Chapter 41: The Fight for Freedom.

In front of the Boss Room:

Heathcliff stood before the door and started speaking, "Are you ready?"

"The Knights of Blood will hold off the Boss in the Vanguard. While we do, I would like the rest of you to discern its attack patterns, and be flexible with your counterattacks. It will be a difficult battle, but I have faith that we can prevail. For our day of liberation!"

The players were at the peak of their morale, the door was opened and the players walked in. Dragon looked around and found Klein and Agil standing along with Asuna and Kirito, all of them had tensed faces but their eyes were resolute.

"Let's get this boss. I can't wait to go back to my project," Frost chuckled, which was so out of character that the others who knew him in the game.

"Don't die you all." Smiled Klein.

"Nah, no plans to die, I still have to make a fortune out of today's drops." Agil snickered.

"Attack!!!!" roared Heathcliff.

The Players charged in the Boss Room and found it dark and empty, but the next thing they knew was terror...

A monster of skull and bones was snarling at them, as it gazed down at them from the ceiling. The Skull Reaper made a shrill cry and landed on the floor, with its scythe-like arms flailed along with its ribs. A truly horrifying sight for the faint of heart, the players who could not react in time were slashed and a single hit took their lives.

Kirito and Asuna tried to catch them, but it was in vain, their bodies broke into pixels and floated away...

"Guys, don't lose composure, Heathcliff and Frost will deal with the claws, let's attack it from the side and mind that damn tail, if you get skewered, I will laugh at your graves. Let's get this done and return to Floor 43 for a party to celebrate." Dragon roared as he blinked over to the monster's side and started slashing it without relent.

Frost shared a look with Heathcliff and nodded to start working together in tandem as they blocked and supported each other while saving the occasional unlucky player who was in the line of fire. Klein and Agil did a combo attack to break the monster's spine and severed its tail.

The raging bunch of bones started attacking with more and more hostility as its health diminished. Frost was practically undamaged, his battle regeneration was the best among all the players. With his new naginata, he was like a Warrior General from the tales of the old.

After a grueling battle, the Boss was defeated and the players were slumped on the floor, resting their tired souls. Kirito on the other hand looked at the HP bars of Frost and Heathcliff and the scenes of the duel against Heathcliff flashed before his eyes.

Frost was a player who had monstrous battle skills and regeneration, he was a slaughter machine that did not worry about having low health, for his vanquished foes replenished the lost HP because of his Passive Life Steal Ability.

But Heathcliff on the other hand was an SnS, Sword, and Shield-built player, with a green HP bar that never saw yellow light was something he could not make head and tails of. The only explanation he could find was something unbelievable, but he still chose to follow his gut feelings and charged Heathcliff with a surprise attack.

Frost who was a few feet away reacted on instinct and parried Kitito's sword with the blade of his Naginata and smacked him away with the butt of it. Kirito flew away like a soccer ball and hit the wall and slumped down.

The whole thing was finished in a few seconds, leaving everyone stunned...

"Kirito!/Kirito-kun!" Klein and Asuna picked him up while the one responsible for sending him flying just looked at him and spat a single word, "Explain."

The unparalleled aura of dominance cowered the players who stood near the man with his blade unsheathed. They were once again reminded of the fact that Frost was monikered as 'the Masked Monster' because of his inhumane battle prowess.

He was the only man who could and had faced a party of 50 players from the Assault Team and came out victorious and still complained about his vanquished foes being weak. He was one of the mysterious Black Duo, the maker of the Frost Dragon items, and the player with the most lethal fighting style.

"Frost, you idiot, he is Kayaba Akihiko, take a swing at him if you don't believe me." Kirito shouted, Frost looked the man in the eye and nodded, "I will trust you" and punched the unsuspecting Heathcliff, the attack was blocked and a purple note appeared, [IMMORTAL OBJECT.]

"So, you are the one who made this game?" Frost asked with an impassive voice.

"Yes, it was indeed me, Kayaba Akihilko. I have to say I did not expect to be unmasked this early in the game." the man said with a smile.

"Thanks for making this game, and let's meet on the other side, we have an offer you can't refuse. Oh, but the amount of 5,058,200 cors you owe us for the armor and the few other weapons you commissioned is still outstanding, you still have to pay that." Frost said with his same cold voice.

The players and even Kayaba was shocked by the attitude displayed by Frost. It was like he did not give a damn about Heathcliff's identity, the thing that mattered more was the outstanding payment.

"You black-bellied merchant, this is not the time to settle ledgers, he is the man that has gotten us in this mess and the only one who can get us out of it..." Klein was shouting with his trembling finger pointed at Frost.

"Hah, why should he get us out, that defeats the whole purpose of the game. This is a game where we put our lives on the line to fight, grow stronger, and forge bonds that will last us a lifetime, this is what an RPG should be, the fantasy, the dream of raiding a castle floating in the air. And you fool want to take the easy way?" Dragon growled while getting an appreciative nod from Kayaba while the others scowled at him with blaming looks.

"How could you do this, our hopes, our oaths..." a knight from the KOB guild charged at Kayaba in despair, while the man attacked simply paralyzed the attacking knight and the other players present in the room.

"Well, all things aside, for discovering my identity, let me reward you Kirito. I expected you to be the one who would face me on Floor 100, the hero who fights the Demon King. So, let me award you a chance, a chance to fight one-on-one. If you defeat me, everyone will be able to log out of the game. do you agree?" Kayaba asked.

"We have two objections, first, pay up, and second, we would like to continue the game even if Kirito defeats you. For the first time in my life, I felt my blood boil, the thrills when death brushed my cheek with her cold fingers, I can't leave this without a proper closure." Frost spoke and Dragon nodded.

"It's never a dull moment with you Frost, and you too, Dragon, it pleases me to no end that there are people who understand my dream and the fact that we are friends and business partners. you guys are the best in both a man could hope for. But now, that my identity has been revealed, I can no longer stay here." Kayaba smiled.

"Hmm, then take us to Floor 100 and let us challenge it, do that and we will rescind your debts, but you will owe us a meal outside at a really expensive place." Dragon spoke with his hand under his chin.

"You sure do live up to your renown, black-bellied indeed. Sure, let's do it that way, do I need to paralyze you two as well?" asked the amused Heathcliff.

"Nah, just get us some popcorn or something, but don't kill Kirito, okay?" Dragon spoke as he walked away from them and dragged the players away, clearing the place for the duel.

"A chance to freedom and a risk to lose one's life, it's fair right?" Kayaba asked.

"Fair indeed." Frost nodded.

The players were going through a multitude of emotions to see this happen right before their eyes, while Asuna was unwilling to let Kirito face Heathcliff because in that battle Kirito could die and she would not be there to help.

Two buckets of popcorn were summoned from the system itself, Dragon and Frost sat and waited for the duel to start, while Kirito walked up and looked at them, "Dragon, Frost, promise me, if I die, you guys will finish the game and save everyone. And please take care of Asuna..."

"Alright, but you idiot don't know a single thing about fighting, if you think that you will be defeated, you will never win. Now, get out there and show us how you dance." Frost cheered him up.

The battle begun, and the two fighters were exchanging blow for blow, this continued for a while till Kirito's sword snapped. Heathcliff raised his sword and slashed at Kirito...

But Asuna flashed before Kirito and took the blow for him, her Hp gauge emptied and reached zero as she lay in Kirito's arms.

"Oh shit! Revive Asuna!" Frost shouted.

The broken pixels of Asuna came back together and she was back with full HP, but with a shocked face that looked at Kirito with disbelief.

"Damn, that was unexpected, did you remove her paralysis, Kayaba?" Dragon asked.

"No, I certainly did not, but isn't these unexpected things the point that makes MMORPGs more fun?" Kayaba smiled with amusement.

"That's true. So, Kirito lost, his life was paid for by Asuna, who was not supposed to die and was revived with that Christmas item. So, I guess now it's our turn?" Frost spoke with a smile.

"Alright, let's leave for the 100th Floor," Kayaba spoke and the three were teleported from the room.