Chapter - 020: The Lonely Hero

A total of 47 people will be taking part in this boss battle.

The lineup was ABC Team, led by Lind, who had drawn the raid leader position by lottery,

The DEF's Aincrad Liberation Force, led by Kibaou.

And then there was Team G, made up of five members of the Legend of the Braves, led by Orlando.

And then there was Squad H, led by Egil, who had remained neutral last time.

The ABC Corps came to be known as the Dragon Knights Brigade.

(Legend of the Braves... It's impressive because of the equipment, but...

It seems a bit nervous... Ah, I see.)

They were worried that Nezha's sudden disappearance might expose their evil deeds.

Maybe she was nervous, Kirito came to the realization.

Kirito didn't have a very good impression of them.

Well, that's none of my business, he added to himself.

At first, the two GH squads were surrounded by Nat the Kernel Taurus,

He was commonly known as the person in charge of Colonel Nato.

However, Orlando insisted that they were also boss monsters.

Balan the General Taurus. Commonly known as General Balan, he insisted on being put in charge.

After some discussion, it was decided that G-team would also be in charge of the boss.

(With Nezha gone, he must have felt anxious about the future...

He's planning on quickly becoming the leader of the invasion force here.

Putting that aside, dealing with Colonel Nato with just one unit is...

Kirito tried to protest, but Agil stopped him and stated his opinion in a calm voice.

"I've heard that Colonel Nato is a mid-boss class.

As expected, it might be too much for us to handle alone."

"If it's different from the information we had in advance and we don't seem able to handle it, we'll send another unit over there.

I'm sorry, but could you please bear with that for now?"

Egil protested once, but then shrugged his shoulders and backed away.

When the boss battle first began, the members of the extermination squad felt that it was less challenging than they had expected.

At first, there was consideration of retreating temporarily due to the large number of people becoming paralyzed, but they held on.

And as the battle progressed, I gradually got used to it.

Although there were still a certain number of people who became paralyzed, the numbers were gradually decreasing.

"Egil, how is it?"

"It's definitely easier than last time, but..."

"That's true... we don't know what's going to happen yet."

"Ou"

"Colonel Nato's HP has turned red."

"Okay, let's continue being careful."

Then, from the other side of the Coliseum, we heard players shouting in unison.

Kirito was startled, but it seemed to be a cheer.

I looked and saw that General Balan's HP had finally turned yellow.

Kirito felt relieved and tried to focus on the enemy before him. But then, it happened.

The stage at the back of the square rose up. The sky above began to shimmer.

Kirito knew this sight. It was a sign that a large monster was about to POP.

The fluctuation in space grew stronger, and something gigantic appeared from the pitch black space.

"Asterios the Taurus King..."

A huge six-horned torus wearing a crown,

It finally appeared with a lightning effect.

The incident was so sudden that no team was able to respond immediately.

In the first place, the team facing General Balan did not have the luxury of that kind of leeway.

"This is bad! Attack with all our might!"

Kirito immediately gave orders, ignoring Agil, who was the leader.

There was no time to waste now. First of all, we had to defeat this enemy.

"Even if it's a bit of a stretch, aim for the weak spot on the forehead!"

From there it was a deadly battle. First, Kirito leapt high into the air and landed a powerful blow to his forehead.

As a result, they succeeded in slightly delaying Colonel Nato's attack.

"Now! Everyone, please!"

Everyone unleashed their sword skills one after the other.

Just as Kirito's paralysis ended, Colonel Nato's delay also ended.

Normally Kirito would have backed down at this point, but he couldn't back down here.

Kirito once again jumped high into the air and blasted a powerful Horizontal into Colonel Nato's face.

At the same time, he unleashed his trump card, the physical sword skill 《Crescent Moon》, with his left foot.

If the weapon category is different, you can ignore the stiffness after sword skills.

Kirito had discovered this through his research.

With that single blow, Colonel Nato was finally shattered into a ton of polygonal pieces.

"Everyone, drink your potions at once! Egil, how is that monster doing?"

"Apparently, your movement speed is slow. It looks like it will take some time before you reach us."

"Well then... I must go and help the main force right away."

"Okay then, let's all get moving! Hurry!"

Following Egil's orders, everyone ran towards General Balan.

"Should we circle around to the right and attack?"

"That's right. Egil, I'll leave the command to you. Let's defeat General Baran first.

If that monster comes this way before we can defeat it,

"Let's attack and move as far away as we can. Pull as far as we can."

With that said, Kirito accelerated and used his momentum to jump high into the air.

At the same time, he unleashes the charge technique "Sonic Leap."

The attack was so fast that it hit General Balan in the forehead, causing him to explode.

"Did I make it in time...?"

What Kirito saw as he muttered this was,

It was King Taurus making a motion as if taking a deep breath.

Immediately afterwards, King Taurus exhaled purple breath.

"Oh no..."

I couldn't finish it until the end.

The HP bar instantly decreased by about 20%, and at the same time a green mark appeared.

It was a mark he had seen many times today... a mark indicating paralysis.

The entire vanguard was paralyzed, unable to even open their mouths.

"Everyone... paralysis... healing potion..."

Kirito didn't give up and urged everyone to use potions.

It only speeds up recovery a little, but if you can't use it, waiting for certain death is certain.

Hearing that voice, everyone began to try to somehow cure the paralysis, but...

Because my hands are paralyzed, I can only move them slowly.

Then the majestic footsteps of King Taurus approached.

Everyone was terrified, imagining the massacre that was about to unfold.

From now on, they would be subjected to the king's iron fist without even being allowed to move.

The King first turned his attention to Kirito, Lindo, and Kibaou, who were at the front.

"Damn... Hachiman, Asuna, I'm sorry..."

I wanted to see those two again.

King Taurus raised his weapon, and just as Kirito prepared to die,

A streak of white light shot from the entrance towards the king's forehead, and he saw the king stagger.

Just before that, as I was starting to feel impatient,

Hachiman and his group continued to move deeper and deeper at an incredible pace.

He avoids most traps and enemies, and crushes those he cannot avoid with surprise attacks.

Even with the help of the map, that was incredibly fast.

"Haru-bo is as amazing as ever."

"Because the small fry Taurus hasn't popped up yet, it's been pretty easy for us."

"I can see the boss room, guys."

"Okay, no matter what happens, let's not panic and do our jobs properly."

"yes!"

The moment the four of them entered the boss room, they saw an enemy who appeared to be General Balan explode into pieces.

Fortunately, Colonel Nato was not in sight.

The true boss, King Taurus, has already appeared.

The next moment, I saw King Taurus exhale.

"This is bad, don't let that big bastard chase us, Nezha! Argo! Disband the party!"

Since Nezha brings the party's total to 48, she will not be able to attack the boss while remaining in the party.

Argo quickly dispersed the party.

After confirming this, Nezha took aim and threw the chakram with all his might.

"Asuna, encourage everyone and let those who are energetic carry out the rescue operation.

"Argo, pass on the information to Kibaou and the others. I'll give the paralyzed guys the potion."

The chakram that Nezha unleashed turned into white light,

Just as King Taurus was about to swing his weapon down, it hit the crown on his forehead.

Everyone had witnessed the light that Kirito saw.

No one there knew what it was.

The light hit King Taurus on the forehead, and there was a metallic clang! Then,

He went back to the entrance again.

The sound brought everyone back to their senses and they looked towards the entrance, where they saw four figures.

Similarly, the king, having recovered from the brief delay in action caused by the shock,

He glared at the entrance and started walking in that direction.

In fact, that blow from Nezha was probably her first attack against the boss.

It seemed as though King Taurus could no longer see the people who had been in front of him just a moment ago.

"Those of you who are still healthy, please pull your fallen comrades to the rear!

We should be able to buy ourselves some time! Everyone stay calm! Everyone stay strong!"

Asuna's dignified voice reverberated throughout the surrounding area.

The people who had been gathered at the rear also started to move upon hearing that voice.

"Drink, Kirito."

"Hachiman..."

"Sorry, I'm late."

"It's fine, we're friends after all."

"I'm really glad I made it in time."

Kirito stood up with the help of Hachiman's shoulder.

"Egil, please leave Kirito in the rear for now."

「Damn sorry. I was so nervous. Leave the rest to me!」

"Please! I'll get the others to drink the potions!"

Meanwhile, Argo had rescued Kibaou and Lindo and was talking with them.

"I'm sure you two have your own thoughts about me, but let's put that aside for now.

If we were to retreat, we could probably all get out safely now.

But if we do fight... I just received some information on that boss.

As a special favor, I'll give it to you for free right now."

What surprised Argo was that the two immediately decided to continue fighting.

Even though they were facing such a death threat, the fact that they answered immediately made me think,

Argo decided to change his opinion of the two of them a little.

After recovering, Kirito was talking to the returning Hachiman.

"Is that Nezha? You made it in time."

"ah"

"I'm a bit surprised that you've even mastered the use of chakrams in such a short time."

Kirito looked at Nezha, who was hanging on by himself,

Just then, I noticed that King Taurus was about to exhale his breath.

"This is bad, it's a breath! Nezha is in danger!"

"It's okay, Kirito. Just keep watching."

Just as Hachiman had said, Nezha easily dodged the breath.

Just then, Lindo's voice echoed throughout the surrounding area.

「I just received the information from the boss. No complaints about it being late.

They waited until the very last moment to ask for information and then came straight to us.

I will explain the details now! First of all, before the boss's breath comes, its eyes will always light up!"

"I see. That's why you can avoid Nezha so easily."

"Yeah. He's an incredible guy who is still supporting the front lines all by himself."

Lind continued to provide rapid updates on his boss's activities.

As expected, we are reaching our limit in having Nezha alone maintain her role as boss.

The members of the invasion force, having organized themselves, immediately began fighting.

First of all, Team A and Team D, who are the tanks of the two teams, Lindo and Kibaou,

It ran into King Taurus's leg.

"Well then, Asuna and I will watch from behind. Good luck, Kirito."

"Kirito, do your best!"

"What? You won't fight?"

"Well, you know, there are already 48 of us at Nezha."

"Ah... I see..."

"Well, if you get paralyzed, Asuna and I will at least pull you backwards."

"Oh, okay. Thank you."

Thanks to the efforts of Team A and Team D, the boss's target was finally shifted away from Nezha.

Perhaps her tension had been released, as Nezha staggered a little.

"Are you okay?"

When Kirito called out to him, Nezha's eyes showed a weak but powerful look and he raised his weapon high.

"I'm fine! I'm surprised someone like me can perform so well in a boss battle.

I'm really very happy right now! Everyone, please don't worry about me and join in the attack!"

Hearing this, Egil's troops headed towards the battlefield with Egil shouting a command.

Every time the boss's eyes glow, Nezha throws a chakram. Whenever it hits its target, out of nowhere,

"nice!"

A voice was heard saying:

"There's something lonely about just watching."

"Well, the backstage stuff is important too!"

"But the atmosphere seems bright. Well, let's make sure we don't have any problems."

"If something were to happen, we'd do everything in our power to rescue them."

The battle situation is very stable, mainly due to Nezha's strength.

However, Nezha was still solo.

The current party of five is the Legend of Braves.

None of the Legend of Braves members came running to Nezuha.

I just kept attacking near the boss.

This is probably due to their equipment. Their paralysis rate is much lower than the other members of the party.

Perhaps for this reason, Lind seemed hesitant to give the order to retreat.

"It's a bit different for us to request it as Lind…"

"That's right... I guess there's just not much going on with that team after all."

"I wonder what will happen... Honestly, there's nothing we can do about it now."

"Well, I'm sure there are plenty of better teams out there for you, Nezuha."

"That's true, but I haven't paid for my crimes yet... I wonder how that will all come to fruition."

"That's true... there may be people among us who have been victims."

"Well, that aside, I don't want to give those guys the items dropped by the boss."

"Yeah, I don't like that either."

"Okay, next time Kirito steps back, I'll give him a blast."

"Yes, please!"

Kirito, who was ferociously attacking the boss, decided to retreat for a moment, but

At that moment, Hachiman grabbed Kirito and whispered in his ear.

"I don't want them to win the MVP."

Hachiman then stepped back smoothly.

Kirito had seen Nezha's efforts and had intended to do the same without being told, but

Hachiman's words made me realize that this had become a mission that I could not fail under any circumstances.

(I'll do it for the two who can't join the battle.)

After that, the attacking force didn't collapse at all, and finally the boss's HP reached the red zone.

They would likely fall in the next barrage of attacks, so Kirito steeled himself and carefully waited for his chance.

And then, at the moment that the boss fell backwards due to Nezha's attack for the umpteenth time today,

To finish it off, he unleashed a powerful combo of his one-handed straight sword followed by a martial art.

With that attack, the boss was blown to pieces.

"As expected of you, Kirito!"

"It's amazing how well it lives up to expectations."

Following on from the first level, the second level's boss battle was a turbulent one, and thus it was completed.

The problem wasn't completely solved yet, though.