Standing in front of the boss gate on the 75th floor were people who could shock any player.
Heathcliff, the leader of the Knights of the Blood Oath, known as the Holy Sword; Asuna, the sub-leader of the Knights of the Blood Oath and the flower of strategy; and Kaede. Kirito, the Black Swordsman—though he was wearing a white uniform now. Klein of the Fuurinkazan and Agil from the general store. It could be said that every person standing at the front here was the type of existence whose mere footstep could make SAO tremble.
At this moment, they were leading their respective parties, looking solemnly at the ancient, dozen-meter-tall gate before them.
It was here that the death toll, which hadn't changed in a long time, had changed once again—and it was an entire party's worth of people!
No one could quite accept it. Before this, there had been almost no deaths while clearing bosses on each floor; one person died on the first floor, and a few people from the Army died on the 74th floor due to their own recklessness.
But this time, an entire elite party had died outright. How could people accept that?
Consequently, these people who were usually hard to gather in one place had finally all come together, all for the purpose of clearing this floor, and to help those somewhat despondent players regain the hope they had lost.
This was the final countdown; they couldn't afford a single mistake!
Thus, in silence—no, to be precise, in a heavy atmosphere—Heathcliff, who held the highest position here, personally pushed open the boss's gate.
At this moment, the boss raid began!
Even though the boss room was pitch black, no one retreated. In their eyes were flames of fighting spirit, as if they could pierce through the darkness before them.
Finally, everyone entered the boss room, and the gate slammed shut, snuffing out the last bit of light.
There was no chaos, no restlessness. The next moment, it was like ghost fire.
Patches of blue flames suddenly erupted in the surrounding environment, revealing the layout of the boss room to the players.
"Where's the boss?" someone finally couldn't help asking. They had come to clear the boss, but they couldn't see the boss's figure at this moment.
"Click-clack-clack-clack-clack!"
Suddenly, the sound of bones rubbing against bones came from all around. Combined with the dim environment, there was already a sinister undertone even before the battle had started.
However, everyone standing here was an elite who had survived from the first floor to the 75th. Would they be scared and want to retreat because of a little sound?
However, sometimes, courage cannot represent everything, and it certainly cannot represent strength.
The next moment, Kaede moved. The moment after that, a figure suddenly charged out from the darkness.
"Bang!!"
Everyone only saw a flash of white light. Before they could even react, Kaede had collided with a crawling skeleton made entirely of bones.
Although Kaede was sent flying, the boss, having been blocked, did not lock onto the stunned player again and charged back into the darkness.
"Be careful." Kaede drank a potion and looked at the player, who was breaking out in a cold sweat, and said.
"Thank you, thank you, my lady!" The player only reacted at this moment. It seemed his body had reacted first by breaking into a cold sweat, and now his mind had finally caught up.
Without paying any more attention to this person, Kaede returned to Asuna's side.
"Thank goodness you were there." Asuna also broke into a cold sweat; they hadn't reacted in time either.
"Attention everyone! Shield-bearers, move forward! Everyone else, fall back behind the shield knights!" Surprise also appeared in Heathcliff's eyes. He had originally thought someone would die from the first strike. Then, a smile appeared on the corner of Heathcliff's mouth. As expected of someone with cheating-level observation skills.
What Kaede wanted to see was the expression on the players' faces at that moment; that kind of pleasure was very comfortable, but that didn't mean Kaede wanted the players to die.
Suddenly, a smile appeared on the corner of Kaede's mouth, and she shouted, "Now, everyone, follow my lead."
Asuna was stunned, and Heathcliff was also taken aback for a moment before realizing. Although he also knew the boss's location, he could only see it because of his administrator privileges, whereas Kaede could not.
In that case, Kaede was the only one who knew the boss's location, so having Kaede lead was the best option. However, regarding Kaede's commanding ability, Heathcliff hesitated for a moment before shouting, "Everyone, follow Kaede's lead!"
"Ooh!!" They were quite convinced by the sub-leader of their Knights of the Blood Oath, and the image of Kaede saving that team member just now was deeply imprinted in their hearts. It could be said that Kaede's status in their hearts was extremely high, so they naturally had no reason to oppose their own hearts!
"Then, Leader, go over there." Kaede narrowed her eyes, a smile appearing on the corner of her mouth.
Commanding—how would she know how to do that? But she knew the boss's location and knew the identity of an administrator, so that was enough.
"Shield-bearers, prepare to charge! When I say advance, immediately surround the boss!" Although she didn't know how to command, she had watched the leader's commands in the past, and Asuna would occasionally command as well, so Kaede did know a little bit.
The clicking sound from the boss's bones continued, and Heathcliff also changed positions under Kaede's command.
The next moment, Kaede narrowed her eyes.
"Everyone, charge!"
Just as Kaede's words fell, the boss happened to charge out from the darkness, and all the members happened to charge out as well.
If the boss had intelligence, it would definitely be dumbfounded. However, it didn't, so it simply attacked Heathcliff's great shield.
It must be said that he was worthy of being the leader; his HP barely moved at all.
Watching those holding shields already surrounding the boss, Kaede finally spoke.
"Everyone, attack!!"
"One..." Kaede had originally wanted to say one person protected by one shield, but suddenly thinking of Heathcliff's words, her voice paused for a moment, and then she continued, "Two shield-bearers to protect one person, and the extra people must constantly pay attention to giving potions to the people in front!"
"Ooh!!" Although that group of people had some questions—after all, the efficiency of the raid would decrease—no one objected. At this time, voicing opposition would be the most foolish thing to do!
However, the next moment, they understood Kaede's wisdom, because the boss's two attacks actually caused a shield knight's HP to drop directly below the yellow zone!
Not only was that person stunned, the attackers were stunned, and even the support players hadn't reacted.
"Hurry up!!"
The first to react was indeed Kirito. He happened to be nearby, blocked the boss's attack, and roared.
"Oh, oh!" Everyone finally reacted, and the people behind began to give potions to the people in front.
Kaede's pupils also constricted slightly. It seemed that at the beginning, the boss hadn't hit her with everything, otherwise she probably wouldn't have fared much better.
"Kirito, go to the leader's side and try your best to hold the boss's aggro." Kaede suddenly said. She suddenly wanted to see the coordination between the strongest sword and the strongest shield.
Kirito and Heathcliff were both stunned for a moment. They looked at each other and neither objected.
Heathcliff revealed a wry smile. If it were always like this in the future, the fun would be greatly reduced. It seemed he would have to participate less in the future and let them clear the floors on their own.
Heathcliff thought this while blocking the boss's attacks that Kirito had drawn over.
"Everyone, drop shields, attack!" Kaede saw the results at this moment. Kirito's off-the-charts damage had directly locked the boss's aggro tight, and with a cheating strongest shield on the side, it looked like the strongest combination no matter how you looked at it. However, watching Heathcliff's somewhat helpless expression, the pleasure in Kaede's heart was, well, indescribable!
The boss's HP kept decreasing just like that. Even when it fell into a berserk state at low HP, it was useless; it still couldn't break through Heathcliff's shield.
The boss, which had been feeling stifled the whole time, let out its final roar before turning into fragments and disappearing before everyone's eyes.
Cheers!
Perfect!
However, Kirito looked at Heathcliff in front of him, and at his HP, which was just a sliver away from turning yellow. Thinking about how the person in front of him had never let his HP drop below the yellow zone, a sudden impulse rose in his heart, and he thrust his sword forward rapidly.
"Immortal Object!"
---------------------------------
I hope you're enjoying the fanfiction so far! If the fanfiction has you hooked and you can't wait to see what happens next, you can unlock 30 or more chapters in advance over on my patreon: patreon.com/FTLGenBen
Also every bit of support means the world to me so if you're loving the ride, don't forget to drop a Power Stone, Thanks.