Chapter 22
The fighting continued for over an hour.
It felt like an eternity had passed before the battle finally finished. When the boss monster's huge body shattered into countless shards, no one had even the energy to cheer. Everyone either collapsed into a sitting position on the obsidian ground or laid down completely with their breathing ragged.
Is it— over...?
Yeah— It's over—
After we exchanged these thoughts, it felt like the «link» between Asuna and I also severed. Fatigue suddenly overwhelmed my body and I knelt down onto the floor. Asuna and I sat with our backs against each other, feeling as if we wouldn't be able to do anything for a while.
We were both alive— But even when I thought of this, I just couldn't be happy about the situation. Too many people had died. After the first three deaths at the start of the battle, the grim sound effect of people shattering continued to resound at a steady pace and I had forced myself to stop counting at the sixth one.
“How many— died...?”
Klein, who was sitting to my left, asked in a wheezing voice. Agil, who was lying on the floor next to him with his arms and legs spread out, also turned his head this way.
I waved my right hand to open the map and then counted the green dots on it. I subtracted the tally from the number of people who had been present when we first set off.
“—Fourteen dead.”
I couldn't believe this number even though I had counted it myself.
They were all high-leveled, skilled warriors who had experienced countless battles. Even if we couldn't escape or heal instantly, we should still be able to avoid suffering too many deaths if we fought in a manner that put survival first— That's what we had all thought, but—
“...Impossible...”
Agil's voice didn't carry a hint of its usual brightness. A depressing gloom pressed down on the survivors.
We were only three-fourths of the way there— There were still twenty-five floors left to clear. Even though there were thousands of players here, only a few hundred were still serious about clearing the game. If every floor generated as many fatalities as this one, then it was highly possible — that only one person would face the final boss.
If that happened, the last one standing would probably be that man...
I shifted my gaze further back into the room. Amongst everybody who sat on the floor, a single red-clothed figure continued to stand straight. That person was Heathcliff.
Of course, he wasn't unscathed. As I focused on him, the cursor appeared to show his HP, and I could tell that he had taken quite a bit of damage. He had blocked the bone scythe, which Asuna and I had barely managed to keep at bay, by himself until the end. It wouldn't be strange if he collapsed from exhaustion alone regardless of his HP.
But I couldn't feel even the slightest hint of tiredness from his calm figure. It was a toughness that was hard to believe. It was as if— he was a fighting machine...
Because my mind was hazy due to the fatigue, I continued to stare at the side of Heathcliff's face. The legend's expression was composed. He was silently looking down at the sitting KoB members and the other players. His eyes were warm and full of mercy— as if—
As if he was looking at a bunch of white mice playing in an inescapable cage.
Just then, a shudder racked through my body.
