The Black Blades
Chapter 1: The First Boss
(x)
Floor 1–Tolbana
1 month later…
"One juice and one ale, please," Sora asked the bartender, placing some Col on the table as his payment. The NPC bartender wordlessly put two mugs on the countertop, which Sora then took and walked back to the table he and Aoki were sitting at.
"God, I can't wait to find the dungeon and clear this floor," Aoki muttered under his breath, loud enough for Sora to hear. "At least the taverns on the floors above have more choices for food and drink."
"Until we get there, I'll have to take your word for it," Sora joked. He took a sip of his juice as he glanced up at his level, underneath his name on his HUD. Level 25, huh, Sora thought. Aoki said this was around the range he was when they fought the first floor boss in the beta. Sora's eyes shifted back to his friend, who was eating his food with a somber look on his face. He really hasn't been the same since we found out the death count rose past 2,000…
Sora was snapped out of his thoughts when a player entered the tavern and tapped the table he and Aoki were sitting at. "You guys seem like fighters, so I wanted to let you know that there's gonna be a meeting about finding the boss floor," the player said.
"Thanks," Aoki said after he swallowed his food.
"They're holding a meeting in the amphitheater tomorrow, at noon," the player continued, before leaving to spread the message to other players.
Aoki and Sora looked at each other. "We're going, right?" Sora asked. Aoki just nodded in response before going back to eating his food.
(x)
The next day…
"There are a lot more people than I thought there'd be," Sora said while he scanned the crowd that gathered in the amphitheater at the allotted time for the meeting.
"Well, there are a lot less than I would have hoped," Aoki muttered in response. "I really hope this doesn't mean everyone else gave up…" This pessimism was met with a light smack on the arm from his friend.
"Don't talk like that," Sora chastised Aoki. "If the people have given up hope, isn't it the job of everyone here to inspire that hope in them by taking this boss down?"
A clapping from the stage drew the attention of everyone gathered for the meeting, and their eyes were drawn over to the source of the clapping–a blue-haired man wearing blue armor.
"Welcome, all of you!" the man said cheerily. "I'm so glad to see so many of you here for the meeting! My name is Diavel, and my job is 'Knight'!"
At that statement, most of the amphitheater erupted in laughter. "There are no jobs in this game, you idiot!" one of the players said through their laughs.
Ignoring them, Diavel carried on, "I'm sure you all know why you're here, so I won't beat around the bush any longer." Diavel took on a serious tone and demeanor, bringing everyone in front of him to attention. "Our party found the boss dungeon, and the boss room at the top of the dungeon."
Whispers broke out among the crowd. Sora and Aoki looked at each other in surprise, then back to Diavel.
"We have two jobs to complete with this boss fight–we have to advance to floor 2, and we have to show all those still at the Town of Beginnings that there is hope, and that this game CAN be beaten! Are you with me?!" Diavel finished his speech and pumped his fist high. At first, there was silence. Then a few people started clapping, and the clapping evolved into full-on cheering.
Diavel smiled and motioned for the players to calm down, and, once everyone settled back down, continued with "We need to have parties of 6 to attack the boss, since normal parties wouldn't put that much of a dent in the boss."
Around Sora and Aoki, players began grouping up in the requisite parties of 6, leaving just the two of them alone.
"HOLD ON A SECOND!" a loud voice interrupted Diavel mid-speech. A spiky-haired man then jumped from the seats of the amphitheater onto the stage, and then he turned around and pointed a finger at the audience. "I gotta bone to pick with some of ya!"
"Before that, how about you introduce yourself to us?" Diavel said calmly, ignoring the man's attitude and interruption.
"The name's Kibao, and I know exactly who to blame for all the deaths so far!" the man continued.
"Kayaba and the way he designed the game?" Sora asked.
"No–the beta testers!" Kibao replied. Sora felt Aoki tense up slightly in response to the statement. "The day this stupid-ass game started, they just ditched us all and disappeared! They stole all the best grinding spots and didn't leave any for us new players! It's because of them that so many people were underleveled and died!" He turned around and began gesturing to the crowd listening to him. "I say that they show themselves, strip all their armor and weapons and lay them down as an apology to all those who THEY failed to help!"
Sora couldn't believe what he was hearing. Even worse was the fact that some people in the crowd voiced their support of this guy's crazy idea. He hesitantly looked towards Aoki, whose gaze was hidden as he was shaking where he sat. Rather than nervous, however, Aoki looked furious, his brow furrowed as he looked up to glare dangerously at Kibao.
Before Aoki could say anything, another voice rang out from the crowd. "Can I say something?" the voice asked, and all eyes turned to its origin—a large bald dark-skinned man with a greatsword on his back walking down the steps to join Diavel and Kibao. "Name's Agil," the new man continued. "Kibao, right? I just wanna make sure we're on the same page here. You say the ex-beta testers are to blame for all the rookies' deaths because they didn't help them, and you want them to give up everything they got. I leave anything out?"
"...No, you didn't," Kibao replied curtly. Without another word, Agil took out a small brown book.
"You received this book too, didn't you?" Agil inquired.
"Well, sure I got one," Kibao replied. "What about it?" Agil turned to the crowd and showed off the book to everyone.
"This is a guidebook," Agil announced to the now-attentive audience. "They're giving these out for free at the stores in town. Inside is information on enemy types, materials, and grinding spots for beginner and experienced players. And you know who was giving these out? The ex-beta testers." The revelation shocked those in the audience, save for Aoki and Sora, who elected to watch silently. "Everyone had access to this information," Agil continued. "Even so, a lot of players still died. Now, I didn't come here to point fingers at anyone; I'm here because I want to learn how to find out how to beat the boss," he finished, putting his book away.
"Well said! Now, let's get back to the meeting." Diavel pulled out his own copy of the survival manual as Agil and Kibao went back to their seats (the latter doing so begrudgingly), and began combing through the pages before settling on a page. "It's as Agil said: this book contains information and tips that are integral to surviving this game–the first few floors, at least. This page in particular provides details on the first floor boss."
Diavel took a moment to clear his throat before proceeding to read what was detailed on the page: "The boss's name is Illfang the Kobold Lord, and he'll be surrounded by his minions, the Kobold Sentinels. Illfang carries an ax and buckler, and possesses four HP bars. When his last HP bar turns red, he switches to a curved sword-type weapon called a Talwar. This results in his attack patterns changing up as well." Diavel closed the book and put it away.
"That's all for the briefing! As for the distribution of loot, money will be divided equally among everyone, whoever beats the boss gets the EXP, and whoever gets an item gets to keep it. Any objections?" When his proposal was met with silence, the blue-clad knight smiled and, with a wave of his hand, stated, "Meeting adjourned! We leave in the morning."
(x)
Nighttime, in the Central Plaza…
Sora sat hunched over at the edge of the fountain, twirling a blade of grass he had picked from a nearby patch. Trying not to let the nerves of an upcoming boss fight get to him, he sighed deeply and sat up straight. "It's cool," he spoke to himself, taking care not to alert any of the players around him. "It's just a game, Sora. Granted, the stakes are…a bit higher than normal, but just stay cool." He was so engrossed in his conversation with himself he failed to notice the sound of footsteps coming from beside him.
"Dude," Aoki's voice alerted Sora to his presence, standing close to him with two bread rolls in hand, "I went to get some grub and you're already trying not to have a mental breakdown?"
"I'm sorry for stressing out about this," Sora replied sarcastically as his friend sat down next to him. "How can you stay so calm about this?"
"Rather easily, actually." Aoki offered one of the rolls to Sora, who took it without a word. "You're on the right track to treating this like a game," he continued, resting his hand on the fountain edge and sighing deeply, relaxing as he laid back.
"But all those people…they're really dead, aren't they?" Sora questioned, looking at his roll forlornly.
"I'm not gonna sugarcoat it: they may very well be," Aoki replied. When he saw Sora look down at his roll with a solemn look, he sighed and rested his hand on his shoulder. "Look, those people are dead; but not because of you, right?" When Sora nodded without turning his gaze to his blue buddy, Aoki decided to continue. "So then why should YOU feel responsible for their deaths? Did YOU program this game to be a death trap?" Another shake of Sora's head, this time after he turned to look at Aoki. "So don't feel responsible for their deaths; as far as we know, they prolly didn't read the guidebook or just outright ignored what it had to say, in which case, they probably had it coming for not taking extra precautions to stay alive."
"Didn't think you'd say it outright," a voice said with laughter, prompting Aoki and Sora to look in the direction it came from…only to see the dark-skinned man from the briefing earlier approaching them.
"Oh," Aoki said simply. "It's you—Agil, right?"
"Last time I checked, that is indeed my name," Agil replied as he sat down next to the two kids. "So what're you doing all the way out here? Y'know, instead of hanging with the other guys?"
"I could say the same about you," Aoki scoffed as he straightened up and took a bite of his bread roll, chewing thoroughly and swallowing. "But for real, they got their parties and we got ours. So I'm not gonna bother making nice with them." Aoki took another bite of his roll after speaking.
"Why not? Wouldn't it be nice to have connections? But then again…" Agil leaned forward to Aoki and Sora, prompting the two to do so to a lesser extent. "I suppose you wouldn't need 'em," he continued in a whisper, "considering you're a beta tester and all." This statement caused the pair to sit up so fast they caught the attention of some of the players, and leading Aoki to swallow his bite too early, causing him to begin choking. He pounded at his chest a bit before taking the bottle offered to him by Agil, guzzling it and coughing once he finished.
"How-" Aoki's question was broken by another slight coughing fit. He cleared his throat and took another sip of the water.
"How'd you know he's a beta tester?" Sora asked quietly in his friend's place.
"His name's in the guidebook," Agil replied, motioning to Aoki with his thumb. "It ain't hard to connect the dots. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone." By this point, Aoki had fully recovered from his choking and looked towards Agil.
"But why come to me—I mean, us—about it? You could've kept that to yourself or used it as leverage," Aoki inquired. Agil merely sat back and crossed his arms, taking in the lights around the trio.
"Figured we could work something out," was all he said.
"Like?" Sora asked pensively.
"Oh, I dunno…maybe you can tell me more info than the guidebook has to offer," was all the man said.
"If that's it, then…you could've gone to anyone who's name is in that book," Sora replied, confused.
"I figured, based off of the sections written by your blue-clad friend, that he had more info to share than he let on. Am I wrong?" he looked to the aforementioned blue-clad friend for confirmation. Aoki's reticence persisted until he chuckled.
"…You clever bastard. So you want us to be one of your 'connections?'" Aoki looked up at Agil's smiling face and simply said, "Alright, you got a deal." He extended his hand to the man, who shook it with his smile persisting.
After shaking Sora's hand as well, Agil sat up and took out his own bread roll. "Well then, allow me to commemorate our newfound partnership," he declared as he opened his menu and took out a jar.
"Oooo, what's that?" Sora leaned in to get a closer look at the new object, forcing Aoki to lean back for his friend.
"Check this," was all Agil said before touching the item with two fingers and drawing out a blue light, tracing it across the top of his bread roll, revealing it to be a pastry cream once the light dissipated.
"WHOA!" Sora's hushed yell drew even more stares, prompting him to draw back sheepishly. "Umm…may I…?" he asked Agil, who simply smiled and nodded. Sora excitedly followed what Agil did, taking a big bite of his newly cream-spread roll. He looked at Aoki while he chewed, wondering if he'd do the same. Aoki merely smiled and took some cream, the jar shattering as he did so.
"To new friends!" Agil raised his bread high in the air, with Aoki and Sora following suit.
"To new friends!" They enthusiastically followed, all three bread rolls coming together as a sort of cheers.
(x)
The Next Day, Noon, Path to the Tower…
The party slowly walked in unison to the tower, following the map laid out to them by walking through a forest. Aoki and Sora were at the back of the party, a sensible choice by Diavel since it was just the two of them in a party.
"You're sure there are no enemies on this path?" Sora whispered to Aoki, who kept his gaze straight as they walked.
"Positive," he replied simply. "Diavel sent a party earlier to take care of any monsters that may have spawned along the way. A smart choice, really." He finally looked at Sora, and asked him, "More importantly, how's the new armor fitting you?" Sora looked at his new metal-reinforced leather breastplate, pauldrons, gauntlets and gloves, and shin guards.
"They're really comfortable. I still can't believe you had enough Col to buy us both new armor sets," he answered, looking at his friend's new armor, which matched Sora's.
"You better believe it," Aoki smiled and held up the small leatherbound book. "I found the best farming spots through this." The two laughed at this inside joke, before noticing the party had slowed and eventually stopped, following suit as the entire party was in the shade of the giant tower before them.
"Well," Diavel announced, turning to face the party with his sword planted on the ground, "we made it to the dungeon. Thankfully, there shouldn't be any enemies to bother us this time around. All we gotta do is climb, fellas! Hope you brought your climbing gear," he joked as he turned to face the door and opened it, revealing stairs to the different levels in the tower. Without another word, the party made their way inside with the intention of reaching the boss room.
(x)
"We're here," Diavel announced as the raid party reached the top of the staircase. He looked back and saw a few players panting and gasping for air, and said, "Let's take a few minutes to catch our breath."
Sora leaned against the wall to catch his breath. "I don't think…I've ever climbed…this many stairs before," he said between breaths to Aoki, who simply rolled his eyes in response.
"This is why you go outside," he replied jokingly. He then adopted a more serious tone, asking his friend, "You ready for this?"
Sora took one last breath to steady himself before standing upright and responding with, "Yeah. I mean, I've gotta be ready right?"
Aoki smiled. "That's what I like to hear. Now c'mon, it's about time to head in." He moved to near the back to party with Sora at his side, and gave a thumbs-up to Diavel to signal that they were ready to go.
Seeing the thumbs-up, Diavel responded in kind and addressed the party, saying, "Before we go in, I want to reiterate that this is a battle we absolutely cannot afford to lose. If we fail here, then we lose any chance of showing the players back at the Town of Beginnings and at Tolbana that this game CAN be cleared. Now let's win this fight! Are you with me?!" Diavel raised his fist high with that last line, eliciting a similar gesture and cheers from the raid party. He turned around to face the door to the boss room, saying, "Each of you know your roles for this fight. Don't forget them, and stick to the plan no matter the cost." With that final statement, he pushed the doors open and led the party to the inside of the room.
The room was dark at first, before a wave passed from the open door to the other end, bringing the whole room to life. The party's eyes settled on the gigantic blood-red figure of the floor boss sitting on its throne, as its own eyes came to life and stared the players down. Ignoring a few of the shaking players around him, Sora quietly asked Aoki, "Is that the floor boss?"
"Yep. The big red bastard in all his glory," Aoki replied sarcastically, matching Sora's volume.
Without giving the two a chance to continue their discussion, the boss grabbed its shield from the left side of the throne, and its bone axe from its left side and leaped from its end of the room to the middle of the room. It landed with a loud thud, kicking up dust as it made contact with the floor, and stood up straight slowly. Once it stood completely straight, the boss threw its head back and roared with all of its might, as its health bar appeared above it, along with its name–Illfang the Kobold Lord. While it was roaring, some more armor-clad creatures spawned it on its sides, shrieking and standing ready with their weapons in hand, their names reading Ruin Kobold Sentinel.
"Remember the plan!" Diavel yelled. "Tanks and DPS, to the front! The rest of you, fend off the sentinels!"
"It's our time to shine!" Aoki declared as he drew his greatsword and stood in opposition to a few Kobolds.
"Right!" Sora stood at the ready, his right hand holding his sword in front of him and his left hand crossed over his chest, ready to defend at a moment's notice.
The two of them yelled as they charged the small mob of minions that surrounded them–Aoki dodged under one of the minions' attacks and slashed at it sideways, cleaving it in half and shattering it in one hit. Sora jumped over Aoki and brought his sword down vertically through another minion, severely damaging it before spinning around and kicking it into two more enemies, knocking them down as the launched enemy shattered. "Duck!" Aoki yelled as he swung his sword towards Sora. Sora dropped down to the ground and looked up to see Aoki knock back two minions that were approaching Sora from his left.
As Sora stood up, he peeked at Illfang's HP bar (as it was visible to the members of the raid party in the center at the top of their HUDS), and remarked "They got a third of the way through already!"
"Faster than I thought they would've, to be honest," Aoki remarked casually. "Pay attention–otherwise these monsters will kill you!"
"R-Right!" Sora stood side-by-side with Aoki and they dashed through the room, slashing at Kobold Sentinels attacking members of the main party as they passed by them and resulting in either a kill or knocking the monsters back to successfully aggro them.
Eventually, the boss's HP had finally reached the 1/3rd point, which was when the monster threw away its weapons and began to draw its secondary weapon. Diavel rushed to the front of the party and stood with his shield in front of him, charging a sword skill, then proceeding to charge at Illfang.
Aoki glanced over at the boss and immediately stopped when he saw what was happening. Sora stopped a second after him and turned to face his partner, asking "Hey, what's up? The fight isn't over yet!" Sora noticed that his friend's face had gone pale, and looked over at what Aoki was seeing that made him look that way. He then adopted an uncertain look on his face as Illfang fully drew his weapon, saying, "Hey, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that sort of like a katana?"
"Oh shit," Aoki said to himself. "DIAVEL! THAT'S NOT A TALWAR!" Aoki shouted loud enough for everyone to turn to him in shock. Aoki felt time slow down, and he and Sora looked horrified as they saw Illfang bounce off of some of the pillars and attack Diavel from above, slashing into him and knocking him away to a far corner of the room…where Diavel shattered on impact with the wall.
The boss landed in the middle of the now terrified crowd, and roared directly at them. After the boss finished roaring, one of the players yelled "WE'RE DOOMED!" and proceeded to run away from the boss back to the door of the room, with almost every player following suit.
"NO, YOU IDIOTS!" Aoki yelled at the players running past him and Sora. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" He stopped his yelling once he saw Sora shaking slightly with his head down in his peripheral vision, before turning to face him as they ignored the Kobold minions that were attacking the players that were running. "Sora…?" He extended his hand to his friend out of concern.
Sora said nothing in response, and simply looked up with a furious look on his face that shocked even Aoki, his longtime friend. Sora gripped his sword tightly and dashed past Aoki, past the cowardly players, and past the Kobold Sentinels, before charging a sword skill and thrusting his sword straight at Illfang–an action which damaged the boss a fair bit and knocked it back a few feet. He blocked the boss's retaliatory strike and slid his sword along the boss's own, using the momentum to slash at Illfang's stomach and then bring his sword down vertically along its stomach.
Sora glanced to his left as he heard a shriek, and looked over to see a Kobold Sentinel jumping at him with its weapon in hand, looking to stagger him and create an opening for Illfang to attack him…until Agil stepped in with his shield in hand and blocked the monster's blow before knocking it back with his shield. Agil and Sora looked at each other and simply nodded, before Agil turned back around to continue fending off the Kobold Sentinels.
Sora saw a glint of light in his peripheral vision and turned just in time to see Aoki jumping in to parry one of Illfang's blows. While the boss was staggered, Aoki slashed at it with a charged sword skill, and yelled "NOW!" At that, Sora jumped on Aoki's back as he was in the recovery frames from the sword skill he used and jumped off of him, charging a sword skill as he went airborne and dived, bringing his blade down on the boss and creating a deep slash down its stomach. Aoki then spun around and slashed through the boss one final time.
Illfang shattered, and the rest of the Kobold minions attacking Agil and the other players shattered as well. A notice appeared in front of everyone, saying "Congratulations! You have defeated the first floor boss!" and the appearance of this notice prompted everyone to cheer loudly. Another prompt appeared in front of Aoki, saying "Bonus item: Coat of Midnight", which he dismissed. He stood up and let out an exhale, before looking at Sora and smiling while saying "We did it."
"Yeah, but we lost Diavel while doing it," Sora replied solemnly.
"It was good on you to take action after he died," Agil complimented as he approached the two, "but it was also reckless that you did it alone."
"Yeah, I just…don't know what came over me," Sora replied. "Thanks for the backup, by the way."
"HOLD IT!" a voice yelled from the cheering crowd. The entire room became silent and the crowd parted to make way for a pissed-off Kibao. The player approached Aoki and Sora and pointed a finger at Aoki. "How did you know what weapon the boss would have, huh?!" the spiky-haired player demanded.
"What do you mean?" Aoki stared Kibao down as he grabbed Kibao's hand and put it down. "I read the handbook like anyone else."
"But you were acting like you had experience with the boss's attack patterns!" Aoki's blood ran a little cold. "And you even knew you could parry the boss's skill even though it was using a different weapon!"
"What are you trying to say?"
"I'M SAYING THAT YOU'RE A CHEATER AND YOU LET DIAVEL DIE!" The accusation prompted several of the players in the raid party to start murmuring amongst themselves.
"Are you out of your fucking mind?!" Aoki stood closer to Kibao so he was effectively pressing his chest against Kibao's. "I'm the only one who tried to save him!"
"AND YOU KNEW WHAT THE BOSS WAS GONNA DO," Kibao said, ignoring Aoki, "SO THAT MAKES YOU A BETA TESTER TOO!"
"SO WHAT IF I AM?!" Aoki yelled back.
The murmuring grew louder until it became shouts, with players accusing things like, "So that means you let Diavel die on purpose?!" and "You asshole!" Kibao simply stepped back and put his hands on his hips, looking smug and triumphant.
"You know what? Fine," Aoki said simply as he opened his menu. "Hey, remember how you said yesterday that the beta testers should drop their armor and weapons?" he continued.
"Yeah, what about it?"
"Well, I need my armor and my weapon, but I can at least offer you the last attack bonus," Aoki said with a slight smile on his face as he brought out a sleek black trench coat and offered it to Kibao. Kibao looked slightly surprised as he reached out for the coat, only for the look on his face to turn into pain as Aoki gripped the coat with his fist and punched Kibao straight in the face with it, knocking him down to the floor. As Kibao was writhing in pain with the jacket over his face, Aoki calmly took out a dagger he had received a while back and dropped it to the floor in front of the downed player, saying "There. Armor and weapon dropped." Aoki turned his back to the raid party and began walking towards the stairs to the next floor, ignoring the jeers of the crowd. He stopped and looked over his shoulder, saying "C'mon, Sora. These jackasses aren't worth our time."
Sora began to follow Aoki before a voice from the crowd called out to him, saying "Hey kid! You're not a beta tester, right?! Why don't you join us instead of going with that guy?!"
Sora looked back with a cold glare towards the crowd. "Beta tester or not, and even ignoring the fact that he's my friend, he was the one of the two only people who finished the boss off with me. I'd follow him over you cowards any day of the week." He turned his back to the remnants of the raid party and gave a slight nod to Agil, who returned it.
Ignoring the now silent crowd, Sora and Aoki walked side by side up the steps to the second floor that were hidden behind Illfang's former throne.