I'm a Sword Master in Sword Art Online

The lines, as if alive, instantly converged into concentric circles beneath his feet.

At the last second, he leaped backward to dodge, the massive black arm whistling past his nose—

Mochizuki Kaede's lightning blade slashed down, crackling with electricity.

Asuna's elven sword transformed into an emerald-colored meteor.

Argo's steel claws flashed three times.

At the same time, the girl in the white hat named Yuna lightly touched the strings of the lute with her slender fingers. The melodious music transformed into physical light patterns, and the [Defense Decrease] debuff on everyone dissipated, increasing their attack power. Meanwhile, the silent [Death] suddenly attacked, her huge amethyst scythe drawing a deadly arc in the air.

The four attacks struck simultaneously, and the massive black arm writhed in agony amidst dazzling skill effects. The giant face on the ceiling roared in fury, and the first health bar visibly dwindled.

Just as the BOSS's injured arm retracted back into the floor, its gigantic face suddenly opened its blood-red maw, and the emblem on its forehead flashed a dangerous red light—

"call out--!"

A streak of silver light flashed through the air first, and Silica's Crescent Moon Wheel struck the emblem on the giant face's forehead with perfect arc. With a crisp "clang," the red emblem instantly faded back to blue, and the roar that was about to be unleashed was abruptly interrupted.

The giant face seemed to wince in pain, its eyes snapping shut and shrinking back into the ceiling. The spinning moon wheel traced a graceful arc in the air before returning steadily to Silica's hand.

Chapter 77: Complete Form

"The emblem on your forehead is a weakness!"

A glint flashed in Mochizuki Kaede's eyes as she gave Silica a thumbs-up by the wall. The girl's cheeks flushed slightly, but she immediately readjusted her fighting stance.

The moment the blue lines on the ground came to a standstill, a huge concentric circle mark suddenly appeared on the ceiling.

"above!"

Wang Yuefeng shouted, and the crowd quickly scattered. The golem's giant foot, accompanied by a strong wind, slammed down, but was attacked by the players the instant it landed.

The lightning blade, the elven sword, and the scythe struck simultaneously, the golem's dark foot trembling violently in the skill's glow. Yuna's harp music rang out at the opportune moment, granting everyone an attack buff. Argo seized the opportunity to circle to the side, his steel claws tearing viciously at the golem's ankle.

With everyone working together seamlessly, the BOSS's health bar was rapidly reduced.

Mochizuki Kaede stepped on the line to lure in an attack, while the others took the opportunity to focus fire.

Whenever the golem's giant face was about to unleash its roar, Silica's Crescent Moon Wheel always managed to interrupt it in time. Within just half an hour, they successfully eliminated the BOSS's first, second, and even third health bars.

When the BOSS's fourth health bar drops to half—

"Brother Feng! Look at the wall!" Silica's panicked cry suddenly rang out.

Mochizuki Kaede whirled around and saw blue lines spreading from the floor and ceiling toward the previously black walls. These lines connected with each other in a bizarre motion reminiscent of primitive creatures, gradually filling the gaps in the walls.

In the blink of an eye, the entire space became like a prison fence.

The giant face that had been stuck to the ceiling since it appeared had vanished without a trace.

Since the boss still has three health bars left, the battle is clearly not over yet. Looking at the blue lines on the floor, walls, and ceiling, they are still moving wildly, as if the entire room has come alive.

"Where did the giant face go..." Mochizuki Kaede's Adam's apple bobbed as an ominous premonition washed over him. He looked up at the vast ceiling, gripping the thunder blade in his hand even tighter.

The next moment──

"what!"

Then Yuna's mournful cry was heard.

Mochizuki Kaede suddenly turned her head to look at Yuna.

Where the stairs were originally, the BOSS's pitch-black giant face slowly rose up! Yuna's waist and below were being tightly bitten by that blood-red maw. Her slender fingers were digging into the golem's metal lips, but she couldn't break free.

"The stairs... the stairs have turned into the golem's mouth!" Asuna's voice was filled with panic as she desperately grabbed Yuna's arm, trying to pull her out of the golem's mouth.

The boss's face disappearing from the ceiling and reappearing on the floor was terrifying enough in itself. But what's worse is that the downward staircase, which was originally the only escape route, has turned into the boss's mouth.

This means they are completely trapped in this death cage!

Yuna's armor was constantly emitting blinding red damage effects. Although her health had not yet dropped, anyone could see that once the armor shattered, she would face fatal damage.

Miss Death's amethyst scythe was already raised, but the blue lines that were moving wildly across the ground made it impossible for her to move an inch.

"Silica! Attack the emblem on the golem's forehead with the Moon Wheel!" Mochizuki Kaede shouted.

“No, there’s no emblem on the golem’s head!” Silica said.

Nothing? Mochizuki Kaede stared at the BOSS's enormous head. The place where the emblem should have appeared on the forehead was now completely empty.

The golem's gaping metal mouth seemed to mock their despair.

"The emblem must still be somewhere!" Mochizuki Kaede's thoughts raced like lightning.

He gripped the Thunder Blade tightly and decisively issued the order: "Silica, Argo, Miss Death! Activate the mechanism to make the golem's hands and feet appear! The weakness mark has likely transferred to other limbs!"

After saying that, Mochizuki Kaede precisely adjusted her position and stepped her left foot toward the blue line.

With a "whoosh!" the blue lines on the ground instantly converged into concentric circles, and he used the momentum to leap backward. Almost simultaneously, the golem's left arm burst from the ground, and the right arm in front of Argo, the left foot above Silica, and the right foot near Miss Death also appeared one after another.

Mochizuki Kaede moved swiftly around the golem's left arm, her sharp gaze sweeping over every inch of its surface, yet she could not find any emblem.

Cold sweat trickled down his forehead. If he misjudged, Yuna would...

"—Found it!!"

Silica's shout rang out.

Mochizuki Kaede quickly turned around and saw the girl pointing at the back of the golem's left knee.

There, the light of heraldry shone brightly!

However, Silica was so focused on her search that she didn't completely avoid the shockwave from the giant foot and fell to the ground, unable to get up.

"Rumble..." The golem's giant feet began to rise, and the emblems on its knees were about to ascend into the sky, beyond the normal attack range.

"Don't think about it!"

With a roar, Wang Yuefeng's Water Boots erupted with a brilliant blue light, granting him an unprecedented boost to agility. He transformed into a blur, charging forward with his Thunder Blade in a thrusting stance—his longest-range leaping attack!

"boom!"

The lightning blade pierced precisely into the emblem behind the golem's left knee, and golden lightning instantly spread across the entire giant leg like a spider web.

The golem roared deafeningly, the sound waves spurting Yuna out of its massive maw, and Yuna's white cloak shattered into countless particles of light in mid-air.

Asuna caught the falling Yuna and quickly poured a healing potion into her mouth. At the same time, the giant golem face on the ground sank into the floor in agony, revealing the original staircase passage.

"Phew..." Mochizuki Kaede let out a long sigh of relief, but the battle was far from over.

"Ooh... Ooh... Ooh..."

An eerie laugh came from above.

The golem's giant face reappeared on the ceiling.

Although the emblem has returned to its forehead, it is unknown when it will disappear again.

The situation in the ensuing battles was far from stable, but fortunately, no one was seriously injured.

The group has gradually mastered the rhythm of dealing with it. Whenever the giant face of the golem appears on the ground, Mochizuki Kaede will immediately direct the others to lock onto the location of the emblem.

And so, after nearly half an hour, they successfully destroyed the golem's fourth and fifth health bars, finally bringing forth the last one.

"—Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh!"

On the ceiling, the golem's giant face suddenly erupted with a deafening roar, its ring-shaped eyes turning crimson.

Argo immediately became alert: "The pattern is about to change again! Everyone on high alert!"

Everyone took out healing potions from their inventory and drank them.

At the same time, the blue lines that filled the room began to shrink rapidly, spreading outwards like a receding tide to the surrounding walls, eventually converging on the giant golem face in the center of the ceiling.

The blue lines that had been giving everyone a headache disappeared, and the floor returned to its normal black surface. Mochizuki Kaede and the others quickly gathered together, assuming a fighting stance.

Familiar concentric circle markings appeared at the front of the golem's giant face, from which giant hands and feet slowly emerged, and finally even the complete torso gradually appeared.

"Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh!"

With a deafening roar, the fifth-floor boss, [Void Golem o Fosgus], finally revealed its full form.

A giant humanoid golem, over ten meters tall, suddenly detached from the ceiling!

Chapter 78: Miss Death

“Back off—!”

Before Mochizuki Kaede's warning could even finish, everyone had already swiftly retreated to the south side. With a deafening roar, the ten-meter-tall behemoth crashed to the ground.

Its massive body surface was covered with dense blue lines.

At this moment, the lines that were originally glowing blue are gradually turning into a blood-red color, starting from the golem's face.

"Ooh ooh ooh ooh—!"

With its third roar, the golem raised its hammer-like arm high, its terrifying aura seemingly ready to crush everything.

"Destroy its last HP bar with all your might!" Wang Yuefeng's lightning blade burst forth with dazzling lightning.

Miss Death struck first, her amethyst scythe, wreathed in a dark purple light, slashing deadly through the air towards the golem's knee joint.

Mochizuki Kaede and Asuna exchanged a knowing glance, and simultaneously launched their attacks. The lightning blade, leaving afterimages of a double strike, slammed heavily into the golem's thick, ancient tree-like left calf. As soon as the skill's recovery animation ended, he shouted, "Switch!" and swiftly retreated.

Asuna leaped out gracefully like a dancer, her elven sword drawing emerald light in the air.

The sword lights, crisscrossing each other, struck the same spot precisely, sparks flying from the metal colliding.

Silica, leaning against the wall in the distance, assumed a stable stance reminiscent of a full moon, her eyes fixed on the BOSS, ready to strike its weakness at any moment. Meanwhile, Yuna was completely focused on the team's status; the moment the team received the [Defense Decrease] debuff, she would swiftly pluck the strings of her [Lute] to unleash a skill, successfully negating the [Defense Decrease] debuff.

"Now this is more like a boss battle!"

Asuna nimbly retreated, murmuring softly. Upon hearing this, Mochizuki Kaede's lips curled into a fleeting smile, giving her companion a brief, genuine glimpse of her comrade.

"Hmm... Next, let's attack other parts and find areas with weak defenses."

Upon hearing this, Asuna nodded slightly, then flicked her wrist, causing her chestnut hair to flutter as the elven sword flashed sharply in her hand.

Finally, the BOSS's last health bar was reduced to a pitiful single bar.

At this moment, Miss Death was single-handedly fending off the BOSS's frenzied, tornado-like arm attacks. In the fierce clash, her purple cloak fluttered wildly in the strong wind.

During a brief lull in the defense, she suddenly nodded slightly in the direction of Mochizuki Kaede.

Mochizuki Kaede understood immediately, gripped the [Thunder Blade] tightly, and charged forward with all her might.

The buff from the Water Boots greatly increased his speed.

He then charged straight at the curved wall, continuing to run along it without stopping.

He ran until he could climb no further, then took a deep breath, exerted all his strength, and leaped into the air.

The golem's giant face rapidly magnified in its field of vision, its red, ring-shaped eyes seemingly drawn to Wang Yuefeng's movements, their focus constantly narrowing and locking onto the figure charging towards it.

"Ughh ...

The golem roared, its bellow carrying an overwhelming pressure.

But Mochizuki Kaede did not back down at all; her eyes were filled with determination: "Is this the end?"

The lightning blade in his hand instantly activated its sword technique, spinning wildly at high speed like the coaxial main rotor of a helicopter.

He seized the opportunity and brought his lightning blade down with deadly force, striking precisely the red emblem on the golem's forehead. One strike, two strikes, three strikes, and finally a fourth strike, as golden rays of light were successively etched onto the emblem.

The emblem seemed unable to withstand the force and slowly peeled off the golem's forehead, turning into countless particles of light that dissipated into the air. At the same time, the golem's ring-shaped eyes began to flicker irregularly, like light bulbs about to go out.

The red lines running across the golem grew increasingly dazzling, their light so bright it was blinding. Then, several flame-like flashes emerged from these red lines, dancing wildly in the air.

The next second, the enormous body of the fifth floor boss, [Void Golem o Fosgus], exploded right before everyone's eyes.

Mochizuki Kaede landed slowly, kneeling on one knee and panting, with the system notification "[Final Hit Reward]" still floating in front of her.

The golem's disappearance effect was more spectacular than any previous boss fight; blue data streams burst open in the room like fireworks before gradually fading away. For a moment, the entire space fell into an eerie silence, broken only by the rapid breathing of the group.

Suddenly, the sensation under my feet changed.

The originally smooth, black crystal-like ground gradually lost its luster, revealing the unique blue-black stone texture of the labyrinth tower.

"Rumble..."