The Survival Logs || Sword Art Online Fanfic

Chapter 4 - First Siege

4th December 2022

Path to the Labyrinth, 1st Floor

The moment I found out that Diavel had only gathered 44 players to raid the 1st Floor's boss, Illfang the Kobold Lord, I felt a bit skeptical that even an addition to the party like me wouldn't change anything in terms of boss-beating capability.

In SAO, the maximum number of players allowed in a party was 7. In other words, a full 49-player raid party would consist of 7 full parties of 7 players each.

Apparently, one of the parties in Diavel's raid party wasn't full, and had only 2 players in it.

"We need all the manpower we can possibly get to defeat the floor boss." Diavel had told me. " So thanks for joining!"

I was almost sure I could sense desperation and relief mixed in his words.

The trek to the Labyrinth was not that long, considering I'd trekked through it before, but long enough to notice the jungle environment the trekking path belonged to.

The players I partied with were a swordsman with black hair (judging by the sword strapped on his back), and a girl whose red hooded cloak she was wearing made her look like a really shy Little Red Riding Hood, due to the hood covering the upper half of her face.

This definitely wasn't the first time I partied with another player. All I had to do was to send a party invite to another player for the purpose of fighting enemies that were hard to solo fight. Through my countless party invites, I've learnt to show respect to my party members, in order to defeat monsters more efficiently and quickly.

The black haired swordsman accepted the party invites, allowing me to look at their HP bar gauges. Under each HP bar gauge were the names,"Kirito" and "Asuna" respectively.

"So you're Zenalyth?" The swordsman, whose name I assumed was Kirito, commented after looking at my HP bar gauge.

"Yea......" I replied simply.

Attempting to change the subject, I subsequently asked, " So what made you want to join the boss raid?"

"It's simple : I just want to clear the 1st Floor."

Kirito then turned to the hooded girl, which I assumed was called Asuna, and asked, "Asuna, do you know how to battle, like Switching and stuff?"

Asuna showed a puzzled face," Huh? What's Switching?"

Kirito's dumbfounded expression grew on his face a second later.

"Um," I interjected, hoping that I did it it the most polite way possible."When did you two meet each other?"

"Yesterday." Kirito answered. "Why?"

Ah, well, I thought, Diavel must have made this raid party in a hurry, after all.

Looking briefly at the players walking in front of me, Kirito and Asuna (we were at the back of the party), I was reminded that not all the players in this boss raid party may have enough experience in taking down a boss, let alone a floor boss. In fact, I doubted my experience with fighting sub-bosses could help me as much in dealing with such a formidable foe.

Not wanting to demoralize Kirito again due to Asuna's lack of competency in battle, I assured him, "I do know how to Switch though." (Seriously, I did know. Wanting to learn how to Switch was one of the reasons I partied frequently with many players.)

"By the way," I added, "Can you tell me more about the floor boss? I think Diavel forgot to fill me in on that."

"Sure, I don't mind." Kirito replied nonchalantly.