Chapter 4
We are all nervous as we stand outside that massive door. How many of us will die? Who will die? What will the boss' difficulty be? I want to run away screaming, but I know I can't.
I'm glad Silica isn't here with me. I know for a fact she would die straight away, and I would prefer her to live through all one hundred floors. I have figured out why I am so protective of her. She reminds me of my best friend back in real life.
"Listen up everybody! I have one thing to say- let's win this!" Diavel's motivational speech inspires no one to cheer, but the blind fog of determination settles over us instead. Someone pushes the Boss Room door open, and we walk cautiously inside. Within mere seconds, the room inside becomes awash with bright colours. Despite its pastel appearance, it's terrifying.
Illfang the Kobold Lord jumps down heavily from wherever he was hiding. He is massive, and he has a dog's head. His appearance is actually quite comical, but no one laughs because the weapon he is holding looks like it could kill someone unfortunate enough with one accurate blow.
His minions, the Ruin Kobold Sentinels, spawn, and we know the fight has officially begun. No turning back now. "Commence attack!" Diavel shouts at the top of his virtual lungs, his sword in the air. All our battle cries synchronize as one.
Groups A and C are fiercely attacking Illfang from the front, bravely dodging his axe. Our group, Group D, is aggressively confronting the first wave of Sentinels along with Group E.
I activate the basic Sword Skill 'Horizontal' and slash the Sentinel across the stomach. It retaliates almost instantly, and I barely have enough time to block its menacingly sharp sword with my shield.
Tomi notices my struggle and comes over to help me, his rapier glowing orange. He uses a basic rapier Sword Skill called 'Linear'. The quick thrust into the Sentinel's side is enough for one-quarter of its HP to now be empty.
From where I am standing, I can't see Asachi, Lorn or Kitor. I hope they're doing okay- these Sentinels are much quicker than we previously thought they'd be.
The three Sentinels are dressed in silver knight-like armour that makes it hard to do decent amounts of damage with our strikes. I can already feel in my pixelated bones that this is going to be a long fight.
"Group D! Change targets and engage Illfang!" I can barely hear Diavel's commands over the noise, but our group of five seems to have all heard correctly.
Illfang's second HP bar has been depleted. I can see Group F, the cloaked person and the dark-haired boy, joining us in the assault against Illfang's third HP bar. I sprint around to behind Illfang, where he can't hit me. With a slight pang, I remember how I did this to protect Silica and I, only to lose badly- I lost nearly all of my HP that day, and my only friend in this death-game couldn't handle it. I'm much stronger now, so I won't let that happen again.
While Illfang is occupied with attacking the Players in front of him, I activate Sword Skill after Sword Skill. Then the massive boss turns around- he's spotted me with his beady little eyes. His massive axe raises and clangs down on my shield with such force that I'm winded. If I hadn't of had a shield, I would be dead now. I shrug off the blow and the dark thought; ignoring the fact that my HP has crept into the red zone. If I'm going to die, I'll die fighting.
I activate Sword Skills repeatedly again, like everyone else seems to be doing. Thankfully Illfang is focusing on someone else.
"Groups D and F! Retreat!"
"Diavel, this wasn't in the plan!" someone shouts. As we run away confusedly, Diavel's group arranges itself in a circle. Once I'm a reasonably safe distance away from all Monsters, I look at the Boss. His last HP bar is in the red, and like the guidebook says, he switches his weapon by dramatically throwing his axe and shield away and pulling out his other weapon.
"That's not a Talwar! That's a Nodachi!" Tomi yells.
"What's the difference!" Tomi must have overheard me, because he adds:
"One's a katana." He has a grave expression. What's the big deal about a katana?
Diavel's group charge the Boss, who has already switched his weapon. But all the bystanders can see Illfang is charging a Sword Skill. Diavel sprints forward, clearly planning to attack Illfang.
"Its no good! Jump back as quick as you can!" a male voice yells. I don't recognize it.
With one circular swing all of Diavel's party have been stunned.
We all watch in horrified fascination as the Boss goes straight for Diavel and exclusively targets him with a 4-hit-combo Sword Skill. The blue knight lands quite a distance away. I see Tomi run over to him, obviously offering him aid.
"Tomi!" I run over to him, but quickly turn around with embarrassment despite the situation when I discover that the boy with Diavel isn't Tomi. I don't think anyone noticed.
I can see the boy offering Diavel a potion, but the knight refuses it. I can tell they're talking, but I'm not within earshot. The boy stands up shakily as Diavel disintegrates into pixels. He's clearly dead. The feeling of loss sweeps through everyone, but it is short-lived.
Illfang roars, as if reminding us he's still here. The red-cloaked person I saw at the meeting stands next to him. They pause briefly, and they begin running.
"We'll do it just like the Sentinels!" I hear the boy shout. Everyone- except the Groups fighting the newly respawned fourth wave of Sentinels of course- is watching.
Illfang's Nodachi glows with a blinding white light. He's obviously preparing another attack. The boy's sword glows blue, and as Illfang swings down, he swings up, temporarily stunning Illfang.
The cloaked person runs up, their rapier ready with a sword skill. Illfang recovers far too quickly however.
"Asuna!" the boy yells. The Boss' Nodachi comes crashing down like a hurricane on the person apparently called Asuna, but by some fluke, they dodge. The Japanese weapon only gets caught on their cloak, and the cloak's durability is exhausted.
Everyone in the room is mesmerised. Asuna's a girl, and she's probably older than me. She has long strawberry-blonde hair flowing out behind her, and from what I can see; some of it is braided halfway around her head. The green pixels are all that remains of her cloak, and they give her a kind of surreal appearance.
"That is who I am going to look up to." I say to myself as we all watch Asuna and the boy's teamwork. It looks like a dance, a beautiful dance, but it is ended too quickly by Illfang's weapon slashing across the boy's stomach. He is thrown back, and Asuna is knocked over by his weight landing on top of her. The clang of a sword landing on the ground is obvious.
They both look up like startled rabbits when the Boss raises his glowing red Nodachi for the finishing blow. Asuna feebly raises her rapier as a last line of defence. The sword comes crashing down, and then…
Agil's mighty axe knocks the Nodachi out of its path. The Boss is stunned momentarily, but its gets its bearings quickly by sliding backwards on all fours.
"Let's go!" someone cries valiantly." Half of the groups move to engage Illfang again, but our group fights the Sentinels instead. Sword Skill after Sword Skill, and two out of three Sentinels have died. I'm proud to say I killed one of the last.
The third Sentinel dies soon after its brothers, and we are free to watch the Boss once again. Illfang's Nodachi repeats the same circular movement as before, when he stunned Diavel and his party.
Agil's party is stunned. Illfang jumps up at least one hundred metres into the air- the ceiling of the Boss Room was higher than I thought. He does a series of complicated movements, and his Nodachi glows purple.
"Watch out!" yells the boy who was fighting with Asuna. His sword glows light blue, and just as Illfang leaps down, the boy swings the Boss' oversized Nodachi off course. "I've got you first!"
The boy lands in a somersault and keeps running. "Asuna! Let's finish it together!"
"Roger!" The pair runs up together, and its like they're flying. The weapons all glow various colours as Sword Skill after Sword Skill are released.
The boy lets out an animal-like scream, and the boss is dead.
Everyone is speechless. "We- we did it!" someone shouts as the giant 'Congratulations' comes up, and everyone is celebrating. I look around for my party members, and I am practically assaulted with happiness by Kitor, Tomi, Lorn, and Asachi simultaneously.
"We really did it." I breathe as Asachi squeezes the life out of me. Suddenly, we were all clapping, probably for the dark-haired boy.
"Why…why did you let Diavel die?" Kibaou's voice turns us all into silent stone statues.
"Let him die?" someone said.
"That's right! You knew the techniques the Boss used! If you gave us that information from the get-go, Diavel wouldn't have died!" murmurs pass through our group. Kibaou continues, "He must've been a Beta tester! That's how he knew all the attack patterns. He knew, but he didn't tell us?"
"There are other Beta testers here, right?"
"Show yourselves!" I don't have to look at Tomi to know he's worried. No one steps forward.
Asuna and Agil try to negotiate with Kibaou, but he isn't listening.
The boy starts laughing. "A Beta tester, you say? I'd rather you not compare me with those newbies."
"W-what?" Kibaou's voice falters, most likely because of rage. My opinion of the boy sharply drops. How dare he? Someone just died, and he's talking about how great he is?
"Most of the thousand SAO Beta testers were beginners who didn't even know how to level up. You guys are better than they are." He begins walking away. "But I'm not like them," He continues. "I made it further up than anyone else during the Beta test." Way to dig yourself into a big hole. "I only knew about the Boss' katana Skills because I fought katana-wielding monsters on floors far above here. I know a lot more than that, way more than any information broker."
"W-what? That's way worse than a Beta tester!"
"You're cheating! You're a cheater!" Chants were sounding, but our party is quiet.
"A Beta and a cheater…"
"He's a Beater!"
"Beater… I like the sound of that. That's right. I'm a Beater. From now on, don't put me with other testers." A long black coat appears on him, and I'm guessing that was the Monster Drop. He walks to the exit, but I see Asuna catching up to him and saying something I can't hear. Then he leaves the Boss room.