After the boss entered its second phase, the players’ movements instead grew more cautious and hesitant—after all, no one wanted to die.
Heathcliff had been able to interrupt the boss’s execution earlier only because he was close enough.
And given the boss’s speed, no one besides Heathcliff could guarantee their control skills would hit with one hundred percent accuracy.
On top of that, the Jailer Rats were, after all, the boss’s guards, already classed as elite monsters.
With their number now increased to twenty, the raid’s efficiency dropped significantly.
What was originally estimated to be completed in about ten minutes would now likely take twenty to thirty minutes.
Seeing the players’ state, Heathcliff sighed inwardly, then said calmly, “Team C and Team F switch with Teams G and H. Join Teams A and D in alternating attacks. The other teams remain unchanged.”
Hearing Heathcliff’s words, the players of the two teams looked as if they’d been granted amnesty, immediately nodded in agreement, and scampered off toward the surrounding Jailer Rats.
After exchanging a glance, Akimi and the others quickly finished off the monsters in front of them and moved to the side of the two main assault teams.
In Akimi’s personal opinion, Grinnell’s abilities weren’t particularly remarkable compared to other bosses, but for the rest of the raid group, it was on the level of being troublesome to deal with.
At that moment, Grinnell began to swing its chain blade, lashing it toward Akimi and the others.
Heathcliff, at the very front of the formation, reacted instantly.
He bent his body slightly and raised his shield, blocking the blade at the end of the chain.
A sharp, grating metallic clang rang out, and the others sprang into action.
Agil reversed his grip on his heavy two-handed axe, aimed the spike at its head at a gap in the chain, and slammed it down hard.
Then, with a twist of his arms, he wound the chain around the axe’s blade.
Immediately after, Asuna stepped onto the taut chain and sprinted straight toward Grinnell, rippling water patterns faintly surfacing along the edge of her silver-white rapier.
Seeing her approach, Grinnell yanked fiercely on the chain to reel the blade back.
But after drawing it only a short distance, the chain locked in place—it had been pinned to the ground by Agil and members of Fuurinkazan.
With a roar, Grinnell swung its free hand at Asuna, who was already before it.
Yet just as the blow was about to land, Asuna leapt lightly aside, easily evading.
“Water Breathing, First Form: Water Surface Slash.”
As her silver-white rapier flashed, a thin scar appeared across Grinnell’s shoulder, and Asuna landed gracefully behind it.
As Grinnell turned its head toward her, Asuna smiled and called, “Switch!”
“Water Surface Slash!”
At that moment, Akimi’s blade cut upward from below, leaving a much larger wound across Grinnell’s waist.
Sensing the attack, Grinnell turned his head toward Akimi on his left and swung backhand at him, but Akimi blocked it with a horizontal slash of his blade.
Immediately after, Grinnell gripped the chain with both hands and pulled hard again.
This time, Agil and the others couldn’t hold the chain down any longer, and had no choice but to let Grinnell retract the chain-blade.
But just as it was pulled back, Kirito and Klein struck from left and right, unleashing sword skills that cut into its body.
Before it could act again, the tip of a shield slammed hard into its chin, and Heathcliff’s longsword followed up with a deep wound across its abdomen.
After this round of fierce attacks, two-thirds of Grinnell’s fourth HP bar vanished instantly, while on the players’ side, only Akimi had lost a sliver of HP—one that had already fully recovered thanks to auto-regeneration.
It could only be said that this time’s boss held real threat only against ordinary players.
Against top-tier fighters like Akimi and his group, it posed no real danger at all.
——————
Not long after, the once dark and gloomy boss room lit up instantly as the system’s congratulatory chime rang out.
After casually glancing at the reward screen, Akimi closed it—although he had gotten the LA this time, unfortunately there wasn’t anything particularly useful for him.
Still, others might find it worthwhile, so he planned to sell it to Argo later.
Sliding his Nichirin Blade back into the sheath at his waist, he slowly walked over to Asuna’s side.
Asuna was still checking through her spoils, and from the look on her face, they seemed pretty good.
With the experience from the boss fight, she had leveled up to 63, now equal to Akimi.
“Phew—Even though it wasn’t that tough, I still feel exhausted,” Akimi said while shaking out his wrist.
“Guess I really am more suited to just lying flat and doing nothing.”
Asuna put away her menu and gave him an exasperated look before poking him in the chest with her finger.
“Then go be a lazy bum all by yourself, Young master!”
Akimi couldn’t help but smile.
He reached out to pat her head and said with a chuckle,
“Haha, maybe not… After all, SAO still lacks that sense of realism… I really wonder how it would feel in the real world.”
“You’re so annoying!”
Hearing that, Asuna puffed her cheeks angrily, slapped his hand off her head, and scolded him.
Akimi just scratched his cheek with a sheepish smile—some things really only felt special when done in reality.
Off to the side, Kirito, who had unintentionally witnessed the entire exchange, twitched at the corner of his mouth before quietly walking away.
——
To be honest, Akimi still had some concerns about PoH’s actions.
Going through all that trouble only to achieve so little didn’t quite match his usual style.
But since the raid group made it back to Jeireum without any problems, Akimi’s doubts gradually faded.
“Forget it, no point overthinking… What I should really focus on is where to go with Asuna these next few days.”
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he turned toward Asuna and started talking with her.
“Next time, let’s drag Kirito and the others along and head back to Volupta. Nirrnir did say our trip to the beach would be free, after all.”
“…Do whatever you want! It’s not like I don’t know what you’re thinking.”
“Oh? Does that mean you’re agreeing, Asuna?”
“…Seriously, you’re such a pain!”
“Then it’s settled. When we get there, Asuna, you’ll have to drink ten glasses of Nasos fruit juice in one go!”
After a short silence, Asuna suddenly grabbed Akimi’s ear and shouted:
“Idiot! Moron! Go die!”
Then she stomped hard on his foot and stormed off in a huff.
— The end of the Chapter–
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