The Black Swordsman

Chapter 8: Hell Pt.2

2 Days Inside of SAO:

Asuna Yuuki laid on the bed inside of the room of the inn, surrounded by a deafening silence. She hugged one of the pillows that was on her bed close to her stomach in an attempt to help with the sick feeling that had formed in it ever since the game's creator, Akihiko Kayaba, had made his announcement. The sick feeling had stuck with Asuna for almost a day and no matter what she did, it wouldn't go away. What made it worse was that she couldn't decide what was causing the sickness. Was it fear? Was it sadness? Or was it something else, entirely?

Frustrated, Asuna threw the pillow in front of her, off of the bed and sat up straight, letting her feet dangle off the edge of the bed. She looked down at the floor and debated whether or not she wanted to get off of the bed or lye back down. For some reason, Asuna's mind began to drift and she started wondering what her mother would say if she saw how Asuna was acting.

She would most likely say I'm being pathetic, thought Asuna, almost being able to hear her mother's voice saying the words. She would say that weakness isn't in the Yuuki blood. That's all she would ever say to me when I tried to tell her that I was tired from studying and that I didn't think I could do it, anymore. She would just claim that was a quitter's attitude and that no daughter of hers would be a quitter.

Asuna craned her neck towards the night stand that was in the room and on it, was the dagger that she had bought from a merchant on the first day she had entered the game. Still holding her stomach in discomfort, she got off of the bed and made her way towards the dagger and picked it up. As she looked at the dagger, the only word that kept circling inside of her mind was "quitter." She had always believed that her mother's words were harsh but, without them, Asuna questioned how many times she would have given up on her studying...on her grades...on her future. She hated to admit it but her mother's words, in a way, motivated her to work as hard as she did in the real world.

Asuna glanced at the window of the room and looked through it at the vast virtual world outside of it. Her hand began to slightly shake while she held the dagger until the shaking suddenly stopped.

"I...I don't want to hide here while everyone else is out there fighting", Asuna muttered to herself, frustrated. "I know there's no way I'm going to survive this game but it's selfish to drag this out. Making my parents wait for me in the real world while I stay hidden in this room is just plain selfish. My parents and I both would be better off if I went outside and fought. Plus, the sooner I die, the sooner my parents can experience my death in the real world and move on. No point in giving them false hope. Someone like me...can't survive this kind of world."

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The grassy plains may had looked pretty to Asuna since it was the first time she had been outside of her inn room for almost a day but she also, knew that due to the fact that she was no longer inside of the town, enemies were bound to show up. She had her right hand firmly grasping the dagger she had brought with her and her eyes were constantly scanning the environment, waiting for an enemy.

Eventually, Asuna saw what she dreaded most. An enemy. Not a human enemy or even some kind of monster, for that matter. It was a grey wolf with a green health bar next to it and the number 1.

Level 1? thought Asuna as she looked at the number next to the wolf's name and came to the realization that it must have been the enemy's level. It's the same level as mine. That means that this shouldn't be too difficult, right?

Without any warning, the wolf lunged at Asuna and before she could draw her dagger, it immediately attempted to bite Asuna's throat. She blocked the bite with her left forearm and the wolf bit down on the forearm hard, drawing blood. Despite not feeling any pain from the attack, in the corner of Asuna's eye, she could see that her own health bar had already dropped down to 75%. Asuna continued to keep the wolf at bay and, finally, kicked the wolf away from her, giving her enough time to unsheathe her dagger with her right hand. The kick dropped the wolf's health bar to only 95%. The wolf dashed towards Asuna again but this time she slashed her dagger at the enemy, managing to slash the virtual animal right across the side of its' body, dealing a decent amount of damage to it. Unfortunately, the wolf rammed its' head into Asuna's stomach, knocking her backwards and causing her to land on her back, hard, dropping her dagger in the process.