Breathing Techniques in SAO

Very quickly, Colonel Nato's HP dropped to its final bar.

It stomped its hooves hard on the ground, raised its head high with a deafening roar, then slowly lowered its head, crouched down, and arched its back as it began to charge up power.

"It's about to charge! Don't look at its head! It'll charge in the direction of its tail!"

Kirito saw its movements and immediately warned everyone.

Thanks to Kirito's warning, everyone quickly dodged Colonel Nato's charge and struck it hard with their weapons as it passed by.

The massive damage caused Colonel Nato to stumble and fall into a stunned state.

Akimi and the others seized the opportunity and immediately unleashed their sword skills.

All sorts of glowing effects exploded across its body.

Colonel Nato's HP dropped rapidly, and by the time it recovered from its stunned state, only half a bar remained.

Colonel Nato shook its head and let out a furious roar.

Its blue fur suddenly turned purple—this was its berserk state triggered when on the brink of death, increasing its attack speed by fifty percent.

Not long after Colonel Nato went berserk, General Baran also let out a roar from afar.

It seemed the main force was about to complete the raid as well.

However, Akimi and Asuna felt a sense of unease, as if something was wrong.

Asuna said worriedly, "Something doesn't feel right..."

Akimi nodded solemnly, his expression serious.

The boss of the first floor had been a lord, but the second floor's boss was only slightly stronger than its guards—that didn't quite make sense.

Soon, their unease was validated—a loud rumble suddenly echoed from the center of the boss room, but when they looked over, there was nothing there, only a concentric circular floor made of dark blue stone tiles engraved with a bull's head.

As everyone stared at it in confusion, the floor began to move—the central section of the concentric circle slowly started to rotate and rise.

Once it stopped rising, the space above the pillar that had emerged from the ground began to distort.

In the next instant, a massive figure appeared atop the pillar.

Its hooves were as thick as tree trunks, and its waist was wrapped in chainmail that shimmered with a dark glow.

True to the traditional appearance of bull-type monsters, its upper body was bare, covered in black fur that exuded an overwhelming presence.

The creature had a huge bull's head adorned with six horns.

Atop its head sat a crown that looked to be made of platinum, shining with a dazzling light.

From its chin, a pair of curved whiskers drooped all the way down to its abdomen.

The monster let out a sky-shaking roar, and lightning continuously struck around it.

When the flashes faded, everyone looked up toward its head.

Beneath the crimson cursor and beside the six long HP bars, its name was revealed—Bull King: Asterios.

It was now clear—the true boss of the second floor had appeared.

General Baran, the one fought during the beta test, was merely a guard for the current Bull King.

Judging by the situation, it seemed Asterios only emerged once all his guards were on the brink of death.

Asterios slowly stepped down from the pillar and began walking toward the main group.

His massive form seemed to split the entire room into two halves.

"...We can't even retreat anymore," Asuna murmured.

Indeed, if a moment ago there had still been a chance to escape at great cost, now there were only four words that could describe such a thought—

A fool's dream.

"If the main force is completely wiped out, then the players' hope of clearing the game will be utterly shattered," Kirito said gravely.

The group exchanged looks and made up their minds.

Agil, seeing the determination on everyone's faces, grinned and shouted firmly:

"Everyone—charge!"

Kirito dashed out in the lead, striking Colonel Nato's arm with his sword, the Anneal Blade, glowing with sword skill light, interrupting its attack.

Then, Akimi made a short run-up and leapt high in front of Colonel Nato.

"Water Breathing - Eighth Form : Waterfall Basin!"

His Nichirin Blade slashed hard into Colonel Nato's forehead—a shared weak point among all bull-type monsters.

Colonel Nato, staggered by the heavy blow, took several steps back before letting out another furious roar.

It raised its warhammer high, preparing to unleash a paralyzing shockwave.

The warhammer, glowing with yellow light, came crashing down toward Akimi.

Seeing the massive weapon bearing down on him, Akimi responded with a sword skill of his own.

"Water Breathing - Second Form: Water Wheel!"

A stream of water traced an arc through the air, striking the warhammer with precision.

The yellow glow and the water-colored light clashed and canceled each other out, dispersing in all directions.

The warhammer was knocked back into the air, and Akimi took several steps back, dropping to one knee—the strength of Colonel Nato was simply too overwhelming.

Even with the boost from the breathing technique, he couldn't fully suppress it.

With Colonel Nato's attack interrupted once again, it fell into a stiffened state.

The rest of the group seized the opportunity and launched attacks from all directions with their weapons.

This round of attacks brought Colonel Nato's HP down to its final sliver.

Kirito and Akimi launched their strikes simultaneously, with the last attack (LA) going to Kirito.

After defeating Colonel Nato, everyone turned their heads—and the first thing they saw was the towering back of Asterios, a figure so massive that even from dozens of meters away, they had to look up to see him.

That massive figure was moving toward the main force at an incredibly slow pace.

Fortunately, the main force had not fallen into panic or disarray despite the tremors coming from the ground.

Staring at that colossal silhouette, the group swallowed hard, then clenched their teeth and prepared to charge in that direction.

As Asuna was about to follow the others, Akimi reached out and stopped her.

"Asuna… don't go this time. Wait here… okay?" Akimi said, his lips pressing into a firm line.

Asuna quietly looked at him, her amber eyes filled with pure, boiling emotion.

She calmly replied, "Let's go."

Meeting her gaze, Akimi froze for a moment.

Then he took a deep breath and said seriously, "I understand… I'll protect you."

Only then did Asuna finally smile.

"Mm."

Then Akimi turned to Kirito and the others and said, "We'll circle around from the right, take down Baran first, then deal with Asterios. If it starts moving before we defeat Baran, Kirito and I will draw it away."

"Got it!"

After a brief strategy discussion, the group rushed toward the battlefield at full speed.

In just over ten seconds, they had bypassed Asterios's detection range and reached the battle.

At this point, General Baran's HP was down to its last sliver, but having entered a berserk state, it was unleashing relentless attacks, making it difficult for anyone to approach.

Judging by Asterios's slow pace, they had about thirty seconds before it reached them.

If they didn't finish off General Baran quickly, things would become much harder to handle.

Agil and the others were the first to step forward, using sword skills to interrupt General Baran's continuous attacks.

Then, Akimi seized the opportunity and delivered a "Water Breathing - First Form: Water Surface Slash" to General Baran.

With only a sliver of HP remaining, Kirito launched his attack and once again secured the last attack (LA).

Seeing Kirito land the final blow, Akimi shouted loudly, "Everyone! Fall back along the wall!"

Then he looked in Asterios's direction — and his pupils shrank sharply.

Asterios, still more than ten meters away, had leaned its massive body backward, its chest puffed out high.

This movement instantly reminded everyone of the classic attack used by Western dragons — a breath attack, a type of long-range assault.

But what made Akimi panic wasn't the breath itself — it was the fact that Asuna was right within its range.

If he didn't act now, she wouldn't have time to escape.

"Asuna! Dodge to the side, now!" Akimi shouted as he sprinted toward her.

At that moment, Asuna had her back to Asterios.

Even though she hadn't seen the monster's movement, the urgency in Akimi's voice told her danger was imminent, so she immediately leapt sideways.

Just as Asuna's feet left the ground, Akimi rushed over and grabbed her, desperately trying to push her toward a safe spot.

But before he could act, his vision was engulfed in blinding white — Asterios's breath attack, composed entirely of pure lightning.

The attack instantly cut Akimi's HP by half, while Asuna's HP dropped by 20%, and both of them were inflicted with a paralysis status.

While still airborne, Akimi struggled to shift his body, making sure his back slammed into the ground instead.

"Asuna… use a potion, quickly."

As he urged the Asuna in his arms, Akimi slowly reached into his pouch to retrieve an HP recovery potion and an anti-paralysis potion.

When he finally managed to lift his head and look in Asterios's direction, the monster was only ten meters away — and between them, over a dozen players, including Lind and Kibaou, lay helpless on the ground.

Because of the lack of the captain's command, the remaining more than thirty people only dared to circle around Asterios, but couldn't decide what action to take.

Asuna lay in Akimi's arms, softly saying, "Why? Why did you come?"

Akimi struggled to raise his hand and gently poked Asuna's soft cheek, replying, "Hmm, did you forget? I said I would protect you, so naturally, I won't go back on my word."

Then an awkward, unnatural expression appeared on his face as he said, "Although the way I did it was a bit dumb..."

Hearing his words, Asuna smiled gently.

Given the current situation, it's likely that all the paralyzed players will be killed one by one by Asterios, and then the heavily damaged main force will retreat from the boss room, carrying the intelligence for the next attempt.

At this critical moment, a flying ring about twenty centimeters in diameter struck Asterios's crown, causing it to roar and shift its attention.

Then the voices of Kirito and Agil came: "Sorry, we didn't react immediately."

Akimi turned his head to look at Kirito and jokingly scolded, "It's not too late yet, at least it's not a body recovery… Wait, no, in SAO you can't even recover bodies."

Kirito and Agil both laughed, then dragged the two collapsed players to the wall, and together with others, went to rescue those who were paralyzed.

Akimi sat by the wall and looked toward Asterios, spotting the player who threw the flying ring—it was Nezha!

This surprised those who noticed him, since in their eyes, Nezha was still just a blacksmith player.

Nezha had now changed out of his brown leather apron and was wearing a set of bronze-colored armor.

Nezha's voice was firm as he said, "I'll do my best to hold off the boss! Please everyone recover as quickly as possible!"

At this moment, Asterios was charging up his breath attack again.

Seeing this, someone immediately shouted to Nezha, "Dodge quickly!"

Before the warning was finished, Nezha swiftly dodged away.

Asterios's breath exploded about two meters from him—did he somehow know the right moment to dodge?

Just as Akimi and the others were puzzled, a familiar voice came to their ears.

"Before the breath is released, the boss's eyes glow."

The owner of the voice suddenly appeared before everyone in the next moment—it was Argo.

She spoke again, "There is a quest in the dense forest of the labyrinth area, and this quest requires multiple errands."

"After completing this quest, you can obtain information about the true boss on the second floor."

Beneath her voice was a deep exhaustion, suggesting that the quest was not as easy as she made it sound.

In fact, when Argo was completing the quest, the raid team had already entered the labyrinth area.

Since no messages could be received inside the labyrinth, to relay information they had to enter the labyrinth themselves.

But for Argo—who had put all her attribute points into agility—entering the labyrinth alone was tantamount to a death sentence.

While she was hesitating, she happened to encounter Nezha, who looked uneasy and was about to enter the labyrinth.

Using Argo's stealth skill and Nezha's flying ring to attract monsters' attention, they reached the boss room with almost no fighting.

Finally, the potions took effect, and the players gradually recovered from their paralysis.

After receiving Argo's information, Lind resumed command of the team.

"A Team and D Team! Attack!"

Two heavily armored squads stepped forward, raising their weapons and fiercely attacking Asterios's legs, drawing its attention away from Nezha.

The next moment, Nezha took a deep breath, walked over to Akimi and the others, and smiled brightly: "It feels like a dream… I'm actually fighting the boss…"

Then he wiped his eyes with his hand and shouted, "Please attack with confidence! I'll interrupt its skills."

Akimi and the others all smiled at him, then prepared to join the battle.

At this moment on the battlefield, the members of the "Legendary Heroes" surprisingly stood out—because when facing Asterios's indirect attacks, they didn't have to helplessly dodge like the others.

Their high-level equipment provided them with considerable resistance to disruption, allowing them to continuously attack right beside Asterios.

"This is… really complicated," Asuna said softly.

Akimi and Kirito both nodded with strange expressions, because the "Legendary Heroes" had played a crucial role at a key moment by using improper means.

"However, their actions can't be forgiven so easily," Akimi said with a sly smile.

"Let's get a little revenge—how about stealing the LA?"

Smiles also appeared on Kirito's and Asuna's faces.

Just as they were plotting their "revenge," cheers erupted from the battlefield—because Asterios's last bit of HP was down to just a small fraction.

At that moment, Lind gave a command: "E Team, fall back! H Team, advance!"

"Charge!"

Akimi and the other seven members of H Team immediately stepped forward.

First, Akimi, Kirito, and Asuna attacked Asterios, then quickly switched, letting Agil and the others step up to block its attacks.

Because Asterios was so enormous, it could be attacked simultaneously by three squads.

The ones attacking it now were Lind's B Team, the "Legendary Heroes" G Team, and Akimi's H Team.

When Asterios's HP dropped to the last sliver, it began charging its breath attack again but was interrupted by Nezha's flying ring attack.

This made Asterios even more furious.

It raised its war hammer, preparing to unleash a paralyzing blast, forcing B Team—who was directly under the attack—to retreat helplessly.

The "Legendary Heroes," relying on their equipment advantage, refused to back down.

Unfortunately, perhaps because it was the final strike, even their high-level gear couldn't fully defend against the attack, and they fell into a stunned state.

"Now's the time!"

After saying these words, Akimi gripped his sword's hilt tightly and took a stance.

Asuna stepped onto Asterios's back, which was bent from the attack, and charged toward its head, while Kirito raised his Anneal Blade glowing with the light of sword techniques in front of it.

"Water Breathing - Eleventh Form: Suikuryuzan!"

"Meteor!"

"Sonic Impact!"

Akimi's and Asuna's weapons—the Nichirin Blade and the rapier "Flowing Silver"—pierced through the massive crown, while Kirito's Anneal Blade stabbed into Asterios's abdomen.

With the crisp sound of the crown shattering, Asterios exploded, and the words "gratuition!" appeared in the center of the room.

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