Chapter 6

"Daaah, we lost!!"

Nori was the last to teleport, slapping Talken on the back as he gleefully

lamented their defeat.

They were inside a domed building facing the central plaza of Rombal. The

group had appeared around the save crystal set into a lowered depression in

the middle of the room. They had, of course, been quickly crushed by the dark

giant that was boss of the twenty-seventh floor.

"Darn, we tried so hard," Yuuki grumbled, until Asuna grabbed her by the

collar. "Fwuh?"

The undine fencer dragged the imp girl off to the corner of the room. "Over

here, everyone!"

Jun and the others followed, widemouthed with surprise. They had just been

suggesting a return to the inn for a break and a rundown of their attempt.

There was no one else inside the dome, where the deceased respawned, but

Asuna made sure they were gathered in a spot where their voices would not

carry outside so she could address the group in privacy.

"We don't have time to hang around. Remember the three outside the boss

chamber?" she asked quickly.

"Oh, yes," Siune said, nodding.

"Those were scouts from one of the major boss-beating guilds. They were

watching for players outside of their guild attempting to challenge the boss. I'm

guessing that on the floor before this, and the one before that, they were

watching you go in just like that."

"I…I had no idea…"

"I'm guessing their intention isn't to interfere with your attempt, but to gain

information for themselves. They see the attempts of small guilds like the

Sleeping Knights as a test case to learn the boss's attack patterns and weak

points. That way, they don't have to suffer the death penalty or potion cost

themselves," Asuna explained.

Talken, the one with the round glasses, raised a hand, his fingers fully

extended. "B-but, after we walked into the boss chamber, the door closed

instantly. H-how could they have collected information if they couldn't even ssee our fight?"

"Well, this is my fault for not being careful…but toward the end, I noticed a

little gray lizard slithering around Jun's feet. That's a Peeping spell—dark magic.

It sends a familiar to track a target player and latch onto his or her sight to show

the caster. It should have showed a debuff icon when the spell was cast on you,

but only for a second…"

"Oh, dang. I never noticed it!" Jun exclaimed, looking guilty. Asuna patted him

on the back.

"No, it's my fault for not warning you ahead of time. They must have slipped

the spell onto you while Siune was rebuffing us just before we went inside. It

would be really hard to notice a single momentary icon when there are a ton of

them popping up."

"…Which could mean," Yuuki said, wide-eyed, clutching her hands to her

chest, "it wasn't just a coincidence that the twenty-fifth- and twenty-sixth-floor

bosses got beaten right after we tried them!"

There was surprise in her voice, but not a hint of anger or affront. Asuna felt a

renewed sense of respect for the girl as she nodded. "I'm sure that was it.

Because of your best efforts, all of the boss's information was laid bare for

others to step in and utilize."

"Which would mean," Siune murmured, her shapely brows contracting, "that

we've played the patsy role for them once again…?"

"…My God," Nori lamented, as the other five started to slump their shoulders,

but before that, Asuna smacked Yuuki's armor.

"Nope, we don't know that for sure yet!"

"Huh…? What do you mean, Asuna?"

"It's two thirty in the real world right now, and it'll be hard to get a few dozen

people together for a raid at this time, even for a big guild. At the earliest, it'll

take them an hour—and we're going to strike before they can. Let's wrap up

this meeting in five minutes, so we can be back at the boss chamber in thirty!"

"What?!" the mighty warriors all exclaimed in shock. Asuna glanced at the

group and gave them a one-sided smirk she'd picked up from a certain

someone.

"We can do this. We can beat this boss—even with our number."

"R-really?!" Yuuki blurted, leaning forward so hard that their noses nearly

bumped.

"As long as we calmly and accurately hit its weaknesses. Here's the strategy:

though the extra arms are tricky, the boss is a giant type, and the fact that it's

not an abnormal creature type means that at least it has traditional facets we

can exploit. We know it attacks by swinging down its hammers, lashing with its

chains, and lowering its heads to charge. When its HP is half down, it adds a

wide-range breath attack. When the HP goes farther down to red, it uses an

eight-part Sword Skill with all four weapons…"

Asuna spread open a holo-panel on the floor, switched it to a text-entry

window, and quickly typed up a list of the boss's attack patterns. Then she

listed the specific defensive methods for each one.

"…So Jun and Tecchi, you can ignore the chains. Just focus on the hammers.

Next is the weak points. Don't try to stop the hammer swings with your shields

or weapons, just dodge them and let them hit the floor—that will cause a pointseven-second delay. Nori and Talken, make sure that you get major attacks in

during that window. Also, its back has significant weaknesses. Yuuki, you stay

on his rear at all times and use charge skills. Just watch out for the chains, as

they go all the way around the back. Now, as for the breath attack…"

She hadn't talked this much at a strategy meeting since she was an officer in

the Knights of the Blood, but Asuna didn't have time to reflect on the distant

past. The other six nodded, listening intently.

A part of her noted that it was like being a schoolteacher. Asuna's lecture was

done in four minutes. Next, she opened her inventory and materialized all the

healing potions they'd bought with their preparation budget, as well as the

parting gifts her friends had shared with them.

A pile of colorful glass bottles clattered across the floor. They distributed the

potions in a ratio matching the damage each member had taken in their

previous attempt. Then, they tossed the blue potions with mana recovery

effects into Asuna's and Siune's pouches, completing the preparations.

Asuna stood up straight, looked at her new companions, and grinned. "I'll say

it again. You…no, we can beat this boss. I've been fighting in this place for years,

so take it from me."

Yuuki gave her usual dazzling smile and stated, "My hunch was right. I was

correct to ask you for help—and that won't change, whether we succeed or fail.

Thank you, Asuna."

The others all agreed. Siune, who seemed to be the second-in-command, said

in a soft but clear voice, "Thank you very much. I am now certain that you were

exactly the person we were hoping to find."

Asuna did her best to contain the sudden swell of emotion she felt within her.

She held up a finger and winked.

"Let's hold all of that until we can celebrate. So…once again, let's do this!"

The group left Rombal again, flying for the labyrinth at maximum speed. They

took the shortest, most direct route, which caught the attention of several

monsters, but Nori's bewitching magic temporarily blinded them so the party

could continue unmolested.

They reached the massive tower in just five minutes, flying straight into the

entrance without stopping first, then racing the same route all the way up to

the top. Of course, they couldn't just run through the middle of the monster

groups unimpeded, but Yuuki took the reins and once again dispatched the

enemy leaders.

Their timers read twenty-eight minutes when they reached the corridor that

led to the boss chamber. The long, wide hallway curved left in a spiral as it

headed toward the center of the tower.

"All right! Two minutes to go!" Jun shouted, and started a sprint for the goal

in front of Yuuki.

"Hey! Wait, you!" she cried, racing after him with her hand outstretched.

At this rate, they might just be able to rub it into the bigger guild's face, Asuna

thought as she ran along. The group plunged down the winding corridor until

finally, the doors to the chamber came into view.

"…?!"

She sucked in a deep breath and put on the brakes when she saw what lay

ahead. Yuuki's and Jun's boots scraped against the floor as they came to a stop.

"Wh…what is this?!" Jun murmured, next to Asuna.

The last seventy feet of the corridor to the boss chamber was jammed with a

crowd of players, near twenty in all.

Their races were mixed, but there was one common feature: They all bore a

single guild symbol on their color cursors. It was a shield with a horse in profile

—the same thing as the three they'd caught waiting at the door.

We are too late?! They couldn't have gathered their members this quickly,

Asuna thought ruefully. It wasn't enough people for a boss fight. Twenty people

were three parties, less than half of the maximum raid size of seven parties of

seven.

They were probably still waiting for the rest of their group to arrive. Making

the very end of the labyrinth your meeting spot was a bold move, but that was

probably a sign of how desperate they were.

This time, Yuuki finally looked somewhat upset. Asuna approached her and

whispered into the girl's ear, hidden by long purple hair.

"Don't worry. It looks like we'll have time to try it once."

"…Really?" asked Yuuki, looking relieved. Asuna patted her shoulder and

strode over to the group. Every one of them stared at her, but there was no

surprise or doubt on their faces. In fact, there was an easiness that said they

were enjoying the situation.

Asuna paid them no mind and marched right up to a gnome wearing

particularly expensive-looking armor.

"I'm sorry, we'd like to fight the boss. Will you let us through?"

But the gnome, whose arms were folded forbiddingly, gave her the exact

answer she was fearing: "Sorry, no passage."

"No passage…? What do you mean?" she asked, taken aback. The gnome's

eyebrows bounced high as he shrugged.

"Our guild's going to fight the boss here. We're just making preparations now.

You'll have to wait."

"Wait? How long?"

"About an hour."

Now Asuna understood their plan. Not only had they put those scouts there

to watch for boss strategies, but they had more members ready to physically

block the path in case any particularly able-looking parties happened to arrive

while they were preparing.

She had heard rumors about certain high-level guilds monopolizing certain

hunting areas, but she had no idea that they were brazenly claiming neutral

ground regularly like this. This was the kind of tyrannical behavior that the army

had engaged in, back in the old Aincrad.

Asuna did her best not to stifle her natural urge to blister. "We don't have

time to wait around for that. If you're going to fight right away, that's one thing.

But if you're not, we're going first."

"I'm afraid that's not happening," said the gnome, utterly unperturbed. "We

lined up first. You'll have to wait your turn."

"In that case, come when you're actually ready. We can go in at any time, so

it's not fair to make us wait a whole hour."

"Like I said, there's nothing I can do for you. It's orders from above, so if

you've got a problem, you can take it up with Guild HQ back in Ygg City."

"But that'll take us an hour just to go back there!" Asuna finally yelled, her

temper lost. She bit her lip and took a deep breath.

They weren't going to let the team pass, no matter how she negotiated. So

what could they do?

What if she negotiated to give them all the items and yrd that the boss

dropped, if they allowed the party to go in first? No, items weren't all the

benefits of beating a boss. There was a huge pile of skill points to be gained, as

well as the intangible honor of having one's name on the Monument of

Swordsmen. These people would not bite.

If this were a different VRMMO, they might have the option of reporting

unfair behavior to the GMs, but it was general ALO policy to have all players

resolve differences on their own. GMs only got involved with system or

personal account issues. Asuna was trapped.

The gnome glared down at her, sensing that their negotiation was over, and

he turned to rejoin his fellows.

From behind Asuna, Yuuki called out to the gnome: "Hey, you."

He stopped and looked over his shoulder at the Absolute Sword's cheerful

grin. "So you're saying that no matter how nicely we ask, you're not going to let

us pass?"

"That's basically it, if you want to know."

He had been momentarily surprised by the frankness of Yuuki's question, but

he regained his haughty attitude just as quickly. Yuuki kept her smile up as she

said, "Oh. That's that, then. Let's fight."

"Wh-what?!"

"Huh?"

Asuna's confused shriek came at the same moment as the gnome's.

One of ALO's more hardcore features was the ability to attack other players

freely when in neutral territory. It was explained in the game's help menu that

every player had the right to express his or her frustration with others through

the use of a sword.

But actually attacking others had its own troubles beyond just what was

stipulated in the rules—especially when your target was a member of a highranking guild. Winning that particular duel could mean receiving retribution

from the guild at a later time, and you never knew when an in-game argument

could spill out into the larger Net community. It was well known among those

who weren't in the game explicitly for PKing that one should never pick a fight

with a big guild.

"Y-Yuuki, you might not want…" Asuna started, pausing when she wasn't sure

how best to explain all this. Yuuki just patted her on the back with a smile.

"There are some things you can't get across without confronting them, Asuna.

Such as showing just how serious you are about something."

"Yep, she's right," Jun murmured from behind them. Asuna turned to see the

other five members brandishing their weapons with calm acceptance.

"You guys…"

"They must be prepared for this possibility, too; they're the ones blocking the

way. They'll be guarding this spot down to the last man, I expect," Yuuki said,

throwing a glance at the lead gnome. "Isn't that right?"

"Uh…W-we're…" the man stammered, still surprised. The small imp girl drew

her longsword and held the point out in midair. The smile vanished from her

lips, and her eyes went hard and serious.

"Now draw your weapon," Yuuki commanded. As if possessed by her

demand, the gnome pulled a large battle-ax from his belt and uneasily held it at

the ready.

The next moment, the girl charged down the corridor like a gust of wind.

"Nwuh…!"

The gnome growled and grimaced, finally realizing what was happening. He

swung his enormous ax, but it was far too late. Yuuki's obsidian sword came in

low and bolted upward like a wave of darkness, catching him square in the

chest.

"Urgh!"

That single blow was all it took for Yuuki to knock back the gnome, who vastly

outweighed her. Next came a direct overhead slash. The sword bit into the

gnome's shoulder with a heavy thunk, carving out a huge chunk of HP.

"Raaahh!!" he bellowed, truly enraged now, and swung his double-bladed ax

down at Yuuki from the right. His speed was impressive and worthy of a party

leader for a major guild, but the Absolute Sword calmly met the blow.

Kwing! A high-pitched metallic ringing diverted the ax just slightly, so that it

passed inches over Yuuki's red headband. Normally, parrying was a trick that

only worked on weapons in the same weight class or lower. The only reason her

delicate, rapierlike sword could parry a tremendous battle-ax was the

frightening speed with which she swung it. Such movement was not possible

unless the avatar, the nervous system, and the AmuSphere that connected

them were fused as one.

What kind of experience did one need to reach such heights? Asuna watched

the battle with wonder and curiosity, as Yuuki's sword took on a pale blue glow.

She was preparing a Sword Skill.

The gnome was already off balance from his failed heavy attack, and she

caught him with four blows in the space of a breath: a strike to the head, a

downward slash, an upward slash, and a full-power overhead slice. The glowing

blue square left behind by the point of her sword burned in the gnome's body.

It was the perpendicular four-part attack, Vertical Square.

"Gaaah!" the gnome roared, flying backward and crashing onto the floor. His

HP bar dropped all the way to the red zone. He himself must have hardly

believed it, because his eyes darted to the upper right and went wide.

He looked back at Yuuki, and his expression of shock turned to rage. "You…

you pulled a dirty sneak attack on me!" he snarled, rather inaccurately. When

he got to his feet again, his twenty companions were switched into battle

mode. The close-range fighters spread out to span the hallway, drawing their

weapons.

Asuna automatically squeezed her World Tree wand, her mind ringing with

the refrain of Yuuki's earlier statement.

There are some things you can't get across without confronting them, Asuna.

That wasn't just meant for this situation. It was a firmly held belief of the

strange girl named Yuuki. She had been doing this all along, after all. She'd

crossed blades with countless challengers in her street duels, coming into

contact with their hearts in the process.

…I see…But of course…

Asuna found that she was smiling without realizing it. If you backed down

from challenging other players because you were worried about retribution,

there was no point in playing a VRMMO at all. The sword at her waist was not

for show, nor was it a piece of precious jewelry. Not at all.

Asuna took a step forward, her boots clicking with intense purpose, drawing

herself next to Yuuki. Jun and Siune took Asuna's right, while Tecchi, Nori, and

Talken stood on Yuuki's left.

Something about their little party of seven caused the enemy force, three

times their number, to falter a step back.

The tense moment was broken by a horde of footsteps, not from ahead, but

from behind. The gnome looked over the Sleeping Knights' heads at the far end

of the hallway and grinned with victorious smugness.

"…!"

Asuna turned back, dreading what she would see, as a huge number of color

cursors appeared in her view. The guild tags were mostly new to her—an arrow

on a crescent moon—but some of them contained the familiar horse on shield.

That meant this was the other half of the raid party the gnome's people were

waiting for. There ought to be nearly thirty of them, then.

No matter how tough Yuuki's team was, they couldn't beat seven times their

number, especially when flanked on both sides. The foes outside of their

weapon range alone would pick them off by magic or arrows.

This is my fault for waffling like that, Asuna thought, biting her lip with

remorse. If she'd followed Yuuki's creed from the start, they might have blown

through the twenty ahead of them and made it into the boss chamber.

But before she could apologize to her party, Yuuki brushed her hand. She

could sense the girl's intent through her virtual skin.

I'm sorry, Asuna. My impatience got you dragged into this. But I don't regret a

thing. That was the best smile I've seen from you since I met you.

The whisper seemed to sink directly into her head. Asuna squeezed back to

impart her own message: No, I'm sorry for being useless. Maybe this floor won't

work out, but I'm sure we can defeat the next boss together.

Their sentiments were sensed and shared by the other five. Everyone nodded

and formed a rounded formation with a front and rear line. All thirty bearing

down on them from the rear had apparently received a briefing about the

situation, and were ready with their weapons drawn.

At this point, they just had to fight as long as they could. Asuna held her wand

aloft, preparing an attack spell. A claw-wielding cait sith on the enemy's front

rank flashed a carnivorous smile and snarled, "You don't know when to—"

But before he could finish his triumphant taunt, Asuna and every other player

present in the corridor was brought to a halt by an even more unimaginable

sight.

"Wh-what's that…?!" cried Nori, who was the first to notice it with her night

vision. A second later, Asuna saw it as well.

From behind the approaching enemy reinforcements, who were nearly

twenty yards away now, something…someone was running sideways along the

gently curving corridor wall. The silhouette was dark and hazy from the extreme

speed.

Whoever it was, they were using the Wallrun skill that all of the more nimble

fairy races could use: sylph, undine, cait sith, imp, and spriggan. But it normally

only lasted a good thirty feet or so, while this figure had already traveled three

times that length. It was a piece of acrobatics that was impossible without

incredible dash speed.

But as soon as that thought registered in her mind—perhaps from the very

moment she first saw the vague shadow—Asuna was certain she knew who it

was.

The figure raced along the wall until it surpassed the reinforcement party and

leaped off the wall to the floor, sparks spraying from the bottom of his boots as

he slowed. He came to a stop in between the enemy and the Sleeping Knights,

his back facing Asuna.

He sported tight-fitting black leather pants, a long black coat, close-cropped

but layered black hair, and a particularly large one-handed longsword on his

back.

This weapon was sheathed in a black hide scabbard imprinted with a white

wyvern. That was the logo of Lisbeth Armory, a well-known shop along a main

thoroughfare in Yggdrasil City. Asuna's best friend had crafted that splendid

sword of a rare metal only found in Jotunheim.

The black-clad swordsman's hand blurred as it drew the pale blue longsword

from his back and jammed it into the stone floor at his feet with a tremendous

ringing. Thirty veteran fighters came to a screeching halt, shocked still by his

force of presence.

Ironically, what he said next was extremely similar to what the ax-bearing

gnome had just said to Asuna moments earlier: "Sorry, this area is off-limits."

His voice was loud and clear but devoid of intensity. It was met with silence

not just from the thirty reinforcements, but also the twenty original guild

members, as well as Asuna and the Sleeping Knights.

It was a slender salamander at the lead of the reinforcements who was the

first to react to this cocky claim. He shook his head in disbelief, long auburn hair

waving.

"Come now, Master Black. You don't honestly think that even you can take on

this many people solo, do you?"

The swordsman, who had as many nicknames as there were ways to describe

a person dressed all in black, shrugged his shoulders and said, "I don't know.

I've never tried before."

The salamander, who appeared to be the leader of the guild alliance as a

whole, snorted and raised his hand. "Of course you haven't. Well, let's see how

you do…Mages, burn him."

He snapped his fingers. High-speed spell chanting emerged from the rear of

the group. From their reaction speed to the clarity of their speech, they were

well-trained sorcerers. Asuna's instincts were to start casting a heal spell, but

the twenty members of the lead group behind them would not allow her that

much time.

At that moment, the spriggan intruder turned at last.

The invincible grin that pulled up his left cheek was the same one she'd seen

countless times through several different avatars. But the next moment, an

eruption of spells from behind him turned his smile into a silhouette.

Yet Kirito the Black Swordsman did not show an ounce of consternation at the

seven high-level attack spells hurtling toward him. It would have been pointless

to dodge, after all—they were all single-target homing spells, and there was no

escape in a corridor just sixteen feet across, where flight was prohibited to

boot.

Instead, Kirito lifted the sword from the floor to rest on his shoulder, where it

began to glow a deep crimson—the initiation of a Sword Skill.

The next moment, the corridor was filled with bursting color, a tremendous

roar, and the shock of fifty-plus onlookers.

The seven-part skill that Kirito unleashed, Deadly Sins, neutralized—no, cut

through—all of the oncoming attack spells.

"No…way…" Yuuki the Absolute Sword muttered. Asuna understood that

feeling. But if you couldn't handle someone who did the impossible, the

improbable, the implausible, then you couldn't handle the VRMMO player

known as Kirito.

This was a non-system-defined skill that Kirito had developed, which he called

"spell-blasting."

Long ago, during the old Aincrad, Kirito liked to use a special skill he called

"arms-blasting," which was the accurate use of Sword Skills on weakened or

fragile parts of his dueling opponent's weapon, in order to cause the item to

break. It was an incredible piece of pure skill, requiring superhuman reaction

speed and precision—but cutting through spells in ALO was even harder than

that.

Attack spells almost universally had no physical form and resembled nothing

more than a cluster of light effects. The only place they could be "hit" was at

the exact center point of the spell. So a fast-moving spot the size of a pixel had

to be hit with a Sword Skill, not a standard attack. Your ordinary physical

weapon attack could not neutralize a magical attack. However, nearly all Sword

Skills had some kind of elemental damage like earth, water, fire, and so on,

which made them capable of colliding with magic. But because the system took

control of the attack trajectory and speed when performing a Sword Skill,

hitting the center of a spell was beyond difficult and into the realm of

absolutely impossible.

In fact, Leafa, Klein, and Asuna had joined Kirito on his attempt to master the

spell-blasting ability, and they had to call it quits after three days. Kirito claimed

that the only reason he could pull it off was his conversion to Gun Gale Online,

where he had lots of experience cutting bullets with a sword. "Every high-speed

magic spell is slower than a bullet from a live-ammo rifle," he said with a

straight face, which earned him three seconds of stunned silence from his

friends.

For these reasons, Kirito was probably—no, unquestionably—the only player

in Alfheim who could pull off this feat. And he only practiced it in secret, never

in duels or with a party, so the members of this mammoth guild had never seen

it done before.

"…What the hell…?" the long-haired salamander moaned, while his

companions on either end of the corridor murmured similar sentiments.

"He cut the spells!"

"Sure it wasn't coincidence?"

"That's the thing…"

But true to their reputation as veteran players, the guild recovered quickly. At

the salamander's orders, the front fighters drew their weapons, the roving

fighters readied bows and polearms, and the rear guard resumed chanting

spells. This time they weren't single-homing spells but multihoming and areaballistic types.

Kirito turned back and gave Asuna another nod, then held up three fingers on

his left hand. It wasn't a variation on the V-for-victory sign, of course, but a

message that he would provide defense for three minutes. Even he didn't think

that he could defeat thirty players on his own.

At last, Asuna understood why Kirito had shown up at this moment.

When he heard from her that she'd be assisting the Sleeping Knights in

beating the floor boss, he already expected the big guild alliance would run

interference. So he probably hid at the entrance to the tower, watching for

alliance activity. When he saw more people enter the labyrinth than the

Sleeping Knights could handle, he tossed aside his personal safety to buy them

some time.

Three minutes. One hundred and eighty seconds. That amount of time passed

in a blink at their forest cabin, but it was tremendously long in a PvP battle. She

didn't doubt Kirito's ability, but could he really hold down so many players for

such a long time? Should they send one of their seven to his aid…?

Two things cut through her moment's hesitation.

First, Kirito reached around his back with his left hand to grab the hilt of a

second sword, which he drew loudly and clearly. It was a frighteningly elegant

longsword with a deep golden blade. This was not a player-made weapon. It

was the holy sword Excalibur, a legendary weapon sealed in the depths of the

floating labyrinth in the underground realm of Jotunheim. They'd attempted

the labyrinth with as many people as could fit on the back of Tonky, Leafa's

flying monster friend, and were nearly wiped out entirely in the boss battle. But

the sight of Kirito with his dual blades again gave him the aura of absolute

dependability that made all that trouble worth it.

The reinforcements backed away slightly at the sheer force of presence the

golden blade held. As if waiting for that instant of hesitation, a hardy bellow

issued from behind the back row of enemies.

"Raaah! And I'm here, too, though I bet you can't see me!!"

The gruff, inelegant voice belonged to the familiar katana warrior Klein. Asuna

rose on her tiptoes and saw an ugly bandanna and spiked red hair over the

heads of the enemy. So Kirito wasn't the only one monitoring the labyrinth. But

why did he show up so much later?

"You're late! What took you so long?" Kirito shouted from this side of the

crowd. Klein yelped, "Sorry, I got lost!" from the other end. Asuna nearly

wobbled and lost her balance.

Lastly, she noticed a small figure waving to her from Kirito's shoulder. It was

their daughter, Yui, in her pixie form. The warmth of her adorable smile filled

Asuna's heart.

Thank you, Yui. Thank you, Klein.

I love you, Kirito.

Asuna turned to Yuuki and whispered, "We can leave them to those two. Our

job is to break through the twenty on the other side and make our way into the

boss chamber."

"Okay, got it," Yuuki said crisply, after several high-speed blinks. She turned

and held her longsword high, preparing an immediate Sword Skill. As her

weapon began glowing purple, the others readied their weapons as well—Jun

and Siune on the left wing and Tecchi, Nori, and Talken on the right.

The twenty members of the lead party and their gnome captain were

confused at all of the rapid developments, but when they saw the Sleeping

Knights start to go into action, they responded with admirable speed.

Once she heard the deafening roar of magic and Sword Skills clashing behind

them, Asuna shouted, "Let's go!"

With Yuuki at the lead point, the seven formed a wedge and barreled

forward. Likewise, the gnome's team roared and charged ahead.

The two sides clashed, resulting in a shock wave of consecutive light flashes.

In an instant, the battle was plunged into chaos, and the sounds of fighting

engulfed their end of the corridor as it had the other side.

Asuna knew from personal experience that Yuuki was a veteran dueler, but

she was surprised to see that the other members still held their ground without

an ounce of hesitation now that their foes had gone from monsters to humans.

Jun's two-handed ax and Tecchi's heavy mace made good use of their weight

to crumble the enemy's formation, and Talken's long spear and Nori's

quarterstaff snaked into the gaps that ensued. Meanwhile, Yuuki was making

the best of her preternatural evasive ability to nimbly dodge the many strikes

bearing down on her, then slip past the enemy's guard and counter with

decisive slashes.

The Sleeping Knights fought with valiant skill against a group several times

their number, but the enemy did not go down easily. The mages in the rear

were casting continual healing spells to keep them going.

As was unavoidable in a massive, chaotic scrum like this, all the members

aside from Yuuki steadily began to lose HP to incidental hits. Asuna and Siune

began to cast healing spells as one.

Suddenly, two shadows slipped out of the group and sprinted for them. They

were assassin types, with light leather armor and nasty, glinting daggers in

hand.

Upon realizing that they were, in fact, the same people who had been hiding

in wait outside the boss chamber less than an hour earlier, Asuna instinctively

changed her spell chant. She blazed through her specialty chant in just two

seconds, and fine waterspouts rose from the sylphs' feet and tangled them,

throwing the two to the ground.

She turned to Siune, who had just finished another healing spell, and

whispered, "Can you manage the healing on your own?"

The slightly taller undine nodded at once. "Yes, I think I can hold us together."

"Then I'm going to go take out the enemy healers."

More than a minute had passed since the start of the battle, and the roar of

battle behind them was fiercer than ever before. Kirito and Klein had to be

throwing themselves into the midst of the enemy battalion to protect against

magic attacks, but without a healer focusing on them, they had no way of

making up that incidental damage. He'd said three minutes, but she wanted to

wrap up this group in two to make it up to them. They needed to focus on

winning quickly.

Asuna opened her window and hurled her wand into the inventory, equipping

her beloved rapier instead. A band of silver light materialized around her waist,

solidifying into a sword belt and scabbard of fine mithril.

She drew the long, slender weapon with a fine ringing and charged at the two

sylphs who were still grappling with her Aqua Bind tangling spell. With a few

merciless attacks at critical points, she quickly eliminated all of their HP.

Through the expanding cloud of their shattering remains, she peered at the

close battle ahead. The churning sea of blades and attacks spanned the width of

the corridor, but it seemed the right side was the thinner of the two.

Asuna took a deep breath and plunged forward, dashing at full speed with her

rapier held low against her waist. Once she was up to a good momentum, she

bellowed at full volume so Yuuki could hear her, facing the opposite direction.

"Yuuki! Dodge!"

"Huh…? Wha—?!"

Yuuki turned back and just leaped out of the way in time as she caught sight

of Asuna's charge. Beyond her, the gnome leader was paused with his ax pulled

back, and Asuna thrust her rapier forward, leaning as far over as she could go.

Numerous surges of white light leaped from the point, trailing around Asuna.

Next, she felt her body begin to float. She was charging forward with such

speed that the light trailed behind her like a comet.

"Whoaaa!!"

The gnome finally burst into motion, holding his two-handed ax sideways like

a shield. But his attempt was just an instant too late, as the point of the rapier

impacted the center of his body.

He flew high into the air, as if some enormous, rampaging beast had thrown

him. Most of his HP had been carved away by Yuuki's sword already, and his

body began to disintegrate and emit yellow light in midair.

Asuna the white-hot comet did not slow down after her first victim but

continued in a straight line toward the enemy healers in the back. Three or four

more foes met the same fate as their captain, some flying high and others

collapsing to the ground. This was the strength of Flashing Penetrator, a longrange rapier Sword Skill that fell in both the "elite" and "charging" categories. It

was nearly impossible to use in a one-on-one duel, owing to the considerable

running start it required, but it was an extremely useful tool for breaking

through enemy groups like this.

After piercing the wall of armor and shields and coasting for several more

yards in the air, Asuna finally landed on the labyrinth floor. She screeched to a

halt, her boots sending up sparks, and looked up with a knee to the ground.

Four spell casters in robes and cassocks stared down at her in stunned silence.

Great. I have a feeling that "Berserk Healer" nickname is going to spread even

further after this, Asuna thought ruefully as she pulled her rapier back.

In a group battle, it was not actually the ability of the close-combat fighters at

the front that mattered but the ability of the backup forces in the rear. After

Asuna eliminated all of the healing ability of the enemy's lead force, they didn't

stand a chance against the Sleeping Knights with Siune's support.

Two minutes and eight seconds had passed.

She turned back to see Kirito and Klein, still locked in fierce battle with the

reinforcements. The larger group was smaller than before, but the two men's

HP levels, as indicated by their color cursors, were near the red zone.

Asuna felt a fresh wave of gratitude to the two men and the pixie on Kirito's

shoulder, who was acting as their strategic radar. She turned back to the

Sleeping Knights, all of whom were still alive, and shouted, "It's showtime! Let's

beat this boss!!"

The other six responded in kind and hurtled forward. Asuna raced with all her

speed for the dark, looming doors to the boss chamber.

Just as in their first attempt, Jun used his free hand to pry the way open.

Beyond the heavy double doors burned two pale fires.

The slow tracing of the circle as the fires lit automatically was their grace

period after opening the door, but the team had no need to wait for it now. The

party of seven plunged deeper into the chamber. Asuna, who was the last

inside, turned to her right and hit a stone button on the wall. This canceled the

minute of extra time they had, instantly shutting the chamber doors.

The massive doors rumbled and began to close. Through the shrinking gap,

they could see that the battle outside was entering its final phase.

The swordsman in black raised his right hand over a bloodred HP bar. At last,

it was the two fingers that signaled victory to Asuna.

The boss chamber doors closed at last, shutting out all sound from the

corridor. No one would be able to open them until the battle inside was

finished.

Amid a heavy silence, the only action was the growing of the signal fires every

two seconds. The line of flames was not even halfway around the circular arena.

They had a good fifty seconds left until the boss appeared.

"Everyone, recover all your HP and MP with potions. Remember the strategy

we discussed for the fight. The first few attacks are very simple, so stay calm

and dodge them all," Asuna instructed. The other six nodded and took out little

red and blue bottles.

When she realized they wanted to say something after recovering, Asuna

looked at them expectantly. Yuuki took a step forward as the representative of

the group and said, "Asuna…did those two men join in…to help us get

through…?"

"…Yes," she replied, smiling. By now, Kirito and Klein would have lost their last

HP and turned into little floating Remain Lights. In fact, knowing that nobody

there would revive them, they probably just gave up and respawned at the save

point.

Asuna gave the Sleeping Knights a stern look, realizing that they were

probably preoccupied with the fate of the two men who had sacrificed

themselves for their sake.

"Let's make it up to them by reporting that we successfully defeated the

boss."

"…But this entire time, we've only gotten anywhere thanks to you and your

friends, Asuna," Yuuki mumbled, biting her lip and hanging her head. Asuna

patted her shoulders kindly. They had ten seconds until the boss. She needed to

use that time to tell them something important.

"I've learned something very precious from you, too, Yuuki: There are some

things you can't get across without confrontation."

Yuuki went wide-eyed with surprise, but Siune and the others instantly

understood what Asuna was saying. Behind the smiling, nodding fairies, the

final guiding flames burst into life, louder than the others.

"This is our last chance! While we're fighting in here, that guild's going to

regroup and reunite in the hallway. We've got to hang in there so that when the

doors open, all they see is our triumphant faces!"

When she was the vice commander of the Knights of the Blood, Asuna was

often the one to deliver fiery speeches like this before a boss fight. But back

then, her statements caused more tension in the ranks than morale boosting.

She got them to clutch their swords but did not reach their hearts. Asuna was

only thinking of effective strategic leadership and wasn't connecting with her

emotions.

Hey…Yuuki. When this battle is over, tell me more about yourself. I want to

know what worlds you've traveled, what adventures you've led.

She squeezed Yuuki's shoulders one last time, then took a step back. The

rapier was in its sheath and stashed away, the tree-branch wand back in her

hand and held high.

Where it pointed, a low, bass-heavy rumble heralded the arrival of angular,

boulderlike polygons. The boss was materializing. The bulky, humanoid clump

burst into countless shards, revealing a two-headed, four-armed giant.

"All right…Time for a rematch!"

Yuuki's clear voice, the shouts of the group, and the roar of the dark titan all

overlapped.