89 Chapter 89 - Descent of the Evil God

Drifter looked up at Aater, Lord of the Fallen. Before, the boss was just a little taller than him. Now, however, Aater had to be close to twelve meters tall. And he didn't look human- or elf, rather - anymore.

Aater had grown. And not just in height. He was now a bulky monster made of swirling black smoke and pulsating bare flesh. There was no sign of the Elf he once was but for his face, which looked comically - and terrifyingly - small on his now gigantic body.

It was one of six fists that had struck Drifter, and the spearman quickly dodged out of the way of another two hands, each as big as the player.

"Why isn't it symmetrical?!"

"Focus, Asuna!"

Drifter almost burst into laughter right there and then. Here they were, fighting what was basically a small-scale floor boss battle, and the thing that bothered the fencer the most was how asymmetrical Aater's body was.

To be fair, it really was uncomfortable in the eyes. Not only was the new form of Aater, Lord of the Fallen extremely gross, the way its limbs- all eleven of them - were positioned really didn't make sense. He had three arms on his left side, one of them so low it was basically glued to his hip, two of them on the right side, and the sixth and final one sprouted directly from his chest. Furthermore, he had two legs in front of his body and three growing from his back, making it so that when he walked, it almost looked like he was laying down.

"It must be because the Secret Keys were destroyed. Something went wrong in the transformation. My friends, we must take this chance to kill this monster before the evil god can forcefully complete its descent!"

"You heard her! Vallerk, to the front! Nautilus, Liz, support him! Don't be stingy with potions, I want you always above 70% HP. Yuna, play Rest."

Kirito quickly barked orders. They might seem redundant, since the three shield-users were already in formation before he even spoke, but such was the sense of urgency the young swordsman felt.

Aater, Lord of the Fallen seemed to have lost all rationale after entering his second phase. After Vallerk used Taunt, the boss roared incoherently and started punching the boy with all his fists, for the first time following the aggro system correctly.

But in return for his diminished intellect, Aater had gotten a lot stronger. Each fist caused Vallerk to groan and stumble, some almost bringing him to his knees. Even with all his skills, he was still losing HP faster than it could recover.

"Oh sh- Vallerk, behind you!"

Suddenly, Drifter, who had just switched out with Ran, spotted the ground behind the tank cracking. A tendril of flesh and smoke shot out, aiming directly at Vallerk's unprotected back. Turns out Aater wasn't that mindless after all, since some of his cunning still remained.

Drifter immediately used Rage Spike, trying to intercept the sneak attack, but even before the skill went through he knew he would be too late. Kirito, Asuna, Yuuki, and everyone else were focused on the boss currently, and they also noticed it too late.

But someone was there. Nautilus had been juggling aggro with Liz to lessen Vallerk's burden. Now, he heard Drifter shout and looked back to see Aater's sneak attack. On pure instinct, the ash-haired player activated Unrepentant Charge and put himself in front of the tendril.

"Ugh!"

Nautilus grunted when the tendril smacked into his shield, then coiled around his arm, trying to drag him down. But he hacked down with his blade, cutting it clean off, and staggered back.

"Watch out for sneak attacks!"

"Gods above, below, and to the sides, we are on fire today!"

"Merida, pay attention!"

The blue-haired girl stuck out her tongue before proceeding to cleave at one of Aater's legs with her giant sword. But she was right. Kirito, Yuuki, Asuna, Sinon, and now Nautilus, were all surpassing themselves today. Even Drifter felt like he was touching upon the edge of something throughout this entire fight. The thing he had been searching for was right there, he could almost feel it. He was just lacking...

"Good job, Naut. We are almost there."

"Don't jinx it, Drif."

The spearman grinned and clapped his friend on the shoulder. 10%. Aater was almost down for the count. 'Almost' was the key word.

"Roooaaarrghhh!"

The entire Sacred Tree shook when Aater clamored. Drifter's eyes widened when he saw two of the boss' hands change and morph into fleshy pikes, which he then proceeded to rip off his body to a shower of red particles.

"Oh fu-"

Drifter and Nautilus dove out of the way as Aater, Lord of the Fallen threw one of the spikes, exactly how he had done with the branches before. Only, those were made out of his own flesh and over two meters long.

The flesh spear punctured the ground where the two men had just been standing. Furthermore, as it hit, it unleashed a shockwave of black smoke, which spread for over 5 meters. While Drifter and Nautilus had avoided a direct blow, they couldn't dodge this secondary attack, and were hit.

"Huh?"

To his surprise, Drifter didn't take any damage. But he very much doubted the shockwave was just for aesthetic purposes, so he immediately directed his eyes to his HUD. Lo and behold, he was afflicted with a status effect he had never seen before. The symbol was a broken feather. When Drifter focused on it...

'Slowness.'

His body felt heavy. He tried to take a step and his foot took ten seconds to raise and lower. His movements were beyond sluggish. It wasn't as bad in his arms and upper body, but he could barely move his legs. His movement speed had been reduced by at least 90%.

"Drifter! Nautilus! It's throwing it again!"

The spearman looked up and saw Aater holding another flesh spike. Ah. That's right, the boss had made two of the weapons. With the calmness that came from sheer panic, Drifter analyzed Aater's posture and predicted where the attack would land. Then he did panic for real.

When Aater, Lord of the Fallen had launched the first spike, Drifter and Nautilus had each dodged to different sides. That put about 7 meters of distance between them. Normally, it would take less than two seconds to run that distance. Less, if they used a charging skill. But now, they were both afflicted with 'slowness'. 7 meters might as well be an insurmountable gap.

"Nautilus!"

With bloodshot eyes, Drifter turned to the ash-haired player. Nautilus was frozen, staring at the boss. His health was still depleted from blocking Aater's sneak attack against Vallerk. A direct hit from the javelin-like spike would kill him.

'Shit. Nonononono... Not right now, please!'

Drifter screamed internally. Nautilus was standing stock-still, and he immediately knew it wasn't because of the debuff. The way the shield-bearer's hands trembled, the unwillingness in his eyes... Drifter has seen it many times before. Nautilus was having a crisis.

Time slowed down. Drifter saw Aater pulling his arm back to throw the projectile. He saw the deformed muscles contracting, the hate in the boss' gaze. He also saw the desperate looks on his guildmates' faces. They were too far. Sinon was knocking an arrow on her bow, but she didn't have a clear line of sight. And even if she did, there was nothing she could do to interrupt the action.

Above all else, Drifter saw two things. The first was the pure horror on Yuna's face. The second was the unwillingness in Nautilus' eyes.

"No!"

Moving purely on instinct and desperation, Drifter strenuously raised his arm. His hand slid to the back end of his spear, and he unconsciously hooked three fingers around the bottom while resting the body of the weapon on his forearm.

He was still going too slow. Drifter saw Aater, Lord of the Fallen bulge and launch his flesh spike. The makeshift deadly weapon flew towards Nautilus, who could only stare at it angrily, refusing to close his eyes or look away.

And Drifter threw his spear. Like he had seen Aater do with the branches, slingshotting it across his arm and adding a spin with his fingers. He never thought of any of that, just mimicked what the boss did.

The spear flew. And while it was in the air, it started glowing silver. Drifter could feel the system correcting its path, aiming for him.

When his spear collided with Aater's spike, Drifter didn't hear a ringing sound, nor was it loud. He also didn't see the notification telling him he had unlocked a new skill. All he saw was his weapon snapping Aater's in two. Then he was running to Nautilus. But he was still so slow each step he made took an age to land.

The others weren't. Kirito, Asuna, Kizmel, and everyone else quickly grabbed the Aater's attention. They wanted to ask about Drifter's throw, but killing the boss took priority.

When the 'slowness' debuff on him finally wore off, Drifter didn't say anything to Nautilus. The FNC-induced fear was still going on full force, and the ash-haired blade-user still couldn't move. The spearman just patted his friend on the shoulder and rejoined the fight.

"Nautilus..?"

"Leave it be. He can't fight until it passes."

"We'll try to kite the boss the other way."

Quietly, so that only the two of them could hear it, Drifter and Kirito exchanged some words. Nautilus' FNC was a known issue amongst the guild, but, unfortunately, not one they could solve.

"Alas..."

Sighing, both of them went to attack Aater. The sooner they brought down the boss, the better.

...

Nautilus was angry. He had long since gone past the point of feeling scared or sorry for himself because of his FNC. He thought he was past getting frustrated too. But watching his teammates fight the boss while he could only stay still, uselessly, and even needing to be saved, Nautilus was furious. Not at anything in particular, and not even at himself. Just with the whole situation in general.

It was unfair. And he knew complaining would do him any good - Kayaba certainly wasn't thinking of their well-being when he trapped them in a death game - but still... It was unfair. That was all.

"Ggrrrrr..."

Nautilus wanted to scream. He wanted to punch something, to trash the boss. More than anything, he wanted to be there, fighting alongside his friends. In front of Yuna, keeping her from danger. Next to Drifter, knowing his spear would always be there when he needed, and hoping his shield could do the same for the other player. Standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Ran, Kirito, Asuna, and everyone else.

It was unfair. He hated it. He hated it so much. Because of some stupid connection problem, he wasn't only vulnerable, but a liability to his party and guild.

It was unfair.

Nautilus trembled. His fingers were digging into his palm so strongly they would have drawn blood if he were in the real world. The feeling of impotence and powerlessness wasn't fading.

Nautilus watched as Aater pulled out another of his weird spike-arms and threw it at Ran. Vallerk was there to protect the girl. Even Liz was standing by, ready to be the second line of defense if necessary. Only he wasn't helping.

It was unfair.

It was unfair, it was unfair, it was unfair.

Unfairunfairunfairunfairunfairunfairunfair...

But so what?

Aater, Lord of the Fallen, smacked Vallerk away with a wide swing, and practically hammered Liz into the ground with a fist. He made to grab Ran, who was almost immobile due to the 'slowness' secondary debuff. And Nautilus cut off his hand.

"Arghhhh!"

Nautilus was screaming. He didn't know when or how he had moved. He was in pain. Actual pain, which he hadn't felt since the beginning of SAO. His head felt like it was about to explode, and he screamed.

It was unfair. Everything was unfair. But why should he care? He had a shield. He was supposed to protect others, not to be the one being babysat. He had promised to protect Yuna. And then he met Drifter, and swore to keep him safe too. And Sinon, Kirito, Asuna, Yuuki, Ran, Liz, Merida, Kizmel, Silica, Vallerk. Even Argo, Agil, Orlando, and the others.

What FNC? What disability? Screw all that. Vallerk was the tank, but Nautilus was their shield. Reaver's Requiem first and last line of defense. And he was never going to watch while his friends got hurt.

All his fury, conviction, and desperation boiled and suddenly burst. Before he even realized it, Nautilus was already in front of Ran, his blade cutting off Aater's hand cleanly even though his head was thumping with pain. Then he spun around, smashing his shield on Aater's stomach, before sinking his weapon into the boss' side and dragging it upwards, leaving a long red line across Aater's body.

With a final roar of agony, Aater, Lord of the Fallen shattered.