Sword Art Online - Volume 8 - Early and Late

by Reki Kawahara

  It was just as «Queen of the Lake Urth» said, the number of the enemies inside the dungeon was quite thin. The encounter rate of the small fry mob was almost zero. Half of the floor’s sub-bosses were also absent. However, the boss defending the hall in front of the stairs to the lower floor was there as expected, it was time to show our overwhelming attack power to the boss once which once forced Asuna, Lyfa, and I to say “No way―!”.

  Nevertheless, we somehow defeated the one-eyed boss on the first floor without twisting our hands, ran through the second floor, and managed to reach the boss room again, however——

  What awaited for us there was the giant humanoid with the head of a bull, a large evil-god of the so-called «Minotaur» type. Moreover, there were two of them, the one on the right had its whole body in pitch black, the body of the other one on the left glittered with gold, the weapons they both used were battle axes with blades as large as dining tables.

  As the first floor’s Cyclops boss was defeated easily by the icicle in the center of the room, even without magic attacks, I first thought that we were fine, but there was one problem. Apparently, the black one resisted magic, while the gold one would be physical resistant, and thinking that it was fine resulted in an unexpectedly high price to pay.

  Then we should defeat the black quickly and after that, attack the gold with carefully set up battle tactics; however, the two bull heads, unexpectedly, seemed to be connected by strong bonds, when the black’s HP decreased, the gold would ignored the hate and come to protect it. During that time, the black behind it would curl up its body, it seemed to be some form of meditation power that could recover its HP.

  After they did that once, we concentrated our attacks on the gold while the black was meditating, but as it had high physical resistance, its HP barely decreased. And of course we had problem with our HP, even though we could avoid the instant death attacks, the ranged attack’s splash damage was impossible to avoid; with the healing only by Asuna, it was obvious she wouldn’t be able to support us for long.

  “Kirito-kun, at this pace, my MP will only last for about one hundred and fifty seconds!”

  I heard Asuna shout from behind me, so I held up my right hand sword in reply.

  In such an endurance battle, if the healer’s MP ran out, what awaited the party was total annihilation —— in other words a «Wipe». If someone managed to survive, it was possible to collect and resurrect the Remain Lights one by one, but it would require a lot of time and effort. However, in case of a wipe, of course we would have to restart from the save point in Aarun. But the problem was how much time we had left——

  As if she could read my concerns, Lyfa who was next to me whispered again.

  “The medallion is more than seventy percent in darkness now, we won’t have enough time if we «Death warp».”

  “Understood.”

  Nodding, I deeply inhaled and enclosed it in my stomach.

  If this was the old Aincrad, I’d issue a withdrawal without a second thought. In that world «Betting on the possibility» was not allowed. But now in ALO, it was no longer a Death Game. Even if the Cardinal System turned the entire Alfheim into a scorched field, it would affect only one thing, which was the «game enjoyment». So in this case, I had to believe in my companions strength.

  “Everyone, when it comes down to this, there’s only one thing we can do!”

  Avoiding the gold Minotaur’s axe swing and affirming the gauge of the black Minotaur recharging its HP in the back, I shouted,

  “This is all-or-nothing, concentrate our attack using Sword Skills on the gold!”

  «Sword Skill».

  Just that, was the game system that distinguished the former SAO from the others.

  In March of this year with the «Aincrad implementation update», the management team had introduced Sword Skills into ALO. However, there were some modifications, one of them was the «Additional damage property». The current high ranked Sword Skills no longer have only pure physical property, but are equipped with magical properties of earth, water, fire, wind, darkness, or holy. Therefore, it would be able to pass through the gold Minotaur’s high physical resistance.

  Of course, there were risks involved. Most of the consecutive Sword Skills had a long stun duration after finishing the move. If we took a direct hit from those battle axes in that time period, the HP gauge would be completely reduced to zero. There was a case where the front and middle rows could be instantly eliminated from the horizontal ranged attack as well.

  However, everyone understood those risks and nodded immediately.

  “Oh yeah! That’s what I’m waiting for!”

  Klein, at the right wing, held his beloved katana high above his head. Jumping to my left was Lyfa who also set up her long sword at her waist. At my back, Lis and Silica tightened their grip on their weapons in preparation.

  “Silica, use «Foam» on the count of three! ——Two, one, now!”

  I instructed based on the gold’s action, Silica then shouted,

  “Pina, «Bubble Breath»!”

  Normally, issuing a command to the pet didn’t ensure one hundred percent success rate regardless of the taming mastery. But I have never seen Pina ignoring Silica’s command before. This time too, the small dragon dancing in the air above Silica opened its mouth and released rainbow colored bubbles.

  The bubbles slipped through the air and burst in front of the gold bull’s nose which was preparing its big attack using its battle axe. The bull with weak magic resistance went under a confusion effect for just a second, and stopped its movement.

  “Go!”

  As a response to my shout —— all the party member’s weapons aside from Asuna’s went into dazzling multi-colored light effects.

  Why did the floating castle Aincrad’s creator Kayaba Akihito create the system of «Unique Skills» with such deviated power?

  Until now I still couldn’t grasp the real reason behind it.

  The skill «Holy Sword» that person possessed could be clear example. Being the leader of the strongest guild Knights of the Blood, the paladin who stood in front of many players with his absolutely unbreakable crossed shield, and those legends would be turned up-side down at the 95th floor, when that man would turn himself into the worst demon king of all RPG last bosses in existence.

  In that moment, the «MMORPG with the main story driven by player’s action» would be realized. An Incarnating Radius —— realized world. In order to achieve his purpose of the world creation, it was necessary for him to continue being the absolutely strongest paladin. Even with «Holy Sword» and «Immortality properties», he also had to depend on the irregular power that was the «Over Assist».

  But if just the unique skill such as the holy sword were sufficient, it would not be necessary to have an MMO where ‘The Hero was the only one who could confront the demon king’. Of course, it would lead to a difference in the player’s battle power, which wouldn’t be appropriate based on the rules of fairness.

  Yet, he still gave «Dual Blades» and probably a few other unique skills to the players.

  Those abilities outside of rules resulted in the unequal distribution of the resources, that guy even understood that it could distort how the world would progress along his plan. In fact, during my duel with Heathcliff for Asuna’s withdrawal from the guild, if I didn’t have the «Dual Blades» skill, he could have won without having to use the Over Assist. Recalling that moment of irregularity caused me to realize Heathcliff’s true identity on the 75th floor. By giving me the unique skill, his imagined world —— his story had to end at just three-quarters of the way.

  In ALO’s world, in the rare moments that I held two swords, I always had a thought in a corner of my mind, Why?

  At the same time, there was also a bit of guilt. Of course, I defeated Heathcliff on the 75th floor —— It was a victory I didn’t regret. If the game hadn’t cleared at that point, the victims of the incident would certainly have increased even further. Amo
ng those might be people dear to me. Or perhaps, even myself.

  However, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. ‘Was it alright like that?’ and ‘Mustn’t we climb to the 100th floor and fight with the demon king Heathcliff there?’ No, not ‘must’. It was what I wanted to do, it was just my egotism, the worst egotism. That was why I hesitated equipping two swords in Alfheim.

  ——However, there was no «Unique Skill» in this world. The new management team had verified the enormous number of sword skills and removed some suspicious conditional skills from the system —— rumors said about ten skills were removed.

  So I couldn’t use the dual wielding sword skills such as «Double Circular» and «Starburst Stream» anymore. While I could reproduce its movement without System Assist to ninety-nine percent, and I had proven it against both human and monsters, however, it couldn’t be used here. Because my self-made dual wielding skill version, although it could reproduce the technique’s power, it didn’t contain any magical attribute, so it was ineffective against the high physical resistance gold Minotaur.

  However, «Using one handed sword skills while equipped with two swords» had one advantage —— as Lyfa said «A lead tipped shinai was like terribly cheating a hundred fold».

  Being hit by the special move «Bubble Breath» from the little dragon Pina, the gold Minotaur was stunned for about a second, in front of it was me, Klein was on the right, Lyfa on the left, and from both sides Lis and Silica were also there, we all charged in at the same time.

  “U……ooo!”

  Everyone roared, then drew the highest leveled sword skills we learned. Klein’s katana was wrapped with a rampaging flame, Lyfa’s long sword created a flashing gale, Silica’s dagger had water spray moving around it, Lis’ mace emitted a groaning lightning flash. In addition to that, from behind, the arrows glowing with its ice arrowhead flew in rapid succession, accurately piercing at the tip of the nose which seemed to be the bull’s vital point.

  At the same time, my right handed sword glowed in an orange light, and I assaulted it with all my power.

  Five high-speed continuous thrusts then cut downward, upward, before another full force upward cut. The one-handed sword eight combo sword skill «Howling Octave». Its attributes were forty percent physical and sixty percent fire. Within the one-handed sword category, it was in a high tier. So of course, the stun after the move —— the skill delay was also long, however,

  “…………!!”

  With a voiceless yell, my consciousness had detached from my right hand after releasing the attacks. The movement command output from my brain to the AmuSphere was to cut off everything for a moment. My next command was to start transmitting commands to the left hand.

  The right hand was on the auto-pilot thanks to the System Assist, it went on with the final upward cut. And, parallel to it, my left hand moved, drawing the sword backward. The blade released bright blue lighting.

  The right sword made a deep cut at the exposed abdomen of the bull headed humanoid. Originally, this would impose a delay, causing my avatar to become rigid. However, the parallel activation of the sword skill of the left sword had overwritten the delay. The slash drew a horizontal arc and cleaved at the bull’s right abdomen.

  It was not normal for my body, no, my left and right half of the brain to think of separate things at the same time. But here, my consciousness stopped its integration to the sword skill, leaving the right hand’s skill to the System Assist, while concentrating on the left hand.

  The sword causing the horizontal cut and buried in the enemy avatar rotated ninety-degrees. I then pushed down on the grip in my hand, the blade jumped up and dissected the enemy vertically from the belly. Once the blade exited, this time I slashed down from above. It was the three hit heavy attack, effective against large type monsters, «Savage Fulcrum». Fifty percent physical and fifty percent ice.

  On the verge of finishing the attack from the left hand——

  I switched the output from my brain once again.

  This timing, if it were too late or too early, could cause the skill to misfire, and cause the avatar to become rigid. The window of error allowed was less than one-tenth of a second. I noticed this skill combination by chance around three months ago, and I wouldn’t want to recall how much I have been practicing since then, but the success rate was still below fifty percent. With feeling and half praying, the sword in my right hand started to move.

  “Ku……oo!”

  Mounted on a short fervor, the blade glowed in light blue. From the vertical cut without a backward motion, then up and down combination, followed by a full powered upper cut. A high speed four hit combo «Vertical Square»——

  Up until this point, the total number of hits was already fifteen. Approaching the number of a high rank Dual Blades’ skill. While it continued to be hit, the enemy would be under a delay so there was no need to think about the defense.

  When Vertical Square started, the skill delay of my companions were already over.

  “Zeeryaaaaa!”

  It was obviously a war cry from Klein, as the second wave of concentrated attacks engulfed the gold Minotaur. The dungeon floor trembled, a large amount of the enemy’s HP gauge was suddenly shaved off.

  Just before the final upper slash, I challenged the fourth «Skill Connect» without any hesitation.

  This didn’t mean that any one-handed sword skill was suitable to lead in. The movement by the System Assist, and the movement of the non-attack arm, all needed to be in continuous motion to the next skill.

  At the time the Vertical Square from my right hand unleashed, my left arm was folded toward the shoulder. From there, with just a slight twist of my body, the «pull the shoulder carrying the sword, the other hand moves forward» form was completed. The sword in my left hand was wrapped in a crimson light effect. The blade roared like a fighter jet and approached from behind, my arm shot out at an ultra high-speed. A heavy single strike attack «Vorpal Strike». Thirty percent physical, thirty percent fire and forty percent darkness.

  Zgaaan!, a loud burst of sound emitted out, the sword penetrated the enemy’s abdomen. The huge body five times my size was knocked back violently. At that time, the second attacks from Klein and the others were already completed. This time, everyone’s avatar, including mine, was struck by the long skill delay.

  The HP gauge of the gold Minotaur stained in deep red and decreased toward the left edge——

  Then stopped and was left with only two percent remaining.

  A cruel smile emerged from the bull head. The enemy had recovered from the delay, it drew its huge axe back horizontally. That must be a ranged attack using a high speed revolution which would result in an instant death if hit. A “jump back!” command resounded in my awareness, but my body wouldn’t follow. The axe heartlessly shone, the whirling wind occurred at the boss’ feet.

  “No……oooooo!”

  While my spirit screamed sharply, a blue gale ran past from my right side. The rapier held in its right hand released five consecutive thrusts at a speed so high our eyes couldn’t see it. It was the high ranking extreme speed thin sword skill «Neutron». With the damage properties of twenty percent physical and eighty percent holy, the remaining HP of the gold Minotaur, who was readying itself to swing its axe, was silently robbed.

  The movement of the evil-god halted. From behind, the black Minotaur which had completed its HP meditation brandished its axe in triumph. However, the partner who had been protecting it up until now was screaming in a high pitched sound —— its huge body blasted in all directions with a stiff sound effect.

  …………Eh.

  The eyes of the black Minotaur widened in surprise, and looked at the seven people who had recovered from their skill delay.

  “……Alright, in front, that’s the seat of honor.”

  Klein said quickly while baring his teeth.

  Part 4

  The katana user finished off the black Minotaur evil-god by stabbing it with
his special skill, as if releasing the grudges he had kept up to this moment. Not paying any attention to the drop items on the spot the enemy avatar had burst apart, he turned around and yelled,

  “Oi Kiritard! What did ya do just now!?”

  That question obviously referred to my usage of one-handed sword skills while equipped with two swords, and explaining in detail would be very troublesome, so I obeyed my inner thoughts and said while giving my most troubled face,

  “……Do I have to say it?”

  “‘Course! After seeing something like that!”

  It seemed I had pressed Klein’s curiosity button, and since it was unavoidable, I answered briefly,

  “It was a skill outside the system, «Skill Connect».”

  Oo―, was the sound which flowed out of Lis, Silica, and Sinon mouth; suddenly Asuna pressed her fingertips to her right temple and growled,

  “Um……somehow, I got a strong feeling of Déjà vu……”

  “It’s just your imagination.”

  I shrugged my shoulders and clapped my hand on our healer-sama’s back, whom despite her support duty in the back row, had sneaked in during the battle with the gold Minotaur to deliver the killing blow.

  “This is not the time for relaxed talk. Lyfa, how much time do we have left?”

  “Ah, right.”

  After sheathing her long sword in its scabbard behind her waist, Lyfa held up the medallion hanging from her neck. From a few steps away, I could see that the light within the jewel was almost completely lost.

  “……At the current pace, we still have an hour or two.”

  “I see. ——Yui, this dungeon structure has four floors right?”

  I continued asking, so the little fairy sitting on my head the whole time responded clearly,

  “Yes, the third floor is around seventy percent of the second floor size, the forth floor should be mostly the boss room.”

  “Thank you.”

  Stretching my right hand, my fingertips stroked my hair while I quickly considered the situation.