After a grand entrance that was nothing short of epic, Kirito, The Black Swordsman, took a quick look over me, ArFA-Sys, Zeliska, Itsuki, Kureha, and Daisy before continuing.
"Where are Dyne, Joe Bazalt, and the rest?"
"I haven't seen them. But they're probably on the front line, attacking the boss."
"That makes sense...we are awfully short on time."
Drawing his lips into a grim frown, Kirito slipped between Yuuki and Rain to stand at the very front of his group. The Asuka force ten meters ahead changed their tune immediately when they saw the name "Kirito" beside his HP bar.
"I have a proposal!"
Kirito bellowed, in a voice that rang all the way to the top of my head. The samurai at Asuka's front line balked a little under the force of it. Shortly, a male player wearing an eboshi hat of the noble class came forth—probably a yin-yang sorcerer profession—and bellowed back, in a voice just as loud and confident:
"We'll hear you out!"
Kirito gestured to the giant with his right hand and said something that took us by surprise:
"We have a strategy to defeat that boss before the clock runs out! If you all help us, we'll split the reward equally!"
"Huh?!"
Kureha gasped beside me, too soft for the Asuka team to hear. She lowered her voice even further and continued:
"But that giant dude still has over 90 HP bars left. How does he expect us to get through the rest of it in only 20 minutes?"
"Well...this is Kirito we're talking about here."
Kureha answered my vague reply with an agreeable, "Point taken." We had prevailed over our fair share of challenges in GGO, but the crazy things Kirito had overcome might as well be called legendary.
The yin-yang sorcerer dressed in indigo kariginu hunting clothes regarded Kirito with a sharp gaze. The player name displayed beside his HP bar looked like it might read "Ashiya Doman", but the kanji was different. I figured it was a play off Ashiya Doman, the famous Heian Era yin-yang sorcerer, but I wasn't sure how to pronounce the change to the kanji for "Doman"...oh, wait a minute! Could it be Donatsu? As in, Donuts? In that case, this guy might be a cousin of Chiyo Koreto.
The sorcerer with the sweet-sounding name held a closed black fan in his right hand, which he brought to his lips in thought for about three seconds—
"Very well. We accept."
—Are you sure you wanna be so agreeable?!
I was hit by an urge to shout this aloud, but I managed to suppress it. I had assumed Asuka would not be so keen to cooperate with people who had killed several of their number, but nobody spoke up in protest. It appeared Donatsu was a trusted figure within their ranks.
"Then it's a deal."
Kirito answered promptly, looking up at the red sky. Taking that as a signal, some new players flew down from above.
One of them was a girl more petite than even Premiere. She wore a blue dress with a flared skirt, and had a black beret on her silver hair streaked with crimson. In her right hand, she held a golden long staff about as long as she was tall. When she converted to GGO earlier, she left an explosive impression with her beautiful singing voice and her ultra-powerful gatling gun. She was another legendary-tier player. Her name was Seven.
She landed in front of Rain, smiled, cried out, "Hi, Privet!" and gave her a big hug. After lingering in the embrace for a while, she stepped back, waved at Fukaziroh, and walked towards us.
"Long time no see. Has your ArFA-Sys been well?"
ArFA-Sys answered for me:
"I've been very well, thank you!"
"Glad to hear it. You're the key to this strategy's success."
"We're the key...? What kind of strategy is it?"
"I'll let him explain."
Seven glanced at Kirito.
Kirito stepped forward and, signaling the Asuka team to come closer, spoke deliberately:
"I'm sure you've already noticed this, but our emblems are different in this field...so, when we players from different games fight each other, we do double damage."
"Yeah..."
I grunted quietly. When I attacked Striped Sakon with Quickshot, that's why his HP bar had gone down much more than anticipated. Perhaps having arrived at the same theory from attacking the ninja in the shadow, Itsuki shrugged and spoke:
"So you're saying this event isn't just about attacking the boss, but also thinning the ranks of the other teams?"
"Once people find out about the damage bonus, that's how they'll see it, yeah. But it isn't just our damage that's multiplied."
"Do you think support effects will also multiply?"
This question came from Ashiya Donatsu of the Asuka camp. Flashing a smirk at the handsome sorcerer, Kirito nodded.
"You've got sharp instincts. And you're right... If you buff players from other camps, the effects and duration also double. Now comes the most crucial point: you can stack buffs, even if they have the same effect."
"Um...huh? What do you mean?"
Asuna answered Kureha's question. Though her long blue hair and white dress gave her a look that did not belong in GGO, her air of calmness and elegance remained the same.
"Think of it like the power form bullets in GGO. No matter how many times you hit someone, the attack accumulation doesn't change, does it? But in this space, both power form bullets and ALO's Sharpness magic apply their effects."
"Whoa...! So, does that mean if we apply ATK buffs from Asuka Empire and Sword Art Origin and Lunascape players, they'll all stack?"
"That's right. And with a modifier, too. Sadly it's addition, not multiplication, though."
"No way..."
As Kureha's jaw dropped beside me, my eyes blinked in disbelief. When she said it was "addition, not multiplication," that meant that if a base attack was at 100, if you added three 30-percent buffs to it, that would make the attack not 100 times 1.3 cubed for 219.7, but 1.9 times 100 for 190. But there were over 100 IPs in The Seed Connector. If players from every camp used their buffs, that could enhance our attack power 100 times 300—in other words, 30,000-fold.
"How interesting... So, about how many camps have agreed to cooperate so far?"
When Zeliska posed the question to Kirito, he exchanged a short word with Seven, then, with a glance at Ashiya Donatsu, he answered:
"With Asuka Empire, we now have 30."
"Hmm...recruiting so many in 15 minutes is pretty impressive...but I get the feeling that's still not enough to whittle that boss's HP down..."
"Yeah, I think so, too."
With a nod, Kirito looked straight at me.
"That's where you and ArFA-Sys come in."
"What...?"
"Not just Master, but...me as well?"
We were once again stumped. Seven had said as much earlier, but if stacking buffs on everyone here still wouldn't get us enough attack power to defeat the boss, we could hardly see how the two of us could possibly make a difference.
As if reading my thoughts, Argo grinned beneath her sand-colored hood.
"Charging in from the front and striking full force ain't the only strat. See, ALO has a good debuffing spell. And an investigation of that big guy revealed two spots on his crown that were vulnerable."
"On his crown...?"
I turned my body ninety degrees to look up to the western sky.
The golden-armored giant was bathed in a storm of thousands of attacks to his limbs as he strode due east, where SBC Glocken lay. His fourth HP bar was about to give out, but it would be quite difficult to deplete the remaining 96 bars with conventional attacks.
Since the giant's head was about a thousand meters high, his crown was obscured by the hexagonal red tiles in the sky. If an information broker like Argo said as much, then the weak spots most likely did exist, but how we were supposed to attack anything that high up was another question entirely.
"...But I don't have wings like the ALO players, and my UFG won't reach that high."
When I returned my gaze back to the group to deliver the bad news, Argo sighed quietly and shrugged.
"Sorry, but flight is limited in this space. We can't fly any higher than 100 meters."
"Uh, then what're we supposed to do...?"
Leafa hopped to the front of the line and gave her chest a mighty tap with her left hand.
"We've got you covered! We can get you within shooting range!"
The strategy that Kirito's team devised was simple and elegant, just what you'd expect from old-school VRMMO vets.
First, Agil, Strea, Lisbeth, and Klein lined up side-by-side, then Leafa, Kirito, and Asuna climbed on their shoulders. ArFA-Sys and I then climbed up on their shoulders in turn. In the real world, we could only hold a pyramid like that for three seconds tops before toppling, but virtual worlds contain many athletic levels where extreme feats like this are a must.
Once we made a three-tier pyramid, all VRMMO players on the field answered Kirito's call and buffed us. They buffed our attack, defense, dexterity, etc., etc.... until a bunch of icons appeared at the bottoms of our HP bars. We kept going until we passed 30.
And lastly, Kureha, Itsuki, Zeliska, and Daisy shot all their buffing bullets high into the sky. ArFA-Sys and I gave our allies a thumbs-up, then looked straight up at the oncoming giant.
With all the time it took us to make these thorough preparations, there were now only five minutes remaining on the clock. In the GGO world, the giant had probably flattened most of The Old South area and was closing in on SBC Glocken by this point.
Immediately after the sky had turned red, the giant declared, "Should I stride into your capital, all shall be for naught." While we were waiting for all our aid to assemble to us, Kirito's camp said that in the ALO world, the giant had appeared about nine kilometers to the south of their central area of Alne, while in the Asuka Empire, the giant appeared nine kilometers to the east of their central area, Kiyomihara. Differences in direction aside, since the giant had appeared within a similar range in all the other worlds, we could conclude the giant would arrive at the center of every VRMMO in five minutes... We didn't know for certain what would happen, but worst-case scenario, it was possible The Seed Connector itself might be destroyed.
To be honest, the situation wasn't exactly inspiring me to go out there and yell, "I'm gonna save the world!" all full of fighting spirit. But the time I spent with my GGO friends was like a treasure to me. And most of all, The Seed had birthed so many wonderful AI friends... Strea, Premiere, Tia, Yui, Lievre, Daisy, and my ArFA-Sys, Rei. I couldn't bear the thought of losing them.
"Okay...ten seconds to take off!"
Kirito calculated the distance between us and the giant and yelled towards my left. Everyone else in the fight joined in the countdown.
"...Three...two...one...zero!"
The first four people moved their wings in perfect unison. VWOOM! The sky shuddered as we were blasted into it with the intensity of an actual rocket. And with an acceleration so terrifyingly fast it was impossible to believe our flight was restricted here, our avatars flew, creaking under the strain as they soared.
Upon hearing the giant's oracle, Kirito's team had located its weakness in three minutes, devised a strategy in two minutes, and united the camps in ten minutes. And since the camps included eight rare flying games, their fame, diplomacy skills, and the Black Swordsman's prestige carried incredible weight. I imagined players like Ashiya Donatsu wouldn't have agreed to help if it hadn't been Kirito asking.
But thanks to the efforts of Kirito's team, the bottom four and the middle three players had eight different types of flying buffs stacked on them. I thought that maybe one level was all this human rocket needed to launch...but of course reality wasn't so kind to us. Just as we passed the giant's knee and reached his thigh, our speed suddenly dulled.
"K-dawg, we're running out of juice!"
When Klein yelled that, Kirito answered, "Okay, five seconds to switch!" To which Leafa and Asuna responded, "Copy that!" The countdown began again, and when we reached zero, the second level of three people kicked off the shoulders of the first level of people with all their might.
VWOOM! With a fierce shock, the human rocket split, and Agil, Klein, Strea, and Lisbeth, now depleted of flight, fell to the ground. They could glide, so they wouldn't die, but there was no telling what would happen to them if they landed in the giant's path.
Regardless, the four heroes waved goodbye and gave us thumbs-ups without a trace of regret on their faces. Strea even waved both arms happily and yelled, "You've got this!!"
ArFA-Sys yelled back, "Thank you!!" though they probably couldn't hear her. Arriving at the pinnacle of inertial flight, Kirito and his two companions began pushing their acceleration to full speed.
There weren't as many boosters as the first time, but the load on each person was calculated at about half of last time. Feeling twice the acceleration force on my body as before, I gripped onto ArFA-Sys with my arm without even thinking. ArFA-Sys gripped me firmly by the waist with her arm in turn.
The pressurized air made my ears pop as we shot closer and closer to the giant. Though he was 300 meters away from us, his colossal torso clad in golden armor was just so massive that it was difficult to see all of him at once.
I gritted my teeth and looked up at the giant's head. His long beard hung down above his rocky breastplate. I could barely make out his pointy nose above that. It would take us another 500—scratch that, 400 meters to reach the crown atop his head.
"Kirito, are we gonna make it?!"
I asked without thinking. Kirito answered with a strain in his voice.
"You'll make it...you have my word!"
Without skipping a beat, Leafa answered, "What a silly question!" And Asuna followed with, "Trust us!" Gray, yellow, and blue light shot out from their wings like sparks, increasing our speed even more.
Our human rocket shot up past the giant's abdomen, beelining straight toward the giant's chest. I looked down for a moment and saw that the attack effects from the players on the ground were still sparkling away non-stop.
For a fleeting moment, I wondered if the giant wasn't going to attack us. Though his HP bar was ridiculously high, the fact that he didn't fight back, no matter how hard we were hammering him, made him seem a little too toothless for an event boss of his scale...
I know my thinking of this couldn't have possibly set off a trigger, but...
The giant abruptly opened his bearded mouth wide, and let out a piercing roar that shook the sky like thunder.
"Nnnrrrg!"
The giant shook with a loud rumble. I looked down again and saw his tower-like right thigh slowly lift.
I wanted to shout for everyone to run away, but the players on the ground already knew to flee, and my voice wouldn't have reached them anyway.
The giant's leg froze just for a moment in the air, then lowered with a thunderous crash. The moment his heel, which had to be at least 70 meters across, hit the ground, it was as if a giant boulder had exploded, sending a shockwave in all directions. A volley of tiny flashes of light kept sparkling, sending countless pillars of golden light rising into the sky.
It was difficult to tell just how many dozens of players had been killed by his stomp. The elite players from each camp would likely have escaped sudden death, but it was an undeniable fact that attacking the giant's legs was going to be much more difficult now.
The giant's HP bar still had over 90 levels. It would seem that the only means of stopping the titan from reaching SBC Glocken hinged on the success or failure of our weakness attack.
I returned my gaze upward. The giant's face was only a hundred meters away now. Even then, I could still only make out the rim of the crown.
"It's okay...we're gonna make it!!"
Kirito let out a cry, and the speed of the trio shot up even higher.
But then—
The giant's eyes, which had been staring straight ahead, turned swiftly to side, taking us in.
His bearded mouth pursed, and he let out a gust of air as if he were trying to blow away a pesky fly.
A terrifying gust hit us a moment later, and our human rocket broke apart. Even though we were spinning violently, I kept my grip on ArFA-Sys' waist firm, and readied my smaller gun—my UFG—in my free hand.
I calculated my avatar's rotation axis and speed...then pulled the trigger. With a flash of green light, my shot lanced out, undulating with power, and struck the giant in the forehead.
The beam—or to be more precise, a wire of unknown energy one could even call a cable of light—contracted rapidly, pulling myself and ArFA-Sys upward as it did. I released the trigger and the wire disappeared, leaving us to continue our ascent scrambling up the giant's nose.
"It's go time, ArFA-Sys!"
"Yes, Master!"
A flash of eye contact. We let go of each other's hands, and took up our handguns.
ArFA-Sys had changed her gun to the same Longstroke Type-Z as me. Our memory chips were slightly different, but our firepower was more or less the same.
The momentum of our inertial flight was steadily waning. We only had one shot—the moment we hung briefly at the apex of our ascent.
The giant's broad forehead passed before my eyes, and at last the golden crown came into view. Just as Argo said, there was an emblem about one meter square carved into the center of the crown. When compared to the size of the crown of about 80 meters in diameter, it was small enough to be virtually impossible to find.
There were two long, thin symbols in the shape of crosses in the center of the emblem. And since it was quite a bit lower than the center of the cross's horizontal lines, it depicted a sword...or was it a tree?
Either way, the white and black gemstones embedded in the intersection of the crosses had to be the weak points.
ArFA-Sys and I hoisted our Longstrokes in unison and selected Quickshot 4 with Thumbflicker. When the estimated hit zone appeared in my vision, I zoomed in fiercely. The more my flight speed slowed, the smaller the circle shrank.
We arrived at the apex of our flight, and in that brief instant we both hovered in the air, the estimated hit zone shrank to its smallest.
I held my breath, and pulled the trigger.
