Nearly 2 years has past with the assault team pushing past floor 70 and are preparing to raid floor 74. Tridon was present for most of those, but recently, he hasn't been seen by anyone. Not Kirito, Klein, Agil, or Asuna. Only one person knows where he's been and that's Chris.

Tridon was lying under a tree in some fields while talking back and forth with Chris about the situation both in SAO and real life. Ironically, a new update that allowed live voice chat has been very useful to Tridon and his agency. Or more so Chris than anyone, "Chris, I can't seem to wrap my around something."

"What is it?"

"I don't understand how there's no information on where Kayaba is. You'd think people would find him at some point, but nothing. What's going on out there Chris?"

"First off, it's Kurisu. Second of all, they're trying to control the SAO patients. You were lucky enough to have me enter you in early."

"Thanks I guess...," Tridon looked on towards the sky again and sighed, "Something so beautiful and advance was created by some who planned to kidnap and trap 10000 people in a game where it could mean their life..."

"Yeah, the death toll has gone up too. I think nearly 1500 have died. How are you doing in there?"

"Taking a break from the frontline. Too much drama there between Asuna and Kirito."

"They're young, let them be."

"You're young too."

"I'm only younger than you by 2 years Shikatsu."

"Alright..."

"Tridon!" Asuna called out from behind.

"Sounds like Ms. Second-in-Command is angry at someone."

"Oh man, I'll talk to you later...," Tridon endedtheir voice chat to completely ignore Asuna.

"Excuse me! Earth to Tridon!"

"Oh! What do you need fine maiden of the Knights of the Blood Oath?" Tridon sarcastically asked.

"I'll just shrug off that sarcastic comment. Anyway, a lot of people have been worried about why you haven't been on the frontline recently."

"Worried that one of their top players isn't there to assist them, or it's one less beta tester that could possibly die and be out of their hair?"

"You know the reason."

"Oh whatever, the frontline has done fine without me. What is it? I haven't been in the last 10 floor completions? They're doing fine," Tridon stretched and started to fall asleep, "Everyone is doing fine. Besides, Kirito is still on the frontline, so it should go smoothly."

"Hm? Oh really? Need I remind you that one person can't fight without a good strategy. You were our strategist and our frontline fighter. What happened? Are you burnt out or something?"

"Let me think... of course! Trying to think of a strategy when we barely know anything on the boss is just ridiculous. Sometimes, the scouts we send in don't even make it back with vital information let alone alive. That means I'll have to to think of a strategy while we're there."

"But you do well under pressure!"

"Who said that?"

"Kirito...," Tridon was about to refute, but he smirked and slyly smiled at Asuna, "What?"

"You have a crush on him don't you?"

"W-What are you talking about?!"

"I've seen how you two act. Even if you're at each other's throats every few meetings, I see that the both of you have grown close. I mean, he did tell me about the time you solved the murder within the safezone and about information on a new murder guild."

"Oh, so he told you about the moment we almost had at the end of it?"

"What moment?"

"Nothing!"

Tridon chuckled as he sat up and crossed his arm, "Do you have a crush on him?"

"Well," Asuna softly started as she took a seat beside him, "I like him, but not in that type of way. Almost like..."

"How I see the both of you?" Tridon finished for her.

"And that is?"

"Almost like younger siblings I guess."

"Oh...," Asuna had a hint of disappoint in her voice causing Tridon to wonder and smirk slightly short afterwards.

"Asuna, there has to be a whole different reason you want me. What do you need?"

"Well, earlier last week, we sent a team in to defeat a field boss to clear a path for the dungeon for a short time, but they haven't returned. I was going to head over with a group and I think it would be nice if you came to help just this once."

Tridon sighed as he patted Asuna's head, "Fine, I'll do it. When do we go?"

"Tomorrow at noon. Bring your A game...," Asuna stood up and started walking off but she noticed that Tridon was going straight to sleep, "You're really sleeping here. Outside a safe zone?"

"Pssh, I've done this tons of times and not once has anything happened to me..."

"Hm...," Before Asuna could say anything else, Tridon was already fast asleep. Asuna placed her knuckle under her chin before stepping closer to him.

-5 hours later-

Tridon sat up, yawned, and stretched before bis hand accidentally landed on flesh. He looked down to see that his hand landed on Asuna's face, "Uh, okay?" He softly chuckled and smiled, "Look who decided to join in...," As he was watching her sleep, Tridon received a chat request from Chris, "What could you possibly want sis..."

"Shikatsu. Good evening."

"Good evening I guess. I just had a good long nap and you won't believe who ended up joining with me."

"Was it Ms. Second-in-Command?"

"Right on the nose. Who'd thought that she would join for a nap especially outside a safe area."

"That's cute I guess, but what did she want?"

"They wanted me to check out an area boss that more than likely took out a recon squad. Chris, can you run a diagnostics on thedeaths in the last week? It would probably help to figure out whether that crew really perished or if they tucked their tails and booked it out of there."

"Okay, but if you can, if you would try and not have Asuna hear what's going on."

"Got it," Tridon looked at her and shifted his body on the other side of the tree they were on, "Okay, whatchu' got?"

"This doesn't seem right. I see no deaths in the last 7 days. Nothing in the last 2 weeks either. Are you sure she got the right information?"

"I don't know. A field boss in this game isn't hard to beat, so it did seem odd when she told me that they haven't reported back."

"I'm finding nothing. I don't think it'll be worth it to check out the area with too large a group. I'd say that only the both of you should go to lessen the risk of casualties."

"That's probably our best bet."

"Okay, I'll talk to you either later or tomorrow in case something else comes up."

Tridon started to think about why someone would feed false information to Asuna. Tridon looked at Asuna who was fast asleep and it didn't seem like she was going to get up anytime soon. Tridon sighed knowing that'd it be dangerous to leave such a prestigious player outside the safe zone alone. He didn't feel like carrying her only for her to wake up to a misunderstanding.

He decided to just watch over her to make sure that nothing happens her while she's still napping, "Damn, this feels a lot like Kirito's story. Well, that prooves that she's overworked. This shows that she needs a nap every now and then. Especially since this is the second time I've heard or seen her do this."

Tridon took his spot next to her again, took out his spear and sat with prepared to defend her, "I'll just sit here and kill whoever tries to mess with us..."

-2 and a half hours later-

Asuna awoke with some saliva following down her chin with Tridon who stared at her with a smirk, "Looks familiar right?" Asuna was about to quickly rise and take out her rapier, but Tridon held her down with his spear, "Now, now there. Do you really think I'd do something to you while you were asleep? Think about it. That would be extremely immoral and illegal. I'm 19 and you're 15. That just raises tons of white flags. Anyway, I think it would be in our best interest to head off and rest somewhere else now. It's getting pretty late and the late night spawns here aren't to be fucked with. Let's go," Tridon hopped up, stretched, and walked ahead of her.

"Were you watching over me?"

"Yeah, I told you. You're like my little sister. I can't let anyone or anything do something to you."

"Oh... right...," Asuna sounded a little down again once he brought that she was like a sister to him.

"There you go again..."

"Huh?"

"The first time I brought up that you were like a sister to me, you were just as down about it then. What's up? Do you have crush on...," Before Tridon could finish his question, Asuna brought her rapier at his throat causing him to sigh, "Alright, I won't dig too deep into it. Seriously though, if you have a thing for me or Kirito, you need to act on it."

"Maybe it's not as easy as you think. Girls are very different than boys you know..."

"Maybe, I did live with a sister, but she was very tomboyish, so it was sort of like living with a brother. She didn't care about what she calls 'girl things' and did stuff with me which was pretty much being outside and enjoying the outdoors."

"You're an outdoorsy guy?"

"I enjoy the outdoors when I can. My sister and I have a very intense schedule. The contents of that schedule is something I can't talk about."

"Why is that?"

"Like I mentioned, I can't talk about it. Let's just change the subject. Uh, how did you get into something like SAO. I mean, when you first started, you didn't know right from left in this game. It's obvious you aren't very into these games."

"I'm not into games in general. This copy of SAO is originally my brother's, but he wasn't home to try it out. I wanted to see what the hype was and decided to dive. I didn't expect to be stuck in this game to fight for my life..."

Tridon heard some hesitation in her explanation and took careful note of it before responding, "Nobody did. Kayaba was a cruel man to trap so many people in this game for his own personal gain. This is awful."

"Yeah..."

Tridon looked above them and stared at the sky once more, "To think a world this beautiful was creation of a maniac. Even from someone who can't update an interface correctly. Like, come on Kayaba."

"I don't find it too buggy."

"Sometimes it doesn't even respond and when it does, it's completely bugged."

"You know, you complain about the game alot. I find it kinda funny..."

"Pssh...," In the midst of their walk, a chat request popped up from Chris, "Chris?"

"Who's Chris?"

"Uh, I gotta take this...," Tridon ran off and answered the call from Chris, "Chris, what's up?"

"I have something that might help with your current situation."

"Okay. What is it?"

"Well, I found a report that was hidden that there has been a weird boost in deaths recently. Some in large groups, others were very sporadic."

"Hm, Kirito told me about a murder guild slowly rising. That might be the work of a murder guild."

"Who would want to go and murder in that game? Shouldn't everyone be joining up and completing the floors?"

"I don't know. Perhaps insanity. I've seen some people go insane in this game. Some became bandits, others... thought it was too much to handle..."

"I see..."

"I don't know. I have no clue what's going on out there past the safe zones and the more I think about it, the more it worries me."

"Has there been any reports of... you know... non-consensual acts of sex?"

"Nothing like that has gotten back to the towns. Then again, I haven't gone back to the floors below. But Chris, I don't want to think about that."

"I know, sorry. Is that what you're worried about? Perhaps for Asuna?"

"That's a high probability, but it's for other female players. The ones that can't protect themselves. I worry for a lot of those players. Asuna can handle herself without any problems. However, the others... I worry for them."

"You're afraid you can't protect them all. Nobuyuki, you can't protect everyone. I know how much you do, but that's impossible."

"I don't care how impossible the task is, I'll do everything in my power to protect everyone."

"Hehe," Chris softly chuckled and sighed, "that's what the Colonel saw in you. It's what I saw in you. You might be very impulsive, but you're impulsiveness is for the greater good."

"Are you complementing me Chris? That's quite adorable of you little sis."

"No, don't say anything like that..."

"Sorry, I just don't feel you complementing me like that. Anyway, I'm going to go rest up before tomorrow. I'll take into account of the info you gave me."

"Alright, have a good night."

"Thanks, you should rest up too. I'm sure you've been working hard gaining all this information."

"Yeah, I have. Hm, I guess I can get a much needed rest."

"Good, as your older brother, I have to be worried for you. Get a good night rest okay Chris?"

"As much as I want to correct you right now, I'll just leave it be."

"You know I'll always call you Chris. It's what I'm used to. Besides, that's what our friends in America called you right?"

"I guess. Well, get some rest Nobuyuki."

"I will. You get some sleep too."

"Good night."

"G'night," They ended their chat with Tridon sighing heavily, "Laughing Coffin was the only well-known murder guild out there. They're still out there and I can't imagine what they could be doing to the players at lower levels. Hell, even us higher level players aren't safe from those bastards."

"Tridon?" Tridon quickly turned around to see Asuna walking up to him, "Who were you talking to?"

"Just a friend."

"You called them your little sister and that she had a report for you. Is she your information gatherer?"

"Yeah, you could call her that."

"Well, that's what I thought at first, but I also heard her talk about a colonel. Tridon, I don't even know of most guilds that uses colonel as a rank. Only general and such. Is there something you're not telling me?"

"Uh, let's get some rest. No use dwindling on it now. Besides, I have some new information on..."

"The murder guild that Kirito and I discovered? Yeah, I heard about that too. It makes it weird that whoever this 'Chris' person is knew about the deaths in this game very sporadic and possibly when it happened. Is this person even in this game?"

"Uh... oh look, it's getting late. Let's head go," Tridon quickly walked passed Asuna towards his hotel. All the while she wondered what was going through his mind.

That next day, Tridon and Asuna roamed across an area in floor 45. Tridon's new armor was a little more elaborate as it was white with dragons carved into it. The undergarments were a mix of blue and white along with him wearing a headband. Asuna took notice of this and decided to pry on it, "Uh, that armor looks high leveled. Where'd you get it?"

"I found some materials for it and had a friend smith it for me. However, that same smith died a few weeks back so I'm stuck without a smith. I may have nice armor, but my weapon isn't up to par. Do you know anyone Asuna?"

"Hm, I actually know of someone who's on the 47th floor. She's one of the best blacksmiths I know. You should check her out when you have the time."

"Hm, I just might," While they were walking, Tridon held his hand in front of Asuna and said, "Get your weapon ready. I sense something and it's not just that sheep right there..."

"Sheep?" Asuna looked at the lone sheep that stood without a care in the world, "Is that?"

"Probably a trigger for the actual boss. It's best if we remain cautious. I'll see if I can activate the boss," Tridon slowly stepped forward and held his hand out, "Hey there little sheep. Uh, I'm just gonna activate the boss and...," Tridon stopped when he looked past the sheep into the forest and saw something dashing towards them, "Oh no!" Tridon bent backwards and saw a humanoid like creature attack him.

He fell onto his back as the creature landed with 4 health bars beside it appearing, "Is that it?" Asuna asked.

"Oh geez, I wonder...," Tridon sarcastically answered, "It seems low leveled. Let's take care of this," Tridon went in for an attack, but the creature moved out of the way so fast that Tridon couldn't even detect where it would go next, "What the hell?"

"Behind you!" Tridon quickly turned around to block an attack from the creature. The two met in deadlock with the creature screeching extremely loud at Tridon. Tridon only smirked as he slid under the creature and kicked it from behind, sending it forward.

"Attack it now Asuna!" Tridon ordered.

Asuna nodded and dashed just as fast as the creature and attacked with lightning fast attacks, "Switch Tridon!"

"On it!" Tridon ran up as the boss was stunned as he spun in a tight spiral extremely fast. He cut through the boss and landed beside Asuna.

"Look at its health Tridon," He glanced over and saw that it was on its last bar of health after only a small barrage of attacks.

"This boss definitely wanted to rely on its speed to combat players. I guess that doesn't work here. Let's finish it off Asuna!"

"Right!"

Moments later, Asuna and Tridon sat where they had just fought the boss slightly panting, "That takes care of that, but that still leaves us wondering what happened to the recon unit."

"Perhaps they were taken out. They probably didn't expect this boss to be so quick and they were quickly taken out before they knew it."

"I hope that's the case. We've been here for a good few minutes since killing it. If it were a ploy, they would've attacked us already. Well, it takes 3 days before the boss respawns. I say you get the assault team ready and do your thing."

"What about you? We could always use an extra hand and everyone needs you."

"I'll return," Tridon shortly stated which caused her to smile. However. he added something else, "After I get my weapon upgrade."

"What?!"

"Remember, I still need a better weapon."

"Hm," Asuna thought it over before snapping her fingers, "That settles it! I'm taking you to my blacksmith tomorrow!"

"Aw what? Come on Asuna..."

"What? I said tomorrow. It gives you the rest of the day to rest or goof off. I'll have to report to the commander about the path to the labyrinth being cleared."

"Alright fine..."

"Don't worry. She's a great blacksmith. Meet me on the 47th floor tomorrow morning."

"Oh fine..."

Asuna smiled as she brought out a crystal and looked at Tridon, "Do you need a lift to the town?"

"Nah. I have something to take care of. Besides, I have warp crystals."

"Okay, remember to meet me there tomorrow," Asuna stated before teleporting away.

"Couldn't even wait for a response?" Tridon sighed before he started walking back towards the town. Meanwhile, he decided to check on Chris. He requested a chat with her and instantly got it accepted.

"Shikatsu..."

"And we're back to that," Tridon stated under his breath.

"What?"

"Uh, we killed the field boss and now I feel it's understandable as to how the recon unit died or ran away. The boss was abnormally fast for this area. Luckily, Asuna is just as fast so there was no hassle."

"That's good I guess. What are you planning on doing now?"

"Well, I'm gonna upgrade my weapon tomorrow before I help with this floor's boss."

"Oh, so Asuna convinced you to come back?"

"Nah, I'm just tired of waiting around. I think it's best if I go back and get us out of here. We've gotten a lot of progress in these last 2 years and I'm tired of this game. Plus, nobody has a clue on Kayaba's whereabouts. How can he be so elusive?"

"Beats me, but it's good that you're stepping up again. The assault team got a lot done when you were on there. I see this as a good change."

"I guess. Well, what are you gonna do now?"

"I don't know. I have nothing better to do. If I could, I'd like to hangout with you, but there's sort of a problem with that."

"Yeah, but you know we couldn't leisurely hangout that way. We have a mission and you know how the Colonel gets."

"That old fart needs to lighten up. Besides, we haven't hung out since I came back to Japan. You know, when I was living here, I sort of missed America. I mean, Japan has my roots, but I lived in America for so long that I sort of felt out of it when I came back here."

"Shikatsu, I remember you saying that you only lived in Japan since you were 4. However, our files say otherwise."

"I only said that so your parents wouldn't worry. I don't know how long I lived in Japan before I was sent to America and I'd much rather not know to be honest."

"I guess that makes sense. Actually," Chris paused shortly before adding, "there might be another case for you when you escape SAO."

"What?"

"Well..."

"No. Don't tell me what it is okay? Just tell me when if I make it out okay?"

"Don't say that. It almost sounds like..."

"Don't...," Tridon sternly requested, "Just hold off on the case for now and we might need to make our calls scarce."

"Why is that?"

"Well, Asuna listened in on us last night and it kinda worries me that she might catch on to who I am and what my true purpose is..."

"Damn, that would be bad if she found out who you are."

"First, no swearing. Second, she might already know. That girl isn't an airhead like most of the female players I've met. I heard she's a top student. Although that was before this incident but that's besides the point. She's not stupid and I'm sure of she catches one of our other conversations, she'll know."

"I see. Well, before we talk, I'll ask if you're alone just to be sure."

"That should suffice I guess. Uh, I'm gonna head back to my hotel and we can talk back there until tomorrow I guess."

"Okay, be safe on your way back."

"Before head off, I have a little more weird information."

"And that is?"

"Asuna sort of hesitated when I asked how she got into SAO. He answer sounded believable, but at the same time, it sounded rehearsed. Like she's been practicing for this particular question."

"Maybe she actually likes games and don't want people to think that a girl like her could be a geek."

"I don't know. I feel something from her and that girl definitely has a secret I'm willing to uncover."

"Well, don't go killing yourself over it. Curiosity is what killed the cat."

"I get it. Well, I guess I'll c'ya soon..."

"Bye..."

Tridon ended their chat before sliding down on a nearby tree. He looked at his spear and then his hand, "I have a bad feeling about the next few days. I don't feel confident about something. This next boss room seems... odd for it to have a field boss on the path to the labyrinth itself...," He looked onto the dungeon that houses the boss and sighed, "Something will happen. I know it..."