[New Aincrad, Floor 27, Boss Chamber]
Everyone quickly healed up and prepped for the big battle, as far as I was aware from our last encounter, this boss hadn't changed since SAO. Downside? No health bars, so we were relying on 'tells' that the boss was close to death. We had one shot at this, I'm a mercenary of my word, I'll get their names onto that monument, then... we'll see what happens next.
Strangely, they all were giving me this odd look of concern and guilt even as the flames lit up the chamber. "What's with the looks?" I patted my face. "I've not got one of my arrows stuck in me, right?"
"Malzeno... those four just now..." Yuuki stepped forward with the most downtrodden expression of them all. "Did they come all this way to get us inside?"
I smiled a bit, "I asked them to help - once I had the whole story pieced together I messaged Argo who spread the word to those three, probably the others too with Klein," The fact they dropped everything to help us was more than I could ever repay. Someone like me... honestly doesn't deserve them. "Given that, let's make sure to win this, prove to them their efforts were worth something."
"But..." Yuuki murmured. "We've been getting so much help from you and your friends." I see, then there's really only one thing I can think of right now to help.
I reached out and grabbed her right hand in mine, holding them up tightly to her surprise. "Those guys would go to the ends of the earth for each other, and... they've done more for me than I can ever accomplish, but, something you taught me helped to put that feeling at ease," With a smirk, I squeezed her hand. "'Sometimes, you have to fight to get your point across',"
Her red eyes lifted slightly, and her friends chuckled under their breaths at the reoccurring words. Just then. the rings of fire slowly scorched the red slate, so I gave her hand a final squeeze. "Come on, Cupcake, let's blow this boss away, then, when those doors crash down, let's show 'em just who we are, both to that so-and-so guild and my friends,"
For the last part, I hadn't really thought of what I was saying as I brought my voice a little lower. "And hey, when this is over, let's go back to that café. I... want to know more about you, the adventures in other worlds you've seen, and in return, while I can't promise they'll be as flashy, I'll share what I've seen in SAO," With that, I let her hand free to grasp No Turning Back.
I glared straight ahead, the flames weft into the air by the cubes manifesting the large, two-headed giant as its body tore through the outer layer, both grinning down at us as it roared, raising its hammers. This is it, the final battle!
Just then, I saw Yuuki slap her own cheek, psyching herself up. "Alright, one more battle to go!" But I caught something else under her breath. "Just watch... Aiko."
'Aiko'?
"RIGHT!"
I put that aside, right now, we had to survive what came next.
I can see it clearly. Every last move it was making. It was embedded in my head because of that Death Game. Because of Kayaba. "Dodge back! Tecchi, forward!" I relayed ahead of the giant's movements, it brought its hammer down, unleashing a shockwave of earth in the process to batter the large man's shield. I pulled the string back on a golden arrow. "Thunder Crash!" Splitting the dust and debris, my arrow struck the right shoulder, interrupting its lumbering swing with a sonic boom to follow.
Nori and Yuuki ran straight through, casting a skill each to streak arcs of light through the fist and across the forearm as it slowly retracted. It was going for another ground slam so I pulled back, lacing three arrows in orange coating. With a flick, Buckshot carried the arrows forward, sinking into the beast's shoulder, neck, and forehead, exploding but it didn't do much to harm it it left it stumbling backward.
Enraged, the eyes glowed brightly on each head, and with a sudden shift of its body weight, it swept its chain wide from the left, carving a deep incision through the chamber floor, whipping fragments into the Sleeping Knights' faces. Their health slowly fell into the yellow, all of them were mentally fatigued, something that came from excessive use of skills.
I didn't need to look at Siune to know she was casting a wide heal spell, I did my own 'casting'. Moving light on my feet, I spun and leapt into the air, plucking several arrows in the general direction of the others, the green-tipped arrows struck the ground, casting a small puff of green, glittery powder, raising their health and providing Regeneration in the process. Heal Coating.
In retaliation, the boss swung its chain from the right, the metal grinding down against Tecchi's shield and Jun's greatsword as both were buckling from the constant abrasion. They threw their weight forward, knocking the chain high for Yuuki to splint forward, carving a large gash in magenta down the boss' torso with Slant.
It's been nearly fifteen minutes... "You guys, hold out a little longer! We've almost got him!" I was doing vague predictions based on what skills were used. Elemental resistances and standard kinetic types were at play, the former adding more to my mental math.
"Right!" Yuuki, ever the optimist, threw her fist up, but all of them were breathing heavily, this was starting to tax them too much.
Talken and Yuuki ran to the vanguard but I felt my body seize up. "Evade the thrash!" My warning came too late as the chain was slapped off the earth, curling toward them. Yuuki leapt aside but Talken was struck by his spear, luckily, it only disarmed him, sending the weapon hurdling through the air. "Get back!" It was making a follow-up attack on him.
But before it came, I saw his spear bounce off the boss' chest, causing the faces to recoil in fright, forcing its arms to block its whole upper half. What in the...?
"Do you think those defensive moves could've been random?"
Tecchi, you absolute genius. It was a gamble but what's the fun in not taking risks like this? "Siune, you got the healing for a bit?" I asked quickly.
"Of course," She didn't question it so I didn't squander this chance.
Taking a deep breath, I drew back the string on a single arrow, "Threaded Needle!" With a deep red pigment, I held it for a few more seconds, waiting for the arms to shift as they threshed down at the others. There! Releasing, the arrow flew true, and struck the corner of what appeared to be a hexagonal gemstone fixed to its chest.
The boss whined in annoyance, and promptly hid behind its arms. "Gotcha," I clicked my tongue. "Those defences weren't random, there's a crystal between the neck and chest - it's defending its weakpoint!"
Siune shot a surprised look to me. "Then if we attack him there, we can beat him?"
"More like it'll make this ten times more efficient if we focused all our efforts there," I said this as the hammer slammed down, nearly crushing Tecchi who took the brunt of the air force. "Sadly, without our wings we can't hope to reach it..." A smirk found its way to my lips. "...but you know what they say, 'bigger they are, harder they fall',"
"I'll go to the frontlines and relay the good news, you can handle healing from here?" I asked, already transferring the mana potions I kept for emergencies, I had enough mana for what I had cooking.
"Sure, go!" With that, I ran into the fray, avoiding the shockwaves that flew past the others to reach out and yank Yuuki's shoulder.
"Cupcake!" I hollered, making her flinch.
"Eh, Zeno? What's the matter?" She blinked as I pointed straight ahead as Jun swung himself around, slashing the lowered left arm with two wide swings.
"At the base of the two necks there's a gemstone, if you strike that with all you got, it'll inflict major damage,"
"A weakness, really?" Her voice went up an octave then she grabbed my arm. "Watch it!" She pulled me back before flipping herself, avoiding the crack of the chain whip. "But... it's so high, even if I jumped, I couldn't reach it."
"Not alone you can't," I winked, nudging my head to a certain gnome in the group. "You've got this lovely springboard set up and waiting for you," Then I pretended to use NTB like a guitar. "And I've got the perfect show stopper lined up just for you, Milady."
Her face lit up in realization, mouth agape before giving me an infectious, toothy smile.
"Yo, Tecchi! When I give the word, lower to one knee!" I yelled, coating my arrows in several colours, discarding the empty vials from my belts. He stared at me a moment then nodded in acknowledgement. "Now to show you why I'm such a pain in the ass to this playerbase."
The chains above intersected, crashing against Nori's and Talken's weaponry, the boss was starting to become more restless, it was close, I could feel it. "Alright, here's the big finish, Yuuki!" I waved, taking a few steps back to hold out a bunch of arrows in my left hand.
"Leave it to us, Aiko!" That name again... that had to be her sister, interesting.
"Alright, here goes-!" I jabbed the arrows into the ground at my feet, and a flurry of colours erupted around me, coating my body in a rushing wave of small, straight particles of multi-coloured light, my mana was drained entirely as a result of the negative debuff called 'Feedback'. But the positives soon appeared below my health bar.
Strength, Vitality, Agility, Dexterity, Evasion, Speed, Endurance, and Critical Chance. It used alot of my more scarce vial coatings but for a fight like this, I was willing to part with them.
With a larger burst of speed, I rocketed past the others as a hammer crashed down in front of Jun, he was thrown back from blocking the intense shockwave but he saw me fly by as I landed on the hammer's face, charging straight up the boss' rising arm as it swung to throw me off. I steadied myself, arrows drawn faster than the eye could track. Hopping from the arm to the shoulder, I fired a barrage of arrows to puncture the right knee below.
The closest head snarled at me, attempting to bite me but I kicked its nose, flipping over both heads as four more arrows dug into the left knee. Sliding down the adjacent shoulder, I rolled and dove off the arm as its right tried to swat me like a fly. Gliding toward the ground, I aimed with my body stretched horizontally, arrow a bright blue. "Do it now, Tecchi!" With a gasp, I screamed. "Fail-NOT!"
The arrow burst through the air, knocking me onto my backside, I shook my head, seeing the clean shooting star of a contrail ripped through the weakened knees at blinding speeds, and to my luck, the boss buckled and fell onto its right, the left trembling for the red lacerations.
The path was clear, and through the smoke I chuckled dryly when I saw Yuuki leap off Tecchi's shoulder, blade cast in bright violet light - my eyes widened. Her stance, no, I've definitely seen that before... It was beautiful.
Mother's Rosario struck true with tremendous force, the sheer impact of the five-point thrusts jerking the boss in several directions, unable to counter her powerful blows. Yuuki kept it up, repeating the five thrusts that stripped thin lines across its body, crescents of amethyst puncturing the area around her. "YAAAAAAAAAH!" Her scream roared louder than the boss could ever muster with both heads, plunging her blade straight through the gemstone at its core, the air flashed purple, and quickly was engulfed in a light purple blast of smoke.
I squinted, trying to peer through any breaks in the cloud as my mouth hung open a bit. Up above, blade burning hot violet still, Yuuki twisted her arm, and the gemstone shattered in an instant, the skill motion pulling her forward to split the boss down the middle as it burst into millions of shards. The red and yellow tints of the chamber quickly turning grey, the boss' presence was gone.
Seconds later, a small window appeared with various items and drops. Thereby solidifying what I couldn't find the words to say.
We won.
"We did it..." I couldn't find the strength to move as I sat up slightly only to spot a purple blur sprinting toward me.
"Malzeno~!" Without much warning left, my back met the ground as Yuuki dogpiled me, hugging me so tight I might pass out. She sat up a little, her face inches from mine with an ecstatic face that made me feel all warm and fuzzy. Is that weird? Don't answer. "Hahaha! We did it! We won! We won, Zeno!" I could hear it in her voice, she was more grateful than any person I had met.
"Yeah... crap I'm so exhausted!" I laughed, laying out on the ground as Yuuki flopped atop me, her head against my chest. "I can't even feel my legs anymore and my mouth tastes like I swallowed a candle,"
As the others sat down to rest, me and Yuuki sat up with her on my lap, I felt a winning smirk crawl up my face as the doors groaned, revealing the outside world to us. It was whatever remained of the Red Sainglenn, their leader included who gave us a paled face warped with fury and bewilderment. "No way..."
"What took you guys? We were just about to roll out the red carpet!" I sneered, holding up a peace sign with Yuuki who giggled beside me.
The others followed suit, and the redhead's face started to match his color scheme. "Dam... Dam... Dam... DAMMIT!"
Oh... my bounty's about to skyrocket.
[New Aincrad, Floor 27, Ronbaru]
With Red Sainglenn drowning in their defeat, we returned under subterranean light as all of us high-fived. "Mission Accomplish," I recited as they cheered over me. I let out a breath I had held since we warped back. "Finally, it's over - too many piercing glares."
A hand caught my shoulder, "Oh no, Malzeno," Eh? I looked to Siune's dead-serious face. "It's not over yet. Let's... have a party."
"Huh?" I blinked three times, then snorted. "Okay, you need work on your expressions. For a second I thought I needed to do a runner before you cashed in on my bounty or something." She smiled politely afterward. "No use holding back, yeah?"
"Yeah! I mean, we're loaded with funds!" Jun grinned ear to ear. "Where should we have it? Maybe we reserve a restaurant in some big city?"
Huh? Just then, while they discussed the idea, a message popped up a while ago I hadn't read. "From Asuna...?" The name piqued the purplette's curiosity not that she could see it. I read it silently.
|From Asuna|
|Subject: Come Visit|
|Drop by mine and Kirito's home on Floor 22, we aren't home but please, feel free to use the space if you want to celebrate defeating the boss. I promise, you don't owe me anything, honestly|
"Well-" I cut in to what appeared to be Jun and Nori arguing with my hand up slightly. "-I've got a friend's place they don't mind us using, it's a little small but cozy enough and-"
"Seriously..." But that rising optimism in Yuuki suddenly was snuffed out. She looked down, almost lost in thought. What the heck?
"Cu - Yuuki? What's up?" I nudged but she didn't move. It was scarily silent now.
"Excuse me... sorry, Mr Malzeno," Siune... what was that expression she was making? It was sad but happy? Mournful? I couldn't tell. "We hoped you're not offended... but you see, we-"
Yuuki grabbed her wrist, cutting off the bluette's sentence. Her bangs covered her face, but I had a good feeling what she looked like, she... was shaking? I wanted to say something but thought against it for a moment.
Siune smiled again, stroking Yuuki's hair to raise the girl's head again, but her face was as I expected, sorrowful. "Thank you, Mr Malzeno," Siune returned. "We're grateful to you and your friend's hospitality, we'd be happy to come with you."
"...sure," I found my voice again. "And hey, no need for the 'Mr' thing, remember?" But I was still worried, this feeling in the air, I've felt it. Something painful came up in Yuuki's mind, didn't it?
Was it me?
The fact their mission is over?
...was it Aiko?
Before I could speculate further, Nori clapped. "Alright! So how about we go shopping in the Central Market here and then head over to the part venue?" She grinned.
"Alright!" "Let's go, let's go!"
With everyone in high spirits again, they slowly made their way back to the path, but Yuuki was slow to join. Carefully, I caught her hand in mine, and her eyes shot wide as I pulled her forward. "Come on, Cupcake, our job's far from over," That atleast perked her up again, her hand squeezing back this time.
"Mmhm," She jogged to my side with a redness to her face, but she was smiling again.
Just who are you, Yuuki?
Had I only known... how heavy that question would be.
[To Be Continued...]
[Author's Notes]
And that's the fight, not actually as long as I thought it would be. I like working with a ranged fighter as I'm normally writing swordsmen too. More of Yuuki's past crops up, we all know what's coming but how will it all end? I hope you enjoyed, I appreciate the support, seeya in the next chapter, Readers!