Secret of SAO

Out Matched

They had trapped the eel in a dome, in the underwater tunnels. Sinon perched herself in the crevice of the side wall, to remain hidden from the eel. She trained her bow on it and used the best quality arrows, she had.

Kirito had discovered this dome by chance. It was lined with massive crystals, they were becoming all too familiar with. The crystal's function was to trap light energy and Kirito thought they could use it to their advantage. As predicted, when the beast passed these crystals, they absorbed the electric energy that was expelling from the monster's body. For a few moments, every once in a while, the beast would stop glowing, giving them an opportunity to strike with their swords. The chance rarely came, so they mostly relied on Sinon's well aimed attacks.

Then something unexpected happened. The eel started to target the crystals. The monster was learning their strategy and was seeking to eliminate its new found weakness. As long as the crystals were close by, they had noticed that they weren't inflicted with paralysis for very long.

Kirito took the liberties of giving extra blows at it, but was unable to use 'starburst stream' because of the paralysis that was inflicted on contact. He would shake the immobility in a few seconds and renew his attacks.

They had to avoid its jaws of steel and made sure that the others inflicted would be protected, until they could recover.

The monster started to get erratic and moved more swiftly, destroying the rest of the crystals.

Kirito shouted to Sinon. "It's all up to you now, Sinon!"

The others had to back off and stay clear or they would get killed. They split up to confuse the eel, but it targeted them individually.

It drew near LizBeth and she was frozen with paralysis. Its tail then pierced her body and whipped her at Kirito. He managed to catch her and stared in horror, when he saw her hp gauge dropped to zero. "No! Liz!" He felt the tears tug at his eyes.

Everyone else looked in their direction, but had to disperse, for the beast drew near.

"...Li-zz..." Kirito leaned over her, as she started to glow.

"Kiri-to... Tell me something to share with As-na... I'll prove that I-I didn't die... for real..." Liz tried her best to hang in there long enough to ask. Using will over program, to make sure her death in game, wouldn't be in vain.

Kirito's eyes grew wide and he racked his brain, in the desperate moment. He couldn't think of anything. "I-I don't... know what to say... to someone as amazing... as her?"

Liz smiled at him, before closing her eyes and allowing herself to vanish from his grasp.

"LIZBETH!" Kirito became frantic. He didn't believe she was still alive, how could he? This was his reality.

The tears froze on his face, as 1's and 0's flashed through his eyes. He ran full speed ahead towards the monster and called out, "STARBURST STREAM!" Kirito slammed his swords into the eel and the moves became more sloppy and less powerful. His status turned to paralysis, but somehow he kept attacking even though he was getting stiffer by the second. The eel slammed its jaws around Kirito and he slammed his two swords into its jaws, as his last attempt to salvage the situation.

Sinon couldn't waste any time and fired 3 arrows at its eyes at once.

The monster disappeared before Kirito's health depleted to red.

Sinon saw the last attack bonus pop up in front of her. 'Electrified Bow'. The stats on it were incredible. Its description read, 'infused with the embodiment of electricity itself.' Who knew the boss drop would be a bow? Maybe it was because it was designed to be near impossible to beat without using one.