Chapter 156 - Desperate Struggle

Drifter had never thought there could be something worse than pitting your life against a floor boss - actually, that was a lie. He could think of several worse things, chief amongst which was having one of his friends killed by said floor boss.

But that was besides the point. That being, he had just found something worse: watching other people fight a floor boss. And die. By the dozens.

The spearmaster had never resented Kayaba so much. Not even when he found out he was trapped in SAO. But this? Making a floor boss so absurdly harder without warning, with the sole aim of killing as many people as possible? This was sickening.

And Kibaou. Drifter swore that, if the idiot survived, he would invite (demand) Kibaou for a few very public sparring (humiliation) sessions and kick the ever-loving shit out of him.

If he survived.

It was still a toss-up. Argo - thank all that was scared for her - had a Corridor Crystal they could use. Her backup's backup, she called it. And the Assault Team mobilized in record time.

Their meeting point changed to the plaza of the Town of Beginnings. It was a larger place for them to gather, and most of the frontliners were already there anyway.

In their justified hurry, they had forgotten that it wasn't only the frontliners who liked to gather on the 1st floor to watch the broadcasts, even if it was just for the scouting party.

Being stared at was nothing new to any of them, but it was not what they needed right now. Not while people were dying.

They ignored it. Guild by guild, the frontliners lined up, looking more like an army than they ever had. Standing next to Argo, Drifter finally saw Fuurinkazan arriving. They were the last ones, and he nodded to the info-broker.

"Aight, everyone! 20 seconds! Go through the portal, kill that motherfuckin' boss, and bring back the ALS!"

Shouts of agreement were returned, and Drifter squeezed the little rat's shoulder in silent thanks. She smiled up at him, but it didn't reach her eyes.

It had taken the Assault Team 7 minutes to assemble. 9 in total, since the battle started. Drifter had stopped looking at the broadcast, but he knew at least 20 ALS players were dead. Probably - no, certainly - more.

"What's the plan, Broken Spear?"

Dragon Knight Lind stepped forward, for once without the signature sneer he always had when talking to a Reaver. Drifter shook his head.

"No time for one, Lind..."

"Ten seconds!"

"...Just try to save as many of them as we can."

"5 seconds!"

"Hmm. Good luck, Broken Spear."

"To you too, Dragon Knight."

"...2, 1! Opening the corridor!"

Argo activated the Corridor Crystal, and a swirling blue portal opened in front of them. The DKB were the first through the gate. Drifter exchanged a glance with Kirito, who nodded. Reaver's Requiem stepped through without hesitation.

Just before he was teleported away, Drifter heard Argo. She was going to be the last one to go, after making sure everyone was through.

"Good luck, Dri-bou. Bring those assholes back."

...

Whatever they had been watching in the broadcast, it was worse in person. As soon as he stepped out of the portal, Drifter could see the Two-Headed Giant, with its back turned to them, grab a player and squeeze, crushing him.

For a half-second, Drifter stared at the cloud of shards. It chilled his blood that it wasn't the only one he saw hovering in the air. It was terrifying to think that the Two-Headed Giant was killing people fast enough that the polygons of their deaths had yet to dissipate before another fell.

But the spearmaster only stayed still for that fraction of a moment. Then he immediately dashed into the boss room, using Rage Spike and Comet Break as if they were simple movement skills.

Lind and his Dragon Knights Brigade were only a few steps ahead of him. They muscled their way through the mass of panicked ALS players, opening a path for Reaver's Requiem and the others.

Drifter caught glimpses of Liten and the other frontliners' shocked and relieved faces. His gaze was focused completely on the boss. It was about to crush someone.

Kibaou.

He had his eyes closed, and looked like he had given up.

Drifter was going to kill him.

Several things happened at once. Drifter bent his arm backwards and launched his spear in the strongest Serpentcoil Impale he had ever used. Nautilus activated Unrepentant Charge to block the boss. Lind grabbed Kibaou by the scruff of the neck and pulled the idiot back.

Kirito vanished from beside him in a burst of speed, climbing up the boss and sinking his sword in its face. Yuuki and Ran charged with Fuurinkazan and cut away at its legs.

Shivata had grabbed Liten and they were working together to fend off another hand while Orlando and his Braves fought a third appendage.

The fourth and last hand of the Two-Headed Giant was still free, and formed a fist aiming at Asuna.

Drifter saw that and snarled. Just thinking of how many players the boss had already killed set his blood boiling.

"Die!"

Recalling his weapon, the spearmaster whirled and slashed, stabbing in a flurry that left half a dozen wounds along the Two-Headed Giant's arm.

It wasn't enough. The fist was still going for Asuna. The fencer narrowed her eyes and used a Martial Arts skill to dodge.

The fist thundered and opened a crater in the ground. The Two-Headed Giant roared and started to lift its hand again, and Drifter heard Klein growling.

"Oh no you don't, fucker."

The red-haired guild leader made a drawing motion, and his katana flashed in a Savage Fulcrum. Red shards flew in the air, and another set of wounds appeared on the boss' limb. Then Klein spun his blade and stabbed straight down, pinning its hand to the ground.

Drifter smiled savagely, and jumped. Without any words, he too stabbed down and pierced the boss' hand.

It held the Two-Headed Giant for a moment. Then it roared again and ripped its hands free, sending everything flying. Weapons, players, everything.

Drifter spun his body mid-air and landed on his feet, as did most of the others. They were used to fighting bosses 20 times their size, and knew that immobilizing its limbs was only a delaying tactic. Cardinal would never make it that easy to incapacitate a boss.

But those few seconds were what the Assault Team needed to properly enter a formation. About 60 players surrounded the boss, while the remaining 30 provided first-aid to the ALS survivors. They guided the clearers and normal players out of the room while organizing the ALS frontliners - the raid team still needed them.

Vallerk, Liz, Kizmel, Silica, Asuna, Griselda, Agil, Shigio, Wolv, all rushed forward to engage the Two-Headed Giant. Drifter took a quick headcount of the ALS frontliners.

His heart sank. Where there should have been over 40 players, maybe half now stood. And the vast majority was looking down and battered. Not just in terms of equipment and HP, but mentality. Their wills were broken. Drifter couldn't see any fight in their eyes.

The spearmaster had no time to rekindle their spirit. He very much doubted anything but time to grieve would achieve that. And maybe seeing the boss that caused them so much pain put down hard.

Drifter could help with that. Eagerly. And, since they were still standing here, arms ready, maybe they weren't so defeated as he thought. They hadn't run away, after all. They were still frontliners.

It remained to be seen how many of them would still want that title after today's battle. At least one of them - Drifter glared at Kibaou's near catatonic form - had lost the right to it.

"You can kill him later, dummy. Head in the fight."

Yuna whispered to him, and she was only half kidding. Kibaou was on the receiving end of plenty of I-will-kill-you-if-you-fuck-this-up-even-more stares. Totally deserved, in Drifter's opinion.

Nodding to the songstress, Drifter forgot about Kibaou the next moment, and charged the boss. Darting under its legs, he swung his spear with Verticals, Horizontals, and Cobalt Slices.

Through the desperate efforts of the ALS to survive, and the blitzkrieg-like offensive of the Assault Team later on, the Two-Headed Giant was down to its last two health bars.

A victory, but a pyrrhic one. Especially because they were far from over. There was still a lot of death to come.

Were it any other floor bosses, even those of the 10th and 20th floors, even with Kibaou coming out half-cocked in such a monumental fuck-up, there was no way the ALS would have been dismantled as fast and brutality as they were. Personal feelings aside, they were SAO's biggest guild, and one of the best. Even their normal players were a cut above the rest.

No, this boss was special. It was a killing machine uniquely designed to crush whatever arrogance the Assault Team had to bits. To remind them that they were not the dominant group in Aincrad.

That they were still just pawns.

Growling at the thought, Drifter slid under a fist and stabbed the Two-Headed Giant in the elbow.

He failed to see the other hand sweeping close to the ground, and was smacked away. In hindsight, it couldn't really be considered his fault. The floor boss was huge and, close as Drifter was, the first arm completely blocked his view.

"Ugh!"

That knowledge didn't make the blow any softer. The spearmaster grunted and looked at his HP bar disbelieving. He had taken that attack full-on, but he was Broken Spear Drifter of Reaver's Requiem. His level was the best, his stats were the best, his equipment was the best. There was not a world where a single slap should have taken away 60% of his health.

But it did, and the boss wasn't letting go. Rolling to the side, the spearmaster narrowly avoided getting squished. Getting hit just one more time would spell his doom.

Without getting up, Drifter stabbed sideways with his spear, puncturing the boss' thumb. The sight would be almost comical, if he weren't struggling to survive.

Another hand tried to crush him, and Drifter cut it. He absolutely hated being thrown to the ground and losing his mobility, and it happened far too often in his opinion.

"Got you!"

Someone grabbed him by the arm, and pulled him away just in time to avoid getting stepped on by the boss. Another pair of hands pulled him up, and Drifter nodded gratefully to Enkidu and Kunimittz.

They nodded back, not a trace of the usual sassy smirks they normally had. Only grim determination.

Then Kunimittz's eyes widened, and Drifter swung his spear back over his head in a moment of instinctive self-preservation. Something big and heavy - the boss - hit him in the back, and he stumbled forward, bowling over the Fuurinkazan player.

Had he not put up the hasty defense, Drifter would be dead. As it was, he was again on the ground, staring at a health bar that was 95% empty.

Stupid. He had been unbelievably stupid. He already knew the Two-Headed Giant was dangerous and relentless, and he still looked away from it. He should have turned around immediately, instead of wasting those few seconds.

He rolled away from Kunimittz and smashed a Healing Crystal on his chest. A sigh of relief escaped his lips even as he looked up to see Enkidu groaning to hold back the Two-Headed Giant.

The Brave was fully focused on stopping one fist, and never saw the other hand - this was starting to piss Drifter off, the boss only had four hands but it felt like it had a thousand with how relentless they were.

"No you don't, you overweight bastard!"

Ignoring his still low health, the spearmaster surged to his feet and dashed at the boss, putting himself between Enkidu and the fist.

He slashed up with Sky Render, smacking the fist away. The high-level skill seemed to catch the attention of the boss, because it abandoned Enkidu and everyone else to focus all four hands on him.

"Oh shit."

Later, when asked to describe what he did, Drifter would be unable to say anything other than 'no fucking idea'.

Every fiber of his being, every 0 and 1 of his virtual body, was screaming 'danger!' to him. The four fists coming at him seemed to slow down, covering his entire line of sight.

There was no time to use any skills. Whirling his spear, he slashed the side of a fist, cutting a deep gash and alternating its path slightly. It punched a crater in the ground not 20 centimeters to his left.

He was already moving to the next threat before the impact even happened. Drifter ducked, and felt the air explode over him in a blast as the second fist passed right above his head. He stabbed it thrice in a fraction of a second, not even noting the dim silver glow of his spear.

The last two hands came at him together, attempting to crush him like someone killed a mosquito by catching it between their palms.

Drifter spun his spear in a whirlwind, leaving half a dozen cuts on the palms. They still came at him unstoppable, and he held his spear horizontally between them.

The tip of his beloved twisted bident dug into the left palm, the other end of the spear stopping the right one. The weapon endured for a full second before bending and shattering, its durability completely expanded from trying to stop a fatal attack from the absurdly strong floor boss.

It was enough for Drifter to stomp the ground with his right foot and propel himself back, just before his weapon broke and the palms clapped together. He could tell that no one, not even Vallerk at full health, would be able to survive that attack.

Growling at the sight of the weapon Liz so carefully crafted for him shattering, Drifter took his trident out of his inventory and glared at the floor boss.

This time he saw his weapon glowing silver long before he armed the Serpentcoil Impale, as did everyone else. He wondered what that was about. Then he threw the trident.

It flew beautifully, a spinning light of death. Hopefully the boss'.

The trident punched a hole through the Two-Headed Giant's chest, and continued to fly until it hit the wall, where it stayed embedded, 20 meters above the ground.

The Two-Headed Giant, meanwhile, collapsed. It crumbled to its knees dramatically like no boss before it, then fell forward, face first into the ground. Only then did it shatter, the familiar message of [ Congratulations ] appearing in the air.

Drifter couldn't help it. He fell down, all his strength leaving him. He could hear his heart thumping in his ears, his breath coming out in ragged expirations.

The first thought that crossed his adrenaline-addled mind was that nobody would ever let him live down the fact that he, Broken Spear Drifter, had just broken another spear during a floor boss raid.

His second thought, immediately wiping away the first, was that they needed a death count.

He fell back and closed his eyes.