Author's Note: I'd like to take a moment and thank my regular guest review, SuperSaiyanGod53 for his review of the previous chapter. I found it to be very supportive. Anyway, this next chapter ended up being a pretty hard one to write because of the battle scene it contains. I really hope this won't be a disappointment to anyone.
Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online.
Chapter 9: Return to Floor 75
Silica ran through the main dungeon of Floor 75 in New Aincrad with Pina trailing behind her. The dragon tamer's footsteps echoed through the hallow corridors as she raced to make it to the raiding party in time. Silica needed to tell Kirito and Asuna about Donis before they entered the boss room. She knew that the battle against that boss was important to them, but it was even more important that they knew about Donis and the sinister actions of his guild. It was especially vital that they knew with Leafa, Lisbeth and Sinon involved.
At long last, Silica and Pina finally reached to the massive army of players that had been assembled to fight the boss. The one leading the assault was at that moment addressing all the other players. Silica began to look for any signs of Asuna and Kirito in the massive crowed. When she couldn't find them from the outside, Silica began to squeeze in between players to make her way into the large army. Before Silica and Pina could get in very far, the army suddenly began to move forward.
Silica and Pina were pulled along with the stampeding army as if a massive ocean current was dragging them off. Before Silica could figure out what was happening, the army dispersed and Silica was dropped to the floor. She could hear a loud thumping noise seconds later as if a massive door had just been closed.
"Silica?" a familiar voice spoke.
Silica opened her eyes and looked up to find a concerned Asuna standing over her. Standing next to the blue-haired girl was a tall and rather young-looking woman with very fair skin and pale-blue hair. Silica recognized this woman as Asuna's friend from the Sleeping Knights guild, Siune.
"Oh wow! I am so glad I finally got to you, Asuna." Silica told her with a relieved sigh. "There's something important I need to tell you and Kirito, and I needed to do it before you went in to fight the boss."
"But Silica, we're in the boss room right now." Asuna told her. "The boss should be showing up any second now."
All the color drained from Silica's face. "So… I'm in the middle of a boss fight right now?"
Suddenly several red embers lit up in the center of the cylindrical room and began to gather together into a massive fireball. The fireball exploded to reveal the skeleton of a bipedal dragon with long powerful legs and three skeletal heads, each at the end of a long bony neck. The living dragon skeleton lacked arms, and in their place was a large pair of off-white bat-like wings with holes in the membrane of skin on each one. The eye sockets of each skull burned with an eerie red light, and a large red crystal could be seen inside the dragon's ribcage. Four HP gauges appeared next to the dragon, and above its three heads floated the name, "Skull King Dragon".
"Asuna, is this the same boss of this floor in the original SAO version?" a somewhat terrified Siune asked.
"No, this thing is like ten times worse." Asuna answered calmly. "Silica, it might be a good idea for you and Pina to stay over here with us."
In seconds, a squadron of salamander mages in red hooded robes began to surround the skeletal dragon. As Silica watched the unfolding battle, she could see Kirito on the front lines with his old friends, Klein and Agil. In one of his hands, the black swordsman was holding the legendary sword, Excalibur. The presence of that sword alone illustrated to Silica how difficult the battle was going to be. The dragon opened its jaws and fired a stream of crimson flames from each head.
The hooded mages chanted spells that managed to block parts of the attack with invisible barriers. Kirito then charged in with several other frontline players to begin the counterattack. When he came in range, Kirito began hacking away at one of the dragon's legs with Excalibur and the black sword he was holding in his other hand, while Klein and Agil attacked the other leg. The living skeleton's first HP gauge began to drop from the hits it was taking from all the attacking players, albeit slowly. Meanwhile, the mages had begun pelting the creature with a barrage of fireballs.
Suddenly the dragon began to swing its massive bony tail, knocking down some of the mages as well as a few of the attacking players. Kirito and most of the other attackers managed to duck down to the ground before they could get hit. After the attack, Kirito fell back and allowed some other players continue the attack. Suddenly the dragon's ribcage began to swing open, revealing the red crystal inside. The crystal crackled with red electricity and fired a powerful beam of crimson energy at the surrounding army of players.
The raiding party scattered to avoid the blast, but many players ended up getting hit. The attack had reduced their HP gauges to red slivers.
"I take it back. This thing's more like twenty times worse than the Skull Reaper." Asuna remarked.
"This was a bad idea for me to come here!" a freaked out Silica declared. "I should've just sent you or Kirito an IM!"
"Calm down, Silica." Asuna told her. "You can just stay back here and focus on giving the others support with me and Siune. The important thing right now is to just keep a level head. This is going to be a long battle."
The dragon began to spew streams of flame from its three heads all directions. One of the attacks struck most of the already badly damaged players, dropping their HP to zero. The bodies of the fallen players had been reduced to floating balls of fire. Asuna, Siune and all the other undine players who were part of the raiding party quickly began to cast healing spells on every player that had taken damage. The attack resumed, with the majority of the players sticking to attacking the dragon's sides in order to avoid getting hit by its ultimate attack.
Silica felt totally helpless as the battle raged on around her. There was absolutely nothing that either she or Pina could do to help against such a boss as powerful as that dragon. The undead dragon was totally out of their league, and Silica knew it. It would've taken her at least months to be able to help take on a boss-level monster that strong. All that the dragon tamer could really do was watch and pray that Kirito and the others could win.
Hours seemed to go by as the battle against the Skull King Dragon continued. Eventually the dragon only had a quarter of its final health bar remaining. At the same time though, a little over half of the raiding party had been lost. Just as Kirito and the others fell back, the skeleton dragon's rib cage opened and it fired another blast of energy in the direction of Asuna and the others. Asuna and the rest quickly managed to evade the blast before it could hit them. As they got up, Siune watched closely as the ribcage of the dragon closed back up.
"Wait a minute. Asuna, do you remember that boss we fought against together with Yuuki?" Sinue asked. "How it had that weak spot that it kept protecting with its arms?"
"How could I forget?" Asuna replied. "Wait. Do you think that the crystal that dragon uses for its attack it a weak point?"
"It has to be." Siune told her. "Otherwise this boss would be too overpowered."
"Okay. I'll take care of it." Asuna decided. And with that, her rapier appeared at the side of her waist. "You stay back here with Silica and provide all the support you can."
Asuna dashed off to where Kirito had fallen back to with Agil and Klein to take a small breather from the battle. The small dark-haired navigation pixie that was Kirito and Asuna's adopted daughter, Yui alerted to Kirito to Asuna's presence.
"I think I might know what that dragon's weakness is." Asuna told Kirito and the others. "Siune thinks that the crystal in its chest is its heart."
"You mean the same crystal it uses for its death ray attack?" Klein asked.
"That's not an easy spot to get to." Agil pointed out. "Those ribs the dragon has are pretty impenetrable."
"Yeah, and going at it when its firing that thing would be suicide." Klein added. "There's no way we could survive if we ran headlong into that beam."
"But there is a way." Kirito told them. "It takes a little bit for those ribs to close after the dragon fires."
"That's are chance to get at the crystal." Asuna confirmed. "All we need to do is wait until after it fires again."
"The dragon fires its crystal right after it swings its tail." Yui informed the group. "It shouldn't be too much longer before that attack comes."
"Then we'll wait here until after it fires and move in." Kirito decided. "Agil, we'll need you to help give me and Asuna a boost to get to the crystal."
"You got it!" Agil replied with a thumbs-up.
The five waited and watched as the rest of the raiding party threw what it had at the dragon. At long last, the dragon swung its tail and fired its ultimate death weapon. Only a small chunk of the raiding party had been taken out by the attack. As soon as the attack ended, Asuna charged in with Kirito and Agil. Agil kneeled down in front of the dragon as its ribs began to close up, and Asuna used him as a springboard to launch herself into the air with her sword raised.
As soon as she came in range, Asuna struck the dragon's large crystalline heart with eleven strikes from her sword, with the eleventh hit being the most powerful. Cracks formed all over the dragon's heart and its remaining HP gauge became a red sliver.
At that moment, a tear rolled down Suine's cheek. "That… that move. It's Mother's Rosario."
The dragon's ribs began to close shut, but only a split second after Asuna began to drop to the ground Kirito had jumped in and stabbed the red crystal with Excalibur. The dragon's HP dropped to zero and its crystal heart shattered into tiny crimson shards. The light from the beast's eye sockets burned out, and its skeletal body collapsed into a pile of bones before shattering into blue polygons. The giant message of congratulations appeared in the middle of the room, and most of the remaining members of the raiding party all cheered.
"Thanks, Yuuki." Asuna whispered to her sword before putting it away.
Kirito put his hand on Asuna's shoulder. "Let's go and see what's on that next floor."
Kirito and his friends were the first to pass through the door that had appeared on the other side of the boss room after the dragon had been defeated. After going up a small staircase, they had emerged at the bottom of a rock canyon made of brown stone. A star-filled night sky was twinkling above them.
"You know, after all the trouble we went to I was expecting this place to be a little prettier." Klein remarked as he looked around.
"I'm sure there's a lot more to this place than just this canyon." Kirito responded. "But I can't help but wonder if this is what the seventy-sixth floor of the original Aincrad looked like."
"We'll probably never know." Asuna told him. "So, get any good item from that skull dragon? You were the last one to attack it, after all."
"Oh yeah. I did get some kind of item." Kirito recalled, remembering the window that had appeared in front of him after the last attack. "I think it's supposed to be some kind of sword."
Kirito put back his one black sword and replaced it with the weapon he had gotten from the battle. The weapon was indeed a sword, and an impressive-looking one at that. The blade was a dark grey and had a small point on each side. Engraved down the middle of the blade were words written in a language that Kirito could not identify. The small carving of what appeared to be a cow skull adorned the crossguard.
"Not a bad-looking weapon." Klein remarked as Kirito swung with one hand to test it. "What's it called?"
"The Master's Blade." Kirito answered. "The item's description said that it was supposed to have been forged by the father of some barbarian king who lived thousands of years ago."
"It's certainly not an item I've never heard of." Agil remarked. "I wonder how strong it is?"
Kirito looked at the sword and held it out in front of him to the side. He then drew Excalibur and brought the golden blade down hard his new weapon. There was a hard clanging noise of metal on metal, but the sword that was the Master's Blade was unharmed.
"No way!" a stunned Kirito exclaimed. "I think this sword might be as strong as Excalibur."
"Is that even possible?" Siune asked. "I thought Excalibur was supposed to be the most powerful sword in the game."
"I guess it would kinda make sense for the designers to release a few weapons to match ones like Excalibur and Mjolnir." Agil theorized. "Still, there's something that seems a little weird about all this. From what little I heard, there weren't even supposed to be any drop items from the last attack on this boss."
"Maybe we should have Liz take a look at the sword to see if she can find out anything about it." Asuna suggested.
With the mention of Lisbeth's name, Silica suddenly remembered something very important. "Guys! With all that was happening in the boss fight, I forgot what I came to tell you! It's about Liz, Leafa and Sinon?"
"What about them?" Kirito asked.
"They've joined up with this guild. A bad one." Silica explained. "The guild's called The Order of Yig."
"Oh yeah, that new guild that's been raiding that weird mound in imp territory for the last few weeks." Klein recalled. "I've been overhearing things about them from some of the other players. They're like some kind of all-girl group, except for some pretty-boy leader who's supposed to have started the whole thing."
"I've been hearing rumors about that guild too, and none of it's good." Agil recalled. "The word is that they've been treating that guild like it's their own personal territory and hoarding all the resources for themselves. I guess it's not that big a deal since this isn't SAO, but still…"
"And you're saying that Liz and the others are a part of this guild?" Asuna asked Silica.
"Yeah, but I don't think they know about the real nasty stuff that goes on." Silica confirmed. "But they invited me along on a raid this afternoon to show me what the guild was like, and I ended up seeing the normal way they treat outside players."
"This guild doesn't seem like anything that Leafa and the others would be a part of." Asuna remarked.
"I know." Kirito agreed. "Sinon was a part of a guild of PKers back when she played GGO, but that was ages ago. And I certainly can't see Sugu being part of a guild like that."
"There's something else you really need to know, Kirito." Silica continued. "It's the guild's leader, Donis. He looks exactly like you."
Kirito paused upon hearing this. "What do you mean exactly like me?"
"Well, he has blonde hair and green eyes, probably because he's playing as a sylph. But still, he could be your long lost twin brother." Silica explained. "He even has your voice, but with some fancy accent."
"Are you yanking our chain, Silica?" Klein asked. "How is it even possible for someone in this game to look exactly like Kirito?"
"Maybe we should pay a visit to the guild's headquarters after we activate the warp gate here." Kirito suggested. "I'd like to meet this Donis for myself."
Leafa was standing outside of a two-story building made of stone brick that looked like it could've been some kind of tavern or beer hall and looking up at the sky. The crest of the Order of Yig was painted on a wooden sign by the door, indicating that it was the guild's headquarters. At that moment, Lisbeth came out of the building to join her.
"I can guess what's on your mind." Lisbeth spoke, shaking Leafa from her thoughts. "You're wondering how the boss fight on Floor 75 is going, right?"
"Ever since you got that message from Asuna saying that the battle was on." Leafa confirmed. "I hope Kazuto's doing well."
"I'm sure he's doing great." Lisbeth assured her as she put a hand on the blonde's shoulder. "Now c'mon. Donis and the others are starting to wonder where you went off to."
Just as the two were about to go back inside, Kirito landed before them. Asuna and the others landed a few feet behind him.
"Kazuto!" Leafa enthusiastically greeted.
"Hail the conquering heroes!" Lisbeth cheered as she and Leafa walked up. "So you kicked that boss's butt, right?"
"Where's Donis?" Kirito asked with a very serious expression.
Lisbeth glanced beyond Kirito to Silica and saw the concerned expression on the dragon tamer's face. "Oh boy. I'm guessing that Silica told you what Donis looks like, huh?"
"And a few other things." Kirito confirmed. "Now where is he?"
"What's going on out here?" a familiar voice cut in.
Kirito and the others saw Donis emerge from the headquarters. The black swordsman's jaw dropped upon seeing how closely his gold doppelganger resembled him. Asuna and the others were just as stunned.
Donis noticed Kirito and smirked. "Well, you must be Kirito. It's nice to finally meet you."
Author's Note: I hope the battle against the Floor 75 boss wasn't a letdown for anyone. I find that I still have trouble writing really large-scale battle scenes involving armies of characters. I think that's the main reason why I put that little series of Gundam SEED fanfics I was doing once on sort of a permanent hiatus. Anyway, the new sword Kirito wound up with in this chapter is based on the sword that appeared in the original 1970s version of the movie, Conan the Barbarian. The movie was on AMC the other afternoon while I was writing the battle against Yig, and while I was taking a break from that chapter I decided to have Kirito use something like the sword that was forged during the opening credits. I had always planned on having Kirito wind up with another sword from that boss fight, but originally it was going to be based more on the dragon itself.
Having Kirito use this new sword is actually pretty appropriate for two reasons. The first is that the soundtrack to the original Conan movie had served me as a source of inspiration when I was writing Monster World Online. The second reason is that when I had looked up the character of Conan on Wikipedia to see if that sword had a name, I had discovered that the original author who had come up with Conan had corresponded regularly with H.P. Lovecraft. And as a result of this correspondence, some of the creatures from Lovecraft's work had made cameo appearances in some of the original Conan stories. Therefore, it could be argued that Conan is part of Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos, which this story has been drawing from.
Please review and let me know what you think.