Asuna, morning of the First Floor Raid
Sunday, December 4th. Four weeks ago, the death game began. Four weeks later, 44 players will attempt to beat the Illfang the Kobold Lord, Floor Boss of the First Floor.
Asuna is the first of her party to the meeting place for the party of her, Koharu, Jaymes, and Kirito. She isn't alone for long as the boy in the black jacket appears from her right, waving and bowing to her. "Good morning, Miss Fencer. Let's do our best today!"
Asuna nods to him, keeping her hood on. Jaymes and Koharu should be here soon, and she doesn't feel like making conversation with Kirito. The events of two nights ago are still fresh in her head, even if it's not his or Jaymes' fault Argo intruded. What makes her more irate, though, is that Jaymes is unapologetic (to her, that is) while Kirito is overly apologetic.
"Nice. Good choice!" She moves her eyes slightly to Kirito, seeing him glance downward. She suddenly grows self-conscious and pulls down on her white dress. She's reminded of how Argo caught her and Koharu in the lingerie shop, telling them to prepare for "the big day". Whether Argo truly meant today or something else, Asuna can only hypothesize. "It's only for the boss battle, nothing more!"
"Okay..."
"Nice boots." Asuna jumps as Jaymes suddenly appears to her left, glancing down as well. Now she realizes what Kirito meant. Of course he couldn't notice the lingerie she bought.
"Oh, thank you. Both of you."
"Mhm." Jaymes ends that conversation and waves the group onward. "We're heading to the fountain in the square. Let's hop to it. Waste makes haste."
Koharu giggles as she steps in line beside Asuna. "I think the phrase is 'haste makes waste', Jaymes."
"Is it," Kirito questions.
"It is as Koharu says," Asuna says resolutely, "but why use it now? It doesn't make sense if you want us to hurry."
"I don't know. It sounded cool in my head."
"Then use a more correct phrase in the correct order. It's not that hard."
Jaymes pauses and glares at Asuna. "Oh, I got one. A riddle this time: Who won't I miss if they die in the raid? Answer is Little Red Bitchy Hood." If looks could kill, Asuna is sure hers stands a fighting chance against Jaymes.
"And here I was, thinking you were the more admirable of the two males here--"
"Hey, what did I do?"
"--but it seems you're no better than any other stick in the mud! I don't know what Koharu sees in you, but all I know is that I wouldn't trust you with a millimeter of my life here."
"Good, we're on the same page. Remember that for yourself, you as well, and the other 40 players. The only life I will protect is Koharu's. If you fall, you're on your own." Jaymes turns around, feet making contact with the stone road that he could break it if he tried.
Kirito chuckles and follows after Jaymes. "I doubt he means that. He's just nervous and all. The four of us will be fine. Right, Koharu?"
"Yeah," she responds sadly. Seeing this, Asuna cools down and takes hold of Koharu's hand. Maybe Koharu and Kirito are right, but Asuna doesn't feel that way. Not yet, that is. She is sure of his statement, Koharu explained the pair's roots the other day, and as far as she's seen, he cares for her and her alone.
They join the raiding party at the fountain square, and Koharu heads off to find Jaymes, leaving Asuna again with Kirito. Still not wanting to engage alone with him, she just stares at the mass gathering until she feels the black swordsman's gaze on her. She faces him with a glare that can freeze the vapor in the air. "What are you looking at?"
Kirito shakes his head. "N-Nothing..." Asuna looks away, her threat to make him drink sour milk if he so much as irritates her still on her mind. Add Jaymes' rudeness...she hypothesizes that this union is going to be tough. Maybe she should, just for today, try to make peace with the boys in hopes that cooperation is better for their chances of survival.
"Hey," comes the cactus-headed Kibaou, approaching Kirito more than Kirito and Asuna. "Now listen up and listen good--y'all stay in the back today. Don't forget your role: You're our party's support, nuttin' more. Be a good lil' boy and pick off the spare kobold scraps we let drop from the table." He spits at Kirito's feet and turns on his heel. Considering the abundance of attitudes in this group, Kibaou is worse than Jaymes.
"What's up with him?"
"Dunno... I guess he thinks solo players shouldn't get full of themselves." Asuna lets the conversation die as she directs her attention to the other half of their party rejoining them. Jaymes disregards both of them, not that Asuna cares too much as she focuses on Koharu. "Kibaou gave us a warning to stay in our lane."
"Oh, did he now," Koharu says and looks at Kibaou, the loudmouth standing with his party, Team E. "What did we do?"
"We're solo players."
"That may be true, but... It could be that other thing." Jaymes sighs and crosses his arms. He's calmer now than he was minutes ago. Koharu must have scolded him something good. Asuna wonders what he means by "other thing", and as she thinks about it, it is obvious what Kibaou's problem is.
"Beta players?"
"Yeah... Eh, don't worry about him. Long as the four of us do our part, we'll be fine. Long as you and Kirito can work together, that is. I don't need to trust you and vice versa...but as Koharu says, we have to work together at least."
Asuna looks to Kirito, who has his arms crossed with a serious expression. Koharu smiles as she grips the dagger at her waist. He's right. The four of them, despite what they may think of each other, are a team for now. Success in the raid deepens on their cooperation to the fullest. "Okay. But as long as you aren't a jerk."
"I'll try my best."
"And as long as you aren't a perverted jerk."
"...Fine."
Koharu giggles and places her fist in the middle of the group. "Let's beat the first floor and live!" Kirito readily connects his fist with Koharu, then Asuna follows. Jaymes hesitates longest, but even he joins in the camaraderie. As they disconnect, Asuna feels a strange sense of unity flow between the floor, something she's never felt in her fifteen years of life.
This might be the only time that happens.
xxxxxxxxxx
The walk to the labyrinth reminds Asuna of the previous school trip to Australia. Of course, the excitement of being in the summery heat of Australia (as Japan was in mid-winter) is incomparable to the potential death march of the forty-six raiders.
Her party is in the back, and she walks side by side with Kirito. Jaymes and Koharu are engaged in quiet conversation, expected of their closeness after a month. For the first time, she sees his jovial side as they laugh together. Maybe he does have some red in his mean, black heart...or maybe she misjudged him altogether. Wouldn't be the first boy she probably misjudged this year, the other two being a rich kid from another family she met in the summer. His family moved to Japan earlier in the year as his father was to head the AI division of the family company.
The other boy is who she's going to speak to now. "Hey, before you came here, did you play other... MMO games? Is that what you call them?"
"Um...yeah? I suppose."
"Does traveling around in other games feel like this? You know...like a hike?"
"Haha, I wish. Unfortunately, it's not like this at all in other titles. See, if you're not in a full dive, you have to use a keyboard, mouse, or a controller to move around. You barely have any time to type anything in the chat window."
"Oh... I see..."
"Of course, there are also games with voice chat support, but I never played any of those."
"Missing out," Jaymes says as he faces the pair. "You'll never know the fun of a shooter-game multiplayer lobby with voice chat. Ah, the words you hear. Perfect toxicity."
"That's probably why I stayed away from them."
Asuna cups her chin, imagining a team of forty-six players on a computer screen. "I wonder...what the real thing would look like?"
"Eh? Real thing?"
"I mean...if there really was a fantasy world like this one...and a bunch of fighters and magicians team up on an adventure to defeat a terrible monster. What would they talk about on the road as they traveled? Or would they just march in silence? That's what I mean."
Kirito falls silent, and Jaymes turns back around. As experienced as they are, neither has an answer to her question. Koharu doesn't offer her opinion either. It feels like a childish question, one Asuna's ready to dismiss just as Kirito speaks up.
"The road to death or glory, huh? If the people made a living off doing that, I bet it would be no different from going out to a restaurant for dinner. If you have something to say, you say it. If not, you don't. At some point, I bet these raids will be just as ordinary, assuming we can do enough of them to make them that way."
Unconsciously Asuna giggles at Kirito's analogy then apologizes for it. "Sorry, didn't mean to laugh. But...that's really weird. This place is the polar opposite of ordinary. How can you make anything here become normal?"
Koharu chuckles. "She has a point, Kirito. Yet... We've been here four weeks now. If we beat this boss, there's ninety-nine more to face. And they'll get harder the higher we go, I bet. This might take two, three years, if not longer. In time, even the most extraordinary will become plain ordinary."
Asuna looks at the three around her and sighs. "You're all very strong. I don't think I can do that--survive in here for years and years. That's much more frightening to me than dying in battle."
"I'm just as scared," Koharu admits. "I wished we could find another way out of this, but... As long as Jaymes is around, I won't be afraid of anything. Same for you, Asuna, and you, Kirito."
Jaymes sighs and ruffles Koharu's hair. "Don't say embarrassing things, Ko."
"Wh-What? Why do you keep calling me that?"
Kirito smiles and places his hands in his pocket. "Y'know, girls, there'll be even nicer baths on the higher floors, if we can get there."
"R-Really," Asuna says, embarrassingly happy. That switches as she glances at Kirito. "So...you remembered. In that case, I'll be feeding you an entire barrel of sour milk. You two, jerk. Koharu and I will enjoy a bath while you pray your health doesn't deteriorate from spoiled dairy."
Koharu giggles and grabs Asuna's arm. "Sounds great!"
Jaymes groans and looks away. "Sounds unnecessarily cruel."
Kirito grins at Asuna. "Which means you'll have to survive this battle first."
xxxxxxxxx
At 11 am, the raiding party made it to the labyrinth. An hour and a half later, they're standing at the doors to the boss. No one has been lost yet, but there were a few close calls with other groups. Asuna's team, however, fought in top condition. Kirito and Asuna pretty much fought alone with few team-ups, while Jaymes and Koharu went with their usual strategy of switching. It wasn't as if Kirito and Asuna couldn't fight as a pair, or Jaymes and Koharu had to. It was just a month-long instinct on mobs that all four of them handled with some ease.
According to Kirito, kobolds are usually low-leveled monsters that present little to no threat. But even if SAO was not a death game, the kobolds here are much more threatening. Knowing they can use sword skills, they're no different than fighting a player of equal level. Sword skiils are faster and stronger than sword combos, but Jaymes proved that even sword skills can be beaten. His shield work is impressive and set up Koharu for many switch attacks.
Those two will go far if the raid succeeds.
"Listen up for a sec," Kirito murmurs to her and the rest of the group. "The Ruin Kobold Sentinels we're supposed to fight are only like bodyguards for the actual boss, but they're plenty tough. Like we went over yesterday, their heads and chests are armored, so just hurling Linear at them over and over isn't going to work. Same for your curve, Koharu."
Asuna glares at Kirito as if she's a student in the faculty office being scolded for lack of attention. "I know that. I have to hit them straight in the throat."
"That's right. I'll use my sword skills to knock back their poleaxes, and then you switch in and finish them off. Ko, Jaymes, you do your thing."
"You too?"
"Right. And if we somehow get mixed up. Asuna, Kirito, follow my shield. Koharu, do as Asuna was instructed. And if you two girls get together...just make it to the throat." Asuna nods and the group breaks. As they go silent, Asuna overhears Koharu speak of being afraid, but she made a promise to fight, live, and protect Jaymes. He responds with a cocky and playful statement about Koharu "tripping over her feet" that turns Koharu red but seems to lessen her tension. He then looks up to Asuna, nodding slightly to her, and she nods back.
Up ahead, Diavel finishes addressing the seven other teams. "That's all from me. Any last questions?"
Kirito raises his hand. "Just one! What happens if the intel from the beta test strategy guide is different from what happens? Diavel, can I assume that as the leader, you will give the order to retreat."
"Of course. Human life is the top priority. But our simulated battle strategy was perfect. We're not going to let anyone die."
"Don't even pay 'em no mind, Sir Diavel," that prickly-haired annoyance named Kibaou shouts. "They just dunno what kinda leader you are. Only reason they'd be so skeptical. Maybe if they'd taken part in the training session rather 'n flirtin' up a storm, they'd know."
"Thank you for your high praise, but I'd be nervous if we didn't have this exact raid party. You're the best damn group I could possibly hope for. Let's win this thing." Diavel holds his sword up and faces the large, grey doors. "C'mon. Let's go!"
Jaymes sighs and looks in the direction of Kibaou. "I wouldn't mind... Nevermind. You heard the man, let's go." Asuna follows her party inside the boss room, the chamber completely dark upon their entrance. Kirito briefed the party that the doors to the room don't close, so retreat is possible, but move backwards to protect yourself against long-distance attacks. If anything huddle around Jaymes, who can protect with his shield.
In time, candles light up along the walls of the large boss room. Sixty meters wide, a couple hundred long, the room glows to full brilliance. Asuna can see countless skulls, the cracked walls, and an enormous throne at the other end of the room. A large silhouette sits there, threatening whoever dares to come to its room of power.
Asuna grips her rapier, Koharu twirls her dagger, Jaymes hoists up his shield, and Kirito grabs his sword as the four of them and forty-one others follow Diavel's signal to fight...