"Rrraaaaaaarrrrrggghhhh!!!"
In the center of the circular boss room illuminated by torches of blue fire, The Gleam-Eyes roared a challenge to the Assault Team. It its gigantic sword on the floor with a resounding thud and a shower of sparks, seeking to intimidate the players.
Drifter met the provocation with a cold glare. The previous day, two DKB frontliners from the scouting party had very nearly died to the boss. It was a tricky beast, and far nimbler than it's size would indicate.
"Nautilus, Vallerk, you get first crack at it. Reavers, behind them, the first rotation is ours. Lind, Heathcliff, DKB and KoB take second and third respectively. Three parties per, front and sides, leave the back clear. Eyes on the hooves and watch out for that flame whirlwind attack. Klein, Orlando, Ambros, everyone else, relief duty for the first phase, regroup for the second."
The 'flame whirlwind' attack was the one which had nearly cost the scouts their lives. A very sudden spinning movement during which The Gleam-Eyes' sword lit up with blue fire and slashed at everything around it, teuggered by the boss getting surrounded on all four sides, hence why Drifter ordered that only three parties attacked at once.
"Go."
Seventy-four floors had seen to it that Drifter was no longer the naive and untried frontliner from before. Though a part of him would always worry for his friends, he knew how to focus on controlling the raid, and that he could not always be the one doing all the fighting.
That's not to say he planned to stay on the sidelines for this battle, not even close. But they had come up with a strategy during yesterday's meeting, and he was going to stick to it.
Drifter had come a long way from the naive spearman who froze at the sight of Illfang the Kobold Lord.
Furrowing his brows as The Gleam-Eyes raised its odd-looking sword and attacked Vallerk upon a Taunt from the Reaver, Drifter readied his spear. The moment an opening appeared, he dashed forward with a Reminiscence.
His strongest single-hit skill struck true. A golden line cut through the boss room, passing between Vallerk and Nautilus, and tore a hole into the boss' left side.
The Gleam-Eyes roared and tried to slash at him, but the spesrmaster was already hopping back, letting Nautilus close the gap and tank the blow with Indomitable Might.
Bleed him slowly. That was the strategy the Assault Team had come up with to win against the boss. Unlike the blitzkrieg approach they took with some of their other great enemies, where the frontliners sought to do as much damage in as short a time as possible, this time they were taking it slow and steady. Safely.
That was due to The Gleam-Eyes' fighting style, or as much of it as they had been able to discern from the scouting raid anyway. The Gleam-Eyes was a nearly pure physical, close-quarters type. The only ranged attack it had was the one it used when surrounded, and even then it barely covered five meters around the boss.
Of course that, as well as their whole strategy, was prone to change if the boss showcased a different skillset during its second phase. It wouldn't be the first time a monster did a complete 180 in their fighting style.
But somehow, Drifter didn't think that would be the case. After three years and seventy-four floors, the spearmaster was fairly confident he had a good grasp on Kayaba and Cardinal's methods. The 74th floor and its boss were like the 49th and 24th before it. A break before things got worse. The calm before the storm.
The other shoe was going to drop - but not just yet.
The Broken Spear really wasn't looking forward to the 75th floor. But those were thoughts for a few hours from now.
"Ran, Kizmel, go in."
The two parties the girls were leading rushed forward, taking the place of Kirito's and Griselda's. The spearmaster nodded at the flawless switch, but kept his eye on Nautilus and Vallerk's HP only throwing in the occasional Serpentcoil Impale, Rage Spike, and Reminiscence.
His eyes narrowed as a blow slipped through Nautilus' guard, the giant sword the boss wielded cleaving into his ash-haired friend's shoulder. Nautilus let out a strangled cry of pain, but gritted his teeth and threw out a Shield Bash powered up by Indomitable Might, dislodging the weapon from his body and forcing The Gleam-Eyes back.
"Liten, switch with Naut."
The DKB's foremost tank thundered forward without a word, her Unrepentant Charge almost causing the boss to buckle at the knees, and Nautilus fell back to stand next to Drifter, a sigh of relief leaving his lips as a Healing Crystal went to work on restoring his health and making the pain fade.
"Fuck! Sorry, Drifter, I already knew it was quick, but it still caught me by surprise."
"Hm, that wrist movement, right? I didn't catch it before."
"It's subtle. And rolling the hilt over the back of its hand like that, it ain't something you would think a sword as big as that one can do. But of course this is a boss, so I guess fuck logic."
The spearmaster snorted at the crude words of his aggravated friend, and clapped his back even as his gaze remained focused on the ongoing fight.
"That's SAO for you. How are you feeling?"
"Glad this is a game. That would be my arm gone otherwise. Still hurt like hell."
No kidding. Drifter threw a quick glance over to the vertical red line that went from the top of Nautilus' right shoulder to just about the bottom of his chest. He would have been nearly bisected if they were in the outside world.
"Heal up, then get ready to go back in. Vallerk will need a switch soon."
One thing the Assault Team had always lacked were tanks. Oh, each guild had a few, but the only truly top-tier ones were Nautilus, Vallerk, and Liten. Unfortunately that meant that, in boss raids, the three of them had to work overtime, and Drifter had to harden his heart and send his closest male friend back into the fight right away.
It couldn't be helped. Most players, Drifter included, subscribed to the 'the best defense is a good offense' mentality. After all, no matter how good at taking hits you were, if you couldn't dish out enough damage, all you would accomplish was to die a slow and drawn out death against mobs that never tired or gave up. It was only in parties that tanks could truly shine, but even then it required a mental fortitude that few had.
Nautilus was one of those few. The ash-haired player simply grunted when he heard Drifter's order, bracing himself for another charge.
"Go."
"Vallerk, switch!"
The Reaver stepped to the side, and Nautilus barreled into the boss like a runaway train, using Indomitable Might's unique characteristic of accumulating momentum to actually knock The Gleam-Eyes down.
No frontliner worth their salt would miss a chance like that.
Drifter charged in right after his friend, switching his spear for the dangerous-looking halberd Liz crafted for him not long ago, the entire weapon glowing a red that could not be mistaken for anything but fresh blood.
Screeching Bisection, the second of Drifter's strongest offensive skills, split open a deep gash across The Gleam-Eyes' head, directly chopping off one curved horn as the boss roared in agony.
Drifter took a hoof to his stomach for his trouble, still stuck in the ending stance of the skill while the cooldown went through, but he considered it a worthwhile trade, having cleanly erased what remained of the monster's first health bar.
Rolling to bleed off some of the force from the kick, the spearmaster pushed aside the pain, despite feeling like a professional baseball player had just taken a swing at his ribs, and got up.
"Lind, your turn! Reavers, trade out with DKB! Heathcliff, get your people ready! Klein, Orlando, Ambros, jump in if there's trouble!"
"Roger that, Drifter!"
"You got it, boss!"
"Let's go, DKB!"
Drifter was confident enough in the DKB's capabilities to turn his gaze away for a few seconds to check in on his guildmates.
Nautilus was still grimacing, the phantom pain of the slash he took still getting to him now that he wasn't in the thick of it anymore. Yuuki was nursing a cut across her chest. Kizmel's HP was somewhat reduced from an attack Drifter didn't see her receive.
That was it. Generally speaking, an outstanding start to a raid.
"Don't drop your guard, people. Kirito, Yuuki, I want you to sit out the next few rounds, but stay close. You have the fastest reaction time out of all of us. If the boss tries to pull a trick once the second phase starts, it will be up to you to jump in and save whoever's ass needs saving."
Several of the Reavers snorted in amusement at his wording. It was only during relatively relaxed battles that Drifter talked so crudely. In a way, it was a form of reassurance to them. It meant the raid was going according to plan.
"Maybe you two will get to use that new skill you have been hiding from us. Give it a proper unveiling, huh?"
Agil slapped Kirito in the back, and the swordsman sputtered, while Yuuki kept uncharacteristically quiet.
"I-- I don't know what you are talking about, Agil."
"Please. The two of you have been sneaking off to do some secret training this past week. We may have been distracted with Strea, but not that distracted."
"Yeah! And when the two users of Dual Blades are training together away from everyone-- Be honest Kirito, Yuuki convinced you to make a big show of it after you learned the skill proper, didn't she?"
Yuna and Shinon added to what Agil was saying, and it was Yuuki's turn to choke on her tongue and shoot her girlfriend a betrayed look.
"Hey! How do you know it wasn't Kirito who wanted to keep it a secret?!"
The Black Swordsman slapped a hand over his face at Yuuki's unwitting admission, but his other hand was fingering the pommels of the swords he had stabbed into the ground.
"It's a difficult skill to get the hang of. The strongest we have by far. The cooldown however..."
Drifter turned his eyes away from a KoB player getting smashed away - it looked worse than it was - as he heard something in Kirito's voice.
"Not the time to test it if it's really that bad."
The swordsman nodded while Yuuki pouted, but there was a glint in his eyes that Drifter recognized. Kirito's battle-junkie side didn't come out often, but when it did it was always a sight to see - and difficult to control.
"Kirito. Don't do anything rash."
"Hm, I promise."
The spearmaster sighed. Yup, this was going to be trouble.
"Whatever. Asuna will deal with you if you get yourself hurt."
That threat worked. Kirito gulped and pointedly turned away from Asuna's too-wide smile.
"Rrraaaaaaarrrrrggghhhh!!!"
The Reavers all stopped talking, their glares sharpening as the boss roared again. Heathcliff had just severed the remaming horn of The Gleam-Eyes at the base, coincidentally wiping out the last of its third health bar, leaving only two left, and triggering its second phase.
Blue flames erupted from its oversized swords and its hooves, forcing the players surrounding it to back away.
Drifter didn't need toutter a verbal command for Reaver's Requiem to move forward, trading places with the Knights of the Blood Oath. The rest of this battle would be with them holding the frontline.
"I think its range increased, so watch out for it. Griselda, Kizmel, Liz, probe it for new patterns. Vallerk, Nautilus, support them. Yun', Song of Stone please. Sinon, interference. Agil, Wolv, Ran, with me, we'll try to trap its sword. Asuna, Silica, when we do, go for the legs. Kirito, Yuuki..."
Drifter licked his lips, then raised his spear, a shiver of anticipation rushing through him.
"Forget what I said before. If you think this new skill of yours is gonna make a difference, wait for the right moment, then go off. But it better kill this blue bastard. Understood?"
"Yes!"
The purple of a Comet Break started to shine around his weapon, and Drifter grinned fiercely.
"Let's get it stuck in, Reavers!"
He ducked under a backhand swing, his spear shooting up to pierce through the bottom of The Gleam-Eyes' mouth, before Drifter ripped it off and proceeded with a series of quick stabs at the boss' chest.
Fighting like this was familiar. Stab, dodge, slash, cut. Rinse and repeat.
In no time at all The Gleam-Eyes was once more screaming in rage, unable to deal any significant damage to the dozen or so players attacking it. It was even forced back, step by step, until it reached the edge of the boss room.
First one health bar blinked and shattered, then the next was depletes to the red. Drifter and the rest of the Reavers were already stepping back before Kirito and Yuuki even yelled.
"Switch!"
Two players, four swords. Kirito came from the left, Yuuki from the right, and both used their new skill at the same time.
"Starburst Stream!"
Drifter, the Reavers, the Assault Team, Aincrad, the entire world, watched in awe as the four swords rose and fell and rose again and fell again - and just didn't stop.
"Rrraaaaaaarrrrrggghhhh!!!"
And then, with one last pitiful roar, the way to the 75th floor was open.