Sword Art Online: From Spark to Flame

Part 5 - Angurvadal

----- December 10th, Aincrad 14:30 -----

<Hikari> was abruptly awoken from her comfortable nap by <Aquil> tackling her from her left, his hand grasping the scruff of her avatar's clothing, the two of them tumbling through the grass violently as a massive cloud of dirt and dust exploded where the tree was, reducing visibility. Startled, <Hikari> cried out.

"What was that for?!" <Hikari> angrily yelled at the dusty silhouette of <Aquil> as he quickly stood, then entered a coughing fit as the dirt cloud began settling around them. As her coughing fit subsided, she returned to glaring up at <Aquil>. She could clearly see his back, and he had drawn his rapier, standing in a defensive stance, his feet separated to maintain balance.

<Hikari> took a quick breath to continue shouting at him, then realized what he was facing as she notice a large shadow in front of them, several times taller than <Aquil>. Quickly shifting her attention to the sudden appearance of some sort of massive beast, she dashed up onto her feet, rapidly unsheathing her Knight's Longsword and holding it in her right hand as she took up a similar stance as <Aquil> had.

"Sorry about that!" <Aquil> loudly said to <Hikari>. He glanced at her, then nodded his head in the direction of the beast's silhouette. "This guy showed up, I had to act quickly before he trampled the both of us?" He gave a shrug.

"Yeah, I could gather that," <Hikari> acknowledged, still channeling her attention to the massive silhouette in front of them. "But what is it?!"

Her question was almost drowned out by the monstrous horn-like bellow that caused the dust cloud around them to disperse almost instantly, revealing the huge monster before them. It had four massive tusks, two protruding out of each side of a long furry trunk, a little below fierce red beady eyes that lined up with the center of the massive floppy ears. The monster smashed its trunk against the dirt, sending a tremble through the ground as it bellowed again. <Hikari> glanced up at the monster's nameplate, the title <Great Mammoth Bordin> accompanied by three long health bars.

<Hikari> took a short breath. "Oh, the field boss," she muttered.

Giving them barely any time to react, the field boss burst into a stampede, dangerously swinging its four tusks, tearing up dirt and grass. <Aquil> dodged to the left, nimbly diving through the air and rolling fluently before rounding back toward the charging mammoth. <Hikari> sprinted to the right to avoid the attack, but the <Great Mammoth> had apparently chose her as the first victim of the battle. The <Great Mammoth Bordin> swung its head and trunk toward her, clearly intent on impaling her on with one of the left positioned tusks. <Hikari> barely had time rotate counter clockwise and lift her Knight's Longsword to block the attack, holding it at a downward diagonal from her right ear to a short distance from her left hip, the cool flat side of the blade pressing against her cheek as the tusks scraped along the longsword, sparks flying past <Hikari>'s face, causing her to instinctively close her right eye. <Hikari> felt like she was hanging in the air for a second, then was thrown several meters across the savanna grass, small puffs of dust bursting from the ground as she tumbled and rolled on the ground, grunting and crying out, though more in shock and surprise, rather than pain.

"<Hikari>!" <Aquil> worriedly cried out as he watched her fly a short distance before crashing into the ground. His attention was drawn to the <Great Mammoth> as it slowed and turned toward him, bellowing and raising its head into the air, revealing an angry mouth. <Aquil> glared at the red eyes, and, after gritting his teeth, began charging at the massive beast, releasing an adrenaline driven battle cry. He lift his rapier with his right hand to his behind his hip, the sword skill charging with a white glow as he prepared for a fierce lung into the field boss. In return, the <Great Mammoth Bordin> began charging itself, slowly beginning to swing its tusks once again.