Shattered: A SAO Tale (Sword Art Online)

Drifter looked up at the monster approaching them with heavy steps. << Asterius the Taurus King >> walked towards the players almost unhurried. Casually. A ruler in its palace.

Drifter was terrified. But there were almost two dozen players who were in critical condition on the ground, and no one was doing anything. Forcing back his fear, he kicked Kirito, who was staring at the boss slack-jawed, to catch his attention.

"Kirito, think you can distract it for half a minute? We need to drag back the people paralyzed!"

"Hum? Ah, yeah! Well... I can try at least."

The young swordsman swallowed loudly, and Drifter berated himself for asking a kid to fight such a monster. But there was no other way. Suddenly, a black hand dropped on Kirito's shoulder.

"We will be right there with ya, kiddo. Let's go!"

The swordsman shot a grateful look at Agil, who was visibly scared, but still offered his aid. Drifter held back the merchant, however.

"No, wait, Agil. Let Wolv, Namate, and Shigio go with him. Nautilus, the same. Orlando, you and the Braves too, support Kirito. You need to stall that beast until we get everyone on their feet."

"Roger that!"

"Agil, I need you to beat some sense in Kibaou and Lind. Get them moving!"

"Aye!"

The people Drifter called didn't discuss his orders, following them automatically. After Asterius' massively destructive and demoralizing attack, they were barely holding on. They just needed someone to tell them what to do.

"Asuna, Yuna, gather the scattered parties, you are responsible for taking back the paralyzed players and distributing potions."

"Okay!"

The two girls rushed to do as they were told. Meanwhile, Kirito and the others had already reached the boss. Their attacks did nothing to it, but at least they distracted the monster, which was exactly what Drifter wanted. They needed to buy enough time for the ALS and DKB to put themselves together and start cooperating.

"What about me?"

Sinon stopped next to Drifter, looking up at him with her piercing gray eyes. He gestured towards << Asterius the Taurus King >>.

"Both Nato and Baran's weaknesses were their horns, it stands to reason Asterius will be the same. Do what you do best, Sinon."

"Hmm. And you?"

Sinon asked that question more as a passing thought than anything, one arrow already knocked on her << Grafted Horn Bow >> and ready to fire as soon as she got in range.

"He needs to talk to me, Sin-chan. I'll give him back to y'all soon. Meanwhile, go get it!"

The archer cast a glance at Argo, and just nodded. She didn't see when the info broker had gotten there - or when she had entered the boss room at all, for that matter - but now wasn't the time to worry about it. Without another word, she ran to join the fight.

Drifter surveyed the battle. This was the reason he could be Kirito's second-in-command. The role he played in the party. His job was to keep a cool head.

Kirito was a great leader when everything was going according to plan, and no slouch either when it came to improvisation, but in the end, he was still too young. When things got way too out of hand, he panicked. Everybody did. Just look at how that lighting storm Asterius conjured left everyone stunned and unable to muster a reaction.

Drifter wasn't much different. He also panicked when it happened. But he knew what was expected of him, even if no one else did. So he suppressed his panic, and looked at the battlefield objectively. Coldly. He was no great commander, but when everyone else was lost, he could stand up and give orders. So that's what he did.

If one had to make distinctions, you could say that Kirito, Orlando, and even Kibaou were leaders who led by example. They would always be the first to throw themselves into the fray. Drifter, and to an extent Lind, on the other hand, were the kind of party leaders who were better at 'seeing' a battle in its entirety.

Seeing that he had somehow managed to contain the situation, Drifter let out a sigh of relief. It felt like a long time had passed, but in fact only twenty seconds had gone by since the boss - the true boss - appeared. He finally turned to Argo, who was hyperventilating next to him. Clearly, the info broker had rushed to reach here.

"C'mon Argo, don't waste time. Tell me what I need to know and leave specifics for later."

"Aight. Asterius is the final boss, Nato and Baran were just appetizers. He has a lightin' breath attack - you already saw it. Telltale signs he is gonna use it are rearin' back, suckin' air in, chest inflatin', and sparks flyin' 'round his snout. It's a straight attack, so ya gotta dodge to the sides as soon as ya notice it. Weakness's not the horns but the crown. Get Sinon to shoot it and there's a chance Asterius will stagger. That's all I got."

"It's more than enough. Thanks, little rat. Really. We'll talk more after we put down this overbearing cow."

"Go get 'em, tiger!"

Drifter smirked tiredly, and fist-bumped Argo. Then, he drew his spear and rushes into the fray. The info broker looked at his back, and collapsed.

"Hah... Hah... I might've just made it. Don't die, please."

Drifter didn't hear Argo sighing, nor her quiet plea. His mind was completely focused on the situation at hand. He quickly went around the boss room relaying the intel the info broker had just given him, starting with Sinon.

"Aim for the crown, Sinon!"

The archer just nodded, shifting her aim slightly. The platinum crown was a much harder target to hit than the horns, but she didn't question Drifter. She trusted him to have his reasons for asking that.

"Yuna, how are the wounded?!"

"Healing. But we pretty much exhausted our paralysis heal potions fighting the first two bosses, Drifter. They have to wait for the paralysis to fade on its own."

Drifter cursed, and checked his inventory. He also only had one of the potions left. Out of options, he gestured for Yuna and the others to drag the paralyzed players even further away.

"Asuna, go help Kirito and Nautilus. Watch out for Asterius's breath attack, and try to kite him to the other corner of the room."

"Okay!"

The fencer dashed away the next second. She was a pure and kind young girl, and seeing Kirito and the others struggle against the boss had obviously made her anxious to help.

It was just one person, but having Asuna join them helped relieve the burden. The chestnut-haired girl integrated seamlessly with Kirito and Nautilus. Especially the former. He and Asuna seemed able to read each other's thoughts.

Drifter's final stop was the huddled group of Agil, Kibaou, and Lind. For once, the last two weren't quarreling, but Drifter couldn't imagine what was taking them so long to mobilize.

"What's going on? Why aren't you fighting?"

The three had very different reactions to the question. Agil showed a helpless expression, Kibaou snorted - as was his norm when talking to someone from Kirito's party - and Lind had an inscrutable expression.

"We were thinking it might be better if we withdraw for now, Drifter."

"No we, ya coward! I say we bring down this monster now! Y'all just have to follow mine, Kibaou, lead!"

"And I told you to stop being a stubborn knucklehead, Kibaou! Look at the situation!"

Drifter looked between the two party leaders, stunned. So the temporary ceasefire he thought they had come to was in fact just a pause in their argument. But the spearman couldn't even be bothered with that right now. He was staring at Lind with an unbelievable expression, and couldn't help but blurt out what he was thinking.

"Withdraw? You want to retreat now?!"

"Yes! That monster is too strong! Just look at my Dragon Knight Brigade and Kibaou's Aincrad Liberation Squad! They are in shambles!"

Drifter was stupefied before, but now he was annoyed. So Lind wanted to retreat and fight another day, that was understandable. They would have more information and be able to prepare better. He was worried about his subordinates, also understandable, even commendable. But Lind was completely ignoring the fact that it wasn't just the DKB and ALS that composed the raid-party. He was looking down on Drifter's party, Agil's party, the Legend Braves, and all the other smaller groups who were here today. No, to be more correct, he was treating them as if they didn't even exist! As if only the group led by him was important.

"Are you fucking stupid, Lind?! So what if your parties are in disarray?! You are the party leader, get them in order! While you two are butting heads over here, the rest has been fighting Asterius for two minutes now! Are you blind or do you not even put us in your eyes, hum?!"

"Hey! Don't lump me together with him!"

"Shut it, Kibaou! To start with, we wouldn't even be in this situation if the two of you had more than a single brain cell and hadn't rushed out as soon as we discovered the boss room!"

The two people Drifter was berating obviously wanted to retaliate, but he couldn't be bothered with listening to them bark when his party was fighting for their lives nearby. The spearman turned around and started walking towards << Asterius the Taurus King >>.

"C'mon, Agil. We are eating roasted beef tonight. As for you two fame-chasing fools, try to keep your selfish thoughts to yourselves next time. Remember the whole of SAO is watching."

Leaving behind two dumbstruck idiots - that last word quickly becoming Drifter's preferred one when dealing with Lind and Kibaou - the spearman dashed towards the boss, Agil hot on his heels.

It was only when they got closer that Drifter realized just how absurd of a command that he had given when he told the others to stall the giant minotaur. << Asterius the Taurus King >> was a monster in all senses of the world. Each of its swings sent the tanks flying, and if it weren't for Kirito, Asuna, and Orlando taking turns intercepting it, as well as Sinon's timely saves in the format of flying arrows, people would've certainly died by now.

"Switch!"

Drifter didn't stop running, though. Asterius was scary, yes. Terrifying, even. But the boss committed the mistake of standing between the players and freedom. And it would die for it.

"<< Comet Break >>!"

With all the power and speed of a javelin, Drifter's spear pierced through Asterius' guard, and into its naked torso. The force behind the skill was such that even the six-meter-tall boss staggered. And Drifter wasn't finished yet.

<< Martial Arts: Senda >>!

Using Asterius' knee as a stepping stone, Drifter jumped up, making use of the skill's momentum to go much higher than it should have been possible, and reaching the boss' head. His hand was clenched into a silvery-glowing fist, and with a grunt, Drifter drove an uppercut into << Asterius the Taurus King's >> chin.

<< Senda >> was a single-hit skill, and definitely the most destructive one inside << Martial Arts >>. Not only was its damage devastating, but it also inflicted a heavy 'stun' status effect. Of course, Asterius was a floor boss, so what would normally leave a common mob defenseless for 3 to 5 seconds translated to less than an entire second when applied to it.

But in this case, the 'stun' wasn't as needed as the powerful knockback the skill carried. The boss, who was already leaning back due to << Comet Break >>, was unable to keep its balance, and fell to one knee.

You could hear a pin drop in the boss room. The whole raid-party had gone quiet. From Nautilus and Yuna, to the Legend Braves and Agil, and even the two idiots and their subordinates, everyone was staring at Drifter in stunned silence. They couldn't be blamed. The scene of a human beating down a monster thrice his size was just too shocking.

Meanwhile, Drifter fell painfully on his butt after the impressive display. << Martial Arts: Senda >> was powerful, there was no denying that, but its shortcomings were obvious too. Drifter's whole body felt heavy as lead due to the forced cooldown. The fact that he had used it right after << Comet Break >>, an equally taxing spear skill, didn't help.

"Woaaarghhhh!"

Asterius shook its head, as if trying to shake away the dizziness, and roared in anger. The guttural shout woke everyone up from their stupor. Fired up by Drifter's eye-catching attack, the players roared back, and charged at the boss.

Agil had been right behind the spearman, and, as such, was the first to reach the kneeling boss. His huge double-bladed axe shone bright green as it cut down on Asterius's warhammer-wielding arm with an << Execution >>.

A deep wound was left on the boss' wrist, and it roared in pain. Asterius swung its arm, hitting Agil head-on, who barely had time to put his weapon in front of his body to partly block the attack. Still, the merchant was forced to take five or six steps back to offset the blow.

"C'mon, boss, let's take this overgrown cow down!"

One of Agil's party members, Wolv, put a hand on his back to secure him, a wild smile on his face. After seeing Drifter act, his fear had turned into anger, all of it directed towards << Asterius the Taurus King >>. Agil grinned back, but someone was even faster than him to respond.

"Attack, ALS! We will defeat this boss today!"

"Brothers of the DKB, we will take down this monster! Attack!"

Agil watched dumbstruck as Lind and Kibaou led their subordinates to run past him, and engaged the boss. He looked at Drifter, and saw the spearman smiling wryly, an expression he was sure mimicked his. Both were thinking the same thing.

'Idiots.'