Sword Art Online- From a Solo Player to a Survivor

Chapter 6: The Thieves Guild

(Unknown Location, Unknown Floor)

(Martin's POV)

"Ugh..." I groaned, waking up and finding out that my wrists were bound in shackles on the wall. Same with my legs, making me unable to move. "Martin!" I heard Anisa call out to me. I looked to my left and saw that Anisa was bound in shackles beside me. "Anisa!! Thank god you're alright." I said, sighing in relief as I gazed around the area. We seemed to be in some sort of sewage system, bound by shackles on the walls. "Where are we?" Anisa said, looking around in a bit of fear. "I don't know..." I replied, trying to move from the shackles but failed.

A group of men eventually walked over to us. "Heh...look who's awake boys!" One of the men said. Most of them had leather armor or were at least lightly armored. "Who are you? Why did you take us!?" I demanded from the man. He laughed right at me, then stared at me right in the eyes. "The Thieves Guild, Guild of Thieves, however you want to call us. Me specifically? You can call me Hunter. Guild Master of the Thieves Guild." Hunter introduced himself, laughing as he turned his back towards me and Anisa. Hunter had a leather jacket and a mohawk hairstyle, along with ragged pants and black boots. "We eliminate those who we rob from...and hide any evidence of their deaths." Hunter explained, taking out a knife and walking towards Anisa. "Don't you fucking dare touch her!!! You hear me!?!" I shouted at him, trying to break free from the shackles.

Then, Hunter turned his gaze over to me. "Oh, feisty one aren't ya?" Hunter chuckled, walking over to me. Then, he slashed my left ankle, making a deep cut. "AGH!!" I shouted in pain, a sharp pain quickly spreading throughout my body. "M-MARTIN!!" I heard Anisa call out to me. I looked over to her and saw tears going down her face. "Is this how I'm going to die...?" I thought to myself, panting heavily. Then, Hunter stabbed the knife into my left knee. Shouting in pain, my vision began to be blurry as he left the knife in my leg. I looked down, only to see the knife in my leg. "I'll leave that in ya..you'll die eventually.." Hunter said, walking away with the rest of the men with him. All I could do was black out once more. "M-MARTIN!!" Was the last thing I heard from Anisa before blacking out.

When I woke up, I saw one of the Thieves, sitting in a chair and chuckling at us. I looked to my left and saw Anisa, gazing at me concerned and with tears down her face. My left leg felt completely numb due to the knife that Hunter left in it. "You'll die eventually. Hunter could've made it worse. Be glad he went easy on ya." The thief said. Then, he walked up to Anisa. "Pretty little girl aren't ya? Can't believe Hunter is gonna kill you. What a waste of a beautiful girl." He said, caressing her cheek. She was obviously uncomfortable as she tried to resist.

Anger grew in me. Seeing that man force himself onto her, I began to struggle in the wrist shackles again. "Don't...TOUCH HER!!" I yelled, breaking off my left arm's shackle. Then, I took out the knife in my leg and tossed it at the thief, having it pierce his neck as he fell to the floor and shattered apart. Then I came to a realization: I killed someone.

I took off my right arm's shackle and my leg shackles. I nearly fell to the floor but I caught myself. My left leg is still completely numb. I noticed that my health bar is almost completely depleted, that it was barely visible. I limped over to Anisa and removed her shackles. As soon as I removed her shackles, she hugged me tightly as we fell to the floor, sitting down besides each other while she hugged me tightly. I returned the hug, relieved to see her unharmed. "I...killed someone..." I said to her. I just ended someone's life, and it didn't feel good. "It's okay...y-you had to do it..." Anisa replied, burying her face into my shoulder. "I-I'm just glad you're still alive..."

"At least you're unharmed..." I replied. "We need to get out of here, and fast." I said, standing up slowly. I pulled down my menu in attempt to take out my gear, but noticed that my inventory was empty. "Gah...they took all our gear. We gotta get it back first before we leave." I said, starting to walk before falling to a knee as Anisa catches me and helps me up. "I'm in no condition to fight. We gotta do this quietly.." I said. Anisa nodded. "Let's get going..." I began to walk down the sewage tunnel, limping specifically. My left leg was numb still and I can't feel anything from it. "This place is a maze..one wrong turn and we could end up wandering around forever.." I sighed, walking down the tunnel with Anisa.

After what felt like hours of wandering in these dim-lit tunnels, we came across one of those thieves, sitting on a chair besides two chests. Luckily, the thief was sound asleep. "That has to be our stuff." Anisa whispered, slowly walking up to the sleeping thief. "Anisa, get back here, you're going to get caught!" I whisper-shouted at her. I tried to follow her, but my leg wounds prevented me from moving after her quickly so I stayed behind and watched her.

She slowly crept up to the thief. She went behind the thief and put him in a chokehold. After a few minutes, the thief passed out and Anisa slowly sets him down. She gestured me to go to her. Nodding, I went over to her weakly. I opened up one of the chests and saw that it was my gear. "This is my stuff. This other chest besides it probably has your gear." I told Anisa, pressing the 'claim all' option to take everything from the chest as Anisa did the same on the other chest.

After a few minutes, we reequipped all of our gear. "Now let's find the exit." I said, placing my sword in its sheathe besides me.

We explored the tunnels a bit more until we saw a narrow staircase going up. At the top of the staircase was light coming from a door. "That's the exit!" I said, starting to limp towards the staircase as Anisa followed me. Then, a flashing red light turned on as an alarm was tripped. "Intruders detected. Initiating emergency lockdown in 10.." A female computer-voice said. In the distance, we saw many thieves running towards us.

I looked back at Anisa with a serious expression. "Anisa, you have to go, I'll hold them off..." I said. She shook her head, denying, "No Martin! Y-You're injured! You're gonna die!" She exclaimed sadly, hugging my arm as I saw tears beginning to go down her face. "9...8...7..." The system counted down. "Anisa, I'm not gonna lose you..get out, NOW!" I exclaimed. She lets go of my arm, starting to sob. "6...5...4..." It proceeded. The thieves got closer. "I-I don't want to lose you...M-Martin...I-I'm staying!!" She exclaimed, shaking her head again. "3...2..." "I said, GO!!!" I shouted, pushing her to the staircase. "1...0..." A metal door closed off in front of the staircase, separating me and Anisa. "I won't die...if I am to die, I'll make sure you're safe..." I muttered to myself, taking out my sword, Red Death, and facing the thieves. I noticed that my health was still in the red zone. I slowly began to limp towards them as they ran to me with daggers and swords in their hands. "Anisa...I love you..." I then, took a swing at the first thief in front of me.

(Anisa's POV)

I fell when Martin pushed me. Quickly getting up, I tried to run to Martin but the metal door separated us. I banged on the door, trying to get it open. "M-MARTIN!!! NO!! DON'T DO THIS!!" I shouted. All I could hear on the other side was the sound of blades clashing against each other. "M-Martin...just...d-don't die...please..." I prayed. I turned around and faced the staircase. I then, went up the staircase, opened the door, and stepped outside.

It was a large forest. I had no clue what floor I'm on. "Stay alive Martin, I'm gonna get help." I muttered to myself, running through the forest to find the closest town. "I don't know what I'd do without you..." Right now, all I could think about was Martin.