The Master Tactician - SAO Aincrad Arc X OC

Ambush

Grinding again.

This is what we use most of our time on. We have to grind to level up and make sure we don't die on the boss battles. Today our small guild went to the caves of the 7th floor to get some exp and items. 

"It's really dark in here." Yuuki said, walking behind me, with Asuna in front. 

"Yeah, it really is. It just makes mapping so much harder." I said as I held a cheap lamp I got in a shop. While I usually have no problems mapping, without being able to see well, it's not easy to see the branching paths in the caves.

"In any case, the monsters here aren't as strong as the ones on the 6th floor's dungeon we went to." Asuna said. 

"But we still need to see what kinds of drops are on this floor" I said 

A few minutes had passed, and I didn't hear any voices. Asuna was simply on guard, and Yuuki was behind me. At least that's what I thought.

"Hey Yuuki. You should walk in front of us. I need to make sure you don't run off somewhe-" I say, tilting my head to look behind me only to notice she was gone.

"Asuna, Yuuki's gone!" I say looking around for any traces of her.

"What!?" Asuna exclaimed, as she dashed the way we came, looking for her. "I'll look for her, you stay right there!" 

And she was gone before I could say anything.

I wish she calmed down a a bit. Despite being 12 years old, Yuuki can take care of herself just fine. She's not so weak that she would die so soon. It says she's still alive.

I feel someone nearby. I raise my sword on guard, and get ready for any potential attacks. It seems that they had already noticed me, so their detection skill must be high. I turn around, pointing my sword forward, and find a familiar face doing the same. It was Kirito standing in front of me.

"Kirito?"

"JP?"

We both stand in silence at our unexpected meeting, and soon sheathe our swords and chuckle a bit.

"Oh, it's just you. I thought it was some dangerous monster or something. It's too difficult seeing you in this darkness with your dark coat" I say.

"I thought the same thing." Kirito says

"I mean, I knew you were in these caves, since I saw you near here on our friends list, but I didn't expect to run into each other."

We kept chatting as he kept me company. We exchanged our mapping info, which really helped. We each have filled up around 1 third of the cave systems, and we luckily went through completely different paths, so it worked out.

However, there was still 1 third of the map unfilled, and both Yuuki and Asuna were there.

"Hey Kirito, so Yuuki went somewhere, and Asuna went chasing after her, soooooo." It didn't take a genius to figure out what I was implying, and he sure caught on.

"Yeah, sure. I'll help you out."

"Thanks dude!".

We had been looking for quite some time, and there have been no mobs on the empty 3rd part, which made me worry a bit, but we had to press on.

There was a certain point in which monsters just stopped appearing, which made me worry even more. Kirito also caught on to this, so we were both on guard at all times, with barely any small talk between us.

After a couple of minutes of walking around, I decided to speak up

"Maybe it was all just us being paranoid. We might've just worried a bit too mu-" I say until I notice something flying towards me. It was a pointy object like an arrow, with its tip glowing a bright blue, as if having a sword skill. I couldn't react in time. However, the attack was still blocked. Kirito barely managed to deflect that arrow somewhere else with a sword skill.