In front of the pyers was a huge, rectangur room, easily a hundred meters long, with a light gray floor and row of columns on each side. At the back of the room was a raised dais and a rge stone chair, upon which sat the boss.

  Illfang The Kobold Lord.

  Four HP bars appeared above the boss's left shoulder. It was a huge kobold with red skin and a gray diamond pattern on its fat belly. The boss armed itself when the pyers started entering the room.

  Its right hand held a huge axe whose sharp crescent-shaped bde was almost as long as almost the size of one of the eight armored kobolds sentinels standing by the dais, while it had a rge round shield in its left hand. The boss had armored bracers and greaves, and had some fabric covering its crotch, but it's upper arms, torso and head were naked. A long sword was affixed on the rear of its belt, just above the long lizard-like tail.

  Illfang roared a challenge, and it and the sentinels all charged toward the pyers.

  "Charge!" Yelled Diavel, as all the pyers also ran toward the monsters.

  The mission of Noah's team was simple. All the sentinels had been given a number, from left to right. They were in charge of dealing with number three and four, and stop them from interfering with the other teams. Then they would deal with reinforcements as needed.

  Kirito and Argo engaged Sentinel number three, while Noah and Asuna dealt with number four.

  Making sure that they was enough distance not to be engaged by the boss, Noah started by a Linear to the face of the pte-armored sentinel.

  -91.

  This was only about 40% of the damage he normally inflicted on unarmored targets, but it didn't matter, as he had interrupted the monster's pre-motion, and as he stepped left, Asuna was already following with her own Linear, causing the monster to be stunned.

  Aiming at the monster's right leg that was extended forward, Noah attempted the 2-hits sword skill Horizontal Arc, aiming to have the return ssh hit the same exact trajectory as the first one. And he managed to pull it off.

  -81, -402.

  The monster shrieked as the huge ssh-type damage to one of its limbs triggered the maiming status effect, and the monster's leg was cut off just above the knee.

  The monster had only lost 25% of its HP, but after colpsing to the ground, it became easy prey, and its HP bar decreased fast under the relentless strikes of Noah and Asuna.

  When they finished it, Kirito and Argo still had about 30% left on their sentinel. Noah and Asuna helped them, while being careful not to get caught in friendly fire.

  After nodding to each other, Noah took a moment to observe the battlefield. No pyer had died so far, but two members of the four teams dealing with the boss had retreated with Yellow Hp bars. They had healing crystals on hand, debating on using the precious commodity. Illfang had lost maybe 20% of its first HP bar.

  Noah's group helped the team on their left finish their own kobolds, and the twelve pyers closed on the right fnk of the boss, to help bring it down, while not stealing the boss's aggro from the tanking team in front, and keeping an eye on the enemy's reinforcements. The sixteen pyers on the boss's left fnk did the same.

  Noah got a few hits in, using only normal attacks, and quickly retreating whenever the boss's tail swung their way.

  When Illfang's first HP bar was fully depleted, eight Kobold sentinels came out from small holes in the side walls.

  After a few seconds for each team to coordinate, Noah and Asuna engaged their new Kobold. Alternating sword skills, they managed to prevent the Sentinel from using any sword skill of its own, and it went down. Noah had tried several times to replicate his stunt, without success. He still failed to be accurate enough in most of his attempts.

  Argo and Kirito had finished just before Noah and Asuna did this time, and like before, they helped the other team finish theirs and returned to help bring down the boss.

  The same pattern repeated itself when the boss lost its second bar.

  None of them has taken any wound, and most pyers seemed to be rexing. Over a dozen pyers had their HPs in the yellow range,

  Noah, however, tensed. They were about to enter the really dangerous part of the boss fight. He discreetly moved closer to Diavel.

  When the boss only has one remaining HP bar, no more Kobold sentinels appeared. Instead, the boss suddenly roared, and the shockwave forced every pyer back. Dropping its axe and shield, the kobold put its right hand around the hilt of its spare weapon.

  Diavel, being the overconfident idiot he was, and wanting to be the one dealing the st hit on the boss to obtain the loot, was about to jump forward, readying himself with his shield held above his head to block the boss's first vertical attack.

  Noah jumped with him, seized him by the neck opening of his back pte, and jumped back, as far as he could.

  "Wha!?" Diavel protested as he stumbled and fell to the ground.

  At the same time, Kirito screamed.

  "No! Get back! Everyone, jump back as far as you can!"

  The boss was already adopting its pre-motion stance. Noah observed it closely, memorizing the posture while stepping back, dragging Diavel further away.

  In a fsh, the boss made a complete turn on itself, unleashing a 360 degrees attack on a horizontal pne.

  The arc of yellow light passed just above Diavel's head, at waist level of a standing person, and he froze in shock and fear, understanding what had almost happened.

  Noah released Diavel and jumped toward Illfang. He needed to dey the boss long enough for the pyers to get a grip and start fighting again. Illfang now had its bde close to the ground, its edge turned downward, and Noah guessed a vertical ssh was coming. He suddenly remembered what it was, after seeing it in the anime. If Noah got hit, he would be projected upward, unable to dodge mid-air and at the mercy of the follow-up moves. As soon as the bde started glowing red, Noah desperately jumped to the left side, and he narrowly avoided that fate. The boss was now in a vulnerable stance, but Noah focused on his defense, ready to parry or avoid the boss's next move.

  He could see Kirito and Asuna moving on the side, running toward the boss.

  He suddenly had an epiphany. By observing the orientation of Illfang's bde, he could deduce the direction of the incoming attack, even if he didn't know about the Katana-type sword skills. Noah suddenly lifted his sword in a parry stance as Illfang's katana glowed on a deeper red, and the bde came crashing down on him.

  Noah parried, but the katana couldn't be stopped just like that, and all Noah managed to do as he was forced to put a knee on the ground, was to just barely deflect it on the side. Where the tip of the huge katana buried itself in the stone floor. This attack was a multi-hit combo, and the boss made a second ssh upward, followed by a thrust. But it only hit empty air, as Noah deflecting the first move had affected the rest of the combo. Getting back in position, Noah tightened his grip on his sword. He was pretty sure than his Anneal Bde had lost some durability with this. He hoped it would hold long enough for him to repair it after the fight.

  "Everyone, attack!" Bellowed Agil, as he rushed forward. Mito was the first to follow him, and their movement caused the rest of the pyers stop watching and take action.

  Kirito and Asuna had already started causing injuries to the boss, earning Illfang's aggro.

  Noah chose the closest part of Illfang's rge body, his left leg, and started hacking away with sword skills. Its HP bar was quickly draining. At some point, Asuna got grazed by Illfang's weapon, and the hooded cape she wore suffered enough damage to be destroyed outright, revealing her gorgeous face and long chestnut hairs to everyone.

  In a fleeting second, Noah imagined another hit destroying the white t-shirt she wore, revealing the leather harness she had underneath. That would be… bad. Of even possibly destroying it the harness, depriving him of his chance to nurture the happy bags of his sves in the future. That would be a great loss for humanity!

  Suddenly not caring about gaining the boss's attention, Noah focused on overpping his damage line, repeating several Horizontal Arcs.

  -81, -402, -81,-81, -603, -81, -804, -81.

  And suddenly, the boss shattered. A "Congratutions. Last hit: Kirito." message appeared in the air.

  Noah breathed. Kirito would get the loot, but Noah didn't care.

  "Asuna!" A sobbing voice made him turn his head, and he saw Mito, tears filling her eyes, run toward Asuna, only to stop in front of her. Asuna faced her with a complicated expression.

  "Asuna, I… I am sorry! I thought you were dead!"

  Kirito and Argo gave them some distance, and started gring at those who shamelessly watched the drama, causing most of them to walk away. Noah did the same, although he equally shamelessly stayed just close enough to listen.

  "Mito… back then, why did you leave me?"

  "Asuna, I… When we were fighting, I tried to reach you… but I stepped too close to the cliff's edge, and I fell. Climbing back… I wouldn't have made it in time… And… I didn't want to see you die… with my own eyes… It would have haunted me… I'm so sorry, Asuna! Please, forgive me."

  Asuna sighed and hugged her bawling friend.

  "…I forgive you, Mito. We're both alive, and that is what matters most."

  "Asuna…" The two girls hugged each other fiercely as even Asuna started crying.

  Diavel walked to Noah and bowed to him. Kirito and Argo also came closer. Kirito had already put on the loot he had received, some kind of dark brown leather coat.

  "Noah, thank you. You may have saved my life."

  "I just did what was expected of any raid member, don't worry about it. Just learn from this incident, and don't be too greedy."

  "I… Yes, I'll be more careful. But how did you know that it was a katana?"

  Noah shrugged. "I wasn't sure. But I did fight on the monster's back during the previous phases, and I had taken a good look at it. It seemed too thin to be a scimitar, like you said during the strategy meeting. I just saw you do something reckless, getting in front of all the others like that, and my body reacted. And thinking about it, I think I have a pretty good idea of what you tried to do. Don't die for some items, it's not worth it."

  Diavel looked down in shame.

  "You're right, I'm sorry." He bowed his head again, and walked away. Noah looked at Argo.

  "We haven't taken any casualty, right?"

  "Not a single one, thanks to you. It's a great victory!"

  "It will be a good moral boost for everyone. More pyers will leave the cities and participate in conquering the game from now on." Added Kirito.

  "I certainly hope so, because I'd be pissed if we take a month per floor. So, how about we go to the second floor?" Noah pointed his chin toward the back of the boss room, behind the dais. They could see a door, that was now open.

  Asuna and Mito came back. Mito profusely thanked Kirito for saving Asuna back in the forest, and Asuna squeezed Noah hand tightly.

  "I was worried, you know?" she said in a low voice.

  With his thumb, Noah gently rubbed the back of her hand as he smiled apologetically at her… He looked at her and Argo.

  "Let's leave this pce."

  They walked toward the back of the boss room. The door behind it was shaped like a cylinder, and in the middle was a spiraling stairway. They ascended to the next floor, and found themselves on top of a hill covered by ankle-deep grass.

  From their point of view, they could see that the second floor was roughly divided diagonally into two halves by an irregur cliff. The southern half, where they were, was mostly covered by tree, and Noah could see a path leading toward Urbus, the first settlement. The northern half was a rge pin.

  The pyers walked down the path toward Urbus. A rge town of white buildings, divided like every other main floor settlement by a wide main street going from north to south.

  As soon as the first pyer set foot in the city, the portal in the center square activated, allowing pyers in the Town of Beginnings to come directly. It wouldn't take long for the news to spread, and soon thousands of pyers would come.

  Diavel cleared his throat.

  "Everyone, to celebrate our victory, I am inviting you all to a te lunch! It will be my treat, but please take pity on my wallet!"

  The members of the raid cheered, and Diavel chose a restaurant rge enough to host them all.

  …

  A few hours ter, Noah and Asuna walked into the woods, some distance away from the city, defeating any monster that came near. The monsters in this floor were variants of giant beetles, hornets and wasps. They weren't particurly hard to kill, and Noah had bought from the second floor's general store a handful of antidote crystals, just in case. When they were far enough, Noah took Asuna's hand, and they teleported to the 24th floor.