The world was waiting for it. The moment screens all over the globe were hijacked by the man known as Akihiko Kayaba, so he could proudly display his perversion. His conquests. His creations.
Sixteen days after the boss raid of the 1st floor was live-streamed, it happened again. Many were caught by surprise, having assumed that, since logically Sword Art Online should only get harder the higher players went, it would take more than a month for that moment to arrive. But this time the news organizations around the world were quick to broadcast it. Nobody bothered trying to take it down like the first time, knowing it would be a wasted effort.
In Japan, it was not only news channels that were buzzing with activity, but also the government, and, indeed, the entire country. Schools interrupted classes, knowing that it would be useless to try and make the students maintain focus during that time. The teachers weren't much better either.
Of course, the ones who paid the most attention were the family members of the trapped SAO players, and Kikouka in his office. He closed himself off in his room, and watched the broadcast on his computer. As the frontliners entered the boss room, he had only one wish.
"Please nobody die."
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Argo was running. She was running as fast as she could. But she knew she would be too late. And it was that blockhead Kibaou's fault! His and Lind's, damn them!
When Drifter and his party brought back the news that they had found the boss room yesterday, their intention was to gather all the frontliners and formulate a plan, much like they had done on the 1st floor. But of course Kibsou and Lind couldn't wait. The two arrogant idiots instead spent the entire meeting fighting about who would lead the raid-party, and, obviously, neither of them was willing to concede. They didn't let anyone else put forth their opinions either. And since the ALS and DKB were the two largest player forces, Kirito, Agil, Orlando, and the other party leaders couldn't intervene either.
Unable to come to an agreement, the two players decided to start the boss raid the morning of the next day, meaning, right now. And they set off with not even a basic attack plan, and, to make matters worse, full of infighting. The fact that Argo was on the verge of completing a quest that would give them possible intel about the boss' weaknesses was also completely glossed over.
Well, now Argo had completed the quest, but it was too late. She was sending messages to every player she knew in the raid-party, but no one responded, which meant they were already inside the boss room. She didn't have the time to be distracted by the broadcast, so she didn't even open it to watch.
She knew trying to rush there in time was a futile effort. But she still had to try. Because if she didn't make it, people were going to die.
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Drifter scanned the boss room with cautious eyes. Much like Illfang's, this one lit up section by section when they entered. But while Illfang's boss room looked like a throne room, this one was more similar to an arena. It was fitting, he supposed.
Their enemies - plural - roared and appeared in front of them. Almost immediately, Drifter frowned. Through Kirito and Argo's guidebook, they had learned that the 2nd floor boss fight was actually multi-staged. Their first enemy would be << Nato the Colonel Tauros >>, a three-meter tall, blue-skinned minotaur, and, after the player brought him to the red of his third and last health bar, the real boss, << Baran the General Taurus >> would join the battle. But now, both appeared at the same time. This upped the difficulty by a lot.
Thankfully, that had been one of the possible changes they thought Kayaba might make, and had discussed amongst themselves what to do if that was the case. He saw the ALS and DKB scrambling to fight Baran, who they recognized as the main boss, and, as such, the one which would deliver the most rewards when slain. Just as expected. How disappointing.
"All right, let Lind and Kibaou struggle against Baran, they should at least be able to tie him down. We will join hands with Agil, the Legend Braves, and the other smaller parties to bring down Nato first."
Kirito nodded to show that he approved of Drifter's decision, and made a comment of his own.
"Watch out for Nato's << Numbing Impact >>, it is his most dangerous attack. In the beta the telltale sign he was going to use it was a long moo and raising his hammer above his head. And the horns are weak points of both bosses."
Quickly imparting all he knew to the others, Kirito was the first to charge towards the boss - before the tanks aggroed Nato, they had to kite him away from Baran. Drifter nodded somberly to Agil and Orlando while he took his position.
"Let's watch each other's backs. We can't count on the two idiots to come to our rescue if we get in trouble."
"Ha! Way more likely that we have to save their asses! But you got it, Drifter."
"Hahaha! When I said I hoped to do battle by your shoulders once more, I didn't expect it to be so soon, spearman Drifter! But an occasion better than this there isn't, don't you think?"
"I couldn't agree more, Orlando. Let's get a drink on the 3rd floor when this is over."
Fun fact, you could get drunk in SAO. Drifter had never tried, but the defeat of a floor boss seemed like an appropriate occasion to celebrate.
"Switch!"
Like an arrow leaving the bowstring, Drifter shot forward as soon as the heard Asuna yell the first syllabus. His speartip shone blue when he struck << Nato the Colonel Taurus >> with a simple << Sting >>.
<< Sting >> was one of the more basic one-hit skills, and was shared by the sword, dagger, and spear. It didn't deal much damage, but had almost no cooldown, making it a great opener for bigger combos. And Drifter utilized it as such. << Sting >> was followed by a << Horizontal Arc >> cutting across Nato's shin, and then two more regular attacks before the boss turned its attention to him, and Drifter decided it was time to retreat.
"Switch!"
Nautilus took his place, bashing Nato's knee with his round shield, and causing the boss to stumble and lean to the side. Safely in the back, Sinon was letting arrow after arrow fly at the boss. She was aiming for his pair of horns, his weak points, but Nato was moving around so much that she missed most of the times. After all, while she was a natural, she only had the << Grafted Horn Bow >> for a few days. Eventually, she settled for a bigger target, and fired at the boss' head, which had higher chances of scoring critical hits.
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"Ahhh!"
Many screams suddenly startled Drifter. His head snapped to the left, and he saw a disaster happening.
At least a dozen players from the ALS and DKB were laying on the ground, defenseless. Sparks were flying around their body, the visual effect of the paralysis debuff. << Baran the General Taurus >> raised its hammer from the crate it had left behind after it used << Numbing Detonation >> - the upgraded and more dangerous version of Nato's << Numbing Impact >> - and prepared to bring it back down on one of the paralyzed players. If that truly happened, there was no doubt the unfortunate DKB member would be smashed into a pulp.
Thankfully, Lind wasn't a complete idiot, and had arranged for two parties to stay back. Initially they were supposed to switch with the ones in combat, but now they were playing the part of rescuers. And, while they bickered daily, at this time of need the DKB didn't abandon the paralyzed ALS members, but dragged them back too. It was one thing to dislike someone, and another entirely to watch them die, after all.
As for the reason why Kibaou didn't have other ALS members rescue his own people, it was because the fool had too engrossed in his own battle to notice Baran about to use the one skill the guidebook mentioned in bold red letters, and was, as such, also one of the paralyzed players. Unfortunately, paralysis only meant players couldn't move, but they could still speak, and so Kibaou was letting out a string of expletives.
Okay, maybe Drifter was being a little harsh. Kibaou was actually giving some orders - as much as his current condition allowed him to. But he had been behaving like an idiot the entire time the raid-party made their way through the tower earlier. He was particularly vicious towards Kirito after he saw the young swordsman had a second << Anneal Blade >> in his hands. He probably thought he had been tricked - which wasn't entirely untrue - but from his behavior, Drifter had come to realize that Kibaou's objective in trading with Kirito wasn't actually to have an << Anneal Blade >> for himself, but to deprive Kirito of his main weapon. After understanding that, any modicum of respect Drifter had left for the cactus-haired brute vanished.
But now the spearman didn't have the time to dwell on how much he wanted to slap some sense in Kibaou. Seeing as all the paralyzed players had been saved and were recovering, he turned his attention back to << Nato the Colonel Tauros >>. The group attacking the secondary boss had about fifteen people less than the ALS and DKB combined, so, even though Nato was slightly weaker, having only three health bars instead of Baran's five, they had to put in just as much effort.
"Agil, fall back and heal! Braves, take their spot!"
Logically, their group should be having even more trouble, since they were composed of many smaller parties. But Kirito was having no problem commanding everyone. That could only happen because Agil and Orlando were both listening to his orders. If the other players didn't, they might end up without any support - not because Kirito purposely abandoned them, of course, but the young swordsman could only focus on so many things at once. It was also because all of Kirito's orders made sense, otherwise no one would obey him.
"Kirito, you have to rest too!"
"I can still keep going!"
"No can do! Look at your health!"
Drifter barely heard Asuna and Kirito discussing while the duo dodged another of Nato's hammer blows. A quick glance at his HUD showed Drufter that Kirito's health had fallen to yellow at some moment.
"She's right, Kirito. Retreat and heal. All of us actually. Vass, switch with us!"
"Right!"
Ignoring Kirito's protest, Drifter landed one last << Snake Bite >> on the boss, and had Asuna drag the boy away while he followed. At the same time, he called for one of the reserve parties to take their spot.
Kirito was a great fighter, but his sense of responsibility was too much sometimes. He would tell other people to switch and heal, but only did the same himself when his health was in the red. That was a trait of his that Drifter and the others had been working hard to change. This was why, while Kirito was the party leader, Drifter sometimes used his authority as the oldest - both in terms of age and being one of the original three - to overrule him.
When they got back, Yuna switched the melody she was playing from << Firemare >> to << Rest >>. In doing so, she also had to change her instrument from the small harp to her old flute. It had come as a surprise for everyone the first time she did that, since you couldn't change your weapons while in combat. Apparently, musical instruments didn't count as weapons - which made sense, they supposed.
"You all right, Naut?"
Smiling at the songstress, Drifter patted Nautilus's shoulder. Other than Kirito, the ash-haired boy had also been hit a lot - inevitable, in his position. But that wasn't what Drifter was asking about, and Nautilus knew that. He showed a forced smile amidst his labored breaths.
"Yeah. No problems."
Nautilus' FNC hadn't flared up since the battle against Illfang. They had been worried it would happen when fighting the << Bullbous Bow >>, but it didn't. It seemed like it was truly random.
"Good. Let's bring this thing down then."
They had barely rejoined the fight when << Nato the Colonel Tauros >> roared and raised his hammer. Drifter's eyes widened, but he was in the middle of unleashing a skill. Even if he canceled it, he wouldn't be able to get out of << Numbing Impact's >> range in time.
"Get back!"
Drifter wasn't sure who yelled that, but he could only watch as the massive hammer opened a crater in the ground, thankfully far from him. Still, the sparks and bolts that left it struck him, and Drifter felt his whole body go numb. Unable to stand, he fell face-first into the ground.
"Drifter!"
His right arm, still holding his spear, was uncomfortably stuck underneath his body, the shaft poking at his ribs. In the corner of his vision, he saw a yellow lightning bolt symbol next to his health bar.
The spearman wasn't the only one who had fallen. Although they were more prepared than the group fighting Baran, there were still six or seven players paralyzed. And, to his despair, he discovered that three of them were the tanks. Without them, << Nato the Colonel Tauros >> was free to roam. And it was coming right for him.
'Move, move! Dammit!'
Inwardly, Drifter was screaming at his body to move. Of course, that was useless. This was a game. A death game, but a game nonetheless. Any amount of willpower was useless, and the system was absolute. He couldn't rid himself of his paralysis status just because he wanted to.
Watching the boss raise its hammer to crush him, Drifter couldn't help but wonder if this was how he died. His health was almost full, so he should be able to take one blow, right? And his party should be able to get to him in time, no? But that hammer was huge. So was the boss. What the hell had he been thinking when he decided to become a frontliner?!
Unwilling to, but unable to stop himself, Drifter flinched and closed his eyes when Nato prepared to swing its hammer. But the expected hit never came. Instead, he heard the boss scream, and opened his eyes just in time to see an arrow land on its horns, causing shards to fly off.
And then Nautilus was there, the brave blade-user, who was many years younger than him. The shy boy who had a condition that caused him to literally freeze in fear. But there was no hesitation in his steps as he placed himself between the defenseless Drifter and the hulking minotaur.
"Ugh!"
Nautilus grunted and stumbled when the delayed blow smashed into his round shield, but he didn't fall. He stood his ground, allowing Asuna and one of Agil's friends, Namate, to grab Drifter and pull him to safety.
"Drifter, how are you?!"
It took Yuna shaking his shoulder with a worried voice, and putting a paralysis heal potion to his lips, for Drifter to tear his eyes away from Nautilus' back. As the numbness receded, he got up and ruffled the songstress' hair.
"I'm good now, Yun'. Thank you."
"I didn't do much. It was Sinon and Nautilus who reacted fast."
"Yeah... I can't believe he ever thought he was a coward. He is really brave, isn't he?"
The conversation was so random and out of place, considering the situation, that Yuna was stunned for a second before she smiled brightly.
"Yes. Yes, he is."