Chapter 172 - The First Time

As far as bosses went, Prometheus wasn't all that intimidating. Sure, the flaming hair... and eyes... and hands... were a little scary. But considering all the nightmarish creatures and mobs and bosses Cardinal had thrown at the players in the last 30 floors, just fire wasn't enough to rank even in the top 20.

But there was something about Prometheus. Maybe it was the thought of it being a round floor. The promise of a hard battle. The looming certainty that someone would die, like they always did.

Whatever it was, every frontliner could feel the pressure when the floor boss charged at them. It was like an invisible mountain was crushing them, making it hard to even move. The newer KoB players especially were struggling in the face of their first round floor boss.

But the Assault Team wouldn't be what they were if simple fear was enough to paralyze them.

Drifter met Prometheus in the middle of the room, Infinite Spear changing his weapon to a halberd that clashed with a fiery fist in a deafening impact.

The first skill was a basic Vertical, meant to halt Prometheus' charge, and that it did. But the blue glow that followed as Drifter's beloved bident reappeared was anything but simple.

"Nautilus, Liz! Go!"

Shield and warhammer smacked the boss back, and Drifter rushed right through the open arms, throwing his entire weight behind an upwards slash that looked like Vertical, but most definitely wasn't it.

A straight line was carved from Prometheus' crotch to his collarbone, an angry red gash that wiped away a visible chunk of his first health bar.

For a long second, Prometheus stood completely still in the aftermath of Infinite Spear's second sub-skill, Split Stream. A single vertical slash, meant to bissect everything.

"Filthy mortal!"

Flaming fists fell down on Drifter when Prometheus recoiled, and the spearmaster deftly ducked under them, changing his weapon into a staff for Edge Vaulting.

5 floors ago, when he first acquired Infinite Spear, learning how to properly use the endless swapping of weapons had been tough. It added not just one card, but an entire new deck of variables to Drifter's hands.

More options wasn't always a good thing. In a fight for your life (aka every day in SAO), thinking too much got you killed even more consistently than thinking too little. And like a kid with a bunch of new toys, deciding which one to use was a struggle.

At the beginning, Drifter would be constantly swapping his weapons, even when the situation didn't call for it. It was like an itch that wouldn't go away no matter how hard he scratched it. An always hovering 'what if that weapon is better' question over his head.

That was 5 floors ago, however. Since then, Drifter had trained hard to master his Unique Skill, even going so far as to journey back down to lower floors and fight all kinds of mobs to get used to the changes.

Now, Drifter was able to integrate Infinite Spear seamlessly into his skill set. It wasn't perfect yet, but it was close. And it showed.

The surroundings seemed to vanish as Drifter focused fully onto the enemy in front of him. Other players attacked the boss, and the spearmaster switched with his guildmates when the need arose, but his gaze never left Prometheus.

There was something soothing about falling into the rhythm of battle. That probably meant he was crazy, but they all needed to be a little insane if they wanted to survive SAO.

Anyhow, Drifter easily took up his role as one of the Assault Team's main damage dealers, like he always had. Infinite Spear only made it easier.

Vaguely, the spearmaster noticed the other players using their own Unique Skills to whittle down Prometheus' HP. His was one of the flashiest ones, but Asuna's Mirage Burst, Heathcliff's Holy Sword, and Klein's Battoujutsu were also fairly eye-catching.

For this battle, Drifter had relinquished control over Reaver's Requiem to Kizmel, so that he, Kirito, and Asuna, the guild's three leaders, could focus on bringing the boss down as fast as possible.

He hoped that was the right decision. The spearmaster was by no means a controlling person, but the 30th floor boss raid was an incredibly harsh responsibility to throw at Kizmel's hands. Still, if anyone would be up to the task, it was the dark elf.

Now wasn't the time to dwell on those thoughts. What was done was done, and Drifter trusted Kizmel with his everything. She was family.

"Up!"

A flaming fist tore the air as it flew directly towards him, and Drifter barely managed to slash down with his spear to parry it. Still, a small crater appeared on the ground where the punch struck, and a not insignificant portion of Drifter's health vanished just from the slight contact.

Nothing to it. This wasn't a battle they expect to get through without casualties, much less without being hit.

His hands became a blur as he switched his grip on his spear's shaft, unleashing a swift Horizontal Arc that left two nasty cuts on Prometheus' thighs.

By now, using skills and fighting was second nature to Drifter. More than that, honestly. Oftentimes, his body reacted before his mind could catch up to it.

Case in point, he dropped down on pure instinct as another wild haymaker was thrown his way. Being surrounded by dozens of highly skilled players had done a number on the boss, and Prometheus seemed to have changed attack patterns from focusing on single targets to just trying to hit as many people with his fire as he could.

His weapon flashed out, still in the form of his favored twisted bident. First a fake Snake Bite, bending around the hoss' arm, then a very real one, the duo of skill and copy puncturing four holes under Prometheus' armpits.

Liquid fire leaked from the wounds, and Drifter paused - a grave mistake, which saw him smacked away by a backhand and sent tumbling through the ground.

He got up and chugged down a potion, feeling Yuna's Rest wash over him to contribute to the healing. His gaze never left the lava trailing down Prometheus' torso.

Monsters didn't bleed in SAO. Nobody did, actually. The closest thing to that were the red shards that frayed from the edges of a wound before it closed. So clearly, Prometheus wasn't bleeding fire. That was something else. But what?

"Second phase incoming! Fall back, watch out for AoE attacks!"

Lind must have seen the same as he did, because the DKB guild leader yelled a command. Drifter followed it without questioning. The other player was in charge of this raid. It also helped that the spearmaster shared his concerns.

Alas, not everyone had the implicit trust on Lind's orders that the older frontliners had, at least during battle. The somewhat new Knights of the Blood Oath hesitated for a few seconds, first looking to their leader.

Drifter could understand that. Certainly every Reaver would follow his commands over Lind's, no matter what. But now, with a round floor boss about to enter its second phase, wasn't the time to hesitate.

Prometheus smashed his hands into the ground, setting forth a wave of fire that seared through a dozen players, sending several of them to a dangerously low health.

Cursing in his mind about stupid people who refused to follow the plan, Drifter surged forward with Yuuki, Ran, Vallerk, Agil, Wolv, and Shigio to rescue the KoB players before Prometheus barbecued them even more.

Even as he cut through the literal wall of fire with his polearm, Drifter never forgot what had originally prompted him to fall back: the liquid fire that spilled from the boss' wounds.

And good thing he didn't. No sooner had the spearmaster slashed his way past the fire curtain, he saw Prometheus clawing at his old scars, flesh tearing in a manner that was doubly unnerving for how digital it was, his fiery blood pooling and dripping around his fingers.

It was one of the most horrifying scenes Drifter had ever witnessed, and he had seen a lot in his time in Aincrad.

It only got worse when Prometheus gathered a handful of his own blood and blew into it. Droplets flew out, and suddenly a dozen fire minions spawned where they dropped.

They looked vaguely human, expect for being made entirely of fire. Two of them immediately set upon the spearmaster, who promptly cut them down.

It was easy. One Sting piercing through both with a timely twisting of his wrist. But they didn't die. Instead, they scattered in more liquid flames, before 4 fire elementals - admittedly a tad smaller - were standing before him.

"Oh, come on!"

This time he didn't bother smothering his curses. He was sure Yuna wouldn't mind it in this situation.

"Don't cut them!"

The warning came too late. In this case, the frontliners' sharp battle instincts betrayed them. By the time Drifter's shout reached everyone's ears, the fire minions had gone from one dozen to two.

"We have to split up! Lind, attack or defense?!"

The glare the other guild leader threw him contained a thousand words, likely none of them nice. But he knew what to do.

"Knights Brigade, spread out and grab the minions aggro! Kite them around! And for the love of everything that's sacred, stop killing them! KoB, you are with us!"

A sensible decision. The Knights of the Blood Oath were good. The rest of the frontliners were better.

"Reavers, we are playing offense! Fuurinkazan, Braves, with us! Ambros, you and your guild take the back. Everyone else, form a perimeter! Don't let any of the minions get close to us! Unique Skill holders, to the front! Bring him down!"

Anyone with a mind for tactics watching the broadcast was impressed. The frontliners had spotted the changes in the boss' patterns, realized killing the minions was a horrible idea, and came up with countermeasures, all of that in less than 10 seconds. They acted swiftly and decisively, without a moment's hesitation. It probably saved more lives than they could comprehend at that time.

While Liz fell back to repair armor and weapons and grant a few buffs with her Volcano Forge, the rest of their guild followed Drifter into battle.

Ran ducked under a swinging fist and slashed in an inverted 'V', her first cut a normal one, the second a point-blank Slant.

While the (very slightly) older twin didn't receive a Unique Skill like her sister, she was every bit as deadly. And, unlike Yuuki, who matched Kirito's reckless fighting style - case in point, the two charging at Prometheus and using Dual Blades to parry instead of dodging and blocking like a normal, sane person - Ran was much more collected. She approached each battle with an almost clinical perspective.

Drifter had heard a few whispers about the purple-haired girl. And her sister too, come of it. But it was Ran whose's name was starting to be accompanied by a title. Precise Blade Ran, for her analytical and level-headed fighting style.

On this topic, Sinon had brought up during dinner not long ago that someone was calling Yuuki the Untamed Storm, and he was kind of hoping it stuck. It fit the girl to a tee.

Not all frontliners got a title, of course. But enough did that when they joined hands to deal with the boss, it was a mighty impressive sight.

The only titled players who weren't there were Argo the Rat, the info-broker, and Shadow Blossom Akari, the elusive ninja whose's face nobody knew. And, of course, Kibaou the Challenger, who nobody had seen in a long time.

Merchant Warrior Agil, Aero Huntress Sinon, Songstress Yuna, Indomitable Knight Nautilus, Dragon Tamer Silica, Dark Elf Kizmel, Hero Orlando, Redblade Klein, Lightning Flash Asuna, Black Swordsman Kirito, Broken Spear Drifter, and the newly dubbed Precise Blade Ran and her sister, Untamed Storm Yuuki. Even Dragon Knight Lind, Liten the Fortress, and Holy Sword Heathcliff, dealing with the fire minions in the background.

With a line-up like that, not to mention all the other dozens of frontliners who were just as skilled, even if untitled, it was only a matter of time before Prometheus fell. The question was: how many would the boss drag down with him?

The boss seemed determined to set a high number, because he roared again, uttering more of his 'filthy mortals' spiel, and slammed another wave of fire that sent them all stumbling back in panic.

Prometheus reached for the broken chains still hanging around his waist, tangling them in his hands. Almost instantly, the metal became red hot and started smoking.

TWACK!

The sound of Prometheus snapping the chains like some sort of hell whips rang loudly throughout the room. Faster than the players could react, the boss swung his new weapons.

The chains darted past Drifter and through Griselda and Wolv, and wrapped around Vallerk. The tank grunted as he was forced to let go of his shield, one chain coiling around his right arm, the other constricting his waist.

"Vallerk!"

Shigio and Agil struck the chains, trying to break them apart, to no avail. Drifter, Asuna, and Nautilus went after the boss himself, but it was also useless.

Prometheus yanked the chains back, pulling Vallerk towards him. The one coiled around his waist eventually let go, leaving behind an ugly red streak that wrapped around his entire torso.

The chain restricting his arm didn't let go. It pressed tighter and tighter, until it sheared through the limb with another loud snap.

"No!"

In a way, it was good that the boss chose Valllerk of all people as his target. The Reavers watched their friend's HP drop from full green all the way to red, and stop there, far too slowly. Anyone else but maybe Liten the Fortress would have died.

"Kill it! Before he does it again!"

Drifter was one of the first to advance, his spear lashing out skill after skill. Snake Bite, Pinpoint Star, Horizontal, Double Tap, Cobalt Slice... Nearly everything he had in his arsenal.

Of course, such a frantic attack couldn't go unpunished. Prometheus whirled his chair around his body, and Drifter was smacked way together with Silica, Yuuki, Dale, Chuchulainn, Beowulf, and half a dozen other players.

It hurt. Just the slightest of touches from the chains was enough to erase a sizable portion of their health bars. But the players held strong.

Drifter performed a backwards roll and shot back to his feet. When Prometheus' chains came for him again, sweeping low at his legs this time, he willed his weapon to change into a trident, and stabbed down with Edge Vaulting, nailing the chain to the ground through two links.

Another loud snap rang out, and the force behind the chain ripped Drifter's trident off the ground, and the spearmaster with it.

But the unexpected resistance, however shortly it lasted, was enough to halt Prometheus' momentum. The boss staggered, and never saw Kirito coming.

One of the Black Swordsman's swords pierced the boss' chest from the back, while the other fell on his neck, separating Prometheus' head from his body.

[ CONGRATULATIONS! ]

Drifter ignored the message. Along with Prometheus dying, the fire minions had also vanished. The spearmaster looked around.

"Call out!"

"Reaver's Requiem all accounted for! Minus a few limbs..."

"They'll grow back. Fuurinkazan is all here."

"Legend Braves. Same. We are all still kicking."

"Knights of the Blood Oath suffered no casualties."

"Dragon Knights Brigade. We are alive."

Drifter followed the headcount, his heart soaring with each guild that reported no casualties. He started laughing.

"We did it. We fucking did it. Everyone is alive. Everyone is alive!"