Floor 3 - Boss - Nerius the Evil Treant

December 17th, 2022, 12:45pm - Floor 3, Zumfut Village Hall

''He escaped?!''

''Whose side are ya on, really!'' - Jet looked down at his boots, like a child being scolded by an angry parent... only far worse. Most parents didn't choose to scold their children in front of audience, as the two leaders of the guilds were currently choosing to do. It felt less like a slap on the wrist for screwing up, and more like making an example of him for it - ''Cause right now, gimme a reason I sh'unt just have ya hauled off ta Blackiron!'' - a series of cries from the crowd rung out in agreement, some genuinely apathetic to the issue, but only one in vocal disagreement...

''Because it wasn't his fault!'' - Koharu shouted as loudly as she could, only barely managing to be heard over the murmurs of the 40 strong crowd.

''And you were there, were ya? No! So shut it!'' - Kibaou yelled back at her, his response causing Jet to see red. Treating him like a criminal for a mistake was already a sign of the tyrant he wanted to be, and not letting him have a chance to make his case that, yes, he had screwed up, but that whole fiasco wasn't his fault, and that Kibaou had completely ignored their own objective for a chance at stroking his own ego, was just cementing that opinion. In other words, it wasn't on. Jet snapped - ''You know what this is, all of you? It's a kangaroo court. You couldn't care less about justice, or fairness... you just want a convenient place to stick the blame, and make you feel better about yourselves, like the snivelling weasels you are! So you know what? You want an easy place to lay the blame... I've got one! The leader who ignored his own plan, perhaps?'' - A number of angry yells, and some gasps came from the gathered crowd - ''Tell me then, Kibaou, what the hell happened to the help you were supposed to send to help us capture Morte, ay? What the hell happened to the timeline that you and Lind planned, and mostly importantly... what happened to the phrase 'we aren't going to attack the camp, you are.'!? Blame me for failing to capture Morte, sure, I accept I screwed up in not planning far enough ahead, and I will bear that on my shoulders... but don't you dare make me your scapegoat, because you wanted all the glory! Because if you do... you will have an enemy in me, and that is a place you do not want to find yourself!'' - Jet wasn't taking any prisoners with that rant, ironically enough, given it's reason for happening, and he could tell that Kibaou was either apoplectic... or terrified. Either way, he was shaking like a car on a bumpy road, before he spoke out, in a less than convincing way...

''You heard him! He even admitted it! He's at fault!''

''He's right though... you changed the plan without telling any of us... and we all suffered for it.'' - Murmurs from the crowd grew louder, before becoming full on shouts of discontent towards the two leaders...

Kirito looked around, at the sea of enraged members of the guilds, and pulled both Koharu and Asuna out of there, to the other side of the room. ''Look, I realise that what I'm about to say sounds both paranoid, and just doesn't sound good at all, but hear me out please. I think I understand Morte's plan... and Jet's just played straight into it. I think he knew that once he was discovered, the two guilds would join forces, and it doesn't take a genius to realise that Kibaou would pull some stunt like that. He made sure that all the seeds of conflict were sown, and waited. All he needed was a thunderstorm... a certain knight back there.'' - Koharu wore a thousand yard stare at the prospect, whilst Asuna, as neither side's biggest fan, was surprisingly outspoken in defence of Jet.

''So you think he should've just sat back and accepted it!? I'm sorry, but that just isn't-'' - A familiar brown hood popped into the trio's view, having appeared from the crowd - ''That isn't what he's saying Aa-chan. He's saying we all got played... and worst thing is, he's right. I think.''

A look of realisation swept over Asuna's face, her anger being replaced by horror - ''Whilst everyone's squabbling, they aren't going to notice anything going on under their noses...'' - She gulped at that being said out loud...

''Why would anyone do that though?''

''Divide and conquer, as The Art of War once said... why though, yer guess is as good as mine, Ko. But right now, we need someone to lead ya into battle if those two are gonna be squabblin' like that. If that Evil Treant is anything as powerful as ya say it is, last thing we need is all ya goin' in half cocked...it'd be a bloodbath.''

From the other sidelines, a single older man in red gear stood watching the developing argument, and watching as the leaders... well, failed to lead. Much like a boat without a rudder, the clearing effort would becoming stagnant, and slow to a crawl, whilst these political machinations ran rampant. He looked forlorn, and for the first time in his life, actually regretted his actions... all that this world had proved so far was that, no matter what setting he placed them in... human nature always reared its ugly head. He had created a whole world from scratch, dammit, and his work would inevitably be undone by... politics. As it done to everything in history, it would tear his creation apart from the inside. He sighed, and continued to watch the shouting match, in complete disappointment, until...

Jet looked around in horror at the scene he'd unintentionally caused. He'd meant to stand up for himself, and for once in his life, not be a damn doormat, not cause a near war between the two guilds! He'd barely had time to process that thought however, when suddenly, a purple blur yanked him aside, whilst Kirito and Asuna made their way to the front stage, currently occupied by the two leaders, who were hurling insults at each other. Politics, Asuna snarled derisively, and quietly, as she took centre stage... ''Everyone! LISTEN!'' - A few yelps and groans could be heard amongst the crowd, especially the ones nearest to the stage. ''Remind me never to piss her off to that state.'' - Jet thought to himself. He quite liked having his hearing. Hearing things was good...

''Good, now we have your attention. Lind, Kibaou, Jet, hear us out please.'' - All three of the mentioned looked very confused, but kept quiet, lest the wrath of Asuna be unleashed on them. - ''We think you've been playing into Morte's hands. Every part of that mission that went wrong, went wrong in exactly the way that would bring the guilds into conflict, and do the most damage to our clearing efforts. I don't particularly know how, although I suspect it was simply through observation, Morte worked out that Kibaou would do something stupid, or glory chasing-'' - Almost everyone gathered now wore looks of 'Yeah, that sounds about right' - ''That Lind would be caught off guard, because he wasn't paying attention.'' - Lind looked vaguely offended by that, but having seen Asuna's shouting earlier, decided that keeping his mouth shut was by far and above the safest option right now - ''and that Jet is a bundle of neuroses, vaguely masquerading as human.'' - Jet wasn't even offended by that description, in fact liking it enough to have made a note of it, for use as a bio at some point. - ''My point is... we should be working together right now. We should more concerned about the player attempting to divide us all, rather than petty squabbles over nothing more than glorified rivalries.'' - For the first time in about ten minutes, the group seemed to actually be interested in what the speaker on stage had to say...

The same older man from earlier took note of the young girl on stage, and how she actually seemed to have the right idea, a rarity in here, seemingly. She was one to watch, he thought...

''Michael... what the bloody hell did you do?!'' - Unfortunately for him, the purple blur was his sister, and she looked... less than impressed. Actually, she looked downright livid. - ''When did you grow a backbone... and why did you choose now of all times to do it!'' - She chastised, as Jet looked away. He bit his tongue, desperately trying not to start one more riot today, but Strea really didn't make it easy for him. Her, of all people, calling him out for being reckless with how he spoke up? If you looked up the word ''hypocrisy'' in a dictionary, it simply had a picture of her next to it...

''And you'd have just stood there and took it, wouldn't you?''

''No, but -''

''Then shut up.'' - Jet made sure his sister's usual brand of whataboutery stayed firmly in the place it belonged, in his opinion - locked up inside her head, where no one had to deal with it. - ''I was getting paraded about in a kangaroo court, what else did you expect me to do?''

''Not play into their hands! Did what happened to dad not teach you anything about this sort of stuff!?'' - Strea immediately regretted that statement, remembering all the wounds she'd likely just opened by mistake. Jet looked down at his boots, forlorn. He had just repeated his dad's mistake, hadn't he? But he couldn't sit by idly and take the abuse that shouldn't have been directed at him, that just wasn't right! To her credit, Strea realised her mistake, and pulled her brother into a hug, realising how she may have been out of line with that one. Their father hadn't deserved that, while she'd been a fair bit older, and at least understood what was going on... trying explaining a rigged jury to a 7 year old. - ''Sorry... I think Dad would be proud of you for standing up. He'd call you an idiot though... we, out of everyone here, should know better than that.''

''No, I screwed up. I got angry, and decided that if I was going down, I was taking someone with me. Never actually stopped to think that maybe I was playing into someone's hands...''

''Well, can't say I blame ya, knight-boy! Most people don't think that a way, 'less they're Kii-boy!'' - Strea went to scream at the sudden appearance of the smaller girl, as Jet put his hands over her mouth to stop the inevitable screaming.

''Honestly Argo, you're getting rusty... barely even raised an eyebrow that time.'' - Jet looked disinterested at the info broker's appearance, whilst Strea continued to look somewhat alarmed - ''Oh right. Argo, Strea. Strea, Argo.'' - Argo gave a small wave towards the taller girl, who looked as if she'd seen a ghost...

''That's getting rusty?! She's took ten years off my life!'' - Strea exclaimed melodramatically. Jet rolled his eyes towards his sister, before carrying on with his conversation - ''You get used to it. So, to what do I owe the honour?''

''Aa-chan's calmed the crowd a bit now...''

''Who?'' - was both siblings responses.

''Asuna.'' - This time, it was Argo's turn to roll her eyes.

''Ohh...''

''They ain't gonna lynch ya now... try not to rile them up again, or well, you really don't want to know what Aa-chan threatened to do to you. Let's just say it involved her rapier, a rather sensitive part o' ya anatomy, and a repeated thrusting motion.'' - Jet went cross-eyed momentarily, before coming back to his senses, whilst even Strea winced, despite not having the required part of the anatomy for that threat...

''Well, that's ten years taken off my life...'' - Jet muttered, shaking his head.

An hour later, Zumfut Restaurant

The rest of the meeting had been relatively straightforward, with a lot less finger pointing, and some actual strategy going on. Of course, none of the group actually expected them to follow the strategy, but baby steps, Jet supposed. Right now, six of them were currently sat the restaurant downstairs in the hotel they'd all gotten rooms in. Klein and Jet had gone to get drinks for the group, and had just returned.

Jet placed all three drinks down, almost like a waiter - ''And that is everyone's...Oh! And this is for Asuna, for saving my skin back there.'' - Jet pulled something out of his inventory, something that looked a lot like...

''It's a chocolate cupcake? Wait, where sells these?'' - Even Kirito looked slightly confused, trying to remember where made chocolate cupcakes, and drawing a complete blank.

''Nowhere. Made it myself.'' - Everyone looked surprised at that, most notably Strea... who remembered her little brother's attempts to cook... and the inevitable 999 call it generated. Most impressive had been the time he'd set fire to a tin of baked beans... by putting the whole thing in a microwave. Asuna seemed the most apprehensive, understandable, given she'd be the one eating it, whilst Jet just looked on in anticipation...

''It's actually *mmph* good!'' - Well, that was damning with faint praise, he thought. Still, if even Asuna liked it, he was probably doing something right. - ''You have to show me how to do this!'' - That sounded a lot less like a request, and more like an order...

''One question... why did you learn to cook? We can't exactly starve in game, and it's not like there's any cost saving... is there?''- Klein asked the question on his and Kirito's minds, as dedicated gamers... especially as using up a valuable skill slot on cooking seemed counterintuitive.

''I figured having decent field rations was a good idea, considering the longer shelf life for some foods in here. Plus, you really want to eat the game food for the next few years?'' - Somehow, the food in here had made Strea long for home... in the 'dear god, even a shitty pub chain is better than this!' way. The, ahem, curry they'd all had was... very, very poor, to put it mildly. She'd made better herself, and that was using packets of curry sauce, from a supermarket.

''That's... actually surprisingly forward thinking.'' - Kirito had to give Jet a point on that one.

''See, Ize gert brill, ay I?'' - Everyone except Strea struggled to decipher exactly what Jet had just said. Strea just cringed at the idea of her brother actually having a Bristolian accent...

''I don't think you can get that in here?'' - Klein answered, in complete confusion at what had just been said.

''Uhh, I have no idea either?'' - Even the usually resourceful Kirito had no idea of what had just been said.

''Be careful with that ego of yours, little brother of mine...'' - Strea jokingly warned, trying to grab him. Jet just pushed his sister away. and towards Klein. Everyone looked at her with confused looks, as she realised they wanted a translation - ''He said ''I'm brilliant, aren't I?''. He isn't.'' - Strea mockingly smiled towards her brother...

''Oi!'' - Everyone laughed slightly at the siblings.

Later that evening, in the rented room...

For the first time in a long while, Jet was thankful for internal plumbing. Bathing in a tent was alright if you were okay with the concept of having no privacy whatsoever, but for someone who got embarrassed with others seeing his legs in shorts... it was the equivalent of hell. A necessary hell, sure, but hell, nonetheless. When he was younger, he would spend hours in the shower, at least, if you combined them over a week, all just thinking about whatever he'd have to do that day. But here in Aincrad? It wasn't exactly the regimented life he tried to live outside, or at least, not in the same way. You could definitely regiment it so as you woke up at a set time, and went to bed similarly, but it got boring after so long...

Momentarily, he thought back to a chance conversation he, Koharu and Argo had had on near enough day one, about the NerveGear using calibration data, and certain sensors to reproduce a person's real body, and what that entailed. He glanced down to his chest, and somewhere he rarely looked, out of shame, and not wanting any reminders of that day. To his relief, his scar was nowhere to be found. The damned thing hadn't followed him into Aincrad...

''Jet, are you nearly done in the shower!?'' - His partner yelled through the door, getting slightly impatient... as he'd been in there for the past 45 minutes.

''Yeah, be out in a few.'' - he snapped out of his thoughts, and turned off the shower, before getting out, and drying... which was thankfully a quicker process than at home, and reequipping his home wear, a blue t-shirt, and black shorts.

Outside, Koharu looked less than pleased at waiting 45 minutes to use the shower, but didn't say anything about it, instead just bolting it into the small bathroom, as Jet went and sat down at the small table, near the window, and opened his menu.

A piece of paper materialised on the table, alongside a pencil, as Jet looked out the window, and started sketching a rough outline of what he could see - the soaring trees, and the village built into them. It was sights like these that made him realise just how fantastic this world was at times, and maybe, just maybe, that he didn't hate the place all that much...

''Hmm, that tree there looks a little closer than I drew it, but I think I got the scale a little off...'' - Jet mumbled to himself, as his partner looked over his shoulder, having finished in the shower. She had to admit, she'd always seen the bold and brash side of her partner, alongside the side of him that disappeared into his own mind, on occasions, but the creative side? That was new, and she admitted to herself, nice to see...

''That's really good...''

''Huh? Oh, nah, it's rubbish. The scale's all off, and I don't think SAO really copes well with this sort of stuff at all.''

''I think it's pretty good anyway. I mean, it doesn't have to be perfect, right?''

''Nah, not really.'' - Jet uttered, sadness present in his tone. He knew Koharu was trying to be nice, but she'd inadvertently trodden in one of the biggest minefields known to humanity... art critiquing, with a perfectionist. It didn't really matter to him if it were good enough, but he'd wanted it to be perfect, or at least, an accurate summary of what he saw, which, in his opinion, it wasn't.

The night was winding down, and both teens took to their sleeping positions - Jet on the sofa, whilst Koharu begrudgingly took the bed, not minding sleeping in the large bed with her partner.

''So, tomorrow, we take on this giant tree... you nervous?''

''Me, pfft, nah...'' - Jet lied in the most unconvincing way possible. A lie so transparent, it could be used to replace glass, if only it weren't so flimsy.

''Be serious, will you. After all we've been through on this floor alone...''

''It's been a long two weeks, hasn't it?'' - With everything going on, anyone would be excused in thinking it had been months... not 14 days. From meeting Kizmel, defeating a small army of Forest Elves, and with it, getting retribution for Kizmel, meeting Strea and Klein, Rain joining the group, and leaving them to get stronger, the whole thing with Morte, and his mysterious backer, and the guild crisis... honestly, it felt a lot longer than it had been, really.

''Yeah, do you reckon Kizmel's doing okay? I mean, she seemed really lifelike, and I'm just wondering...''

''You wonder if she ever gets lonely when we aren't around?''

''Maybe a little, yeah.'' - Jet thought about himself briefly, but taking a more pragmatic look at it - Kizmel, being an NPC that was unique to them, likely wasn't loaded into the world all that time, instead being loaded in when she became necessary for a quest. That raised more questions though, most of them on the ethics and perhaps mental wellbeing of these AI, who could disappear out of the world because they weren't needed... Jet quickly steered himself out of that alleyway, because down that path lay madness...

''I can't really say yay or nay there, Koharu. I'd guess not, given she's an AI, but I'm no expert on these things.''

''I just wonder if we'll actually see her again, I mean, you seemed fairly confident about it?''

''I've got a pet theory at the moment - we didn't so much do something impossible, as we found something that wasn't in the beta. Remember what both Kirito and Argo told us, that it didn't matter who we sided with, they'd both die by the end of that battle, and how surprised they were when Kizmel didn't? Well, I think that, in the beta anyway, the AI necessary for an NPC like Kizmel wasn't fully ready, and so, the levels on the NPC's were upped massively, to ensure no one could access that path by accident. Fast forward to the current game, and the nutter that was Kayaba wanted it to be as real as possible, and so... we got Kizmel. An NPC with an AI that could potentially be summat out of an Isaac Asimov book...''

''That sounds really clinical. What do you think of Kizmel though? I mean, you can't seriously think of her as nothing more than a program, with how long we spent with her!''

''Well, that's the age old question, isn't it... are we more human than she is, per se? We're both formed of just data, we haven't really got a physical body in here, and both are as intelligent as the other... so why am I considered human, but she isn't?''

''I... uhh, yes? She's an elf, not a human? Mind being a bit less... that?'' - Koharu tried to understand Jet's comments, as he facepalmed over forgetting that little detail...

''We live in this world, same as Kizmel. For all intents and purposes, she's as real as you or I are. Same with any of the NPC's, and any of the players, I reckon.''

''I thought you said you weren't an expert in these things?''

''I'm not... I have read books before though. I'm not Strea, I can in fact read a novel without moaning that it doesn't have pictures in it...''

December 18th, 2022, 06:30am - Floor 3, Zumfut Lodgings.

Beep... Beep... Beep... Koharu opened her eyes, to the world around her. In a single rehearsed routine, she checked the time through her HUD. Six thirty, on the dot. She put aside the fact that for Koharu Honda, that would be a lie in, and focused more on herself, the girl who woke up at that time every day, day in, day out, come rain or shine. If you asked her about that particular routine, she'd say it was about keeping herself in a routine, and not doing what her partner did, oversleeping often. That wasn't the actual reason, of course, just a smokescreen to disguise that she wanted some control over her life for once, and to have a semblance of normality in this crazy world...

Snore... Snore... Koharu glanced over at her partner, who had sprawled out over the sofa, and given his size, he'd gone over by a fair bit, and was currently rolling himself off of the sofa. She could let him fall off, and startle him into waking up... preferably so she wouldn't have to spend the next two hours being silent, in order to avoid waking her lightly sleeping partner, or...

For once, and despite the stresses of recent days, Jet had actually had a decent night's sleep... or he would've... if it weren't still dark! He'd forgotten how truly awful waking up at half six was, and - ''Oww...'' - how much he hated sleeping on a sofa. Even in virtual reality, the sensation of waking up from there hadn't gotten any less awkward, and he still felt like his spine had ended up somewhere it shouldn't be...

''Morning.''

''Night time.'' - In Jet's opinion, if it were still dark... sleeping was a perfectly valid option for spending time.

''It's 6:30.''

''Oh good, I can go back to sleep for the next two hours then.'' - Jet shut his eyes again, trying to drop off, as his partner rolled hers, and went into the bathroom for a shower. Having left the room to shower, Koharu let her mind wander, something she tried not to do all that often, given it always went back to that one thought in particular...

Inside the bathroom was a single, smaller mirror, about the size of a person's head, and hung on the wall. Koharu took a long, hard look at herself in the mirror, and started speaking - ''You are pathetic! Everything that happened yesterday, and what did you do? You just stood there. It wasn't you who protected Jet, like you promised, it was Asuna. All you did was stand there, and let everything happen, because. You. Thud. Are. Thud. Weak!'' - She finished ranting and banging the cabinet long enough to notice tears forming in her eyes...

Jet opened his eyes, unable to sleep for one reason or another. Boomph. ''Weak!'' - Huh, why was Koharu banging on a cabinet? He walked over, and listened in as best as he could, overhearing one sentence that almost broke him... ''Maybe you should just leave him, he'd be better off without you!'' - Considering how much that hurt Jet to hear, he daren't imagine how she felt...

He opened the door, and just watched as she fought back tears. ''Koharu...''

''I woke you up, didn't I? I can't do anything right now!''

''You didn't. I wasn't even asleep, I'd just closed my eyes, and you aren't weak... not by a long shot.''

''I couldn't even protect you yesterday, I promised you I would!''

''Koharu, all of what happened yesterday... all of that was my fault. It wasn't your job to protect me, and it shouldn't be. We're partners, right? We help each other get better, and sometimes, hard as it may be, that involves letting someone fuck up monumentally, and letting them learn from that mistake. I don't like it as much as you do, but... don't beat yourself, or the furniture, up over it. Please.''

''I'm still weak though... I couldn't defend you if I tried.'' - Jet shrugged. To him, that was only one part of being strong, the least important part in his eyes.

''Nope. You, Koharu, are one of the strongest people I know, and you want to know why? Because you didn't let the world crush you. You learnt from your mistakes when you started, and now? You can keep up with the best! That makes you far stronger than me, than anyone else, in my books!''

''You're wrong. I'm none of that... I'm just weak old me. Koharu the dead weight.'' - Koharu looked back to the mirror, as if she would get an answer from it. - ''What good am I here, you don't need me...''

''You saved my life.'' - Jet thought back to the beta test, and how just a day spent killing mobs had given him a reason to live.

''When...'' - She looked back at him, almost in disbelief.

''The day I met you. I... literally the whole culture here, I dunno, I felt suffocated, I suppose. I'd locked myself away practically, and I had one friend in the entire country... and she was moving to Tokyo that week too. I hadn't been to school in nearly 6 months, and god only knows how bad of a state I was in physically. I'd lost a shed load of weight, from just not having the energy to do something as simple as eat. It got so bad that yeah, I did think about taking that final option... then I met you. One of the first people to actually want to spend time with me. Sounds a bit vain, I know, but... when you think you're worthless? Just remember that even your presence saved someone's life...'' - Koharu looked actually shocked at Jet's admission. She knew her partner's mental state hadn't been great, but for it to have been that bad, and she hadn't noticed... she actually felt worse now.

''I'm sorry!'' - And with that, she took off, sobbing...

December 18th, 2022, 11:41am - Floor 3, Zumfut Village.

A few hours had passed since Koharu had left the room. Jet had tried to go after her, but her HP bar had disappeared from his HUD, meaning that she'd dissolved the party... a fairly obvious indicator that she didn't want to be followed. The rest of the morning hadn't gone particularly quickly either, meaning he had plenty of time to mull over everything... not good news for someone prone to overthinking things. Thankfully, he was eventually interrupted by Strea and Klein, who'd turned up with the rest of Fuurinkazen, in order to take part in the boss raid - ''Morning... you look like hell.'' - In the brief conversations Jet had had with the red headed swordsman, he'd realised he wouldn't sugar coat things. Probably a good thing at the moment, if he was at all honest, he really couldn't be dealing with dancing around a problem...

''Koharu and I had a... it's complicated.''

''How complicated?''

''I tried to show her that she wasn't as useless as she thought she was, and I... made things worse. Much worse possibly.''

''I don't know what to tell you, buddy. Without knowing any details, it'd just be vague, and probably not all that helpful.''

''It's fine, not your problem anyway.''

''Maybe not, but you're still a friend, and slightly less importantly...''

''Strea would kill you otherwise?'' - Jet hazarded a guess.

''Kill is a strong word, but... let's just say I like our relationship as it is, and leave it there.'' - Jet discovered that, in fact, Kayaba had programmed a gag reflex into this world... as he was currently using it. He did not want to think about his sister doing that!

''Ick. Let's get on with lopping down this giant tree then, preferably before I bark-f.'' - Let it be known that even when in emotional turmoil, Jet still had a sense of humour. Sadly, it wasn't a very good one... as a familiar pair of girls walked towards the two guys.

''Booo...'' - Strea held her thumb down at her brother, who gave a dismissive shrug, before noticing who was with her...

''Sorry about earlier...'' - Koharu looked towards Jet, expecting him to turn away in annoyance...

''It's fine. You want to reform the party?'' - Jet seemed almost nonplussed. She knew that wasn't the case, but she was glad he wasn't holding onto this one.

''Yeah, I wasn't sure I was going to be up for this, but... well, Strea's fairly convincing.''

''Oh, by the way, little bother of mine... we are going to be having serious words about looking after your health after this fight... comprenday?'' - Neither Klein nor Koharu were on the receiving end of that message, and both were suddenly filled with a sense of existential dread...

''Eep.'' - Jet, on the other hand, was now weighing up the pros and cons of dying. Pro - he wouldn't have to deal with an infuriated Strea. Con - He'd be dead. The cons outweighed the pros, and so he stayed alive for now...

About a quarter of an hour later, and what looked like a small army had formed. Purely based on his estimates, there were at least 60 people in the town square, ready for the boss fight, meaning they had a third more of a force than for the first boss, and an adversary that, if Kirito and Argo's information was correct, was far less agile, and relied more on being able to tank hits, and inflict damage through it's poisoned AoE attacks. For once, Jet was actually feeling a little bit more confident, and with a fairly decent plan in place... assuming Kibaou's forces kept to it this time, as well as a fairly serious commander, this would be a lot easier...

About two hours later, in the boss room...

Nerius the Evil Treant was a complete pain in the backside to kill. If ever Jet wished he had an axe, simply so he could start hacking away at the sodding tree, now was definitely the time... They'd been at this for nearly an hour now.

''AoE attack, incoming!'' - Kirito yelled, as the group fell back, poison releasing into the atmosphere. The green mist looked really quite tacky, if Jet was absolutely honest... but the debuffs and status effects it inflicted certainly weren't. A HP loss of around 10% per 20 seconds, and a debuff that slowed you down significantly, by reducing your AGI stat around 15%, if Jet remembered the guide properly, certainly weren't a laughing matter, especially not now.

''Anyone hit!?'' - The commander, Asuna, shouted back towards her forces.

''No, we're all good!'' - Klein shouted towards the front, and toward the temporary commander.

''The DKB are still in the fight!'' - Lind shouted, rallying his forces

''The ALS will get this one!'' - Kibaou did the same, and the two groups surged forward, continuing to whittle away at Nerius's HP, before finally dragging it down to it's last bar...

''Poison attack! Move!'' - The green mist covered a far greater area this time, hitting both the ALS, and the DKB squads with the debuff, and rendering them non effective in combat. Asuna glanced over at Kirito, who was currently tasked to draw aggro from Nerius, alongside Jet, Koharu and Strea, and gestured towards him. ''Kibaou, Lind, how long until you are ready again?''

''Not long, probably a few minutes.''

''Bout the same here.''

''Okay, Fuurinkazen, press the attack! Solo Group, continue drawing aggro until we can get back to full strength!''

''Yes, ma'am!'' - Jet saluted, as a branch slammed against his shield, and attempted to play tug of war with it... ''Oi! Gerroff! That's mine... you can have... this though!'' - Jet slammed his blade through the branch, cutting it off, and causing another screech from Nerius, though thankfully without the poison attack this time.

''Jet! You okay?!''

''Tired, but fine!''

''Fuurinkazen! Nerius is on the ropes, finish him off!'' - With only around a fifth of his last health bar left, Nerius was about to learn what it felt like to be felled, as Strea raced forward to rejoin her guild for their final strikes...

Dealing with the last of the roots, Kirito, Jet and Koharu turned to watch as the guild tore into Nerius with brutal efficiency, before letting Strea take the final attack bonus, with a single vertical slash from her sword bringing down the treant... ''Oh yeah... I'm good, aren't I?'' - Strea channelled her inner Tony Stark, smirking towards her brother, who was rolling his eyes at her current over the top display, but laughing in good humour, as he sat down on the floor...

''Well, I can safely say, that was exhausting!''

''Yeah, it was as bad in the beta too...''

''Oh, little brother... you know that conversation we were going to have?'' - Strea came over, calling for a Jet in a sing song voice... which signalled his impending doom.

''Be with you in a minute... if I die now, you guys go on ahead please.'' - Jet gave the most exaggerated plea possible, earning a snigger from both Kirito and Asuna, whilst Koharu tried to hide her sadness behind a smile

''Don't take too long, will you? You wouldn't want Koharu here wandering the desert alone, would you?'' - Asuna smirked towards Jet, who gave an indignant squawk in response...

{Author's Comments}

And with that, we're onto Floor 4! I have to admit, I did consider putting this chapter into two parts, or pushing it back a day in the schedule, due to me being worried that I wouldn't be able to finish it in time for my normal publishing time, but I actually think this came out alright, considering I spent the entire weekend with writer's block...

Anyway, thanks for reading so far, and any comments are welcome!

Midland2541