Sword Art Online: The Demon In White

Scapegoat

<<1st Floor, Tolbana>>

Akise looked up at the sky, processing data in his mind again.

One month had passed since he entered the game. One month of continuously grinding and levelling up. In truth, he was impatient. Where was the Boss room? Why hasn't it been cleared yet? However, not everyone was frustrated with this; some decided to not do anything and treat this game for real life. Maybe it was their way of coping with the sudden change of environment, Akise didn't know. One thing for sure, nothing can be achieved without effort. What's the point of giving up before you even tried?

Akise snapped back to reality at the sound of someone clapping to get attention. Finally, a meeting was going to be held to defeat the Floor Boss, and Akise didn't want to skip out on this. Despite the seriousness of the situation, the blue-haired guy who looked like a knight seemed so cheery.

"Okay! Let's get this meeting started! Thanks for coming here today! My name is Diabel, I like to think of myself as a knight."

A couple of laughs came from the gathered bunch of people. After the laughter died down, Diabel's voice grew serious.

"Today, our party found the boss room at the top of the tower. We need to defeat the boss, reach the 2nd floor and tell everyone waiting in the Town of Beginnings that it is possible to beat this game."

Akise raised an eyebrow. Ah, those who stayed back in the Town of Beginnings out of fear. Cowards.

"That is the duty of everyone here today! Don't you all agree?!"

After a couple of murmurs, the players finally shared his passion. Akise had to admit, this guy was good at motivating people.

"Okay, let's start working this out. First, divide into parties of six!"

What? Six?

"A single party has no chance against a Floor Boss. We need to form a raid group composed of multiple parties."

Before Diabel finished talking, Akise could clearly see parties being formed around him. He looked behind him to see Kirito with another player in a red hood. They were only two people. That meant he still had a chance. He quickly went up the steps and approached the duo.

"Excuse me, can I join your party? Oh uh... I'm Akise by the way."

Kirito and the hooded person seemed to look at each other for a minute before nodding. He then accepted their party invitation and glanced up at the names. Hmm, so the hooded person's name is Asuna...

"Okay then, has everyone formed their parties? Then-"

"Hold on a moment!"

A shout came from a spiky-haired guy who leaped twice from the top to the bottom with Diabel. Akise could tell that this wasn't about the parties at all. This could be a pointless argument, perhaps.

"My name's Kibaou. I wanna say something before we take on the boss. Some of you here need to apologize to the two thousand people who've died!"

He then pointed forth to emphasize his point. Akise did a mental facepalm; this wasn't the time or place for such declaration. Besides, the reasons they died were entirely personal, nothing to do with him or the other players. Only Diabel looked calm about that.

"Kibaou-san, could you perhaps be referring to the beta-testers?"

"Obviously! The beta guys ditched us beginners and disappeared the day this stupid game started! They took all the good hunting spots and easy quests for themselves, so only they could get stronger. They couldn't care less about the rest of us."