The trio entered the village of Horunka around 19:30. The once warm and inviting evening disappeared, giving way to the cold night sky illuminated only by the lone moon. The village was small, consisting of only ten buildings, but while it did not have an abundance of structures, it had the one necessary for the group to survive at least until the morning.
The town shared the same theme and distinct look as the Town of Beginnings. The buildings were made of rough brick foundations, while the walls were held together by exposed beams of wood and some sort of concrete mixture.
As they walked through the village's desolate mud streets, the silence was deafening. All three were still shell-shocked by the events that took place only an hour prior. They passed the blacksmith and the tool shop before reaching their goal. A squat building with two floors and a wooden placard on the front illuminated by a low flame reading "Horunka INN".
"I guess this is it," Argo said, unimpressed as they all stared at the building in front of them
Kirito was first, pushing open the door as he entered the large foyer lit by the warm glow of multiple candles. In front of him, there was an old woman with white hair standing at a desk, looking expectantly at the new arrivals. The three walked in, closing the door on the cold night. Kirito walked up to the desk and initiated the necessary dialogue with the NPC.
"W-we would like a room, please." He said exhausted and still unable to shake the experience they had all shared. He was unsure why he felt it necessary to be polite to the NPC, but the thought quickly left his mind as there were much more important things to attend to.
"Certainly," The woman said. As she did, a menu appeared in front of Kirito, giving him the options for what rooms he could book
[1 Room - 50 Cor]
[2 Room Suite - 100 Cor]
"U-uh." He stopped with his finger hovering over the menu, unsure of how to proceed; the situation didn't even cross his mind before he was confronted with the problem. He turned to the two female members in his party and tried to broach the topic as tactfully as his 16-year-old male brain could.
"S-so, u-uh, what should we do?" He looked between Argo and Asuna, hoping one of them would tell him what to do and not leave the decision to him.
"Kii-bou, come on, it's not that hard. Aa-chan and I will take the two rooms, and you take the one, it's not difficult."
"As long as Aa-chan is fine sharing a suite with me." Argo quickly added, looking at Asuna who was taking the fact of being trapped in a game clearly the hardest out of the trio.
"Y-yeah, t-that's fine, Argo," Asuna meekly responded, still maintaining the thousand-yard stare she had since the Town of Beginnings
Argo slowly started to rub a hand on her back, doing her best to comfort the girl "I'll send you the Cor Kii-bou, what is it 100?"
"Yeah, that'll do it."
With a quick movement of her hand, Argo opened her menu and sent Kirito the required Cor still doing her best to comfort the distraught Asuna.
Kirito purchased the two rooms for the night with both keys materializing in his hand. He turned around, handing one to Argo and they began to head up the stairs to their rooms. The stairs creaked with each step, causing the silence of the group to seem even louder.
"Meet at 08:00 downstairs, and we can talk about where to go from here," Kirito said to the two girls as they reached the top of the stairs before splitting off to the right and walking to his room.
He inserted the key into the door, and without having to turn it, the system accepted the key, and he was able to press down on the handle and push the door inward, revealing where he was going to be staying for the night, or at least part of it.
I guess it could be worse.
He thought as he entered the small room. The room was equipped with a small window to the rear above a bed that looked more like a couple of planks with a blanket on it than a true bed.
If Kayaba was gonna trap us in this game, the least he could do was give us a comfortable place to sleep.
There was a table and chair in the corner of the room, and in the center, a frayed and slightly ripped carpet tying the room together. Kirito sat on the bed before unequipping his sword and flinging himself rearward, sprawling out onto the uncomfortable piece of furniture.
I can't ask them to come with me. It's way too dangerous, especially for Asuna. She's barely holding it together as it is. I'll do it tonight, they won't even notice.
Kirito sat back up and opened his map, searching the town of Horunka for the house he had been planning to go to since he materialized in Aincrad, before he was unceremoniously stopped by several people. On the one hand, he thought he should thank them, he would have attempted the quest at a level much below the recommended and could've… The thought froze him, it hadn't truthfully hit him that once his HP hit zero, he would die until that moment.
His mind went back to seeing Asuna for the first time fighting the group of boars.
If they had listened to me and we left her, could she have, would she have…
He shook the idea from his head, it didn't matter anymore. She was alive, in a room with Argo right now, perfectly safe. Kirito went back to his map, marking a house on the other side of town from where they were staying, near the edge of a forest that bordered the small village.
Kirito opened his menu and set an alarm for 01:00. He knew if he left right now, it would be too suspicious if he lost health or if his name didn't have the sleep marker next to it on his party members' huds. While in the menu, he unequipped his starting armor and laid down on the hard bed. He closed his eyes and drifted off to a restless sleep.
All he could hear ringing in his ears was the sound of Kayaba's booming voice and the cry of the people around, who, unlike him, didn't know anything about the world they now inhabited.
BEEP* * BEEP*
Kirito's eyes shot open, hoping that this was all a bad dream, that thought being dashed as soon as it came when he looked to the upper left of his vision and saw his health bar along with the names of his two other party members, both with the sleep icon next to them. He slowly got up and equipped his sword and thin leather armor. His mind started to drift back to earlier events…
Stop, you need to focus. What's done is done. You need to do this so you can protect Argo and Asuna and survive.
He left his dreary room, closing the door slowly, making sure no one heard the creak of the door and the sound of the latch locking in place. He went down the stairs again, making sure to step as softly as possible on the off chance that his companions would be able to hear him.
He passed the desk worker who was still sitting the same as when they entered the Inn, waiting for the next group of players to come in, looking for a place to stay.
Kirito stepped out into the cold night air, feeling the mud squish beneath his boots. He made his way to the other side of town. He followed the way markers on his map until he reached the small cabin outside the forest. If this were real life, anyone inside would be fast asleep, but because this was still a video game, the quest giver inside would still be going through their preprogrammed motions.
He opened the door and entered without any proper invitation. As he entered, he saw a middle-aged woman sitting at the table in the center of the room, cradling a cup of water. To her left on the stove was a pot with something simmering inside. On the wall above the stove sat the object of his quest, resting on a wooden plaque was the ((Anneal Blade)). Once he closed the door behind him, the NPC looked up and spoke to him.
"Would you like water? I'm sorry, it's all I have right now." Her voice was strained and slightly saddened. When she finished, however, a gold exclamation mark appeared on top of her head, marking that she had a quest.
"Yes, I would like some water," Kirito spoke as concisely and clearly as possible to make sure the NPC understood all his commands.
A small cough started to ring out from a door behind him. The woman opened the door, revealing a small girl in bed with a towel over her head.
"I'm sorry, I wish I could offer you food, but my daughter is very sick, and we don't have enough money to buy the medicine she needs. If you could go to the forest to find the flower atop the little nepenthes head, we have no money, but I could give you our family's sword," she finished, pointing to the ((Anneal Blade)).
Kirito stared at the little girl and thought about his sister back in the real world. During the beta, he never cared to stop and look; he just accepted the quest and went on his way. But now. Now that death was permanent, the little girl felt real, and all he could think about was Suguha and how he may never get the chance to speak with her again. He shook his head to rid himself of any thought of the real world before accepting the quest.
"I can go get the flower for you."
"Oh, thank you so much, I will never be able to repay you." The lady said, tears welling up in her eyes as the gold exclamation mark turned into a gold question mark and a message appeared on the right side of Kirito's HUD.
[Retrieve Nepenthe Flower for Sick Child]
With the quest received, Kirito left the house, turning his head one last time to see the child lying in the bed. He closed the door, trying to rid the sight of her from his mind before setting off for the woods.
Kirito walked around the house into the forest that encircled the town. The forest suffocated his senses; he could barely see in front of him, and all he could hear was the creaking of the trees and the noises of smaller animals scurrying around. After a few minutes of walking, he finally spotted the object of his quest, or at least what he needed to get the ball rolling.
A couple of little nepenthes stood in a small clearing in the forest, mindlessly walking around, waiting for someone to interact with them. The little nepenthe were bulbous creatures with tentacle-like roots that acted as feet and vines for hands. Their most prominent feature was the huge mouth filled with human teeth that took up most of the upper half of the grotesque creature. The nepenthes were also notably missing any eyes and attacked based solely on sound and smell.
The ones in front of Kirito were not the object of his quest. None of them had the white flower on top needed to save the little girl, thankfully, none of them had the red fruit on top either, that if broken would summon a horde of little nepenthes and were the cause of many deaths in the beta, including a couple of times for Kirito.
Kirito charged forward, beginning his assault, hacking and slicing through the groups of nepenthes. Dodging the whipping appendages was not an easy task, but he remembered enough of their attack patterns from the beta well enough that he was able to make quick work of the initial group waiting for more to spawn in, hoping for the rare white flowered variant.
Before more nepenthe spawned, Kirito heard a crunch in the trees behind him. Whipping around and bringing his sword to bear. He saw nothing, straining his eyes trying to see, until a figure emerged from behind a tree and began walking over to Kirito with his hands in the air.
"Woah, careful there, not a nepenthe, you can put the sword down." The figure, a boy about the same age as Kirito with light brown hair, said cautiously as he continued to move forward, closer to Kirito
Kirito didn't move an inch. "That doesn't matter, who are you?"
"Fair enough, name's Coper, I'm guessing you're here for the same reason I am. ((Anneal Blade)) right?"
"Yeah, what's it to you?" Kirtios' mind was racing a million miles a minute
He has to be a beta tester. That's the only way he'd know about this quest so early. Is he going to try and kill me? He can't, not with the consequences, right?
"I'm guessing you're a beta tester too, right?" Coper said, arms still in the air and sword at his hip
Do I need to get a sign that says noob Kirito thought still upset for continuing to out himself as a beta tester.
"I'm gonna assume yes, you and I both know the flower won't appear until a certain number of regular nepenthes are killed. Why don't we team up, make this go by faster so we can get some sleep?" The proposition intrigued Kirito. It would make it go faster and would mean less time for Argo or Asuna to find out he's been missing.
"You can take the first flower since you were here first, just make sure to help me out too, ok?" Coper finished looking hopefully at Kirito, who was still frozen in place, his ((Small Sword)) ready.
"Fine, we can work together," Kirito said, finally lowering his sword but keeping his grip on the handle tight.
"Nice, I guess now we just have to wait for the next wave." Coper drew his sword, waiting for the sounds of the nepenthe's arrival.
It wasn't two minutes after that that the next group of nepenthes appeared. Unfortunately, none were the flowered variant; however, with two people fighting the mobs, the time spent actually fighting was diminished by quite a lot. After an hour of the back and forth of killing nepenthe and waiting for the next group, Kirito was getting restless, worried as to why it was taking so long, questioning if Kayaba had changed the quest after the beta to not give the testers an unfair advantage.
"Have you seen anything?" Kirito said as he pulled his sword out of the gut of one of the nepenthes, making it shatter and disappear.
"Nothing," Coper replied, walking over to his impromptu partner.
"I think we should pack it in and try again tomor…" Kirito started, but as if on cue, he saw the bright white of the flower, illuminated against the moonlight and the dark forest
"There! I see one." Kirito said as he started to run towards the object of his hour of hard work
He made it to the bulbous creature with its white toothy smile looking at him. Kirito drew his sword back, activating a horizontal with the blue light streaking across the body of the overgrown plant, causing it to cry out in pain. Without giving it a chance to breathe Kirito unleashed several consecutive attacks into the creature before it shattered, and the quest in his upper right view updated.
[Return Flower to Mother]
"Hey Coper, I got mine!" Kirito shouted out, looking around but not seeing the other swordsmen anywhere.
POP*
Kirito whipped his head around before being blanketed by red spores that floated aimlessly in the still air of the forest.
"Coper! Where are you?! Did you hit the fruit!?" He yelled out into the darkness, unable to see where Coper was. The response he got was not the one he was hoping for or expecting.
"Sorry, dude, I've gotta get through this game. You're just in the way." The voice replied coldly.
What the hell! Is he trying to MPK me?! Kirito's mind raced as he started to be surrounded by red markers floating above the little nepenthes, growing in number every second.
He didn't have any time to figure out the reason for what was going on, even though he had a pretty solid idea; he just needed to escape. Kirito jumped up and back, slashing downwards into the head of one of the monsters. Landing and immediately turning around to cut down another. Before he could react to the last one, two more appeared in front of him.
He fought only with instinct, not being able to process the wave after wave of monsters that kept coming after him. Cutting through as many as he could. His exhaustion started to get the better of him as he started to slow down, getting sloppier with each swing.
And then the inevitable happened. A vine swung from behind Kirito, striking him in the back, causing a deep red gash to form.
"Hnngh!" He was flung forward by the force of the hit, gritting his teeth as he saw his once full health bar start to drop slowly.
Oh crap, this can't be it, this can't be how I die, not here, not now. Kirito pleaded with himself, realizing no matter how hard he tried, he wouldn't be able to defeat this many mobs by himself; he needed to find a way to escape.
He kept fighting, trying to think of a way out, all the while the monsters kept draining his health slowly, his HP dropped from green to yellow, and slowly into the red
I'm sorry, Mom, Dad, Sugu, I couldn't do it, Argo, Asuna, forgive me. He closed his eyes accepting whatever fate he deserved for rushing out here in the middle of the night alone.
And then an idea hit him. Not a great idea by any means but one that might work. It would be a huge gamble but at this point that's all Kirito had to work with.
He jumped on top of a nepenthe, springboarding from it into the tree above, barely grabbing onto the bottom branch with his left hand. He hung there as silently as he could, looking around, straining the limits of his low-level search skill, looking for Coper's name tag. If he were trying to MPK Kirito for the flower, he wouldn't have gone far. His eyes went from tree to tree until.
Gotcha
Kirito held his ((Small Sword)) up in the air as best he could with only one arm and chucked it as hard as he could towards the name tag. The sword spun through the air until it contacted the tree, making an ear-splitting *CLANG* before falling to the ground.
All the nepenthe turned towards the source of the noise, speeding towards Coper faster than he could even react.
"Wha…What the HELL!" Coper screamed as he drew his sword, hacking at the nepenthe now swarming his position
After all the mobs had left the area Kirito was in, he dropped onto the ground, looking over to where Coper was, seeing the last flashes of a sword and hearing the last screams before the sound of shattered glass rang out through the night and the nepenthe started to dissipate back into the forest.
Kirito didn't have time to feel sorry, he sprinted to the light of the village until he stumbled out of the forest, his body covered in red gashes and wounds yet to be healed. He checked his health, seeing that it was very much in the red. Berating himself for neglecting to buy any healing potions during the day. For someone who complained about teaching new players all afternoon, he committed one of the cardinal sins of gaming.
Pushing the door to the house open, he entered, seeing the mother in the same position as she was a few hours ago, with the gold question mark still floating overhead. He limped into the room, producing the flower from his menu and presenting it to the NPC.
"Oh, thank you so much! This is just what we needed! Please take this sword as a token of our family's appreciation." The mother reached up and grabbed the silver hilt of the sheathed sword, handing it to Kirito.
[((Anneal Blade)) Acquired]
Kirito stood there staring at his new blade. This blade, this collection of 1s and 0s, cost the life of another person. He didn't know how to feel about what just happened. Sure, Coper had tried to kill him, but still, a life is a life.
The mother walked over to the pot on the stove, dropping the white flower into the water. The pot started to glow as the flower dissolved, creating the medicine needed for the young girl. The NPC produced two glasses, filling both with the now complete medicine, and she handed one to Kirito.
"Here, you look a little worse for wear, drink this it should help." He took the cup pressing it to his lips, slightly shaking with exhaustion as he tried to drink.
The effects were immediate. Kirito felt a warm rush pass over him as all the red cuts on him healed with a golden glow. He looked at his health bar, seeing it fill back into the green.
Kirito looked up seeing the woman go into the bedroom and give the girl the medicine. Just as before, he couldn't tear his eyes away from the girl; all he could see was Suguha. He watched as the girl was immediately healed. Even though he knew as soon as he left, she would go back to the same sick girl she was when he arrived. He stayed and watched for a minute, seeing how real it was, how even though these were NPCs, they felt like real people with true emotions.
Eventually Kirito left, softly shutting the door behind him as he began down the streets of Horunka. Passing the blacksmith and the tool shop before ending up back where he began. The Horunka Inn. It had already felt like a lifetime since he left this small building only a couple of hours before.
He pushed open the door, being met by the same warm glow, the same old white-haired lady sitting at the desk, and…
"YOU IDIOT!"
Argo yelled, looking irate at Kirito as he walked in through the front door. She rushed up to him rearing back her fist before throwing a punch squarely at his face. The punch was stopped by a blue hexagon appearing with the text that read [SAFE ZONE].
"What the hell were you thinking! You could have died!"
"I-I know, I know, but" Kirito started to explain sheepishly, trying not to make eye contact with the info broker.
"NO, I don't think you do, you almost died, Kirito." He froze. Ever since they had first met Argo had never actually called him by his name.
"This isn't a game anymore. Why would you attempt that on your own?!" Argo yelled with no sign of calming down anytime soon
"What would have happened if you died, huh?! We wake up to see you missing from the party with no clue where you had gone?!"
"I couldn't ask either of you to risk your life to get me a sword!" He shot back, trying to regain any sense of the high ground that was quickly slipping away.
"No matter how good she is, Asuna is still new, she would have died! I wasn't gonna take that risk!"
Asuna froze. From behind the door of her and Argos' suite she listened in to their whole conversation.
I knew this was a bad idea; I'm just going to drag them down and get them killed. They shouldn't have to watch over me like a child.
She slowly started to get up, careful not to make any noise even though she doubted her two party members would have noticed anyway. Walking over to the window, she unlatched the small iron hook and let the windows swing open. Asuna felt the cool air smack her face as she looked out into the dark town. She looked down at a wagon filled with hay underneath her, perfect.
She sat up on the ledge before quietly jumping down into the hay below. With a quiet *woosh, she sank into the hay, feeling the strands catch her fall before she emerged from the pile onto the streets below.
As she started walking along the moonlit road she opened her menu, navigating to the party screen where she hovered over the [LEAVE PARTY] button.
You need to do this, if you stayed with them, you would have eventually gotten them killed.
As she finally convinced herself, she clicked the button, with a message appearing in the center of her HUD. Before she took off and started to run into the night
[YOU HAVE LEFT THE PARTY]
[ASUNA HAS LEFT THE PARTY]
"Crap, Aa-chan!" Both players looked up the stairs of the inn to where their rooms were before taking off in a dead sprint. They reached the top of the stairs, skipping several steps at a time as they rushed to the door. Argo slammed through the door, looking around their suite, trying to find any semblance of where Asuna could have gone.
"Argo, check her room, I'll keep looking," Kirito said as he made his way to the rear of the room, feeling the outside breeze waft in.
"S-she's not in her room, d-did you find anything out h-here?" Argo asked out of breath as she looked up, seeing Kirito point to the open window, the curtains flapping in the wind.
Argo sighed, her face pale. "Dammit, she must've heard what we were saying, she already thought she was going to slow us down."
The two of them stood there silently, not knowing what to say or do in the moment,
Kirito had an equally pale look on his face as he stared lifelessly out into the night. "I-I'm sorry, Argo, I didn't mean for this to happen."
"Save it. Now's not the time." She opened her menu, checking the time, seeing it read 03:30
"Let's just go to bed, you're in no condition to do anything right now. Get some sleep, we'll meet downstairs in 4 hours, and we can start looking for her." Argo started to calm down as Kirito started to walk out of the room.
"We'll find her Argo," Kirito said as he left through the doorway
"I know we will," she relinquished as she shut the door behind him.
ONE MONTH LATER
"Well, at least we know she's still alive," Argo said, looking up at the Monument of Life, a huge tablet of black granite that sat inside the main chamber of the Black Iron Palace. The tablet had the names of every single player that logged into SAO; once a player died, their name on the monument would be crossed out, and the time, date, and cause of death would be inscribed next to the name.
"True, doesn't help us find her though." Kirito put his hands in his pockets, still feeling guilty over how everything transpired a month ago. He and Argo both turned around and began to exit, passing the people staring at the huge slab, looking for the names of friends or family.
The two stepped out, exiting the huge cathedral before stepping out into the warm afternoon sun, the light wrapping around them as they left the dark interior of the Black Iron Palace.
"So, what's your plan for the day?" Kirito asked, looking down at Argo, who was stretching with both arms in the air, trying to absorb as much of the sun as she could.
"Ahhhh…hm? Oh, nothing huge, got a meeting with a few contacts, apparently, they found the boss room and are having a boss meeting in Tolbana about it tomorrow at 16:00." Argo finished with both beginning to walk towards the main street.
"Ya know. Back in the beta, that's the type of information I would have been charged for." Kirito said, giving a smirk
"Yeah, well, if you keep paying for dinner, I'll keep giving you information." She said back with a sense that she was getting the better deal in this scenario.
"Oh. That reminds me the buyer upped the offer to 30,000 Cor"
Jeez, this person is insistent, they could just buy their own base ((Anneal Blade)) at this point. Kirito thought. For the past few days, he had been consistently offered more and more money for his ((Anneal Blade)), now upgraded to 6.
"The answer is still no. Can you at least tell me who's been offering that sort of Cor for my sword?" He looked at Argo, hoping that the goodwill he'd built up would count for something, and he might not have to pay for this piece of info.
"Nice try, Kii-bou, that is gonna cost you. Gotta make a living somehow." Argo shrugged her shoulders as they reached the main street with its multitude of shops bustling with foot traffic.
"Wow, it looks like people are actually getting used to living here," Kirito remarked looking around at the number of players who had smiles on their faces as they were sitting outside cafes or walking down the road talking with friends.
"Yeah, I guess so, that's good, I guess," Argo said as they continued to walk down the road, slightly eavesdropping on everyone's conversation. Even when she wasn't expressly doing her job as an info broker, Argo never fully turned it off. You never know what you could find out just from people getting a little too comfortable in public.
"You hear they found the boss's room?" A shorter swordsman said to their companion. Eh, I already knew that.
"I finally found a decent blacksmith on this floor; she's one of the only players to level up the skill so far, apparently." An excited young girl said to her friend as she brandished a shiny new blade. Promising, but not important right now, keep that one in the back pocket for later.
"Did you hear about that cloaked fencer that is tearing through the labyrinth right now?" Argo stopped dead in her tracks. Bingo
She grabbed Kirito by the collar of his shirt to stop him.
"Hey, what was that for?" He looked back to see Argo already at the table in front of a cafe with two older-looking gentlemen sitting down, maintaining a supremely confused look on both of their faces.
"I need you to tell me everything you know about this fencer!" Argo shouted at these two men with both of her hands firmly on the table
"Oh yeah, and what do we get out of it?" The man on the right said with a smug look on his face, not seeing the desperation in Argo's eyes.
"I will make it worth your while. Trust me." With a tone of absolute seriousness Argo manipulated her menu, materializing a Cor sack and holding it in her palm.
"10,000 Cor, tell me everything, now."
The two men sat sputtering at how much money was being offered to them for just a measly rumor. Kirito stood there with his own stunned look questioning how much money Argo was hoarding to be able to throw that kind of cash around.
"U-uh, s-sure, a couple of days ago, a rapier user apparently went into the labyrinth and spent most of three days clearing the whole thing, filling in most of the map for the people who are going to take on the boss." He stopped reaching out for the sack of Cor.
Argo pulled the bag back before asking, "What did they look like?"
"I have no idea, honest." The man raised his arms, trying to convince Argo he was telling the truth
"I asked the same thing. They were covered head to toe and wore a leather mask, I swear that's all I know, s-so c-can I get the money?" He questioned, pleading with Argo as his eyes switched between her and the cash.
"Fine." She tossed him the Cor which he caught very eagerly before opening the bag, inspecting the money inside.
Argo turned and began walking, Kirito trailing behind her as she kept walking faster, trying to exit the Town of Beginnings.
"Argo, wait up, I want it to be her too, but we don't even know if it's Asuna. It's a big game; more than one person can use a rapier." He said, trying to get Argo to wait for a second
"I know, but there's a chance, it's the best lead we've had in two weeks. We have to at least try Kii-bou," Argo said, getting more and more hopeful with each step.
Before either of them realized, they were at the city gate, looking out onto the frontier of Floor 1 with its green rolling hills and forests that marked the landscape.
"Look, you have stuff to attend to, I'll go and investigate this," Kirito said, trying not to get too excited himself in case this was a total waste of time.
"Mmmm, fine. But you message the second you find out whether it's her or not, ok?" She looked up at Kirito with her face lit up with hope
"Deal. You'll know the second I do." Kirito held his fist up
Argo returned the bump. "Bring her back, ok?"
"Done."
Kirito started running, hoping and praying that this wasn't just another dead end, opening his menu as he ran to mark the labyrinth before fully leaving Argo at the gates to the Town of Beginnings.
Kirito stood at the mouth of the labyrinth. The entrance was carved into the rock face of the mountain made to look like an ancient civilization had built the labyrinth ages ago. The entrance way had an angled roof, flanked by columns carved into the rock, reminding him of a real ancient civilization that he hadn't paid attention to during school. He craned his neck upwards, seeing the massive pillar reaching up to the next floor. He had been here a few times before doing his part to try and find the boss's room, but he had a much different purpose now.
Ok, go in, find Asuna, get out. Don't waste any time. He stepped into the darkness giving a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to the new lighting.
The walls and floor of the dungeon were reminiscent of a cave. The rough rock was running along the entirety of the labyrinth as its winding and diverging paths left Kirito's vision and faded into darkness. The torches on the wall did little but give him the most basic ability to see. Long stalactites dripped from the ceiling, creating puddles on the ground below that reflected the flickering lights.
He grabbed one of the torches from the wall, keeping a tight grip on his ((Anneal Blade)). While it wasn't much, it would at least let him see what he was fighting. Kirito made his way forward following the incomplete map data that he had from his time in the dungeon.
First, I should check the safe rooms. After that, well… He didn't really have a plan after that, he was banking on either finding her in the safe room or on the way to the safe room. After that he may just have to walk around aimlessly until he's also mapped out the whole labyrinth.
Kirito kept pushing through the dungeon, fighting the occasional Kobold or Slime, but not seeing any other player, let alone Asuna. He made his way around corner after corner hoping the next one would be the one that he would turn and see a lone fencer. He turned the last corner, seeing the white sterile glow of the safe zone. Kirito walked towards the striking light, reaching the room without any trouble. He walked through the entryway, holding his breath as he looked around for his past party member.
Nothing
Kirito slumped down against the wall, exhausted. He pulled out a loaf of bread and a small bottle, setting the bottle on the ground before tapping the top, producing a cool light on his fingertip and smearing it on the bread, producing butter. He closed his eyes before taking a bite and trying to think of his next move.
clang*
His head shot up as he looked out at the entry to the safe zone. He didn't see anything, he was imagining things, maybe he was hearing what he wanted to hear.
clang*
No, it was someone or something. He got up, picked up the butter, and rushed towards the sound. Going as fast as his virtual legs could take him. He slid around the corner using the wall to stay upright, and there he saw who he came here to find, whether it was Asuna or not, he found the fencer.
Just as the man had described, they were clad head to toe in some sort of cloth garb with a leather mask covering their whole face. The fencer pulled back on their rapier, letting the purple light build before flying straight through the kobold in front of them, shattering it to a thousand pieces. It had to be her, right?
The fencer dropped their sword arm before leaning against the wall looking about ready to fall over.
"Hey! Are you ok?" Kirito called, rushing over, trying to help before being met by a hand telling him to stop.
"I'm fine." The voice was muffled with its back turned to Kirito. He could barely make out the words, let alone the owner of the voice.
"Who are you?" exhausted from searching the labyrinth Kirito got straight to the point
"Does it matter, we're all gonna die anyway, why should it matter who I am?" The fencer said back, muffled but unable to hide the sound of disdain.
"What do you mean, we're not gonna die?!" Kirito shot back, almost insulted at the thought
"Oh, be real, it's the first month, and 2000 people are already dead. Do the math." The fencer stayed pressed up against the wall with their rapier dangling at their side.
"Well, fighting in a dungeon for days on end and being stupid, throwing your life away isn't gonna help either," Kirito said, growing more impatient with every statement. He couldn't believe this was Asuna there was no way. Yeah, she took the day they got trapped harder than some, but she was never outright nihilistic about it. At least he thought.
"Fine, I'm not gonna try and stop you, throw your life away if you want. But if you're gonna die, at least die helping the rest of us escape. There's a meeting tomorrow at 16:00 in Tolbana, you should come." He said, and as he finished, he tossed the butter to the fencer, who caught it emotionlessly.
"There's a safe zone up ahead. At least get some rest, that should make whatever rations you bought taste a little better," Kirito said, annoyed, to the masked fencer as they looked down at the butter
"Thank you", the voice, still muffled, sounded at least slightly warmer.
Kirito turned and left, following his map as he walked through the cavernous halls of the dungeons. As he was leaving, his mind was racing. That had to be her; he just felt it, he couldn't explain why, but the logical side of him couldn't make sense of the fencer; it didn't seem like Asuna at all. Hopefully, they showed up at the boss meeting and he could try and find out a little more. Kirito exited the labyrinth before opening his menu and messaging Argo.
[Found the fencer, don't know what to make of them, I'll explain later.]
15:30 - Tolbana
Kirito sat on the hard stone at the top of the amphitheater with his arms crossed, the crumbling pillars jutting out behind him with Argo sitting cross-legged atop one of them. He looked down at the crumbling stage making the theater seem much older than it was, waiting to see who put this meeting together. Over the crowd of people, he counted, wondering how many people were volunteering their lives. Thirty-seven, not nearly as many as would be preferable, but if this was it, it would have to do. Still no sign of the fencer though.
"Hey Kirito!" A familiar voice called out, causing Argo and Him to both turn their heads even though both knew exactly who it was.
"Oh, hey Klein." Kirito returned with a half-smile, still focusing on the crowd, trying to find the fencer. Klein was flanked by five other players Kirito did not recognize; these must be the friends that Klein went back to find.
"Good to see you too," Klein said rather sarcastically. "Say, where's Argo and Asuna? I want to introduce you all to my guild."
"Oh…Asuna's sort of a long story. Argo should be…" He started to point up before the info broker leaped down right beside him.
"Klei-bou! How are you doing? You hardly message anymore." She said with her signature smile and cheerful attitude.
"Yeah, sorry about that, Argo, guess I just got caught up in everything," Klein said, rubbing the back of his head, feeling guilty.
"Anyways, I want you to meet my guild, Fuurinkazan." He gestured to the five people behind him. Klein spent the next several minutes introducing his crew. Dale, a larger dude suitable for carrying the huge great sword on his back. Dynamm, a skinny sword and shield user who sported a red bandana and pencil mustache. Harry One, clearly the tank of the group, sporting a shield and spear. Issin held a crescent moon-shaped halberd-looking weapon. And finally, Kunimittz, who had dark blue hair and a curved sword similar to Klein's,
"Well, it's nice to meet you all!" Argo said to the group, shaking each of their hands. "You're welcome to join us if you're going to take on the boss."
"You bet we are! Wouldn't miss it," Klein said with a smile before sitting next to Kirito
"So, what's the long story with Asuna? I kind of expected her to be here?"
Kirito then explained the whole situation from the ((Anneal Blade)) to the masked fencer in the labyrinth.
"Hmm, I heard rumors but never saw them when we were clearing any of the labyrinth," Klein looked down, thinking.
"Also, ya know, doing that quest on your own was really stupid, dude." He said with a sarcastic smile, baiting a response.
"Thank you, Klein, I never would have realized," Kirito said back with his own sarcastic tone and smile, slightly annoyed, slightly happy it was something they could joke about.
A figure with blue hair took the stage, clad in plate armor and a sword and shield strapped to their back. He stood confidently surveying the stage before beginning.
"Okay, now that it looks like everyone is here, we can get the meeting started." Kirito looked around, surveying the full group of people again. Most remained unchanged he panned his head left before zeroing in on the one person he wanted to see. The fencer sat still, clad in full gear, emotionless behind their mask.
"Argo…Argo," Kirito whisper-yelled, trying to get her attention.
"What?" She said back before turning her head, seeing the cause of the alarm
Both had a silent conversation with their eyes, trying not to disturb the meeting but still formulate some sort of plan for how to tackle this.
"My name's Diavel, and the job I rolled is a knight!" He said, waiting for the response of the crowd.
"Dude, there's no job system in the game."
"What are you talking about?"
The laughs died down as Diavel held up his hand clearly happy his joke landed and dissolved any tension.
"Alright, alright, on a serious note, you all know why we're here, two days ago we received map data on the location of the boss room." His joking demeanor was gone, replaced by absolute professionalism.
"Our goal is simple: defeat the boss and make it to floor two. We need to show everyone in the town of beginnings that it is possible to beat this death game!" Murmurs of agreement rang out as finished.
"But first, we need to form up into parties so we can maintain the most control of the teams during the battle."
Everyone started grouping up with friends they had come with, talking amongst themselves as a lightbulb went off in Kirito's head.
"Sorry, dude, we already have…" Kirito shushed Klein while getting up
"It's fine, I got an idea," he said as he started making his way over to the fencer who was sitting far enough away from the crowd to go unnoticed by anyone not looking for them. He made it over, sitting down a few feet from the masked player.
"So, you don't have a party either?" Kirito asked, already knowing the response.
"I guess not." The muffled voice said back, still looking forward.
"Well, do you want to party with me? You heard what he said: we need to be at parties to take part in the raid." Kirito waited a few seconds, getting no response
"Look, I realize we didn't get off on the right foot, but if we want to take on the boss, we need to work together at least for now."
The fencer sighed, "Fine."
Kirito opened his menu, sending a party invite as soon as he could, hoping his plan had worked as well as he thought it had.
[ 2U/\/4 ACCEPTED YOUR INVITE]
What the hell is that!? Kirito sat there stunned, he didn't know that was something you could do to a name in SAO
"In the game settings, you can hide your name from other players." The fencer said, almost reading Kirito's mind
"Ok, it looks like everyone is teamed up," Diavel said, quieting the side conversations
"Now then…"
"Hold on a sec!" A spiky orange-haired guy said, skidding to the stage and turning to face all the confused raid members.
"My name's Kibaou, got that?" He said angrily, looking at everyone in the crowd, passing over everyone with his glare at least once.
"Before we take on the boss, I need to get something off my chest. We all know about the people who died so far, yeah. Well, some of you need to apologize to them right now!" Everyone in the amphitheater froze. Who on earth could he be talking about? Only one person was responsible for this, and he certainly wasn't at this meeting.
"Kibaou, do you mean the ex-beta testers?" Diavel cut in, clearly understanding before anyone else did where this rant was going.
"Of course I mean them!" Kibaou spat, getting angrier and angrier with each sentence.
Kirito and Argo both looked at each other with the same look. One that said that this had the potential to go very poorly.
"The day this stupid ass game started they just up and left! Taking all the good hunting spots for themselves!" Kibaou continued with Kirito going pale, that is exactly what they did, but it was different, right?
"They ditched all of us beginners, grabbed the easy quests, and only got stronger while the rest died trying to get where they were!" The last statement struck Kirito like a knife to the back. Thinking of the 2000 people that died and hearing the sound of Copers scream ringing in his ear. His hands started to tremble, and he blankly stared at the ground.
"Hell, I bet there are some here right now! Come on out beta testers, show yourselves! You should apologize to all of us and give us any of the loot you got. How can we trust any of you if you don't?" Kibaou continued his tirade as Kirito kept thinking about what had happened over the past month. He began to get restless and was looking at Argo, who was staring at him, shaking her head pleading with him not to get up as he began to stand.
Before he got even two inches off the stone, he felt the fencer grab the back of his shirt and yank him back down into his seat, not giving him a chance to react before someone else got up and started talking.
"Can I say something? My name's Agil." The mountain of a man said with a deep booming voice, easily over six feet tall, dark complexion and an imposing build.
"So let me get this straight, you say that the ex-beta testers are the reason all the rookies have died, did I get that right?" Agil said, looking sternly at Kibaou, who was clearly getting more and more uncomfortable being challenged like this.
"Uhh…Yeah..." Kibaou murmured much less confidently than before.
"See this here." After a few seconds of scrolling through his menu, Agil materialized and held up a small brown book with a small image of a rat and a gold number one in the middle.
"This is the first-floor guidebook, put together by the beta testers. It was given out for free at all the item stores in the Town of Beginnings. It has all the information on the best hunting spots and things to look out for, yet some people still died." Kirito was stunned; he had bought one of the books off its author for 500 Cor. He looked over at Argo, who gave him a wink and barely restrained giggle.
"Everyone had access to this information, yet some people still died. Look, I'm not here to point fingers. I want to clear this game. So, let's let the past be the past and get on with this meeting. A wave of murmurs filled the amphitheater as Agil finished with a sense of finality in his voice, not allowing for any dissenting opinions from Kibaou to surface as the two sat back down, leaving the floor to Diavel.
After the interruption was finished Diavel got back up, opening his guidebook. He flipped to the back before reading off the information written about the boss, Ilfang the Kobold Lord. He began reading off all manner of information, including the attack patterns using its axe and buckler, the minion ruin kobold sentinels, and the bosses' final phase when it drops in main weapon in favor of a much larger talwar.
The raid group stayed engaged in discussion the entire time, planning how they were going to tackle Aincrad's first boss. Eventually, they decided on having two parties be tanks, two parties be support, and the rest cycle in and out dealing damage to the boss. In Kirito's mind, it was a pretty standard boss setup. With everyone's roles split up and the time set, the members of the raid party began to shuffle out of the theater.
"I guess I'll see you tomorrow at noon, then?" Kirito said to the fencer, who was already on their way out.
"I guess so, see you later, Kirito." The fencer said as they walked out and turned a corner away from the amphitheater.
Kirito began walking over to Argo and Fuurinkazan before a voice called out to him.
"Hey, excuse me, wait up, Kirito, right?" Diavel said, bounding up the stairs
"Uh, yeah, what's up?" Kirito looked puzzled, not sure why Diavel would want to speak to him right now.
"I just wanted to say sorry for relegating you to support, I know it's not the most glamorous job."
"It's not a big deal, support is still an important role," Kirito responded, surprised that Diavel would take the time to apologize for something like that.
"It's just you and the fencer are the odd two people out, wouldn't make sense to have both of you up front." The raid leader chuckled, seeming genuinely apologetic.
"Don't sweat it, honest."
"Thanks for being so cool about it. I'll see you tomorrow at noon," Diavel smiled, giving a thumbs up before running to rejoin his group. Kirito couldn't help but feel a little hopeful for the future of the game if they had players like Diavel leading the raid parties.
He walked back over to Argo and the others, as Klein put his arm around him, sounding more excited than ever.
"Did you hear, dude! Fuurinkazan is team D we're one of the assault parties!" He said with a huge grin on his face.
"That's great. Just remember to activate your sword skill." Kirito said, eliciting a laugh from Klein
"Don't you worry about that, we'll be more than ready for tomorrow!"
Kirito looked at Klein more seriously now. "Say, did that fencer look like Asuna to you?"
A confused face appeared on Klein before he stood there thinking about it for a second.
"No way, the fencer was way taller than she was. I think you're just seeing what you want to see." Klein responded, still hanging onto Kirito's shoulder
"Yeah…I guess, you're right." Kirito lied; no matter what he said, he couldn't shake the feeling that that was her. He didn't have any proof or any evidence, just a gut feeling.,
"I'll see you tomorrow, ok?" He said, ducking under Klein's arms and standing back up straight.
"No question!" Klein said excitedly before turning and walking away with the rest of Fuurinkazan leaving just Argo and Kirito in the amphitheater alone.
"It's her Argo. I can't prove it, but it's her." Kirito said, deadpanned, looking off towards the stage, not focusing on anything.
"Why do I even care, Argo? I mean she's alive, we know that, shouldn't that be enough? I'm a solo player; I shouldn't care about anyone else." He said, looking at Argo, hoping she'd have one of her big sis moments and help him out.
"Really? You're a solo player? Could've fooled me." She shot back sarcastically, which took Kirito by surprise.
"What do you call what we've been doing the past month? Because if memory serves, we've been in the same party since day one." Argo pointed at the top left of her screen.
"Look, Kii-bou, she's our friend. I don't know why you need to hear this but it's ok to care about other people. We'll find her, but don't be acting like you're wrong for wanting to, ok?" She looked at him expectantly, waiting for his response.
"Ok," Kirito said, still staring at nothing in front of him.
Argo let out a breath before continuing "Good, now this sucks for me to say, but forget about it, at least until after tomorrow. If you keep that on your mind during the fight, you're gonna get reckless trying to find a way to prove it's her during the fight."
"Get some sleep, it's gonna be late soon, and it's a big day tomorrow. We're getting to the second floor after all." Argo finished before turning and walking out, leaving just Kirito in the amphitheater all by himself.
The boss's door was massive. Easily 60 feet of solid onyx. Skulls were carved into the stone, but they were distorted into demonic, twisted forms. The imposing structure was all that stood between the very first boss raid group and the second floor.
Diavel struck his sword into the ground, and an ear-splitting clang echoed through the dungeon as everyone stood there silently waiting for him to begin.
"It's good to see everyone here." He said, looking over the nervous crowd
"I don't need to tell everyone how important today is. We can and will show everyone that this game can be beaten!" He finished his short speech with a resounding cheer from the crowd.
Kirito stood amongst the group of players next to the fencer, who was as emotionless as any other time they had been together.
"You remember our role?" Kirito said, looking over towards the fencer.
"Keep the smaller mobs off the main group. I know." They said coldly, already having drawn their rapier.
"Just checking," Kirito said, not listening to Argo and still trying to press the fencer so he could get any solid clue out of them.
Diavel pressed his hand on the door, pushing it open, creating a grating noise as the door scraped along the ground.
The raid party charged into the room, everyone's weapons were drawn expecting the boss to be there as soon as they opened the door. The room was blanketed in darkness, the only light coming from the still-open boss door and the torches from the labyrinth outside.
Murmurs of confusion echoed from the group before two stone basins atop pillars erupted into flame, a second later another set, and then another and another. Within a couple of seconds, the entire path to a massive throne stood in front of them, lit by the fire. A shadowy figure sat on the throne, a red icon appeared above his head as four health bars materialized, and a name, Illfang the Kobold Lord.
His eyes opened, glowing a menacing red as the room alighted with artificial light, showing the whole boss room. Illfang leaped forward, flying through the air several feet, drawing his axe and buckler, landing in front of the raid party before letting out a massive roar with his jackal-like head. His muscular body was covered in red skin, war paint adorning itself.
"TANKS FRONT!" Diavel yelled at the group with everyone spurring to their positions.
The two tank teams ran up dodging through the other players as they got right up to the boss and began carving into Illfang. Agil buried his ax into the kobold's shin, eliciting a loud roar before being swung at by the bone ax. A loud crunch echoed off one of the tanks as the ax was caught by a large shield.
"ADDS LEFT!" Diavel again yelled out, controlling the many groups of the raid from behind the tank line.
Kirito and the fencer rushed forward, running straight towards the Ruin Kobold Sentinel as they made their way towards the players attacking Illfang. Before the smaller kobold could even take a few steps, Kirito was on the monster. He charged a horizontal, releasing it as soon as he was in range. The kobold brought its stone maul up, ricocheting the blade upward.
"Swi-" before he could get the word out, a flash had streaked by him impaling the mob on the tip of their rapier bringing the health down to half. The monster fell back as Kirito jumped in, slashing deep in the kobold before jumping back and letting the fencer finish off the monster with a swift piercing shot to the head, shattering the kobold.
The fighting went on for 30 minutes, the main raid whittling down the boss's health with Fuurinkazan directly in the mix, working as a well-oiled machine, helping deplete the boss's health.
Kirito looked over after defeating another one of the sentinels that had spawned in seeing that Illfang's health had been depleted well into the yellow of his final health bar. A few more attacks connected before the health bar crept into the red. Illfang threw away his ax and buckler, the two crashing into the wall.
"PHASE CHANGE!" Diavel yelled, rushing up to where the tanks were charging, a sword skill.
That's weird, that wasn't in the plan Kirito thought slightly alarmed as he started drinking a health potion, tasting the bitter, medicine-like flavor of the red liquid.
Illfang drew his sword, the long blade being unsheathed from its cream-colored wrappings. The Kobold lord gripped the long, slender handle with both hands.
SHIT
Kirito's mind raced; that wasn't the same weapon that was in the beta.
"Diavel, wait! That's not a Talwar, it's a Nodachi!" He screamed as he rushed over to the front of the battle pushing through the other players, trying to heal while the boss was in a cutscene.
Illfang was leaping between the pillars of the boss room, increasing his speed with each bound.
"Huh? What's the diff-" Diavel looked back at Kirito as Illfang crashed in front of the raid leader, cleaving a wide gash in him, and throwing Diavel in the air. The slash emitted a wave of green light, hitting all the front raid members. They began to emit small sparks as their bodies were glued to the ground.
The boss leapt towards Diavel charging another attack, his nodachi glowing a bright red before unleashing it, cutting through the raid leader and throwing him against one of the pillars. Kirito rushed over holding a health potion. Sliding next to Diavel who was laying on the ground health deeply in the red.
"What were you thinking?" Kirito asked as he gave the potion to Diavel who drank it, his health returning to yellow.
"L...Last a…attack." Diavel said, strained through just being thrown in the air, a guilty smile crossing his pained face.
And then Kirito understood, he was a beta tester too.
"W…we need to beat this game, for everyone who can't." Diavel's voice starting to return to normal.
As Diavel finished a crash sounded behind the two beta testers and all Kirito saw was a red glow in his peripheral vision before the sounds of shattered glass filled his ears and he felt himself flying in the air.
He abruptly stopped against the wall of the boss room, sliding to the ground, struggling to open his eyes as he saw half of the raid group still stunned, and the others frozen with fear at what they had just seen. Diavel had died.
Kirito saw Illfang coming towards him, slowly at first holding his nodachi behind him but rapidly speeding up charging at the lone swordsmen who was struggling to get up.
I guess this is it, coming to terms with your death twice in one month was not something I expected. Kirito closed his eyes. "Sorry," he whispered
CLANG* Illfang's sword was met by a shooting star parrying the nodachi. The long blade sliding off the rapier, catching the hood of the fencer, ripping the fabric, revealing long flowing chestnut hair as Agil, Klein, and the rest of Fuurinkazan ran up to push the boss away from Kirito.
"Get him up, we can take care of the boss for a little bit," Agil said to Asuna before she turned to Kirito and basically forced a health potion down his throat.
He watched his health go from red back to yellow and then green, looking up and looking at the brown eyes of the fencer he had spent a month searching for.
"For the record, I knew it was you." He said with a small smile forming
"Oh, please, you had no idea." She shot back, smiling before helping him back up on his feet.
"Let's go." Kirito said as the two shot off on a bee line towards the boss passing the other raid members.
Asuna was the first to get there, meeting Illfang's strike with another parry, throwing the boss back.
Kirito ran forward, hacking into the boss's stomach before jumping back and allowing Asuna to rush forward and deliver multiple linears up the length of the kobold lord, his health now a few pixels from death
"Switch!" she yelled as Kirito flew past her jumping up in the air with his blade reversed he made contact with the kobold lord digging the length of the blade into the boss's chest riding it down to the floor before adjusting his grip and ripping the blade up cutting a long red line from the bottom of Illfang through the skull cutting the boss in half. Illfang the Kobold Lord exploded into thousands of shards as Kirito fell to the ground.
[CONGRATULATIONS!]
Cheers erupted as blue shards from Illfang floated to the ground like confetti as he sat on the ground, exhausted. A menu appeared in front of him
[LAST ATTACK BONUS: ((Coat of Midnight))]
Kirito sighed as Asuna, Agil, and Fuurinkazan walked over.
"DUDE! That was awesome!" Klein yelled out, patting Kirito on the shoulder. "And, Asuna, nice to see you," Klein added
"He's right. That was some impressive teamwork." Agil's deep voice resonated, "You know, the raid parties are gonna need a new leader." He said, looking directly at Kirito
The thought of it shook Kirito to his core, that was the absolute last thing he wanted, ever.
"W...what no, no way, thanks through." Kirito got out, still looking up at the group, before a loud voice quieted any side conversations
"WHY'D YOU LET HIM DIE!?" Kibaou yelled out across the boss's room.
"Huh?" Kirito and the group around him looked extremely confused
"YOU KNEW! YOU KNEW THE BOSS WAS DIFFERENT AND YOU DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING!" Kibaou continued screaming at Kirito
"Come on, dude, you saw what happened, Diavel ran up by himself, he couldn't stop it." Klein stepped in, trying to defend Kirito, sensing the situation could turn from bad to worse.
"HE COULD'VE SAID SOMETHING EARLIER BUT HE DIDN'T!" Kibaou continued, not letting up.
"He's probably one of those beta testers! He wanted the last attack for himself!" A figure in the back yelled out, his face covered with a burlap sack mask. Several other people started to chime in
"Yeah, that's how he knew the attack patterns."
"He knew and kept it from us!"
"There's probably more here, show yourselves, testers!"
Sounds of agreement started to roll through the raid party as angry faces and swords started to turn towards Kirito. It had officially gone worse. The group around Kirito drew their weapons as well, holding them at the ready. Kirito looked between the group trying to defend him and the increasingly angry mob forming.
If this keeps going, they're gonna hunt down every beta tester in the game. I need to say something to get them to calm down.
Or focus on something or someONE else
Kirito started laughing, a kind of deranged laugh that he had to force and keep under check to not start laughing for real at how ridiculous he must sound. The group protecting him looked at him with looks of total confusion.
"You bunch of idiots," Kirito said, his voice cold as ice that carried through the stunned boss room.
"You wanna say that again!" Kibaou spat as he stared daggers at Kirito.
"You heard me jackass, so you think I was a beta tester is that it?" Kirito's face was stone, and a deranged smile appeared.
"Don't compare me to those noobs."
"W... what?" Kibaou sat dumbfounded at what was going on.
The group in front of Kirito looked like someone knocked the wind out of them, not knowing what to say or do. Asuna and Klein hadn't known him for very long, but this seemed extremely out of character for the person who taught them the basics of the game.
"Those noobs barely knew how to play this game, hell, some of them couldn't even open the menu for the first week. You're farther than they were at this point." Stunned silence continued as Kirito kept digging himself a deeper grave
"See, I made it to floors higher than any other tester, that's how I knew the boss's attack patterns. I've fought way harder monsters before. I know more than any guidebook or info broker." Kirito stood in the center of the room, waiting to see how the group responded
"You're not just a beta tester. You're a GODDAMN CHEATER!"
"YEAH! A BEATER!" the burlap masked player yelled out. He was joined by every other player shouting at the newly christened beater
"A beater? I like that. It has a nice ring to it." As Kirito finished, he flicked his wrist, opening his menu and with a flourish equipped the ((Coat of Midnight)). The jet-black coat wrapped around him, covering most of his body.
He started walking towards the stairs that led to the 2nd floor "Don't worry. When I get up to the next floor, I'll activate the teleporter. I don't want y'all to be stuck down here." Kirito said, turning his back to the group, hands in his pockets as he walked away.
"You know that's not him, right?" Klein whispered to Asuna among the sea of angry shouting
"I know."
"Go after him, we'll try and keep the peace here as long as we can."
"Thanks, Klein." Asuna smiled as she rushed off to try and catch up to Kirito who was already starting to walk up the stairs.
Asuna reached the base of the stairs and started working her way up, leaving behind the angry mob that had no sign of calming down anytime soon. The spiral stairs snaked up, being lit by several torches. She looked up, seeing the black clad swordsman walking away
"Kirito, wait!" She called out, he turned his head to look at her.
"O..oh, hey, Asuna, sorry about all that." He said awkwardly, the beater facade dropping almost instantly
"Why?" She said. She did not need any further explanation as to what she was talking about.
"I could ask you the same question." He said with a slight grin crossing his face.
"I asked you first, and besides, I want Argo to hear it too," Asuna said, looking guilty, that for the past month she had dropped off the grid
"Fine, Kibaou would've set up a witch hunt for beta testers. At least if the hate is focused on one person, they can focus on hating me and not everyone else." Kirito said, looking down
"Still, I don't see why you had to do it. Now come on, let's get to the 2nd Floor." Asuna looked at him, slightly scolding the swordsman
"Look, it would probably be smart if you're not seen with me anymore. It's not how I wanted the reunion to go, but you can go really far in this game, and hanging around a beater isn't gonna help that. Also, Asuna, if someone offers you to join their guild, you should take it. There are limits to what you can do as a solo player, as you may have figured out." He said, not looking at her as he began to walk away.
"Argo was right, you really are an idiot sometimes, huh?" Asuna said sternly, walking up to the stunned Kirito
"I…I'm, s…sorry, what?" Kirito sputtered out, looking very confused.
"You heard me, do you think I'm that shallow that I care what those people down there think of me?" She continued face-to-face with him now
"I can party with whoever I please, and that's final." Asuna finished, leaving no room for argument as she began to walk past him closer to the door leading to the second floor.
"u..uh, o…ok," Kirito couldn't quite gather a response before he was walking up the stairs next to her.
"So, beater," Asuna bumped him with her elbow jokingly before continuing, "What's on the next floor?"
"Well, if it hasn't changed from the beta, it should be a savannah-type biome with a lot of cow-themed mobs." They reached the large door nearly the size of the boss's door, but without the skulls; instead, it had a circle with an emblem on it.
"You see that picture." Kirito pointed up to the emblem of a bull embossed on the door.
"All the doors have them, it gives a hint for the next floor."
Kirito put his hand on the door, feeling the cold metal.
"Ready?" he asked
"Ready when you are," She put her hand on the door as well.
The two pushed open the door slowly, as the crack started to widen, the bright sun filling the corridor with light, warming the players.
"All right, one down, 99 to go," Kirito said before the two of them walked out into the wide expanse of the 2nd floor.
AN:
Howdy, and as always, thank you for reading the latest chapter of SAO: Symphony of Midnight Lightning. I hope you enjoyed it! Thank you to the people who have favorited and followed the story after one chapter; it's super cool to see. To answer your question brightSora; almost certainly, but I couldn't tell you when. I plan on introducing a lot of characters from outside the original Aincrad Arc, but I don't want to do it until I have a solid plan for where the character is gonna go, so we'll see when it happens. Thanks for the review, by the way! I'll hopefully have this next chapter out in a week and a half, so fingers crossed. Again, thank y'all for reading and hope to see you in the next one.