Chapter Text
Day 27, Floor 1
"Three hundred gold? We stayed in one crappy little room for one night!" Kirito yelled, slamming his hands on the table.
The NPC he was yelling at didn't flinch. "I told you the price when you came in. It's your fault if you didn't pay attention. Now pay up." The innkeeper said.
"Kirito, maybe we should just pay him and go. We don't want to be on the bad side of an NPC." Klein pointed out.
"Fine. Here's your gold." Kirito reluctantly handed the man the gold before turning to leave. The two players exited the inn, and Klein began to run down the street.
"We need to hurry if we're going to get to the meeting on time." Klein said as he ran, his voice lined with excitement.
"It's not really a meeting, Klein. More of an exchange of information. " Kirito replied, breaking into a run behind him.
"It's still exciting..." Klein muttered.
The duo arrived at the center of town after a couple of minutes. The plaza was a large, circular area, with rows of seats stacked around the edges. It reminded Kirito a bit of his school gym. The seats were crowded with players, most of them grouped into their guilds. Kirito and Klein headed towards the top of the bleachers, their swords rattling in their sheaths as they moved through the crowd. They sat down in a fairly isolated area, with only a couple of players nearby.
"So, what now?" Kirito asked, stretching out.
"Uh... I don't know. I was just told that there was going to be something happening." Klein explained, a sheepish look on his face.
Kirito facepalmed. "You mean you don't actually know why we're here?"
"Uh, no." Klein responded.
"You're an idiot, Klein." Kirito said, his voice betraying his exasperation. "Coming here cost us our entire gold hoard."
"Well, I didn't tell you to get us a room at an expensive inn." Klein argued.
"Well we couldn't exactly sleep on the ground!" Kirito yelled.
"Well I..." Klein's voice trailed off. "Uh, Kirito?"
"Yeah?"
"Everyone's staring at us."
Kirito looked around. Klein was right, their argument had caused everyone around them to cast suspicious glances towards them. Kirito was about to apologize for the disruption when a new voice echoed across the plaza.
"Greetings fellow adventurers, my name is Diavel!"
Kirito and Klein turned to look at the newcomer. He was a tall player, with turquoise hair that fell down past his shoulders. He wore high level armor around his torso and shoulders, and a large steel blade hung from his back.
"I am here to deliver some good news." Diavel announced. "The boss room has been found, and I am assembling the task force that will attempt to take down the boss."
Kirito stood up. "How exactly do you plan on beating him? It's not like we get a second chance if we fail." he asked.
Diavel grinned, taking something out of his pocket. He held it up, revealing it to be a small, leather-bound book. "This is the player's guide. It has all the information we'll need to defeat the boss, such as his attack patterns and suggested strategies on how to beat him." He explained. "Based on this information, I propose that we split up into raid groups made up of 6 people each. The groups will embark on their journey tomorrow at dawn. You may now disperse."
Klein cast Kirito a smug look. "I told you it was important." He quipped.
Kirito chose not to respond, taking the time to glance around. "So who do you want to ask to join our party?" He asked, noticing that most of the other players had already left.
Klein looked around before pointing at a player a few yards away. "How about her? She doesn't seem to be joining anyone."
Kirito directed his gaze towards where Klein was pointing. The player in question was draped in a long burgundy cloak, with a few wisps of orange hair poking out from under the hood. Kirito stood up and walked over to her.
"Hey, I couldn't help but notice that you weren't joining up with anyone." Kirito said. The hooded player turned to look at him, but said nothing. "I was just wondering whether you'd like to join me and my friend's group." He continued. The hooded player looked from Kirito to Klein and back again, seemingly weighing the pros and cons of accepting the offer. Finally she nodded in approval.
Kirito smiled and sent over an invitation. The player accepted and her username appeared under his and Klein's.
"So your name's Asuna?" Kirito asked.
She nodded.
"So we were going to go get something to eat, do you wanna join us?" Klein asked, suddenly appearing at Kirito's shoulder.
"The crazed bag of hormones is my partner, Klein. He's exactly as bad as he seems." Kirito said, shoving him away.
"Hey! I resent that!" Klein yelled.
"That was kinda the point in saying it." Kirito quipped. "Anyway, we still need 3 more players to join our group."
"Oh yeah..." Klein said, looking around. "There's no one else here though."
"Oh well..." Kirito said. "Guess this will do for now. I'm sure we'll find more people to join us tomorrow. Let's go get something to eat." He said, standing up. He turned to Asuna. "You coming?"
She nodded and stood up as well, walking alongside Kirito. They came to a halt outside a small tavern. It had a sign labelled "Illfang's Tavern" hanging from an old, rotten pole jutting out from above the grimy old door.
"Well, glad we came, but I am not eating in there." Kirito said, turning to leave.
Klein grabbed him by his collar, keeping him from moving. "It's the cheapest place in town, and someone spent all our money on an inn last night."
"Oh come on! We've talked about this! We had to sleep somewhere, and that was the only inn!" Kirito argued, throwing his arms up as he yelled.
"Let's just go inside." Asuna said, speaking for the first time since the duo had met her. She walked into the old bar gracefully, not making a sound as she passed through the door.
Klein followed her eagerly, while Kirito trailed behind, grumbling about cleanliness and respectable places to eat.
The trio sat down at the bar, taking in the surroundings with a feeling of uneasiness. The inside of the pub was somehow even less appetizing than the exterior. The walls were virtually lined with the heads of fallen monsters, and a weird green liquid oozed from underneath the counter. The only sane thing about the place was the bartender, a bald, stern-looking man.
"What can I get you?" He asked in a bored tone.
"Alright, let's see, I'll have something edible. If you have that, of course, which seems unlikely" Kirito said sarcastically.
The bartender sighed. "Look man, I know this place stinks. Believe me, it wasn't my idea to work here. I'm just trying to earn a little money for weapons and armor."
"You're a player?" Klein asked.
The bartender nodded. "Yeah. Name's Agil. I saw you three at the meeting earlier." He said. "So are you going on the raid tomorrow?"
"Yeah, but so far it's just us three." Asuna said.
"I'll join you." Agil said, earning surprised looks from the three players before him. "What? Just because I work at a crummy old tavern like this doesn't mean I don't know how to fight."
"That sounds great!" Klein exclaimed, opening up his menu with a flick of his wrist. He tapped a few icons and a panel appeared in front of Agil. The bartender tapped one of the buttons, and his username appeared under Asuna's.
The rest of the evening passed with little event, the group strategizing through the night. Morning came after what seemed like mere moments, and the quartet set off towards the rendezvous point. When they arrived, Diavel greeted them.
"Good morning, adventurers! I'm glad you made it. Today shall be a most glorious day. We shall depart momentarily!" He said enthusiastically.
"He's not weird at all." Kirito whispered to his friends. His sarcasm was met with a stern elbowing from Klein.
"Knock it off, you two." Agil scolded, "We have a battle ahead of us, and you can't be wasting time bickering with each other." He said sternly.
"Yeah, yeah, I hear you." Kirito said passively.
"Is everything ok?" Diavel asked.
"Yep. Everything's good. When do we leave?" Klein asked.
"Immediately. We have no time to lose." The blue-haired knight stated.
The party made its way through the dungeon with little difficulty, arriving shortly at the massive doors to the boss room.
"Alright, are all parties accounted for?" Diavel asked. A discussion went up amongst the party as they came to a consensus, nodding in affirmation. "Excellent! Then let us ride into battle!" He yelled, turning and thrusting open the doors.
Inside was a massive chamber, the walls and floors lined with an almost luminescent rainbow pattern. A ring of massive pillars circled the room, and a massive throne rested at the far end of the room. In this throne was a massive animal. Its canine snout was permanently curled into a growl, and it's scarlet fur was stained with darker splotches of crimson. Its eyes glowed with an almost demonic light, and a huge sword rested at its feet above its head floated its name, Illfang the Kobold Lord.
As the players flooded into the room, the beast rose to its feet, glaring at the invading army. It beat its chest savagely, emitting an unearthly bellow as it did so. Instantaneously, kobolds began to materialize around the room.
"Groups A and C! Bring down the Kobolds!" Diavel ordered. "Groups B, D, and E with me!"
"That's us." Kirito said as Group E was called, and he and his party rushed to their commander's side. Kirito drew his sword as he ran, using it to separate a Kobold's head from its body.
The group approached the boss swiftly, dispersing into the individual groups as they arrived.
"Klein! Get behind it!" Kirito ordered, deflecting a blow from the creature as he did so.
Klein nodded, rolling under Illfang's legs and thrusting his sword into the beast's backside. The creature howled in pain, whipping its tail towards the red-haired player at lethal speeds.
"I got you!" Agil yelled, leaping in and bringing his mace down on the tail, smashing it into oblivion. "Take that, you little..." Agil's sentence was interrupted when Illfang swatted him aside.
"Oh god, I'm dead." Klein said, the color draining from his face. He braced himself for the next blow, but it never came.
Kirito had decided to take Illfang on himself, diving in front of Klein and blocking the incoming blow. However, it was clear that his sword skills were no match for the beast. This observation was confirmed when the boss knocked Kirito's sword from his hand, readying the killing blow.
"No!" yelled Diavel, jumping in-between Kirito and the monster. Kirito watched in horror as Illfang's blade pierced through the knight's body. Diavel's hit points drained to zero with lightning speed, only leaving him time to choke before he shattered into a thousand shards of colored glass.
The chamber fell silent as everyone realized what had happened. The silence was pierced as Kirito screamed, charging the monster with his fallen comrade's blade.
"Asuna! Attack, now!" He commanded. The hooded figure of his friend appeared almost instantly, her sword grasped firmly in her hand.
The two sword fighters charged simultaneously, each movement from either one mirroring the other. They reached Illfang within moments, their slashes leaving a glowing 'X' on the beast's chest. The monster slashed at Asuna, missing her, but catching her cloak on his sword. The cloth was pulled away, revealing her to be dressed in a white dress with red hilights, scarlet sword patterns stitched in around the outfit. Her orange hair fell past her shoulders, and her eyes bore a determined gaze as she counterattacked.
"Wow.... She's gorgeous...." Klein sighed, gazing at Asuna dreamily.
"Uh, Klein? Not the right time. Focus!" Kirito yelled as he parried another attack.
Asuna and Kirito continued to move as one, each attack flowing into the next with the grace of a dancer. The boss's hit points drained quickly, its defenses no match for the constant onslaught. Kirito was the one to deliver the final blow, driving Diavel's sword right through Illfang's head. The boss collapsed in a heap, its body slowly dissipating into thin air.
Kirito fell to his knees from exhaustion. He looked down at Diavel's sword, his mind clouded with guilt, pain, and anger. His thoughts were interrupted when a window opened up in front of him, declaring that he had earned the 'Coat of Midnight.'
A voice behind him called out. "What's the big deal, man? You let Diavel die!"
Kirito stood up slowly, equipping the coat as he did. The long black fabric billowed out as it rendered, its brown highlights appearing gold in the lighting of the room. He turned around, facing his accuser. It was a short player with spiky orange hair, whose countenance betrayed his anger and indignance. His username tag read 'Kibaou' the name sounded familiar to Kirito, but he couldn't quite place it.
"Was the coat worth killing him?" Kibaou asked, his voice loud and angry. " He was trying to get us out of this mess and you betrayed him!"
"He sacrificed himself for me. I didn't ask him to do that." Kirito said coldly. "I could care less about what you think. "
"You sound just like a Beta Tester!" Kibaou replied, spitting out the last two words as if they were a curse.
"I was." Kirito stated. "And so was Dia-"
"Spare us your lies, Kirito. The only beta testers here are you and your friends." Kibaou interrupted.
"What the hell are you talking about?" yelled Kirito, "My friends aren't-"
"Kirito, maybe we should go. The rest of the groups are starting to look pretty ticked." Klein said.
Kirito nodded. "Come on guys, let's go." He said, walking out of the boss room and into floor 2.