The Survival Logs || Sword Art Online Fanfic

Samurai Lord Arc: Chapter 17 - Team Addition

3 February 2023, 3pm

10th Floor Labyrinth

There I was, alone, in the silent and dimly-lit area as I smoothly pierced through the katana-wielding monsters in my way.

At least, it was silent when those monsters weren't making their final cries of death while shattering into crystals.

I've seen the look of this dungeon way too many times. I mean, that would be quite exaggerating, seeing as I could remember the exact number of times I'd explored a Labyrinth on a different Floor for the first time.

10 times. That was, definitely without a doubt, a fact that I'm certain of.

Being the first Floor that was never reached by the beta testers in the beta version of SAO, it was also the Floor that proved more difficult for players to progress through. Without the knowledge of the beta testers guiding us, treading carelessly into the unknown was never an option for us in that situation.

When we finally walked on the 10th Floor, we found out that some of the monsters out in the hunting fields were dressed in armour that resembled those of a samurai, and were holding swords with slightly curved blades. Argo, who was with me at that time, recognised the weapons as katanas.

I remembered asking her if she was a Japanese player or not. Apparently, she was. It looked like she didn't mind giving out that information for free.

I never thought that the Katana existed as a weapon type in SAO. The monsters using the weapon in the 10th Floor Labyrinth were all over the place.

And recently, I sighted players already using katanas during combat. So, that means they acquired the Katana skill? I wasn't that interested to wield a katana, so I never did try to find out.

Well, it's been about 2 weeks since the 9th Floor got cleared, and after figuring out the new and unusual attack patterns of the samurai monsters, here I was, giving myself the 'eligibility' to enter the Labyrinth.

Exploring the Labyrinth was also the perfect chance to level up my Bow & Arrow skill, which I didn't use at all in the hunting fields. If I used my bow there, it would attract a bunch of attention from nearby players. I was probably the only player who has a ranged weapon, after all.

I finally stopped in an area before a pair of giant doors, lit with only fire torches attached to the walls. I knew I wasn't the first player here. A bunch of players with their backs facing me were standing by the giant doors, looking at some unseen player who was addressing the group.

I walked closer to the crowd, which I assumed had more than 40 players in their ranks. A player noticed my presence and turned around. He spoke to me in a laid-back manner.

"You're quite late for someone who wants to join a boss raid."

I didn't expect that, but I replied anyway, as he was a player I recognized, way back on the 1st Floor.

"...Can't help it. I'm still getting used to this Labyrinth. They're harder to defeat."

I never forgot the swordsman standing in front of me right now. Kirito, the player who gave himself the nickname of 'Beater' to uphold his pride of being a former beta tester, and to shoulder the hatred directed at the other beta testers by himself.

Beside him, a female player wearing a cloak turned around as well. Her chestnut-coloured hair fluttered about as she did.

"Are you not listening to the meeting, Kirito?" she said.

"Huh? Oh, there's a new player who wants to join the boss raid." Kirito replied.

He then told me, "We've already decided the teams for the boss fight, but we don't have a full party. Only Team G's short of players, so you can join us."

"Sounds good." I said. "Wait, 'us'?"

"Asuna and I are always in the last team, as the ALS and DKB are always in Teams A to F. That's how it is in the Floor boss raids."

I didn't know that, but it makes sense for the two biggest guilds in SAO to lead the Floor boss raids.

Kirito stretched out a hand. " I hope we can work together as a team."

"Same here." I simply replied while completing the handshake. It seemed clear that Kirito and Asuna didn't seem to remember me from the 1st Floor boss fight, but I guess it didn't matter to me.

"-------We may not know anything about the boss this time, but we will find a way to defeat it no matter what! Alright, let's give it all we got, people!"

I only heard the last words of the speech made probably by the party leader. Fascinating. Well, since there's practically no strategy on how to defeat the Floor boss, that speech was most likely some motivation for the whole party.

In the previous Floors, players could gather information on the Floor bosses by playing through the Elf War quest campaign. But now that the campaign ended on the 9th Floor, collecting Floor boss information on the 10th Floor seemed extremely difficult, as none of the quests found there never seemed to hint anything about the boss's attack patterns.

The only clue was that the boss uses katanas to fight, due to the large number of katana-wielding monsters found, especially in the 10th Floor Labyrinth.

As the giant doors swung open, I watched from the back of the party, thinking about the boss fight I was in on the 1st Floor. The boss fight on the 10th Floor was going to be the second time I'm participating in a Floor boss raid. Now that I'm a Level 18 player, I'm strong enough to fight on the front lines, right?

A minute later.

I was looking at the samurai on the other side of the boss room, easily towering over the players by two or three times. The boss unsheathed a slightly curved sword from its back. The title above its HP gauges read 'Kagachi the Samurai Lord'.

Its war cry reached my ears, loud and clear.

As the player nearest to the giant doors, I looked back at them. They automatically swung back into a closed position.

I turned back to see players at the front of the party heading towards the boss. I took a deep breath, and spoke with as much resolve as I could possibly get.

"...So sian....No turning back now."