The first battle against the enemy bosses had ended in total defeat, with a total death count of over 120,901 which was made up of both the players and the AI units the reports would say about 1 day later. Kirito was still stunned about what had happened a few minutes later after he respawned but as he looked around the throne room for his castle, he couldn't believe how fast they had fell to the enemy AI in such a short time span, so much so that the wait for respawning players had a que for at lest a minimum of 10 minutes.

But now that he was respawned, he was determined to gather another army up and then quickly go back to attack again. He hoped that many other player lords and ladies would join him on this attack and he hoped that the others had respawned as well.

But as he looked outside, he didn't see any of the others around the castle nor had he seen them walking about inside. If anything, the castle looked far more empty that it had previously before the battle and as he slowly walked around and looked about him, he watched as a few NPC's looked over at him as a few even bowed to him.

But what he needed to do right now was to build up an army and his defenses and fast and he couldn't do it all by himself. He would need the help of his friends in order to get everything done swiftly and as it should be.

Just then, he heard a shout behind him and Kirito whipped around to see Klein on the ground on his hands and knees as he then heard Klein say in despair, "What... utter... defeat!"

"Jeez, Klein... don't do that on me so suddenly.." said Kirito as he heaved a sigh before he walked over to his friend and said, "We'll just have to get better and have a bigger army next time."

Klein looked up as he then sniffled one last time before he finally stood back up and as he looked around, he then sighed as he said, "That waiting que is also horrendous.. the amount of players gone in such a short time span... its insane!"

"Yeah, I saw..." said Kirito before then Leafa appeared as she sighed and said, "That was too long.. say, who did we lose?"

"Everyone..." suddenly said Agil as he respawned suddenly and as he looked around, he sighed as he then rolled his shoulders with his axe over them as he then said, "Guess we gotta rebuild... and fast it seems..."

Then, Silica, and Lisbeth popped up and as they both looked around, everyone seemed to be there but as Kirito looked around, he then realized that they were missing Sinon and as he looked around, he then asked the others, "Where is Sinon?"

Everyone looked around them as some of them even checked their group before they all looked to Kirito and Silica asked him, "Did you see what happened to Sinon?"

Kirito shook his head when then Yui appeared and as she zipped down to his shoulders, he then watched her frown as she landed as she then said, "Daddy... I... have some bad news..."

"Sinon... when you died... Sinon was captured by the enemy..."

Everyone stared at the little sprite girl as she fiddled with her dress as she then said, "The Prince of Darkness, more specifically..."

No one said a word at this news and as everyone thought about this, Kirito then asked her, "How long were you able to be there before you had to come back here?"

"For only 5 minutes..." told Yui.

And then suddenly they heard the gates groan open and as everyone ran over, they watched as a single messenger appeared as he said, "My lords! The Portal! A tide of evil is coming straight towards us!"

"Looks like we need to get men out right now!" shouted Klein as he suddenly raced towards the barracks with both Agil and Leafa.

"I'll go summon some militia at the village, so we have at least something!" said Silica as then she sprouted her wings and flew off.

"I'll get back to making some Steel items for our men!" shouted Lisbeth as she then ran off herself.

Which then left Kirito alone to do something and as he then floated up on his wings, he then saw the huge stain of what looked like a mixture of red, green, and pinkish-purple skeletons came marching over the green countryside.

And as he watched it continue towards his castle ever so slowly, he wondered how fast and how much he would have to pay to fasten the recruiting and training of his men.

Reaper watched as the Hel Expeditionary Force, which for now was temporarily under his command, slowly was marching through the grasslands and hills of Alfheim as he was currently upon his Helhound mount as the large, demon dog snarled around them before he then watched one of his smaller, NPC commanders slowly walk up to him as they asked him, "My lord, there is a castle before us. Shall we lay siege to it?"

"Yes. Send 3 ladders and two battering rams with a troop of maybe 10 of the more newer Skeleton Swordsmen we have... I shall hope you will lead the siege well.." said Reaper as he then said, "Tell all others to begin to spread out and begin taking the villages over."

"Yes, my lord." the commander ran off and as Reaper began to move his mount forward, he didn't know why they were pushing forward at all if they were simply going to pull back into the portal again and wait for another attack.

It made not sense strategically or tactically but he didn't question it because he knew that if they just steamrolled the players that it would be a very, very short event. Heck, he wouldn't be surprised if the small kingdoms got erased just from this attack alone.

And so, as he watched a few defenders being summoned upon the walls of the nearby castle as some of his red, Skeleton swordsmen began to advance towards it with ladders and some simple battering rams, he then notice several more units approaching from behind the castle and he almost ordered some more units to go over and help.

But hen he realized it was merely militia and as he watched five of his units peal off from the group and begin to face the total of 10 militia swordsmen, he didn't need to even worry about them as he then decided to watch his units begin to climb up the ladders as they also began to batter down the gates.

Kirito watched from top of his battlements as the wave of red, evil skeleton swordsmen began to slowly near his walls as he was quite disappointed he could only manage to summon three Swordsmen units and have only one of them fully equipped while the other two had to settle with extra banners. Not to mention that even though half of this enemy force had flung itself at the militia that Silica currently was leading herself, he still was facing against a far superior force that currently was trying to break down his gates and scale his walls.

But nonetheless, he would give them a fight to remember.

"Take them down, boys!" shouted Klein.

A rain of rocks, random spears, and some stone blocks went tumbling over the battlement edges as they sought to kill the enemy just like medieval times. A few skeletons were hit from the falling debris but it wasn't enough for the ones seeking to scale the walls and as ladders were slowly attached to the wall via hooks at the ends, skeletons with shields, swords, axes, maces, and more began to scale the walls of the first layer as Kirito took out his blade Excalibur as he had hoped to not use it but it seemed like he didn't have a choice at the moment.

Meanwhile, Silica watched as the enemy skeletons began to slowly advance towards them as she didn't even need to look at the militia swordsmen behind her to know they were shaking in their boots at the sight before them but she needed them to last a little bit longer and through some of the combat before they finally broke.

"Come on! Hold the line!" shouted Agil at the gates with his swordsmen unit as Kirito watched as the skeletons from the ladders began to climb onto the walls now as the fighting began to erupt along the walls length.

Kirito ducked the swing of one of the skeletons as he took Excalibur and slashed the mob down and as it shattered, he then put the sword away as he took both of his regular swords out as he realized he was slowly being surrounded and as two skeletons swung at him, he blocked them before he sliced both of them down. Klein blocked a swing from Reapers commander as his blade glowed with fire and as he was feeling himself be pushed back to the edge of the wall behind him, he then pushed back the skeleton commander from his as he ducked a shield bash and he spun around as he swung his blade low.

It was utterly satisfying to watch as his Soul Blade, aglow with fire, as his blade smashed the commander to pieces and as he looked around, he saw that for now that the men around him were just barely holding onto the walls.

But only just barely.

Suddenly, as Lisbeth took up her new Siege hammer, she heard the gates crack and splinter and as she grabbed the siege hammer, she ran with her shield and flanged mace bouncing on her back as she ran straight towards the gates as she could see Agil and his small swordsmen unit valiantly trying to stem a tide of red skeletons pouring through.

"Dang it all!" She muttered as she ran faster.

"Hold the lines!" Shouted Silica as she stabbed a skeleton just as Pita blew a stream of bubbles that forced an opening amongst some others.

The militia were truly trying their hardest not to break in the face of the undead enemies before them and, considering they were very low-tier units, were actually making some progress against the skeleton horde. But, like all battles involving militia units, the militia were taking heavy losses and massive blows to their morale and Silica was just barely holding them all together as she watched man after man drop to the ground in what seemed like a never ending wave of death.

But fought on they still did and as their spears and relatively weak shields hammered against the enemy skeletons as she was quite worried since none of the skeletons seemed to be showing signs of letting up their attack.

Reaper watched in some satisfaction as the defenders as well as the defenders militia reinforcements were putting up a rather good fight. Of course, he was only sending a small portion against them but as he watched them fight, he decided that keeping them around would be rather amusing to watch and so he took form his belt a horn as he blew it and as the skeletons from the siege heard it, suddenly they all stopped and began to fall back and take with them their siege engines as Reaper watched as stats rolled before him of resources stolen from all around the portal.

It wasn't a lot but it was the start of a much larger plan and as he watched his horde slowly retreat through the portal, he shook his head as Reaper watched the defenders look to him just as he made his Helhound retreat through the portal as well.

"You think... they'll try again?" asked Klein in a winded tone as several swordsmen around them slumped in their stances with weariness.

"Absolutely... and so lets get everything ready for when that happens." said Kirito.