⌜Chapter 19⌟

*Clang! *Clang! *Clang!

Sparks flew off as Scythe and Shield clashed with each other, One was attacking while the other was trying to block all of the attacks.

Their fight is so intense that the players couldn't help but watch in shock as these two players fight each other.

Kayaba was having a difficult time as he saw that his Hitpoints were dropping even when he had his cheat on, it already dropped to 50%, he was very confused about what is happening but he can't be careless fighting this person in front of him.

They fought for a long time.

*Boom!

In the end, Kayaba who was carrying the shield was blown away from the attack, everyone became alert as they saw this, Kayaba who was sent flying crashed into one of the pillars.

They then looked at Madara who was standing after blowing away Kayaba.

"Hmmm, Is this all?"

*Swooosh!

Just as Madara finished speaking, many more figures charged towards him, their movements were much better than the ones Madara fought earlier, no, they were very experienced, he could immediately tell that these players were beta testers.

Madara immediately jumped away as their swords hit the place where he was standing, Madara then grasped his scythe tightly and then charged towards them.

*Clang! *Clang!

The fight looked likes war, but the enemy was only a single person, Madara was having a little difficulty fighting the beta testers because all of them knew how to use skills something in which he haven't fought before.

But because of this Madara felt he was getting better at fighting, he was getting very sensitive from the movement around him.

"I'm done"

Madara suddenly said then with a fast and simple swing of his scythe all of the beta testers that we're ganging up on him were blasted away.

Everyone was already scared, even the beta testers weren't able to do anything against the guy in front of them, just when they thought all of them were going to die soon.

The man suddenly turned around and left, he went to the stairs and climbed the 2nd floor.

Everyone was confused by what just happened.

"W-What happened? did he run away?"

"Runaway? are you seriously saying that? they weren't even able to touch him"

"But whatever, that psychopath is finally gone! he killed a lot of players!"

"Wait! no one died! look!"

A man pointed at the players lying on the ground, all of them slowly stood up albeit weakly, but one thing was for sure, all of them were alive.

"I almost died from his attack! it took 80% of my hitpoints from his attack!"

One guy yelled, he immediately took out an HP potion and drank it, everyone else also drank one, and they all stayed and sat on the ground tired from the fight.

"But what the hell is that guy's problem? how is he so strong?"

"He is probably a psychopath who wanted to fight just for fun"

"I don't want to meet him again!"

All of the players who fought Madara didn't want to ever meet him again, for them, that guy was a monster and a psychopath, but not all of them thought about him like that, and one of those people was Kirito.

He still remembered the words Madara said to them, loud and clear.

"Is this all you got? if you are all only this strong then you might as well let your family treat you as good as dead and don't let them wait for your return"

Those words were a warning, Madara was telling them to grow strong since he had already told them, they were weak, they were happy for the achievement of a single person while they did nothing.

It was like he was telling them that he will not be here every time and that he won't do this again, it might not be accurate, but Kirito felt that is what Madara trying to say to them, he clenched his fist as he remembered his parents and his little sister that is waiting for him outside.

Meanwhile, Kayaba was absently minded thinking about Madara, there is only one person who could break his cheats in the game, and that was his coworker and his best friend, Tanaka.

He is the only one he could think of who could bypass his system.

"Yes, that must be it, I see, you have finally decided what to do huh?"

Kayaba didn't get angry as he found that his best friend was helping these players trapped inside the game, he felt a little happy, because, it was so in the character of his best friend, helping people in need even if he had to sacrifice himself.

"Everyone! let's proceed to the second floor!"

Someone shouted waking up everyone from their senses, they all looked up the stairs to the second floor and still felt fear remembering the man that just fought them, but they still proceeded to the second floor.

To clear this death game.

"..."

Arriving on the 4th floor, Tanaka decided to take a rest, he was now in the place called Rovia, it was already night time, Rovia looked like a colorful city covered by canals, he was now sitting on a gondola while looking at the city.

This place was very relaxing for Tanaka and he had decided to rest here for the day and continue climbing tomorrow, he was already tired.

Anyway, he plans to go to the 79th floor which is the highest floor reached on the anime, But he will explore each floor first trying to understand their structures and what they are special about.

For now, the 4th floor was a relaxing place, though it doesn't have any good hunting spot and he also plans to search for quests in this place, as for the 2nd and 3rd floor? just give it to the players, he doesn't really care much about it.

And they will need it because, he will not help them in clearing the floor boss anymore, and he would only reappear when they finally reach the 40th floor.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Heya, thanks for reading this book so far, anyway, a huge time skip coming up ahead because there is no information about the floors, so I am making all of this up while getting the names from the fandom.

It's not accurate and there may be some difference since SAO: progressive will come out soon, and I did not add that to my work, so there may be some characters missing, anyway, hope you like it.

Peace out <3

Quotes:

We didn't know we were making memories, we just knew we were having fun. -Winnie the pooh.