Sword Art Online: Takumo's Story

Five: Boss Down

"Now everyone," Diabel started again as we formed a circle around him, "This here—" he showed us a brown book "—is the guide to the boss. I'll brief out what it says in general before we begin. According to this, the boss's name is Illfang the Kobold Lord. He is guarded by his assistants, known as the Ruin Kobold Sentinels. He is armed with an axe and a buckler.
"He has four health bars. When the last one goes into the red—"

"Four?!" I whispered, near to yelling.

Kirito looked at me like: how will we even live?!
Asuna stayed silent and looked at Diabel with concentration like she didn't mind the information.

"—he switches into a Talwar."

"A what?" I asked over the whispers.

"Talwar. A Talwar. T-A-L-W-A-R. It is a sort of curved sword-type weapon," Diabel explained, "Also, he changes his attack pattern as well. That I guess, concludes our briefing. Items will be distributed automatically. All the EXP goes to the party that defeats the Boss. Even if so, we're all still in this together. Don't get too carried away."

"Oh yeah," I said smugly to the two of my Party members, "That EXP is as good as ours."

"Didn't you hear what the man said?" Asuna began, "Don't get greedy."

Me and Kirito were still thinking about getting stronger though. When everyone turned to leave, I took in a deep, shaky breath. We will do this, or else we have no hope of escaping this world. Kirito and I opened our mouths to say something but we turned to find Asuna already heading out.

"Hey—"

Kirito pinched me. "Maybe we should leave her alone to think."

I nodded and looked at my sword. A simple blade of steel. How would that beat Illfang? No. I needed to think a little bit brighter, train more.

"Any plans?" I asked him as we walked out the pavilion to the fountain, "Or none?"

"Close to none," Kirito shrugged, "I mean, I could go ahead and prepare but I gotta think a while too."

"Let's just sit down and make a plan," I suggested.

And so, time flew to seven p.m (game time since I had no idea what was happening outside the Nerve Gear) as me and Kirito argued over and over to which strategy could be better against the Kobold Lord.

All the parties from Diabel's discussion were still roaming about, seeming to do the same thing we were doing: arguing about plans. I sucked in a breath that nearly burst my lungs. In the alley a little bit farther away from us, Asuna was sitting down and chewing on a little bit of bread.

"Yo," I elbowed Kirito and nodded her direction, "What do you reckon she's thinking of?"

"Death?" Kirito guessed but he laughed when I hit him again, "Okay I'm sorry, let's go check it out."

The two of us stood up and walked over to Asuna. She didn't notice us as we walked down to the steps she sat on.

"Does that taste good? I hope it does," I told her, making her look at me in surprise.

"May we sit down?" Kirito asked.

"Lady's man," I whispered, "Oof!"

Asuna nodded and Kirito sat down beside her while I gagged, trying to recover from the punch Kirito directed to my stomach. Finally, I shook it off and took my best friend's side, noticing that Asuna was scooting away from us.  I bet she isn't all that comfortable with us yet.

"You really think so?" She murmured, looking at me, "You really think it's good?"

"I mean, yeah," I nodded, "Me and Kirito have been all over it since arriving here in this town."