December 14, 2022 Ten days had passed since the First Floor was completely cleared.
Viewed that way, their progress was hardly slow.
The First Floor had taken nearly twenty-eight days to conquer.
Now, after only ten more, the raid stood before the Boss Room of the Second Floor.
The front line was unquestionably gaining momentum.
During the Closed Beta Test, the Second Floor had featured two Floor Bosses: Nato the Colonel Taurus and Baran the General Taurus.
Because of the mysterious ruin Argo, Shindo, and Kirito had discovered deep within the forest, Diavel and the other front-line players had gone there themselves before the raid to study its murals.
As a result, when Diavel devised the battle plan, he repeatedly emphasized one particular rule: Keep everyone’s HP in the green whenever possible.
The reason became obvious from the newest edition of Argo’s Strategy Guide, which Diavel held up during the strategy meeting in Taran Village.
As before, copies had been distributed free of charge through the surrounding item shops.
There was one major difference from the First Floor, however.
This time, Argo herself had chosen to participate in the Boss raid.
Nezha was here as well.
After spending four days training «Martial Arts» on the eastern rocky mountain, he now carried the special weapon Chakram and had joined the raid alongside every member of the Legend Braves.
“According to the newest Strategy Guide, there’s a strong possibility we’ll have to face two Boss-class enemies at the same time.” Diavel’s expression was more solemn than Shindo had ever seen it.
“And when we combine that with what we found in the mysterious ruin—a structure that didn’t even exist during the beta—we have to consider the possibility that there may actually be three Bosses.” The complexity of the coming battle had clearly put even him on edge.
“So I’m asking everyone to cooperate completely.
Whatever disagreements or grudges you’ve had before, put them aside for now.
This is about whether you, I, and the entire raid walk out of that room alive.” His gaze moved across the gathered players.
“The Floor Bosses possess large-area control Skills.
That makes the paralysis and stun resistance granted by Yuna’s special «Chant» Skill absolutely critical.” Everyone followed Diavel’s gaze.
Yuna was standing beside Nautilus, looking almost absurdly relaxed as she quietly hummed to herself.
“As before, Party A, with Shindo-kun and Kirito-kun, will serve as the primary assault unit.” Diavel continued.
“At the same time, everyone must keep track of Yuna’s position at the very rear of the raid.
Under no circumstances do we allow a Boss to reach her.” “Right!” More than forty voices answered in unison.
The raid had never sounded more serious—or more united.
“Then—” Diavel turned toward the enormous stone doors.
He planted both hands against them.
“Raid begins—!!!” The doors slowly opened.
Beyond them lay an enormous arena that resembled an ancient Roman colosseum.
Perfectly shaped marble arches and towering pillars encircled the circular battlefield, while the center of the arena dipped slightly downward in a shallow curve.
Two enormous figures stood there.
One was larger than the other, but both were massively built, heavily armored, and armed for war.
As the Boss Room doors opened completely, their half-lidded eyes slowly turned toward the raid.
Golden light leaked from their pupils.
Then their eyes opened fully.
The gold vanished beneath a blood-red glow of fury.
Even in the cool air, the hot mist of their heavy breathing was clearly visible.
Both Tauruses abruptly straightened.
Their massive bodies bent backward almost to the limit as their serpentine horns pointed toward the ceiling.
A low, mournful bellow rose from deep within their throats.
Their names appeared.
Three HP bars materialized beneath each.
Then their entire bodies began to tremble as though seized by violent spasms.
A deafening roar ripped across the arena.
Nato the Colonel Taurus raised its enormous war hammer.
Beside it, Baran the General Taurus lifted a pair of gleaming square-headed battle hammers.
Together, they began lumbering toward the raid.
“All parties, positions!” Diavel’s command rang out.
“Party A attacks Nato!
Parties B and C provide flanking pressure!
D, E, and F keep Baran occupied!
G and H remain ready to Switch at any moment!” The raid answered with a battle cry and surged toward the center of the arena.
This time, Party A consisted of Shindo, Kirito, Aiko, Yuuki, Mito, and Asuna.
It was a spearhead party built from the raid’s strongest available combatants.
The objective was simple: concentrate overwhelming firepower on one Boss and remove it as quickly as possible, reducing the pressure on every other party before the multi-Boss encounter could spiral out of control.
Diavel remained near Yuna at the very rear of the formation.
Nautilus had been assigned to the teams restraining Baran, but even while fighting, part of his attention remained fixed on Yuna’s position.
Shindo inhaled deeply.
“Whew…” His peripheral vision swept across Kirito and Aiko beside him.
Then his foot drove against the arena floor.
Splitter rang as it left its scabbard.
Nato had been chosen as their first target for a reason.
Its gigantic hammer could inflict absurd amounts of damage.
But the weapon’s sheer weight also slowed both its attack speed and movement speed, dragging its AGI down with them.
As long as the raid maintained control over its rhythm, Shindo and the others could potentially bring it down without exposing the main line to serious danger.
Reality quickly proved their assessment correct.
Whenever Nato raised its hammer for a full-power strike, Shindo, Kirito, and the others immediately closed in and attacked its lower body.
Meanwhile, the distraction teams led by Agil and Lind were forced to deal with Nato’s focused aggression, repeatedly evading its crushing blows.
Individually, the two Taurus Bosses actually had less HP than Illfang the Kobold Lord.
Their advantage lay elsewhere.
Heavy armor covered nearly their entire bodies, making their true weak points considerably harder to reach.
Kirito, Yuuki, Aiko, and Asuna—all of whom leaned heavily toward AGI—darted constantly around Nato’s body, while Mito and Shindo focused on breaking through its midsection.
Pale-red particles spread across Splitter’s long blade, illuminating its narrow edge.
Nato brought its hammer crashing down.
The Boss’s upper body dipped with the impact.
Shindo moved.
A brief burst from «Linear» carried him into range, and in the same motion he transitioned into the advanced Sword Skill derived from «Slant»— «Sharp Nail».
The three-hit combination released at full charge.
The first slash ripped vertically through Nato’s abdomen.
The second cut diagonally across its bent waist.
The third swept horizontally through its flank.
A trail of fine crimson particles sprayed through the air.
Nato’s first HP bar rapidly dwindled until only a sliver remained.
Then the Boss twisted the shaft of its war hammer.
Blue-white energy gathered around the hammerhead.
«Numbing Impact».
Diavel’s hand dropped to the one-handed sword at his waist while his other arm swept backward in a retreat signal.
“Large-area AOE Skill!
«Numbing Impact»!
Front line, fall back immediately!” But Shindo’s party had already started moving the instant Nato entered its activation stance.
Rather than retreating directly backward, they circled behind the Boss.
The enormous hammer slammed down.
Its AOE exploded through the empty space the raid had abandoned only a moment earlier.
Shindo and the others had already secured safe positions.
They wasted none of the opening.
Their weapons continued tearing into Nato without interruption.
Agil, Lind, and the other players assigned to draw its attacks surged forward before the Boss could recover and forced its HP into the yellow second phase.
Across the arena, Baran the General Taurus finally became restless.
Its attack speed suddenly increased.
The pair of square golden hammers in its hands swept violently through the players surrounding it, forcing Parties D, E, and F to retreat.
Then Baran stepped sideways and stomped.
Its enormous head—nearly twice the size of Nato’s—reared upward.
A shockwave exploded outward from beneath its hooves.
Stun.
Paralysis.
The debuffs spread through the expanding blast.
Several front-line players failed to escape in time.
Their HP bars instantly dropped into yellow.
Worse, the stun effect attached to Baran’s «Trample» knocked them to the ground and left them unable to move.
Nezha reacted.
The Chakram left his hand in a spinning arc.
It struck the side of Baran’s face, carving several claw-like scratches across the Taurus’s head.
Perhaps because it interpreted a head strike as an especially direct provocation, Baran released a furious roar and began moving toward Nezha.
Farther away, Argo started kiting it with disposable Throwing Needles.
Nautilus charged in from another angle.
His sword lit up as he activated «Rage Spike», gouging a diamond-shaped wound into the joint above Baran’s hoof.
Back on Nato’s side of the battlefield, the Colonel Taurus had already fallen into the dangerous red of its third HP phase.
Shindo’s group immediately withdrew.
Near death, Nato entered Berserk.
Its attack speed abruptly surged.
Lind, Joe, and the other players holding the front line almost failed to evade in time.
“Switch!” Their HP required POTs immediately.
The exhausted players withdrew and were replaced by the reserve line, with Kibaou’s Party G rushing forward to fill the gap.
“Aiko, Yuuki!” Shindo saw the front beginning to buckle.
The teams restraining Baran were visibly tiring as well.
They could no longer afford to take their time.
“Mm.” The twins were almost unnaturally calm whenever they entered real combat.
None of their usual liveliness remained.
That temperament made them exceptionally easy for Shindo to coordinate with under pressure.
The three focused entirely on what remained of Nato’s HP.
Shindo pulled Splitter behind his body and crouched low.
Then he accelerated.
Wind pressure gathered around him as he raced forward at maximum speed, running along the shaft of Nato’s grounded hammer and continuing upward toward the Boss’s arm.
Two even faster flashes shot past him.
Blue.
Violet.
Aiko and Yuuki.
The acceleration from «Linear» pushed both sisters to their absolute maximum speed.
They bypassed Nato’s thick armor entirely.
Two narrow blades flashed across its exposed neck.
Two long, lethal wounds appeared.
Shindo followed immediately.
The physical enhancement gained from «Martial Arts» helped sustain his airborne momentum until, for one impossible-looking instant, he seemed to be stepping through empty space.
Splitter blazed with brilliant pale-red light.
The reflection of the approaching blade expanded rapidly across Nato’s enormous eyes.
Shindo released the advanced four-hit Sword Skill— «Horizontal Square».
All four slashes landed in an instant.
A ring of crimson light erupted from the narrow seam where Nato’s massive head met its body.
Behind Shindo’s descending figure, the Taurus’s head and torso appeared almost misaligned between frames.
Four horizontal arcs of sword light expanded from its neck.
Nato’s remaining red HP vanished.
Nato the Colonel Taurus was defeated.
Shindo had secured the Last Attack.
He dropped from well over three meters above the arena floor and barely managed to stabilize himself after a difficult sequence of steps that dispersed the impact.
Then an earthshaking roar rolled through the colosseum.
Shindo turned.
His expression sharpened.
Baran the General Taurus stood even larger than Nato had.
The Boss slammed its two hammers together again and again.
Each impact produced a long, deafening metallic echo, while sparks of golden light scattered through the air like embers from a nighttime bonfire.
From Baran’s raised arms, Diavel predicted the next Skill.
“It’s «Numbing Blast»!” His voice rang across the arena.
“Front line, use Healing Crystals and Purification Crystals to clear the status effects!
Attack while Baran is locked in recovery!” The area covered by Baran’s «Numbing Blast» was nearly twice as large as Nato’s Numbing Impact.
The players nearest the Boss simply did not have enough time to escape once the activation wind-up began.
So rather than waste time attempting the impossible, the better option was to endure the hit, exploit the Boss’s recovery window, then Switch out and restore their condition afterward.
Shindo remained outside the affected zone long enough to drain a recovery potion and refill his HP.
Then he tightened his grip around Splitter and charged back toward the front.
“Switch!” Asuna’s HP had dropped into yellow after taking Baran’s Numbing Blast.
Shindo raced past her and took her position.
“Kirito!
Mito!” “Got it!” With Nato gone, the raid finally received a rare opportunity to reorganize.
The five parties that had spent most of the battle on the front line pulled back together to recover and resupply, leaving the Boss to the now-unburdened primary assault party.
Baran might have been nearly twice Nato’s size, but its AGI was nowhere near as poor.
Its oppressive attack rhythm reflected that difference.
Even while its HP remained yellow, it repeatedly unleashed «Numbing Blast», constantly forcing down the HP of everyone surrounding it.
Shindo, however, was not especially concerned about Baran itself.
What truly demanded caution was what would happen once its HP entered the third phase.
The final Boss.
The existence suggested by the mural.
A monster whose combat power could be several times greater than either of the Tauruses they had already faced.
Kirito’s two-hit «Snake Bite» struck Baran squarely in its weak point.
Its HP fell.
As expected, the General Taurus entered its near-death Berserk state.
And at that exact moment— At the farthest end of the arena, directly opposite the Boss Room entrance, a banner embroidered with a golden bull’s head suddenly began snapping violently in the air.
Baran rampaged across the battlefield.
«Charge».
«Numbing Blast».
Again.
Again.
The colosseum shook beneath an endless series of impacts.
The raid formation was churned apart like farmland beneath a plow as Baran’s unstoppable straight-line charges tore repeatedly through the arena.
And amid that chaos— A vast blue vortex suddenly opened behind the violently fluttering banner.
Something enormous waited inside.
A shape far more terrifying than either of the two Bosses already on the field.
Two blood-red eyes opened inside the blurred heart of the vortex.
Then grew larger.
Closer.
The mere approach of that presence sent a tremor through the entire raid.
An unease that had already taken root deep inside everyone’s heart began, from that moment onward, to grow wild.