January 6th, 2029, 1:24pm game time, floor 10. Jyenka and the rest of his party had gathered at the entrance to the large stone fort in floor 10's main settlement 'Esfera'. Another month had past and the assault team had moved up another 5 floors. With new floors meant new difficulties, enemies were getting tougher and environments were getting harsher. Although after spending so much time in this game players were starting to get comfortable living here, a little too comfortable.
"This is the place" Silvia said as she looked up at the medieval-style fortress. Silvia had changed her gear, she wore a white cloak with a grey base layer. The pants were also white with metal padding over her kneecaps, completing the look were a pair of brown boots with a small heel. She had her hair tucked behind her ears with a silver ribbon on each side tied in a neat bow. Her axe had changed from the basic one to a golden rimmed double-edged axe with a shiny crystal on the to of it in between the two blades.
"Kinda hard to miss" Jyenka commented also looking up. Jyenka now wore a slightly roughed-up light blue jacket with a white singlet underneath it. He wore a dark blue pair of pants that he tucked into his brown boots at his feet. The boots he wore were similar to Silvia's only his had golden lightning bolts on each side. He had upgraded his double-ended sword to one with a green hilt and thinner but longer blades at each end.
"We should go inside, wouldn't want to keep the rest of the assault team waiting" ThirtySix said walking ahead of the group. ThirtySix wore armour that somewhat resembled a Viking, he had large iron shoulder plates and huge adventuring boots that looked a little worse for wear although ThirtySix liked them nonetheless. He spear was now a trident with 3 points shooting out the front of it.
"It's not like we're late, we should be fine" Taijou added. Taijou had replaced his black jacket with a red one, he now also had a black scarf sitting on his neck. He wore skinny black jeans with iron plates over his knees and black boots with orange strips on them. He had upgraded his sword to a blue blade with the Kanji for water on it's hilt. He had also acquired a iron shield to use with his sword.
"This is definitely one of our better runs, usually Taijou will get us lost or Jyenka will do something stupid" Shoko added, she hadn't changed much of her gear.
"Hey!" Jyenka and Taijou said at the same time turning to face Shoko. Silvia let out a chuckle.
"That or Silvia finds a cute outfit she wants to buy." Shoko said walking past Jyenka and Taijou
"Hey!" Silvia exclaimed watching Shoko walk a head.
The group walked inside to see Kirito and his party standing inside, they'd all upgraded there gear as well.
"Good to see you guys again, the meeting doesn't start just yet so feel free to take a seat anywhere" Kirito said pointing to the giant table in the middle of the large room they were in.
"How do you think the assault team manages to rent these places out all the time?" Asked Taijou.
"Not sure, they might have a large col income maybe?" said Jyenka who sat down next to Taijou when they found there seats.
"It's all about building trust with the NPC's in the villages" Explained Silvia who sat down next to Jyenka. "The more quests you do in a village, the more word gets around that your a nice person. If the villagers trust you enough they'll start to give you discounts in shops, on food and rooms in inn's and even let you reserve places like this"
"Wow, the assault team really is on top of everything I guess" said Jyenka turning to look at Silvia.
"Naturally, we have to set a good example as the strongest player group in Aincrad" Silvia commented. As they spoke more players began to enter the room until just about every eat at the table was filled.
"Ok everyone! Can I have your attention! The 10th floor strategy meeting is about to begin!" Kirito shouted while standing up from his seat. The chatter quietened down and everyone turned there eyes to look at Kirito. "Thank you, I'd like to start todays meeting by announcing what quests your parties will be doing."
"That's odd, usually he leaves this part until last" Jyenka whispered to Taijou. Silvia stomped on his foot to get Jyenka to be quiet.
"The quests you have been assigned have just been emailed to you, check your inboxes with your party and make sure your all on the same page." Jyenka and everyone else in his group opened there inboxes to see a message from Kirito, the quest they'd been assigned was called 'Stop the Goblin Invasion!'
"Sounds like this quest will have a strong combat element to it" Shoko commented, she was sitting next to Silvia.
"That may be the case, although, this could be a scenario of stopping the invasion before it starts." ThirtySix said, he was sitting next to Taijou.
"You mean like a stealth mission?" Taijou asked ThirtySix. ThirtySix nodded in response.
"Ok everyone! If you've sorted things out with your party I'd like your attention once again, there's something serious I need to discuss." Kirito said with a stern tone. The room quietened down and a sense of anticipation filled the air. "There have been rumours spreading about players forming malicious guilds, ones specifically dedicated to criminal activity, including the murdering of other players." Everyone in the room felt there hearts sink but Jyenka felt it particularly bad.
"No, don't tell me..." he thought to himself.
"There is a chance, that this might be the return of the murder guild 'Laughing Coffin'."
The atmosphere in the room turned to one of anxiousness and panic.
"Laughing Coffin? What's he talking about?" Asked Taijou to Jyenka. Jyenka was still looking at Kirito with fear in his eyes, but he answered Taijou anyway.
"Laughing Coffin is a guild that was created back when this incident first happened. They only had one goal, find sick ways to torture and kill other players." Jyenka said with a serious and fearful tone. Taijou paused with a mixture of shock and fear.
"What? How could anyone do that? Just the thought makes me sick!" He replied.
"Everyone calm down! These are just rumours, we've asked all the best info brokers around Aincrad about this and they said they haven't heard anything about the return of Laughing Coffin!" Kirito shouted in order to get everyone's attention again. The group quietened down and looked at Kirito once again. "I wanted everyone here to be aware of this because if they do return and they do decide to start killing again, we'll be there main targets." Jyenka clenched his fists. "This is all the main news I have for you today. Complete your quests with your party and stay alert, everyone in this room is valued and I don't intend on losing a single member. Dismissed!" Everyone left there seats a little shaken from the news they'd just received.
Kirito moved out of the fortress with his party. "Thank you all for sticking by me, I'm sure that topic brought back a lot of bad memories." Kirito said while shuddering as he remembered all the bad things Laughing Coffin had done to him in his life. Asuna put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
"Of course we'd stick by you. your more than just a leader, your a friend. Don't ever forget that ok?" Asuna said while giving Kirito a warm smile. Kirito smiled back.
"Thank you Asuna, I wouldn't be able to do any of this without you."
"Aw get a room you two!" Lisbeth shouted as she suddenly appeared behind them. Klein laughed at this.
"Kirito my man, I'll never understand how you of all people managed to get so lucky." Klein said with a smile. Kirito's face went red with embarrassment.
"C'mon guys..." he grumbled while looking away.
Jyenka and the rest of his party left out the other side of the fortress. Jyenka had a very serious look on his face.
"Laughing Coffin... I should have expected they'd return." He mumbled to himself.
"I just can't imagine... actually killing someone..." Taijou said shakily.
"Well... If I must then I will." Silvia said with confidence.
"Silvy? You'd kill them?" Jyenka asked surprised by her comment.
"Not maliciously, only as a last resort. You two should also prepare yourselves for that possible outcome." Jyenka and Taijou remained silent as Silvia continued to walk. "Anyway, we have a new quest to complete." When Silvia said this all the members of the group perked up.
"That's right. Aren't we supposed to be dealing with a goblin invasion?" Taijou asked
"Correct, according to the quest log the goblin army is located at the mountain east of Esfera. They plan to attack at midnight tonight. I believe it would be best if we intercepted them on the way, I wouldn't want any innocent people to be harmed." Silvia said confidently.
"I agree, this way we can also catch them by surprise" ThirtySix added.
"A stealth mission then? perfect." Shoko says while putting her hood on.
"You said they invade tonight? we should really get moving then." Jyenka said with a concerned tone.
"Don't worry, I've got that part covered. I've booked a chaperone to take us to the intercept location. We'll be leaving in a few hours." Silvia replied.
"Wow, your pretty on top of this Silvy." Jyenka said with a smile. Silvia flicked her hair and smiled.
"Of course I am, I am this groups leader after all!" The group parted ways and began to prepare for what was to come. Although, there are some things that people cannot prepare themselves for.
"Did you hear the news Deimos?" Acheron sat at a small throne in the mansion located back on floor 5.
"I did Acheron" Deimos entered the room with a small group of his followers. Acheron smiled sinisterly.
"Good, we leave at midnight."
Jyenka's vision was shrouded in darkness. A distant bell chimed and a dark hallway appeared before him, however, it would soon vanish as soon as it appeared. The bell would chime once again and more obscure halls and rooms would appear before him, each one would end in darkness. The only real light was a red mist that seemed to linger around each room. Jyenka then felt a strange sensation as a large staircase appeared before him. The strange sensation urged him to start to clime it but the moment he took a step his ears began to ring and his left eye felt as though it was going to jump out of its socket. Jyenka tried as hard as he could to take another step but a force was pushing him back, he then stopped as the sensation to climb the stairwell vanish and he got a strange feeling. One telling him that he wasn't ready yet to take another step. He gazed at the red light at the top of the stairwell and he heard someone call out to him. The voice was low and seemed to echo through the darkened void. It called out his name again and again and.
"Jyenka!" Taijou exclaimed as he shook him trying to wake him up. Jyenka sat bolt up right, his head feeling like it was going to split open and his ears ringing. Jyenka clutched the side of his face in pain. "You good bro? that must have been one heck of a nightmare, you were twitching and everything." Taijou said with concern.
"Yeah, it's almost like you were being possessed." Shoko added. The pain Jyenka was feeling quickly vanished and he looked around at everyone's concerned faces. He then took in his environment. The group were all in a carriage heading towards the interception point, he must have fallen asleep on the ride there.
"I-It's nothing... Just a bad dream..." Jyenka said, laying his head back against the carriage wall.
"Well it's a good thing you woke up when you did, we're just about to arrive." Silvia said while looking out the window. Jyenka also looked outside and saw a squad of goblins marching with flaming torches.
Taijou let out a nervous gulp. "You sure we can beat... all of them?"
"They're just goblins, each one of them should die in at least 1 or 2 attacks. With good enough crowd control we should be fine." ThirtySix said in his usual calm demeanour.
"That's correct, Me and Jyenka will be our best bets for dealing with large groups of enemies due to our weapon choices. We should be able to hold off a few Goblins at a time, Right Jyenka?" Silvia said looking in his direction.
"Y-Yeah! No problem!" Jyenka stammered.
"What? Not scared of a few goblins are we?" Silvia teased.
"I am not!" Jyenka said while standing up. The NPC driving the carriage stopped in his tracks and told us that this is as close as he could get us. The group thanked him and moved out.
"So, how are we gonna start taking them out?" Jyenka asked as the group approached the Goblin army. A mischievous smile spread across Silvia's face.
"With these!" She pulled 3 apples from out of her inventory.
"Uh... Silvy... Those are apples..." Jyenka said with a confused tone.
"They aren't just any apples, they're bomb apples" Silvia exclaimed.
"B-Bomb apples? How did you get those?" Silvia gestured to Shoko.
"Cleric grows them in his garden, I had Shoko steal them for me." Shoko gave Jyenka a little thumbs up. "So, I'm gonna throw these into the centre of the army. They'll explode killing at least a dozen of them. Then, Shoko and ThirtySix will go in and land a few stealth takedowns amongst the chaos created by the explosions."
"Hold up, Why is ThirtySix doing the stealth part? He's built like a fridge." Taijou said with a confused look.
"ThirtySix, can you show us your stealth stat please?" Silvia asked. ThirtySix opened his stat menu.
"Holy Shit!" Jyenka and Taijou exclaimed at the same time.
"Now, that leaves Me, Taijou and Jyenka. We'll be there to take out all the remaining goblins. They're shouldn't be many left once it's our turn." Jyenka and Taijou both nodded in agreement. "Ok, the plan has been agreed on. Silvia squad, move out!" Silvia said pointing her finger forward triumphantly.
"We are not calling ourselves that" Jyenka said as the group headed towards the goblins.
Silvia pulled the stem out of one of the bomb apples like she was pulling the pin on a grenade and threw it at the goblins. It hit one of them on the head, the goblin looked down with a confused look before the apple exploded.
"Blowing up goblins with apples is not something I ever thought I'd do." Shoko said as she and ThirtySix started making there way towards the goblins.
"Ok, once the goblins notice them we'll swoop in and finish the job." Silvia said while looking at Taijou and Jyenka. They both nodded in agreement. Suddenly, Jyenka felt something strange. He felt like there was something with malicious intent approaching them.
"Taijou, watch out!" Jyenka pushed him and Taijou to the side as a long black spear landed right were Taijou was standing.
"What the!? What was that?" Taijou asked looking around.
"You, the boy with the double-edged sword, you managed to save your friend. I'm impressed." A hooded figure approached the 3 of them.
"Who the hell are you!?" Jyenka exclaimed while drawing his double-edged sword.
"I wouldn't be so concerned about that." The hooded figure said slyly. Suddenly Silvia let out a small cry of pain as a throwing knife sliced her leg, she fell to the ground and was inflicted with the paralysis debuff.
"Silvy!" Jyenka shouted as he ran to her side.
"I'm fine" Silvia said through gritted teethe. "It's just paralysis- Jyenka look out!" Jyenka quickly turned around saw another knife come whizzing towards him. He struck the knife with his blade before it could hit him and sent it flying back with his parry skill.
"Oh, what a shame." A voice emerged from the darkness. "I would have loved to have taken you out as well, guess I'll have to settle with just the girl." Another hooded figure approached the 3 party members. Jyenka gritted his teethe and lunged at the figure.
"Bastard!" he yelled and he struck the figure with with sword but didn't do any real damage. Whatever armour the player had on, it was very durable and above Jyenka's level. The hooded figure jumped back and as he did his hood came off revealing his player tag, and the red red icon above it. The players name was Acheron.
"Oh! feisty aren't you? Good." Acheron exclaimed in a sadistically happy tone. He threw off his cloak revealing his armour and his weapon of choice, a double-edged sword. Jyenka stood his ground despite knowing that this player was likely stronger than him.
"What do you want with us?" Jyenka said in a serious tone.
"I'm here to give you an offer, I like to call it 'join us, or die.'" Acheron said while drawing his double-edged sword.
"Well, if you hadn't tried to kill my friends maybe I'd have considered it." Jyenka said while taking a fighting stance. Acheron simply smiled sadistically. "Taijou!" Jyenka shouted. Taijou looked over at him. "We have to fight these guys." Taijou clenched his sword and shield.
"Yeah, we don't have a choice. I can hold of this other guy if you can hold off Acheron." Taijou said while taking a fighting stance of his own. Silvia looked at her stats and saw that there was still 2 minutes and 30 seconds of her paralysis remaining.
"Just hold them off, but be careful!" She said. Jyenka and Taijou just focused on there opponents. Taijou's opponent looked to be around on the same level and was a spear user so Taijou would be at an advantage against him, Jyenka however was facing an opponent who had the same weapon type as him only he was clearly stronger. Jyenka however was determined, this wasn't going to stop him from being this worlds hero.
"Bring it on!" Jyenka shouted as he lunged at Acheron.
"Let's make this a good show!" Acheron exclaimed as he lunged at Jyenka.
To Be Continued...