A month had passed since that fateful day. When everyone's world got all twisted, leaving them trapped in a castle in the sky. Since then, 2000 poor souls came to an abrupt and tragic end.
Some, by dumb luck. Others by pure stupidity. I mean, really, who just stands in fire?!
Anyways, that didn't bother the kid none. He only cared about one thing, and one thing only.
Himself.
'Cause in a game of life or death, you either live... or you die.
"Oh wow! What brilliant insight! It's so deep, it wraps right back around to being stupid."
The kid ranted at no one, it slowly dawning on him just how lonely he was.
"Wait, what was that?"
He asked the sky, like a preacher to his silent gods.
"What gods?! What are you even yapping about?! It's all bullshit metaphors with you."
He cried, not knowing the difference between a simile and a metaphor. The minuscule size of his brain dwarfed only by the smallness of his d-
"Shut up already!" Someone yelled.
I look up and see a few of the other players staring at the one man performance I was giving. Not talking to anyone for a month is bound to do that to you, I suppose.
Taking my leave, I enter a small cafe. Plopping down in a booth in the back, my menu automatically opens to show me what they're selling here. After ordering myself a coffee and some egg toast, I lean my head against the wall.
"You're looking moody as ever."
I look to my left and see a girl standing over me. She smirks and slides into the chair across from me.
"Should I know you?" I ask.
"No, but I've seen you around. You've been turning heads." She says, "I'm Eve, by the way."
'Yeah, no thanks to me acting like a schizophrenic in public...' I think to myself.
"Is there a point to this? Because I'd rather eat in peace and quiet." I take a fork and start fidgeting with it as my food is delivered.
Eve smiles and leans forward, hand on her chin. She gives me a quick look over and lets out a 'hmm'.
"I'd like you to join my group, we're pretty friendly so you won't feel unwelcome. We also know a few good hunting spots that other players don't know about." She offers, "So, what do you say?"
She... wants me to join her party? I think back to Jose, and... He was too green, so is Eve and her friends. There was a spot I used to grind in during the Beta. If this is how she expects to entice me, then I need to set her straight.
I finish my toast and coffee, being as slow as possible in order to emphasize just how uninteresting I found this conversation. With a final gulp, I give my answer.
"Let me guess, northwest side of the map, abandoned church. Place is a hovel for Kolbolds, easy to kill, decent EXP and Col, quick respawns. Am I right?"
Her eyes widen a bit, "How did you- wait, you're a-"
I get up from the booth and make my way out, "I don't need a bunch of newbs holding me back."
-
A meeting was called at the Tolbana Amphitheater, supposedly because the boss room was just discovered. The dungeon leading to the room was moved, so any information from the Beta is useless.
A fellow with blue hair and a blue outfit started the meeting.
"Hello everyone, thanks for coming." He smiled and tapped his chest, "I'm Diavel, and the job I rolled is Knight!"
There's no job system in this game, only stat building. This guy is no more a knight than I am a farmer.
"Now, I know many of you may be discouraged by the fact that 2000 people have died so far."
"What?!" Someone from the crowd yelled.
"2000 people are dead?!" Another screamed.
"It hasn't even been a month yet!"
"Oh god, we really are fucked!"
Undeterred, Diavel continued, "And I know even MORE of you are a little down because we haven't cleared the 1st Floor yet."
Dude's only digging himself deeper, this is actually kind of funny.
"We haven't?!"
"I thought we were almost done!" One cried.
"Uhhhh, you guys know there are 100 Floors, right?" Diavel asked.
After a collective "what" from the mass of stupid below me, Diavel gets that he's just making things worse and cuts to the chase.
"The good news is, we found the boss room!" Diavel folded his arms, "Now, there's something you all need to know before we start this meeting proper. Beating the boss isn't just about moving forward, it's about proving that we aren't going to sit back and wait to die. We owe it to every player still alive to show them that this game isn't impossible, and that escape is something we can achieve! You all with me?"
Everyone stayed quiet before some applause rung out, some agreement, one guy even whistled. Gotta admit, man's got a career as a public speaker if he ever makes it out of here.
"Alright, glad to see the enthusiasm. Now, I'm gonna need everyone to group up into parties of 6."
Knew it. Looking around, I see everyone else teaming up, discussing who leads, stuff like that. I close my eyes, smile, and hold my arms behind my head. I don't need any of them. The fact that I often get weird stares from them just means that they weren't worth my time to begin with.
"Now that we're all well and acquainted, let's go over how we're gonna beat this boss. We've formulated a few strategies with some help from the Beta Testers-"
"Hold up just a sec!"
Looking to the side, I see a guy with... spiky isn't the word for it, dude's hair makes him look like he's got a hedgehog resting on top of his head. He's equipped with a set of scale armor and has a longsword strapped to his back. He jumps down the stairs of the amphitheater and points to himself.
"I'm Kibaou, and I got a couple words for the Beta Testers!" He yells, "You assholes are the reason we're still stuck here!"
"What? Do you have any evidence to back that up?" Diavel asks.
"Pfft, sure I do! Those guys snagged all the good hunting spots and quests before we could! Think about it, they got an advantage over us because they got to play sooner. They didn't help us out, and now we're down 2000 people!" Kibaou snorts and starts pointing accusingly into the crowd, "No one else was able to get there first, and we were underprepared. The Beta Testers are responsible through inaction for not helping out us newbies! The blood of the 2000 players is on their hands! They need to come out and take responsibility for what they could've stopped!"
Before I could get down there and kick the shit outta this guy for wasting my time with his personal crap, someone else gets up. A tall fellow, African-American, carrying a two-handed axe on his back.
"Hey, mind if I get a word?" He gets fairly close to Kibaou, "Name's Agil. I just wanna make sure we're on the same page, you say that the Beta Testers should be blamed for the rookies deaths because they didn't help. And you want them to face responsibility, whether it be monetary or by punishment, I'm assuming. I leave anything out?"
"No, you didn't." Kibaou looked up at Agil, a bit of nervousness in his eyes.
Agil pulls a small book from his back pocket, I think those were made by the other BT's for the exact reason Kibaou is whining about.
"The item store hands these out for free. It's a guidebook. You got one, didn't you?" Agil asks.
"Sure I did. What of it?" Kibaou retorts.
"The Beta Testers were handing these out." Agil then turned to the crowd, "Players had equal access to this information, and some still died. They did everything they could, and we should learn from their mistakes by-"
"Actually, I didn't read it." One player called out.
"Yeah, I didn't read it either."
"I skimmed it!"
Agil raised an eyebrow in indignation, "Didn't any of you read it?! It's literally a matter of life and death!"
"Dude, it's like, 80 pages long!"
"2000 people are dead!" Agil yells back.
"They are?!" The player base shouts.
Agil, realizing he wasn't getting through to these dipshits, throws up his hand in defeat.
"I am SO done with you people." He says.
"What do you mean 'YOU' people?"
Diavel reads over the guide, explaining that the floor boss is a giant Kolbold named Illfang. Once we get his health low enough, he's going to switch out his axe and buckler to a tulwar. Unfortunately, that's where my memory ends.
Sure am missing that sword I had back in the Beta. I'd be able to carve a path through the first few floors on my own, easily.
"Alright, so the guide isn't clear on everything. But don't worry, I'll come up with a great plan for us!" Diavel exclaims.
"Like what?" One from the crowd asked.
"Well... I, uh, I'm open to suggestions!" Diavel, master of public speaking, clearly didn't expect to be asked that today.
"Guys... we could, y'know, group up and-"
"And hit it 'till it dies!"
Those two idiots congratulated eachother as Diavel just groaned and told everyone to start brainstorming. Yeah, fat chance.
It's then that I hear the distinct sounds of boot on stone. Looking down, a kid with black hair, blue tunic, and iron breastplate came up to me.
"Hey, I've seen you around." He begins.
"Funny, I had a conversation just like this earlier today, even started with similar words." I chuckle and lean back a bit.
"Fine, you wanna join a party with me?" He asked.
This kid is giving me a weird vibe. I can't help but think that I've seen him before... but where?
I shrug and stroll over with him to another player, she's wearing a maroon cloak and a rapier at her hip. She gives me a quick nod before looking forward again.
"Alright, that makes three." The black haired kid said.
He sent me a party request and I accepted. Under my health bar, two more health bars appeared with their names.
Kirito... Asuna...
"Huh..." I said aloud.
"If you don't mind me asking, why didn't you join anyone else?" Asuna asked.
Looking up, I notice Kirito quickly glancing her way before looking at me. Something tells me that this whole thing was his idea.
"A few reasons, mostly because they're a bunch of mouth-breathing neckbeards who think 'LMAO' is how French people laugh." I answer.
"Ha-ha, that's so Le Mao."
I shudder in mortification.
"Well, you certainly speak from the heart..." Kirito says in a weird tone.
"Funny, thought I was speaking from my mouth. But, eh, shows what I know about biology." A smirk forms on my lips.
"No one else besides us wanted you, did they?" Asuna's words hit like a bucket of ice water to the face.
"Shut it, it was mutual!" I yelled defensively.
Kirito tries to stifle a laugh and Asuna smirks at me. Diavel clears his throat and grabs our attention.
"Alright, looks like everyone is grouped up! Get plenty of rest tonight, people! We leave at noon!"
One player loudly groans, "Noon?!"
"That's so early!"
Diavel sighs and relents a bit, "Alright. What about 1 o'clock?"
"1? Dude, come on!"
Throwing his head back with a longer sigh, Diavel realized the herd of cats he was dealing with, "God, fine! We leave at the crack of... 2:30, I guess! Lazy butts..."
Gives me time to prepare. Gonna need potions, a few status crystals...
I look over to Kirito and Asuna, the latter deciding her time was better spent elsewhere. So that left me with the boy to figure things out.
"How much are the potions around here?" I ask.
"Probably no more than 15 col a pop... maybe..." Kirito rubs his chin, like he's distracted or something.
I pat him on the back and walk off, by the time Kirito notices I dipped, it was already too late. Before I left the amphitheater, I swear, I could see Diavel glaring at me.
-
Night finally came to Tolbana, while Diavel, Agil, and Kibaou were getting better acquainted, I sat alone to enjoy myself in a bell tower of a chapel. My leg hung lazily from my perch. As I was taking a drink from my canteen, I noticed how... pleasant everyone was being. Despite the stupidity of the majority player base, they actually believed in Diavel.
Now that I think about it, Diavel seems kinda familiar too. First that Kirito kid and now him. Where have I seen them?!
Before I could think up an answer, a pebble hit the side of the wall I was leaning on. Looking down, I could see Kirito waving at me.
"Are you gonna get down from there? I got some food." He calls.
I jump down from my perch and land a foot away from him. Kirito hands me a bread roll, one of the crappy ones that tastes like wet cardboard and has the texture of a brick.
"I'm good..." I mutter.
"C'mon man, don't be a hardass." He pushes the roll to me, "Even if it only satisfies your hunger virtually, everyone needs to eat."
Holding the roll, I press my thumb into the bread and it makes a dull mashing sound. You know that scene from Ratatouille where Collette tells Linguini that the way you're able to tell if bread is good is by the sound of the crust?
Let's say I took that to heart because I'm not in the mood for weak ass bread.
Unfortunately, the sounds of my rumbling stomach betrayed me. Begrudgingly I took the offered bread.
"Follow me, we gotta find Asuna." Kirito said.
"Why, you got a thing for this girl?" I raise an eyebrow.
Kirito turned to me, face red in embarrassment, "N-no, I barely know her! Let's just check up on her, we need to come up with something for the raid."
I roll my eyes but follow him anyway. He uses the party tracker to locate her, she's not too far from where all the revelry is going down. After turning a few corners, we spot Asuna sitting down and hunched forward.
"You know, you can do a lot better than those crappy rolls." I call out.
She turns to look at us, not sure if she's trying to tell us to fuck off or what.
"I dunno, I think those rolls are pretty good. Then again, I don't have much of a palette." Kirito awkwardly chuckles to himself before clearing his throat, "Mind if we sit with you?"
Asuna doesn't answer, instead trying for another bite of her roll. Kirito sits next to her anyway, and I take to supporting the wall.
"You really think these taste good?" Asuna asks.
Kirito lets out an "uh-huh" before swallowing, "I've been having about one a day ever since I came to Tolbana. Though, I do have a trick to make it taste better..."
He pulls something from his inventory. A small jar. Placing it between himself and Asuna, he motions me over to him.
"Hit it with some of that."
Asuna taps the top of the jar and her finger begins to glow with a pale blue light. I'm guessing she has her culinary skills set to basic. Kirito motions up his roll, indicating to Asuna that she should try something with it. She traces her finger over the roll, turning it from 'Bland Hard Bread' to 'Bland Hard Bread with Cream'.
"You should try some too." Kirito looks at me with a sheepish smile after applying some cream to his roll.
I take the jar and sit down to Asuna's left. Putting the roll on my knee, I take the lid off the jar and use a utility knife from my inventory to spread the cream over my roll.
"Wait, how are you doing that?" Asuna asked.
"Immersion is set to advanced, you two are stuck on basic." I said before taking a bite of my roll, "It tastes better, but the texture still sucks."
"Yeah, can't argue there." Kirito says before going back to his roll.
Asuna pauses for a second before taking another bite... then she proceeds to wolf down her bread in an instant.
"I got it as a quest reward, 'The Heifer Strikes Back', from the town before this one. If you wanna tackle it, I can tell you how to make it easier..." He offers.
Asuna shakes her head no, "Thank you for the offer... but I didn't come here just to eat good food."
"Then why did you?" I ask.
"So I don't forget who I am."
Okay... dark...
"I wasn't going to lock myself in a room in the Town of Beginnings and rot. I'm going to keep moving forward, even if it's for nothing. Even if I die, as long as it's on my terms, I can make peace with that." Asuna fidgets a little with her hands.
"Wow, I'm not sure if I can mock that, Asuna." I chuckle.
She suddenly turns to me, I can see her amber eyes through her bangs. Her mouth is agape.
"How do you know my name?" She asks worriedly.
Kirito pokes her shoulder and points his finger up, "Look under your health bar, our names should be right under it."
Asuna gets up and faces us, I notice her eyes trailing to the top-left. After a moment, she smiles and lets out a small laugh, holding her hand up to her mouth.
"I'm sorry, it was there the whole time and I didn't notice." She then looks at us, "Kirito... Nomuru..."
"That's my name, don't wear it out or I'll have you buy me a new one." I joke.
Kirito stares at me for a moment before he gets this look of realization, "Oh, that's from Batman Returns!"
I shoot him a wink and finish my roll before heading to an inn.
"Hey, wait!" Kirito calls out.
I turn back to face him, I know he's about to ask why I came here.
"If you really want to know, then win the game. Maybe then I'll tell you."
-
As we finished climbing to the top of Illfang's Tower, every single one of us who wasn't Diavel or Agil was either short on breath or about ready to keel over.
"Okay, there were a few more stairs the when first thought. Apparently, real life athletic ability translates into the game. Good to know." Diavel addresses everyone while posing for a fantasy novel.
"Oh god, it feels like my lungs are tryna kill me!"
"Is this sweat!?"
"I peed a little."
"Jesus, this is sad. Fuck it. Why don't you all just take a Cheetos and Mountain Dew break, and we'll reconvene in an hour." Diavel groans.
"Dammit guys, I was kidding! You weren't supposed to literally take an hour! Gah, we've wasted so much time, let's just do this already! You all know the plan!"
Illfang leapt through the air, letting out an earthshaking roar as his minions began to surround him.
Well, this ought to be entertaining. Unfortunately, just as Diavel was about to give an order, some dickweed declared that its every man for himself. And here I thought they'd actually use that mound of jelly in their skulls for once.
"Squad B, quit attacking the Boss and keep the Sentinels off us! C and D, stop attacking from the front! Do you even know what "flank" means?!"
As he's trying to herd the other squads, I get to work making openings for Kirito and Asuna to preform Switch attacks. I'm not sure if this was an intentional feature or whether it was a bug that just hasn't been patched yet, but a "Switch" is where after someone in your party attacks an enemy, someone else can immediately jump in and start attacking. This apparently fucks with the enemy AI just a little bit so it can't catch on to what you're doing as easily, but it also restores some of your health, so that would be handy. If this thing also instantly recharged stronger sword skills, then I'd actually consider joining more parties.
"Squad F, for fuck's sake! Stop playing Bejeweled!" Diavel loudly groaned, "Squad G!"
We perked up and saw him across the room, he was trying to bark out orders while fending off Kolbolds. Gotta hand it to a guy that can multitask like that.
"Get in there and help A and B!"
"Got it!" I yelled back, Kirito and Asuna close behind me.
"Don't talk ba- Wait, really?!"
I spotted a member of Squad B on the ground, a Kolbold about to bash her brain in with a stone hammer. Before the hammer was swung, I stabbed the Kolbold in the back of the head. It instantly exploded into polygons as the Squad mook stood up.
"You... you saved me..."
"Don't try to die again and we'll call it even." I bite back.
Looking over to the happy couple, Kirito knocks a Kolbold away with a sword slash, and Asuna is able to finish it off with a few rapier stabs. They rinse and repeat until the Kolbolds surrounding them are derezzed. The two of them make a surprisingly good duo, but I'll be caught dead saying that.
Suddenly, a group of six Eite Kolbold's spawned, I'm guessing Diavel managed to get the Squads together to focus on their jobs. Honestly, I wish I could see the boss's health so I can swoop in and end things myself. But right now, I have to deal with slightly taller and meaner lizard guys. Three of them attacked simultaneously, but that was a diversion. The three behind me were preparing an attack as I jumped back, but I rolled underneath their swing.
Taking two by surprise, I swing my cutlass hard and take them out. The remaining four steel themselves as they twirl their spears. Ooh, are they gonna try to pull a Magnaguard on me? I think they're gonna. I let them back me up a little before I take a running start and jump over them. Slicing one in half, the fight is now suddenly more manageable. Despite their speed, I block and dodge their swings, occasionally landing a counterattack. But unlike my three lucky swings earlier, they don't instantly go down, can't instant kill when their backs aren't turned. My health is draining fast, should've chugged a defense potion before this. One of the guards swings overhead and forces me on my knee, while his two friends get ready to gang up on me.
Acting quickly, I flourish my sword and parry both of their attacks. Left, right, diagonal left, and repeat. Having to balance these two would be fun if I wasn't risking death. But thankfully, before I could be snuffed out, Kirito and Asuna stabbed them in the back.
"You alright, Nomuru?" Asuna asked.
"You kill stealing fucks." I growled as I pulled a health potion from my inventory.
This fight is reaching an end, as Illfang throws his axe and buckler to the floor and reaches for a weapon on his belt.
"Alright, guys! This last part's gonna take careful coordination... which is why I'm just gonna do it myself!" Diavel shouts as he runs ahead of the other players and charges up a sword skill.
Illfang unsheathed his blade, but instead of a tulwar-
"Diavel, that's not a tulwar, it's an odachi!" Kirito yelled, "Get outta there now! You can't stop its attack!"
But before that information could've been used for something helpful, Illfang scored a home run while using Diavel as the ball. Kirito and I ran to where he landed while everyone else held Illfang back.
"What the hell were you-" Kirito tried to offer him a health potion, only for Diavel to push his hand away.
"No... it's better this way. I just... can't do it anymore. I had such high hopes at first, but now? Now the best players are that girl in the hood and you two assholes." Diavel chuckles.
"Why are you talking like we should know eachother?" Kirito asked.
"The Beta..." I muttered, they both looked at me, "That's why you guys were so familiar... you were Beta Testers..."
"I wished you both came to me about making a party, thankfully you guys didn't change your names. But... seems my luck wasn't there and I got stuck with them... Heh, how do you stand it? Where do you draw your strength?" Diavel pleads.
Kirito just looks at the ground, poor kid isn't expecting things to go this badly. I raise my head a little.
"I've been playing MMO's a long time, Diavel, and if there's one thing I've learned, it's that lions don't concern themselves with the opinions of sheep." I smirk, "Just take that voice in your head that tells you to be tactful and understanding... and shoot it. Shoot it in the goddamn face."
"You are... wise. Maybe if we met back in the Town of Beginnings... perhaps... things would be different." Diavel's body begins to fade as his health is little more than a pixel wide.
"Another time, maybe another life... we could've been friends." I said.
"I... doubt it..." Diavel's avatar explodes into polygons as he's getting his brain fried.
"Well, fuck you too!" I grumble as I pull Kirito out of his state of shock.
Asuna reached us with a plan.
"Alright, here's what we'll do. One counters his blows to knock him off balance and two switch in to attack. Rinse, repeat, victory."
I chuckle and mutter under my breath, "Not bad... for a casual."
We rush forward, Kirito charges up a skill to block one of Illfang's attacks. But before I could attack, a sentinel spawned in front of me, leaving Asuna to attack. She stumbled a little, leaving herself open for a second. But either Illfang has poorer eyesight than I remember or it's drunk, because its attack does nothing but destroy Asuna's red cloak, revealing her long auburn hair. She glares the monster down as her rapier glows a hot pink and she delivers a powerful stab to its gut.
"You wanna get yourself killed now?!" I yelled, rushing forward.
"That was a fluke and you know it!" Asuna yells back.
"Guys, wait a-" Kirito tries to intervene, but Illfang knocked all three of us on our asses.
But before it could end it, fucking Agil and Kibaou counter its attack and save us!
"You guys okay?!" Kibaou yells.
"Well keep it distracted while you three get your health back up!" Agil follows, "Squad A and C, rip and tear!"
Agil and Kibaou, in the brief moments that Diavel has been dead, proved to be more effective leaders. The players were actually following their orders. Kirito, Asuna, and I immediately started chugging health potions until we were at full HP. Those guys had balls/ovaries of steel, but the boss was quickly becoming too much of a problem for them. It jumped up high and was preparing to do a slam attack that would surely kill the players attacking it.
I got up, something was pushing me to stop this. Darting forward, I held my cutlass over my shoulder and charged it until the blade glowed green.
"Hey, fuckhead!" I yelled as I delivered my hardest attack to Illfang's back.
My feet touch the ground, I spun my cutlass in my palm. This... was getting more and more exhilarating by the second!
"Kirito, Asuna! Let's put this bastard in the ground!"
They raced alongside me as we frantically blocked and counterattacked. Despite how fast we were moving, we never seemed to step over eachother. We worked in perfect sync. As Illfang was left with only a few pips of health, we lay the coup de grace. Asuna charges her attack and stabs Illfang in the chest, knocking it back a few feet. Kirito then swung at its legs, stunning it and bringing it down. This is how Illfang dies.
"Kid, get down and boost me! I'm gonna jump!" I yell.
Kirito immediately kneels and stiffens his back. With one step, I jump off of Kirito's back and begin to charge my cutlass, the blade glowing a lime green.
"Die, you bastard!" I screamed as I cleaved through Illfang's head, splitting it in half.
Preforming a backflip to get off of it, Illfang's body explodes into polygons and a "congratulations" banner pops down from the ceiling. One guy cheered. Apparently I got a pair of boots, bracers, coat, and scarf as drops. The light in the room dimmed as Agil walked up to us.
"Congrats, you guys! That was more impressive than that cat that learned to play." Agil smiled.
"So I'm not tripping? Everyone can see that?!" One guy yelled.
"You've lead us to victory, you three. These people and I will follow you into hell itself." Agil clapped, "Now, address your people."
Kirito seemed a bit shocked, and Asuna looked to me for what to do next. When was I assigned as the leader of this? Oh right, when I split Illfang's head in two. I get up, sheath my cutlass, and begin walking to the players.
"Always knew this day would come." I cleared my throat as I walked through the players, "Fellow gamers! We have traveled far and up many stairs to get to this point. Fighting side by side, newbs and leets alike. I'd like to take a moment to say that I couldn't have done it without each and every one of you."
"Aww, that's a nice thing to say." Agil said.
"'Course, I'm not a liar, so I'm not gonna say any of that."
"Oh shit..." Kirito grumbles.
"I mean, really. I could've done this whole fight by myself. But to be fair, you did absorb a bit of damage for me, which was nice. You were an adequate meat shield, and no one can take that away from you." I chuckle darkly.
"Crap, shut him up, shut him up!" Asuna hissed.
I start rifling through my inventory to find my new armor pieces as I continue letting these morons know what I really thought of them, "So, for those of you who came in late, and that one guy playing Bejeweled back there... shoot for the stars! It'll be all the more fun for me when I kick you back down to the dirt where you belong."
"You're not better than us!" One player yelled.
I look back with an aroused smirk as I equipped my new armor. A dark green scarf, sleeveless black tailcoat, leather bracers, and cuffed boots.
"My sweet ass pirate costume begs to differ."
"Dammit, he's got us there." Another player whispers.
I begin to walk up to the door. Just before Kibaou yelled at me.
"Wait!" He paused, "Why'd you do it, huh? Why'd you let Diavel die?!"
"What?" I laughed.
"I said you let him die! Admit it!"
Wait, I didn't say anything... I looked over to Kirito, then Kibaou.
Kibaou is blaming him...
"He... I didn't let him die! Diavel refused to take the health potion I was giving him!" Kirito yelled back.
"But you knew what technique the boss used! If you told us about that, then he wouldn't have gotten himself killed!"
"But it didn't use the same one!" Kirito protested, I need to get involved before this gets ugly.
"And how the fuck would you know that?!" Kibaou cried.
"He's a Beta Tester!" The players started yelling.
Like fucking sheep, the lot of them. Kirito's in the corner and...
I start chuckling to myself.
Then I start laughing...
Then it becomes a manic cackle!
I draw their attention away from Kirito and onto me.
"That's adorable!" I shouted, "You seriously think that pipsqueak is a Beta Tester?!"
"What are you talking about?!" Kibaou demanded.
"All the Beta Testers are dead."
The words hung in the air as the players gasped. I have them wrapped around my finger. So this is what I was like to Reina.
"Most of the players got themselves killed. Either their old tricks didn't work and they couldn't level up properly, or they were afraid of you dipshits coming after them like it was the Salem Witch Trials and decided to throw themselves off the side of Aincrad..." I laugh again, "Not like me."
"You... what are you saying?!"
"Guess you're deaf on top of being stupid... I'm saying the Beta Testers are all dead! Diavel was 999, I'm the only one left. I told that kid about the boss's moves before the fight. How could he know what I told him was wrong? I sure as hell didn't!" Chuckling to myself again, I place a hand up to my chin, "Figured it would've used one of the katana skills from the upper floors..."
The players started an uproar, "Knowing things like that... it's cheating! You're worse than being a Beta Tester! You're cheating!"
The words "Beta Tester" and "Cheater" echoed in the crowd, eventually morphing into the word "Beater". Sounds like a slang word for someone who jacks off a lot.
"You can call me whatever you want, whatever helps you cope with the fact that my chances at survival are higher than yours. But just so you know, the Beta Testers couldn't even get to Floor Nine. So being a 'Beater' won't last long."
I turn back to the door and start making my way up the stairs to the exit. That's when the sound of rapid footsteps approached me. Don't have time for this shit, I groaned and turned to see Kirito.
"What the hell was that all about? Why-" I cut him off by grabbing his shirt and pulling him to me, so we're eye to eye.
"That little bit of theater was so those idiots don't start hunting us, so the only decent players can actually beat this game. I gave you and the other Beta Testers a chance to hide yourselves, so I'm going to need you to listen up, I'm only saying this once."
I lean in and whisper in his ear, "Don't let me catch you or the others revealing yourselves. Because if word gets out that there are other Beta Testers, I will find you, and it won't be pretty." I push him away as I head up to the next floor.
"Spread the word, Kirito."