"This feels like boss time. On your toes, girls."

The party stopped before stepping inside the building. A giant, spacious temple, even if in ruins, with a meteor in the middle, a cone of light shining on it from the hole in the ceiling. If this wasn't a boss room, Drifter would eat his spear.

Not all quests had final bosses. In fact, the majority of them didn't have bosses at all, at most some elite mobs. But every now and again, you would stumble upon a quest of much higher difficulty, and those did have bosses.

Of course this type of boss was much, much weaker than a floor boss or a field-boss. It couldn't be compared even to the final boss of a campaign, like << Aater, Lord of the Fallen >>.

This was especially the case this time. This was a two-person quest, and the participants even needed to be separated, one in the town, the other here. The boss' difficulty would be calculated taking that into account, which was why Drifter was even considering fighting it with just the four girls in his party.

"What do you think, Drif? Something hidden in the room? The meteorite itself?"

The Reavers had fought far too many battles to be shaken by something like uncertainty. Their only consideration was what the boss was. Usually a boss reflected the area they were in and the mobs in it. But << Forgotten Guardians >> and << Rubble Pythons >> were two vastly different types of creature.

"The pythons are more like mobs that moved in after whatever this place collapsed. My bet is on a golem or that big rock coming to life."

Silica gestured to the meteorite, and Drifter agreed with her. He looked at the dragon on her shoulder.

"Pina's sensing anything?"

"Don't think so."

Drifter pondered for a few minutes, running scenarios in his head. Eventually, he grunted.

"Hm, we'll try it. Liz, Griselda, you are our frontline. Check left and right as soon as you enter, to make sure it isn't waiting for us just behind the door. Myself, Silica, and Yuuki will be right behind. If anything is wrong or the boss is too strong, we bail immediately, got it? Silica, we'll be relying on Pina to get us through this. If possible, have her time it so it doesn't overlap with potion cooldowns."

"Yes!"

The party got into formation, and walked towards the temple. The closer they got, the more intense it felt. Boss music could start playing and it wouldn't be out of place.

"It's the meteor."

They hadn't even entered, and everything inside the temple was perfectly still. Yet, Drifter knew. He felt a thrumming in his bones when he looked at the giant rock. The boss was the meteorite in the center of the temple.

"Change of plans, I'll be the main attacker. Liz, Griselda, on my sides. Bait and switch."

The party changed formations without saying anything. After countless battles together, Liz, Yuuki, and Silica had full confidence in Drifter's orders. Griselda was the only one who hesitated, but only for a moment.

The moment the party stepped through the threshold of the temple, they felt the change immediately. There was a humming in the air, and, with a loud rumbling sound, the meteorite started to shake.

Instead of falling, dust rose from the ground, creating a knee-high cloud. The meteorite rolled over, and the players saw a massive purple crystal, similar to the << False Star Fragments >> the << Forgotten Guardians >> and << Rubble Pythons >> dropped. It looked eerily like an eye.

Then, starting from the 'eye', more crystals burst out of the meteors surface, forming eight lines. It looked like a bowling ball with spikes strapped to it.

Three health bars appeared above the meteorite, erasing any doubt about its status as a boss. Drifter glanced at the name over it.

<< End False Star >>.

It was as imposing as the boss itself. Which was to say, a lot and a little at the same time, depending on how serious you took it.

To the party, it was about halfway. They didn't fear the boss, but they respected it enough to take the battle seriously. Never underestimate the enemy, that was a lesson harshly learned by all frontliners. But sometimes overestimating could be just as bad.

Still with the same humming sound, the boss charged the party. Well, Drifter said 'charged', but it was more along the lines of rolling. The crystal lines around its body were spinning rapidly, like the tires on a racing car.

Drifter wasn't stupid enough to meet it head-on. He jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding getting impaled, and slashed with a << Vertical >>.

He almost lost his spear. The tip got snagged by two of the purple crystals and the weapon was almost torn off his hand. Drifter's eyes widened and he shook the spear, barely managing to keep his grasp on it.

Pulling back his spear, Drifter lifted his foot and kicked the boss. It did no damage, nor was it intended to. The frontliner simply used the much heavier boss as leverage to push himself away.

Landing a few meters back and steadying himself, Drifter threw a quick glance at the HP bars above << End False Star >>. There was a very small portion of the first missing.

"Aim for spots without crystals! Also, watch out for erratic movement! Forget surrounding it, we'll fight as one unit. The eye has to be the weak point, I'll aim for it. Yuuki, parry and deflect. Griselda, Silica, to my left! Liz, the right!"

Drifter didn't lose his cool. << End False Star >> was intimidating, especially when its solid rock body loomed over him, but from their clash, the spearmaster understood the boss wasn't actually that strong. The main mechanic of the boss, and the crux of the battle, would be to avoid getting their weapons taken from them.

"It's coming again!"

Narrowing his eyes, Drifter leaned forward, spear held in his right hand, the tip pointing at the ground. He watched the boss coming closer, that crystal eye appearing and vanishing as it rolled. He waited until the very last second, then roared.

"<< Sky Render >>!"

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Just as the eye was coming up after another rotation, Drifter's spear reached it, carving an enormous red line across << End False Star's >> body. The first HP gauge above it dropped by a full 15% from that one attack.

'I was right!'

The eye was indeed the boss' weak spot, otherwise there was no way Drifter could have dealt this much damage in one go.

<< End False Star >> didn't scream or show much reaction despite the huge injury. Drifter wasn't even sure if it was alive. But he pressed on the attack, using a << Martial Arts: Hiza >> to dispel the cooldown from << Sky Render >>, and launching a << Snake Bite >> to once again strike the boss' eye.

This was the reason why he had suddenly changed the party configuration so he was the main attacker. << End False Star's >> eye wasn't small, about the size of a manhole cover, but there was no weapon better than a spear for striking accurately such a target. While Liz, Silica, Yuuki, and Griselda possessed incredible control over their weapons, nobody could compare to Drifter in that regard.

He vaguely saw the rest of his party attacking the boss from the corner of his eyes, but paid no attention to it. He jumped back and rolled to the side to avoid getting crushed by the rampaging monster, and slashed again with his spear, tearing another gash into << End False Star >>, although this time he wasn't in a great position to hit its eye.

The meteorite monster spun to the left, chasing Drifter. While bosses usually had more advanced AI, capable of somewhat ignoring aggro, this was clearly not the case with << End False Star >>. It was completely focused on Drifter, and ignoring the other Reavers.

The spearmaster sneered. This kind of mindless enemy was much easier to deal with than one that could think. While anyone other than a frontliner might have trouble alone, Drifter was confident he could take it out on his own, it would simply cost him time. With a party of elites like he had, it wouldn't be more than 15 minutes before << End False Star >> was felled.

When the boss suddenly rolled to the right, Drifter jumped in pursuit, his spear lashing out in what was an almost perfect recreation of << Rage Spike >>. He didn't stop there, << Double Tap >> and three normal attacks shaving away another 10% of << End False Star's >> first HP bar.

Under Drifter's piercing offensive and the combined efforts of Silica, Liz, Yuuki, and Griselda, the boss had already lost 80% of its 300% HP.

"Left switch!"

A small tremor of the boss' huge frame caught Drifter's attention, and he yelled. Silica and Griselda immediately traded places with him, just in time to avoid a sudden charge from << End False Star >>. Drifter stabbed again, poking another hole into the boss.

Drifter's eyes were cold as he watched the meteorite monster. His spear never stopped, cutting, slashing, and stabbing, leaving innumerable wounds on the boss.

It had been barely 5 minutes since the battle began, and Drifter's body was aching. Cardinal did a very goo job of reproducing the sensation of muscles burning and exhaustion.

It was irrelevant. Drifter had only once stopped during a battle, and that was from the shock of having his arm ripped off. Now not even that could make him frown, much less something like tiredness.

Skills were thrown around without a care, his spear glowing blue, green, orange, and half a dozen other colors. In between, Drifter sprinkled normal attacks, more than half of his blows landing on << End False Star's >> eye. It took less than 7 minutes to bring the boss down to its last health bar.

"Phase change, everyone! Liz, Griselda, defense until we find the new pattern. Silica, behind me. Work together with Yuuki to find weaknesses."

"Roger!"

Once the last of its second HP gauge had been wiped out, << End False Star >> had stopped moving, and even the humming noise from its trembling had disappeared. The large change in behavior was a clear sign that the last section of the battle was approaching.

As they watched, the purple crystals all around the boss' body started to recede. Drifter watched with furrowed brows before his eyes suddenly widened.

"Oh fuck- Block!"

Countless purple crystals, now thin as needles, exploded from << End False Star's >> body. They flew in all directions at extreme speed, at least several dozen coming towards the party.

And yet, despite how fast the needles were and how sudden the attack, Liz and Griselda stopped most of it with << Shield Wall >>. Yuuki waved her sword in an arc, her incredible reflexes allowing her to precisely cut many of the needles that got past Liz and Griselda.

Drifter went for a rougher approach, but just as fast. Three slashes from << Tidal Sequence >> knocked down most of the remaining needles.

Still, Liz, Griselda, Yuuki, and Drifter all had several red dots in their bodies, from the crystal needles that slipped through. The blacksmith and swordswoman, who had tanked the brunt of the attack, were down to yellow, and looking like they suffered from chicken pox. Silica was unharmed, Drifter having put himself in front of the girl before the attack.

"Go!"

"Pina!"

Drifter gave the order to retaliate at the same time Silica yelled for her pet to heal them. Whatever sort of skill it was that << End False Star >> had just unleashed, it obviously couldn't be used again right away, as Cardinal would never allow something that unbalanced. Now was the best chance to stage a counterattack and finish off the boss.

"All-out! Kill it!"

While Pina flew over and spat bubbles at Liz and Griselda, Drifter rushed forward, his spear glowing.

'Hmph! How about a taste of your own medicine?'

<< Needle Spear >> flashed out, each strike jabbing precisely in the boss' eye. In an instant, << End False Star >> was covered in holes.

Another wave of his spear carved two lines across the boss' body with << Horizontal Arc >>. Then three more stabs, followed by << Dirty Play >>.

"Ha!"

With a shout, Drifter used << Sting >>, burying half of his spear into << End False Star's >> eye. The boss trembled one last time before shattering.

"13 minutes, not bad. Great job as always, Liz, Silica, Yuuki. Griselda, all your actions were perfect, you are just lacking a little more confidence. You hesitated, which led you to be wounded by one of the boss' charges."

Drifter looked at the time on his HUD and spoke, congratulating his party members. When he got to Griselda, her eyes widened. She never expected that even in the middle of the fight, Drifter would still be paying enough attention to the other players that he could even notice something the person in question had failed to. Truly deserving of being Reaver's Requiem's second-in-command and one of SAO's elites.

"Yes! I'll make sure to be more careful next time."

Drifter patted her on the shoulder.

"Don't think too much about it, I'm not scolding you. This is not something you can really train, you learn as you go through more battles."

"The more dangerous the fight, the better you get at making split-second decisions."

Yuuki pipped up, and the others nodded, even Silica. That was just how it was. Training was important, essential even, but there were some things that couldn't be taught, only learnt on the edge of the knife.

"On unrelated news, my quest finally updated. Now I know what we have to do."

Saying so, Drifter took out a huge purple crystal from his inventory. It was the size of a basketball, and glowing faintly.

<< False Star >>.