So, I'm back...
Well, just as I stated that I can finish a chapter in under a month last chapter, I've needed more than a month for the next one. Makes me feel kinda awkward, but that's just how it is.
Anyway, there's not much to say, so I'll get straight to the story.
Last time, the Assault Team reached the entrance to the goblins' last stronghold - only to find the gate sealed shut. Fortunately, Kirito had an idea as to how they might be able to open it... but a certain party will have to infiltrate the castle "through the back door". Who will that party be, and what will they experience? Well, let's find out!
Lisbeth: So, how exactly did we get this particular nightmare foist on us again?
Silica [slightly annoyed]: Liz-san, I think you've heard Asuna-san loud and clear, so do you really have to ask?
Lisbeth: Just sum it up for me again, because I honestly can't believe we've ended up with this job!
Philia: Well, we arrived at the actual fortress, but the front gate is locked, and since forcing it open from the outside didn't work, someone has to climb through the venting system and open it from the inside.
Lisbeth [slightly annoyed]: Well, that sums it up nicely, but it doesn't really answer my question: [upset] Why are we charged with this mission?!
Silica: I'd say it's because we're the only ones – aside from Kirito-san – who know the interior of the castle. I mean, we even explored those hidden corridors. Not to mention that Asuna-san probably wanted to send only a small party that's good at dungeon crawling. Well, and that would be us.
Lisbeth: We are not experts at that! [points at Philia] She is!
Philia: Um, that sounds kinda like you want me to go in there alone…
Silica [slightly upset]: That's right! Don't be so unreasonable, Liz-san! We're a team, so of course we go together!
Lisbeth: I know, I know… It's just… I really didn't like these frigging tunnels…
While saying that in an uneasy voice, Lisbeth looked up. They were already standing below the ledge they had to climb onto in order to gain access to the citadel "through the backdoor". Then again, that appeared to be easier said than done given how high that ledge was.
Lisbeth: Anyway, how are we even supposed to get up there? I bet that's more than ten metres above the ground, and I certainly don't see any convenient staircase, or do you?
Silica [slightly nervously]: Well, about that… How should I say it?
Lisbeth [slightly confusedly]: What's with this expression of impending doom, Silica? Well, or maybe it's a look of pity, but why are you looking at me as if something terrible is about to…
Her eyes widened as a thought occurred to Lisbeth… alongside flashbacks to the day before, when she, her party and Kirito had had to deal with a… similar issue.
Lisbeth: Oh no… [clutches her head] No… [increasingly more loudly and desperately] No, no, no, NO!
She turned towards Philia again, and just as Lisbeth had feared, her comrade held her accursed grappling hook in her hands while looking at Lisbeth with a sympathetic, apologetic smile.
Lisbeth: Not that thing again…
Silica [slightly sternly]: Liz-san, don't be so dramatic! Asuna-san, Kirito-san and everyone else are all counting on us! You can't mean to chicken out just because of something so trivial.
Lisbeth looked up to catch a glimpse of Silica, who had planted herself right in front of her with her hands on her hips and a determined, somewhat admonishing expression on her face.
Speaking of which, that look Silica gave Lisbeth sure was something – at least in the older girl's eyes. Not too long ago, she and Philia had to do everything in their power to console Silica after what had happened to her new familiar earlier. Well, or to be more precise, they tried to, but Silica had been so distraught that they hadn't really been able to come up with anything to cheer her up.
Oddly enough, it had been Asuna's "call to arms" that had seemingly done the trick. At first, all of them had been a bit worried that Silica in particular might not have been in the… mental state to go on any important mission, but to their surprise, she'd hardly hesitated, and now she was apparently the most resolute of them all when it came to their "special task".
Well, and now that the girl who had pulled herself together like asked Lisbeth to do the same, how could she possible complain?
Lisbeth: Alright, alright! I know that's just part of the job, so… let's get this over with!
Silica: That's the spirit!
Philia: Yes, I'm sure you'll be fine! You're stronger than the rope, Liz!
Lisbeth [mutters]: I'm sure I'm not… but what other choice do I have?
While their ascent was about as slow and weary as last time due to a certain smith's troubles, it ultimately went off without a hitch, seemingly making this the first time on that day that something went as planned – after all, some people had feared that a number of goblin monsters might've appeared on the ledge to cut off the girls' rope (or to hinder them in another way).
Well, just because nothing had happened so far did of course not mean that things would stay that way… although the situation inside the hidden passage through the goblins' stronghold complied with this assessment of the situation: Silica, Lisbeth and Philia didn't encounter any monsters, traps or whatever other obstacles they might've thought of. If anything, the emptiness and silence within the dark corridors was downright eerie.
Naturally, since they were essentially cut off from any support, the girls kept their guard up anyway. Given that Philia, an expert on such "environments", were with them, they actually had little to worry about, though. Philia kept an eye out for traps while routinely checking the surrounding area with Searching. Due to the mods she'd chosen, she could've easily detected monsters who lay in wait behind corners and maybe even inside hidden chambers or bays… if there had been any. As mentioned before, this part of the castle was suspiciously empty.
Fortunately, as the girls had already been in these tunnels before, they'd got the map data, and they vaguely knew where to go. Thus, even though they traversed the corridors slowly and cautiously, it didn't take their party long to reach their destination.
There was a hole in the floor, which led into the room where they had to go. Philia was about to take a step towards it, but she paused. For now, she took a serious look at the torch – yet another "dungeon crawling 101" item at her disposal – before extinguishing it.
Lisbeth: Huh?! Wait, why did you…
Philia put a finger to her lips while sending a serious glance at Lisbeth, urging her comrade to remain quiet. Silica had been just as surprised as Lisbeth, but she, too, took Philia's hint not to raise her voice.
They still got an explanation: Philia showed them their map window.
Philia: Take a look! There are monsters down there. Quite a few, actually.
Sure enough, when Philia had used Searching upon reaching the area above the control room, she had picked up the signals of several monsters, and thanks to the mods she had, these monsters were shown on her map as red dots. Well, and according to the map, the room beneath their feet seemed to be littered with enemies.
Philia: They might hear us up here, and they might see the light of the torch if they happen to look up, so let's avoid drawing attention! There's light coming from the hole, so I guess the room is pretty well-lit, at least enough to take a look inside.
Silica and Lisbeth both nodded. Then, the girls knelt down around the rectangular hole and peeked over the edge. Well, the room seemed larger than it looked on the map, and it was the other way around with the monsters, which was often the case, to be honest. Thus, the chamber didn't appear to be as cramped as they'd feared…
...but that didn't change the fact that it was heavily-guarded, and that wasn't even the only problem.
Lisbeth: There really are many of them… and I'm not talking about the goblins.
Philia: Hasn't that been clear? I mean, we've been in that room before, which is one reason why we've been given this task in the first place. We knew that there was more than one lever. Far more.
Lisbeth: Yeah, but there are easily two dozen all over the walls. [annoyed] Why are there that many anyway? Who needs such a stupid amount of switch mechanisms?
Silica: It certainly doesn't make things easier… We even have to figure out which one is the right lever to operate in order to open the front gate for the others. Well, maybe that's why they put so many different choices there.
Lisbeth: Yeah, but right now, I'm more concerned how we're supposed to test even just one of them. [looks at the goblins] I mean, I'm not expecting a warm welcome down there.
Silica [very nervously]: Yeah, I bet they view us as traitors. Ugh… What do you think they'll do with traitors? If they're girls, I bet the goblins will…
Lisbeth [sternly]: Hold it right there, Silica! [exasperatedly] Seriously, we don't need your fantasy running wild right now…
Philia [slightly awkwardly]: Well, keeping that aside, [reassuringly] I don't think we have to worry too much about the monsters in that room. [slightly mischievously] We just have to be a bit sneaky!
Lisbeth: Huh, what are you talking about?
Philia: Well, there are challenges like that in dungeons sometimes. Usually, in order to get the treasure, you have to fight your way through the monsters that guard it, but in the trickier cases, the enemies are just too strong or too many. In that case, the important thing to remember is that we're not here to wipe out the monsters in that room, we're only here to grab the treasure! [slightly awkwardly] Well, or the switch to open the gate, actually.
Lisbeth: So, you're saying that we should avoid fighting and just focus on pulling the right lever before the goblins get us? Geez, just say so! Anyway, how are we gonna do it? Do you wanna sneak in with Hiding, or…?
Philia: That… might work, but I'm not sure about it. Even if they couldn't see me, they'd definitely hear me the moment I jump down, especially since goblins are pretty good at detecting players through hearing. Well, and there's also the issue that monsters can still react to changes in the environment that are caused by concealed players. If I pulled one of these levers – even when using Hiding – they'd definitely notice me.
Silica: In that case, what do you have in mind, Philia-san?
Philia: A little diversion!
She took her boomerang out from her inventory and held it up.
Philia: I'll attack them from up here to get their attention. Then, one of us jumps down and quickly opens the gate.
Silica: Um, I get that the goblins won't be able to reach you, but have you forgotten that this means that they'll reset their target almost immediately, so they'll totally go after the other person?
Philia: Well, it'll only distract them for a moment, but that should be enough to give us a head start, which is probably the most important and also the hardest part. Once we manage to get that far, whoever we send just has to outrun the goblins. Well, which I guess means…
Both Philia and Lisbeth turned to Silica, who winced at the thought all three girls shared.
Lisbeth: I… I guess you're the best person for the job, Silica… [slightly worriedly] But there's something else I'm wondering: How exactly is she supposed to get back here?! Like, you didn't plan to leave her down there, running for her life until the rest of the Assault Team catches up to us, did you?
Philia [slightly huffily]: Of course not!
Philia took out another item, a rope this time.
Philia: We'll pull her up again as soon as Asuna verifies that we've got the right lever.
Silica [nervously]: Mmmgh… I… suppose that's the best plan…
The young girl looked through the hole in the ground at all the goblin monsters. For the most part, they were the run-of-the-mill Goblin Guards, but there was also a Goblin Warden, the kind of goblin monster Akinym and Sinon had fought inside the ship during their last quest. From Silica's perspective, the somewhat stronger goblin monster looked even creepier than it had to Akinym and Sinon.
She cramped up at first, but relaxed slightly when she felt a hand on her shoulder. When she took a look, Silica saw that Lisbeth was making this gesture. It surprised her a bit to see the older girl's calm, reassuring smile.
Lisbeth: Hey, what's that meek reaction for? [slightly cheekily] Kirito, Asuna and eeeveryone else are all counting on us, so you can't chicken out over something as "trivial" as this!
Silica: You don't have to be snappish about it! I know I said that earlier, [looks at the goblins, insecurely] it's just that…
Lisbeth [exasperatedly]: I get it… [seriously] but honestly, is this really the time to keep worrying about something that – let's be real – you're thinking about only because of some idiots' mindless blabbering?! Where's your spirit from earlier?! I mean, who's been the most determined of us to help?
Silica: W-well, I guess…
Philia: Liz is right! You didn't hesitate like that when Kirito brought up the idea to use your ox familiars instead of a ram, did you? [slightly awkwardly] That is, you actually did, [reassuringly, slightly desperately] but that was only because Kirito thought of something really weird!
Lisbeth [mutters]: I'm not sure how that's supposed to be motivating…
Philia: Well, okay, how about this example: Think of the determination you showed when you stepped up during the strategy meeting! You know, when everyone expected Kirito to explain the layout of the castle yard, but he didn't seem to know how to, you took the stage without fretting over what might happen, didn't you?
Lisbeth [reassuringly]: Yeah, and when you did, you totally… [awkwardly, slightly hesitantly] made yourself look like a fool, now that I think about it…
Silica: That's not helping!
Lisbeth: S-sorry, I got kinda carried away there… [determinedly] A-anyway! The point is that you're way too much of a fighter at heart to let your… [slightly exasperatedly] weird hotchpotch of phobias get in the way of… [seriously] of your determination! So, what are you gonna do, Silica? What are you here for?!
Silica: Liz-san…
Silica took a moment to gather her thoughts. The clearest picture that came to her mind was that of Asuna when she had asked them to infiltrate the castle and to open the gate for the rest of the Assault Team from within. Back then, Silica had felt a certain pride that Asuna would turn towards them for this – just as she had felt when Kirito had done something similar earlier. More than anything else, Silica had wanted to live up to the trust they apparently put in her party…
...and that was still the case. Thus, Silica took a deep breath and slapped her cheeks lightly, telling herself to get a grip.
Silica: Okay, you're right! Time to get to business!
Lisbeth: That's more like it!
Philia: Yeah! And don't worry, I'll have your back!
Even Pina joined in and cried encouragingly. Now that they had taken care of this, the party could finally start.
Philia stood up, leant forward and lifted her boomerang to the side of her head. This was the starting stance of a throwing Sword Skill of hers. Once Philia's weapon started to glow, Silica knew that she had to get ready. She had a vague idea as to how she should go about her job, and she didn't hesitate to downright throw herself through the hole in the ground into the room below after Philia had hit some goblins with her boomerang, which had caused pretty much every single monster in the room to swarm towards her – just as planned.
When Silica landed on the ground, she immediately proceeded to use Acrobatics for a somersault, which allowed her not only to break her fall, but also to get up to her feet in such a fluid motion that an observer might've got the impression that she was a professional gymnast – although that praise rightfully belonged to the system assistant, not to Silica herself.
Regardless, thanks to that manoeuvre Silica could dash away from the bulk of goblins that gathered in the centre of the room in an instant. The monsters noticed her, of course, and their AI also realised that their initial target, Philia, was out of reach. Naturally, they shifted their attention to Silica, but the girls' tactic had indeed succeeded at confusing them for a moment, and the time their foes needed to react gave Silica the head start they had hoped for.
Thus, Silica began to run around the room… with all the goblin monsters chasing after her. Thankfully, Silica was indeed quick on her feet, so she could overall outrun the goblins, at least for the time being. She was pulling levers in passing whenever the gap between her and her pursuers allowed it, but given that Asuna didn't send a message to inform that their plan had worked, it took them a while to find the right one.
Silica [frustratedly]: Aaargh! Is there still nothing?
Lisbeth: Sorry, but no!
Silica: Why?! Why can't I just use the right lever and be done with it?!
She glanced over her shoulder, only to see a horde (at least that's how it felt to her) of goblins running after her like a bunch of madmen.
Silica: Leave me alone! What can I…? Ah, that's right! Pina, slow them down!
Pina cried affirmatively before falling back and attacking the goblins one after another with its newest ability, a skill to slow down an enemy's movements. Unfortunately, this ability had a rather small area of effect, and due to that and the skill's cooldown, it took Pina a while to use this ability against all of the goblins that chased Silica around. In fact, the first goblins had already recovered from the debuff by the time Pina had inflicted it on the last one. Nevertheless, it did help.
Meanwhile, Lisbeth and Philia could only watch anxiously… which actually made one of them wonder…
Lisbeth: You know, what am I actually doing here? I mean, what's my job?
Philia: Well, that's… a good question, to be honest. Maybe you can… How about standing guard? I mean, we originally came across these tunnels on a quest to exterminate spider monsters, and maybe there are goblin patrols up here. I need to focus on the situation down there, so could you take care of any monsters that might show up?
Lisbeth: Spider monsters… You mean like the ones we had to deal with yesterday? [shivers] Yikes, leave me alone with these pesky critters! [slightly dejectedly] Then again, when I take into account what Silica has to do right now, I'm really in no position to complain, am I? Alright…
As Lisbeth stood up and faced down the tunnel to look out for any unwelcome visitors, Philia turned her attention to Silica again. While Lisbeth might not play any particular part in what was going on in the control room, Philia, who kind of had a certain task related to their plan, also couldn't help but wonder if there was anything else she could do to support her party member.
Well, and she did have something in mind, which she thought about as she clasped her fingers tightly around her boomerang. She observed every goblin carefully, and it didn't take her long to get a feeling for the way Pina's debuff affected them. In order to help Silica, Philia aimed at some goblins as the speed debuff these monsters in particular had been suffering from was about to run out. She threw her weapon, and the attack distracted the monsters for a second, causing them to pause. Philia's intention had been just that, just as it had been when she'd caused a diversion to allow Silica to get inside the control room safely. Thanks to these (albeit short-lived) diversions, Silica had a somewhat easier time to keep her pursuers at a distance.
Nevertheless, she had a really hard time finding the right lever to open the front gate. After all, Silica had no time to think about which levers she'd already tried and which she hadn't. As a consequence, she went for the same levers multiple times without even realising it.
That alone wouldn't have been such a problem if it hadn't been for the fact that time was working against them. The longer it took Silica to finish her task, the more time the AI of her foes had to adapt to the situation. So far, Silica had been able to outsmart them quite simply: She had been running around close to the walls, and whenever she reached a corner, she swiftly dashed to the side and bypassed the goblins, which were single-mindedly rushing straight towards her. Given how fast she was and that she got the timing for such tricks down pretty well, that had worked… so far.
Now, however, the goblins began to adapt to this tactic. They momentarily stopped their pursuit to regroup, and they split into two groups: One half remained where they were while the other half "switched lanes" and went to the other side of the room to cut off Silica's usual way of retreat. The control room was somewhat spacious (albeit not huge), which had initially worked in Silica's favour since it had allowed her to essentially engage the defenders in a game of tag, but there were more than enough goblins to form a barricade from one wall to the other.
Silica didn't even notice that until she reached the far side of the room, where she tried her luck with the next lever before turning around to dodge the goblins that were on her heel, which she expected to catch up to her at any second. However, she was quite shocked to see their new battle formation. They had formed a line from one wall to the opposite one, just glaring at Silica ominously for a second before they began to close in on her.
Thanks to the brief pause when the goblins had regrouped, Pina's debuff and her own speed, Silica had been able to put some distance between herself and the goblins, but that lead melted away within seconds.
However, amidst this worrying development, there was also good news.
Lisbeth: It's a message from Asuna! The gate just opened!
Philia: Oh, great! You heard that, Silica? We're done, so get back!
Philia lowered her rope into the room – just far enough so that Silica could reach it if she jumped. Alas, she had to get past the wall of goblins first. Frankly, the horde of monsters that closed in on her looked terrifying, especially to Silica, who was painfully reminded of the apprehension she'd been feeling around this particular kind of enemies.
However, there was one thing she had learnt: If she wanted to stand on the frontline with Kirito, with her team, with Asuna and the Assault Team, she couldn't let fear paralyse her. It was something Akinym had pounded into her during her training, a lesson whose significance she'd learnt during her first floor boss battle on the 89th floor, when the immensely strong boss monster had almost rendered her frozen in fear, and it had only become even clearer as they'd been moving further and further up the floating castle of Aincrad.
That said, while she wasn't completely overwhelmed by the thoughts of what would happen if all these monsters lunged at her at once, she still had to figure out a way out of this mess, and her frantic mind didn't make this any easier. Not to mention that she had to come up with an idea within seconds.
As her eyes darted around the room in a half-panic, she saw how Pina glided above the goblins, and that gave her an idea. Just as the wave of goblins reached her, and the first few monsters dashed at her, she instinctively figured that if she couldn't move around her pursuers, she should just move over them. In other words, she used Acrobatics and jumped over the monsters that dove headlong after her.
Well, that alone wasn't enough to save her neck, though. The rest of the goblin squad was prepared to intercept her if she dodged the first strike. Thus, several goblins aimed at Silica's anticipated landing spot, preparing to swing their swords at her the moment she touched the ground, and some others circled around their comrades in order to block Silica's route of escape.
However, Silica had an ace upon her sleeve that the goblins hadn't reckoned with. Acrobatics supported a multitude of movements, and front handsprings were among those. Silica landed on her hands, and she pushed herself off the ground again as quickly as possible. That way, the system assistant kept boosting her movements, and she could jump over the second "barrier" of goblins, too. Well, the monsters still swiped at her, and she sustained some slashes during the moment she was vulnerable, but she made it past all the enemies nonetheless.
Naturally, she wasn't completely safe yet, which she didn't have to be reminded of. Silica wasted no time and ran towards the rope Philia was holding as fast as her feet could carry her. When Silica latched on to it, Philia started to pull her up right away, and for a moment, both girls had the feeling that everything had worked out.
Lisbeth: Hey, watch out!
Lisbeth was the first one to notice that trouble was still coming their way – in the form of the Goblin Warden, the strongest monster inside the control room. Since it was faster than the others, this foe had caught up to Silica comparatively quickly, and it had been able to jump high enough to grab Silica's foot. The extra weight and the sheer shock almost made Philia drop the rope, and even though she managed to tighten her grip on it again before it slipped out of her hand completely, she still accidentally lowered it again.
Meanwhile, Silica was (unsurprisingly) freaking out as the Goblin Warden began to climb up her leg.
Silica [shrieks]: AAAHH! NO! Let go, LET GO!
Silica flailed her legs around, trying to shake the monster off, and she also kicked at it to the same end… and the same avail: Neither of these attempts to struggle free worked. It only led to the Goblin Warden pulling itself up further and grabbing Silica's skirt. To make things worse, the Goblin Guards caught up to them, and several of them jumped up and grabbed onto the Goblin Warden and to Silica.
This amount of monsters was too heavy for Philia. Forget about pulling Silica up, she had to muster all her strength just to hold the rope with all this "cargo". She had the feeling that she might lose her grip at any second. To make things worse, the goblins started to stab Silica, who was screaming and panicking as she couldn't fight back at all since she had to hold onto the rope for dear life, as soon as they could reach her with their swords.
It was in that dire situation that two more hands suddenly reached for the rope. Philia was way more surprised than she figured she should've been to see that Lisbeth was apparently helping her to pull Silica up. In fact, Lisbeth had even more in mind.
Lisbeth [strained]: Let me handle this!
Philia: But we need…
Lisbeth: I have higher Strength, so I'll pull her up! You help Silica with these goblins!
Philia needed a brief moment to process what Lisbeth was getting at. She remembered her boomerang, and it dawned on her what Lisbeth wanted her to do.
Philia: Alright, leave it to me!
She let go of the rope and stood up, aiming for a throw at the numerous Goblin Guards that had grabbed onto Silica. She made haste to attack them with a throwing Sword Skill that knocked some monsters off. On top of that, these monsters tried to prevent themselves from falling by grabbing onto their comrades, but they only pulled the others down with them.
Without all that "extra baggage", Lisbeth managed to haul in the rope, and she did so as fast as she could, focusing only on bringing Silica to safety. There was one problem, though.
Philia: Ah, wait! There's still the…
It was too late for any warning. Lisbeth had pulled Silica up high enough for the girl to grab the ledge of the hole in the ceiling, which was… let's call it the good news. What Philia had tried to warn Lisbeth about was the fact that one monster had been able to keep its hold onto their party member. It was the Goblin Warden, and the monster took the opportunity to climb onto Silica's back and to jump through the hole into the tunnel.
Lisbeth was taken by utter surprise as the goblin elite monster leapt at her. She stumbled backwards, but there was nothing she could've done in time to fend off the Goblin Warden. The monster jumped onto her rammed its falchion into its victim's throat.
The weapon cut in deep… An attack like that could easily kill a player a player quickly, and sure enough, Lisbeth's HP went down rapidly while the girl was too shocked to fight back effectively – not that she could've since she'd dropped her weapon in order to help Silica and Philia, not to mention that the goblin monster had pushed her onto her back. Thankfully, the latter of her two comrades came to Lisbeth's rescue now, as she kicked the Goblin Warden off her friend.
Naturally, that did virtually nothing to subdue the goblin monster. It flew a metre or two, rolled around once or twice upon landing, and then it just jumped back to its feet, now targeting Philia instead of Lisbeth.
The player and the monster engaged each other in a fierce sword fight. They exchanged numerous blows that – at first glance – made them appear to be overall evenly matched. Looking at it in detail, however, revealed that the situation was a bit different, though.
While the Goblin Warden attacked and parried swiftly and with mechanical precision, Philia's strikes were a tad too vigorous and expansive, and as a consequence, she needed a little too long to parry the Goblin Warden's counterattacks. Speaking of her parries, the way Philia blocked her opponent's blows was a bit too stiff, and while she could avoid a direct hit, her enemy's blade still grazed her pretty much every time she fended off a strike.
All in all, Philia sustained several (fortunately rather shallow) cuts on her arms, shoulders and chest. It was nothing too serious, but it was obvious that this battle would take a turn for the worse if it continued this way.
Fortunately, Philia was not alone.
Lisbeth: Parry the next one where you stand and keep it occupied for a second, Philia!
Philia had hardly any time to process what Lisbeth had said before the Goblin Warden swung its falchion at her again, but she didn't need any to begin with. She followed the command almost instinctively and caught her opponent's blade between the jags on one side of her own sword.
It took the monster a second to react and to step back again… which was the second Lisbeth had asked for. While the Goblin Warden still had its eyes on Philia, Lisbeth attacked it from the side. Its retreat was leaving the monster somewhat vulnerable to such attacks, so when Lisbeth swung her maze at it, she had no problem knocking it down.
That wasn't all, though. The relatively lightweight Goblin Warden was sent flying, and due to direction Lisbeth had attacked it from, it flew directly towards the hole in the ground and fell through it, which was exactly what Lisbeth had had in mind.
Philia [breathes a sigh of relief]: Thank God… This should take care of that! This thing was hard to deal with… [slightly contemplatively] Maybe I should pick Leafa up on her offer to teach me some swordplay techniques after all… [calmly] Thanks for helping me out, Liz!
Lisbeth [touches the cut on her throat awkwardly]: Right back at you! The monsters on these high floors really are no joke… [contemplatively] More importantly, though…
Lisbeth looked over at Silica, who had heaved herself up the hole and into the tunnel while Lisbeth and Philia had been fighting the Goblin Warden. Now, however, the girl had crawled towards the nearest wall and was trying to catch her breath and to calm down. Lisbeth and Philia hurried to her side.
Lisbeth: Hey, you're okay, Silica? Everything's fine now!
Philia: Yeah, the last goblin is down in that room below us again, and they can't do anything to you here, so relax, okay? You did a great job down there!
Silica: Th-thanks… I… These goblins were even scarier than I'd thought. Thank God it's over… I honestly don't want to go through that ever again…
As if on cue, a message box popped up in front of Lisbeth. She had the urge to ignore it, but since it was from Asuna, she figured that she should at least check what this was about. She quickly came to kind of regret that decision…
Lisbeth [awkwardly]: Yeah, about that…
Silica [nervously]: L-liz-san?
Lisbeth: Asuna just contacted me, and… she says we shall stay here in case we'll need the controls in the room below us again. So… maybe we'll have to do this again.
Fortunately, the walls of the fortress were perfectly soundproof – otherwise, the rest of the Assault Team would've heard Silica screaming all the way on the other side of the giant structure.
Raiding the actual castle proved to be a similar challenge to what the raid party had experienced so far, but let's go over the situation step by step.
The central structure of the goblin HQ was a vast three-story building. Each floor consisted of a system of chambers, which were shaped either quadratic or like a honeycomb. Frankly, these "chambers" were mostly just crossing points on the way to the staircase to the next level. There were also a few special, more noteworthy areas such as storage rooms or living quarters for the goblins.
To get back to the crosspoint-like sections: These chambers formed a grid – or maybe it's more accurate to call it a maze – throughout the main building of the castle. Most of them had gateways to each of the adjacent chambers, and there were portcullises at each of these gateways. Some of them were shut while other weren't – frankly, there didn't seem to be any system to that. The specific partition of accessible and inaccessible passageways the Assault Team found resulted in a seemingly random path they had to find.
That alone wouldn't have been so bad, especially since they had known of this, and they had taken it into consideration. The issue was that the set of closed portcullis wasn't what they had expected. With the help of Kirito and company, Asuna had determined the path they'd have to take beforehand, only to find said path blocked by an insurmountable barrier. Now, the Assault Team had to find its way through the maze by trial-and-error searching. They had made it to the second floor despite these difficulties, and the Assault Team was currently exploring the area in search of a path to the third floor.
One of the teams investigating the corridors was Kirito and Asuna, although in their case, it was more of a quick side job. They normally stayed in the rear, where Asuna could coordinate the raid in (relative) peace. Right now, however, their advance party had reached a dead end, and the goblins had cut off their retreat.
Even though the players had superior numbers, they couldn't make any use of that advantage since the goblins held the line at one of the quite narrow gateways, and the players were essentially walled in from all other sides, so they had no way to bypass and empocket their enemies. Only a handful of players could fight the attacking goblins at a time, and the monsters received such a steady flow of reinforcements that the Assault Team couldn't break through.
The obvious solution was for the rear guard to join the fight and to attack the goblins from the other side in order to tip the scales. In fact, Lind and a few others had urged Asuna to do exactly that right away. However, even if they did that, there was still the issue where they had to go in order to reach the next part of the dungeon. So far, they had had no luck, and since the vanguard apparently kept the entirety of the goblins on this floor occupied, Asuna decided to go looking for another route to take as long as the players could hold the line.
And that's how it came that Kirito and Asuna (as well as another party which searched elsewhere) were exploring the different paths that were accessible. As to how successful they were…
Kirito: It's another dead end…
Yeah, they had just come around a corner, only to end up in a room where all exits (other than the one they entered through, of course) were closed off. This was the last path on their side that they hadn't checked so far, so the conclusion to draw from this was straightforward.
Asuna: So, there's no way through on the right side, either. Given that the rest of the raid party couldn't find a way after going straight ahead, we can only hope that the party that scouts the left side can find anything.
Kirito: Seems like it. [contemplatively, looks around] Although I still don't get it… Why is the layout of interior different than it was yesterday? Could it be that Cardinal adapted to us knowing the normally correct route to take? Or has this maze been meant to be random during this raid from the very start? Then again, if that's the case, why were some of these bars closed before, anyway? Why would the game create an entirely different maze for the players who side with the goblins?
Asuna [looks around, too]: Neither do I understand that, but right now, I'm more concerned about dealing with this situation rather than finding out the reason behind it. [slightly interestedly] Oh, I think we did figure something out by coming this way after all.
Kirito curiously followed Asuna's line of sight. A few rooms ahead, even though several grates were in the way, he could see some goblins jumping through a large hole in the ground.
Asuna: I guess that's where all the goblins on the lower floor that Max-san reported were coming from.
The context for this was as follows: When the players had cleared the ground floor, Asuna left a small force led by Max behind in order to defend the area in case the raid party needed to retreat. After all, it was an iron principle among the Assault Team to always secure an escape route, and they had found out soon that the entire castle was an anti-crystal area when one player had tried to get rid of a paralysis, which a Goblin Assassin had inflicted on them during a surprise attack, with an Antidote Crystal – obviously to no avail.
Anyway, when the Assault Team had reached the second floor of the stronghold, the spawn rate of the goblin monsters on the lowest story had decreased, but unlike before, the defenders didn't vanish completely. The peculiar thing was that Max had reported a sudden increase in the number of goblins that had appeared, and they didn't seem to come from the few spawn points on the ground floor, which was particularly strange since all goblin reinforcements seemed to spawn at a limited number of very specific areas.
Kirito: Well, we did find a strange hole in the ceiling, and I guess it was the spot over there. We didn't know what this was about back then, but I guess that's changed now.
Asuna: Indeed. Although that's also pretty worrying…
Kirito: Worrying? Why is that of all things particularly worrying right now?
Asuna: Well, okay, we have enough problems as is, but think about it: Some of the goblins on this floor move to the one below us, yet there are still enough defenders left to keep our entire vanguard – pretty much half of our raid party – in a stalemate. Judging from that, I'd say the number of defenders and their respawning rate went up, and it's probably going to increase again on the top floor.
Kirito: Yeah, that might be troublesome… [slightly exhaustedly] Then again, we have yet to get that far…
Asuna [slightly dejectedly and worriedly]: You're right… [seriously] I guess it's for the best to focus on that problem when we get to it. We have a bigger issue to deal with for now. Let's go back and see if the others had more luck!
Kirito looked after Asuna with a worried expression when she turned around to retrace their steps to the stairway between this floor and the one below. It was usual for the Assault Team to run into more or less unexpected trouble on missions like this, but he couldn't help but think that Asuna had to deal with considerably more problems and changes to their initial plan than usual… and he wondered how much help he could've offered so far. Kirito had the feeling that his biggest contribution had been their information on the structure of the goblin HQ – well, and take a look at how reliable that information had proven to be so far.
With that in mind, he figured that he probably should reveal a certain theory he had developed about their most recent predicament. Even if it was yet unclear what would come of it, maybe it might help Asuna to find a way out of this mess.
Kirito: About that, Asuna, it might be just a vague guess, but I think I have an idea how we might solve our current problems.
Meanwhile, several players were on standby right at the top of the staircase that connected the ground floor with the one above. For instance, there was the second party of the KoB, as well as one party of the DDA, which was led by Lind and Sunny Tzu. Incidentally, Schmitt and Yamata had gone ahead with the advance party together with their respective units. Aside from that, two more minor guilds and a handful of lizardmen were present.
They were currently waiting for Asuna (well, and for Kirito, too) to return, so needless to say, the two of them were spotted the instant they came into view. One of the DDA members pointed it out, and Lind immediately turned his attention from a message box in front of him to the pair of players, and he stepped forward to greet them after closing the message.
Lind: Asuna-san, you're back. Did you find anything?
Asuna [shakes her head]: Nothing that's worth mentioning. We…
Lind: Are you serious?! [irritatedly, slightly worriedly] How can this be?
For a moment, Kirito and Asuna were taken aback by Lind's intense reaction, especially since everyone else took the news more or less the same way. While observing their reactions, Asuna also noticed the other recon team, which had searched the area on the other side. If they were here, and Lind and all the others reacted with such worry or frustration…
Asuna: Please tell me, did the other party not find anything, either?
Lind: No! That's what's freaking me out right now! How can this even be? Schmitt just sent me an update on the situation of the vanguard, and they're still trapped, and since I've asked him about any other path they might explore, he also assured me again that they couldn't see any other possible route towards the next floor! Did we miss something?!
Asuna: We probably did. No, if there doesn't appear to be another path for us to take, we certainly did. We can be certain about that, and in that regard, we also have an idea.
Lind: You do?
Asuna: Technically speaking, it's Kirito-kun's idea. Given that the set of passageways that are blocked was definitely different yesterday, something obviously changed it. At first, I thought that the trigger was the start of our assault, and that the path we have to take through this dungeon has been altered by the system for this occasion.
Sunny Tzu [dryly]: I'm pretty sure everyone has come to that understanding by now.
Asuna: This may be true, but Kirito-kun has brought it to my attention that there's also another possibility: Maybe we accidentally changed the setting here.
This theory instantly sparked murmurs among the present players in the back.
Assault Team Player 1: We did?
Assault Team Player 2: That can't be it! What is she talking about?
Assault Team Player 3: But how? How do they think this happened?
Lind [sternly]: You guys, keep calm! [to Asuna, seriously] But I'm wondering about this, too, Asuna-san: What do you think we did that might've caused something like that to happen? We noticed the differences in the way the grates blocking certain paths were set up pretty much right after entering the building, and I'm fairly certain that nobody did anything that should've caused this to happen! Honestly, there's nothing we did that could've… [contemplatively] Except for…
Kirito: It's probably because of what Silica, Liz and Philia did in the control room when they opened the gate for us. Think about it: This is the only thing that's fundamentally different this time, and we didn't really know what the controls in that room are meant for. Given how many there were, it's downright unrealistic that they operate only the front gate. I'd say it's much more likely that the levers there also control all barricades within this dungeon.
Lind: Does that mean that those girls got us into this situation?
Kirito [slightly annoyed] and Asuna [slightly sternly]: They couldn't have known!
This led to a moment of rather awkward silence as the surrounding players (as well as those directly involved) wondered what was up with Kirito and Asuna reacting in such (albeit not perfect) unison. In the end, it was Asuna who opted to break the silence by clearing her throat.
Asuna: Anyway, it's something we simply overlooked. I've already told Max-san to seize the control room, and once that's done, we can open our path forward again.
Incidentally, at first, Asuna had contacted Silica, Lisbeth and Philia, and she had asked the trio to do whatever they had done earlier in order to open the castle's gate, only that they should focus on opening the right portcullises instead this time. However, they had been strangely hesitant, and Asuna figured that it might've been difficult for them to pull that off. Therefore, she had decided to send a larger force in order to take over the control room – just to be safe.
Sunny Tzu: In that case, why don't we go even further? If we gain control over the setup of the corridors, we can potentially transform the dungeon however we want. We should also try to use that to limit the monsters' movements. We should force their reinforcements to face off against a strong defensive unit at an area of our choice, or maybe we can even trap or seal them off entirely!
Asuna: We've considered that, of course, but I don't think it's practical. The problem is that we have no way of knowing how exactly the controls for the system of bars inside this dungeon work. We have a theory that the levers in said control room are used to operate them, but even if that's true, how could we tell which levers control which gates? Or what effects they might have somewhere else? Just reopening our path to the next floor will be hard enough already!
Lind: I understand your concern, but is that such a big issue? We have the manpower to send teams to every part of the dungeon to observe how the controls affect the setup of the bars. Once we associate all the controls with the gateways they open or close, the whole thing becomes a pretty straightforward puzzle. To be honest, I've dealt with puzzles like that in a fair amount of games before SAO, and I think I could still solve this one if I tried. And I'm sure I'm not the only one that applies to.
Asuna: Be that as it may, I'm worried about one thing: If we do that, we'll have to split up in a lot of small groups, especially since the majority of our forces is still caught up in a battle at a very specific spot. I reckon these scout teams would consist of one full party each at most.
Lind: Hm, I suppose so, but is that a problem?
Asuna: It will be if we accidentally trap one of our scouting parties in a certain area, which may very well happen. If they're cut off from any reinforcements or path to retreat, what should they do if they end up being trapped with a lot of monsters? And yes, we could just undo the latest changes, but what if the players don't realise the danger in time to inform us about the issue, or if they don't report it for whatever other reason? A single party that gets attacked from all directions wouldn't escape unscathed, and I don't want to – I simply won't – take that risk!
Sunny Tzu looked as if he wanted to object (or at least say something in response), but it seemed that he didn't know what to say. Lind seemed to struggle with a similar issue. However, there was a difference in their reactions, namely that they had a different understanding as to when to give up.
Lind: Fine, it seems that you've already thought this through on your way back, so if this is the conclusion you've drawn, I guess it's for the best to just keep it simple.
Now that the second-highest-ranking member of this group had agreed, there wasn't really any place for arguments left, so everyone just muttered to themselves that this was apparently how they were going about their current problem, and they left it at that.
Asuna: Thank you for your trust. I've already informed the other parties about the plan, and they know what to do. Once Max-san reports that they've captured the control room, we can start.
It took only a minute or two after that until Asuna got said message, and almost immediately thereafter, various portcullises around them began to "dance". They were lifted or lowered – sometimes one directly after the other. At one point, the portcullis directly in front of them was closed, only to be opened again right away, and the one to their right was shut instead.
There were, of course, breaks between each "try". Asuna had told the team in the control room to wait one minute each time before trying the next lever. This was supposed to give their advance party enough time to report any changes on their end, so that Asuna could inform the team that occupied the control room of their success, whereupon they'd momentarily stop rearranging the maze.
It took a bit more than ten minutes until the eagerly-awaited message arrived: The advance party was able to move forward again, and they did just that while leaving only one party, the Two-Handed Builders, behind to hold off the goblins. Apparently, the steady stream of reinforcements from one side of this floor had been cut off at some point, leaving only half as many goblins coming from the other side. As long as Agil and his guild kept focusing on defense, they could hold out against such a force at least for a while – long enough for the rest of the raid party to reach the next floor of the dungeon.
That said, the other half of the goblins on this level, which didn't attack the advance party anymore, obviously had to go somewhere… and as it turned out, they headed towards the rear guard. Many of the players there started to hear the goblins running towards their current position shortly after Asuna had received word that their plan had worked out, and Kirito could confirm it with his Searching skill: Several goblins – probably about two dozen or more – were about to arrive.
Asuna: Alright, everyone, it's time to defend our position! Keep in mind that there will be more of them where they are coming from, so don't focus on eliminating the enemy! Hold the line of defense and focus on everyone's safety without doing anything rash!
She didn't have to say that twice: The DDA and another party took position at the gateway to their left, where the goblins arrived seconds later.
To be honest, the players had little to no difficulty defending their position against the goblins. While the aforementioned two parties dealt with the direct onslaught, the remaining players stood ready to help out if their formation broke anywhere, even if it was only for a moment. For instance, at some point, Kirito and Asuna intercepted a Goblin Guard that had somehow slipped through the line of defenders.
Asuna had just parried an attack, and since the Goblin Guard staggered a bit after that, she was about to counter with a thrust to its chest when a sudden message startled her, causing her to pause. For a second, she wasn't sure whether she should finish off the monster first or deal with the message right away. The Goblin Guard used the opportunity to regain its footing and to launch another quick attack. This time, Asuna could barely deflect the strike to the side in order to avoid a direct hit, although she still sustained a scratch on her arm.
Asuna [thinks]: Ugh, I can't focus on this right now… [jumps backwards, says aloud] Switch!
The Goblin Guard wanted to follow up with the next attack despite the distance Asuna was putting between them, but it didn't get the chance to. Kirito had already guessed Asuna's intention to quickly reply to the message, which may have been an important report, so her call to switch had been completely expected. Thus, he wasted no time to attack the Goblin Guard with Horizontal while it was lifting its sword above its head. Not only did he interrupt the monster's attack, he also drew the aggro, giving Asuna the opportunity to focus on her responsibilities as the raid commander.
Asuna: Okay, everyone: We've just reached the next milestone! I've just received a message from Klein-san, telling me that our advance party has reached the next floor, so keep…
Sunny Tzu: We got it, we got it! You have to join them there, don't you? So just go, and let us do our job here!
Asuna turned towards Sunny Tzu, who had actually caught her off guard. However, as Asuna figured pretty much instantaneously, this snappish attitude didn't stem from Sunny Tzu's usual duplicity or anything like that, but from his current… predicament: a single Goblin Guard.
Sunny Tzu may have been many things, but a strong combatant wasn't one of them. As some people declare that they're "a lover, not a fighter", Sunny Tzu did essentially the same, only that he replaced "lover" with "strategist". With that in mind, it didn't surprise Asuna to see him struggling with only one of the weakest goblin monsters of the 95th floor.
Currently, Sunny Tzu was fighting off said Goblin Guard (or at least trying to do so) with some fairly gawky swings and thrusts of his dagger, which was designed as a large, jagged hunting knife. The Goblin Guard had a weapon with a slightly higher reach, and it used that advantage, staying just far away enough to not risk sustaining any hits while it could inflict damage by cutting Sunny Tzu's arm. Well, to some extent, he could make up for his clumsy defense with a halfway decent Battle Healing skill, which allowed him to hang on for the time being.
That said, he couldn't keep a cool head, and he suddenly changed his tactic, counterattacking the Goblin Guard with a thrust. Sunny Tzu managed to stab the monster in the chest, but that was hardly a victory. Another Goblin Guard suddenly attacked him from the side, and it effortlessly slashed his shoulder with its sword.
The attack made Sunny Tzu back away, but that only allowed the other Goblin Guard, which he had fought before, to follow up with another sword stroke. Sunny Tzu instinctively raised his arms to shield himself, and while did indeed manage to block the blow (well, kind of), the Goblin Guard knocked his dagger out of his hands.
Now, he stumbled backwards, and the two Goblin Guards attacked once more in unison.
Lind: Get down!
Sunny Tzu was saved by Lind, who dashed forward and repelled the two goblins, which were leaping at Sunny Tzu while swinging their swords vertically, with the first two strikes of a Horizontal Square. After fending off the attack, the system assistant kept moving Lind forward, right through the gap between the two monsters, and he slashed through their bodies with the remaining two strikes of the combo. Both monsters died from that attack…
...but that was not the end. Several other Goblin Guards – as if to take revenge for their comrades – lunged at Lind while he was vulnerable due to the post-motion delay. However, that didn't catch him off guard.
Lind: Now, charge!
Four players, all carrying polearms such as spears, lances or halberds, simultaneously stepped forward and intercepted the incoming goblin monsters with simple Thrust-type Sword Skills. Some goblins were pushed back, and since two players had attacked diagonally on each side of Lind, the shafts of their weapons basically formed a protective wall around him for a second. Once he could move again, those players pointed their weapons at the remaining goblins again before they could regroup for another attack. That way, the players essentially formed a mini-phalanx.
With the situation under control again, Lind looked over his shoulder at Asuna.
Lind: I think Sunny is right, though, Asuna-san. We've got this, so you better focus on the next step of the raid! Leave the situation here to me!
Oddly enough, Asuna had to suppress a sigh. Pulling off a manoeuvre like what Lind and the players around him had just done supported his claim that they could hold their ground here, and it actually felt somewhat reassuring. Yet, was Lind even aware of that effect, or was he just saying what he wanted to?
Anyway, Asuna knew that he was right about one thing: She needed to join their advance party on the next floor, and she had to leave someone in charge of defending this part of the dungeon. Sadly, there were only a handful of players who were capable of commanding more than a single party, and Lind was one of them. She didn't feel comfortable leaving this task to the DDA, but that wasn't a sentiment she could allow herself to base her decisions on.
Asuna: Very well. Please keep our escape route open in case anything goes wrong! I'll leave it to you.
With that out of the way, Asuna glanced at Kirito, who had already dealt with the Goblin Guard from earlier, and he confirmed with a quick nod that he was ready to go, so they set off. Only the KoB's Team B followed them as an additional escort.
They made it to the next level without a hitch. Naturally, they came across the Two-Handed Builders on the way, and they helped them eliminate the goblin monsters they'd been facing. Afterwards, Asuna told Agil to stay on the second floor to help Lind, while also telling him to keep an eye on Sunny Tzu.
That's pretty much it for the situation on the second floor. On the next one, the players advanced just as they had before. At the control room on the ground floor, Silica and company operated the internal control system to open up a path for them… although it was quite difficult to find the right combination of levers to pull this time. It took them almost an hour to reach the next staircase at the centre of the third floor.
At the very least, they didn't have to deal with the maze anymore after that. Said staircase led up the castle keep, and while the large force ascending the stairs to their final challenge had to fight their way through a bunch of monsters, this part was the most straightforward one of the entire dungeon raid.
Now, the Assault Team had reached the top of the castle keep. Just a few steps ahead, they could already see the large gate that led to the boss room. The only obstacles in their path were a bunch of small fry some parties were fighting here and there, a Goblin Champion that blocked their path, and (last but not least) a crystal that was placed right in front of the aforementioned gate. Said crystal controlled the respawning of monsters in the stairwell, similarly to how there had been crystals to let the Goblin Archers on the outer walls respawn earlier.
At the moment, the DDA was trying to reach the crystal in order to destroy it. The rest of the advance party had to stall the rest of the goblins in the meantime. The last hindrance, the Goblin Champion, however, was hard to fell. Or rather, it would've been relatively easy to kill, but since it would simply respawn immediately, that wasn't enough to defeat it. At the same time, the Goblin Champion defended the crystal just as it kind of protected the monster. The bulky goblin blocked their way, and it swiped relentlessly at anyone who tried to sneak past it.
Currently, Schmitt was facing a vicious onslaught pretty much all by himself as the rest of the DDA forces remained in the background while he fended off blow after blow. At some point, the Goblin Champion swung its large club vertically at Schmitt, who blocked this attack with the shaft of his spear. The monster and the player tried to overpower each other for a moment. For the time being, they were locked in a stalemate, but Schmitt figured that his opponent would be better at keeping up this pressure, so he came to the conclusion that he should switch with someone else and retreat momentarily… when Yamata had his own idea.
Yamata: Hey, Schmitt, keep the big guy like this for a moment!
Schmitt [strained]: Argh, fine, Yamata! But there better be a…
Before Schmitt could finish his sentence, he could feel someone step onto his right shoulder. Startled, he looked up, only to see Yamata jumping onto the Goblin Champion's head. Yamata had used Acrobatics to jump onto Schmitt's shoulder, and then, he had used it as a stepping stone to leap onto the Goblin Champion.
Before anyone could react, Yamata pushed himself off of the goblin monster to make a dive for the crystal behind it. With nothing left in his way, he started the Sword Skill Treble Scythe mid-air. Due to the Sword Skill, he began to spin around while descending on the crystal, and he slashed it three times in rapid succession. He didn't pull his sabre out of the crystal after the Sword Skill was over in order to deal continuous damage to the yet-standing crystal.
Yamata [grins confidently]: Hehe, now that's more like it! This battle is as good as won!
While some of the DDA members in the back cheered for Yamata (as they had been throughout this entire "stunt"), Schmitt could only click his tongue. Yamata had done all that without warning, and it was causing trouble: The Goblin Champion reacted to Yamata's actions, and it was about to turn around and attack him, so Schmitt did the only thing that came to his mind in order to stop the monster: He pierced the Goblin Champion's right lower arm with his spear.
What followed was another struggle between the monster and the player as the Goblin Champion tried to break away while Schmitt was trying to hold the goblin in place, pushing or pulling on the shaft of his spear as he needed to. Another member of his party realised what Schmitt was doing after blocking a punch from the Goblin Champion with its other arm, so he clasped Schmitt's spear, too, and helped his party leader. Together, they were able to stop the Goblin Champion for the time being… and that gave Schmitt the opportunity to give Yamata a piece of his mind.
Schmitt [sternly, slightly annoyed]: Instead of being smug about it, Yamata, just finish the job already!
Yamata [annoyed]: Chill, Schmitt! We've got this in the bag already anyway! [pulls out his sabre] This thing's already in the yellow zone, [slightly haughtily] but nothing wrong with giving it the "finishing touch", I guess!
Bold words coming from someone who'd attacked the crystal with Treble Scythe, a Sword Skill that was certainly not ideal for that. In short, Treble Scythe had the advantage of being very hard (if not impossible) to parry, so it was often used to break through an enemy's defense, or it could be used to combine parrying an attack with a swift counterattack. However, the damage this skill dealt was comparatively low, and due to that and the relatively long post-motion delay, this combo wasn't good in terms of DPS. There were far more suitable Sword Skills for attacking stationary targets… there simply weren't flashier ones.
Speaking of which, Yamata assumed the starting stance of Bear Down, a 4-hit combo that… was actually a bit over-the-top for destroying the crystal. At this point, a simpler Sword Skill than that would've sufficed, but Yamata chose this move as his finisher because the fourth hit was actually a punch. That way, Yamata dealt the finishing blow by driving his fist into the crystal while letting out an overly vigorous yell.
Yamata: There! Smashed to bits with my bare hands!
Well, thanks to the death animation and Yamata's dramatic display of the attack, it did indeed look that way. Many of the surrounding DDA members were impressed by it – not Schmitt, though.
Schmitt [mutters]: Finally… [says aloud] Good! [yells over his shoulder] Everybody else: You've just heard that, didn't you? The crystal's gone, so you can go ahead and kill your opponents now! Then, meet up at the top of the stairwell, and we'll tackle the boss room! [turns towards the Goblin Champion again] And we have to deal with the big guy, so let's get this over with! We'll keep him in check, but watch out for his free arm! Attack on his right side or from behind!
On Schmitt's command, the DDA players began attacking the Goblin Champion one after another. Most of them followed the order to the T, although Yamata made a show of attacking on the monster's left side despite Schmitt's warning. The monster swiped at him with its bulky arm, but Yamata ducked under the blow (quite skillfully, to be honest) and attacked with Reaver, another one of his Sword Skills.
Sturdy as this monster may have been, it stood no chance against two full Assault Team parties. The barrage of attacks quickly depleted the remaining HP of the Goblin Champion.
The rest of the advance party caught up to their spearheads from the DDA right after the battle, as they, too, had wrapped up their battles in no time. Schmitt was discussing some things with some of the guild leaders such as Klein… while Yamata was already going ahead, approaching the boss room gate with a cocky grin.
Yamata: Now then, let's take a look at that goblin general! After all the tedious small fry, he better puts up the fight I'm hoping for. Might not get another chance like this after all!
He pushed the gate open, revealing a large hall on the other side. Well, it wasn't that big of a boss room, albeit downright vast in comparison to any single room throughout the rest of the dungeon. It seemed even bigger due to how empty it was. There was nothing except for one row of stone columns each to the left and to the right, a few statues here and there… and a single goblin standing at the far end of the hall.
Well, and guess what they'll fight next chapter. ;)
In case anyone's wondering, the Sword Skills Yamata is using belong to the "one-handed curved sword" class. Most of them are from HF, but Treble Scythe appears (according to SAO Wikia) in Progressive.
I actually had some additional ideas for this chapter, but I left them out because they weren't really important or all that good, and I wanted to cut this chapter a bit shorter than it would've become if I had put in everything I'd thought of. Well, some of those ideas are still referenced in this chapter, for instance by Lind and Sunny Tzu's suggestions.
Anyway, see you next time for the boss battle!