Chapter 2: First Mission on the Front Lines

1 week had past since the sword art online servers had re-opened to the public, Jyenka and Taijou were sitting at a restaurant on the first floor of an inn they'd been staying in located North-west of the town of Beginnings. Taijou slammed a large piece of paper on the table for Jyenka to see.

"Ok! This is all the info players have been able to gather, as well as remember, about the new things added to SAO in the DLC" said Taijou with a serious look on his face. "First we of course have the new weapon class, the double-bladed sword. Then we have 25 new sword skills that can be used with that weapon, on top of that we also have another 40 new sword skills that were added that spread across every other weapon type." Jyenka nodded as he sipped on a mug of what looked to be this worlds equivalent of green tea. "There was apparently a new weapon rarity added to the game, one above Legendary. Although, we're still at floor 1 so no need to worry about endgame gear like that just yet. Finally we have the most obvious one, the extra 20 floors added to Aincrad. Each floor will have a new floor boos as well as new enemies, drops, npc's, quests, you name it."

"Other than that is everything else is still the same as the Aincrad from 6 years ago?" Asked Jyenka as he put down his mug.

"Not quite, while the main boss quests are the same there have been new quests added on different floors so players can acquire the new sword skills."

"Do you think there would be one for double-bladed swords on floor 1?"

"Not sure, rumour has it though that some of the strongest players are all gathering together to form a guild and explore the rest of floor 1. Once there done with that they apparently will attempt to kill the floor 1 boss."

"Defeat the boss!?" Jyenka shouted with a surprised tone.

"Shhhhhhh!" Taijou said as he put his right pointer finger over his mouth "you never know who's listening in."

"Right, sorry"

"Anyway those are as I said before just speculations, for all we know this could all just be false hope given to reassure the people who've already given up."

"Yeah, we have to stay strong" Jyenka said as he clenched his left fist.

"We sure do don't we Mr Hero?" Taijou said teasingly

"Sh-Shut up, it was a heat of the moment kinda thing"

Just as Jyenka had finished speaking the door to the inn burst open and 3 what looked to be high-level players walked in, as they stepped into the inn the restaurant fell quiet. The two men standing on the outsides looked to be at least 6'5, with large blades and gear that looked surprisingly high level for being acquired on the first floor. The thing that surprised Jyenka the most however, was the player standing in between them, it was a girl. She had iron plating added on to the basic armour each player was given covering her shoulders, knee caps and chest. Strapped to her back was a massive 2 handed axe. The girl had slightly wavy long silver hair that seemed to almost glow in the light-rays poking through the windows and doors. she had a slender figure and her eyes were sapphire blue. She turned her head around looking at all the people in the restaurant.

"Are the players known as Jyenka and Taijou currently staying at this inn" the girl asked with a voice like the one you'd hear from an army commander. Jyenka and Taijou both stood straight up and looked the girl in the eyes. She looked above there heads reading there names on the stat bars. "Good, come with me" she said with the same demanding tone. Jyenka and Taijou shared a slightly concerned glance with each other before making there way out of the inn. Once they had stepped out the girl and what Jyenka guessed were just her 2 body guards spun round to stare at them. "From this moment onward, you 2 will be joining the assault team." Jyenka and Taijou froze for a second to process what they just heard.

"What!?" they both shouted in unison.

The assault team were the players who led the fight at the front lines, they were a gathering of only the strongest players in SAO and would frequently risk there lives on challenging quests and boss fights. Jyenka and Taijou had both been spending time levelling up over the past week but they wouldn't say they were strong enough to join the assault team.

"We have a meeting at the theatre in the Town of beginnings at 8am game time, don't be late."

"W-wai-" stammered Taijou but the girl cut him off.

"Oh and by the way my name is Silvia, one of the vice commanders of the assault team. You may refer to me as vice commander or Silvia." Jyenka and Taijou just stood there stunned again. A smile appeared on Silvia's face and she waved her hand at the 2 boys. "See you tomorrow" she said cheerfully then walked off with her 2 body guards following her.

"Wow she's quite the piece of work huh?" said Jyenka.

"You can say that again" agreed Taijou.

Taijou slammed Jyenka's door open "Wake up dude! It's 7:50am game time we gotta go!"

"R-Right" Jyenka said hopping out of bed. Fortunately, things like morning dreariness weren't something you had to worry about in the world of SAO. Jyenka and Taijou left for the theatre at the Town of Beginnings at roughly 7:55am game time, by the time they arrived everyone was already sitting down waiting for the meeting to start.

"Crap, we're late" whispered Taijou

"At least Silvia isn't here to lecture us" whispered Jyenka back but Taijou just gave him a nervous look while motioning for him to look behind him. Jyenka turned around and standing behind him was Silvia with a pissed off look on her face. "Uh, morning Silvia" Jyenka said with a nervous tone. Before Silvia could say something back though a player in a black cloak walked onto the centre stage, it was the player who asked who the being in the emerald green coat was on the day everyone was trapped into this game, Kirito.

"Everyone quiet down, the meeting will no commence." everyone stopped there chatter and turned to look at Kirito.

"Jyenka, who's that?" whispered Taijou.

"You don't know? That's Kirito, he's the one who beat SAO last time this happened."

"For real?" Silvia flicked Jyenka and Taijou on the back of the head.

"Thank you all for coming out here this morning, today we'll be discussing the future plans for the assault team. This will include raid parties, quests and taking down the first floor boss, Ill Fang the Kobold Lord." Everyone gave each other slightly nervous looks. "We'll be forming temporary parties for the mean time, but we'll all come together when it's time to take out this boss. The parties that we'll be forming have been sent to all of you in your mailbox, these will be groups of 4, your jobs will also be outlined in the same email. At this point in the game dividing and conquering will be our best bet so that we can gain all the info we can before beating the first floor." Jyenka and Taijou opened there notifications window and saw the Email they'd been sent, they opened it and read there party lists.

"Jyenka look, they put us in the same party!" Said Taijou.

"Yeah" said Jyenka less enthusiastically as he read the names of the other 2 members of his party. The third member was named 'ThirtySix' "odd" thought Jyenka but then his stomach sank as he read the name of the last player in his party "Silvia" Jyenka looked behind him to see Silvia glaring back at him over her notification menu. "Shit" thought Jyenka.

"I wonder what quest we got" Taijou said. Jyenka read the quest name and brief description they'd been provided. the quest name was called 'Whiskers? Were are you?' and the description read 'Old Mrs Kona has lost her cat whiskers, search south-west of the Town of Beginnings to try and find him as well as return him home safely.' Yep, this is about what Jyenka was expecting from a quest on the first floor. He turned around to see Silvia's reaction and it was one of pure disappointment and disgust.

"We expect you'll have these quests completed by the next meeting tomorrow" Said Kirito speaking up over the mumbling crowd. "Good luck and see you tomorrow, dismissed!"

Jyenka and Taijou exchanged glances before looking back at Silvia, if anything she looked more pissed than before.

"Well at least 3 out of 4 of us are already here" Said Taijou awkwardly trying to reduce the tension in the air.

"You have a point" sighed Silvia. "All we need to do now is locate the player called ThirtySix, then we can get this quest over and done with." Just as she finished here sentence a large figure loomed behind her, one so tall he would make the bodyguards following her around look like midgets. He stared at us menacingly with his stature putting a massive shadow over Jyenka Taijou and Silvia, A large spear was strapped to his back. His biceps would have to have been at least the size of Taijou's head. the 3 of them all looked up at his stat bar, the name read 'ThirtySix.' Silvia was the first person to open her mouth.

"ThirtySix, thank you for finding us." She said confidently and stood up. "I'm this parties leader, Silvia."

"Since when?" thought Jyenka and Taijou at the same time.

"These 2 are Jyenka and Taijou, have you seen the quest we've been given?" ThirtySix nodded his head. "Perfect, than I expect to see you all at the south-west gat of the Town of Beginnings at 11am game time. She turned around to stare daggers at Jyenka and Taijou. "Don't be late." Jyenka and Taijou both nodded nervously.

"Great" thought Jyenka, "a scrawny ranga, a bossy girl and now this guy. What a team we are."

Jyenka and Taijou both arrived at the south-west gate at 11am game time on the dot, Silvia and ThirtySix were already waiting for them. The NPC that they were standing around was called Mrs Kona, this was the NPC who would give them the quest.

"Don't worry ma'am" said Silvia confidently. "We'll be sure to find Whiskers and bring him back safely." Silvia ended the interaction and spun around to briefly glared at Jyenka and Taijou, her hair flicking as she did. "Alright, let's get this over with."

As the group were walking to exit the safe zone of the Town of Beginnings from the south-west gate Jyenka looked around at the members of the party, Silvia led the group with him and Taijou following her, then ThirtySix was walking behind them. Jyenka walked up next to Silvia, she looked to her left where Jyenka was now walking beside her.

"What do you want?" she said.

"Look, I don't like this anymore than you do but we might end up being a party for a long time so let's at least try and get along." Silvia sighed.

"I suppose that's not an unreasonable request." Just as Silvia finished her sentence a Frenzy Boar charged at the party. Jyenka grabbed his double-bladed sword from it's sheathe but before he could even take his fighting stance Silvia had leapt a foot in the air with her 2 handed axe glowing bright green. She did a full flip and slammed the massive weapon on the boars head leaving a crater were the bore once was. She stood up and exhaled then turned around to smile at Jyenka "Better keep your guard up" she said giving him a sly wink. Jyenka rolled his eyes and kept walking.

The party arrived at a forest, Silvia pulled out a map she had bought from an info broker.

"This is the closest forest to the south-west of the Town of Beginnings, if Whiskers is anywhere, here would be my first bet. Taijou, use your search skill." Taijou's eyes turned green and he began looking around.

"I got something!" exclaimed Taijou.

"What is it?' asked Jyenka.

"I see a marker about 200 metres in front of us."

"That must be Whiskers" said Silvia confidently. "Let's move!"

The party ran after the marker before stopping at a large tree.

"Look!" Silvia said pointing up. The group turned there heads up to one of the first branches out stretching from the tree and sure enough, a ginger cat was sitting up there looking back at them. "Alright Whiskers, be a good kitty and come down now." She took another step forward towards the tree and as she did Jyenka noticed a rope hidden in the grass on the ground.

"Wait Silvia! don't move any closer!" But it was too late, Silvia's foot hit the rope and a bell rang from one of the branches. As the bell rang enemies called "Kobold Servants" came charging at them. "Look a live everyone, ready your weapons!" Jyenka shouted as he removed his double-bladed sword from it's sheathe and took his fighting stance. One of the Kobold Servants took a swing at Jyenka but he blocked it with one of the blades, then struck with the other. The hit did a lot of damage to the enemy although, he too had taken some damage due to his strike being slightly rushed and throwing off his balance. Silvia let out a battle cry as she swung her axe in a spinning attack taking out 3 of the kobold servants. One of the enemies lunged at Taijou but he swiftly jumped out of the way before striking back with a sword skill. The party members kept defeating the enemies but the kept on spawning. "Dammit! these guys just keep coming! what should we do?" Taijou opened his quest log and re-read the win condition.

"Guys! we don't have to defeat all the enemies! All we have to do is return whiskers to Mrs Kona."

"Are you suggesting we run!?" shouted Silvia at Taijou.

"It might be our only option."

"Well whatever discission we make let's make it fast, we can't hold these guys off forever. Plus that bell chiming is really anoy- the bell... The bell!" Shouted Jyenka.

"What about it?" Asked Taijou.

"That bell is what is calling the enemies to us! If we destroy it they might stop spawning!"

"That could work!" Taijou shouted back. Jyenka and Taijou both looked at Silvia.

"If we try that we'll need someone to keep the monsters distracted and hold onto Whiskers" Silvia said to Jyenka and Taijou. The gang looked up to see where Whiskers was but realised the cat was gone.

"Whiskers!?" Shouted Jyenka. "Where'd he go, little bastard?" he though to himself. As he finished this thought however, he looked up at ThirtySix and saw the cat sitting on his shoulder. ThirtySIx had a smile on his face and was giving Whiskers some chin scratches. He noticed Jyenka looking at him in disbelief and put on a serious face again.

"Jyenka" he said. This was the first time anyone had heard ThirtySix speak. He moved his should down and Whiskers jumped into Jyenka's arms. "Keep Whiskers safe, I'll deal with this."

"Ok.." Jyenka said still in shock at hearing ThirtySix speak. ThirtySix drew his Large spear from his back, then leaned backwards and aimed his spear tip at the ringing bell in the tree. The spear began to glow yellow and text appeared above his stat bar displaying the sword skill he was using, it read 'Air Piercing Strike." Finally ThirtySix threw the spear and it shot through the air at the speed of a bullet piercing right through the bell. The ringing stopped and all the enemies looked up in shock. Silvia took advantage of the distraction and struck down the remaining enemies. ThirtySix went and grabbed his weapon out of the tree.

"That was an impressive move" Said Jyenka. ThirtySix simply nodded his head and Whiskers, who was still in Jyenka's arms, jumped back onto ThirtySix's shoulders.

"Good work everyone, that was a excellent display of skill ThirtySix" Silvia said purposefully ignoring the fact that Jyenka was the one who suggested they destroy the bell. "Anyway, let's head ba-" but before she could finish her sentence a surviving Kobold servant leapt up and lunged at her. She turned around and went to grab her weapon but by this point she knew she'd be too late. She closed her eye's bracing for the impact but then a blue flash shot through the kobold servant, then it exploded into thousands of blue polygons. Standing in front of her was Jyenka with one of his blades still giving of a faint, blue glow. Jyenka turned around and looked at Silvia and smiled. "Better keep your guard up" he said giving her the same sly wink she'd given him before they arrived at the forest. Silvia gritted her teethe and began walking off back to the Town of Beginnings.

"Whiskers!" exclaimed an excited Mrs Kona. Whiskers jumped off ThirtySix's shoulders and into Mrs Kona's arms. "Thank you travellers! Thank you so very much!" A smile spread across Jyenka's face. A notification appeared above the parties heads and a fanfare of trumpets played, The notification read 'Quest complete!'

"Well that that worked out better than I anticipated" said Taijou with a sigh of relief.

"Yeah, I'm glad destroying the bell actually worked, that was kind of a lucky gamble" replied Jyenka in a similar tone. As he finished speaking Silvia appeared before them with a less stern look on her face than usual.

"You two did well today, but don't think that every quest is gonna go as smoothly. Also we have another meeting tomorrow so don't be late!" The seriousness return to her voice and face.

"Yeah whatever you say Silvy" said Jyenka with a relaxed tone.

"W-What did you just call me!?" Silvia shouted back

"Silvy, Silvia is way to formal so I'll just be calling you Silvy now 'kay?" Jyenka began to walk off.

"No it's not Ok! You will address me as Silvia!"

"Sure thing Silvy" Jyenka replied with his back turned to her. Silvia grumbled and then stormed off.

"You shouldn't tease her like that Jyenka, let's all try and get along" said Taijou.

"I know, I know. I'm just trying to get a bit more friendly with everyone. We could be given a more serious mission tomorrow so we can be more cooperative then."

"Yeah I guess so." said Taijou and the adventurers walked back to there inn.

Little did the two of them know tomorrows challenge wasn't going to be such a walk in the park...