The Red Player (A Sword Art Online story)

Chapter 13: Minako

Chapter 13: Minako

Piifalo (Floor 1)

I grab my chest with my hand and scream. Tears stream down my face uncontrollably as slam my fist into the ground. “No! Not yet! Bring her back Damn it! You can’t take her yet!”

The doors to the boss room slam behind me, resonating throughout the halls. “W-we weren’t ready to fight it yet…” I say choking back tears. The two-handed broadsword still has her name on it. The owner name reads Minako, while the sword is named Passion.

“I swear I will use this blade in your name…” I fall to my hands and knees releasing a scream filled with the unimaginable pain of loss.

Piifalo (15 minutes earlier)

“You ready?” I say to Minako with a cocky smile. She nods back, but it’s clear she’s uneasy. “Don’t worry, it’ll be fine. I heard some beta testers say that this boss was really easy as long as you’re at least level 5’s, which we are!”

“Still, we’re the first ones to try this fight since the game’s release, don’t you think we should wait a little?”

“We’ll be the first ones since the games release that have been recorded.” I say emphasizing the last part with confidence. “There might have been others befo-” I stop in the middle of my sentence after realizing how little I was helping by saying that. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll protect you with everything I have, I promise.”

Minako’s expression lightens a bit at this and nods. “Yeah, let’s do it.” I stare into Minako’s eyes reassuringly as I push open the doors to the boss room.

Immediately the room huge room is filled with vibrant colors from the ceiling, walls, and floor. In the very center of the room is a tall and large kobold sitting in its throne. In its hands is a massive battle axe and shield as it jumps up to its feet in a flash, swinging its weapon easily. Above its head is the level 8.

I take a deep breath and hold back the fear. There’s no way I could let Minako see hesitation. I dragged her in here so it’s my job to make sure she’s safe. All the time I spent in this game was to make sure nothing would ever happen to her. I use a short sword with a shield so that I could move quickly to help if she needed it. I even spent almost all of my skill points into detection for the sole purpose of scouting an area to ensure it’s safety before she went ahead. If anything happened to Minako, I don’t know what I’d do.

 “Rraagh!” I charge forward with my short sword drawn and ready to strike. I’d heard this thing is fast, but if it makes any sudden movements I can block most of the damage with my shield. Just as I get halfway to the monster it swings wide with its axe, but I barely manage to slide under it, allowing me to plunge my sword into its thigh.

The beast lets out a satisfying screech in pain, but as I struggle to remove my sword I can only feel it sinking deeper into its leg. Finally the boss snaps back into focus, targeting the only enemy in sight: Minako.

The monster swings its heavy battleaxe sideways aimed to cleave Minako in half. “I don’t have time for this!” I exclaim removing a teleport crystal from my inventory. The item leaves me right by Minako’s side, who was preparing to block with here two-handed sword. I jump in front of her as fast as I can, barely able to raise my shield in time to intercept the attack. Even through my shield I’m sent flying backwards into a wall as Minako attempts to catch me from the back.

We both stand up and brush ourselves off. “What are you doing?” She groans painfully.

“Saving your life!” I yell back. “If I hadn’t jumped in that axe would have cut through you so easily you wouldn’t even know what hit you!” Realization dawns on her face and she steps back apologetically. “I’m not going to let you die here or ever.” I say definitively. “Now come on, we’re going to finish this thing off.”