Chapter posted: 9th December 2013

Disclaimer: I don't own Sword Art Online.

Chapter 1: Traitor's Tomb 01

"By my spear, I shall make this world mine."

A simple spear made of ash and steel.

The most common weapon in Aincrad. Used by the humblest farmers to the mightiest warriors. Its masters can be found in every corner of the world, eager to hand down the legacy of war.

- Spear item description

There was something etched on the dusty stone slab. Gloved hands wiped away the dust. A torch was brought on to the inscription, illuminating the text. On it, a warning was written and a voice read it out loud:

Cowards, traitors, deserters,

Forever restless, forever shamed.

Mercy withheld, retribution given,

None but themselves to blame.

An eerie silence fell onto the hall. The fifty something warriors shuffled about uncomfortably. Some scratched their non-itchy heads; a few were looking back and forth with alert eyes. One could hear a pin drop and the sound would have echoed throughout the dank, dark dungeon.

"Well, okay!" the leader at the front shouted, startling some of the group members. The leader was a man in his sixties, old but physically strong. His neatly combed hair was as grey as his long and neatly trimmed beard. His armour was a coat of mail over a padded jack, simple but effective. Shortbow and sword hung from his belt. Despite his age there was a vigour that bellied his appearance. He cleared his throat and addressed the group.

"Welcome to «Traitor's Tomb 01», ladies and gentlemen. We all know why we're here. Do you all still remember the briefing?" Murmurs spread and he could see blank, confused faces among them. "Okay, who thinks we need to go over the briefing again, raise your hand."

All raid members raised their hands and his face fell. Oh my God, we went over this twice already! Calming himself, he spoke out in a loud and clear voice.

"We need to find the King's former Captain and lay him to rest. Unfortunately, we have yet to find his exact location." The last bit of information had some of them groaning.

He held up his hands, "Now calm down everyone. As some of you know, there are a lot of large, elaborate rooms that would make you might think would be his lair. Most aren't. Those rooms are filled with traps or his minions, wasting valuable manpower and resources." He waited a moment to let the information sink in before continuing.

"However, it seems like our search has nearly come to an end! Roughly 90% of the Tomb has been mapped out by our scouts and cartographers. To the Eastern side," he pointed to the direction, "lay the only uncharted remains of the dungeon. And from our field reports, there seems to be a large concentration of Undead, meaning-"

"-that's where he's most likely hiding!" someone at the back finished.

"Correct. That's why we've brought a large party here compared to the smaller groups of scouts we sent beforehand. Not only that, we also hired some mercenaries to be our forward advance."

He gestured his hands to a group of a dozen men wielding a mixture of spears and longswords. Clad in mail coats, covered dark blue tunics with a shield symbol over crisscrossed halberds. They stood out among the party, a concentrated drop of blue in a lake of colours. Azure Company was some of the higher tiered mercenaries around and they cost more than your average sellsword.

The captain pointed at the hallway with his finger and he traced it across the hall. A bright white line appeared, eight meters long, the line grew to become squares and a couple of meters back, another identical line appeared as he dragged his finger back. He clenched his fist and pulled back, a white circle appeared and then extended and his fist unclenched. Five extended fingers tap empty air six times, each tap created a 5x6 row of squares. He tapped quickly on the groups, spears appeared at the front, swords in the middle and bolts and arrows at the back.

He was so glad that he pumped points into «Leadership». This would have taken twenty minutes to do without it.

"Alright, time we move out! Formations, people!"

The group of adventurers fell into their planned squads. Half of the mercenary squad stood in front, shields and spears raised. The other half consisting of longswordsmen stood between them. Besides them a similar group of warriors in heavy armour stood in formation wielding spears. Behind them were the ones with kite shields and a variety of hammers and axes. Further in the back were arbalists with readied crossbows and furthest in the back were the archers, arrows nocked and at the ready. The leader himself and the odd rest were in the middle, acting as reserve.

The march to the Captain's chamber was a long one. Torch bearers went to the side and lit up or replaced the ancient wall torches, bathing the hall in an orange glow. A misplaced step could break a foot, an arrow could fly from the darkness. The forward advance team was alert and tensed. The back ranged support were just as anxious, secret doors and crevices hiding ambushers were very common at end level dungeons.

"Excuse me, Leader-sama." The leader looked up from his map. The addressee was a large muscular man, with dark skin and black braids that reached his shoulders. His mail coat could hardly contain his broad chest. The only other armour he had was a coned helmet. In his exposed muscular arms, was a large and long wooden club with iron spikes at one end - a kanabo - which he carried over the shoulder. The man was the perfect image of a stereotypical barbarian.

"Yes, Benkei? And please, call me Ridwan," said the leader.

"I was wondering, where are the mobs of enemies that should be guarding these halls?"

The one known as Ridwan stroked his beard answered in a tone that was befitting of the old sage image, or so he'd like to imagine, before answering, "We had some our scouts go forward the uncharted parts to reconnaissance. They're also clearing up the weaker enemies to save us some trouble." And as if coincidence wanted to illustrate his point, they passed a few corpses of dead Tomb Guards, all riddled with arrows.

"But what if they perish and don't make it back to us?" Benkei asked.

"No need to worry yourself. These scouts are level 14 and have some of the best equipment available at this time. Whatever this dungeon throws at them, they'll be able to deal with it." Ridwan gave the brute a reassuring smile which seemed to calm his nerves. "That a new club?" he gestured to asker's long club.

"Yeah! I've been practicing it on some mobs outside of town. Even unlocked some new Perks for it," the barbarian answered, almost childishly.

Ridwan had first met the giant near the Spider Fields on the 8th floor on his way to complete a quest with a group of other people, many of them foreigners like himself. He had seen Benkei swinging that club of his in wide arcs that left him vulnerable to attack, a clear indication he was a few points of STR short to use it right. After saving him a trip to the first floor from a particularly dangerous mini-boss, a few minutes of teaching and a couple of hours grinding, he had become far more efficient with it. This led Benkei to join the older man on subsequent quests including the ninth floor dungeon.

Ridwan shook his head, smirking. "Good for you. Hopefully, that'll come in handy soon. The Guards have mediocre armour but they come in numbers. Make sure to break their armour and shields down." The older man returned his attention to his map. "We're almost th-"

A long agonizing scream echoed through the hallways, interrupting the two's discussion, followed by more screams and the sound of hacking and slashing. The sounds of battle died and replaced with rapid footsteps. A figure emerged from the dark, running full speed into the group. The front advance readied their weapons to skewer the hostile.

"Wait! He's a player! Let him pass!" Shields made way for the man. The figure slipped gracefully through only to collapse clumsily to one knee in front of the raid leader. His breathing was heavy from all the fighting and running.

The man was clad in something mail and jack like most players, but the steel gauntlets and faulds indicated he was a bit above their level. He was missing a helmet and his right shoulder pad was damaged beyond repair, likely by some sort of blunt weapon, left hand holding his injured shoulder, a quality longsword made of blue steel still gripped in his hand.

Benkei ripped off the broken shoulder pauldron and handed him one of his healing poultice from his pouch. The injured swordsman gave a silent 'thanks' and applied it to his wound. The man looked suspiciously familiar …

"Kirito?" the raid leader asked. The one known as Kirito dropped the empty poultice, before taking up his sword again with both hands and stood up facing the direction he came from.

"Talk later. We've got hostiles incoming!"

"Damn! Join the middle group and wait for my orders." Kirito was off in a heartbeat.

The heavy armour at the front raised their shields and pikes. Kirito joined the row of longswordsmen, Ridwan with the rest of the ranged attackers readied their missiles while Benkei and the mix of warriors in the middle stood ready. There was the unmistakable sound of running footsteps.

From the darkness, they emerged.

«Undead Guardians» in brass armour, wielding immaculate bronze hammers and blades. What little of their skin remained wrapped tightly around their bones. Their eyes glowed an unnatural blue. The Traitor's Guards ran fearlessly into the mass that was the raid group. The pillagers of the tomb stood their ground.

"Here they come!"

They clashed.

The spears were levelled just above the shoulder and as if they were all given a silent order, were thrust out instantaneously. They made a sickening sound of steel through their skulls, tearing through dead flesh and ancient bones instantly. They pulled out and repeated the move again and again. Whatever Guard that was able to go through the spearmen's skewering were stabbed by longswordsmen through the gaps.

"Archers! Aim at a 40 degree angle!" Bows notched and went up, arrows nocked in place and strings were pulled as a white arching line appeared before the archers, invisible to the rest.

"Ready!" On the HUD, the icon of the bow had its string pulled.

"Aim!" A small reticule appeared next to the bow icon, the marksmen adjusted their aim.

"Loose!" The crosshair turned red.

Ridwan's arrow was joined by dozens of others. Half of them hit exposed flesh or in weak gaps and the other half bounced off the armour. Arrows rained down from above, only possible due to the high ceiling of the tomb. A strike from any weapon would stagger most creatures in pain but the Undead felt no such thing. To face an Undead is to hack at it while constantly being under assault as some of the raid team found out.

The horde was pushing back the players. For each Guardian fallen, another two would take its place. The amounts of corpses were beginning to pile up. One of the mercenaries thrust his spear into an Undead's chest, the spearhead penetrating the bronze chestplate. He pulled but the spear did not disloged. A fatal mistake.

One of the monsters raised its axe and brought it down against the pikeman's shoulder. A fountain of red burst out. It wrenched out the axe and delivered a final blow to his skull. He died before he fell to the ground, his shield and spear followed; a crack in the defence.

In return, the Guardian's armpit and knee were impaled by two longswords. Kirito yanked his blade out and with precision and power, decapitated it. The other swordsman kicked the corpse off his blade. The two repeated this action on the next Guard. The stabbing increased rapidly as the forward advance stood their ground.

For all their efforts, the shield wall was clearly being pushed back. The arrows were doing very little as the distance between the missile troops closed and the archers had trouble arching their shots. Bronze axes cracked more skulls and a player yelled in surprise as he fell to the ground losing a leg. Ridwan raised his hand and pulled, on everyone's HUD a white flag appeared.

"Retreat! Spearmen, hold them off! Crossbows, slow them down!"

Archers and arbalists took off as the front guard backed away as quickly and carefully as possible.

The rest of the raid team had return to the first chamber of the dungeon. The chamber itself was larger, circular, meant to hold many adventurers to raid the dungeon. Ridwan swiped his hands and brought up his list of formation templates, all pre-planned for something like this. He tapped on Plan B and directed it to the room, glowing squares and lines appeared to some of the players' surprise.

He climbed onto the niche that held the inscriptions. "Formations everyone! We hold them off here!"

The raid team obeyed their orders. Spearmen stood at the entrance of the corridor with what little of the Azure Company was left in a c-shape. The rest of the infantry followed behind in an unruly mass. A better formation would have made space for replacing tired units but time wasn't on their side. The archers and arbalists looked for any height advantage, a pile of rubble or a sarcophagus, anything. A few were picking up bricks, tiles, rocks, whatever they can use to throw into the horde.

By the time everyone took position, the shield wall that held the line were cut down, a necessary sacrifice. In a hurry to run down their victims the horde fragmented, their own shield wall collapsed stretched and spread out evenly, exactly as planned.

"They're disorganised! Attack!" None of the players needed to be told that.

What followed was a gruelling mess of vicious close quarter combat with the some missiles shot in. The horde had weak yet large numbers while the raid group was the polar opposite, lesser but stronger. Shield bearers stood in front to protect their fellow members, attacking from behind their board. The two-handers in the group swung their weapon in large but precise arcs. Battle cries, wordless screams, loud grunts and snappy one-liners were all echoed in the dungeon.

Benkei was very conservative in his swings. His were small in scope but just as devastating. A Guardian with a shortsword came close to a maceman to his right, ready to shank him. The giant shoved the creature with the head of his kanabo staggering it over. The maceman whipped his weapon right across its face. Ridwan had replaced the bow on his back and was halfswording the monsters in the gaps of armour. Kirito was much deeper in the horde with the rest of the heavy infantry, using their thick armour to shrug off blows that would have killed and maimed, cutting down the Undead left and right.

Bit by bit the horde was dying out. Only a dozen plus Guardians remained. With a shout, the raid group descended upon them. Kirito moved in close and fast. His sword sliced through a Guard's leg, dismembering it, followed by a powerful forward kick which sent it knocking over the remainder of the monsters. The players went in to stab, slice, bludgeon the rest of the monsters in what can only described as a vengeful mob. After the last Guard had its head split open by a large axe, the fighting stopped and a loud silence descended onto the chamber.

The raid leader raised his hand and ordered for a break.

"9, 18, 27, 35, 40. 40 …"

40. Only 40 members out of the original 58 were still left. The dozen mercenaries had all perished from the horde. Ridwan didn't care much for the mercenaries, they were disposable for a reason and the 9000 Col he had spent on them was well spent as far as he was concerned. From the sea that was the corpses on the floor, he spotted colourful bodies, dark blue ones among the grey/bronze corpses of the Undead. The living were slumped against the wall, taking respite. He advised all of them to get a drink and a snack which they did by immediately taking a nap.

"So uh, that went well, huh?" He turned and saw the grimy face of Kirito, longsword held loosely in hand. He was an average looking man in his 20s but no one was their real selves in this world.

"We lost six people," he stated.

"Eighteen, including the mercs," Kirito corrected.

"We lost six members," he re-stated.

"At least not everyone died. I was on a team on the seventh floor boss fight. We had about twenty people. Everyone died!" He shook his head. "The raid leader was a total idiot. His idea of tactics consisted of everyone ganging up on the boss and hitting it till it dies." He took out a whetstone from a pocket and started sharpening his blade that was by all accounts still in good condition. "No scouting, no planning, blind luck got us to the boss room. He threw the archers in for melee!"

"Oh yeah, I heard about that. Good thing I missed it. Was on an errand that day." He frowned. "Still, I shouldn't compare myself to him. The blood of my fellow team mates is on my hand." He raised his hands and stared at them in horror.

"You're being overly dramatic," the younger man pointed out.

"Hush. I'm roleplaying the distraught leader that lost a good portion of his team. The game might give me roleplay XP." But no XP drop came to him.

Kirito examined his blade more closely. "Their gear got a bit damaged and they lost some XP. Not a big problem." He blew off corpse dust from his blade and finding it satisfactory, stood up and replaced the sword on his belt sheath. "Besides, that means more loot for us. We should get to that. I bet the Boss is just at the end of the hallway."

"We?" he said. "What are you even doing here; you're not part of our group. I thought you went solo."

"I do." He offered Ridwan his hand and pulled the older man up. "I was actually doing some scouting myself for another group of players. They thought they could do some scouting before doing the Boss fight. Looks like you were the first ones here."

"We have been mapping this place for the past couple of days. Another group, you say?" The raid leader was intrigued. "And what group was this exactly?" He had planned this raid for a week, saving money and convincing locals to join him. No way was he going to allow some other group get all the glory. It could have been those Dragon Lords, or maybe it was Thinker's group.

"I'm a professional. I don't tell client secrets."

"Not even for your old comrade-in-arms?"

The sellsword scratched his chin before finally saying "Well …. Okay. Why not?"

"Great! Which particular group might this b-"

"That will be 800 Col." Kirito extended an open hand.

The two stared each other for quite a while before Ridwan broke the silence. "… You've been hanging around the Rat for too long."

"She's a bad influence I know."

The raid leader looked around the chamber, noticing the lack of members for a proper raid. "So, sign up for my party? Could use another blade."

"Standard fee, 800. Do I get the loot?"

"800 and loot? Hell no. 400 and loot."

"Fine. At least one magic item."

"A chance to get a magic item."

"Deal."

They shook on it.

The raid leader manipulated his fingers in the air and a display box appeared before the swordsman.

«RID-1 has invited you to his party [42/60]. Accept?»

«Yes/No»

He pressed «Yes» and Ridwan could see his healthbar along with the rest pop in his HUD Ridwan clasped his hands. "Right, looting time."

"I'm on it."

The two turned to the massive marauder standing among the pile of corpses like he was posing on some fantasy novel cover. Instead of a scantily dressed damsel in his thick arms, there was an abundance of loot. From bronze weapons to bronze armours to even precious gems. On Benkei's head was a gold helmet with gems embroiled into it (most likely a lucky drop). On his face, a stupid grin. "Can I keep this one?"

Ridwan gestured his hand in a 'gimme' motion. Hesitantly, Benkei gave the leader the crown and the gems. "Shove the bronze stuff in the sacks. Those things were vendor trash before we even reached the fifth floor."

He joined his fellow teammates in scouring for better items. Unfortunately for them it seemed only Benkei got the good stuff. Regardless, even the standard bronze arms and armours were worth something if sold in quantity. The gear of the fallen mercenaries were of higher grade steel and would sell nicely. He could already see the other raid members rummaging through the bodies with practiced ease.

After a good fifteen minutes of going through the dead and the undead alike, the raid team now consisting of only forty walked down the hall to the boss room. The torches were still lit though they were noticeably dimmer. He hated how dark dungeons were. It made the dungeons far bigger than they actually were, more horrifying than they needed to be.

They continued to walk down the hallway. He again had his map in both hands with Benkei holding the torch over his head. The paper map slowly produced black lines as it automatically charted the dungeon. The forty white arrows moved in a clutter. The crosses on the map indicated the members that died. He would have to give those players some sort of compensation as per established contracts.

There were scribbles and circles that he made himself, indicating traps and other dangers, which reminded him. He pulled out a quill from his belt pouch and wrote near the crosses in large capitals, HORDE CHOKEPOINT.

"You shouldn't be investing any points into «Scribe», it's a waste of points," said the sellsword, who had the flat of his sword resting on his shoulder, other hand in pocket, a bit too relaxed after so many deaths. He had no way of knowing anyone's proper age, but if he'd have to guess, Kirito must have been a college student, freshman at most.

"It's a worthy investment. Somebody has to jot down notes."

"You should hire an NPC to do it."

"Scribes cost half the amount of the company that just died, refuse to wear armour, and have the most obnoxious voice acting in the game." He didn't know whose idea was it to design the snootiest NPC class in game but whoever did so should be fired.

"Shouldn't we be concentrating on the path ahead?" the giant's deep voice pulled them out of their banter. "We wouldn't want to be ambushed like that again."

"He's right. We need to be more careful." Maybe Benkei was older than he assumed he was.

"I'm always careful," said Kirito, as he was suddenly tackled to the ground by a Guardian crashing through a wall. They wrestled for a bit until he pulled out a dagger and plunged it into the monster's eye.

He dusted himself off, scooted away from the many blades pointed at his general direction. "Like I said, always careful."

The forward advance was now being held by the remaining spearmen and heavy infantry. Their defence wasn't as solid as it was before because of the loss of their shields, not everyone was clad in heavy padding and mail. While no archers were lost, most were not equip to double as infantry. Regardless of the losses, he was confident that they could still take on whatever the dungeon threw at them, as long as it wasn't another horde.

"Is that a lift?" one of the few female players pointed it out with her shortsword.

They reached the end of the hall and what was there surprised the team. In a large circular room there was a round platform slightly smaller in diameter. In the middle, a lever attached to a box of sorts. Aligning the walls were four think long chains that reached all the way to the top, the 'cables' that hold up and that held the contraption. The surface of the lift was incredibly damaged. There were cracks big enough to slip your foot in. Everyone gave it a cautious space.

This was very strange. None of them had encountered such a thing before. Usually, when it was time to reach the next level, they either walked out of a large set of doors, a cave opening and whatnot and magically teleported out somewhere on the next floor. Said portal was usually placed near the boss itself. Ridwan scratched his beard in thought.

"It could be a trap." A shield and mace wielding warrior said. Knowing dungeon design, it was of a distinct possibly.

"Or maybe that horde was the boss?" A theory coming from an axeman. "And floor 11 is just above us?"

One of the few remaining spearmen said, "No, that can't be right. The boss would have a health bar and that horde had none."

"Or did the individual healthbars count as one big healthbar? They could have been minions." Someone in the front added.

A range of theories and opinions generated from the raid group. The most prominent was the belief it was a trap of sorts. Maybe the lift was to collapse downwards when the lever was pulled. Maybe something from above would drop down and attack them. Regardless, there was no other way to go. Ridwan gave the order and the raid team boarded the lift, readied themselves, fearful of another ambush. Eyes focused skyward.

"Pull the lever!" he ordered Benkei.

Grinding gears moaned loudly, the small size of the chamber amplified the sound further hurting the players with the higher Perception skill, especially those who focussed on hearing. Dust clouds erupted from the exposed gears and with the sound of screeching stone, the lift soon ascended.

The lift made its way upwards and upwards. Eyes were still looking above and around. Torches were still held, basking the chamber with an orange glow. If the fire went out because there was no oxygen left, he was going to leave a very nasty comment on the forums on why Aincrad shouldn't be too realistic.

Fortunately for the group, there wasn't much need for patience. The lift finally made its way up top to what they assumed was the boss room.

The raid group was greeted by the sight of the bright orange sky. Though it was almost dusk, the light was a bit too much for some of the players. There was the sound of wind blowing and they could almost feel it on the skin.

Kirito said, "Looks like that horde was the boss after all." Ridwan could just breathe in the fresh air.

Suddenly, the lift stopped.

The sound of grinding stone.

Cracks in the machine.

They were falling.

Shouting. Cursing.

Dammit.

The ancient lift gave way and toppled over. Dust gathered as the floor broke the stone apart little by little in a long continuous grind. The entire raid group had reached for the lever box in the middle; the few ones that didn't threw themselves to the ground. Ridwan was one of the ones that didn't grab onto the lever. He hoped that his bulk and mail would be heavy enough to do the job.

"Grab hold of something or someone! Everyone, grab the floor if you have to!" he yelled.

Kirito dropped his sword and replaced it with his dagger, jamming it into the floor, cutting into the cracks of the stone, uncaring for the damage it would have done to his blade. The others followed suit and slammed bodies down, many had already discarded their weapons. Benkei, having one of the highest Strength attribute in the group dug his fingers in so much that the stone itself threatened to loose. Ridwan feebly reached out his hands onto the giants arm.

Two archers were flying off, their lighter weight coming back to bite them. "Someone help!" one of them cried out. A couple of raiders grabbed onto one of them while another grabbed onto the other. Their efforts were for naught as the one of the chains snapped and viciously whipped into the two archers. Both died instantly from the hit.

Before they could even let go of their comrades' dead bodies, they reached the end of their descent. The lift slammed down hard, shattering into hundreds of pieces; the debris flew everywhere as did the raiders. Ridwan felt the back of his head slammed into something hard and his world faded to black.

Great, he was unconscious. Ridwan hated this particular feature even if it did made sense from a gameplay perspective.

In the sea of black before him was a timer, five minutes counting down. The developers unwilling to actually knock out the players substitute that feeling for a short timer. Hopefully someone would come by and wake him up. In the meantime, he was going to check his email …

It only took a minute or so when someone actually did. He awoke when he felt water splashing his face. The raid leader sat up startled and sees one of the heavy infantry, Kensei he thinks, standing over him with a flask of water in hand.

"Oh, thank goodness. We thought we lost you there, Leader-sama!" he said, voice full of relief. He glanced upward. "Damn, was hoping to get some XP for surviving that."

The man grabbed his leader's arm and pulled him up. Kensei's face resembled that of a grizzled bearded samurai that wouldn't look out of place from old black and white films, but his choice of weapons consisted of a beautiful two-handed axe and a lovely sverd His armour was mostly chainmail with the spectacled helm of a Viking helm. A blond Toshiro Mifune in Viking garb. Gamers were like that.

"Everyone okay?" He looked around his surroundings. It seems they were in a very large hall of sorts. He spotted three torches lying on the floor. Some of the conscious members were going about reviving the ones that were still out cold.

"We lost two archers, a crossbow guy, two spearmen and a tin can," Kensei said grimly. "The fall was too much for them."

That put their party at 35 men. He already lost almost half of the raid group. They must have been in pretty bad shape to die from the fall. Even his own health bar was still in the yellow zone. Perhaps he really should have taken a Specialist along with him. Maybe hire some player healers, a rather uncommon build.

"Orders?" Kensei asked.

Ridwan then instructed him to round up the surviving raiders and light up more torches. He fished out a poultice and uncorked it with his teeth, spreading the cool gel like substance onto his wounds. Whenever a player was hurt in any way, it would leave a faint glowing mark and it would be need to be healed with poultices to avoid further damage or bleeding to death (there was no actual animation to speak of when it came to bleeding, merely red crystals falling from wounds).

Replacing the flask back into his pouch, he reached for and gulp down a healing potion, regaining a bit of his HP back. Poultices for wounds, potions for general HP regen. There were advanced ones like splints for broken arms and stitching for larger wounds. The more battered a player, the lower their max HP came to be which could only be restored with enough rest or strong magic. The former was to incentivise players to take breaks, the latter has yet to be actually implemented as far as the playerbase knew.

Players could theoretically lose limbs, but that was in alpha, where players who did lose a finger or an eye killed themselves only to respawn good as new. Argus wisely removed that feature before the beta launch, no amount of eye stabbing would remove a player's eye (monsters were fair game however). Grim tales of players dismembering each other or themselves within an inch of their life remained merely tales, not (virtual) reality. Considering that one of Argus' founders was a renowned neurosurgeon, this was not too surprising.

"Wished I pumped points into «Alchemy»," Ridwan heard someone said.

This place was even darker than the floor above; he didn't think that was possible. He walked up to a member scavenging through their fallen comrades bodies. He was pulling off a ring of a finger; the rest of the body had been buried under a sizable boulder. Ridwan slapped him at the back of his head.

"Hey!" Kirito shouted, annoyed. The hall must be very big to echo his 'hey' four times before dissipating.

"Go help with the torches. Or wake up the others. I'll deal with the bodies." Kirito gave a hearty 'hai!' before leaving. Or he would have had he not been pulled back by his collar. The raid leader made the same motion that was directed at Benkei before. Kirito placed the ring from before into the open palm.

"The rest of it."

Kirito moved his fingers to his trade screen and gave the leader the rest of the loot, all of it coin, none of them gear. You could tell how greedy a player was depending on what they looted during dungeon runs, coin was easily missed but gear wasn't. There was an unwritten rule that you should never loot a player's gear, and even if you killed someone, only take their money, not their equipment. Not that it stops murderous players from griefing.

They had their ten minute rest and prepared themselves. Blades were sharpened, dented armour was hammered out and new arrows and bolts were made on the spot. The raid team readied themselves for what's to come. Why let a few deaths get in the way of loot and treasure?

Like before, scouts were sent to recon the area. Kirito and a couple of archers volunteered for the task. It didn't take them long at all; they had stumbled upon a large set of doors. They moved forward in formation, green tiles glowed softly under their feet.

Ten feet in height, eight feet in diameter dull bronze giant doors were the traditional signs of a boss fight. This was it. Two weeks' worth of scouting, mapping, gathering resources, training, studying tactics had boiled down to this. If they failed, they could do it again but it would be a tedious thing. Not to mention 9000 Col worth of supplies going down the drain. No, it ends today.

"Open it." The doors creaked open.

What greeted them was a large room, much like the hall before. The main difference was that it was lighted by some sort but in the middle stood an altar about two feet of the ground, on the top, a huge sarcophagus.

They took their position. The remaining ranged attackers, including Ridwan himself, drew out their weapons aimed at the large and wide sarcophagus. Spears stood in front of them. Kensei stood above the coffin; axe in hand, the only greatswordsman besides him. Benkei had his hands on the lid. Kirito stood beside nearby, swordpoint at the coffin. They all pushed the lid open, the stone cracking onto the floor.

Silence.

"Well … anything?" the raid leader called out.

They peeked into the coffin.

His question was answered when a blur sent Kensei flying against a wall. The raiders surrounding the coffin stabbed and hacked the creature inside

Another blur sent the two-handers into another wall. The third blur, a rotten grey arm, grabbed Kirito by the throat, lifting him into the air as it rose from its resting place.

It stood an imposing eight feet in height; its body was that of its guard they had fought much earlier. The entire torso was covered in bronze armour of finer quality with gems encrusted around its gorget. Its greaves and armguards were of similar quality, the joints were covered in ancient linen. It carried no weapon but it needed none. On its head an elaborate hedjet, its face was covered in a golden mask like that of ancient Egyptians, pronounced lips, lifeless eyes and a dead expression.

The name «The Traitor Captain» appeared on everyone's HUD along with a humongous healthbar.

It roared a mighty roar that shook the entire room. The raiders attacked.

The boss readied to throw Kirito at the spearmen. His dagger appeared in his hands courtesy of «Quick Equip» and immediately started hacking at the wrist holding him.

"Spears, advance!"

Swords and spears struck true as they penetrated through the linen and into tendons. The two-handers that smashed against the wall had now recovered and were now striking at the Captain's knees. The battle axe easily chopped through the limb and the shattering strikes from Benkei's kanabo made cracks into the kneeguard. By the time the left leg snapped off, they had already drained a quarter of the Boss' health bars with the added benefit of bringing the Boss down to one knee.

By the time that happened, the swordsman had done enough damage to the Boss' hand to let go. He did a specific roll to negate fall damage. Coming behind the Boss, he slashed left and right at the tendons of the other knee.

The Captain lurched forward and threw a straight punch as the shield bearers. The impact pushed them back a few steps but «Lockstep» activated, a Perk that only activated in a line of more than six people. The heavy infantry picked themselves up to take another swing at the boss. Before getting a hit in, the Captain stabilised itself on its good knee and with an agility unexpected of its size did a sweep kick, extending its long leg to throw the attackers back into the wall.

Ridwan ordered the archers to surround the boss and they all moved into more strategic positions and began taking careful shots at the limbs. Arrows and bolts easily pierced the linen and the rigid movement it was making was definitely a good sign. The Captain charged into the shield wall shoulder first and the line pushed did everything to hold themselves steady. The barrage of missiles and the hacking being done from the reinvigorated two-handers greatly decreased the health of the boss all the way to the halfway point.

The second phase activated.

The Boss, giving up on trying to bulldoze the shield wall, backflipped over the heavies, the lack of an enemy to attack almost cost a spearman a head from a friendly.

"Look out!" Kensei yelled.

It sprinted itself into the wall and ran up, a good ten feet, before launching itself off bringing an elbow into the shield wall. The elbow immediately killed a player, driving him into the floor. With the line broken, a flurry of punches and throws decimated the remaining players. A longaxe buried itself into its back but a quick chop at the shaft disarmed Kensei. Another player stepped in with a heavy mace, slamming it into the Boss' face, the damage sufficient to stun it.

The mask cracked and he was rewarded with the decayed face of the Captain. Its face was ashen and grey, in relatively good condition. The skin was smooth and well preserved. The Captain had a strong jaw and health teeth but was missing its lips, eyebrows and eyelids. What stared back at the player were eyes of purple, eyes of pure madness. Its stare glued the two-hander in his place.

The Boss opened its mouth and bit the player in half.

Sound of crunching bone and flesh with the fountain of blood of such brutality made most of the raid group freeze in place. The player cracked its mask, revealing another weak spot for them to take advantage off only to be rewarded by a gruesome death. With a whip of its head, the Captain spat the deceased's body at a halberdier, knocking him down. It let out another roar, more savage than the last.

"Come on! We can finish this!" Ridwan's voice snapped the rest out of shock. "Shoot the face! Shoot the face!" he half shouted, half ordered, fear creeping into his voice. His bowstring twanged quickly as he unloaded arrow after arrow into the face. The marksmen followed his example and one arrow pierced one of its eyes, snapping its head upward.

The raiders now attacked with much more fervour, fear and survival instincts creating will to kill the abomination in front of them. The Captain started to move about swiping at the two-handers. It was able to knock down a greatswordsman by swiping his legs. A raised fist that would have ended his life had Benkei not come by blocking, huge arms holding the much larger arm in place. A halberdier decided to rush in and with a swipe of his halberd cut into its arm, dropping the limb to the floor.

The Traitor Captain roared, teeth barring and swiped away the two two-handers with a hole filled arm. It turned his head to whatever unfortunate target and set his eyes on the group of ranged attackers, which was– oh crap.

It scrambled and opened its jaw, ready to devour the raid leader. Ridwan could at least down it with a critical hit if he shot the monster in the eye. His hand reached for his quiver and – damn! Out of arrows!

He barely dodged the incoming set of teeth that were so close to chomping his leg in half. Ridwan threw himself to the left, rolled and in that one swift motion pulled his sword to engage the Captain in close combat. Putting one foot forward, he swung his blade horizontally and was able to chip off what was left of its nose before retreating. This didn't stop the advance but the barrage of strikes from the rest of the group did.

"He's almost dead! We can do this!"

Hammers, axes, spears, polearms and swords of all varieties went into the Boss' body. The raid group was avoiding to the best of their ability as the Captain was just swinging his remaining arm madly. His devastating donkey kick was rendered useless when Kensei had able to chop it off and the leg lie there useless, leaving the mouth and the arm the only threats left.

With only a sliver of life in it, the Captain directed what's left of its might on an unfortunate spearman that was closest to it. It raised its arm for one final strike only to be stopped by said spearman when he drove his spear through its forearm. Kensei joined in and hacked the back of the skull and as the coup de grâce, Benkei slammed his kanabo right into its face. The Boss gave one final wheeze before collapsing face first into the ground as the last bit of his health bar disappeared. A banner popped up into everyone's view:

[CONGRATULATIONS!]

"Kanpai!"

A round of cheers, clinking glasses and laughter filled the inn. The raid team was at the 11th floor main town, Taft, resting at one of the more expensive inns in town simply named Premier. It was spacious; the many candle lights made it resemble an Italian restaurant and had food that Ridwan would only have on special occasions. They had huddled around the cluster of tables and were congratulating and patting themselves on the back. Phrases like 'challenging fight', 'gg' and 'I wet myself' were thrown around.

It had been about six in the evening they had made out of the dungeon. A secret passage in the Boss room revealed another room loaded with half a dozen treasure chests and also a lift, this one actually taking them to the 11th floor, in which they emerged from a cave on a hill overlooking the town. Ridwan wondered if they actually had to fight the boss had they brought proper gear to scale the wall. An optional floor boss fight? That was an interesting design choice.

A pat (or more accurately a smack) on his back brought him out of his ponderings. Kensei was holding a large mug of what he assumed was root beer (the game so far had not allowed any alcoholic drinks to be served, likely for the minors' sake) and a stupid grin on his face. The axeman clinked his mug to his. "A cheer for our glorious raid leader!" he shouted. The raid team raised their mugs and cheered again.

"Invite me for the next boss raid huh?"

"Not bad, for a foreigner."

Said center of attention scratched his head, flustered. "It wasn't that great. We did lose a lot of people."

"Well, more loot for us!" Someone said, her statement met agreements from the others. This particular party were a greedy bunch, as they shifted through the loot pile on the table.

Most of the loot came in the form of old bronze equipment. Scoutings before the raid had netted them some rare gems, some old silk which was useful for crafting or selling, along with piles of gold coins. But the most noteworthy of the drops were the boss drops, the headgear and gauntlets: «Traitor's Cursed Helmet» and «Fists of Wrath». Already people were arguing over them. As raid leader, it was his responsibility to divide all of it equally and keep the team from falling apart.

But later. Boy, was he tired.

"Kensei, keep an eye on the boss gear, make sure no one gets it."

"Sure thing, boss."

Excusing himself from the celebrations, Ridwan took his drink outside.

He was greeted with the setting sun. He could just make it out from behind some clouds. The orange sky bathed the town in a matching orange glow, the light always finding a way despite the floor above. The street lights had yet to be lit and there were spots of darkness where red bricked buildings cast their shadows. NPCs closed their shops and walked home to prepare themselves for the night. It was a comforting, beautiful sight. He could just stand there forever, admiring the beauty of it.

"You going to stand there and admire the beauty of it or sit down?" a voice besides him said. Kirito was sitting on a green bench, sword and a half empty mug in his lap. He complied and sat down.

"Pretty, isn't it?" Kirito continued. "The shine, the warmth, the lighting, it's all so real." He took a sip. "This drink, the wind, everything." He had a longing look in his eyes.

"Yeah, it is." A comfortable silence descended on the two as they admired the world before them.

Kirito broke silence. "Sometimes, I feel more alive here than in the real world."

Ridwan made a mental note of that. "You still have a week before Beta ends. You can enjoy yourself before that happens. Two months of not being in Aincrad, that sounds terrible." Kirito sighed. He dreads the day the Beta will end.

"Are you leaving tonight?"

"My flight leaves next morning. I still have some reports to do before that. I'll return to the States and tell my amazing tales of adventure and excitement to friends, family and colleagues." He chuckled. "Journalism is hard work, you know? You'd think it's all fun and joy writing about video games all the time."

"You know, I've been studying coding."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah. And I've been designing some program-"

Before Kirito could tell the journalist more, a group of figures approached them. Familiar faces led by Benkei just arrived from the Teleport Gate in the middle of the town. The players who died during the raid had come for celebrations and their fair share of payment. Before Benkei could greet them, someone else had beaten him to the punch.

"Hello, Kii-bou. Rid-Ichi." The greeter was a woman in her 20s, with curly auburn hair, an oval face, mischievous eyes and whiskers on her cheeks. She wore a large cloak that covered most of her body, no doubt hiding something nefarious under them like money or sweets or whatever else she used to bribe people for information with.

"Argo," said Kirito.

"Rat," said Ridwan. "News travels fast."

"Well, I was by Black Iron Castle and saw a bunch of players with battered gear on them. Your party took quite the beating, didn't they, Ichi-san?"

"Worry not, I was there to lend a hand and single-handedly saved their hides," Kirito answered. Ridwan rolled his eyes.

"Where are the others?" the raid leader asked. "I sent them PMs already."

"They're either busy with something else or logged off," Benkei said.

Argo added, "Well, it is late. It's probably dinner time for most of them." Raising an eyebrow, Ridwan looked at the upper left of his HUD.

"Huh, it's 5:15 pm already. Time flies when you're facing immediate death, right?"

"Yeah it does. Wait, it's past five?!" The mercenary stood up and spilled the things off his lap. "Oh no! "I was supposed to take my sister out shopping! She's going to kill me!"

"Maybe you should log out then." Benkei smiled and crossed his arms. "Angry sisters are hazardous to your health."

"Aww, Kii-bou. You sound so girly when you're scared." The swordsman did look rather pale and his voice was rather high pitched. The lone player who scouted dungeons by himself, the player who scored three Last Attacks on five bosses, the wandering mercenary that took on the more difficult Quests was scared out of his wits of his little sister.

"Yes, you should log out and I'll stay here, and enjoy celebrations with my brothers and sisters in arms."

The raid leader manipulated his fingers and gave the mercenary his Col which Kirito quickly accepted. "See you in a couple of months!" He said/shouted as he disappeared in a flash of light. He was so scared he forgot his loot.

"Oh, Kirito-san forgot his share of the loot," Benkei said.

"Eh, I'll throw in another 300. That's good enough for him." With a flick, he sent the Col to the Rat and she accepted it. "Hand that to him later, would you?"

"Sure thing." Argo took the Col. "Can I join the party? Of course I can." She brushed past the two and entered the restaurant before the raiders could say anything, most likely to gather as much information as she can. The Rat had ways to make people talk, mostly through smiles and bribes. The things people let slip when their guard is down. He could see more people coming through the Teleport Gate, more familiar faces.

"Well my barbarian friend, let's get inside and divide the spoils," Ridwan said, wanting to spend his last day here in Aincrad in the most memorable way possible.

Seventeen year old Kirigaya Kazuto woke up to reality. His room was dark as the only light source was the sun rays from his window and lights from his computer rig. He took off the Nerve Gear and reached for the glass of water on his end table. It was 5:17 pm and the last time he logged out was about 11:00 am. He was logged in at for more than six hours. It was advised to take breaks once every two hours but once again, he forgot to do so.

He chugged the water greedily, feeling his thirst quenched by the soothing water. It felt much better than whatever virtual drink he just took. Kazuto replaced the glass on the end table and walked across the room to flick on the lights.

Click!

"Onii-chan."

"Aah!" he squeaked.

In a corner of the room was Suguha, sitting on his computer chair. She was wearing her more flashy clothes, consisting of a bright orange jacket, red scarf, white skirt with matching beret. She was a pretty young girl, with a round face, big brown eyes and hime haircut. The only thing that seemed out of place was the shinai on her la- oh no.

"Good evening, onii-chan. How was Aincrad?" She smiled a cute smile. It was the most terrifying thing he had ever seen.

"Er, good evening, Sugu! It was rather... good?" Kazuto smiled, trying to shuffle himself to the door as discreetly as possible. Suguha put the tip of her sword on the floor, hands and chin on the hilt.

"I am so glad that you had fun." She continued in that horrifying high pitch voice. "You know, I recall of going to have some fun too. Do a little shopping, have some food, just being out the house and stuff. I was going to go with a certain someone but it turns out that someone was very busy." Her hands tightened on her wooden sword.

"Oh well … uh…" He couldn't think of any excuse for that.

"And I do hope that someone would make that up to me. There's this nice handbag I've had my eyes on for a while." A devious glint in her eyes. "Do you think that someone should make up to me?"

"Uh yes, I- er, that person should make up to you by buying you that handbag! Yes, that's the only way to offer his sincere apologies." The kendo champion stood up and put her face very close to Kazuto's.

"Just a handbag?" Her eyes were trying to devour his soul.

"Anything you want! Don't hurt me please, beloved merciful sister!"

After what seemed an eternity, though it only was five seconds, the younger Kirigaya took a step back and relaxed the grip on her sword. "Oh, onii-chan! How kind of you!"

"Yes, that's me. Loving attentive brother!" She hummed in agreement.

"Go wash yourself and get ready. Dinner will be ready in ten." Suguha said, exited and closed the bedroom door behind her. Kazuto let out a breath that he didn't realise he was holding and fell into his recliner. He waited a while for his heartbeat to slow down and cupped his face with his hands. Dodged a bullet right there.

"KIRIGAYA KAZUTO, WHY HAVEN'T YOU CLEANED THE STORE ROOM LIKE YOU PROMISED?!" came the earth shattering voice of his mother.

For the third time that day, Kazuto felt like he was facing death.

Sword Art Online is the most looked forward game of 2052. With almost ten years in development, history's first billion dollar game is set out to release in September this year. The beta testing period will come to a close in the 15th of March after nearly three months of testing.

The NerveGear, priced at 65,000 Yen (around 600 USD), is set for shipment at the midpoint of August for players who have pre-ordered the game. Physical copies of the game are also expected for shipment around the same time. The size of the game requires a special drive due to the 2 Tb size. Gaming enthusiasts with deep pockets have been offering tens of thousands of dollars for a NerveGear and a copy of the game. The game is expected to reach two million players on the first day and raked in three billion dollars' worth of sale, though some tech experts worry if the machine can handle such a load.

As for the beta itself, player impressions have been highly positive and critical. Though some have argued against the realism of the game, the sheer detail of the game world has received praise from players and professionals alike. As the game's servers are only available in Japan, many journalists and gaming enthusiasts have spent a pretty penny to try the game, even if it meant flying to Japan and staying there for three months

Let's Plays of Sword Art Online have consistently reach a million views on video sharing and social media sites. Creator and lead developer of the most popular MMO of 2040s, World of Reverie, David Powell has also preordered a NerveGear and has said to be, "Looking forward to Full Dive into the World of Sword!", as stated on his personal blog.

Experts from the information, medical, and military industry all have their eyes set on it, deservedly so considering the large and diverse amount of investors the game has attracted. However, Akihiko Kayaba, Japan's leading neurosurgeon turned game developer and CEO of Argus, has been silent for the last six months. Argus employees too have kept silent in regards to the development of the game. Could there be some more mishaps behind the scenes? Only time will tell.

Sword Art Online is is set to be released in Japan only on the 15th May 2052 only on the NerveGear. International servers are set to begin two weeks after the game's launch.

- Minato Tadashi, "Sword Art Online's Beta Ending at Early March", MMO Today. Web. 5th February 2052.

Hello dear reader! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of Aincrad Retold. A retelling of SAO with new characters, new storylines and a bunch of other original content. You may notice some things that deviate from canon. Those are all parts that have been consciously changed such as the NPC mercenaries and ranged weapons.

I hope none of you found Kirito too OOC. For comparison's sake, he's more akin to his counterpart in the SAO Progressive Manga, at least that's what I was aiming for. Suguha is admittedly OOC because you know, being angry and all. Little sisters are scary things.

The atmosphere that was being aimed for was a traditional D&D campaign with lots of troops, with a very evil GM in mind.

If you think that there are some things that you think I should be concerned with, do address your concerns in a review or PM. Do leave some constructive criticism. I can pump out new chapters faster with more encouragement. I write a chapter, you leave a review.

Changelog 1.1 (27th April 2014)

- Beta'd (27th April 2014)

- Fix paragraph structuring, put in more details on some characters. Kirito and Kensei especially. Other minor typos corrected. (20th July 2014)

- Leadership and related skills added. (13th September 2014)

Changelog 1.2 (13th July 2015)

- Armour descriptions cleaned up.

- Certain sentences and descriptions expanded.

- Added boss drops.

- Amount of Col decreased significantly.

Changelog 2.1 (28th January 2018)

- Warning/riddle changed.

- More cleaning up, dialogue, description, etc.

- A bit more exposition on how HP works.

- Tweaked boss fight.

- Added news article at the end.

- Advance 30 years from canon's 2022.