So... How about a sooner-than-average update for once?
First things first, I know I promised to finish the boss battle against Leodas the Goblin General this chapter... but I won't. Man, did I underestimate how long the rest of the battle scene would be! I know I've said this countless times before, but this time takes the cake. When I finished the whole thing, I realised that the originally planned chapter would've been more than 18,000 words long...
Honestly, I hardly understand how that happened. Sure, I put in a lot of details, but when I started writing this chapter, I didn't have the feeling that it'd turn out overly long. Well, and then, the whole scene turned from a description of raid tactics and such into a sequence of duels/small-scale fights between the boss and various specific players... and that's when the word count got out of hand.
Anyway, this chapter covers the rest of the boss battle up until the point when two... let's say "familiar faces" enter the stage. I've already written the next chapter, and I reckon I'll published it within the next two days.
For now, let's see how the Assault Team is faring against Leodas the Goblin General after they've just realised that the battle is - little by little - getting harder over time.
With some difficulties, the Assault Team and the lizardmen continued their battle against Leodas, and after some time, they brought down its second HP bar.
Even though nothing (at least as far as they had noticed) had happened after depleting Leodas' first HP bar, the players still braced themselves for any changes in the boss' attack patterns. Therefore, the current group of close-quarters combatants withdrew while only Kem'Pal stayed behind to cover their retreat. Similarly, the players who'd surrounded Leodas kept their guard up.
However, they may have been a bit too cautious. When Leodas suddenly charged at the Assault Team's testudo, the obstacle that kept it from breaking free, all the players around the spot Leodas was approaching took defensive and – which is the most important part – completely passive stances, merely trying to "absorb" the heavy attack they were expecting.
Alas, Leodas was merely aiming at the weakest spot within this "wall". There was a lizardman that Leodas had been attacking sporadically throughout the last few minutes. Every single time, said lizardman had sustained a few hits and some damage – about ten per cent of its maximum HP each time – until either the surrounding players had pushed Leodas back or the boss ceased the attack before they could do so. Until now, everyone had thought that Leodas had simply attacked one of the lizardmen at random, but now it dawned on some of them, especially Klein, that Leodas had been aiming at this NPC in particular… and for a reason.
Now, Leodas kept attacking the lizardman rather than backing off, and none of the other players interfered, fearing that the boss might use an unknown special attack against them.
Klein: Oi, guys! Don't just stand there! Stop it! The boss is just trying to break through!
He may have figured that out, but it came a bit late. Leodas killed the lizardman, which was essentially the only opponent that truly dared to stand in its path at that very moment. The surrounding players tried to thrust their spears at Leodas or to put up a hedgehog defense to keep it at bay, but the boss was already rushing forward, and they could essentially only take a swing at its after-images. Well, if there had been any. The point is that the polearm-users couldn't stop Leodas, but one of the players who had fortified their line with his shield reacted in time to rush into the gap and block Leodas' path.
Naturally, the boss reacted to that, and it got ready to attack. It drew back its rapier, but paused for a brief moment. The player who was opposing the boss could instinctively tell from this fact that the boss monster was preparing some sort of special move, and he hid behind his shield to wait out that attack.
To be fair, he wasn't wrong to assume that Leodas was about to use a more formidable attack, but he hadn't been quite prepared for what it truly did. The boss thrust its rapier forward at an immense speed, ramming it against the player's shield, and although said player had assumed a very steady stance and braced himself against the blow with all of his considerable strength, the force of the impact completely overwhelmed him. A loud, brazen clanging noise echoed through the hall as the player was sent flying several metres backwards, seemingly being carried by the shockwave Leodas' attack had caused.
After that, Leodas could finally move past the players who had kettled the boss in, and said players were too shocked to go after it right away. The same couldn't be said about Klein, though.
Klein: Okay, be careful, guys! That's an attack we have to look out for! [mutters] Although… That's obvious, isn't it? What to do? [yells] Alright, it got away, but that's not too bad! We'll encircle it again, and this time, we just have to be more careful! For now, we'll do everything just as last time!
While the raid party was following this order, albeit rather hesitantly, Klein shifted his attention back to Leodas' special attack. Putting himself in Asuna's shoes, Klein figured that he should analyse this particular gimmick of the boss in order to come up with countermeasures.
Klein had caught a somewhat clear look at it, and it had seemed… remarkably simple at first. From what Klein remembered about it, it had looked like a normal thrust, the only difference being that Leodas had waited a short moment before unleashing the attack, almost as if it had been charging it like a Sword Skill, which, to be honest, wasn't all that uncommon for boss monsters.
That said, what exactly had been the stance Leodas had taken? Klein tried to remember because it might be important in order to recognise when Leodas was about to use this attack. Judging from what had happened to that one guy earlier despite shielding himself against it, dodging that blow might be the only effective defense, but that would require the targeted player to see it coming. In order words, they had to know what to look out for.
Unfortunately, Klein hadn't paid enough attention to the finer details of this particular ace upon Leodas' sleeve. There were probably some trademark preparatory movements that would be a sign of this attack coming up, but not only had Klein not noticed any of them earlier, he wasn't sure if he'd be able to next time. He'd have to focus on that… while simultaneously leading the raid party in this battle.
Frankly, he wondered how Asuna managed to do this. Well, it'd probably been helping that, for a while now, she had had an extra pair of eyes she could assign to this task. Oh, right… Maybe he could do the same. Klein took a look around, wondering who might be the best choice for this, and he found the perfect candidate.
Klein: Oi, Kem! Wait a moment!
Kem'Pal, who was following the players as they tried to kettle Leodas in once more, stopped in his tracks and turned towards Klein, who was rushing to the lizardmen general's side.
Kem'Pal: What is it, Klein-dono?
Klein: There's something I need you to do: You've seen the last attack by the boss, right? That is, by the general of the goblins.
Kem'Pal: Of course, Klein-dono! Truly, this Scaleless Turnip is nothing to sneeze at as a fighter!
Klein: Yes, but how exactly did he prepare that attack? I want you to keep a close eye on him, and when he uses that move again, try to memorise how exactly he moves, what stance he takes… things like that, you know?
Kem'Pal: I see. You want to understand his swordsmanship better in order to be prepared, don't you? It would indeed be for the best not to fall victim to his tricks again, so I agree. I shall do as you say, Klein-dono!
Klein: Thanks, Kem, I'm counting on you!
The lizardman nodded in response before continuing the "hunt" for Leodas. Klein looked after his NPC comrade, hoping that everything would work out. Then again, even if it did, they'd still have more than enough work to do before they could finish this tough battle.
Since lamenting that fact wouldn't get the Assault Team anywhere, it only meant that they should get to it. Well, and they did. It took the raid party considerable effort, but they eventually managed to encircle Leodas once more. This time, they trapped the boss within a slightly bigger area at one of the walls, blocking off only the remaining three sides with their own forces.
As far as Leodas' apparent trump card was concerned, Kem'Pal more or less figured out how it worked after a while. Once the lizardman had seen the goblin use this enhanced rapier thrust a few times, Kem'Pal could give Klein a report about it.
Not that there was much to say, though. Frankly, Leodas new attack skill was so simple that it actually was a letdown. The boss drew back its right shoulder to position its rapier at its side, pointing straight at the target Leodas was facing. Then, while bending forward ever-so-slightly, it waited a brief moment before dashing at its opponent for a powerful thrust. Kem'Pal could point out a few more details – for example, Leodas lined up its feet whenever it used that attack – but there was nothing substantial.
The biggest issue was that most of these motions weren't unique to this special attack. Ironically, details such as the positioning of the boss' feet were the best indicator, but that wasn't something the average player – even among the Assault Team – would notice quickly enough while still watching out for other tricks, which required them to focus mostly on Leodas' upper body.
In the end, Klein could only come up with this: Whenever Leodas seemed to prepare a thrust and seemed to hesitate, jump out of the way immediately. It was an overly cautious approach, and the players ended up dodging "dangerous blows" that weren't actually coming more often than any of them liked, but it was the safest tactic, and that meant a lot among the Assault Team.
Furthermore, the players that had lined up to block any route of escape Leodas might've had were ordered to attack the boss and to push it back as soon as it ambushed any of them. Klein stressed this actually fairly obvious rule in order to prevent another situation like the one earlier when Leodas killed a lizardman, overwhelmed a player and broke free.
That, and it was also the most effective way for these players, who had no space to dodge, not to mention that they had to stand still in order to kettle in Leodas, to defend themselves against any strong attacks the boss monster might throw at them.
That way, the battle proceeded rather arduously, but also overall successfully. Without further casualties – not even among the lizardman NPCs – the raid party depleted Leodas' third HP bar little by little.
The aspect of the battle which caused them the most trouble was the continuing issue that the players just couldn't keep up with Leodas, and it got worse and worse as the battle was progressing. Many of the players who'd built their characters to hit hard rather than to hit fast reached their limit before long, and even some of the more agile fighters among them could barely stand against Leodas by the time its third HP bar was almost empty. The majority of the players chalked it up to exhaustion, which was a fairly reasonable thought given how long this battle had already been dragging on.
And Klein… He prayed that it was really just the players' exhaustion that brought about these problems.
Eventually, one of the players dealt the finishing blow… to Leodas' third HP bar, that is. At the very least, this battle was 75 percent complete, even if the remaining quarter would probably be the hardest one yet.
For now, nobody took the time to worry about that, though. With another HP bar gone, Leodas might alter its combat patterns again, so the players backed off, bracing themselves for any unpleasant surprises, and the NPCs among their ranks followed suit.
Alas, nobody had expected what Leodas actually did. It had stumbled a bit after the last hit it had sustained, and after recovering from that, the boss looked around, as if it was searching for something. Its gaze got caught on the nearest pillar, the only one in the small area the raid party had walled in. Leodas suddenly ran towards that pillar and leapt at it, landing on it sideways. For a moment, everyone around was perplexed, but it took only a second or two for the first players to get a hold of themselves and to charge at the boss.
They couldn't imagine that Leodas would push itself off the pillar with such force that it jumped over the players' blockade, especially since their line was a few metres away from the boss' current position. However, that was exactly what happened. They were utterly dumbstruck as Leodas skipped over them – be it literally or figuratively – as if it was nothing.
And now take a guess how the players took it when Leodas almost instantly went after the nearest player, who, on top of everything else, didn't have much of a defensive built. Leodas opened its assault with its special thrust skill, and it chased after its target after (quite literally) blowing them away.
Even the poor guy's teammates, who'd stood right beside him, were too shocked to help him right off the bat. Needless to say, Leodas' "victim" was the most overwhelmed of them all, though, and even a fairly seasoned member of the Assault Team couldn't muster a good defense like that. The player tried to scurry away, but Leodas mercilessly followed him with swift attacks.
Klein: Oi, guys! Don't just stand there! [draws his katana, mutters] Ugh, should I just go myself?
He didn't have to since some other players came to their senses and took care of the matter. The first to reach Leodas was a guy with a warhammer, and he used a quick 1-hit Sword Skill to stop the boss from attacking its current target, whose HP bar had already gotten dangerously close to the red zone. Leodas noticed the incoming attack and jumped away, but they had at least stopped its rapid offensive.
Klein: Good job! Now, keep him occupied as well as you can! And the rest of you…
Klein turned around, facing the unit that had encircled Leodas only a minute ago. They were still frozen in place.
Klein: Don't just stand there, guys! We'll have to surround him again! You know the drill, so get to it! I know you can do this!
One after another, the players snapped out of their stupor, and the NPCs… well, they didn't even hesitate. Thus, the third "hunt" for Leodas began. The good news was that it'd be the last one. The bad news was why it was the last one.
The players figured that out when a group of them, all armed with various polearms, lined up together with some lizardmen in order to set up the first part of the new encirclement. Simultaneously, another party tried to drive Leodas closer to the nearest wall while the remaining members of the raid party were completing the encirclement, keeping the boss from running out of the relatively small area the raid party could surround with their current numbers.
In order to prevent Leodas from escaping, the players who intended to keep the boss busy had to attack from the direction where it still could've slipped through between the combatants who were joining the circle which was formed around the boss. The players expected Leodas to back away towards the wall, and the only thing they were worried about was that it would get close enough to the stone columns to pull the same trick as earlier. However, when one of them attacked Leodas with a heavy blow of his battleaxe, the goblin general dodged and fled into the direction that was actually already closed off, charging straight at the players who already stood ready to intercept the boss.
There was a split second of confusion among the players, but the three of them Leodas was running towards and one lizardman who stood next to them reacted on instinct: They attacked the incoming boss monster with thrusts of their spears or halberds. Alas, none of them managed to even scratch Leodas… because the boss jumped up just before they could reach it, and it jumped straight over their heads and past the line of the Assault Team.
Everyone's reaction was represented almost perfectly by Klein's.
Klein [shocked]: Wait a second, he can do that even without the pillars?! Dammit, can this boss seriously just jump over us whenever he wants to? [at a loss, slightly desperately] We can forget about cornering it if that's the case. Shit, our whole strategy just went down the drain! Ugh, what am I – are we – supposed to do now?!
While Klein was racking his brain thinking about this issue, Leodas was basically running amok among the lizardmen, which, for the time being, were the only members of the raid party that kept pressuring their target. Unsurprisingly, the regular NPCs were no match for the goblin general at this point.
The rather one-sided beating went on until Leodas was knocking down one of the lizardmen, already aiming the finishing blow at its weakened victim. The goblin general thrust its rapier at the falling lizardman's throat, and the other NPC would've been unable to fend this attack off. It was its general, Kem'Pal, who came to the rescue: Kem'Pal had taken position behind its targeted soldier, preparing a counterattack while Leodas was busy fighting the lizardmen general's minion.
Now, Kem'Pal dashed forward, jumped across its subordinate's falling body and countered Leodas' thrust with its own, ramming its longsword into the goblin's stomach. As expected, the attack couldn't penetrate Leodas' armour, but the blow interrupted the boss monster's attack and knocked it back.
Kem'Pal went after Leodas and followed up with a horizontal sword stroke, hoping to strike before Leodas would land and could dodge. The former was doomed to fail as Leodas' feet touched the ground again just as Kem'Pal had taken a swing, but since the lizardman general immediately swung its sword around to slash its nemesis, the latter might've still worked… if it wasn't for the fact that Leodas managed to push itself off the ground and out of harm's way at the very second it stood on said ground again.
Kem'Pal's AI had predicted that it would hit its target, so it was momentarily confused after missing, which gave Leodas the chance to circle around to Kem'Pal's right and to charge at the lizardman from its flank. That, too, came faster than Kem'Pal had adapted to, but the general still reacted in time to yank its longsword around in an attempt to counter the anticipated thrust of the goblin's rapier.
Alas, Leodas made a slight adaption to its attack before making the final leap towards Kem'Pal: It pushed itself slightly to the left and slashed the lizardman's side rather than attacking it frontally. That way, Leodas rushed past the lizardman before its longsword could've hit the boss.
Since there was no time to be shocked or to hesitate, Kem'Pal turned around to face Leodas, who – just as Kem'Pal had anticipated – was turning around to charge at the lizardman again. Kem'Pal quickly estimated the speed it should expect from Leodas and opted to fend off the incoming attack with a well-timed vertical blow this time.
The tactic seemed to work as Leodas rushed in straight towards Kem'Pal, who brought its blade down on the goblin general… only to be stopped when its target obstructed the counterattack by piercing Kem'Pal's right arm with its rapier. An attack like that had actually been calculated, but deemed to fail since it'd been expected to come too late, which (obviously) had been a miscalculation.
Unable to overpower Leodas easily, Kem'Pal jerked its right arm to the side vigorously, dislodging the thin blade of Leodas' rapier and hurling the goblin general away in one fell swoop. Two of the Lizardman Elite Soliders that accompanied Kem'Pal even managed to hit Leodas upon landing, albeit that they couldn't keep up with it for long.
Meanwhile, Kem'Pal and Leodas' newest clash had stirred up completely different fears within Klein. This had been the first time throughout the entire boss battle that Kem'Pal had been so thoroughly outmatched, and since Kem'Pal was an AI, it simply couldn't be chalked up to exhaustion, not even to a mere misjudgement, especially since the duel between the two generals continued to be disturbingly one-sided after this. There was really only one explanation.
Klein: I'm not imagining this, am I? This… He's getting faster, isn't he?
The other members of Fuurinkazan, who stood around Klein, turned towards their leader, wondering if this question was aimed at them. However, the shocked, wide-eyed expression on his face told them that this wasn't a question which was aimed at anyone, but simply a realisation he'd just had.
Klein clutched his head, taking his eyes off the severe situation on this battlefield for a moment.
Klein: Dammit, what am I supposed to do now? Our strategy doesn't work, and the boss is getting even stronger… If not even Kem can keep up with it anymore, who could? At this point, just what could turn this battle around? Just what?
The other members of Fuurinkazan wanted to say something to their leader… anything, actually. Anything motivating, anything inspiring, anything helpful. No such words came to their minds, though. In the end, they just stood there with their mouths agape, trying to utter the words they couldn't think off, until Klein looked up again, albeit with an expression of defeat on his face.
Klein: That's it, I've lost control over this situation. I… [opens his menu] I'll call Asuna, we need her help!
Just as Klein was about to write his SOS message to Asuna, a cocky voice called out to him from the side.
Yamata: Ha, child's play! If that's too much for you, you better leave it to me!
And with that, Yamata literally jumped into the fray, boosting his jump with Acrobatics and charging the Sword Skill Rapid Meteor, a 1-hit Sword Skill that got strengthened when used from a higher position. Yamata used it for a surprise attack against Leodas, who was just leaping at Kem'Pal, focusing only on the lizardman. The boss noticed that it was aimed at from the side, but Yamata's Rapid Meteor came in too fast, and Yamata managed to strike Leodas in the right shoulder, smacking the goblin general down so that it crashed onto the ground.
Yamata himself let his descent to the ground flow into a roll in order to break his fall to some degree. It was a well-tried way to cushion his fall after using Rapid Meteor like this. Leodas, on the other hand, got up somewhat groggily, which allowed Yamata to follow up with another slashing stroke with his sabre, hitting Leodas' face this time.
Leodas tried to counter, but the swiping strike with its rapier was ill-prepared and quite clumsy this time, and Yamata could block it with his pauldron by lifting his left shoulder. After that, the goblin general backed away to a safe distance, which Yamata didn't interfere with. Instead, he used the time to strike a pose, taking a relatively relaxed stance while shouldering his blade and pointing at the boss, which he was sneering at.
Yamata: If he's too much for you, let me handle this! I'll slice him up for you before you know it!
Yamata basked in this moment. How long had he been waiting for this? It had to be at least since the huge hype about the Dual Wielding skill and the boss battle on the 74th floor.
Nobody but a select few people knew the details of that fight, but that only made the rumors even wilder. "This amazing Unique Skill makes a single player as strong as a floor boss!" was one of the more down-to-earth ones. Yet… Whose heroic achievement was this? Not Yamata's, that's for sure, and it'd been bothering him immensely ever since.
Then, they'd arrived on the 95th floor, and word had got out that the Assault Team would have to fight the general of one of the two races – boss monsters in name, but not in appearance – and on the day of the raid on the goblin's HQ, it was revealed that the final boss, Leodas the Goblin General, was indeed just a man-sized elite monster – at least that was what Yamata had picked up at the strategy meeting.
Honestly, could there be a better opportunity to get this notch on his belt, too? In the end, even Yamata knew that he wouldn't be able to match up to a floor boss even if he tried. He was convinced, however, that the general of the goblins would be a different matter, and so far, nothing had called this belief into doubt. Up until this point, Yamata had simply played his "normal" role, biding his time, and unlike many other players, he had little to no trouble keeping up with Leodas well enough to do his part.
Speaking of which, even though Yamata had been itching to take the spotlight, he'd been holding back, simply following Klein's instructions like the rest of the raid party. In Yamata's opinion, it had been tedious, but he considered it necessary for his later contribution to carry the proper weight. After all, when Kirito had turned around the battle against Gleam Eyes on the 74th floor, he had done so in a pretty hopeless situation, so defeating the goblin general single-handedly simply wouldn't carry the same weight if the Assault Team didn't struggle by the time he was taking the spotlight.
And he'd been sure they'd struggle… and that he'd be the one to safe the day. After all, almost all of the Assault Team's aces weren't involved in this boss battle. There was nobody with extraordinary abilities like the archer girl, whose Unique Skill proved to be outstandingly useful every once in a while, nor were there any highly specialised players who could've put their field of expertise to good use such as the Hollow Instructor/Grey Eminence, whose dodging skills had often helped to distract a boss and to keep it occupied during critical moments – during the battle against the Foul Emperor on the 89th floor, for instance – or the elf girl, who could hold her ground in one-on-one battles even against minor boss monsters – she certainly could've taken the spotlight away from Yamata… if she'd been there. Even the "tank squad", the guild that often gave the Assault Team's defensive line a decisive boost, was busy elsewhere. The same applied to Max and the entirety of the KoB, who played a central role way too often for Yamata's liking. For crying out loud, even the Black Swordsman wasn't here! Neither was their usual raid commander, The Flash, and instead, they got some fairly inexperienced dude whom Yamata had little to no belief in.
In this situation, Yamata had been sure that his time would come… and now was (t)his time! While the members of the DDA parties (minus Schmitt, who was more worried than anything else) were cheering him on as usual, even the other players were watching the duel between Yamata and Leodas with bated breath, certainly wishing for him to win this battle for them. In fact, even the lizardmen stepped back since Kem'Pal thought that Yamata's interference was a part of Klein's plan, so he didn't want to impede this duel.
Well, as far as Yamata was concerned, they should indeed all take a seat and enjoy the show, for they certainly wouldn't be disappointed. Speaking of "the show", Yamata figured it was time to get started, so he made a dash at Leodas. The boss, that had been waiting for Yamata to make his move until then, reacted by leaping backwards and to the right.
The boss' attempt to escape a direct ambush had been within Yamata's calculations, though. Yamata had drawn back his arm and was holding his sabre in a relatively low position while pointing the tip rearwards. That way, he only had to turn slightly to the left in order to keep facing Leodas, and he could start charging the Sword Skill Fell Crescent after bending forward a little as the final adjustment to his stance.
When Yamata unleashed the Sword Skill, which Leodas was yet unfamiliar with, he rushed forward in an instant and struck the boss before it could defend itself in any shape or form. It took a blow to its chest, which didn't deal exceedingly much damage, but the impact knocked it back and caused it stagger. Therefore, Leodas was unable to counterattack during the post-motion delay of Yamata's Sword Skill, allowing the player to get ready to continue fighting.
Once more, Leodas tried to get away by jumping backwards – in a straight line this time. However, Yamata had no intention of letting the boss keep its distance. He went after it, boosting his dash forward with Acrobatics, and thanks to that, he could catch up to the boss.
Mid-air, Yamata dealt a slanted upward stroke to the goblin general, aiming at its head. He misjudged the distance to his opponent, though, and his sabre got caught on the metal plates above Leodas' chest. The blade slid off the boss' armour, but the trajectory was a bit off now, and Yamata ended up hitting its chin, which didn't deal as much damage as he had hoped.
At the same time, Leodas returned the blow and thrust its rapier at Yamata's head, which he tilted to the side promptly in order to dodge. Leodas still managed to hit his ear, but just like Yamata's blow, it wasn't as severe as intended.
After this exchange of blows, a back and forth of a completely different kind ensued. Yamata and Leodas started a… more classical sword fight, so to speak. Neither side tried to flee, and they simply kept dealing out and fending off attacks.
By an overall pretty slim margin, Yamata had the upper hand in this fencing match. He managed to feint attacks, provoking certain parries only to either adjust his strikes so that he could circumvent them or to swiftly pull back and attack the spots which Leodas' defenses were leaving wide open, and he did so very well – one might even say expertly. That way, Yamata truly create the impression that he was cornering Leodas.
Needless to say, the goblin general adapted to this tactic before long, though. Instead of trying to parry blows that might not even be serious, it focused on counterattacks. How this played out: Yamata hit Leodas' left shoulder, and Leodas stabbed Yamata's left arm and shoulder in return. Yamata got somewhat mad by the fact that his foe had dealt more hits than he himself had, so he followed up with a forceful sword stroke that slit through Leodas' throat – which was answered with two rapier thrusts to Yamata's chest.
To be fair, Leodas' counterattacks hardly harmed Yamata, at least every individual blow. Not only was Leodas' DPH quite low, Yamata was equipped with top-notch armour. In fact, thanks to the DDA's efforts to provide their elite players with the best possible equipment, Yamata wore the best set of light armour among the entire Assault Team. Despite that, Yamata sustained more and more hits (and therefore more damage) as he continued his stubborn offensive, and it began to take a toll on him.
That didn't mean that he relented… or even considered to do so. He stabbed Leodas in the chest, although his sabre couldn't pierce the boss monster's armour. As if to show Yamata how its done, Leodas retaliated with two thrusts to the chest. Yamata became even more upset – just as his blows became even rasher. He swung his sabre at Leodas' head at full force, which did indeed inflict some damage, although Leodas' helmet took the brunt of the blow. Leodas' counterattack – three fast, consecutive thrusts that were aimed at Yamata's shoulder and neck this time – already dealt more relative (that is, in relation to their remaining HP) damage.
This didn't stop Yamata from going all out. He used the Sword Skill Dancing Hellraiser, which was as visually impressive as you might expect from a skill with that name. Needless to say, it was one of Yamata's favourites, but not only because it was flashy.
For starters, this Sword Skill's charging time was low, so Yamata could start the attack before Leodas' had had enough time to react and back away. Furthermore, all of the four blows this combo consisted of were quite strong, and Dancing Hellraiser came with the added bonus that the user performed flips and similar movements – the likes of which would've normally required a high Acrobatics skill to be pulled off. These rapid and sweeping motions did not only allow its user to chase after the target if it tried to escape (which, as goes without saying, Leodas attempted to do), they were also so hard to predict or to keep up with that there was no hope for any enemy to counterattack a player who was performing Dancing Hellraiser – let alone interrupting this Sword Skill.
With this Sword Skill, Yamata dealt four heavy blows to Leodas, and those attacks would've been devastating against a normal monster. In fact, Yamata's sabre would've sliced through Leodas' body… if it wasn't for the goblin general's armour, which proved once more to be pretty much unbreakable, allowing Yamata only to inflict mere scratches on Leodas. That said, this only meant that he couldn't deal critical hits, but the Sword Skill still caused noteworthy damage.
Alas, a Sword Skill such as Dancing Hellraiser naturally had downsides. Aside from the fact that its cooldown time was thirty minutes, the post-motion delay was incredibly long. It was so long that Leodas had more than enough time to recover from the severe onslaught it had just suffered. In fact, the boss even had enough time left to use its own special move, the extra-heavy thrust that had caused the raid party quite some trouble and worries. Unable to defend himself in any shape or form, Yamata took the full brunt of this attack to the stomach.
This blow was strong enough to pierce even Yamata's armour, dealing a critical hit on top of everything else. Speaking of "everything else", the shockwave that followed Leodas' thrust swept Yamata away as a storm would carry away a leaf. Well, only that this leaf didn't fly quite as far as you'd imagine. Regardless, the victor of this "heavy hitting" competition appeared to be clear.
And that made it even more worrying that Yamata pretty much jumped back onto his feet with a crazed look on his face. Any cheers had long subsided, and the hope and expectations in the eyes of the beholders had made way to dread and concern. Yamata, however, was beyond the point where he'd register that.
Yamata: I'm not gonna let you mock me! I'll KILL you! You're no match for me! You're NOT!
With that declaration on his lips, Yamata jumped into the air and towards Leodas, and he started another Sword Skill mid-air, Treble Scythe this time. Sure enough, the combo started off quite well: Leodas initially intended to preempt the incoming attack, but it got caught off-guard when Yamata suddenly started spinning around rapidly. Leodas changed its plan and leapt away, but the first strike of Yamata's combo still hit (kind off): Yamata's blade cut through Leodas' nose.
Yamata's Treble Scythe continued, and he automatically went after Leodas, although the second strike of the Sword Skill came to absolutely nothing, missing the boss clearly. It still enabled Yamata to close the gap to his target in time for the third and last slash of Treble Scythe.
However, Leodas had got the hang of Yamata's actually fairly simple Sword Skill extremely fast, and speaking of which, the goblin's tremendous speed and excellent timing allowed Leodas to thrust its rapier forward and directly through Yamata's right shoulder just as he spun around for the third and final blow.
With his shoulder skewered by Leodas' weapon, Yamata couldn't finish Treble Scythe… technically speaking. The Sword Skill may have been interrupted, but the momentum carried Yamata's right arm around regardless. Leodas had got too close to be hit by Yamata's sabre, but his arm limply slammed against the side of the boss' head. Not that this did anything to the boss monster, though.
On the other hand, it caused more trouble for Yamata. Leodas' counter had come so suddenly and unexpectedly that it had downright shocked him, and he'd inadvertently loosened his grip on his weapon, so when his arm was "stopped" by Leodas' head, the handle of his sabre slipped through Yamata's fingers.
Without his weapon (and in his state of slight stupor), Yamata could hardly defend himself at all after Leodas pushed him away. The goblin general dealt two fast thrusts to his chest before slashing Yamata across his face when he tried to shield his upper body with his arms. When Yamata raised his arms after the third blow, Leodas aimed the fourth one, yet another thrust, at his chest again. The impact knocked Yamata down.
Leodas used the opportunity to jump back, retreating to a safe distance in case Yamata would try anything after getting up again. Frankly, it would've been wise for him to back out at this point, but many of the surrounding players, including Klein, knew better than to think that Yamata would go with the "tactically smart" choice, so guess how they reacted when Yamata hastily (and somewhat groggily) pulled himself up.
Klein: Oi, that's enough! Get back behind our tanks and heal up! The rest of you guys, go and keep the boss busy, but don't risk anything! Asuna's already on her way, so we won't have to buy much time!
To be honest, Klein had temporarily cast aside his plan to contact Asuna when Yamata had stepped forward to fight Leodas on his own. However, when Leodas had begun to overwhelm even Yamata while it'd still had more than half of its remaining HP bar left, Klein could tell that this duel wouldn't work out for them, so he'd sent a request for help after all.
Yamata [very upset]: You've called her?! Dammit, jackass, this is my battle, got it!?
Klein couldn't believe his ears. He'd seen plenty of Yamata's recklessness (and he'd heard about far more), but this situation right here was hard to fathom. Had Yamata actually taken a look at his HP bar? He was already in the red zone, and while his Battle Healing kicked in and regenerated some HP, continuing a fight against an obviously superior opponent under these circumstances was beyond careless.
Accordingly, Klein (and the players who'd actually been supposed to switch with Yamata, too) couldn't believe his eyes either when Yamata charged at the boss literally empty-handed. He didn't even have the skill Martial Arts to fight monsters with his bare hands.
In Yamata's defense, that wasn't the plan anyway. When Leodas figured that Yamata was simply coming at it headlessly, the goblin lunged forward and thrust its rapier at Yamata… all according to plan. Yamata took the boss by surprise when he used Acrobatics at the last second in order to perform a forward somersault. Getting down like this would've caused Leodas' attack to miss clearly if the boss hadn't been so startled that it suddenly came to a halt.
Next up, instead of getting up right away, Yamata kicked at Leodas legs – now that he'd got close enough to his opponent to do so. This caused Leodas to topple down, and that gave Yamata enough time to scurry over to the spot where his sabre had landed, thus retrieving his weapon.
So far, so good… but after that, Yamata began to laugh maniacally, quietly at first, but it became pretty bad really fast.
Yamata: There you have it! He's no match for me! I can do this on my own! If Blackie can defeat a boss by himself, of course I can do it, too! THERE'S NO WAY I CAN'T!
As if that was his battle cry, Yamata lunged for Leodas as the boss was standing up again. He thrust his weapon forward impetuously and rammed it right into Leodas' face before it had any chance to get away.
Since Leodas' helmet didn't have a visor, the goblin general's face was actually one of its very few weak points, although Leodas' vivid dodging manoeuvres had been making it difficult to hit the boss at that spot ever since the boss battle had begun. Now that Yamata had managed to stab Leodas right between the eyes, however, he made sure to drive his blade as deeply into the goblin's skull as possible, all the while cackling madly.
It goes without saying that his "victory" didn't last. Leodas' AI adapted to this attack. Since the boss was currently too close to Yamata to hit him with its rapier, Leodas leapt backwards and broke free, gaining some distance from its foe first. Yamata, on the other hand, was so out of it that he hardly reacted to this, and he merely stumbled after Leodas, which wasted no time to attack Yamata with its special skill before the player could (have) come to his senses.
The preparatory time for the extra-powerful thrust appeared to be lower this time, but the blow was certainly still every bit as strong, and it blew Yamata away as if it was nothing. He crashed onto the ground several metres away, and rolled around a bit more before coming to a halt. This attack had reduced Yamata's HP bar to a tiny red strip.
Naturally, that didn't go unnoticed by Leodas.
Leodas: Well fought, but that's it for this nuisance!
The boss rushed towards Yamata, preparing to lay the final strike when he'd rise to his feet once more, which Yamata would certainly do… or would have done if there hadn't been an unforeseen interference. Another player appeared, coming to the rescue quite literally like a knight in shining armour, and he slammed his crescent blade spear onto the ground with such force that the following shockwave blew Leodas, which had already halted its attack due to the new threat, away.
Klein: Sch… Schmitt?!
Yes, that other player was the other sub-leader of the DDA in this boss battle, Schmitt. In order to finally intervene before Yamata would've got himself killed, he'd used the Sword Skill Rampant Earthshaker, which was unlockable by using a polearm or a sufficiently heavy weapon and aggro control skills. Not only did the Sword Skill draw the aggro of all nearby monsters (although it was unclear if it would work on Leodas and its fairly wild target-choosing algorithm), the shockwave it entailed was a good way to interrupt any ongoing attacks, especially since it didn't affect players.
Schmitt faced Leodas with a seemingly stern look on his face, but there was a distinct uneasiness underneath that expression. Honestly, why had Yamata had to go and make such a mess? Schmitt had hoped for a (reasonably) straightforward boss battle to finish this raid, so when things were starting to get dire, the last thing he'd wanted was Yamata making it even worse, and he may have been the only one among the whole raid party who'd understood from the start that this was the likely outcome of Yamata's duel with a freaking campaign boss monster!
And now, he had to deal with said outstandingly strong enemy in order to save Yamata's hide. Schmitt could only hope that Asuna would hurry here and help them finish this battle quickly. Until then, he merely had to hold out and keep the boss occupied.
Sure enough, Schmitt had caught Leodas' attention with his heavy attack, and the boss darted at him swiftly. Schmitt swung his spear at Leodas, but the goblin dodged to the side easily before swiping at Schmitt in retaliation. This time, however, the boss experienced the same irritating issue the players had been suffering throughout the whole battle: Its blade couldn't penetrate Schmitt's plate armour, so it bounced off without dealing much damage.
Meanwhile, Yamata still hadn't had enough. Unsurprisingly, he got up, blinded by rage, and was about to attack Leodas once again. The boss monster noticed that and turned its gaze towards Yamata, which, in turn, caught Schmitt's attention. He yanked his spear backwards and used the shaft of his spear to trip Yamata, sending him straight to the floor before he could've done anything reckless. After that, Schmitt swung his weapon around, and he desperately spammed Fighting Spirit and all of his other similar skills to draw Leodas' aggro again, not even knowing if it would even affect the boss.
Schmitt: Get out of here, Yamata! Ugh, guys! Take him somewhere else, for crying out loud!
While Schmitt was (successfully) keeping Leodas busy, two more DDA players came and dragged Yamata away. Yes, they dragged him away – against his will and while he was protesting and yelling at the top of his lungs. Well, you gotta do what it takes…
At the very least, this allowed Schmitt to focus on "fighting" the boss. However, it was clear as day that this battle was more a matter of surviving it. On the plus side, if there was anyone in the Assault Team who could do that, it had to be Schmitt. Rumor had it that he was harder to bring down than the entirety of the Two-Handed Builders, and while that was indeed an exaggeration, it wasn't completely baseless: Schmitt's defensive built surpassed that of any other player at that point in time. For example, his Maximum HP was about 5,000 points higher than the (in that regard) second-ranking player's.
Also, similarly to Yamata, the DDA had spared no effort to provide Schmitt with the best gear a tank could've asked for. He wore the arguably best set of heavy armour among the whole Assault Team… and that was an advantage he desperately needed. Schmitt couldn't have dreamt of keeping up with Leodas' speed, so the goblin general was pacing around Schmitt while barraging him with attacks. Alas, none of them could penetrate Schmitt's plate armour.
That said, Schmitt's suit of armour had its weak points, of course. Obviously, there were gaps around the joints, especially at the armpits. However, Schmitt wasn't a fool who'd forget about that. He kept his arms as close to his body as he could in order to cover his armpits, and he kept moving his arms and legs around seemingly aimlessly – that is, in a way that was hard to predict – so that Leodas couldn't aim at his elbows, his wrists or his knees effectively.
The only vulnerable spot that remained was Schmitt's head. He wore a helmet, which was as sturdy as his body armour, and it also covered his nape (so he didn't have to worry much about attacks from behind). The only places that were exposed were his face and his neck. In order to prevent Leodas from hitting him there, Schmitt swung his spear around fiercely whenever Leodas took position in front of him and looked as if the boss was aiming its rapier at Schmitt's face. That way, Schmitt could chase Leodas off, albeit in a crude (yet effective) way.
Leodas' AI figured out quickly that Schmitt was putting up a desperate defense, and that he was basically already on the ropes, merely hanging on by tanking anything the goblin general threw at him like a tall, bulky damage sponge. He was an easy target, and the boss monster was aware of that, so it took it easy, bringing Schmitt down slowly but steadily. Leodas hopped around him nimble-footedly while thrusting its rapier at whichever points of Schmitt's armour it ended up hitting over and over again.
Any single blow chipped away only about 300 of Schmitt's HP, which, at this point of the game, was laughably low damage. However, that picture changes if you take into account that Leodas dealt out seven of these attacks within five seconds on average.
Within the same timeframe, Schmitt could replenish some of his HP thanks to his Battle Healing. However, Schmitt had always steadfastly refused to level this skill up in the only really efficient way, namely by letting his HP drop into the red zone and keeping them at that level for some time. Other means such as special quests also involved near-death experiences – something Schmitt didn't want to have anything to do with. Therefore, even on the 95th floor, and even though it was one of the first skills Schmitt had acquired, his Battle Healing was only slightly above 600 (out of 1000) proficiency points, allowing him to regain the same amount of HP every five seconds.
From there, it's simple math to see that Schmitt lost around 1500 HP during any interval of five seconds. His HP at the beginning of his one-on-one fight against Leodas exceeded 40,000, but even with that, he'd only last about two minutes under these circumstances.
Thus, Schmitt was trapped in a situation he could hardly get out of by himself, desperately putting up a clumsy defense while he was presented with the sight he dreaded more than anything else in this virtual world: a shrinking HP bar in his status overview.
Under these circumstances, Schmitt's prayed to every deity that came to his frantic mind – to the gods at the shrines he'd visited sometimes in the real world, to all the major Shinto gods he could think of, to the spirits of his ancestors, to Buddha, to the "Almighty Ones and Zeroes" – that Asuna would finally show up, figure a way out of this mess and win this battle for them so that they could just leave this place alive.
...which they'll hopefully do in the next chapter.
The idea to let the goblin general get faster as the battle progresses is something I've had in mind since coming up with the goblins and lizardmen's specific combat strengths and weaknesses. Incidentally, if the players had chosen the other side and had been fighting Kem'Pal now, the lizardman general would've got physically stronger up until the point where it could've killed players with just one clean hit. At least that's what I've had in mind.
Rapid Meteor is a Sword Skill I've come up with since I needed a 1-hit attack that would be suited for using it from up above, and none of the known canon Sword Skills for one-handed curved swords (which is the weapon type I have in mind for Yamata) fit into that category. Yamata's other Sword Skills exist either in canon or at least in Hollow Fragment.
I'll go with the "Kirito actually defeated a floor boss almost completely on his own that one time" route, even though I'm not a big fan of it. I'll just treat it as something that's happened and move on.
Rampant Earthshaker is similar to Rapid Meteor: I've made the Sword Skill up for this occasion.
Little Preview: Kirito and Asuna arrive on the scene to help. Will this turn the tides in the Assault Team's favour? Or will it take even more than that?