Sinon felt drained.
It had been three days since the Renegades went into leveling overdrive, spending nearly every minute of each day killing monsters, completing side quests, and practicing battle tactics. Now each member of the Renegades had leveled up at least five times and was equipped with brand new weaponry, courtesy of everyone's favorite guild blacksmith.
It was exhausting, but necessary.
Sinon looked around the plaza at the motley crew of players assembled around her. Immediately she recognized the guys from Fuurinkazan and the Legend Braves, who were - like usual - chatting amongst themselves. Honestly, it wouldn't surprise her if the two groups somehow merged one day. Any time there was a floor boss or field boss meeting, those two groups were always chatting like old friends. In fact, a number of the smaller guilds, including the Renegades, had very good relationships with each other, which was probably one of the main reasons they could collectively contend with the ALS and DKB's sheer sizes.
Apart from them, there were a handful others she wasn't familiar with, including a smattering of solo players who'd decided to join them on this crusade of theirs. Agil, plus his two friends - she hadn't gotten their names yet - were in attendance. Argo, much to her surprise, was there; she never saw the Rat actually fight, so seeing her here was an interesting development. She also spotted one member of the ALS and one member of the DKB in attendance; this had initially struck her as odd given that the purpose of this preliminary strike was to avoid their involvement.
The ALS tank's name was Liten and apparently knew Leonn and Liz personally. Even stranger was the fact that the member of the DKB was Liten's friend. She recognized him as one of the main DPS for the DKB; Shivata, if she remembered correctly. She would have had her reservations were it not for Leonn and Liz vouching for them. Apparently the potential danger this boss drop could cause was enough to warrant both of these people to go behind their leaders' backs in the name of frontline unity.
It was good to know that not everyone in the DKB and ALS were idiots.
"Alright, if we could get everyone's attention please." Kirito said, attempting to raise his voice over the murmur of conversation around.
Unfortunately, it didn't seem to work. Whether it was because of nervous energy from the crowd or lack of volume from Kirito, no one seemed to notice the Renegade leader's attempts to move forward with the meeting.
"LISTEN UP!" Asuna's voice rang out with clarity and authority. Almost immediately, all side conversations ceased and all eyes focused on the fencer.
"Thanks." Kirito said, glancing over at Asuna with a faint smile. He turned his attention towards the relatively small raid group assembled. "As you all know by now, the 5th floor boss drops a rare item that will cause some serious problems between the ALS and DKB if either gets their hands on it."
Sinon looked over to Liten and Shivata. Each was nodding their head, further supporting Kirito's point.
"Three days ago, our guild finished the Elf War campaign quest on this floor and unfortunately found no important information that would help with taking down the boss." Kirito continued, drawing a few grumbles and dejected sighs from the crowd. "Once that information was shared, the ALS and DKB began preparations to take on the floor boss. Unfortunately, they also know about the last attack bonus drop and are now, even as we speak, racing to see who can get to the boss and kill it first."
A few of the more vocal members of the crowd chose that moment to voice their opinions.
"Well what are we waiting for then?!"
"Are you kidding? There's no way we're catching up to them now!"
"They're gonna get themselves killed!"
"Alright, alright!" Agil shouted, quieting the disgruntled crowd. "I'm sure they have a plan, or we wouldn't be here right now, so listen up."
Kirito nodded to Agil before continuing. "Argo found a shortcut through the labyrinth that will allow us to get to the floor boss long before the ALS or DKB can get to it. We should be able to get to the boss at least an hour before either group can get to it, but we'll have to move fast. That's part of the reason why we're assembling a smaller raid group like this, so we can move faster."
Sinon saw Argo standing behind Kirito, donning her signature toothy grin. How that girl could constantly have an attitude like that was beyond her. It always seemed like the Rat was constantly on the move, constantly meeting with people and exchanging information, which had to be a stressful occupation. Sinon wasn't sure if she would be able to handle the stress that undoubtedly came with that.
She'd take frontline combat any day over haggling and having to deal with people.
"Does anyone have any questions?" Kirito concluded, looking around the two dozen or so players assembled.
No one answered, having been filled in on the other details prior to meeting here. Sinon took the advantage of the small break to re-examine her equipment and supplies. Carefully, almost reverently, she maneuvered her bow off of her back and looked over it. She tapped on the bow to display its tooltip.
Durability looked good. Damage output decent, but starting to fall behind the others. She'd have to find a new bow soon.
For three floors now, this rather unique weapon had helped define her here in Aincrad. In multiple ways, actually. To her knowledge, she was still one of the only archer players in the game at the moment and one of only a handful of players capable of ranged damage.
That wasn't her main takeaway, though. Back in the real world, Asada Shino was a fearful teenage girl who would never dream of going into combat, let alone fighting for her life. Yet here she was, one of the strongest and arguably bravest souls in Aincrad, and she'd made a name for herself through it. To be fair, it would be a long time before she was truly ready to tackle her inner demons, but this was a good first step. She would need this strength and this bravery if she would ever conquer those nightmares.
She looked up at the people around her. Maybe these people, her friends, would be another source of strength if and when she decided to confront those fears.
She stowed her bow. First things first, though, she needed to do her part so that they could all escape. That meant focusing on the mission. She made eye contact with Kirito and gave a nod.
"Let's do this."
An hour-long trek through the labyrinth later, Sinon found herself and the rest of the raid group staring at a rather imposing set of stone doors. Running up the length of each stone door were etched grooves and lines that made sharp ninety-degree angles as they ran up and down, yet not once did any line cross another. Each line glowed red, illuminating the chamber outside the boss room in a very foreboding crimson.
To call it unnerving would be putting it mildly.
Silence permeated the room as the few dozen players mentally steadied themselves. Sinon nervously fingered the arrows in her quiver as she looked around. Everyone looked just as serious and grim as she felt. Even the normally enthusiastic and exuberant Silica looked uncharacteristically disciplined. Without the ALS and the DKB, they would be operating at about a third of their normal manpower and if there was one thing they'd all learned from the previous four floors, it was this:
Never underestimate a floor boss.
"Alrigh', just to go over what we know again…" Argo's voice called out, breaking the silence. All eyes shifted over to the Rat. "This guy's name is ((Fuscus the Vacant Colossus)). Like the name implies, he's a big golem, construct, what-have-you. Gettin' hit by this guy is not recommended."
There were a few awkward laughs at the nonchalance Argo expressed when addressing the manner of dying, which did help to relieve some of the tension.
"He's got two phases." Argo continued as she held up two fingers. "Durin' the first phase, he's scattered into multiple pieces that are a part of the walls and floor. Steppin' on certain parts of the room will cause a hand or a foot to pop out and attack ya. We'll need some of our more nimble players here to help figure out which spots are safe and which aren't."
Sinon looked around to see who might fit that description. Argo certainly did, but she hated the idea of Argo getting stomped on by an enormous stone foot. Silica, Yuna, and Asuna were probably quick enough to dodge an attack, but again Sinon would rather they not be the guinea pigs here. There were a few solo players here and there, including one who was dressed like a ninja, that could probably also do the job.
She'd let the raid leader, whoever it would be, decide that. Her job involved shooting things.
Nice and simple.
"Any time a hand or foot pops out, we hit it immediately to whittle down it's health." Argo said, scanning over the players in attendance. "The key is to control where and when the limbs pop out so we can control the flow of the fight."
"Makes sense." Sinon heard Geeou mumble off to her right.
"All the meanwhile, we're gonna have smaller golem adds hasslin' us, so it's probably gonna be chaos in there." Argo explained. "And that's before we even get to phase two."
"This is going to hurt, isn't it?" Sinon heard Klein mutter out dejectedly.
"Probably." Dale replied.
"Once his health goes down halfway, the adds will stop spawnin' and the limbs will form into his main body." Argo said, dropping the two fingers she had up. "It won't be as chaotic there, but he'll hit a helluva lot harder."
"Well that's not so bad." Orlando said, garnering a few mutterings of agreement from the crowd.
"Keep in mind that some things may have changed since the beta." Kirito warned, instantly killing the beginnings of a good mood. "Stay on your toes. Anything can happen. He might have new moves or entirely new phases. We just don't know."
"Alright, well who's raid leader then?" A voice called out from somewhere in the crowd. "Who's calling the shots?"
Silence once again reigned as everyone looked around at one another. Usually a prominent guild leader like Kibaou or Lind was the designated raid leader. For obvious reasons, neither was present and therefore could not lead.
"I nominate Kirito!" Klein called out.
"Seconded." Asuna said almost immediately afterward. Sinon gave the fencer a curious look. It was like the vice-leader was ready to jump on that bandwagon before the words even left Klein's mouth.
"Whoa!" Kirito exclaimed, clearly caught off guard. "I'm not the only guild leader here. Klein or Orlando could lead too."
"Well, you are the leader of the largest guild here, Kii-bou." Argo suggested as she donned her signature grin. "Not to mention you have experience leading a raid, even if it was because the other leaders were incapacitated. Any objections from anyone?"
No one spoke a word. Sinon glanced over at Orlando, who was nodding in approval. The rest of those assembled either were nodding along or simply remained silent and indifferent. That was enough, she supposed.
Kirito sighed. "Alright, fine. Everyone's already grouped together, right? Solos too?"
A murmur of assent washed over the group as people started to clump together with their respective groups. Sinon glanced at her HUD and saw a multitude of names pop up, signalling that they'd joined the raid group. Kirito immediately set about assigning different groups for different roles, also giving them letter designations at the same time. Once that was all sorted, Kirito led the way into the boss room, forcefully pushing open the runic looking doors.
Here we go.
The gargantuan stone doors opened with a slow, spine-chilling *CREAK* until they finally slammed against the inside walls. The motley raid group slowly and carefully entered, practically tiptoeing out of caution or fear.
The room itself was triangular in shape and much like the doors had a series of glowing red lines that began in the center of the triangle and radiated outward, making abrupt corners and turns as they did so. It was a fairly expansive room; Sinon didn't doubt that if the ALS and DKB were here there would still be room for everyone to move about comfortably.
What that told Sinon was that they were about to tackle something meant for much larger groups.
"Scouts." Kirito said, breaking the uneasy silence. "You know what to do. Be careful and retreat if you get into any trouble. Tanks, get ready to engage."
With that, a few of the more nimble players in the raid group ran forward, carefully testing out areas to see where the sensitive trapped spots lay in waiting.
Just then, an idea began to form in Sinon's head. She turned to Leonn. "Hey, give me a boost."
"Hmm?" Her best friend hummed in confusion.
"I need to get up higher." Sinon pressed, a sense of urgency taking hold in her voice. "Hurry."
"Alright." He shrugged, crouching down to allow Sinon to straddle his neck and sit on his shoulders. A few people nearby furrowed their brows in confusion, but Sinon paid them no mind.
Now (somewhat) comfortably seated on Leonn's shoulders, she brought out her bow, nocked an arrow, and narrowed her eyes, waiting. She scanned over the room itself, waiting for something to happen. A few smaller golems began to lurch out of the walls themselves, but that's not what Sinon was waiting for.
Finally, it happened.
The ninja-looking player suddenly dodged to the side as an enormous stony hand came out of the floor and grasped upward. Sinon let loose two arrows, not aimed at the fist jutting out of the ground, but rather two spots on the ground on either side of the wrist. She nocked another two arrows and shot forward once the fist retreated back into the stone.
She'd just marked a square of arrows within which the trap was located.
"Clever!" Klein shouted from the side. "Nice going, Sinon!"
Still perched atop her best friend's shoulders, Sinon proceeded to mark three more trap locations as another fist and two feet erupted upward and crashed downward, respectively, onto the spaces the scouts occupied not a second earlier. The scouting players began to zigzag and cross each other's paths, making one last sweep of the boss chamber for any lingering traps.
"Clear!" Argo shouted as she and the rest of the scouts retreated back to the safety of the raid group.
"Alright, move in!" Kirito commanded, pointing his longsword forward. "Teams A, B, C, and D; focus on triggering those traps and dealing damage! Teams E, F, and G; keep those golem adds under control! H, you're on support duty; keep everyone in good shape and rotate as needed!"
Noticing she was still seated atop her friend, Sinon looked down and gave a light, yet firm, smack to the side of Leonn's head. "Alright, let me down."
"Geez, no need to get violent about it." Leonn said with a huff and a smirk before setting her down. "Ready?"
"Let's go!" Sinon heard Geeou cry out as he ran alongside Leonn. He was joined by Nautilus as both swordsmen flanked their comrade-in-arms.
She saw Kirito and Asuna divert off from the rest of the Renegade force, having already agreed to be floaters. While it left a small hole in Sinon's group, they felt it was necessary to allow the two leaders the opportunity to keep watch on the entire battle, not just the smaller one they were fighting. It also allowed the duo the chance to shore up any weaknesses they might spot during their patrol.
Sinon turned her attention back to the immediate battle at hand, ignoring the small skirmishes erupting all around her. Her guild, at least those fighting nearby, needed her more. Currently, the five of them - Silica and Yuna were in the support group while the aforementioned Renegade leaders were otherwise preoccupied - were huddled around one of the spots Sinon had marked as a trap area. Stepping inside the square of arrows would trigger one of the boss's limbs to emerge, simultaneously damaging whoever was still inside at the time while also opening itself up to attack.
"Ready?" Liz asked, glancing over her shoulder at everyone else. She shifted in her stance, looking ready to lash out with her warhammer at the first thing to emerge.
"Let's do it." Nautilus said firmly. He took a step forward and looked prepared to sprint forward. "I'll be the bait."
"Careful." Leonn warned. "That thing came out fast last time."
Nautilus nodded while Sinon nocked an arrow on her bowstring. As she raised her bow and took aim, the ashen-haired swordsman dashed forward, stepping into the square before sprinting out the other side. Just as he emerged out the other side of the square, an enormous, rocky hand erupted out of the stonework below, furiously grasping at thin air.
Liz, Leonn, and Geeou immediately swung their weapons, slashing and smacking into the boss's wrist. Sinon, for her part, decided to aim her shots at the red lines running along the length of its palm and fingers to see if that would have any sort of increased effect. It recoiled as if in pain but for the most part stayed rigid and unmoving. After several seconds of continued onslaught, its fist visibly relaxed before it opened into a palm and struck downward, almost flattening Nautilus.
"Whoa!" Leonn said, having had to step to the side as the hand slammed down near him. "No one said anything about the limbs staying and attacking!"
"Did you really think it would be that easy?" Sinon deadpanned as she let loose yet another arrow, this one charged up with one of her skills. The arrow slammed into the thumb of the disembodied hand, causing its next attack to change trajectory just enough to glance off of Liz's shield.
Sinon took a moment to re-evaluate the status of the battlefield. As she nocked her next arrow, she glanced around and saw three other groups also fending off limbs of their own. Fuurinkazan was occupied with a foot while the Legend Braves were taking on the other hand. Small clusters of solo players or other guilds were keeping the golem monsters at bay. So far, everything was going according to plan.
She paused, hesitating as she took aim at the giant hand again.
It was that kind of thinking that usually brought about something terrible and dangerous. Every single time in the past four floors, someone would inevitably say or think that exact thing, only for things to go sideways in the worst way possible. Diavel's stunt on the 1st floor. Asterius's lightning breath on the 2nd floor. That entire second phase for the treant on the 3rd floor. How did that saying go again?
No plan survives first contact with the enemy.
Deciding to keep an eye and an ear out for anything new and dangerous, Sinon let loose the arrow. She kept drawing and firing as much as she could, riddling the rampaging fist with arrows as it tried to swat away her friends if they got too close. At one point, it almost grabbed Geeou in its stony grasp. Fortunately, the flaxen-haired swordsman was quick on his feet and was able to slip out of its fingers before it could give him a bone-crushing squeeze.
"Be careful, Geeou!" Liz scolded, slamming her warhammer into the limb's wrist before leaping back out of melee range.
"Sorry!" He answered, taking a step back and collecting himself after his narrow escape.
Sinon reached her hand back to take stock of how many arrows she had left. Her fingers idly felt around the interior of her quiver as she mentally counted what she had left.
About thirty. Should be enough for now.
In truth, she had many more tucked away in her inventory, but there was only so much she could physically have contained within her quiver. Once she ran out, she'd have to retreat and retrieve more arrows from her inventory to reload her quiver.
She pulled out another arrow and nocked it, only to notice a faint purple glow illuminating everything in front of her. Very soon after, the hand they were fighting suddenly and abruptly closed its fist and retreated into the ground.
Strange. Sinon glanced down at her bow, then her hands, then the space in front of her. It was almost like that glow was coming from...
"LOOK OUT!" A voice called from behind her.
Instinctively, Sinon dove to the side as a purple beam of light, perhaps 3 feet in diameter, ripped through the air and seared a charred circle into the far wall.
There it was. Murphy's Law in full force.
"What the hell?!" Nautilus shouted out as he stood up, apparently having dodged the beam of light as well. "Lasers?!"
"Leonn!" Liz cried out. The blacksmith crawled over to her fellow tank, who was lying on the ground nearby. There was a dark scorch mark covering his left shoulder; clearly Leonn hadn't been quick enough to dodge the laser beam. His absolutely abysmal agility and dexterity stats - that is, to say, still firmly set at their default values - weren't enough for him to move out of the way in time.
While her friend was certainly built like a truck, he definitely wasn't as fast as one.
A quick glance at the party interface showed that the maul-wielding tank had lost at least 40% of his health to that sudden and terrifying attack. Given how absolutely bulky his health pool was, that had to have been a lot of damage. That said, he was alive and now recovering, thanks to Liz practically shoving a health potion down his gullet.
While she was still concerned for her best friend, Sinon nonetheless whipped her head around to see what exactly had attacked and if it was likely to do it again. There, floating ominously in the center of the triangular arena, was ((Fuscus the Vacant Colossus)) in all its stonewrought glory.
Well, its head at least.
Its head was surprisingly devoid of any sort of facial features, save for the same kind of red glowing lines running up and down the length of its face and cranium. The only defining features on the floating head was a pair of glowing purple-red eyes and a mouth which was now slowly closing. The head had to have been at least 10 feet tall, and given the size of the mouth (and the fact that it was closing at the moment) it was safe to assume that the colossus had expelled the laser beam from its mouth.
Sinon reflexively fired a charged arrow at the colossus's head, striking it directly in the eye. The head then turned and looked her way, almost appraisingly, before it sank and melded back into the stone below.
"Watch for that head!" Kirito shouted from across the room. "All groups, keep an eye on the center of the arena in case it comes out again!"
With that, Sinon and her immediate group of Renegades repositioned themselves so that they were facing the interior of the triangle. Over the next few minutes, they still triggered the boss's fist to emerge, but were positioned such that they could see if the head emerged while they were fighting. They were not about to be blindsided by a sudden laser attack again. Many of the other groups seemed to have similar ideas as an increased sense of urgency with regard to spatial awareness took hold. Any and all subsequent laser attacks were dodged without issue.
Suddenly, the chamber began to rumble and all of the limbs which were previously engaged with players retracted into the stonework.
"Phase change!" Kirito shouted. "Heal up while the cutscene plays out!"
Sinon took her leader's advice, taking out a small health potion and drinking it. She hadn't taken much damage at all during their scuffle with Fuscus's hand, but an abundance of caution during a boss fight was always a safe bet. Her face puckered at the bitter taste of the potion; she silently thanked it for the healing while cursing it for its repulsive flavor.
Healing crystals couldn't become available soon enough.
As she tossed the empty potion to the side, Sinon now saw the 5th floor boss assembling itself in the middle of the arena. First to emerge from the stonework was a massive torso, which slowly floated upward and hovered in mid-air. Then, the two hands erupted from the sides of the arena, similar to the way they had when attempting to attack the players. Both hands slammed down, open palmed, before leveraging enormous arms out of the floor at the shoulder. Like magnets, the connected arms and hands flew towards the torso and locked into place. Emerging from underneath the torso were two legs and the two feet that the others groups had fought against. Finally, dropping from the ceiling came Fuscus's head, slamming down with a terrible crash. The signature glowing red lines hummed to life now that ((Fuscus the Vacant Colossus)) was complete, and its eyes flared with anger and rage.
Sinon preemptively nocked an arrow and took aim. She didn't know if her flimsy little arrows would be very effective against a stone colossus like this, but she was certainly going to try.
"I'm getting some deja vu here." Klein muttered.
"Yep." Orlando agreed. "It's like Nerius all over again."
"I… don't think we're going to be able to topple this one." Nautilus said with an audible gulp.
"Stay focused, we have this!" Kirito shouted as he prepared his own blade. "Tanks, get ready!"
Sinon watched as Liten ran forward with her tower shield - she noted just how heavily armored the ALS tank looked - and planted herself in front, ready to take all of the rage and ire of this gargantuan creature. Several other tanks, including Liz, took up places alongside Liten and braced themselves.
Fuscus let loose a terrible roar, which sounded more like boulders grinding against one another than an actual yell, and swung out with its right arm horizontally. The shield wall took the attack fairly well, although the tank on the far left, having been the first one that Fuscus hit, seemed to have taken most of the hit and staggered a little.
"We've got its attention!" Liten cried out as Fuscus unleashed another swipe, this time with the other arm. The tanks shifted back from the impact of the massive stony limb, but otherwise held their ground nonetheless.
"Alright, DPS move in!" Kirito called out as he himself joined the fray.
Sinon gave a subtle smirk, taking the cue to begin her steady barrage of arrows. As she loosed arrow upon arrow, she realized that without the distraction of golem adds or several limbs to contend with, the rest of this fight was comparatively easy. As Kirito once put it, this fight was shaping up to be your typical "Tank & Spank". She inwardly groaned at how that particular idiom sounded.
Leave it to a bunch of gamers to make the word "spank" part of their regular jargon.
It was then that Sinon noticed the red lines running across Fuscus's body begin to glow more intensely. At first she dismissed it as a trick of the light, but then it only grew more intense. Something was happening, and since everyone else was engaged with the boss in close quarters, they probably didn't see the pattern.
"Kirito!" Sinon yelled out. "It's glowing!"
Kirito glanced over at Sinon and seemed to heed her warning, jumping back to get a better read on the situation at hand. His eyes widened, either out of fear or recognition before he called out to the raid group. "Laser! Scatter!"
At once, all of the players in immediate melee with Fuscus - even those who were behind the boss, Sinon noticed - dove to the side or backward in a desperate bid to avoid getting hit by that devastating beam attack. She spotted Klein haphazardly throwing himself to the side and unceremoniously rolling to a stop, a sight that normally would have been funny were it not for the bright purple beam of light that immediately followed. Just like before, the laser attack shot forward, this time grazing the side of Liten's tower shield before crashing into the far wall. Amazingly, both the ALS tank and her shield remained intact, albeit with some noticeable scorching on the tower shield itself.
"I swear, if we ever get out of this game I'm going to wring Kayaba's neck myself!" Klein cried out as he stood up. "How the crap are we supposed to counter lasers?!"
Sinon took aim once more with an arrow, charging up one of her bow skills to give it an extra kick. After a careful moment of focus and concentration, she let the bolt loose and watched it impact with Fuscus's head and jar it slightly to the side.
She smirked. Maybe she could divert its laser aim if she timed her shots right.
Fuscus roared with rage as it began its stony onslaught once more, this time barrelling into the hastily formed shield wall. The defenders grunted from the impact, sliding back at least a few feet from the unexpected attack. This continued for several minutes, with Fuscus focusing its ire and hatred upon the tiring shield wall led by Liten, which was interrupted only by the occasional laser attack. Sinon was successful in throwing off its aim for the majority of the time, but regrettably she was unable to intercept every attack. Fortunately, the melee fighters were cautious and quick enough to avoid the laser attacks entirely, or in Liten's case, outright block them with her massive tower shield.
That girl was easily the most fortified tank on the front line, and it showed.
Sinon glanced around, both to survey her surroundings and to gauge everyone's current fighting states. While she was certainly tired, she knew that as a ranged fighter she didn't have to expend nearly as much energy in combat as did her companions. The rest of the raid group, having had to scatter and dodge every single time Fuscus laser-beamed, looked absolutely exhausted. Some of the players - including some from Fuurinkazan, the Braves, and even the Renegades - were beginning to make sloppy, albeit minor, mistakes and the toll on their health was beginning to show.
They needed to end this soon.
"Kii-bou!" Argo shouted out with just an ounce of panic in her voice. "They'll be here in ten minutes, we gotta wrap this up!"
"Which one?!" Kirito shouted back in reply as he slashed out with his longsword across Fuscus's calf.
"Does it really matter?!" Asuna interjected, all the while rocketing into Fuscus's leg with her glowing rapier. "It won't be good if either of them get here before we're done!"
Kirito grimaced and gave a nod before refocusing his attention back on the boss. "Right! Last push, everyone! Leonn, give me a boost!"
"Is that all I am to you people, a trampoline?!" Leonn cried out jokingly, prompting a giggle from Liz and a smirk from Sinon. A handful of chuckles and laughs came out from the raid group as well at his sudden outburst. "Fine, get over here then!"
Sinon watched Kirito run right at Leonn, who had since stepped away from the action and stowed his maul, ready to boost Kirito up into the air. The black-haired swordsman stepped into Leonn's waiting hands and was suddenly thrust up into the air and directly towards Fuscus's face. The swordsman impacted the boss's face with a mid-air ((Vertical)) before landing on his shoulder.
Fuscus let out yet another chamber-rattling roar as its last health bar eked closer and closer to empty. Furiously, the stone colossus made a swipe at its shoulder, seeking to squash or bat away its unwelcome passenger. Kirito was quicker than that, though. Stabbing his longsword into the back of Fuscus's neck, he used his implanted weapon to leverage himself across Fuscus's back and onto the other shoulder, deftly avoiding the giant hand that threatened to flatten him.
Sinon fired another charged shot at the colossus's head, hoping to deal a significant portion of damage and distract it from Kirito.
Unfortunately, it worked.
Fuscus's rage-filled crimson eyes then locked onto the archer as every glowing red line across its body shone brightly. It was about to fire its laser again when Sinon nocked another arrow. She was about to fire when she realized that a direct shot like this wouldn't be enough to alter the beam's trajectory. Relaxing the tension on her bowstring, she instead opted to dive to the side in anticipation of Fuscus's terrible - and arguably unbalanced and ill suited for a fantasy game - laser beam.
Yet, it never came.
Instead, what graced Sinon's sight was Kirito's longsword sticking out of the top of Fuscus's head like the legendary sword in the stone. While the colossus wasn't likely capable of emoting due to its programming and the somewhat limited facial features it had (or didn't have, technically), she could have sworn its expression was one of shock and fear. It also seemed frozen in place. It let out one last groan before it shattered.
Sinon looked up.
[Congratulations!]
She let out a sigh of relief. Finally, and without a single death.
After a brief moment of stunned silence, the chamber erupted in yells and cheers, the members of the impromptu raid team absolutely ecstatic about their victory against the 5th floor boss. What's more, they proved that they could pull it off without the muscle and numbers that the ALS and DKB brought to the table.
"Great job everyone!" Orlando called out, though his gaze seemed centered more on Kirito than anyone else.
"Yep!" Argo agreed before she stowed her claw weapons. "Although, some o' ya might wanna scram before yer superiors come bargin' in through those doors…"
Sinon saw Liten and Shivata tense up, with the latter of the two speaking up for the duo. "You have a point. We'll head to the next floor and unlock the town teleporter while you all… uhh… deal with the aftermath."
"We're gonna stick around and back you up, Kirito." Klein said, clapping his hand on Kirito's back - quite firmly, Sinon observed.
"Same with us." Agil said, his two companions in tow. Orlando and the Braves stepped forward, joining the others in solidarity with Kirito. "We've got your back, man."
"The rest o' ya should head up and make sure Liten and Shivata don' die, yeah?" Argo offered. Many, particularly the solo players, saw the immediate wisdom of that action and left the chamber to follow Liten and Shivata up the stairs.
Sinon stowed her bow on her back as she watched Kirito scroll through his inventory list. His expression hardened as he stopped scrolling, seemingly finding what he was looking for. Many around him were also looking at him, curious about what the black-haired swordsman was looking at but already knowing what it was.
"Yep." Kirito said with a solemn nod. "It's here."
"We're still going through with the plan, right?" Asuna asked.
"We have to." Kirito assured her. "Things could go south if we changed our minds."
Sinon took a deep breath as everyone looked towards the closed boss doors.
This was going to be interesting.
"YOU WHAT?!"
Sinon couldn't help but wince at the volume and anger coming from Kibaou. The cactus-haired man was absolutely fuming with rage, and many of his subordinates behind him clearly felt the same. Lind was no better, but though the blue-haired DKB leader was being characteristically reserved on the matter, even she could sense the man's disgruntlement at the current situation. Both of the leading frontline guilds had emerged from the boss doors at the same time, apparently having come to some sort of agreement to allow whoever got the last attack bonus to keep the guild flag in some sort of competition.
Little did they know at the time that the race had already been decided.
"We already defeated the floor boss." Kirito said matter-of-factly. "I was going to explain why before you interrupted, Kibaou."
"What possible explanation could you have for going on ahead without us?!" Kibaou growled, his vehement rage giving way to barely-restrained indignation.
"That's ironic…" Sinon heard Nautilus murmur off to the side.
He wasn't wrong. In fairness, this was exactly what the ALS and DKB had done on the last floor, except this time the shoe was on the other foot. What probably made this turn of events even worse (or better, depending on how you looked at it) was that this time the first group actually succeeded in their fight without outside intervention.
"Because of this." Kirito said, manifesting the guild banner and displaying it for all to see. Almost immediately the tone of the room shifted from angry to outright hostile. No one made any moves to attack, but the intent was bubbling under the surface. "I assume you know what this is."
"You…" Kibaou growled, his fists clenched in fury. "It's not enough that you beat us to the punch, but now you've got the nerve to flaunt it?"
"I expected better from you, Kirito." Lind interjected, crossing his arms.
"I'm not done." Kirito said, cutting both off before they could continue. "I'm not keeping it."
"WHAT?!" The combined forces of the DKB and ALS shouted at once. Kibaou looked absolutely perplexed while Lind was looking at Kirito like he was the world's biggest idiot.
"Then we'll just take it!" A voice shouted from the back. Sinon could tell it was somebody from the ALS side of the crowd that made that ridiculous suggestion. "We outnumber them, Kibaou! We could easily just - "
Kibaou wheeled around, the target of his rage changing suddenly. "Shut your damn mouth, Morte! I don't care how much we want that thing, we're not taking it by force! We're here on the front line to save people, not kill them!"
"But…!" The man called Morte began to object.
"I said that's enough!" Kibaou roared. The ALS leader seemed more offended at the thought of player-on-player conflict than at the reality of losing the guild flag. That came as a relief to Sinon; despite his pig-headedness, even Kibaou had the greater good in mind.
Sinon heard some slight grumbling coming from the back of the ALS group, probably from Morte himself. While she hoped it would be otherwise, she had a feeling she'd be seeing more of Morte in the coming floors. A temperament like that would hardly stay silent for long.
Kibaou turned back towards the other guild leaders and let out a resigned sigh, albeit one laced with frustration. "Ignore him. Go on, Beater. What do you mean you're not keeping it?"
"What just happened is exactly why I'm not keeping it, and why I'm suggesting that neither of you get it either." Kirito began, drawing curious looks from Lind and Kibaou. "The power that comes with this flag would give one guild an unfair advantage over the others and only encourage infighting."
Kibaou and Lind nodded their heads, each reluctantly agreeing with the Renegade leader's logic after having seen the reason for it firsthand.
"If either of you had this flag, the other guild would ultimately suffer because of it." Kirito continued. "The balance of power would shift, and not in a good way."
"Not using that flag would be a wasted opportunity though." Lind countered. "The progress we could make and the potential lives that could be saved would be worth the risk."
"You're not wrong." Kirito replied in kind. "It's a huge boon for the front line, but I don't think we're ready for that yet. I'm not suggesting we lock this away, either."
"... Then what are you suggesting, Beater?" Kibaou asked hesitantly, arching an eyebrow.
"I'm suggesting that a neutral, unaffiliated third party hold onto this flag until one of two possible things happen." Kirito explained. "The first is if another guild flag drops. If that happens, then both of your guilds get a flag to use without cheating the other."
"We don't know when - if at all - that will happen, Kirito." Lind said, his arms still crossed. "What's the other option?"
"The DKB and the ALS merge into one guild." Kirito answered.
To say that the other guilds' reactions were varied would be an understatement. Some in the crowd seemed to agree with the assessment, if the murmurs of approval and subtle nods of the head were anything to go off of. Others in the crowd looked outraged at the very idea of merging the two guilds. It was no secret that the two guilds had very different ideologies when it came to managing themselves. The ALS were about sharing resources, almost to a fault; it wasn't uncommon for ALS members to bully non-ALS players for information in the name of "shared success". The DKB, on the other hand, saw themselves as champions that would take the best resources for themselves in order to clear the game on behalf of others. Like the ALS, this attitude came with its own costs, as DKB members had a reputation for kill-stealing and hogging loot so that they could grow stronger for their guild at the cost of others.
"I still don't get why you're not just claiming it for yourself." Kibaou grumbled. "That's what Beaters do is take what should belong to everyone else."
Asuna, who was standing at Kirito's side, visibly stiffened and her brow furrowed at the implication that they would selfishly take something like that. Kirito seemed to take note of this, glancing over his shoulder to give her a subtle shake of his head. Sinon watched the fencer's posture slacken just a little, but she could tell that Asuna was still on edge.
"We're not idiots, Kibaou." Kirito said with a chuckle. "The outrage that kind of move would cause wouldn't be good for us, either. Morte over there just proved what would happen if we had claimed it ourselves. If not him, others would try something instead. No, we're passing it off to a neutral third party so that we wouldn't be tempted to use it either."
"And just who might that be?" Lind asked.
"Me."
All eyes turned towards one person who was leaning up against a nearby wall. With their attention now focused solely on her, she flashed a grin and pushed off the wall. With an air of authority and confidence, she strode forward and stood between the three guild leaders before placing her hands on her hips. Sinon couldn't help but smirk; the choice had been made long ago by the raid group about who would keep the guild flag for safekeeping.
Argo the Rat.
"You?!" Kibaou cried out, clearly displeased with the suggestion. His own disbelief was echoed by the rest of his guild behind him.
"Why not?" Kirito countered. "She's a well-known third party and always keeps neutral when it comes to guild politics. She's not allied with any of the major guilds and you know she keeps to her code. She wants to clear the game just as much as we do since she writes and updates the free guidebook for everyone, so her loyalties are pretty clear."
There was an uneasy silence as Lind and Kibaou seemed to weigh the decision in their heads. Sinon glanced over at the rest of her friends, who were all quietly and anxiously awaiting the verdict. Looking over at Kirito, looking surprisingly stoic, and Asuna, who seemed to be standing closer to Kirito than before, Sinon could tell that the two Renegade leaders were just as nervous about the outcome. No one had prepared a 'Plan B' in case this plan wasn't readily accepted by the ALS and DKB.
"We'll agree if the ALS does." Lind said, shifting his focus over to Kibaou.
"Makes sense, I guess." Kibaou admitted with a huff. "I don't like it, but we do need to remain united and that flag would make that more difficult. We'll agree to it."
"Good." Kirito said with a nod. He handed the guild flag over to Argo, whereupon the banner shifted from displaying the crest of the Resolute Renegades over to a blank white, plain banner. It looked rather unremarkable now that it was in the hands of the Rat, honestly. With a few quick taps and swipes, Argo stowed the banner in her inventory and dusted off her hands as if to signify a job well done.
"So we just gonna stand around here and stare at each other or are we gonna go to the next floor?" Kibaou huffed after an uncomfortably long moment of awkward silence between the three guild leaders.
Sinon smirked. These three may be the unofficial leaders of the Clearers, but they were apparently still socially awkward gamers at heart.
"DKB, let's get going!" Lind shouted, making his way towards the stairs.
"ALS, move out!" Kibaou roared, seemingly trying to raise his voice louder than Lind.
Sinon took advantage of the lull and went around the boss arena, carefully retrieving the arrows she'd expended to mark the trapped zones. Stowing the arrows in her quiver, she opened her inventory to count how many arrows she had and realized she'd need to stock up at the next town. She'd be fine for now, but preparation was the name of the game. By the time she was done, most of the remaining raiders were walking up the staircase to the next floor. All except Silica, who was uncharacteristically waiting patiently at the foot of the stairs.
"Hurry up Sinon!" Silica called out. Even Pina let out a small chirp, as if echoing her master's sentiments. "We're gonna head up to the next floor!"
Sinon smiled as she walked over to catch up with the little dragon tamer. The duo ascended the steps, right behind the other Renegades, while Sinon breathed a sigh of relief. Five floors down, ninety-five to go. They'd only been trapped for a few months at this point, yet it seemed like a lifetime already. She could only hope that the only obstacles ahead would be the floors and bosses themselves, not these pesky inter-guild politics and power grabs.
Deep down though, she knew that wouldn't be the case.