I am Gilgamesh, the King of Heroes.

Jill blinked and glanced at the blacksmith.

Is it because of the tragic experience of consecutive failed enhancement attempts?

Generally, players would seek help from NPCs specializing in equipment enhancement, but typically, players have a much higher success rate than NPCs when it comes to forging equipment of the same level.

So, this man in front of me must have asked the blacksmith to help him strengthen it, but he failed, right?

The man was using an iron hammer, which required a higher skill level than the bronze hammer used by the NPCs on the street. That's why the helmeted man asked him to enhance his equipment, right?

Unfortunately, even with a high proficiency level, the success rate of weapon enhancement in SAO is not 100%.

Well, is the highest it can be around 99%?

Jill yawned, losing interest in the farce.

Let's find someone to upgrade our equipment.

After all, upgrading the equipment now will help with things later.

He looked at the blacksmith over there, the hammer... perhaps he could be the one?

"Are you here to watch the show?" A hand patted Jill on the shoulder.

Gil turned around and saw Kirito, who had been missing since the day his unique mission was completed.

"I'm just worried about upgrading my equipment. Speaking of which, I haven't seen you for three or four days. Did some girl ask you to go play somewhere?" Gil teased Kirito with a grin.

Kirito looked pained and sighed deeply, "...If only that were really the case..."

Looking at Kirito's bitter and resentful expression, Gil felt like he had seen that expression somewhere before.

Hmm... never mind, I'd rather not think about it.

"Well, let's go. Want to explore the maze area again? I just came out of there, though." Jill smiled with her eyes narrowed and sent a request to join a party.

"Since you're free, I can keep you company too," Kirito said with a shrug.

……

“…Sizzle…Sizzle…”

"...The template has exhausted its reserve energy. It will take at least two years, and at most three years, for the template to recover..." The blond youth fiddled with the instrument in his hand. "Fortunately, the time flow rate in higher dimensions and fantasy worlds is 1:200, so the template should recover in about six or seven days..."

The black-haired youth's eyebrows twitched incessantly. "Why aren't you participating in the battle of Azdaqah? What are you doing here?"

"Hey, Chenxi, is it necessary to give me such a cold shoulder?" the blond-haired youth asked with a soft laugh.

"Otto, what are you doing? That demon king in front of us—" Chen—no, it would be more appropriate to call him Chen Xi, grabbed Otto by the collar and asked coldly.

“It should be said that we owe it all to Jill’s efforts… We had a lot of time, a full three months.” Otto smiled. “The simulation of Another cosmology, the Enuma Elish, simulating the all-out attack at the moment of creation, when the stars were in motion…”

“An enemy struck by the Enuma Elish, if he is a god, will be banished to the universe; if he is not a god, even if he survives the blow, his spirit will be greatly weakened…” Otto raised the corners of his mouth. “He did what none of us could do. Az Dakkaha is now in his weakest state.”

“You could say that…” Otto gently removed Chenxi’s hand, “He left himself a way out. So, he must have already opened those eyes…”

……

"Huh? A BOSS strategy meeting?" Jill asked as she slashed down a monster with her sword.

"Yeah, the meeting to figure out how to defeat the boss on the first floor was already over, but then the boss died," Kirito said.

"Emmm... Well then, I'll go check it out then... BOSS Strategy Meeting."

Chapter Seventeen BOSS Strategy, Begins!

2022 12 Month 14 Day.

Today marks the tenth day since the first floor boss was defeated.

Including Jill, a total of forty-eight people arrived at the waiting area in front of the BOSS on the second floor.

The eight teams that gather to challenge the BOSS, also known as the Raid, have a maximum of forty-eight players.

“Hmm…” Jill murmured as she flipped through the BOSS information sold by Argo.

Jill had previously bought a guide for the first floor's boss, but the things mentioned in it...

wrong.

For example, the weapons of the boss after its health bar enters the danger zone.

Jill remembered that the boss that guarded the gate switched to a nodachi.

However, this document records something quite different...

Jill muttered to herself as she looked at the BOSS gate ahead.

I'll talk about this later.

At that moment, a team-up request popped up in front of Jill.

"...?" Agil sent a congratulatory... oops, I mean a team-up request.

Jill glanced at the bald, muscular man waving at her.

Then, seeing Kirito and Asuna beside him, he nodded slightly and clicked the "agree" button.

Gil accepted Agil's request to join the party, and six HP bars appeared on the left side of his vision. At this time, there were still fifteen minutes left before the scheduled start time of the strategy.

The noise coming from the front of the safe zone gradually subsided. Jill glanced over and saw two players standing in front of the tightly closed door of the BOSS room.

One was a man with blue hair, wearing silver armor. The other was a man with spiky hair and a somewhat sleazy appearance.

"I am Diabel... I once organized your team to participate in the first level boss battle strategy... Although the boss has been defeated by an unknown team, this time we have discovered the location of the boss in advance. I believe many of you have already read the boss strategy guide I have distributed. There are a few things you should pay attention to."

Diabel, a young man with blue hair and silver metal armor, had met Jill once before, on the second day after the second floor opened. He had wanted to ask Jill if she knew of any teams that could defeat the boss.

Then he was interrupted by Jill's combo attack.

He didn't bother Jill again after that, so Jill didn't have much of an impression of him.

"Alright, let's form teams! Of the eight teams, A, B, and C are our [Dragon Knights], D, E, and F are Mr. Fang's [Liberation Team], G is Mr. Orlando's [Bra Ves] who just joined this time, and H is the remaining players. The division of responsibilities is as follows: teams A to F will be responsible for attacking the BOSS, while teams G and H will clear out the mobs around the BOSS..."

"...That's it. Now let's work hard and strive to reach the third level today!" Diabel said.

"Oh!" Many people echoed Diabel's words.

Seeing that the time was right, Jill raised her hand and said, "Please wait a moment, I have something to say."

Diabel paused for a moment when he saw Gil walk up, then a look of surprise appeared in his eyes.

"You were one of the team members who participated in the battle against the first level's boss, right?" Diabel's words drowned out the surrounding voices saying, "Kids, don't cause trouble."

“Yes, I have something to say.” Gil looked at Diabel. “The boss on this floor may not be exactly the same as the one in the walkthrough.”

“What…” Jill’s words startled Diabel.

"This strategy guide contains information about the first floor's boss from the closed beta test..."

Jill said, "This says that the BOSS will switch attack modes once its health bar reaches the danger line, right?"

Diabel nodded. "That's certainly true..."

"The attack mode that was switched to, according to the records, is a scimitar..." Jill shook her head, "but I'm facing an attack from a nodachi (great sword)."

Then, these words caused the expressions of some people around who had just realized what was happening to change.

“Yes, a closed beta is just a closed beta.” Jill put away the strategy guide. “The content for the test still needs to be revised before it goes live, doesn’t it?”

"So..." Diabel's expression also turned somewhat grim, "You mean, the boss on the second floor will also have modifications?"

Jill nodded. "Very likely. I remember there was a mention of the BOSS's guards here, right?"

Jill flipped through the book, "A guard team roughly equivalent to a mid-level monster boss, there was only one during the closed beta..."

"So, it's possible that there are multiple guards...?" Diabel frowned and said.

“Yes,” Jill nodded. “Be prepared. Oh, and there’s one more thing I haven’t mentioned…”

Jill walked towards the door of the BOSS room. "When the first BOSS was defeated, there wasn't anything like a [strategy team]..."

"Thump..." As Jill moved, the door opened.

"From beginning to end, I was the only one who defeated the boss on the first floor!"

"Oh, by the way..." Jill smiled, her eyes narrowing, "Actually, I'm not very good at team play..."

Immediately afterwards, a welcoming ceremony, seemingly mocking the players, took place once again, and the entire BOSS room lit up.

Standing at the deepest part of the room is the boss guarding the second floor.

Beneath its deep red, short-haired skin, muscles bulged prominently. A luxurious golden strip of cloth wrapped around its waist, and its upper body displayed the robust muscles of the minotaur race. The chains hanging from its shoulders were also golden. The warhammers it gripped tightly in both hands also shone with a dazzling golden luster.

It's worth mentioning that many of the monsters in the second level's maze area are minotaurs, and the boss's skills are just extended versions of those of the regular minions.

An extended version with a debuff.

The attacks that monsters launch at players can be divided into two main categories in the system.

One type reduces HP, which is achieved through direct attacks.

Another type is the [DEBUFF attack], which doesn't reduce HP even if you get hit, but can sometimes cause very dangerous situations.

Kayaba Akihiko, who designed this death game, probably at least considered taking care of novice players. The monsters and bosses inhabiting the first-level labyrinth area almost never use debuff attacks.

That boss could actually inflict a debuff, but unfortunately it encountered a more aggressive player.

"Moo—" With this sound, the BOSS's eyes lit up.

The second level boss battle begins!

Is Chapter 18 not the real boss guarding the gate?

"Ha... bastard, come on!" Gil didn't listen to any instructions and instantly left the party to charge straight at the BOSS!

"Hey!" Diabel was startled by Gil's audacious act and frowned.

"Tch, who cares if he dies? That arrogant brat, I don't believe he can take down that BOSS by himself." Ya Wang spat and cursed.

"Tch, let's go too!" Kirito and Agil didn't just stand by and watch Gil, but rushed forward as well.

"At least take care of that guard first—" Diabel ordered decisively.

"Come on, come on, come on!" Jill felt her blood boiling.