It sure has been a while. Sorry for the delay. Since this is my most relaxed story, it's low on my writing priorities. So between classes, life, and everything else, it's not often I get a chance to work on this.
The furious boss fight of Aincrad's first floor raged on. Despite the excess surge of minions, the raid groups held firm. In fact, Kirito, Asuna, and Maple were able clear their kills faster than the others. Kirito's game knowledge allowed him to make the most optimal decisions. Asuna's speed allowed her to capitalize on any opportunity presented to her. And Maple's indestructability and unorthodox damage type allowed her to handle any enemy sent her way.
Morale was high, but everything turned tense as Illfang fell to the last third of its final health bar. The oversized kobold roared as it threw away its bone axe and leather shield. It reached a hand towards the weapon strapped towards its back.
"Why is it throwing away its weapons?" Maple asked.
Kirito was going to ask how she didn't know, but then remembered that Maple hadn't read the guidebook or been a part of the initial meeting. "We had information that once the boss reaches roughly a third of its health on its last health bar, it would draw a talwar, and change its attack pattern into a dangerous frenzy," he informed her. "As long as the group stays together and rushes Illfang quickly, this should be an easy win."
As Illfang reached for the weapon strapped along its back, a single voice rang out.
"I'll finish it off!"
Kirito's eyes widened as he saw Diavel break formation and charge Illfang alone.
"What is he doing?" Asuna asked in alarm.
"I don't know!" Kirito shouted back.
Then, the answer hit him. Diavel had made a perfect plan for keeping the boss isolated and occupied, but the self-proclaimed knight had spent most of the battle coordinating people instead of fighting. Not only was Diavel at full health, but he also wasn't mentally exhausted like everyone else in the boss group. Which meant he stood a good chance of rushing Illfang and taking the last hit bonus.
Illfang brandished its reserve sword, and Kirito's eyes widened. "Don't!" he called out to Diavel. "That's not a talwar, it's a nodachi!"
Both were curved swords, but there were noticeable differences between them. The talwar originated from the area now known as the Indian sub-continent. Its blade was mostly straight by the hilt, but it noticeable curved farther along the blade. The nodachi was the equivalent of a Japanese longsword, being slightly longer than the more widely recognized katana, which was comparable in length to the talwar. The nodachi's curve was also much more gradual that the talwar's, and was consistent throughout the blade, giving the sword a near perfect arc.
For the average gamer, the difference was negligible. They were both one-handed curved swords, so the finer details were irrelevant aesthetics. However, Kirito knew better. Kayaba wouldn't make changes on a whim. If Illfang wielded a different weapon, then it was most likely that the weapon had its own unique attack patterns.
Diavel had his shield ready to block the anticipated swing, and his longsword shone as he readied a sword skill to retaliate against the incoming strike. He, just like Kirito, knew the boss's original frenzied attack pattern. Unlike Kirito, however, Diavel failed to realize the difference in his opponent's weapon.
Illfang's sword curved around the angle of Diavel's shield and cut deep into Diavel's chest. The force of the attack sent the knight careening into one of the room's pillars.
"Diavel!" several people called out in alarm. This turned to panic as the Illfang roared and charged the group. While they had a plan, without their leader, they were hesitant to fight. The hesitation cost them as Illfang dove into their midst and began throwing them aside.
Kirito raced towards Diavel and came to a stop where the young man had fallen. "What are you, stupid?" Kirito asked as he propped up Diavel's upper body and pulled out a health potion. "You were so desperate for the last attack bonus that you would risk your life for it? Don't do that again."
As Kirito moved to give Diavel the potion, the self-proclaimed knight raised an arm to stop him. "You were a Beta Tester, weren't you?" Diavel asked.
"…yeah," Kirito admitted. "And so were you. That's why you knew the boss's old attack patterns."
"Guilty as charged," Diavel said with a pained laugh. "I guess what they said about Beta Testers are true. Even though I wanted to help people, I was still too selfish for my own good." Diavel looked at Kirito with a peaceful smile. "I remember, you were one of the strongest players I knew back in the beta. Take care of them for me."
Kirito's eyes widened in surprise as the last pixels of Diavel's health continued to fall.
Then a great weight crashed into his back, slamming his body—and the health potion—into Diavel.
"Ow…" Maple groaned as she pushed herself up. She had tripped while running toward Kirito and Diavel, but at least something had cushioned her from the stone floor. She looked down and saw that she was resting on Kirito's back, who was splayed out on top of Diavel. "Eh! Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!" Maple stammered as she pushed herself off of Kirito.
"Don't apologize," Kirito said with a pained groan. Maple hadn't managed to hurt him—given her nonexistent strength, that came as no surprise—but she had managed to knock the wind out of him. Judging from Diavel's steadily rising health, that's not the only thing she knocked out of him. "You just saved this idiot's life."
"I did?"
"You did," Diavel confirmed, looking equally surprised. "I was such a fool, Kirito. Can you forgive me?"
"Only if you get out there and fix this mess," said Kirito, offering him a hand to stand up.
As the boys stood in hand in hand, looking on in mutual understanding, Maple stood to the side awkwardly. "Did I miss something?" she wondered aloud.
"What do we know about the boss's new attack patterns?" Diavel asked.
"Nothing," Kirito replied. "Its attacks are powerful, but they don't match any other attack pattern I've seen on a previous monster." Even from their position, they could see how Illfang's furious attacks were knocking aside the raid groups it was facing. "The wall of players is preventing him from advancing, but the formation was designed to limit the effectiveness of the talwar's circular AoE sword skill. The Nodachi looks like a simple sweeping arc attack, which means the entire formation is taking the brunt of the damage."
"Tch. Our previous strategy probably won't work then," said Diavel.
"Best to stick with it. Better to have no plan than to not have one," Kirito pointed out. "The damage is at least being mitigated by the line of people defending."
"But people could die if we continue like this," Diavel pointed out. "We need to regroup and reassess what we know."
"He's not going to give us the time," said Kirito. "And with the way he's handling three groups at once, I doubt we'll be able to squeeze in a rotation either."
"So… what do we need?" Maple asked. Most of the terms had gone way over her head.
"If we could keep him busy for a few minutes, we'd be able to get the group reorganized, heal people, and come up with a new plan," Diavel responded.
"Okay!" Maple said. She walked away to the fight with a skip in her step.
"But with his ridiculous movement, there's no way a single group could distract him," said Kirito. "And even then, his damage is ridiculous in this mode. Even if one of our tanks mitigated the damage of a direct attack, they'd last two hits at best before being sent to the red."
"How about if we put our tanks out on a rotation while everyone else pulled back?"
"He'd target our back lines. Tanks aren't mobile enough."
"Tanks and kiters?"
"More doable, but we lack enough AGI specialists to keep him occupied. Also, if they take a bad hit without being at full health, they'd be in trouble."
"We'll pair a tank with a kiter then," Diavel decided. "The kiter will try to keep the agro and the tank will be there to cover for them."
Kirito nodded. "Maple and Asuna are solid pair, and I have enough agility to flex into the roll. If we can find a few more than we'll be set," he said. "What do you think Maple?" Hearing no response, Kirito turned to his companion, but she was gone. "Maple?"
"What do you think you're doing, kid?" Kibaou asked Maple as she sauntered up to his group. The cactus-haired man was struggling to keep his group together against the onslaught of Illfang. "You're supposed to be dealing with the minions!"
"They're all gone," Maple replied.
"Yeah, but you're still supposed to stick with your party," Kibaou retorted. "Why are you here?"
"Diavel and Kirito said they needed Illfang to be held off so they could come up with a new plan," Maple replied simply.
Kibaou rolled his eyes. "As much as I'd appreciate another tank, you're not going to be enough," said Kibauo. "This guy's a boss monster! No one can handle his attacks."
As if to emphasize his point, two of Kibaou's party members were knocked away from a single swing of Illfang's sword. Another party rushed to fill the gap, while one person acting as a field medic started applying healing potions.
"Don't worry!" Maple said confidently, as she put a hand to her chest. "I have maximum vitality!" She raised her shield and strode to the front line. Illfang looked terrifying, but comically so with his bloodred eyes and frantic movements. He looked almost like an overtly fat rodent throwing a temper tantrum. It was almost cute, in its own way.
"No, you stupid girl! Are you trying to get killed?!"
As Illfang knocked aside another wave of players, Maple stepped into the gap. The Kobold Lord roared and swung its glowing talwar. Instead of bracing against the line of other tanks, Maple stepped forward and held up her shield.
CLANG!
The glow of the talwar faded. The sword had stopped fast against Maple's shield. As the blade pulled away, there was a noticeable chip in it from where the shield had made contact.
"Eh? That actually did damage?" Maple said in surprise. A small portion, not even a tenth of her HP, had been taken away. But it was more damage than she had taken the entire fight. In fact, it was the first damage she could remember taking since the fight against the Hydra the other day.
"Did she just block the boss's attack?"
"She didn't even budge an inch!"
"That's impossible!"
"What kind of stats does she have?"
Maple turned to the onlookers. "I'll hold him off for now," she declared. "Diavel said something about reorganizing and stuff. I didn't really understand it, but I think he wants you to fall back."
The players looked hesitant, but when Illfang swung again, ineffectively against Maple's shield, they nodded and carefully retreated.
Illfang was furious at being interrupted, but his programming gave him a surprising amount of intelligence. He jumped over Maple and readied his sword skill to cull the players that had turned their backs on him.
Luckily for the players, Maple just remembered that she had a skill to beat that maneuver. "Taunt!"
Illfang's skill was redirected towards her. The skill's AoE effect was wasted on a single target, and because it wasn't capable of knocking Maple away, she only lost a tiny sliver of her HP. Illfang swung again and again, but each attack did about as much damage to its own weapon as it did to Maple's HP bar. It wanted to pull away and go after weaker targets, but it did not have any resistances to Maple's taunt skill. So instead, it settled for trying to deal out as much single target damage as it could.
Finally, it managed to get Maple's health to the halfway mark. Illfang roared in triumph as it readied a powerful skill, only for Maple to chug a health potion from behind her shield. By the time the skill hit, she was already back to full health, even healing through the damage of the attack.
Illfang roared furiously, now making use of its mobility to dodge around Maple's shield and strike her from behind. The first strike sent Maple flying into the air, and follow up blow sent her crashing into one of the pillars.
"Maple!" Asuna cried.
"Incredible," Kirito said in awe.
Despite taking a hit that had nearly killed Diavel, Maple slowly stood to her feet. Her health was still solidly in the green. "I thought that was going to hurt," she said in relief. "Vitality is amazing!"
Illfang's eyes bulged and reddened in fury. Raising his sword, he summoned three minions to his side.
Then another set.
And another.
"What's going on?"
"This wasn't in the manual!"
"Is this what happens when we don't kill him fast enough?"
"What if he keeps getting stronger?"
"Remain calm!" Diavel ordered. "Reform groups and rotate as planned. Maple, fall back to the lines!"
"Okay!" Maple started to turn, but then Illfang gave the cry for attack. His minions jumped towards Maple in a frenzy.
"Watch out!" Kirito cried.
Maple turned around, eyes widening.
Kirito and Asuna rans towards their teammate. Max vitality or not, no player could survive being mobbed by that many monsters at once. They were not going to stand by and let their new friend die.
Instead of being scared, Maple merely smiled at the Kobolds. "Well, if that's you want," she said as she curled her fingers around the handle of her blade. There were only monsters in front of her, and all of her allies were safely behind her. Now there was no way she would miss. Drawing her tanto, she cried the name of one of her newer skills, "Paralyze Shout!"
Kirito and Asuna skidded to a halt as they watched all the monsters, Illfang included, freeze in place. The monsters' expressions were frozen in fury, their muscles trembling, but they could not so much as twitch.
"Don't worry, everyone," Maple called out the players behind her, turning to give them a casual wave with her weapon in hand. "I might not be the best player, but I'll hold them as long as I can. I got a super cool skill!" She raised her blade to their air and called the name of her ultimate skill.
"Hydra!"
Three cloudy, violet serpent heads spiraled out from the tip Maple's blade, hovering in the air like a trio of evil spirits. From each head a stream of toxic sludge spewed forth. Kobolds howled in anguish and terror as their bodies were quickly and painfully eaten away. Illfang roared as the purple ooze washed over him, eating away at the skin and muscles of its body.
When the poison evaporated, the minions were gone without a trace. Illfang was barely standing; patches of evaporating red pixels covered its body. However, its HP was still not depleted.
Illfang roared, sending shockwaves throughout the room. But the players were left unaffected. Most were already paralyzed, fallen, or both after seeing the terrifying power Maple wielded.
"What on earth…" Asuna muttered.
"That was definitely not in the Beta Test," Kirito said to himself.
"You're not getting past me!" Maple declared to Illfang, slamming her shield against the floor.
Illfang's neck twitched and spasmed violently. Frothy drool dribbled from its lips. With a sound that carried more emotions than the human ear could register, the Kobold Lord charged forward.
The unyielding shield stood steadfast against the unrelenting force.
This, was a true fight between bosses.
Something that slowed me this chapter was trying to determine how much of a threat Illfang was to Maple. On one hand, her defense is absurd. On the other hand, she's not that OP yet.
End result: EZ clap. Her only weakness is her lack of agility and natural recovery, which Illfang can't exploit even with back up.
One more thing: I will be renaming this story between this chapter and the next. The current title was my WIP title, but honestly, something along the lines of "Maple's Meandering Adventures in Aincrad" fit the theme of the story much better. Suggest your ideas! Remember, reviews are food for a writer's soul!