21

The gate square in Collinia, the city on the seventy-fifth floor, was already full of high-level players who were likely in the raiding party. When Asuna and I stepped out of the gate and toward them, they all stopped talking and turned concerned gazes to us. Some of them even gave us the guild’s special salute.

I stopped and hesitated, but Asuna returned the salute with familiarity. She jabbed me in the ribs.

“C’mon, Kirito. You’re one of the leaders, so greet the team!”

“Wha…”

I gave an awkward salute. I’d taken part in several boss battle parties before, but this was the first time I’d attracted so much attention.

“Yo!”

I felt a pat on my shoulder and turned around to see Klein with his familiar katana and ugly bandanna. More surprising was the figure next to him: large, heavy Agil, ax at the ready.

“You guys are doing this, too?”

“Don’t act so surprised!” Agil called out, aggrieved. “I heard this battle was supposed to be a tough one, so I nobly set my business aside to participate. If you can’t appreciate my selfless gesture…”

He rattled on exaggeratedly. I patted Agil on the arm.

“Trust me, I know all about your self-sacrifice. It’s why you elected not to take a share of the loot, right?”

This time, he placed a hand to his bald head and grimaced. “W-well, I don’t know if I’d go that far,” he whined. Klein and Asuna laughed together. The laughter spread to the other players, and suddenly the group’s nerves had eased a bit.

At one o’clock on the dot, a number of new players emerged from the gate. Heathcliff was outfitted with his red cape and crucifix shield, joined by the other KoB elite. Upon their appearance, the tension returned to the rest of the group.

In terms of level alone, Heathcliff was probably the only one who outranked Asuna and me, but it was hard not to be impressed by the guild’s sense of unity. Outside of the red-and-white colors, their equipment was varied, but the group aura they exuded was far stronger than the Army’s.

The paladin and his four followers crossed through the group and walked toward us. Klein and Agil took several steps back, as though rebuffed by their personal force, but Asuna returned the salute coolly.

Heathcliff stopped and gave us a nod, then turned to address the entire gathering. “It seems we’re all here. Thank you for coming. I believe you are all aware of the stakes. It will be a terrible battle, but I believe in your ability to emerge victorious. For the day of liberation!”

With a powerful cry, the entire group echoed his enthusiasm. His magnetic charisma left me speechless. Hard-core gamers typically trended toward the antisocial and uncooperative, so it was a surprise to see one display such leadership. Or was it this world that brought that quality out of him?

Heathcliff turned to me, as though sensing my gaze, and gave me a slight grin.

“I need your help today, Kirito. Put your Dual Blades to the test.”

I didn’t sense a hint of desperation or tension in his soft voice. Only a man with nerves of steel could face the upcoming battle with such confidence.

I nodded silently. Heathcliff turned back to the group again and raised a hand.

“Let’s get going. I’m opening a corridor to the spot right in front of the enemy’s lair.”

He pulled a dark blue crystal out of his waistpouch, and a murmur ran through the crowd. Normal teleport crystals transported the user to the floor of his or her choosing, but Heathcliff’s corridor crystal was an exceedingly useful version that temporarily opened an entire teleport gate, offering access to the specified location to anyone who wanted to use it.

The downside to that utility was its rarity, and the crystal wasn’t available to buy at NPC shops. It had to be found in labyrinth treasure chests or looted from powerful monsters, so few players even wanted to use them, if they were lucky enough to get their hands on one. In fact, the murmuring of the players was not so much excitement over the glimpse of such a rare item, but rather surprise that he’d actually use one.

Seemingly unaware of the stir he’d raised, Heathcliff raised the crystal high and called out, “Corridor open.” The exceedingly valuable crystal crumbled instantly, and a flickering portal of blue light appeared before him.

“Follow me, everyone.”

He turned to look over the group, then whirled his red cape and stepped into the light. For an instant he flashed blindingly, then disappeared. Seconds later, the four KoB members followed him.

Over time, the gathering in the square had grown to a considerable number. Perhaps they’d arrived to see us off, knowing that we were about to tackle a boss. Cheers of encouragement rose as the swordsmen trickled through the new teleport gate, one after the other.

Finally, only Asuna and I were left. We nodded to each other, held hands, then stepped into the vortex of light together.

Teleporting always left me a bit dizzy. When I was able to open my eyes, I was inside the labyrinth, in a wide hallway. Thick pillars lined the walls, and a giant door was visible at the end.

The seventy-fifth-floor labyrinth was made of a material like obsidian, but with a very faint hint of translucence. Unlike the rough-hewn nature of the lower-level labyrinths, the black stone here was polished like a mirror and placed at perfectly straight angles. The air was chilly and damp, and a faint mist trailed over the floor.

Next to me, Asuna wrapped her arms around herself, feeling the chill.

“…I don’t like the look of this…”

“Nope.”

I nodded.

In the two years leading up to today, we’d conquered seventy-four bosses. With that much experience, you learned to gauge the strength of the foes by the look of their lairs.

Around us, the thirty other players were bunched into groups of two or three, their windows open. They were checking their equipment and items, but they all looked tense.

I walked Asuna over to one of the pillars and put an arm around her frail body. I could feel my nerves working before the battle. My body trembled with anxiety.

“…It’s going to be okay,” Asuna whispered into my ear. “I’m going to watch over you.”

“That’s not what I’m—”

“Hee hee.” She gave a little smile and continued. “And you can watch over me.”

“Yeah…you bet.”

I squeezed harder for an instant, then released my grip. In the middle of the corridor, Heathcliff let his armor clank loudly and spoke to the group.

“Is everyone ready? We have no information about this boss’s attack patterns. The Knights of the Blood will take forward position to absorb its attacks. Observe its patterns as best you can and strike back, being as flexible as you can manage.”

The group nodded silently.

“Well, best of luck,” Heathcliff murmured, then strode over to the obsidian door and placed a hand upon it. We tensed up.

I patted Agil and Klein on the shoulders from behind, speaking as they turned to me.

“Don’t die on me.”

“Just worry about yourself.”

“I’m not getting knocked out while there are spoils to be had.”

After the bravado of their replies, the door slowly slid open, creaking heavily. All present drew their weapons. I pulled both of mine over my back. I looked over at Asuna and her rapier and nodded.

Finally, Heathcliff drew his longsword from behind his cross-shaped shield, raised it high, and shouted, “Let the battle begin!”

He charged through the open doorway. We followed.

The interior was a large domed space, probably as large as the coliseum that had played host to my duel with Heathcliff. The black curved walls rose high, forming a round ceiling far above our heads. We rushed inside, lined up naturally, then heard the enormous rumble of the door closing behind us. It probably wasn’t going to open again—not until the boss was dead or we were.

Several seconds of silence passed. I tried to concentrate on every direction from our position, but the boss showed no signs of appearing. Each second ticking by was torture on my frayed nerves.

“Hey,” someone called out, unable to bear the silence any longer.

“Above!” Asuna cried next to me. I looked up with a start.

It was stuck to the top of the dome.

Enormous. Deadly. And long.

A centipede? I thought in the moment. It had to be at least ten meters long. The body was split into several segments, but the structure was more like a human backbone than the thorax of an insect. Each gray, cylindrical segment had spiny legs that looked like exposed bone. Following the trail, I saw the body widen until it reached a wicked-looking skull. It wasn’t human. The cranium was more elongated, with two sets of slanted eye sockets, blue fires burning inside the cavities. The protruding jawbone was lined with sharp fangs, and two scythe-shaped arms of bone extended from the sides of the skull.

As I focused, the system automatically brought up the yellow cursor with the monster’s name on it: the Skullreaper.

Its countless legs squirming, the skeletal centipede slowly crawled across the dome as we watched in shocked silence. Suddenly, it released all of its legs and dropped straight on top of the party.

“Don’t freeze up! Keep your distance!”

Heathcliff’s sharp cry cut the icy air. Everyone moved, regaining his or her senses. We scrambled to avoid the spot where it dropped. But three players couldn’t avoid its descent quickly enough. They looked up, momentarily caught unsure of which direction to go.

“This way!” I screamed. They finally snapped into a run, but—

The moment the centipede landed, the colossal impact shook the floor. The three men stumbled and lost their balance. The monster swung out with its right “arm”—more of an elongated scythe of bone, the blade as long as a human being—and swiped all three.

They were tossed into the air from behind. As I watched their flight, their HP bars plummeted with terrifying speed—into the yellow warning zone, then the red danger zone, then…

“…?!”

And just like that, to zero. Their bodies, still in midair, shattered unceremoniously. The explosions echoed throughout the chamber.

“…!!”

Asuna drew a sharp breath next to me. I could feel my body tense up.

Dead in one hit?

Players powered up in SAO through their level and skills. As your level rose, so did your maximum HP, so even if your ability with the sword was average, as long as your level was reasonably high, it was mathematically much less likely that you would die. And today’s party was exclusively high-level players, so any one of us should have been able to handle even a full combination attack from a boss. The key word being should. But in one simple blow…

“This is insanity,” Asuna muttered.

The skeleton centipede raised itself off the ground, let out a deafening roar, then charged into a fresh group of victims.

“Aaaah!!”

Screams of terror issued from that direction. The bone scythe was raised again.

A shadow leaped into the path of its fall: Heathcliff. He raised his massive shield and greeted the scythe. There was an ear-wrenching collision. Sparks flew.

But that was only one of two scythes. The left arm continued attacking Heathcliff, while the right swung upward and darted toward a mass of frozen players.

“Shit!”

I leaped forward without a second thought, flying through the air to close the gap, then maneuvering into the downward path of the scythe with a deafening blast. I crossed my swords to block the blow.

The impact was unfathomable. But the scythe kept coming. Despite the sparks, it kept pushing my swords backward, right under my nose.

Damn, it’s so heavy!

Suddenly, a new sword trailing white light sliced upward and caught the scythe from below. Another shock wave. As soon as I felt its force relent, I summoned all of my strength and pushed the bone scythe back.

Asuna turned to look at me for a split second and called out, “We can manage if we take it at the same time! We can do this together!”

“Great, back me up!” I nodded. Just the thought of her next to me filled me with infinite willpower, it seemed.

The scythe swooped toward us again, sideways this time, but we blocked it with simultaneous diagonal slashes. Our synchronized attacks created a ribbon of light that struck the scythe, sending off another powerful blast. This time, the foe’s arm faltered backward.

I raised my voice to shout above the din.

“We’ll stop its scythe! You attack it from the flanks!”

That command seemed to snap the group’s paralysis. The others raised brave cheers and plunged into the Skullreaper’s body, weapons raised. Multiple attacks struck the foe solidly, and for the first time, I saw its HP bar dip slightly.

In just a moment, screams arose. When I had the time between scythe strikes to see, I noticed a long, spear-like bone at the centipede’s tail throwing more human figures into the air.

“Damn…”

I gritted my teeth. Asuna and I were trying to hold down the right scythe, Heathcliff the left, but we couldn’t last much longer.

“Kirito!”

I turned to look at Asuna.

—Don’t look away! Distractions will only get you killed!

—You’re right…here it comes!

—Block it on the upper left!

We shared information with just an exchange of glances, then blocked the scythe in perfect rhythm.

We forced ourselves to ignore the occasional screams from players around us, focusing solely on blocking the creature’s deadly blows. Somehow, as it went on, not only did we stop needing to share words, but looks as well. It was as though we were plugged directly into each other’s minds. We instantly used the exact same moves to block the enemy’s breathless attacks.

In the moment, locked in the midst of the most extreme of battles, I felt a sense of unity I’d never known before. Asuna and I had melded into a single, sword-swinging force of combat—in a way, it was an incredibly sensual experience. The occasional heavy attack from the monster knocked off slight amounts of our HP bit by bit, but it was completely out of mind.