Monster attacks against players can largely be divided into two categories.
One is the kind that directly reduces HP—in other words, a [Direct Attack].
The other doesn’t reduce HP when it lands, but can sometimes bring even greater danger. An [Indirect Attack]... in other words, a debuff.
Even Akihiko Kayaba, the man who designed this death game, must have had at least a shred of consideration for beginners, because the kobolds living in the First Floor labyrinth hardly ever use debuff attacks, even the boss included.
The [Stun] that nearly killed Diavel could also be called a debuff, but that only triggers with high probability when you get hit by a string of heavy attacks, so it can’t really be called the Kobold Lord’s unique special move.
Which means the bull-headed monsters living in the Second Floor labyrinth—the Taurus race—are the first true debuff users players have to face.
"It’s coming!"
The instant Kirito saw the trajectory of the giant two-handed hammer rising straight up, he shouted, and all seven of us made a huge leap backward.
The striking face of the hammer hung motionless high in the air for a split second, layered with vivid yellow sparks.
"UOOOOOOOOOOO—!!"
A roar so violent it felt like a ranged attack in itself shook the air, and then the hammer came crashing down.
The lightning-wreathed metal hammer slammed into the dark blue stone floor. It was the Taurus race’s debuff-inflicting Sword Skill, [Numbing Impact].
Numbing meant exactly what it sounded like—paralysis. Thin sparks spread outward in a radial pattern from where the hammer struck. If those crawling lines touched you, you got paralyzed.
"Hit it with everything you’ve got!"
We’d been fighting like this for almost five minutes now—reading the motion, dodging [Numbing Impact], then punishing with heavy damage. At this rate, we’d clear it without too much trouble.
Especially since the combat power of our four-man group, Egil included, was on a completely different level from the other parties. There was even a chance we’d kill Nato the Colonel Taurus quickly and wrap things up ourselves.
Assuming no unusual variable appeared, anyway.
"...I think we can do this!"
Asuna checked Nato’s rapidly shrinking HP bar and called out in a low voice, but even hearing that hopeful news, Kirito didn’t relax in the slightest.
"Yeah, but don’t let your guard down! Once it hits the third bar, it starts spamming [Numbing]! And..."
Kirito fell silent for a moment, but everyone here had cleared the First Floor. There was no way they didn’t know what he was about to say.
As if to hammer that warning back into everyone’s heads, Kirito raised his voice again.
"...If we go by what happened on the First Floor, there’s a chance it’ll use some unknown attack once it reaches the third gauge! If that happens, we pull back first!"
An unexpected variable could become a deadly threat in an instant. No one here was ignorant of that, so even in the middle of this smooth fight, everyone tensed up further and prepared for whatever might come.
That caution was definitely helping this battle go in the right direction—but only this battle.
As for the boss monster currently presumed to be the real threat, Baran the General Taurus... things over there didn’t look nearly as good.
With so many people involved, the commander’s skill mattered too, but even knowing this was a game, the pressure given off by a body twice the size of Nato’s was overwhelming. For a moment, it felt less like looking at a game monster and more like staring at something truly alive.
"Dodge! Dodge—now!"
From the far side of the vast boss chamber came a desperate scream, betraying our optimistic expectations.
As if that urgency had spread to them, the players retreated with astonishing speed—and just barely in time, the enormous golden hammer, as huge as its owner, flashed and transformed.
Just like Nato’s, yellow sparks wrapped around it—but stronger, wilder.
Without even giving anyone time to shudder at the sheer menace of it, Baran the General Taurus let out a lion-like bellow, gathered all the air in his lungs, and slammed the floor.
The attack known as Baran the General Taurus’s unique skill, [Numbing Detonation], sent out a shockwave so powerful that even we, standing quite far away, felt it. The spreading sparks that followed rushed toward us threateningly before fading.
Despite the order to evade, two people still got caught, locked up, and—as expected—fell into [Stun]. In this place, now turned into a death game, and especially in a boss raid at the deepest part of the labyrinth, three seconds was long enough to decide whether someone lived or died.
When those three seconds passed, I caught sight of one of the stunned players dropping the short spear from his right hand and scrambling to pick it back up.
"Wh—!"
The moment I noticed it, I heard a voice nearby and glanced to the side. Kirito was staring at Baran the General Taurus too.
He’d probably been about to shout something on instinct, but we were in the middle of a fight too. I gave his shoulder a quick tap and turned my focus back to Nato’s nearly depleted gauge bar. But...
"Kazuma, it seems he’s still worried about them," Elia said in my head.
"...It’s not critical even without him. We’ll cover for now."
Nato the Colonel Taurus was going to die soon anyway. We’d already passed the third gauge bar, and thanks to Kirito turning his attention back and warning us, we also handled the third irregular attack.
At this point, barring any major variable, it was guaranteed to go down in about a minute... but Kirito was clearly distracted. Ending this a little faster wouldn’t be a bad idea.
Having made that calculation, I slipped into Nato’s flank and drove the Anneal Blade in deep. Then I quickly looked toward Baran the General Taurus and timed the moment it would bring its hammer down.
"Elia, count three seconds."
"Three, two, one."
Matching the numbers echoing in my head, I checked one more time to make sure no one was watching, then without hesitation I "threw" my sword.
The distance between me and Nato was only about two meters, but its huge body blocked the whole view. In other words, the perfect crime.
KRA-KRAK!!
A sound completely different from any slash I’d made until now rang out. The weapon I’d thrown was a beginner’s sword I’d bought in the Town of Beginnings the day before the boss raid.
But instead of sounding weak like a low-level weapon should, it flew with the same force as a swung blade, buried itself perfectly in the back of Nato’s head, and "exploded."
A back attack, plus a critical hit to the head. With the Sword Skill [Thrown Blade Arts], a critical hit exploded and dealt triple damage scaled to my level.
Of course, it made an explosion sound, but it was just the sword itself bursting apart, so it wasn’t that loud. And even if someone had heard it, I’d timed it with Baran the General Taurus’s second detonation, so the hammer noise would have drowned it out.
"Ku... kuoooooo...!!"
That hit carved away another huge chunk of Nato’s HP. Twenty seconds cut off, just like that. After going this far, I could finish Nato within that time even with a normal sword.
I returned to the party and slipped back in from behind as if I’d been there the whole time.
Several people had been afflicted with [Paralyze] from Baran the General Taurus’s second detonation earlier, but thankfully, it didn’t look like anyone had died.
Still, unable to let go of his concern over the dangerous situation, Kirito ultimately ran over to Lind and Kibaou’s forces after consulting with the party.
"...Seriously, he’s too nice for his own good."
"Kazuma... are you upset?"
"Hm? No. Why all of a sudden?"
Kazuha, who’d somehow come close, asked carefully. Maybe because what I’d just said could be taken in a pretty sensitive way.
"Rather than upset, I’m a little worried. Helping others is good, but I think your first priority should be yourself. And you need to be aware of that too."
"...Aware?"
"Aware that your actions can affect the lives of the people around you too."
"...!"
I didn’t know how she took what I meant, but Kazuha shrank back a little and, just like before, hesitated before asking again.
"Kazuma... are you saying Kirito’s actions are wrong?"
"...It’s pretty selfish of me to say this when I’m the one who dragged you into the party in the first place, but if your attention drifts somewhere else while the enemy’s right in front of you... I’d call that a little soft."
Trying to lighten the mood a little, I gave a wry smile and moved back into Nato’s side, just like Kirito had done earlier, and unleashed [Vertical Arc].
It crit on the same spot as before, and finally the boss dropped into the red zone.
In the end, without any discussion at all, everyone’s Sword Skills came down at once, and Nato the Colonel Taurus shattered into polygon fragments.
"...Well, this time the party seemed to approve of what he did. So really, I’m just being selfish, that’s all."
To reassure Kazuha, I lightly rested a hand on her head once, then started running with everyone else after Kirito toward Baran the General Taurus. Kazuha and I followed too.
**
"Huh...? You finished over there insanely fast..."
Seeing that Nato the Colonel Taurus had died even faster than expected, Kirito looked completely dumbfounded.
With a strange expression that was part relieved, part troubled, he silently asked me what had happened. I just shrugged once and answered that nothing special had happened.
"Looks like H Squad really pulled their weight this time. Thanks."
From the way Lind said it, it sounded like praise in his own way. And with Kibaou already included in the conversation, it seemed they’d finished discussing things.
"So, anything strange so far?"
"No. But the situation’s not great. Everyone’s a little above the average level, so it’s only this manageable, but even so, seven or eight people are currently [Paralyze]d."
"...That makes sense. People hit with [Paralyze] can barely move."
"So even if we pull back a little to recover, if things go wrong, we might not be able to make an orderly retreat. That’s what you mean."
Kirito gave a small nod at my conclusion to Asuna’s words.
But then he noticed the worried look on Asuna’s face and asked tensely,
"...What is it?"
"N-no... It just really would be awful, wouldn’t it? That ‘king’ from before..."
"Ah, that..."
Kirito muttered absentmindedly, remembering the theory I’d mentioned earlier, but—
DO-KWANG!!
A sudden impact cut our conversation short. We all turned toward the direction the explosive sound had come from—the center of the coliseum.
"Come on, was that seriously a flag just now?!"
Kirito ground his teeth in disbelief, his whole body going rigid with maximum tension. No, not just him. Every player here had probably frozen on instinct.
But there was nothing there now. Just dark blue stonework, surrounded by bull reliefs, laid out in seamless concentric circles...
No, that wasn’t right. It was moving. The stone floor, arranged in three rings, was sliding counterclockwise, each ring changing speed little by little.
As we watched, the stones slowly rose from the floor and eventually formed a three-tiered stage. One of the platforms now stood empty—clearly the place where Nato the Colonel Taurus had originally been meant to stand.
As if to put an end to that off-target observation, the air above the stage wavered, and the background distorted.
"Ugh..."
"K-Kazuma. Don’t tell me that’s..."
Kirito let out a strained groan, never taking his eyes off it, his face taut with tension. Kazuha too looked at me with frightened eyes, as if dreading the answer.
And no wonder. That distortion effect was the sign that a large object—monster, item, whatever—was about to pop in.
And if I had to guess what, then with very, very high probability, it was the "real" boss monster.
As if refusing to betray that expectation, the distortion in space rapidly expanded, and a pitch-black shadow began to fill it.
The shadow quickly took on a humanoid form, and two legs like massive tree trunks landed on the stage with a heavy thud. Its waist was covered in black chain mail, but its upper body was bare.
Its curled beard hung all the way down near its stomach. Its head was, of course, that of a bull—but it had no less than six horns, and right in the center gleamed a circular platinum ornament... a crown.
"They say a bad feeling is never wrong, right? Feels like one of those times. What do you think, Kirito?"
"........."
Kirito had apparently exceeded his brain’s processing limit and gave no answer. I looked away from him and took in the monster again—the true boss of the Second Floor.
Kazuha, pale with fear, said nothing. She just clutched my left arm tightly.
Twisting its tar-black body like it had been coated in oil, the third—and largest—of the Taurus race let out a roar like an earthquake. It was just part of its appearance effect, but lightning struck around it, flashing the hall white.
Finally, I stared blankly at the string of text beneath the six-layer HP bar that appeared almost high enough to touch the ceiling.
[Asterios the Taurus King]
"As you said, Kazuma... there really was a ‘king.’ I hoped not, but..." Elia murmured.
"...That’s how it always goes. The thing you hope won’t happen is what gets you killed."
Muttering words that sounded half like a joke and half dead serious, I pointed my sword at the king of the Taurus race, who was radiating hostility toward the players.
**
"Damn it, damn it...! So just like Kazuma said, Baran the General Taurus really was just the opening act...!"
Kirito was clearly holding back far more curses and emotion than what he actually said, but he still clenched his teeth as if trying to force himself to stay calm.
The current situation was, as expected, about as bad as it could get. Just from looking at it, the new boss had six HP bars. Baran the General Taurus only had one left, but even that one bar was enough to throw the entire raid force into chaos.
Judging by the sheer presence of that boss monster, I wasn’t even confident the entire raid force going all out could achieve a no-death clear. And that was with the general still alive.
"Elia, how many seconds until the ‘king’ enters attack range?"
"Within thirty seconds, Kazuma."
Hearing her answer, I shouted at the frozen players.
"Get a grip, all of you!! Do you want to die here?!"
My shout made everyone jolt as if they’d been hit with a stun gun. Out of all of them, Lind was the quickest to grasp the situation and immediately followed up.
"Everyone, kill Baran the General Taurus now. We have to finish it before the boss monster reaches us!"
That became the signal, and the entire raid force charged at Baran the General Taurus at once.
It was literally a life-or-death game of chicken. Depending on who killed first and who held out longer, either everyone lived—or everyone died.
In the middle of that battlefield, I found myself glancing at Kazuha. The student council president I’d wanted to save, so she could smile again outside this death game if possible, was looking straight at me too.
"...You’re going?"
"...If I’m with you, Kazuma."
I frowned without meaning to. Seriously, there was no helping that stubborn streak of hers.
"...If you’re going to help, then no matter what, stay alive. Don’t charge in recklessly, and put your life first. That’s how you help me."
"I’ll remember that."
After getting that clear promise, I moved to Baran the General Taurus’s flank. It was a spot less likely to draw attention—and even if it did, I’d still be in position to land the first critical hit.
It was a pretty valuable trick I’d learned after a lot of practice in this game.
"First things first—start with a thrust."
I didn’t know how much it applied in this game, but back in the real world I was an indoor type who did programming. Even so, I had at least a little knowledge of martial arts.
If you asked how I learned it... well, it was partly for mental discipline and building stamina. Sitting in the same posture all the time seemed bad for my health, so while looking into proper posture and other things for a healthier life, I ended up picking some of it up.
Anyway, when you study martial arts or exercise, you naturally learn various things. And one thing people often say is that whether it’s a weapon or martial arts, the strongest attack in pure power is usually a thrust.
Supposedly because all the force is concentrated into a single point... though that was just one more piece of information floating around in my head.
"So the point is, it should hit hard."
Muttering to myself, I drove deep into its side with the one-handed sword charge skill [Sonic Leap]. Those words, meant for no one in particular, scattered into nothing under Baran the General Taurus’s roar. In response to the player trying to kill it, it raised its hammer in fury. The gap before it came down—about five seconds.
"Anyone who’s learned [Martial Arts] would know this... I wonder if Kirito’s tried it too."
Normally, you can’t chain Sword Skills one after another. In a sense, that was obvious. In a game with no MP system, if you could spam Sword Skills endlessly, the burst damage would be absurd compared to ordinary attacks.
Most players knew—and had learned through experience—that some kind of restriction existed to prevent that.
But I had learned a different category of Sword Skill: [Martial Arts]. And because of that, I’d discovered a loophole that let me break through that wall.
Whirl—Bam!!
Using the sword lodged in its side as a pivot, I swung my leg upward in a vertical arc. It landed with a crisp impact sound, and the martial arts Sword Skill [Crescent Moon] struck the same spot in its side—"consecutively."
Not missing that opening, I added the rotational force from [Crescent Moon] and finished with another one-handed sword Sword Skill, slashing through its flank just as quickly.
A three-hit Sword Skill combo with almost no total delay. Then, without hesitation, I backstepped away from Baran with full force, and right on cue, [Numbing Detonation] scorched the area around it.
"Keep pushing! It’s in the red zone now!!"
Spurred on by Lind’s even more spirited shout, everyone rushed in again the moment the barrage of [Numbing Detonation] ended, scattering multicolored effects everywhere. But...
"Damn it!! It’s still got two dots left? What kind of joke is this?!"
Kibaou exploded in frustration at the sliver of HP Baran the General Taurus still had left, as if the boss were mocking us. Most people had just used their Sword Skills, so everyone was in cooldown—but.
Thud!
Without hesitation, I drove my martial arts skill [Flash Kick] into its stomach, then kicked off to widen the distance. Apparently that was just enough damage, because Baran the General Taurus finally let out a dying cry and vanished into polygon fragments.
"Yes!"
Voices rang out all around us, unable to hide their joy that things hadn’t reached the absolute worst-case scenario—but at the same time, another urgent cry echoed in my head.
"Kazuma!! Strong reaction! Straight-line range—based on Asuna’s position!!"
"A straight line...?"
I looked toward the Taurus King, wondering what that meant, and saw it drawing in its mouth and swelling its chest as if gathering something inside.
There was only one answer that fit.
"Breath...!!"
The breath attack used by legendary creatures like dragons. Not breath in the literal sense, but the kind of "breath" that meant a ranged attack with the destructive force of a cannon.
That attack was aimed at Asuna, and of course Kirito, who also understood that motion—
I started to turn toward where Kirito had been standing, only to see he was already gone, sprinting at full speed toward Asuna. I clicked my tongue.
"Seriously, what a pain...!!"
Even while cursing, I’d already grabbed a beginner’s sword. I looked around once more and saw Kazuha watching me with a worried face.
"Tch... I can’t use [Thrown Blade Arts]," I muttered.
I hurriedly put the sword back into my inventory, pulled out one HP potion and four green potions, and started running toward the two of them. But by then, [Asterios the Taurus King]’s breath had already fired, leaving behind a pure white line as it stretched all the way to the end of the dungeon.
KWA-A-A-A-A-A-A...
**
With a sound like a high-pressure water cannon and countless crackling bundles of lightning mixed into it, the breath swept through everyone standing in exactly the trajectory Elia had predicted.
I’d already braced myself for that much. But I kept running toward the two of them anyway. The reason was simple.
They weren’t dead yet.
This was just my own reasoning, but it was still based on common sense. Elia had said the boss wouldn’t enter attack range for another thirty seconds, but this breath had fired early, ignoring the remaining ten or so.
From a creator’s point of view—or no, even before that, just from plain common sense—in a death game with nearly a hundred floors, I refused to believe a Second Floor boss monster would suddenly unleash an instant-kill attack without even using any normal attacks first.
So the natural conclusion was that this was some kind of suppressive move, one that wouldn’t kill someone who still had close to full HP.
Thankfully, that expectation wasn’t betrayed. Everyone was still alive. But judging by the effect, that electric breath seemed to inflict [Paralyze] on almost everyone it hit with a very high probability.
"...Damn. It’s not the worst-case scenario, but it’s about to become one."
Staring in disbelief, I saw not just the two I’d been worried about, but Lind and Kibaou as well, sprawled on the ground and convulsing. Keeping that in view, I ran up to Kirito and Asuna and quickly shoved one green potion and one HP potion each into their mouths.
Without even having the time to respond to their silent looks of thanks, I turned and shouted at the ten-plus players surrounding [Asterios the Taurus King].
"Take the paralyzed players and retreat as far as you can! The boss monster’s movement speed is slow, so regroup and counterattack once it closes in!"
I would’ve preferred not to draw unnecessary attention to myself here, but their goal was to clear the Second Floor without casualties. So I gave them the most reasonable second-best option I could.
Apparently no one who saw the current carnage wanted to keep fighting immediately, because even though I wasn’t one of the commanders, no one complained. They started carrying people one by one and retreating with their backs to the boss monster.
Kazuha was also running around helping move the paralyzed players the unharmed ones were bringing back.
Which left just one person behind—me.
"All right then. What now?"
"Shouldn’t you be retreating too, Kazuma?" Elia asked.
"That’s the obvious rational choice, sure. But unfortunately, the truly rational choice is for me to draw that bull king’s attention."
"Why...?"
"Because if the options are one person who might die, or everyone dying, then the first one is better overall, right?"
I answered Elia in a light tone with maybe one percent joking mixed in, but no reply came back.
"...Hey, I’m not planning to die, so don’t make it all gloomy."
"After saying that, it isn’t persuasive at all..."
"That’s what I’m saying..."
Sighing at Elia’s unexpectedly rigid mindset, I accelerated with all my strength toward [Asterios the Taurus King]. It turned its attention to me and raised one massive arm before smashing it down.
KWAANG!!
An arm as thick as a pillar shattered the ground on impact, but an attack that slow had been easy to read and dodge long before it landed.
Using that opening, I leaped with all my speed and landed on its arm. Then I ran up along it, charging straight for its head.
Realizing my destination, it hurriedly tried to grab me with its other hand, but I slowed for a split second and then accelerated suddenly, making it miss.
Its body was so massive it nearly reached the boss chamber ceiling—roughly twenty meters tall, a true giant.
"When I say someone who ‘might’ die, that doesn’t mean they’re guaranteed to die!"
Grinding my teeth as I shouted, I made a short leap and aimed at the Taurus race’s shared weak point—the forehead between the horns, now topped with that worthless crown—and activated [Sonic Leap] again.
Drawing a blue line, my sword accelerated straight toward the crown as if being sucked in. Like a meteor, it struck dead on.
**
KUWOOOOOOO—!!!!!
After yanking my sword free from the writhing monster as it roared in pain and jumping down, I was about to keep drawing its attention when I spotted a glittering arc of light cutting across the dark ceiling.
The light curved through the air and flew straight into the forehead of the monster staring at me... then struck cleanly again with a loud metallic impact.
"That was [Throwing Blade], wasn’t it?" I asked.
"It seems so. Unlike your [Thrown Blade Arts], that was a chakram. Not a one-handed sword," Elia explained.
If so, then who did that chakram belong to?
Following the path of the returning chakram with my eyes, I spotted a strangely familiar nickname—and immediately understood.
"Hey! Are you all right?!"
Nezha—bearing the nickname Naza—was running toward me together with a small blond girl in a hood trailing behind him. Probably a girl, anyway.
"Yeah, I’m fine."
"That’s a relief. I was worried the information reached us too late... but thankfully, it looks like everyone’s still alive."
Nezha let out a sigh of relief and looked toward the players at the edge of the coliseum, who were finishing their preparations.
"Wow, kid, that was some serious skill back there. Using [Sonic Leap] like that—it looked just like a meteor sword, didn’t it?"
The hooded figure approached with a bright, breezy voice and waved one hand at me in a friendly way.
This was the famous information broker, Argo.
She—so Kirito had told me—was also a beta tester, one of the people who helped spread information and create guidebooks. These days, she worked as a broker and middleman for information that was hard to obtain normally.
For me, though, I relied on Elia for quests, so I probably wouldn’t have much business with her.
"Not really. So you’re Argo, the information dealer?"
"Haha, sounds like you heard about me from Kirito. Yep, nice to meet you, Kazuma. I’ve heard a lot about you from him."
"...That’s one more thing I need to ask Kirito about later."
"Argo, could you tell him the information first...?"
"There’s probably only one thing he needs to hear anyway... and it’s urgent. When that bull-head uses its breath, its eyes light up. I came to tell you that while you still needed it."
It was exactly the information I’d wanted most, delivered at the perfect moment. This was what people meant by good timing.
"Thanks. I’ll repay you later."
"Works for me! Then I’ll go tell the others in the back!"
I took my eyes off Argo as she retreated first and turned to Nezha. He flinched and immediately looked away.
"Um... well..."
"I heard from Kirito. But don’t worry about it. I don’t really have anything to say. Right now, drawing the boss’s attention comes first."
"Ah, right!"
My words seemed to steel him, and Nezha turned determined eyes toward [Asterios the Taurus King].
Facing the boss head-on, trembling with fear and yet still looking straight at it, he was no longer the timid blacksmith Kirito had described. He really did look like Nezha from myth now—a warrior born to fight.
"You take the front. I’ll take the rear. While you keep aggro with ranged attacks, I’ll deal damage from behind."
"Understood!"
With that single exchange, Nezha and I split apart and took positions in front of and behind the boss monster.
In about two minutes, the other players would be fully recovered. If we could hold out until then, we’d be fine. Taking position behind the bull-headed monster, I immediately slashed its Achilles tendon.
By focusing entirely on that tendon, I pinned down a monster that was already slow even with all six HP bars still intact. It was practically fixed in place now.
That cleared phase one. Next, I needed to secure attack priority points on its legs as fast as possible.
While we worked our way up from below step by step like that, two minutes passed before I knew it, and the players started returning.
After that, things moved quickly. The two minutes Nezha and I had bought were enough time for them to learn the pattern and the timing of the breath attack.
And that, in turn, was the signal that preparations to defeat the boss monster were complete.
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