-380- Fought to the death

In a room resembling an altar, the roar of the Gleam Eyes continued incessantly, making the entire room feel like it was locked with a ferocious beast. If someone outside the door heard the commotion, they would undoubtedly shudder in fear.

However, Rozen and Asuna had no choice but to face the enemy, giving it their all, and pouring all their hearts into this battle.

The one word that could describe this battle was "perilous."

It was truly incredibly perilous.

An floor guardian boss was not an opponent a single player could handle. Even if they had reached a level relatively safe for this floor, when facing an guardian boss, it was practically impossible for a player to win in a one-on-one situation.

As mentioned earlier, even for Rozen, he would need to bring a party of at least a dozen people, including skilled players like Kirito and Asuna, to have a 100% chance of defeating it.

Now, with only Rozen and Asuna, their chances of victory had drastically decreased, reaching a perilous level.

It was an extremely dire battle.

Although the Gleam Eyes didn't change its attack pattern halfway through the battle like the floor 1 area guardian boss, Kobold Lord Illfang, its attack pattern consisted of two-handed sword skills and breath attacks.

However, its use of two-handed sword skills had subtle differences from typical ones, making it challenging to predict its attack patterns. Coupled with the fact that each of its strikes was incredibly powerful, even grazing them caused their HP to decrease gradually.

The breath attacks were even more dangerous, potentially inflicting the Burn debuff status. Even if they managed to evade them, they still suffered some damage. In this situation, Rozen and Asuna's HP bars had fluctuated countless times, dipping into the yellow and even red zones, making it impossible to adequately describe the danger they were in.

However, this was a Crystal Ineffective Area, and not only were Teleport Crystals rendered useless, but even Healing Crystals that could restore all HP in one go were ineffective. Curing Crystals and Purification Crystals were also nullified, leaving Rozen and Asuna to rely solely on potions for HP recovery, which made the situation extremely challenging.

Fortunately, Rozen and Asuna's levels were significantly higher than what was considered safe for this floor.

The safety level of Floor 74 was 84.

Rozen was already level 99, and Asuna had reached level 94. Both of them had levels far exceeding the safety level. Coupled with high-performance equipment, they managed to endure.

Of course, if they had only Asuna's level of strength, it would be impossible to defeat the area guardian boss unless they were many levels higher.

But Rozen's strength was on a completely different level, surpassing the average player. He had reached another dimension of power, and even in a duel against players with unique skills like Kirito and Heathcliff, he wouldn't fall behind in the slightest.

Therefore, Rozen, using the power of his Mind's Eye, repeatedly deciphered the Gleam Eyes' attacks, not only responding to them himself but also directing Asuna to respond. He even commanded both of his summoned familiars with incredible skill, causing many of the Gleam Eyes' attacks to miss.

On this side, Rozen continued to have Saichou and Hanachou alternate between using negative status skills like paralysis, blindness, sleep, and poison to manipulate the Gleam Eyes while utilizing the performance of Azure Abyss +70 and the high chance critical hits from Mind's Eye to successfully chip away at the Gleam Eyes' HP.

Although Asuna couldn't match Rozen's strength, the name "Flash" wasn't just for show. She continuously unleashed high-level sword skills from her rapier like shooting stars, inflicting considerable damage and disruption on the Gleam Eyes.

This high-burst and high-risk battle continued for a full half hour.

It was only after half an hour that the Gleam Eyes' last HP bar finally entered the red zone.

At the same time, Rozen and Asuna had used up all their potions, and both of their HP bars were in the red.

The Gleam Eyes let out its most ferocious roar to date, and in its final moments, it began to radiate a gleaming aura, spewing it forward.

"Asuna!"

"Yes!"

Rozen shouted urgently, and Asuna responded without hesitation.

Her rapier shot forward at an astonishing speed, ignoring the scorching breath attack.

"Spinning Shield!"

Before this, Rozen had already moved, causing his crystal sword, radiating a pale green sword skill aura, to spin like a windmill in his hand, completely blocking the oncoming scorching breath.

Asuna immediately brushed past Rozen's body, passing under the breath attack, and arrived below the Gleam Eyes.

"Ha!"

Asuna shouted with all her strength, her rapier pouring out a shower of starlight, flying towards the front.

That was the high-level rapier skill, "Star Splash," which consisted of eight consecutive thrusts.

"Swoosh...!"

The incredibly fast thrusts exploded on the Gleam Eyes, making the starlight rapier pierce it continuously eight times before stopping.

The Gleam Eyes' HP immediately decreased slightly, and the breath attack it had been maintaining came to an abrupt halt, leaving it furious.

However, at this moment, Asuna shouted.

"Switch!"

The instant this voice sounded, a figure passed over Asuna's head and landed in front of her.

Clang!

A bright red sword skill effect gleamed on the crystal sword.

Rozen tightly gripped the deep blue crystal sword, radiating a brilliant red light, and charged towards the Gleam Eyes.

"Roar!"

As if sensing danger, the Gleam Eyes roared angrily and also emanated the light of a sword skill as it raised its massive sword high.

Both sides seemed ready to go all out, with only a sliver of health remaining and the release of potentially lethal sword skills.

The one whose sword skill hit the other first would be the victor.

That was the situation now.

Unfortunately, the Gleam Eyes' sword skill was doomed to fail.

"Gu!"

"Gu!"

Accompanied by an indescribable number of melodious cries, Saichou and Hanachou arrived above the Gleam Eyes' head and sprinkled their last phosphorescent powder.

The phosphorescent powder was yellow.

It was the skill "Paralysis Powder."

"Bzzt....."

Like lightning, the effect light completely immobilized the Gleam Eyes.

"Now's the time!"

Rozen, using his "Mind's Eye" skill, smoothly pinpointed the Gleam Eyes' weakness, read the optimal trajectory for his sword skill, and transformed his crystal sword into a red comet, striking forward.

The target was the Gleam Eyes' heart.

"Splut!"

The sound of flesh tearing.

"Roar------!!!!"

The demon's roar ceased.

The dazzling crystal sword pierced through the Gleam Eyes' chest, emerging from its back.

Without a doubt, it was a critical hit, causing the HP bar of the floor 74 area guardian boss to plummet rapidly until it reached zero.

"Boom!"

The demon froze into blue, shattering into polygonal fragments.

This boss battle took half an hour, half the time compared to the previous floor, but the ultimate victors were the two swordsmen.

Two swordsmen who fought to the death.