chapter 40

Since then, Leonard, his guilds and friends, along with all the other members of the assault team continued to pushing highers-up- their goal was floor 100 within the next half a year.

As all the players were now getting anxious as their freedom was within their sight.

The week passed, floor 80th cleared as Leonard finished off the giant Basilisk.

"Keep moving up! Let try for a few levels before we take the next break!" Diavel who was leading this boss raid shouted and encourage the rest of the players.

"Yeah! Let fight till we drop down due to exhaustion!" a hot blood man yelled.

They fought on, as days passed, and then to weeks.

Days after days, all that was on Leonard mind was that of slaughtering and grinding for levels before pushing for the boss dungeon.

Thank to Leonard dedication in clearing bosses none stop for close to another half a years.

All the assault teams and Leonard own guilds and that of his friend is currently standing at the entrance of the 99th-floor boss.

The one that guarded the Ruby Palace, also known as floor one hundred.

To Leonard surprise...Heathcliff was not within this raid group.

"Hey, where do you think Heathcliff went? I tried to ask the Knight of the Blood Oath about his location, however, all they did was shake their head-saying that their leader has somehow mysteriously disappeared one day and transferred his authority to the vice guild master one night and deleted all his friends within his friend list." Diavel whispered to Leonard.

"Don't mind him...we have more than enough tanks for this fight...we can make due without Heathcliff...we can still make up for the quality with the sheer quantity."

He commented as he lay eyes on the group of shieldbearer from the Knight of the Blood Oath that joined the raid without their leader.

"You are right...with this many shieldbearers and Sachi included, we should make due without him- all we have to do is play more defensively and work extra hard." Kibaou joined into the conversation while he was sitting on the side, sharpening his large two-handed sword- trying to increase its damage before the boss fight begin.

"Alright everyone, you should start drinking up those stats enhancing potions and sharpened your blades, because we will charge into that room in 10 minutes." Diavel stabbed his sword down onto the stone floor of the labyrinth as he gives his order to the players.

They all looked at him with a solemn expression plastered all over their faces.

These people had gone through the brutal trial of blood and wars as they raced to the door of freedom that is floor 100th, now there's only one door that stood between them and their goal.

Kibaou too looks at Diavel before he tossed the sharpening stone to the side- which shattered and placed the massive blade on his shoulder.

All the players too were in their charging posture, all that needs to happen now was the stone door opening process.

"Hmph!" Leonard nodded his head at Diavel, telling the man to push the door open now, and unleash the vicious horde of players onto the boss.

*creak- *creak *creak.

The stone door opened ever so slowly, creating tension for the players that were waiting on the other side of the room, as the room slowly creaked open, revealing the inner chamber- a blast of bone-chilling air started to assault all of them.

However- the players won't let just a mere breeze like that stopped them from their imminent freedom from this death game.

When the door was fully opened, Diavel gives the command to charge into the room and they all rushed inside of the dark and cold chamber.

The chamber itself was a dark hallway that was supported by pillars embedded into the walls on all side- and at the end of the hall, a stone door was located.

However- no one has managed to locate the boss yet- the one and important key that would lead them out to the next floor was missing.

A feeling of deja vu began to creep into Leonard's heart because he believes that he had seen something like this before, but he does not remember where…

"Everyone, be careful...I have a really bad feeling about this one…" Leonard said in a low tone of voice- low enough so only that the players that could hear them but not anything else that might be lurking down further in.

The group of players slowly advanced deeper into the hallways.

*clank…*clank…*clank

The only noise that was heard thus far are that of armors scraping against one another and that of footsteps.

However, there was a mix of gulping mixed in as well, as some players started to get nervous about the whole ordeal of walking through a dark and cold hallway.

Unknowingly to the group of players, a large shadow slowly crept up from behind one of the players that were walking at the back end of the group.

Slowly the shadow started to manifest itself and turned into the form of a dark cloaked figure, floating in the air, it had a pale white face with glowing red eyes, showing it bare teeth at the unsuspecting man from below.

The creature then slowly pulled out it weapon using it thin and paled hand- the weapon was a giant scythe that was twice as large as itself.

The monster eyed the poor player and readied its weapon in a swinging position.

"wait...this...WATCH OUT!!!" Leonard quickly turned around and shouted to the players that were at the back end of the line as Leonard had finally figure out what the identity of the monster of this floor really was, however, he was too late, the Grim Reaper has swung his scythe.

*Slash! The weapon cut whole back end of the group and sliced through their body, rapidly draining their health point into it reached 0.

When all the players finally noticed the scene that unfurled right before their eyes, they couldn't be any more shocked.

The monster...had completely decimated half their entire backup team that was stationed at the end- in case of some unforeseen accident were to occur.

"they're...dead…"Diavel, Kibaou, Kirito, Asuna- and everyone else looked in horror.

The room finally lit up and revealed the identity of the monster that was responsible for guarding the 99th floor.

And also the one that was responsible for killing ten players in a single swing of an attack.

"...The Fatal Scythe…" Leonard muttered in a low tone as the health bars of the Grim Reaper popped up and revealed to be nine bar of health and its name right under it cursor.

"Akihiko Kayaba...I swear...when I reached the 100th floor...I will KILL YOU!!!" Leonard roared loudly as he suddenly exploded out in a burst of speed and ready Vengeance for a frontal strike.

"NEgative- BURST!!!!" Leonard swung the blade with all his might and infused everything into the first strike of the sword.

*Booooooom!!!!

An explosion erupted which knocked a few unlucky players down to their butt as they stood and watched too close to the epicenter of the mayhem and carnage that was about to unfurl.