A/N: Manga I can handle in terms of doing play by plays for my stories, but reading the Light Novel for this chapter? I hated it, never again, ugh. Anywho, Review Time.
To MeMyselfAndI82907: Oh, it'll be surprising...
Enjoy.
|Dec. 31st, 19:05|
|Sword Art Online, Floor 5, Boss Chamber Entrance|
Unlike with other boss entrances, the hallway was still eerie darkness aside from the torches, with ancient writing dotting a staircase that led into the black void above. A few minutes ago, Kirito and Argo left to inspect the chamber above, leaving the others to do some last-minute prep or chat to calm the tension in the air.
"Wonder who will get it this time...?" Artorias hummed, staring up at the dark ceiling above her.
"What do you mean?" Liten inquired, tilting her head.
"Unlike other L.A bonuses, this one's random, so any of us could get it," She admitted, kicking her legs. "A guy with a greatsword had it last time."
"'Last time'? You're..." Shivata trailed off as his eyes bulged. "You're a Beta Tester!?"
"No, I'm Patrick," Artorias rolled her eyes as if it were obvious, smirking darkly. "I'm the one that got the flag in Beta, well, some other guy got it, I just... procured it when no one was looking," She sighed, chuckling to herself. "Man, the look on his party's face when I trimmed his head from his shoulders, ah, what a rush!"
"You killed him for the flag?" Agil inquired, brow raised. Considering the high risk that came with PKing in the SAO now, hearing someone speak about death so plainly unnerved a few. "Damn, that's cold."
"Easiest way, and if I can get my hands on that stupid trinket this time, I can finally be free of all that debt from Argo, hahaha!" Artorias cackled with a hopeful sigh. "Or I'll save it to bid between future guilds, I practically lorded it over the Testers, I think my highest bid was... a million Col? Eh, a bit vinegary on the pricing." Her head swayed side-to-side.
"SERIOUSLY!?" Several slack-jawed at the price tag alone.
"You would do that again? Tch, figures from a Beta Tester..." Hafner growled under his breath, though the passing remark didn't slip by the redhead's sardonic expression.
"Aww, is the big ol' guild general huffy that I'd extort his friends~?" She teased, standing up on the steps with an apathetic glare. "I don't care if half your guilds killed each other, the only reason I'm here is 'cause I owe Nagi, and I'd rather not deal with your leaders bickering like children," She prodded the air with her finger. "Let's be real here, only reason any of you have survived this long is because of the likes of me, and Blackie, you think you got through the tough times by sheer luck? And you wonder why the Orange Players treat you like a joke." Every insult dug deeper into Hafner's growing frustration with her tone.
She hopped down in front of Hafner's glare, sizing up his stare equally. "So, I'd like to see you stop me," And her look was anything but bark.
"Don't mock us," Hafner seethed.
"Why would I? You do it all on your own," Came her immediate rebuttal. Turning away from his spiteful glare, Artorias shook her head. "If it weren't for the 'Death Game' aspect, I'd have killed that short-tempered Kibaou and that Sir Knight wannabe Lind myself."
"You guys-" Interjecting quickly before Hafner could rip into Artorias' smug expression, Liten put her hands between them. "-we shouldn't fight, we need to focus on the boss."
"Guys-" Nagi, alongside Liten tried to step in. Then, the shinobi's nose twitched. "That scent..." Then he saw it, Argo's health bar suddenly began to trickle down. "Argo...?"
With the tension between the two at its highest, a great series of rumbles shook the labyrinth, prompting Artorias and Nagi to swivel toward the staircase, dismissing the argument. "Oi, Boss, ya think it's bad?"
Nagi, who was about to jump in and stop the pair from fighting dropped the subject, nodding his head slowly when he saw Kirito and Argo suffer a small amount of damage. "Yeah... let's go! They must've triggered something!" The two darted up the staircase, the two teams following them closely toward the light.
A chilly air encompassed a massive circular chamber lit by pale lights. The size of the room was a startling hundred feet across and fifty feet tall. The floor and ceiling were flat and smooth black marble with fine lines crisscrossing like neon strips. Hafner ran up alongside Nagi and Artorias.
"Hey, you two alright!?" Hafner yelled across, his foot and all the others tapping against the smooth flooring, and across the blue lines.
"Weird, the boss hasn't shown up yet?" Shivata made an odd tone of confusion.
"No, but-" Artorias tapped his shoulder, seeing the lines beginning to move across the floor, forming intricate circles at their feet. "-I think we just rang the bell."
"Evade! Evade!" Kirito cried out as everyone threw themselves on various sides of the stairwell, avoiding the four large pillars of black rock that either rose from the ground or slammed down from the sky. The pillars made the shapes of a pair of hands and feet, the fingers of the former closing on the air.
Unfortunately, the left hand clasped tightly around Lowbacca and Shivata, hoisting them from the ground. "Nwaaah!?" "Woah!"
Nagi, who had leapt away alongside Philia, noticed the lines interconnecting above, taking on the shape of reticle where the parties scattered to avoid the massive legs that collided with the ground. "Did you see that? The way the lines moved when we stepped on them?"
"Yeah, I see it, they're targeting the first person who steps on them," Philia caught on seeing Nagi charge a skill. "What are you doing?"
"We gotta free them first, follow me," He rushed ahead, the treasure hunter catching up quickly with her dagger drawn as the pigment turned an ocean blue.
From afar, Kirito eyed Asuna who waited patiently for a command. "Parallel on the arm!"
She did so, taking on the large hand crushing their comrades gradually with her rapier drawn back, charging forward between Liten and Hafner with 'Parallel Sting'. Combined with Nagi's Yozora unsheathed from its scabbard, and Philia beginning to draw her Sword Breaker from the hip, their skills intersected across the arm.
"Serpent Slash!" The aquatic rush slithered through the hardened surface, followed by two thrusts from Asuna and the blur of Philia leaving a cross through the fingers with 'Cross Edge'. The colorful strikes caused a billow to shake the chamber from above, the hand releasing Lowbacca and Shivata as the pair collapsed atop Liten and Hafner attempting to catch them.
With them released, the best option would be to retreat to reset the boss's attack patterns, however, from Nagi's perspective the moving lines snaked and bunched up closer to the staircase, not to mention everyone was trying to space themselves apart from the circles forming above or below their bodies. "We need time to breathe..."
"Watch out!" Artorias tackled Nagi away from the hand that snapped from below, nearly taking their feet out from under them. Artorias threw herself off his stomach. "Now... we're even."
"Thank you," Nagi wheezed, scrambling to his feet.
"Everyone, run to the closest wall!" Kirito relayed at the top of his lungs. "Once you're at a wall stop and make sure you're not stepping on any lines!"
Everyone did as they were told, scattering to the edges of the chamber, avoiding the reconfiguring lines that began to slow their repositioning, growing wider as they approached the edge. Once Kirito was certain everyone was against the walls he yelled a third time. "Now, avoid the lines and stop!"
The target circles didn't appear, everyone counted mentally to ensure that was the case, inspecting their immediate environment before letting out lengthy sighs. However, Nezha was in a worse position, standing on one leg, sweating nervously in an attempt to keep his balance. "Crap," Artorias hissed. "Nezha's depth perception, he can't tell where his feet supposed to go!"
"If he touches a line at his level..." Nagi's voice choked. One hit was all that would be needed to kill him. Thankfully, Kirito was on the move, approaching the frightened fighter steadily.
Slowly, Kirito managed to get within reach of Nezha, steadying his footing before he fell over, leading his foot on where to stand, the chakram thrower sighing in relief, as well as the others, watching the nail-biting situation. The limbs never reappeared, so that meant they could breathe again.
"Everyone who took damage, drink a health pot a listen! Those arms and legs belong to the Floor Boss!" A few sputtered or gasped in surprise given the limbs were disconnected from the body of the golem. "See the blue lines? If you step on them the ceiling and floor lines will start to realign into targeting circles above the first person who triggered them, when the lines stop a hand will try to grab you while the foot would crush you!"
"So what you're saying is that if we keep straddling the lines, the arms and legs won't attack us!?" Agil caught on while those that had figured it out kept their attention on Kirito's information.
"That's right! At max it can attack four people at once, the arms will try to grab you and hold you thirty feet in the air, and you'll suffer damage to your HP and armour durability! For the legs, we don't know since we avoided getting stomped but it's probably worse than the hands! To free someone from a hand you need to strike with skills comparable to a two-hit sword skill from a one-handed sword!" Kirito exhausted all his intel, and a pregnant pause enraptured the room.
Asuna was the first to speak up, "So... if we stay like this, the boss can't attack, but we can't do damage either?"
"I... I guess so. A silver lining is that we could never communicate with a larger raid team than ours to avoid the lines, so our smaller team is actually an advantage!" Kirito replied.
Despite this news, Artorias tapped her bicep impatiently. "So we stand here for an eternity then, great," She didn't know of any of the boss's other skills, but waiting for something to happen wouldn't help the situation. "Screw it, I'm stepping on a line!"
"Don't!" Kirito warned as the redhead rolled her eyes with a scowl.
"Then you tell me how we're to damage a boss we can't even touch!?" She snapped, throwing her arm out. "I'll draw out a limb, then a bunch of us attack it! Seems pretty simple to me!"
"You're being too hasty!" Yuna yelled from across the room, "We should try to organize ourselves first, then come up with a strategy to attack the limbs!"
"Yeah, because that's what everyone was thinking..." Artorias grunted, rubbing her temples as she looked at Nagi's concerned expression. "This is why I'm solo, parties bigger than four are more of a hindrance to me than a strength."
"Just until we know what we're dealing with," He begged her, grabbing her shoulder. "You want to find a way out of your body, and I promise I'll help you but we need to work together, please, Artorias."
"Uh, guys...!?" Nautilis gulped, pointing at the lines. "They're starting to move again!"
The blue lines over the stairs and above on the ceiling began to move, causing everyone's hearts to stop as they followed the intricate flow, all eyes watched in horror, frozen when a loud racket boomed from above.
*Gong-go-gong!*
The ceiling began to jut out in a peculiar shape. Black debris began to form and meld along the neon blue edges, forming a symmetrical object. It was a jutting forehead, sunken eye sockets, a square nose, and a horizontal mouth. The blocky face was around ten feet tall from the forehead to its chin, the eye sockets glowed with pale circles of light, and a foreboding, intricate symbol formed on its forehead.
Dozens of eyes stared up in fright as six health bars appeared next to the emerged head. A small buffer of damage applied to the first bar with their sword skills, proving Artorias' argument. Then, a name manifested in pale white font.
/-\Fuscus, the Vacant Colossus Lv. 23/-\
"So that's the boss of floor five..." Nagi had never seen it, yet somehow its overwhelming presence didn't numb his nose, in fact, while faint, the scent seemed to cover every inch of the chamber. "Is this whole room... the boss?" He rubbed his nose, grasping Yozora in its sheath.
"Uh, that name..." Artorias grimaced, clutching her silver shield. "Isn't the Beta version's,"
Everyone watched as the hollow eyes moved, and the horizontal lips parted in tangent with the symbol on its forehead shading a deep red. The deep bellow shook the whole tower, a few linking arms to hold each other steady as a Defense Down debuff appeared under their health bars, the previously still lines beginning to move once more.
"Crap, we don't have time to gawk, Blackie!" Artorias yelled, inching away from one of the snaking lines.
That and the deep bellow from Fuscus snapped Kirito out of his trance, "Spread out and watch the lines carefully! Dodge them whenever possible, if you step on one check the floor and ceiling for targeting circles and evade, if possible, use sword skills when they appear!" Kirito relayed as the two teams scattered from the various lines in motion.
"Ready, Boss?" Artorias grinned daringly. While Nagi felt that same rush he kept his stern expression, nodding once to his left where Philia stood by with her hood up.
"We'll draw them out and attack as one!" Nagi drew Yozora as a distant hand missed Kirito, leaving it wide open for Asuna and Argo to strike. Above, a silver glint spun across the chamber, slicing across the colossus's forehead, turning the red glyph blue again. "Let's go!"
"Alright!"
"Aye!"
Artorias dove forward, kicking a line with her foot as the reticle appeared above her head. She rolled, avoiding the powerful stomp as her sword traced a rosy contrail. Nagi dove into a spin, water spiraling around his haori. "Whirlwind Slash!" He struck straight through the knee while a 'V' shaped 'Vertical Arc' stripped through the ankle.
Above them, Philia dove down, slicing in two tight ribbons down the shin with 'Round Accel', the combination attack forcing the leg to vanish into the sky again through the targeting circle.
"Affirmative! We'll try attacking next!" Hafner bellowed, charging with his greatsword against his hip.
Agil and Okotan chimed in, "We will too!" The pair decreed.
"And us over here!" Liten and Shivata joined with Nautilis and Yuna.
Kirito felt a rush of pride in his chest, swelling with his voice. "I'll leave it to you! Give it hell!"
With a direct goal in mind, the various teams ran headfirst into danger, triggering lines to cull the limbs out of hiding. Once a grab or stomp was triggered, skills flashes and streaked through the chamber, carving through the black rock like it were a training post. Every action Fuscus made to debuff them was met with the ricochet of a chakram, stunning the effect as the raid shredded the first bar in half in under ten minutes.
Then the second and third.
In time, they downed the fourth halfway, the endless use of skills becoming a blur with the constant back and forth attack patterns. And yet, something felt wrong to Nagi. There wasn't a substantial change to its pattern yet, but why? Was it like Illfang? Did it need to be on its final health bar to trigger a new phase?
Nagi raised his blade, seeing the hand recede into the earth again with Philia preparing to tap a line for them until a voice pierced over the music. "Retreat down the stairs! First Team-A, then Team-B!" Kirito ordered spontaneously.
As is with any game involving aggro, if all of them left the chamber the boss would cease its attacks and regain all its lost health, considering the length of time it took them to deplete the bars, a few were less than happy with that assessment. But if Nagi's hunch was correct, then it appears Kirito shared that feeling.
"But-!" Hafner protested until Shivata tugged at his cape, and with a reluctant huff, the man mobilized for the stairway with the rest.
"Guess we're doing a soft restart," Artorias sighed, sheathing her blade to retreat alongside them, skipping over the lines where possible.
Even while retreating, an itchy sensation ran over Nagi's body, something felt wrong about this, not that he was against following Kirito's advice, it was a strange, foreboding feeling that wrapped around his chest, his nose twitched again, this time a faint whiff of copper seeped through the slate scent.
While the lines moved restlessly, Liten's helmet-filtered metallic voice cried out, "No, Shiba!"
"Oh no..." Artorias' voice was lower, shaken by the sight.
The stairway was gone, replaced with the bulging head of Fuscus as it bit down on Shivata's waist, his armour trickling red particles from being ground between its black teeth, his face twisted in discomfort and worry as he pressed his hands against the rocky gums.
While Hafner attempted to pull Shivata from its mouth, his head spun in Kirito's direction. "The stairs... turned into the boss's mouth!"
"Dammit, not again!" Shivata hissed, face contorted in pain while red shards peeled back his breastplate's durability. As the seconds passed, and his durability sank lower and lower, in reverse, his panic began to rise. "It's no use! I... I can't get loose!"
Hafner and Liten tried to offer encouragement though a slight tremor of fear could be heard in their voices.
"Don't give up, Shivata!"
"We're going to save you, Shiba!"
A terrified expression spread across his face. "It's no use... my armor's gonna break! Licchan, let go of its mouth!" He tried to push her away but the girl's hands shook against Fuscus's jaws, making her whole armor shake.
"No! I'm... I'm going to save you!" Liten refused as something rang through their ears to the left. Both saw a smirk on the red swordswoman's face.
"Now-now, I can admire a guy willin' to play the brave hero in front of his girl, but let's save it for the climactic showdown, eh?" Artorias smirked lightly at the slight jolt in Liten's helmet and Shivata's flabbergasted expression.
With a heave, Artorias brought her shield down between the teeth. "The seal's gone on its forehead, Blackie!" She grunted, wedging its silver face into the incisors. "So instead - hyrah! Come on, budge you discount tiki head!"
"She's right, we can't find the seal anymore!" Agil yelled louder for Kirito to hear over the chaos.
As the group struggled to find a way to free Shivata, his armor's surface began to splinter, red shards flying into the air with every sickening second. All Nagi could do was watch, seeing their horrified looks as the lines continued to increase the danger of stepping away from the edge of the boss's head.
Looking down at his hands, Nagi saw them shaking for a moment. "No, get ahold of your emotions," He warned, closing his fists as one finger prodded forward to open the menu. "I can still do something!" Flying through his equipment and skills, he hastily scanned the items, hearing the desperation in everyone's voices as they attempted to free Shivata. "I won't let this game take anyone else in front of me!"
*Crack-Boosh!*
What felt like a mile away from Nagi's feet, red sparks were sprayed like blood, the last of Shivata's breastplate durability shattered. It was brief, but Nagi's new weapon felt heavy as he ran forward. "Philia, kneel down now!" Her shocked expression spun to see the desperation and determination go hand in hand within the brunette's tense features. "Do it for Shivata's sake!"
She didn't think twice, kneeling as his feet pressed against her back, launching Nagi over the crowd unable to stop the inevitable. Say for one, "I won't let you... kill Shibaaaaaa!" Liten screamed with all her worth, diving feet first into the jaws of the colossus the moment Shivata's mail shattered.
Before the onyx teeth could plunge into his torso, it scraped with yellow sparks against Liten's own plate-mail, alongside the faces of Artorias and Nautilis's shields, withholding the inevitable death. With a gasp, he grabbed Liten by the shoulder as she pushed against the jaws. "Wha - Licchan, why would you do that!?"
"B-Because I'm a tank! It's my job to protect others!" Her head threw itself back. "Right, Nagi!?"
"Yeah," He breathed, water pooling from his single, silver longsword, creating a visage of a large, western dragon of water, its jaws wide with a deafening roar. "Even if this doesn't make a dent, I'll do whatever it takes!" "Esoteric Skill - Nova Ascension!"
The downpour of water roared, crashing into Fuscus with tremendous force as everyone was swept by the waves with every slash instigated by Nagi's, swiping across the teeth with a vicious precision, avoiding his teammates while chipping into the massive maw. Between the rushing rapids, he saw it, a fault in the black teeth. "There, an opening!"
Meanwhile, in the air several meters from the staircase, Kirito allowed Argo to propel off his back, striking toward the knee of the left leg with her claw striking forward, the skill motion suspending her flight, 'Acute Vault'. Amber and deep blue synchronized, slashing at the hidden seal on the knee while a dragon's claws tore through the teeth at the same time, causing a chain reaction that triggered Fuscus to howl in pain, releasing those trapped between its teeth in time for the others to yank them back.
Nagi spun through the air, landing after the post motion faded, finding Wolfgang and Agil holding him up by his shoulders. "Nice work there, kid!" Wolfgang praised with a chuckle from Agil.
"No, we all did that... thank you," He sighed, seeing Liten holding onto Shivata for a moment while Artorias threw her fist up with Nautilis. While the success in saving Shivata was a cause for celebration, Nagi saw the head sink away to return to the ceiling, his frown appearing. "But it's not over yet."
"He's right, look!" Yuna pointed up to where Fuscus's mouth formed a sinister diamond.
"Vwo-Vwo-Vwo!" It chuckled in a deep, mocking bellow.
"Guys, it's still too early to celebrate!" Kirito yelled, brandishing his sword. "Let's keep fighting now that we know the change of its attack pattern! Shivata, I want you to go downstairs and recover HP!"
However, the DKB tank shook his head, equipping a lesser rarity breastplate. "Sorry, but I'm gonna ignore that order! I'm not walking down those steps until we beat the boss!"
"But your armor-!"
"I have a replacement set, see!?" He displayed as Kirito reluctantly bit his cheek.
"...all right, just don't push it!" In return, Shivata held a thumbs-up, potion in his mouth.
Changing back from his longsword, Nagi slid across a line, triggering a leg to slam the ground again as he spun to deliver a 'Serpent Slash' through the shin alongside Yuna's 'Linear', knocking the leg backward into Artorias' 'Shield Bash' that sent a pink ripple through the limb. Yellow bolts riddled the foot, providing the improv team time to strike a flurry of skills again.
The tactic remained the same, avoiding the stairway while looking for the interchanging symbol to cancel the debuff. Of course, the timing between the targeting circles appearing and summoning the limbs increased, causing a few to be grabbed or crushed in the process, even for the tanks it was a lot to resist with their shields.
For what felt like another hour, Fuscus released an ear-raking bellow at max volume, nearly toppling a few over as its limbs immediately disappeared from range, the last of six health bars remaining. "Vwooooooh!" The rings within the eyes turned crimson.
"It's gonna change patterns again! If you're low on potions, speak up!" Kirito relayed as several raised their voices.
While people healed or aided one another, Nagi stared down at the blue lines crisscrossing away from the staircase, moving toward the walls of the chamber. The annoying area denial was gone, leaving a blank, black canvass to stand on. The neon lights stretched over the walls, circling around the head of the colossus.
The light writhed angrily, swept into bundles like a mane around the head, target circles manifested as the head lurched forward, drawing forth the limbs that continuously grew, forming biceps, shoulders, hips, a torso... "Vwoooaaaa!"
Peeling away from the ceiling, Fuscus fell from the ceiling. "Retreaaaat!" Kirito screamed, the player already running to the southern side of the chamber as most were knocked off their feet by the sudden collision behind them. They spun around, weapons were drawn on the dust cloud that settled around a massive, dark object rising to its true height.
The golem stood a towering thirty feet tall, the blue lines embedded in its body as they gradually turned from a neon blue from the head to a bloodred once it reached the tips of its feet. Once all the lines were a deep red, Fuscus raised its arms, bulging like clubs while releasing a third, quaking roar.
"Now that the boss is human-shaped, we can use our original strategy!" Kirito rallied those transfixed on the boss, waving his Sword of Eventide forward. "Team-A blocks! Team-B attack! Prioritize Hate management!"
"G-got it!" Hafner, leader of Team-A, called his tanks forward while Nagi stood with Yuna, Philia, and Argo.
"Let's take the right!" Nagi ushered, releasing a scream to buff himself with 'Battle Spirit' again, their weapons taut until aggro was drawn. "Good luck, guys."
All eyes were on the four vanguard tanks, Liten, Nautilis, Artorias, and Shivata. While Nautilis looked visibly pale, a rough hand from Artorias on his shoulder helped him to focus. As one, the four raised their shields in their left, shoving them forward with their right hands as several colors flashed in a wide arc around them.
The four chimed like various temple bells, 'Threatening Roar', effectively taunting Fuscus to attack them directly over the attackers surrounding its back. It didn't hesitate to stomp quickly in their direction, raising its right arm back. "Vwoagh!" It howled, striking with a tremendous right hook that clipped the ceiling.
The various shields swayed left under the intense blast and flash of light from the boulder-sized fist. They were shoved back by six feet but remained standing. The blocked fist was now immobilized for a time, providing several with the chance to release their sword skills down on the immobile arm before it could retract.
Fuscus bellowed again, standing tall to swing left then right in succession toward the tanks who steadied themselves from the heavy attacks in time to rotate in with the other half of their team to heal. The golem, frozen, provided another heavy dose of damage to its final bar, though the process was slow.
"New attack!" Artorias called out as she tossed the empty health pot aside to grab Nautilis and dive right as Fuscus suddenly went into a 'frenzy mode', charging forward through Team-A, swinging madly for a time as Kirito and Nagi led the charge to attack the back as it lurched forward, immobilized after its rampage.
Using 'Kick-Step', Nagi leapt atop the blocky back, dragging a wave of water through the spine and down the same gash, descending into a powerful thrust, "Scarlet Fang!" "Switch!" He rolled away for Philia and Argo to carve through the boss's backside with a combination of thrusts and claw scratches before Fuscus spun around, striking against Kirito's glowing blade.
"Switch!" He grunted, flinging the attack off-balance for Asuna to lunge with 'Parallel Sting', throwing the colossus off-balance to switch in for their tanks to draw the Hate toward them with another taunting skill.
As the seal on its forehead glowed, Nezha once again, canceled the debuff before it had a chance to trigger, though that did little to stop particles from bubbling around the eyes. Artorias and Shivata raised their shields in time to be thrown off their feet by a sudden, double vertical slice of lasers from Fuscus' eyes. Liten and Nautilis took the vanguard again to block a single left hook alone, the air ringing.
The process of competing with a mountain of a boss put strain on the raid teams, but while the attack patterns were expanded from the Beta, if not for their four tanks at the front of every non-special attack, they might've needed to retreat. Kirito held his breath on that, seeing the continuous effort put forward by their vanguard, if there was a time to dig their heels in, it was now.
With effort, the boss's final health bar had fallen into the red, triggering a roar in response as the tanks evaded the double-fisted whirlwind attack. In a spur of the moment, Shivata yelled over the commotion. "Kirito, you can have the L.A, just make it look good!"
At that, how could the black swordsman refuse? "Alright, I'll take it then! Nagi!?"
The shinobi paused to see Kirito grinning from his side of the chamber, understanding what the beta tester was asking of him, he smiled too and broke into a sprint toward Fuscus. Breaking into a mad dash for the wall, the pair slid onto their knees, avoiding the lumbering right hook, pressing their feet against the curved wall, taking full advantage of the sprint boost to run parallel with the black surface.
Once the pair had ascended as high as they could, they leapt just above Fuscus' shrinking eyes, Nagi's blade taking on a blazing water pattern again, Yozora's flat edge against his nape. "Here's to a New Year-!" The water coiled into a massive ring, almost like a blue sun. "Hidden Skill-!" With a twist, he spun his body horizontally to deliver a 360° slash through Fuscus' eyes before its lasers could trigger. "-Rising Sun!"
The force of the rapid whiplash knocked Fuscus back on one leg, leaving him wide open for Kirito's gleaming blade. "Vwoooooaah!"
To counter the bellow, Kirito released his own. "This is... The EEEEEEND!"
His arm swung his blade like a coaxial helicopter, striking the glowing forehead glyph with four consecutive strikes, forming an expanding square through the scalp and out the crown. The force of the combined skills caused the eye rings to spasm, the boiling-hot lines fluctuating once the duo landed shoulder to shoulder, behind them, Fuscus the Vacant Colossus exploded in a tsunami of blue shards.
There was a deathly silence that followed, the once marble black floor turning a bland blue like the rest of the ruins as Kirito stood with the Last Attack Bonus screen. No one uttered a word, the realization having never sunken in quite yet, then again, how could anyone have anticipated a by-the-wire victory like this?
"...It's over..." Shivata breathed after a good few seconds.
/-\CONGRADULATIONS!/-\
Like a wall torn down, the chamber was bathed in a chorus of cheers and celebration. Beside Kirito, Nagi held up his trembling fist, both sharing the same, drained look as they fell to their backsides, fists connected.
"Nice work."
"-In the end, we all walked away happy... well, some of us," Artorias summed up the final battle with a little flair for those that cared to listen to her retelling. "And as for the Flag of Valor, it was gracious bestowed upon the black swordsman that rallied the most unlikely of allies, the blessings of the two guilds given." She wasn't lying entirely, but the matter with who got the flag was resolved peacefully regardless.
"I can't believe we pulled that off," Philia chuckled on a crate, the group sitting around the castle located in Karluin for the New Year party Liten and Shivata could finally commence. "Do you think the guilds will still be at odds about Kirito holding the flag?"
Argo threw her hands up a little, shaking her head. "Hard ta say, but with a few good words from those in the group it should calm the flames a biT," Argo grinned, holding up a drink. "All's well that ends welL!"
"Ditto," Nagi agreed, the trio tapping their glasses together. It wouldn't be long now. In over a month since the game of death began, over two thousand people lost their lives, in that time, five floors have been officially cleared, a milestone for the final day of 2023. To the left of Nagi, Nautilis laughed alongside Yuna who was playing a small instrument, a ukulele, for a small group present, some from the raid itself.
Nagi smiled up at the dark sky, it was less than a minute now, and the whole courtyard was silent, even the streets of Karluin, all the way down to the first floor kept silent until the ten-second mark. Argo quickly sat between the pair, leaning against Nagi with her trademark laugh, the treasure hunter giggling too.
"Ready?" Nagi declared, keeping his menu open to the side to read the time as many others prepared their weapons alongside Nagi who hopped to his feet.
"Give us a show, HerO!" Argo clapped under her hood. Philia held up her hands in encouragement as water began to ebb and flow around his katana, haori billowing in the slosh of liquid.
"TENN, NIIINE, EEEIGHT, SEEEVEN...!" There wasn't an event screen or someone directing everyone with a mic, all the voices of thousands of players cried out in perfect harmony. "Siiix, fiiive, fooour, threeee...!"
"Happy New Year, Mom, Dad, Keon, Kaida, Kayda," He wished with a kind smile, eyes shut to the world.
"Twooo... Ooone...!"
In a split second, dozens of fireworks and sword skills were sent flying into the air. "HAPPY NEW YEAR!"
"Dragon's Breath!" Nagi cried out, releasing a single strike that summoned a massive dragon of water as it slithered through the night sky with the colorful explosions, releasing several strikes that exploded into a fountain of water droplets, exciting a roar from the celebrating crowd. When Nagi landed into a kneel, he turned to Argo and Philia holding their drinks high.
"Happy New Year!" They cheered; Nagi, released from the post motion to sit with them, feeling Argo lean against his side with a boisterous laugh that he felt infected by.
Drinking the last of his champaign - though it was more akin to golden wine - savoring the drinks bought by Agil and his Bro Squad not far away. Without thinking much on it, his head rested atop Argo's head, surprisingly the broker who glanced past her hood, seeing the eased expression on his face, herself relaxing as Philia laughed, seeing Artorias arousing a roar from the crowd as she drank away like a madwoman atop a tower of barrels.
Five Floors were cleared, only ninety-five more to go...
To Be Continued...
And thus we finally clear Floor Five, I love this floor but I am not using the light novels for a play-by-play again, that's really annoying. Henceforth, we're skipping up to the fabled Floor 10 where the Testers last made it. I hope you enjoyed, I appreciate the support as always; seeya in the next chapter, Players!
020 - Estate of Misdirection
Floor 10 has changed drastically since the Beta, in order to progress, a mysterious enemy lies in wait...