An Englishman in Castle Aincrad

Floor 1 - Boss - Ilfang the Kobold Lord

~ December 2nd, 2022 (Day 26) - Tolbana Inn, Aincrad ~

Daylight was taking hold of the town of Tolbana when Jet had awoken from the land of the sleep deprived. Admittedly, last night had been his first decent night's sleep in nearly 2 weeks... and of course, it would also be the night when he was most stressed out. Everything yesterday hadn't helped, and the impending boss battle was continuing to weigh on his mind. Without checking the HUD, Jet reasoned it was around 8am, given the still rising sun, and the fact it was December.

Hauling himself out of the bed, Jet repeated a mantra he'd used to make it easier to get out of bed at home - ''Sun is shining in the sky, there ain't a cloud in sight. It's stopped raining, everybody's in the play... and don't you know, it's a beautiful new day, hey.'' - It didn't exactly make it any easier to get up, but if nothing else, for once, it was at least accurate. Jet thought back to the days he'd repeated it during a blizzard, and wasn't entirely sure which was more depressing: not being able to get up, or singing about it being a beautiful day, whilst there were inches of snow on the ground.

Still, today would be perhaps the most pivotal day of his life so far, and whether he liked it or not, any actions he took during the day would affect everyone going onwards... no pressure then.

After a few minutes of psyching himself up, and getting ready for this, Jet walked out into the square, to find his partner waiting, and looking equally as anxious he felt. - ''Morning, Koharu.''

''Oh, you're here... sorry, just thinking...''

''About this, or home?''

''Both really. Do you think we can do this?''

''This boss, or?''

''Everything.''

''I'd be lying if I said I was optimistic right now, but I know I'll fight to my last breath, if it comes down to it. That's all I can do, protect those who need it, and fight those who stand in our way to freedom.''

''You know how you're late... you weren't practicing speeches, were you?''

''Not unless you count the pep talks I was giving myself.'' - Jet's usual brand of sarcastic retort was nowhere to be found, replaced by a more self loathing tone.

Thankfully, the knight and his group arrived in the square, and summoned everyone over, before Koharu could ask any questions. ''Morning!'' - How someone could be that upbeat at half 8, in a world without coffee, Jet would likely never know.

One labyrinth later...

The clearing force approached the boss room. The intimidating concrete structure was only the first horrifying thing to look at... the murals to the side depicted a grisly fate to anyone who grew brave... or stupid enough, to take on the Kobold Lord. The last group appeared to have been... was that them being flayed, or them being beheaded, the image wasn't particularly clear. In his mind, Jet gave a small number of points to Kayaba, simply for details like that... stuff that no one really paid attention to. Had Jet been paying any more attention... he'd have noticed the blade being used in the murals. It wasn't a scimitar...

''Is everyone ready?'' - A ragtag collection of shouts came from the party. Jet looked over to Koharu, and smiled, before uttering one sentence as the massive door inched open - ''Well, here goes nothing...''

Ilfang the Kobold Lord was not what Jet had expected. An old friend of his was German, and had mentioned about Kobolds being this form of house spirits, and often ambivalent ones, at that, in the stories his family had told him... Ilfang the Kobold Lord was bloody gigantic! To Jet, he looked less like a house spirit, and more like he'd eaten a house, and taken on it's dimensions. The beast towered over them, approaching 4.5 metres tall, around the average height of a double decker bus, and looking like a weird deformed kangaroo...