|Sword Art Online, Floor 74, Labyrinth|
|Aug. 18th 14:55|
The entrance to the Labyrinth was carved into one of the mountains of the floor closest to the spire. The interior of the Labyrinth unlike the surrounding forests and sprawling peaks. Corridors were far and few between, allowing a player to peer over the edge of walkways that snaked across at various levels. Obsidian-like stone walls and floors, various brown, white and multicolour paths stretching in all directions with dead, glowing white trees growing along the paths. Even without hallways, all a player could see past a certain distance was darkness.
A flash of golden-orange light flickered across a jade path, followed by the clanking of bones belonging to one of many, many skeletal-based foes found in the labyrinth.A Demonic Servant, taking on the appearance of a skeletal swordsman, over two meters tall and surrounded by an eerie blue light. It carried around a huge straight sword in its right hand and a round metal shield in its left. The latter slamming into Klein's katana.
"S-Switch!" Klein grunted, thrusting Sol Moeta past the shield, throwing it off balance.
Lunging in from both sides, Nagi spun on a heel, cleaving through its waist with Whirlwind Slash in tandem to Dynamm's own Horizontal Arc, the contrasting skills collided in the middle, severing the legs from the rest of the armoured body, dispensing with the tank. Nagi's ears rang when Harry tanked a blow from a mace beside him, sparks of green hissing against his shield as it turned a deep blue, slamming the ground to charge forward with a powerful thrust, a two-hit shield skill, Phalanx.
The Lizardman Lord righted itself, hissing angrily at the group. They were humanoid lizard-like creatures with bluish scales, a long tail, and glowing red eyes. It wore a set of armor consisting of a helmet and breast plate, and carried a scimitar in its right hand and a round shield on its left. Out of the two, they were the most tricky, able to read and learn from a player's fighting style.
Sadly, it wasn't too bright, and only caught sight of the twin polearms the second they buried themselves into its back. Kunimittz and Issin each launching the Lizardman across the walkway, straight into another of its kind, sending both hurdling off the edge of the walkway.
"There, way's clear, go!" Klein rallied, pointing toward a set of stone formations with distinct, ancient red markings etched into their surfaces. The markers for a safe zone.
No one argued against it, rushing for the end goal, and promptly marching inside before more monsters spawned to ruin their day. Stumbling through, Nagi was caught by the shoulder, glancing up to Klein who looked as beat as the rest of his guild.
"Can't... understand how... you aren't dropping... dead like the rest of us..." Klein wheezed, the rest warping through the invisible veil.
"Who said... I'm not?" Nagi just knew how to compose himself, ready for anything this floor threw at them. The rest gave groans and sighs in agreement or jealousy at Nagi's temperament.
"Let's just take a break..." Dale heaved, head hung low.
"Finally made it..." Harry exclaimed in relief.
Looking up, Nagi caught the scent of two distinct players, and he smiled soon after, spotting the Black Swordsman himself, and with him, the kind-hearted girl in blue, Sachi. They looked startled at first, obviously not expecting any others crazy enough to be in here.
"Hey, its Kirito! Been a while! I see Sachi's been good company!" Klein came marching over with Nagi whilst the others got a breather.
"Hi, Klein, Nagi- a-and, well, I try," Sachi giggled bashfully.
"Hey Klein, still alive, huh?" Kirito shot back, earning a snort from the older man.
"Still terrible with words as usual, no surprise there," Klein took the jab, then leaned closer to give Kirito an inquisitive look, enough to put the ravenette on edge, leaning back slightly. "Now, what's this about you stealin' one of my best for DPS, I never got a message about it, been wonderin' where lil Sachi ran off to."
"W-why does she have to check-in with you? She's part of Nagi's guild," Kirito argued, but Klein merely hummed in thought, anxiety crawling up Kirito's face.
The girl in question went to speak, but instead, watched her guild leader's hand brush up to remain silent, Nagi tapping a finger to his lips. Her eyes widened and did her best to supress a laugh bubbling up her throat with a tight smile, content to watch the show.
"Doesn't matter if she is, I still remember when my buddy here asked me to look out for her, and even if she's not part of my group, I still look out for anyone that was. So, Kirito, what have you been up to with Sachi lately, hm?" Prodding further, his interrogation was literally putting Kirito's back against the wall.
Raising his hands immediately, now the usually stoic teen's face started to turn a different shade. "H-hey now, hold on a sec! That feels like a breech of privacy!"
"Pfft, hahahahaha!" Breaking the tension first was Sachi, hiding her laughter behind her hand whilst Nagi turned his head the other way, unable to stifle a few snickers.
Kirito caught on quick after that, seeing Klein step back with a laugh of his own, thankfully, the other guys only shared a few chuckles just behind their leader, leaving Kirito with a scarlet face and a serious bone to pick with Klein. "...real funny, Klein." He muttered, patting his cheeks to quell the embarrassment.
"Kirito has been looking out for me like always, that's all, leader," Sachi answered sweetly, hands behind her back with her eyes closed.
"Ye-yeah, exactly," Kirito tried not to stare at her expression for too long, less his heart gave out.
"We know, sorry for that," Nagi grinned, earning a light jab from the Beater.
"I'd get you back, but we both know Argo's impossible to read," Kirito didn't pick a fight he couldn't win.
The rest of Furinkazan all crowded around Sachi, much to her surprise as she was bombarded with questions. "You been doing alright lately, Sachi?" Dynamm asked kindly.
"We should party up like old times, I hate doing DPS by myself!" Dale bemoaned a little.
"You've gotten stronger since the last floor boss," Kunimittz could tell just from her equipment and how she carried herself.
Harry offered her a gentle pat on the head, winking without a word.
"What Mr Mute here is saying, is he's proud of ya, feeling's mutual, Sachi-Chan," Isshi smirked, arms crossed as Harry rolled his eyes.
Despite the overwhelming curiosities, Sachi couldn't help but smile and laugh, trying to answer all of them. It was a wholesome sight, when compared to how timid and quiet Sachi used to be months ago, she's grown a lot, and that was all any of them could hope for.
Within a lull in conversation, Sachi's ears perked up at the sound of footsteps, many of them, looking past the guys quickly. "Kirito!"
All attention was further drawn to those entering the safe zone, and given how small it was, the number of players seemed far more dense. They marched in unity with each other, matching platemetal, dark green fabric, all of it was distinct for The Army, or ALF. Nagi noticed immediately the state they were in, panting, breathlessness, they had clearly struggled to make it this far.
"What's the Army doing up here?" Kirito questioned.
"They're fatigued, worse than us," Nagi noted.
"I know Kibaou's got them strengthening their numbers and occasionally throwing their best into raids, but they never launch Labyrinth expeditions like this," Klein observed. It wasn't to say the Army was weak, but many of their members weren't cut out for some of the more challenging floors as of late. They shared their power equally, but unfortunately, that meant they were the slowest to power-scaling.
One stood out from the rest at the vanguard, he appeared far less exhausted. "At ease!" And to say his men fell like slabs of bricks would be underselling it, a wave of relief and exhaustion ran throughout the ranks. The man in-charge wore a set of very high-quality, heavy armor with a crest in the shape of Aincrad engraved on it, complete with a helmet and a red cape to distinguish himself from his men. Equipped with a one-handed straight sword and a heavy shield mounted on his back.
"I am Lt. Colonel Corvatz, of the Aincrad Liberation Force." He introduced.
"Nagi, Guildleader of Misfits," He then gestured to Klein. "Klein, leader of Furinkazan."
But Corvatz seemed to have his head turned in Kirito's direction, does he know who Kirito was? If so, hopefully it wasn't anything bad. "Have you lot already cleared the way beyond here?"
Kirito nodded, "Yeah, we've mapped up to the boss room," And for all their sakes, he hoped no one else had to see what's inside. Just from the scent alone, Nagi quickly caught a whiff of genuine fear, whatever was in there wasn't like any other boss they've seen to date. An unknown. And that put him on edge just as much.
"Hm, then I'd like your map data," Corvatz extended a hand to further punctuate his rather brazen demand, 'request' was definitely not the word.
The demand led to quite the stir amongst the group, most notably Klein who threw his hand out. "You want it for free!? You have any idea how big of a pain mapping is!?"
But Corvatz didn't back down, "We distribute and information equally to all players, and maintain order amongst its people!" Corvatz exclaimed at the insult. "In regards to freeing everyone from this world, we unceasingly fight to make it happen as soon as possible!" He then pointed a finger accusingly. "And thus, it's naturally your duty to cooperate with us!"
It was a good thing Artorias wasn't here, Nagi thought, but chose to speak in his place, stepping forward. "I can understand that resolve... but Kibaou isn't reckless, not anymore... who sent you up here?" Questioning their motives.
"The concerns of the Army do not matter to the leader of another guild," Corvatz shut down immediately, but that meant something was up.
"Just wait a second..." Sachi's tone rose sharply.
"Damn bloke..." Klein looked ready to throw hands.
But it was Kirito who raised a hand to keep them still, biting back his own annoyances under a calm exterior. "Calm down, I was planning to distribute the data freely once we got back to town anyways. I don't mind." Opening his menu with a flick, Kirito sent a specialized request over to Corvatz.
"Hey, come on. That's being a bit too nice, Kirito." Klein attempted to reason.
"You know as well that I have no intention of profiting off of map data." Completing the trade, Corvatz looked it over sternly, expression practically invisible behind that helmet of his.
"Hrm, thank you for your cooperation." And marched back toward his men.
"If you plan on fighting the boss, I'd recommend pulling back for a raid," Kirito advised, having a bad feeling about all this.
"I'll be the one to decide that," That alone had a spike of fear rush through their bodies.
"We took a look inside that boss room earlier, its not a boss you can take on with just sheer numbers!" Kirito pressed further, all of this just reminding him of the 25th Massacre, ill-preparations and egos led to the deaths of half their guild before.
"Look at your guild members, they barely have the strength to stand, you've strained them to get this far, can't you see that?" Nagi stepped up, seeing how worn down they were, even Nagi's party didn't suffer this badly.
"My men are not so weak that they'd give up so readily!" But Corvatz didn't listen. "All of you, on your feet at once!"
"No..." Nagi whispered, shaking his head.
"Nagi?" Dale watched him push forward, coming to stand directly before Corvatz, blocking the way and standing completely still, face creased in anger.
"That's. Enough. Look at your comrades!" Thrusting an arm toward them, they all could barely pick themselves up. "They are exhausted, they've pushed for the sake of following orders, and maybe for the sake of all players in this game. But they're human, they have to rest! You can't win every fight headfirst, that's how you lost half your guild before! Or is that helmet so tightly squeezed on that you can't see that!?"
"You dare to mock not only our strength, but those we've lost!?" Now, Corvatz drew his sword on Nagi, but he kept his sheathed, eyes unwavering at the threat.
"I tried to save them, but its you who will be making a mockery of their memories if you go into that boss chamber," Nagi lowered his voice almost sombrely, refusing to yield. Fighting would stop them, but Nagi couldn't guarantee people wouldn't get hurt or worse... so he stepped aside, bitterly as it felt. "For their sakes, don't go through those doors..."
"Move out at once!" Corvatz sheathed his weapon, shoving past Nagi's shoulder purposefully, the rest of the Army trying to shamble along. So, Nagi approached the rearmost member, offering a number of health potions and even a few crystals.
"Here, take them just in-case, please," He wouldn't let history repeat itself.
The man's mouth opened to protest but shut quickly, nodding slowly as he took the offered items, mouthing a thank you before re-joining the march. All they could do was watch the Army disappear down a winding path, feeling powerless to stop them.
"Are they gonna be okay, those guys..." Klein murmured, patting Nagi on the shoulder for reassurance.
"I hope so," Nagi sighed, he couldn't force them to turn back, even if he wanted to.
"At their rate, I doubt they'll head straight for the boss room," Sachi banked on their fleeting strength, that maybe, the monsters will scare them off. After all, they made it this far, so they should be aware of their supplies and item durability.
Back turned to them, Kirito never took his eyes off the road. "...how about, we at least keep an eye on them?" Surprised a little, Klein and the rest of Furinkazan kept a muffled laugh to themselves, not enough for Kirito not to notice, fixing them all a flat look. "Honestly, I wonder who the nice one here is..." Glancing at Nagi before taking the lead.
"He's a terrible liar, always has been," Nagi smiled gratefully.
"That's a good thing, isn't it?" Sachi offered one back sweetly.
Wrapping an arm around both of them, Klein's head fell between the two with a cheeky grin, "Then let's go fulfil his wish,"
|Aug. 18th 15:16|
Keeping with the direct path to the boss chamber meant dealing with respawning mobs the Army had already dealt with, or ones they actively avoided, so they were behind but that was fine, it was just to ensure they didn't enter the boss room. If they did, hopefully, it was just to gather intel on the boss's move-set and patterns.
Clearing out two more Lizardmen with a well-timed Iai, Nagi slid to a halt to heal up, polygons shattering at his feet. Sachi did the same, wiping her brow. "They're still so tough, even with a team."
"Can only image the final quarter's..." Nagi hummed, looking up toward the void. Glancing around, he took a census of everyone's HP. "Everyone good?" A handful of 'yes' came back.
"Only thing past here is the boss room, right?" Klein inquired, finishing off the last Lizardman, noting the lack of commotion around them. "Maybe they already called it quits and teleported back?"
Nagi went to comment- but a deafening scream reverberated down the asymmetrical pathways, coming from the direction of the boss chamber. In an instant, Kirito spun around, sparing Sachi a startled look. "Sachi!"
She nodded, quickly racing after him when Klein tried to stop them. "Wai-" To their luck, more mobs began to spawn, boxing them in, the samurai keeping his cool. "Nagi, go on and back 'em up!"
"Klein, you sure!?" He called, parrying a skeleton before it could get a sword skill off, hammering its side with Blue Moon, knocking the undead sideways to snap his gaze back to the older man who swung his hand back hastily, giving him the signal to rush ahead.
Sheathing Divine Sakura, Nagi broke away from the guild, chasing after Sachi and Kirito who were only a few steps ahead. Each stomp felt like a mile in quicksand, the sounds of battle raged, but so did the panicked cries and incoherent shouting, the doors to the chamber left wide open like a tomb.
"Hey, you guys okay!?" Kirito called but his voice died in his throat with a strained gasp, eyes instantly wide upon their arrival.
Sickly-yellow walls made up a circular chamber with a stone-brick floor, eight large columns turned into goblets for bright, blue flames, giving the whole chamber a frighteningly cold appearance in contrast with its walls, casting long, wild shadows, more impressively, the boss's. A boss, the likes Nagi hadn't seen before, and there was something... demonic about its scent, worse than the simulation of bloodlust he was used to.
The demonic monster stood tall, with muscles as taut as ropes rippling up its towering form. Its skin was deep blue and its eyes glinted with the same blue-white hue, matching the tint of the flames in its boss room. Its head, resting atop its thick chest, was that of a goat's rather than a human's and had an elongated snout and thick, twisted horns stretching backward from the sides of the head. It's bestial legs were covered in long, navy hair.
And held at its side was a massive, single-edged blade, similar in craft to a zanbato. And there, above four health bars, was more a title than a name.
/-\The Gleam Eyes - Lv. 125/-\
Without hesitation, Gleam Eyes swung wide, sending many of the players flying across the chamber, their backs to the furthest side, the boss practically blocking their escape route.
"Hurry and use teleport crystals, get out of there!" Nagi yelled to, spotting the man he offered spare items to, holding up a teleport crystal.
"We tried! Th-the crystals aren't working!" He screamed, barely avoiding another sudden strike from the boss, shielding his eyes from the blast.
"There's no way..." Nagi almost stumbled back, eyes trembling. Crystals didn't work in a boss room?
"It's... it's just like..." Sachi's voice hitched, the three of them flooded by memories of the Moonlit Black Cats, caught unawares but SAO's newest trap, and one very few escaped.
"Those of us in the Liberation Army shall never retreat!" Of all players, Corvatz rallied those who could stand and fight, drawing the ire of Gleam Eyes who looked down on them like ants. "Fight! With all your might!"
"You idiots, you need to fall back or you'll be slaughtered!" Nagi screamed back, but none of them were listening, rather, those that had their sense of self-preservation saw no opening to flee.
"Hey, what's going on!?" Klein finally caught up, seeing the carnage set before them.
"Teleport crystals don't work in there," Kirito grit through his teeth.
"An Anti-Crystal room," Nagi grimaced.
"You're kidding...? There's gotta be something they can do, right?" Klein looked to Nagi, the one person who had access to the same intel first-hand from Argo herself.
"I... we haven't learned anything of its weaknesses, for all we know, it has buffs against certain attacks or maybe its just a big powerhouse meant to overwhelm us..." Nagi didn't know, his head was too jumbled and frantic to strategize as he normally would. This was just like the 25th...
"All of you... Charge!" Corvatz cried, his men lunging for the boss.
"Stop!" But Kirito's warning was unheard or simply ignored.
Gleam Eyes reeled back its head, then, unleashed a devastating torrent of purple energy in a breath attack, practically smothering the cavalry charge in an instant. In a single frame, the demon drew back its weapon in a bright, orange hue, unleashing a Ripple Thrust that split through all defence, leaving the Army reeling in pain. But not before it turned sharply, delivering a heavy, rising slant, sending one man flying toward the promised exit, straight at Kirito's feet.
It was Corvatz. "Hey, hold on, I can-" Kirito grabbed a Healing Crystal, rushing to the man's side when his ears rang with that horrid sound, the same bleep that followed the loss of all HP. Corvatz's helmet shattered, leaving him to stare up at the group, eyes wide in shock and horror.
Tears crawled into his eyes, and in a final gasp, spoke a single word. "Impossible..."
He shattered right before their eyes...
"N-no..." Sachi covered her mouth, she hadn't seen a person die in so long, and she had wished it remained that way.
Even in their grief, Gleam Eyes snarled, raising his weapon against another, lone player at its feet, themselves cowering in fear. "No...! I don't want to die...!" He begged, kicking to push himself away from the beast that didn't care nor would retreat, aiming to split the man in two.
"No... stop it..." Sachi whimpered, her hands trembling around her spear. All she could see were her best friends dying, her able to even lift a finger to save them. She couldn't even safe Keita from his own grief... "Stop... stop-stop-stop..."
"NO!" The man's final plead snapped the tension like a thread.
Without another word, Sachi flew into the chamber in a panic, tears falling behind her as her blue-tipped spear turning into a vibrant array of blues, trailing like a downpour behind her.
"Sachi!" Kirito quickly pursued her.
"Klein!" Nagi turned and saw the others of Furinkazan reach them. "Get the others out of here now!"
"Ah, dammit, don't blame me if anything happens!" He grunted, rushing in as well, straight into the demon's pit.
Sachi didn't hesitate, drawing her spear in a blur of thrusts, each leaving punctures across Gleam Eyes' back, followed by a quick spin into a devastating thrust that visibly pushed the creature forward as multiple, invisible lacerations tore through its broad body in an instant. The spear skill tree's strongest move; Imperial Southern Cross.
Despite that, Sachi was frozen stiff long enough for the enraged boss to turn and sweep her, catching her weapon as the girl gasped, feeling her stomach nearly empty itself when a straight punch was driven into her abdomen, sending her tumbling across the cold floor in a heap, health dropping sharply.
Towering over her, Gleam Eyes drove the tip of his weapon down, but Kirito was faster, dragging Elucidator across the entire length of the zanbato, diverting its course to bury itself a few inches past Sachi. "Sachi, fall back!" Kirito declared, the ravenette pulling back to see a watery haori sweep by, drawing a rising riptide to parry a follow-up thrust, a secondary slash pushing Gleam Eyes back.
Snarling, it swung and forced the pair to evade, turning to notice Klein and his guild helping to extract the surviving players, puffing out its cheeks, sparks of purple lightning bled between its teeth, only to be stunned by the combined slashes of Horizontal and Iai, each cutting shallow lines through its back. Now, the boss turned its full attention on them.
Nagi swung wide, catching the massive sword that still tore across his arms, he couldn't block the entire length of the blade, noting the tail moving sharply. Shoving Kirito to one side, Nagi grit his teeth when the fangs of a serpent bit down hard, puncturing his arm to lift and fling him sideways, leaving Kirito to fend off Gleam Eyes, the serpent tail focused on keeping Nagi at a distance.
"So its like two bosses in one? Its far smarter than any other boss to date!" But he remained standing, keeping the purple-scaled snake from overwhelming Kirito as the wounds on Nagi's bicep trickled with red shards. Whipping up a current, he lunged into Dragon Dance, slashing along the glowing, green fangs, the fourth blow marring one side of the snake head that recoiled and curled to try and swipe from behind.
Thinking fast, Nagi dropped to the floor, Divine Sakura in its sheath to allow the blooming petals to draw him forward, digging a wide crescent through the slender body, twirling in the air for an omnidirectional cleave of petals and water, "Rising Sun!" The powerful skill tore and gouged a large wound from its body, causing the snake to hiss and retract as Gleam Eyes howled, slapping its tail off the ground.
Engaging, Nagi leapt to one side, then dove over the tail sweeping by as the fangs bit down on Divine Sakura, eyes glowing a bright blue, the same as its main body, forcing him to a standstill. Through shaky breaths, Nagi spared Kirito an anxious glance, seeing him becoming licked by wounds, even if Kirito was faster, Gleam Eyes was simply an unstoppable force, powering through every counter made.
It slammed its weapon down hard, Kirito trembling, falling to a knee to keep its zanbato from taking a shoulder clean off. "Kirito!" Sachi, Klein, and Nagi called to, watching him as he managed to throw the weapon back and leap for safety, debris and dust splashing him in the face as he slid backward.
"There's only one option left, but..." Kirito hesitated, catching Nagi dive backward, the fangs of the serpent having torn down his chest, leaving two thin wounds across his armour and clothes, face twisted in pain and determination. In Kirito's absence, unlike any other boss, it lost interest and turned on the remaining Army members, sending another sweeping strike to scatter and pin them down, their HP all either dark yellow or red, and dropping.
For a split second, he saw all of his old guild die one-by-one, Sachi almost joining them, wearing that sad, warm smile. He stood and watched as Nagi nearly shattered in Argo's arms, having never seen such anguish fill her face before, nor the horror on Klein's. And he saw Aiko's everlasting smile, even as she passed away.
Snapping back, Kirito barely had time to draw up Elucidator, catching the face of the zanbato in time before it tore his arm off, metal ringing in his right ear that it was almost numbing. "Dammit, this isn't the time for second-guessing! Nagi wouldn't, so it's now or never!" It didn't matter what happened to him, consequences to himself were the least of his concern. "Sachi, Nagi, Klein! Hold him off for ten seconds, please!"
"Got it!/R-Right!/Okay!" Not questioning it, they waited for Kirito to leap away from a thrust skill, the hot air blowing past them as they entered a reckless charge of their own, they just needed to buy Kirito a few, precious seconds!
Nagi ducked under a horizontal streak, kicking up onto his toes to spin and slam Divine Sakura against the lumbering weapon, only to be caught by a left hook, throwing him sideways past Klein who parried a slant but was caught by the serpent tail, fangs puncturing his left side, discarding him in a similar fashion to Nagi, Gleam Eyes raising its blade, slamming the ground where Sachi stood a second ago, the girl skipping to close in on its wrist, spear glowing cherry red.
"Alright, I'm ready!" Kirito called, rushing forward in time to witness Sachi twirl and swipe the zanbato high, throwing Gleam Eyes off for a mere moment. "Switch!" Diving past her partner, Kirito caught a retaliating slash with Elucidator, but instead of performing a counterattack, he instead reached over his left shoulder, light crystalizing, transforming into a solid mass of light that peeled away, unveiling a single, blue sword forged of crystal. "Hyrah!"
A double cleave of both swords tore across Gleam Eyes, visibly throwing the massive demon back with a shriek, digital blood flying from the cross in its chest. No one, not the Army, not Sachi or Klein, not even Nagi had seen this before. Using two weapons wasn't viable in battle, very few knew of the player skill, Sword Skill Connect, much less execute such a skill.
But never has a sword skill rung from two weapons simultaneously. The wind whipped from the force, Kirito's tailcoat billowing behind him, and the dual blades clutched in his hands.
Undeterred, in fact, enraged by the attack, Gleam Eyes swung down hard, only for its mighty sword to be blocked by the twin swords crossed, throwing it back in a single cleave. Kirito raised his head, bearing his teeth. "Starburst... Stream!"
Kirito swung a horizontal from left to right with Elucidator, immediately followed by an uppercut with Dark Repulsur, leaping to slash across Gleam Eyes' chest from left to right while spinning, twice. The boss retaliated with its own shallow slashes and even punches, but nothing phased Kirito, in fact, it only spurred his momentum.
Landing to face Gleam Eyes, he slashed an 'X' from top to bottom, before inversely slashing the X again from bottom to top, performing a leap to sweep a pair of diagonal slashes through the many, widening wounds over its ripped chest, with Dark Repulsur carving from top to bottom leftwards, while mirroring the action in Elucidator, spraying a fountain of false blood.
Gleam Eyes attempted to skewer him but Kirito reversed his grip, countering and slashing in the same frame with another cross-slash, performing a barrel-roll to evade a punch, continuing to lacerate the demon like a corkscrew, sweeping another two 'Xs' through the boss unable to keep up with his blur of speed, dazzling crescents and arcs of blue light forming into streams around them. Kirito tore a diagonal slash through the left arm, spinning left to deal a heavy horizontal across the right.
In rapid succession, he performed an uppercut and vertical chop with Elucidator and Dark Repulsur in that order, downward with the right, another diagonal right with the left, spinning to repeat his actions in a blur, thrusting his with Elucidator, countering and impaling the left fist down the full length of his pitch black sword. But it left him wide open, everyone tensing up in that moment.
Gleam Eyes went for a lunging attack, but so did Kirito, "Yrrrrraaaaaah!" Screaming in a defiant breath, the rushing flow of light pierced the air between them for the last time.
Light flashed and flickered, and Gleam Eyes was no more, shattered into a gently fall of fragments around the player that brought it down. Kirito lowered his weapons, looking to find his health... a few pixels worth remaining...
"Is it... over?" Everything was spinning, he hadn't used that sword skill until now...
/CONGRADULATIONS!\
Everyone was safe, so he relaxed, and fell backward before blacking out. The blue glow of the chamber died, leaving only the goblets a normal, orange hue, the stone a slate grey once more.
Rushing to his side, Nagi looked to where the boss previously stood, gone in the blink of an eye. Shaking his head, he knelt down and quickly pulled the cork off a health pot, holding Kirito's head up to heal him as soon as possible, less fate had a final, cruel joke to play. Watching his health steadily rise again, Sachi came to kneel by his side, tears brimming the corners of her eyes.
"Kirito... Kirito!" She called to, seeing his lips move at the taste of the potion, eyes beginning to move.
"Ouch..." Groaning slightly, Kirito opened his eyes, meeting Sachi's eyes first. "How long was I out?"
"Only a few seconds," She sniffed, drying her eyes as best she could. Only to suddenly pull him into a tight embrace, stifling her cries against his shoulder. "You idiot... reckless idiot..." She scolded him, but that only had him smile.
"Yeah, I deserve that," Sparing Nagi a friendly look, the shinobi nodded once, holding up the empty pot. "Huh, guess I'm in the clear."
Klein approached, sombre. "Corvatz and two others died." Only three, but that was three too many.
Lowering his head, Kirito wished they had done more to stop them, but so many likely felt the same way. "We haven't had casualties since the 67th boss raid..."
"Could you even call this a raid? Corvatz was a damned idiot. What's the point of any of this if we're not alive to see it through?" Klein questioned, but didn't want to speak too harshly on those lost, it was avoidable, but emotions were still too high for that now. Instead, he fixed the man in black a questioning look. "That aside, what the hell was that just now?"
Reluctance filled Kirito's face. "Do I have to tell?" He asked tensely.
"I'd normally say that's on you, but... I've never seen a skill like that, this wasn't SSC, those were actual sword skills tailored to two weapons," Nagi was just as fascinated by this discovery.
"Exactly! None of us have even seen that skill before!" Klein reinforced.
Kirito couldn't exactly move, what with Sachi still holding onto him, but also, so many had seen it now, the secret was out. Looking away shamefully, he confessed. "It's... a Unique Skill; Dual Wielding."
Another Unique Skill, just like Heathcliff's.
All of them were verbally surprised, Klein leaning forward in wonder. "W-What're the conditions to obtain it!?"
"Even if he told us, no one else can obtain it, remember?" It was Nagi who brought their surprise crashing down to earth. "So far, only one player can hold a Unique Skill. Darkness Blade... to the most PKs. Holy Sword to the strongest player. And now... Dual Wielding."
"Like Nagi said, if I knew, I'd have shared the intel with Argo by now," Kirito smiled apologetically, even as Klein fruitlessly searched the skill directory to no avail.
A smirk fell to his lips. "Jeez, that's not fair, Kirito. How could ya keep such a skill secret from us?"
That part, Kirito was also afraid to admit to. "Well, it appeared shortly after the 50th floor boss, I think... that played some role in triggering it to... appear, I just saw it sitting in my skill window one day. But, if I let it go public..."
They already knew, Nagi furrowing his brow. "It'd be the Beater issue all over again..." He always disliked that from the start, even if he knew Kirito's reasons for making himself the scapegoat, for Diavel's sake.
"Net gamers are prone to jealousy, after all," Rubbing his chin, Klein didn't seem bothered at all, shrugging. "No issue with me, my skills are already more than enough, but can't speak for everyone, some would get envious. Well, and that too..." Klein couldn't withhold a smirk, noting that Sachi still kept close to Kirito, even Nagi wore a small, kind smile.
"Well, think of that hardship as a part of life and keep on fighting, young man," Klein instructed, even if Kirito's gaze fell.
"You're the worst..." That got a short chuckle from the older man.
"Moving on, want to go activate the teleport gate?" Klein offered, gesturing to the doors behind them, their way forward to the final quarter unlocked.
Shaking his head, Kirito nodded for them to go on. "Nah, I can't even lift a finger at the moment."
"Fair enough, you two be careful on your way back," Klein gestured for Nagi to follow, the teen giving them both a smile and nod.
"See you soon, rest up,"
Before they could leave, Klein paused for a moment, feeling something catch in his eyes. "And, uh, hey... Kirito... when you ran to save those Army guys... I... how should I put it?" Drying his eyes with a relieved smile. "I was glad, that's all. See ya later!"
Marching up the steps, Nagi scooted over to give Klein a pat on the back, the man's head turned away for a moment. "You did well too, Klein, and we'll do better."
"Yeah... yeah we will, thanks man," He offered the same pat back, leaving the two partners to their peace.
[To Be Continued...]
[Author's Notes]
Let's be real, plenty of us were waiting for this moment, I wanted to start the 75th floor directly but that would mean missing out on the unveiling of Dual Wielding. So thanks to that, this arc's gonna be longer than most, which is appropriate given the significance. Such an unforgettable scene! And with more to come!
I hope you enjoyed, I appreciate the support as always; see ya in the next chapter, Misfits!
108 - The Man In Red
Kirito is forced into an ultimatum, join the Knights of the Blood Oath, or be restricted further in future raids, but not everything is as it seems...