CHAPTER 8 - To struggle

*THUMP*

The sound of a body hitting a tree echoed through the clearing with 3 individuals facing off against 2 large opponents. There were 2 girls and one black short haired skinny looking teenager.

The blue haired girl was called Megumi and the gyaru looking blond haired girl as called miku, the young man as known as yuuji.

After his body hit the tree, he slid down to the floor looking exhausted but the determination to fight in his eyes never faded still he was internally berating himself for letting his desires cloud his thoughts and that brought him to the present situation.

Looking around, he noticed megumi screaming his name and looking frightened for him which made him feel better even in such dire straits but glancing to the side and seeing the second monster pushing miku back and chipping away at her Hp slowly, increased the sense of urgency in his mind.

Springing to his feet and leading his opponent towards miku in order to fight both monsters simultaneously so as to give the girls some reprieve, he soon arrived in front of the other bear and slashed towards it's mid section getting in a crit hit and pulling its aggro he began leading the monsters away from the girls who where exhausted and trying to formulate a plan to deal with his situation but was too pressured to think clearly.

Deciding to take a last stand he spun around mid run, throwing the monsters off and swung his sword with all he had but only reduced the bear's Hp by 5%.

Becoming desperate, he started to attack like a man possessed, with the enemies on both sides approaching rapidly, sprinting to the left, he ducked under the bear's swing and cut at it's legs while in motion, pivoting on his right leg he thrusts his sword into it's side with his full strength paying little focus behind then he was hit by the other bear and blasted away from the spot.

while in the air, he spotted a rapidly approaching figure and couldn't tell if it was a friend or foe so he could only be optimistic and hope for the best. Crashing on the ground he quickly used a healing potion to prevent his health from bottoming out. He began to question the cause of this situation and started a reminiscence.

FLASHBACK

It was the day after kayaba's announcement, yuuji was headed towards the town square to find teammates to hunt together with in the field cause the stakes of the game just exploded and dying here means death in the real world. Scouting for capable members, he came across some familiar faces talking to 2 pretty girls and approached them. They were his classmates from school, Ted and Ash were their names. Seeing as they seemed to reach an understanding with the ladies, he approached them to ask to join their party.

"Hey guys, i had no idea you were also in this game" He greeted them jovially, pleased to see familiar faces in the death game.

"Yuuji you're here too, where the hell have you been man. Ash look, it's fricking Yuuji" Ted answered happily smiling widely.

"Good to see you man, Let me introduce you to megumi and miku" Ash answered and continued "We just formed a party and were about to head out for some grinding, can't afford to lag behind other players, but there's also safety in numbers"

"So do you want to come with us as well" Ash offered with a neutral voice.

"Sure thing, lead the way" Yuuji replied while accepting the invite to the party.

On the way out of town, Yuuji began to mingle with the girls and ask them about themselves while being humorous to lighten the mood cause he noticed that megumi was very nervous.

Parrying a strike from a 'mad boar', yuuji switched out with miku and she followed through with a strong vertical slash. Finished clearing the field, they were all happy to level up and continued this routine for a few more days with everyone seemingly being happy.

On the way to the next town to continue their progress, the synergy within the group was very strong after having gone through numerous life threatening battles together, Yuuji was speaking to megumi and trying to make her laugh as she has been more upbeat as of late compared to how she was when they first met.

Ted and miku were in front of the group and Ash was by the side, he suddenly saw large bear like monster at the edge of his vision, checking it's level, he discovered that it was way out of their league but before he could even alert the others, the bear charged towards ted in front.

 Foreseeing a terrible end should they engage the beast, Ash stealthily left the field without informing anyone as they were all focused on the approaching enemy.

A hit from the bear sent megumi flying prompting yuuji to quickly step in and occupy the monster and pull it's aggro.

Running into a sprint ted arrived by it's side with a thrust of his long sword, miku attacks with a basic sword skill from behind and megumi was already recovering from the hit and  getting back up when the monster roared and 3 more of it's kind appeared from the covering of the trees to join the fray with fury visible in their eyes.

Noticing the reinforcements approaching, yuuji began to look around for ash but found that he already disappeared and he didn't have the luxury to search for him, focusing on the new enemies, ted disengaged the isolated bear and ran towards the new comers aiming to stall them for a while till the others get free.

 Opening with a mid section slash, he jumps above a bears swing and lands in their midst. Barrel rolling out of it's bite range, he followed with a swift kick to it's knee and rapid slash to the neck getting a critical hit, avoiding a hit from behind , he leaned forward head first and quick stabbed the bear in front .

Beginning a dangerous dance of death, while slowly losing Hp but he couldn't afford to be careless, when his Hp was close to the red gauge he defeated a single enemy causing a slight delay in his response and he took a critical hit to the back.

 Rushing to give him a healing potion megumi screamed his name but he as unable to speak, paralysed and tired he began to lose Hp, by the time she got to him, all she could see him mouthing was "live on".

Frozen in place as ted's body broke down into polygon fragments, megumi slowly turned to the rapidly approaching monsters but she couldn't move, all she could do was scream and hope this was all a nightmare.

Closing her eyes and awaiting her end, she heard a thumping sound prompting her to open her eyes and saw Yuuji take the bear's hit for her and miku quickly arriving by her side and engaging the beast.

 Regaining her bearings she looked at miku who as very much exhausted after going through this experience, she saw yuuji leading the monsters away from them and hurriedly supported miku by the side to follow after him to prevent another tragedy.

On reaching the location, She found no more monsters but Yuuji standing there with his sword drawn and facing off against another player.