Episode 18 - Beater
Episode 18 - Beater
Fourth Day in the Month of Holly (December 4) in the Year of the Hawk
Floor 1
The lights of the room dimmed and the fanfare playing ended too. Most of the players were still celebrating in the center of the room. They had beaten Illfang the Kobold Lord. They had cleared the first floor of Aincrad. The ceiling above them was metaphorically made of glass and they had just shattered it. Most didn’t appear to realize Diavel had fallen.
Bladescape glanced at her list. It was great XP and Col, and the items dropped were not bad either, from what she could tell at a glance, but it meant little to her at the moment. She hadn’t been strong enough. She could have, should have, been able to strike Illfang the Kobold Lord down. Kirito’s attacks were more than superior agility. She would never have his agility because she was using a different weapon class than he was, as well as a different build, but he would never have the power in his strikes that she would. Her swords might be slower and heavier, but they hit harder. Bladescape had a party of friends, he was playing solo. Statistically speaking, she could have done it, in reality, her friends were not ready to help her like Red Riding Hood had helped Kirito.
And perhaps more importantly, she, Bladescape, wasn’t there mentally. As she replayed what she had seen and dissected it, she realized the depth of Kirito’s will to dominate and win. He was going to end this nightmare. He was going to protect the others. He had instincts from surviving alone that she didn’t have. Instincts she needed to gain in order for her to ensure that her friends survived. They needed her to have a drive for victory like Kirito had displayed.
Or, perhaps, she had that drive already and she had that victory mindset, but they were things she needed to remember. She wasn't sure anymore. Only her memories would help her answer that. Either way, she had to change tactics.
Yet that was the issue. The raiders needed a leader, but Bladescape was unsure how to rally them. Leading her friends was one thing. They knew her and she had already relied on most of them; as much as they held her up long before she had put on the Nerve-Gear. Momentum, natural talent, and relying heavily on Natora’s in-game advice had carried her leadership this far as much as anything else, in light of her lost memories. Pulling them under her banner would be easy, but some deep part of her — she still didn’t fully remember — told her it would defeat the point. Conquering Aincrad would require many approaches all working together towards that goal, not one faction dominating the push forward. Rallying others to the cause as she guided it? She couldn’t remember how to do it. Hopefully someone would say something to spark an idea.
“You okay?” Natora asked, appearing beside her.
“Just thinking,” Bladescape replied. “Yes, but no. It’s complicated and this isn’t the time or place for that discussion. What matters is that no Wondercolts died and Illfang is dead. We can proceed to the second floor.”
The crowd quieted down and Bladescape saw Agil approach Kirito and Red Riding Hood. Kirito was kneeling on the floor, how he had ended the fight. It was Red Riding Hood who spoke first. “Nice job.”
“That was some fine swordsmanship,” Agil added. “Congratulations, today’s victory is all thanks to you.”
“No,” Kirito replied.
Someone shouted. “Yeah!” Another yelled “You rock, man!” Others started clapping and cheering. Bladescape clapped a few times. He deserved it, even if he had earned the last attack bonus she wanted.
“STOP CHEERING!” Kibaou ordered from the other side of the crowd. Everyone did, unsure what was going on. He was cold, sad, angry as he continued. “Why’d you do it? Huh? Why'd you let Diavel die?”
“Let him die?” Kirito quietly asked.
“That’s what I said,” Kibaou replied. “Admit it. You knew the technique the boss was gonna use. You could’ve told us! Then Diavel would have stood a chance. He wouldn’t have had to die!”
Bladescape’s heart sank. Like last night, Kibaou had the crowd turning on his side. Diavel had broken from the plan. Plus, the guidebook was not updated for the full release. Illfang most likely had used a talwar sword in the closed beta, but it was changed for the full release. It was unfair to assume Kirito knew or could have known.
Bladescape was about to argue back, to point out his stupidity and prevent the witch-hunt Kibaou was obviously looking to start, except someone spoke up before she could utter a word. “I know why he knew! He used to be a beta tester! Think about it. He knew the boss’ attack patterns. He knew, but he kept it from us!”
Bladescape finally saw Kibaou. He was sitting on the floor, trying to hold it together, with a few others from Groups C and E. He was the opposite of Kirito, in both composure, and spatial relation. There was a player from Group E pointing at Kirito, the same one who had just leveled the accusation at him.
The player continued. “And I bet he’s not the only beta tester here. Come on! Show yourselves!”
Players were looking around and murmuring to each other.
“This is bad,” Natora said to Bladescape, barely above a whisper. “I...I don’t know what to do.”
“It’s okay,” Bladescape whispered back. “Let them calm down.”
Things only got more tense. Players were actively looking for a beta tester, or more than one. They didn’t trust anyone. A few eyes settled on Bladescape. She knew it was because she was the leader of the only group with matching capes. At this point, even if they hadn’t had Natora for help, it would be nearly impossible for her to convince them otherwise. Diemond did what Rarity did and what they all expected her to do before diving into SAO; make sure they matched. But the mob wouldn't, didn't, see it that way. Drawing more attention to themselves right now would only solidify that false assumption.
Agil and Red Riding Hood had made their way over to Kibaou. Agil was trying to ease the situation. “Hey, calm down.”
Suddenly Kirito began to laugh. It was a laugh filled with mania and slowly rising in its volume. Everyone turned to look at him. Kirito was still kneeling on the floor as he laughed. Just as the laugh got to be too much, it stopped. His voice was even and cold. “So, you guys think I used to be a beta tester.” Kirito stood up, with a real bite to his words. “It’s not cool to put me in the same class with those noobs.”
“Wha?” Kibaou stammered, also standing. “What’d you say!”
Kirito turned to look at them. “You heard me.” Kirito said, slowly starting to walk over to Kibaou. “Most of the thousand people who scored a slot in SAO’s Beta were rookies. They were so green, they didn’t even know how to level up. Hell, even you guys are better than they were. But me, I’m nothing like those guys, man.” He stood in the middle of the crowd, facing Kibaou. Now his words were a statement, a boast. “During the Beta, I made it to floors that were higher than any of the other testers. That’s a fact. I knew about the boss cause I fought tons of monsters with way more sword skills on higher floors. I know a bunch of other things too. More than you can imagine. More than any info broker.”
“Wh-what the hell?” Kibaou asked. “If that’s true, then you’re worse than a beta bester.” Kibaou was seething. “You’re a cheater, that's what you are!”
Bladescape sighed, tired from the fight and already exhausted from this unhelpful turn of events. She didn’t dare look at Natora for fear of giving her away. She could tell she was tense again, worse than yesterday.
Someone yelled. “He’s a beta tester and a cheater! He’s a Beater!”
“A Beater,” Kirito said, soaking in their hate. “Yeah, that’s good. I like it.”
That response shocked everyone, even Bladescape. She hadn’t quite figured him out. He was a loner, quiet and aloof, making it difficult to read him. Beta tester explained why he was solo and why he was watching everyone like he was yesterday, but now he wasn’t the same reserved and quiet observer with a level head.
“Okay,” Kirito said, swiping up his menu. “You can call me a Beater. Just be sure you don’t confuse me with those beta testers anymore.” With a final click a black leather coat appeared on his body, turning his projected appearance even darker. Sinister even.
Kirito turned around and walked toward the back of the chamber. With the boss defeated, the stairs had been revealed. They would take them to the second floor, somewhere close to a settlement. Kirito probably knew exactly where that would be, but Bladescape had no idea and she knew Natora didn’t either. They just watched him walk away, unsure what else to do.
Red Riding Hood suddenly ran after him. She caught up to him on the stairs, right before they turned and he disappeared. “Wait!” He kept walking and she was forced to follow him out of sight.
With the Beater in black gone, the tension in the chamber lessened. Bladescape glanced at Natora. She was shaking a bit from suddenly losing the tension she had been building up. Now that Kirito was gone, this was Bladescape’s opportunity to rally everyone. She had to refocus them on moving forward. The only other person who had shown great leadership in the battle had just abandoned them.
"Well I guess I am one of the noob beta testers," Natora said to Bladescape. Bladescape winced and Natora immediately regretted the comment. It had been meant to break the tension Natora was feeling, but she wasn't among friends. It was a joke with serious consequences. It also killed the opportunity to refocus everyone. Kibaou and many of the others would not listen to someone who benefitted from, as they saw it, a cheater.
Kibaou turned on Natora. "You're an ex-beta tester too! You cheated your way just like he did! How many quests did you steal and what places did you hide to build up your levels? Huh? Players died because of you! I demand that you hand over your earnings that you stole from us."
Natora didn’t have the darkness and fear Kirito had generated. She hadn’t ripped apart the boss. She was touchable, whereas Kirito had separated himself and left their grasp.
Natora slipped into a loose fighting stance. She was harsh in her tone, working to convey strength and command of the situation. "I never made it off the first floor. About all I was good for was map data. Yeah, I did face Illfang three times in the beta, and died like a noob each time before I got any information about him. The guidebook had more info in it within three days than I learned in one month. I switched weapons so often, I didn't stand a chance at beating Illfang by myself.” She lowered her spear, pointing it at Kibaou. "When the game started, I helped my friends. There were seven of them and only one of me. I had my hands full. As to the quests, the only quest we sniped was in Tolbana and it was so I could get the spear that I had the last few days of the beta back. I loved it and I wanted it again, but I didn't get it because the game had changed. The one you are looking at was my reward. In the beta it was able to be done by anyone, like the Anneal Blade, except for the release it was a one-shot quest. Things changed for the full release."
Natora relaxed a bit and swiped up her menu. "I'll give you everything I'm not wearing if you can beat me in a duel. All the stuff I have earned since this started that is in my inventory will be yours, including the col, to distribute how you see fit." A screen popped up in front of Kibaou. She brought her spear to bear on him again and slipped into an aggressive stance. "Come and take it!" Natora challenged.
The second to last place they needed to have a duel was in a boss chamber, beaten or not. The worst place would be the field, where monsters could attack.
"Fine," Kibaou spat, accepting the duel. "I'll make you pay for cheating!"
SAO had three types of duels: First Hit, Half Loss, and Full Duel. A First Hit duel ended as soon as one player scored a solid hit, not a glancing strike, against their opponent. Half Loss, like Natora had chosen, ended when one dueler lost half of their HP. A Full Duel was over only when one of the duelers ran out of HP. With the changes to SAO, a Full Duel was a death sentence. Still, First Hit and Half Loss were good ways to settle scores between players, particularly the safer First Hit. A critical strike combined with a nearly beaten opponent could drop their HP to zero as the duel was won.
The countdown finished and Kibaou charged her. Natora surged forward with a war cry. Kibaou triggered a Sword Skill, like she had hoped he would. She spun, letting her spear whip around, and knocked his sword out of its path with the butt of her spear. It canceled his triggered Sword Skill. The spin put her behind Kibaou. She didn't hesitate as she ran his shoulder through from behind with a simple thrusting Sword Skill. Skewered, she forced him to his knees in defeat.
“I wanted to run you through last night for your stupidity and arrogance,” Natora spat. “Your accusations today at Kirito and all beta testers made me want to do it again. I guess I got my wish.”
Kibaou’s HP slid down past the halfway point and Natora was declared the victor. She pulled Deliverance free and stood tall and proud as she surveyed the room. "Call me a Beater if you want, but I didn't learn to fight like that in the beta. Yeah, I knew the floor map and enemies, but plenty changed. The boss labyrinth was rewritten so that no beta tester knew where the boss chamber was. Several quests, quest rewards, and most likely other things that I didn't know about were changed too. I bet Illfang did carry a talwar in the beta, but they changed it to that odachi for the full release. I never got him halfway finished before I died, so I know nothing about the second floor. I am as blind as you are.
"When Kayaba finished his tutorial, I made a choice. I put everything I had into helping my friends and I survive when this stopped being a game and became our new life. ‘Clear the final boss’ is what Kayaba said. I could only teach a handful of players, so I stuck with the seven friends I got to join me in SAO for the full release. I gave my heart and soul to them to make sure the eight of us survived. We did and not because I had inside knowledge, but because we stuck together and formally partied up, which I am guessing none of you did from how you reacted yesterday. Our collective strength saved us more than my knowledge ever did. We learned together how to fight and succeed.
“Despite my limits, I did all I could, for as many players as I could. I make no apologies for my personal limit and no one has the right to tell me I could have done better. Maybe I did cheat a bit, if you want to get all super technical about it, but it was for my friends and our survival, without the intention of hurting anyone, stealing anything, or hiding information. We barely saw half the floor, so we didn't hog or hide anything. No players died because of my hard work, but eight survived because of it.
"We are the Wondercolts and we have been able to give back from some of the surplus we got, but I, we, don’t owe you the details or an explanation. So call me what you want, Beater, Beta Tester, Ex-beta Tester, Beta, Wondercolt, or Natora. I know what I did and I stand by it, no matter what you may think."
"I have a hard time believing that," Kibaou stated, still enraged, from where he had fallen. "A cheater is a cheater, and you used it to get ahead. You left everyone else behind. Giving back after the fact didn't help those who died."
Clearly he had lost at least one friend or party member since the game started.
"Hey, knock it off," Agil said. "You see this axe. They gave it to me last night after the meeting. I didn't pay them anything for it, not even an item trade, and I don't have to give it back now that the boss is beaten. They saved it, looking for the players who would actually need it. They didn’t go off and sell it for a high profit, even though they could easily have, they kept it to intentionally give away."
"Yeah," another player said. "My axe is from them. They also gave me it free because mine wasn't going to cut it. I didn't realize how behind it was when it came to my weapon, but I saw that difference today. I didn’t know she was an ex-beta tester, but she and her friends were not hoarding or hiding anything. She has my, Hakowaru, thanks and support."
"Same thing with my sword," a third one said. "So she is a Beater, at least she did what she could after she ensured her and her friends survival. Seven is a lot of people to train and care for. Natora the Beater and her friends are all good in my book."
“We should have known from your cloaks!” the same player who had pointed Kirito out said.
“These?” Bladescape asked, stepping forward and undoing hers to display it for everyone to see. “Diemond made them for us, with her own skill. Her own knowledge. Her own free will because she wants us to look alike. Natora had nothing to do with it. Natora got us to join SAO, but we decided together before it started to be a guild.” Bladescape made a strong statement. “And the Wondercolts stand behind our friend, Natora.”
About half of the players had swung to being at least okay with Natora, as well as the beta testers. She wasn’t the same as Kirito and neither were most of the beta testers. That was what mattered.
Natora took a cue from Kirito and began to head for the stairs. The rest of the Wondercolts followed after her.
Natora stopped at the stairs and turned around. "Kirito was right. You lot are better than most of the beta testers were. You are certainly better than I ever was in the beta. Still, you have a long way to go if you want to beat this game. You got tossed like noobs and took too many hits that you could have avoided or blocked. Not that we were perfect, because we made mistakes, but at least we have been working together like we are in a guild. Group strategy is something you all need to learn."
With that said, Natora turned back to the stairs, ignoring anything behind her. They followed them up to the surface of the second floor. They exited the dungeon to find themselves on a cliff overlooking the savannah themed floor. The only way down was a set of winding stairs.
BLADESCAPE: Level 13 — Two-Handed Sword — Searching — Weapon Defense — Leather Armor
NATORA: Level 13 — Two-Handed Spear — Purchase Negotiations — Sales Negotiation — Weapon Defense
KNIGHTSTAR: Level 13 — One-Handed Sword — Shield — Light Metal Armor — Equipment Appraisal
MALUS: Level 13 — One-Handed War Hammer — Shield — Light Metal Armor — First Aid
THUNDERBORNE: Level 13 — Rapier — Sprint — Acrobatics — Weapon Defense
KONPEITO: Level 13 — Two-Handed Axe — Cooking — Weapon Defense — Light Metal Armor
DIEMOND: Level 13 — Mace — Shield — Sewing — Light Metal Armor
DOOMBUNNY: Level 13 — One-Handed Dagger — Hide — Fighting Spirit — Blade Throwing
KIEFER: Level 8 — One-Handed Curved Sword — Slash Weapon Forging — Light Metal Armor
SORYUTO: Level 8 — One-Handed Sword — Shield — Light Metal Armor
REISENKI: Level 8 — One-Handed Axe — Shield — Light Metal Armor
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Now we got TWO 'Beaters'. Now the question becomes, how long until the Wonders end up getting to chat with our little solo boi. Though, I don't know how he'd handle speaking with so many pretty women, considering his more shut in time before SAO.
Jeez, Kibaou still doesn't know when to shut up. I'm glad Natora put him in his place.
11655637
He was a fairly typical 14 year old Japanese boy. That said, it's clear he doesn't know a lot. His father/uncle was overseas on business a lot. Kirito is on the run to blitz clearing what he can while he knows the floors. Catching him is going to be tricky. Same with Asuna as they tag team it.
11655659
No he does not. It was fun putting him in his place. Well, sort of. You can't fix stupid. Their troubles have only just begun. Hehe.
Somehow I don't think getting his ass kicked will teach Kibaou anything. Might make it worse really. Natora's words might help a bit but I get the sense that they won't convince many people that have already made up their minds.
As much as I would agree, he wanted them to continue fighting for him. This was bound to happen, and they'll be times they'll lose players because of it.
This still gives me the chills whenever I hearing. Not sure if Kirito was out of character or anything, but he still managed to scare people with the way he put it. Myself included.
Is this supposed to like how the Progressive movie ends where Asuna joins Kirito over him unfriending her and then going their separate way? Felt like asking cause I did.
Sometimes I forget how much of a bitch Kibaou was!
She's really doing it!
That a girl!
Same here.
I'll take that as a compliment.
11655773
The progressive do shape Kirito and Asuna early on to make them into the characters they are in the first novel. Which basically starts at floor 74. So they will be held to quite a bit out of necessity, however, the girls won't see much of that. They may get snapshots, but the focus of this story is on Sunset, Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rarity, and Twilight. Plus Natsuki.
I love your comments.
Also, below is a response to one of them.
11655694
And we get 24 more floors of Kibaou being the idiot he is. Lots of fun. Hehe.
11655809
Thx and np.
Oh Kibo you should be glad I'm not there with you cause in that case there would've been a whole lot of profanity and punches flying at your face.
Natora: I don't owe you details or explanation. She says AFTER she's done explaining their situation with quite some details
Seeing Kibaou hamulated like that is so cathartic.
Yay banners are back
Kibaou (probably): The only way you beat me was because you are a Beater!
In all seriousness though it was good to see the people that the Wondercolts helped come to Natora’s defense and for her to stand up for herself. She used every talking point I thought of for her defense.
11656713
Yes, they are! I was able to take the time yesterday to migrate the important images to another site for hosting and redid them all, at least for Ruby Palace.
11656921
I'm glad I didn't miss any of the major points! My job as the author is to make the reader think and guide them to agreeing with my conclusion and being satisfied. That may mean leaving stuff open, but the reader should understand that nothing is perfect and/or that there will be more to come because of what was missed.