As the door opened we saw the room which awaited us. It was a large circular cave hall with dark stone walls and ceiling which had large spike of granite hanging down precariously. The floor was made of pure white tiles which made a spiralling pattern into the centre of the room where the boss lay in wait for us. The boss was a huge dragon with smooth, yet strong as steel blood red scales. Its claws were as long as a human arm and sharper than any blade made by human hand. Its tail was long, thick and had a large spear-head like tip to it. The name which floated above its sleeping body, next to 4 green health bars, read "Darmith Firebreath". As we walked into the room, with Kirito leading, the resting dragon raised its resting head, opened its glowing red eyes and let out a tremendous roar which shook the whole floor and charged at the amasses players with surprising speed.
"DECOY GROUPS, NOW!" Ordered Kirito keeping to the agreed plan, a few seconds later approximately 50 players ran past him in full uniformed armour with weapons drawn straight at the boss. "STRIKE TEAMS, IN POSITION!" He continued now directing his words at the remaining players before readying his black blade and advancing into a flanking position to wait for the right moment to strike. I look to the Rangers beside me and give a swift nod as we all draw our weapons and move to the opposite flank of Kirito. In the centre of the room the decoy teams were engaging the dragon in quick strikes to enrage it, but without getting close enough to be in its reach. Suddenly the dragon reared up with a great roar and came back down with a huge tremor knocking down all surrounding it.
"NOW!" I shout to the Rangers and any of the other strike teams that could hear me. We charged down at the dragon, quickly passing the players now on the ground and striking heavy blows, gauging large glowing red cuts upon the dragon's soft, pale underbelly. To my side I saw Kirito and two other soloers doing similar to me until suddenly the dragon lashed out with its razor claws hitting me and two others squarely in the chest and sending us flying across the room and into the wall. The impact winded me and sent a great dull pain throughout my body with the sharp pain of the claw attack still present on my chest. But with laboured breath and the help of the black sword I stood back up and slowly began to move back towards the fight.
The strike teams had now moved back and the decoy teams had re-engaged the dragon on all sides. However the dragon had begun to learn and therefore sent a great red and orange ball of hell fire towards a group of players who were waiting on the flanks to strike before quickly following up with a full 360 tail spin attack which sent all those without shields into the walls of the room. The ones still standing, including me, now realised that our plan wasn't going to work for much longer and with a quick and nervous look between each other we charged at the boss unleashing a full unrelenting assault upon the boss giving time for our fallen comrades to recover.
Our attacks landed upon the steely scales of the dragon dealing no more than a small scratch to its impenetrable armour, however whenever its belly was exposed a rain of attacks came down upon it before it had any chance to react at all. By now all of the were now back up and returning to the fight to gain vengeance against the boss. Nearly all coordination had been lost between the players and everyone was now attacking the Boss from all sides with all the fury filled might which they had. However Darmith matched this change in pace by sending out long burst of flame while spinning around and lashing its sharp tail at any that dared get to close. The battle had become extremely hard and we had lost at least 3 players now and the dragon was only just dropping into a yellow half HP.
As soon as we were able to finally drag it into its third bar of health it reared upwards and raised its head in the now blisteringly hot air. It let out a tremendous roar which sent a visible shock wave around the room and shaking the walls and ground. The dragon then crashed back down to the ground causing another tremor through the ground. In the silence that ensued, the cracking of stone above us could be heard. In unison all the players raised their heads to look at the ceiling above us. The hanging spikes of solid rock had large cracks along the section connected to the ceiling and then all of a sudden they all began to fall upon us.
The huge spikes began to smash to the ground, smashing on impact sending large pieces of stone shrapnel in every direction with no discretion to what was in its path and completely destroying the white tiled floor. By now most of the players had begun to run to the outer rim of the room but the more agile and fast rapier users of the front liners were dodging around the deadly shrapnel as if this was a usual thing for them. These determined and no less skilled players included Andrew who was jumping from the tops of the falling rocks getting higher and higher each time, next to him was Aurora who was also trying to get as high as possible and only by her bright chestnut hair could Asuna be seen running at great speed on the ground weaving and dodging around the rock with a practised ease.
As they approached the dragon, who had seemed to have avoided being hit by the falling terrors, spotted its remaining three opponents and began to attack them with everything it possessed, yet it was in vain as the three deftly avoided the attacks and begun their attacks. Andrew and Aurora jumped off of a stone spike simultaneously and stabbed out with their glowing swords at the dragon's red eyes. At the same time Asuna gauged out a large cut along its now exposed and weakened neck after launching herself off from the ground in a massive bound and spinning mid air to build up her sword skill and as much momentum as possible for the attack.
The three combined attacks hit at the same time and an eruption of power blasted from their swords into the dragons most weak spots sending it flying across the room through the scattered but now resting shrapnel. This one combined attack dealt more damage than any of us had been able to do this whole battle, this extraordinary attack brought the dragon down to half a bar of health.
"NOW! EVERYONE ATTACK NOW!" I hear Heathcliff's loud voice and commanding voice coming from the mass of players before he and his knights charged from the crowd towards the stunned dragon. After a moments hesitation the rest of the players joined the final charge to end this boss battle as quickly as possible. It didn't take too long to reach the other side of the room by running full pelt through the shrapnel that was now strewn across the whole room where all the players joined the three rapier users and launched a final joint attack to finish off the dragon. However our newel formed line was broken when Heathcliff and two of his notably powerful knights rushed ahead of the rest of the players and delivered 3 piercing stabs to the dragon's heart with the sharpest of blades, finishing the dragon and ending the fight.
The usual "CONGRATULATIONS!" was in the air and the routine appearance of the drop panels phased no one and failed to turn the attention from the three that had just ended this battle. I see Oliver walk to my side and past me until he was facing the three breakaway knights and said with fury in his voice "See, I knew damn well that you would go for that last hit for your guild."
"Because you wouldn't have done the same." Heathcliff returns calmly as he opens his inventory to see what the last hit drop actually was. He presses a button and his white armour was replaced by a heavy plate armour coloured in blood red matching his Guild's name. He looks down at his armour without surprise as if this was exactly what he was expecting to find. "Now, if you'll excuse me there's a new floor to clear." He says before bowing graciously and walking off towards the floor door with his guild members in tow.
"We all knew he was going to do it Oliver. But there's nothing we can do about it is there? Unless you suggest fighting the Knights?" Andrew B remarks with annoyance in his voice as he came up to Oliver's side.
"Well I'm not letting them sweep that floor on their own. Lets go, a new and harder floor awaits." He says with a determination and gruffness in his voice before he walked towards the now open floor door not waiting for the rest to follow.
"Well, he leaves us so much choice doesn't he." Andrew B says sarcastically before following after Oliver.
"Guess we better get moving too." I say to Andrew and Aurora I say before walking over to the door and through the moving whiteness of the portal.