Satoru crushed a red Healing Crystal in his hand and let its light flow into him. Then he checked how many healing items he had left.
He knew nothing about spells or magic. He was a swordsman through and through. His inventory held nothing but healing items, without a single mana potion among them. His MP bar might as well have been decorative.
His quick-use pouch had been full when the battle began. After more than forty minutes of fighting, only three Healing Crystals remained.
The rest of the front line had reached their limits as well. They had avoided every attack from the Black Giant that could reasonably be dodged, but two patterns remained nearly impossible to handle: the wide-area poison breath from its twin mouths and the omnidirectional sweeps of its two chains.
Whenever either attack came out, Siune had no choice but to cast her strongest party-wide healing spell. Her MP could not keep up.
Nori's staff, Talken's spear, and Yuuki's sword had landed clean hit after clean hit, yet attacking the boss still felt like pounding on an iron wall with infinite durability. Every so often, it crossed all four arms in front of itself and entered a defensive stance. While guarding, its body became hard enough to repel every strike.
New Aincrad's Floor Bosses did not display their HP bars, so the party could only judge the Black Giant's condition by its behavior. It had moved sluggishly at the start of the fight. Now it was rampaging with something close to panic. That suggested its HP was low, but it could just as easily have been wishful thinking.
Long battles without a visible end were hardest on the front line. Support players depleted MP, but those standing under the boss's attacks burned through their own concentration and mental stamina. In an ordinary raid, tanks and frontline attackers rotated out after no more than five minutes.
The Sleeping Knights had held their positions for over forty.
Even they could no longer hide their exhaustion. Whenever Satoru issued a command, Yuuki was the only one who still answered with the same energetic, "Got it!"
The petite girl showed no sign of slowing down. She slipped between the giant's hammers and chains with light, quick steps, driving her sword into every opening she found.
Satoru adjusted his grip and raised the point of his katana toward the place where the giant's two necks joined.
The Black Giant stomped forward and lifted both upper hammers high.
He stepped in and jumped without breaking the activation motion of his Sword Skill. Orange-red light wrapped around the katana as he thrust in midair, striking the exact point beneath the creature's two heads.
"GRAAAAAAAH!"
The Black Giant's roar sounded almost like a scream. Its hammer attack stopped, and all four arms crossed tightly in front of its heads as it curled inward. It held that defensive posture for nearly five seconds before raising its arms again and smashing both warhammers into the stone floor.
The chamber shook from the impact.
Satoru landed lightly, planted his feet, and hopped back.
"I knew it. That guard isn't random. Its neck is a weak point."
"Then can we beat it by attacking there?" Yuuki asked from beside him.
"At the very least, it's the most efficient target. The problem is reaching it."
The giant stood roughly four meters tall. Even Talken's long spear could barely reach the joint between its necks. Outdoors, they could simply fly up and attack from any height, but flight was disabled inside the labyrinth. Even Satoru had needed a well-timed jump to land his strike.
"We'll have to commit to a Sword Skill and accept the counterattack."
Inside a no-flight zone, the only ways to remain airborne were to use a charging Sword Skill or jump into a multi-hit combo. Either option would leave the player trapped in post-motion delay afterward, falling defenselessly in front of the boss.
A resurrection spell might bring them back, but its success rate was not guaranteed and its incantation was painfully long. The entire party could collapse before the caster finished.
Still, Yuuki was the same kind of player Satoru was.
She would try it without a second thought.
He looked toward the delicate girl with the boundless energy, and she nodded hard.
Then she noticed the obvious problem.
"It's too high! I can't reach it even if I jump!"
Her avatar barely came up to Satoru's shoulder. Even with an aerial thrusting skill, she would fall just short.
"We already have the perfect launchpad."
Satoru looked toward Tecchi, who was holding up his door-sized shield to protect Nori from the lashing chains.
Yuuki followed his gaze and immediately grinned.
They sprinted together and stopped about three meters behind Tecchi. Yuuki cupped her hands around her mouth.
"Tecchi! When the hammers come down, crouch!"
The giant of a man turned, his tiny eyes widening, then nodded at once.
The Black Giant whipped its chains around for several seconds before throwing back its rocklike upper body and drawing in a deep breath. Both mouths opened wide.
Black poison gas poured across the chamber with a guttural roar. The stench of sulfur filled the air, and the HP of everyone on the front line dropped rapidly.
The instant the breath ended, blue light rained down with perfect timing and restored their health.
Siune had done her job again.
Then the giant raised both upper hammers.
Yuuki lowered herself into a runner's stance.
Satoru called to her small back.
"This is our last chance. Give it everything you've got."
Excitement slipped into his voice. Pale gold had already begun to spread through his eyes.
Yuuki answered without turning around.
"Leave it to me, big bro!"
Big bro?
Almost no one called him that. He was much closer to the age when children started calling him "mister."
Satoru blinked, and Yuuki was already moving.
The giant brought both hammers down hard enough to shatter the floor. Tecchi crouched beneath the spreading shockwave.
Yuuki jumped immediately afterward. Her left foot landed on his broad shoulder, then her right planted firmly on top of his thick helmet.
"HRAAAAAAH!"
She launched herself upward as if invisible wings had caught her. Her sword drew back as she shot straight toward the giant's chest.
"HAAH!"
Yuuki fixed her eyes on the joint between the two necks and thrust.
Violet-blue system light burst across the circular chamber. To Satoru, her sharp movement seemed to stretch through time, every motion somehow even more graceful for it.
A Sword Skill kept its user suspended until the sequence ended, even inside a no-flight zone. Yuuki hung directly in front of the Black Giant as her right hand flashed like lightning.
Five thrusts tore from upper right to lower left.
Five more crossed them from the opposite direction.
Every strike drove into the same critical point, and the giant writhed as a scream ripped from both throats.
After carving an X with ten thrusts, Yuuki twisted her entire body and drew the sword back beside her left hand.
White light exploded from the blade, bright enough to force everyone to squint. Her obsidian sword seemed to turn into diamond.
The final thrust struck the center of the X with a deafening impact.
The blade sank into the giant's neck all the way to the hilt.
Its scream stopped.
The Black Giant froze in an unnatural pose. Jun, Tecchi, and the others stopped with it. Yuuki remained suspended before the creature, her right arm fully extended.
For a moment, the entire chamber went silent.
White cracks spread from the buried sword across the giant's dark body. Light pressed through them from within, widening the fractures until they covered all four limbs.
With a sharp sound like a tree splitting, the giant tore in half from the point where its necks joined.
Then its four-meter body shattered like glass.
Fragments of every size scattered through the chamber. Pure white light surged outward with enough force to whip Satoru's hair back. Deep rumbles and shrill system tones rolled beneath the dome before rising into a clear, bell-like note that slowly faded away.
The blue flames around the chamber trembled, dimmed, and turned an ordinary orange. Bright light filled the boss room, sweeping away the last traces of the creature's poisonous haze.
A heavy click echoed from the far wall.
The door to the next floor had unlocked.
"...Ha... We... did it..."
Siune gave a hoarse laugh and collapsed where she stood. She turned her head toward Yuuki, who was still staring openmouthed at the place where the boss had vanished.
Yuuki blinked several times.
A small smile touched her lips, then spread into the same radiant grin she always wore.
She sheathed her sword with a bright click and ran toward Siune. Long before she reached her, Yuuki threw her arms wide and launched herself forward.
"Wah!"
Siune cried out as Yuuki crashed into her. They fell together, stared at each other from inches away, and burst out laughing.
"Ahahaha! We did it! We won... We actually won!"
"Yeah, we did! Ahh... I'm exhausted!"
Siune was too drained to push Yuuki off. She lay flat on the floor with her arms and legs spread wide while the other four Sleeping Knights collapsed around them, each managing some version of a victory pose as they cheered.
Satoru let out a long breath.
Somehow, he felt restored too.
A heavy rumble came from the entrance. From the floor, the Sleeping Knights watched the doors slowly open again.
Countless figures stood beyond them. The Burning Legion held the corridor like a wall of flame, and Remain Lights covered the ground behind their ranks.
While the Sleeping Knights fought the boss, the far bloodier PvP battle outside had also ended.
One player entered before the doors were fully open. It was Shadow Song, commander of the professional guild that had sealed the corridor. When he saw the boss room glowing orange, his momentum faded. He slowed to a stop and surveyed the chamber.
His lieutenant and several captains followed at a more measured pace.
"Not bad."
The lieutenant whistled as he looked over the players sprawled across the floor.
"Hehe..."
Still lying down, Yuuki flashed the newcomers a smug V sign.
Souji folded his arms, sighed, and looked toward his old friend.
Satoru stood apart from the others without a trace of exhaustion. He did not look as though he had just fought a forty-minute battle. His expression was relaxed, a faint smile rested on his lips, and the pale gold slowly faded from his eyes.
"Looks like there's nothing left for us to do," Souji said, narrowing his eyes. "And now I'm certain you were the one who sold me out."
"It wouldn't be the first time. I'm sure you'll forgive me."
"Damn it."
Souji sounded thoroughly fed up.
"Since last night, I've deployed both our scouts and the Burning Legion just to give you the perfect stage to impress a girl. I might be the greatest wingman alive."
"That's not quite how I'd describe it."
"All right, enough. The door's open, and unlike you, I'm still on the clock."
Souji waved a hand. The army behind him understood the signal and began moving toward the newly opened staircase to the Twenty-Eighth Floor.
"Don't tell me you're planning to steal that floor's boss too."
"I'm not. Thanks for the assist."
Satoru inclined his head.
Souji had clearly run out of patience. He snorted and teleported away.
His lieutenant gave Satoru a knowing look, then followed.
"Well, then. It's time for me to collect my reward."
Satoru sheathed his katana and smiled at the Sleeping Knights.