Sword Art Online

Chapter 11

Unfortunately for us, we ran into a group of Lizardmen on the way up. By the time the eight of us arrived at the top-floor passageway, thirty minutes had already passed, and we still hadn't caught up to the army members.

“Maybe they've already used their crystals to escape?”

Klein said jokingly, but none of us believed that they would have done that. As a result, we subconsciously sped up our footsteps as we walked down the long passage.

When we were about halfway down, a sound that confirmed our fears echoed off the walls. We all immediately stopped to listen.

“Ahhhh...”

The faded noise that we heard was, without a doubt, a scream.

But it didn't belong to a monster. We all looked at each other and started sprinting. Because of our high dexterity, Asuna and I ran faster than everyone else, and a gap quickly opened up between us and Klein's group. But this wasn't the time for us to care about that. We dashed like the wind through the shining blue corridor in the opposite direction than we had gone last time.

Soon, the great double doors came into sight. They were already open, and we could see the blue flames flickering inside and a huge shadow moving slowly within its depth. We also heard the intermittent sounds of screaming and clashing metal.

“No...!”

Asuna screamed with grief and accelerated her speed. I followed closely behind her. Our feet were barely touching the ground, as if we virtually flew through the air. I figured that we had already reached the limits of the system's support. Meanwhile, the pillars on either side of the passage flashed past us.

As we neared the door, Asuna and I quickly reduced our speed. Sparks flew off our boots, and we managed to stop just barely in front of the gateway.

“Hey! Are you guys alright!?”

I shouted and leaned my body forward for a better view.

The inside— looked like hell.

Bluish-white flames burned all across the floor. A huge figure stood in the center of all this, its body shining as if it was made out of metal. That was the blue demon: «The Gleameyes».

As The Gleameyes flourished its enormous zanbato-like² sword around, a huge flaming breath streaked out of its mountain goat head. The damage dealt to it hadn't even reached one-third of its HP. Across the room from it, there were a bunch of silhouettes, their sizes tiny compared to the demon. They were the army group, and their members were busy scrambling for their lives.

They no longer had any order to speak of. I checked the number of people and immediately noticed that two of them were missing. It would be good if they had escaped by using a teleport item, but—

Even as I thought this, one of them was hit by the side of the zanbato and sent flying. His HP had gone into the red danger zone. I don't know how it had happened, but the demon had managed to get in between the Army members and the exit, and as a result they couldn't even flee. I shouted at the player who had fallen.

“What are you doing!? Use your teleport item!”

The man looked my way. His face reflected the bluish color of the flames and was full of despair. He then shouted:

“It doesn't work...! T-The crystals aren't working!!”

“Wha...?”

I was speechless. Did that mean that this room was an «Anti-Crystal Area»? It was a rare trap that appeared in dungeons once in a while, but it had never appeared in a boss room till now.

“How is that...!?”

Asuna breathed in sharply. This was a case when we couldn't just rush in and save them. Then, a player on the other side of the demon raised his sword and shouted.

“What are you saying!! The word retreat does not exist for the Liberation Army!! Fight!! Fight I tell you!!”

It was definitely Kobatz 's voice.

“You bastard!”

I screamed. The fact that two people had already disappeared in a no-crystal area — it meant that they were already dead, already gone. Something that should be avoided at all costs had already happened, and this idiot was still saying those things? I felt my blood boil with rage.

Then Klein and his party arrived.

“Hey, what's happening!?”

I quickly told him what the current situation was. As he heard it, Klein's expression got darker.

“Isn't...Isn't there anything we can do...?”

We might be able to run in and make a way for them to get out. But since an emergency escape was impossible in this room, we couldn't ignore the possibility that one of us could die as well. We just didn't have enough people. As I struggled with this thought, Kobatz had somehow managed to get his men back into order and shouted.

“Charge—!”

Two of the ten had already lost almost their entire HP and were lying on the ground.

The other eight had gotten into lines of four with Kobatz in the center, who led the charge with his sword raised high.

“No—!!”

But my voice didn't reach them.

It was such a pointless attack. If all eight of them ran in together, they wouldn't be able to use their sword skills properly and would only add to the confusion. They should be fighting defensively, rotating in one person at a time to deal damage, and then quickly switching out for the next member.

The demon straightened up and gave a ground-shaking roar before breathing out a blinding jet of fire. It seemed as if the breath counted as a damage-inflicting attack, and the eight slowed as the blue light of the flames engulfed them. The demon seized its chance and swung its huge sword. The body of a person was knocked into the air, over the demon's head, crashing hard into the ground before us.

It was Kobatz.

His HP had vanished. With a look of disbelief on his face, he slowly moved his mouth.

—This is impossible.

He said quietly. Then, with a nerve-rending sound effect that pierced our souls, his body had shattered into a swirl of polygons. Next to me, Asuna gave a short scream at this meaningless death.

With their leader gone, the Army members immediately fell into chaos. They ran around screaming. All of their HP counts were already below the halfway mark.

“No... No... No more...”

As I heard Asuna's strained voice, I glanced sideways towards her. I immediately rushed to grab her arm...

But I was already too late.

“No—!!”

With this scream, Asuna ran off like a gust of wind. She drew her rapier from thin air and charged at The Gleameyes like a flash of light.

“Asuna!!”

I screamed. Left with no choice, I drew my sword and followed her.

“Eh, whatever!!”

Klein and his party shouted and followed suit.

Asuna's reckless strike hit the back of the demon while its attention was elsewhere. But its HP hardly decreased at all.

The Gleameyes roared, then turned around and swung its zanbato downwards. Asuna immediately sidestepped to dodge, but she couldn't evade it completely and was knocked down by the shockwave. The second strike then swung towards her without hesitation.

“Asuna—!!”

I felt my body go cold with fear as I flung myself between Asuna and the blade. My sword barely managed to deflect the attack in time. Then, I felt an impact across my whole body as the shockwave hit me.

As sparks flew off the two blades, the demon's sword hit the floor only a few centimeters away from Asuna. It dug a huge hole into the ground with an explosion-like sound effect.

“Get back!”

I shouted and prepared for the demon's attacks. Its sword came at me repeatedly with a crushing might that felt like it could take my life with one hit. There wasn't any room for me to even attempt a counterattack.

The Gleameyes' techniques were basically two-handed sword skills. But they were slightly customized, which made them impossible to read. I concentrated fully on defending with sidesteps and parries. But its attacks were monstrously powerful and chipped away at my HP with every passing swing.

“Argh!!”

Eventually, one of its strikes accurately hit my body. I felt its stunning impact, and my HP decreased immensely.

My skills and equipment were far from those of a tank. If I kept this up, it would only lead to my death. The fear of dying sent a chill down my body. I couldn't even try to escape anymore.

There was only one thing that I could do. I would have to go against it with everything I had as a damage dealer.

“Asuna! Klein! Hold him off for ten seconds!”

I shouted and swung my sword hard to block the demon's blow and make a break point. Then, I flung myself to the ground and rolled away. Klein immediately took my place and kept the demon back with his katana.

But Klein's katana and Asuna's rapier were weapons that relied on speed and therefore lacked in weight. I figured that it wouldn't be easy for them to block the demon's zanbato. As I laid on the ground, I opened the menu with my left hand.

I couldn't afford to make a single mistake now. With my heart pounding against my chest, I began moving the fingers of my right hand. I scrolled down my item list, picked something from it, and equipped it in the blank space on my equipment profile. Then I opened the skill window and changed my weapon skill.

After finishing all this, I touched the OK button and closed the window. After confirming the additional weight on my back, I raised my head and shouted:

“I'm done!!”

I saw Klein get hit once, and his HP decreased as he stepped back. Normally, he would have used a crystal to heal himself, but that wasn't possible in this room. Now, Asuna was fighting with the demon, and within just a few seconds her HP had already gone below the halfway mark and turned yellow.

After she heard me, Asuna nodded with her back towards me and gave a short shout before executing a piercing skill.

“Yaaaa!”

A white streak of light flew through the air and struck The Gleameyes' weapon, causing sparks to spray out. As a loud noise resounded, the distance between Asuna and the demon widened.

“Switch!!”

I didn't miss the opportunity and charged straight at the enemy. The demon quickly recovered from the short stunning effect and raised its sword high up into the air. With the sword in my right hand, I blocked the demon's blade as it came down from a flame-like trajectory. Then, I reached behind my back with my left hand and grabbed the handle of the new sword. I drew it and struck in one smooth movement. The demon's HP reduced noticeably as the first clean hit registered.

“Kwuaaaaa!”

The demon roared with rage and attempted another downward strike. This time, I crossed my two swords and blocked it completely. As its stance became unbalanced, I decided to break free from my defending streak and launched a combo attack.

My right sword slashed horizontally towards the demon's midsection. My left sword followed immediately to cut vertically into its body. Right, left, then right again. I swung my swords as if the nerves in my brain were going into overdrive. The sounds of metal clashing resounded loudly one after another as white lights flared through the air.

This was the extra skill that I had been hiding, «Dual Blades», and the technique I was using was its high-class sword skill «Starburst Stream», a sixteen-hit combo attack.

“Ahhhhh!!”

Paying no attention to the few hits that the demon's sword managed to block, I kept on screaming as I hacked away relentlessly with my swords. My eyes heated up, the demon was the only thing I could see.

Although the demon's sword still struck my body every so often, its impact felt like it was happening in some faraway world. Meanwhile, adrenaline continued to rush through my body, and my brain waves spiked every time my swords hit their mark.

Faster, faster. The rhythm of my swings already exceeded twice the normal speed, but it still felt slow to my heightened senses. I continued my attack at a pace that seemed to overtake even the system's assistance.

“...Ahhhhhhhhh!!”

With this shout I launched the last of my sixteen strikes, which penetrated The Gleameyes' chest.

“Kkaaaaaaahh!!”

When my senses returned, I realized that I wasn't the only one screaming. The huge demon was roaring with its head towards the ceiling as massive breaths streamed out of its mouth and nose.

Then its body froze, and as soon as I noticed that—

The Gleameyes shattered into countless blue shards. Fragments of blue light rained down across the room.

It's... finished...?

Feeling dizzy from the aftereffects of the battle, I habitually swung both of my swords once more before simultaneously sheathing them into the scabbards that lay crossed on my back. I immediately checked my HP. There was a red line with only a few dots left. As I stared at my HP without care, I suddenly felt strength leave my body and collapsed onto the floor without a sound.

My vision faded to black.