(SAO x Reader) Sword Art Online: Incendiary Chaos

Chapter 6

When my eyes opened, I was staring up at a brown wooden ceiling with the sensation of a soft bed under me and a blanket over me. I heard voices chatting somewhere off in the room. But before I could look up to see who it was, a certain brown-haired girl popped into my vision.

"Oh, he's awake!" Lisbeth said loudly. I heard the talking quiet down and saw others come into my vision.

I sat up and rubbed my head a bit. Looking around, I saw quite a few people. Lisbeth, Argo, Kirito, and the hooded girl he was fighting with. "About time you woke up, Chevalier." I heard Argo say in her usual mischievous, but slightly raspy voice.

"Chevalier! How're you feeling...?" I heard Kirito ask. He looked worried...

"Ugh... I'm fine, but... what happened...?" I asked, finally starting to wake up. The last thing I remember was defeating the boss and then... I collapsed.

"You went unconscious after the fight. Thank goodness you're ok!" Lisbeth said with an almost exasperated sigh.

I brung my legs up and over he bed, starting to get up. "I-I remember that happening, but-"

"Oh, you should see this new floor! Let's go!" Argo suddenly grabbed my arm and dragged me out of bed.

"Wha- Hold on-!" I was suddenly dragged out of the room.

"...So, what are you gonna do, Lisbeth?" Kirito asked as I went out of earshot.

"Huh? Oh, uhh... I guess I'll probably keep hanging out with Chevalier." She said, scratching her cheek a bit. "What about you? You two can come with us if you want?"

"Sorry, but I think I'll stay solo for a while..." Kirito said, waving his hand in front of him to politely say no.

"I'll stay as well." The hooded girl said. "Although, I wouldn't be against adding you into my friends list..."

***

"Uhh... Hey Argo...? Where are we going?"

"We're going to wander the floor, of course. Oh, Lisbeth is catching up as well." Argo said, looking behind her.

"Heya! Are we going to show Chevalier around?" She asked with a smile. Looking back at her, I could see that the building we left was an inn. Looks like they bought a room for me...

"I don't know what's so special about a new floor in the dungeon. I don't see why you need to be so-" I cut myself off as I finally saw why they were so excited.

Behind Argo was a sprawling floor of dust mountains and boulders. Whereas the first floor was mostly one big sprawling grassy field, this floor seemed to be compromised mostly of sandy hills and deep valleys. There was a winding pathway that traveled in between the two 'levels' of the floor, which seemed to be where most people walked.

"Woah... it's completely different up here..." I mumbled.

"Right? It's cool!" Lisbeth said, catching up with us. "It's nothing like the last floor. It's really surreal coming from the first floor to this one."

My eyes widened a bit at her words. "That's right... we finally reached the second floor..." I said, a bit in disbelief.

"Haha, it's a bit hard to believe, right?" Argo giggled. "But we're here. That's the most important thing."

I nodded in response. My nod was slow and thoughtful as the idea still set in. "Yeah..." Was all I could muster.

"Well, truth be told, this inn is sort of at the edge of the floor, so there really isn't much around here. Why don't we start exploring?" Argo said. There was a bit of excitement in her voice; it was hard to catch, but it was there. "You know, I'm laying off my information grabbing work for this!"