“Thank you for your concern. Then we will respectfully accept it.
Please protect us until we reach the exit.”
This was the first sentence the leader of «Black Cats of the Full
Moon» guild, Keita spoke to me.
Five months had passed since the spring season’s dusk when the death
game called SAO began. In order to collect material for weapons, I
had ventured into the labyrinth ten levels below the current front line.
As a Beater, I had rushed headlong since the beginning, utilizing my
experience as a beta tester. Adopting a tough solo player approach,
had enabled me to earn experience points very efficiently. It reached a
point where I could even defeat monsters on the front line solo. As
such, hunting at the current level was so easy and relaxing that it
became a boring task. By avoiding other players, I was able to obtain
the complete set of required amount of materials in two hours. As I
was preparing to move toward the direction of the exit, I encountered
a party retreating, a huge group of monsters pursuing them.
As a solo player, I immediately had the opinion that the party was
totally unbalanced. Within the five player party, the only player who
could assume a forward role is a guy carrying a mace and shield. The
others were just a thief equipped with a dagger, a staff user carrying a
two handed-staff and two long spear users. However when the mace
user’s hit points were reduced drastically, there was no one else who
could substitute in. As a result, this type of party could only retreat
slowly.
To determine the status of everyone, I checked their hit points.
Apparently, it was more than sufficient for them to retreat safely to
the exit. However, that would no longer apply if they encountered
another group of monsters in the midst of retreating. After some slight
hesitation, I dashed out from the path I was hidden in and spoke to the
staff user who seemed to be the leader.
“Do you want me to assist with forward support?”
The staff user stared at me with his eyes wide open and nodded his
head after a moment of hesitation.
“Then, sorry for troubling you, but please retreat immediately if there
is any danger.”
I nodded my head in acknowledgement and pulled a sword off of my
back before shouting from behind the mace user to switch in. Thus, I
rushed into the monsters’ assault.
The enemies were a group of goblins which I had defeated in numbers
just a while back when hunting alone. This monsters could be quickly
