Exhaling as the words «Inner Area» appeared in a light purple hue before him, Kirito willed himself to relax.
Looking past the words, he could see that he was one of the last to return from mapping the 41st floor, as the streets were lined with people. Some were blacksmiths trying to make a bit of col through maintenance on gear, while others were selling off their monster drops of the day to whoever would buy. Kirito noticed a few people turn their heads to look at him, inspiring him to begin moving once more.
The pace he moved showed he was neither in a hurry, nor did he intend to linger. His eyes moved across the crowd, returning any glares that came his way. He noticed that some seemed relieved to see him. Softening his gaze when he saw those people few and far between the crowd, he continued on. Thinking about it, it wouldn't be implausible to think that some might even respect him. He was a solo player on the frontlines, and had participated in every raid so far. His skill was indisputable, even if he was labelled a «Beater».
Fighting solo was common for a «Beater». They usually didn't get along well with other players, so it was just easier to avoid them altogether. Kirito was no different in that regard. The single difference about him and any other former tester was that he had continued to fight solo on the frontlines long after the floors that he knew the ins and outs of were cleared. He was the only one confident enough in his skills to push forward and keep up with the clearing group. He even helped set the pace on the more dangerous floors, thriving when the monsters were focused more on killing players quickly.
Even if the majority of the clearers didn't like it, Kirito was important enough to worry over. In almost every raid since the first, he was the one that took out the largest chunk of the boss' health. As much as they jeered him everywhere else, when in a boss room he was respected. If he wanted to, Kirito was sure the clearers would grudgingly accept it if he tried to lead a raid. Without Heathcliff around, that was.
After progressing through the initial wall of players, Kirito turned his attention from the players to the NPCs. It was currently October 30th, and for the past week all of the people of the system had been talking about the trick-or-treaters that were supposed to be coming to every town tomorrow. Apparently they would only be coming after dark. After dark meant after 18:00, when more dangerous creatures spawned; that was very clear to Kirito. What wasn't clear was why they would be spawning.
Before he could think too deeply on it, Kirito noticed something blinking in the bottom left corner of his vision. Besides the clock that displayed down there, a mail icon was lightly flashing every few seconds. Knowing that there were only three possible senders, he stopped walking and moved to the side of the road before opening up the message.
Thinking in the back of his head, 'Argo. Good,' he quickly scanned what was written.
'Hey there, Kii-bou. I have some info on the upcoming event that I think you'd like to hear. Meet me in the usual place in fifteen minutes if you're interested.'
Kirito sighed before glancing at the time, noting that since receiving the message he still had fourteen minutes left. He knew that Argo would probably have a pretty good bit of information if she wanted to meet him in person, but at the same time knew that it would probably cost him a good bit of col to find out what it was... Silently weighing his options, he began moving again to the «Teleport Gate» to meet with Argo after watching the clock change again.
Rather than moving back down to the 40th floor as he had planned, Kirito mumbled, "Teleport: Mishe." The 40th floor was where he had rented out a house from an NPC that was particularly comfortable, as well as already paid for the next week. The 35th floor however, was an area which had a peculiar town.
There had been three such towns in the past, but the ones closer to the frontlines tended to have better food, so Argo and Kirito had decided to meet on the highest floor they could. What was strange about the town was that it was not recognized as an «Inner Area». It looked ordinary enough, but was a little on the small side. For whatever reason the system did not recognize it as a safe area.
Most players would stay away from such a place, which was why it was perfect for the two to meet there. It was also on the other side of the floor, so Kirito began to move at a light jog the moment he left the town. Granted, with the way his stats were set up a light jog appeared as if he was attempting to break a world record in sprinting, but to him he was barely moving faster than normal. Looking at the time once again, Kirito quickened his pace and reached the other side of the floor in a few minutes before slowing down to a walk.
He had taken a route that should have avoided any monsters, but was still slightly annoyed that he had to be on guard rather than getting the chance to relax. If he was ambushed, even something twenty floors below could kill him. 'The information had better be worth it.' Checking the clock for the tenth time, he nodded to himself when he saw he wouldn't be late.
Walking through the five building settlement, he moved down the road past all but one of the buildings and placed his hand on the doorknob. Activating his «Night Vision» skill he checked to make sure there wasn't anyone within the town. Relieved that his search had produced no results, Kirito opened the door and lowered his guard.
Seeing the light shift so suddenly, he bit back a curse. Forgetting to deactivate his «Night Vision» skill had resulted in momentary blindness, but thankfully it switched off automatically after blinding him. Kirito stood still at the door so as to not make a fool of himself, and resisted the urge to rub his eyes. Argo would know what happened if he did that. He wouldn't know how she would figure it out, but she would. And she would spread rumors that would destroy the reputation of being cold and calculating that he was trying to build up, instead making him out to look like an airhead. Sighing, Kirito closed his eyes and shut the door behind him.
As he began to take in his surroundings again he was very relieved that he saw Argo was alone. What was even more calming was that Argo's attention appeared to be within her mind rather than on her surroundings. At least, that was what the blank stare she was giving the window seemed to tell. He also noted that her hood was down, which meant that she felt comfortable here. That was a clear sign that there was nobody else in the room, and Kirito was grateful that he could truly drop his guard for the first time in hours. Content to look at Argo for a few moments before his movements caught her attention, he stayed still.
It was such a rare sight to see her with her hood down. Her golden hair fell around her face without a single strand appearing out of place, and the stunning color of her eyes matched her hair perfectly. Her equipment was the same as he had always seen, a «One-Handed Claw» on her left hip and a set of throwing picks on her right...
'Wait... why can I see her equipment? Shouldn't that be under the table?' His eyes flicked up to meet Argo's, and he could have sworn that he saw a hint of color across her cheeks before she sat back down. Chalking it up to being her whisker marks, he scratched the back of his head. "Hey..." Kirito mumbled nervously. Quickly composing himself, he walked forward and sat across from Argo.
"Hi, Kii-bou. Aren't I a sight for sore eyes?" Argo asked teasingly. Kirito did his best to ignore her, and called over the NPC waitress to order a drink. He took a deep breath, and got down to business.
"So, what kind of information do you have for me?"
Argo pouted, and upon receiving a glare from Kirito the broker sighed. She took a sip from her drink, which from the smell Kirito assumed was coffee, and smiled again. "Well, I think that you'll really like it. And I'll even sell it to you cheap. Only 5000 col."
Nodding, Kirito opened up a trade window and quickly typed in the amount specified. Accepting the trade, he watched Argo do the same and waited for her to give him his part of the deal.
"There's supposed to be a boss that'll spawn in the Halloween event."
Kirito waited for her to elaborate, but she clearly didn't want to. He raised an eyebrow and asked, "That's it?"
Argo gave him a toothy grin. "Pretty much."
Kirito's eye began to twitch. "You made me pay you 5000 col for that?"
She laughed. "Of course. That's all I can tell you for certain. There's a flimsy rumor that the boss will use a «One-Handed Straight Sword», but that's not confirmed."
"Well... do you have anything else on it at all? Like a spawn point perhaps?" Kirito watched the information broker shake her head, and sip lightly at her drink again. He looked down for a few moments, seeing his order being set on the table. He looked up and mumbled his thanks to the NPC, earning a raised eyebrow from Argo. He ignored her again, and continued thinking. If there was so little information there must be some other reason that Argo had called him here. But getting that out of her before she actually wanted to tell him would be difficult. Kirito found himself loosing a sigh, something that he did all too often when around Argo.
Deciding to take a more direct approach, Kirito raised his eyes to meet Argo's gaze. "So... Why am I here right now?"
"Why, for information! What else could be my reason for calling you here?"
"Well, I was hoping that you would tell me exactly that."
"Oh?" Kirito watched Argo raise a hand to her mouth and snicker. "If it's that obvious I might just tell you." Kirito leaned back into his chair and picked up his drink before nodding his head. "But that might cost a little bit extra."
Kirito took three steps to the door before Argo all but screamed that she was joking.
"Come on, Kii-bou. Take a joke..."
"I'm a little bit too tired to be in a joking mood. So, why did you call me here?"
"Well... I just wanted you to be prepared for when you went after the boss. The players will hear about the boss by tomorrow, and I know that you're bound to find it... It's just the way you are. Too good at the game to not find it if you wanted to. What would I do if I lost my number one customer? I just want to make sure you don't die, Kii-bou." Argo started off with a strong voice, but by the end of her explanation she was practically mumbling. Kirito paid no attention to this though. He had stopped listening to what she was saying halfway through, already thinking of something else.
"Hey Argo, do you have any information on what the KoB has been doing lately?"
Her eyes narrowed for a moment, but Argo composed herself quickly enough that the exhausted Kirito didn't notice. "The KoB? Why do you want to know about them?"
"Do you have that information or not?"
Argo frowned. "I do."
"How much for it?"
"It wouldn't be hard for you to find it without me, so I'll just tell you. The KoB has been recruiting lately. If you're wondering, I think they're too busy to make a run at this event."
"That doesn't mean that the DDA won't try, though..." Kirito sighed. "Why do I even care anyways? There's a high chance that I won't even find the boss..." Kirito got up to leave. "Thanks for the info, Argo."
"Hold on. I want to know something, Kii-bou."
Kirito raised an eyebrow, but took his seat again. "What is it?"
"What level are you?"
"Argo..."
"Don't worry, I won't sell it to anyone. Not even for millions of col. I'll even tell you my level as insurance. Okay?"
"Well..." Kirito looked around the room for a moment, making absolutely sure there was nobody other than the two former beta testers. "I reached level 61 yesterday."
Argo whistled, and nodded her head. "As expected of Kiri-bou! That must make you the highest level player in the game, huh?"
"I'm not sure about that, but..."
"Well, I did say that I would tell you mine." She looked around the room in a similar manner to Kirito, more out of habit than fear of someone else in the room. "57."
Kirito shook his head. "How you manage to keep up with the clearing group, and are even higher level than most of them, is beyond me. How do you manage that without hunting on the highest floor? I don't think I've ever seen you on the frontlines since the eighth floor..." Kirito trailed off at that point, still avoiding to say anything about the beta test.
Argo winked at him and said, "Trade secret. But you can pay me 100,000 col to find that out."
Kirito laughed for the first time in weeks. "Sorry, but no thanks. Maybe another time." He stood up, turning his back on Argo and moving towards the door.
"Oh, do you have to leave so soon?"
"Yeah," he called over his shoulder. "Good night, Argo."
"Good night, Kii-bou."
Even though he had been sleeping soundly longer than he had for weeks, the alarm going off in Kirito's head made it impossible for him to continue. Sighing, he rolled himself onto the floor. He waved his hand to open up his menu, digging through it until he found the setting to turn the noise in his head off. Yawning, he pushed off the floor and stood.
Moving his way through his menu, he began putting his equipment on. Over his normal attire that consisted of a v-necked shirt and pants, Kirito put on a trench-coat. He also equipped a pair of socks, before putting on his shoes. Next he equipped a long sword that was strapped to his back, and though the sheath was a color that matched the rest of his attire, the handle of the silver sword poking over his right shoulder was wrapped in the complete opposite: white. Lastly, he equipped a pair of fingerless gloves before walking out of his room and down the stairs of the woodworker's home he was renting half of.
He couldn't expect a meal waiting for him here, but he knew that if he walked back to town he would be able to order just about anything he could want, so it was a fair trade. Renting an inn room usually came with breakfast in the morning, but that was only if you complied with the NPC innkeeper's schedule. So, for Kirito who rose earlier than almost all of the other players, this was usually a waste of the extra col that went with footing that bill. He was already making his way to eat breakfast by 5:45 every day without fail, so renting an inn room was not a good investment. Instead, he paid less money for a larger room and softer bed, and used the money saved to have himself a feast of toast, eggs and milk.
As a solo player, he wanted to avoid contact with other players. He wanted this even more as a «Beater». To actually accomplish this, he was usually given two options. He could either go hunting after everyone was already in the dungeon, or he could make his way to the dungeon before everyone else. The former was less efficient in leveling, so he chose the latter. This lead to him making his way to the dungeon to go mapping at 6:00 on most days.
Being the first also had its consequences. His primary objective of not interacting with other players was fulfilled, but it also meant that he had to clear every single mob on the path to the dungeon, not to mention every mob on the way to the highest floor he had mapped. Clearing his way to the dungeon took only half an hour, but making his way all the way back up to the sixteenth level of the tower took him three entire hours while taking the most direct path. Were it not for the monsters respawning every half an hour, the other members of the clearing group would surely catch up to him in no time at all.
Kirito checked his map data upon reaching the sixteenth level, and made his way to the nearest section that had yet to be filled in. He continued like this for another three hours, reaching the seventeenth level and finding its safe zone before resting and eating the lunch that he had brought with him. Shortly after eating, he stumbled across a square room with a single treasure chest in the middle. He turned on his heel and dove out of the room, desperately avoiding any possible traps that he could have triggered.
In diving out of the room he landed loudly, attracting nearby mobs, but that was a small price to pay for getting out of the room safely. The chest could have had a trap rigged up spawn dozens of monsters, so fighting off a pair was no big deal to him. He continued on like this for four more hours, before finally deciding to call it a day when he found the stairs of the nineteenth floor. Any other day he wouldn't have left the dungeon until finding the boss room, but an event like the one the NPCs kept talking about would only happen once a year. Kirito didn't want to miss a rare event like that.
Checking the time, Kirito swore and took out a teleport crystal. It was already 5:22, and he wanted to eat and sell his drops to make room for anything the event mobs might drop. There was a chance that they would only drop a few things, but even the trash mats they could drop would be considered rare items, and a single weapon dropped from the event mobs might be considered unique. "Teleport: Mishe."
Normally, Kirito would eat on the 41st floor somewhere, as they had the best food. But the player who he would sell his drops to was stationed in Mishe currently, so he opted to save time and simply find a decent restaurant there. They had cleared the floor fairly fast, so it was a little bit more difficult than he thought it would be, but Kirito eventually found a place to eat that didn't have too many people inside.
Eating quickly, he left the restaurant at 5:35. That gave him plenty of time to find his friend and sell his drops, though he still all but ran to where the shop was set up on the streets. Kirito's friend was dealing with a few people, and Kirito couldn't help but grin when the other players walked away looking disheartened. The merchant that they had been selling to was positively beaming, obviously very pleased with the deal he just made.
The man started to look around when Kirito started laughing, and that gave Kirito the perfect reason to sneak up on his friend. Still chuckling as he closed in, Kirito activated his «Hiding» skill and essentially disappeared. He hoped that at maximum level the skill would actually allow him to disappear, at least for a little while, but he wouldn't know until he maxed it out. He also wouldn't know what the max level for skills were until that time, but it had to be at least 1,000. His «One-Handed Straight Sword» skill was at 837, 84 points higher than his next closest, which was his «Hiding» skill. No way would the skill level cap be 900... it just wouldn't be right.
Thinking through all of that, Kirito deactivated his skill when he was in front of the merchant, leaning forward on his stall. The last movement to get to that position was a bit tricky, but Kirito knew he pulled it off by the shocked look on his friends face. Grinning, he said, "I see you're still as shameful as ever, Agil. I saw those poor players walking away..."
Agil shook his head, before walking out from behind his stall and picking the boy up. Alarmed, Kirito prepared to kick him away, but only got about half way through the motion when he stopped and sighed. The giant thumped him on the back twice before putting him back down. "Well well, if it isn't Kirito! I haven't seen you in ages." Agil walked back behind the makeshift booth, and asked him a question. "What have you been up to all this time? Not selling to another merchant, right?"
At that, Kirito shook his head hastily. What Agil said was partially accurate, but he wouldn't tell Agil that. Usually, when he only had trash mats to sell, he dumped them on his tailor. She usually needed mats for her customers, so in return for not paying for the equipment she made him, he gave her all of the drops that could possibly be used in sewing. About once every week he did this, and he had almost forgotten about Agil.
When he got his hands on a few weapons that he couldn't use, he knew he had to go find the giant to sell them. Almost everyone would refuse to give him a fair price for his drops other than Agil, and he didn't want to bother looking for the few that would. "No, not selling to somebody else. In fact, that's why I was here today." At this point Kirito began materializing his drops, mainly the weapons, and started placing them before Agil. "How much for all of these?"
The giant picked each of them up one at a time, tapping on them and using his «Weapon Appraisal» skill to find out extra information about the weapon that Kirito wouldn't be able to see without equipping it. All Kirito was able to see without the skill was the attack and requirements to equip. It took about five minutes for Agil to get through all of the weapons that he had been saving up, and Kirito's inventory weight had been reduced to a quarter of what it was prior to laying the weapons before Agil. 'That should be plenty of room for anything the event mobs drop,' Kirito mused.
Kirito looked at Agil expectantly, and was very happy when Agil whistled. "There's a lot of good stuff here. In fact," he paused, looking through the pile before pulling out a «One-Handed Axe». "This is the best axe I've ever seen. By far. Where did you get it?"
Kirito took a moment to think, and then remembered that he had gotten the weapon from a side-dungeon that he had cleared a couple of weeks ago. "That was from a dungeon boss." Agil raised his eyebrow, mainly because he knew that Kirito would have showed him the weapon earlier if it was from a floor boss. "A side-dungeon boss." At that, Agil's eyes narrowed.
"You didn't..." Kirito scratched the back of his head and looked away. "Do you even understand how dangerous that is!?"
Kirito chuckled, remembering the fight. "It was fun. I thought that my health might drop into the red zone for the first time." He got a punch on the top of his head for that, and though a purple message appeared preventing direct contact, that only made it worse. Instead of a single point being hit, Kirito felt like he got bashed by a shield.
"You idiot! I don't care if you're probably the highest level in the game! You don't go off fighting bosses by yourself!"
Kirito activated his «Hiding» skill to avoid the gaze of every player in the area, and moved behind Agil's makeshift stall. "I don't suppose it would make you stop yelling at me if I told you I drank a rare potion that made me immune to debuffs for an hour, would it?" Kirito thought that he could see the wheels turning in his head, the giant no doubt trying to find a way to profit off of such a potion. "It was a one-time quest."
Kirito turned his attention back to the players around, relieved that they had all but forgotten he was there. He heard Agil sigh, and returned to his original position in front of the stall, deactivating the skill that hid him. "Just don't do anything stupid like that again." Kirito nodded, so Agil continued. "I'll give you 100,000 col for everything."
Kirito forced his eyebrows to remain in the same place they were, determined to not look surprised by that amount. He had over 500,000 col saved up, but knew he would blow a lot of it soon on upgrades. "Okay." Kirito opened a trade window with Agil, and started putting each of the items on the table inside of it. Clicking accept after Agil had put in the agreed upon amount, the trade was done, leaving Kirito with a fairly large boost to his savings. Nodding, Kirito checked the time and moved onto the next topic he wanted to discuss. "Have any good swords in?"
"Actually, yeah. I've been saving something for you. I was going to go looking for you tomorrow to show it to you, in fact. Here." Agil materialized the sword and gave it to Kirito.
"Wow," Kirito mumbled. It was a heavy sword, heavier than his own was before he had started enhancing it. But checking the damage, he saw it was far lower than the base stats of his own. This sword would suit someone looking to tank more than it would him. Kirito could tell that it was a highly durable sword from the weight, but the damage was so lacking it couldn't be used. 'I still need to check it to make sure though...' Looking up, he made sure it was okay. "May I?"
The giant nodded, so he unequipped his own sword and set it down. Equipping the weapon, he was given a list of stats far more detailed than he had seen before. He was shocked to see how durable is wasn't. It was just a really heavy sword that gave a bonus to strength to compensate for that. Shaking his head, he unequipped the weapon told Agil his thoughts. "Sorry, but this would be more suited for a tank. Its damage isn't high enough." He reached for his sword, only to see Agil snatch it up and inspect the weapon.
"Holy crap! Where did you get this thing?" Agil's eyes were wide, but Kirito simply held out his hand for his sword. It took a few moments, but Agil finally set the blade down and looked at Kirito expectantly.
"Boss drop."
"Which floor?"
"36th." His eyes flicking to the bottom left corner of his vision, Kirito felt that it was time to go. He wanted to get as many of those event mobs as he could, and he couldn't be sure if they would respawn. "I think I'm going to go."
"Yeah, I knew you would. Off to hunt the event mobs, right?"
"Yep. Well, thanks for the trade. I'll stop by if I get any good drops. Oh, and now that you know my weapon stats, if there's a sword that's better, let me know."
"With a sword like yours you won't need an upgrade for quite some time... And Kirito?"
"Yeah?"
"Don't die out there." Kirito watched Agil lower himself and looked him in the eye. "Don't die out there at least until we eat some S-Class food together, okay?"
Kirito laughed at that, turning around and calling over his shoulder, "Yeah!" Checking the clock again, Kirito started running through the streets for the town gate. He had to dodge past several people who weren't paying attention, but he reached the gates right as the bell started ringing. Increasing his pace, he ran out onto the field and could see the monsters being covered in a green light. About ten seconds after each monster was covered in a green light, the light dissipated and Kirito came to a screeching halt.
He was expecting something a little bit more realistic, not what appeared to be a bunch of little kids dressed up. Repressing a sigh, he moved towards the nearest trick-or-treater, a vampire, and tested out what the monster could do. Upon drawing its attention with a throwing pick that dealt only about one percent of its health, the vampire grew. Stopping at a height similar to Agil's, Kirito could no longer say that it gave off the same little kid appearance. Equipped with a «One-Handed Straight Sword», the creature before him had morphed to surpass even his original expectations.
A quick glance at the creature before him and another 'vampire' showed Kirito that it had doubled in height the moment he had dealt it damage. 'It might have just been drawing its attention that caused the change, but without checking I won't know. If that's the case then how will the other two change?' His thoughts only reached that far before they were interrupted by the sword skill the vampire had aimed at him, forcing Kirito to duck out of the way. The attack began with just a simple slash from right to left that was aimed at his head due to the height of the monster. But then it continued.
The initial attack slashed from right to left, and the creature finished to Kirito's left. Then the technique continued, the creature spinning before executing another backhanded slash, landing behind Kirito. Again, Kirito ducked out of the way, this time jumping far away from the monster instead of standing back up again. He had recognized the skill, and knew that he would be in a band position if he stayed where he was.
The next and final part of the skill involved the creature stabbing twice very quickly, and fairly low. Four-hit skill: «Horizontal Arrow». The skill had a fairly long cool-down, but almost no delay. If Kirito had remained where he was and jumped it avoid it, rather than backing off, the vampire could have activated another skill before he could have landed.
"So it's got high-end sword skills..." He mumbled to nobody in particular. Nodding to himself, Kirito watched the vampire recover from the delay and slowly stand back up. Kirito brought his sword across his body and crouched low, waiting a moment before feeling the sword skill activate. He pushed off the ground with his left foot, moving straight towards the vampire just above the ground.
Upon reaching his target he planted his right foot and leaped upwards, dragging his sword across the vampire. That attack was so sudden the vampire was unable to recognize it, and did not guard the correct area because of that. Kirito knew he wouldn't be able to use the same sword skill twice, but he only planned on using it once. Upon reaching the top of his jump, Kirito slashed at the eyes of the vampire from right to left, before falling and slashing from the top-right to bottom-left. Three-hit skill: «Burst». Looking next to the vampires health bar Kirito saw the debuff he was looking for. When using the skill «Burst» on a humanoid target, there was an eighty percent chance of a stun.
The delay of the skill was three seconds, but the stun lasted for five. Knowing this, Kirito already knew what his next attack would be. The moment he was able to move, he reversed his grip on his blade and brought it behind his back, tapping the flat of the blade to his left shoulder blade to activate the six-hit skill «Agitated Strikes».
With one second left on the stun, Kirito's body surged forward with the assistance of the system, slashing up at the vampire and leaving the ground slightly, flipping over before slashing at the monster from right to left. He spun slightly with the attack, reversing the spin to deliver a stab. After pulling his sword out of the vampire, Kirito jumped into the air above the monster, slashing from right to left at its head before planting his foot and pushing off of the now stun-free vampire.
Landing a few meters away, he immediately sprung back towards the creature to deliver an upwards slash that carried him high into the air, and he brought himself down with another slash that targeted the back of the vampire. Upon completing the attack successfully, Kirito jumped away and waited to see how the vampire would retaliate.
He waited, but the retaliation never came. Confused, Kirito looked up at the monsters health and was shocked that it was depleted. A moment later the creature burst apart in a cloud of particles, scattering within a few seconds. "Well that was a bit of a letdown..." Looking around, he saw another vampire not too far away and jogged over to it to test his theory.
Sure enough, when he was right next to it the creature attacked, its sword glowing a dark red stabbing at him. Kirito took a step back, but was still impaled by the skill, it doubling the normal length of the blade. Kirito jumped back, and watched his health rapidly deplete, stopping past the halfway point and being dyed a shade of yellow. "Just one hit...?"
One hit had taken him into the yellow zone. Two hits would kill him. This thought sent a shiver down his spine, and he understood why the mob had such low health and defense if a single strike had done that much damage. To top it all off, a sword skill that he had never seen before was used to deal the damage. He took a moment to search through his inventory to find a healing crystal, keeping his eye on the vampire that seemed to be charging a skill. He used the crystal to heal himself back to full health, knowing that he couldn't take a chance and get hit once more without healing. Kirito was quite angry over having to use 5,000 col to safely heal himself, and wasted no time in countering the attack of the vampire and dispatching it without taking another hit.
He set his eyes on a werewolf next, reversing his grip on the blade and slowly crouching down. He wouldn't be able to use this skill in the middle of a fight, but it dealt good enough damage to use it to start one. One-hit charge skill: «Reverse». After charging the skill for ten seconds, Kirito shot towards the werewolf and slashed it on the way past, moving forward ten meters in one second. He was left quite far away from his target, but that gave him time to get over the delay of the skill.
Turning around to see how the werewolf changed, he wasn't surprised to see it using a «One-Handed Claw» as its weapon. The werewolf was still fairly short, but Kirito knew not to judge the strength of a creature based on its size.
The werewolf howled, and to his surprise every werewolf around transformed and looked at Kirito. Counting quickly, he saw that he now had six opponents. He would have run if he didn't see that the single attack to the original werewolf dealt half of its health.
Grinning, he waited for all of the werewolves to get near him and activated the sword skill «Windup» to deal with them. His blade glowing dark green, Kirito slashed in a circle twice, before reversing the spin and rotating three more complete circles in an even more powerful slash. Kirito felt a bit dizzy, but didn't lower his guard until all six of them burst apart. Letting out the breath he didn't realize he was holding, he stopped long enough to let the results appear before him.
Kirito was disappointed when all he received was «Halloween Candy». Eight of them, in fact. Not a single different item. Sighing, he turned his attention towards the type of monster he had yet to fight. Moving towards a small child covered by a white sheet, Kirito activated «Rage Spike» and rushed towards the target. He watched the blade impale the creature, and was a little bit surprised when he passed straight through.
The ghost floated up slightly and a «One-Handed Dagger» appeared in its right hand, and the creature slashed down at him while he was held by the delay of the skill. Wincing when hit, Kirito looked up at his health and heaved a sigh of relief when he saw that the attack only dealt minimal damage. He slashed up again at the ghost, watching his blade pass right through without dealing a bit of damage. "Now what...?"
He backed off and put a bit of distance between his opponent and himself and waited for the ghost to make a move. It didn't disappoint, and was upon him in seconds. Kirito waited for the ghost to attack before slashing up at the target, and was pleased that the attack connected. He took another hit, but that only dropped him down to ninety percent of his total health. The ghost dropped to a similar amount, and Kirito waited again for the chance to strike, this time narrowly avoiding the blade of the ghost and managing to slash up at it with «Uppercut».
A noticeable chunk dropped from its health from this, and Kirito repeated the process twice more to finish off the ghost. As with the others, a «Halloween Candy» was added to his inventory. He also saw that he obtained a «Dagger of the Damned» from the ghost. He didn't bother to check the stats on the weapon, and took a moment to think.
The vampires hit too hard to deal with quickly, and the ghosts prevented Kirito from setting his own pace. Deciding that the werewolves were the most efficient way to go, he gathered together as many he would dare and cut through most with his «Windup» skill. To deal with the remaining few he would activate «Spiral». The skill would move the user in three full circles on its own, but Kirito had managed to boost the skill to such speeds that he delivered five full slashes.
Doing so left him incredibly dizzy, but he had plenty of time afterwards to let the world stop moving. Kirito continued this process for twenty minutes, before finally killing a batch of werewolves that gave him a weapon along with the «Halloween Candy» he received from every mob. Noting that it was a «One-Handed Claw», Kirito was about to materialize the weapon to check its damage stats when he was encased in a bright blue light and watched his surroundings drastically change.
The room he was forcibly sent to was dimly lit by four torches, each set in a corner of the room. Looking around the room he saw nobody else, and opened his inventory to take out a teleport crystal. Already assuming what the result would be, he took hold of the crystal and muttered the first town that came to mind. "Teleport: Taft." The room flashed a bright red, and his crystal remained unused. "Figures..." Kirito sighed and looked around the room, seeking out the darkest spot he could find. Out of habit he activated the skill that would essentially make him invisible when in the shadows.
Kirito sat down against the wall before he opened up his user interface and worked his way to the messaging section. Sighing as he saw that it was grayed out, he closed his menu. "Guess I'll have to wait then..." He opened up his menu and started sorting his items. There wasn't much to do, but it gave him something to pass the time. His hand stopped when he got to the «Halloween Candy» that he had been collecting and noted that he only had fifty.
Before he had killed those last few werewolves he was at forty-nine, so that meant he had only gotten one more of the item from a group of five werewolves. "So fifty is the limit... Why?" Shaking his head at the pointless question, he returned to sorting his items. He closed his inventory a few minutes later, and leaned his head against the wall to wait.
It took twenty more minutes before another player made it into the room.
Kirito didn't move a muscle, curious to see how this person would react. The hooded player looked around the room, passing right over him and continuing to look for signs of life. He thought he saw the player nod, but couldn't be sure because of the hood that they wore. He raised an eyebrow when the player took down their hood and turned towards him. "Argo?"
Kirito watched her smile and begin walking towards him. "Hi there, Kii-bou."
Kirito jumped to his feet and took a step forward, confused. "What are you doing here?"
"I followed you." She looked away when he said this, confusing Kirito.
"What do you mean?"
"Well..." Argo rubbed her arm and wouldn't look at him, perplexing Kirito all the more.
"Argo?"
"I saw you leaving «Mishe» when the event mobs were scheduled to spawn, so I followed you. I stayed near you in case you needed any help, and so that I could call out if I needed any. I got scared watching you fight... you were so reckless. So I was going to yell at you, and then you disappeared without using a crystal. You had just finished killing a group, so I thought there was some set number of «Halloween Candy» that had to be gathered." She opened up her menu, apparently looking for something. "Fifty... Anyways, I knew I had to keep an eye on you. So I kept hunting, hoping to meet that requirement, and here I am."
"You just wanted to keep an eye on your main source of col."
Kirito couldn't remember ever seeing Argo as furious as she looked at that time. He flinched from the look she gave him and raised his hands defensively. "Sorry," he all but whispered. Kirito didn't think that that would cut it, and lowed his hands, looking at the ground. "I'm sorry." He spoke very clearly and made sure that he was loud enough for Argo to hear him. "I spoke without thinking. I didn't mean what I said."
She turned to look at him, her eyes a little softer than they were. Granted, she still looked angry, but she didn't look like she was considering tearing his heart out anymore. 'That's a start... what else should I say?' All he could think of was to be direct. "I shouldn't have said what I did." Not sure how to continue, he opened up his menu and took out the One-Handed Claw he got. "I know that I can't buy you off, but I was wondering if you wanted this." He walked up to her, handing her the weapon and looking down again.
Kirito turned around, but before he could move he felt two small arms stretch around him and he froze. Though the first response his body gave was a chill down his back, the prolonged human contact relaxed Kirito more than he had been in months. "Kii-bou..." Before she could continue there was a flash in the room, and the two had jumped apart, Argo pulling her hood up and both of them activating their «Hiding» skills.
Kirito looked at the newcomer and sighed, alarming the player. He watched the girl's long hair whip around to look at him, and saw her narrow her eyes into a glare. "Kirito," she said coldly.
"Asuna." Kirito replied.
"What are you doing here? And where are we in the first place?"
"Well..."
"Well what? Answer me."
Kirito opened his mouth to answer, but was confused to hear Argo intervene. "He doesn't have to answer that if he doesn't want to."
The chestnut-haired girl spun on her foot to face Argo. Almost glaring at Asuna, Argo took her hood off and took a few steps forward. "And you are?"
Argo snorted. "Of course you would forget the first person to help you in the game, noob-kun."
"First person to help me...?"
"First to give you any real help at least. Before I gave you a hand you were green as could be, and would have died in the second week if not for him." When she finished talking, Argo pointed to Kirito.
Kirito scratched the back of his neck, vaguely remembering what Argo was talking about... somebody had spread a rumor that there was a hidden logout point in a cave that held a dangerous Kobold within. Argo had enlisted his help to deal with the rumor, and he got there just in time to kill the Kobold that had reduced Asuna to the critical levels of her health with only a few dots of red registering that she was still alive.
"Well," Kirito all but mumbled. "You could have dealt with that thing without my help... You were the one that saved her life, not me."
"That might be true, but you were the one that killed the kobold. So technically, you were the one that saved her life. I just happened to point you in the right direction, Kii-bou."
"Let's just say we both played a part in saving her life."
"If you really don't want the credit, then okay."
"Excuse me. I hate to interrupt, but could someone please explain to me what's going on?"
Kirito looked away from Argo for a moment to look at Asuna, before returning his attention to the snickering information broker. "I guess we were ignoring noob-kun, huh Kii-bou?"
Kirito laughed nervously, wanting to upset Argo less than he did Asuna. If he had to pick one to be angry at him, he would definitely pick Asuna every time. But if he could help it he wanted neither angry, so he tried to explain. "Well... you were out hunting the event mobs, weren't you?"
The sub-leader of the KoB nodded. "Yes, I went out hunting with Godfree. Why?"
"Well... you should have fifty of the «Halloween Candy» don't you? Both of us reached fifty and were teleported here."
"Oh... well, Godfree should be joining us shortly then. We were trading off last attacks so that we had a higher chance of evenly distributing the items. I guess I got lucky and got a few of his last hits."
A flash in the middle of the room drew his attention away from Asuna after she mentioned Godfree. He saw what could only be described as someone attempting to dress like a samurai, and sighed quiet enough that nobody in the room noticed. "You're still alive, Klein?"
"You're as foulmouthed as ever it seems." Grinning as he walked up to Kirito, Klein took no notice of the other two people in the room whatsoever. "It's been too long, Kirito. How've you been?"
"Well... not bad other than this situation we're in. You were out hunting, right?" Klein nodded. "Well... I'd be prepared for the worst. We might have to face a boss soon."
"If it's you saying that then I really should be ready. Well, I was counting... if its fifty then Kunimittz and Dynamm should be joining us soon."
As if on cue, there were two players being transported this time. Kirito recognized one as Kunimittz, but the other was a face he was fairly unfamiliar with. Kirito had seen him before at the recent boss raids, but he didn't really know him personally. He knew he was a member of the KoB, so it wouldn't be much of a jump to say the man was Godfree. Another flash in the corner of the room took his attention away though, and he saw as the light diminished that it was Dynamm. Kunimittz and Dynamm both came over to Klein, and when the newcomer walked over to Asuna and she didn't move away, Kirito confirmed that it must be Godfree.
There were more flashes, but Kirito recognized very little of them. He saw Lind from the DDA, and blanched when he saw Kibaou. Sighing, he moved himself over to Argo and put his hands behind his head. Kirito voiced his thoughts just loud enough for Argo to hear. "You were right."
"Always. But what about this time?"
"It looks like I really am a part of the raid."
Kirito watched Argo cover her mouth to stifle a laugh. Kirito still heard it, but the rest of the players wouldn't have. "Well I am too, so take good care of me, Kiri-bou." He nodded and tapped on the cursor in his vision, noticing Argo's eyes go wide at the invitation to join his party. It was something that he hadn't done for months, trying to become a true solo player while trying to shoulder the burden of the «Beaters» that had somehow slipped away from solely him and to all that played solo. "Thank you, Kirito."
"...Argo?"
He was absolutely shocked that Argo had called him by his name and not 'Kii-bou' or 'Kiri-bou'. But before he could say anything to her they were all moved to a different location.
The area they were now in was a far cry from the dingy and dimly lit room. Firstly, it was open to the air. Secondly, the area was really open. They were standing on a platform that had a see-through bottom. The platform was faintly glowing white, giving the area ample lighting. Looking down, he saw that he was above the main plaza of the first floor. Being on display wasn't half as frightening as watching thousands of players be forcibly teleported into the plaza. "It's just like before..."
In the real world, too much candy will rot your teeth.
But in Aincrad, too much candy shows your passion as a hunter.
The faster you collected «Halloween Candy» the longer the time you have to defeat «Victor».
Every few minutes he will advance and will not stop attacking until his target is dead.
Good luck!
"Huh?" Kirito read the message that appeared before him several times before it was automatically dismissed. He turned his head to the left, relieved that Argo was still next to him, and that he wasn't the only one perplexed by the message. "«Victor»?" He asked of no person in particular. With Argo in tow, he surveyed his surroundings, walking from one side of the platform to the other. It was a perfect circle, roughly one-hundred meters across. "Plenty of room to move around..."
"Yeah," Argo agreed. "Definitely room for a boss. Maybe not a big one, but definitely room enough for a boss."
Half a minute after they received the message, there was a red flash in the center of the platform. It was humanoid. No, it was human. Though it clearly did not possess a head, the boss before them could only be described as human. Two arms, two feet, even clothed. Wearing a dark tattered coat, the boss also had black dress shoes and very worn black pants.
Four health bars slowly filled, and «Victor, the Headless Swordsman» was alive and swinging a long sword. The blade left a trail of light green flames in its wake, but the boss didn't move. Confused, Kirito looked above the name and saw two things. One was the name of the boss, and the other was what could only be a player name and a timer ticking down.
Kotaru: 2:55
Vaguely remembering the face that was associated with the name, he glanced around the battlefield to be greeted with a strange sight. Above every player was a number, his being twenty-four and Argo's being twenty-three. What the numbers might mean he had no idea, but was afraid that he would soon find out. The numbers one and two players were charging the boss, and before he could call out to them they reached Victor.
In a flash two of the twenty-four were dead. One of the players had activated a sword skill to attack the boss, but the boss deflected the skill easily and slashed at him with what looked like a simple «Horizontal». The first player to attack the boss raised his weapon to block, but the blade passed clean through his sword and cut the man in half.
The other player, the number two player, moved in to attack with his own sword skill. But the boss moved its sword above his head, executing the initial motion for «Vertical». The number two player had already started the motion for a sword skill and had no way to block. Again, the boss cut the player down with a single strike. During the entire exchange, the only part of the boss that moved was the arm wielding its weapon.
Kirito saw the clock reset twice within the exchange. Once from 2:47 to 2:00 and again from 1:58 to 2:00. That meant that every player had two minutes. 'Two minutes before what?' Not wanting to find out, he ran over to the player marked with a three. Glancing at the boss, he saw the player's name was Zabrez. He was wearing plate armor and wielded a «Two-Handed Battleaxe».
Kirito assumed the man was a tank of sorts, dealing damage to build up hate rather than blocking attacks. "Hold on a minute before you charge the boss like those two." Seeing the man glare at him, but lightly nod, Kirito shouted to the rest of the players still alive. "Everyone! We have to make a raid group, so form parties of four with those around you!"
One of the players near him snorted, and screamed right back at him. "Why should we follow the orders of a stupid «Beater» like you?"
Grinning because he anticipated the question, Kirito turned to face the man. "How many boss fights have you been a part of?"
"Seven."
"Well I've been a part of ninety-eight, if you count the sub-bosses on each floor. I think I have a little bit more experience than you do, wouldn't you say?" Almost laughing when he saw the other player back down, he looked around again. "Everyone in parties of four?" Upon receiving nods of confirmation, he invited the groups to a raid group so that he could see all the names of the players, as well as keep an eye on health levels of the tanks. "Good, now I want a row of four tanks to group up near Zabrez. I'm not sure what the boss will do when that timer reaches zero, but we have to be ready."
Zabrez: 0:00
At that point the timer, originally white, turned a sickly red. Having reached zero, the boss began to slowly move directly towards Zabrez. Starting off with a slow walk, it gradually picked up speed until it was jogging towards Zabrez. Kirito took a moment to get behind the boss to attack it while its attention was otherwise occupied. He got close to it, pincering it between the wall of tanks and himself, and swore when he saw the boss nimbly jump up onto the shoulder of the nearest tank and use him as a springboard. Frustrated, Kirito did a simliar action and activated «Sonic Leap» to strike at the boss.
The one-hit attack landed, and the boss was thrown slightly off course. He saw Zabrez move in to attack with his own sword skill, but once again the boss deflected the attack with ease and struck at the heavily armored player. Zabrez was unable to block the attack, but had enough health that he wasn't dispatched in a single strike. He backed off, and the wall of tanks lined up between the boss and Zabrez, this time much closer to the latter. Kirito also repositioned himself behind the boss, charging up a more powerful attack.
A sliver had come out of the first health bar, but he would be surprised if it was more than one percent. Before the boss moved, he lunged at Victor with a powerful thrust. He didn't stop there, and delivered four rapid slashes. Each cut through the original stab, and only overlapped the point of the first thrust. The boss swung its sword back at Kirito, but the boy had anticipated this. He leapt backwards and rushed the boss again, ending the sword skill with another thrust to the original point. Six-hit skill: «Focal Point».
The delay was short, so Kirito was able to duck under the boss' sword when it turned to slash at him. He dove backwards at that point, hoping that he wouldn't hit anyone, and landed on his feet a few meters away expecting the boss to be right behind him.
Unfortunately, this was not the case. The boss jumped over the line of tanks, taking minimal damage from their attacks, and struck at his target using «Sonic Leap». Zabrez was unable to take two consecutive hits, and his life total was reduced to zero. "Everyone, back off!" Kirito shouted this, and the tanks needed no explanation. They ran away as quickly as they could while loaded down with their armor.
Sho: 2:00
Groaning, Kirito looked at the health of the boss. If he was being generous, he would have called the damage he did close to five percent of the first bar. They had time to organize a real assault now, but he longed to be able to deal more damage. Kirito looked around at the rest of the players, intending to call them over and seeing that most had already made their way. He opened his mouth to speak, but found himself on the ground clutching the back of his head instead.
"What did I tell you about being reckless, Kii-bou?"
He looked up to see Argo cracking her knuckles, and would have run away if not for the situation they were in. "Not to do it."
"Good." She helped him to his feet, and moved her way back to the circle that gathered around him.
"Okay everyone, listen up."
"Hold on." He grimaced, turning to look at Asuna. "Who said that you were in charge here? I have just as much experience with boss fights as you do and even more experience leading."
"No, you don't." He checked the time on the boss, relieved to see it still above one minute. "I've lead more raids than you ever will. And even just counting this game, I've lead dozens of raids in the beta. I have way more experience than you do, so back off." Kirito knew she didn't like it, but accepted his response. She backed down without another word, and he turned his attention back to the rest of his group.
"Okay. We have to deal the majority of the damage when the timer is counting down. Otherwise it'll usually be too difficult to lock the boss down. I want as many pairs of one tank and one damage dealer as we can manage." As he spoke, the groups paired up as they could. In total they had eight pairs, with five people left out, including Kirito and Argo. Nodding, he spoke again.
"I have an idea, but I have to test it first." Kirito checked the time again, seeing that he had thirty-two seconds left before the boss would seek out Sho. He motioned for Argo to come near him, and spoke softly to her. "I'm about to do something stupid. Think you can pull me out of the way if it doesn't work?"
"Of course. What are you going to do?"
"See if it can phase more than once in quick succession." Without elaborating further, he moved towards the boss before the timer dropped past twenty. He took a slow swing at the boss, expecting the blade to get deflected. He saw the boss activate «Horizontal» and moved slightly to the side, activating «Double Up» to knock the blade of the boss into the air. When his sword passed right through the blade of the boss, he boosted the sword skill as much as he could and brought his arm in a complete circle to meet the bosses sword. The two abilities held for a second, before fizzling out and losing system assistance.
Nodding, Kirito jumped away from the boss and grinned. "Everyone see that? If the damage dealer attacks first, the tank can step in to block the actual attack. Seeing the timer turn red, Kirito swore under his breath. "Sho! I want you to dodge out of the way of every attack the boss throws at you. When we can we'll hold the boss back with tanks, but don't count on them being able to lock it down, alright?"
Sho, frozen with fear at seeing the timer finish counting down didn't move at first. Swearing again, Kirito saw the boss moving towards the man at an alarming rate. He sprinted towards the player, tackling him out of the way of Victor's attack. This got Sho moving again, and after mumbling a quick thanks to Kirito, Sho began to lead the boss around the platform dodging attacks and retaliating when he dared.
"Who were the other three people not in a team of two?" He saw Kunimittz raise his hand, and he also saw a katana user named Gintatsu raise his hand. Seeing nobody else, he assumed Sho was the other one. "Alright, both of you come over here." He looked around for Argo, pleasantly surprised to see her already behind him. "Okay, we're going to attack the boss whenever possible while Sho is being targeted. If he gets caught... we're going to be attacking the boss while the pairs are holding its attention. Got it?" Seeing three heads move up and down, Kirito heard the sound of breaking glass before he could turn his head.
Swearing, he approached the boss as he saw the timer reset.
Umashi: 2:00
He desperately wanted to, but he couldn't charge at the boss by himself again. He looked over his shoulder and spoke to the makeshift raid group. "Everyone, you saw how I blocked the sword of the boss. Only use a sword skill to block the attack. Every pair should rotate holding the attention of Victor. It'll be safest for the damage dealer to let their attack pass through the blade first. We have ninety seconds before we have to change tactics, so lets make them count!" Hearing battle shouts behind him, he made his way to the back of the boss and watched the first pair move in to attack.
This time there was a decent chunk taken from the first bar before the timer finished counting down.
It certainly helped that the boss was only retaliating, but Kirito understood that the main reason they were having so much success was because of the ability of the pairs to work together. By the time the countdown reached zero, a fifth of the first health bar was cut through, totaling a quarter of the first health bar when adding what Kirito managed solo. Glancing at the only person noticeably panicking, Kirito saw that Umashi was loaded down with plate armor and a large shield. His only real option was to dodge as long as he could, but being so burdened prevented him from doing so.
Kirito's thoughts were spot on. No matter how the tanks tried to block for Umashi, Victor would simply leap over them. Only once had Kirito successfully redirected the boss so far, and that had been the result of luck. Soon following Umashi were two tanks, one named Shivata and the other named Halco. Despite the losses to pairs, the group was doing considerably more damage to the boss. Now that they understood the trick to blocking Victor's weapon they were having a much easier time surviving.
The only problem was when the timer finished counting down and Victor would start to move towards the designated player.
He would start off moving slowly, no more than a walk. However, with every second his speed would increase. Kirito never saw how fast the boss must have become to down Sho, who was a nimble damage dealer, but he didn't think he would be able to see how fast it was without another damage dealer being targeted.
With every tank they lost, more damage dealers could rotate with the original four to deal more damage to the boss, but that also left them with less people to actually hold the attention of the boss. That made it harder when one of the pairs messed up and the tank took one of Victor's attacks directly. That unlucky man had been Klein, and Kirito watched helplessly as his health fell at a rapid rate. They took out the first health bar, and Kirito ran over to Klein after attacking the boss. Sprinting past Victor, Kirito checked the current timer.
Caldrio: 0:24
Kirito shoved his hand into his left pocket and took out a pink healing crystal. He threw it towards Dynamm, Klein's partner. Though he would normally never be able to throw something with his left hand so perfectly, by waiting a second before throwing it the system took over and made sure his aim would be true. Glad to see the man had paid enough attention to catch the object, Kirito heard Dynamm all but scream, "Heal!"
Having seen the dire consequences of making a mistake, the other pairs became much more careful in their timing. It cost them five more people, but the second bar was also cleared with time. Kirito was severely worried though; it had cost them twelve players to take out the first two health bars. Would they really be able to survive at this rate?
Kibaou: 1:56
In the briefest of moments, the boss seemed to disappear.
"Ehh...?"
The last thing that he remembered seeing before the vanishing act was a flash of red.
'...Huh?'
"Wait..." Kirito's head whipped around to Kibaou, unsure of what just happened. He saw a flaming sword aimed at the man's neck, but saw no trace of the wielder until Kibaou was already executed. Starting with its left hand, the rest of its body slowly came back into visibility. The most frightening part was that the left hand was holding onto Kibaou's flaming head, even though the rest of his body had been long since scattered by the wind. It was sickening to watch the face of someone he had once known be burned off from the skull. The timer had stopped, but it only seemed to have paused.
Kourtney: 1:00
Victor thrust his sword into the platform to grip the fiery skull with both hands, standing the blackened object atop his neck. The timer above Victor turned on once more, but the group stood frozen. The grinning form of the boss deterred them, as if it was daring them to even attempt an attack. Forcing himself to move, Kirito activated «Overcharge».
He crouched low for five seconds before tearing through the air and slashing at the boss as he passed. The attack had landed, and left Kirito a few meters out of the range of the boss. But he didn't stop there. Charging for four seconds this time, Kirito slashed at the boss again. This time he met with resistance, his sword being parried away. Landing again out of reach, Kirito froze when Victor turned towards him and began walking. Had it not been for the skill automatically firing after three more seconds, he wouldn't have known what to do. This time he aimed low and slashed past Victor's legs, and after a two second wait he jumped high into the air to slash at his head. When that was parried, he landed and charged for a single second before thrusting through Victor's abdomen.
Seeing Kirito move had gotten the rest of the players into gear, though their attacks became less organized. It worked in their favor, as the boss was confused by the sudden change in attack pattern. Eventually it began lashing out at the players, but soon enough it targeted Kourtney when the timer needed to become reset.
Kirito saw the health of the boss rapidly continue to fall, and saw that now that its attention wasn't focused on them it was much easier to all rush the boss. Keeping up with it as it chased Kourtney proved to be tricky, but they managed it fairly well. They even managed to knock Victor off his feet a couple of times, giving Kourtney time enough to even turn back and attack the boss with her rapier. After three minutes of chasing, Victor grinned and disappeared again.
Kirito shouted for Kourtney to duck down, but it was too late. Again was a player decapitated, but this time the system was merciful enough to destroy the entirety rather than leaving the skull. He bit back a few choice words, his face lighting up when he saw that their haphazard attacks had taken out most of the third health bar. "Come on, we're almost there!" He shouted this, trying to raise morale, but he really didn't feel like fighting anymore. He just wanted this entire experience to be over with.
They only had a minute before the next player would become a moving target, and their berserk fighting reflected this. By the time they had broken into the last health bar, Kirito had all but forgotten about the death clock. At least, he had forgotten about it until the boss appeared behind Gintatsu and executed him.
Jintan: 30
"Don't stop!"
Kirito said this, but at the rate they were going they wouldn't be able to kill the boss. If it took the same five minutes to deplete the last health bar as it did the third, and it should theoretically take even longer since they were losing more people... The rate they were going would have them all dead in four. They were a ninth of the way through the last health bar when Jintan was struck down.
Sora: 30
By the time the clock had reached zero again they were through two fifths of the last bar, having used some of their better sword skills that came off cool-down. It wouldn't be enough to defeat the boss. Kirito watched the boss disappear again, turning towards Sora already preparing his next attack at the boss. The sight he saw was a strange one however.
Sora was on the ground behind the boss. How he had gotten there, Kirito had no idea, but Sora was buying them some of the time that they desperately needed. Kirito looked on in awe as Sora effortlessly dodged every attack that the boss threw at him, even retaliating every once in a while. Kirito saw the other players around him move, and found himself being gently pushed towards the boss. Looking over his shoulder he saw Argo.
Her eyes were lifeless, the corners of her mouth pulled into a frown. She looked how he felt. It was something he never wanted to see again from someone he cared for. Looking at Klein he saw a similar expression, and that only served to further spur him on.
Roaring, Kirito charged past the other players and activated «Burst». The eighty percent chance worked in his favor again, and he successfully executed the three slash skill on the moving target. It left him unable to move for a few seconds, but the boss would not be able to move for an even longer time. He reversed his grip on the blade and activated «Agitated Strikes» without caring that there were other people attacking too and that he might even get hit by them if he stayed in close-combat with Victor.
Dancing with his blade, Kirito slashed upwards into a flip, slashing right-to-left and then stabbing at Victor. He jumped into the air and slashed at the back of Victor's skull, before kicking off of Victor and diving back in for two more slashes. One going up, and another that landed him on the other side of of the boss. He drew his sword back again, watching Victor's skull point towards him and without hesitation activated his next attack.
Using «Quintuple Thrust» he was able to stab up at the sockets of the skull twice, before having to stab twice at the sword of the boss to redirect his sword skill and using the remaining thrust to pierce the bone in between its eyes. All this time the others had been moving around him, using their other techniques while he held the attention of the boss and dealing massive damage, realizing they could use their strongest attacks without fear of delay at this time. The health of the boss had been drained to two-fifths remaining in a mere ten seconds because of this.
Kirito was frozen with delay at this point. Stabbing both eyes of a humanoid mob would usually incur a stun, but since the boss had no eyes Kirito wasn't sure if the attack would actually work. The delay would last for four seconds, and if the boss was not stunned he would get cut down.
Grimacing as he saw the blade mercilessly move forwards, Kirito closed his eyes and accepted his fate.
Two seconds later, Kirito opened his eyes with a confused expression. "You told me to pull you out of the way when you did something stupid, didn't you?" Following the gloved hand that tightly gripped his collar, he saw a bandaged arm that came out of a black sleeve. "I wouldn't want a party member to die on me. It would give you one more reason to complain about them if I let you die." At that, Kirito couldn't help but sigh.
"I already accepted it..."
"Idiot."
Kirito glanced back up at the boss, which was once again attacking Sora without mercy. It seemed to still be speeding up, which was terrifying. At this point Kirito could only wonder how Sora could remain unscathed.
Getting a kick in the rear from Argo sent him towards the boss again.
He could hardly see where it was moving, but instinctively activated «Blade Surge» to dive at the boss. It was a one-hit attack that sent him forward five meters, but it was enough to reach the boss. Slashing from top-right to bottom-left, Kirito desperately tried to grab the attention of the boss again. He succeeded, but not before Victor had run Sora through with his sword.
Dynamm: 30
The six others that were left charged the boss again, free to use all of their sword skills while Kirito was attempting to commit suicide by staying in close-combat with the boss. Kirito saw the timer hit one second left and activated «Burst». Slashing through Victor's sword, Kirito chained the strike to slash through his eyes and used the final attack to knock Victor's sword away from his own throat.
Congratulations! You got the «Last Attack Bonus»!
'It's over?'
He fell five meters down into the crowd.
Looks of confusion; of anger. The most prominent looks were of disgust.
"Dirty Beater!"
'Yeah.'
"I hope you die!"
'Not like I haven't heard that before...'
"He let other players die to score the LA!"
'Let them... die?'
A teleport crystal was shoved in his hand. Someone whispered Mishe. He mumbled the word.
The same player grabbed his hand and dragged him along behind. He recognized the player so he didn't bother resisting. When they picked up speed, he kept up without thinking about it.
'Seventeen. All dead. My fault.' Those words ran through his head, over and over again.
The player leading him squeezed his hand tighter, and he looked around. Five buildings. He saw the player lower their hood.
"Kirito?"
He stared back blankly. "Seventeen... all dead... my fault," he mumbled. Argo grabbed his shoulders and squeezed his arms. He noticed a message asking if he was being harassed. It disappeared after he stared at it for a few moments.
Kirito felt Argo squeeze him again, and she wrapped her arms around him. "It's okay. It's not your fault, it would have happened if anyone else took charge." He was half a head taller than her, and she had to look up at him. When her eyes went wide he felt himself pulled in tighter. She lowered her head again. "It'll be okay."
'Warm...'
He felt the stress from the event melt away as tears dripped down his face.