Breathing Techniques in SAO

Hearing the doubt in Lind's tone, Akimi slightly raised his eyebrows and was about to say something when Agil raised his hand to stop him, lowering his voice and saying, "The situation is special right now—let's give him some face."

Akimi nodded.

Then Agil said to Lind, "Although current intel says there is only one guard, it's also said to have the strength of a mini-BOSS. Besides, we can't guarantee there's only one guard. A single squad might indeed find it tough."

"I understand," Lind said.

"I won't repeat the mistakes from the first floor. If things don't go well, I will order a retreat. If one squad really can't handle the guard, I will send another squad."

Given the current situation, Lind's plan was indeed the best solution, so no one objected.

Lind looked around and said to everyone, "Then... let's go defeat the BOSS!"

Amidst everyone's cheers, Lind turned and pushed open the door to the BOSS room, his silhouette strikingly similar to Diabel's...

In the game SAO, monster attacks can generally be divided into two types: one is a direct attack that reduces the player's HP, and the other is an indirect attack that doesn't reduce HP but causes hindering effects.

Effects like slowing down, stunning, and paralysis belong to the hindering category.

Monsters on the first floor rarely used indirect attacks, while the bull-type monsters on the second floor were among the first players faced that used such hindering attacks.

As the players entered the BOSS room, suddenly lights flared on both sides of the dim room, then the entire room lit up.

At that moment, a massive war hammer slammed down toward them.

After everyone reacted and retreated a short distance, the hammer smashed fiercely into the ground, releasing several bolts of yellow lightning — the monster's sword skill called "Numbing Impact," a paralyzing shock.

Then, a tall minotaur covered in blue fur charged at them at high speed.

It picked up the war hammer from the ground and let out a roar like "Moo—oh oh oh."

It stood about two and a half meters tall, and under the red marker was its name — Colonel Bull? Nato.

Deeper in the room, there was an even larger monster, roughly twice the height of Colonel Nato.

Clearly, this was the second-floor BOSS from the closed beta — General Bull? Baran.

General Baran was covered in terrifying muscles beneath red fur.

Around its waist hung a luxurious-looking golden cloth, while its upper body was bare, revealing large pectoral and abdominal muscles.

Golden chains wrapped around its shoulders, and the war hammer in its hand gleamed with golden light.

"H Team, Colonel Nato is yours to handle," Lind said to Akimi and the others, then led the main force charging toward General Baran.

Soon, the battle was about to erupt, with both fronts clearly divided, beginning their fight against the monsters.

Colonel Nato's strength was indeed inferior to the floor guardian boss, and after about five minutes, he was gradually being suppressed by Akimi and the others, with one of his three HP bars already depleted.

After Agil and his burly friends blocked Colonel Nato's sweeping attack, Akimi's group launched a burst of damage, further reducing Colonel Nato's HP.

Although their situation was going smoothly, Akimi frowned slightly when he glanced toward the other battlefield a hundred meters away—because Lind and the others were not doing so well.

General Baran slammed his war hammer, roughly the size of a wine barrel, onto the ground, unleashing a massive burst of yellow lightning that covered nearly twice the area of Colonel Nato's attack.

This was General Baran's special skill—Paralysis Blast.

Although they had been warned before the battle, two players still failed to fully dodge the massive area of effect.

The yellow lightning instantly wrapped around them, putting them into a "stunned" state.

Even though the stun caused by the Paralysis Blast lasted only three seconds, in a boss fight, those three seconds could be fatal.

Fortunately, the boss did not follow up with a combo.

Before the somewhat long three seconds passed, one of the players wearing blue clothes had his weapon slip from his hand—this was the "weapon drop" effect that can occur during a stun.

After three seconds, that unlucky guy immediately crouched down to pick up his weapon.

"Idiot!" Akimi, who had just narrowly avoided an attack from Colonel Nato, immediately shouted when he saw this.

Sure enough, just as the guy from Lind's team picked up his weapon, General Baran's second strike slammed down.

Accompanied by a crackling electric sound, he was once again wrapped in yellow lightning.

The yellow glow effect indicating "stun" on his body faded, replaced by a pale green glow that represented "paralysis."

Unlike the relatively short duration of a stun, even the weakest form of paralysis would last a full ten minutes.

To remove paralysis, a player needed to use either a potion or a crystal—crystals were only available on higher floors, and potions had a delayed effect.

Furthermore, in a paralyzed state, a player could only move their dominant hand very slowly, making it take a long time just to retrieve and consume the potion.

Just as General Baran's next strike was about to land, his teammate pulled him back at the last second and dragged him toward a wall further from the battlefield.

By that point, seven or eight players had already gathered near that wall—either drinking potions or waiting for their effects to kick in.

"We can't drag this out any longer," Kirito also noticed the situation.

"Either we finish off Colonel Nato quickly and go assist them, or go over and tell them to retreat for now."

"Retreating now would make it hard to ensure everyone survives," Akimi said with a frown.

"Forget about organizing a safe and orderly retreat—even just trying to get paralyzed teammates out alive would be extremely difficult."

The group fell into a brief silence, because what Akimi said was true.

They were now a considerable distance from the room's entrance, and expecting all players to perfectly avoid enemy attacks over that stretch was unrealistic.

On top of that, the status effects from the monsters' attacks made even the slightest mistake potentially fatal.

What's more, carrying a teammate required a high Strength stat.

Aside from a small number of tank players with high Strength, most others would be severely hindered in movement if they attempted to carry someone.

"Hah." Akimi let out a slow breath and said to Kirito and the others, "Then all we can do now is finish off Colonel Nato as quickly as possible and head over to support them."

He then gripped his Nichirin Blade tightly and looked at Colonel Nato, who had only one and a half HP bars left.

"Water Breathing - Ninth Form : Splashing Water Flow!"

As he spoke, Akimi rushed toward Colonel Nato at high speed.

As his feet touched the ground, water splashed up—even though the ground was dry.

After landing a slash on Colonel Nato, Akimi adjusted his footwork slightly—his whole body moving as if dancing.

With the flowing motion of the Nichirin Blade, he continued cutting across Colonel Nato's body.

As he attacked, Akimi called out the name of his technique—

"Water Breathing - Third Form: Flowing Dance."

Before Colonel Nato's counterattack could land, Akimi shouted, "Switch!" and quickly retreated.

Right behind him, Agil and his team of brawny fighters stepped in, using their polearms together to block Colonel Nato's hammer strike.

After forcefully pushing back the incoming weapon, Agil shouted, "Switch!" Kirito and Asuna, already standing by, immediately rushed forward.

Kirito used "Arc Slash," while Asuna unleashed "Meteor."

While Akimi's group fully suppressed Colonel Nato, it seemed that Lind's side had also stabilized.

The number of players affected by paralysis was gradually decreasing, everyone's HP was still within a safe range, and General Baran's five HP bars were already down to two.

Things were beginning to turn in their favor.

---------------

Exclusive access : 40+ch on paetron

Join now : patreon*com/DeCakraWnloverz