My Laughing Coffin [SAO fan-fiction]

Chapter 13: Nomad of Aincrad (Part 2)

I am Nomad. A stationary lifestyle was similar to sin, especially in Sword Art Online. How could I become attached to something so temporary, this game and everything about it would come to an end by my hands. The only constant forces in my life, are my own drive to succeed. This was just another stepping stone to add to my resumé. My weapons and armor, my stats, my location, and my fighting style changed constantly. So becoming attached to Grimm, as my brother. And Lavender as a friend. Something as ridiculous as consistency had broken into my nomadic lifestyle. Rooting me to a new sense of strength. A new reason to fight. For my friends.

Little did I know, another constant would root themselves in my being very soon.

After leaving Spyde, I made my way to the marked location on my minimap. Somewhere in the swamp, about a 20 minute walk from Spyde, was a mini boss. "Boras the Lizard King. You've got my new katana. Don't you?" I mumbled.

The entrance to the swamp was outline by warped trees and less than flattering "keep out" sign. A rough stench displeasingly hung in the air as I ventured into the swamp. The plant life of the swamp was limited to shrubs and excessively tall trees. The trees allowed for little outside of a singular line of sight, rendering my peripherals practically useless. The fog combined with the compacted linear alignment of the trees would allow for smaller monsters to mount gorilla tactics.

As if on cue, a small lizard man lunged at me. The bipedal alligator had its spear lazily outstretched at me, I side stepped past the arm that held the spear.

With one swift motion, I brought the curve of my khopesh into its gullet. Using the curve as it was designed, I locked the body of the Lizard man in and spun on my heel.

Shifting my grip on the hilt slightly to allow for maximum swing range. I whirled around using the moment of the first lizard man to carry it into a downwards slam onto another lizard that had only just ludge out the murky water. The scaly monsters exploded into shards on impact, allowing perfect cover for another to rush me. It's spear thrusted at me with alarming speed, bringing the blade of my sword to the shaft of the spear and swiftly snapping it, allowing the momentum of the third lizard beast to bring itself onto the tip of my secondary equipped weapon. I shrieked as brought the Ballistic Wraith to its throat, cleanly cutting it's head off.

I continued to my journey, having noticed that once again I hadn't lost a single HP. For whatever reason, I tended to forget that this wasn't real life. That a hit to the skull wouldn't instantly kill me, but instead drain a gauge that apparently represented my life force. Had nothing to do with my will to survive. In this world, death was absolute. Not miraculous survival stories, if that HP bar hit zero. I was dead, end of story.

With this thought in mind I cautiously wandered further into the swamp. Listening for any signs of an approaching boss. I heard the sound of monstrous breathing rushing through the water towards me. From the right!

I whirled to the right, throwing a fierce elbow into the face of the figure. Too my shock, a player went flying, I had sent a girl soaring through the air smacking bluntly against a tree. A yelp left her exhausted voice as my mind raced preparing an apology. When I noticed her health bar.

A pulsating purple icon sat right above her HP gauge. "You're poisoned!" I shouted, rushing through my inventory to find a potion.

I force fed her the red elixir, panicking, praying that her life hadn't come that much closer to ending thanks to my strike. The sliver of her health eventually raced to full HP after finishing the potion, next an antidote crystal.

The color returned to the pale girl's skin as she laid teetering on the states between consciousness. Her eyes opened and shut ever so gently, as her attacker made itself known. A deep thunderous roar seemingly melt my confidence as I watched a bulky monster rush through the swamp, crushing any trees that stood in its path. Spiked scales covered its body, the monster rushed me with the intent of killing me and it's other fleeing victim, and apparently destroying the entire swamp while it was at it.

I couldn't help smiling, possibly hours of searching for Boras The Lizard King had been saved by a foolish girl thinking she could handle him alone. I drew the Ballistic Wraith, I could feel the adrenaline rush through my body as I dashed left. My speed skill was maxed, still though, the trees in the area would act as The Lizard King's only handicap.

The boss' aggravation targeted me as the more lethal threat, rather than his previous fleeing victim. Steering the large beast away from her as far as possible was ideal, I couldn't fight freely with an unconscious player teetering on life and death as it was.

Boras howled, drawing a massive battle axe from its back. The chances of the parrying capabilities of my khopesh being of any use were slim. For the first time in a long time, I'd have to rely on Sword Skills to land deadly blows. Two bars of health hovered to the right of Boras' scaled armored head as it struck.

A devastating swipe from its battle axe lopped off the top of several trees. Boras was sloppy, but extremely fast and persistent with it's troublesome tree leveling. The entire flurry of axe swings had forced me backwards, further away from the girl who was barely within my field of vision. The moment the fog covered her, I activated a sword skill. A jumping upward slash simply titled, Uppercut.

Using Uppercut as a means to cancel out Boras the Lizard King's flailing, I found myself with an opening. Activating a max speed perk, I used dash to launch myself straight at the monster. Boras snarled as I flipped over a low kick, I landed with a roll, placing me directly behind the off balance boss.

I'd lose my advantage of being out of its field of vision if I focused on regaining my stability, I launched myself upward and activated Uppercut, effectively making a poor man's double jump. At the peak of the animation I was able to land a foot on the flat top of the tree, created by the mindless hacking of The Lizard King.

I stood, observing the monster as it frantically searched the ground for me. My next move would be sketchy, but if done correctly, I'd land consecutive critcal hits and end this fight. Time seemed to slow down as I activated a Sword Skill. Normally, Lunge results in a cool down of exactly 5 seconds but, like most other sword skills in my speed build. I had a back up for the combination move I was about to pull off.

Activating Lunge, I launched myself off the tall tree striking the neck of the large foe. An unpleasant hiss was it's response, being sure to leave the blade in its neck, I activated Dash and avoided a monstrous swat from the beasts scaly hands. I landed on a tree and quickly activated another skill, Sword Throw. Dual kunai appeared in my hands, and found themselves planted in Boras' neck as it removed the khopesh from the other side.

"Uppercut, Downwards Dart, Dash to a tree, Lunge, Sword Throw." I repeated this process until I remained with two weapons in my inventory.

I hopped to the ground and drew the two remaining swords I had equipped. My final sword skill, Dual Wielding.

Two identical machetes glistened as I pulled them from their respectable sheath. A satisfying metallic hiss echoed as I sharped the blades on each other. I grinned, as Boras switched from its battle axe to dual daggers. Blades sized similarly to the height of a full grown man.

It howled once more, before attempting once again to slay me. With more wild yet precise slashes.

"It's attack algorithm changed, I suppose that's how bosses react when on their last bit of health."

I easily side stepped, parried, or canceled out every single childish slash from the boss. I hadn't lost even a single point of health...

The Lizard King shrieked as I plunged my weapons into its chest. A deafening roar of defeat escaped it's lungs as Boras The Lizard King exploded into pixels.

I stared at the screen in front of me.

Level Up!

58 》 59

Loot

1432 col
1840 xp

Black Katana: Sagebane