//------------------------------//
// Episode 35 - King Of The Oathbreakers 
// Story: EQG: Sword Art Online - Ruby Palace 
// by Mindrop 
//------------------------------//

Episode 35 — King Of The Oathbreakers
Seventh Day in the Month of Sakura (April 7) in the Year of the Dragon
Floor 26 — 12 p.m.

Bladescape had Malus, Diemond, Reisenki, Natora, and Thunderborne with her. Three tanks and three damage dealers. As Group B, they were, originally, supposed to tank the boss with Group A, while E and G were their damage dealers against the boss. A and E were paired up, while B was paired with G. Group G was led by Agil and it had Kamishi, Lobelia, and Kirito in it, along with two more shields. 

Group C was a versatile unit able to defend themselves when attacking and facilitate switches. Five out of the six had shields, with Asuna being the exception and their designated damage dealer. Groups D, F, and H were to deal with the army of minions. They would be spawning a lot more often than any other boss had spawned minions before, with a different set of rules for spawning.

The King of the Oathbreakers was an undead lord. The lore was that long ago, as a living king, he swore to assist The King of Kelliwig, Cynan the son of Caradoc. When called upon to aid Kelliwig, they failed to do so. They were cursed by Cynan for failing to fulfill their oath. The result of breaking their oath was the downfall of Kelliwig, forcing Cynan's young son to be smuggled out of the city so that he could one day rise up as king. The curse inflicted on the oath breakers prevented them from finding rest. In the boss chamber he was waiting on his throne, with his army of undead knights. 

Lind pushed the doors open and advanced into the chamber. It was a throne room, with a red carpet down the center to its throne, albeit worn from the years. The walls had torches that lit up the rectangular room. On the golden throne sat the king. He was no zombie or skeleton which had the rot suspended, and neither was he like any of the astral monsters they had fought elsewhere. He was a semi-translucent jade being, in his royal armor and wearing a crown. There was a tangible facet to the undead king, but he was clearly undead as his denser bones were more opaque than his skin and armor.

He stood up, spear in hand, easily twice the height of the raiders. Four health bars filled up under his name. Out from the wall came eight Oathbreaker Knights, of the same translucent jade, and only a little shorter than their king. They carried a variety of weapons, some with shields, others using two-handed weapons. They immediately rushed the raiders. 

Bladescape shifted her party forward, engaging the two knights blocking their way. They made it so that Lind could initiate his opening attack on The King of the Oathbreakers. Even with Group G helping to take them down, the knights were strong, with a lot of HP. They were quick to use sword skills and with their shields they were able to effectively block attacks. Each knight needed to be attacked by three players at once: one to force him to use the shield, one to deal with the weapon, and one to deal the damage. Which player had which job was often unknown until the last moment.

They finally eliminated the knights and advanced towards the battle with the king. Groups A and E were falling back, having taken down a third of the first health bar. Group C was switching in. Five shields and one damage dealer meant they could handle drawing out a defensive fight in between switches, while slipping in damage from time to time. Especially with Asuna's speed and skill. 

The Wondercolts were topping off their HP and so was Group G. Watching Group C handle the boss on their own, led by Heathcliff, was stunning, to say the least. He brought a calm resolve to the battlefield rarely seen, with a strength in his shield and finality of his blade not seen in any other Forward. Even many tanks did not have the resolve he displayed. He was the complete opposite of Kibaou. This boss raid looked less like children playing a game and more like adults fighting a war for their freedom.  

Bladescape readied B and G for the switch and then called for it. It was smoothly executed and they finally got a crack at the boss. The King’s first health bar was halfway depleted when they started. The Wondercolts alone could have finished the last half before strategically switching, but with players like Kirito, Agil, and Kamishi, it was depleted quickly. They had the HP almost halfway gone from the second health bar when Lind called for the switch.  

The Wondercolts fell back to the center of the room, but it wasn’t necessarily a safe position. Group C was already engaging another Oathbreaker Knight. They had known going in that the knights didn’t spawn at specific points relative to the boss. More came out of the walls when their numbers dropped below four, attempting to bring their count back up to eight. The tactic for the other groups was to get them to four and then draw out those battles as long as possible, to keep them from spawning anew. 

The King of the Oathbreakers was excellent at picking out party leaders and the major threats to his health. He then specifically targeted the threats. Lind’s group was supposed to be all tanks for a reason, but he had two tanks, a shield, a lancer, and another damage dealer with him. It wasn’t enough. Lind was impaled by the spear. 

Bladescape called B and G to action, initiating the switch and letting A and E fall back to heal Lind. Group C covered them as two newly spawned knights rushed them. Bladescape only stole quick glances back to see how the rest of the battle was progressing. She was leading her party in combat, that was where her focus needed to be. Things looked good as they eliminated the boss’ second health bar. 

The third health bar was halfway depleted when Lind called for the switch. They smoothly executed it, allowing B and G to focus on regaining their health. Group C was fully engaged with several knights, effectively using their shields and allowing the other groups to deal the damage. 

The other squads erred. It wasn't intentional, it was hard to keep track when the fights were spread out, but they mistimed the elimination of the knights, meaning eight fresh ones came out of the wall. The knights didn't allow anyone time to heal or rest. Bladescape spurred Group B and G to tackle three so the others could get the time they needed. They did their job, eliminating them while Group C eliminated a fourth. 

Lind called for the switch, catapulting them straight into a run at the boss. The third health bar was nearly depleted. They would likely have to retreat to regain their health before the boss moved into his final phase; at the perfect time for Lind to come in and take the Last Attack Bonus. The new way of doing things was supposed to eliminate that factor, but Bladescape felt set up by Lind. 

They barely dropped him into the fourth health bar when things took an unexpected turn. Malus' shield broke and she was impaled by the spear. She grabbed it, keeping it inside her and not letting go. The King couldn't wrestle it out of her iron grip. Her health was already in the red from the hit and it was quickly losing more pixels. Bladescape jumped over to Malus and pulled out a healing crystal. It was nice to tell by the ridges on the top of the pouch that it was her healing crystal pouch, eliminating the need to look. She healed her stubborn friend back to full health. It was quickly draining out, but the others began to launch heavy hitting attacks since the boss was fixated on removing his spear. 

They quickly got him into the red, triggering his final stage. He let go of the spear and jumped back to safety, beside his throne. The spear shattered and Bladescape healed Malus with another crystal as Malus equipped a spare shield.

The King of the Oathbreakers pulled out a sword which had been stashed behind the throne. He swiped it down at them as Bladescape called for her two groups to lock shields. They obeyed and the damage dealers fell in behind them. Groups A and E joined them, as did Group C. A wall of shields spanning most of the room was formed as the first wave of knights came out from behind the throne, marching forward to battle in the name of their king. They had spears and shields at the ready. Bladescape called for the other groups to eliminate the four knights behind their line and join them. Natora rallied the damage dealers to help eliminate the knights. They quickly finished them and the shields of F, G, and H joined their wall as the first clashes began. The damage dealers returned in time to give them a fight. No new knights came out from the sides of the wall, but waves upon waves came from behind the throne; passing their king before engaging the raiders. 

The battle dragged on as twenty four knights in total fought the raiders. It was a battle of shields; both sides pushing against each other in the confined space, just like medieval combat actually happened. The open melees that were essentially chaotic one-on-one battles were not historically accurate and this battle happened to align with history. Knightstar had pointed out the differences a lot of times.

With the twenty-four defeated, no others came out of the wall and the damage dealers rushed forward to finish off the king. He was a fast and heavy hitter, quickly forcing many of them into the red with his special attacks. That was not how it was supposed to go. They expected to be able to eliminate the last of his HP with relative ease.

From behind her, Bladescape heard Heathcliff rally the available shields into the fray. They arrived when the King dropped Kirito deep into the red, putting him out of the fight and leaving just Bladescape and Asuna for the damage dealers, both of whom were in the orange for their health. The rest had been forced to fall back and heal, but they had left the boss with very little HP. The King attacked Asuna, but Heathcliff was there to block the sword. In one seamless move he transitioned to an attack, eliminating the last of The King of the Oathbreakers' HP while still shielding Asuna from the king's sword.

Bladescape lowered her sword as the lights shifted to brighten the room and the congratulations music began to play. She had hesitated because backup was coming and she had misjudged how much damage Heathcliff could deliver. She expected the shields to block, allowing her to strike the final blow. She should have attacked as soon as the boss targeted Asuna. The Last Attack Bonus was not hers simply because she had failed to take the clearly present opportunity.

Bladescape looked at her drop list, quickly making mental notes about it. She would sort through it with Knightstar for appraisal later. She had gotten several healing crystals, covering the ones she had used on Malus. They had been used wisely and without regret, but it was always nice to receive them in the loot drop. 

"Well, that was an invigorating battle," Heathcliff calmly stated. "It had its issues, but overall the strategy was smart. The liberation effort has progressed a lot since I last heard about the boss battles."

"Yes, we have," Bladescape said. "It was one of the smoothest boss raids I've been on, especially in a good while — I doubt they will ever be as smooth as the fight against Fuscus the Vacant Colossus on the fifth floor — and the Knights of the Bloodoath were a strong reason for that. We would have done better if we had stuck to the original structuring of the groups, by role, not by guild. Lind didn't have enough shields in Group A. Group B brought all of the shields we could muster for the boss raid and G thankfully compensated for us." 

"Next time we will do that," Lind stated. It was an attempt to appease Bladescape and everyone in the room who was angry at him.  

Bladescape didn't say anything back. She had already made her point. If she spoke up again, it would be difficult to not verbally assault Lind. It wasn't worth it and it would look bad for the Wondercolts. Lind already made himself and the DDA look bad. 

"And if we don't approve?" Asuna asked. It was a general statement but clearly directed at Lind. "What if we think there are more qualified leaders than you, Lind, when it comes to the boss raids?"

Bladescape was happy someone had spoken up and she was even happier that it was Asuna. Lind didn't like that question and he gave Asuna a nasty look for a moment before changing. He already didn't like Asuna from her pre-KoB days clearing.

"Let me guess," Lind replied, relatively calmly. "You think Heathcliff should lead?"

"He's one option," Asuna replied. "Bladescape is another. She has plenty of experience too and she has done well stepping up to fill that role since things fell apart on the twenty-fifth floor. I also am a veteran of the old way of doing things and I know the changes that need to be made. You're the one who changed the plans at the last minute yesterday. It was obvious then and it clearly could have gone better. We thankfully didn't lose anyone, but we almost lost plenty, including you, twice. And yes, I was counting." 

Lind looked at Bladescape. She didn't give him any response, hoping she could stay neutral. He didn't let her. 

"Well?" He asked. "Do you really think that my experience leading boss battles is no longer needed?"

"No," Bladescape admitted, putting up her hand to stop him from jumping to a response. "While we need your experience, that doesn't mean you should be leading the Assault Team. I don't believe it's yours to lead. A true strategy meeting will require us to discuss the plan. You can give your input then, but clearly we need to decentralize the leadership. You changed the plan yesterday. You endangered us all with your antiquated organization. We don't need a sole leader, we need a champion. Someone to boost morale and someone who is able to make any adjustments necessary to the raid if the plan isn't working. Planning and being the champion are quite different roles."

"Two players stood out today," a member of Group D said. "They had eyes on the entire battle and were always ready to fight. They would be Bladescape and Heathcliff."

"This is not the place to discuss this matter," Bladescape stated. "We have a city to unlock. We can breach it again in a few days. Campaign as you see fit."

Bladescape headed for the exit. Lind didn't have any idea on how to win that argument. He was facing two veterans who had been there since the beginning. He had no seniority over Bladescape or Asuna. Asuna might have stepped away for a bit, but she was a part of the solo raid on Floor Five's boss. Her respected position was clear and so was the feelings of the others in the chamber.  

Bladescape wouldn't likely do any campaigning. She wanted to lead the Wondercolts. She would be their shining example. When players thought of the Wondercolts, they would think of her. She didn't want to champion the Assault Team unless she had to. Championing it would require the person, to a certain degree, to exert their will over the Assault Team, while still allowing the members to be independent until it was time to come together for boss raids. Otherwise they might as well be in the same guild.




BLADESCAPE: Level 39 — Two-Handed Sword — Searching — Weapon Defense — Leather Armor — First Aid — Battle Regeneration 
NATORA: Level 37 —  Two-Handed Spear — Purchase Negotiations — Sales Negotiation — Weapon Defense — Light Metal Armor — First Aid
KNIGHTSTAR: Level 36 — One-Handed Sword — Shield — Light Metal Armor — Equipment Appraisal — First Aid — Battle Regeneration 
MALUS: Level 37 — One-Handed War Hammer — Shield — Heavy Metal Armor — First Aid — Extended Weight Carry — Battle Regeneration 
THUNDERBORNE: Level 37 — Rapier — Sprint — Acrobatics — Weapon Defense — Light Metal Armor — First Aid 
KONPEITO: Level 37 — Two-Handed Axe — Cooking — Weapon Defense —  Light Metal Armor — Martial Arts — First Aid — Battle Regeneration 
DIEMOND: Level 37 — Mace — Shield — Sewing — Heavy Metal Armor  — First Aid — Battle Regeneration 
DOOMBUNNY: Level 36 — One-Handed Dagger — Hide — Fighting Spirit — Blade Throwing — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Familiar Cooperation 
KIEFER: Level 35 — One-Handed Curved Sword — Slash Weapon Forging — Light Metal Armor  — Weapon Defense — First Aid  — Katana  
SORYUTO: Level 34 — One-Handed Sword — Shield — Light Metal Armor — Music — First Aid — Battle Regeneration 
REISENKI: Level 35 — One-Handed Axe — Shield — Heavy Metal Armor — Equipment Repair — Metal Equipment Repair — First Aid