>>>>>

After an hour of marching, the army of players finally arrived at the gate of the floor boss room. Upon the arrival, everyone becomes quiet and has a serious look, knowing this raid outcome would decide their future. Despite the calm situation, most of the players actually not calm at all. The majority of them were afraid and concerned-- but there are also a good chunk of players who were also enthusiastic and excited about the raid.

However, it doesn't matter what they feel right now. Since they agreed to participate in this raid, all of them knew that they only have one purpose-- to defeat the final boss and bring freedom to everyone. 

Otherwise, they would have no future.

These raid participants were filled with all the strongest players in the game, wearing all the strongest equipment possible, that's only possible because all the investment funds came from all the players.

If they failed to win this, there would be no second chance to finish this game. If the formation of the strongest players can't finish the game,  then it would be impossible for weaker players to finish the game. That's how much important it is to win this raid.

Everyone was obviously aware of this fact, especially Kaito himself who acted as the leader.

"..." 

Unlike on the colosseum, Kaito doesn't say anything at this moment... only calmly stood in front of the big gate.

There is no need for any speech to the players since he already said everything needs to inform before coming to this gate. Now, what he needs to do is lead this raid, and he also can't show any moment of hesitation or weakness otherwise it would affect the morale of the players around him.

"Let's go." 

...

While saying that, Kaito then slowly push the gate open and entered the boss room calmly, followed by the rest of the participants shortly after.

>>>>>

After all the players finally entered the boss room, they immediately found themselves in a huge space arena with nothing else surrounding them. Still, none of the players drop their vigilance, aware the boss should have appeared very soon.

And they were right... A few seconds later, a giant construction of a magic circle suddenly appeared on the floor in opposite direction far from them-- and it summoned the final boss with the name 'Incarnation of the Radius'

A colossal monster that looks like both a goddess and a beast, with a white body, red eyes, a feminine face, and several red orbs on its head, which extends above and behind its body to waist length, forming six long, sword-like appendages with a red orb at the bulge on each of them. The boss has two arms, wielding a crimson sword in its right hand, and a spear with a redhead and black handle in its left.

...

Looking at the boss's very intimidating appearance, some of the players can't help but once again be concerned about this raid.

*Gulp*

"The boss is huge... Even though we already know about the boss's appearance from the information, it is still very shocking to see it directly" 

"Can we... Defeat this boss?"

"D-Don't worry, we just need to follow the strategy."

"Y-Yeah, we are also aware of every attack pattern this boss got, so it should be fine?"

"We have 300 players here... We should be able to win!"

...

While the players commented behind his back, Kaito quickly unsheathed his sword, aware that it was best for them to move now. Clearly, The boss won't wait for them to attack later, so they should use this chance to get close to the boss first.

...

"Time to defeat the boss, let's go, everyone!"

""Ooohhh!!!""

Hearing Kaito shout, the rest of the players followed him shortly after also quickly equip their swords. Kaito quickly lead the way, followed by hundreds of players behind him with high spirits.

Uta also took this chance to start singing (using an item that Kayaba already create before he lost his admin privilege) which effectively increase the morale of the players to fight against the boss.

Ado - New Genesis (Youtube Link)

...!!!

"Uta-sama is with us!"

"We must win this battle!"

"For Uta-sama!"

The boss who just appeared in the area immediately noticed an army of players approaching him. In response, he quickly released a ton of colorful projectiles aimed toward the players' army.

...!!

"Block team, Block it! It's coming!!" Kaito warned immediately.

Hearing Kaito yell, everyone quickly follows his order and then stops rushing toward the boss. The block squad quickly stood in forefront of the army, putting their shield down, while the rest of the attack squad retreated behind them to get protected.

"Shield, Ready!" A player who is supposed to be captain of the block squad yelled.

*BOOM* *BOOM*

...!!!

Upon the impact, multiple explosions covered the half area of the room... And it affects the area where the army of players stands. Fortunately, thanks to the block squads that were 100% prepared, most of the players were safely protected from the explosion. Although the players were not unscathed from it, some of their HP bars either dropped into yellow just because of the explosion damage alone. 

Even so, this situation doesn't make the players afraid. They know this would happen and then by drinking the recovery potion on their inventory-- their health quickly back to full again.

After the projectile attack period is done, the army of players continued their advance, to approach the boss.

Seeing that his attack seems to be ineffective, the boss changed his method of attack and tried to charge a laser beam from his eyes that should obliterate the player's army-- as it was a much stronger attack than the projectiles. 

...!!

Unfortunately for the boss, someone quickly intercept and forced him to cancel his charged attack.

Kirito and Asuna who was running separately from the army of players earlier didn't get targeted by the projectiles attack and already arrived in front of the boss faster than others.

"Let's go, Asuna!"

"Yes!"

Kirito then jump out and tried to deliver a skill attack to the boss's leg--- only to be blocked by the boss's magic shield. 

'Sonic Leap'

*NGGGG*

...!!

(A/N: The boss shield illustration)

Although, none of them were surprised since the shield was in the information. In fact, their first task was to break the shield before the army of players arrived... Thus, they need to do it fast.

"Switch!" (Kirito)

'Linear!'

*NGGGG*

...!!

"Switch!!" (Asuna)

...

'As expected of the duo protagonist! They are doing an amazing job!'  Kaito thought, looking at the coordination attack between Kirito and Asuna.

The boss who has canceled his charged laser attack, now immediately targets Kirito and Asuna who tried to attack him by swinging his colossal sword toward both of them.

"Retreat!!" Kirito yelled.

*BAMM*

...!!

Asuna and Kirito who obviously see this attack coming quickly retreated, barely avoiding the attack.

*BAMM*

*BAMM*

*BAMM*

The boss continues chasing them, and both of them barely avoid his attack every time since the boss is undoubtedly much faster and bigger than them. The only reason why both of them able to avoid the attack is because the attack still is straightforward and they aware of the pattern itself, otherwise it would be easy for them to get killed once they got hit-- which makes the situation is dangerous for both of them.

Kaito who never stop running in the midst of projectile attacks earlier (and has the highest move speed stats among the players) finally also arrived close to the boss alongside his party members who followed him.

Looking at Kirito/Asuna's situation, Kaito quickly delivered a skill from behind the boss. (as Kirito's position was in the opposite direction to Kaito's). Like Kirito, Kaito's purpose was to break the shield before the army of players arrived-- and this is a perfect chance for him to deliver an attack.

'Horizontal Arc!'

Kaito who executed the skill made a horizontal swing from left to right, followed by a second horizontal swing from right to left with his sword.

...!!!

*NGGGG*

*NGGGG*

"What a tough shield! Kayaba, you bastard!"

Although the shield is not breaking, it was enough to take the aggro from Kirito to him, thanks to Kaito's attack stat being much higher than his attack earlier-- making the boss quickly judge that Kaito is much more threatening than Kirito.

...!!

Noticing the boss is turning around and going to attack him from now on, Kaito didn't feel panic and was prepared-- because the reason why he was able to rush here unscathed in the middle of a projectile attack was that he was never alone in the first place.

"Switch!" 

*Clank*

...!!!

Akitsu and Heathcliff, the two high-level shield users were prepared to protect Kaito from the boss's colossal sword the moment he asked for a switch. Obviously, Kaito who is the leader of the raid and the highest damage dealer needs someone to assist him.

"Master!" (Akitsu)

"Kaito-san, you make our job quite difficult here." (Heathcliff)

"Good job, Akitsu, Heathcliff!" Kaito sincerely praised.

""Switch!"" (Heathcliff/Akitsu)

As the boss tried to retract his sword because getting blocked, Kaito quickly jumped to his face (with the help of Heathcliff's shoulder) and execute his most powerful skill. While the boss only need a few seconds to attack back, it was enough for Kaito and everyone to execute their skill once again.

"Right now! DSA!"

""Yes!""

'Vorpal Strike!'

*NGGG*

...!!

At this moment, the rest of the DSA guild members who already waiting for Kaito's order also delivered their strongest attack to the boss from all directions-- making the boss quite hopeless at his situation.

...

Vorpal Strike'' (Kirito)

'Oblique' (Asuna)

'Treble Scythe' (Yuu)

'Lightning Fall' (Mikoto)

'Horizontal' (Aika)

'Double Cleave'  (Lisbeth)

'Shooting Star' (Miya)

'Rapid Bite' (Sakuya)

...!!!!!

Getting attacked twice with Kaito's skill attack, followed by the rest of the guild members in succession, was enough to damage and break the shield. The sounds of glass breaking resounded on the battlefield, telling everyone that their first task is done.

*Crash*

...

"Everyone, the shield is broken. Be careful!" Kaito warned.

""Ohh!!""

Now the raid has entered the second phase, and with 300 players also arrived at the boss's vicinity-- the battle now is truly beginning.

...