Alright, I'm back, albeit not just with another chapter, but also with a slight change of plans. It's nothing bad, though.
The thing is that while writing the boss battle against the goblin general, it became more and more obvious just how much I've underestimated the length of this particular part - which, yes, is nothing particularly new at this point. It's just that I thought that this chapter would be comparatively short, but it run the risk of being longer than any of the recent ones. So... I made it so that it would indeed be a relatively short chapter - by splitting it into two parts.
Also, while I did say that the boss battle would be next, the scene at the beginning isn't about that, but about what Akinym and Sinon were/are up to while the rest of the Assault Team is busy with the dungeon raid (as you might've noticed, the last chapter didn't mention anything about them).
So, without further ado, let's get straight to that.
While the Assault Team continued the battle inside the castle, the situation outside was… downright weirdly relaxed. Just as Asuna had detached some parties to guard the areas they'd actually cleared already, some players were stationed in the yard. However, in contrast to the rest of the raid party, the players outside had nothing to worry about since no monsters appeared there.
Well, there was one "enemy" these players had to face that those who'd entered the main building didn't have to worry about: the rising heat. The dungeon raid was taking quite some time, and as the hours passed by, the sun began to scorch the area, causing the temperature to rise along with it. In that situation, the only thing the players could do was to at least seek protection from the blazing sunlight in the shade of the walls.
That, however, didn't give them anything to do. Given the completely calm situation they'd found themselves in, most players opted to hold a siesta. They sat down and chatted. Some ate food they'd brought along or played cards. A few of them even took a nap.
Another one, on the other hand, was watching this scene from her position on a watchtower above the gate at the outer wall, and she could hardly believe her eyes.
Sinon: Look at them, taking it easy in the middle of what's supposed to be a dungeon raid… Seriously, what is this? A picnic?
Sinon was among the players whom Asuna had told to stay behind and to secure the castle yard in case anything happened. After all, the corridors within the castle, where she'd have a very limited field of fire, wouldn't suit her, and even the final boss was supposedly only the size of a man – not exactly something she could easily shoot at from behind a wall of tanks. No, chances were that her special skills might come in handy much more outside the dungeon, where she could aim and fire at her opponents more freely.
To that end, she'd taken up position inside the aforementioned watchtower. From the windows on every side, she could overlook pretty much the whole area, and she'd be able to shoot quite easily at anything between the entrance to the fortress and the outer wall.
Alas, the sight she hadn't expected – and which was also somewhat unwelcome – was her supposed comrades' "cozy get-together", which she could view from a box seat, so to speak. Sinon turned around to Akinym, who – how else could it be – was accompanying her as her melee bodyguard in case she'd need one.
Sinon: What do you think what they're…
She paused when she saw Akinym standing at the window on the opposite side. He was looking outside, seemingly eyeing… something very pensively.
Sinon [slightly curiously]: What's wrong? Is there something out there that we have to take care of? [annoyed] Hey!
Sinon may have had to get loud, but she finally caught Akinym's attention. He snapped out of his thoughts and turned towards her.
Akinym [surprised]: Huh? What's the matter? [seriously] Did something happen?
Sinon [exasperatedly]: That's what I wanna know! [slightly exasperatedly and curiously] What's out there that it had you captivated to the point that you didn't react until I started yelling?
Akinym had been about to walk over to Sinon to take a look at the situation inside the yard, where he'd expected some sort of commotion, but upon hearing that there was nothing serious going on, he relaxed again… and Sinon's question made him look outside the window behind him again.
If he had to reply honestly, he'd say, "It's the labyrinth tower." Yep, that's what he'd been so focused on, plain and simple as it may be – or rather, as it may seem. What truly got him pondering was the fact that he could see it from here.
Frankly, that shouldn't have been possible. In SAO, ingame objects were only rendered in a player's field of vision if said player was within a certain radius of that object. This circumstance usually came into play when a party went hunting, or when someone was looking for another player. After all, such "small", dynamic objects could only be seen at a distance of not more than about fifty to sixty metres, depending on the observer's Searching.
Static objects, however, followed other rules. Small-sized houses, trees, bodies of water or anything like that could be spotted even at a distance of roughly one kilometre. Well, and truly monumental structures such as large city walls, fortresses of any kind, mountains or the labyrinth towers were still visible from at least five kilometres away. With Searching, that distance could go up to about six kilometres, and that was about as far as Akinym could see.
Alas, that shouldn't have sufficed. The labyrinth tower was situated in the far south of the 95th floor, and they were currently at the goblin HQ in the far west. As far as Akinym knew, Aincrad's floors had a diameter of about ten kilometres – this information stemmed from promotional material for the game, and the players had once run some tests to verify it. In light of that, the labyrinth tower should've been roughly seven kilometres away… which was clearly too far away to be still visible.
Incidentally, it wasn't just the labyrinth. On the other side, Akinym could make out Celes in the distance, even though the town was just as far away as the tower that connected the 95th and the 96th floor.
It was quite curious… Just why could he still spot these landmarks? Akinym couldn't help but wonder… Alas, this wasn't much of a concern at the moment. If anything, Sinon's question made Akinym realise that he probably shouldn't brood over this endlessly to no avail.
Akinym: It's nothing. I guess I was just killing time by thinking about whatever came to my mind.
Sinon: Well, relatable… I mean, we're stuck in a tower with nothing to do, so…
Akinym acknowledged that remark with a nod. While it was good that no trouble was anywhere in sight, the sheer monotony and boredom of their guard duty took its own toll on their mental well-being.
Well, and while he was at it, so did the rising heat. The watchtower the two of them were in was fully exposed to the sunlight, and it was heating up notably. Akinym stepped away from the window and sat down in the shade of the walls, which offered at least some protection.
Alas, he figured that it was only a matter of time until the temperature would rise above thirty degree Celsius, and it probably wouldn't stop there. On top of that, the stagnant, stale air wouldn't make things any better. They had windows on each side, but since there wasn't even the slightest gust of wind at the moment, the room was quite stuffy… already. Their new equipment's Heat Resistance provided some additional protection against this hot environment, but in the long run, that alone wouldn't be enough.
Akinym fetched a flask of water from his inventory and took a swig. Aside from the fact that this was necessary to avoid dehydration debuffs, it also felt good. Apparently, not for Sinon, though. She was squatting on the floor, taking a seat just as Akinym had, and was looking at her partner with a strangely awkward expression of displeasure on her face.
Akinym: What's the matter? [slightly exasperatedly] Wait, don't tell me you didn't bring any water! [slightly suspiciously] Actually, I think I saw you with a field flask earlier, so…
Well, his observations weren't wrong. The heat was getting to Sinon just as badly – no, even worse – and she started to feel really thirsty, especially after seeing Akinym with his bottle. However, there was a bit of a problem…
Sinon: I've brought something to drink with me, of course! [slightly frustratedly] Not that much, though, so I'd rather save it until I need it against the debuff from the heat.
Akinym [exasperatedly]: So you only brought a little bit?! A horrible idea! You knew that this mission would take place in a dessert, so what possessed you to be stingy with water?
Sinon [annoyed]: Of course I've known that! I had a much ampler supply of water on our other missions on this floor, you know?! [slightly frustratedly] It's just that we went early today specifically to avoid this scorching heat, and we have Asuna and the entire Assault Team with us, so I thought that we could wrap this up quickly, and I wouldn't need large water rations.
Akinym [dryly]: A fairly inadvisable form of optimism. I figured you knew better than to trust that much in a plan that was made before we even took one step towards our target. [flatly] There can always be complications.
Sinon [dryly, slightly annoyed]: I've noticed! [annoyed] Also, it's just that this is the first time I had to deal with a dungeon raid going haywire like this! How could I've predicted that we'd be stuck with guard duty at this place?! It… [frustratedly] just caught me off-guard, okay?
Akinym: That's basically the problem, you know? [slightly exhaustedly] Anyway, just make sure to keep this experience in mind the next time you pack your bag for a large-scale mission!
He opened his inventory once more in order to take another bottle out of it.
Akinym: Until then, [throws the bottle to Sinon] take this!
Sinon [catches it, confusedly]: Th-thanks, but what about you?
Akinym: I've come better prepared, if that's what you're worrying about. After all, it would be pretty pretentious to lecture you like that if I made the same mistake, wouldn't it? I've brought enough water with me to share it with you, so just take it!
Without another word, Akinym took another swig from his own flask. In light of his assurance, Sinon figured that it would be okay to follow suit… and drank about half of the water Akinym had just passed to her. Frankly, she'd been pretty thirsty after all… She let out a small, contented sigh and leant back, feeling much better now.
For a moment, the silence within the room returned. Under other circumstances, neither Akinym nor Sinon would've minded that – that is, if there had been anything else to focus on. Well, but just as they could remain quiet and focused when the situation called for it, they could also find a topic to chat about when the circumstances allowed it, and Akinym had something very specific in mind. In his opinion, this eventless moment was the perfect opportunity to bring it up.
Akinym: There's something different I've been meaning to ask, though: How are you holding up, regarding what's going to happen with the goblins once the others finish this raid?
Sinon actually needed a moment to process the question – or rather the fact that Akinym had asked it – while staring at him in bewilderment.
Sinon: W-what are you… Why did you bring that up?
Akinym: Well, it's just that you seemed to have an issue with it, given that we're essentially about to wipe out the goblin race, even if it's just a part of the lore of a game. Therefore, I'm wondering how you feel now that the Assault Team is about to wrap up this war.
Sinon: That… didn't really clear this up. Keeping aside how sudden your question was, why do you ask this? I thought you were tired of the fuss about the war on this floor? If anything, didn't you tell me that just two days ago?
Akinym: I am, but… Well, speaking of two days ago, you didn't like the way I simply brushed off your concern, did you? No, strike that… I figure you still don't. What you told me the day before yesterday has got me thinking… As your partner and… confidant of sorts, I shouldn't – I mustn't – ignore your feelings about the… dubious things the Assault Team has to do in order to reach our goal of clearing the game, so the least I should do is to meet you half-way and to hear you out when it comes to this. Completely, that is.
Sinon was still taken aback. If anything, what Akinym had just said came as a surprise, too, albeit a pleasant one. Well, and it wasn't as if Sinon wasn't grateful.
Sinon [softly]: Thanks for the consideration, but… I'm fine. [calmly] I still have misgivings about this way of ending the campaign, but I, too, have to acknowledge what you've said: Ultimately, we have no choice but to move forward, and this seems to be the only way. Kirito and the others had a chance to find a different solution, but… [dejectedly] they've failed. [contemplatively, slightly worriedly] Honestly, I'm actually more worried how they feel about it. They have it rougher than me, given that it's their efforts that have gone to waste, so I don't think that I should complain just because I'm not comfortable with a simulated war…
Akinym [dryly]: That's a faulty reasoning, if ever I saw one. [sternly] Just because others have it rough – potentially even more than you – doesn't mean that you're obligated to not feel bad at all – or to at least stay quiet! [seriously] That aside, even if you think that way, I doubt that you would've been to blame if you had decided to sit this battle out, at the very least. I mean, Leafa-san did that, after all, so I don't think it would've been that bad for you to do the same.
Sinon: I… [determinedly, slightly sternly] didn't want to do that. I understand Leafa, or rather how she must feel about this situation. I guess she just has too kind of a heart for this sort of thing, but I don't want to take a backseat in clearing this game because of something like that! I made up my mind to join the Assault Team in order to fight – no matter what or how – against the odds. If I let this feeling of discomfort and dissonance get in the way of my judgement, that resolution would be for naught. Above anything else, I won't let that happen!
Akinym: I see, that answers my question. If that's your decision, I'll respect it, of course. If anything, I'll support it.
Sinon: Thank you. [slightly exasperatedly] That said, I don't think there's much fighting left to do for us here. The rest is entirely up to the others, and I hope they hurry up and finish this raid before this oven gets cranked up even more! [mutters, slightly worriedly] And that they'll be alright, of course.
With that last line on her lips, Sinon turned towards the window again, gazing at the castle keep, where the final and probably most dangerous battle of the war campaign would take place.
In fact, that battle was about to start. Yamata had just opened the entrance of the boss room, revealing a large hall on the other side, which was almost completely empty – save for a single goblin at the far end of the hall. The rest of the raid party that had made it there noticed that, of course, and they hurriedly followed him inside.
Schmitt [slightly irritatedly]: Yamata, what are you thinking, going ahead all by yourself?! [exasperatedly] Honestly, that wasn't the plan, and you know it!
Yamata [casually]: Damn, Schmitt, don't be so uptight! I wasn't gonna start without you, so chill, okay? Besides, [sneers at the goblin monster] this guy doesn't even look that tough! If the Black Swordsman can take on boss monsters by himself, I should be more than able to handle that one on my own!
Schmitt sighed before taking a look at the goblin himself. There was no doubt that this was their target, Leodas the Goblin General. Well, Schmitt could understand Yamata's enthusiasm and optimism to some degree. The presence of this boss monster was nothing like that of a floor boss. It looked like nothing but yet another goblin monster, just with slightly better equipment. Frankly, this boss was probably not even as tall as Schmitt, which really didn't make Leodas very impressive, especially when compared to the huge, dreadful floor bosses.
However, Schmitt clearly remembered how Asuna had warned them not to underestimate their final opponent even for a second. Despite its appearance, this was still a major mid-boss. Its size or how scary it looked (or not) didn't say anything about its abilities. After all, the massive floor bosses could be unnaturally fast or agile, so there was no telling how terrifyingly strong Leodas might be, contrary to appearances. In the end, it was all about stats, which were set according to the challenge this battle was supposed to pose.
If anything, the boss' size might only make this battle far more complicated. The Assault Team knew several battle formations that had proven useful against large boss monsters, which could, for example, be attacked from all sides by multiple parties. Since this boss was just as big as a human, it also had to be fought more or less like one. At the very least, their normal raid tactics probably wouldn't work against Leodas.
Schmitt took another look around. Even after splitting into several groups, most of which patrolled and defended the rest of the dungeon, the Assault Team had still dispatched a full regular raid party for this boss battle. In a sense, Schmitt wondered why they had sent so many players into this battle if numbers might not help them all that much. Alas, his biggest concern (and by far not just his) was that one key player in particular wasn't here: Asuna.
She had stayed behind at the staircase that led up to the castle keep, where she kept an eye on the overall situation. Frankly, since they'd been expecting an unconventional battle, many members of the raid party were concerned that their usual leader and "master tactician" wasn't leading them during the boss battle. Regardless, Asuna had figured that the assault on the goblin HQ might be the perfect opportunity to let someone else take charge, so that others could get some raid commanding experience. To that end, she'd tasked Klein and Kem'Pal with leading the raid party that would face Leodas. To be fair, Asuna was always ready to join them in case things went south.
Speaking of their temporary commanders, the latter, Kem'Pal, took a few steps towards Leodas until the lizardman general stood in front of all the players at a notable distance. Its goblin counterpart seemed to acknowledge their "old nemesis" as Leodas, who had stood perfectly still until that point, lifted its head and walked a few steps towards Kem'Pal.
Leodas: I see you bunch of scaly cold-bloods have managed to make it here after all. I can't tell if I underestimated these foreign adventures who ascend the Celestial Towers or you lizardmen.
Kem'Pal [smirks]: I'd say both. I'm sure we would've come here to drive you Scaleless Turnips from this desert, but we wouldn't have made it quite as fast without the help of our scaleless allies!
Leodas: Hmph, I could never stand that stupid nickname you've given our race, but I'll gladly make you choke on it, now that I get the chance to!
With that, Leodas drew its weapon, a rapier, and pointed it at Kem'Pal and the raid party determinedly.
Leodas: Don't think that this is over just because you've reached me! We goblins have lived – have survived – in this barren wasteland for many generations. If this cruel environment failed to do us in, you won't succeed there easily! Now, face me, for as long as I still stand, the goblin race will not falter!
Kem'Pal mirrored its adversary, drawing its longsword and pointing it at Leodas.
Kem'Pal: I've expected that much! If it's a battle to the bitter end you want, I'll give you one the lizardmen will remember for centuries to come!
Klein: Alright, you heard the man, guys! Everyone, get ready, this party is about to start!
On this command, every group among the raid party took their respective position. Meanwhile, Leodas roared loudly as four HP bars appeared above its head. The players answered that battle cry with their own, and Kem'Pal charged forward while Leodas did the same.
The generals of the two races clashed and exchanged a series of fierce blows. They were about evenly matched, albeit by balancing out their respective strengths and weaknesses. Leodas was faster and swifter, and it could dodge most of Kem'Pal's sword strokes. Kem'Pal, in turn, could parry some of Leodas' thrusts with its rapier, but the lizardman general sustained numerous hits, most of which, however, couldn't pierce Kem'Pal's armour. Only some hits at unprotected parts of the lizardman's arms and snout dealt noteworthy damage, but since Leodas' DPH was low, it wasn't that much. Kem'Pal, on the other hand, finally got the hang of Leodas' battle rhythm to the point that it could deal a heavy blow to the goblin's chest during a moment when it was vulnerable after its own attack.
Speaking of that attack, the sheer force of Kem'Pal's sword stroke pushed Leodas back. The goblin general was tumbling at first, but its movements stabilised surprisingly quickly, and soon enough, it simply backed away from Kem'Pal in an extremely controlled fashion.
This robbed the players of an opening they had hoped for. Several of them had been closing in on Leodas in a pincer movements, waiting eagerly for an opportunity to strike. When the boss monster was driven back, they thought that this would be said opportunity, so a few players with polearms made their move, attacking Leodas one after another.
The first player swung a battleaxe at Leodas vertically, but the goblin general dodged by leaping backwards. The next player thrust a spear at Leodas once it had landed, but that blow, too, was evaded with yet another leap backward. The third player tried aiming at the spot where Leodas would land and timing their attack, but Leodas dodged by a hair's breadth by (you guessed it) jumping away at the last second. This pattern repeated itself five more times until Leodas escaped the players' offensive.
Frankly, Leodas' dodging manoeuvres were nothing special per se. It was just that the boss monster's jumps were unexpectedly light-footed and on point. Just a few minutes into the fight, the players already had to admit that they had greatly underestimated their opponent's speed and dexterity.
Leodas followed up the previously explained dodging manoeuvre with some quick sidesteps, which got it into position to attack the player who had attacked the boss last. The player tried to fend it off with their halberd, but Leodas closed in on them way too quickly – and too close for the player's long-reached weapon to be of any use anymore. The de-facto defenseless player sustained several hits before a member of their party caught up to them, and the other player protected their comrade from any other thrusts from Leodas' rapier with their large shield.
The rest of that party attempted another pincer attack on Leodas, but while the players were getting into position, the boss monster seemed to realise what was going on, and it retreated. After that, a few other parties and several lizardmen tried to corner and attack Leodas in a similar fashion, but all of them failed. Leodas dodged most of their attacks (not all of them, though), and it fled after dealing out a few counterstrikes.
However, their efforts weren't for naught. As he watched this struggle, Klein grasped little by little what the boss they were fighting was capable of, and he could come up with a plan.
Klein [yells]: Okay, guys, stop that haphazard brawl! We've got to work together to encircle this boss, or we won't get anywhere! [upset] Oi, the same goes for you guys over there! Stop charging in without a big plan, for crying out loud!
One after another, each party that participated in this battle followed Klein's command, including the group he had chastised for launching another attack right as he'd been telling them not to. They weren't particularly eager to do as Klein told them, but they were at least listening.
Klein: Alright, make sure to block it off on all sides! But don't get too close: The boss might flee before we're ready if you do!
There was a bit of a commotion as the players couldn't agree on how exactly they'd go about surrounding Leodas. To be more precise, they couldn't decide who should participate in forming a ring around the boss, and who should focus on attacking it. While they were at odds, Leodas was free to basically go on a rampage, which only threw the raid party even more into disarray. One of the lizardmen even died in this turmoil.
Klein: Someone still watch the boss! We gotta keep him occupied, preferably just one-on-one. Kem, can you do that? You've did the best job so far!
Kem'Pal: Leave it to me, Klein-dono! I won't let this Scaleless Turnip take another head of my men!
Klein: Thanks. To the rest of you: Get your act together! [slightly contemplatively] Let's see… [seriously] Okay, here's the plan: The polearm-users take care of the encirclement. Form a phalanx on all sides, and let the lizardmen join you in order to not leave any gaps! [mutters] Or maybe… [yells] Okay, another idea: Everyone with large enough shields also joins the formation. I guess it won't be a phalanx then… What was this called again? A testudo, I think? Anyway, our lancers keep the boss at bay as good as they can, and the shield-users hold the line if it gets to close, got it?
Thus, the players set Klein's plan into motion, albeit not with the speed and enthusiasm he had hoped for. He couldn't help but think that the raid party would've followed these orders more energetically if they'd come from Asuna. Then again, she would've made a more secure, determined impression.
Klein [mutters]: Okay, let's see if we can do this better… [yells] Alright, guys, the rest of you, only those who are confident in their close-range combat skills get to fight the boss head-on! You've seen how tricky this thing is, so don't get cocky! Everyone who's not up for the task steps back now! You'll be our reserves! The remaining players get ready to attack once we're all set! You'll take turns fighting the boss, one party after another! Switch with your own guys as you see fit, and pass the torch to the next group on my command!
Klein's strategy worked quite well. There were some squabbles about who'd be strong enough to fight Leodas directly – after all, that part of the plan was fairly vague. Aside from that, however, the raid party worked very well together – almost surprisingly so – in cornering and attacking the boss.
Once Leodas was essentially walled in, it lost the freedom to move as it would've needed in order to utilise its superior dodging skills. Well, and whenever Leodas tried to escape, the wall of players and lizardmen in its way would push the boss back.
Meanwhile, the remaining players took turns attacking Leodas. For that purpose, the raid party had left a small gap within their formation, just big enough for a player to fit through. Through that hole in the raid party's testudo (or maybe it would've been more accurate to call it a reverse square formation), a group of attackers could retreat, and the next group could charge in. This way, the Assault Team could battle Leodas in a "one party at a time" style. After all, there wouldn't have been enough space for more players than that within the narrow space that the players had trapped the boss in.
This "party rotation" happened every few minutes. One reason for this frequency of alternations was to avoid exhausting any of the players, who couldn't fight continuously at the level of concentration that this battle required. If they let a party burn themselves out by letting them go all out until they couldn't keep going, it might come back to haunt the entire raid party later. In the end, the players didn't know what Leodas might be capable of, and even back at the strategy meeting, the Assault Team had deemed it the best decision to keep the whole raid party in a good fighting condition – in case the boss had some unpleasant surprises in store for them.
Another reason was the fact that Leodas still fought back quite valiantly, and that wasn't only because it had just enough space left to dodge at least a little. The players who threw themselves into the fray and attacked Leodas directly had offense-focused builds, so the boss' counterattacks took a toll on them quite quickly. They simply needed to switch in order to heal up again.
The only "constant" combatant against Leodas was Kem'Pal. Kem'Pal had plenty of HP, both high offensive and defensive stats, and – most importantly – unlimited stamina due to being an NPC. Frankly, the lizardman general played a crucial role in the Assault Team's battle set-up: Whenever a party had to withdraw momentarily, Kem'Pal stopped Leodas from going after them, thus covering the players' retreat.
The resulting one-on-one duels between the two races' generals were plain stalemates, though. It hadn't taken both AIs long to get a hang of each others behaviour in combat, and once that happened, their fight was a fairly uneventful series of attacking, blocking, counterattacking and getting blocked.
After a while, Kem'Pal received "reinforcements" the lizardman hadn't actually expected. Leodas had just dodged one of Kem'Pal's blows by stepping to the side, and now it was aiming at Kem'Pal's arm for a thrust with its rapier. Kem'Pal already knew how to fend this counterattack off, namely by yanking its sword around and deflecting the thrust, but when the lizardman was about to spin around to do that, it noticed a movement out of the corner of its eye.
A player was approaching them, starting a Sword Skill to deal with Leodas in Kem'Pal's stead. Because of that, especially since this comrade was a familiar face, Kem'Pal decided to leave this matter to the player – to Klein.
Klein used a 2-hit combo. The first hit, a vertical upward stroke, was aimed at Leodas rapier, and when their weapons clashed, it disrupted Leodas' attack. After that, Klein quickly swung his katana around in a semicircle to the right side – a movement that flowed perfectly into the second strike, a horizontal slash from the right to the left. Leodas couldn't take a defensive stance in time, so the attack struck the goblin general's side, knocking him back… but not cutting deep into its body at all.
Dale and Dynamm (the other members of Fuurinkazan supported the group that maintained the encirclement) intercepted Leodas when the boss tried to counterattack, and while they were keeping their enemy occupied, Kem'Pal took the opportunity to discuss the situation with Klein.
Kem'Pal: Klein-dono, I'm surprised to see you coming to my aid. Isn't a commander's place in the rear, where they can overview the battle calmly and judge the situation to the best of their abilities?
Klein [exasperatedly, slightly casually]: Like you're one to talk, Kem! Who's the lizardman general who's almost always fought on the front-line?
Kem'Pal [laughs]: I suppose you're right, Klein-dono! It's not that I mind you fighting at my side, anyway, [slightly contemplatively] but I was wondering why you've decided to join the fray so suddenly.
Klein [contemplatively, slightly irritatedly]: Truth be told, I came here to actually see this guy [nods towards Leodas] fight for myself. No matter what I did, our own guys completely blocked my field of vision, and I couldn't throw so much as a glimpse at the actual battle.
The only thing he saw, even through the gap the players had left in their encirclement, was Leodas' HP bar. Even just coordinating the raid party like this was hard enough – in fact, Klein had been having a hard time deciding when to tell the attacking parties to switch. He just couldn't make out how well or badly they were doing. The only reliable indicator was the party leaders explicitly asking for the next group to take over, which was usually only after they'd already started to struggle notably. This should've been Klein's job, but he ultimately couldn't do it.
In a situation like this, actually analysing the battle and coming up with the best tactic was simply out of the question. The only option for Klein to see and understand how Leodas fought was to do so up close… so here we are.
Kem'Pal: I see. He's a difficult opponent if ever I saw one. That is to be expected, though, I guess. He fights every bit as valiantly as I've thought the general of these pesky Scaleless Turnips would.
Klein could see where Kem'Pal was coming from as he observed Dale and Dynamm's battle (or maybe he should've called it their "struggle" instead) against Leodas. To be fair, they did decently in terms of offense (at least when compared to the rest of the Assault Team), but not so much when it came to fending off counterattacks.
Dynamm tried to play his usual role as tank, but he relied heavily on his round shield to play that role, which made him a poor match for the goblin general. In order to parry Leodas' rapier thrusts, Dynamm had to defend himself in a very precise and careful manner since his shield didn't provide much cover, and not only did Leodas' speed make it hard for him to keep up, the boss monster's AI also managed to see through most of his parries. As a consequence, Dynamm failed to block most of Leodas' blows.
Oddly enough, that wasn't what bothered Klein the most, though. There was something about the way Leodas moved around – "dancing" around Klein's teammates, or rather just hopping to safety most of the time when either Dale or Dynamm swiped at the boss – that felt incredibly off to Klein. However, he couldn't put his finger on what it was.
He did notice something else, though. At some point, Dale and Dynamm had (at least almost) driven Leodas into a corner, and Dale swung his broadword at the boss, which it evaded by leaping backwards just enough to get out of the weapon's reach. Dynamm tried to use this opportunity to use a Sword Skill of his own, timing and aiming it so that he would strike right after Leodas landed. However, compared to Leodas' movement and reaction speed, Dynamm's was too low for such a trick, and Leodas easily dodged by leaping forward again, kicking off the ground pretty much the second his feet touched the ground.
The jump was well-calculated, and Leodas didn't even bump into Dale, who had yet to lift up his broadsword after his previous attack. Seeing Leodas dashing towards him, however, Dale lost his composure for a second, and he simply yanked his sword upward. Leodas tried to escape this attack, too, this time by jumping to the left, which was the only way it could still go now that Dale was in front of it, Dynamm behind it, and the "player wall" much too close on the other side. At least Dynamm didn't block this particular escape route anymore.
Despite the attempt to dodge, Dale still hit Leodas' right shoulder. This hardly left the usual mark on the goblin's body, which caught Klein's eye. Now that he thought about it, pretty much all the "injuries" Leodas had suffered were awfully shallow.
Klein: Damn, what's with this guy tanking all these attacks so well?
Kem'Pal: It's his armour, Klein-dono.
Klein had actually muttered his question more to himself rather than seriously asking Kem'Pal. Therefore, the lizardman's reply caught him a bit by surprise, and he turned towards Kem'Pal with a somewhat confused look on his face.
Klein: His armour?
Kem'Pal: Yes. Take a good look, and as a fellow warrior, you'll see how it can withstand our attacks!
Klein followed Kem'Pal's advice. Leodas' armour consisted of several metal strips and plates that were strapped together. To Klein, it looked like the Roman-style armour he had seen quite often, and it was indeed quite similar to a lorica segmentata, which usually comes to mind when thinking of Roman armour, but Leodas' harness was larger and also… more compact, or maybe it was more accurate to call it denser.
Klein: Well, I don't know… If I could take my time and a look up close, I might get it, Kem, but it doesn't look that special to me.
Kem'Pal [slightly disappointedly]: It doesn't? Well, in that case… [seriously] I could see clearly that his suit of metal is composed of multiple small metal plates, which all overlap with the adjacent ones. It creates a defense with two to three layers, and even if our weapons break the first one, the one underneath it will withstand, whether we try to smash it with a club, cut it with a sword or pierce it with a spear. There's also the fact that if a small piece breaks, it's relatively easy to repair, like a…
While Kem'Pal kept rambling on about defensive gear, Klein got lost in his own thoughts for a moment. Now that Kem'Pal had brought this matter to his attention, Klein remembered clearly what had happened when he himself had attacked Leodas earlier. When his katana had struck the goblin's torso, it was as if the blade bounced off after cutting into its target ever-so-slightly. That was certainly an issue he had to deal with…
...although it still wasn't what had been keeping Klein on his toes so far.
Kem'Pal: ...and I think they're even made expertly, especially for those Scaleless Turnips. That said, I don't think it suits such a Scaleless Turnip. I mean, just look at him, Klein-dono! Unlike his brethren, he can hardly move in that armour. Just look at how stiffly he stands!
It seemed that Klein started listening to Kem'Pal again just at the right time. Once again, Kem'Pal had brought something to his attention, this time making Klein understand what exactly had been bothering him: This whole time, it felt as if Leodas wasn't moving its upper body at all, or at least not more than just one inch or so. If Leodas tried to bend or twist its torso, the metal plates its armour consisted of would probably get wedged.
This also explained the way Leodas dodged their attacks: The boss could move its legs freely, and it could run around and jump out of the way of attacks without problems. That way, it could dodge vertical blows like Dale's a few minutes ago relatively easily, but horizontal or diagonal blows were a different matter – that is, of course, unless Leodas could jump backwards to dodge. Therefore, Dale's comparatively clumsy diagonal strike had been more successful: Leodas could've dodged that attack without breaking a sweat by ducking or leaning its body to the side – if it had been able to.
Klein [confidently]: Hehe, thanks for pointing that out, Kem! It helps a lot! [contemplatively] But how can we use this to our advantage? Hm… [determinedly] Okay, let's try something! Everyone, listen up! From now on, focus your attacks on the boss' legs! I know you're usually focusing on the chest since it's a weak point, but this boss is armoured too well for that. Its legs are vulnerable, and it can't lean forward or lift its arm up high because the metal plates on its stomach, its shoulders and its upper arms would get in the way! Use horizontal strikes, and… [mutters] What else? [yells] Hell, crouch down if you have to! I know it sounds odd, but give it a shot!
The other players took in these instructions, and they relayed them to their comrades who hadn't caught them. Once Klein had the feeling that everyone got the picture, it was time to resume the… normal mode.
Klein: Dynamm, Dale, we back off for now! To the next party: Switch in! Oh, and Kem: Help me cover our retreat!
Kem'Pal: As you wish, Klein-dono!
To say that the battle went smoothly after that wouldn't be just an overstatement – it would be plain wrong. Granted, Klein's plan was worth its salt, and the players managed to increase their damage output by following it, but there were limits to that. Leodas' legs and lower arms, which were now the main target of the players, may have been more vulnerable than the boss' torso, but hits aimed at these spots did inherently not deal that much damage.
The players also put more effort into getting close enough to Leodas so that the boss couldn't hit them with its rapier anymore. Just as Klein had suspected, the boss monster could move its arms only to a fairly limited degree. It was good at thrusting its weapon forward, maybe at slashing opponents in front of it, too, but that was it, and it only worked if the target was just far away from Leodas as necessary. The boss could hardly draw its arm back far enough to prepare a rapier thrust at someone who stood about thirty centimetres away from it.
That said, Leodas would immediately jump away the moment a foe came that close to it, which made it difficult to capitalise on this weakness. It was actually a different approach, which the players discovered soon after Klein's initial idea, that allowed them to gain an advantage due to the boss' limited movability.
Just as Leodas could hardly lean back or forward, its armour prevented it from twisting and turning its upper body, too. This made the boss vulnerable to attacks from behind or from the sides. Naturally, the goblin dodged such strikes just as it dodged any charges from the front, but since Leodas had to face an enemy in order to do anything against them, players (or Kem'Pal, for that matter) could attack from other directions without the slightest worry about counterattacks, which made it a bit easier for them.
Ultimately, the raid party whittled Leodas' first HP bar down little by little, and once they had managed to do that after a considerable amount of time, they… well, proceeded just like that. The players, especially Klein, had expected some change in Leodas' combat patterns now that one of its HP bars was gone. After all, that was the normal thing to happen. Alas – and this made Klein fairly suspicious – nothing seemed to change about the way the boss acted or reacted in this battle.
In the end, this remained a little mystery for the time being, but since the players couldn't just stop there, they simply continued to fight Leodas with the same strategy as before until they had a reason to alter their methods.
Thus, the battle raged on. At one point, a player drove Leodas close enough to the wall of players that confined the boss for one of his comrades there to attack the goblin general with his spear. The thrust hit it in the back, and while this blow didn't deal much damage, it threw the boss off balance for a second, which allowed the other player to follow up with another strike, swinging his sword at Leodas right leg.
This wasn't even the end of that combo attack. The spearwielder attacked Leodas once more from behind, this time hitting the boss' shoulder just a moment before it could step to the side to dodge. Anyway, Leodas thrust its rapier at the player in front of it in an attempt to stop any further attacks, but the targeted player yanked his sword around, swinging it at Leodas' right lower arm. It was a forceful, yet somewhat unskilful move, but it hit the goblin boss in time to push its arm aside so that the boss' rapier merely grazed its target, thus deflecting the counterattack effectively.
After that, Leodas didn't take any more chances and jumped away. Regardless these two players had pulled off a quite successful chain of attacks.
The battle continued from there without major changes. While the heavily-armoured players maintained the encirclement, the remaining players kept taking turns fighting Leodas head-on. Leodas' second HP bar was getting close to fifty per cent, and while it was an arduous battle, the players started to get the feeling that things were going overall well.
After some time, the exact same situation that was described a few paragraphs ago occurred again. The same player from before drove Leodas close to the blockade line – in fact, he was driving the boss close to the other player from before, with whom he had downright overwhelmed Leodas. Just exchanging one glance was enough for these two to settle on a tactic: They'd try the same combined attack as last time.
They started off as planned: The spear-user struck Leodas in the back, causing the boss to stumble a bit forward – closer to the other player, who swung his sword at the goblin general's leg. This time, however, Leodas quickly took a step back again, so that the sword stroke barely missed. Regardless, the first player continued the combo as intended, and he thrust his spear at Leodas' shoulder. Alas, Leodas knelt down, just fast enough to dodge the thrust this way. After that, it was the boss who followed up with the "scheduled" action, namely standing up again and thrusting its rapier at the player in front of it, who – just as last time – tried to impede the counterattack by attacking Leodas' arm. However, once again, the player was a bit too slow this time, and it was the boss' attack that struck first and knocked the player back.
All of that happened under the watchful eye of Klein, who may not have been able to see the whole sequence of attacks and countermeasures clearly, but he could still make out that two players had attempted a combo they'd pulled off mere minutes ago, this time falling flat by a downright ridiculously small margin. Truly, it struck Klein as odd that three (not just one) consecutive attacks would come just a split second too late for them to work. Sure, one should never assume that the same trick would work twice (let alone in a row), and the reaction and factual movement speed of players weren't constant anyway, but this… This was suspicious.
Alas, Klein couldn't focus on this matter since he still had to keep an eye on the entire raid party and their ongoing battle. Ironically, to that end, it would've helped quite a lot to figure out what was up with this "phenomenon" – because the rest of the raid party began to experience similar issues.
After fighting Leodas for a notable amount of time, both players and NPCs had developed a certain feel for Leodas' battle rhythm. They could judge – at least to a certain degree – how fast Leodas moved, when and how it would attack or evade, and they were taking measures of their own to respond to any of those actions appropriately based on their experiences so far. Now, however, more and more players dodged, struck, diverted the boss' attention or cut off its escape route just a tiny bit too slowly to keep up with it. It wasn't too bad, though, as the players simply had to adjust to these circumstances – in other words, they just had to keep their act together, step up their game and get faster, which was nothing they couldn't do at this point.
That said, this development was something to take note of, and it might've been better if the players had paid more attention to it than they actually had.
...and with this ominous line, I'll end part one of this battle.
The whole issue with the "suspiciously close" labyrinth tower Akinym was pondering about will come up again, and anyone who's familiar with the later floors in Hollow Fragment should already be able to tell how. ;)
On a related note, the "Aincrad's floors have a diameter of about ten kilometres" is based on something I've looked up about it. If I remember correctly, my source stated that the 1st floor was about that large. Well, I took the freedom to turn this into the general scale of each floor, although that means that Aincrad is probably mostly cylindrical rather than conical in "my" version of SAO.
In case anyone is wondering, the name Leodas is based on the Greece name Leonidas, which is the name of the Spartan king/general who commanded the defenders at the Battle of Thermopylae, which is one of the (if not the) most iconic last stands in western history.
See you next time for part two and the real finale of the goblins vs. lizardmen war!