December 14th, 2022 (Floor 2: Roriksan Village)
To be honest, the labyrinth didn't seem that special. Unlike the first floor, it didn't feel like anything was any different from the beta test so Kirito, Heidan, and I spent a lot of time directing the rookies where all the treasure chests were. By looting the chests and confirming map data for the info brokers, we were making quite a lot of cor for not that much effort. Exploring the labyrinth provided more than wealth, though; it gave us a good place to work Nymer, my new companion, into the mix. Nymer, similar to companions in other games, was deliberately restricted to a certain maximum with all of his stats and there wasn't any getting around that. He was very useful, though, in that his nose was sharper than any of ours. He could detect monsters beyond our normal line of sight and his searching skill was naturally higher than ours. When I was injured, he could help heal me by licking my wounds which, as gross as it initially felt and sounded, was a great perk.
More and more players trickled into Roriksan as the days passed. The Hunters were joined by other guilds in the labyrinth and, on the 13th, we found the boss room. After some initial battle prep with the other guilds in the labyrinth, we were ready to attempt to clear the floor.
The plan was simple: we had nine parties with a total of fifty-one players. It was a good sized group but, considering the beta had a sub-boss as well as a true boss, we'd need every sword we could get. The overall raid was being led by a player named Lind who was in charge of the Dragon Knights Brigade. I wasn't a big fan of Lind. He was one of Diavel's top followers and, after his death, he tried to take up as much as Diavel's persona as he could. He dressed similarly, directed his followers in a similar manner, and- if he wasn't too careful- he'd probably die similarly as well.
Groups A through F (the DKB and the ALS) were supposed to take care of the main boss while groups G through I took out the sub-boss. Lind had three parties of Dragon Knights following him, while Kibaou led three parties of the Aincrad Liberation Squad. There were a couple of other groups- a group that called themselves the Legend Braves and an assortment of solo players working under a player by the name of Agil- but everyone seemed to decided that Kibaou and Lind knew what they were doing and trusted them to lead. The Hunters didn't exactly agree.
While everything indicated so far that the floor 2 boss and sub-boss would be the same as they were in the beta, I didn't like not knowing. Lind had refused to allow the Hunters the time to do a proper scouting mission into the room, unfortunately, so we had to rely only on what we had from the guidebook.
"I don't like this," Heidan murmured as we all approached the brass doors dividing the labyrinth from the boss room. Kirito nodded.
"At least we told everyone about the numbing impact," I said to the two of them. I looked to Agil, who was walking next to our group. With the Legend Braves fighting with the ALS and the DKB, our two groups would be alone against the sub-boss. "Let's finish the sub off quickly. I don't like leave the rest alone against the boss. I have a feeling we're in for a nasty surprise."
"Agreed... It's bizarre that the game designers wouldn't change a thing to this floor after changing around the first," he commented. He adjusted his great axe on his back, shifting it so that the weight rested more comfortably on his shoulders. "Whatever happens happens, I suppose. Best we can do is work with whatever's waiting for us."
Lind pressed his hand up against the boss room's door and we all tensed as it swung open with a loud clang. Nymer growled at the oppressive darkness in front of us and I laid a hand on his head soothingly.
"Remember the plan," Lind was saying from the front. "Groups A and B, front and center. C and D, left flank. E, F, and G, right flank. H and I, I want you to get rid of that sub-boss ASAP. If you have trouble, though, let me know and I'll send you support."
The doors shut behind the raid party and the battle begun.
Like the beta, Nato the Colonel Taurus and Baran the General Taurus were waiting for us inside, as if we had disturbed a private meeting. The two minotaurs roared and immediately rushed, but we were ready. The raid party split, with most of us moving towards Baran but the rest moving to cut Nato off.
The battle against Nato was almost too easy. With our experience and ability to work together well, our two groups we made quick work of the bull-like monster. After his first HP bar was down, one of Agil's players got hit by the monster's numbing impact and was almost struck again by the massive warhammer but Nymer darted in and snatched the man out of danger, taking him behind our lines so that Blake, who was strictly support, could revive him.
Honestly, Nato wasn't that much of a threat. He was nothing but pixels less than ten minutes after we started. With Nato out of the way, we resumed giving support to the main group.
As if they hadn't listened to Kirito at all, a large handful of players had been paralysed by Baran's numbing impact. The beast still had three out of five health bars left before we jumped in. As Agil and his players, aided by Blake and Nymer, began pulling the stunned or paralysed players out of danger, the Hunters replaced them. With the fresh help, the main raiding party was forced back onto its feet and we got to work. It was stressful and repetitive fighting but, at last, Baran's last health bar entered the yellow.
And then, just because I was begging for more trouble, more trouble appeared in the form of "Asterius the Taurus King." I hate being right. I hate it.
Asterius was even larger than Baran, with bright red fur and a very shiny, very dangerous looking warhammer. Six health bars appeared above his head and I took a shaky breath.
Lind panicked at the sight of the new boss and I scowled. Glancing over at Kibaou, I noticed he was so hyper-focused on Baran that he couldn't spare any attention or players to fight this new enemy.
"So that leaves it to us?" I questioned, glancing toward Agil. He looked wary but shrugged.
"Whatever happens happens, right?"
"Right... Groups B, F! Refocus, front and center assault on new boss! Group H, left flank, secondary assault! Group I, right flank, primary assault! Kirito, clean up Baran and get your ass back here. We'll hold!" I ordered, shouting as I started shifting towards Asterius.
"Do what she says!" I distantly heard Lind shout as he returned his attention to the fight. The faster they took care of Baran, the faster we'd be able to get help with Asterius.
"Riva!" I paused. That was a new voice, one that didn't belong on the battlefield.
"Argo?" I asked, turning around. Sure enough, the nimble little info-broker had wormed her way into the midst of the fighting. She looked out of breath and out of her depth but her eyes were full of determination. "What? I'm a little busy right now."
"I know! But quests! Info! Attack Patterns!" she spat out quickly. I weighed my options before turning to focus on her.
"Tell me. Quickly." And she did. My eyes widened and I looked at Baran. His health was almost completely gone. My eyes darted back to Asterius. Four groups were within range of his breath attack. If they were still that close when Baran died, they'd be good as dead.
"Groups B, F, H, I! Retreat to flanks! Don't stand in front of him when Baran's taken down!" I shouted as loudly as I could over the battle. I looked back at Argo. "When Baran's dead, tell the others. Get Lind and Kibaou to back us up with Asterius but make sure they don't go in blind. I'm counting on you."
"Aye, aye!" Argo said, her hand shaking as she saluted. She scurried off towards the active battle and I turned to face Asterius just as Baran released his final roar before shattering into shards.
Of course it was just my luck to be standing directly in the path of Asterius's lightning breath attack. My vision blacked out for few crucial seconds as I was abruptly taken out of commision. When I tried to speak, my voice was just a raspy whisper and I couldn't move anything. A small lightning bolt appeared next to my health gauge as it entered the yellow. Was this was paralysis felt like?
I wasn't the only one. Asterius had delivered his attack so as to hit as many players as possible so many who were fighting Baran were also hit.
"Nymer," I whispered. Across the throneroom, my companion's ears pricked and his head jerked in my direction. He howled loudly before running in my direction. With care, he took my belt between his teeth and started dragging me out of the line of fire, where Blake was waiting to help heal the wounded. I wasn't the only one that was dragged off into the shadows. There were half a dozen others waiting for potions to kick in or trying to convince themselves to rejoin the fight.
"You idiot!" Blake shouted as soon as I was out of immediate danger. She poured a potion into my mouth and, slowly, the numbness started to fade away. Once the potion was in my system, Nymer was back in the battle, recovering other paralysed players before Asterius could move against them. "You couldn't follow your own damn orders?!"
"Blake," I coughed. "You have to keep him busy. Use your knives. If you hit his crown, you'll stun him long enough for everyone to recover."
"I can't do that! I don't do front line fighting, remember?" Blake insisted. "And besides, I'll run out way before everyone's regrouped. I only have five or six knives on me."
"Yeah, but I don't," I grinned weakly.
Smithing was fun, it really was, but one needed experience to be a good smith. The only way to get experience is to dedicate a lot of time to mind numbing tasks like creating... about a hundred daggers?
I opened my inventory, materializing first a spare bag and then all of the daggers I had in my inventory. Some of the first weapons I made were in there- crude daggers made of cheap and easily chipped iron- but also some of my best- carefully designed throwing knives made out of the best and rarest materials I could find: glass, steel, orichalcum.
"You're insane," Blake chuckled, accepting the bag. "Okay. Stay here. Nymer will watch your back."
Blake walked out and into the battlefield. I swallowed my uncertainty; this needed to work. There was no alternative. No one really practiced long distance attacks because they weren't really viable for most of the fighting done in SAO. Only Blake, a true support player, would have bothered to put in any effort to improving her speed or accuracy with throwing knives.
Paralysis was a tricky status. Even with potions, it could take minutes for you to be totally free of it. As such, Blake had to keep the boss busy with her knives for almost an entire two minutes while everyone who was hit by the attack recovered. Luckily, Baran and Nato had paralysing attacks in the beta so most of us had anti-paralysis potions prepared.
"Are you done messing this up now?" I asked Lind once everyone was ready to go. "Or can we do what we came here to do?"
Lind didn't answer and I grinned savagely before looking to the others.
"We'll play this how we did Baran. Blake is keeping him busy for now, but she'll run out of knives and luck soon enough and I'd rather get her out of the firing line before any of our dumb asses needs healing again. DKB, you all take the left flank. ALS, right flank. You know your strengths and weaknesses so play off each other. Legend Braves and solos, you all keep him busy from the front. When he stomps three times, get out of Dodge. Nymer and Blake will continue to evac paralysed players out so hold tight and don't get yourselves killed in the meantime. Hunters, we're taking the back. When Asterius is distracted, get up on him and get to his crown. That's his weakness. Hit it, and he's stunned. Are we all understood here?"
I was met with a thundering yes and I smiled grimly.
"Move out! Blake, retreat to safety and prepare to continue support!"
With a renewed vigor, the raid party moved back into the battle. Everyone took their places around the minotaur and startled whittling away at his six bars of health. The Hunters rotated trying to run up Asterius's back but it soon became apparent that only Asuna, Kirito, and Maisie were able to run up easily. Heidan and I just didn't have the right types of weapons to have an easy time running up his back. When that was established, the two of us parted and joined the flanking parties.
Six, five, four, three, two. Slowly each of the boss's HP bars dwindled to yellow, then red, then disappeared altogether. When the final bar struck red, however, the beast gave a furious roar as it entered a berserk state. With glowing eyes and stomping hooves, Asterius continued on in his crusade to paralyse and kill us all but Nymer and Blake were careful to pull stunned and paralysed players out of danger.
Kirito made a final run up the boss's back, with Maisie and Asuna flanking him, and dealt a direct blow to Asterius's crown. Bellowing in pain, Asterius's final health bar disappeared and he shattered into fractals of light. The three landed on the ground with varying levels of grace and I gave a tired laugh when Kirito, for all his dramatic flair, was the only one to fall on his ass.
Congratulations!
The second floor was cleared.
Updated 22:06, 1.27.2022