Sword Art Online - Alternative Reality

The Vice-commander and The Scout CHP.6

October 1sth, 2023 – Floor 38 – Labyrinth Floor 8 – 9 AM

The flash of light went whizzing past my face from the right as it left an orange streak behind, the smell of the air being burnt as I used the minimum amount of movement to doge the second strike from my current enemy. Usually, I would only use this 'minimal step doge' in extreme circumstances, but since the shaggy bandit-looking katana wielder behind me had just made a bet against me to pull this off, the current situation seemed to fit those circumstances.

Looking at the mob in front of me, its sword reach the end of its horizontal curve, and a slight twitch in its hand signaled that it was about to launch its final strike. Using this signal, I took one last step back and arched my head backward, and the final slash whizzed past my face once again. With its three-part sword skill Serrating Strikes, which was just three horizontal slashes that went back and forth, it entered into a large post-delay motion since none of its hits found their mark. Normally I would send my horizontal across its now exposed neck guard, but since I was in a party now and had to 'share', I sent a full power slant across its sword arm. Catching its elbow, the forearm separated from the rest of the body, and the mob's HP went into the red and entered into a staggered state. Now it was his turn to jump in and finish it off, but...

Is he really going to leave even the timing to me to? Exiting my post delay, I could have finished the mob off with a simple strike. Instead, I jumped back and yelled out the command to get my 'partner' off his ass.

"Switch!"

"Oooorrahh!"

Finally launching himself from my right side, the katana wielder jumped in front of the staggered Brass Living Armor, one of the elite mobs found in the labyrinth, and finished off its remaining HP with a one-hit skill to its neck guard, sending its head flying before it froze midair, and its entire body shattered.

Despite having dispatched three of these with ease, the katana wielder didn't have his usual smirk on his face when he turned to face me, instead sulking at the realization that he had lost the bet.

"Seriously Kirito... I thought you were pulling my chain when you said you could actually doge those swings... and how the hell did you cleave through its arm so easily? Its armor is tough as hell!"

"Practice makes perfect, I'll be looking forward to that full course lunch Klein."

"Ugh..."

The ugly bandanna-wearing katana wielder in front of me, Klein, dropped his shoulders at the realization that all of his earnings for today were gonna be spent on lunch for the twelve of us. The other four members in our party tried comforting him saying they won't order any of the premium dishes, except maybe for dessert. With a hearty laugh and an even more depressed Klein, I looked up to my HP bar to look over my current party members and think about our current expedition.

It was October 1st, 2023, and we were currently at the final room on the 8th-floor labyrinth of the 38th floor of the floating castle Aincrad. It was only 9:00 AM, and although I would usually be sleeping at this time, my new living arrangements have caused a drastic change in my schedule. We were making our way to the labyrinth guardian located on the 10th floor with two six-man parties. Under my name were not my fellow KoB members, but instead 5 of the 6 members of Kleins Fuurinkazan. Apparently, they had a 6-man FFA rock, paper, scissor competition to see who was allowed to sleep in for today, although how that worked was beyond me. All of our HP bars were well over 70% despite taking one of the most challenging mobs in this labyrinth.

The Brass Living Armor was an elite mob only found in the higher floors in this labyrinth, and although we finished off the first two using a standard three-man rotation, Klein had for some reason left the switching timings up to me, and for some other reason, none of the guild members even complained. It was only on the last one that Klein had challenged me to make good on my word that the mob's strongest sword skill could be dodged, now resulting in a free lunch for me and the other members.