Shattered: A SAO Tale (Sword Art Online)

Defeating 16 Frozen Abyss Guards took the better part of an hour. Mostly because, after they brought down the first 2 groups, one of 4 and the other of 3 mobs, Griselda accidentally aggroed the rest of them, and Drifter decided to err on the side of caution by retreating. Which, unfortunately, meant the 7 mobs they had already killed respawned.

No matter. More experience for them.

Defeating the roaming packs of 20 or so Frozen Abyss Guards they met later took an even larger span of time. It was worth it, though. Some of the equipment they dropped was better than even what Liz crafted, much to her chagrin, and all the Reavers made good progress towards their next level up - something that could take days at the point they were now.

What they faced next might push them past that hurdle. The giant ice doors and the complete lack of any mobs nearby promised a boss fight, and a hard one on top of that.

"Well... No time like the present, I guess. Everyone ready? Yun', Liz?"

The Reavers nodded. Hidden map bosses were somewhere between field-bosses and floor bosses in terms of strength and danger. Taking it on with just Reaver's Requiem was risky - but they would never get stronger if they didn't take risks.

Drifter pushed the doors open, like he had done many times before, and Reaver's Requiem rushed into the room together. No one wanted to risk getting cut off.

The boss was hard to miss. A titanic, ice-blue serpent coiled in the center of a cave that had to encompass at least one-fourth of the frozen lake.

Large fins sprouted from seemingly random places in its body, and two pairs of huge yellow eyes blinked lazily at the players as they entered the room.

"Preeeyy... You come to meee on your own..."

The eerie hissing echoed around the room, and the boss monster slowly raised its head, the sound of scales grinding against ice almost overpowering the rapidly beating hearts of the players.

Drifter gripped his spear tightly as he took in the sight of the monster. Five HP bars appeared over its head, along with a bright red cursor and a name: Abyss Leviathan.

Names were a good indicator, although not always a hundred percent truthful, of an boss' strength. The more impressive of a denominator the enemy had, the harder to kill and the more dangerous they were. And 'leviathan' had to be up there with 'lord' or 'king'.

Snake-type monsters, or whatever the Abyss Leviathan was supposed to resemble, were also a problem. The lack of limbs actually made it harder to determine where an attack was coming from, and the lack of weapons meant it could use its whole body as one.

Still, you would need more than a giant talking earthworm to get Reaver's Requiem to back off.

In actuality, it was doubtful anything could ever make the Reavers turn tail and run. Maybe momentarily, until they were stronger or had a better plan. But not forever. They all understood that only by killing everything in their path could they escape.

The Abyss Leviathan seemed to find the lack of responses by the players amusing, because it let out a hissing sound that might be a laugh. Then, it started slowly slithering its way towards them.

"Small preeeyy... Deliveeered to meee. Just like master... Promised!"

Drifter put a pin on that, fully intent on investigating it later, as it sounded like the trigger for a chain quest. Now, however, they had to deal with the Abyss Leviathan, who lunged at the Reavers as soon as it finished speaking.

A snake that weighed several tons hurling at you at breakneck speed would never not be terrifying, no matter how used to the unusual the players were.

Still, just because it was scary wasn't a reason to freeze - hah! - in fear. In fact, it didn't even warrant a momentary jolt of surprise from the Reavers.

"Split Stream!"

"Shield Wall!"

Drifter, Shigio, and Vallerk launched their skills at the same time, the spearmaster fully trusting his guildmates to have his back - or his front, in this case.

The two main tanks of Reaver's Requiem jumped in front of their guild master, blocking the open-mouthed lunge of the Abyss Leviathan while Drifter's skill left a large gash on its head.

Still, all three of them would have been run over by the boss, such was its size, if not for another player joining the front at the last second.

Nautilus' Indomitable Might halted the Abyss Leviathan dead on its tracks. No matter how heavy or big the monster was, it couldn't compete with a Unique Skill.

Maybe it was because it was the boss of a hidden map, maybe it was just because Cardinal designed it to be smarter than most, but the Abyss Leviathan was stunned by the impossibly strong young man, who would barely amount to a bite if it ate him.

Those few seconds of hesitation cost the boss dearly. Griselda, Agil, Yuuki, and Ran all appeared on its side, cleaving at the scales between its head and neck, their best guess at a weak point.

Avalanche, Double Cleave, Vorpal Strike, Savage Fulcrum. Four skills fell on top of the boss in quick sucession, shaking it awake and leaving it writhing in pain.

The boss considered them prey, so there was no way the Reavers would be so kind as to leave it alone just because it looked pitiful.

"Switch!"

Silica, Sachi, Tetsuo, and Asuna were already targeting its eyes just as Drifter pulled back his arm for another blow and Shigio and Vallerk tried to stun it with their control skills.

That was the moment the boss chose to retaliate, unfortunately. Kirito and Wolv had been circling around its back to catch it by its blindside when the Abyss Leviathan suddey retracted, coiling its body like it was a giant spring and someone was pressing down on it.

And then, just as suddenly, also like a spring, but one that was let go, the boss uncoiled, a flash of blue that seemed to hit all the Reavers at the same time.

Kirito, Wolv, Drifter, Asuna, Silica, all of them were sent flying after some part of the huge monster hit them head on. The only ones untouched were Kizmel, Liz, and Keita, who had yet to join the battle, as well as Sinon and Yuna, who were far enough away.

Drifter hit the ground ten meters away from where he had originally been standing, instinctively curling into a ball to soften his landing.

It didn't help much. He had been launched too high, his parable top steep. What little air he was still holding after getting smacked by the boss left his lungs. To add insult to injury, he took secondary damage from the fall, bringing his HP down to 63%.

It bore a reminder that this was after an AoE attack, which, normally, caused more damage overall, but less individually. And he wasn't just any random player, but Broken Spear Drifter, elite amongst elites, outfitted with a full selection of armor by Lisbeth and her Volcano Forge.

"Ugh..."

Drifter groaned as he got up on one knee. The entire room was spinning, and he blinked, trying to vanish the black spots in his vision.

The others were all in similar states. Even to battle-hardened veterans like them, getting up after a blow like that wasn't easy.

Which meant that, while they recovered, Kizmel, Liz, and Keita were forced to aggro the Abyss Leviathan and keep it from ending one of their wounded guildmates.

It was too much for just the three of them. A tooth the size of Drifter's arm pierced Keita's stomach, and a slap from the Abyss Leviathan's tail sent Liz reeling.

Yuna and Sinon exchanged glances, the archer dropping her bow in favor of her dagger, while the songstress put up her fists in a Martial Arts stance.

"Don't! Sinon, Yuna, keep your distance!"

Drifter yelled, but he was still having trouble getting up. There had been some kind of stun debuff to the boss' attack. 'Freeze', most likely.

Either way, Sinon and Yuna looked over to him, then to Kizmel, who was bring quickly overpowered. With a muttered 'sorry', both threw themselves into the fray, right as their dark elf friend lost an arm to a bite.

Sinon dodged under a swinging tail and stabbed, more to take the boss' attention away from Kizmel while Yuna dragged her away, then anything.

Unfortunately for her, it worked. The Abyss Leviathan turned its four bright yellow, floodlight-like eyes to her, and hissed. The archer stepped back uneasily, none of her usual snarkiness to be seen, only unyielding concentration.

Sinon knew how to fight with a knife. She had learned before getting her bow. And she hadn't stopped training since either, but obviously it was secondary to her main weapon. She was Aero Huntress Sinon, after all, not Close Combat Huntress Sinon.

She was maybe Reaver's Requiem fourth most skilled dagger-user, behind Silica, surprisingly Wolv, and Sachi.

In other words, nowhere as good as she needed to be I order to take on a hidden map boss.

In a matter of seconds, the Abyss Leviathan had already battered Sinon into the red zone of her health. Even a desperate Martial Arts combo by Yuna wasn't enough to distract it.

Drifter waited to scream. He wanted to shout and at Sinon for being stupid and abandoning her biggest strength in favor of what was arguably her weakest suit.

But yelling would do nothing but distract Sinon and make her die faster. So he channeled all of it into his efforts to get up and back into the fight.

The 'freeze' effect Drifter was under was already near its end, so no one, not even Cardinal, noticed when it flickered and vanished a few fractions of a second earlier than it should.

Taking off on a dead sprint, Drifter smashed into Sinon with his shoulder, sending her tumbling out of the way of what would have been a lethal strike by the Abyss Leviathan.

Which meant he had to withstand it in her place, but that was okay. Better to get bitten to red health than let Sinon's drop to none.

"Drifter! Down to the left!"

The spearmaster followed without question, and Kirito's swords cut through the air where his torso had just been, leaving a series of nasty gashes across the left side of the boss' snout, while Wolv's mace smashed into the right, like a baseball player hitting a homerun.

The rest of the Reavers got to their feet, smashing Healing Crystals and chugging potions. Yuna desperately played Rest, having retreated after making sure Kizmel and Sinon were safe.

The dark elf was staring at her missing left arm with a curios expression. It was her first time losing a limb, and even though she had long since become accustomed to the idea of being a player in SAO, it still left her feeling odd that she felt no pain, and that the limb would grow back soon.

"Kizmel, stay back until you recover your HP! After that, only jump in if you are sure you have a clean shot and a path back. Asuna!"

"Yes!"

"I want you, Ran, and Yuuki on hit-and-run tactics. Triangle formation, rotating."

"Got it!"

"Vallelk, Shigio, you are to support Nautilus. Keep the boss from moving around too much. Naut, hold back engagement. Only block when you see it getting ready for a big move. We need you fresh each time, so watch the bar."

"Hm."

"Griselda, Keita, Agil, Wolv, Sachi, Tetsuo, Liz, Kirito, Silica, skirmish tactics, free form. Eye on your HP."

"Roger that."

"Sinon!"

The archer flinched, though Drifter thankfully didn't see it.

"Yeah?"

Drifter glanced back at the cyan-haired girl. His expression, which had gone cold while ordering his guild around, softened.

"We will talk 'bout it later. But don't pull that shit again. For now, you are our spotter. Find the pattern for that coil move. We can't afford to get hit by it again."

Sinon grumbled and nodded sheepishly. Drifter shook his head with a sigh. They all had their moments of being reckless. He had no doubt Sinon had done it with the best intentions, even if it had been monumentally stupid.

Taking the time to recover his depleted health, Drifter observed the battle. The Abyss Leviathan had caught them by surprise, that was true. But now that the guild leader could take a calmer look at things, he was sure it wasn't as strong as floor bosses.

Somewhere between a floor boss and a field-boss, that was Drifter's assessment. The AoE move made it dangerous, but in terms of normal attacks, it was actually weaker than most field-bosses.

Which just meant it was still a perilous battle, with his Reavers getting hit and hurt way more than he would like.

As his HP returned to green, Drifter glanced at the boss' health. Still just a quarter of the way down of the first bar.

They were in for a long fight.