Chapter 7

Luck

June 27, 2023

5 more minutes… I'd greatly appreciate it if the exit was past that door. But wait… Akihiko Kayaba made this game. A big "Go fuck your self" is probably on the other side.

Taka let out an agitated sigh while crossing his arms and beginning to tap his foot lightly. He stood, leaning against the same pillar he rested against when they first entered the room. He spent a good amount of time like this, attempting to wrap his brain around the words Lisbeth had said.

She was the first ever person to speak that way to him. While he's had his fair amount of praise from fellow front liners, few talks with Kirito, and… Argo. Not one person had spoken like she had. She nearly hit the nail on the head when explaining what she thought his true story was.

And she called me a good person. She hasn't shown any fear towards me unless you count yesterday when she woke up. Even still, she was quick to show little hesitation in talking to me afterwards. Even trying to encourage me…

Thinking about it made his head spin. Another player talking and thinking in a way like that was a feeling he hadn't felt since the first month.

It was either fear him and stare him down for being a cold blooded, vengeful murderer or a walking myth.

Or now as of a few months ago, praising him for his skill.

Then again, Taka tried his best to push anyone away. To prevent anyone from getting even remotely close to him. Except for a few, no one even knew his name. So it seems that all that needed to happen was to get trapped in a small cave with a girl to see that it wasn't as he thought.

Though Taka still couldn't see that. He only wondered why the girl thought of him like she let out. He also wondered why the foreign feeling had come back about an hour ago. No matter how hard he tried shrugging it off, he just couldn't help but to often glance at the girl as she wandered around the room, reading the hieroglyphics on the walls.

Well reading might be the wrong word. I doubt she can read a form of writing that was used by an ancient civilization.

After a moment of thinking, Taka once again found himself gazing at Lisbeth as she held her chin with her thumb and index, making it seem like she was deep in thought. She narrowed her eyes on a particular symbol and let out a "Hmm…".

He kept his gaze set on her for a few more seconds before realizing he was staring at her. He jerked his head to the left, looking towards the door which would open any minute now. He internally slapped himself before shaking his head slightly.

Brain, seriously. Cut that shit out. He heaved a long sigh before pushing off the pillar and walking towards the door and reaching for his sword. He heard footsteps behind him and he spoke without turning around.

"Remember, stay behind me. And if it's a boss, we'll improvise."

She walked up beside him, equipping her mace. "Got it." She replied with no hesitation.

Taka glanced at her, seeing the same determination in her eyes that he saw earlier before they stepped into the trap hallway.

Just a second after he glanced at her, the timer hit 0. Just like the other one, it turned red and the door began to rise, emitting the sound of stone rubbing against stone. Taka narrowed his eyes as the next room came into view.

It's a large room that was about as long as an American football field, with pillars on either side of a turquoise colored walkway. The pillars and walkway only went about a quarter of the way through for a large opening in the ground cut off the side they were on from the other.

On the other sat an oversized, raised throne made of gold and other colorful gems. In the throne was a large, mummy-like humanoid wearing a pharaohs cap and appeared dormant.

It looked to be about 12 feet tall, holding a large, golden scepter in its right hand. The bottom tip, which was sharp and shaped like the tail of a cobra sat on the ground. The body was shaped like a cobras and the tip was the head of a cobra. 2 long, sharp golden fangs stuck out at an angle, giving the 2 teens guesses on which part was used for attacking.

Large pots that sat in between the pillars rose to life with large flames, jerking their attention away from the large mummy. The flames revealed the roof of the room, which was high above them.

Several massive engravings of hieroglyphics lined the area in between the pillars.

Once again, a loud sound tore their attention away from the ceiling and startling them both. Large squares rose up from the large opening, creating a low roar-like sound. The flames allowed them to make out different words engraved in each one.

The squares came to a stop once they reached the same level as the ground they stood on and more large pots near and around the mummy lit up with flames.

The squares that rose up were set in a grid pattern, 6 lining the Y-axis and 10 on X-axis. Each square was about 6 feet long and wide, with just enough room in between each other that you could see them individually.

It took Taka a moment to think about what they had to do. He glanced from the roof, where the symbols were, then back down to words on the squares. Don't tell me…

Just then, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned his head to face Lisbeth whose body was already facing his side.

"It's a puzzle, right?" She asked

"Looks like it. But…" he tilted his head upwards, looking back at the symbols on the ceiling. "I doubt either of us know how the hell to translate hieroglyphics into words. At least, assuming that's what this is."

He let out an exasperated sigh while looking back down at the squares. He felt irritated that they're lives were possibly resting on a puzzle. A damn puzzle.

Lisbeth on the other hand observed the symbols while holding a few fingers up to her chin and resting the elbow of the same arm on her other arm that was crossed right below her chest.

"Maybe. Just maybe…" she muttered to herself.

Taka turned his head towards her again, raising an eyebrow under the shadow. Her expression showed that she was deep in concentration.

While she was thinking, he walked to the edge that separated the squares and the area they were in. After pulling up his window, he brang out the same ore from earlier that he used to trigger a trap. With a light toss, it rolled onto one of the squares with the word "Afterlife" written on it.

He waited a few seconds as it sat on the square, nothing happening. It despawned, leaving Taka with many questions. Why didn't it trigger? Will it trigger? Does it even work? And many more questions and what if's.

He debated whether to test it out by stepping on one to see if it reacts differently. But because of the staircase, he didn't want to risk it. And there's no trying multiple times until you get it like in normal games. If they didn't get it first try, it'd be over.

It was frustrating to say the least. Taka found himself pacing back and forth from one pillar to the other, deep in thought on how they were gonna progress. It seemed hopeless. A puzzle that was most likely not supposed to be solved first try blocked their chances of living.

"Okay!" He heard Lisbeth blurt out behind him. Halting from her sudden outburst, he turned his head, ready to question her until she trotted right by him and towards the squares. She stopped just short of the edge of the safe floor and began moving her eyes over each and every square.

"What are you doing?" Taka asked, confused.

She didn't reply back however. Only continuing to move her eyes across the grid-like floor. Taka walked up next to her, put his hand close to her face and snapped his fingers. She only put her hand up with the palm facing Taka and murmured without looking away from the squares.

"Hold on… Gimme a sec."

Taka pulled his hand back and continued to watch her, as her eyes bounced from 1 square to the next. Her brows knit, showing she was once again deep in concentration. Taka remained silent, still unsure of what she was trying to do.

"Alright!" She started, turning on her heel to face him. "I think we can do this!"

"What?" Taka asked, still confused.

"I think we have a chance at this. Just follow my lead - Actually, let me just explain it."

At this point, he still felt lost. But he it's not like he was even close to a solution, so he was open to any suggestions at the moment. He nodded his head, letting her know to continue.

"Alright, so this is obviously a puzzle where you need to translate those symbols into words. If we figure out the right words that match with the symbols, it'll most likely give us a path to the other side. And, stepping on the wrong one… Well, I'd rather not know what happens."

"Okay… And how does this help us get across? I doubt either of us are Archaeologists or something of the sort in the real world."

In response, she stuck her index finger up and chuckled nervously while averting her eyes to the right.

"D-Don't laugh but… I may have sort of… Been really into adventure movies growing up. And… A few of the symbols kinda just stuck with me."

Taka started at her face, which held a nervous smile and eyes looking elsewhere.

"Sooo… You know what those symbols translate to?"

"Umm… W-Well, sort of." She stammered out.

"Sort of?"

"Yeah. I remember a couple of letters but that's about it." She brought her eyes back up to look straight at Taka. "So my plan was to use the process of elimination."

Are you fucking kidding me… Was all that Taka could think. Their lives well likely depended on whether or not they ace the puzzle and her idea is use the process of elimination. He stared back at her through the shadow that covered the expression of disbelief he had.

But after a moment, he let out a long sigh. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that this could very well be the best way across. At least, without testing the waters. Which neither of them wanted to do.

"Okay…" Taka began while turning towards the squares and crossing his arms. "How are we gonna do this."

"It's simple. We try and figure out which word best goes with each symbol since, ya know… And." The last word was drawn out, followed by a pause. Taka looked back at her to see a grimace on her face.

"I guess… Hope we choose the right words."

Taka pinched the bridge of his nose and let out another long sigh. If I end up dying to puzzle…

"Just tell me which ones to step on. And think long and hard about your final choice, please."

"Umm. I will, but… I can be the one to step on them-."

"No." Taka commanded, cutting her off. "I'm doing it."

"But…" she said in a tiny voice, trailing off.

"I said no." He said in a stern tone.

Her lips moved like she was planning on saying something else but hesitating to do so. Ultimately, she gave a defeated sigh and nodded her head while a sad look made its way onto her face.

Taka glanced to his side and saw the look she had. If it were anyone else, he would've most likely not given a single shit. He would've told them to suck it up or go on without another word. But it felt different this time around.

He let his arms fall to his sides and turned his head so he was looking at her. Her gaze was elsewhere, although Taka began in a more gentle tone, even without her looking at him.

"Look, we have no idea what could happen if we do this wrong. An insta kill, more spikes, who knows. That's why I'm going."

She slowly turned her gaze towards him, keeping the sad look.

"I know, it's just… If you died because of me…"

"I won't die. Don't worry. We'll make it through this."

She gave a small smile, but seemed to tremble a little.

Kind of ironic, isn't it? Taka has the chance of dying due to someone else. Although he wouldn't hold it against her anyway, it still reminded him of his companions that he claimed died because of him.

Danju and Clorice died due to my failures. I might die the same way. But it wouldn't be her fault in my eyes. If worse comes to worse, than so be it. She'll still have another chance to escape.

Lisbeth's heart was racing a mile per minute. She swallowed a lump in her throat, closed her eyes, and gave a sharp exhale. You can do this Liz. Another person's life is on the line here. You have to do it.

"Alright, let's get this over with." The boy said with no emotion.

Liz opened up her eyes and took a step back while tilting her head up to look at the ceiling. From what she's already gathered, there are 7 different sets of symbols. Each one had a number in Roman numerals beside it. But the hard part was translating them.

She studied the first one, inserting the letters which she knew from memory. The letters she memorized mostly consisted of a couple vowels and little less than a few constants. The word was 5 letters long and from what she put together, ended in "ods".

She gave a "hm…" and looked back down towards the squares. She scanned the first row, expecting it to be there.

Nile… Tomb… locust… Gods - Gods!

"That one!" She blurted out while pointing towards the square with "Gods" written on it.

The Ghost took a deep breath and lifted his foot up and brang it down on the square. It sunk in just like one of the previous pressure plates they came across. They waited with bated breaths for something to happen.

A blueish-green light emitted from within the lines that separated each individual square. The boy looked back towards her and shrugged.

"Guess this means it's the right one." He said, voice full of uncertainty.

Liz let out a long, drawn out breath while bending over and resting her hands on her knees. God, the suspense nearly killed me.

"Alright, next one." She said while standing back up straight.

She looked up towards the symbols again. The next word was longer than the previous. 7 letters.

After a few seconds of thought, she got

"D_ _ as_ _". She looked back down and scanned the second row of squares, finding that Dynasty best fit what she got. Although, the boy would have to jump over a square to reach it.

"That one." She said, pointing at "Dynasty".

Without saying anything, he leapt over, landing on the square. It followed up by emitting the same blueish-green light. Okay Liz! You're on a roll!

And they kept going. For the next 4 words, it was particularly easy since there was only 1 word that really fit what she had. Not to mention, 3 and 4 were on a straight path after 2 and 5 and 6 were also right next to each other.

They were at the last word. Liz made it out to be something like "_in_ s". It looked simple enough to start. Liz was about to jump with joy, having hopefully solved the puzzle. Until they both noticed that 2 words could easily fit.

One square to Taka's left had "Rings" and to his right had "Kings". If this wasn't Kayabas way of laughing at them, then what was. And of course the 1 of the only 2 letters that could differ the words were symbols she couldn't translate.

Now one would think that you could easily jump over the last square into the next area. But unfortunately, it wasn't possible at the moment. The boy, testing it out, threw another ore towards the other side. Only to hit an invisible barrier and fall back down onto the squares and despawn.

It's like this last part was made to kill someone. There was a 50 percent chance of surviving here. At least, assuming a worse case scenario would happen if they got it wrong.

Liz bit lip as frustration began to take hold of her. They made it this far, only for what she'd call, "The biggest dick move since being trapped in SAO", to happen.

For The Ghost, it was the same. She could hear him cursing up a storm under his breath. Liz tried racking her brain for any info that'd help her at least have an idea of what the first letter could be. She dug in the deepest recesses of her mind, but ultimately came out empty handed.

She tried thinking of anything that could get them across without having to take a chance like the one that was becoming more and more apparent to being their only option. Her heart kept sinking for every second that passed.

C'mon Liz, think damn it! Think! There's gotta be something. Some other way…

Nothing at all was coming to her. She had no clue what the symbol meant.

"Hey." She said, getting the boys attention. "I… I don't know. I can't think of anything." She said in a grim tone.

The boy slowly hunched his shoulders and hung his head low. He looked defeated. At least, that's what Liz thought. He began to mutter something under his breath. Liz couldn't quite hear what was said, but it didn't matter for what happened next.

Without any warning, he lifted his foot up and slammed it down in the square which said "king".

Liz let out a loud cry and covered her eyes with her hands and clenched her teeth. She waited for what she thought would be their inevitable deaths. But after a few seconds, it never came.

She spread her fingers to look through them and saw the square was lit up a blueish-green. She felt a wave of relief wash over her and her legs felt weak. She didn't even realize that she was holding her breath, which she let out shakily.

"Guess I'm lucky, huh?" The boy asked almost nonchalantly. Liz couldn't figure out why, but she felt something like a mixture of receding fear and anger well up in her.

"God, don't fucking do that! You scared me half to death!" She fumed while clutching at her chest.

Taka turned to face the girl, not at all expecting her to react like she did. His eyes went wide as he spotted her expression, which indeed showed the fear. But it slowly dissipated as she let out a long sigh and looked down to the ground.

"Sorry… It's just - I got so scared. And it was so sudden and I just…"

Taka held up his hands and replied in an understanding tone. "It's fine, I get it. Just come across. And be careful."

He turned back around and stepped into the next area. He kept an ear out behind him, just in case Lisbeth made a mistake while crossing. Thankfully, she made it and stood next to him, keeping her focus on the large mummy pharaoh sitting on the throne.

Taka gripped his sword tightly in anticipation. The dungeon had been a huge pain in the ass and if this was the boss, then he wanted nothing more than to kill it as soon as possible.

Lisbeth too gripped her mace tightly with both hands, staring down the boss, still shaken up from what just happened, but ready in case it comes out of its state of dormancy.

"So what's the plan?" Lisbeth asked without taking an eye off the boss.

"Improvise, like I said."

In an upcoming fight, you always wanna know what you're going up against before you face it. That's especially so for SAO. And not to mention that having more than 2 people fighting a boss is almost a necessity.

Taka knew the odds weren't in their favor, but that fact wasn't enough to deter him. He'd give it his all and then some before he even began to consider giving up.

All of a sudden, the squares behind them began to descend back into the darkness, leaving them with no way back. 3 Sandstone doorways began to open up, revealing pitch black darkness on the other side. There were 2 on either side of the throne and 1 behind it to the left. From the darkness, figures striding towards them could be made out.

At the same time, the mummy pharaoh began to twitch and spasm, creating sickly noises that sounded like bones snapping and cracking. It's fingers twitched around the golden cobra scepter it held and a low groan came from the back of its throat.

The figures in the dark stepped out into the light. From the left and right doors stepped out humanoids with jet black skin and dog heads like that of the Egyptian god Anubis. They wielded Dao swords that were pitch black like their skin. As they filed out, they let out growls and snarls.

From the door in the back, skeletons dressed in ancient Egyptian war attire, carrying different weapons from short swords and spears, to maces and hammers came out.

The mummy pharaoh kept twitching as it slowly stood and stepped off the throne. It's eyes glowed a fiery blue color. It glared at the 2 teens and lifted its scepter up and brang it back down, so the pointy tip hit and cracked ground.

It let out a loud roar while pointing the head of the scepter towards the 2. A name and 4 green health bars appeared above its head.

Nkrumsh: The Ninth Pharaoh

The monsters began towards the 2 at a slow pace, snarling, growling and hissing all the way.

"What's the plan?" Lisbeth said in a rushed and worried tone.

"The boss isn't moving right now…" he began while jerking his head towards Nkrumsh, who was indeed keeping relatively still. "Try and dwindle down the minions numbers. But only enough to where maybe only 1 or 2 will spawn constantly. Next step is you hold them while I go for the boss. Think you can do it?"

"Ummm. I-I can try." She replied, sounding a bit unsure.

"You got this. You don't have to hold them out for very long. I'm not planning on taking my time while killing this bastard."

Taka shifted in place to where he stood with his body half facing the approaching monsters and spread his feet apart. His head faced them dead on and he held his sword with his right hand by his side with the tip facing the floor.

"Lisbeth, you take the right bunch and I'll take the left."

"Alright!" She said without taking eye contact off of the monsters.

"And give em hell."

Simultaneously, both of them began charging the minions. Taka ran straight towards the closest enemy. The humanoid dog roared before raising up its sword, intending to cut through Taka's head. But there's one thing that it didn't realize.

I'm so much faster.

Before it could even begin to bring down the blade, Taka spun and brought his sword up, cutting clean through the forearms of the monster. It let out a short cry that was cut off by Taka spinning again and taking its head off!

Another one swung at him horizontally, aiming to reciprocate what he had done to its comrade. He ducked under the blade, shot up once it passed and drove his blade into its neck. He pulled it out and quickly spun on his heel to block another strike. He then jumped back as a spear was thrusted straight for his chest.

His sword began to glow blue once the humanoid dog leapt up for an overhead swing. Taka's blade met the dog's blade with a slash. The sword skill knocked its weapon to the side, allowing for Taka to dispose of its head with a flick of the wrist and a quick swing.

The spear skeleton once again thrusted its spear towards Taka's chest. He dodged to the right and ran along the side of the spear as it began to retract from where he just was. He brang his sword up for a diagonal slash, hitting the side of its face. A large cut where it's cheek would be glowed orange and it hissed while thrusting again.

Taka blocked the tip of the spear with his blade, making it point upwards. He ran under the pole and sliced horizontally at its exposed spinal column. It's spear hit the floor with a thunk and it blew up into tiny shapes.

Taka quickly spared Lisbeth a glance. She seemed to be holding her own, but since they weren't in a party, there was no telling if she'd sustained any damage.

Another skeleton attempted to strike him from the side with an overhead swing with a battle axe. As it came down, Taka stepped back, so the axe came down a mer inch or 2 from his face. With a strong jab to the skull, it stumbled back and raised its axe to try and cover itself. Taka crouched and drove his sword through the fabric wrapped around its ribcage, killing it.

"Hey! How you holding up over there?" Taka shouted.

"Umm-." She paused as a hammer met her mace. With a grunt, she pushed the hammer back and swung at the skull of the skeleton while its arms were still recoiling. "Fine! Still in the green right now!" She shouted back.

"Alright! Hold 'em off…!" He said while turning to face the boss, who glared at Taka with its blue burning eyes. Taka stared back with the same Intensity. Even though his eyes were hidden, he could tell the boss felt his gaze.

It raised its scepter, aiming the pointed end at Taka and let out a low growl. He could make out the scepter shaking every so slightly, meaning the Petrify bonus was definitely doing its work.

He got into his stance while also half in a runners start position.

"... I'm gonna make this quick." He muttered under his breath before launching off his foot and charging the boss full speed.

Within 2 seconds, he managed to reach the boss without any interference from the minions that were walking out of the doorways. But thankfully in smaller numbers since Lisbeth was holding most of them off.

The mummy thrusted the pointy tip straight for Taka's head. He side stepped while still maintaining speed and ran along the pole of the human sized weapon. He held his sword against the pole as he ran, keeping it down and to his left. Sparks flew from the 2 metals scraping against one another. And with a quick motion, Taka swung his arms diagonally as his sword began to glow blue. He brought the blade to slice through half of its midsection before spinning to the right and slicing again.

The boss turned on its heel and thrusted the tip at Taka again. He dodged to the right and blocked a hit from the pole right afterwards. He then ducked, nearly getting hit by the pole as it swung horizontally. He then jumped up and unleashed a flurry of slices into its abdomen before it could even finish the swing.

The boss backed up a few feet, but Taka kept right on it, relentlessly cutting up its midsection! With one final strike before he'd have to back up, his sword glowed and he drove it straight into its stomach. It let out a low roar, while its abdomen was covered in orange cuts and slices.

Taka backed up a few feet, seeing the boss's health was nearing the third bar. He let out a sharp exhale as the boss spun the scepter around in its hand, pointing the cobra head towards him.

Without any warning it strided towards him and swung diagonally. Taka swung his sword up and parried the scepter. It pushed hard, causing Taka to have to dig his heels in the ground. He grunted and grit his teeth as the boss began to push him back.

To counter this, he quickly angled his sword down to the left. The amount of force the boss was using caused the scepter to smash into the ground right next to Taka. He pushed off his left foot and struck its arm with a series of fast blows.

The boss reacted by swinging horizontally, attempting to hit Taka with the sharp, protruding teeth of the head of the scepter. He ducked once and then again as it brought it back for another swing. Taka took the chance and activated a sword skill. He lunged forward for a powerful slash on its midsection. And then leapt behind it to drive his blade into its back.

But, as he pulled the blade out, it's upper body and head spun a whole 360 degrees with a sick cracking sound. Taka barely even registered it before he felt the head of the scepter smash into his!

Taka was thrown off his feet and headfirst into a nearby pillar. He sat leaning against the pillar, dazed from the sudden attack. His health had gone down about a quarter from the strike alone.

So this thing is more DPS than health… Noted.

He thought while seeing that he'd already knocked it down low in the second bar.

In another quick motion, the bottom half of its body turned as it started to charge towards him. Taka grabbed onto his sword which had been knocked out of his hands and landed beside him and readied it to block the incoming attack. He wouldn't have enough time to get up and block so he stayed on the ground against the pillar.

Before it reached him, it spun its scepter in its hand again and thrusted the sharp point downwards, aiming to impale Taka's head into the pillar. Fortunately, he used the curvature of the blade to send the point into the pillar, right next to his head!

But the mummy seemed to have gotten faster since the fight started! It swiftly pulled the tip out of the wall and drove it down once again. Taka attempted to block it, but it slid right by his blade as he brought it up and dug into his left shoulder. He let out a hiss as a burning sensation was felt throughout his shoulder.

As fast as it went in, the boss pulled it out and drove it in again. Taka dropped his sword, letting it hit the ground with a clatter and held his left arm up. The tip drove through and stuck out a good few inches from the other side of his arm.

The boss pushed down, sending the tip only mer inches from his neck! Taka grabbed the tip and attempted to push back. The only thing that he managed to do was slow down the tip from reaching his neck. It inched closer and closer until the point lightly pressed against his neck.

Taka grit his teeth and closed his eyes as the sharp point went from pressing lightly, to poking his neck. His hand that was holding onto the tip tried forcing it to the left. But he found it impossible due to the strength the boss was putting into the push.

And just as he felt like his neck would be impaled, he heard a feminine cry and the sound of a mace hitting bone. The tip was ripped out of his arm as Taka opened his eyes and let out ragged breaths. He slowly looked up to see Lisbeth standing there, winding up to hit the boss again.

She leapt forward as the boss was still stumbling from the last hit and swung horizontally, hitting its hip and causing it to fall onto its back. She immediately ran back to Taka once she had the chance and gave him a worried look.

"Are you okay?! You're almost in the red!"

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine." He said while getting to his feet.

Taka glanced at his health which was indeed nearing the red. He grimaced under the mask as the boss shot up to its feet and began towards them. No time to heal. Shit.

"Be ready to switch!" He shouted while getting into his stance.

"Switch?! What's that?!"

"Just follow after my lead!"

As the boss made contact, Taka's sword glowed blue and swung upwards to meet the snake head with his blade. The scepter was knocked to the side and Taka jumped back.

"Switch!"

The girl, not exactly sure what switching was, ran forward and got 2 hits in with her mace. It recovered fast and swung diagonally at Lisbeth. She let out a yelp of surprise and held her mace out to block it. At the same time, Taka ran to the bosses side and propelled his blade into its hip.

It stopped its swing that was meant to hit the girl and swung the other way. Taka ducked and sliced at its midsection again before activating a sword skill and parrying another swing. Lisbeth took the time to run behind it and pound its back with her mace. It let out a startled cry. It's health was in the red on the final bar.

With one final last ditch effort, it spun its upper body an entire 360 degrees, hitting Lisbeth with the cobra head and making her stumble and fall. And once it came back around, it hit Taka with an overhead swing that he hadn't seen coming.

He threw his left arm up once again. The golden teeth pierced the same spot that had already been impaled, making the spot burn more.

With a loud cry, Taka tore his arm back, causing the fangs to rip through his virtual flesh and almost sever it. He gripped onto the sword with both hands and lunged forwards. His sword turned blue and with all the strength he could muster, he drove the blade right through its stomach. He then pushed to the right, slicing through its midsection, nearly cutting it in half.

Taka stumbled to the ground, landing on his stomach and dropping his sword. It was then followed up with the loud clang of the golden scepter hitting the ground. He didn't need to turn around to know that the boss was currently exploding into little blue shapes.

Taka felt himself losing consciousness. He took one last glance at his health bar before the darkness engulfed him fully.

Heh… A tiny sliver… Guess I'm… I really am… Lucky.

A/N

And boom.

This chapter was a pain in the ass to write. I got super busy doing work around the house and seeing family I hadn't seen in nearly a year. This chapter was kinda rushed. But keyword, "kinda".

Speaking of rushed, I'm a bit disappointed with how the last chapter turned out. I really rushed that one to try and get it out on time. So I was thinking about going back and updating it sometime soon.

And for those of you, who were anticipating Lisbeth to save Taka at some point, here it is! My plan was to have her save him last moment - or in other words - The final bit of the dungeon.

And Liz sorta knows hieroglyphics… I know I know, it might seem a bit silly, but to me, movies and games would be a big part of her life. They would've really indented on her and some of that knowledge would stick with her.

Anyway, 2021, yay! Finally passes that wretched year 2020… And have a great day/night and stay safe!