Footsteps echoed from behind.
Haruto turned around, then chuckled softly.
"Brother!"
Shiro ran over quickly and threw herself into Haruto's arms.
The newcomers were indeed Shiro and Gabriel. Their progress in the game had been astonishingly fast. After all, Shiro was a legend in the gaming world.
As for Gabriel, while she was a bit "green" compared to Shiro, in terms of overall skill, that still depended on who you compared her with.
This fallen angel was, without a doubt, much stronger than the average player. Otherwise, she wouldn't have received an invitation to SAO's beta test.
"We found the boss room. After we gather a few more people, it should be an easy clear."
"This is the first boss fight! I wonder what good loot it'll drop!"
Gabriel rubbed her hands together excitedly.
"With big brother around, that's more than enough."
Shiro's comment left Gabriel stunned in place.
"Shiro, you're not joking, right? Are we seriously going to take on the boss with just the three of us? We even struggle with normal mobs!"
Gabriel tried to reason with her.
"No worries. Brother is super strong."
Shiro flashed an OK sign with her hand.
Gabriel looked like she was on the verge of tears.
Based on the beta test experience, defeating the Kobold Lord Ilfang required at least four parties, with two players per team.
In SAO, having a partner was essential. As players climbed higher floors,even when farming mobs, most did so in pairs.
The reason lay in SAO's assist system.
Using the assist system to execute sword skills allowed players to unleash their full power. But as mentioned before, there was a delay between using skills and regaining control.
In gaming terms, this was known as post-skill lag.
This was why two-person teams were the norm — while one person used a sword skill and became immobile due to lag, their partner would take over and cover them.
Alternating turns like this prevented monsters from taking advantage of that vulnerability.
In the floor 1 boss room, one boss and three elite mobs would spawn at the same time,so having eight players was widely recognized as the bare minimum.
Gabriel looked to Haruto, hoping he'd talk some sense into Shiro.
Instead, Haruto went even further — he directly pushed open the boss room doors.
"Hey! Hey! Hey!"
Gabriel was flabbergasted.
As the doors opened, torches along the walls lit up one after another.
A massive kobold descended from above with a terrifying roar, stirring up smoke and shockwaves.
"Shiro, you take command," Haruto said, drawing his sword and charging forward.
"Brother, 7 o'clock — elite mob knocked back three squares. Gabriel, block the one coming from 3 o'clock."
Shiro pulled out her weapon and gave instructions.
In that moment, her eyes seemed to go empty, as if all light had vanished.
Tons of data and physical models ran simulations in her mind.
To Shiro, this fierce battlefield was nothing more than a simple numbers game. Every outcome was just a calculation away from becoming a predetermined result.
"Seriously, can't someone rein these two in?"
Gabriel grumbled as she joined the fray.
Haruto easily dodged the elite kobold's hammer strike. His sword flashed, stabbing clean through the target.
The kobold soldier was blasted backward instantly.
Haruto followed up with a burst of martial arts.
The elite kobold's HP visibly dropped in chunks.
Gabriel stared, dumbfounded.
"Hey! What kind of damage was that?! Haruto, what level are you?!"
But Haruto didn't respond, simply executing Shiro's commands with focus.
Three elite mobs had spawned, and the boss was charging over. Taking all that on with just three people would normally be impossible. However, with Shiro's command…
The three elites were pulled into just the right positions.
They ended up perfectly blocking the boss's path of attack.
Haruto handled one elite mob alone. Shiro and Gabriel took on another together.
The boss was effectively body-blocked, and the third elite mob was constantly being kited, unable to join the fight.
It all seemed effortless on the surface…
But it was as precarious as walking a tightrope.
If their positioning or timing slipped even slightly, they would be surrounded and killed instantly.
Yet under Shiro's direction, everything proceeded like clockwork.
Soon enough, Haruto took down two of the elite mobs.
And then faced the boss head-on.
At that point, even Shiro stopped giving instructions.
She and Gabriel focused on defeating the remaining elite mob.
Haruto alone was more than enough to solo the boss.
After all, he didn't use the assist system — he relied entirely on his own sword skills.
That meant no skill delay, no post-action stiffness.
To Haruto, this kind of battle was child's play.
The boss's health dropped bar by bar.
Gabriel, after defeating the elite mob, started heading over to help. But after watching for a second, she decided against it.
There was simply no need to get involved.
She even felt like her presence might get in Haruto's way.
The Kobold Lord Ilfang's HP soon dropped to its final bar.
It entered rage mode.
A massive club appeared in its hand.
In the next instant, it leapt into the air, using the pillars in the room to move with dizzying speed.
Seeing this, Gabriel broke out in a cold sweat.
This was different from the beta test.
The boss's movement was now so fast it was nearly impossible to follow, let alone dodge or block. However, just as the club came crashing down—
Haruto merely sidestepped, dodging it by a hair's breadth.
The club slammed into the ground with a thunderous crash.
Haruto raised his sword—
Several bright sword arcs flashed across the air.
The Kobold Lord Ilfang's HP hit zero, its body dissolving into data fragments.
[Boss Defeated!]
A system message appeared.
Gabriel cheered loudly.
Shiro, however, simply stood to the side, quietly watching Haruto.
Haruto glanced at the loot window.
Besides a large amount of experience, gold, and rare boss materials—The most eye-catching item was the reward for landing the final blow:
"Midnight Coat"
Kirito's iconic piece of gear from his first cool moment.
Haruto equipped it casually.
A black coat appeared on his body, emanating an aura of cold pride.
"Whoa, so cool…"
Gabriel gasped in admiration, then dragged Shiro toward the teleport point.
Apparently, even a cool guy couldn't compete with the lure of hidden quests on the second floor for this fallen angel.
Haruto didn't mind. That was just how she was.
Just as he was about to step onto the teleport pad to move on to the second floor—
The boss room suddenly warped.
A figure in a black cloak appeared within.
Haruto halted, surprised, and looked toward the cloaked figure.
There was only one person who could appear like this.
"Kayaba Akihiko… you're showing up this early?"
Haruto muttered in surprise.
This lunatic really didn't play by the rules.
Wasn't he supposed to disguise himself as a player, create a guild, rampage through the game, and then pull a surprise betrayal at the higher floors?
According to SAO's settings, there was no town on the 100th floor — only a massive crimson palace.
Its name: Ruby Palace.
When players reached that point, the strongest guild leader would transform into the final boss.
Heathcliff — the incarnation of another world.
In reality, Kayaba Akihiko himself, personally standing in the way of players returning to the real world.
A twisted sense of humor.
But why was he jumping out now?
Kayaba's current appearance didn't show his face — only two glowing red eyes.
Those eyes locked firmly onto Haruto.
Haruto's presence had completely disrupted his plans. Worse yet, Kayaba had no way of dealing with him.
"Why are you here?" Kayaba asked in a low voice.
From his perspective, someone like Haruto — the face of the Momobami Zaibatsu — should be pretty busy to play games like this.
And a person with that much power in reality… why would he risk himself in a death game like this?
Even if this guy had a backdoor that prevented death.
"Playing the game, obviously. Did you even think before asking that?"
Haruto replied casually.
The answer left Kayaba momentarily speechless.
In his mind, Haruto had come here to destroy SAO or save the trapped players. But up until now, everything Haruto had done… really was just playing the game.
If Haruto wanted to, with his backdoor access installed early on, he could've easily hacked SAO's system.
Kayaba no longer doubted that — not after witnessing Shiro's genius firsthand.