Sword Art Online III: Asgard
Chapter 11
Lux was a bit surprised at how fast they cleared the second floor. The space was smaller, sort of like a pyramid, so there was that. As well, all of them had picked up weapons and gear that gave them various upgrades.
Not that Kiritio needed it with Excalibur. But anyway.
"One thing really worries me about this," Lux noted, holding up her arm where she had the 'Band of Strength' that they found.
"Oh?" Liz asked.
"If the game is so freely powering us up with items... how bad is the final boss going yo be?" Lux wondered.
There was a beat of dead silence as Lizbeth processed that. "Fuck," she muttered.
They brought their concerns to Kirito, as they readied to charge into the boss room on this level. "Yeah, it's been bothering me too," he admitted.
"Maybe we've just been lucky in the loot we picked up," Klein suggested.
Everyone just gave him a LOOK.
"Hey, it's possible," Klein defended himself.
Yuu was resting on Kirito's head as the little fairy noted, "It's possible, but unlikely."
As Sinon calmly sorted her quiver of arrows she noted, "Well, there's not much we can do about it either way."
Asuna nodded reluctantly, "We probably have to assume there'll be something to surprise us at the end, but..."
Lux nodded. "Did the Argo guide say when the boss of this level was?" she asked.
"No one's gotten this far," Kirito said proudly.
"So we're going into the boss room blind?" Asuna pointed out reasonably.
Kirito deflated a bit, "Well, yeah."
Yohko looked at the young people with amusement. "All right, we'll re- cast all the buffs we have, then head in?" she suggested.
"Right," Leafa agreed.
"We really need to get the rest of you to start learning the game's magic system," Asuna complained as she cast too.
"Heh. Sorry," Lux looked sheepish.
Klein patted her on the shoulder, "Well, it's not like it's just you..."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"COME, PUNY MORTALS! COME FACE THE KING OF THE ROCK TROLLS!" the monster bellowed. Over it's head it's name appeared, along with four health bars.
"FOUR?" Sinon yelped even as the archer drew her bow.
The tanks moved to block the Troll King's attacks, then she watched in shock as he just casually batted Klein away.
'How strong IS he?' Sinon thought even as she drew and fired. Going through the dungeon she had picked up a few enchanted arrows... her plan had been to save them, but plans changed.
Troll King swung at Liz, who WAS able to take the hit. She staggered a bit, then swung the Hammer of Thor at him.
"Nooo!" he yelped, actually frightened.
Sinon's arrows zipped in, piercing it across the chest. The 'acid' enchantment began to eat into armor and flesh, making the troll stagger backwards.
Silica charged in, back stabbing the already staggered Troll King and getting a 'critical hit.' The first health bar went to zero as Silica cheered, "Yes!"
"Get clear," Sinon barked, seeing the troll wheeling about.
"Eeep," Silica scrambled away, barely escaping the troll's crushing grip.
The problem with fighting this troll was he was roughly human sized. It meant reaching him was easy, but they ran the risk of getting in each others way. Plus only a few of them could engage him at a time.
"Hyaa!" Kirito raced in, slicing across the Troll King's chest, staggering him.
Klein followed, slamming his katana down on where Excalibur was buried in it's chest. The weapon tore deeper, and another life bar went empty.
"It's routines are changing," Yuu yelled a warning.
There was a burst of magic that drove them back a moment. From behind his back the Troll King drew two huge clubs, then took up a fighting stance.
"Oh you have GOT to be kidding," Sinon muttered.
"Don't get close," Yuu noted, "those do immense damage."
"No, really?" Sinon muttered as she drew her bow and sent a flight of ordinary arrows in. The Troll King spun a club with impossible speed, stopping them all before hitting him.
"Da fuq?" Lux yelped.
"Language!" both Kirito and Asuna scolded, nodding towards Yuu.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Klein still ached a little from the hit.
(He KNEW it was all in his head. The amusphere didn't transfer pain, mostly, just sensations. But it still FELT like he'd been hit by a truck.)
Klein was serving as a tank, taking hits to protect the others. It wasn't something he was hugely good at, if he was honest. But most of their team were 'glass cannon' types: powerful, but not physically tough. At least he could take a few hits and not die.
"He's too fast with those clubs," Klein observed, "we can't close with him safely!"
"He's blocking my arrows too," Sinon scowled.
"If someone distracts him, I can try another back-stab," Silica suggested, her pet dragon crying out eagerly.
Leafa used a spell on him, then scowled as it had little effect. "He's got magic resistance too," she complained.
Klein took another hit, his life dropping alarmingly.
"Healing!" Asuna cast, and his life steadily climbed again.
Lux darted in, stabbing, then yelped as a club nearly took her head off. Still, the second health bar was slowly going down.
Klein angled his katana to deflect a club, grunting in effort. "Could we pin him somehow?" he groaned.
"None of us are strong enough," Kirito swiftly attacked, jabbing at the Troll King's face.
"Well, let's try the Hammer again," Liz said as she raced in. Once again the Troll King flinched back, but she wasn't aiming for him directly. Instead she swung the hammer with all her strength at one of the clubs... which shattered explosively!
"Yes!" Lux cheered, noting that the Troll King's life had ALSO dropped to one bar.
"Don't get cocky," Klein warned.
"Pina, distract!" Silica ordered her dragon.
"Coo!" the dragon answered, diving towards the Troll King and spraying a breath attack.
Silica used the distraction to go for a back stab, but the Troll King clearly realized she was coming. He spun around, swinging the club and struck the slim fighter, hammering her right into the wall. It was a instant kill.
"No!" Kirito yelped, though the AOL rules meant she could be resurrected.
"Leafa! Cast resurrect!" Asuna barked. "Youko! Help me with healing!"
"Right!" Yohko agreed as she cast heal on a stunned Klein.
"DIE YOU BASTARD!" Klein yelled, unleashing a stunning series of attacks and driving the Troll King back.
"Language!" Kirito scolded as he tepped in once Klein faltered, cutting loose with chained attacks/ The Troll King's life dropped into the red...
"HYAAH!" Liz yelled as she chucked the Hammer of Thor into the battle. With an eerily direct course it slammed into the Troll King's head, splattering it as the life dropped to zero.
"Final Blow, Lizbeth," the computer declared as they all recieved a huge amount of gold and treasure.
"Silica!" everyone rushed over to where she had fallen.
"Hi everyone," Silica and Pena had both been restored. Sheepishly she added, "Sorry for scaring you like that."
"Don't scare us like that," Klein sighed.
To be continued...
Notes: The 'Troll King' is basically Ulik the Rock Troll from the Thor comics.