We all charged into the boss room with our raging battle cries echoing around the large room. The floor was a large and completely flat stone circle which dropped off like a sheer cliff at its edges. The rest of the room was in darkness, bar for a few smaller circular structures which were being held up by small, organic looking pillars of twisted stone. But the room was empty of any boss, no sign of any enemy to fight. So we all stood in a loose circle in the middle of the platform, looking outwards and around to as not be caught off guard .
The room fell into silence and we all held our weapons tightly and our eyes were cautiously flicking from side to side. The silence was broken by the loud banging noise of the grand doors behind us locking shut, preventing us from escaping by simply running out. Being the 75th floor boss room it was likely that we wouldn't be able to teleport out using crystals, much the same as what I heard of the 74th floor boss room. The only way out now was to fight and kill the boss, which at this moment refused to show itself.
The silence gripped the room once again and for a few seconds nothing happened. But in the distance there was the noise of scuttling or the clicking of bones, at hearing this many of the players started spinning their heads around, desperately trying to spot the source of the sound, however a few including me closed our eyes and let our perception skill point out the direction of the noise. Asuna however was the first to pinpoint its location, her head bolted upwards and in shock she shouted "Above us!".
Everyone looked directly above us to see a giant millipede like being, made completely out of white bones. For a head it had a huge skull bearing 4 sets of razor sharp teeth and four red eyes filled with an inhuman killing intent and fury. On either side of its head were two limbs that ended with sharp metal scythes. It was somehow keeping itself held suspended upside down on the ceiling without any real visible means of doing so, only the thin bones which clicked against the rock of the ceiling. Its head looked down at us, its eyes flared up in a blazing red glare and it let out a screech louder and more guttural than anything of its description should be able to make. As it did this its name plate and health bars were revealed to us. It was "The Skull Reaper", it bore a large red crystal over its name and 5 long and green health bars hung to the side of its name.
"Stay away from it!" Came the rushed order from Heatcliffe. This woke the majority of the players from their momentary state of shock and we all ran as fast as we could from the centre of the platform where the Skull Reaper was currently dropping itself into. However there was two players who still stood in the centre while the boss rapidly got closer, it was only after a shout from Kirito that they started running, however it was too late for them. The Skull Reaper hit the ground with a thud and sent out a shock wave which turned the room from a dill grey colour to a glowing blood red. The second it landed it swept out with one of its scythe ended limbs and hit the two men directly through their chests, sending them flying across the room. However their bodies never hit the ground, they burst mid air into hundreds of shining particles, dead in one fell swoop.
The boss observed us for a few seconds before charging at those who were closest to it. However the line of white and red clad knights stood their ground and as the Reaper was about to take another fleeing victim as its own Heathcliffe ran out with incredible speed and blocked the giant scythe with his shield. Sending orange sparks flying out around him. The two stared at each other for a split second but the Reaper wanted its prey and with its other scythed limb moved forward and swung out, taking another life in one quick hit. It then ran in a large circle to gain speed and then jumped over Heathcliffe's head in order to reach a large cluster of players. As the Reaper began go for its prey once again it was blocked by the dual blades of Kirito, quickly followed up by Heathcliffe's shield blocking a lightning fast attack from its other scythe, this was finished up by Asuna bolting in and dealing a large blow to its head, knocking it backwards.
Although the Skull Reaper had been beaten back it was far far from being defeated and it quickly charged back at the three which had prevented it from killing its selected prey. The three once again began to block and parry the brutal attacks sent by the Skull Reaper, just managing to hold their own against its stupidly powerful attacks while pushing it back slightly. "We'll deal with the scythes! Everyone else, attack from the sides!" Came a hurried shout from Kirito. Seeing the strength of the boss at hand it seemed to be the only thing we could currently do, so with a look to my friends I ran at the gigantic insect with my sword glowing red.
At the same time as me all of the other players who had been standing around waiting, not completely knowing what they should do, leapt into action, following Kirito's advice to attack the sides. Our weapons crashed down upon the surprisingly strong and lively bones of the Skull Reaper causing it to cry out in anger and writhe around like a snake to avoid are many attacks. But after a minute or so if it fighting statically, continually having its scythes blocked by Krito, Asuna and Heathcliffe, and having a constant stream of damage to its sides, it began to charge around the room, turning violently when it reached the edges of the platform to make even its body a deadly weapon.
As it rampaged around it used both its scythes and its wickedly fast tail to strike out at the fighters who were close to it. Due to this marauding tactic and the fact that the three lead players couldn't be everywhere at one time, everyone was cautious in their movements and most were on a full defensive, only attacking when they were sure its attention was elsewhere. Even so people began to fall quickly, quicker and more frequently than in any other boss fight to this date. This boss fight was living up to our grim expectations and we had only just got its first health bar below half.
I fought with Sky at my side, attacking in unison, chaining our attacks to make the most out of their effects in the short space of time we allowed ourself near the gigantic beast. Along with being of offensive support, whenever needed we locked swords and blocked attacks as one to reduce the amount of damage dealt to either of us greatly. However even with doing this I had already got through 2 health crystals and I was constantly drinking from health pots so that my HP was constantly regenerating, at this rate I would be clean out of healing items around the halfway mark, however distant that milestone may have currently been to us.
The battle so far had been a brutal and bloody gruel for the past hour and so far I had counted 7 deaths down to the swiftly moving and uncaring scythes. We had just got down to the red zone of its last health bar and it seemed that any previous will in fighting this boss had crumbled down to sheer stubborn survivalist instinct and the want to go down doing your part for the battle and clearance of the game as a whole. This was clear in the dullness and heavy handedness of the attacks thrown at the Skull Reapers unbelievably high defence.
Me and sky had once more survived a crushing blow from the Skull Reaper, I reached into my side bag to drag out a health crystal. My hand rummaged in the bag for a good 30 seconds but found nothing, not a single health crystal or potion was left in my pouch, meaning that I was completely out of healing items with my health bar just above the red zone. A cold shiver ran through my body and my mind turned to blackness at the realisation that this lack of health was very quickly going to end in my death, in this world and the real world.
However my mind snapped back into action when Sky shouted at me, I didn't understand what, but it brought me back to my senses to see the Skull reaper starting to spin rapidly on the spot, flailing its tail and its scythes with deadly precision. This spinning also kicked up a huge amount of dust, blocking our vision from the majority of its attacks, leaving it to our many perception skills to save us in this fight. This cloud of dust and dirt also separated me from Sky and I was left to rely purely on my own skill and speed. Through the kicked up dust my search skill picked up the tail swinging violently in our direction, so I quickly jumped back out of its reach.
A second after jumping out of the cloud of dust I saw a number of bodies fly across the room and crashing down near the edge of the platform. One of the players thrown was unlucky enough to be thrown straight off of the platform, doomed to fall to his death. I looked over at the players and saw Sky on the ground, not moving, but still holding her sword in a steely grip. I looked up at her health bar just below my own, she had been knocked to the edge of the red zone. Behind me I heard the Skull Reaper rearing its body once more to come charging at the knocked down players to finish its prey.
So without much though or planning, out of sheer instinct and fear, I raced over to where Sky was lying motionless on the ground and stood above her with my sword held high. The Skull reaper charged down at me and swiped down with both of its scythes at the same time, aiming directly for the centre of my sword. I dug my feet into the ground and held onto my sword with as much strength as I could physically muster from my numerical stats. But none of that seemed to matter as I heard a distinct shattering of metal as my sword was split straight in half, the top section falling dully to the ground. But the scythes didn't stop there. They continued downward towards my head.
I closed my eyes and let out a small sigh of resignation. I had lost, I wasn't strong enough, not even strong enough to get close to the 100th floor.
I felt the heavy metal blades cut into the top of my head, instantly dropping my health bar to zero. Nothing was left.
My adventure had ended and a black veil of nothingness fell upon my body.