Chapter Three

I panted hard, glaring at the monster as I raised my sword in front of me. My HP was almost to red, but this was the last one.

With a roar, I rushed forward and slashed upward at the beast's wolflike face. With one slash, he exploded into colorful shards.

I sighed and straightened my back, reaching my arm up to sheath my sword. The congratulations menu was pulled up, offering a dropped item.

Wolf uniform

I raised my eyebrow. I pulled up my menu and looked through my items to find this new object.

I found that it was a whole outfit with the theme of a wolf. It's defensive properties were good and it made wolves realize I wasn't the enemy.

I frowned. I had never heard of something even remotely close to this. Then again, the whole game wasn't supposed to be like this.

I quickly equipped the outfit and looked down to see how it looked.

The uniform consisted of a black skirt that barely covered my butt; knee high combat boots with little tuffs of fur at the top; a gray shirt that stopped just above my belly button; black gloves that had no fingers and covered my whole forearm; and a long, black cloak that stopped at my ankles and had furry, wolf ears on the hood.

Players were going to have a field day when they saw me.

I grinned. I actually liked the uniform. I started walking up the trail once again.

It's been a month since the launch of the game, and over 2000 players have died already. I couldn't help but worry about Klein or Kirito or Katsu. What had happened to them?

I shook my head. I couldn't think about them. I had to only think about my survival. As bad as that seems.

Besides, they seemed like they could take care of themselves.

A beep interrupted my train of thought. I pulled up my menu to see that I had received a message.

There's a player meeting in Tolbana for higher level players. Thought you would want to know.

-Kirito

Well, I guess I don't have to worry about him anymore.

I grinned. I was going to go to that meeting. I might as well. I had nothing better to do.

I turned and started heading in the direction of Tolbana.

********

"Long time no see." I smirked, walking over to sit next to Kirito.

"That's all your fault." He pointed out.

I rolled my eyes and looked him over. I raised an eyebrow at his black outfit.

"Aren't you just a ray of sunshine?" I teased, raising an eyebrow.

"Me? You look like you're about to rip out my throat with your teeth." He said, playfully flicking one of the wolf ears on my hood.

I shoved him away, surprised about how close I feel to him. A girl on the other side of him turned to looked at us. At least I think so. The top half of her face was covered in shadows because of her hood.

Someone cleared their throat down below and we turned to look at him.

"Thank you for coming today. My name is Diabel. I like to consider my 'job' as knight." A player announced, "You should take this seriously! Then, is the meeting a joke, too? Today our party found the boss room at the top of the tower. "

"Seriously?" Someone asked from a few feet away.

"We need to defeat the boss, reach the second floor, and tell everyone waiting in the Town of Beginnings, that it is possible to beat this game. Everyone present here shares this duty! Do you all agree?" Diabel continued.

Everybody clapped. I leaned forward more interested than ever. They found the boss?

"Okay lets begin our planning. First, divide into parties of six." Diabel said.

Kirito looked panicked as everyone started forming parties. I understand his feelings. He turned to me with a raised eyebrow. I rolled my eyes and nodded. He grinned and looked over at the lonely girl on his other side.

"You were left out too?" He asked.

"I wasn't left out. I just stayed out of it because everyone seemed to know each other already." The hooded girl explained.

"A solo player. Then, want to form a party with me? He just said we can't beat the boss on our own. So just for this fight?" Kirito asked.

The hooded girl nodded and Kirito pulled up his menu for us to form a party.

"Harumi?"

I looked around and saw Katsu making his way over to me.

"Hey! I haven't seen you in awhile!" I exclaimed, hopping up to give him a hug.

"Yeah! That's kind of your fault though." He pointed out.

"Everything's my fault today isn't it?" I laughed.

"Anyway, do you want to form a party?" He asked, smirking. "Just for today. I know you're a solo player."

I bit my lip, "I'm actually in a party with Kirito and another girl."

"Oh." He sighed, disappointed.

"You can join us! Right, Kirito?" I asked, turning to face him and the hooded girl.

Kirito frowned, but nodded nonetheless. I grinned and pressed the accept button on the party invitation that popped up in front of me. Katsu did the same.

"Okay so you have formed your parties?" Diabel asked from down below.

"Hold on!!!" A boy yelled as he came jumping in from the outside. "My name's Kibaou. I wanna say something before we take on the boss. Some of you here need to apologize to the two thousand of us that have died so far."

"Kiabou-san are you referring to the beta testers?" Diabel questioned.

"Of course I am! On the day this stupid game started, the beta guys ditched us beginners, and they all disappeared. They took all the good hunting spots, and easy quests for themselves, so only they could get stronger. And then they just ignored the rest of us. I'm sure someone here was in the beta! They should get on their knees and apologize, and give up all the items and money they've hoarded. Otherwise we can't trust them to protect us as party members, and they can't trust us."

I frowned and looked at the others out of the corner of my eyes. Katsu and Kirito looked really angry.

"May, I speak?" Another guy asked, standing up to look at Kiabou, "My name is Egil. Kiabou-san, tell me if I have this right. You're saying that because the beta testers didn't take of them, many beginners died. That they should take responsibility, apologize, and provide compensation. Correct?"

"Y-Yeah." Kiabou agreed warily.

"You got this guide book, didn't you? It was provided for free at the item store." Agil asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Yeah, sure I did."

"It was compiled from information given by the beta testers." Agil told him. Kiabou looked surprised. "Listen everyone had equal access to this information and even still many players died. I thought the topic of discussion here was what we could learn from their deaths and how that can help us defeat the boss."

Kiabou turned red and left. Everyone else sat down and waited for the meeting to continue.

"All right, I'm sure we can resume?" Diabel asked. "The latest edition of that guide book was just issued, and it contains information on the boss. According to it, the boss's name is Illfang the Kobold Lord. He is guarded by assistants known as Ruin Kobold Sentinels. He is armed with an axe and buckler. He has four heatlh bars, and when the last one enters the red, he switches to a curved sword-type weapon called a Talwar. His attack pattern changes as well. This concludes the meeting. Lastly, items will be automatically distributed. EXP goes to the party that defeats the monster. And anyone who receives and item keeps it. Any objections?"

Nobody spoke up. Diabel nodded and clapped his hands together, "Okay we leave tomorrow at ten in the morning. See you there!"