in but soon came to a gasping halt.
As the guild book had said, we're faced with a pair of minotaurs. The first had blue skin and stood maybe 8 feet tall with black horns and a large hammer as his weapon of choice. That was Nato.
The second one was larger, almost twice Nato's size with red skin and not unlike his Colonel, he wielded a battle hammer.
We all shared pretty much the same thought.
Those things are massive.
My mind also threw in: Maybe I should have opted for an axe instead of a rapier.
"So far so good! They look the same as the beta!" Lind called out to us. "Remember to stick to the plan everyone! Charge!"
Everyone charged forward.
Sure Nato wasn't the floor boss, but he is still a field boss! Out of us, the best tanks were Agil's party, the Legend Braves, and Apollo.
"Don't worry about anything but drawing his agro for now!" Flame called out. "We have to separate them but not too obvious, in case they try to box us in!"
Wang and his party rushed forward to unleash some sword skills onto the bull. Soon after they had taken Nato's aggro by the horns and tried to separate the two bosses.
Nato was eager to get payback and began its beginning move for his attack.
Kirito called out a warning. "It's a three-hit combo! The first two will stun you if you get hit but if you can knock them both the third will be canceled and Nato will stumble for a few seconds."
Before the party could call for backup, Flame had dashed forward. "I got this!"
Nato swung his hammer down but Flame was there with his shield. A loud clang rang out and I could see his health plummet by at least 10 percent from here. The first was blocked but that left Flame open and on the ground.
Nato grinned evilly as he rose his hammer to put out a flame but then the Legend Braves stepped in, easily taking the hit and as Kirito had promised, the third hit never made it as Nato stumbled back.
Kirito, Agil's party, and our party rushed in to land some decent damage.
"Fall back, his aggro is on us now!" Kirito called out to the others who gave a curt nod. "We need to pull him away before he can attack again!"
We all ran towards the end of the room and Nato, being Nato, followed. But instead of stomping toward us, it roared as it raised its head to the ceiling.
"Crap, it's going to charge! Dodge when it gets close!" Flame called out.
Nato soon charged at us in a simple diagonal motion, but it was a straight line and easy to dodge.
Flame and Kirito exchanged looks. "We'll draw aggro, focus on DPS alright?"
"What? Why are you guys drawing aggro?" I asked, worried.
"We are light on our feet. Plus we'll only be taking the first shift."
Kirito and Flame dashed forward, blades shining in the dim lighting of our arena.
Flame overtook Kirito and quickly pulled his sword back while it glowed. He jumped forward, his sword flashed through the beast and it turned to face him. Kirito took advantage of that to unleash a flurry of sword skills onto its back, drawing its attention back to him. But Flame's feet began to glow a bright purple and he activated the same skill he used against the minotaur in the dungeon.
A loud thud resonated throughout the room and it drew everyone's eyes for a moment.
This time, Flame was swatted away before he could manage the stomp, but the boss was already on the ground. We all charged at started tearing into the beast for a good 10 seconds before it jumped back up to its feet.
Kirrito and Flame had entered a smooth rhythm of switching as he had once with Asuna, but something was different about this dance.
With Asuna, every move seemed strong and graceful, like the duo was, but this dance was a lot stronger feeling, faster, and while it lacked the grace that it held with Asuna, it reminded me of a raging waterfall.
And the two had the nerve to banter while they fought the beast.
They lasted around five more minutes before both of them had dipped too low to take many more hits, so the Agil and Wang's Parties were given their turn. Thanks to Kirito and Flame, we were nearly halfway through the second bar.
Kirito and Flame sat down, dead tired as they drank their health potions. "Man, Kirito, how are you keeping up with me? You haven't been over leveling have you?"
"I'm not like you, I stick with the general clearer level," Kirto joked as he playfully punched Flame in the arm.
Flame kicked him in response. "Keep you strangely strong man-baby hands off me, Mr. STR and AGI focused."
"What? Anything else would slow me down."
"Not if you were as good as me."
"Be quiet, you Teny Iida wannabe!"
"Oh, what was that? Was your STR stat compensating for something-" Flame cut off the jokes when the terrified sounds of the ALS and DKB had made their trouble known. Once again, the team handling the side pieces was faring much better against their opponent, considering that the other group had no teamwork to speak of.
Orlando called about healing thy wounds while we both took the lead.
"Thanks, we appreciate it," Agil said as the two hurried back while we switched in.
Then Flame was by my side. "As soon as it hits the last HP bar, it will basically spam its stun attacks."
I felt safer with him at my side. I rushed forward, dealing as much damage as I could manage, to keep the aggro from the Braves. They were an odd bunch and involved in some shady things, but they aren't bad people.
I cringed once I realized how little my attacks were doing. Way too tanky for my liking.
Nato prepared his attack again, and now everyone knew what we should do. We had built a steady rhythm that would have been hard to break. That is where our mistake was.
With how long the raid was going, everyone had a good feeling about this and our progress. Orlando and his team rushed forward to tank the hammer swing that was coming and we moved closer. Anhur was out for the moment, for he had taken a nasty blow by accident and was still recovering. Our resident 'beaters' had stopped calling out times to attack and things to watch out for, that's how good things were going.
Nato's hammer strike must have been harder this time. When the hammer met the shields of the Legend Braves, a small striking time was free. We rushed forward and slashed at Nato's lower body, but not dealing too much damage to draw aggro. But this time, Nato moved sooner than before.
"Get out of there!" Kirito warned. "It's attacking again!"
"Fuck! Move!" Apollo bellowed as everyone rushed away but it was too late to fully escape. Nato swung its hammer down and a shockwave erupted from the ground around it. Achira and Apollo barely dodged but Exost and I got caught in the stun. Even worse, while we had our stun, Nato was far from finished.
"It's the three-hit combo!" Wang cried out.
Both of us couldn't move and I watched in horror as the Colonel toward over me.
Nato looked between the both of us, and I guess it was conflicted because we had done the same amount of damage and slammed its hammer between the two of us, sending us both flying as my health bar fell into the yellow range.
"Girls!" Achira yelled.
I stared at the hammer coming down over me. I couldn't move...this is..the end.
I felt tears well in my eyes as the whole thing slowed down. As the hammer got closer, I shut my eyes, letting images of my life before SAO overtake me.
But heard a large clang noise. And as I realized I was in one piece, I heard a grunt of pain as a warm campfire scent filled my nose and an arm circled me.
My eyes snapped open. We were further off now. I looked at who had me in their arm and it was none other than Flame. His right arm was missing and a chunk of his right body, but he was there and he was giving me the most relieved look I've ever seen. But now he was pale and had several beads of sweat on his forehead.
"Flame! Your arm..." I quietly cried as his HP bar plummeted into the red. A few pixels left kept him alive.
"I-its fine. Just an arm." He gave me a weak grin. "Might as well go out saving someone"
"Quickly comrades! Save the fair maiden and her brave knight!" A voice I identified as Orlando shouted.
Nato still had his eyes on me but seemed more than ready to turn Flame into a pancake if he got in his way again.
The Legend Braves rushed forward but Apollo beat them to the punch, his fists glowed a blood-red as he rushed up to Nato and started pummeling him with a flurry of punches too fast for me to see.
Kirito rushed over to our side with Exost, who was crying. Exost had been missed by the second attack so she wasn't paralyzed, only stunned. She was lucky to have been barely out of the way.
Exost cried a little as she grabbed me (with the help of Anhur who had quickly headed over to help) and Kirito was assisted with carrying a (much lighter for reasons that are missing) Flame with Achira.
Flame was propped up against the wall as Exost shoved a healing bottle down his throat.
"You stupid jerk! You should have focused on Yua! Then you wouldn't have gotten hurt as badly!" Exost cursed Flame as he managed a weak smile at her.
"I couldn't leave you on the ground like that. Besides, I knew I'd get to Yua on time. I always do." Flame said horsly as his HP bar filled back up to more safe areas.
I tried not to think about that last bit, it could be borderline creepy when you think about it enough.
"And they say I'm suicidal," Kirito chuckled. "For real though, are you ok?"
"Define 'fine.'" Flame said.
"Um, well enough condition to keep fighting," Kirito offered as we glared at him. "What?!"
"Yeah, I guess. As soon as my HP bar fills back up to full, my avatar's arm should grow back. Yay, video game logic, am I right?"
I let out a sigh of relief. So he wasn't permanently injured because of me.
"Although, he hits like Truck-kun, maybe just as hard. If I took that attack anywhere else and didn't have my cloak, the next Isekai anime to come out will be 'I Got Hit By A Truck-kun Impersonator And Woke Up In Hell!'" Flame exclaimed as he took out another potion and drank it quickly.
"Yeah, glad your okay," Apollo grunted as he headed back over. "You good to fight now?"
"Of course," Flame grinned as the open red lines that signified injury here glowed a bright white and were replaced by his arm back in one place. "Sorry for being taken out of commission like that."
Wang and the Braves took over the boss and Agil had managed to hear that. "Don't sweat it, it wasn't your fault. If it wasn't for you we would have lost people. "
"Yeah but we got careless, we need to get back on our guard." Kirito stated grimly.
"On that topic, we got everything back under control now but one thing has been bothering me," Agil said frowning.
"What would that be?" Anhur asked, rolling his shoulder.
"The last boss was a lord, correct? And this one is a general, what I want to know is why is it in this order when generals are ranked lower than lords," Agil explained.
Kirito and Flame exchanged another look. Flame spoke, his voice full of dread. "Fuck, you don't think that bastard took my adv-"
A slight rumble in the ground cut him off.
"Fuck! Everyone get back from the center!" Flame shouted as several people pulled a little further away.
At the center of the room, it opened a bit and a massive figure rose from the hole.
This new black-skinned minotaur was skinny, skinny enough to see some of its bones, but it was far taller than Baran, with six horns and a golden crown on its head.
Six HP bars flashed into existence by its head with a name over its cursor.
[Asterius, The Taurtus King]
"Kayaba, you smug mother fucking bitch!" Flame cursed. "When I gave the suggestion, I didn't expect you to fucking do it after you made it a death game! Not to mention 6 health bars?! I very clearly said a little challenge!"
"Well, that is the worst possible answer to my question," Agil stated, almost looking guilty for opening his mouth as if he jinxed us.
Flame cursed again. "Look where the bastard is now!"
Asterius was facing the main group fighting Baran, but that was between them and the room's large doors.
"We have to hold off the new one or they won't make it!" Exost exclaimed
"We can't do that! If we ignore Nato to deal with Asterius, then we'll get overwhelmed!" I yelled back.
"Then we have to finish off Nato and lower their numbers!" Kirito said. "All teams, all-out attack!"
All four parties quickly rushed forward towards Nato. It had very low HP, so we had a good chance of overwhelming it with our numbers.
"Time to spam the attack!"
I braced myself and prepared the best sword skill I had, [Quadruple Pain], and charged in. Quadruple Pain is a four-hit thrusting rapier skill, that also comes along with a chance to immobilize the target.
I shot forward and stabbed wildly 4 times before the post-motion cool down kicked in, but Apollo grabbed my collar and yanked me back to avoid a wild swing from Nato.
Flame dashed forward with Kirito once again, this time with Anhur flanking them. Flame lifted his sword as it took on a blue color, and Kirito's sword glowed green as he moved it to his left side.
To my surprise, Anhur placed his sword on his back and pulled his fists closer to his body as a boxer would. He charged ahead of the two sword-wielding players and landed a single punch to Nato's gut, who was busy with the Legend Braves.
Nato doubled over and Anhur landed another blow to the top of Nato's head, dropping it closer to the floor. That's when Flame came in. He simply sliced through the beast's head, leaving himself within a crouching position, which made it easy for Kirito to run up his back and jump directly over Nato.
Kirito unleashed an attack I recognized as [Rage Spike] pointed right down at Nato before once again rolling to the ground.
Anhur, Flame, and Kirito got over their post-motion delay and simultaneously attacked Nato from three sides, killing it in a flash of light with the usual polygons.
We were running out of time, so much so that we didn't cheer over the death of one of the bosses.
Flame's sharp eyes glanced around the battlefield. "Go for Baran next! We need everyone's help to fight King Stank Breath!"
His joke drew some light chuckles but that's about it before we charged. I noticed Asterius' eyes were glowing as it took a deep inhale.
"What is it doing?!" I called out to Kirito and Flame's direction.
"Watch out! It's a breath attack!" Kirito warned but sadly, the warning wasn't quick enough. Asterius let out a strong breath from its mouth that crackled with electricity. Several players that were hit cried out as all of them got hit with paralysis.
"This ain't good, we gotta step in," Apollo grunted.
Kirito didn't waste a second of time giving orders with Flame. "Wang and Agil's parties will go help with the paralyzed players. While you're there, regen as much health as you can. Carry one, but if you can, carry two!"
We moved ahead with Flame, Kirito, and the Legend Braves. The Legend Braves stood their ground.
"Flame let's try that combo we planned," Kirito said, moving his body as he would if he was trying to crack his neck.
"Bet. Let's show these ''men' how to fight!" Flame grinned as he grabbed for his knife, rather than his sword.
He pulled it back across his body as it glowed a bright green, before throwing it at the boss. [Knife Throwing]. The dagger flew and embedded itself into the boss's forehead, right between the horns.
Kirito ran up to the boss, threw his sword up oddly, and landed a single fast and fluid punch on Baran. Before Baran could try to respond after being thrown back from the punch, Kirito flung his hand up, catching his sword which was now tinted orange, and landed a single downward stroke.
Flame flashed into existence behind the general and executed a sword skill that had his sword a bright yellow color. He landed two hits horizontally and then slashed upwards before jumping out of the way.
Their little display was impressive, impressive enough to draw everyone's attention.
Apollo, not wanting to be left out of the fun, grabbed his axe, and slammed it into the ground three times. This made the axe and his arms glow pink. He barreled towards the boss and slammed his weapon into the gut of the boss, letting go, and gripping onto its neck.
"Hurry up and hit it!" Apollo grunted as he strained against the boss.
We rushed forward and Apollo managed to hold onto the boss for five seconds, giving us enough time to chip away at half of its health bar.
Apollo, now needing to heal, grumbled as he stalked off to help with the injured.
"Look everyone, watch out!" Exost exclaimed.
We all turned to find the 'forgotten' boss towering over us, preparing its next breath attack, but this time there is no place to dodge.
As we panicked, a new person entered the room. The newcomer hopped up Asterius's now bent leg and reached up to the boss's head, where they landed a backflip kick to the head, canceling out the breath attack.
The person stuck their landing perfectly, now a tell-tale sign flowed from their head and it told us who it was.
Asuna, with all of her beauty and grace, had saved us from the attack.
Unhappy about being interrupted, Asterius focused on Asuna. It swung but Asuna dodged under its arms, and she kept dodging, keeping the boss's attention.
"She's taking it on by herself?"
"Is she suicidal?"
I wanted to help her, but unlike her, I lack the stats to keep up with her. I'd get killed or in the way, if I tried.
Flame kept throwing glances over to her, to check on her. But most of his focus remained on the boss he was dealing with.
Kirito was also worried, but it showed much more with his shaking.
We formed our formation once again and braced for another attack.
Even under the weight of the massive weapon, Orlando sounded worried for Asuna. "What shall we do? The maiden, she won't-"
"We can't worry about that now!" Kirito shouted, but it was clear to everyone he was worried.
It was clear to everyone that Asuna needed to distract Aserius so we can handle Baran and then fight the last boss as well. But at this rate, by simply dodging everything, she won't make it.
"Oi! Blackie, go ahead!" Apollo growled at him. "We can take it from here."
He blinked. "What?"
"Leave this to us and help Asuna, she needs it more than we do," I said as I lightly pushed him towards the said girl. "We got this, we took care of the other one, this one is just bigger and red."
"Aright, I'll leave this in your hands," Kirito said to all of us.
"I'm coming too" Flame called. We all looked at him. "What? I see a fair maiden in distress. Besides-" He tightened his grip on his sword. "I'm faster than all of you, if anyone has a good chance of dodging that thing is me. I won't fail a friend again, that's for sure."
"Alright, let us sally forth, brave heroes!" Orlando cheered as Flame and Kirito rushed off to help.
"We have to do this just like the Colonel!" Apollo yelled over everyone. "You block and while we bash the fuck outta him!"
Soon enough, we had managed to whittle him down. But our tanks still needed healing, they were in the yellow but Baran was in the red.
We were going to risk them falling dangerously low to take it out.
"One more block and we'll finish this!" Anhur called out, having taken the lead after Apollo dropped a bit low after helping tank a hit.
The weapon came down on the group, but the Legend Braves hung in there with their HP barely away from red. They managed the block!
"NOW!" Anhur yelled as all of us rushed forward.
I unleashed as many [Liner]'s as I could to deal as much damage as possible. Sadly, we hadn't managed to finish off the last of it...at least that was what we thought until Anhur finished the boss with a slice to the neck, cutting off its head. He managed to sneak behind it and get it.
"Alright quickly regen so we can help the trio!" Anhur ordered, everyone was still low from that fight, meaning we couldn't help them just yet.
I glanced over to them to be overtaken with shock.
Both Kirito and Asuna were on the floor, in the yellow, and Asuna was paralyzed. Flame was bravely but barely standing in front of them until Asterius swung his arm with speed Flame didn't see coming. He tried to block the blow with his sword, but I guess he hadn't repaired it soon enough and it shattered, letting the fist slam into his chest, and he slammed into the wall, HP nearly going into the red again.
Asterius towered over the duo of players, likely going to finish them off then Flame.
"Watch out!"
Just before the final boss had the chance to attack Asterius was struck on the horns by some kind of flying object. At first, I thought someone else had used a throwing knife (Unlike Flame who had chucked his actual knife, opting to collect it later), but then it flew back and spun around a finger (the weapon was like a spiky ring) of the player that had thrown it. A new one standing by the boss room entryway.
The scammer himself, Nezha.
What is that weapon?
"Get them to safety!" He called to us. "I'll keep him busy!"
I had no clue what was going on, but I listened anyway, ignoring Kirito and Asuna, letting someone stronger take them I rushed to get Flame, who was the farthest.
I grabbed him as he muttered apologizes in my ear.
"We could have taken him...if we had been more careful and I had taken better care of my sword," he muttered. "I'm sorry you have to drag me like this."
"It's fine, you saved me again earlier," I grunted as I rushed as fast as I could with him.
Agil came to my rescue when he rushed over and picked Flame up and patted me on the shoulder. "I got this, you go find an extra potion for him."
Soon all three were placed in the safe corner of the room.
Apollo growled at Asuna. "Where the hell were you?"
She glared back. "I was busy! We rushed here as soon as we could!"
"We?"
"Sup," Argo said, now popping out of nowhere. "Sorry, we're late. But it was worth being a little tardy."
"Wait, what?" Exost asked.
"Asuna and Nezha were completing the Martial Arts quest Flame told you about," Argo said. No one else seemed to overhear that bit. "There was a clue to beating the boss in there."
"A clue? The fuck? Where the hell was the clue in beating a rock?" Apollo grunted as he pried Flame's jaw open and forced a potion down Flame's throat. Poor Flame. Everyone is shoving a nasty liquid down his throat.
"Yup, you had to break one rock in particular. The rock the monk was sitting on." Argo explained. "We learned the boss fight was changed from it but couldn't message you guys since you were already in the dungeon. So we pounded our way through to help you out."
"So why is it Nezha doing the quest?" Achira asked.
"Do ya see the chakram he's usin'? One of the prerequisites for using a chakram is the Martial Arts skill."
"How long did it take for you guys to break the rock anyway?" Exost asked. "It took us roughly the same amount of time as Kirito."
"The best part, Flame here reminded me of a little cheat," Argo grinned. "She got an ox mob I skillfully lured over-"
"You mean you ran after you messed up your hiding attempt?" Asuna offered
"I skillfully lured over," Argo repeated. "And she got it to ram the rock breaking it in one go"
Why didn't Flame tell us that a trick like that was around? Since Flame seems to have some hidden skill slot for riding mobs, then he could have finished the quest for us in an hour at most.
"Anyway, since Nezha is here, we don't gotta worry about any more breath attacks," Argo told us. "Whenever the king tries it, Nezha only got to hit him in the horns with his chakram. Not to mention he gets stunned for a little too."
Everyone else was starting to finish healing and fighting, the wounded trio included. Most people were tired besides the Legend Braves but that sadly was only due to their gear taken by the scam.
"It's in the red! We almost got it!"
"It's about to go berserker like the others! Stay on your toes!"
Asuna stood up, finally ready to fight again. "Let's go fellas! This time the Last Attack Bonus is mine!"
Kirito grinned as he stood up. "You wish."
Flame jumped to his feet, pulling a new sword from his inventory. This one was grey, slightly smaller and duller than his old one, but longer. "Yeah Kirito is right, we all know I'm getting it."
"We'll see," Kirito grinned right before all three dashed forward with an incredible show of speed. They have to be the fastest players in the game now. No way anyone is going to be able to keep pace with them.
"Let's go, guys! We can end this now!" Nezha yelled over to us. Asterius seems to have targeted him, likely due to him being defenseless if he got too close.
"Right!" We yelled before everyone that was watching our game's best heal rushed forward to protect the scammer.
They had proven to not be bad people, even if they scammed us, they were the reason we were able to pull this off even if we were lacking some details.
Before we could fully make it over, the Legend Braves had already been there to block a punch. The gear they had made them impressive, but even this boss fight had taken a toll on it. There was a beginning of a crack that I almost didn't notice in Orlando's shield.
We pushed as much force as we could to reinforce the Braves defense's before they gave out.
"You lot? Arent thou still fatigued?" Orlando asked
"Pfft- Tired? Have you met me?" Exost said as she started hopping around to show her energy. "I'm a ball of ferocity mixed with mean fighting energy! I won't ever be tired in a fight!"
Orlando chuckled. "It seems our ranks are thick with heroes that have great spirit" He raised his sword once again. "An advantageous sign! The time has come to push the beast back!"
"Hell yeah!"
We pushed more and knocked Asterius back, making it stumble. "Kirito! Flame! Asuna! Finish it!"
Now their dance had begun. This time, we could watch how Kirito was a medium between Flame and Asuna.
I don't think Flame and Asuna have ever fought just themselves together but we all know what each player brings to their 'dance'
Kirito brings the power and technique. Asuna brings that unspoken grace mixed in with a steady calm style. Flame brings overwhelming speed and a lot more savage tone to the dance.
All three dashed forward. Flame took the lead, he put his sword to his back and his feet began to glow a bright red. Asuna and Kirito stayed in the back, switching themselves, knowing fully well Flame had done less damage in his attack increments.
Flame ran up to it and his right foot slammed itself way into Asterius's stomach, but then he took his left foot and rammed it into the snout of the king.
Asuna and Kirito jumped up and both did a [Crescent Moon] from the Martial Arts skill straight to the boss's snout again. As Asterius began to fall over Flame withdrew his dagger and plugged it into the boss's chest while Kirito and Asuna both launched a sword skill attack of their own.
[Asterius, The Taurus King] was dead. Once the boss shattered the three that finished the boss had laughed and exchanged high fives and fist bumps.
Not a single clearer lost and we all let out a cheer when we saw the massive system message proving our win.
[Congratualtions]
Windows appeared for four people surprisingly.
Kirito and Flame had gotten windows for both Nato and Asterius, considering they landed attacks at the same time, it wasn't that surprising.
Asuna had also gotten a window for Asterius. While Anhur got a window for Nato and Baran.
Needless to say, not many people were happy.
I scanned my loot, which wasn't much but it was something, plus the XP and Cor were nice.
"Damn you guys, you trying to start a trend or something? What did you guys get?" Exost asked as we approached the winning players.
Kirito pulled out a helm and some kind of potion. "This is The Colonel's Horns and Berserk Potion."
The helm was scary yet ridiculous looking at the same time due to the massive horns sticking out of the sides.
"The Helm gives a decent boost to DEF but it's not my playing style. Pretty heavy. The potion boosts your stats as would the Berserker status, by 50% and lasts for 5 minutes" Kirito read off the descriptions. "Who do you think wants this helm?"
Flame, instead of answering, grabbed the helm from Kirito's hands and stalked over to a sulking Kibaou and offered it to him.
"Listen man, I know we have our differences but we need to work together," Flame said, sounding like he was going to go off into an inspirational speech about friendship. "So to try and build a bridge between us, so to speak, I got the LA bonus I stole from Kirito. It gives a good boost to your defense so I figured you'd like it."
Kibao looked at it as if he was trying to find a trap of some kind and once he found none he muttered a thank you.
Flame walked back over to us. "Boom, peace made. Anyway-"
He grinned wickedly once he check what he got. "Nato gave me the head of his hammer and Asterius gave me a better gift."
The hammer piece materialized on his left arm, making him stumble a bit, but it was the hammer's head alright. But now it was smoothened out and had gold edges, so it could function as a shield. The sword was a Kris sword due to its wave but it was drastically different from his old one. Unlike the dark red color of his last one, this one was bright gold, much longer, wider and jagged too. It resembled one of Asterius's horns but flattened and fashioned onto a sword. The grip was even coated black with leather, I didn't question where that leather came from but the memory of the king's black skin flashed through my mind.
"King's Legacy is the sword and the shield is Colonel's Last Stand. The best part is King's Legacy has a chance to paralyze thing I slice with it." Flame said as he poked around his inventory, likely searching for a bigger sheath for his new sword after putting the shield away. Eventually, he found one slightly bigger than his sword, it seemed to be one meant for a greatsword. I wonder why he has that.
"How is that fair?" Kirito grumbled.
"I lost things risking my life for other people,'' Flame retorted. "I think its plenty fair"
"Well, this...might be handy?" Asuna held up a new cloak. It was similar to her old one, but thicker, a dark red and black combo, and had some fur lining in areas on the inside. "Not exactly my style but I'm not complaining, it gives a pretty good boost to some of my stats"
Anhur had gotten a pair of boxers with a bull print. It boosted his speed and carry capacity but it wasn't exactly good-looking. He put them away before too many people could laugh. His second drop was much cooler. A dark red cloak, like Asuna, had gotten. But this one wasn't as good and didn't have as much black coloring. It was a solid dark red, that got darker near the edges. On the shoulders, there was some padding that reminded me of the horns from the general.
"It boosts AGI and STR," He read off. Now Flame was pretty much drooling at the sight of it.
"Bro...I'll trade you damn near everything I have." Flame managed to say. "I'll even give you the shield."
"No deal...but I noticed you have some skills you have that are interesting and rumor has it you have a good idea where there might be a better weapon for me and Hermes while we're at it," Anhur said with a grin
"Deal!" Flame said eagerly. He instantly pulled up the messaging system and typed out everything in a matter of minutes. Once he slammed the send button he held out his hands. "Done man. I even dropped some hints for a couple of good quests that were in the beta"
Anhur threw him the jacket and dusted off his hands. "Nice to do business with you. Why sell the thing when one of the best players in the game wants it? I can increase my survival rates and their own without buying the stuff from Argo"
Flame quickly equipped the cloak, looking amazing in it by the way, and sighed as Argo came closer.
"Ja-bou! I thought we agreed!" Argo demanded jokingly.
"I'm sorry honey, it was too tempting" Flame replied with an eye roll.
"What am I to tell the kids?!" Argo exclaimed as she jokingly put a hand over her eyes.
"Tell them I'm sorry I betrayed you," Flame said solemnly but had a growing smirk on his face.
"It's not enough! You must sleep on the couch tonight!"
At that point, no one could take it anymore and busted out laughing.
Agil walked over. "Amazing job you three, I don't think we would have been able to salvage this if it wasn't for you guys."
"Thanks," all three said in unison.
Asuna spoke first. "But the real hero here was Nezha"
"I doubt I'd be here if it wasn't for him, making this fight a hell of a lot harder," Flame continued.
"He definitely saved our hides," Kirito finished.
Why did they break up their sentence to say it like that?
"Indeed. Congratulations are in order..." He trailed off a little as the smile on his face dimmed a bit. "Sadly that's not all that needs to be said."
The good happy mood died down. It was clear what Agil was about to say was not going to be pretty. Everyone started to eye Nezha.
"You were a blacksmith a little while ago, right? Why did you switch to fighting? And with a rare weapon no less? Is smithing that profitable?"
Nezha lowered his head to show his shame. He could see where this was headed. And what was honorable is that he had no intention of trying to escape from it.
"I bet you have no idea how hard we've had it. Since the weapons we paid you to upgrade got smashed to pieces," Agil told him. "We're not trying to settle a grudge or call you out. But we've all had the same experience with you and it seems we are all getting a little suspicious."
"H-hang on!" Kirito interrupted, not liking where this was going. "I was the one that gave Nezha the chak-"
"It's alright Kirito," Nezha cut him off.
"No, it's not." Flame cut it. "Hell, I know exactly what you've been doing, but I'm one of the few people that didn't get hit by this. Maybe I'm biased, but I don't think we have to-"
"Er...Flame is it?" Nezha cut him off and Flame gave a nod. "I did something wrong and it's time for me to pay it back. It's fine"
Nezha had gotten on his knees and bowed his head. "Your suspicions are correct. I swapped all of your weapons with spent replicas and stole them for myself."
"And then you sold them for col?"
"Yes"
"Is there any way to get the money back?"
"No...not anymore," Nezha had sadly admitted. "I spent...all of the money on fancy food and inns."
One of the players behind Agil growled. "Why you.." He stomped up to Nezha and grabbed the player by the collar of his shirt. "Do you have any idea how hard it was?! Losing the weapons we worked our asses off to upgrade?! I thought I might not have been able to stay on the front lines. But my friends chipped in to help me get upgrade materials. Even though it set them back more than I could repay them in a while! And then you take the money from our precious stolen gear and blow it on luxuries and buy your own elite gear to come waltzing in here like some kind of hero?! Where in the hell did you find the nerve to think of such a thing?!"
Nezha simply stood there, and he already accepted his fate. "I understand. I bear you no ill will. And I won't, as you do whatever you seem worthy. Even...even if it is my life that should be taken."
I gasped and backpedaled.
The player holding him, and now a few others, held Nezha down while they reached for their swords. Clearly about to take Nezha's offer.
Flame growled. His hand was twitching.
He took a threatening step forward, but before Flame could promise pain for everyone that laid a finger on the scamming blacksmith, a new voice rang out clear and true.
"Halt!"
Everyone turned to the origin of the voice. Orlando of the Legend Braves. He walked forward with all of his party.
"There is no need to soil thy hands. This poor soul...is our comrade...No. Our friend." Everyone watched silently as all of the Legend Braves laid down their gear, even the armor they were wearing, and placed it on the ground before taking the same position as Nezha. "He was only performing this upgrade scam on our orders."
Flame grinned. Now the plan was on track, they had confessed. I'll admit, I knew Agil was on the plan, he had done his part perfectly and Flame was acting like he didn't know a thing. Flame was right to bet on their bond. I bet Flame had personally walked through the player that had grabbed Nezha on what to say.
"You don't think you can get off that easily, do you?!"
Everyone turned to face the player that just shouted. It was a cloaked player with a sword at his waist. He pointed a finger at them.
"You can apologize all you want! But that won't bring back the players that died from your scheme!"
"Someone died?"
"Who died?"
"I know the truth!" the player exclaimed. "One of the players who fell victim to his scam had to go to the fields with cheap store-bought gear! When he tried to kill a mob he was able to before, it got him instead!"
"Then it's...an indirect PK."
"They should apologize to the players they killed."
"Kill them. Kill them."
I looked around the room horrified. Wasn't Flame's plan designed to avoid this? If things like this kept going PKing could end up being the norm for a game like this. A death game!
Flame looked half ready to cut the player in half, suddenly he calmed down and gave Lind a nod.
"Stop!" Lind called out. The leader of the DBK stepped forward and gestured to the group. "As the current leader of this raid, I shall cast judgment! I trust there are no objections?"
Nobody replied as Lind walked up to the Legend Braves. "Orlando, if you are their leader...then judge then with your own blade."
What?! I took a step further as Flame readied himself. I trusted Lind but this seemed crazy. Is he really going to have him kill his friends?
Orlando stood shakily before steeling himself and grabbing his sword. Everyone waited for him to strike down his comrades but he did something else. He turned the blade to himself and tried to stab himself.
A flash of red and a loud clang of metal rang out. Flame now stood with his back to everyone, the flat of his dagger placed against where Orlando was going to stab himself.
"That is enough. I accept your sincerity," Lind said with a nod, and the people that didn't want death sighed.
"Are you people serious?! Do you really think the people that died are going to be happy about this?!" The hooded player asked frantically.
Lind chuckled. "What are you talking about?" He questioned. "Orlando, the leader of the scam artist, has died right before our eyes! And now with the help of Flame, he has been reborn to start anew, and begin his quest to catch up with us! We won't wait around for you, but the front lines can always use some good heroes."
Everyone laughed at the cheesy lines that sounded like they came from a children's superhero tv show. All expect Flame and the hooded player. Flame had a large shadow over his face as if he's come to a conclusion in some horror anime and doesn't like the answer.
"Wh-what are you laughing about?" The hooded player asked confused.
"Come on, didn't you catch that cheesy shit? How couldn't you laugh?" Kibaou said as he swung his arm around the player and suddenly grew serious. "But hey, this guy that died. You got any info on him? Name? Party? They were gunnin' for the front lines so one of us musta heard bout 'em."
"I, uhhhh...heard it from someone else. I don't know his name."
Kibaou and Argo prepared to say something but something in Flame had snapped. "Leave!"
Wasting no time, the player scampered out, and some people tried to laugh but their laughter slowly died out when they saw the angry look on Flame's face.
"Hey Flame, what is the problem?" Agil asked as he placed a calming hand on his shoulder.
What Flame said next made all of us freeze.
"Someone...is trying to make PKing in this death game normal" He ground out his teeth. "The Braves aren't clever enough to come up with a plan like they did, someone knew that they would get caught and some of us would try to kill them, making PKing normal."
He looked around. "That guy was sent to make sure the job was done, and if needed to rile us up more. We're dealing with a psychopath that knows his way around the human mind."
Kirito walked up to Flame looking serious and whispered in his ear.
"Fine" Flame said. "It's all speculation at this point. But I have a gut feeling, which I don't get often but they have never failed me. Asuna, Kirito, and I will head onto the third floor and open the portal. While we wait, we will dig around for anything that has changed since the beta and look for clues on the boss, while on my own time I will investigate the theory I have. In the meantime, on Kirito and my wallet, go party!"
Flame finished with a bright smile. Kirito looked shocked. "Wait that last part wasn't what I said!"
"It's fine Kirito, we got more funds than your average clearer and we are going up to the next floor, that means more money," Flame said as Asuna walked after the two bickering boys.
Before Flame went 100% away I noticed he had a hard look in his eyes before he noticed me and jokingly blew me a kiss.
I did not have low enough dignity to try and catch it...yet. Loud cheers of excitement rang out between all the clearer as we hurried to the nearest town to drain the beater's wallets dry.
.
Kayaba leaned back in his chair. Flame...such an interesting child. Naturally, he had to be a prodigy. Rather brunt out now, but he still holds that genius that brought him to Japan.
Kirito's coding skills may be a problem in the future. "Cardinal, increase the defenses over the system controls in the game."
'Yes sir.'
Flame reaching level 20...was a difficult thing to handle. "Cardinal while you're at it, double the XP required for just Flame to level up until everyone catches up."
'On it sir.'
The skills were going too slow for my liking, but Flame really is a force to be reckoned with. If he had a reaction time half as good as Kirito he would have been the candidate for the skill. No matter if he wasn't as good as Kirito, he'd be a very good challenge. But sadly his reaction time is only because of his DEX stat. It is really pathetic really, he wouldn't react fast enough to avoid a house being thrown at him.
The good thing about him not getting the skill however is having a healthy relationship with Kirito, the current standing inheritor. If Kirito trains with Flame, learning how to deal with the insane speed the boy has, Kirito will only improve to greater heights.
But this boss fight, as usual, was a work of art. Speaking of the boss fight...
"Cardinal."
'Yes?'
"I thought I instructed you to give them useful items that fit their style."
'That you did sir.'
"So why did Asuna get a cloak, Kirito get a heavy metal helm, and Flame got a massive shield?" I questioned. Flame shouldn't even be messing around with shields considering his stat build won't be able to support them for too long, they weigh him down more than it's worth.
'Player Asuna wanted to stick with cloaks and player Kirito wanted one as well, but Asuna threatened him to not get one as people would assume they are trying to match, along with the stat boosts to increase her damage and speed. Kirito received the helm due to him constantly complaining about being short on cash for weapon upgrades and the helm is made of rare metal and from a boss, therefore he could have sold it for a lot. However, player Flame had slipped Kirito some money to pay for the helm so he is still happy. As for Flame, he wishes to protect people, especially player Yua, so I got him a shield that he could also sell for more money to handle him buying upgrades for his friends.'
I nodded along with what it was saying. It made sense, of course, it's a machine designed to make sense. "Alright, next time I want you to run by me whatever you give players if I say to give them something useful."
'Of course sir.'
I leaned back and looked at the bar telling me the development of the ten skills I was getting ready to release.
.
Meanwhile elsewhere in a school building.
.
Our teacher shut off the projector. "Well class, that was something."
People started whispering about my brother. "Did you see how he fought with that guy and that girl?"
"Or how he took the attack for the other girl's sake?"
I nearly barfed when I heard some girls gossiping. "Oh my god, isn't he kinda hot?"
"I think that Kirito is more of a cutie."
Suguha also looked grossed out, but not as much as I'd expect.
"He kinda reminds me of a femboy."
"But he also tries to be such a hard ass, that's what's so endearing about him."
Suguha had managed to keep everyone from knowing Kirito was her brother but had told one of her friends who obviously is down bad for the busty girl. Not that I blame him, she's pretty, smart, and got a crap ton of confidence when she needs it. Basically a version of the Kirito in the game with boobs. Big ones.
But who knew my brother was such a simp! God damn man, make out with that Yua chick already. Oh yeah, and he was a badass...I guess. But Asuna! She is perfect! Fight me if you disagree! She could easily outclass those two bone heads with plenty of womanly grace!
My thoughts calmed down. That cloak he was wearing... reminded me of a nightmare I had one time after he got trapped. But it was just a dream. Besides his hair was longer, red, and shaggy, not to even mention the wings on his back or his pointy ears.
Soon enough class ended. Suguha and I walked together.
Suddenly I got a text. "It's from some dude named Seijirou Kikuoka. He says he's in charge of victims of SAO and their families. Supposedly he wants to see us and has a gift for us."
"Well, I guess we should go then. If it involves our brothers," Suguha said with some thought as she also got the same message. "He also said he messaged our parents...he wants to see us now."
A black limo pulled up and the back window opened a bit. Our parents were back there.
"Dad?" I asked.
He had a serious look on his face, a rare sight. "Get in the car. They moved your brother from the hospital he was in."
"Why?"
My dad gulped as Suguha and I slowly got into the car next to her parents. "You see, someone attempted to kill a person in SAO. But not in the game, someone attacked a player's body."
Been a little while. Anyway, this chapter was longer than normal, not to mention the amount of time it took me to write, I had to wait a week for my beta to finish per usual, so it was a lot of work. I finally used some of those small things I mentioned, for what seemed to be flavor text.
Kris swords not having high durability, Flame lowers his sword's durability by at least 10% with his grip, and an obvious thing that everyone should know if you read more in-depth stories based to give you a larger narrative than the anime did, is that weapons lose more durability when blocking attacks rather doing what they are made to do, hit stuff.
So yeah, those little tidbits, mixed in with going into a field boss fight, spending ten days straight grinding, dealing a lot of damage to one boss, starting on another, his poor sword couldn't take the hit from the real boss, once again putting his life on the line.
Speaking of which, I wasn't exactly sure how to go on about having his arm come back. If you watched the anime, you'd see that Kirito had grown his hand back at some point, so coupled with gamer fics, I settled on this solution.
I'm really just blabbering. If you read all of this, you earned a cookie. *Throws cookies into the air*
See you soon