Chapter 40

Currently all the troops from the takeover group are behind the entrance to the 75th floor boss room and all the players here are starting to prepare everything to fight this monster.

At this moment Zen, Asuna and Silica began to focus themselves on quickly ending the floor boss so that Zen could prove his hypothesis.

"I'm so nervous Zen-san, the battle on this floor isn't the same as usual" said Silica.

"Calm down Silica, I make sure no one can hurt you" Zen said while patting Silica's head.

Hearing this Silica was overjoyed, and began to shake off her previous nervous feeling. Not only Silica, Asuna was currently feeling the same way as Silica, but seeing Zen holding her hand, Asuna then threw away all those thoughts.

"Are you guys ready?" said the leader of this raid, Heathcliff to all the players who were already seen preparing to enter the boss room.

"I warn you, my group is only tasked with holding back the attacks of this floor boss, so make sure you attack it to the best of your ability once we manage to distract the monster." Heathcliff said

"And this battle is very difficult, so make sure you protect yourself and defeat the floor boss. Because I'm sure we can do it" he continued

"For the sake of our freedom" shouted Heathcliff ending his words of encouragement.

Hearing this all the players started to grow their confidence to fight the boss of this floor.

They started screaming to shake off their fears and cheer each other on.

"Are you ready Asuna, Scilica?" Zen asked. And they both nodded in response.

Then Zen started to draw out his two swords, Asuna was already holding her rapier and Silica already using her two dagers ready to enter the boss room.

Seeing all the players ready, Heathcliff started to open the door to the room. The room was so dark, even all the players here still couldn't see any silhouettes inside.

"Attack Troops!!" shouted Heathcliff

All the players who heard the screams started to enter the dark room together. The moment they entered the room, the entrance they had used earlier began to disappear. All the players started to prepare, but they didn't see any monsters in here.

The room was so quiet, even all the players tried not to make any noise as they were very focused on finding the whereabouts of this floor boss who had yet to show himself.

Suddenly the sound of something crawling was heard from above them, and finally they could see the monster they had been looking for. The monster was in the shape of a centipede with bones all over its body.

"The Skul Reaper" muttered all the players there seeing the name of the monster that was above them.

"Spread" Heathcliff shouted and all the players started to leave the location where the boss would land.

But unfortunately there are still players who are late to move until the monster manages to slash them until the player dies in this place. Seeing this all the players' expressions darkened, unlike the room that was starting to light up.

They were so surprised because the players were defeated with one slash. The monster was back in action, currently aiming for a player, but the attack was blocked by Heathcliff with his shield.

But unfortunately, the player still died due to the monster's sudden attack using the other scythe when the first scythe was successfully restrained by Heathcliff. Kirito also tried to save a player, but just as he was getting desperate, Hachi came to his aid.

While Zen's own group tried to take advantage of the opportunity to attack the monster. The monster that saw Zen's group was about to attack it tried to fight it off, but Zen's first scythe was repelled by Zen.

When the second scythe was about to attack her group mates, Asuna who saw this immediately used her speed skill to dodge and tried to counterattack, but unfortunately the monster's scythe attack was very fast and was about to attack her.

Then two slashes appeared to block the attack, Scilica, who was behind Asuna at that time, immediately helped her withstand the attack even though her health had started to decrease from that attack. Fortunately, Pina's friend from Silica immediately recovered her HP.

Seeing the monster being distracted, Zen's group immediately attacked the monster's ribs. This was followed by several players, but some players who attacked the tail, all of them began to die because of the tail that could be used as a weapon by the monster.

Zen's group didn't flinch, as the Knights of Blood's group turned the monster's attention to attack them, Zen, Asuna and Silica focused on eliminating this skeleton monster.

The attacks of Zen's group and the rest of the group paid off, slowly the monster's HP turned red.

"Everyone Attack!" shouted Heatcliff seeing the monster that was about to be defeated. All the users who heard this scream immediately swarmed the monster and began to defeat it.

[ A Few Moment Later]

[CONGRATULATION]

A screen appeared in front of them after they managed to defeat the monster.

All the players were about to celebrate their success, but they started to lower their heads and lament their current state. They were all exhausted both physically and mentally, because this attack included many casualties.

"Irene can I do it now?" said Zen asked Irene, after they had just defeated the monster.

[According to the mission, you can defeat Kayaba Akihiko after defeating the 75th floor boss, so you can do it now] Irene replied

Without thinking, Zen saw Heatcliff who was starting to get distracted by the players here, immediately activated his Sword Skill and quickly got in front of Heathcliff and slashed at him,

[Immortal Objects]

Something blocked this Zen attack.

"Yo Kayaba" Zen said with his scary smile.

Seeing this, all the players here were completely shocked by what they saw and heard. All the players here didn't expect this to happen.

"Imortal object? What do you mean by this, Chief?" said Sachi who was next to Kirito.

"It turns out that my hypothesis is correct, the person in front of us is the one who trapped us all here" said Zen.

Asuna and Silica who were next to him were also very surprised, although Zen had already mentioned his prediction which he kept secret, but this greatly surprised them because this was what Zen had expected before.