CHAPTER 18.1 - The Boss of the Hidden Dungeon

"Are the PK-player are doing some kind of magic?" Asuna asks

"There is no such a thing like magic in SAO Asuna" Kouki explain "The PK-player will ask another player for a duel it is authorized player versus player fights that can take place even in safe areas and will not change a player cursor from green to orange by killing the opponent. There are three types of a duel in SAO, the first one is Half lost mode the winner will be decided after the other player loses half of their hit point, the second was the first strike mode also known as a common type of duel the winner is decided by whoever lands the first clean hit that deals at least ten percent damage or whittles the opponent's hit point to half and the last was.." Kouki take a deep breath "Total lose mode it was used in Beta Testing but removed in the official server since it will only stop when the player hit point reached zero, which results in permanent death for the loser"

"After hearing this thing I'm still didn't know much about this game," Asuna said "But how did the PK-player didn't change the color of the cursor

"They abused the half lose mode duel like what I said the winner can be declared if their opponent reached the half of its hit point however the killer will pretend that he is weak and when his opponents reach sixty percent of its hit point he will take advantage of it, he can use a combo and because of that his opponent player hp will be dropped in zero so it will die" Kouki explained

"I see because it dueled the cursor of the winner killer will not change," Asuna said "That was tricky but how about Lisbeth?"

"If the reason of Morte was to kill Lisbeth he can do that by luring hostile monsters to kill players or Portal players kill by sending the players to dungeon beyond their level to die" After hearing that Asuna covered her lips she can't imagine what happen to Lisbeth inside the dungeon "Knowing the level of her she can't defeat any monsters in the 3rd-floor dungeon"

"But she still alive right!" Asuna asks

"I'm not sure however I have a feeling that she find a safe place inside the dungeon and was stuck there" Kouki act like he was in a deep thinking

"We will know that when we arrived at the 3rd-floor dungeon," Asuna said, kouki look at her

"You will come? If she was still alive and stuck inside there is a chance that we could be stuck there too" Kouki said, after saying this he doubts that telling and asking for Asuna's help was not the best solution for this

"Of course! We're friends and she promised to me that she is the one who will maintain all my equipment until we reached the 100th floor of aincrad" Asuna smiled remembering the promise of Lisbeth "Let's go for sure she was waiting for us, Kouki-Kun!" The look that Kouki throws her is intense admiration

***Zumfut***

They arrived at the main settlement on the 3rd floor "Wow, I'm still amazed looking at the gigantic baobab trees" Asuna said "You know what Kouki the view from the top of the tree was amazing and beautiful"

"Really? I should try it next time. Let's go" After an hour they arrived at the labyrinth. Knowing that there is a lot of monsters inside Kouki and Asuna prepared themself for any battle that can happen however when they got inside the dungeon they were shocked when they saw a lot of players

"Hey, Kouki-Kun are you sure that this is a dungeon?" Asuna asks she has never seen a lot of players inside the dungeon before

"Uhm I think because the front-line players clear this floor they got the confidence that they can defeat the monsters here too, and besides if you want to survive here in SAO you need to level up in this kind of places was the best to do that" Kouki said "And the good thing about clearing each floor was the player who decided to stay in the beginner's floor was encourage to take a step in other floors without having a fear for their security"

"But there is a player killer, right? It is not safe for them to wander around on every floor" Asuna said

"Yeah that was right however you forgot that there is no safe place here in SAO, Asuna-San" Kouki stopped walking and faced her "Although there is a place called a safe zone in SAO however there is one incident of killing player even he is in safe zone"

"How did that happen? And I never heard about that" Asuna asked she think even Argo-Chan doesn't have any information about this

"It just happened yesterday. The killer manipulated the sleeping players by moving his hand to accept a duel and then killing him they call it sleeping Pk, so when I found about this I worried about Lisbeth" Kouki pointed something on the map "This is the last place that Lisbeth went, I think she was her just close here" After a few minutes of walking they saw a door

"I didn't know that was possible," Asuna said "Do you think Lisbeth was inside of this room?" they are about to walk in the door when it opened and they saw Lisbeth

"Lisbeth!!" Asuna was relieved when she saw her in a safe and started to run to approach her

"Stop! Don't come! Don't cross to that line Asuna-San! Kauki-San!" Lisbeth shouted while Kouki grabbed Asuna to stop her from running

"I feel something wrong," Kouki said and he rolled his eyes in the corridor but he didn't see anything

"Don't step on that line! If you step in the monster will come and you will be like me who is also trapped here" Lisbeth was on the safe zone in the labyrinth

"But!" Asuna said

"She's right if we steeped in that side of the corridor the monster will activate," Kouki said he feel that the monster inside of this deep labyrinth is extremely powerful

"Asuna! Kouki! You don't need to save me" Lisbeth bowed her head "It's my fault, if I hadn't believed in that information given to me and stayed on the beginner's floor this would not have happened" Her brown eyes become watery she can't help but to cry

"Kayaba! Kayaba Akihiko!" Asuna shouted "I will not going to allow you to get my friend! You heard that?! You are an idiot! She will become the best black-smith of SAO!" Kouki lips form a smile after hearing it from Asuna

"A-Asuna.." Tears filled Lisbeth's eyes

"We will save you.." Asuna tighten her grip in the farner rapier "No matter what happens" Asuna take steps on the line and the corridors around the safe are began to change, the whole place become a battleground, and from the darkness, the monster appeared they did not expect to see it from here "W-What is that.." Asuna stiff at her place looking at the monster that showed in front of them

"T-That was the fatal scythe.." Kouki whispered

The fatal Scythe is the Boss of the hidden dungeon located beneath the labyrinth of the 3rd floor of Aincrad. The Fatal Scythe is a massive, legless skeleton, clad in a tattered black robe (red inside) and carrying a large silver scythe that is as big as the Boss itself.