Zeltran: Arc 1.3e

He got there in plenty of time to speak with her before the meeting started, but that didn’t mean she’d listen to him. He’d only spoken to her once, and it was to criticize her reaction time during a boss raid.

She perked up when he mentioned Laughing Coffin. People usually did.

“Oh?” she said casually. “What about them now?”

“They’ve removed the mafia from Floor 31. Entirely,” he added when she raised an eyebrow.

“Don’t be ridiculous. The Silk Gang doesn’t just run floor 31, they own it. They wouldn’t just up and leave.”

“They didn’t leave. They died.”

“Okay, now I know you’re lying to me. Laughing Coffin doesn’t have that kind of strength.”

This was going nowhere. “Asuna, I live on Floor 31. They walked into my house yesterday liked they owned the place. They wouldn’t do that unless they were confident the Silks wouldn’t be any trouble. You want proof?” he asked when she opened her mouth. “How’s this for proof?” He held up the LC cloak he’d taken. “You can ask any player in Itharon, the Silks are gone.”

Asuna stared at the cloak in his hand. “They walked into your house.”

“They didn’t walk out, that’s for damn sure.”

She pursed her lips. “This isn’t good.”

“That’s why I’m telling you. I’d get rid of them myself, but even I can’t take down all of LC and XaXa all at once. And you know I have more of a chance solo than anyone else. Doesn’t matter who has the shiniest sword or the flashiest combo: it’s health that matters. And nobody heals like I do.”

“That may be true,” she answered slowly, “but you and I both know a guy who’d do better than you.”

“Asuna, you can’t count him in debates about who’s a better player. You just can’t. He’s on a whole ‘nother level.”

He’d never seen her crack a smile before. “Yeah, that’s true. I don’t know which one of you would win a duel, though. He’d definitely deal more damage than you, but your healing skills are way faster.” “Those healing skills won’t help me in a crowd fight, though. I don’t have any defense against that much simultaneous damage yet.”

“You sound pretty confident in that even being a possibility.”

“It’s on the skill tree.”

“You can see your skill tree?”

“Can’t you?”

“No! That’s not fair!”

“Maybe it has something do with the rarity of the tree. As far as I know, I’m the only player who’s got it.”

“Yeah, I guess. I’ll have to tell Heathcliff about what happened to the Silks.”

“We really don’t need too many players to get rid of them.”

“They’re not monsters, Zid! They’re players! Whether or not they’re the “good guys” in all this, they’re still human, or at least they were once. There won’t be that many players who’d want to have that on their conscience.”

“They stopped being players when they started killing players. As far as I’m concerned, they’re just monsters with a much better AI.”

“You’re cold.”

“I could say the same of you sometimes, the tactics you come up with.”

“Oh, screw off!”

“Yes, ma’am.” She stormed off, presumably to find Heathcliff.

He left the front lines (well, she had told him too…) to look for a new floor to live on.