A ROAR—OR PERHAPS A SCREAM—FILLED THE BOSS chamber.
Nearly every member of the raid party was clutching his weapon as though desperate for something to cling to, eyes wide. But no one moved. The idea that their leader would the first to fall, to die, was so far out of expectations that no one knew how to react.
I was no different.
Two options alternated within my head. To run or to fight?
We’d suffered two major blows: The boss’s weapon and skills were not what we’d expected, and our leader was down. The group ought to retreat from the boss chamber immediately. But if we turned our backs to Illfang to run, his long-range katana skills would stun at least the ten closest to him, if not more, and lead to many more deaths at the hands of the combo that killed Diavel. On the other hand, it would be difficult to retreat while trying to face the beast and defend against unknown skills. Because of the extra time that travel would take compared to turning and sprinting, the gradual loss of HP might eventually claim just as many victims.
Most importantly of all, if we suffered that many fatalities, including our leader, and the battle ended in defeat, we might never be able to arrange a raid party of this scale again. It could spell disaster for our possibility of defeating SAO. The eight thousand survivors would be permanent prisoners rather than warriors, trapped on the first floor until some ultimate, unknown conclusion…
Two simultaneous sounds jarred me out of my hesitation.
One was the sound of Illfang, fresh out of his combo cooldown, beginning another attack: clanging and screaming, the sound of damage ringing through the darkness.
The other was the voice of Kibaou, slumped to his knees next to me. “Why … why? You were our leader, Diavel. How can you be the first ta go …?”
It would be all too easy to say because he was greedy and tried to get the LA. But I couldn’t do it.
I thought back to that scene where Kibaou railed against Diavel during the first planning meeting. Kibaou demanded that the former beta testers apologize and offer up their ill-gotten loot or face ostracization. Diavel did not override his opinion—he allowed it to be discussed openly.
Perhaps that little act was Diavel’s offer to Kibaou, his price in exchange. For taking on the task of negotiating the sale of my sword, Diavel granted Kibaou a public stage to air his grievances with the former beta testers. It didn’t pick up steam, thanks to Agil’s levelheaded response, but if all had gone to plan with this boss battle, Kibaou no doubt planned to bring up the topic again. Clearly, he didn’t have a single ounce of suspicion in his mind that Diavel might actually be one of those beta testers himself. He trusted in Diavel, thinking him to be the model of an upstanding retail player, someone who would stand in contrast to the underhanded testers. Could there be a more devastating scene for him to witness?
I had to be the one to put a hand on his shoulder and force him to his feet.
“No time for disappointment!” I growled. His eyes glittered with that familiar hatred.
“Wh…what?”
“You’re the leader of team E! If you lose your cool, your party will die! There might still be more sentinels on their way … In fact, I’m sure of it. You have to take care of them!”
“Well … what about you, then? You just gonna up an’ run for it?!”
“Of course not. That should be obvious …”
I leveled the Anneal Blade in my right hand menacingly.
“I’m going to score the LA on the boss.”
Every choice I’d made in the last month since being taken prisoner by this realm was for the sake of my own survival, nothing more. I didn’t share the vast store of knowledge I’d gained in the beta test. I reaped the rewards of all the best hunting grounds and quests. I focused only on strengthening myself.
If I was going to uphold that principle, this was my chance to make a break for the exit, while many other people stood between me and the boss. I ought to secure my own safety, letting the mad Kobold Lord sacrifice my fellows, using them as shields.
But there was not a shred of that idea running through my mind now. Something like fire shot through my veins, pushing my feet onward toward the precipice between life and death. Perhaps my source of inspiration was Diavel’s final message.
“Kill the boss,” he was trying to say. Not “help everyone escape.” He’d died because he tried to tweak the odds to give him the best chance of getting that coveted last attack on the boss, but there was no doubting the excellence of his leadership. His final order was not retreat but battle. As a member of the raid, I had to follow his plan … his last will.
There was only one concern I couldn’t erase.
Before the battle, I swore to myself that no matter what happened, I would protect Asuna’s life. She’d shown a glimmer of talent beyond even my own. As a fan of the VRMMO genre, I couldn’t stand to see potential like that plucked before it had the chance to bloom.
I turned to Asuna, preparing to warn her to stay back and make a break for it if the front line broke down. But as though she knew what I was going to say, she cut me off first.
“I’m going, too. I’m your partner.”
I didn’t have time to shut her down or explain why she shouldn’t. I had to simply ignore my indecision and accept.
“All right. Let’s do this.”
We started running toward the far side of the chamber. Roars and screams washed over us. None aside from Diavel had died yet, but the fighters at the front were all below half of their HP, and the leaderless team C was down to 20 percent. Some players had fully panicked and abandoned their positions. It would be less than a minute before the group completely lost control at this rate.
The first step was calming down the party. But a halfhearted command would be swallowed by the chaos. I needed something short and powerful, but I had no experience leading a group, and had no idea what to say …
To my surprise, Asuna irritatedly grabbed her hooded cape and ripped it off.
She shone as though all the torches hanging on the walls had been condensed into one source of light. Her long brown hair seemed to blast away the gloom of the chamber with a deep golden light.
The image of Asuna racing, hair rippling in the wind, was like a shooting star in the midst of the dungeon. Even the panicking players were stunned into silence at her otherworldly beauty. I seized upon this miraculous instant of silence and screamed out an order with all of my strength.
“Everyone, ten steps toward the exit! The boss won’t use an area attack if he’s not surrounded!”
When the last echo of my voice died out, time seemed to flow once more. The players at the front parted to the sides to let me and Asuna through. As though following this train of thought himself, Illfang turned to face us.