Torn Between Worlds

Chapter 8: Into the Mountains

"What's got you all dressed up Yuna?" I asked her.

"Well thanks to you and Rosalia, I'm now a high enough level where I'll stand a chance if I go dungeon raiding," she told me.

"So you want to come with me and Kirito?" I asked her.

"Obviously," she told me.

"Alright, but stay close and do what we say," I ordered.

"Sure thing," she smiled as we left the apartment.

Walking through town with Yuna at my side, we met up with Kirito who also had Asuna with him. Looks like it's a four-man team this time around. Heading inside, Kirito immediately began to record the info about the dungeon.

"So is this what you do when you go into a dungeon?" Yuna asked as I stood in front of Kirito with Yuna and Asuna in the back.

"Basically," Kirito answered. "Alright, five paths, which one should we go down first?" he asked me.

"Let's head down the furthest path on the left and go clockwise," I suggested.

"Sounds good to me," Kirito agreed as we walked forward.

Coming across a group of enemies, we hid, before I went forward killing the enemies allowing us to continue. Making it to a dead-end, I looked for a hidden switch, there was none.

"Alright next path," I directed.

"Man if I knew it was going to be this boring I would've stayed home," Yuna stated.

"You're welcome to leave," I told her. "This is really only a two-man job anyways," I added.

"Alright, then we'll head back into town, have fun boys," Asuna told us before leaving with Yuna.

*Time skip*

After traversing the fourth path in the dungeon we finally found the boss room. Falling back we had what we came for.

Meeting up with the rest of the assault team, the meeting was the same as usual, but something wasn't right concerning Asuna's bodyguard, Kuradeel. After the meeting, I went home with Yuna.

"Alright Yuna, do you have everything for tomorrow? This isn't the boonies, this is the big leagues and you only get one shot at it because one mistake could spell disaster for the entire raid," I explained.

"Like what happened on Floor 58?" she asked me.

"...Exactly, that was probably our worst defeat," I started. " We started with 120 players only came out with 40, Kirito, Asuna, and me included. With our second go around there were only 80 of us, but luckily we were able to restore the morale after the victory on floor 59," I continued.

"I promise I'll be careful, I had gone down to floor 48 to Asuna's friend who gave me a good deal on the armor," she told me equipping it.

"Hmm, follow me, it's somewhat lacking," I told her as I took her to my personal forge. "Give me that armor I'll fix it right up," I told her before she handed it off to me. "Thank you," I told her.

After making some major modifications, I seriously doubt the durability of Asuna's armor and rapier. Calling her over, she seemed confused as to why I called her to my forge.

"No offense to your friend, Asuna, but she needs to work on her craft more. Thankfully Yuna showed me her armor before tomorrow, and I was able to fix it up and crank it's durability and other attributes way up," I told her.

"Yeah the good metal is a rarity, so Liz does her best with that's she's got," she explained.

"Of course. I'll send her a shipment of obsidian steel, free of charge so that she can make armors and weapons fitting of her rank as a smith because she is a master smith," I told her.