(U/n POV)

Me, Asuna and Yui both were outside a church on Floor 1. All three of us stood in front of the doors.

U/n: In we go I suppose.

I opened the door and what I saw inside surprised me. Inside there were countless of children, all of them sitting at tables. They all were eating their food and talking amongst themselves.

The hall was filled with nothing but loud crunches and laughter. Some of the played with each other by taking someone's food and holding it up in the air.

Asuna and Yui looked at this in surprise as well. Yui quickly smiled at the sight of so many children in one spot.

Asuna: There's so many of them.

U/n: I know. Them being here, in this death game isn't right. They don't deserve this.

I could feel a hand slip into mine, then another on my other hand. Looking to my left I saw Asuna holding my hand smiling at me.

Asuna: I know how you feel, this gives us more of a reason to clear this game and go home.

I nodded in agreement. Looking around I see the nun girl from yesterday, sitting at a table. She notices us and waves. At the table I noticed there were bowls, bread and cups waiting for us.

All three of us walked over and sat down at the table.

U/n: Thanks for letting us come over.

The girl named Sasha smiles warmly.

Sasha: Don't mention it, I gotta express my gratitude somehow. I heard stories about you "White Devil" a man who literally fights like one, cutting through mobs of monsters.

I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly hearing this.

U/n: Not my choice of name to be honest, I'm doing what everyone here wants to, to return back to the real world.

Sasha: I understand that, but from the stories I heard about, they make it sound like your a horrible person, but what I saw yesterday was a white knight, willing to save people, not knowing who they are.

U/n: "A White Knight", huh?

She nods.

Sasha: Anyway, I'm sure you three didn't come here to talk about your reputation.

Asuna nodded.

Asuna: Yeah, we were wondering if you ever say Yui around here before.

She shakes her head.

Sasha: I can't say that I have, sorry.

I look behind me and saw all the kids playing and having a good time.

U/n: Sure is a lot of them, huh?

Sasha: I know, right? It's like this pretty much every day. By the way, is Yui feeling any better?

U/n: Yeah, she slept soundly last night, so I assume that she's okay. I mean, take a look at her.

She looks over and saw Yui happily munching on a piece of bread.

Sasha: Has this ever happened to her before?

Asuna: We have no idea. You see, we found her on Floor twenty-two, wandering in the forest. The poor thing-- she's lost her memory.

Sasha: Oh.

Asuna: That's the reason we came here.

Yui hands Asuna the same bread she eating, a bright smile was on her face. Asuna takes it and places it down.

Asuna: We thought maybe someone in the Town of Beginnings might know who she is.

Asuna pats Yui's head, much to the delight of Yui.

Sasha: I see, like I said I haven't seen her around here at all. There are a lot of kids in town, but this is the first time I ever saw her.

U/n: Makes sense.

I looked back at the kids who were laughing amongst each other.

Sasha: When the game started, a lot of the children suffered severe psychological trauma. I couldn't stand by and do nothing, so I moved to this church and made it a safe place for them to live. I walked through the town every day, looking for kids like these, kids who might need my help, but in all this time, I've never seen her before.

Asuna: Back to square one.

U/n: At least we tried, that's what counts.

A knock on the church's door alerted everyone. Yui came over clung to my arm. We all stood up on from our table and made our way to the door, opening we saw a woman.

Yulier: Sorry to bother you. I'm Yulier.

She gives us a small bow.

Asuna: And you're with the army, right? I hope you're not here to start trouble because of yesterday.

Yulier: God, no. In fact, I'm here to thank you.

We all gasp hearing this.

Yulier: You did right by putting those men in their place.

Me and Asuna looked at each, confused by this.

Yulier: Actually, I came here to ask for your help, "White Devil".

I sigh.

U/n: You know, I'm getting real sick of this name. And why just me?

Yulier: Your the second strongest player in the game, right in front of the "Black Swordsman".

I crossed my arms and just raised my eye brows at her.

U/n: Fine, I'll hear you out.

She bows once more.

Yulier: Thank you.

I moved to the side, letting her inside the church. I turn my attention to Sasha.

U/n: Is there somewhere we can talk in private?

Sasha: Of course, follow me.

Sasha walked inside, we followed closely behind. She led us past the tables where all the kids were eating, some of them stopped what they're doing to stare at Yulier.

Sasha opened a door and held it open for us all to walk in. Inside was a single table. We all sat down as Sasha closed the door behind her and joined us.

Yulier: Before we get to business I like to tell you why we originally made the guild. When the guild was formed, we-- well, actually, it was out leader, Thinker. He never wanted it to turn into the kind of Dictatorial Organization it's become. At first, the mission of the Guild was to share information and food equally among as many players as possible.

U/n: But then the Guild grew too large, correct?

She nods.

Yulier: Correct. And after much infighting, one man became very powerful. His name Kibaou.

Kibaou, a name that I haven't heard in forever, but one I would never forget, even if i wanted to. Hearing his name annoyed me immensely.

Yulier: Kibaou and his group became stronger and stronger, monopolizing all the best monster spawn points. They're out of control now, extorting other players under the pretext of collecting taxes. It was obvious Kibaou didn't care about clearing the game, and that made a lot of people mad.

I clicked my tongue in annoyance.

U/n: Prick.

Yulier: He had to do something to get back in their good graces, do he sent the highest-level players he had to the front lines.

Me and Asuna looked at each, knowing Kibaou sent good men to die angered me.

Asuna: Corvatz.

Yulier: Kibaou was denounced after spearheading that massacre. That's when we started to seriously consider kicking him out of the guild for good. And now that he's scared and getting desperate, he's decided to eliminate Thinker.

U/n: Of course he would, why wouldn't that surprise me?

Yulier: He set a trap and stranded Thinker deep inside a dungeon.

Everyone at the table gasp hearing this news.

U/n: Couldn't he teleport out?

She shakes her head.

Asuna: Does he have any weapons?

Yulier: He didn't take anything with him. Kibaou told him he wanted to talk, unarmed. Thinker believed him. That was three days ago.

Asuna: He's been gone that long? Can't he find his way out?

I could see Yulier's eyes tremble, she must be worried about him.

Yulier: The dungeon is the highest level we've seen so far. He can't get out of there on his own. As his Second-in-command, this is my responsibility. But the problem is, my level isn't high enough to reach him. And Kibaou is using his influence to keep the rest of the army from helping me.

She looks at me pleading eyes, something that I have seen from numerous people.

Yulier: When I heard that the "White Devil" was in town, I thought, "This is my chance". I tracked you down because I need your help.

She stood up from he chair eruptly.

Yulier: U/n, Asuna, I beg of you for Thinker's sake, please help me rescue him from that dungeon!

I looked at Asuna, contemplating about my answer. She nods at me.

Asuna: If you think we can help get Thinker out of there, we'd be glad to help you. However... well, the thing is, we'd like to make sure you're telling the truth.

Yulier: I'm sorry. I know we just me, and I'm asking a lot from you.

Tears started to form around her eyes.

Yulier: But when I think about him trapped alone in there, I feel like I'm going insane!

Silence filled the table.

Yui: It's okay, mommy.

We all look at Yui.

Yui: Everything she's been telling you is the truth.

Asuna: Y-Yui, you mean you can tell?

She nods. Yui had this uncertain look on her face.

Yui: I don't know how I know she is, but... she is.

I laughed.

U/n: Rather take her word now then regretting it later on.

Asuna looks at me speechless.

U/n: Let's go. I'm sure everything will work out. Right?

I grinned at Asuna, who chuckles.

Asuna: Whatever you say, Mr. Easygoing.

She looks at Yulier.

Asuna: Okay we'll help. I just hope we're strong enough to do it.

She looks at us with hopeful eyes and slightly bowed to us.

Yulier: Thank you so much!

Asuna: I know what it feels like to want to save someone, especially someone you care for.

Turning to Yui, I rubbed the top of her head.

U/n: You should stay here and wait for us.

Yui: No, I'm coming, too!

Sasha: Oh, come on, Yui. Don't you want to stay here with me?

She shakes her head.

U/n: Great, she's already going through her rebellious phase.

Asuna: Hey, this is serious. It's too dangerous for you to come along with us this time.

She grabs my arm and hugged it like her life depended on it.

Yui: I'm going too!

I looked at Asuna, seeking her help in the matter. She shakes her head, seems like she doesn't know what to do either. I sigh, seeing no other choice.

U/n: Guess we can't do anything else, we can't just force her to stay here.

I looked at Yui.

U/n: Alright, but this isn't gonna be some field trip, it's gonna be dangerous okay? So stick with me or Asuna, got it?

She nods.

Yui: Okay Daddy!

I smiled at her and looked over at Asuna.

U/n: Let's go explore a dungeon.

(Timeskip)

After gearing ourselves up and stocking up on some items, we all headed down below to the dungeon.

Yui giggles happily on my shoulders, Asuna walked in front of us as Yulier lead the way.

Asuna: I never knew this dungeon was under the Town of Beginnings.

U/n: Tell me about it. There wasn't anything like this during the Beta Test.

Yulier: I think the Dungeon opens up to reveal more as the floors above are cleared. I bet Kibaou was planning on keeping this place all to himself.

I clicked my tongue in annoyance.

U/n: And he gives me hassle, what a prick. Having access to spawns down here.

Yulier: The thing is, the monsters here are usually around level 60. He wouldn't be able to do much hunting.

We continue our walk in silence. Walking down this empty hallway. Feeling my arms and neck getting tired, I decided it was time to put Yui down.

I placed my hands underneath her arms and lift Yui off my shoulders. She takes my hand and smiles at me, I smiled back and we continue our walk.

After what felt like minutes of walking, we finally come across a staircase that led down.

Yulier: This is the entrance.

Yui stares at it in awe. Yui notices Asuna staring at her and smiled.

Yui: Don't worry-- I'm not afraid!

Yulier was surprised by this. Asuna looks at Yulier.

Asuna: No, it's okay. Believe it or not, she's a heck of a lot tougher than she looks.

I nodded.

U/n: She'll be one heck of a Swordswoman someday.

She nods happily, we all laughed together. So this is what it feels like, to have a family of my own. It's perfect.

Yulier just stared at us and then took a step forward.

Yulier: We should get going.

We all nodded at her and started to walk down the stone staircase that led us to Tinker.

After more torturous minutes of walking, we finally made it down.

U/n: Stairs. My worst enemy.

Asuna: It wasn't that bad.

U/n: Pretty sure we stepped on more than a hundred steps. My feet are killing me.

Asuna: Suck it up, princess.

I just shook my head and continued to walk down this narrow path. Then, out of nowhere, multiple red eyes started to glow down the path we were heading. I squinted my eyes at them and noticed they were numerous tiny frogs.

U/n: I'll handle this one. These frogs won't know what hit'em.

I grabbed Unity Fox from my back and ran forward. The first frog jumped at me, but I quickly cut it in half.

More and more seemed to have follow suit and attack me. Grabbing Light Repulsor I started to cut down the frogs around me. Using Overdrive, I slashed forward, killing multiple frogs and the ones behind them.

Charging overdrive in my swords, I quickly reversed the grip on my right sword and spun around. Utilizing Overdrive's wide range attack to kill all the frogs around me.

I put my swords back in their sheaths when done. Multiple toad legs were gifted to me upon slaying all the frogs here. Maybe I can get Asuna to cook this for me.

Turning around, I returned back to the group, all three of them were looking at the map while I was busy fighting.

U/n: Whew! Those things were annoying, but I did enjoy myself there!

Yulier: I should've helped you.

U/n: In what, murdering some frogs? They weren't that tough. Besides, they dropped some items.

Asuna: Really? You get anything good?

I smirked.

U/n: I wouldn't say it's, good. But, it's something.

I swiped down to access my menu and pulled one of the many frogs leg and showed it to Asuna in all it's glory.

She gasps when seeing it. Not the reaction I was expecting.

Asuna: What-- what is that?!

U/n: What do you think? It's a leg. Scavenged toad meat to be precise.

Asuna: You mean those frogs?!

U/n: Meat is meat, doesn't matter the where it came from.

I held it closer to her and she flinched back, staring at it with a disgusted look on her face. What freaks me out is that the leg moves every now and then.

U/n: So, what do you say, cook this bad boy up for me?

Asuna: Not on your life!

She quickly snatches the frog leg from my hand and threw it behind her. I watched as it flew in the air and hit the ground, shattering into pixels.

U/n: Seriously?! Why? All my hard work!

With a huff, she puts her hands on her waist, satisfied with the results.

U/n: Okay! Fine, be that way!

Turning around, I took out all the Scavenged toad meat in my inventory and held all in my hands.

U/n: What am I gonna do with these?!

Turning back around, I presented all my spoils of war to Asuna. She freaks just out from seeing all them in my arms.

She immediately stomped up to me and started to throw all of the legs out of my arms.

Asuna: No! No, no, no, no!

U/n: Asuna! You're wasting meat!

Asuna: Get rid of it!

U/n: C'mon! At least do one!

Asuna: Ew!

U/n: Just one!

Asuna grabbed the last frog leg I had and stuffed it in my mouth. I grabbed her hand and tried to pull it out, but Asuna kept trying to force feed me the raw leg. It was a power struggle until we heard Yui.

Yui: You smiled.

Me and Asuna turned to stare at Yulier.

Yui: I've never ever seen you smile before!

Yulier had this shocked expression on her face, until it turned into a happy one. Yui closed her eyes and smiled brightly.

Asuna chuckles at this and took her hand into Yui's. Letting the leg in my mouth go free.

Asuna: Come on, let's go.

Yui and Asuna smiled at each other warmly, making me smile at seeing this interaction between the two.

With the Scavenged toad incident out of the way, we all continued our walk down the hall. Then we came across more stairs, much to my disappointment.

I headed down first, followed by Yui, Asuna and Yulier. After we got to the last step, Yui grabbed my hand and smiles at me, earning a smile from me.

More tirelessly walking down this long pathway, Yui had enough of walking and hopped on Asuna's back.

Walking along the stone path ahead of us, we came across a bright lit room, just at the end of the hallway.

Asuna: Look, it's a safe zone.

I activated the skill "search" and detected a player in that very room.

U/n: There's a player in there.

Yulier looks at me and gasp sharply.

Yulier: It's Thinker!

She hurriedly ran forward.

U/n: Wait, it isn't safe!

She continues to run forward, completely ignoring my warning. Me and Asuna looked at each and nodded. We both ran after Yulier.

In that room, I could see a man waving both his arms in the air.

Yulier: Thinker!

Yulier waved back at Thinker. Me and Asuna smiled at each other, happy that we were able to reunite the two. Then we heard a panicked yell from Thinker.

Thinker: No, stay away! The corridor's rigged!

Then three letters had appeared in my field of vision.

The Fatal Scythe.

I picked up the pace of my speed.

Asuna: Stop! Wait, Yulier! Come back!

From the shadows, a giant scythe came out of nowhere and went to slash Yulier. I quickly grabbed Yulier pulled her back just in time. The scythe crashed right on the spot were she was originally standing at.