Hearing that he could get the black sword if he won against Illustrious, Kirito quickly agreed; he quite coveted the elucidator in Illustrious's hand.
The match began. Illustrious said she would count from three to one before they started fighting. Just as Kirito heard Illustrious shout 'three,' Illustrious suddenly attacked. In terms of strength, Illustrious was actually stronger, and now that she was launching a sneak attack, Kirito naturally couldn't dodge in time.
So Illustrious sent Kirito flying with a flying kick. In the next instant, Illustrious appeared in front of Kirito and pointed her sword at his neck, saying, "You lose!"
Staring at the black sword, Kirito was stunned. What happened? Why did I lose so quickly? Oh right, this person said she'd count from three down to one before starting, but she cheated and started as soon as she counted 'three.' He failed to dodge and was successfully ambushed by Illustrious. "This round doesn't count! You cheated me! Let's redo it."
"Like hell I'll redo it with you!" In response to Kirito's shouting, Illustrious continued to speak contemptuously with her sword drawn, "You lost because you value planning too much. I said to start when I counted to one, but if I told you to go die, would you actually go die?"
"You should be glad I'm your friend. If I were an enemy, you'd be dead already. How would you still have your life to shout at me!"
"That makes so much sense, I'm actually speechless!" Hearing Illustrious say this, Kirito suddenly realized it was indeed the case.
"This bento will serve as the fee for this educational lesson. Let's go, Asuna!" Illustrious took Asuna's hand and walked away.
"What are you doing taking his bento! That was the bento I gave to Kirito as a thank-you gift for saving you!" Asuna said, criticizing Illustrious.
"I'm not listening. This is the fee for teaching him a lesson. Also, Asuna's bento can only be eaten by me," Illustrious said very domineeringly.
Watching Illustrious and Asuna walk away, Kirito realized he had been tricked by Illustrious. He pointed in the direction she left and said, "Illustrious, you're shameless! It's my first time seeing someone explain cheating in such a fresh and refined way. You've really opened my eyes! But next time, I'll definitely be on guard against you, and you definitely won't be my match then."
Dusting off his clothes, Kirito also left the area and headed toward his home... Since then, Illustrious had been keeping a close eye on Asuna, afraid that Asuna might cheat on her at any moment.
Now seeing Kirito again, Illustrious naturally wouldn't get along harmoniously with him. In Illustrious's eyes, Kirito was like Cao Cao, coveting her wife.
"Illustrious, Asuna, and Kirito, you come to Team A, which is my team." Alice waved to Illustrious and the others. As the leader of this boss raid, she had the right to assign the teams.
Illustrious, Asuna, and Kirito had no objections to this assignment and finally entered Team A as the main attack squad for the BOSS.
"The teams have been assigned. The Clearer Group has five sub-squads in total. Next, I will explain the intelligence for the boss raid." Alice said to all the Rulers, "According to the Boss Handbook released by the Organization! The boss to be raided next is Illfang the Kobold Lord of the First Floor."
"This BOSS uses a battle-axe as its weapon, and when its last health bar is down to one-fifth, its attack pattern will change to a Scimitar. You need to be mindful of this change in attack pattern. Of course, this is information from the game; currently, we cannot see the BOSS's health in reality, so everyone can only judge based on the BOSS's injuries."
"Alright, finally, everyone set out toward the BOSS. Victory belongs to us."
As the Rulers advanced, a group of reporters followed behind them. They were brave reporters; even if it was the battlefield of the BOSS and the Rulers, they had to follow.
A distance of two kilometers was not very far for the Rulers, but to save energy, Alice had five large military vehicles transport everyone to the BOSS's location.
No one was surprised by the arrival of the military vehicles; everyone knew Alice was a member of the Organization.
This news was disclosed by Alice in the group chat the day before yesterday. She said she was a Combat Captain of the Organization, and the Red Dragon Knights were equivalent to the Organization's combat force. Knowing that the Red Dragon Knights had such a big backing, many people in the group regretted not joining them. After all, the Organization was established by the United Nations and possessed great power.
At a distance of 100 meters from the BOSS, everyone got out of the vehicles. Alice raised her sword and shouted at the BOSS: "Everyone, start the attack!"
A large group of Rulers rushed toward the Boss Kobold with great momentum, looking quite imposing.
The Kobold, who was originally enjoying human flesh, turned its head. Seeing the Rulers with their soaring momentum, it not only showed no timidity but instead got excited all over. "Excellent! Human meat is too ordinary; the meat of you Rulers is much tastier! I'm going to eat all of you."
Watching the BOSS, which was as tall as a two-story building, the audience of the East Capital Television Station began to post bullet comments.
"Holy crap! This BOSS looks so terrifying. The fact that it actually eats people is just too chilling."
"Can't these monsters eat something else? Why do they insist on eating humans! Doesn't our country have plenty of pigs and cows? If we give those to it to eat, it won't attack humans anymore!"
"That's a great idea! Then let the people from the Self-Defense Force lock it up and send it to a zoo. I'm sure there would be plenty of tourists. We could raise this Boss Kobold and increase our country's economic income at the same time. It's a win-win situation, wouldn't that be wonderful!"
"Are you guys crazy? Didn't you see? Its only food is humans; no other food was seen. This shows it just likes eating humans."
"Damn, you're killing me with laughter. You actually want the Self-Defense Force to lock up a monster that even a nuclear bomb can't kill in a zoo? You're really putting the Self-Defense Force in a tough spot!"
"Two idiots. Truly, when the forest is large, there are all kinds of birds!"
"Aren't you guys focusing on the wrong thing? That Boss Kobold can talk. Don't you think that's unscientific?"
"What's the use of talking about science or not! These sword art online monsters appearing in this world is unscientific in itself, so what's so strange about the Boss Kobold being able to talk?"
"No! According to the investigation and research released by the Organization half a month ago, none of the BOSSes in the world could talk!"
"You said that was half a month ago! Are you saying it couldn't have learned to talk within half a month?"
In the studio of the East Capital Television Station, the host asked the two experts: "Experts, why do you think the Boss Kobold is only speaking now?"
Military expert Ichiro said, "Naturally, it's because it recently learned how to talk! Children can talk by the time they're three years old! What's there to make a fuss about?"
"But so what if it can talk? A monster is still a monster. Those who are not of our race must have different hearts. I suggest that if these Rulers cannot kill the Boss Kobold, we should drop a nuclear bomb. If one isn't enough, drop two, until the BOSS is blown up. Only then can we manifest the dignity of our Yamato People."
Biological Expert Ryubi spoke disdainfully: "I want to ask, Mr. Ichiro, where do you live?"
Ichiro said strangely: "Hokkaido! Why are you asking that?"
"No wonder you're so enthusiastic about dropping a nuke! Turns out you don't live in East Capital!" Ryubi said with contempt.
Ryubi's contemptuous Gaze made Ichiro very uncomfortable, so he shouted loudly: "What do you mean by that!"
"Nothing much! Just asking. Back to the main topic! This Kobold couldn't speak half a month ago, but now he can. This shows he is very smart, with intelligence no less than a human's." Ryubi swallowed, moistening his throat before saying:
"This worries me greatly. If the Bosses in the world are all this smart, assuming they join forces to attack the human world, humans will be extinct within a year."
The Host also felt uneasy about the hypothesis. "In that case, Rulers are our humanity's last hope!"
This Boss could actually speak; a group of Rulers was shocked. You should know that in the sword art online game, the Bosses of all floors could not speak.
This Boss learned to speak. When exactly did he learn? He learned a language and could express himself fluently in just one month. This is too terrifying! Could the appearance of these monsters be a god's wish to replace humans with monsters?
It's no wonder they thought this way. After all, monsters appearing in reality is clearly man-made, but this person is too terrifying. To be able to involve the whole world, they can already be considered a god.
They felt fear at the monsters' intelligence. Originally, the Bosses were AI controlling bodies, but now in reality, they are self-aware consciousnesses controlling bodies. This is no longer AI, but living beings with souls.
Monsters with souls are harder to deal with than monsters with AI because they are more intelligent and won't live and fight according to fixed patterns like in the game.
For example, monsters in the game won't leave their areas; they can only move around their homes. But now, monsters appearing in reality like to move around everywhere. For instance, this Boss Kobold might be at East Capital High School today, and the next moment, he might set off for other areas—like that day he suddenly ran into the street to attack Silica.
When you fight a monster, it won't use skills rigidly like in the game. It will use them strategically. Most terrifyingly, it can play dead and then suddenly jump up to give you an attack.
In the game, you can use the HP bar to judge if a monster is dead, but in reality, monsters don't have HP bars for you to see. You can't judge, so at this time, delivering a finishing blow becomes extremely important.
Playing dead is one thing, but the most disgusting part is when a monster is fighting you halfway and realizes it can't beat you, it will choose to flee. To kill it, you end up chasing it for nine blocks.
When you are panting and want to kill this fleeing monster, you find yourself suddenly surrounded by a group of monsters. It turns out this monster intentionally led you into a trap it designed, all for the purpose of a group attack to kill you.
This human-like intelligence of the monsters—not the game-monster mindset—has caused the Rulers who kill monsters to suffer greatly. In just one month, the number of Rulers has decreased by two thousand.
The Boss rushed over angrily. When he reached a certain distance, he suddenly jumped up and smashed down towards the Rulers.
As a Boss Kobold, his height reached 10 meters. Just looking at him was terrifying. With such a jump and smash, the destructive force upon landing with his weight would be absolutely powerful.
Alice shouted while dodging: "Everyone, scatter!"
The Rulers immediately scattered. With a bang, the ground caved into a giant pit because of the Boss Kobold's smash. Looking at that giant pit, the people who dodged couldn't help but swallow. Luckily they dodged quickly, otherwise, if they were hit, with their small bodies, they would definitely be dead.
"Teams A, C, and D, attack! Hit him as hard as you can!" Alice said, raising her sword.
The Rulers of Teams A, C, and D attacked the Boss Kobold. The Kobold was furious and raised his battle-axe to perform a vertical slash at the people below.
"Asuna, let's begin!" Illustrious shouted to Asuna.
"Yeah! Leave it to me!" Asuna nodded.
Illustrious and Asuna leaped lightly, dodging the vertical slash. Illustrious, jumping in mid-air, landed under the Boss Kobold's left leg. Her Black Sword erupted with purple light as she slashed at the Boss Kobold's leg.
Meanwhile, Asuna came under the Boss Kobold's right leg. Her Rapier erupted with purple light as she fiercely stabbed at the Boss Kobold's leg.
The Boss Kobold felt pain and found a large group of people attacking his feet. He immediately swung his axe to slash here.
"Team B, hurry and block it!" Alice, who was attacking the Boss Kobold's leg, shouted.
Watching the Boss Kobold swing his axe, Agil's War Hammer began to erupt with blue light. With a bang, the War Hammer and the Boss's battle-axe collided fiercely.
The two were bounced apart by the powerful reaction force. The Boss Kobold took a step back, his right leg exerting force to stop the retreat.
"Come out! My Sentinels!" The Boss Kobold summoned three Sentinel Kobolds. The three Sentinel Kobolds swung their hammers and charged at the Rulers.
"Team E, you hold off these three Sentinels. Don't let them disturb us. If possible, kill them as quickly as you can!" After swinging a sword at the Boss, Alice shouted to Team E.
In the sword art online game, the three Sentinel Kobolds had particularly high health and defense, twice as high as the Boss monster. Fortunately, their attack power was not high.
But that was information from the game. In reality, it probably wouldn't differ too much. So Alice's request for Team E to hold them off could be fully accomplished.
"Hahaha! Little dog! Take a strike from my great axe!" Daiya attacked a Sentinel Kobold.
"Watch the Sentinel Kobolds' movements; their attack patterns are very simple." Diabel said after blocking a hammer strike from a Kobold.
Team E quickly held off the three Sentinel Kobolds and led them away so Alice and the others' attacks wouldn't be disturbed.
After a series of attacks by everyone, the Boss Kobold was covered in many wounds. It looked like he had already lost half of his vitality.
Gripping his giant axe, the Boss Kobold roared at everyone.
This roar scared some people away from attacking, but Illustrious and the others didn't stop, continuing to unleash skills on the Boss Kobold.
Everyone jumped one after another. Kirito used a Vertical Square on the Boss's back, Illustrious used a Horizontal Square fiercely on the Boss Kobold's waist, and Asuna used Rage Spike on the Boss's chest.
Seeing Illustrious and the others fighting, the online spectators sent a flurry of bullet comments to the East Capital Television Station.
"The Rulers' fighting posture is so heroic, and their sword skills are incredibly cool. Every time I watch, it feels incredible. So nice! I want to become a Ruler too!"
"How to become a Ruler? Waiting online, it's urgent."
"Just get the NERvGear virtual device, put it on your head, and activate it to transform into a Ruler!"
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