Illfang The Kobold Lord
December 3, 2022 Floor 1: Forest Field…
The players were marching with their separate six man teams. Diabel led his team with Kibaou taking the point. Following not far behind him was Squad B, Agil leading his party with Shinji casually shuffling along glancing around making sure they were going to be attacked or get an ambush. They were followed by another team and picking up the rear was the two man team of Kirito and Asuna. They march to the top of the first floor tower and gather outside the boss's room with Diabel standing in front of the door.
"Listen up, everyone. I have only one thing to say. Let's win!" Diabel tells them. Everyone had intense looks, except for Shinji who was the third person to the left of Agil, adjusting his buckler with an uninterested look about him. "Let's go!" Diabel says in a commanding tone and push opens the door. They cautiously file in the dark room with Illfang sitting on his throne opening his glowing red eyes.
llfang was over two meters tall, muscular, covered in blue-grey fur and had bloodthirsty, copper-red eyes. Illfang used a large bone axe and a leather shield to attack. Behind its waist, it carried a meter and half long nōdachi weapon.
The boss room illuminates with Illfang leaping from his throne, growing like a rabid beast. three Ruined Kobold Knights generated in front of Illfang with one health bar ready to go on the attack. At the command of Illfang's roar they all charge the players. Diabel holds up his sword and points it at them.
"Commence attack!" Diabel gallantly orders. The players rushed in, Shinji couldn't wait. He was battle crazed with an insane look. He wanted to defeat one of the ruined Kobold Knights all on his own. He was arrogant enough to believe he could do it on his own. He raced ahead of his party with the crowd running past Diabel pulling out a club instead of his sword. He was that confident he didn't even need to use his short sword like he thought he would yesterday.
Shinji was to the far left racing at the ruin Kobold on the right hand side of Illfang. Kibaou raced ahead the blade of his sword glowing a bright yellow as he used his special slash attack which was blocked by the lead ruined Kobold Knight with a mace. More ruined Kobold knights appeared as players broke off to fight them while the block of the party tried for Illfang.
"Squad A! Squad C! Switch!" Diabel hung back issuing commands to the other players as if this was a live action real-time tactics game keeping up with the fast intense pace of the boss fight. Shinji quickly realized within the first few blows using the club was a bad choice, it did barely any real damage to Illfang when he got in close so when he called the command to switch he got down on one knee opening his menu and within seven seconds he had switched to an axe.
Shinji got to his feet seeing seven players surround and attack Illfang but he used his giant buckler to block their attacks and knock a few away while others got in close and continued to chip away at his health bars. After a few blows with Illfang, Shinji was knocked back sliding back falling to his knees. His health bar had dropped below half and he realized he couldn't beat Illfang on his own and to continue to try would surely get him killed. Shinji realized then he needed to work with the other players if they were going to survive this boss fight.
"Squad B, block!" Diabel calls out seeing Illfang getting ready to strike once more. Shinji quickly regrouped with his party which was Squad B led by Agil. Agil stepped forward swinging his mighty two-handed axe and blocked Illfang's strike on his own in an impressive display of sheer force with green sparks raining down around him from his axe. Shinji just smiled deeply impressed. Kibaou raced ahead landing a powerful thrust against Illfang.
The Squad B members raced forward each getting in a power strike before falling back. While this was happening Shinji had used this time to equip his short sword taking the fight seriously now with two-thirds of his HP remaining.
Shinji raced forward with the blade of his sword glowing with a white light as he leaps heroically in the air with his buckler glowing a light blue color as he blunt-force strikes Illfang with the buckler to off balance him and then thrusts with his sword pushing Illfang back before landing on his feet then leaping back in the same motion as Illfang brought his sword down trying to slash at Shinji but missing. Shinji gets back to his feet with an evil smirk.
"Nice moves Itsagi!" Agil compliments him, never seeing anyone using the shield to attack and combo with the main weapon. Shinji just looks over his right shoulder and nods turning his head back at Illfang.
"Squad C, keep guarding and prepare to switch now!" Diabel continues to issue out orders while keeping track of each player's health bar. "As you fall back, prepare to attack from the side! Squads D, E, and F, keep the sentinels off us!" Diabel continues to command the players with a zeal that makes everyone follow his commands.
"Roger!" Kirito acknowledges. Kirito races forward striking one Kobold Minion away then calls out for a switch with Asuna racing in like lightning.
"The third one!" Asuna says out loud. Kirito looks on amazed, thinking he may have been wrong about her being a beginner. Kirito admired her dexterity and her movements. He couldn't even see the tip of her sword as she multi-strikes a minion and defeats it.
"Good job" Kirito grins, another Kobold appears but is easily dealt with by Kirito's sword play. At the same time Illfang lets out a monstrous roar as Shinji and five other players had Illfang surrounded. Kirito glances over noticing the six players had blocked and countered attack for each other wearing down Illfang's health bar into the red. Shinji and the other five players around him watch Illfang toss his sword and shield.
"Looks like that information was right," Kibaou said when he was cut off by Diabel.
"Stand back, I'll go" Diabel raced past them all.
"Is he going for the bonus?" Shinji thought to himself with a tense look. He was about to ignore orders and race ahead of Diabel when he glanced down and noticed his health had fallen below half his full life bar in that moment Shinji hesitated out of fear for his own life. Kirito and Asuna continued to guard the rear cutting down the Kobold Minions when Kirito happened to glance back thinking to himself "I thought our plan was to surround it with the entire group?".
Diabel glanced over at Kirito and the two made eye contact. It was at that moment Kirito knew Diabel was an ex-beta tester and that he was going for the item bonus and exp for defeating the boss. 13 players stood behind watching with intense looks as Diabel raced past them. Diabel also glanced and made eye contact with Shinji and nods.
"Does he know I'm an ex-beta tester? No...it can't be can it? Was he an Ex-beta tester too?" Shinji quickly thought to himself standing to the 6th spot from the left of Diabel. Illfang reached around behind him and unsheathed a long split bladed-edged sword. Kirito's eyes widened in horror.
"That isn't a Talwar! It's a No-Dachi!" Kirito called out.
"That sword wasn't in the beta test! The information in the guidebook was wrong!" Shinji's eyes widened in horror. Kirito blocked and violently slashed a Kobold Minion, turning to face the group fighting Illfang.
"It's no good!" Kirito yells out. Kibaou turns his head and stares right at Kirito. "Jump back as fast as you can!" Kirito yells out trying to warn Diabel, but it was too late. Illfang had leapt up rebounding off the standing pillars in the boss room at unreal speed. Shinji's eyes were darting everywhere trying to keep up with Illfamng's movements. Illfang landed in front of Diabel crashing into the ground sending Diabel flying back up in the air.
The players watched in shock and horror at the sheer speed of Illfang who closed the distance between him and Diabel spinning around and striking him with the No-Dachi. Diabel's screams could be heard echoing in the boss's room. Shinji in a rage dashed forward the blade of his sword glowing white with his buckler glowing blue. Shinji wasn't going to let anyone else get hurt; he was going to end this with Illfang.
Shinji raced across the ground and violently slashed Illfang behind his right knee. Ilfang roared out in pain lifting up his right leg and quickly repositioned it on the ground. Shinji slid to a stop violently kicking off the ground leaping sideways into the air blunt force striking Illfang in the face with his buckler. Illfang stumbles back and see's Shinji was wide open. Illfamg raises his left hand and slams his fist into Shinji. Shinji violently flies back into the marble ground slamming his back first getting tossed into the air and back flipping before smacking into the ground again sliding back.
Up to this point Shinji had barely taken any damage being able to block, switch, and attack with the other players. So he barely lost any health, however when they saw Shinji struggling to sit up, the other players saw his health bar go from nearly green to below half and into the yellow. Another hit like that and Shinji could die. Two other players called switch and rushed in front of Shinji to block and counter attack to buy him some time to recover. Illfang swung his No-Dachi unleashing an air slash that distorted the air around him, blowing Shinji and the other two players back.
"I can't beat him!...I'm going to die..." Shinji thought to himself as he hit the ground again and his health continued to decrease. The fear of his health reaching zero and dying without ever accomplishing anything tore Shinji's mind apart as the fear of death entered his heart. Kibaou and three of his other party members watch with intense looks as Shinji and the other two were overpowered and knocked away by Illfang.
"Diabel!" Kibaou called to him as Illfang leapt up in the air. Shinji watched Illfang leap over him landing right in front of the Kibaou and four other players. Illfang let out a fearsome roar.
"Diabel!" Kirito raced to his side. Kirito quickly took him in his arms seeing his health bar falling quickly into the red. Kirito reached behind him and grabbed a potion. "Why did you try to do it alone?" Kirito asked him. Kirito went to give Diabel the potion to save him but Diabel stopped him with his right hand pushing the potion away. Kirito's face looked torn seeing Diabel the righteous and heroic knight choosing death over life.
"You were a beta tester, weren't you?" Diabel asks weakly.
"You knew?" Kirito was taken back with a shocked expression. "You were after the rare item from the last attack bonus. You were a beta tester too?" Kirito said in a low voice.
"Please...defeat...defeat the boss for everyone..." Diabel started to glow in Kirito's arms. Diabel exploded into a dazzling display of blue and green shards that looked like broken glass floating into the air. Kibaou and the four other party members in their group happen to look over to see Diabel die with horror struck faces.
"When this death game started, all I thought about was my own survival," Kirito thought in his head sitting there on his knees with a crushed look. Flashing back to when he left Klein in the alley way in the Town of Beginnings. "But Diabel...even though you were a beta tester, you never abandoned the other players. You led everyone and you fought brilliantly! You tried to do what I couldn't…" Kirito acknowledges in his own mind getting to his feet with a serious look turning to Illfang.
Kirito watched as eight players, one of them being Shinji who was off to the left of Illfang with three other players blocking for Shinji as he was getting back to his feet, to Illfang's right were four other players trying to strike at his side. Illfang lets out a piercing roar and that off balances Shinji and the other seven players. Kirito narrows his eyes as they struggle to just hit Illfang who seemed to dodge and counter attack all incoming attacks. Shinji and the others just could not seem to deal that last little bit of damage to end the fight.
Kirito grips his sword tightly. Asuna dashes to his left hand side letting him know she will go with him after witnessing the death of Diabel and the brutal struggle the other players were having against Illfang. Asuna had told Kirito the night before when they were breaking bread over a meal she would be true to herself and not let this game beat her. She aimed to keep her word, even if it killed her. Kirito thanked her and they had determined looks on their faces. They both race forward.
"Use the same sequence as we did for the sentinels," Kirito suggested to Asuna.
"Got it!" Asuna answered back. As they raced forward several players had fallen behind to drag near death players away from the battle and others were guarding each other behind the standing pillars afraid to get any closer to the seemingly unstoppable Illfang.
Kirito and Asuna watch as two players on either side of Illfang run away in fear and for the first time they notice Shinji who raced forward driven by fear using his sword to try and block Illfang's No-Dachi from getting a critical back attack and flanking bonus on the two players. Shinji was flung back by Illfang and slammed into a pillar hitting the ground. Kirito and Asuna pick up the pace in a full on sprint seeing Shinji's health fall into the red but also noticed he didn't seem to care about his own life; he had lifted up his head to make sure the other two fleeing players had made it to safety.
Illfang spots them and turns to face them, his No-Dachi consumed in a massive glowing white light. Kirito readies his sword with the blade glowing blue. Shinji gets to one knee looking up to see Kirito and Asuna. "It's those two from before?" Shinji thinks to himself and flashes back to the other day when he looked up to see they were in row two near the 13th step away from the group but intently listening in on the meeting and today they were the ones who were picking up the rear and had been guarding their flank since the battle started.
Kirito pulled a Shinji and blocked Illfang's attack with his sword but lost balance. Kirito calls for the switch and Asuna races in with her rapier glowing a hot pink color. Kirito notices Illfang has spotted her. Kirito calls out her name. Asuna dodges as Illfang's strike destroys her cloak and reveals her face to everyone.
Asuna has long, orange-brownish chestnut hair and hazel eyes. In the early levels of SAO, she wore a dark red leather tunic with a lightweight copper breastplate and leather pants with boots up to the knees along with a hooded cape which had now been destroyed by Illfang. Asuna used thrusts hard at Illfang pushing him back violently. Kirito was sitting on his bottom after losing his balance but looked both shocked and impressed by Asuna's skill and her indescribable beauty. Shinji was just awe struck by her raw skill.
"Here he comes again!" Kirito snapped out of his love-struck dazed to get back to his feet racing to Asuna's side. Kirito and Illfang charge each other with his sword to block and off balance Illfang. When that happens Asuna races forward getting in a multistrike attack at his abdomen. Illfang looks at Asuna to strike her with his sword but Kirito dashes in front of her to block the attack once more.
Shinji watches impressed with Kirito able to block three strikes effortlessly. Kirito used his sword to block Illfang's attacks more effectively then he could, Shinji admitted to himself. Illfang went to swing at Kirito, swung his sword up to block but Illfang changed direction last second and caught Kirito off guard. Shinji got back to his feet, his eyes widened at the speed and suddenness of Illfang's attack pattern change.
"Crap!" Kirito yells out. Illfang slashes Kirito across the chest knocking him back into Asuna as they both slide across the ground. Asuna hangs over Kirito protectively watching his life fall below half. Illfang over shadows them. Kirito struggles to get off the ground. Asuna looks up in horror with Illfang's sword raised above them glowing a bright red color. Asuna held up her rapier knowing it would not be strong enough to block the attack but if she could save Kirito it would be worth it to her.
Agil raced out of nowhere not only hard blocking the attack of Illfang but pushed him back leaving him wide open. The other four members of Squad B were running up behind them. Shinji grins evilly. "I'm not being left out of this!" Shinji quickly recovers his buckler and sword regrouping with his party racing to Agil's side.
"GO!" Agil orders his squad to attack. Two players ran in on the left hand side of Agil and Shinji leading the charge with two other players behind him ran past Agil's right hand side. "We'll hold him off till you recover!" Agil turns to Asuna and Kirito.
"You're…" before Kirito could finish Agil had already taken off. Shinji and the others leapt at Illfang with Shinji out in front. Illfang blocks all their attacks and knocks them all back. Illfang quickly leaps up into the air backflipping with his No-Dachi glowing purple. Kirito had used the health potion Diabel refused to recover his health quickly getting back to his feet and racing forward seeing Agil, Shinji, and the others were in trouble. Kirito notices in that split second he scanned their health. Shinji was red and would be the next one to die if this attack wasn't stopped. "Watch out!" Kirito yells out swinging his sword over his back as it glows white.
Agil and the rest of Squad B were on the guard looking up as Illfang descended down before them. Kirito leaps in the air. Yelling out "I'll get you first!". In a stunning display of aerial acrobatics Kirito counter slashes Illfang and knocks him away from Squad B. Kirito lands on the ground rolling forward back to his feet. Racing forward, calling Asuna to him with a desperate look about it.
"One last attack! Let's do it together!" Kirito yells out.
"Roger!" Asuna answers back racing to his side. Kirito blocks Illfang's attack as he is getting back to his feet. Asuna races forward getting in another multistrike attack with Kirito cutting in front of her to get in another powerful slash. Then Kirito finishes it with a vertical slash upward splitting Illfang in two and defeating him. The other players had regrouped and got to their feet ready to fight again when Kirito had ended it. Instead they all bore witness to the young man who would come to be known as the Black Swordsman.
The players stood there in silence. Shinji had slicked his hair back while being helped up by another player in Squad B wearing an orange shirt. Shinji had a scorned look on his face. He wanted to be the one to defeat Illfang and claim the rare item but at the same time he was also conflicted. He was glad no one else died and the fight was over. Looking at his red health bar Shinji knew he owed his life to the combined efforts of Kirito and Asuna, for that alone he was thankful to them and they had his respect. Agil stood a few feet away to their left with another member of Squad B to his left.
"W-we did it!" the player next to Agil said outloud as the Congratulations! Banner popped up before them. The players looked at one another and cheered. Small menu screens popped up before each player showing the money they got from the raid while Kirito and Asuna got money and exp. Since Kirito got the finishing blow he also got the rare item bonus. Kirito was down on one knee breathing hard listening to everyone celebrate in the background.
The boss room lights dim, Kirito looks at the small display screen before him which read Congratulation, You got the last attacking bonus! Another screen popped up before him with the headline Bonus Item with it the rare item Coat of Midnight.
"Good work" Asuna tells him as she approaches him with Agil.
"That was splendid swordsmanship. This victory belongs to you" Agil tells him with other players looking over to Kirito cheering. Shinji was in the background with the other Squad B members a few feet away listening in on the conversation.
"No…" Kirito looked past Agil and Asuna to see everyone cheering and clapping at him. Shinji smiled and raised his right fist in the crowd when Kirito and him made eye contact. Kirito was taken back by all the admiration and applause when a voice rang out from the crowd and silenced everyone.
"Stop cheering!" Kibaou says outloud. Everyone turned to Kibaou and his party in the rear. "Oh great, not this guy again" Shinji thought to himself. "Why...why did you let Diabel die?" he asked Kirito in a dark voice.
"Let him die?" Kirito said in a dark voice.
"Of course! You knew what technique the boss would use! If you'd given us that information up front, he wouldn't have died!" Kibaou accused Kirito. Everyone started to murmur looking around at one another and the once thunderous applause Kirito got from the players was replaced with nasty and dirty looks at him.
"He must be an ex-beta tester!" a spear user player with scruffy short brown hair, very light forest brown long sleeve shirt with a dark chest plate yelled out. Shinji's eye twiched as he started to look around at the growing distrust among everyone's faces. Shinji looked over at Kirito and thought to himself "So he is an ex-beta tester like me?".
"That's how he knew all about the boss's attack patterns. He knew, but he kept it from us!" the player accused. "I knew Illfang's attack pattern and I still got bested by him" Shinji thought to himself acknowledge even with that information he still failed to beat Illfang and the only reason Kirito was able to do it better was because of the simple fact he was just better and more talented then everyone else. "There's gotta be others here too, right? Those Beta Testers! Come out!" the player pointed out randomly.
"Why would I expose myself to you? For what? To be killed by a mob of players who feel they have been unjustly taken care of?" Shinji thought to himself, he was completely disgusted by what was happening. The murmurings and distrust grew among the players. Shinji even heard some murmurings about himself. Shinji glanced over at some players who were eyeing him.
"You see the way that guy moved and fought against Illfang? No way a beginner has those kinds of moves. I bet he is a Beta Tester to" a player said. Shinji did not like the looks he was getting from some of the players in the crowd as he gripped his sword and buckler tightly eyeing his low health bar. "This is bad…" Shinji thought to himself. Asuna and Agil look around hearing the murmurings and not liking what they see from the mob of players who looked as if they were about to turn on one another and engage in player killings.
Some players say "I'm not" and others ask "Aren't you one?" with disheartening looks.
"This is bad. At this rate..." Kirito thinks to himself flashing back to Diabel's death and his wish for everyone to be saved. Kirito looks at the Coat of Midnight and bites his lip coming up with a sinister plan to save everyone and put a stop to all the hate.
"Hey, you…" Agil and Asuna approach Kibaou who instigated all of this. Suddenly, a dark laughter could be heard as the players turned toward Kirito like he cracked and lost his mind.
"An ex-beta tester, did you say? I wish you wouldn't compare me to those newbies" Kirito says in a proud dark voice. Shinji narrows his eyes at Kirito.
"What is he doing? Is he trying to get himself killed?" Shinji thought to himself. He had respect for Kirito from one skilled player to another. Shinji also owed his life to Kirito and even though his health was in the red he was ready to fight to protect Kirito to repay that debit he felt he owed him.
"W-what?" Kibaou said hesitantly. "Most of the 1,000 people who won SAO beta test slots were beginners who didn't even know how to level up" Kirito mocks the ex-beta testers walking through the crowd of players who move out of his way. Shinji keeps an eye on Kirito and scans constantly to see if any of the other players might try to take a shot at him. "Even you guys are better than them" Kirito mocks making eye contact with Shinji for a brief moment then continues to walk toward Kibaou. "But I'm not like those guys. During the beta test, I made it to higher levels than anyone else was able to reach. The reason I knew about the boss's sword skills was because I fought tons of monsters with those skills on floors far above us. I know lots of other things too. Way more than any information broker" Kirito brags, giving Kibaou a dark and sinister look.
"W-what? That's...That's way worse than a beta tester! That's cheating! You're a cheater. That's what you are!" Kibaou accuses him. Asuna, Agil, and Shinji watch as the crowd turns from hate and distrust of ex-beta players to just hating Kirito. Like how they were united in defeating Illfang they had now become united against Kirito as the common enemy.
Shinji saw what Kirito was doing. He was protecting the ex-beta players like himself by taking responsibility and becoming the object of everyone's hatred. Shinji had developed an even deeper respect for Kirito and once again owed him his life from saving him form the injustice of the mob of players.
"Yeah, a cheater!" other players began calling out. Another player yelled out "A beta tester and a cheater...A beater!". Asuna just turns to Kirito whose eyes were hidden by the bangs of his hair and he had a wicked smile on his face. Kirito had saved the players from Illfang and now he is protecting the ex-beta testers by becoming a villain in the eyes of the players.
"A beater...that's a good name" Kirito says in a dark voice. Everyone goes silent with shocked looks, watching Kirito take their hate and murmurings as if it were words of praise. "That's right...I am a beater. From now on, don't confuse me with the other testers" Kirito says aloud, falling into the role of villain. Kirito opens his menu screen and equips the Coat of Midnight. It appears on him giving him a much darker, more evil look to him.
Kirito just turns his head, giving an evil smirk. Shinji just stood silent in the background among the crowd of players. Kirito turns his back on Kibaou walking toward the exit, eyeing Shinji for a brief moment as he continues to walk. That look was all he could give Shinji and he hoped that if Shinji was an ex-beta tester like him he would know what Shinji would do after seeing Shinji put his life on the line to protect others. Asuna runs after him.
"Wait" Asuna calls out to him. Kirito stops as he is going up the steps with his hands in the pockets of his coat. "You called my name when we were fighting," Asuna tells him.
"Sorry for being rude, or did I mess up the pronunciation?" Kirito asks her.
"Were did you learn it?" Asuna inquires of him. Kirito turns around pulling his left hand out of his pocket pointing explaining to her that if you look by a person's HP gauge you can find their player name. Asuna looks at the name below her HP gauge. "Kirito...Kirito? Is that your name?" she says his name outloud for everyone within earshot to hear.
"Yeah" he answers her back. Asuna closes her eyes and lets out a cute laugh.
"Oh, so it was written there all this time!" Asuna looks up at Kirito with a smile. Kirito eyes her and eyes Agil and Shinji walk up. Kirito frowns, those people were hard not to like and he didn't want them to hate him but it was for the best and like Klien he needed to abandon them in order for them to become strong and survive this death game.
"You can become powerful. So if someone you trust ever invites you to join a guild, don't turn them down" Kirito tells them, remembering how he declined Klein's offer and left him. After this boss raid Kirito knew strength in numbers would be key into surviving this death game. "Because there's an absolute limit to what you can do as a solo player" Kirito warned them knowing there were other ex-beta testers here and he wanted to remind them the dangers and limits of being a solo player.
"Then what about you?" Asuna reminds him in a questioning manner. Kirito says nothing, walking away, opening up the menu and dissolving his party with Asuna. The tower door opens to floor 2 with Kirito walking alone into the darkness. Shinji just stared at him as he went.
"Kirito is it? I understand. I'll become strong and join a guild and together with them we will fight on the front lines and clear this game. I'll protect everyone with my shield…"