I am Gilgamesh, the King of Heroes.

“Well then, everyone, follow me.” After looking everyone over, Heathcliff’s gaze lingered on Jill at the back of the group. Heathcliff then flipped his red robes and stepped into the blue light.

His figure was instantly enveloped in a dazzling flash of light, then vanished. The four members of the Blood Oath Knights immediately followed him inside.

At some point, a large number of players gathered around the transfer gate plaza. They were probably there to see off the members of the strategy team after hearing about the boss battle.

Amidst the rousing shouts, one swordsman after another leaped into the Corridor of Light, heading towards their destination.

In the end, only Kirito, Asuna, and Gil were left.

Kirito and Asuna exchanged a glance and nodded slightly. Holding hands, they jumped into the vortex of light at the same time.

Jill jumped into the vortex as well. After a slight dizzying sensation, she opened her eyes to find herself in a maze.

This is a fairly wide corridor. Thick pillars line the walls, and at the very front, you can see a huge door.

This is exactly where Jill left this morning. It's in front of the door of the boss's room on the 75th floor.

The 75th floor of the maze is made of a transparent stone similar to obsidian.

Unlike the roughly cut, uneven surface of the lower labyrinth, the floor here is made of black stones polished to a mirror-like finish arranged in straight lines.

The air near this corridor was cold and damp, with a light mist slowly swirling around the ground.

Jill felt a bit cold, wrapped her coat tighter around herself, and her expression became more serious.

This battle is bound to be exceptionally difficult. Jill raised her hand and checked her equipment.

His armor and weapons had been upgraded to the highest level, and a second knife with special attributes was ready... Then he touched the bag on his thigh.

It contained potions, including purification potions and life potions, all of which were top-tier potions made by the alchemist Gil.

Jill gripped the blade at her waist with her left hand, her expression turning serious.

After materializing his cross shield in the center of the corridor, Heathcliff's entire body trembled, causing the equipment to make a sound. He then spoke, "Is everyone ready? There is absolutely no information about the boss's attack patterns this time. Basically, our Blood Oath Knights will act as the vanguard to withstand the enemy's attacks. Then, everyone will take this opportunity to identify its attack patterns and launch counterattacks randomly. Follow Gil's commands and dodge the attacks."

Everyone nodded silently.

"Then—let's go."

After saying that, Heathcliff walked directly to the obsidian door and placed his right hand in the center of the door.

The door was slowly pushed open, and the cold air inside made Jill perk up, her crimson snake eyes becoming even sharper.

Finally, Heathcliff, who had drawn his longsword from the inside of his cross shield, raised his right hand and shouted, "The battle begins!"

The BOSS room is a vast, egg-shaped space. The curved walls gradually extend upwards, curving and converging only in the far upper reaches.

As all thirty-three people entered the room and formed a natural formation, the door behind them slammed shut with a loud bang.

This door probably won't be able to be opened until the leader dies or the entire raid group is wiped out.

A few seconds of silence followed. Although they kept their eyes on the wide open ground, the leader still hadn't appeared.

Time seemed to stretch everyone's nerves to their limit, passing by second by second.

"Hey—" Someone finally spoke up, unable to bear it any longer, right at that moment...

"Attention above! Everyone, spread out!" Jill shouted.

Jill's words made the players look up at the top of the room. It was something enormous and long.

Centipede—that was the only word that came to Jill's mind when she saw that figure.

That boss must have been about ten meters long. Its body, composed of numerous segments, resembled a human spine more than an insect.

Each of the grayish-white cylindrical segments extended a pair of sharp, bony legs. Following the monster's body forward, one could see a ferocious-looking skull at the gradually thickening front. And it wasn't a human skull.

The bone, twisted into a streamlined shape, has two pairs of eye sockets, four in total, that jut out high, with blue flames flickering inside.

The entire lower jawbone protrudes forward, lined with sharp teeth, and on either side of the skull are huge, sickle-shaped bone arms that jut outward.

Once you focus your gaze on it, the monster's name will appear along with a yellow arrow.

[The Skull reaper] - The Skeleton Hunter.

Under the silent, terrified gaze of everyone, the skeletal centipede slowly crawled up the ceiling, its countless legs wriggling. Suddenly, all its legs stretched out wide and fell from directly above the line of people.

Jill's words did have some effect; all the teams had already dispersed, leaving only Jill beneath the enormous monster.

Jill pushed off the ground with her right foot and moved out of that area. Boom! A heavy rumble echoed across the ground, and Jill's crimson eyes became extremely serious.

Those sharp, scythe-like arms could probably reduce a player's HP to zero in an instant.

"Attention everyone! Heavy infantry, defend! The rest of you, take cover!" Jill's voice was impassioned. "Leave the first strike to me!"

Chapter Thirty-Six: Or should I call you Kayaba Akihiko?

Jill took the lead and charged towards the skeleton hunter.

The Bone Hunter immediately stared at Jill, letting out a sharp roar, and slashed down with its left scythe.

In that instant, Jill saw a vision of taking a direct hit and her entire body turning into fragments.

So he changed his strategy, pushed off the ground with his right foot, turned around, avoided the scythe's direct hit, and charged at the Bone Hunter once again.

When Jill's katana struck the Bone Hunter, reducing its first health bar by less than 4%, Jill clicked her tongue and said, "This thing is really tough."

At that moment, the Skeleton Hunter's right scythe also stabbed fiercely towards Jill.

"Clang!" A crisp sound rang out, and only then did Jill notice that Heathcliff had blocked the attack of the scythe on the other side.

Jill steadied herself. "Attention everyone! Attack the boss from the side. Heathcliff and I will handle the frontal attacks!"

This is a boss that can only be fought using this method.

The two strongest players will hold off the BOSS's attacks, while the remaining players will launch a frontal assault.

However, SAO has always had one setting.

That is, in the villages surrounding the maze area, there will always be a quest related to BOSS information.

Jill only learned about that mission during the 50th floor raid.

Agil, who led the reinforcements that time, explained this matter, and because of this, the second half of the 50th floor BOSS raid went much more smoothly.

However, before this 75th floor BOSS challenge, Jill had tried to complete the quests, but without exception, she had no information about the BOSS.

Therefore, Jill also has no specific information about this BOSS.

So, this is really terrible.

At that moment, the Bone Hunter's bone scythe swept horizontally, slashing fiercely in Jill's direction.

Jill managed to withstand the attack, but her health bar dropped a little.

"Tsk!" Jill gritted her teeth, her eyes turning serious.

This is a formidable enemy.

"Don't be so arrogant, you bastard!" Jill suddenly shifted her position, dissipating the immense force exerted by the scythe.

Then, he started running along the Skeleton Hunter's scythe.

Seeing this, Kirito, who had witnessed Gil's final blow to the boss on the 74th floor, showed surprise in his eyes.

"Ultimate Sword Technique - Shape Breaking - Fiery Spiral Sword Dance!" Jill's attacks slashed at the Skeleton Hunter's massive skull one after another. When the sixteenth and final sword struck the Skeleton Hunter's eye socket, the Skeleton Hunter let out a sharp roar and its movements became much slower!

Kirito noticed this scene after dodging the attacks of the Skeleton Hunter's legs.

“Jill, the eye socket! That guy’s weak point is the eye socket!” he shouted, reminding Jill.

“I know!” Jill shouted back. After landing back on the ground, he took another step, jumped up, and delivered a heavy blow to the skeleton hunter’s eye socket.

The Bone Hunter's movements became sluggish once again, and the players who were originally within its attack range quickly retreated to avoid the attack.

A second later, the Skeleton Hunter's attack landed on the ground, kicking up countless specks of dust.

"Attack! Don't waste this time!"

Jill issued another order, and the players launched another attack on the Bone Hunter.

……

The battle lasted a full hour.

When the seemingly endless battle finally ended, and the boss monster's massive body scattered everywhere, no one among the players had the strength to cheer. Some collapsed onto the obsidian floor, while others lay on the ground, panting heavily.

Jill planted her longsword on the ground, her crimson eyes gleaming.

The battle just now might not seem like much to others, but for Jill, it was quite physically and mentally taxing.

He reached out, took out a bottle of medicine, unscrewed the cap, and drank it.

As the health bar slowly returned from yellow to the green safety line, Jill breathed a sigh of relief.

"How many people were killed in total...?" Klein, who was squatting on the ground from exhaustion, picked up his head and asked Jill in a hoarse voice.

Agil, who was lying on his back next to Klein with his arms and legs outstretched, also turned his face toward Jill.

He waved his right hand and summoned the map, counting the green dots on it.

The total number of casualties can be deduced by working backward from the number of people at the start.

“…No one was killed.” Jill said this.

Perhaps because of this statement, the atmosphere in the BOSS room on the 75th floor was no longer so unbearable.

At that moment, Gil noticed that Kirito seemed to be making some kind of small movement.

Kirito sprinted at full speed, skimming the floor, covering the distance in an instant, his right hand gripping the sword as he thrust upwards. It appeared to be a basic one-handed sword dash technique called "Angry Thrust."

With astonishing speed, Heathcliff noticed the sword tip, trailing a pale blue flash, approaching from his left, and his eyes widened in surprise. He immediately raised his left-hand shield to defend himself.

However, Kirito's sword changed course sharply in mid-air, grazing the edge of the shield and stabbing towards Heathcliff's chest.

Just as Kirito's sword was about to pierce his chest, it struck an invisible wall. The powerful impact traveled from the sword to Kirito's arm.

A purple flash exploded, and a message appeared between Kirito and Heathcliff, also displayed in purple—the system color.

“Immortal Object”

That is, immortal existence.

For players, this is an attribute that is absolutely impossible to possess.

"Kirito, what are you doing—"