Chapter 35 - Beginning of a Legend

With a flick of her wrist, Asuna pulled her rapier out of << Asterius the Taurus King's >> body, leaving a circular wound, small but deep. Bright red pixels flowed out of the cut, floating for a few seconds before dissipating into nothingness. That was the SAO equivalent of blood.

Twirling about, the fencer dodged under one of Asterius' swings, and stabbed the boss in the thigh twice more. With narrowed eyes, Asuna pressed on the offensive, using a << Linear >> to carve a long gash across the boss' naked torso.

Right now, Asuna was so focused that even the noise the fifty-something players around her made were muffled. She was in her own world.

A quick stab, retreat. The left side is open, two more cuts. Drifter didn't panic when Asterius appeared. Switch with Nautilus, heal. Go back in, Asterius' back is unguarded, hit it with a skill. Drifter managed to take control of the raid-party with a set of quick actions. Jump over the warhammer, a combo aimed at the wrist. Drifter only used two skills to bring the boss to its knees.

A DKB player is in trouble, use a 2-hit combo skill to interrupt the boss, pull him back. She was rooted in fear on Asterius spawned. Two slashes on the inside of the boss' knees, stagger it. She couldn't do anything until Drifter ordered her. A wide swing is coming, duck under it, an upwards stab to the elbow. She had attacked so many times and Asterius hadn't fallen.

She was weak.

A << Line Cut >> to the boss' flank. Retreat out of range of << Numbing Detonation >>.

Why did she freeze in fear?! Why couldn't she just get up and fight? Wasn't that what she had promised herself she would do?! Wasn't the reason she joined her party and fought in the frontlines because she thought she was strong?! Then, why was she still so weak?!

Sidestep a << Crushing Impact >>. Four quick successive strikes, withdraw, switch out. Switch in again, a single slash.

Weak, weak, weak! Powerless! Useless!

Leaning back, chest inflating, sparks flying around the snout. A lighting breath was coming. Dodge to the side, barely. Take advantage of the period Asterius has to stay still to cast the attack. Stab. Stab. Stab.

Even now, she couldn't do anything. Her attacks barely tickled the boss. Weak.

A quick reverse slashing motion to the leg of the boss. No reaction. Use the knee as a platform to jump up. The belt buckle is large enough to serve as a foothold. Reach higher, now at the same level as Asterius' head. The crown is the weak point. Prepare a skill. One, two, three, four, five stabs.

The tinkling sound of her rapier hitting the crown mocked her. She was weak. The boss wasn't even...

"Asuna!"

Wait, where was the boss?

"Asuna!"

<< Asterius the Taurus King >> had disappeared. Asuna landed softly on the ground, and spun, searching for the boss. Maybe it was some kind of new skill? But she couldn't find the boss anywhere, only a bunch of polygons swirling around her.

"Asuna!"

Startled, Asuna looked at Sinon, who had grabbed her by the shoulders. For some reason, the archer had put her bow away. Now that she was looking, everyone had lowered their weapons. What was happening?

"Sinon?"

Her grip on her rapier was still tight, and Asuna was still feeling tense. Her friend noticed that, and, for some reason, smiled. Sinon cupped Asuna's head with one hand, and lifted it up.

"We did it. We did it, Asuna."

Asuna didn't think she had ever heard Sinon speak so softly or with so much relief imbued in her voice. But she had all the reason in the world to do so.

[ Congratulations! ]

When Asuna saw the word hanging above their heads, she trembled, and then her shoulders sagged, and she collapsed. All the stress and tiredness from the boss-raid caught up at once.

It took a while for her to realize that something was still off with the atmosphere. They had just defeated the 2nd floor boss, so why wasn't anyone cheering? Maybe somebody died?!

That thought terrified Asuna so much that she opened her eyes with a start, only to discover the entire raid-party staring at her. Feeling shy, and more than a little uncomfortable, the fencer quietly tugged at Sinon's sleeve.

"W-What happened?"

"What happened? You happened, Asuna! That was incredible!"

"W-What?!"

Sinon wasn't making any sense. She hadn't done anything special. She couldn't even damage the boss that much. She was nothing compared to Drifter.

Asuna wasn't jealous of Drifter. Not even close. Quite the opposite, actually. She looked up to the spearman too much, and, because of that, she couldn't help but compare herself to him. And she found out that she was worse than him in every aspect. Drifter was a good leader, and an even better fighter. She, on the other hand, couldn't speak up when strangers were involved, much less take control of a party or even an entire boss battle as he did. As for fighting, there wasn't even a need to comment.

Of course, only Asuna thought that. If she asked any of her party members, or even the man in question, they would scold her for being dumb. They all looked up to her, and yet here she was, looking down on herself. A good leader? Asuna might not be one yet, but they all thought she had the makings of one. She was smart, thoughtful, and stubborn. As for her combat capabilities... Drifter could see that Asuna's low self-esteem was acting up again, so he walked up to her and rested a hand on her head.

"Asuna... You just wiped the floor with Asterius."

"Huh?"

Dumbstruck, the fencer stared at Drifter. The way her hazel eyes opened wide and her mouth curled in surprise were almost too much for him. As it was, Drifter couldn't restrain his joyful grin from appearing.

"I don't know what kind of anime state you entered towards the end there, Asuna, but you were like a tornado. You were running everywhere, and Asterius couldn't catch you no matter how hard you tried. I swear you took out a third of his last health bar alone."

As he spoke, Drifter ruffled Asuna's hair, and gestured with his thumb to the other players, who helpfully nodded their heads to show the spearman was telling the truth. Only now did Asuna understand that the admiration she saw in their eyes was directed at her. Even Kibaou was nodding, though begrudgingly.

"Drifter's right, Asuna. You were so fast I could barely catch a glimpse of you."

"Uhum. Like lightning!"

"Yeah! That was damn impressive, girl!"

Kirito's words broke the spell that seemed to be holding everyone from commemorating. Suddenly, shouts of joy and relief filled the boss room, as it finally sunk in that they had won. They won, even though the battle started out so catastrophically. And they won without losing anyone!

Some people laughed, others cried. Players from the DKB and ALS hugged, much to their respective leaders' muted discontentment. But Lind and Kibaou didn't interrupt the celebrations. The raid-party deserved it.

More than one person came up to Asuna to congratulate her. Drifter patted her head one last time before clasping hands with Agil and Orlando. Sinon, Argo, Yuna, and Nautilus were wrapped in a four-way hug.

"You were amazing, Asuna."

No amount of praise made Asuna happier than this one. When Kirito approached her and smiled so happily, Asuna felt all her worries vanish, fade away. She smiled brightly, her cheeks dusted with pink.

"Thanks!"

She was still talking with Kirito when someone suddenly hugged her from behind, lewdly grabbing her waist. Asuna squeaked and spun around, before sending a pointed glare at the offender. Who could it be other than Argo?

"That was a show and a half, Aa-chan! Especially that last bit. What kinda skill was that ya used to defeat the big cow? I've never seen it before. It was a 5-hit combo, wasn't it?"

"Ehh... I don't know?"

Of course the info broker was the one most interested in the unknown skill Asuna used. She hadn't seen one like that in the beta. Several others were eavesdropping on the conversation, but Asuna's answer shocked all of them.

"You don't know?"

She really didn't. She was just fighting normally - or apparently not, from what everyone was saying - and it happened. Asuna quickly opened her menu - there were a lot of notifications - and entered her skill tab. No doubt, at the very top was a new skill.

"<< Glass Shard >>..."

"Humm... Never heard of it. Kayaba probably added it after the beta. But a 5-hit sword skill, hum? That might be the first in the game. What are the unlockin' conditions?"

As she asked, Argo transferred a bag of cor to Asuna. The fencer accepted it absent-mindedly, knowing that if she didn't, the info broker would complain. Argo liked to run a fair business, after all.

"390 mastery in << Rapier >>. I have... 391."

"Waa... Ya must've reached it just in the nick of time then."

"Yeah... I think I unlocked it... And just kinda used it without even knowing."

Hearing that, the players around lost interest. They didn't really expect to be able to use << Glass Shard >> since it was very clearly a unique skill to rapiers and other light swords, but one could always dream. Unfortunately, Asuna was the only fencer amongst the frontliners, so that skill was destined to only be shown by her hands for a long time.

After all, choosing a rapier was a very courageous choice. It was a weapon with low base damage, that depended entirely on scoring multiple hits in quick succession, and aiming for weak points.

Not only that, but a fencer had to put almost everything they had on dexterity, and couldn't use heavy armor or shields, otherwise their agility would be affected. In other games, that wouldn't be a problem, but in SAO, where death was real, a rapier was a very bold choice. That was another reason why so many people looked at Asuna with admiration.

In their minds, she had to be extremely skilled and supremely confident in her abilities to come to the frontlines with such a build. If any of them discovered that Asuna was a total noob, and chose the rapier simply because she thought it looked pretty, who knows what they would think.

"All right, chatting is good and all, but shouldn't we make our way to the 3rd floor? I'm sure the people watching are anxiously waiting for us to unlock the teleporter."

Agil clapped his hands, catching the raid-party's attention. The DKB and ALS were obviously the first ones to take action, almost racing to climb the stairs that appeared. Or at least they would be, if their members weren't dead tired.

The rest of the players left in small groups one by one. No one mentioned the last attack bonus, which obviously went to Asuna. Unlike the 1st floor, nobody contested her right to it. Not after that display of sword skills.

"See you around, people. Drifter, Asuna, that was a marvelous fight."

"T-Thanks!"

"Hahaha... Don't forget our appointment, big man. Let's test SAO's alcohol!"

"Course! Message me."

Drifter waved to Agil and his party members. The only reason they weren't going to the 3rd floor together was because Argo signaled for them to stay behind.

"We'll get going too. It was a fantastic battle, my friends."

"Actually, think ya could wait a minute, Or-bou? I need to talk to ya. Nothin' bad, I promise. Kii-bou, ya guys too."

Though they were all curious as to why Argo wanted them to stay behind, Kirito and the leader of the Legend Braves just nodded - nervously, in Orlando's case. Argo then guided them out of the boss room - thus ending the broadcast, which was still active as long as someone remained in the room.

They slowly climbed the stairs, all of them exhausted. Though Drifter wanted to go drink with Agil and Orlando, that could wait until tomorrow. Today was a day to celebrate with his party, and to rest.

"Aight, here should be good enough. Dri-bou, your << Searching >> catchin' anythin'?"

Drifter raised an eyebrow at all the precautions, but activated the skill nonetheless.

"All clear, little rat. Why the mystery?"

"Ya will see. Aa-chan, can ya bring out the last attack bonus?"

"Ah, I forgot about it!"

Asuna nimbly operated her menu, and took out << Asterius the Taurus King's >> unique drop. In her hands materialized a... Pair of iron rings? No, they were much larger, almost the size of Drifter's head. And their edge glinted in the light of the torches, showing how sharp they were. Argo nodded slowly.

"Uhm, my info was right after all. What are they called, Aa-chan?"

"Eh... << Moonlight Chakrams >>. It's... A throwing weapon?!"

When she read the description, Asuna's voice unintentionally took a higher pitch. Her surprise was justifiable, as the amount of long-range equipment in SAO was below pitiful. Just look at how much Sinon struggled to get her hands on her << Grafted Horn Bow >>.

"Just like I thought. Aa-chan, sell those to the Legend Braves."

"Huh?"

"What do you mean, Argo the Rat? Why would we buy those?"

The Braves were as confused as Drifter's party. Argo didn't falter, however. In fact, Drifter rarely saw her so serious.

"Ya are gonna buy them so all the Braves can fight together one day. That's the solution, Or-bou."

Orlando's eyes lit up with realization. Of what, Drufter had no idea. Without hesitation, the Brave opened a trading window with Asuna.

"We'll buy it."

"Err..."

Unsure, Asuna looked at her party members. Drifter and Kirito stared at Argo for a few seconds, but the info broker didn't waver. In the end, Kirito nodded.

They obviously wouldn't take advantage of the Legend Braves, who could be considered friends, so Asuna set a low price, and Orlando accepted the trade without hesitation. Almost immediately after, the Braves hurriedly bid farewell to the party, and left.

"You are going to tell us what that was all about later."

It wasn't a question. Argo nodded again, and finally seemed to regain some of her cheerful demeanor. The info broker gleefully grabbed Sinon and Nautilus' hands, ignoring the protests of the two quietest members of the party, and dragged them up the stairs.

"Sure! But for now, the 3rd floor awaits!"

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AUTHOR'S NOTE

Sorry to disappoint those of you who were expecting a big and detailed boss fight. The 2nd floor boss raid has already been going on for 4 chapters, so I thought any more would become boring. It was also a really good chance to do something I've been wanting for a long time, and that is to start developing Asuna's character.

Yuna, Sinon, and Kirito are, by now, already pretty well-known to the SAO players (and unknown to them, even in the real world) due to their very distinct features (music, bow, and beater respectively). Now, Drifter and Asuna are also starting to grow in reputation. And don't worry about Nautilus, I didn't forget about him. His time to shine will come.

Also, I feel like the start of this chapter deserves this note. You should remember that Asuna at the start of SAO had very low self-esteem, and was, in fact, even thinking of dying because she thought she couldn't do anything right and was worthless (canon with a sprinkle of drama). Even though she met Sinon, Kirito, Drifter, Yuna, and Nautilus, joined a party, and, overall, became a lot more cheerful, I don't think that kind of mentality can possibly vanish straight away. Her realizing she isn't, in fact, nearly as weak as she thought she was, is the first step towards changing that.