Chapter 33 - Asterius the Taurus King

"Phew!"

The young girl let out a sigh of relief, and patted her chest. That had been a close one. If the archer and that other player didn't have such quick reactions, the spearman would have died.

"Woah, that was really close!"

"Yeah, no kiddin'!"

"Hey, stop shaking your phone!"

Kirigaya Suguha was in class today when someone screamed and interrupted their homeroom teacher. The teacher glared, but the student who was sneakily playing on his phone didn't even care. He yelled to whoever was listening that the SAO players were fighting the 2nd floor boss.

That set the entire class ablaze. Everyone - including the teacher - took out their phones to watch the broadcast. Suguha was the quickest. After all, the other students might treat this just as some kind of show or entertainment, but it was different for her. Her brother was trapped in that death game too.

And just as she expected, he was also part of the raid-party. Again. Gods, how she hated Kazuto - or Kirito, as he was called in-game - for that. She had cried so much when she discovered he was laying in a hospital bed, and might die at any moment. And then she had felt so happy when she saw him again a little over half a month ago, only to cry again when she realized that the only reason she could watch him was because he was battling against the most dangerous monster in SAO at the time.

Even though they won in the end, Suguha was still so worried for him. And then when the whole beater thing started, she felt so angry. Even after that nice man from the government, Kikouka Seijirou, explained why he did it, she still didn't forgive Kazu- Kirito for trying to make himself to be the villain. How stupid was that?!

As much as she wanted to see him again, to know he was still alive and well, Suguha had hoped she would never find Kirito in one of the SAO broadcasts again, because that would mean her brother was, once again, fighting the worst Kayaba had to offer. But deep down, she knew she would be disappointed.

And she wasn't mistaken. Unsurprisingly, Kirito was there when the live stream of the battle against the 2nd floor boss - bosses - started. But she was also surprised to see that not only he was leading his party, he also seemed to be ordering a lot of other players around. To her, who knew Kirito was a loner, that came as a happy shock.

During the fight, she paid special attention not only to her brother, but also to the other five who were members of his party. During the chaotic melee, she managed to catch their names.

There was Drifter, the spearman who seemed to share leadership of the party with Kirito. He was older than the rest, but if he was fighting with her brother, he should be a good person.

Then, there was also Asuna, the unbelievably pretty girl who used a rapier, and always followed Kirito to attack the monsters. The two of them were incredibly in sync, and Suguha's little sister instincts told her there might be something going on between them.

The only person in the party who used a shield was called Nautilus. He was pretty plain-looking and didn't have much of a presence, at least in Suguha's opinion. There was also Yuna, the girl who took a musical instrument of all things to a boss-raid. According to some analysis she saw on the internet after the 1st floor boss fight, she could use music to heal people.

Lastly, there was the archer girl. Suguha barely noticed her in the first broadcast, that was how inconspicuous she was. Even now, she still didn't know her name, because the girl hadn't spoken a word the entire fight. But she had a freaking bow, so it was kinda hard to miss her now. Where the hell had she found a bow between the 1st and 2nd floor boss raids?!

Whatever the answer to that was, Suguha decided to pay attention to Kirito's party members too. When Drifter was almost crushed by << Nato the Colonel Tauros >>, she was horrified. Thankfully the archer girl and Nautilus saved him.

"Are you okay, Suguha... Eek! I mean, Kirigaya-chan? You are kinda pale."

Suguha glared at the skinny boy sitting next to her. He flinched, his glasses almost falling off his freckled nose, and charged the way he addressed her.

The boy was called Nagata Shinichi, and he could probably be considered Suguha's best male friend. She still didn't like others to know that, however, so she didn't allow him to call her by her first name. But seeing how he had noticed how she was pale while everyone was focusing on the broadcast, her heart softened a little.

"I'm just a little worried. He almost died."

"Well, yeah. Those bosses can paralyze players. I'm surprised no one was seriously hurt yet. I guess that's why they are the ones fighting the bosses, hum? They really are the elites of SAO. Especially that boy with black hair over there. Look at how good he is!"

Suguha followed Shinichi's pointing finger, and discovered he was talking about Kirito. Her brother was, at the moment, using Nato's hammer handle as a platform to jump up and hit the minotaur in the face with some sort of skill. Suguha couldn't help but stand a little taller when she heard people praising her brother.

"Uh? He looks kinda familiar... Don't you think so, Sugu... Err, Kirigaya-chan?"

"What are you talking about?! Pay attention to the fight!"

Startled, Suguha panicked and slapped Shinichi on the back of the head. The boy pouted, confused by why she hit him, but too afraid to ask. Suguha sighed in relief when she saw he had stopped asking questions.

Suguha hadn't told anyone that Kirito was her brother. She was pretty sure that if she did, her friends wouldn't stop pestering her with questions. The guy who died on the 1st floor boss raid, Diavel, was already being treated like some kind of celebrity. Could you imagine her brother, of all people, receiving the same treatment?! Her classmates probably wouldn't believe her even if she told them anyway.

Sighing inwardly, Suguha suddenly felt conflicted. She was glad that her brother had found friends and people he could trust inside SAO, but at the same time she felt like she had lost something.

The truth was, for a few years now, her relationship with her brother had become strained. One day, Kirito simply started distancing himself from her, and she never understood why, until a few weeks ago, when her mother explained to her that Kirito wasn't actually her brother, but, in fact, her cousin. His parents had died in an accident, and her mother adopted him. She planned on telling him when he was older, but Kirito found out by himself when he was just ten years old.

For the longest time, Suguha had thought that Kirito was pushing her away because of something she had done. She had been relieved when she discovered that wasn't so, and more than a little angry at him for doing what he did. Adopted or not, he would always be her older brother!

There was so much she wanted to tell him. Unfortunately, now it was impossible. But when - not if - he got out of SAO, she would tell him everything. After she scolded him for making her worry, of course.

------------------------------

"Careful! It's going berserker!"

Drifter didn't need Chuchulainn's warning to notice that. It was hard to miss how << Nato the Colonel Tauros' >> blue skin suddenly acquired a reddish hue.

Their group, even though smaller than the ALS and DKB, was the first to get a boss down to the last third of its last health bar. << Baran the General Taurus >> had two more HP bars than Nato, so that was understandable.

What wasn't understandable nor acceptable, in Drifter's humble opinion, was how Nato's raging mode consisted of it repeatedly spamming << Numbing Impact >>. Not to mention damaging the boss, the players were now running around like headless chickens to avoid being paralyzed to death.

The only one who could unconcernedly attack was Sinon, who stood in the rear with her bow fully drawn, launching arrow after arrow. Very soon the boss, who had its aggro cleared when it entered its berserker phase, turned to the archer, steam puffing out of its nostrils.

"Tanks, make a barrier! Everyone else, when it stops, hit it with everything you have!"

Seeing this as a chance they couldn't miss, Drifter silently apologized to Sinon in his heart for using her as bait. It worked surprisingly well.

<< Nato the Colonel Tauros >> smashed into the shield wall, sending quite a few of the tanks to the ground. But they managed to stop the boss, and, in the short interval before it could charge again or initiate a skill, attacks rained down on it from all sides.

It was very anticlimactic. After struggling for a long time, and a lot of close brushes with death due to the annoying paralysis, the combined attack of over twenty players wiped out the last of << Nato the Colonel Tauros' >> health without it even being able to unleash one last << Numbing Impact >>.

A player from some party Drifter didn't know was the one to get the last-attack bonus. It seemed to be some kind of armor, but the spearman didn't have the time nor energy to care about it now. Kirito was already gathering everyone again to go help the ALS and DKB against << Baran the General Taurus >>.

A quick glance told Drifter that Lind and Kibaou's people were holding on, albeit just barely. Unlike their side, which was more or less coordinated, the two large groups of players were actively bickering and sabotaging each other in the middle of the battle. For example, right now the DKB tanks held Baran's aggro, but instead of helping them split up the pressure, the ALS players were wildly attacking in a desperate bid to steal the boss.

'Those idiots! Do they even realize this battle is being watched by all the players in SAO?!'

"Tsk!"

Grunting in annoyance, Drifter trailed Kirito and rushed towards Baran. The black-haired boy positioned his sword behind him, almost dragging the tip on the ground. Seeing the signature starting stance of << Sonic Leap >>, Drifter grinned. His spear glowed red as he prepared a << Rage Spike >>.

Without the need to communicate, the duo suddenly accelerated, leaving Asuna, Orlando, and Agil behind.

"Oi! What do ya think ya are doing, ya goddam beater?!"

Kirirot turned a deaf ear to Kibaou's insults. When he was still more than five meters away from << Baran the General Taurus >>, the swordsman jumped, leaving only a dust cloud in his wake.

Bringing his sword in an upwards slashing motion, Kirito cut open Baran from the hip all the way up to the shoulder. The wound was so deep it was a surprise the boss hadn't lost an arm.

"Mooooo!"

Angered, the gigantic minotaur general tried to punch Kirito with its free hand while the boy was still in the air. It failed miserably. Drifter was right behind Kirito, << Rage Spike >> launching him forward, his spear drilling through Baran's left wrist.

So heavily wounded twice in quick succession, the four-meter-tall boss staggered, and then fell. It still had almost an entire health bar left, so it was by no means dead. But it was vulnerable.

"Kill!"

------------------------------

"Waa! Did you see that?! So cool!"

Shinichi was fanboy-ing, but Suguha had to - although reluctantly - admit that the pincer attack Kirito and Drifter had performed was pretty cool. No, scratch that, it was awesome! The two of them flew towards the boss like a pair of green and red comets. And the way Kirito left himself completely open after his attack... He didn't just trust Drifter to be there for the follow-up. He knew he would.

For some reason, Suguha suddenly felt like crying. She put a hand over her mouth to stifle a cry, her eyes watering. The way her brother jumped in front of that monster... There was no hesitation whatsoever. When had he grown up so much?

------------------------------

The duo of Drifter and Kirito had knocked down the boss. There was no suspense left after that happened. Struggling to get up and surrounded by over fifty players, << Baran the General Taurus' >> fate was sealed. It couldn't even use << Numbing Detonation >> anymore, because each time it tried, at least four different attacks would knock the warhammer off of its path.

Though the DKB and ALS were the ones who did most of the work, Agil was the one who landed the last hit on << Baran the General Taurus >>, and Drifter would guiltily admit that he took no small amount of pleasure when seeing Kibaou and Lind's sour faces.

Feeling all the tension leave his body at once, Drifter sat down, panting heavily. This hadn't been an easy fight, but they had won. And nobody died. A complete victory! He was tempted to join the others in celebration when he happened to look at the entrance of the boss room, and saw someone he never thought he would.

"Argo?"

It was unknown whether the info broker heard him or their eyes just happened to meet, but when Argo stared right at him, what Drifter saw wasn't joy, but panic.

"Careful! It's not over yet!"

Unfortunately, Argo's warning was lost to all but Drifter, drowned by all the voices. Before he could get up and ask her what she meant, one of the dark corners of the boss room started to shine. Before anyone could react, they all heard a roar, and then a pillar of lightning tore a path right through the middle of the raid-party.

"What the?!"

Momentarily blinded, Drifter rubbed his eyes to get rid of the white spots. He almost wished he hadn't.

What greeted him was a scene of despair. Two dozen players were laying on the ground, paralyzed, and none of them above yellow. Some of the more fragile ones were even deep in the red, just a breath away from dying.

Looming above them was the worst monster Drifter had yet to see in SAO. A minotaur, like the other two bosses, but this one had three pairs of horns, and stood at well over six meters. Each of its legs was as thick as a tree trunk, and it's lower body was covered in chainmail. Literal lightning flared out of its nostrils, and on top of its head sat a platinum crown.

Looking at the gigantic golden warhammer, easily twice as big as him, and many times as wide, Drifter gulped in fear. Now he knew what Argo meant.

<< Asterius the Taurus King >>