Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, nor do I own the works of H.P. Lovecraft.
Chapter 5: Asuna vs. Cthulhu
Soon after emerging from his putrid crypt in the city of R'lyeh, Cthulhu let out a slimy incomprehensible sound that could only be described as a roar. Leafa took the initiative and drew her sword as she flew up towards the horrid beast. When the blonde fairy got in range she slashed her sword into the wrist of Cthulhu's raised right arm, but when the blade cut into the Old One's flesh, his wrist and hand turned into a green mist and reformed into its original shape. What alarmed Leafa even more though was that her attack hadn't taken a single point off of Cthulhu's HP. Cthulhu slammed his hand into Leafa, flinging her back down into the ground near where the others were standing. The blonde's HP had fallen into the low yellow. As Leafa got back to her feet, Cthulhu swung his left arm and clawed hand flew down towards the team as his wrist stretched like rubber.
Asuna and the others quickly scattered as the hand came toward them and Cthulhu's claws ended up striking the bare stone floor of the city. Soon after the creature's hand retracted, Cthulhu let out another horrid roaring noise. Asuna charged in from the ground and struck Cthuhu several times in his left leg. The attack from the black tok'l-metal rapier Lisbeth had given her before the mission had taken off some of Cthulhu's HP, but it was only a very small amount. Cthulhu lifted the leg that Asuna had just struck, forcing the blunette to fall back towards the others in order to avoid getting stomped.
"How come my attack didn't do any damage while Asuna's did?" Leafa asked.
"In the original story, Cthulhu's body was made of something other than normal matter!" Sinon recalled. "I don't think normal weapons will have any affect on him!"
"Bet you regret not taking that new sword that I offered you now, huh Leafa?" Lisbeth remarked.
"But even with Asuna's tok'l-metal sword, her attack hardly put a dent in that thing's HP!" Agil pointed out. "I don't like how this is turning out!"
"We'll just have to do the best we can!" Asuna told the others. "Leafa! You stay back with Siune and focus on healing the rest of us! Now let's do this!"
With that, the team scattered again as Cthulhu launched its hand at them for another attack. Lisbeth and Klein took to the air to attack Cthulhu while Asuna, Agil and Silica remained on the ground to strike at Cthulhu's legs. Sinon meanwhile flew up to the top of a small tower to snipe at Cthulhu with her arrows. As the battle started to really get going, Lisbeth managed to strike Cthulhu on the side of the head with Mjolnir and do some damage, revealing that the divine hammer from Thor was also affective against the evil undersea god. Sinon managed to land a few arrows on Cthulhu's chest while Klein got in a few good hits on the beast's right shoulder.
Before long, forty minutes had gone by since the start of the battle, and the team had just barely gotten Cthulhu's first HP gauge a quarter of the way down. Yet at the same time, Asuna and the rest of her team had done a fairly good job of evading Cthulhu's attacks. While the stretchy claw attack from the High Priest of the Old Ones was powerful, it was also fairly easy for them to avoid. Attacking Cthulhu from the air on the other hand was proving to be a bit more difficult, as the beast would slash his claws at any enemy that came within a certain range from the front. Cthulhu's claws were even able to block some of Sinon's arrows.
Eventually Sinon decided to use her power to see portals at certain angles in space and fire an arrow through a portal that would cause it to strike Cthulhu's back. Sinon found such a portal and opened fire, but the arrow that catgirl archer shot through the portal came out in an entirely different place than intended and hit Lisbeth in her right shoulder, taking off a quarter of the pinkette's HP.
Lisbeth pulled out the arrow and threw it to the ground. "Dammit Sinon! What the hell was that for?"
"I'm sorry! I wasn't aiming at you!" Sinon told her. "The geometry of this city is throwing off the portals I use for my arrows!"
"Well quit trying to show off with that power you got from screwing Nyarlathotep and attack that thing normally!" Lisbeth angrily ordered. "Or is that sort of thing beneath the great Phantom Arrow?"
An offended Sinon tried to brush off Lisbeth's comment and flew off to try and get a better vantage point. At least another two hours seemed to go by before Cthulhu's first HP gauge was finally taken to zero. Soon after though, Cthulhu let out another incomprehensible noise and fired a powerful stream of greenish water from the mouth hidden within the mass of tentacle on his face. The attack ended up striking the new perch Sinon had been using the launch her attacks and reduced the catgirl archer's HP to zero in an instant. The only thing that was left of Sinon was a floating ball of flames.
"Oh no! Sinon!" an alarmed Silica called out. "Does everyone have a revival item on them?"
"No! None of us do!" Siune answered. "I should've gone to find one before we went on this quest."
"We've only just taken one bar of health of this thing, and it already has a new attack pattern?" a stunned Klein observed. "How the hell are we supposed to beat 'em?"
"I don't know, but we keep going!" Asuna ordered. "We've come too far to just give up now!"
The battle began anew as the fireball that had once been Sinon burned away to nothing. Cthulhu's water cannon attack was proving far more difficult for Asuna and the others to dodge, but they managed to avoid that fatal as they continued their assault. At least another three hours had gone by before the team finally managed to take out Cthulhu's second HP gauge. Then, just as Klein flew in to slash Cthulhu in the face with his sword, the aquatic abomination suddenly snared the redhead with the tentacles of his octopus-like head and began to squeeze the life out of him. By the time Klein's HP had fallen to less than half, Cthulhu flung the swordsman back down to the ground with incredible force. Siune quickly cast a healing spell on Klein as he got back to his feet.
"Dammit!" Klein cursed as he wiped his mouth with his wrist. "This monster's attack pattern keeps changing! We've barely gotten the thing down to half its full health and its generating moves that only happen when a normal boss has a fraction of HP left."
At that moment, Lisbeth was flung to the ground after having been snared by Cthulhu's tentacles. Leafa cast a healing spell on the pinkette as Lisbeth got back up.
"I'm really starting to get pissed at this thing." Lisbeth decalred.
"The only thing we can do now is attack Cthulhu from behind while Asuna and the others hit him from the ground." Klein told her. "Now let's get back in there!"
It was about another four hours by the time Cthulhu's third HP gauge was taken out. After that, the creature's attack pattern started to speed up, with his clawed hands whipping down towards them twice in one setting instead of a single attack. Meanwhile, Asuna and her companions were starting to lose steam. For VRMMO players, mental fatigue was often just as big an enemy as the monsters they fought in the game. The task of navigating a complex dungeon or fighting off a boss-level monster often put a strain on one's concentration. Asuna and her fellow SAO survivors knew this fact very well, for back in that death game the loss of mental focus for a split second literally meant the difference between life and death in a critical battle. Yet in the current battle against Cthulhu, that old enemy known as mental exhaustion was starting to get a hold on Asuna and the rest of her team.
With the hours that continued to pass, the reaction time of Asuna and her friends began to slow and it was becoming much harder for them to evade Cthulhu's attacks. Just when the team had gotten Cthulhu's fourth HP down into the low yellow, Silica had fallen back after delivering a few strikes with her dagger. Suddenly one of Cthulhu's clawed hands came down and struck Silica in the back, knocking her to the ground and taking her HP into the red. Just as Cthulhu swung his clawed hand back down at her again, Silica quickly chanted a spell and her little dragon, Pina vanished with a flash of gold light. Cthulhu's clawed hand then struck and Silica had been reduced to a floating fireball.
"Silica!" a horrified Leafa called out.
"What was that spell Silica used?" Siune asked.
"It's a spell used to transport Pina to a certain save point so she can meet back up with her again in cait sith territory." Asuna explained. "She didn't want Pina to get wiped out along with her."
"Hey Asuna!" Lisbeth called down from the air. "Don't you think it's time we called it quits?"
"No! We keep going!" Asuna told her. "As long as we can still fight, we're not giving up!"
"I'm with you, Asuna!" Klein declared. "There's no way I'm backing down against this thing after getting so far! Especially after the way Sinon and Silica bought it! Now let's take this thing out!"
The battle resumed as Silica's fireball burned away to nothing. Asuna and the remaining team members were managing to hold out, but with both Silica and Sinon out of battle the task of chipping away at Cthulhu's HP was taking much longer. What was worse was that fighters were really starting to run out of steam. As the battle raged, Asuna and her remaining friends were still somehow managing to avoid most of Cthulhu's attacks, but they were starting to take more and more hits as time moved on. Leafa and Siune were really starting to burn through their MP trying to heal everyone.
After another six or seven hours, the team had gotten Cthulhu down to his sixth and final HP gauge. At that moment though, Cthulhu let out another horrid cry and fired several green lightning bolts from his membranous wings at Asuna and the others. Asuna and Agil had managed to dodge the attack, and Leafa and Siune had gotten out of the blast's range, but Klein and Lisbeth had been hit right as they had been moving in to hit Cthulhu in the stomach. Both of them crashed to the ground with their HP in the red. Before Siune and Leafa had a chance to heal the two, Cthulhu's massive claws came down and struck Lisbeth, taking her HP to zero.
Lisbeth shot Asuna an angry glare a split second before turning into a floating ball of flames. Meanwhile, Klein managed to avoid Cthulhu's second claw attack and Siune and Leafa were quickly able to heal him.
"Dammit!" Klein cursed. "He's starting to pick us off one by one!"
"Leafa! Siune! How you guys doing on MP?" Agil asked.
"We're almost out, I'm afraid!" Siune answered. "And Leafa and I each only have one more potion left that can restore our MP back to at least half."
"Damn! This is not looking good!" Agil declared. "This monster still has a full bar of health left! The damn thing might just be as strong as an SAO boss from one of the upper floors of Aincrad. Asuna! I hate to say it, but at this point I think we should…"
Before Agil could finish his thought, Cthulhu spewed out another blast of greenish water down at the bald gnome. Agil's HP dropped to zero in an instant and his body was reduced to a floating fireball.
"Oh no… Agil!" a horrified Asuna spoke.
"How the heck are we supposed to win now?" Leafa asked.
"Hey Asuna. I think we both know what Agil was going to say before he got wiped out, but I'm willing to keep fighting!" Klein declared. "We can't just call it quits now that we're this close to beating this thing!"
A look of steely determination reappeared on Asuna's face. "You're right. I'm not willing to let this thing get the best of me!"
"I'll keep hitting Cthulhu high while you keep hitting him low!" Klein told Asuna as he took back off into the air. "Let's beat this boss for Agil and the others!"
With that, the battle was quickly rejoined. Asuna continued to relentlessly strike at Cthulhu's legs while Klein slashed at the Old One's upper body, being careful to avoid his claws. Another four and a half hours had gone by before the duo had finally gotten Cthulhu's last HP gauge down to a quarter of what it originally was. Suddenly Cthulhu sprayed out another blast of greenish water down in Siune and Leafa's direction. Just as the attack was about to hit, Klein flew in and blocked the blast at the very last second. The redheaded swordsman gave Siune a cocky grin and a thumbs-up before turning into a floating ball of red flames right before her eyes.
"KLEIN!" Siune screamed.
"Asuna! This is just getting to be too much!" Leafa told the blunette. "There's no shame in backing out!"
"No!" Siune spoke. "We keep going! I know that's what Klein would want us to do!"
"Then we keep going!" Asuna decided. "This doesn't end until either that thing goes down or we do!"
With that, Asuna charged back towards Cthulhu, dodging one of the beast's claw attacks as she got in range of his legs. The blunette began to once again relentlessly strike at Cthulhu's legs with her sword, slowly chipping away at the High Priest's HP. Every now and then Asuna would have to fall back in order to avoid getting stomped by the beast, only to have to avoid one of Cthulhu's stretching claw attacks. At one point after falling back, Asuna avoided a claw strike only to get struck by the second claw attack that followed. Siune and Leafa quickly healed Asuna, and the blunette charged back into battle.
It was at least another hour and a half before Asuna finally got Cthulhu's HP down into the red zone. Then, after Asuna had fallen back yet again, Cthulhu fired another blast of green water down towards her. Leafa suddenly charged in and pushed Asuna out of the way, taking the attack in her place. The blonde fairy's HP dropped to zero in an instant and her body was reduced to a ball of green flames.
"Looks like it's just down to you and me, huh?" Siune spoke.
"Guess so." Asuna replied. "How's your MP holding out?"
"I don't have much left." Siune answered. "I'm going to have to save it for when you're in critical condition."
"Let's hope it doesn't come to that." Asuna replied before charging back into battle.
Another hour seemed to go by as Asuna continued her assault. Despite her exhaustion, Asuna had still managed to avoid most of Cthulhu's attacks. Eventually Cthulhu only had a very small amount of HP left, though it was still more than a sliver. Suddenly Cthulhu's wings fired another barrage of electricity down at Asuna and Siune. Asuna was struck in the arm and her HP gauge fell into the red zone. Siune on the other hand took a lightning bolt to the chest and fell to her knees. The undine healer's HP dropped like a stone and was at zero in a matter of seconds.
Siune gave Asuna a smile. "Asuna… I know you can still win."
With that, Siune's body was reduced to a floating ball of blue flames. Exhausted, Asuna fell to her knees and dropped her sword. Cthulhu loomed over her and let out a low growl.
'I'm such an idiot!' Asuna thought as she shut her eyes. 'What made me think I could take on a boss like this with only seven other players? They've all been wiped out because of me. And soon… I'll be joining them. It's all over.'
"You're giving up now after getting so close?" a familiar voice suddenly spoke. "That's not like the Asuna I know. C'mon! Get back up and show that thing what you're made of!"
Asuna opened her eyes, and standing before her was the back of a young woman with long dark-purple hair, wearing a red and yellow headband. The young woman turned around and gave Asuna a huge grin before suddenly vanishing.
"Yuuki…" Asuna spoke.
The blunette didn't know how it was that her dead friend had suddenly appeared before her. She thought perhaps that the exhaustion was finally starting to get to her. Whatever the reason though, the encounter had relit the flame in Asuna's heart. The blunett picked her sword back up and got to her feet. Cthulhu let out another horrid roar as Asuna looked back up at him. The High Priest of the Old Ones shot his claws down towards her, but Asuna dashed away to the left and headed for one of the surrounding builgings. Cthulhu turned his head and shot another blast of greenish water at Asuna, but the blunette was a step ahead of the attack. Asuna then ran up the side of the building in front of her and pushed off of it, turning around in midair as she flew towards Cthulhu.
When she got in range, Asuna struck the creature several times in the hip. The attack had finally reduced Cthulhu's HP to nothing more than a mere sliver. Soon after, Asuna used her wings to fly up further and struck Cthulhu in the chest with the very move that she had inherited from Yuuki, the Mother's Rosario. Cthulhu's HP dropped to zero, and instead of shattering into blue polygons like a normal monster in ALO, Cthulhu's body popped like a balloon and became a swirling twister of green mist. After a few moments, the mist receded into the crypt that Cthulhu had emerged from and the doors to the hole slammed shut behind it.
Soon after, a holographic screen appeared in front of Asuna telling her that she had received an item called the Book of the Primal Deep. At the same time, the word "Congratulations" appeared over the doors to the crypt in large glowing white letters. A second later though the word was replaced by another floating and rather cryptic message.
"That is not dead which can eternal lie. And with strange eons even death may die."
Before Asuna could totally process all that had just happened, a blinding flash of white light enveloped the entire area. When the light cleared, Asuna was standing in the middle of some kind of stone hallway that looked like it belonged in a castle. Hanging from the wall on the blunette's right was a large red and gold tapestry showing an image of Yggdrasil, the World tree. Right beneath the tapestry was a large wooden bench. Asuna had no idea what was happening, but deciding that she needed a moment to rest she went ahead and sat down on the bench.
Despite her last-moment victory against Cthulhu, Asuna couldn't help but feel guilty about how the battle went. Though she had obtained victory, it didn't change the fact that everyone else in her party had been wiped out. Of course getting killed in ALO wasn't anything like getting killed in SAO, where if you died in the game you died for real. Yet Asuna found that she couldn't take much comfort in that fact. She had been the one leading the team and it had been her idea to go on the quest in the first place. In the end, it was her decisions that had gotten everyone else wiped out.
Suddenly Asuna heard footsteps coming towards her, causing her to rise from the bench. Coming into view was a young-looking woman with long curled blonde hair and blue eyes. She had on a silver tiara with a red gem in the center, and wore a white dress with a short skirt that ended well above the knee and short baggy sleeves that didn't go very far past the shoulders. A piece of silver armor covered the woman's chest, and a plain gold rope served as her belt. On her feet, she wore a pair of armored boots made of a silver metal, and on each wrist was an ornate silver bracelet.
"Greetings, fairy swordswoman." The blonde spoke. "Welcome to Valhalla. I am Hilda, a Valkyrie."
"What am I doing here?" Asuna asked.
"You're here because you defeated the dark undersea god known as Cthulhu." Hilda answered. "For this, the Allfather wishes to speak with you."
"The Allfather?" Asuna repeated with a raised eyebrow.
"The king of the Aesir, Odin." Hilda explained. "He is very eager to see you. Come. We must not keep him waiting."
With that, Asuna started to follow Hilda down the hallway of the mysterious castle. She had no idea what was going on, but she was starting to get the feeling that she had suddenly become involved in something very big.
Author's Note: This chapter was one of the most challenging battle scenes that I've written yet. I really had to put a lot of thought into how it was going to go. I hope that it wasn't too unrealistic for Asuna and the others to have been able to hold out against Cthulhu for as long as they did.
Please review and let me know what you think.