Kirito found himself leading his men through the floor fifty dungeon on one of the nicest days in Aincrad. The Weather was at its optimal condition, flowers were blooming and birds were singing their merry tunes. Perfect day to nap under a tree or have a picnic with Asuna but the KOB had been steadily gaining levels and to make sure they were the ones to kill the boss Argo had arranged for the entire guild's combat ready members to meet at the dungeon entrance to take the boss.
"Don't look so down man." said Klein
"Ya the boss can't take the whole day to kill." said Agil patting Kirito on the back.
"Hey Kirito." said Asuna flashing him a smile, "Once we finish this I made sandwiches so we can still make use of this perfect weather and have a picnic."
Kirito couldn't help but smile at the thought of Asuna's cooking. "If says so let's go." said Kirito picking up the pace slightly much to the amusement of his friends.
It wasn't long before they reached the massive double doors that made up the entrance to the boss room.
Agro turned to the rest of the group. "So the scouts have reported the boss is a massive metallic statue with six arms. So I think that means Agil wins this round."
There was some grumbling and money exchanged hands much to the confusing of Silica who decide to voice her question.
"What are you guys doing?"
"We make a bet on what the next floors boss is going to be based off hints given by quests and common floor monsters. Agil was the closest with living statue so he wins this floor's pot." said Diavel.
"Ya and Klein lost for cheating." said Argo chuckling slightly.
"Cheating?" asked Silica.
"My guess was foolproof and they claimed it was cheating so I lost." said Klein pouting a little.
"He guessed that the enemy would be a gigantic enemy with a weak point near the head or upper chest." said Asuna
Earning another confused look from Silica Asuna continued her explanation. "That's pretty much every boss so Klein was disqualified for being too vague."
"I still think it should have counted. It's not my fault that Kayaba designed every boss to be the size of a skyscraper." shouted Klein.
Now it was Kirito's turn to be confused. "What kind of monster is a skyscraper? Sounds dangerous to earn a name like that."
"Nope it's just a really tall building made of metal." chirped Argo
"Your world has the weirdest things like those horseless wagons that consumes liquefied animal remains to move." Said Kirito
"Ya. Ya. Our world is weird and maybe some day you can see it but for now let's just try and beat this boss." said Argo before going over the battle plan one last time.
With one heavy push the doors swung open revealing a what looked to be the inside of a temple. Rows of pillars lined each side before ending at a shrine at the far end of the room. Behind the shrine sat a giant statue. The boss appeared to be human in design but with two extra pairs of arms added onto its massive body. A necklace of sorts made of brown metal beads was wrapped around its neck with a large disk in the center with a symbol of Aincrad engraved on it. Its massive frame seemed to be praying before large rumbling sounds were heard as it pulled itself to its feet. Its top pair of hands unlocked themselves while rest continued to pray. Its mouth opens and the room shook as its loudly spook.
"Silly fools you dare rebel against this world chosen ruler! Now you have entered my domain and by the will of the gods and the Ruby King your chain of victories end here!"
"Get ready men and stick to the plan. Keita take command of the left side Asuna has right and I'll take center." shouted Diavel.
Kirito already knew his job and with a burst of speed he sprinted at the boss before jumping into the air and changing into a dragon mid flight intending to tackle the boss to the ground to make it easier and safer for his men to attack it.
"Foolish dragon I have centuries of combat experience over you and a complete immunity to fire! You are nothing!" shouted the boss as he sidestepped Kirito's lunge and delivered a heavy upper cut to Kirito's face knocking him back and through one of the pillars to his left.
Kirito stood up and ignoring the boss earlier bragging shot a get a black flames into the boss's face. So assured of himself the boss didn't even try and defend.
'Were you listening that's no-aghhs. How!" shouted the boss as the fire actually burned him though only a small chip was taken away for his first health bar.
With the boss distracted Kirito went for a trip with his tail knocking the statue over making a loud clanging as if a bell was hit before tackling him and pinning his arms to the ground while racking his back claws along the bosses stomach.
A sudden rainbow of colors flared up as the players finally arrived at the fight and started activating their sword skills in the boss undefended sides. Slowly but surely the boss's first bar was whittled down to nothing leaving only three more bars to go.
"That's it dragon! I was destroy you and your rebel army here and now!" shouted the boss.
The boss's second pair of hand unlatched themselves and immediately started delivering punishing blows to Kirito"s underbelly where his scaly armor wasn't as strong. Kirito responded by jumping back and off the boss while his men disengaged themselves and waited for the boss next attacks.
Kirito shot another jet of fire from his mouth doing some more damage as the boss stood up again. Once the boss was back on its feet it gave a mighty call. "God of earth hear me and assist me!" before the boss pounded the ground with his four active arms making a wave of rocks and debris shoot out in all directions throwing some of the players around like ragdolls.
A few players including Agil were either out of the range of the attack or had dodged in some way. With the boss momentarily stunned from his own attack they were quick to capitalize on the moment and launched a quick barrage of attacks on its arms. Agil's attack made a loud clang and a noticeable crack appear in the boss other wise spotless metal arm.
Yuuki had another idea as she ran up the arm to get higher up on the boss and swinging both swords in a circle lightshow she hit the center of the bosses necklace. Upon contact with the disk the boss let out a mighty yell before losing a significant amount of health.
"How dare you foolish girl! You disgrace your ancestors, the gods, and the Ruby King!"
Yuuki was soon forced to dodge as the boss made every attempt to crush her with its massive hands. The boss had her pinned and almost succeeded in crushing her had Diavel not rushed in with his shield ready to block the attack.
"Thanks Diavel! The center of his necklace is his weak point." Shouted Yuuki.
"Told you guys!" shouted Klein running past Yuuki followed closely by Argo and Aiko with the later stopping to check on her sister as the former shouted orders while throwing picks at the necklace which bounced harmlessly off it.
Kirito throw himself into the combat again taking the majority of the bosses attention and making sure it couldn't slam the ground again. His men taking the chance followed him and attack the bosses legs. Finally after several minutes of hard combat they removed the second bar of health and backed up to see how the boss would react. That was unfortunately the wrong move.
"Fools you are fighting a losing battle! God of wind lend me your strength!" shouted the boss unlocking his third and final pair of hands. With a wave of his hands a blast of wind fire forth from each hand. Kirito absorbed three hits throwing him backwards across the room just nearly missing a squad of healing players. One of the blasts hit a DPS unit sending them flying causing a few to shatter. The first casualties of the floor.
A second gust of wind was felt but this time from Kirito's side of the room. The dragon charging the boss and using his wings to get the speed he need to enter the the fight before the boss could recover from its attack.
"Whenever he chanel's magic through himself it is momentarily stunned so attack now!" shouted Kirito raking his claws along the boss as his fire breath went to work on the bosses necklace.
"Don't let him recover we don't want it doing another attack like that." said Asuna running up Kirito's back and using his head as a launch pad for her own attack on the statues face.
A war cry resounded around the room as the Dragon Lords throw themselves into the boss intending to avenge their downed comrades. Tanks cycled in and out under the command of Diavel and Keita while DPS players did the same under the command of Argo and Asuna.
The battle dragged on and slowly the third health bar was getting smaller and smaller.
"Fools a chicken without a head will still eventually die!" Shouted the boss much to the players confusion.
The boss started to fight back with more ferocity. With a mighty punch he knocked back Kirito but much to the surprise of the clears he didn't press the advantage he instead aimed for several player in the mass attacking his feet that seems to be giving orders.
The first to shatter under the new barrage was a tank that Kirito didn't know the name of but now wished he did. He was leading his squad to take the attack for a DPS unit and was surprised when the boss targeted him with all its might.
"He's targeting the leaders!" shouted one of the players.
Kirito again joined the combat pushing the statue back under the relentless assault of claws and wings but the boss forced himself past Kirito at went for Diavel who was currently trying to reorganize the players after the lose of several squad leaders.
"Now you foolish shielder die!" shouted the boss lunging forward with all his arms outstretched.
The first two attacks were blocked by Diavels shield but the third attack shattered his shield and the fourth throw Diavel back. Kirito in an effort to stop his friends death grabbed one of the bosses remaining arms mid attack but the last attack was heading to an undefeated Diavel. Sure of his kill the boss smiled and laughed.
"Duck!" shouted Agil as he drove his axe into the boss's arm. The arm completely disconnected itself from the rest of the statue with a sharp tearing sound before continue with its original path flying over the now ducking Diavel and into the far wall of the room going through a couple pillars on the way. Immediately the boss gave a growl of pain and his third health bar immediately dissipated.
The boss was stunned how could this happen. The scratch Agil had made at the beginning was slowly weakened by the constant attacks and Agil himself made sure to always hit it when he got the chance all in an effort to weaken the arm.
Kieta wasted no time positioning himself and his tank unit between the enraged boss and his downed commander while Kirito gave a mighty heave and throw the boss backwards.
"Fools you have given me no other option!" Shouted the boss holding the severed end of his arm.
"God of Fire protect me!" and suddenly the boss burst into flames, "Now you fools will burn."
The battle suddenly became more difficult. Everyone who wasn't Kirito had to cycle more often as the flames did damage to anyone who got to close and more than one clearer lost a weapon to the intense heat of the flames.
The boss for the most part only used four of his arms as his last one was trying to cover up the hole that had been created when his arm came off. Agil seemed to soaked up most of the bosses attention but he still targeted the other players.
The boss removed the hand that was guarding his severed arm and raised it to the sky.
"God of water freeze my…"
"Yuuki!" shouted Aiko drawing the boss attention to a black streak heading right for his severed arm and the hole into his body that it had created. With a scream of triumph Yuuki made it into the boss's hollow body before it could cover up the hole to stop her. She immediately started to chain her duel wielding sword skills causing huge damage to the bosses interior and health.
The fourth health bar fell at an unusually fast rate reaching zero in only a minute or two.
"I'm sorry my king. This old fool has failed you." whispered the giant statue before it shattered and its soul was rejoined with the spirits.
Yuuki dropped to the ground from her place in the air where the boss had once been and she went to rejoin the now human Kirito and other leaders of the Dragon Lords.
"That could have gone better." said Diavel mournfully
"How many?" asked Keita
"Ten people." replied Argo solemnly
"If we had better tanks maybe less would have been killed." said Agil
"The best tanks tend to join the KOB who market themselves with the best tank in Aincrad, Heathcliff. I know you don't trust him Kirito but the KOB might be a strong allies" said Argo.
"As much as Heathcliff puts me off me out I think we should ask for his help." declared Kirito after a second or two of thought, "But now is not the time for that lets rest and relax. Celebrate our victory and remembers those who died today to give us one more floor on the path to your freedom."
"Um Kirito." said Yuuki sheepishly, "I kind of destroyed both of my swords and all my backups inside the boss and even though I got a new sword from the boss as the Last Attack Bonus I still need at least one more."
Kirito seems to be lost in thought for a sec. "Ok we don't have that many high level smiths in the guild but their might be a quest on this floor that drops a good sword."
"I might know someone who can help with your problem." Spoke Asuna shyly, "She's a pretty good smith."
"You know a high level smith and didn't think to introduce us to her before this?" asked Argo
"It was nice to have a friend outside of the guild to you know, talk to when I need too but she is one of the best I can assure you. Just don't do anything weird." said Asuna shooting Argo and Kirito a dirty look.
"Kii-bou it's almost like she doesn't trust us," said Argo trying her best to sound hurt and she might have succeeded if not for the smile on her face.
"Sure thing Asuna, but that's a trip for another day let's just relax today. I pretty sure you promised me a picnic Asuna" Said Kirito heading for the exit to floor fifty-one followed closely by his friends and comrades.
The clearest had finished half of Aincrad and it only took a little over a year if they could keep this up they would be free in no time. Unfortunately for them plans were already in mission that threaten to bring their clearing speed to a screeching halt.
In the network of caves that made up floor seventy-eight Meeir BronzeBreaker looked at his men. Meeir was your standard dwarf commander. A little round around the edged and happiest with a jug in one hand and an axe in the other but he wasn't a bad guys by any means.
Meeir looked at his regiment as they finished rebuilding defenses after the last goblin attack a couple of days ago.
"Some reinforcements would be nice but we should be good for another couple of days." said Meeir taking a swig from the jug of alcohol he had next to him. Lately the goblins and orcs have been more and more viscous in their attacks. It was like something or someone was whipping them into a frenzy. The dwarf army were still managing to hold them back but advancing had slowed to a crawl.
A trumpet blew in the distance sounding a call to arms and warning another attack was on its way. Suddenly out of nowhere a swarm of bats appeared around cavern's ceiling. From this swarm dropped pale skinned warriors in blood red armor onto the unexpecting dwarfs below.
"What!" shouted Meeir in alarm sitting up from his chair and grabbing his axe clearly his men need help to fight back this attack.
Unfortunately for his men he would never make it to the field of battle. Meeir had gone no more than four steps when he felt a sword pierced his back. Looking down he saw a blood red rapier jetting from his front breastplate.
"Hello dwarf." said a raspy voice behind him. It sound like his assailant was almost spitting out the word dwarf. Meeir looked over his shoulder at the pale skinned attacker who smiled revealing fanged teeth. Vampire! What were vampires doing here and why were they helping the goblins.
Taking one last look at the battlefield Meeir saw as his men were cut down by the frenzied goblins in front or the vampires attacking from behind and above.
"Why?" was all he managed to croak out before he too shattered joining his men in the after life never to retrieve an answer to his question.
The Vampire raised his hands to the sky a crazed grin plastered on his face.
"My lord! I thank you for this wonderful feast and I am honored by the chance to prove myself useful!" shouted the vampire, "Now time for me to join the feast."
The Ruby king had made his move and the adventurous below were none the wiser as the difficulty of clearing Aincrad stepped up a peg.