Progressive Factor

They Who (Will) Rule The Front Lines

So after a bit of deliberation, I decided to make Chapters 25 and 26 the last chapters of this part of Progressive Factor. So there's a double upload of the last two chapters as the third floor comes to a close. Progressive Factor will continue in a separate story next year, and that'll detail the fourth, fifth, and sixth floors.

As for you, my Wattpad readers, I got a lot to catch up on. Technically, you guys are five stories behind the folks who use Fanfiction.Net, but I do plan to have my entire SAO storyline here soon enough before I continue onward with any other stories. Hopefully, that'll be around the year's end. But I want to thank you all for adding Progressive to your reading lists, just reading in general while getting dropped at the current end of a year and a half's worth of stories, though this story is a prequel to all of that. Hopefully, you all will keep up with me and enjoy the last two chapters of Progressive Factor!

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"...No wonder I ain't seen ya around. The little beater boy was busy with the campaign. And just like this fool with the topknot, you knew we needed a quest reward ta beat the boss and didn't see fit ta tell anyone." Kibaou shoves a member of the ALS aside and glares back and forth at Kirito and Lind. "In the end, y'all don't give a fig for rescuin' all eight thousand folks trapped in this game; that's all secondary to ya. Yer only among the top players so y'all can get your weapons and items and lord it over the rest of us, nothin' more. Yer just like all the other beaters what up an' vanished from the Town of Beginnings on the very first day. You ain't got the right to pretend yer inheritin' Diavel's lead!"

Koharu watches the fury of Kibaou from behind Kirito, far enough that he doesn't (seemingly) glare at her but close enough to be involved in the conversation if need be. He has some right to be angry, Kirito did know of the questline, and she's sure he knows of the potential rewards, but that doesn't mean he had to share. After all, though Kibaou doesn't realize it, there's another "beater" in his camp now that Koharu has to mind herself not to seek out.

She hadn't stood idle in the duel between Morte and Kirito. The first thing she did was message Jaymes, hoping he and Asuna wake up and arrive in case things turned ugly, then. At the same time Kirito realized what Morte was attempting, she did as well. As an outsider, she could see the status of both combatants, so it pricked her mind that Kirito was lingering just above the half-health indication, and Morte didn't end the fight. Neither Kirito or Morte took much notice of her once their duel resumed, but Koharu had a skill ready to intervene on Kirito's behalf.

A nice rock she found on the riverbank. It wouldn't harm Morte much, but she was in the premotion for a throwing object the entire second half of the fight. Given her athletic background, she was confident that the dead of night wouldn't hamper her skill.

Luckily she didn't need to do anything, as now she sees why Morte retreated from the fight before it ended. DKB and ALS came for their respective quests here at the forest elf advance camp, ALS for the same reason Koharu and Kirito came as they sided with the dark elves, DKB for a different quest as part of siding with the forest elves. While they argued, Kirito decided to take the option away from them, taking the commander's orders for his party's campaign. The camp vanished afterward to respawn elsewhere on the map, but that means ALS and DKB will have to search again.

"Kibaou. I will repeat myself: None of the DKB members, including me, had any idea that the rewards from the campaign quest would be crucial to defeating the boss. Where did you get this information?"

"Nice try, but I ain't fallin' for it! You're just thinkin' you can monopolize all that info for yerselves!"

"I just told you, that is not the case!"

Koharu looks at Kirito, the boy's eyes closed, hair covering half his face. He's thinking of doing something, and Koharu's sure she's seen this face just moments before he took on the mantle of beater. Koharu wants to pull him aside, hear what he's going to do, and tell him there's another way than making himself the enemy of the game.