Chapter 11

Not long after thinking that quote over and over, I then heard some groans coming from Toru as I looked up at her as she was moving a bit. "Five more minutes mom..." she said in Japanese, I didn't understand a single word she said but I sighed in relief that she was now doing better, I swiped my hand down to open my menu and clicked my communications tab, clicking over to the party section and looking at the party, I click disband as the game gives me a warning saying "Do you want to disband this party?".

My hand goes over to the blue button (Yes) but stops seconds away from pushing it fully, I took a bit more thought into if I should disband it, ultimately I clicked the Red button (No) and left the party as it is. I got up and quietly walked over towards the door and closed it behind me, walking out of the inn before receiving a wind chime sound effect from my communications tab.

I opened it to see Diavel had messaged me not too long ago. The message then said "The scouts have come back with information, we are heading out now" as I looked at it and looked up the stairs to where Toru's room was. I then looked back at the message and typed to Diavel "I'm on my way" before closing it and heading over to the entrance of the labyrinth, The Labyrinth is a special dungeon that is a big pillar and how we are supposed to reach the second floor, there isn't a way to get around the labyrinth besides heading into it and dealing with what it has in store for the players.

I then arrived at the front of the labyrinth, seeing multiple other players also here and seeing Diavel at the front. I was genuinely surprised at the amount of people that had come to the labyrinth. "This was a lot more than I expected.." I thought to myself as I scanned around to spot anyone I knew. As I looked around, I spotted Sato and immediately walked over towards him.

"I wasn't expecting you to be early Sato"

I said to him as he turned and smiled replying, "Wow, I wasn't expecting you to show up either!" as I was confused at what he said. "What do you mean?" I said confusedly as he explained to me "Most of the original people that had been at the coliseum had left at the last minute, I thought you were one of them Kirin".

"Oh.. I don't leave at the last minute though.."

I told him with a little bit of a monotone as he chuckled and patted my back, "That's good to know!" as a windchime sound had pinged up. Diavel then began his speech as I walked out of the crowd and checked my messages not too far from them. There was a message from Toru saying "I'm Coming! Don't leave me out!!" as I looked back, seeing that Diavel was just about wrapping his speech up.

"Well you better hurry then, Diavel is almost done talking"

I messaged her as I closed it and heard the doors open by Diavel and the first group. I walked shortly behind them and was left in the second group. The First group and second group tried to travel at the same pace as the labyrinth monsters were swarming from all sides, all the tank players were in the first group so the second had to improvise and use their main attack players as their defense.

"Haah!!"

I shouted as I slashed a monster and watched it shatter, I looked at the group saying "My side's clear, keep heading onward!" as I stayed in the far back in-case of anyone falling behind. More monsters kept coming in as some people began to slightly fall behind, a guy tripped as I was backing up, I looked down and brought him back up to his feet saying to him "catch up to the second group now!" as he nodded and began running towards the group.

I ran into a crowd of monsters and began using AOE skills, using a horizontal slash in a full 360 degree angle. I then heard a voice shouting "Coming through!!" as I saw a monster get thrown. I was barely able to react and move out of the way just in time, seeing that it was Toru, swinging these monsters around like they're ragdolls. "Did you miss me?" She said in a somewhat better English than earlier, I chuckled saying "Well you're still alive and kicking, so I guess so" as we began running towards the second group.

My mind was somewhat put at ease as I was glad to know that Toru was okay after the incident. The secondary group met up with the first group as Diavel and the first group had begun a head count. While they were doing their headcount, I thought to myself about the boss that was just behind that door.

"If I'm correct, Illfang the Kobold Lord should be behind those doors like in the beta... But I haven't been seeing Kobold guards throughout the labyrinths... mostly just Demonic servants and Blood Wolves... There should have been Kobold mobs in this labyrinth..."

My train of thought was cut off by Diavel's shouting of another "Inspirational" talk in my ears. I didn't listen to the talk Diavel gave as I noticed Kirito and Asuna at the other side, I then turned my attention away to my sword as I pulled it out and looked at the shining damascus steel, looking at myself in the sword as I then think to myself "Is this really what I want to do..." as I began to really grip my sword, contemplating about what I should do when we reach the second floor.

I sheath my sword in the sheath on my waist, I then looked at it as the same question in my mind came up, I then tapped the strap and saw two options. "Waist" and "Chest" were the two options, I then tapped the chest option as the strap switched to my chest, wrapped around my right shoulder and under my left abdomen. Meanwhile, my sword and its sheath was placed on my back as I looked down at the strap.