"Good, now try to jump back just before the blade comes down. If you get the timing just right, you'll notice you have a very short stat boost for the quick evade. That boost is a large stack to your strength that you can use on enemies of this level to instantly kill them. If you're surrounded and using the spear type weapon, use the helical twice skill to wipe them all out."
Kirito was coaching spear users as they went against a few small crowds of Kobolds while the others of his party were coaching other people based on the weapon types they used. Sinon taught the dagger users, Leafa taught the one hand sword users and scimitar users, and Asuna taught the rapier users. Kirito was going from group to group of the other kinds of weapon users so that he could help them all with their different advantages and disadvantages.
"So, spears are good for clearing a large amount of enemies on the lower levels?"
"Yes. If you are careful and have something to regenerate your health in case a hit or two lands on you, then even that won't effect how you play. People using a large weapon type that have many skills for clearing large amounts of enemies have more of a damage absorption role. It's scary-terrifying even since if our hit points reach zero it's over, but with you, you should always have a person designated for using healing items in case your regeneration items of your own use run out. For every small group in the main party, we'll have one person focus on a sub-healing role using items. Your job is to keep enemy focus on you. In other MMOs, this means you have a tanking role. The people using healing items would be sub-healers. Other roles in a small group would fall under dps. Dps focus on dealing as much damage as possible so that enemies fall faster. The tank takes on mechanics and does their best to take everything. Parrying attacks, countering them, and with the large weapon types, it's possible to stun an enemy when they're trying to do a power move. With the Kobolds, their running charge is the stunning move. Fortunately that's also a weak point for a skilled player to counter, and can be used for an instant kill of the enemy."
The spear users were backed up by the axe users currently. So far, nobody had unlocked the two hand swords and katana weapon types of the lead group. Two hand swords required mastery of the one hand sword type, and katanas as mentioned before require the mastery of the scimitar type weapon.
Kirito was switching between the types of weapon which were dropping from the dungeon to show examples instead of just telling the groups the advice he had.
"It's crazy that-never mind. My old bro used to always say that girls weren't any good at games, but obviously my bro's just an idiot right?"
The whole raid group heard that joke and laughed. The kobolds of the middle floor were just right for grinding and teaching. Kirito's group had already been to the top section of the first floor. That was where the boss room was. The enemies there were a little too much to grind for experience and levels. It was fine for them, but for the rest of the raid party, it would be too much. At least until they finally reached the minimum required level of twenty five minutes ago during the in depth lessons.
"Alright, I'm switching back to my regular weapon type. Now...let's have the raid leader from Leafa's learning group help me get everyone ready for the boss fight."
Kirito was really taking a good lead at the teaching and leading. He felt a lot of awkward feelings regarding being a leader, but it was better by far than letting everyone think he was just like a typical girl. Especially since he wasn't. The raid group didn't know about him being male though.
"Now, spear and axe users, hurry over to the safe area. I'll round everyone else up for a boss strategy meeting."
After a confirmation of them turning around and nodding their heads, the five players turned and walked over to the safe area they picked out to train nearby so that if things looked bad, they could duck out of battle and heal up with items. He went around to each group and after a few minutes, everyone was gathered in the safe area, and Kirito stood with the raid leader so they could start the boss strategy meeting.
"Now, I'll start off the boss strategy meeting, though I would appreciate Sinon helping me describe the old boss mechanics."
Sinon stepped forward and stood beside him with a bit of a shy expression. She wasn't fond of crowds of strangers. Especially since this group had already made it obvious many of them were perverts.
"Alright...so, when our group went ahead to scout the top section of this floor, we did find the boss room. Some boss rooms later on won't be able to be checked before a battle, but within the first ten floors during the beta test, Sinon and I were able to get a look at the situation before picking our strategy. We used the check to ensure what this boss battle will look like. Now, we have the main boss this time around. This is a giant kobold who instead of during the beta wielded an axe, this time has a scimitar type weapon. This kobold has the same kind of attack types as the scimitar type we've found in the dungeon. Bosses like other good quality MMOs have other mechanics when you get their health down to increments. When this boss made it to the yellow state of their health bar, it started backing off more last time and having the additional enemies which respawn frequently, kobolds stronger than the main dungeon taking the lead. When it reached the red health state, it started unleashing power attacks which were different from all the other attack patterns. I would like for my group to take charge of the boss monster so that we can ensure the rest of the group doesn't have too much to handle. I will play a tanking role with my one hand sword-"
"Weren't you saying before that spear and axe wielders should play tanking roles until the other large area weapon types are unlocked?"
"That's a point, however when a person knows the mechanics and has ways of stopping them as I also mentioned before, they can play the tank role just as well. So that we don't risk someone who doesn't know the mechanics as much, I'll lead tank Asuna offered before and she will be the healing item user of our party and add in her quick array of attacks when the opportunity is there. I know the mechanics of the kobold lord enough that I should be able to dodge most attacks and therefore not need healing very often. This means that Asuna's healing role will mostly become dps. Sinon and Leafa will primary the dps on it. We will group everyone else up into groups of four, all with a single tank role and healer role. The rest will play dps. For the other groups, the tank roles will be handled by the spear and axe users. If any remain, they will be off healers so that the people with higher single target dps can take down the additional monsters as fast as possible. When there are periods additional monsters aren't on the field, you can lend aid to our party against the boss monster, but don't try to pull aggro."
Everyone seemed to understand their roles right away. Sinon had her bit to add in though.
"Now, this is also important. Every tank needs an off-tank role to help them when they need to get out of a mechanic. Remember the switch mechanic we taught you before? The lead tank stuns the enemy so that the off tank can take their role with an aggro drawing skill. Kirito used this often against the boss monsters of the beta test, and because it was a need. When the enemies are strong, ensure you pick someone who knows mechanics enough to off-tank. When the main tank is ready to take their position again, the off tank will stun the enemy again and the main tank will use their aggro building skill to pull attention back to them. Go over the details of your currently available skills list and ensure if you are only playing a dps role, you don't have an aggro generating skill left available. Pick out the skills you can trust and stick to those. Attack from the rear and flank as dps, and focus down your enemies as fast as possible so that we can make it through the boss fight as quickly and safely as possible."
"Those are the instructions we have from the beta testers, does anyone have any more questions for them before we head out?"
The area was silent, except apparently the one who left had returned and was still bent on interfering.
"Yeah, what about that rumour that floor bosses drop a last hit bonus item? Aren't the beta group just going to hog all the rare drops from the boss monsters?"
"You excused yourself from this group back in town. Leave."
The raid leader wasn't having his interference. Everyone else was sick of hearing his obnoxious and hateful tone.
"There is a final hit bonus drop, however it's a low chance it will drop to the person who lands the final hit, and it's also why I said that the other groups can lend their aid to our group whenever the rest of the additional mobs are taken care of. Let's make it fair for the drop items. Whoever gets it, gets it. However, if someone in our group gets it, we might share it amongst ourselves. Whoever needs it in our group will get the item if we get it. This is only so that we can gather as much strength as possible to continue defeating boss monsters along the way up. Unless another group surpasses us, this is how we'll handle things."
The raid leader was in agreement that if the lead group got the drop, then it belonged to them, for the purpose of clearing the game. The whole goal was to get out after all.
"Now, if everyone who is party of this raid party is ready, let's head out."
The obnoxious player snarled at Kirito as he watched everyone walk off.
"I heard from an information broker~That black haired swordswoman of the lead group you all have a crush on~"
He was silenced with a well placed pebble to the forehead. When he saw Kirito looking at him with a death glare, terror ran down the obnoxious player's spine.
"Screw you all then! Hope you all die to the boss!"
Everyone was glad when he finally stopped shouting at them.
"He has a serious vendetta out for you...think you might have met him during the beta?"
Sinon whispered to Kirito as they walked to the head of the group.
"No. Remember, I was with you during most of the beta. I didn't have time to deal with pests like that. Although I am a little worried he might have used money to buy the information on me being a guy from Argo. I'd like to think better of her, but the stereotype on information brokers right? I'm only going along with it right now to let the raid group think I'm a girl, but I really hate it. It's okay though because it's for everyone's sake. Not to draw more bad attention to us. Right now, they're following our lead because they only consider us a powerful female group, not a group who's leader is a super feminine boy. Some might take that knowledge and say that you're being tricked by me, even though you all know, and some might say it's unfair since they're perverts and demand to be part of the group."
Sinon giggled and shook her head.
"You and Asuna are the only ones who seem to exude a bunch of femininity at this point. Leafa-chan and me are just like normal. The three of us did kendo together for most of our childhood, so we're speaking with our strengths here. You're as much a cooking nut as Asuna, and honestly, I think it's super cute. Sometimes I wish you'd be more like you are during the leadership speeches we've had since joining the raid group, and it's so satisfying for me. You're good at being cool and being cute. That's what makes Kirito, Kirito."
She smiled and walked a little ahead of him. Sinon was being a lot more honest with herself and she had really grown in personality since the incident before. It seemed that maybe playing a different role in the beta test opened up her real self that much more. Kirito was reminded of his feelings for her every time she showed her strengths. As she walked ahead of him to the boss door, he saw the strong figure of a girl who had seen horrors beyond belief and faced them with fear and overcame them. She was so much stronger than him, and he admired that about her. He loved that about her.
Finally after about twenty minutes of walking through the safe path discovered through the mapping before, the raid group arrived at the massive door to the boss room.
"Now, let's organize items and pick our final groups before we begin. The group of myself Sinon, Leafa and Asuna will stay the same. Remember, pick your groups based on a main and off tank, a healer role, and then the remaining will be dps. There's a chance that one group will not find themselves occupied with an additional mob, and they can switch with the other groups for taking mobs. Everyone might have a chance to focus dps on the boss outside the group with me. Any final questions?"
There were none. When that was confirmed, the raid leader walked up to the door and pushed it open. In just a moment, they would be taking the first real step toward getting out of the game.
