Sword Art Online - Volume 1 - Aincrad (17 page)

“
Charge-!
”
 

Two of the ten had already lost almost their entire HP and were lying on the ground. The other eight had gotten into lines of four with Cobert in the center, who led the charge with his sword raised high.

“
No-!!
”
 

But my voice didn
’
t reach them.

It was such a pointless attack. If all eight of them ran in together, they wouldn
’
t be able to use their sword skills properly and would only add to the confusion. They should be fighting defensively, rotating in one person at a time to deal damage, and then quickly switching out for the next member.

The demon straightened up and gave a ground-shaking roar before breathing out a blinding jet of fire. It seemed as if the breath counted as a damage-inflicting attack, and the eight slowed as the blue light of the flames engulfed them. The demon seized its chance and swung its huge sword. The body of a person was knocked into the air, flew over the demon
’
s head, and then crashed hard into the ground before us.

It was Cobert.

His HP had vanished. With an expression that didn
’
t even seem to understand the situation, he slowly moved his mouth.

-This is impossible.

He said soundlessly. Then, with a nerve-rending sound effect that pierced our souls, his body had shattered into a swirl of polygons. Next to me, Asuna gave a short scream at this meaningless death.

With their leader gone, the Army members immediately fell into chaos. They ran around screaming. All of their HP counts were already below the halfway mark.

“
No
…
no
…
no more
…”
 

As I heard Asuna
’
s strained voice, I glanced sideways towards her. I immediately rushed to grab her arm…

But I was already too late.

“
No-!!
”
 

With this scream, Asuna ran off like a gust of wind. She drew her rapier from thin air and charged at The Gleameyes like a flash of light.

“
Asuna!!
”
 

I screamed. With no other choices available, I drew my sword and followed her.

“
Eh, whatever!!
”
 

Cline and his party then shouted and followed suit.

Asuna
’
s reckless strike hit the back of the demon while its attention was elsewhere. But its HP hardly decreased at all.

The Gleameyes roared, then turned around and swung its zanbato downwards. Asuna immediately sidestepped to dodge, but she couldn
’
t evade it completely and was knocked down by the shockwave. The second strike then swung towards her without hesitation.

“
Asuna-!!
”
 

I felt my body go cold with fear as I flung myself between Asuna and the blade. My sword barely managed to deflect the attack in time. Then, I felt an impact across my whole body as the shockwave hit me.

As sparks flew off the two blades, the demon
’
s sword hit the floor only a few centimeters away from Asuna. It dug a huge hole into the ground with an explosion-like sound effect.

“
Get back!
”
 

I shouted and prepared for the demon
’
s attacks. Its sword came at me repeatedly with a crushing might that felt like it could take my life with one hit. There wasn
’
t any room for me to even attempt a counterattack.

The Gleameyes
’
techniques were basically two-handed sword skills. But they were slightly customized, which made them impossible to read. I concentrated fully on defending with sidesteps and parries. But its attacks were monstrously powerful and chipped away at my HP with every passing swing.

“
Argh!!
”
 

Eventually, one of its strikes accurately hit my body. I felt its stunning impact, and my HP decreased immensely.

My equipment and skills were far from those of a tank. If I kept this up, it would only lead to my death. The fear of dying sent a chill down my body. I couldn
’
t even try to escape anymore.

There was only one thing that I could do. I would have to go against it with everything I had as a damage dealer.

“
Asuna! Cline! Give me ten seconds!
”
 

I shouted and swung my sword hard to block the demon
’
s blow and make a break point. Then, I flung myself to the ground and rolled away. Cline immediately took my place and kept the demon back with his katana.

But Cline
’
s katana and Asuna
’
s rapier were weapons that relied on speed and therefore lacked in weight. I figured that it wouldn
’
t be easy for them to block the demon
’
s zanbato. As I laid on the ground, I opened the menu with my left hand.

I couldn
’
t afford to make a single mistake now. With my heart pounding against my chest, I began moving the fingers of my right hand. I scrolled down my item list, picked something from it, and equipped it in the blank space on my equipment profile. Then I opened the skill window and changed my weapon skill.

After finishing all this, I touched the OK button and closed the window. I confirmed the additional weight on my back, then raised my head and shouted:

“
I
’
m done!!
”
 

I saw Cline get hit once, and his HP decreased as he stepped back. Normally, he should have used a crystal to heal himself, but that wasn
’
t possible in this room. Now, Asuna was fighting with the demon, and within just a few seconds her HP had already gone below the halfway mark and turned yellow.

After she heard me, Asuna nodded with her back towards me and gave a short shout before executing a piercing skill.

“
Yaaaa!
”
 

A white streak of light flew through the air and struck The Gleameyes
’
weapon, causing sparks to spray out. As a loud noise resounded, the distance between Asuna and the demon widened.

“
Switch!!
”
 

I didn
’
t miss the opportunity and charged straight at the enemy. The demon quickly recovered from the short stunning effect and raised its sword high up into the air. With the sword in my right hand, I blocked the demon
’
s blade as it came down from a flame-like trajectory. Then, I reached behind my back with my left hand and grabbed the handle of the new sword. I drew it and struck in one smooth movement. The demon
’
s HP reduced noticeably as the first clean hit registered.

“
Kwuaaaaa!
”
 

The demon roared with rage and attempted another downward strike. This time, I crossed my two swords and blocked it completely. As its stance became unbalanced, I decided to break free from my defending streak and launched a combo attack.

My right sword slashed horizontally towards the demon
’
s midsection. My left sword followed immediately to cut vertically into its body. Right, left, then right again. I swung my swords as if the nerves in my brain were going into overdrive. The sounds of metal clashing resounded loudly one after another as white lights flared through the air.

This was the extra skill that I had been hiding, «Dual Blades», and the technique I was using was its high-class sword skill «Starburst Stream», a sixteen-hit combo attack.

“
Ahhhhh!!
”
 

Paying no attention to the few hits that the demon
’
s sword managed to block, I kept on screaming as I hacked away relentlessly with my swords. My eyes heated up, and my vision saw only the demon. Although the demon
’
s sword still struck my body every so often, its impact felt like it was happening in some faraway world. Meanwhile, adrenaline continued to rush through my body, and my brain waves spiked every time my swords hit their mark.

Faster, faster. The rhythm of my swings already exceeded twice the normal speed, but it still felt slow to my heightened senses. I continued my attack at a pace that seemed to overtake even the system
’
s assistance.

“…
ahhhhhhhhh!!
”
 

With this shout I launched the last of my sixteen strikes, which penetrated The Gleameyes
’
chest.

“
Kkaaaaaaahh!!
”
 

When my senses returned, I realized that I wasn
’
t the only one screaming. The huge demon was roaring towards the ceiling as massive breaths streamed out of its mouth and nose.

Then its body froze, and as soon as I noticed that-

The Gleameyes shattered into countless blue shards. Fragments of blue light rained down across the room.

It
’
s
…
finished
…
?

Feeling dizzy from the aftereffects of the battle, I habitually swung both of my swords once more before simultaneously sheathing them into the scabbards that lay crossed on my back. I immediately checked my HP. There was a red line with only a few dots left. As I stared at my HP without care, I suddenly felt strength leave my body and collapsed onto the floor without a sound.

My vision faded out into blackness.

“…
to! Kirito!
”
 

Asuna
’
s calls, which were almost like screams, forced me awake. As I sat up, pain spiked through my head and caused my face to distort.

“
Owww
…”
 

I looked around and saw that we were still in the boss room. Blue light fragments were still floating around the room. It seemed like I had only lost consciousness for a few seconds.

Asuna was kneeling on the ground, her face right before my eyes. Her eyebrows were tightened, and she was biting her lip. It looked like she was going to cry.

“
You idiot
…
! Why
…
!?
”
 

She shouted, and then jumped into my arms and hugged me. It shocked me enough to make me forget my pain for a moment. I could only blink in surprise.

“…
Don
’
t hug me so tightly. You
’
re going to make my HP disappear.
”
 

I said in a joking tone, but Asuna responded with a really angry expression. She shoved a small bottle into my mouth. The liquid which flowed in was a high-quality potion that tasted like a combination of lemon juice and green tea. It should fully heal my HP within five minutes, but my fatigue was going to last a while.

Asuna checked to confirm that I had drunk all of it. Then, as her face began to scrunch up, she put her forehead on my shoulder to hide it.

I raised my head at the sound of footsteps and saw Cline approach. He seemed a little apologetic for disturbing us, but started speaking nevertheless.

“
We
’
ve finished healing all the remaining Army members, but Cobert and two of his men had already died
…”
 

“…
yeah. It
’
s the first time since the sixty-seventh floor that someone died during a boss fight
…”
 

“
That wasn
’
t even a fight. That idiot Cobert
…
You can
’
t do anything if you
’
re dead
…”
 

Cline spat out. Then he took a deep breath, shook his head, and asked me in an attempt to change the mood.

“
But back to the topic, what the hell was that just then!?
”
 

“…
I really have to explain it to you ?
”
 

“
Of course! I
’
ve never seen something like that before!
”
 

I suddenly noticed that aside from Asuna, everyone in the room was looking at me, waiting for my reply.

“…
it
’
s an extra skill: «Dual Blades».
”
 

Expressions of amazement rose throughout Cline
’
s party and the survivors from the Army.

All weapon skills had to be learned in a certain order depending on their type. Take swords for an example, you had to train the one-handed straight sword skill quite a bit before «Rapier» and «Two-Handed Sword» appeared on the list.

Naturally, Cline was interested, and he urged me to tell the rest.

“
The conditions that have to be met are?
”
 

“
I
’
d have told everyone if I knew that.
”
 

As I shook my head, Cline sighed and muttered.

“
You
’
re right
…”
 

Weapon skills that didn
’
t have clear conditions for appearing are called extra skills. They were sometimes even called random conditions. An example would be Cline
’
s «Katana». But «Katana» wasn
’
t all that rare and appeared quite often as long as you kept training the Curved Sword skill.

Most of the ten-plus extra skills that had been found up until now, «Katana» included, had at least ten people who used each of them. The only exceptions were my «Dual Blades» and one other man
’
s extra skill.

These two were most likely limited to only one person, so they should be called «Unique Skill». I had hidden the existence of my unique skill up until now. But from today, the news that I was the second unique skill user would spread throughout the world. There was no way I could hide it after using it in front of so many people.