Sword Art Online-Encroaching Shadows

Chapter 43

The digital readout in Jayce's peripheral vision ticked past eleven at night. He leaned against one of the wooden supports running from the floor to the ceiling behind the bar. These past hours had been some of the longest he could remember. Rose sat at a table near the front of the room with Jemza and Roland. Luna sat at a second table towards the north end of the room by herself. Argo sat atop the bar counter next to Jayce kicking her feet back and forth slowly. The rest of the tavern was empty, all other NPC's had vacated long ago.

"You sure about this Argo? You're valuable to people here." The girl placed her hands on the counter and pushed herself a bit closer so that her shoulder touched his arm.

"I'm what people call a solo player. My line of work tends not to compliment a group style of play very well. Playing solo is dangerous since you must rely purely on yourself to survive. In return you are afforded the freedom to go at your own pace, which tends to be quite fast. A lot of these types of players made up the group that took on the first floor boss." Argo continued to kick her legs as she spoke to Jayce next to her.

"Were you with them? What are they like?" The whiskers on her face twitched in response to his question.

"No, I do not fight on the frontlines. As for what they are like...I don't know all of them. The first floor boss fight went very well at first. A man named Diavel led the assault flawlessly. Through his leadership and direction they brought the boss down into a section where its tactics changed. The change involved the boss switching weapons and was well known from the beta. Unfortunately, the type of weapon the boss switched to was different now than in the beta. Only one player recognized the difference, but he didn't realize it until tragedy struck.

Diavel was cut down and killed before a warning could be issued. The young man who had tried to warn him rallied the rest of the party together and coordinated the final stretch that would lead to the boss's death. The first floor boss claimed only one player's life, but that was only the beginning. It was a solo player who rallied everyone together. After the dust settled people began to question his motives. He was a solo player, and a beta tester. That combination tends to make people think you are greedy and out purely for self gain. Many blamed him for Diavel's death. Why didn't he warn people sooner about the change from beta to the live version?"

"What did he do?" Jayce had never heard anything about the group that cleared the first floor. The fact that Argo was willing to share this amount of information with him without the usual banter about cost was something he was thankful for.

"In that moment the entire population of beta testers were at risk of being blamed for Diavel's death. The vast majority of players aren't beta testers and to be honest a lot of them have already died. Instead of celebrating the victory a headhunt was about to begin on all beta testers. The boy who killed the boss decided to shoulder the burden by himself. He claimed that the beta testers were below him and that he knew about everything all along, but chose to hide it." Jayce looked down at Argo incredulously.

"He lied?" Argo glanced up at him and nodded.

"Yes, to protect the other beta testers he chose to shoulder the weight of judgment."

"Why would he put a target on himself like that? He saved all those people." Jayce couldn't believe that someone would be willing to take such a risk. Not to mention so shortly after surviving the first floor boss battle.

"Because when faced with a choice between those you care about being harmed or your ability to endure it alone a person's true character shows. I now believe that you understand that kind of choice. So, you already know the answer to your question."