I Compete with No One! I Only Protect!...

"How about it, Yan-kun? Are you confident that you can face the Floor Boss alone once again? ..."

A chilling current spread through the air, sending an inexplicable shiver through every player present. Though they were filled with boundless fury toward Heathcliff—Kayaba Akihiko—they swallowed it all down upon hearing Heathcliff's words, unable to vent it any longer.

They held their breath. Even though the sudden revelation had made them gasp violently, not one of them dared let a sound escape.

Asuna, Kirito, Keita, Klein, and Agil were breathing the most erratically. Their hearts were filled with anxiety as they desperately prayed Wu Yan would not agree.

It was not that they did not know how strong Wu Yan was—unbelievably strong. Just as Heathcliff had said, there truly was no player capable of rivaling him. Among players, his strength was absolutely unmatched, because the gap was simply too vast!

If the old Heathcliff had issued this challenge, they would have had a hundred, a thousand, even ten thousand times the confidence in Wu Yan. But the current Heathcliff was no longer the same as before. Though he was a player, he possessed the stats of the final boss! Wu Yan had fought Heathcliff once before. Although Wu Yan had won overwhelmingly in that battle, afterward, he had openly admitted that the only reason he had been able to defeat Heathcliff was because his stats had far surpassed Heathcliff's. Even when every one of his attacks had been blocked, his immense attack power had still inflicted considerable damage on Heathcliff!

Back then, if their stats had been completely equal, even Wu Yan himself could not have predicted the outcome of that battle...

With his exceptional combat experience and skill, Wu Yan was confident that he could keep Heathcliff from touching him even