Sword Art Online: Knights of Aincrad

Chapter 3 - Boss Raid

"Who's this Kirito?" Eugeo asked once he saw his friend sit down, "This is Eydis, I found her out in the fields about to get attacked by some bears" Kirito said, "Hello everyone, Kirito said I could join you I hope I'm not a bother" Eydis said, "Of course you won't be, I'm Alice" Alice said introducing herself, "and I'm Eugeo" Eugeo said with a smile. Kirito and Eydis then sat down beside their teammates and waited for the meeting to start. A man with blue hair then walked on to the stage.

"Greetings I am Bercouli" the man said. Kirito's, Eugeo's, and Alice's heads all turned at that name. "There's no way!" They all said in unison and listened to the rest of his speech. "We've all been trapped in this game for two months now and have finally located the first boss!" Everyone cheered in celebration "Now don't get too far ahead of yourselves we still have to kill the damn beast. Thanks to the scouts we have some info on the boss. Illfang will have two weapons, he switches to the other after what we can assume a good amount of health is drained from him. I propose we split into teams that way we can switch in and out and have minion control. Any objections?" He finished, "None? Splendid, we begin tomorrow." The trio then started to run down towards Bercouli, Eydis slowly following because she didn't know what was happening.

"Bercouli is it really you? It's me Kirito!" Kirito said excitedly, "Kirigaya is that really you? Meaning you two must be Alice and Eugeo" Bercouli said in response, "It sure is teach! Who would've thought we'd run into you, is there anyone else from school you've seen?" Eugeo asked "I have in fact ran into a few other students and teachers, but not many" Bercouli responded, "Have you seen Sortiliena at all?" Kirito asked "I have actually. She was with some of her friends at the restaurant this morning." Kirito felt relieved after hearing that from his teacher. "Who's this little one?" Bercouli asked pointing at Eydis, "This is Eydis, Kirito rescued her earlier today" Alice replied, "Well you're in great hands little Eydis, I've never seen a bond like these three have with each other. I'm sure they'll add you too that bond as well. Anyways I need to get going, I'll see you all tomorrow" Bercouli said waving them goodbye.

"You can rest easy now, Kirito, Sortiliena is alive and well." Eugeo said with a grin, "yeah you're right. Eydis let's go train so you're at the right level to take down these minions easily!" Kirito said energetically while dragging Eydis off. "Once he gets that energized there's no slowing him down" Eugeo said, shrugging his arms while turning to look at Alice. He noticed she was still staring where the black haired boy once was. Eugeo took a deep breath, he knew why she was staring in that direction and wished she would do something.

"You're gonna have to tell him at some point Alice" Eugeo started, "I don't know what you could be talking about Eugeo" Alice stated plainly, "Yes you do Alice don't play dumb with me. You've liked Kirito since we were kids but you always kept it to yourself" Eugeo continued, "Fine you got me, it's not like it matters anyways he's got eyes for Sortiliena. It's always been about her and never about...me" Alice said quietly, "That's not true Alice, Kirito has strong feelings for you he just doesn't want to ruin your guys' friendship if things went south. Now come on I have a feeling Kirito will be hungry when he gets back from training" Eugeo said with a grin. With a little bit of her hopes raised Alice also smiled with him.

After a well cooked meal the four friends went to the nearby inn to get some rest before the big day.

Seven groups stood outside the boss room doors ready to assault the boss. "Remember everyone we are all a team so help each other out as much as possible. If we want to make it out of this game we've all got to rely on one another, now let's do this!" Bercouli stated heroically. All the teams then rushed in weapons raised and ready to fight.

Five minutes had gone by and everyone was in high spirits. Kirito's team had ended up helping Sortiliena's team clear out some minions before switching to deal boss damage. "I'm impressed with your team Kirito, your guy's chemistry is unmatched" Sortiliena complimented, "Really? Then again we have been with each other since birth basically, hell it even feels like Eydis has been here since then too" Kirito said with a chuckle. "Kirigaya you're up!" Bercouli called out, "On it! Alice, Eugeo, Eydis let's go!" The four then rushed straight towards the boss releasing a flurry of attacks.

Thirty minutes have gone by and the boss is on his last bar of health. There have been zero casualties so far and the teams adjusted to the weapon change quickly. The only problem was everyone was getting tired and their movements were slowing down, all except for two groups Kirito's and a group of four girls. "Kirigaya...it's all up to...you and that group...over there" Bercouli said in between breaths, "Understood" Kirito replied. Kirito looked around and realized they needed to finish this fast so he quickly thought of a plan and called over one of the girls, who had long purple hair. "Alright listen, if we're going to take out this boss without any casualties we need to do this fast. If your group can distract the boss my team should be able to finish him off, think you guys can do that?" Kirito asked the girl, "Consider it done" the girl replied and her team took off towards the boss.

"Alright, now is our chance!" Kirito yelled as he, Eugeo, Alice, and Eydis all charged towards Illfang. With all the strength they possessed they launched a flurry of swings at him while he was distracted landing critical hits and high combos. Illfang then combusted into particles and a congratulations banner was displayed.

Everything went quiet for a second before the entire room erupted into cheers. Both Kirito's and the purple haired girl's group all fell to their knees due to the adrenaline rush being over. "You've out done yourself Kirigaya I must say" Bercouli said slapping his back, "It wasn't just me teach, I had Alice, Eugeo, and Eydis with me as well as...hold on I never got your name!" Kirito said turning to the purple haired girl, "I'm Fanatio" she replied, "the shorter brunette is Ronie, the redhead is Tiese, and the other brunette is Sheyta" the group then all waved and said hello. "But as I was saying," Kirito started, "it was all a combined effort between all of us, even you guys. Even after all the casualties having zero on a boss is a monumental achievement and makes clearing this game seem possible again." "Gotta hand it to ya Kirito that was a nice speech" Eugeo said laughing, "Honestly I never took you for the speech type" Alice said laughing as well.

Everyone then checked their EXP gain as well as their loot drops. Majority of the people got col and weapons but Kirito, Eugeo, Alice, and Eydis all noticed they got clothing items as well. "Must be some type of party bonus for taking him out." Eydis said. "Well with everything out of the way, it's time to progress to the next floor!" Bercouli announced and was followed by a wave of cheers. 

While every other group went to explore the desert that was the second floor, Kirito's, Bercouli's, Fanatio's, and Sortiliena's team all stayed at the first town on the second to discuss strategy. "I believe we should start a guild" Bercouli started, "I highly doubt that this would be the last we see each other. Not only that but half of us already know each other," Bercouli turns to Kirito, Eugeo, and Alice, "we also have these three who manage to make a family-like bond with anyone." The trio then all began to nervously rub the back of their heads at the attention, "With that being said who's with me?" Bercouli finished and was followed with a wave of agreement.

"What is our name gonna be?" Asked Fanatio, "Well since we're in a game with swords we will obviously be knights so," Kirito started "Kirito there's more than swords in this game" Eugeo deadpanned "While that may be true Eugeo the term knight is a powerful one I quite like it." Bercouli stated. After a discussion between what the group should be called the Knights of Aincrad. Of course other names were in the mix, such as Axiom Integrity Knights, but they agreed that this one would spark hope.

*New Guild formed: Knights of Aincrad*

*Members:

Kirito

Eugeo

Alice

Eydis

Bercouli

Fanatio

Sortiliena

Sheyta

Ronie

Tiese

Golgorosso

Freya

Renly

Deusolbert*

When the message disappeared from everyone's window they all sat in silence. "Well now we're officially a family!" Ronie called out and everyone had a good laugh.