Gun Gale Online: The Swordswoman

Chapter Eight: The Phantasm Jaw Part II

Author's Note

Okay, I know I said I had to work on NaNoWriMo for the entirety of this month, but some stuff came up, and I ended up going to a hospital for about a week because of it. Unfortunately, I had no access to my computer, so I realized that there was no way in hell that I could finish the novel I was planning to write for the contest in time.

Therefore, I decided to get back to working on my FanFics. I realize that this chapter is indeed short, but there really wasn't much I could drag out or expand upon without going into the next chapter. Thus, I had to end it at this agonizingly short length.

Well, at least I got something out, right? I can't promise a regular update schedule anymore, but I can say that I'll be updating more frequently now that I have a more detailed outline than before the massive block.

Well, I'll put everything else I need to tell you in the bottom note, since this one is getting rather long anyway. See you below!

Bang! Bang!

The sound of bullets hitting virtual flesh rang throughout the room. Where they made contact with its tongue, two red marks appeared. It immediately stopped its motions in midair, roaring in agony as it reared its head back before falling to the ground with a thud.

Its first HP bar went down ever so slightly, as if it had about a fourth the HP of regular bosses.

But then…

"Guys!" I shouted, turning everyone's attention to me. "Its weak spot is its mouth! Try to get it to open its mouth and then shoot inside!"

All of the players in the room nodded, raising their guns. The mouth of the beast had a small opening as it lay there, seemingly knocked out temporarily.

A torrent of bullets and lasers rained into the boss's mouth, making its HP drain at a fierce pace. In the span of ten seconds, the first bar had completely disappeared.

We can do this! I shouted in my mind, charging towards it until I was within the distance for an increased chance of critical hits. We can beat this thing!

"HAAAAAA!"

Screams of agony could be heard throughout the room as the «Phantasm Jaw» writhed in intense pain. We had it down to one bar, and even that barely held a mere sliver of its red color.

My role in the battle thus far was to act as a decoy. My speed and stamina when running and jumping made me the perfect distraction. Even though I knew I could die from a single bite, I wasn't afraid. I couldn't afford to feel fear in this situation.

And thus, the only thing I felt was the my primal instinct to fight. To act and react. To kill.

And that's precisely what I was aiming for.

I wanted to be the one to land the finishing blow to this beast that had already killed almost ten players. I wanted to get the «Last Attack Bonus» and use it to protect myself and the people close to me. I wouldn't fail. I couldn't fail.

And so, I fought with all my might. I didn't just aggro the gigantic monstrosity like I was told. I took my offensive skill to the next level.

"Ha!"

Two shots from each of my handguns went straight into the «Phantasm Jaw's» mouth, completely bypassing the tongue and razor-sharp yellowed teeth and going down its throat. As I fell back to the ground from my leap-shot, I rolled forward and pointed both of my guns toward one of my beastly adversary's remaining teeth. When a tooth received enough damage, it would shatter, slightly reducing the boss's attack strength.

Both of the following bullets from my guns hit right on target, depleting the last of the tooth's small amount of HP and causing it to shatter into hundreds of red polygons.

Only ten teeth left, and its HP is only at around three percent now. It's time to end this!

I didn't care that I still had ammunition left in my current magazines. I didn't want to take any chances of running out of ammo during my current plan. And so, I immediately discarded my half-full magazines, switching them out with new ones from my belt. The bullets contained inside the new ones were different from the ones in my old magazines. If shot accurately enough, these rare-drop bullets would only need to be fired once from each gun to kill the boss before me.

The ghastly boss came charging at me again, opening its mouth to try to clamp down on my whole body.

Perfect.

These shots would require perfect timing and incredible precision. HP bars don't take damage all at once; when damage is dealt, the victim's health drains gradually, continually going down until the full extent of the damage is visible. If I hit my mark a second too late, it would be able to bite me and kill me just before it died itself, as bosses have a longer HP reduction time.

On the other hand, if I shot too soon, I might miss my mark by a few centimeters. Even that much would get me killed, as I would have to hit my target dead on to deal enough damage to defeat the boss.

It would only be in the perfect range for three tenths of a second, leaving me with almost no wiggle room. My reflexes would have to be lightning fast to pull it off.

It was getting closer. Closer… closer… closer…

Now!

BANG! BANG!

The bullets made contact with the back of its throat. The next two seconds seemed to happen in slow motion.

The demonic boss continued to charge.

I prepared to leap out of the way, tensing my muscles for the coming back-step.

My adversary leapt into the air, preparing to bite down on me from above. But then…

The bullets I shot finally took effect in its throat, creating a massive explosion that tore the entire body of the boss apart in a light show of flaming shadows. All of the pieces erupted into bright red polygons of all shapes and sizes.

«The Phantasm Jaw» had perished at the hands of the raid group.

I cautiously* relaxed my hyper-tensed muscles, standing up fully in the middle of the boss's ashen remains that slowly floated upward in the giant room. The rim of my hat covered my eyes as I cast my gaze towards the ground.

"Is it… over?"

These words escaped my lips in an exhausted whisper as I mentally counted all of the casualties I remembered witnessing during the battle.

Nine… I thought, falling to my knees. And that's just how many that I saw with my own eyes.

"How many died?" I heard Klein ask as he walked up beside me. His voice held none of its usual cheer or concern for me. Instead, it sounded hollow, as if he felt the same sense of dread that I did.

I opened my menu, manipulating it until a map with all of the surviving players on it was in front of us. I did a headcount, keeping in mind the original forty-eight players that entered the room. I could feel the eyes of every surviving player on me as I counted; all of them seemed too afraid to go into their own menus and see for themselves.

"Thirteen…" I said, my voice echoing as if I were speaking through a microphone. Everyone looked at me with wide eyes, eyes that told me exactly what I was thinking.

If this boss was so powerful, then do we even stand a chance against the twentieth «Checkpoint» boss?

There were no cheers of victory, even after the "Congratulations" window popped out above us. After how many we lost, there was no way we could celebrate.

As if to mock me, the «Last Attack Bonus» window popped up in front of my kneeling form. When I regained enough mental strength to touch it and find out what it was, I had to try my damnedest to bite back a bitter laugh at the irony of the whole situation.

Last Attack Bonus

[Photon Sword] «Ghastly Remains»

I waved the window closed, getting up slowly to face the center of the room, where the portal to the next area was slowly enlarging. Without a single word, I began walking towards it, my entire being feeling hollow as I remembered all the deaths that I had witnessed in the fight. My mind chose to focus on the ones that happened first, the three deaths that happened right next to me.

Up until today, we hadn't lost any players since the fifteenth «Checkpoint» raid… I thought, a bitter look crossing my features as I neared the portal. I could hear the other raid group members following me, and when I got to the blue portal, I turned to face the raid group.

"I know that you're afraid," I told them, scanning the crowd for familiar faces. "Because this boss will probably be child's play compared to the next one. And if the raid group does survive, we all know what happens next."

Nervous nods from all of the players before me gave me my answer. "But we have to stay strong. I have an idea, but I'd rather tell you once we get to the main city of the next floor. Is that all right with everyone?"

After receiving nods from everyone in the raid group, I turned around, walking into the portal.

Author's Note

VERY IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!

Yeah, I bet you were expecting something a little less death-y than that, weren't you? I should probably inform you that this story is no longer just action and plot with a bit of fluff or subtext here and there. This story is going to take a rather dark turn, with a more emotional plotline and more death than I've written so far. Not as bad or dark as I have planned for Re:Designed, obviously, but still.

So yeah, if you don't like the idea of this story becoming much more serious and quite a bit darker, which it had the potential to do from the very beginning, then I suggest you turn away. I don't intend to joke around much for the remainder of this story. I already have a sequel in mind, and I want to finish the rest of this story in a way that sets up nicely for my next work.

Well, I'd say that's all you need to know for now. I'll let you off with a not-so-generic disclaimer and then get to working on the next chapter. But before I do, I have a recommendation for you all.

If you want to see a lighter, more canon-ish story that features a female Kirito and Sinon pairing, go check out, "Angled Sights" by Apathetic Plot Bunneh. Though the grammar could use some work, I found the story overall to be thoroughly enjoyable. It was a nice break from writing my own works, and I definitely recommend it to anyone who hasn't read it before.

Okay, now it's time for my disclaimer.

I don't own it, dammit! Why the hell is it that these disclaimers have to keep coming forth from my fingers onto my word processor? Well, I guess it's obvious; the answer is copyright. As annoying as it is, that's why I have to type up this waste of space.

See you next chapter, everyone!