The sound of exploding polygons filled the air soon followed by the sound of heavy panting as the boss of the nineteenth floor died. Kirito stood in front of where the massive snake-like boss once and was breathing heavily. It had been five months since he had last spoke to the others but that hadn't stopped him from trying his hardest at clearing the game. But due to him being solo that had taken a heavy toll on him as he chugged down a health potion and eagerly awaited for his health bar to turn yellow and get out of the red zone.
The fight hadn't been terribly hard but it was still a boss fight and with him being solo it had taken many hours. Luckily it was a boss without servants too, meaning he only had one opponent the whole time making it easier. After his health finally went into the yellow and was steadily heading towards the green he finally bothered to check his last attack bonus which happened to be a pair of gloves. The stats on them were very good as they increased sword-skill damage and slightly reduced the lock time after one was executed. He equipped them and watched as the fingerless black leather gloves appeared on his hands before he finally started making his way to the next floor.
He knew that the others were either on their way to the boss room or clamoring around a teleport gate waiting for him to activate the twentieth floor and he was already dreading this. Luckily so far he hadn't had to confront them due to his agility stat letting him get away but the last time had been too close for comfort. He didn't dislike them but he still didn't like them so he really didn't want to interact with them unless it was absolutely necessary such as when he sent Argo a simple message about something extremely hazardous on a floor like the poison swamps on the last one.
With a sigh, he arrived on the twentieth floor and made his way over to the main city where the teleport gate was housed. On arrival at the gate, he quickly took out his only teleport crystal and readied himself. In one quick movement, he activated the gate and in the same second activated the crystal and shouted the command to teleport to the third floor.
Upon arriving at the third floor Kirito was pleased to see he was alone besides the NPC's milling around. He was glad that no one had so far discovered which floor he lived on as that would be bothersome since acquiring a house was a really big pain. After walking for a minute or two he arrived at his basic house that didn't have any attracting features which was perfect for hiding in plain sight. He entered the house and was about to go over and pass out on a couch before an icon appeared before him saying he had a message. A frown formed on his face because he was used to getting messages after clearing a floor so he knew what to expect. But in case it was something different he had to check anyway and when he did he was shocked.
The message wasn't from any of the others but was in fact from Kayaba Akihiko himself. It was a short message that only contained a simple sentence which warned about how the boss on the new floor would be stronger as it was a milestone boss. This was shocking itself because it was only supposed to be every twenty-five floors had an insanely strong boss but if it was every twenty and twenty-five floors then this game just got more difficult. If this didn't make matters worse he received a message from Argo shortly after saying, 'We need to talk, meet me at the inn.'
Letting out a curse he left his house not even needing to know what inn she was talking about. It was the same one he had woken up in after the wasp incident because he was told by her that that inn was their home until further notice. It didn't take long for him to arrive at the inn but it did take a little bit of time for him to enter it as he mentally prepared himself. Finally, after he steeled his nerves he walked inside and breathed a sigh of relief when he was that Argo was the only one here.
"Been a while kii-bou, I've been missing ya." She said with a sly grin as he took his seat across from her.
"It has been a while. So I assume you got the message as well?" He asked wanting to get straight to the point.
"Yeah I did and that's why I asked you to meet me here." A look of seriousness grew on her face. "I know you don't like people but even you can't kill a milestone boss solo. Tell me when you killed that boss earlier today what color was your health?"
"Red," Kirito muttered barely loud enough for her to hear.
"My point exactly. You are going to need help for this fight and you know it yourself. So I need you to get over whatever it is that has you so distant and help us." His breath hitched as she said this and let a low growl escape his throat.
"I don't need help." He told her. "I will just take a while longer on this floor and grind my levels up before going to kill it."
"Oh, and what will you do if it has a stun attack followed by an instant kill?" She asked with a bit of irritation in her voice.
"I'll deal with it." He told her. A tick mark formed on Argo's head as she was getting sick of his attitude.
"You are more stubborn than I remembered. Tell you what I'll never ask you to join us again if you win a fight do we have a deal?" She asked slyly as her plan formed in her head.
"Just a fight? Who will I fight?" He asked wondering where this sudden idea came from. He knew Argo wouldn't have proposed this without a purpose and if there was one thing she was good at doing it was being cunning.
"Yukki." Was the one worded response. That name meant something to Kirito since he had witnessed the girl kill the wounded boss in one strike when it would have taken him a couple more hours. But this was his chance to get Argo to stop pestering him.
"And the catch?" He asked.
"It's obvious really if you win I won't ask you to join us again. But if you lose you will join immediately." Kirito thought about this for a minute before realizing if he couldn't beat Yukki then he couldn't beat the boss. This fight would prove if the twentieth boss fight would be possible.
"Alright I accept, name the time and place." He told her confidently causing her smirk to grow.
"Here and now." She said simply.
"Alright, but you will have to get her here." He told her as he opened up his inventory and fingered through it until he came across his strongest weapon and equipped it. He looked at the curved red scimitar that formed in his hands with glee but when he noticed that Argo wasn't moving at all he looked back up. He was about to ask her what was wrong before he saw that she wasn't looking at him but past him. Slowly turning around he nearly jumped to see that Yukki was less than two feet behind him lazily leaning on her sword.
"Your stats are seriously over leveled." He told her not believing her hiding stat was high enough for him not to notice her enter.
"Or maybe your stats are just under leveled." She teased as she shifted her weight off her sword and did a beckoning motion. "Come on I've been waiting for this fight but I'd rather not do it in here." He gave a shrug before following her as he wondered what she meant by her saying she had been waiting to fight him. The trio walked into the middle of the street outside which would give optimal room for the duel.
"One strike mode alright with you?" Kirito called out and after receiving a nod sent the request. He looked up at the timer and unsheathed his scimitar as he began counting down the seconds until the timer hit zero. While doing this he kept a close eye on the form of Yukki as he looked for the slightest hint of her plan. He saw her muscles tense as the final second hit and raised his sword just in time as she closed the distance between them within an instance.
"Just how fast are you?" He asked her as he blocked another strike before throwing one of his own which was also blocked.
"I was about to ask you the same thing," Yukki responded as she found it surprising he was able to keep up with her movements. The two of them traded attack after attack but neither ever scored a hit on the other. Finally, after many minutes of trading attacks, the hilts of their blades finally locked with each other. Their faces were mere inches apart as they both tried and failed to break the guard of their opponent.
"This if fun," Yukki exclaimed as if this was the most fun she ever had.
Kirito tried and failed to keep the grin from appearing on his face before he said, "I agree this is the best fight I ever had." As if by some unspoken agreement both combatants pushed off of each other and resumed their trade of blows. An hour went by as the two fought and yet neither of them still had managed to gain a hit. By this point, Argo had sent a message to everyone else who were all watching the duel now not believing what they were witnessing.
"Are they even human?" Rain asked not believing that they still seemed to not be tiring.
"Don't worry this fight won't last for much longer," Argo said with a grin already knowing the result.
"And how would you know that?" Agil asked wondering why she seemed so sure of it.
"His blade." Were the only words she said as everyone looked at the scimitar Kirito wielded. It was laden with a multitude of cracks while Yukki's had about half as much. Rain's eyes widened as she realized what was happening. Kirito didn't have a blacksmith but Yukki did meaning that her blade would be better and more durable than his.
"Why doesn't he just equip a new one?" Rain asked remembering the first floor boss fight.
"Yukki isn't a predictable enemy. I bet it's taking all of his concentration to hold her off so he has no chance of winning if he tries to equip a new one. If I had to guess his blade should break in the next few hits anyways." Argo responded.
As if to prove her point Yukki rushed forward and swung her blade which Kirito was ready to block but was shocked as his blade snapped in half and Yukki's buried itself into his flesh.
After an hour of fighting the duel had finally come to an end with Kirito being the loser.
Finally glad to get this chapter out as this finally starts the part where Kirito can finally stop being a mopey solo player. This also means the chapters will start increasing in length as well. Anyways hope you enjoyed the chapter and thanks for reading!
