Two days later, February 2023

I just got done packing some stuff I'm going to bring over to the 1st Floor. We've decided that we can spare a Teleport Crystal for me to use instead of having me walk all the way to the Teleport Gate in Panareze. Sometimes, I wonder why we decided to live in an island that is literally a three hour walk away from the main city.

I exited my room and went downstairs to meet up with Rizer, who held my newly fixed blade in his hands. I took the sword from him and walked outside. I spotted Violet walking aimlessly while looking at the sky. She looked towards my direction and gave me a warm smile. Though it soon faded and began to show sadness.

I could slightly understand what she is feeling right now. Although I will only be taking a quick trip to the 1st Floor, meeting with strangers isn't necessarily a great idea, especially when I'll be inside their territory. They could very well prevent me from escaping by shutting down the doors. And from what I recall, the doors to Black Iron Palace is made of metal.

"Don't worry so much Violet. I promise to return home as quickly as possible." I encouraged her while patting her lightly on the head.

"You promise?" she asked me with puppy-like eyes.

"I promise."

Town of Beginnings

I haven't been here in the Starting City ever since the 1st Floor was cleared. I had no reason to since the floors above it gives me even more resources than I can ever get in this giant city. Yet here I am again, back to where it all started, just so I can find out what The Army wants with me.

I looked around the plaza and saw a couple of players and NPCs wandering the streets. Far down one street, northwards from the Teleport Gate, I could see the massive Black Iron Palace. According to the information Argo gave me, that place is the headquarters of The Army. I never thought you could actually buy that place. I wonder how much money they spent just to get that building to use as their base of operations.

I sighed to myself, thinking about how much of that money could have gone to supplying their soldiers. Nonethless, I began walking towards the building. The closer I got to the place, the more players I began to see. Some were ordinary players who stayed in the Starting City for safety. Others were members of The Army.

When I finally reached the doorstep of the building, I pushed open its massive doors, finding it to be surprisingly light. I stepped inside to find myself inside some sort of lobby like ones you find in a hotel. Players walked around in groups of two or more, conversing with each other. They all turned to me and stared at me dumbfounded.

"Hey, hey. This is The Army's headquarters." One of the players informed me, "I've never seen you before so you better get on out of here."

"At ease Ace. He's a guest of mine." A voice spoke from above.

I looked up to see a man standing on the 2nd floor. He was dressed in the Army uniform but his was embroidered with symbols. He had red spiky hair and which was dark like Klein. I feel like I've seen this guy before, but I can't exactly remember when and where.

"Welcome to Black Iron Palace. You will be safe here and be treated respectfully among us. You have my word on that." While he said that he glared at the soldiers who then went back to whatever they were doing, "I am assuming that you do not want to be known publicly, and so, we shall call you Red Skull for now. My name is Kibaou. I am leader of The Army. It is a pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure is mine… I-I think…" I stuttered, not really knowing what to say.

Kibaou began walking down the staircase and approached me. He noticed all the eyes that were staring at us and so he glared at his guild members, making them run away and go back to their duties.

"Please, follow me to my office."

A minute later

We were in a small office, with basalt walls. A black rug covered most of the lustrous mahogany floor. A large office table dominated the center of the room. A lamp, a few bundles of paper, a dagger, and a neatly folded cape rested quietly on top of the desk. Two identical sofa chairs were placed both in front and behind the desk. One meant for Kibaou, and the other for guests.

Kibaou motioned me to take a seat, and so I did. He walked over to his desk and turned off the lamp, which was already on when we came in the room. He then pulled back a part of the wall behind his desk, which turned out to be a large curtain covering an even bigger window. The sunlight blinded my eyes shortly before I could finally see clearly.

"We've been hearing rumors lately of a certain group of people. Rumors about a group of players that have reached high levels in such early stages of the game." He said while looking out the window.

"There are many players out there who have reached high levels. Like the Beater." I told him.

"While that is true, the rumor talks about a player who had obtained an ancient-class weapon on the 3rd Floor. Another player who apparently ran in mach speed, in order to try and save a girl who had been poisoned. And finally, a party of three players who are utilizing every and all farming locations, both good and bad, in order to level up and gain Cor. Are you and your friends that group of players?"

I gave him a simple nod. He doesn't know our location, which would bode well for us if we were ever stuck in a sticky situation with them or any group for that matter. The safety of myself and friends is my number one priority.

"I thought so… You and your friends would make splendid soldiers in our guild and we-"

I raised my hand up to stop him because I already knew what he wanted, and I wanted none of it. I stood up from my chair and faced him.

"Look, if you need my help in the Front Lines, then just say so. However, I will only help you this once, as I have no interest in joining your guild. That goes the same for my friends. Now, when and where is the meeting going to occur?"

"Two days from now, at the 25th Floor's main settlement of Torus. The meeting will convene at noon." Kibaou stammered out.

With that, I walked out of the room leaving Kibaou speechless. Probably because I rejected joining the current most powerful guild in the game. When I opened the door, I was greeted by a group of Army members, who seemed to be eavesdropping in on our conversation. I gave them a bitter look, mad at them for trying to listen in on us. They quickly backed away in fright.

"I'm going to go explore around your place a bit." I shouted to Kibaou without turning around, "If I see someone following me, then the deal is off. No exceptions. I'll see you in two days I guess."

Evening, 24th Floor

The sun is setting in the horizon, turning the sky into a bright scarlet color. The Island is in my sights, but I still have to go through this forest that we've been cutting down in order to get wood for our house. It used to be a really dense forest, but we've cut down many of the bigger trees, leaving only the thinner ones standing.

Either way, it is still somewhat of a maze to find the exit to this forest since there are so many trees. If you stand in the center, the only way to tell which was is north, south, east or west is to look at the sun and shadows of the trees. You can't see the ocean at all despite it being a small island in the middle of an entire ocean.

When I finally did get out of the forest, I ended up where I wanted to be. Right next to the bridge that connects our Island to the rest of the word. I started crossing the bridge, admiring the the greenery on the Island from afar. It didn't take long before I was able to spot both Violet and Rizer standing at the other end of the bridge, patiently waiting for me.

Since I thought it would be fun, I broke off into a game-breaking sprint, reaching Rizer and Violet in a mere second. When I stopped, the fatigue hit me hard, making my body feel a bit numb. I tried my best not to fall from fatigue and stood straight up with a smile on my face.

"So what happened over there at the 1st Floor?" Violet asked me anxiously.

"Nothing bad." I told her with the fake smile, "Kibaou, the leader of The Army, wants us to participate in the 25th Floor's boss raid."

"A boss raid? Did you agree?" Rizer asked me.

"In a way I did. I told him I will help just this one time. I am not that interested in joining the Front Lines since it is a bit too dangerous. He also offered us a place in his guild, but I also declined that. I am assuming that none of us wants to join a guild."

"You did say that we can make a guild of our own if we get enough members. I would rather do that than join a guild who's led by someone you don't know." Violet openly admitted.

"So when is this boss raid going to occur?" Rizer asked me.

"In two days, the boss raid meeting will convene. The boss raid itself will probably be later that day or the next day." I informed them, "So for now, we can just relax and live our normal lives in the game. The day after tomorrow however, we're going to prepare for our first Floor Boss raid."

Two days later, 25th Floor Torus

A boss raid meeting is serious business. It could get real messy if people were to argue with how to deal with the boss or if one person is just fooling around. Worst of all, they didn't even send a recon team to inspect what this boss is capable of doing. Even so, they still have a strategy which most of the players favor: Let the tanks bait out its attacks and adapt to them.

Although the strategy puts Rizer and the rest of our tanks at risk, it is the only strategy we can come up with right now. The boss raid will be later this evening since Kibaou is getting impatient. If he had more patience, we could've sent a scout team to determine the boss's attack pattern.

Nonethless, Kibaou has named our group to be the main offensive group due to our stats being higher than most other players. However, we are forced to invite three other players to the party since a party usually contains six members total. It irritated me a bit since I have to invite three random strangers to my party, but I guess I just have to deal with it.

Rizer found a man named Agil to invite to our party. He was a very tall black man with a bald head and a small beard. In fact, this guy is the same man who had saved Asuna and Kirito during the 1st Floor Boss raid. Violet spotted Asuna amongst the crowd and asked her to join the party. Asuna accepted delightfully and the two started bonding.

Meanwhile, I continued looking for one more person, preferably one who is at the same level as me or somewhere close. It would be a miracle to find a solo player with those kind of stats. Though it seems my luck never seems to run out. At the same time, it can be bad luck since things never really work out between us.

Over in the corner of the meeting room, I spotted a lone swordsman wearing a black coat. He blended in with the darkness, making himself invisible to most players, but my Searching skill is high enough to see him clearly. It was my brother Kirito, who has yet to notice me.

Getting him in the party will definitely make our party one of the strongest, if not the strongest. But the problem is if I can get Kirito to even join. He would run away the moment he sees me. I need to find a way to get him in the party somehow.

I looked over to Violet and Rizer, who were talking to Agil and Asuna. Slowly but surely, an insidious plan formed in my mind. I quickly headed over to them and tapped Violet on the shoulder. I then pointed to Kirito all alone in the corner and she nodded, understanding what I wanted her to do.

"Asuna, Agil can you help us out on something?" Violet asked while pointing to Kirito.

"Kirito? What about him?" Agil asked her.

"We're going to get him in our party, but he doesn't exactly have a good relationship with Mortifer. Can you try to fool him by faking and invitation?"

"I guess we can try that. I'll be surprised if it works. He is really perceptive." Asuna pointed out. The two of them headed over to Kirito, who looked at them questioningly.

"Yo Kirito you want to join our party or are you gonna stay solo?" Agil asked him. Kirito gave him a smile and straightened himself.

"Well it's not like they'll allow me to do things solo. Sure, send me an invitation." he responded.

Agil began opening his menu and I did the same. We both searched for Kirito's name in the list and selected it. We then both sent the invitation at the same time, but only mine went through as Agil is not the leader of the party. Luckily, Kirito was too trusting and didn't even read the name that was imprinted on the invitation.

Kirito accepted the party invitation and his name appeared on the corner of my vision. Agil quickly grabbed Kirito by the collar of his jacket and started dragging him towards us. Asuna tailed behind me, making sure Kirito won't do anything.

"A-Agil? What are you doing?" my brother while slightly choking. They didn't respond and continued walking to me.

He turned around to look at our direction and I quickly turned my face away. However, Kirito became suspicious. When he saw Violet, who didn't turn around, his face held an alert expression. He quickly took off his jacket, which Agil held onto, and broke into a sprint towards the exit.

I let out a long sigh and ran to the exit Kirito was heading towards. I used my game-breaking speed to do so, so I felt some fatigue but not enough to make me show signs of tiredness. Kirito stopped and looked at me.

"What are you doing here Mor-" Kirito began but Violet quickly covered his mouth.

"Kirito, we don't want our names to be revealed to the public. For now, Mortifer is Red Skull." Violet quietly whispered into his ear.

"And how will I address you and that wolf guy?" Kirito whispered back.

"I'm Lavender and Rizer is White Fang." Violet informed him, "So, will you please stay in the party?"

Kirito didn't look happy at all, but he obliged. He raised his hands to surrender and Agil gave him back his jacket. Kirito put on his jacket and adjusted his sword's sheathe which had been messed up during his escape. Afterwards, he quickly turned toward me, fists glowing yellow, and punched me right on the chest, sending my flying backwards and into the wall.

I bounced harmlessly off of the wall, taking no damage due to us being in the Area. A handful of players quickly surrounded Kirito and began restraining him but I raised my hand to stop them.

"Don't restrain him. That punch is his way of greeting me. Disabling him from doing anything will only make matters worse." I commanded the players. They all backed away and left Kirito alone.

"Whatever happens in this room stays in this room." A voice spoke up. The crowd parted, revealing the speaker to be Kibaou, who looked at my group, "This is a message to everyone in this meeting. We have your names recorded, so if we find you absent during the boss raid, there will be problems. Also, if anybody spreads information of Red Skull and his party, you will also suffer consequences. Does everyone understand?"

"Aye." Everyone responded in unison.

"This boss raid meeting is now dismissed. Now, go prepare!"

A few hours later

We rented a big place in the town of Torus for all of us to stay in. We could've gone to our home in the 24th Floor, but the place is still too small for six of us. I also don't want to take a chance in letting others find out where our group lives.

Rizer, Violet and Asuna had gone on a shopping trip since this inn doesn't serve their own food. Agil also went out to do some shopping, but he is looking for equipment and items rather than food. Kirito and I were both stuck in the inn, silently waiting for the rest to come back.

We sat on chairs located at opposite sides of the room. Neither of us spoke to each other nor did anything that would make the other look at you. We just silently sat in our seats doing nothing. Finally, after what felt like an hour of waiting, Kirito broke the silence,

"When did you get your NerveGear and your copy of SAO?" Kirito asked me. He looked at me questioningly. Since I saw no point in hiding it, I told him.

"I got the NerveGear a day after you did." I began answering his questions, "That time when I left to go sleepover at a friend's home was a lie. I was actually waiting in line for SAO to be released. Even if we are stuck in this death game, I could gladly say that it was worth the wait?"

"You don't care if you die here? You don't care if you never see the real world again?" Kirito questioned me.

"Of course I don't want to die here. There's still a lot I want to do before that happens. Until the day we get out of here, I'm going to cherish the life I have here in Aincrad. Even if I did die, you and everyone else won't even care. It would actually be beneficial to you guys since it is one less mouth to feed."

"And what of the friends you've made here? That Violet girl and Rizer. If you die, what will they do?" Kirito continued on with his questions.

"They'll probably stick together and move on. At least that's what I hope for them to do. Violet can't really take care of herself in this world despite her high level." I told him.

"Excuse me? I can handle myself just fine!" A familiar voice shouted from outside the doorway. The door opened and in came Asuna, Violet, Rizer and Agil.

Violet had her arms crossed and held an angry expression on her face. Asuna held a small pot while Rizer carried a large bag of different meats and vegetables they bought from the market. Agil came in last, holding a newly bought axe and admiring its sheen.

"You can hear through doorways?" Kirito questioned Violet.

"Since Mortifer is always going on quests to improve his stealth skills, I thought it wouldn't hurt to spend one Skill Slot in Straining. Rizer couldn't care less for a skill that's useless for a smith." Violet told my brother. She then glared at me, "Anyways, what were you guys talking about before we got here? I heard something about me not being able to take care of myself."

"It was just a joke. Don't take it too seriously." I said, trying to calm her down, "As for the conversation we were having, I don't think you want to know."

"Can you at least give me a hint on what you guys were talking about?" Violet stubbornly continued on.

"Death." Kirito quickly spoke up, drastically changing the mood of the room, "We were talking about death in the game."

With that, the room went silent. Now knowing what we were talking about, Violet decided to back away. She motioned for Asuna and Rizer to follow her to the kitchen. Agil took a seat next to Kirito and stored his axe back into his inventory. After helping Asuna and Violet unpack the food items, Rizer took a seat beside me.

"Hey, we never did get to decide on the winner of that chess game the other day." Rizer said, finally breaking the silence. He looked at me with fierce expression, "Shall we find out the winner?"

Rizer searched his inventory and pulled out the gameboard. All the pieces layed out automatically and Rizer moved himself to the couch opposite to the one we were sitting on. He decided to take the first turn and moved one of his pawns one square forward.

"A chessboard? Did you buy this off of an NPC?" Agil asked us.

"No. I created it myself. The board was easy, but making the chess pieces were harder than I thought it would be." Rizer informed him.

"Did you spend use up a Skill Slot on Crafting?" Kirito asked him.

"Yeah I did. Both Mortifer and I did. We're making… Wait, can I tell them?" Rizer asked me. I made my move, moving a pawn one space forward.

"Yeah you can tell them about it. Though don't give the location." I told Rizer.

"Okay, so we bought a piece of land, but it only had a really small house with a kitchen and bathroom." Rizer began telling them about our home, "We found out that we can customize that plot of land completely, as in add on to the house or make a completely new building. So we began gathering resources to add onto the place. I took on Crafting since one of us needed a skill like that to be able to create the things we want. Soon enough, I'll be able to create a forge for me to use."

"I was planning on a basement too. Our plot of land is huge and a basement would be a nice thing to have especially as a storage room." I added.

"Finding property like that is costly due to its rarity. How much did you spend in just buying the island with no renovations?" Agil asked us.

"Let's see… It was about one mega Cor, unless my memory is just that bad." Rizer told him. Asuna, Kirito and Agil all gaped in awe.

"That's about the same amount of money I've earned total without paying for anything!" Agil exclaimed, "How did you guys manage to obtain so much money in the first place?"

"We monopolized a couple of farming spots, even the ones on the lower floors. We took every single mob we could find and left none in our wake." I told them, "On the day mob spawns reset, we get up early in the morning to go to the upper floors and farm from there."

"Mortifer made up a schedule that we will follow until we finish up building our home: four days of farming mobs and becoming stronger, two days of building our home, and one day of rest." Rizer added in.

"I still think we should get a second break day in-between the farming and building…" Violet complained quietly while teaching Asuna the basics of cooking.

"When we finish the place, then I'll think about it." I responded to her complaint, smiling evily.

"You're cruel Mortifer." Violet giggled.

A few hours later, 25th Floor Labyrinth

A giant door stood in front of me, made up of black granite. Kirito and Violet stood beside me, also admiring the door. Rizer, Agil, and Asuna hung back, scanning the group of players around us. From the looks of it, nobody is missing, which bodes well for us.

"Are you guys ready?!" Kibaou shouted out to the group of raiders.

"Yeah!" everyone who was part of The Army shouted in unison.

"Let's kick some monster butt!"

Two Army members opened the door for everyone, and we all rushed in together. Upon entering the room, I noticed that the walls were made up of lava falls, and that the edges of the platform we stood on dropped down to a lava pool. There were also a few patches on the floor where small flames burned quietly. This limits the amount of space we have to fight the boss.

As I looked around, I began wondering where the boss is. When I looked towards the center, I noticed a pile of yellow rocks that were too big to move around. But when those rocks started shaking furiously, I finally concluded that those weren't rocks. They were bones.

The bones moved around and began forming a giant creature: a skeletal dragon. The name Nahkriin the Skeletal Dragon appeared above its head. Its eyes glowed a bright red and it let out a terrifying roar. Three health bars appeared above its giant head. At the same time, other yellow bones on the floor began piling up as well, forming Soulless Servants. Skeleton warriors.

"Groups D and E, take care of those minions. C and F, bait out the boss's attacks!" Kibaou shouted out orders, "Everyone else and Red Skull's group, hang back for now."

"Don't tell me what to do and what not to do…" I shouted back to him, earning me an annoyed look from the man.

Groups C and F, our tank groups made up of Army members and a few other clearers, confronted the undead dragon with their shields raised high. Before they could take one step further, the dragon breathed out a yellow gas that shined as if there were floating dust particles inside it.

"I-I can't move!" one of the tanks shouted. I quickly looked at the man's health bar and noticed a yellow symbol with a black thunderbolt. Paralysis?!

Fortunately, the paralysis wore off rather quickly for some of the tanks, but the dragon used its next attack and breathed out a sheer cold breath. Those who didn't react fast enough were frozen almost instantaneously, while a few others got caught by the end of it and had that part of their body frozen.

All the health bars of the frozen players began dropping rapidly until it stopped a little bit below half. Without giving us a second to breathe, the dragon took flight, gaining altitude before slamming back down to the ground. The immense shockwave caused all of us to fall over from being unbalanced while all the frozen players shattered into pieces of ice. Those pieces of ice then disappeared into millions of polygons.

"With only two attacks, it managed to take down that many people?!" Agil exclaimed, his eyes filled with fear.

"Seven people have died already, and its only been the first minute of battle. We haven't even landed a single hit on this guy." Kirito mumbled as he recovered himself from the shockwave. The dragon, now done with its attack, cocooned itself with its giant bone wings.

"Okay, now's our chance! Attack while it's vulnerable!" Kibaou shouted out orders.

Every other group except for our own followed the man's orders and began attacking the dragon. Although all of the attackers used their most powerful Sword Skills, the boss's health bar only went down by a little. It must be some defensive move to throw off people into attacking it.

"Red Skull, what are you doing?! You should be leading the offensive!" Kibaou shouted at my group.

"I already told you not to order me and my party around. I do things my way. Now send your men back, you fell for the trap." I told him.

"Nonsense!" Kibaou shouted back in frustration, "Keep attacking! Show this coward the power of The Army!"

Before they could even react to Kibaou's battle cry, the dragon shuddered and spread out its wings with such force, anybody directly hit by it was sent all the way to the edge of the room, right into the pool of lava. The last thing I heard from the three players who were hit were their screams as their avatars burned in the lava.

Nine people dead, because Kibaou was too stubborn to pull his men back as well as send a scout team to search this boss room. I'll be surprised if he continues being the leader of the Front Lines. A person like him doesn't deserve to lead these people, let alone be a leader.

"Fear is something you should cherish, Kibaou. It helps you know when to back down from a fight." I told him as I turned towards my team, "The attack pattern seems to go like this: it uses its paralysis breath in a large area in front of him. It then uses a frost breath to freeze any of those who were paralyzed and are too slow to dodge it. The shockwave blast seemed to be very quick but powerful, so I predict we can dodge it by jumping as high as we can.

I looked back at Nahkriin, who had been standing still for about fifteen seconds. It then used its yellow paralysis breath once again in the area in front of him. Everyone moved aside but a few still got caught by it, getting the paralysis effect.

"We can attack while it cocoons, but we only have a limited time before it opens itself up violently. It seems to have a grace period afterwards where we can attack freely but its also a short window. Rizer, you and the tanks will have bait it into attacking you and dodge its breath attacks. The rest of us will move behind it in order to avoid the attacks. You guys ready for this?"

"This boss raid is just stupid. It's such a drag." Kirito complained.

"I'll take that as a yes then. Okay, let's go!"

Ten minutes later

Despite the fact that we weren't fully prepared, this boss raid is taking the same amount of time as any average boss raid. We've brought it down to its last health bar, but two people have perished since we started our counterattack. From the looks of it, Nahkriin is changing its attack pattern as it took flight and started circling above us.

It circled around the room a few more times before plunging straight into the lava wall, which made a small tunnel for the dragon to go through. We heard the dragon's roar coming from the walls, but we couldn't pinpoint its location as it seemed to be moving fairly quickly. Finally, another hole in the lava wall opened up and Nahkriin appeared. It swooped down lower and its mouth started glowing red.

"Dive out of its way!" Kirito shouted.

Everyone ran away from the dragon's line of sight. We looked back to see the ground which the dragon had breathed fire on, to be melting into molten rock. Getting a body part hit by that will deal significant damage. It may even be an instant death if you were caught up in the middle of it.

It did this strafing run twice before it stopped to just hover loudly in the center of the room. It breathed fire at us, which was indicated by its glowing mouth and flashing red eyes. Its tail of bones barely touched the ground, and that's when a stupid idea formed inside my head. An idea so stupid, yet it must be the only way to defeat the boss since it was probably designed to be like that.

"Everyone, back away!" I commanded.

They all listened to my orders and I ran towards the dragon's tail. I grabbed onto it and began climbing, using the ridges and spikes as handles and footholds. I couldn't tell if nobody saw me climb the dragon or if they were in complete disbelief, because I no longer heard the shouts of players.

"What the hell are you doing? Get off of that thing!" Kirito yelled from below me.

"Just trust me on this!" I shouted back to him.

The dragon turned its head and noticed me on its back. Its eyes blinked red and it started flying once again. The amount of g-force I experienced made me a bit nauseous. Thankfully I managed to wrap my arms around one of his rib bones, because once the dragon started moving, it plunged straight into the lava.

I felt like I was on fire. My body was slowly cooking inside this lava oven of hell. Soon, the dragon slowed down enough so I could actually move around a bit. I started crawling closer and closer to its head. Surely there has to be some weak spot to an aerial boss. Well, at least that's the trend for most games with boss fights.

We finally exited the tunnel of lava and I was forced to hold on even tighter to the rib cage since the dragon swooped down to do a strafing run. The players below me scrambled out of the way while they watched me ride the dragon. When the dragon stopped to hover above the ground, I decided to make my move.

I headed over to its head and found a small crack. So small that most people would miss it in a situation like this, but I'm not that kind of person to miss something like this. I got closer to the crack and peered inside. I saw a pink membrane that glowed red. Is that its brain?

"Only one way to find out." I spoke to myself.

I took out a small dagger, as my own sword can't fit inside the crack. I set the edge of the dagger right on top of the crack. I then put both my hands on the hilt of the dagger and pushed it downwards. The brain glowed an even darker red and a stream of black blood gushed out of the crack.

The dragon roared in agony, its final health bar dropping to about half. I quickly ran back to the rib cage and held on tight as possible. The dragon circled around a few more times before entering the lava tunnel once again. After a minute of feeling like I'm being cooked in a microwave, we finally got out.

I climbed back up to the top of its head. I found the crack and positioned my dagger. I then pushed down one last time while using my other hand to protect my face from the black blood. Instead of the expected scream of pain, the dragon froze completely and shuddered before exploding into millions of pixels. I was about to sigh in relief since we had won, but then I noticed that I was now falling back down to the ground.

Adrenaline pumped throughout my body as I began to process what was going to happen. I was far enough from the ground that I will surely take significant damage. It could possibly fatal if I don't manage to spread the pain throughout my body instead of just my legs. There's nothing that will slow my fall except for my cloak, but I'm way too heavy for it to be used as a parachute. My Acrobatics skill is high enough for me to be able to survive falls from height without damage, but not this high.

The ground neared and I made up my mind. If I can successfully perform a role to spread the pain once I hit the ground, then I will be able to survive. If not, then there is a chance I will die. Even so, I'm falling straight down and onto rugged terrain.

"Just stop thinking and do it!" I muttered to myself as I fell.

I finally made contact with the ground, and managed to perform a roll. However, I wasn't able to execute it fully and still took considerable damage. I lied on the ground, numb from the fall. I saw Violet run right towards me, holding a potion in her hand.

"Drink, quick!" she commanded me with a hint of desperation in her voice.

I took the potion and swallowed its contents. My health recovered back to half and I stood up. I stretched my legs to make sure I could still move them without trouble.

"Well, that was fun!" I joked.

"I thought you were afraid of heights." Kirito said as he approached me.

"I am afraid. I think I was just too focused on other things to even bother about how high I was off the ground. Even now I can feel my adrenaline glands pumping."

"It seems like we're done here." Kirito deduced, admiring the 'Congratulations' sign hovering above the center of the room.

"Not yet. I have one last pest to deal with." I told him.

I turned and started walking towards the group of Army soldiers, who were all exhausted. Some held terrified expressions on their faces. At least half of these guys died in this one boss fight. All because of poor leadership and lack of experience. There's also someone here who has to take responsibility for all of these deaths.

I shoved through the crowd and found Kibaou, who was trying to sneak away from the scene. Before he could do so, I grabbed him by his collar and flipped him over me. People around me gasped in shock and I saw my Color Cursor turn orange, which means criminal. Right now however, I don't care if I hurt Kibaou.

"Now where is our courageous leader headed off to?" I asked him while putting my foot against his throat, "Oh dear. Don't tell me you were planning on running away because you let so many players die? That's cruel, especially to those who are no longer living."

"I-If you think you're a better leader than me Red Skull, then how about we duel?" Kibaou laughed.

"I can't tell if you're being stupid, or you are just that prideful. There is no way you will be able to beat me. Not now nor ever."

"We won't know unless we try."

I have never met a person as stubborn as this guy. Just how much does he want to keep his pride? Having this much pride is a bad thing. No wonder why it's called one of the seven deadly sins. I opened my menu and went to the Duel section. I then sent him a request. He accepted and chose the Half-Health Mode.

"Whoever gets dropped to fifty percent health first will lose." Kibaou announced as he drew out his sword.

The grace period timer started ticking, and so I decided to search my inventory for a certain item. When I found it, I smiled greedily. The Last Attack Bonus I got for dealing the final blow on Nahkriin, is a piece of body armor. The Dragon Bone Chest Plate.

I equipped the chest plate and it replaced my current leather tunic. It was surprisingly light to wear. Just as the name states, it is made of bones. I hit it hard with my fists and I could tell it is very durable and offers protection. It also doesn't restrict my movements unlike most heavy armors. I then faced Kibaou and pointed my sword to him.

"I will win this duel in one second." I told him.

"Yeah right. In one second, you're going to wish you never accepted this duel in the first place." Kibaou fired back.

The grace period timer ticked zero, and I made my move. Kibaou activated a Sword Skill but I already moved behind him in lightning speed. I swept at his feet with my sword, making him fall. As he fell, I used Embracer, a Martial Arts skill and pulverized his chest straight into the ground. His health dropped a little bit below half and the fight ended, in only one second.

Kibaou lied on the ground, stunned. I sheathed my sword and walked over to Violet and Rizer, who didn't seem as shocked as the rest. Kirito was not amused since he must've known I would win.

"I expect you to honor your word Kibaou since I helped you defeat the boss." I told him as the three of us walked towards the entrance to the 26th Floor, "Unless you want me to hurt your pride even more, you better not say anything about us. Also, I don't think you should be in the Front Lines anymore. At least not until you learn how to lead your members. Farewell."