Dual-wielding Black Swordsman Kirito VS Paladin Heathcliff. The grand theater on the 75th floor, themed like a monster movie from long ago, was packed with tourists.
There are many stalls in front of the stadium, and the stall owners provide grilled squid, fried noodles, pancakes and other things to the players, just like a festival. With that said, my battle with Heathcliff is definitely worth watching for Aincrad players.
I am currently in the waiting room of the Colosseum with Asuna, Jupiter, Shino, and Lilan. As you can see, the Colosseum looks like an arena or a place where duels were held, but it can accommodate a lot of spectators and the center is empty, so I think it could host a show or a live band . First of all, I heard that the Colosseum in Rome, the capital of Italy, was used not only for fighting competitions but also for theatrical performances.
"I can't believe this is really a city like ancient Rome. It's a building that people who like ruins can't accumulate."
“Certainly the structure of the city is quite interesting.
Hearing Asuna's words, I nodded. If you search online, you may find a reconstructed map of an ancient Roman city, but the structure and atmosphere of this city are very similar to it. It’s not wrong to say you flew into an ancient Roman city.
"In this place that looks like an ancient city, you and Heathcliff will fight."
I nodded to Liran on Shino's shoulder.
\"Oh yes. I can't imagine what will happen, but no matter what happens, I won't lose. I want to fight as a human dragon if I can, but Heathcliff is just two swords because I told you to fight. "
\"If I return to my original form, it may be possible to break through the "Holy Sword\"'s defense. But in that case, Heathcliff's fight would be too unreasonable. There is no way to fight Heathcliff. It annoys me, but Kirito, I'll fight hard.
\"Jupiter, who was near Asuna, approached me.\"
\"Come on, Kirito-san.\"
With the support of somewhat lax Jupiter, my heart warmed and I gained confidence. The same goes for Yui, but I get very motivated when a child cheers me on, but if that's the power a child has, then I think it's really amazing.
Like Asuna, I gently stroked Jupiter, who had no tongue, but cheered me up.
"Thank you, Jupiter.
Jupiter laughed. Then, Shino said in a weak voice.
\"Kirito you\"
When I turned to look at Shino's face, she had a worried look on her face. Perhaps, he is still dragging his feet about what happened late tonight.
\"It's okay, Shino. I don't want to be defeated so easily, and I don't want to die. I don't know how to fight bosses, so don't worry.\"
Shino nodded expressionlessly. In order to relieve Sinon's uneasiness, we must fight and resolve things as soon as possible and escape from the Bloodsworn Knights.
"Then I'll do it."
With that said, I walked to the bottom of the Colosseum as everyone saw me off.
A veritable amphitheater with spectators surrounding the warriors. When I walked to the center of the venue in the hot sunshine, there was a loud cheer from the audience. My ears hurt for a moment, but this was nothing compared to Lilan's silent voice. So I'm used to it being faster.
Then, when we moved to the central area, a silver-haired male knight wearing red and white armor, holding a cross shield and a sword came towards us.
"Heathcliff"
"From now on, my opponent will be Heathcliff, the leader of the Blood Oath Knights." It is said that he is the strongest man in Aincrad and the last ace of the strategy team who masters the unique skill "Holy Sword" , can be said to be the last bastion of the Blood Oath Knights. It lives up to its name, with sharp eyes, a strong light rippling in its eyes, and an aura-like feeling of terror on its back.
When Heathcliff came up to me, he looked about him and muttered.
\"Sorry, Kirito-san. I didn't expect such a thing to happen.\"
"Since all the fuss is about it, I'll accept the guarantee."
Heathcliff shook his head.
"No, after the game is over, you will become a member of our guild, and I will treat you as a mission."
"It seems Heathcliff is planning to win the duel with me." Well, Heathcliff is too powerful, and his has never dropped to the yellow level, so fighting me must be like playing a game . Even so, I have no intention of losing, and I can't afford to lose if I am angered to this extent.
"So, let's get started?"
Immediately afterwards, Heathcliff operated the window and clicked the "OK" button. At that moment, a window appeared in front of me. Selection window for whether to accept the duel. I clicked the "OK" button and selected "Strike First to Decide" mode.
"Thank you for participating in the duel." Heathcliff smiled proudly, and then I grabbed the hilts of the Clarifier and Dark Repulser hanging on my back, pulled them out, and then set them up . At the same time, the letter duel and countdown window for "Kirito VS Heathcliff" appeared near us, and the numbers began to decrease little by little.
Then, when the number reached zero and the alarm sounded for the start of the game, I lifted my foot off the ground and swung my sword at Heathcliff with my right hand, like Leland's dragon flying through the sky. The moment the blade cutting through the air was about to hit Heathcliff, Heathcliff pulled out the long sword from the shield that was integrated with the scabbard, and used the shield to block the sword in my right hand.
Metal clinked, sparks flew, and both of them blushed. After confirming that the first round of attacks was not resolved and the game continued until one of us' blood volume turned yellow, I turned my head and remembered yesterday's image training.
The biggest feature of the "Holy Sword" is the powerful defensive power of the shield. Just like a city wall, no matter what kind of attack it is, it will not waver. If you want to hurt the main body inside the thick wall, Yuiichi's way is to go around to the side and hit from where there is no wall. Then, the effective way to attack is to launch as many attacks as possible from the side!
"Wow!!"
With the speed of my head exploding and my arms almost breaking, I circled around Heathcliff and continued the attack from there. However, at the moment when the sword was about to hit Heathcliff, a shield came between Heathcliff and me, blocking the sword. After all, the other party seemed to realize that he would be attacked from the side.
As expected of the knight commander, his "hp bar" never turned yellow. Even when he attacked me, he never showed any fear or impatience.
"——!"
When I kicked up the ground again and walked sideways around Heathcliff, Heathcliff also followed my movements and stretched out his shield towards me.
(he came!)
Heathcliff has now turned his vision of shield sword skills into reality. He probably thought I didn't read the shield's attack, I could see a strong smile on his face.
"it works!!"
Before the shield touched his abdomen, he crouched to the side, raised the shield above his head, then turned and kicked Heathcliff in the leg. Heathcliff's shield blocks any attack, but unlike a fortress's walls, it doesn't extend to your feet. At the critical moment, not only the sides but also the feet are empty!
\"!?\"
Heathcliff didn't seem to think that his leg would be stabbed, lost his balance, and tried to fall to the ground, but I immediately stabbed Heathcliff with the sword hard at the cracks all over his body. But at this moment, Heathcliff kicked forward to prevent himself from falling, and set up a shield between himself and the sword to block the oncoming sword attack.
I couldn't believe that I could reach such speed - I couldn't help but widen my eyes when I saw Heathcliff's excessive reaction speed. He immediately jumped up with his feet and stepped on Heathcliff's shield. Then he kicked up and jumped back. . As soon as I hit the ground, Heathcliff called to me.
\"Kirito-san's reaction speed is really amazing. I have never seen a player like you.\"
"Your defense is very strong. It seems that the name Personal Fortress is inappropriate."
The next moment, Heathcliff kicked off the ground and started running, and I started running towards him at the same time. At the moment when the distance was greatly shortened, Heathcliff swung his long sword and attacked with a sprint, but I immediately crossed my swords and took a defensive posture, pulled away Heathcliff's long sword, and blocked After blocking, I was pushed back with my sword, allowing a dark purple light to stay in it and shoot out.
"Haaah!!"
"Nightmare Rain", a 16-hit sword skill that cuts off enemies with the light of nightmares. However, just before the first blow struck, Heathcliff regained his balance, raised his shield, and blocked my attack after attack. He praised me for my good reaction speed, which was also terrifying and could even block the "rain of nightmares".
(not enough!!)
After the sixteen consecutive attacks, I immediately took a defensive posture, but Heathcliff's long sword blade flew towards me again. The moment I received it, my hands and body went numb through the sword, and I understood that Heathcliff was stronger than before.
If you look closely, you can see a red pattern on Heathcliff's cheek that looks like a small scratch. Apparently, one of the 16 bullets I fired in a row slightly hit Heathcliff's body. And Heathcliff's health is declining, even just a little - already!
(hurry up!)
It was spinning so fast it was practically sparking in my head and my eyes were starting to turn red. Literally heating up. But if you don’t, you can’t conquer this personal fortress.
While roaring, I concentrated the sword light again and slashed at Heathcliff at super high speed. Like the high-level dual-wielding skill "Nightmare Rain", it has a 16-hit combo, but its power is very different. The sword skill "Starburst Style" attacks 16 times in a row without giving any rest time.
"Haha, shush, ahhh!!!"
Since I was stiff for a long time after the move, I tried not to use it except for the final stab, but this duel ended when one of the players' health turned yellow. With the flow, basically any player can use it. His blood volume dropped to yellow.
And with my sword and level, I should be able to bring Heathcliff's HP to yellow.
In order to achieve the feat of reducing Paladin Heathcliff's health to yellow that Aincrad could not do, I continued to attack while my vision continued to heat up.
"Woo!!"
——As if against my thoughts and feelings, Heathcliff stretched out his shield and let it absorb my continuous attacks, but every time the shield absorbed the attack, it sounded like the shield screamed. Heathcliff was lifted and pushed further and further away. There were sounds of surprise from the audience, as if to say: "That Heathcliff was pushed!?" Maybe I had achieved a feat that no player or monster could do.
Then, when the last attack, the fifteenth slash, hit me directly, Heathcliff's shield finally bounced off, exposing the target I was supposed to protect.
"this is the last time!!"
The final blow, accompanied by a stab of blue light, struck Heathcliff on the forehead. - Just as he was about to complete an unprecedented feat - Heathcliff disappeared. At that moment, he appeared next to me - far away from the sword's attack range.
\"Eh!?\"
I wonder if my mind has wandered too much, confusing the image of Heathcliff with reality. No, I wonder if Heathcliff stole my time. Did this man steal my time and get out of the range of the sword——?
Even if I wanted to move my body with this idea, I couldn't move due to the stiffness of my sword skills. I was helpless and stared at Heathcliff who was teleported. At this moment, Heathcliff assumed a thrusting posture, and the long sword was wrapped in white light and launched.
It's probably the sword skill of "Holy Sword", but I don't know the name. Yet the weight and force of that blow reminded me of the collision of a huge gun, the body being blown away by it like dust before the wind, and finally falling to the ground. But I was still over-motivated and tossed and turned. When I reached the center of the playing field, I finally stopped and lay on my back.
"I don't understand what happened at all." No, I know that Heathcliff's sword skill has been launched just now, but I don't understand Heathcliff's actions just before releasing the sword skill. It was obviously a split-second move.
However, I've never heard of Aincrad having such a skill, and no matter how much my AGI increases, I don't think I'll be able to reach that speed. The action seems to transcend the player. It's like a skill that goes against common sense.
"What happened here? What did Heathcliff do?" Just as I was thinking, a burst of cheers came from nearby, and I came back to my senses. ——My HP has turned yellow, and I have lost the duel before I know it.
"Ah, that?"
When I stood up and turned to face Heathcliff, Heathcliff was covering his face with one hand, but he immediately turned to me, gave me a serious look, and then left the rice field without saying anything. I couldn't leave the center of the arena for a while, not knowing what was going on or why I lost.
\"Um, Asuna-san, what is this?\"
Me, Sinon, and Lilan finally joined the Blood Oath Knights and had to go to the Blood Oath Knights headquarters with Asuna and Jupiter. I borrowed one of the rooms. Although Asuna looked apologetic, she handed Sinon and I the equipment of the Blood Oath Knights, but when I received it, I was surprised.
The pants are black as usual, but the upper body is wearing white gold armor like Lilan's hair, and also has gloves. This is wearing an outfit that could be mistaken for a jacket. Jacket, it has a shorter hem than my outfit, Under Agent.
\"Well, this is a gift from the captain. Although Kirito lost the duel, he pushed me to this point, so he said he would give me a reward. This is the boss's final attack bonus on the 74th floor. Because the color just Okay, let's give it to Kirito-kun.\"
After listening to Asuna's words, I opened the equipment window and stared at the equipment. The name of the coat he wears is "White Knight Coat", the armor he wears underneath is "White Knight Plate", the gloves are "White Knight Armguards", and the lower body equipment that combines pants and leg armor is called "White Knight Leggings". They were all labeled "White Knight", so I learned that this set was dropped by the boss on level 74.
What's more, and frustratingly, even though it's a flashy look that I don't like, all the additional effects are stronger than any armor I've ever used, with a defense increase of over 250.
"It's fancy, but it's powerful, and I have to use it."
“This piece of equipment is by far the best of any member except the captain.
"I reluctantly accepted it." Even if I rummaged through the inventory, I couldn't find such high-quality equipment.
\"Hey, Asuna, what's mine?\"
\"I turned my attention to Shino.\" Sinon was also wearing a white and red jacket, white breastplate, and white trousers. Perhaps this is also Heathcliff's gift.
\"Sinon's armor has about the same performance as the armor I'm using. Maybe, but I think it's better than the equipment Sinon is currently using.\"
Shino looked at her body with a somewhat convinced expression. The equipment used by Sinon hasn't changed since it first landed on me. No, I actually didn't change it because it was more than defensible enough from then to now.
\"It's as if the captain has forced you to join us from now on, Kirito-kun and Shino.\"
\"Ah. Please repeat that, Deputy Captain Asuna.\"
When I tried to speak like a regular member, Asuna shook her head.
\"Ah, but Asuna is fine.
"Huh? Why?"
\"Although the leader's instructions are the premise, in fact, Kirito-kun is the strongest player. In addition to Lilan, Kirito-kun is also a "double sword style user. He is not like him.\" As Leaders are strong. "
Indeed, I am a <Beast Tamer> who possesses a <Dual Wield> that no one except Heathcliff possesses. In addition, I am also a <Familiar>. I am Lilan’s <Beast Tamer> and also possess the same 〈Dual Wielding〉. Powers as a quarter point boss. Although my battle with Heathcliff added another page to the legend of the Paladin, I think I am a player who can be equal to Heathcliff in Aincrad.
\"Yes, but even if the knight commander's authority was handed over to you as soon as you joined, what would you do with it?\"
\"Kirito-kun, just do as you are told. Well, it would be a pity if the organization was used for your own benefit, but Kirito-kun is not that kind of person, so it doesn't matter.\"
\"From that point on, Miss Alice said, the organization began to die out\"
"So don't use it like that."
After Asuna smiled bitterly, her expression returned.
\"So, what are Kirito-san going to do now?\"
After saying this, I remembered the conversation I had with Shino last night, or late tonight.
\"Ah, by the way. Asuna, can you take care of Lilan and Yui for a while?\"
\"Uh, why again? Or, Yui-chan too?\"
"Ah, I still have something to do, and I want a place where I can spend time quietly."
\"It's okay for Lilan and Yui to live separately, but if you ask me where you can spend time quietly, I don't know if it's there.\"
"You know what?"
Asuna nodded. There seems to be an area called Springfield in the east of the 70th floor, where wild monsters will not appear. Moreover, this is a quite hidden place, and only Asuna and her attendant Yuuki in the Blood Knights seem to know about it. Of course, other casual players have no idea it exists. In other words, this is an area where enemies won't appear, nor is it an area with rare items or monsters, so he doesn't seem interested.
"I understand, 70th floor."
"Yes, it is a very beautiful place, with cherry blossoms blooming all year round, and the food in the inns in the nearby town is really delicious, so it is indeed a little-known place. If you want to travel It’s the best place to have a quiet time, even the captain doesn’t seem to know.”
"Don't you know Heathcliff? That would be better."
\"Thank you for telling me, Asuna.
Asuna smiled at Shino.
"It doesn't matter, we can manage the arrest ourselves, and the leader is also arresting now."
"No, I guess there's nothing I can do about it."
Upon hearing my words, Shino and Asuna turned their heads. The current challenge is the 75th floor. The 75th floor is a quarter of the 100th floor divided by 4. When I explained that something terrible might be waiting for us during the boss battle, Asuna's expression turned serious.
"Indeed, we're now at 75 points, so 100 quarters will likely have a very powerful boss."
"So, if anything happens, please contact us immediately and I will come back as soon as possible after handling the matter."
\"I understand. If anything happens, please take care of Kirito-kun and Shino-san.\"
\"We nodded to Asuna.\" Immediately afterwards, Asuna returned to smiling.
\"But first, you two go to a quiet place and spend some time there.
\"Then don't worry. I'll leave it to you, Asuna.\"
Asuna smiled again.
◇◇◇
In the afternoon, we went to Springfield on the east side of the 70th floor. This was the hiding place Asuna told us, but we were surprised. Although it is summer now, the climate there is like spring. The cherry blossoms are in full bloom and the snowflakes are falling, which reminds me of the thousands of cherry blossoms in the real world. It's as if the seasons have gone backwards.
"Wow the cherry blossoms are really blooming!"
\"There is such a beautiful place. It seems that I have not abandoned the world of Aincrad.\"
Although it is such a beautiful place, no matter where I look, there are no players, and even if I use the enemy detection skill, neither monsters nor players will be caught. We are the only ones in this place and are completely reserved.
\"If that's the case, then Yui and Lilan, it's just the two of us today.\"
Just when he thought that he had disappointed Shino, he heard Shino's voice.
\"I had the same thought. I thought how happy it would be if I could bring Yui and Lilan with me. But today I just want to spend time with you.\"
Shino said while extending her hand to me. Because of the smiles on their faces, I immediately knew it was a sign that they wanted to walk together. Shino usually refused to act like a lover, but when they were really alone together like this, she would take the initiative to do things like a lover, such as holding hands. I see.
Then I accepted Shino's intention and gently held her hand. The soft touch and Shino's unique warmth gradually spread, and before long, I felt warm all over my body.
"Come on, let's go for a walk."
Shino nodded after hearing my words and started to keep pace with me. When I'm in the real world, I think there's nothing better than walking hand in hand with the woman I love. However, Shino betrayed my thoughts and expectations, and now she is still with me. ——This makes me feel irresistibly happy.
"However, Springfield is a household word. Only here we have spring weather, and time seems to stop in spring."
\"Ah, it would be great if we could hold a flower viewing party.\"
\"Yes. It's brightly lit at night, isn't it? The facilities here are not as complete as they are in reality.\"
"I was shocked by these words." Yes, this world is a world within a game, a death game, and if you die, you die in real life. It was so beautiful that I almost forgot about it because Shino was right next to me.
(However)
I no longer think the world is anything more than a game of death. This world is a game world, but you can feel the warmth and vitality of this world, and there is actually life in this world. At first, I thought this was just the world in the game, but now I can't forgive those who deny the world by promoting such things.
However, this world is somehow maintained by a company called REcto progress. If Rector's employees mess up the world badly, the world will collapse in an instant, and players may die due to disconnections or physical limitations.
(...)
In my mind, I could imagine what it would be like if this happened to me and Shino.
\"What if you wake up in the morning and find that Shino is not there?\"
\"On the other hand, if I die, Shino\"
\"Kirito, hey Kirito.\"
\"Shino's words brought me back to my senses.\" In front of me was a spring field with cherry blossoms falling, and beside me was Shino with a worried face.
\"Shino\"
"What's wrong?
"It's okay, it's nothing."
Shino showed a somewhat unconvinced expression, but she still turned her face forward and started walking forward. I thought I would temporarily put away my uneasiness, but I couldn't help it just thinking about it.
