//------------------------------//
// Episode 54 — Halfway Home 
// Story: EQG: Sword Art Online - Ruby Palace 
// by Mindrop 
//------------------------------//

Episode 54 — Halfway Home
Tenth Day in the Month of Silvergrass (January 10) in the Year of the Dragon
Floor 50 — Boss Chamber

The holidays had slowed things down, but they were quickly back up to full speed. Floor 50 was another benchmark floor. Thankfully, unlike Floor 25, it wasn’t a poisonous pitfall of traps and dead ends. The difficulty and number of the monsters were significantly higher. Respawns happened faster too, offering little to no breaks. 

There were two false labyrinths and one true one. All three were in the closest pillars to the only settlement on the floor with a teleport plaza, Algade. They had to clear all three to find the boss chamber, which slowed the mapping efforts because their normal force was split three ways. The Wondercolts had teamed up with both Meigibu and Fuurinkazan at different times, just not all three guilds at the same time. It was a group with one party from Meigibu and Natora’s team who found the boss chamber.

Algade was a city of paved stone streets and stone houses that were two or three stories tall. It had the feel of a nineteenth century city, almost modern, but not quite there. There were plenty of cloth awnings above doors and shops as well as clothes lines hung between buildings, well above the street. The back alleyways quickly became a maze where a player could easily get lost and unable to find a way out. The whole city was full of stores that had no way to tell what they were selling from the street.

Despite that, it was the second largest city in Aincrad, eclipsed only by the Town of Beginnings. Many players were quickly moving to Algade. Plenty of braver recluses were leaving the Army controlled city for Algade. No city on the front had seen a permanent population boom while it was still on the front, but Algade certainly was. It was going to become the central location for all of the players. 

Agil had already claimed a permanent shop in the city. He wasn’t the only merchant to do so. Outside of the crafters in Lindarth, Algade was where everyone wanted to be. The cheaper cost of shops was a big plus. Agil’s shop was small and somewhat cramped, but exactly what the oversized merchant needed, including having living space above the shop. It was just off a roadway, but not in an alley. Other shops and inns were all around him. It was a good location. 

Bladescape was leading Squad B, a flexible secondary assault squad. Everyone was heavy on the tanks, but the secondary assault squads were half forwards or damage dealers. Bladescape had Malus, Reisenki, Diemond, and Konpeito in her party. Kirito would be joining them. It was a six armed, metal statue of Buddha. Metal was always a difficult type of enemy to face, especially for a boss. Crushing blows were typically better, but those weapons also were some of the slowest in the game. Poison was also useless. Natora’s spear was a thrusting weapon and unable to do much. Thunderborne also faced the same issue. Katanas and curved swords did less damage than straight swords, which was why Bladescape chose Kirito for her sixth. 

The Knights of the Bloodoath were able to field a heavy shield and tank squad, however, Asuna was not among them and neither was Godfree. The same for the Divine Dragon Alliance, but they had some weak choices for damage dealers. Bladescape pulling in Kirito helped the rest of the squad leaders form optimal teams, not picking only their friends. The guilds were not supposed to be the major deciding factor for squads, but, at times, the cards still fell that way. It didn’t help when the top three guilds could, typically, field a party geared towards their role, using only their members.

Like Floor Twenty-Five’s rescue effort, they were using clearing parties to preserve the raid party. The other Wondercolts were being led by Natora and proving their mettle. They had led the bulk of the push, outperforming every other clearing party by a noticeable margin.

On their way to the boss chamber, Malus had quietly prodded Bladescape. “I bet this is gonna be a doozy of an LAB. Ya ready to get it?”

“I’m not concerned about the LAB,” Bladescape had told her. “That actually is the last thing on my mind. However, I am certain that the LAB is something that could be taken to the end of the game. If I get it, I get it. If not, well this boss is the next real block to get out of here. When this game is over, it means nothing except that we survived.”

While that sentiment still held true, standing in front of the boss chamber’s door, Bladescape felt her competitive nature flaring back up. She wanted the LAB, badly. She had missed out on the twenty-fifth Floor Boss’ after she was skewered in half. It had taken them a year to get halfway. If they kept the pace up, it would be about another year. That was a year of pride and use out of the bonus item. It might disappear after, but for now, it did matter. It might even allow her to save lives by making her more effective in her role clearing.

Commander Heathcliff pushed the doors open and advanced Squad A forward. Bladescape was right on his tail, shifting her squad to the right side as planned. The boss room was long and rectangular. On the far side was a giant Buddha statue made of black metal. It was sitting there, legs crossed, and didn’t appear aware of their arrival. It had six arms, and looked entirely peaceful. 

Heathcliff brought the raid party to a stop at the halfway point. At this point, the statue had not moved. No name, no health bars, nothing to indicate that it was anything more than a decorative feature of the boss room. By now, they should have some indication of the boss. There were no stairs present or evidence that the boss had been beaten. Then again, the room actually had good lighting. 

Bladescape looked to the Commander. He was thinking through things. If they engaged in a battle their raid party was not ready to fight, they should back out and reorganize. This was likely going to be a brutal and long fight. 

The footsteps that broke the silence were not Commander Heathcliff’s. Malus was walking forward, alone. 

“Don’t worry, y’all,” Malus said. “I’ll wake it up. Y’all just be ready to act.”

Malus was the logical one to head forward. Her strength stat and health were massive. Her shield was bigger than anyone else’s. She was the Iron Bulwark for a reason. She couldn’t be moved. No boss had made her do something she didn’t want to do. 

Nothing changed as she made it three quarters to the statue. Malus stopped with a clank on her metal shield as she let it rest on the ground. She was several yards from it and giving it a solid look over, while being wary of where she was. 

The groan of twisting metal was the only warning Malus got as the statue awoke. The health bars were not even up as an arm brought a scimitar down on Malus. With little effort she shifted her shield up, using the top edge to stop the sword, but the heavy hit did transfer the energy, ramming the shield back into the floor. The arm opposite shifted into motion, swiping a mace at Malus. She swung her shield into position and braced for the impact. The mace was stopped dead in its tracks. 

Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Like a Newton’s cradle, the mace transferred the energy into the shield and the shield into Malus, who was sent flying. She impacted into the wall and slowly plopped onto her face. But the boss didn’t move. Her shield was still in front of it. A few red polygons were floating away near Malus, indicating that she had left her arm with the shield.

“That was unexpected,” Commander Heathcliff stated out loud. 

“Unexpected” was putting it lightly. Bladescape had never seen a player lose a limb unless it had been severed by something sharp. Malus had been able to forego that unfortunate feeling, or rather she had. Malus was in the orange, but it wasn’t a big concern, yet. It certainly was high on the list, but something that could toss Malus that easily made everyone rethink the upcoming fight. They all should be able to survive one hit, almost everyone was built for strength and attack, not solely damage dealing. 

Malus pushed herself up onto her feet and looked at them. She didn’t appear to notice her missing arm. “Hoo, Doggies,” Malus called out in English. “She puts down a mighty powerful buck, that gal. Tossed me like a hay bale. I took a good chunk of damage from gettin slammed into that there wall. This is gonna be one hell of shindig. If you are a greenhorn, you better rethink things before you end up in the bone orchard.”

“Oh dear,” Diemond said in Japanese. “She went full cowgirl.”

“She will shake it off,” Bladescape said. “Right?”

Shaking it off was probably the wrong way to put it. Malus still stubbornly used her idioms, despite them not always making sense in Japanese, but that was very different from a full language switch. It was as if she had smacked the wall so hard, it all got jumbled up. 

“Sure!” Konpeito said, bouncing up onto one leg. She switched to speaking English. “It’s AJ. Wait! That is AJ, right?”

Diemond sighed. “And we lost Pinkie.”

“Did we ever have her?” Bladescape shot back. 

“Good point,” Diemond said. “At least when she speaks Japanese I feel like we have her.”

“That’s fair,” Bladescape said, trying to get back to the matter at hand. “Alright, it looks like it's proximity triggered.” Proximity triggered was not going to be in their favor. Nothing was in their favor after it tossed Malus like it had. After all, it was the halfway battle. 

“Now!” Malus declared, still in English, from where she was. “Let’s wind up and go home!"

Malus rushed towards her shield, still missing her left forearm. Bladescape found herself rushing forward. She wasn’t sure if she was going to stop Malus or attack. Her course of action was still undecided. 

Malus got to her shield first, slipping her right arm into the fixed straps. Left handed users existed, but they were rare to see. Nothing said Malus couldn’t use the shield on her right arm, but it was a shield. She had her hammer, it was on her belt, she simply hadn’t drawn it. Malus was too far ahead for Bladescape to catch up to her disoriented friend. With a war cry, Malus pulled her shield back and the entire thing glowed. She put her whole body into the strike, ramming the edge of her giant shield into one of the statue’s legs. The impact rang throughout the boss chamber, echoing off the walls several times. It almost sounded like a very deep bell being rung. Malus’ shield glowed a second time as she slammed it into the leg again. She shifted down and did it a third time, striking the knee. With a groan the statue stood up. 

“YAH AIN’T GETTIN MY OTHER ARM!” Malus yelled as she shook her left stump at the statue. She was still using English. “NO SCRAP OF METAL’S GONNA BEST ME! I’LL OPEN YA LIKE THE TIN CAN YA ARE!”

Bladescape finally reached her. “HEAL!” Bladescape ordered, causing the red crystal in her hand to shatter and work its magic. Malus’ arm regained its former glory. 

Each of the six arms had a different weapon: scimitar, dhara mace, tabar axe, khanda sword, a flail, and a talwar sword. The metal statue had four health bars. 

The scimitar came down on Bladescape. Malus intercepted it with a thud. Her left hand was supporting the shield. It was clear she was going to fight with her weapon and shield reversed. The mace came at them just like the first time. Malus stepped into the attack, angling her shield so that she redirected it, with a healthy shove, up into the ceiling. 

“Not so easy to toss now, am I‽” Malus challenged, yet again in English. It seemed to pause, calculating its next move. “That’ll be the cavalry. My pals’ll help me rip you open! We’ll tear ya limb from limb! An I ain’t talkin metaphors! I mean actually removin each of those stupid arms of yours!”

It was a bold statement and at least partially true. Commander Heathcliff arrived at the head of the raid party. He gave clear orders to the tanks about blocking, using the shifting technique, and told everyone else to dodge. Malus had, once again, shown them the way forward. None of the others were at risk of losing an arm during a block, simply because their shields would actually move with them. 

“I’ll be back,” Malus spat, actually spitting. “This ain’t over tween us!” 

The scimitar was brought down on her in response, except Malus sidestepped it. The giant sword crashed into the ground beside an unfazed Malus. 

"Are you trying to get yourself killed!" Diemond yelled.

"I'm tryin to get us all out," Malus shot back. 

Having them argue in two different languages was interesting and somehow not confusing. Bladescape was so used to Japanese that English currently felt foreign, except she still thought in English. Their ability to argue without the need for an interpreter, or slowing down, was impressive. 

"Well that's not the normal way to do it!" Diemond argued back. 

"Focus!" Bladescape ordered. They had been lucky the boss was focused on bashing and slashing other squads. So far it had only used the lowest two arms, the scimitar and the mace. The less health it had, the more likely it would be to start using the others, which would be problematic. Even more so than their current difficulties. 

"I'm just saying, I don't think I can handle a death in our Aincrad family," Diemond pressed. "It's rude and inconsiderate when you go off and try to die!"

"Are you sayin I gotta death wish!" Malus growled, taking a step in towards Diemond.

Diemond thought for a moment. Clearly that was not the response she had expected to receive. 

"Here it comes!" Bladescape called out. 

Malus spun around as everyone shaped up. Diemond and Reisenki blocked the downward cut of the scimitar in perfect unison, although they didn't stay up. The mace was swept at them, but Malus was there to deflect it into the ceiling. Bladescape, Konpeito, and Kirito were in motion, laying into the boss as quickly and safely as they could. They left red lines over it as they did what they could to shave off HP. Metal monsters were the worst, metal bosses were a nightmare. Their actual damage was barely registering. They would have to risk long delay penalties by pulling off high level sword skills to take a chunk off. It wasn't worth it, not when the raid party would slowly shave it off. No one wanted anyone to die today. No one needed to die. 

Malus blocked for the squad, both the scimitar and the mace, while everyone was either delayed or getting back up. Then she gave the boss the boot as it turned to try its luck against the Knights of the Bloodoath. Malus' shield glowed as she smacked the metal statue in the calf, as high up as she could hit. That attack did do noticeable damage to the health bar. 

"Shoo! Get outta here! Yah oversized hunk of scrap metal!" Malus yelled after it. 

"We are not done with this discussion," Diemond prefaced as she once again squared off against Malus. "But what was that! Shields don't glow like weapons do when using a Sword Skill!"

"I ain't got a clue," Malus shrugged. "All I know is I still ain't able to feel my left forearm, so all I got’s my right. Which needs to carry my shield. An’ I wan’a punch its stupid metal face, but I can't jump that high. It's almost as if I'm triggering my Martial Arts sword skills." 

"That's exactly what you are doing," Kirito said. His English was pretty good. Bladescape didn't know how often he used it and the accent was obvious, but he was crystal clear. "It's an OSS, Outside System Skill. The use of two or more skills in a way the system didn't intend, yet still can register. Some are more integrated than others. The two I've discovered are much more subtle. To actually be able to force the game system to accept your shield as your fist takes incredible willpower. Either you see your shield as nothing more than an extension of your fist, or you are forcing a square peg in a round hole and making it work. Either way, the more you use it, the more the game should adapt and integrate it into its relationship between you and it, making future use easier. Is this your first time doing it?"

"Yeah, it is," Malus said. "Why?" 

"You use your shield on your left hand," Kirito stated. "Your nondominant hand, which is weaker. The system doesn't see it as the attacking hand, not for you. But that clearly changed with everything and so, in your dominant hand, it's able to become the weapon you need it to be. Eventually you might be able to get it to work with your left."

"Eventually ain't fast enough!" Malus spat. "Thanks for the info, partner. I'll keep it in mind. 'Cept I need it now. Well, as soon as I can feel my left arm. Then I can start to hammer out that giant hunk of refined sedimentary rock."

"Uh, what?" Kirito asked. "I think something is lost in translation."

"No," Diemond said in Japanese. "I have no idea how that last bit ties in with the rest."

"Duh!" Konpeito exclaimed. "Iron ore is sedimentary rock! Well, technically it's Banded Iron Formations, layers inside sedimentary rocks. But who's counting?"

"You are, Konpeito," Diemond said with a disappointed sigh. "You are always counting. What number are you up to?"

"Seven thousand, six hundred and eighty-six!" Konpeito exclaimed with a hop. "And here comes the baddy!"

Konpeito was faster at warning them than Bladescape could be, yet Bladescape was watching their backs. The engagement more or less played out the same way. Diemond was able to stay up while Reisenki still crumbled as they stopped the scimitar. Malus defected the mace, and everyone attacked, including Diemond. Then Malus covered for them and kicked the boss off to the next group. Everyone downed potions. The concussive force of the heavy hitting attacks being blocked was shaving off the HP of nearby players.

Bladescape had hoped this time the argument was done, but both Malus and Diemond were stubborn in their own way. They were going to have it out in one way or another during this battle and the interruptions only served to reinforce the need to immediately settle the argument. Bladescape started to consider pulling their squad in the interest of safety. The issue was that not only their team was relying on Malus. None of the tanks were able to do what she did. Usually it was just impressive and everyone was happy she was here, but a boss fight like this required Malus. 

"Why did you insinuate that I said you have a death wish!" Diemond yelled. "I never said that! Trying to die or acting in a way that is reckless isn't a death wish. One is, well, reckless, the other actually wants to die or doesn't care. And I know you, you do care. You have a family to get back to!"

"It don't make no difference," Malus growled. "Just shut your pretty pie hole and use that shield of yours for its intended purpose."

"But it does make a difference!" Diemond screamed. She was on the verge of breaking down in tears. 

"THAT'S IT!" Bladescape yelled. "Squad B, fall back to the center! That's an order!"

Bladescape caught Commander Heathcliff looking at them. She couldn't tell what he was thinking. He didn't appear to even be judging them. He was just observing. He always seemed to be observing. What he was thinking or why he was observing was one of the biggest questions in Aincrad, although few players would ever think to ask it. 

Thankfully everyone followed the order, including Kirito. They were not the only team to have fallen back. Two others were recouping in the center. There was no privacy, but they had the space for Bladescape to sort them out so they could all be on the same page and fight the boss like they were supposed to. Like they were being relied upon to do. 

"Diemond, you're being more stubborn than usual," Bladescape angrily stated. She was starting at the easiest issue to figure out. "What's going on with you today? You're about to cry over a hypothetical death! I've never seen you so unfocused, especially in a boss fight."

"I-" Diemond stammered, stalling out. Her stubbornness was showing, crystal clear. She knew what was going on but she didn't want to admit it. 

"Well?" Bladescape pressed. 

"Well I…I…" Diemond almost made it but then started balling. "I had a dream about Sweetie Belle last night! She is growing up and I'm missing it. As her big sister, I'm missing important moments in her life."

"Yes, you are," Bladescape said, grabbing Diemond's by the shoulder with her left hand, balancing her sword on her own shoulder as she tried to reframe Diemond’s situation and mindset. "You can't change that. You didn't intend for this to happen, but it did. At least when you get back, you can tell her how hard you fought to get out as quickly as possible. Everything you miss, well you will miss less because of your efforts. You fought to get back to your family. That's admirable and she will understand. I know her enough to be able to positively state that she will understand and appreciate your fight for freedom. It's going to impress her because you're not doing what most of us would expect you to do. It's stellar and amazing and you deserve a whole lot of praise for sticking it out like you have. So thank you. Now, get it together, so you can get back in the fight. We can cry about that stuff after the boss fight."

"Okay," Diemond sniffed, trying to reign it in. 

Konpeito was trying to comfort her friend, but she wasn't all there. Something had Konpeito distracted. 

"Malus," Bladescape growled. "Going off at the start, that was fine. It wasn't the issue. Heck, you took a heavy hit yet walked out pretty well intact." Malus held up her left arm. The wrist was limp, a reminder about what was lost and that she still couldn't feel it. "I didn't say perfectly fine or completely intact," Bladescape clarified. "But you mentioned death wish and it's spot on. You've had it since you got knocked into the wall. Why? We know what has Diemond upset, but what about you?" 

"I ain't gotta clue," Malus stated with a shrug. "I'm just doing what needs to be done. This harvest ain't gonna bring itself in, least not before the crop spoils."

Now that Bladescape was speaking with Malus, the difference in language was even starker. Bladescape wasn't going to let it derail her. She understood what her friend was saying and Malus understood her. 

"Something is bothering you," Bladescape pressed. "It might be small or something you brushed off, but something has you off center. That's an objective fact." 

"Nothing abnormal’s happened," Malus stated. She wasn't being stubborn. She was being honest. 

Bladescape realized the answer to unlock that door was literally happening in front of her. "Malus, you are speaking English. We all are speaking Japanese. We are still in Japan. We are in a Japanese game. While certain written things are in English, everything spoken is Japanese. That's not normal for you. Something is wrong."

"Huh," Malus said. She pulled her arm out of her shield, letting it stand on its own. She had to remove her helmet to scratch her head and think. "I ain't gotta clue," she said, still using English. "Must’ve hit my head real hard. I didn't realize and I ain't gotta clue how to change languages. Hopefully it ain't permanent."

That was at least a logical response. She was able to think clearly, but something else was bothering her. The skull cracking hit to the head might have jogged it loose.

"I know!" Konpeito exclaimed. "It's January Tenth."

"So?" Malus asked. "I ain't gotta clue what that would have to do with any of this?"

"Well, the tenth is getting close to the seventeenth," Konpeito added. "Last year, you took the seventeenth off. A personal day. You also never are in school or class on the seventeenth."

"I get yah," Malus said. "Maybe, just cause of the head knock, but I ain't sayin it is. I'll be more careful. Maybe I do have one around this time of year." Malus looked at her left forearm, concentrating on it as she tried to do something. She let out an annoyed sigh. "Well, no matter. I'll be careful. I ain't gonna let any of my friends or squadmates die. No one in the raid party is gonna die if I got anythin to say about it. I'm ready and focused. Die, are you?"

"I think so," Diemond said, trying to dry her cheeks. "Blade is, of course, right. I can at least say that I was doing all I could to get free. That's important and the best I can do since this isn't my fault."

"Good, cause they need us," Bladescape said. 

At least the argument was over and everyone appeared to be in the proper headspace. Malus had taken a harder hit on the head than Bladescape realized. She probably should force her out of the fight, but they really needed Malus. She also was Malus, the Iron Bulwark. If anyone could work through a cracked skull, she could. So long as she understood Japanese, even if she couldn't speak it, that was what mattered. Plus, most players could understand English because it was required in school. They could sort anything else out after the boss was defeated. 

Squad B went back with a renewed vigor. They now had a lot to prove after they nearly fell apart. They held the line, but it wasn't easy. For every half of a health bar eliminated, another arm was activated and used. The attacks switched up too. Tanks were tossed all the time, taking down players with them if they collided. The Wondercolts held strong, but even they couldn't keep it up forever. 

Eventually, they were all worn down, even the Knights of the Bloodoath. They all eventually ended up behind the front line. That is, except for the Commander. Heathcliff stayed in, a testament to his skill and cunning, as well as his strength. By his order the last raiders fell back to heal and regroup. He avoided most of the attacks from the boss, rather than block. When he did, they were always deflections rather than straight blocks. He kept the boss occupied as the rest of the raid party recovered their HP and reset their mentalities. 

Malus was itching to get back in the fight. Bladescape had to practically hold her back as she forced Malus to catch her breath, and HP, and let the others catch up to her. Once Bladescape stood up, Malus charged. All of Group B was behind her. Malus had a surprising burst of speed in her as she barreled into the fight. 

Bladescape hadn't realized that the boss wasn't Malus’ target, it was Commander Heathcliff. The Commander's complicated dance faltered right as Malus got to him. She shoved him out of the way of the flail, taking his place as it was swung upward. The flanged head yanked her along, throwing her into the ceiling. Malus fell back to the floor as Squad B launched a full scale counter attack. The boss was at one and a half health bars. All six arms were triggered, making the tank's work difficult and the attackers had to be careful. They had to avoid running into each other as they also deflected or dodged the boss' six weapons. The tanks also couldn't deflect an attack into another raider. 

The Commander had been able to get up and fall back to take stock of the situation and catch his breath. His health wasn't even out of the yellow. It was close, but stable. His Battle Regeneration Skill was working overtime to fill his health back up. 

Bladescape squared off with the boss, raising her sword above her head so she could trigger Avalanche. It was a powerful, high level sword skill that activated a downward slash. It also had a low delay. The boss focused on her, pulling both the talwar and flail back to use. Bladescape held her ground to keep its focus on her while the others attacked or prepared to block. 

The attack never came as something whipped over her head and smacked the boss in the face. The Iron Bulwark, Malus' shield, thudded to the ground as the boss staggered back. 

Malus ran past Bladescape with a war cry before calling out to Konpeito to give her a boost. Bladescape had no idea what Malus meant, but Konpeito did. She knelt down, presenting her back to Malus. Malus kept running, straight onto her back. Konpeito popped up, with a gleeful hop, launching the tank higher than she could ever jump on her own; enough to grab the metal shoulder. The shoulder wasn't an actual joint, the arms were connected and controlled from behind. It couldn't hit her as Malus straddled it. She began to pummel the metal face with Martial Arts Sword Skills. Malus had previously stated that she had unfinished business with the boss. 

Bladescape abandoned her position, breaking into a sprint to get behind the stumbling boss. On the way, she snagged Konpeito. Malus' tenacity, coupled with her earlier taunt at the boss, gave Bladescape an idea. Only Konpeito could help her. Diemond, Reisenki, and Kirito were unleashing all of what they could to keep the boss unsteady. 

From behind it, Bladescape pointed with her sword at the disk mechanism that covered the arm joints. "We need to break off the arms," Bladescape stated. "And that is the weak point. Malus gave us the opening-"

"Got it!" Konpeito said, hopping forward. That hop turned into a skip and then she kicked herself into an aerial before doing a front flip that whipped her axe out, where she triggered a skill to hack down on a joint. 

Bladescape had less agility, both in the game and real life. She didn't think properly to pull something off like that. Instead, she timed it so when the boss stepped back, she used it to vault off the leg, triggering Avalanche down on the opposite side Konpeito was targeting. 

The boss caught on, but with Malus repeatedly pounding it in the side of the face and Diemond, Reisenki, and Kirito attacking the legs, it couldn't address the attacks to its back. Konpeito got the first limb off. Her axe could negate more of the resistance of the metal boss. The whole arm and talwar shattered. Bladescape eliminated the flail on the third vault. 

"YAH GOTTA BUCK HARDER THAN A DAIRY COW TO TOSS ME OFF!" Malus yelled over the resounding clang of her metal gauntlet slamming into its head. 

Konpeito hacked off the arm with the tabar axe next. Bladescape took too long to get rid of the arm with the khanda sword, so Konpeito joined in the leg attacks. As soon as Bladescape got it, again on the third hit, Konpeito vaulted back up to attack the arm with the scimitar. That was gone in two hits. Bladescape was able to get her third in on the arm with the mace right after, eliminating the last major offensive option for the boss.

Bladescape landed but then had to scramble and dive out of the way. The boss, almost out of HP, was tripped by Diemond and Reisenki. Diemond had pulled a strong length of rope out of her inventory and the two of them toppled it. Malus bailed as it fell. 

Bladescape was on her feet as quickly as she could be and charged in, ready for the kill. There was just a tiny bit of HP left. She never got close to attacking as the boss shattered into polygons. Kirito was on the other side and had finished it. He was tired, that was clear, and he had given his all in the fight. Bladescape couldn't deny that he had earned it.

All that really mattered was that it was over. Bladescape didn't want him to give her the Last Attack Bonus, she wanted to earn it with her own well-timed strike, but the only reason he was there was because she wanted him in her squad. He was the best pick for the job, but it did sour her mood. Kirito was the kind of guy to abandon a squad if an opening was created, like they had done, so he likely would have joined in anyway, but Bladescape had invited him to be right there. She now felt stupid over her choice, despite knowing it was the objectively correct one and that it was well earned by the Black Swordsman. Plus, he had stuck by and played nice during the argument.

The congratulatory music began playing as their menus popped up. Bladescape scrolled through her drops. It was good stuff. She saw a few potential two-handed swords that might upgrade what she currently had. As expected, the col and XP dropped was massive. It was higher than usual since it was a benchmark floor. 

Malus had ignored her drops and retrieved her shield. She still put it on her right arm. Commander Heathcliff joined them. He had watched the last bit, but he had earned that after his solo fight, shielding them all while also dealing a good chunk of damage all by himself. 

"Those were interesting tactics," Commander Heathcliff said. "But effective."

"At least y'all pulled its arms off for me," Malus said, still in English. 

Heathcliff slightly cocked his head at her. It was evident that he understood what she had said.

"I think the first hit knocked some things loose," Bladescape explained. "Most of the Wondercolts are foreign exchange students, in Japan for a semester. That plan obviously changed, but the real point is that Japanese is a second language to us. Malus doesn't appear to remember how to speak it."

"I can still understand it," Malus added. "Didn't have a clue I wasn't speakin Japanese."

"I'm hoping it wears off," Bladescape stated. "We had a battle to win first."

"And an argument to sort out," Heathcliff stated with a small gin on his lips. "Yet you were still one of the best squads in this fight. You performed as expected, which was excellent as always. Well, almost as expected. Malus getting tossed, twice, was a surprise."

"It surprised us too," Bladescape commented.

"I still ain't able to feel my left arm," Malus growled. "Darn thing is useless if I can't feel nothin to grab hold of. But I did get to punch the boss a lot in retaliation." Both of Malus’ gauntlets shattered. She looked at her hands. “Well, guess those are done for. Did what I needed em to as long as I needed em.”

Bladescape rolled her eyes at Malus and turned to Diemond. "Wonderful plan, Diemond," Bladescape said. "Thinking to trip the boss."

"Don't mention it, Darling," Diemond replied. "While I would love to stay and chat, I think we need to get Malus home and let her rest for a day or two. Hopefully help her head get screwed on straight."

"That sounds wise," Commander Heathcliff said. 

The Knights of the Bloodoath were ready and led them to the fifty-first floor, however, it was Malus who got to trigger the teleport plaza. 

Bladescape retrieved their friends and they did their usual toast. Kirito had declined their offer to join them. Malus was the MVP of the battle and Diemond was clearly the third. At least when it came to adding in Heathcliff to the mix. He might be the real MVP, however, Malus had saved him from a fatal hit, which also threw her into the ceiling. 

For Malus’ sake, because she didn’t want to skip their tradition, they toasted quickly and then headed home. Malus went straight to her room. She even missed dinner. It was better to let her rest. When Bladescape had checked on her later that evening, she didn’t respond to the knock on her door. Bladescape did use her administrative privileges to override the lock, just to be safe, and she found Malus out cold, snoring in bed. She backed out quickly and let her rest.

Knightstar helped sort out their drops. Knightstar and Natora had worked out a new financial scheme, which the guild unanimously agreed to in a blind vote. Most things could be handled by the council, but some things they needed to put to a vote. They were small enough that it impacted all of them and that they could accurately gauge the plans by a vote. 

The guild would now buy the useful equipment from boss drops, be it field, floor, or even a dungeon boss. Anything the intermediate players could make good use of could be sold to the guild. Then the guild would move them to Agil. The guild would take the bulk of the loss, but their members wouldn't take too badly of one. This boss fight had netted them plenty of good things to sell to Agil. 



 BLADESCAPE: Level 73 — Two-Handed Sword — Searching — Weapon Defense — Leather Armor — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Sprint —  Blade Throwing — Extended Weight Carry — Acrobatics 
NATORA: Level 71 —  Two-Handed Spear — Purchase Negotiations — Sales Negotiation — Weapon Defense — Light Metal Armor — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Acrobatics — Armor Pierce — Sprint 
KNIGHTSTAR: Level 65 — One-Handed Sword — Shield — Light Metal Armor — Equipment Appraisal — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Acrobatics — Extended Weight Carry — Armor Pierce
MALUS: Level 69 — One-Handed War Hammer — Greatshield — Heavy Metal Armor — First Aid — Extended Weight Carry — Battle Regeneration — Fishing — Search — Martial Arts
THUNDERBORNE: Level 69 — Rapier — Sprint — Acrobatics — Weapon Defense — Light Metal Armor — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Armor Pierce — Martial Arts
KONPEITO: Level 69 — Two-Handed Axe — Cooking — Weapon Defense —  Light Metal Armor — Martial Arts — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Music — Blade Throwing — Bard
DIEMOND: Level 70 — Mace — Greatshield — Sewing — Heavy Metal Armor  — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Light Metal Armor Forging — Heavy Metal Armor Forging — Extended Weight Carry — Jewelry Creation
DOOMBUNNY: Level 66 — One-Handed Dagger — Hide — Fighting Spirit — Blade Throwing — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Familiar Cooperation — Mixing — Search — Listen 
KIEFER: Level 67 — One-Handed Curved Sword — Slash Weapon Forging — Light Metal Armor  — Weapon Defense — First Aid  — Katana — Battle Regeneration — Slash Weapon Forging — Blade Throwing
SORYUTO: Level 65 — One-Handed Sword — Shield — Light Metal Armor — Music — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Fighting Spirit — Armor Pierce — Acrobatics  
REISENKI: Level 67 — One-Handed Axe — Greatshield — Heavy Metal Armor — Equipment Repair — Metal Equipment Repair — First Aid —  Battle Regeneration — Cooking — Metal Refining 


 
Kirito: Level 72 – One-Handed Sword – Search – Martial Arts – First Aid – Weapon Defense – Battle Regeneration – Extended Weight Carry – Blade Throwing – Sprint – Hide