“...We’ve got Aoi,” Bai-ko answers Gondolin’s grumbles, all but confirming my suspicions. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious to meet the members of Thanatos, but not enough for me to willingly risk my neck to see them. Still…If they’re doing it in my name, I might as well try to stop them.

“I’ll look for them,” I say with a defeated voice, rising from the log.

“Alone?!” Christopher asks with a gasp.

“That’s the plan.”

“No! That’s too dangerous!” He exclaims, his protective nature on full display. His desire to ensure our safety is heartwarming, but he already saved my life with Witch Gothel. Besides, it’s safe for me to go alone this time.

“Fine, fine, I’ll go with him,” Bai-ko says languidly, stretching as she rises to her feet, “Reconnaissance is my specialty, after all.”

“Where you go, I do too,” Hong-hu steps forward, also planning on coming with. That makes things trickier, because he doesn’t know who I am…

“Neither of you are going,” Gondolin steps forward, “I have the best eyes. I’m a ranger, after all. I’ll go with you, Aoi.” Eh? What is…What is happening?

“Stop! I’ll go with him, I can shield him and ensure he gets back safely from the reconnaissance in the first place!” Christopher suddenly throws his hat in the ring as well. It feels like I’m not given any say in this matter…They’ve all started arguing amongst themselves over who’s going to go with me!

“HEY!!!” Their voices quiet down, as Tankina emerges from the tent again, “Everybody, shut up, I’m going with him.”

“Oho?” Bai-ko purrs quietly, amusement flashing across her eyes.

“Tankina, please, you’re the opposite of stealthy,” Gondolin raises a fair point.

“But I’m the one who’s wanted to go since before he got here! And besides, you’re all actual guild leaders, your lives are way too important! We already lost one of Yuto’s! My life is the most expendable, after this guy,” she points at me, “So I’ll go with him!”

“But-”

“SHADDAP!!! I’m going anyways!! Either with him, or without him!” She screams, before storming off…into the forest.

“No time like the present, I guess,” I murmur, following after her before she gets out of view, “I’ll let Bai-ko know when we get any updates, and try to come back soon! Don’t be idiots, but try to get more people here so that we can pull off a raid. Just some elites!”

“Aoi!” Bai-ko tosses something my way. I catch it, and check the item’s description. It’s hair dye remover…so this really was her plan from the get-go. “Good luck!” She calls after me, “Be a good chaperone!” I snicker and wave goodbye without looking back at her.

= = = = = =

Our journey through the forest has been…less than fruitful. We’ve been moving without torchlight, as that would only alert Thanatos to our location, but that means our progress has been slow. I’m in charge, and my tracking skill has helped us slightly. I’ve definitely found the breadcrumb trail that we’re supposed to follow for the main mission of the floor, but I’ve come across nothing in terms of Thanatos guild or any other players. It’s like they’re phantoms.

“...Aren’t you scared?” Tankina asks me, crouching next to me as I examine the floor as best as I can in the dark.

“Should I be?” I respond quietly, deciding our best bet is to follow the breadcrumb trail and try to retrace Yuto’s steps from there.

“Well, yeah. We’re facing Thanatos. We might actually die, unlike when losing one life fighting monsters. Isn’t that scary to you?”

“No. No more so than usual,” I mumble absentmindedly, not giving our conversation much thought, “We’re just in a video game. The stakes are higher, and the game feels more real, but at the end of the day it’s just a game. And I’m a good player.”

“I guess you’re right. But, Yuto died to these guys. Doesn’t that alarm you?”

I narrow my eyes and stop walking, turning around and looking at her. She’s asking a lot of questions for somebody who was so headstrong and boisterous. “Are you scared?”

“Yeah,” she answers with unexpected candidness, “Of course I am. I’m terrified. I hate this game, I hate this stupid guild, and I hate that I’m here,” she spits out with vitriolic anger.

“...Then why are you here?” After my question, silence seeps between us for a long time. The silence grows long enough that I begin to convince myself she isn’t going to answer my question, but that’s when she speaks again.

“Because if I’m scared, and I’m doing ok with the game, I can’t imagine how much worse everybody else must be feeling. I’m not here because I want to be, I’m here because I need to be. We need to clear this stupid game as fast as we can, so that we can go home and pretend it never happened. So that we can save the tens of thousands of people trapped with us. To save ourselves.” I hear her voice crack slightly at her final words. She’s venting, completely and utterly, but she needs it. She needs somebody to listen.

“Are you doing ok?”

“...This sucks! I hate it! This game is absolutely ridiculous, it’s been over a month since we started playing and we’re only on the 3rd floor. Yuto’s our hero, he was supposed to be the strongest player, he was becoming our symbol of hope, but he died already?! There are 100 floors, and he lost a life on the 3rd one?! If he can’t even do it, we’re all screwed! We’re all going to die here, there’s no way we can beat this game. And I miss my family, alright?! I’m scared I’m never going to see them again. And by the time I do see them again, it’ll have been months. No, years! It’ll be years before I see my family again!! If I ever do! I’ll die before then. I’m going to die in this pathetic game! I’m stuck in here, I’m stuck and there’s nothing I can do about it!! This is awful, this is terrifying, this sucks!” She begins to cry and she gives me her speech. She falls to her knees in the forest, covering her face with her hands, as her body is racked with sobs.

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I kneel next to her, and slowly pull her into a hug, “It’s ok,” I whisper quietly, realizing how much worse this game world must be for people who’ve never even worked with code before. This world is a system for me, it’s just a test, one I plan on passing. I’m at least passingly familiar with how parts of it were constructed. But for everybody else? Away from their family and friends in a foreign world for who knows how long? “I’m sorry,” I add, holding her closer. “I’m sorry we can’t go back yet.” Her sobs gradually begin to quiet down as I continue to console her, “But we will. I promise you we will. You’ll get to see your family again, and we’ll beat this game. I promise. You aren’t going to die.” The two of us separate. Even in the dark, her tears are glistening down her face, but she sucks it up with a sniffle, nodding slowly.

“But if even Yuto died…?”

“No,” I stop her, shaking my head and smiling, “Yuto didn’t die. He lost a single life. He has two more. And he’s the strongest person in the game, of course he’ll bounce back five times as strong. And he didn’t die to the game! He died to an ambush, that we’re going to foil. Now let’s keep moving, ok?”

She takes a shaky breath, and then rises back to her feet, “You’re right…I’m so sorry, you’re right. I just…”

“It’s ok,” I tell her, getting back up and poking her forehead, “I get it. Let’s keep looking, just one step closer to beating the game.”

= = = = = =

[Congratulations! After tracking down a hidden guild, tracking has leveled up to a D-rank skill!]

The notification crops up right as torchlight catches my eye flickering between the trees. I grab Tankina’s wrist and pull her into a crouch with me, placing a finger on my lips. I doubt she could see me in the dark, but she was probably able to assume why I grabbed her in the first place and stays quiet. The two of us slowly make our way closer to the lights, as their camp grows more and more in focus. It’s…huge. How did they have time to set all of this up?

It’s like a small city in the trees, four massive ones serving as the outline. Bridges connect between the trees far above us, and small shelters are built into each of the trees. The ground level has one huge campfire, around which various tents and crates full of presumably supplies are. They must have intended for this to be their camp for a long time. Horrifyingly enough, in the center of the trees, hanging below the bridges, there’s a large wooden cage dangling above the fire. A dozen or so people are trapped in there, all of them unmoving and lying down. Whether they’re asleep or paralyzed doesn’t matter, what matters is that they haven’t lost all of their lives.

“Stronger than one!” A man’s voice calls out from above, loudly, making me wonder why he couldn’t have done that earlier and given away his location. The bustle of the camp slows, and people emerge from their tents. Dozens of members, probably around 100, all armed to the teeth, stand in the camp. At least a dozen more are on the bridges between trees, and standing atop the cage a man steps into the light, “Stronger than ten…”

“Stronger than a hundred men!” The masses below him call out. He laughs, nodding in approval, languidly walking around the top of the cage without a care in the world.

“Tell me, my little reapers, how much have you grown with us?” People cry out various numbers, throwing out anywhere from 5-10, causing such an uproar I’m shocked we didn’t hear them before.

“What are we looking for?” Tankina whispers, starting to rise. I grip her wrist tighter and pull her down again, “Hey! What was that for?” She calls out, as though she’s oblivious to the sight before us. I shove my finger against my lip, and gesture to the still chanting crowd ahead of us. Fortunately their uproar prevented her from giving us away. “Can you see something? It’s just so damn dark!” She asks, narrowing her eyes and almost seeming to look through the camp.

The man laughs from atop the cage, “Excellent answers! Things are simple here, no? Level up, and survive. If your level’s low, you die. It’s just that easy! Kazesoku showed us that! And it’s great to see how much you’ve all grown!! Truly, truly! And we have 12 lovely little bags of EXP here for you…But who should get them?” Again, outcry from the crowd below.

I take the chance to turn to Tankina and ask, “Can you not see them?”

She looks closer ahead of us, and shakes her head, “Are they in the distance?” I stare at her with wide eyes. Why can’t she see them…? That doesn’t make any sense.

“Well…” I start thinking. My eyes drift to my inventory tab, the bottle of hair-dye remover is waiting for me. I need to be ‘Kazesoku’ again. Or their twisted version of me. I can’t do that in front of Tankina anyways, but she can’t see their camp. “Just wait for me, ok? Go behind that tree,” I point in the distance towards a stray tree. She furrows her brow, but nods and backs away.

“I think we know who wants to take their last lives most of all though…” The man announces, prowling about the cage and savoring his time in the spotlight. “Your very own guild leaders, OF COURSE!!!” He gestures with a sweep of his hand to the dozen or so people on the bridges. They wave to their fans, and the crowd at the bottom goes wild. It’s almost like a cult…I look around, ensuring Tankina’s gone, and take my bottle of hair-dye remover out. I apply it, and hope the results are immediate.

“But who of them will have the first boost? Who should it be?” Names start being thrown around, until I hear one I wasn’t expecting. From right next to me.

“Kazesoku?” She whispers, almost directly into my ear. I jump away, my eyes wide, accidentally leaping into the light. “It’s really you?!” She asks with a maniacal smile, leaping with me. Her face stays only inches away from mine, as though she’s drinking me in with her eyes. Her wide, diamond white eyes, trembling slightly. “KAZESOKU!!!” She shouts, grabbing me with strength I’ve never felt in the game before. I’m totally trapped in her embrace as she lifts me up in a hug, spinning around with me. Everybody else in the camp has gone quiet, murmurs spreading among them, “Oh!!! I’m SO happy I finally found you!!! And you brought a present for us!” A present? She giggles, looking to her left. When I follow her gaze I see Tankina, hiding behind a tree as best as she can. But…it’s still like she can’t see us. What is going on?! Can she not tell the light is shining directly on her?!

“KAZESOKU IS HERE EVERYBODY!!!” She cries out, tossing me into the air like I weigh no more than a feather. I fly all the way up to the cage, passing by the announcer from earlier, and fall down right into the girl’s arms again. “AMAZING!!! Amazing! Amazing amazing amazingggg!!!!” She laughs wildly, spinning with me again, the rest of the guild spreading out for her. “I’ve dreamed of this day since founding the guild! You kept me waiting for so long…But that’s ok! You’re here now! I’ve dreamed of what I’ll say~!” She clears her throat and puts me down for the first time, kneeling in front of me, “I’m your biggest fan! Phantasia, the leader of Thanatos, and please…” a notification interrupts her.

[Username: {PhantomPython} wants to be friends.

Accept? O Deny? X]

“Accept my friend request!!”