Floor 7 - Boss - Thor the Annoying Troll

About twenty five minutes later

''We thought you'd gotten lost...'' - Agil joked, as the trio returned from their quest...

''Nah, just had to run some errands.'' - Jet retorted.

''And have an epiphany.'' - Rain added.

''Oh! We got this too!'' - Koharu gingerly handed Agil the Seeker's Proof, relieved to be rid of it.

''What is it?'' - Liten asked, as she took a look at the item in Agil's hands.

''That's the Seeker's Proof that Lueur mentioned. He also forgot to mention exactly what it is...'' - Jet skirted telling Agil exactly what the item was...

''It's clearly not a stone of any kind... enlighten me then...'' - Agil asked, as he prodded it.

''Monster dung.'' - Koharu smiled innocently. Jet fought back a laugh at Agil's reaction to having been handed literal crap, whilst Rain rolled her eyes. Admittedly, it was quite funny to see such a large man react as if he'd actually been handed dung, but there were bigger issues here. ''I'll go hand it into the NPC, quickly...''

''I guess we've done all we can... let's hope it's enough.''

''I meant to say earlier, but... add this to it, I know it's not much, but...'' - Rain sent a trade request to Liten, with all of her Col.

''Thank you Rain, I'll be sure to repay you later... all of you! Seriously, thank you!''

''Heh, thank us after you win, Liten.''

''I'll give it my all!''

''Okay, I've sold it for all it's worth, and it was a good price... but it doesn't look as if the winds of fortune are in our favour...''

''Let me guess, ALS and DKB have shown up with the not so metaphorical chequebooks?''

''Pretty much, not only that, but they've put their honour on the line too...''

''They'll put in a fortune, because they know they'll come back with at least half of it...''

''They've gone even more large scale than we thought. It's not just ganging up and monopolising the hunting grounds, but they're using human wave tactics to spam the Proof quests from the sage... If that is the case, I'm not sure if we can fight it out with our funds.''

''Lueur did say that players who've progressed further in the Elf Quest would get a better reward...''

''Could he have meant that crystal we got, the one that stopped the boss being invincible... umm, what was it?'' - That certainly got Agil and Liten's attention, both of them looking as pale as sheets...

''Extinguishing Crystal.'' - Jet answered.

''Wait, that was the reward? That's far more significant than the Proof, or hell, the ingot!''

''It's hard to imagine that only campaign quests with all their varied progress rates could have items with that much influence over boss battles...'' - Liten commented. Jet shrugged, remembering the fiasco that had been Virtual Aces' campaign. ''Eh, seen worse. Played a game once where, to beat a boss, you needed a stealth fighter... only problem, the only stealth fighter that was available on the first playthrough couldn't be unlocked until five missions after that boss.''

''Seriously...'' - Agil wondered how that one had slipped through testing, it wasn't exactly a minor glitch!

''The excuse they gave was that it tested the anti cheating system.'' - Jet remembered that, and all the forum posts that came with it. Needless to say, the phrase 'There's no bad publicity' certainly didn't apply there.

''How'd that one go down?'' - Koharu asked.

''Picture, if you will, a lead balloon...'' - Jet spoke, exaggerating his affected accent to an almost comical level.

''Anyway... back on topic! Maybe it's a way of incentivising people to focus on the campaign quests, rather than spamming everything else?'' - Rain interrupted the knight's explanation.

''So there may be other quests where you can get Extinguishing Crystals, even if we don't know about them!'' - Koharu realised.

''Yeah, if there are, it's safe to say that ALS don't know about them, else we'd have been instructed to get them. I'd say the same is likely for the DKB too.''

''Umm... couldn't we use the Extinguishing Crystal to help pay for the ingot? If people are here for the strategy meeting, I'd think an item like that is a huge trump card!''

''We might have to, should it come down to the wire.''

''You don't have to do anything. You three should use that crystal.''

''So, where's the auction being held?''

''A small farm village not far from here. It's rustic, no shops, inns or restaurants, but it's got a pretty big town hall, so they're using it for guild meetings, I guess.''

''Blimey, reminds me of where my grandparents lived...'' - Jet remembered the... it wasn't even a village per se, more a hamlet, of The Pludds. The most glamorous facility in the hamlet, was the rather optimistically named Village Hall. Which was down a dirt track. Hell, the whole hamlet was down what could only be described by the most generous person, as a road...

''I'll lead the way. There's really nothing there though, so...''

''Prepare before we get on the road, got it.''

January 6th, 2023 - Approaching the unnamed village, Floor 7, Aincrad.

The journey to the village was nothing spectacular, to Jet at least, who continued to remember his grandparents' old home as they walked. Somehow, despite how boring those days had been for him, they'd been nothing compared to the boredom his sisters had felt. Ell, the closest thing to his twin sister, had always been prone to going off gallivanting, and so, a village with a population that grew 5% whenever the family was there... unsurprisingly, didn't have very good transport links. In fact, Jet always found it surprising it had any... a bus that ran twice a day to nearby Cinderford, and only ran in the mornings. It was telling that the village of Ruardean, nearby, was often the start of the siblings adventures, rather than where they actually stopped... ''You're awfully quiet for once, Jet?''

''Huh? Oh, nah, just thinking of my grandparents, and my sister.''

''Strea?''

''Nah, Ell, of my 'twin sisters' as they called us.''

''How were you twins, if there were three of you?'' - Koharu asked.

''We weren't twins, I'm a few weeks older than them, but we spent so much time together, we may as well have been.'' - Koharu looked on quizzically. No matter how she rationalised it, if they were related, there was no way Jet could only have been a few weeks older than them. Something told her Rain had had a similar thought, and gave a Koharu a look to ask whether she thought it sensible to bring up that slight issue. She decided against it, at the moment.

''Sounds like you had some adventures then...'' - Agil, who was slightly ahead of them, said.

''Heh, that's putting it mildly. Ell always loved travelling, and she was a bit of a transport nut. Remember the time we went to Oxford by bus, from rural Gloucestershire... Mom went ballistic at us! 'You're supposed to be the sensible one, why didn't you tell her it was a bit far!' In fairness... that one may have been my idea.'' - Jet looked away and whistled, whilst everyone else rolled their eyes.

Eventually, the group reached the auction hall, and to say the room had an oppressive air to it, was an understatement. It felt as if the room halted when they entered, although Jet put that down to paranoia, rather than reality. Rain was the first to speak up after their entrance, ''It definitely feels intense in here. How many people are actually here?''

Liten, by this time now back in full armour, spoke as she had when they'd met her, ''Seems all of the main members of the DKB and ALS are here.''

''The auction's starting soon, we should probably get into position.'' - Agil told the group.

Up on stage, Kibaou spoke loudly, and riled up the room, ''I promise we'll use the profits the guild raises in this auction ta beat the boss! We won't leave a single Col behind!'' - Some cheering came from the crowd, mostly from the ALS members. ''In other words, bid ta ya heart's content! The more we spend, the sooner we'll beat it!''

''It's kinda refreshing to hear him say that.''

''At first, they'll put up the rare mats and equipment. The ingot will be last.''

''It's all an opener to really make the treasure shine, which means it will show up when the excitement reaches it's peak.''

''Who'd have thought the bard would be interested in auctions?'' - Jet rolled his eyes.

''I am a troubadour, thank you...'' Lueur seemed genuinely offended at Jet's suggestion of his role as a bard, but carried on, regardless, ''I've always enjoyed auctions. I came in to see the buzz that the ingot has generated. Seems fun.''

'' 'Seems fun' huh. You gonna watch till the meeting?''

''Indeed, so I do not miss the budding of the legend that I shall sing about...''

''You're not fighting the boss then?''

''Indeed. I cannot stand on that stage as I currently am. But, if there should be a seat for spectators, I shall gladly go.''

''You've got a way with words... you mean your level's too low, right?''

''Oh no, such hideous words won't do!'' - ''Why am I always the one who gets surrounded by nutters...'' - Jet groaned internally, as he rubbed his head in frustration.

''Oh man, we're mixed up with a real weirdo...'' - Agil muttered, as Jet and Liten both nodded along to the sentiment...

The auction itself was lively, but fairly restrained. The bidding war had so far been contained to only the best of items, and even then, had been relatively civil... although Jet had had to be reminded that they were there for an ingot, not a new coat for him, when a coat with a logo he recognised had appeared - ''And this coat, with a logo of a skull and crossbones, and the lettering of 'VF-84' is up next...'' - Jet's face lit up, as if someone had turned on a light bulb behind his eyes. Koharu, on the other hand, proved slightly more focused on their objective, and shut Jet's glee down in one word ''No.''

''And ready or not, for our final item... a high quality material, forged by an elf artisan! Soul Copper! Starting at 200 Col, do I have 200 Col!''

''200!'' - ''400!'' - ''1000!'' - Shouts came from the audience.

''That's quite a jump...''

''Cause it's a war of attrition. Other players aren't gonna keep quiet.'' - Agil answered, as the price continued to go up...

''80,400!'' - A female player called out.

''It keeps going up... are we gonna be okay?''

''Watch... I'll go soon.''

''148,000! Any more bids!''

''200,000!'' - Agil shouted, a smattering of groans coming from some of the players gathered.

''220,000!'' - The same female player from earlier called out.

''230,000!'' - And with that, the female player sat down, muttering something.

''ALS will take this! 260,000!''

''Oh yeah!? 300,000!'' - A member of the DKB section called out.

''Liten, how much do we actually have?'' - Koharu asked, as Liten quickly checked her Col total. ''440,000. I thought we'd have room to spare if we put together what we've gotten, with what I borrowed... but...''

''This is worse than my parents bidding for my car...'' - Jet remembered that. Why his parents had been so insistent on buying him that Volvo, he would never know... it wasn't like he could drive it either!

''Just watching this is making my heart race...'' - Koharu grabbed Jet's hand, and squeezed as hard as she could. Hard enough that, had the pain limiter not been there, he'd be feeling bones crack...

''The tension's unbearable...'' - Rain looked anxious as the cost carried on rising...

''400,000!''

''410,000!''

''Tryin' to make us lose, huh? 450,000!'' - And with that, every member of the group felt their heart stop momentarily... they'd failed. That was it, there really was nothing they could do anymore. Koharu seemed worst hit by this, as she looked around for something, anything that might allow them to come back into the fray... but no, that really was it for them.

''450,000! Do I have any others?''

''500,000!'' - A familiar voice called out, alongside an even more familiar hood. The sudden appearance seemed to take the ALS member completely by surprise... ''I bid 500,000 Col. I just got here, but we're still bidding, right?''

''I surrender. Dammit.'' - The ALS member dropped, uttering profanities as he went.

''500,000! I hear 500,000! Is that all? Going once! Going twice... sold, to the girl in the hood!'' - Jet couldn't really see much of Asuna's face in that hood, but he was fairly certain she was ecstatic at her timing. The fact she was grinning was a pretty good indicator of that...

As for their group though, everyone felt their hearts restart, and Koharu seemed the happiest by a fair bit, as - much to the knight's surprise - she pulled him into a kiss, which made everyone but those two feel uncomfortable... ''Well...'' - Liten blushed underneath her helmet, whilst Rain looked around, and avoided making visual contact with the kissing couple. ''Young love...'' - Agil quipped, as the pair broke from their kiss. Jet chose then to voice his thoughts, ''Well, umm... wh-what was that for?''- Koharu fidgeted under Jet's gaze, a look which could only be described as happy confusion. ''Heh, I just... umm... please pretend I didn't just do that...'' - Koharu groaned into her hands, as Jet gave her a hug. Rain chose to voice what everyone else was thinking, ''Don't worry... we did.'' - It hadn't escaped Jet's attention that she'd gone almost as red as her hair...

''And thank you to everyone who's attended this auction! If you plan to stay for the boss strategy meeting, it is in two hours, so please meet here if you plan to take part!''

The group walked over to Asuna, who was evidently still processing just how close she'd actually been. ''Asuna!''

''Everyone!''

''Talk about an entrance! 500,000 Col is huge, you must've been running round like mad for that much!'' - Since New Years, Jet and Asuna had agreed a ceasefire. Basically, no being pointlessly bitchy towards each other, and Koharu had seemed particularly pleased at that outcome. Still, to her, it was a little odd to hear Jet actually being complimentary towards Asuna...

''You looked really cool too! Looked like you could keep going!''

''That was all the money I had. Argo told me about the auction, and I had to go all over to collect it. I really don't want to do that again...''

''That's our Asuna! It was a battle you couldn't lose, being Kirito's partner.'' - Liten commented, enthusiastically.

''I didn't do it for Kirito. I wanted to make it clear that no will be hurt in this way.''

''Umm, aren't you... well... broke, now?'' - Rain asked, as Asuna winced slightly.

''I've learned how to grind Col on this floor, so I'll come back after we beat the boss.''

''So, you'll be joining us against the boss, Asuna?'' - Koharu asked.

''I will, yes. Oh, sorry, I forgot to ask... Rain, you're joining us for the floor boss too?''

''Yep! I've had some time to get my... to practice a bit more, and I think I'm ready!'' - Rain skirted around her real reason for her absence.

''What a relief! A boss fight without the lovely fencer lacks the brilliance we are so used to...'' - Lueur made his presence known, as a collective sigh came from behind Asuna.

''Huh?'' - Asuna, on the other hand, just looked bewildered.

''I cannot cross swords with the floor boss, but I shall be wishing you all a safe journey. I shall be off!''

''Who was that?'' - Asuna asked, confused by the verbose redhead.

''A headache in human form.'' - Jet answered, instantaneously.

''I... well, I don't see, but I don't think that's the kind of guy I could see myself being friends with...''

''Who said we were friends with him?'' - Jet answered, nursing his growing headache. Hopefully, that would be the last they saw of Lueur for a very long time... but he also knew that fate had a remarkable way of giving him the middle finger...

''He doesn't seem like a bad person... but he's, umm... quirky.'' - Koharu thought carefully on her wording there. She didn't want to call him weird, or anything particularly insulting, but... quirky, as she'd settled on, was probably the nicest way of putting it...

''Sorry to interrupt, but I have a request for Asuna. The ingot that you just won... can I rent it for two weeks, for 200,000 Col?''

''Oh, for your business, right?''

''The fateful ingot, bought at 500,000 Col! The broker who negotiated to borrow it! Makes me seem like a master, yeah?'' - Agil grandstanded.

''Please don't turn into Lueur.'' - Jet deadpanned, earning a smattering of sniggering off Rain and Liten, whilst Koharu gave him a look...

''I could rent it to you, but 200,000 Col seems a lot... are you sure?''

''Yeah, the point is to draw people in. As far as an initial advertising investment goes, it's actually pretty cheap.''

''Oh, that reminds me! I should give you all back the money we didn't use!'' - The trade requests went out to each member of the group, and each accepted it quickly.

''We've got some time yet before the meeting, and I don't know about you, but I could with some fresh air...''

''Agreed, I think we could all do with a breather after that one. Plus, you know, lunch.''

Outside of the hall, Jet went into his inventory, and pulled out three parcels of food. Needless to say, that minor oversight left two rather unhappy people

''Where's ours!''

''Uhh... I kind of forgot to make them. I should have some spare sandwiches in here, somewhere...'' - He fumbled in his inventory, before pulling out two more parcels. ''Ah! Knew I'd got them in here somewhere!''

''It's toast.''

''We were in a rush this morning...'' - Jet rolled his eyes, biting into his toast, before noticing that Koharu was staring off into space again. ''Koharu?'' - He asked.

''Huh? Oh, sorry, did I miss something?''

''Nah, just wondering what's on your mind, that's all.''

Koharu pointed to the tower on the horizon, the labyrinth that held the Seventh Floor boss, which loomed ominously over the withered woodlands that they sat in. ''The labyrinth, that's where we're going, right?''

''Anxious?''

''A little bit, yeah.'' - Jet placed a hand on her shoulder, and spoke his mind, ''Not to blow our own trumpets, but as long as we've got skilled players like us, and some sense of unity between us, we'll be able to handle it...''

Two hours later...

After Jet's display of tempting fate, it was perhaps unsurprising that the only 'unity' to be found, was the cupboard behind them which admittedly, did look a bit unity. Rain held her head to her hands, and sighed. She honestly wondered whether many of them cared to be free, or were so blinded by their pettiness, that they were willing to damn everyone else, just for bragging rights... ''Me and my big mouth.'' - Jet muttered, as shouting came from all angles, and all of the group looked rather annoyed at just how close to schoolchildren the frontliners were... no, actually, that was an affront to schoolchildren. They actually can work together some of the time...

So far, the only thing that had actually been discussed, other than the stupid disagreement over who should be in charge for this one, was that the boss could regenerate lost health, and after a certain threshold was reached, it could render itself functionally invincible, a trick which could be nullified by using the Extinguishing Crystals that Jet's group, and Asuna had gathered. Other than that, it was a lot of pointless bickering... ironic really, given the suggestion that coordination would be needed for this one...

A voice that Jet recognised piped up - ''You don't have to listen to them, Kibaou! The beater's lackey was the one who got that ingot, and there's no way she could've gotten 500k Col on her own... she must be working with DKB!''

Scandalised, Asuna spoke up to defend herself, ''Excuse you?!''... not that the pathetic idiot listened.

''That ingot's helpful for boss fights, isn't it? Now that I think about it, pretty suspicious that the Beater insisted it was just a hunk of metal, and that she has nothing to do with him...'' - the idiot continued along his own hare-brained conspiratorial tracks, whilst Asuna began to get increasingly angry. Liten tried to step in, but was quickly ignored by the idiot, and now, a member of the DKB who'd spoke up - ''At this rate, the boss won't have to kill us. This lot'll have done it themselves!'' - Jet's inner monologue groaned.

''Leader! We've got something to say about the Beater! We saw Kibaou secretly talking to the Beater!'' - The trio all instantly knew what was being referred to, and decided that, for everyone's sake, keeping sht'um was the best idea. ''Maybe ALS are the ones planning to use numbers to take us over!''

''That's completely baseless! If you're gonna 'ccuse us, we're gonna fight on our own!'' - Had Kibaou been any angrier, Jet was fairly certain that jets of steam would visible from the ALS leader's ears. Despite Liten doing her best to try and calm the situation down, it seemed to be on an inevitable crash course...

''(sighs) Kirito gives up the ingot, and they're still gonna scrap...'' - Agil looked towards the group in disappointment.

''What do we do... at this rate, we're gonna...''

''Children, the lot of them. Zhalkiye deti, chego oni ne ponimayut!'' - Rain looked at breaking point, an odd sight for the group. In the time they'd known her, she'd always been relatively civil, if a bit distant at times, but now...

''Uhh, Rain, what does that mean?''

''LISTEN, ALL OF YOU!'' - Rain yelled at the top of her voice, earning the attention of everyone in the room. ''Thank you,'' she uttered exasperatedly. ''If you truly are the best we can offer towards defeating this game, then perhaps we should stop deluding ourselves that we will ever return! You are less than useless if all you continue to do is bicker like the children in the orphanage! If what is needed is coordination, then we will attack the boss by ourselves!''

''We?'' - Jet asked, seriously hoping Rain wasn't doing what he thought she was doing...

''Between Jet, Koharu, Agil, Asuna and I, along with other helpers...'' - Jet opened his menu, and typed a group message to Fuurinkazan, ready to send, should it be needed...

''She's right. All of my guild members will join in.'' - Agil spoke up.

''Shut it, outsider!'' - An ALS member yelled.

''You can shut it too! This has as much to do with us as it does you!'' - Jet yelled back at the ALS member.

''Yeah, this isn't any to do with you, this is guild matter!''

Lind, evidently beginning to suffer a headache, spoke up to allow something resembling a civil conversation... or at least a quieter one, to restart, ''Jet is right. This is an open meeting, let us hear what they have to say...''

''Thank you. I don't belong to any guild, and in fact, I've only been on the frontlines briefly, so this is my first time in one of these meetings... but I am not an outsider. I am here as a player of SAO, and I believe it important that you should realise something, that people on the lowest floors look up to you. The children want to be like the heroes on the frontlines... can you imagine what they would feel if they saw you all like this? How ashamed would they be to have ever looked up to you...'' - Those comments hadn't even been aimed towards their group, but damn, Rain really was going for the jugular with this, Jet thought... ''But I suggest you all take a long, hard look at yourselves, and what goals you have... and if you do decide to focus on your own image, rather than helping fight for those who cannot, then I suggest you leave the boss fights to those who will fight for those people... I have said all I wished to say. Thank you for listening.'' - Rain walked back over to Jet and Koharu, both of whom were wide eyed at the speech.

''Hmph, I never thought about anything other than beating the boss...'' - Kibaou grumbled, but he accepted Rain's point. Perhaps some elements of the ALS did have an issue with protecting their reputation, rather than focusing on actually clearing the death game. Other parts, he wondered if they were actively trying to sabotage their efforts, or whether that was just a side effect of their pig headedness...

Lind seemed equally shook up by the speech, and for once, agreed with Kibaou, ''You are right. We should be focusing on fighting the boss, not verbally assaulting each other...''

The acceptance of that truth convinced Agil that the meeting was cooling down enough for him to offer a proposal, ''Well, now you've cooled off a little bit, I have a proposal. Jet was the one who got the boss info this time, and an item for beating it, as a bonus. I wasn't there on the Sixth Floor, but I believe it would've been considerably harder, had those two not been present, so, considering that... would it make the most sense to allow Jet to act as leader, for this raid?''

''Pardon?!'' - Jet realised exactly what had just been said, and to say he wasn't happy about being volunteered for the role was an understatement.

''Don't think about it so hard, and just go on as you have. Remember what you told us at Christmas?'' - Agil reminded Jet about the night before Christmas.

''I wasn't a leader... I taught people how to fly and fight more intelligently...''

''Which involved a degree of leadership, right?'' - Koharu asked.

''I mean, yeah it did, but...'' - Jet rebuked, ineffectively.

''We can't be doing this as we normally have, wit' our main forces divided. They ain't as good as us-'' - ''Hey!'' - ''- but bein' managed by a neutral party could be for the best...'' - Kibaou agreed, reluctantly.

''Agreed. Now is not a situation where we can kick up a fuss about who we're picking to lead us.'' - What went unsaid is that that had been exactly what they'd been doing less than ten minutes ago... ''There aren't many neutral parties that we can depend on in a fight.''

''Right then, wi' that settled... how 'bout we go back to the start, and ya explain the plan to the raid leaders.''

''Okay then, everyone settle down please.'' - The muttering subsided, as Jet carried on - ''Good. What we know about this boss is this - it has regenerating health, which will mean we will all have to coordinate ourselves to the best of our abilities. However, even once we overcome that hurdle, another is in our way... the boss can, uhh, I guess the words for it are probably 'become invincible'. That, is where the two Extinguishing Crystals will come into play. At that point, I shall use the Crystal to seal that status effect, and we can close in for the final kill. I'm aware that plan sounds rather simple, but I feel that leaving formations and the like up to the raid leaders is far more productive than my interference there. Any questions?''

The rest of the meeting had progressed relatively well, and there were no more close calls, an achievement given who was leading it, really. Surprisingly, almost everyone had taken to the slightly hands off style of leading that Jet had demonstrated, and the meeting had ended, with it being decided that the rest of the day would be spent getting everyone's equipment up to snuff, and that tomorrow would be the day of the boss battle...

Liten was the first to speak as they left the hall, ''I was worried for a bit, but I'm glad it's all ended up well, you did well, all of you... especially you Rain, that was the most passionate speech I've ever seen!''

''I couldn't stand it any longer, they were acting like children... someone needed to tell them!''

''You blasted them! I wish Kirito had been there to see the look on their faces!''

''Speaking of him... where is he?''

''He's on some sort of quest. Apparently there was a quest on this floor that no one was able to beat in the beta. Might've been just the thing to distract him.''

''Sounds about right. Well, we all need to head to Volupta, so... should we be off?''

''Yep!'' - Koharu turned to Liten, who was busy looking at her messages, ''Liten?''

''Huh, oh, you guys go on ahead, I've got to meet someone from the DKB here. I'll see you tomorrow!''

''Oh, Liten, forgot about these earlier, have them. Call it thanks for earlier.'' - Jet handed her a small box of cakes, ''Plus, you and your friend have some actually decent food...''

''You made them, didn't you?'' - Rain deadpanned.

''Well, cupcakes don't grow on stems now, do they?'', Jet smirked, and mimed a salute to Liten as they headed off, the armoured girl waving back.

''A meeting, huh? Warms the heart, for sure...'' - Agil spoke, knowingly...

''Agil! It's not good to pry!'' - Asuna scolded the axe wielder.

''Oh, it's like that...'' - Jet continued to smirk slightly, ''Guess those cakes will come in handy then...''

''It's really cute, it's like Romeo and Juliet!'' - Koharu beamed. Jet wondered if she actually knew half of that story.

''I really hope not, Koharu... that would be one hell of a downer...'' - Jet remembered studying that particular text in Y9 English, and being thoroughly depressed by the end of it...

''Okay! Okay! That's as far as we're going to pry into a girl's private life!'', Asuna scolded the group, ''Let's focus on the task at hand! Rain and I will hit and run, Agil, you'll be our tank, and you two, you'll be our main attackers.''

''As long as we can keep it's attention split, it shouldn't have a chance to regenerate, so leave that part to us.''

''Just, be careful, right?'', Jet said, ''Last thing we need is our swordmaster getting taken out of the fight.''

''I'll be as careful as I can. The same applies to you two, too. Don't overdo it!''

The next morning, Floor 7, Volupta

Jet idly wondered which god he'd peed off for him to be suffering this hell. Waking up at six for school was bad enough, but waking up at half five to be prepared for the boss fight, really was hell. Even Koharu, the early riser she was, was struggling to wake up quite this early. Hell, even when he'd done this to go on trips with his sisters, he'd usually been able to sleep on the bus... but that really wasn't an option here, and so he'd have to power through it...

''Morning!'' - How Rain was quite this chipper at 6am, Jet would never understand.

''(yawns) Morning...'' - Jet replied, with no light in his eyes whatsoever.

''You look exhausted...'' - The redhead stated.

''Just not quite awake yet, I'll be fine.''

The few hours before the assault force met up had passed, Jet had made a morning batch of coffee and food, and everyone had turned up at the town's plaza...

''Okay, the plan's the same as yesterday - split into four groups - Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, and work together to bring down the boss. Everyone still okay with the plan?'', Jet asked, as everyone replied in the affirmative. ''Good, then we've got a brief walk to the labyrinth, and we should be there by lunchtime. Move out!''

The walk itself had proven uneventful, and the push through the labyrinth, Jet's first real test as leader, had shown that he was a reasonable commander, if still learning the ropes a little, Asuna stepping in where Jet struggled. Much as he'd panned the girl earlier, she was a far superior leader, and he wondered why she wasn't in charge... oh right, they all thought of her as the ''beater's lackey''. God, he'd be glad when they passed the tenth floor, and the whole beta tester crap died down.

''Alright, we're approaching the boss chamber. Status check?''

''ALS are in good condition.''

''DKB, we're ready to go!'' - Even with their lives on the line, Jet found it ridiculous that they were still fighting to be seen as the best, even if it was only in his eyes.

''Okay, we're all clear. Remember the strategy, everyone. Follow your raid leader's instructions, and you'll make it through. Any questions?'', None were fielded, ''In which case, best of luck everyone, and... ALLONS-Y!'', Jet called out as he went to open the door to the chamber... only to find it beginning to open, before his hand even reached the switch. ''Did the door just open of it's own accord? That's new...'', Jet thought to himself, before getting his head back in it's required space for the fight, as shouts from the raid groups filled the chamber...

Their opponent stood in the middle of the room - Thor, the Annoying Troll. A ten foot tall troll, with skin a shade of camouflage green, and covered in bony armour, towered over them, it's club, almost certainly a former tree trunk, slamming into the ground around it, its spikes leaving indents in the ground around it. Needless to say, a direct hit from that thing would spell death for the unlucky target...

The raid groups began their attacks - Alpha, led by Kibaou, taking the lead and whittling into the behemoth's health bars, bringing it down to it's third health bar. The troll, evidently annoyed by the strikes on it, decided to try and take the problem out, the only way it knew how - with extreme violence. It's club slammed straight into the ground, missing everyone, but rather than being raised, the club's spikes began to extend into the ground... ''Alpha, get out of there!'' - Jet shouted, as the raid group evaded the rising spikes... just. ''Bravo, begin your attacks!''

''We shall!''

Some time later, and a fair few group switches later, the assault force had bought the Annoying Troll's health down to it's last slither, of it's last health bar, and said troll had ceased moving... meaning it was about to become invincible...

''Jet!''

''On it!'' - Jet raised his Extinguishing Crystal to the sky, and a light flashed... followed by a growling from the downed troll. ''Crap! It didn't work!''

RRRRAAAAAAWWWWWW, called out the troll, as it began to stand back up, it's health rising again, slowly, but surely. As it did, one of the DKB teams raced out to down the boss again, but soon found themselves in trouble, as the boss slammed it's club against the floor, knocking them to the ground. ''Damn it, they broke formation! If it tries again...''

''Tanks, move in to protect that lot. Asuna, ready with your crystal!'', Asuna nodded, and Liten raced into the fight to protect the downed members of the DKB. ''Jet, try to rally everyone!''

''Everyone, heal whilst we've got a reprieve!'', Jet called out, not that their current situation could really be called a reprieve...

''All healed units, back the leader and the tanks!'', Lind called out from his position. A plan came into Jet's head, and he made a quick hand gesture to Rain and Koharu, who understood it. ''All shock units, we're moving in! Stay behind me!'' - Jet raced off, readying his shield in front of him. Rain took up the position behind him, having finally bought her twin blades into the fight, whilst Koharu followed her. If Jet was correct, then the troll was about to... ''HALT! NOW!'' - Jet stopped, and dropped to one knee, bringing his shield up in front of the whole group. THUDDD! The club made contact with the ground, and Jet hoped he was right...

The shockwave slammed into Jet's shield, being deflected around it's sides, as he pushed as hard as humanly possible to stay upright. By luck, he managed it, and the rest of the shock group ripped into the troll, bringing it's health down to zero, the troll collapsing once again... ''Shock unit, keep hitting it! Everyone else, cover Asuna!''

Asuna raised her crystal skywards, and the light almost blinded her. The boss cried out once again, but this time, it screamed in agony, as the shock unit continued their assault on it, even in it's dying throes...

SSHINNNKK. Thor the Annoying Troll, the first of probably a few enemies with healing, was dead. He was, to quote a famous sketch, an ex-troll. He was no longer pining for the fjords...

''We made it... somehow. That almost gave me a heart attack!''

''We did... how's Liten doing after all of that?'', Rain looked over, as saw her fist bumping a swordsman from the DKB group, Shivata, if she'd remembered the names correctly.

''I think she'll be more than fine...'' - Jet gave a slight laugh, as he walked back over to the group.

''Don't tease her! She was fighting really hard, so I'm glad she's all right!'', Koharu seemed happy, despite how fierce the battle had been.

''She did well... as did you, Jet. Good thinking with the shield charge, by the way.'' - Agil told the knight, who seemed to flush under the praise... ''Yeah, well, it was just a hunch. I kind of hoped that putting something in it's way would stop it from hitting everyone else, and you know...''

''Ya really need to learn ta take the praise, kid. Ya did well, by tha way, if it hadn't bin fer ya quick thinkin', it'd have got messy out there! ALS wanna thank ya for it, actually, nah. Yer whole little group deserve the praise, really. If it hadn't been fer yer friend's speech, we'd all have still bin bickerin' now, so yeah, not sure we can formally reward ya tho'. The guild probably wouldn't agree ta that, but ya do deserve it!'' - Jet gave the most earnest smile he could, despite his mind not working properly, at the revelation that Kibaou could, in fact, show gratitude...

''I believe the same goes for the DKB. Thank you, all of you.'' - Lind stated, in his usual formal way, as the two guild leaders returned to their respective groups. Jet laughed slightly into his hands, as he tried to process what had just happened. Unsurprisingly, the conversation amongst both returning guilds soon turned to their intelligence gathering abilities, and Jet admitted that he definitely didn't envy either leader on that front...

''Well, now that's over... I'm gonna head back to Volupta. See about putting that ingot on display. Hope I'll see you three soon?''

''Remember our deal, 25% off?''

''We'll talk about that one we reach it...'' - With that ominous statement, Agil left the chamber, leaving just Jet, Koharu, Rain and Asuna stood there.

''And suddenly, everyone's gone...'' - Koharu noted, looking around the empty boss chamber.

''Probably an after effect of the auction. Everyone bought good gear, but it was all new, and none was heavily upgraded... I'd bet that most want to put their Col into upgrading it.''

''I can understand that... oh! A message from Liten! 'Good work today! You guys all did great, and I'm so glad we beat it safely! Sorry I couldn't stick around, but I had to go help prepare the ALS afterparty. Let's meet up later! P.S. Thank Jet for the cakes, they were amazing!' - Jet grinned, evidently proud of himself for reasons other than his leadership... ''She's really considerate, but she worked so hard, risked her own life... maybe if we'd had everyone with us, there'd have been fewer risks.''

''Perhaps, but you've met Strea. She's my sister, but she's... not the easiest to co-ordinate with.'' - Jet pointed out.

''I agree, it's dangerous to think that we need them for every fight. There will come a point when we have to rely on ourselves to get out of a situation, with little to no assistance. We have to become as strong, or stronger than them, and we have to protect everyone's lives, as well as our own.'' - Asuna began to head back towards the door, but turned back to speak one last time, ''But, I'll be off for now. Need to find my errant partner...''

''I might have some competition soon then...'' - A familiar voice came out of nowhere. ''Sorry to startle you, but... I don't think you have to worry about becoming as strong as me. I think you may be closer than you all think...'' - Kirito uncloaked himself, earning looks of complete confusion from the trio.

''Where... how have you been hiding from us?!'', Jet asked, whilst the girls nodded in agreement.

''That's a funny story. Good job on the boss though! And you thought you couldn't lead...''

''Hang on... did you open the door earlier?''

''Ah, yeah, sorry about the fright. I should explain, I've been watching the boss using a skill called Full Transparency. I was ready to pop out if you guys were in trouble, but you had it under control at every step.''

''Wait, Full Transparency? So that means you can turn invisible? Where did you even get that?!'', Rain asked in surprise... and definitely not because she secretly wanted a skill like that!

''It was a quest reward. Well, one of the quests on this floor is one with super tough requirements to even accept, never mind clear, and you can only try it once.''

''That's the quest Asuna was on about earlier, right? The mythical one that no beta tester was able to clear?'' - Jet asked.

''I wouldn't say mythical, but yeah, that's the one. If you clear it, you automatically get the status Full Transparency. But, if you break the rules of the quest, even slightly, it gets removed. You can talk, and carry items, but you can't attack with weapons, or take any damage. You can't move objects, other than doors either. You can go where you like without being noticed by monsters, but it means you can't do stuff like use skills, or open chests... It's kind of tough to use.''

''Sounds like a reasonable trade off to me. You become a ghost, but every rule that applies to ghosts applies to you too.'' - Jet wondered idly if the one about sunlight applied too... but then realised this was Kirito he was talking to, so that probably applied even without the status effect. The guy was paler than he was, and he at least had the excuse of being ginger!

''I suppose so, but Argo's made a face, and said we can't put it in the guidebook.''

''Why?'' - Koharu asked.

''Uhh, Koharu, we already have a problem with paparazzi, you really want to add the possibility of them being invisible into the mix?'' - Jet pointed out. Koharu shuddered at the thought, and understood Argo's reasoning there.

''We do?'' - Kirito asked, confused at the notion of paparazzi in Aincrad...

''Yeah, we do. Apparently, people have been going round taking photos of these two.'' - Rain stated.

''That's unsettling... I'll let Argo know.'' - Kirito's concern was welcome, but Argo was already looking into it, Jet hoped.

''She already knows, I messaged her a few days back. She said she'll look into it for us.''

''Ah, that's a relief. Oh, on that note... Rain, I'm not making it up, I don't think, but did I see you wielding two swords at one point?''

''Heh, yeah, that's kind of... a trick I learnt. I can tell you if you want, but I'd rather Argo not plaster it everywhere...''

''Understandable, and yeah, even if it's just something I know, every little helps, right? Oh, and can you three not tell Asuna we had this chat, she... uhh, doesn't know I was here.''

''Our lips are sealed.'' Jet mimed a zip over his mouth, before smiling and nodding.

''Oh, you two.'' - Rain turned back to them, ''I've got to go back to the orphanage, I kind of didn't tell them where I was going, and they're worried about me. I'll tell them I'll be with you two from now on, so... I'll meet you tomorrow, in the main town on the next floor, okay?'' Rain asked.

''Be safe, Rain. Dosvedanya.'' - Jet mimed a salute, as the other two walked off.

''Dosvedanya, you two!'', and with that, the trio were down to a pair for the next day...

Koharu giggled to herself, as Jet thought about what exactly she was planning... and whether he wanted the plausible deniability of not asking about it. He decided against that, and asked her anyway, ''So, what's the giggling for?''

''Oh, nothing, it's just sweet how Kirito was so worried about Asuna that he was watching over her...'' - Koharu smirked.

''I'm not sure I'd call that sweet, but I suppose it shows he cares...'' Jet thought aloud.

''Aww, you wouldn't do that for me?'' - She teased, Jet simply shrugging his shoulders.

''To quote Meatloaf... I'd do anything for love, but I won't do that. Bit too stalker-y for my liking.''

''So, what do you think the next floor is gonna be?'' - Koharu asked.

''No idea. Want to go and find out?'' - Jet grinned.

Koharu tapped her finger on her lips, and smirked towards Jet, ''I think I do!''

{Author's Comments}

Slight change of plan with this chapter. This was originally going to be two chapters - Chapter 3, and the Boss chapter. Both ended up being a bit short for my liking, so I've put them together into this one.

Anyway, one more floor complete, and we're starting to move into territory where I'm using the game for reference far less. Next floor especially, will basically be a completely original story, with only a small amount of the game's plot involved.

As always, leave a review or send a PM, if you've got any comments for me, or leave a like, favourite, follow etc, if you're enjoying the story!

Signing off, Midland 2541.