The Seventh Case

Chapter 13

1 Year Later

Asuna nervously tapped her feet as her guild was staring at the face of the twentieth floor's boss gate.

What should have been over in 9 months had delayed them by a solid three months due to horrendous errors on their parts. The Knights Of The Blood Oath had gotten significantly strong, and their improvements were exponential.

Kayaba was no fool however. He realised that with the growing capabilities of the players, the boss battles would soon be a walk in the park for them. Thus, he cut down the boss battle chances to only one attempt.

With only one attempt in hand, both the sides decided to have alternate chances each month.

The real reason behind Asuna's nervousness was not the boss battle. True, the previous month, they had lost horribly and almost everyone on her side was aching for revenge. Respecting their sentiment, Kazuto decided to pass his turn to them.

The real reason was Kazuto's words - These battles are not even a quarter of what Kayaba has in store for us. I just know that.

"We know its attack patterns. We will not lose this time, Asuna", Heathcliff assured his vice commander. Asuna nodded her head with a determined look on her face as she twirled her rapier menacingly.

"I failed miserably last time, and I am not doing it again!", she growled at the door.

<<The Abomination>>

A massive monster was present at the centre of the room. It had an obnoxious presence and an extremely malodorous gas was sprayed all around the room.

Through the corner of her eye, Asuna noticed her falling HP. The gas had a damage over time effect on everyone present in the room, and after a while, it also began to mitigate the damage dealt by them. It was true horror for the clearing team.

The monster was true to its name - with its malformed face and its overall greenish colour, it did not seem to disappoint the creator on being the boss of the twentieth floor.

Not a single person in the clearing team was able to stare at the monster's face without having to empty their stomachs immediately.

"Time is not our best friend here. Hit it with all you've got!", Coper yelled as he charged at the monster. Coper was back in action after that horrible accident of his. His physical healing took only around three months, but it took him around six months to heal mentally after that onslaught.

Coper wielded a two-handed broadsword. This made him a rather slow moving unit, but was one among the team to deal the highest damage due to the same factor. However, he always required someone to cover him if his attacks did not go as per his expectations.

Coper's attack was less than efficient as the monster barely paid attention to him. The boss raised its right hand and flung the beta tester to the other side of the wall. The area of impact was up in smoke, and revealed a partially knocked out Coper.

"Let us assume that he is out of action. Cover for him until he returns to his senses!", Heathcliff yelled as he hit his shield with his sword.

Asuna instantaneously charged at the boss, waving her rapier. The strong odour was overwhelming and it almost knocked her out.

"Hold your breath!", Heathcliff yelled at her before crashing into her. Asuna could not control her shock when Heathcliff did that. Heathcliff was one of the most calm and collected people she had met and was not one to rush into a battle. Then why would he do that? He had put the two of them in a poor position, and extremely open to the boss' attacks.