I am Gilgamesh, the King of Heroes.

Asuna, who screamed and ran over after seeing Kirito's sudden attack, stopped moving instantly upon seeing the message.

Kirito, Heathcliff, Klein, and the surrounding players remained completely still. In the silence, the system message slowly disappeared without a trace.

Jill sighed softly.

It was exposed so early on.

"Well, I know everyone's shocked, but let's pause for a moment." Jill drank another potion, letting her health bar slowly recover.

“In the system, there are only two types of immortal characters: NPCs and system administrators. But in this game, there are no more system administrators.” Jill raised an eyebrow. “So, isn’t that clear enough? Heathcliff, why don’t you just tell us who you are?”

"Or should I now call you Kayaba Akihiko?"

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Let's Begin Our Duel

"...Actually, ever since I came to this world, I've had one question...where exactly is that guy observing us and making adjustments to this world? But I've always forgotten a simple truth that even a child knows." Kirito looked directly at Heathcliff and continued:

“That is, ‘Nothing is more boring than standing on the sidelines watching people play role-playing games.’ Am I right… Kayaba Akihiko.”

A profound silence filled the surroundings, freezing everything completely.

Asuna, standing beside Kirito, slowly took a step forward. Her eyes seemed to be staring into some empty space, devoid of any emotion. Her lips moved slightly, and then a hoarse voice escaped her lips.

"Commander, is that really how it is...?"

Heathcliff nodded slightly, a wry smile playing on his lips—the first time he had shown any emotion on his face.

"I originally planned to announce this when I reached the 95th floor."

After slowly surveying all the players, the red-robed paladin's smile transformed into a serene grin, and he solemnly announced, "Indeed, I am Kayaba Akihiko. To put it more precisely, I am the final boss awaiting you all at the very top."

Just then, Kirito sensed that Asuna beside him was about to lose her balance. His gaze was still fixed on Kayaba, and he reached out his right hand to support Asuna. "...Your taste is really terrible. The strongest player has turned into the most ferocious final boss?"

“Isn’t it a great story?” Kayaba Akihiko replied.

At this moment, one of the players, who had seemed frozen in place, slowly stood up. He was one of the officers of the Knights of the Blood Oath. His small, seemingly resolute and taciturn eyes revealed a sorrowful and troubled emotion.

"You...you...you dare to...you've completely ruined our loyalty and hope!"

He gripped the massive axe-spear in his hand and charged out while roaring.

He swung his heavy weapon forcefully, smashing it towards the khaki yard—

However, Heathcliff was a step faster. With a flick of his left hand, he manipulated the window that had appeared, causing the man's body to stop in mid-air and fall to the ground with a loud thud.

Jill glanced at it; a green border was flashing on the player's HP bar. They were paralyzed.

Jill looked at Heathcliff and said, "Before you do these things, fulfill our agreement first."

“An agreement?” Klein looked at Gil. “Gil, you…”

“Don’t get me wrong, I have a duel with him, but it’s not for you.” Jill looked at Heathcliff. “It’s for myself. I have very important things to do, so I won’t stop here.”

“Gil, you know what? You're actually the one who surprised me the most.” Heathcliff looked at Gil. “As I expected, of the dozen or so unique skills, besides my Holy Sword and Dual Wielding which grants the fastest reaction speed to the player in the entire SAO, the Draw Sword Technique, which has the highest single-hit attack power, should be a skill almost on par with Dual Wielding.”

However, the skill of drawing the sword relies heavily on the assistance of teammates, but you're a solo player, and you've hardly ever used this skill, have you?

Kayaba Akihiko looked at Gil, "If you use the sword-drawing technique, you won't be able to act as the hero and defeat the Demon King (me)!"

“…You keep going on and on…” Jill looked at Heathcliff, “I never intended to use some kind of sword-drawing technique to win against you in the first place.”

The blade of the katana slowly revealed its fangs from its sheath. Jill looked at Heathcliff and said, "Unique skills and all that, it doesn't matter whether you have them or not. Anyway, I'm the one who won today."

"Then let's give it a try." Heathcliff swiped a few times on the panel in the void, and Jill and Heathcliff's health bars were instantly restored to full.

“I have removed my immortality. Come, let us fight here.” Heathcliff held a sword in one hand and a shield in the other, his eyes fixed on Jill.

Jill took a slow breath in and then exhaled.

"If I can beat you, then this game will be over, right? Anyway, the final boss has been defeated, so there's no need for these little guys in the middle to be any more obstacles, right?"

Jill put one hand behind her neck, stretched her neck, and asked.

“That’s right.” Heathcliff stared intently at Jill.

“Well, that’s fine.” Jill nodded. “Everyone, let’s step back a bit.”

The surrounding players gradually dispersed.

Jill held the "Engraver" in one hand. "Then, let's go."

“Ah, let our duel begin,” Heathcliff replied in a deep voice.

thump—

With that muffled thud, Jill appeared in front of Heathcliff.

"What..." The players present were so surprised that they couldn't speak.

Because what we are seeing is truly a shattering of common sense.

He arrived in front of Heathcliff in just a moment? How high must his agility stat be?

Even people who allocate all their points to Agility might not be this fast, right?

Of course not.

Because this is Jill's "natural" speed.

"Can the template import my real-world data?"

"System decryption initiated, system analysis complete, data import initiation initiated, import complete..."

Jill's physical stats are significantly higher than many others, even those of max-level players in the game.

Even a GM like Heathcliff, without adding BOSS attributes to himself, couldn't achieve what Jill has.

"Soul Flash Triple Strike!" Jill's attack was swift and powerful, sending Heathcliff flying in an instant.

"Thump!" Heathcliff slammed into the wall, his health bar instantly dropping to red.

“It’s alright… I’m using the BOSS’s panel right now, Gil, you [cheated] too, didn’t you?” Heathcliff stared at Gil and said.

Jill shrugged. "No, it's just that I've regained my original power, that's all."

The original power?

Heathcliff looked at Jill and said, "That's incredible."

“Well, that’s true, but you have quite a bit of health. Let me see… It would take about a dozen hits to take you down with that level of attack just now.” Gil held his sword in one hand. “However, I must say, that level wasn’t my full strength.”

Chapter 38 SAO, cleared!

"Even the most basic Soul Flash can inflict this much damage on you. So how many more moves can you withstand? Three? Or four?" Jill gripped her sword with both hands, the blade pointing at Heathcliff. "The answer is, no matter how many moves you can withstand, I can defeat you and bring this death game to a complete end!"

“You’re quite confident, Gil…” Heathcliff said, staring at Gil.

"Well, don't say that. What you should be doing is trying your best to avoid my next move, Heathcliff." Jill assumed a starting stance once again. "Well then, it's my turn."

Heathcliff tensed up and activated the system's auxiliary functions.

That was an assist system that could speed up his reactions in the game, and it was precisely because of this system that Heathcliff was able to barely block Kirito's attack at the last moment of his duel with Kirito.

However, it was precisely because of this that Gil and Kirito noticed something was wrong with Heathcliff and thus discovered his true identity.

But would this assistance system be useful to Jill?

Jill bent her body down sharply; that was the preparatory movement for a sprint.

Heathcliff was tense all over, even his nerves were taut.

The previous time, Jill was still standing upright and didn't make such an obvious sprinting motion; her speed was already so fast that he couldn't react.

Can he stop it this time?

He had considered launching the first attack.

But he can't be faster than Jill is now!

If we launch an attack first, we'll definitely be wiped out by Gil's combo. It's better to defend and counter-attack, which gives us a slight chance of winning.

At this moment, there was an eerie silence in the arena, as if everything was frozen in place, and the cold air swirled slowly.

The two men faced off in the arena, the intense pressure creating a suffocating atmosphere.

A minute later, the silence was broken.

Click...

I don't know which player, because of the suffocating pressure, moved slightly and made such a sound.

This sound that broke the silence also became the trigger for the start of the battle.

With a "whoosh," Jill's figure had already disappeared from the spot, and Heathcliff immediately used his eyes to catch the other's shadow.

From where will they attack? To the left? To the right? From behind? From above?

Heathcliff was getting a little anxious, but he overlooked one option.

That means a direct, frontal attack!

"Stop looking, it's right here!" A heavy attack landed directly on Heathcliff's shield.

"Ugh!" Heathcliff resisted with all his might, but was still sent flying backward.

It felt like a huge truck had just crashed into us!

Heathcliff watched his health bar drop another significant amount and gritted his teeth.

The second health bar was reduced to almost yellow; even a BOSS would lose a significant amount of health from this attack!

That skeleton hunter from before probably wouldn't last three minutes against Jill now!

"Don't get distracted, Heathcliff!" Jill followed again. "Show me the power you call the strongest player! Or show me the power befitting the name of the BOSS!"

Jill's speed is so fast that it is almost impossible to catch with the naked eye. You can only see a blur before the attack is right in front of you. It is almost impossible to defend against such a situation!

The saying goes, "In the world of martial arts, speed is the only way to break through defenses," and Jill is now perfectly demonstrating this.

"Thump!" Another heavy blow, and Heathcliff's second health bar instantly dropped to zero, while his third health bar even dropped by about 30%.

"...You must be kidding...This is practically cheating..." Klein clicked his tongue as he looked at Jill's afterimage.

"...But that's impossible, right? We were trapped here as soon as SAO launched, and for the past year and a half, we've lost all contact with the outside world...so it's impossible for a cheat to appear..." Kirito subconsciously denied Klein's statement.