In an instant, everyone’s attention was focused on one direction, which was the central fountain.
Before they realized, someone was already standing there.
A player wearing bronze armor set on his chest, shoulders, arms, and shins, with a large longsword on his left waist and a kite shield on his back, immediately became the center of attention. He had blue hair with long bangs and blue eyes. His clothes underneath the armor were also blue.
This player then said with a playful tone.
“Thank you, everyone, for responding to my invitation. My name is Diabel. You can treat my class as a Knight.”
The players who were on edge suddenly loosened down a bit as everyone knew that there was no class system is SAO.
But quickly after, Diavel’s expression changed as if he was a different person.
“As I said earlier, I’m the one who invited you to this First Floor Boss Raid Strategy Meeting.”
Everyone was taken aback when they heard that, even Rozen and Kirito couldn’t take their eyes off Diavel.
The reason was simple.
If he was the one who initiated this strategy meeting, that meant one thing.
“Yes.”
Diabel said as if affirming what the players thought at that moment.
“Not long ago, my party found the boss room in the highest labyrinth floor.”
As mentioned before, players had to either explore the area outside the safe zone by themselves or buy a map scroll in order to unveil the map.
And as every player knew, the stairs leading to the next floor were guarded by floor boss, and this boss was located in the topmost part of the labyrinth area, which was the 20th floor in this case. However, most of the players haven’t even found the 20th floor itself. Meanwhile, Diavel has found the boss room, meaning he and his party have been spending quite some time on the 20th floor and mapped out that floor completely.
Even most front-line players didn’t dare to step foot into the 20th floor. They knew since that was the floor where Floor Boss resided, the monsters on that floor must be very powerful.
That applied to Kirito, partly because he didn’t have any party to watch his back. Even Rozen mostly spent his time on the 19th floor, he rarely went up to the 20th floor.
In Rozen’s case, it was partly because Rozen wanted to completely map out the 19th floor, and he was fine with leveling in the 19th floor since he was more familiar with that floor.
Meanwhile, Diavel and his party even went through the trouble of finding the boss room, which was admirable
“Kirito, do you know that guy named Diabel?”
“No, don’t know, I rarely talk to other players. I did get several player’s information from Argo, but that guy was not among them.”
Suddenly Diavel said.
“One month….. one whole month.”
“It has been a whole month since we were first trapped in this world.”
Other players just fell silent and looked gloomy when they heard that. Some clenched their fist, some looked down, some gritted their teeth, some looked sad.
Diavel then continued his speech.
“During this one month, I believe everyone here is also aware that this world is no longer a mere game.”
“We can’t rely on help from the real world.”
“But clearing this game is close to impossible.”
“Even if we cry, scream or yell, no help will come. There’s no other way but to do this ourselves.”
“We still have it slightly easier, there are still so many players who stay behind at the Town of Beginnings, they’re too afraid to leave the town and every day is a living nightmare for them. They couldn’t do anything except to wait for help.”
Diabel clenched his fist and lifted it high.
“But, I don’t want to wait for something uncertain. If no one is willing to stand up, then I will stand up and lead everyone together to clear this game!”
Diabel’s speech rekindled the fire in the player’s eyes. He looked like a charismatic figure in front of everyone
“I want to tell everyone that it’s not impossible for us to survive. Even if it’s a thorny path ahead, we must move forward!”
Diabel said loudly.
“By defeating the First Floor Boss and reaching the second floor, we’ll be able to tell everyone in the Town of Beginnings that this death game can be cleared!”
“It’s our responsibility! Don’t you think so, everyone?”
Diavel’s passionate speech immediately liven up the atmosphere.
“That’s right!”
“Yes!”
“Let’s beat this shitty game!”
“Let’s show Kayaba Akihiko who’s the boss!”
“Yeah!”
The players were in high spirits, they cheered and gave Diavel applause.
Seeing this, not only Kirito, even Rozen was quite amazed.
“Raising everyone’s morale is important in war. If the morale is low, the supposedly winnable will end up as a defeat. That guy’s not bad, whether it’s intentional or not.”
Rozen, as an experienced strategist, gave him credit.
Diavel smiled when he heard everyone’s positive response.
“Hold it! I have something to say!”
An annoying voice was heard in the square, drawing the player’s attention.
“What happened?”
Kirito also turned his head toward where the voice came from.
Only Rozen who frowned when he heard this voice.
Because Rozen was kind of familiar with this voice that even just from hearing this voice, Rozen knew what will happen next.
“Geez…”
Rozen then turned his head lazily, and his eyes met with another player’s eyes.
It was Kibaou.
