Sword Art Online Episode 02

Beater (ビーター) is the second episode of the Sword Art Online anime adaptation. It aired on July 14, 2012.

Plot
A month has passed since the tutorial of Kayaba Akihiko; 2,000 players have already died in the game and the First Floor is yet to be cleared.

On December 2nd of 2022; a self-proclaimed knight named Diabel calls for a meeting at the town center of Tolbana. He announces that the Boss room in the labyrinth has been located. When all the attending players are asked to form groups, Kirito panics as he begins to see parties beginning to form. As the groups form, Kirito notices a hooded girl alone and asks her to form a party with him, which she accepts. Kirito notices her name, Asuna, beside her HP gauge.

The meeting is later interrupted by Kibaou, a player who starts demanding the apologies of Beta Testers that were in the meeting due to the beta testers disregarding the beginners. Alongside the apologies, Kibaou also demands that the beta testers give up all the items and money they have. If not, they would not be trusted to protect the party members. However, «Agil» intervenes and defends the Beta Testers, stating that they should not be fully blamed for the tragedies of the fallen players as they had already helped by distributing their knowledge of the game through a game manual and that everyone has equal access to the information. When the commotion ended, Diabel continued his speech and presented the latest guide book that describes information about the First Floor Boss in Closed Beta, planning to battle the boss the next day.

During the night, Asuna is eating dinner when Kirito comes and joins her, prompting her to move a distance away from him. Kirito gives Asuna a jar that tastes like a cream which she enjoys very much. Kirito tells her that the jar was a reward he got from a quest and offers to show her the trick, but she quickly rejects the offer, stating that she didn't come to the town to enjoy food, but so that she can be herself rather than sit and wait at the first town. Even if she gets killed, she doesn't want to lose to the game. Kirito tells her that he doesn't want a party member to die, and asks her to try to not die.

The next day, Kirito and Asuna are asked to target the boss's helper Ruin Kobold Sentinels. While walking to the boss, they plan strategies to defeat the helper. The group enters the First floor Boss room where Illfang the Kobold Lord awaits along with his re-spawning minions, Ruin Kobold Sentinels. The group begins their assault. Kirito is amazed at Asuna's skills since she's fast and you cannot see her blade. But when the Boss's fourth HP gauge reaches the red, Diabel orders everybody to stay back and tries to deliver the last blow. Kirito notices that something is wrong and tries to tell Diabel that the boss is not the same as the beta test. But he was too late,  as the boss' battle style changed, resulting in Diabel receiving a deadly combo from the Boss. Kirito tries to give Diabel a healing potion, but he rejects it. In his last moment, Kirito learns that Diabel was after the Last Attack and was also a Beta Tester, and that he knew Kirito was in the beta too. He asks Kirito to defeat the boss for everyone before he shatters into many pieces.

With Asuna’s help, Kirito attempts to defeat the boss, with the same Ruin Kobold Sentinels' strategies. The boss is fast and attacks Asuna first, but she dodges the hit resulting her cloak being destroyed. They continue with their tactics until Kirito makes a mistake and gets hit, slamming into Asuna. Agil saves them from recieving the final blow and tells them to recover while the rest hold the boss off. When they recover, Kirito and Asuna give one last hit and Kirito gets the last attack on the boss, defeating the boss with Kirito obtaining the last attack bonus item.

Everyone celebrates their victory until the atmosphere changes when Kibaou and his group reminded everyone that their leader Diabel died, stating that Kirito let him die by withholding information. To deal with the growing anger against the «Beta Testers», Kirito makes the bold decision to direct all the anger onto him by announcing himself as belonging to a new category known as Beater (Beta Tester + Cheater); a player who uses knowledge obtained in the beta test version to benefit himself in the new death game. Kirito claims that he far exceeded the other beta testers. After equipping the boss item «Coat of Midnight», Kirito soon leaves the group behind and proceeds to open the gate to the next floor. Asuna briefly stops him to show her gratitude and finally learns his name. Kirito advises her to join a guild that she can trust. Kirito then dissolves the party and continues on to the next floor.

New Characters

 * Diabel
 * Asuna
 * Agil
 * Kibaou

Named Monsters

 * Illfang the Kobold Lord
 * Ruin Kobold Sentinels

Inventory

 * Kirito
 * Coat of Midnight - First Floor Boss Raid drop (Last Attack Rare Bonus Item)
 * Anneal Blade +6
 * Leather Coat
 * Leather Shirt
 * Leather Band
 * Leather Ankles
 * Healing Potion
 * Asuna
 * Wind Fleuret +4
 * Illfang the Kobold Lord
 * Axe
 * Buckler
 * Nodachi
 * Ruin Kobold Sentinel
 * Pole Axe

Sword Skills

 * Linear - Asuna
 * Tsumujiguruma (Whirling Wheel) - Illfang the Kobold Lord
 * Hiōgi (Scarlet Fan) - Illfang the Kobold Lord
 * Ukifune (Floating Boat) - Illfang the Kobold Lord
 * Rage Spike - Kirito
 * Tsujikaze (Whirlwind) - Illfang the Kobold Lord
 * Slant - Kirito
 * Horizontal - Kirito
 * Vertical - Kirito
 * Gengetsu (Phantom Moon) - Illfang the Kobold Lord
 * Whirlwind - Agil
 * Sonic Leap - Kirito
 * Vertical Arc - Kirito (Last Attack)

Locations

 * Aincrad Floor 1: Town of Tolbana, Forest leading to the First Floor Labyrinth, First Floor Boss Room

Adaptation Notes

 * Adapted from the side story Aria in the Starless Night.


 * The First Day side story was skipped entirely.
 * Kirito originally met Asuna at the 18th of 20 levels of the 1st floor dungeon.
 * Asuna’s past life before borrowing her brother’s console to play the game was omitted. As well as her 1 month character development from a kidnapped damsel in distress to a near-suicidal player who constantly grinds her levels.
 * «Argo the Rat» was not introduced; the second player of Kirito’s friend list and the publisher of the SAO guide books.
 * The meeting for the boss raid took place after Kirito have lunch with Asuna.
 * No Kirito monologues about the danger of being known as a Beta Player; their life will be targeted as the one who helps release the death game. Also hurting other players is possible outside the safe boundary of the town and city.
 * Asuna actually regains her desire for life after speaking to Kirito; who frequently taught her the beauty of the virtual world.
 * No slice of life scenes of Kirito’s rented house, Asuna borrowing his bath and the visit from Argo.
 * Illfang the Kobold Lord was supposed to be covered in blue rather than red fur.
 * Diabel was portrayed as a selfless «Beta Tester», who looked out for everyone.
 * In the side story, Asuna voluntarily removes her hooded cloak herself and this help recaptures everyone’s morale after their leader’s death.
 * No mention of Kirito's habit of Last Attacking the boss.
 * No mention of Diabel and Kibaou being cohorts. Kibaou tries to purchase Kirito’s «Anneal Blade +6» at an outrageous price.
 * No demonstration of Kirito’s leadership as he directs the 7 raiding parties against the boss’s actions.
 * It was originally a player of Diabel’s group who accuses Kirito of allowing his death by withholding information.
 * No display of the in-game messaging feature; where players can send and receive messages to their known acquaintances.
 * The opening scenery of the 2nd floor was not shown.

Quotes

 * "We need to defeat the first boss, reach the second floor, and tell everyone waiting in the Town of Beginnings that it is possible to beat this game." - Diabel
 * When this game started, the only thing I though about was surviving. However Diabel, you were a beta tester. But you never abandoned the other players." - Kirito
 * "You tried to do what I could not" - Kirito
 * "A beta tester? I wish you wouldn't compare me to those newbies. Most of the thousand beta testers were beginners who didn't even know how to level up. You guys are much better than they are. But I'm not like them, I made it higher than all of them." - Kirito
 * "A beta tester and a cheater, you're a Beater!" - Members of the Clearing Group