Virtual Reality||Sword Art Online

|Moment of War|

Sweat poured down Heidi's back, as she struck, her dark blue hair swishing behind her back. Her breaths came ragged, endurance running low. The giant beast, with horn-like ears, and a long muzzle raised it's axe, lunging forward to slash. Using the moment's time, Heidi began her sword skill "Parry" to block the attack, and knock the being unstable.

"Switch!" She screamed, as the bone axe bore down on her, clashing against her sword- she deflected it, and hit in a strong and sturdy blow, knocking it back.

The black swordsman, now known as Kirito flung himself in, his partner, Asuna, ready for another switch. Remi and Max were busying themselves with the minions, finishing off the last wave that had come in. With a yell, Kirito started his sword skill, and slashed the the kangaroo-like beast, narrowing down it's health to critical.

Kirito looked as if he was going to finish it off, but the leader Diavel rushed forward, yelling something about the last attack. That's when it struck Heidi- both of them were going for the last attack drop item- a rare item would be dropped.... She realized Diavel must be a beta tester, like them.

As Diavel ran forward, looking as though he hoped to hit it before the giant changed its weapon and attack pattern, Heidi's heart stopped. Illfang didn't have a Talwar- he had a Nodachi! "D-Diavel, watch out!" She screamed, Kirito's warnings following right after her. But it was no use.

The katanna sliced through Diavel, like a knife through cheese. The commander was dead.

~

"Alright, everybody seems to be here!" Came a voice, hosted by the leader- the one with the blue hair, and who called himself a knight. Heidi had reccently found out his name was Diavel.

Max got up, her ice blue hair bouncing. Remi followed right after, smoothing down her red skirt. Heidi, who was already standing ,began to walk towards the group, equipping her longsword. 44 people had joined the group to defeat the first boss, and all 44 had shown up again, which was surprising. But that just added to the strength, so Heidi couldn't complain. Everybody had to go through the 1st floor dungeon, a labyrinth, with 20 floors- the last of which, which held the boss room. It would take about an hour to get up too, with such a big party. Diavel's armour shone bright silver, in the sun, as he began to lead the group out of the town, and towards the path that would lead them to the dungeon.

There weren't many monsters on their way: they had only run into a small pack of Dire wolves, which were wiped out in a matter of minutes. Nobody had even lost any HP. Soon Heidi found herself looking at the tall tower, that lead its way up to the second level; Max gasped, making an "Oooh" sound, while Remi simply grinned, crossing her arms at the gigantic thing.

"Alright, group! Lets head into it! Remember, don't engage conflictve with any monsters within the Labyrinth, unless they target you! The path we're taking is pretty empty, so we shouldn't have any troubles!" Diavel yelled, so his voice would reach the back of the group. Everybody nodded, showing their understanding. "Let's go!"

The group travelled fast and swift through the dark, cave-like dungeon. They easily avoided the creatures dwelling inside, true to Diavel's words. Heidi found the trip rather boring, to be honest. She didn't talk during the journey, preferring to stick to her own thoughts. Remi and Max, however happily chittered throughout the trip. A happy hum rung throughout the hollow rooms, even though a hard, and tedious battle loomed before them. She wondered how everybody could be so calm; on the inside, she was close to loosing it, racked with fear that she would have to watch someone die. Perhaps everybody was like herseld, but not showing it?

Heidi was so wrapped up in her own thoughts, she almost bumped into the man infront of her, holding the torch that allowed light to dance off of the brown stone walls, in an orange haze. When she looked up, she saw two large, wooden doors, with metal knockers, right before them, the top of them looming high over their heads. A cold shiver ran down her back, and she stepped closer to her friends.