The Kobolds' Moment in the Spotlight

In a game that was practically lawless, a beautiful girl like Asuna, all alone and without support, naturally had to learn how to protect herself. It was only normal for her to be wary of others.

But over the past two days, Seiya and Kirito had earned Asuna's trust through their actions.

And after just two days, Asuna felt that she had grown far more than she had during the previous month on her own.

Now that she had grown considerably, possessed some ability to protect herself, and had two even more capable teammates by her side, there was naturally no longer any need for her previous disguise.

Diabel was clearly somewhat dazzled when he saw Asuna, but when he noticed her standing beside Seiya, he merely returned her smile and said nothing more.

The utterly ordinary Lord Kirito was once again selectively ignored, prompting him to grumble unhappily, "If looks could kill, I think I'd have been killed over a hundred times by now.

One is a rare super-beautiful girl in this game, and the other is the famous 'Saint.'

The other players must be wondering why an utterly ordinary-looking guy like me managed to worm his way into the team."

Hearing Kirito's complaint, Seiya glanced around before patting Kirito's shoulder teasingly. "That's not entirely true. It's not like nobody is paying attention to you, Lord Kirito. Isn't there someone over there who's been staring at you the whole time?"

Kirito's face had been full of excitement when he heard Seiya's words, but the moment he saw who was staring at him, that excitement instantly vanished.

The reason was simple. The one glaring at him was none other than Ya Wang, who had stirred up conflict among everyone a few days ago.

Logically speaking, Seiya should have been the one Ya Wang held a grudge against, since he had been the one to argue with Ya Wang and leave him unable to save face.

Even if Ya Wang was unhappy and resentful, he should have been staring at Seiya.

As for why he had latched onto Kirito instead, Seiya felt that this was probably what people called true love!

Once the Strategy Group had assembled, everyone quickly advanced toward the Boss room under Diabel's lead at an astonishing speed.

The players present were all experienced and high-level, and Diabel's commands were undeniably quite accurate.

Thus, it took the group less than an hour to reach the so-called Boss room.

The nearly flawless battles along the way greatly boosted everyone's morale and significantly raised Diabel's prestige.

The First Floor's Floor Boss was called Kobold Lord Irvangu, a massive Kobold standing two or three meters tall.

Its weapons were a bone axe and a small round leather shield, and it possessed no fewer than four HP Bars.

Following at its side were three elite monsters clad in heavy metal armor and wielding halberds: Ruin Kobold Guards.

Though they were elite monsters, as the elite monsters of a Floor Boss, their levels and stats were no weaker than those of Field Bosses.

Diabel split the Strategy Group of several dozen people into two teams. One team would deal with the Kobold Lord, while the other would handle the Kobold Guards.

The group responsible for the Kobold Guards was further divided into three smaller squads, and this time, Seiya's group was assigned to deal with one of the Kobold Guards.

If Diabel wanted prestige, he had to take on the Kobold Lord himself. And if Seiya remembered correctly, this guy was also a beta tester who knew about the special reward mechanic for landing the final blow.

Seiya, as the Saint, already had extremely high prestige among the players. If he were allowed to defeat the Kobold Lord as well, Diabel's position as leader would become rather awkward.

That was why the three of them had been assigned to fight the Kobold Guards.

The Kobold Guards' HP Bars were far less than that of the Floor Boss, the Kobold Lord, so the three Kobold Guards were soon brought down one after another under everyone's combined assault.

According to the information, once the Kobold Lord's HP entered the critical zone, it would discard its original axe and shield and draw a curved sword.

And at the exact moment the Kobold Lord abandoned its weapons, Diabel, who was in charge of directing everyone, hurriedly ordered the others to stop attacking before stepping forward alone with his weapon.

"So that guy organized everyone to raid the Floor Boss not just for prestige, but for the special reward too."

Seeing the Boss at critical HP, he drove everyone else back and chose to step forward alone. Most people probably still had no idea what Diabel was trying to do.

But to Seiya and the others, who had already defeated a Field Boss, the blue-haired man's intentions were obvious.

"Seiya, something's wrong. What that guy pulled out isn't the curved sword from the information, but a Nodachi!

Stop Diabel, quickly! He'll be killed!"

As a beta tester, Kirito knew that the Kobold Lord's weapon during its final berserk phase was supposed to be a curved sword.

But now it had switched to a Nodachi, which meant things really had changed just as Seiya had predicted earlier!

The attack ranges of a curved sword and a Nodachi were completely different. If Diabel responded according to the old beta-test methods, he was definitely going to fail.

Kirito desperately wanted to stop Diabel, but just as he was about to move, the Kobold Lord summoned three more Kobold Guards, blocking his path.

Seiya was closer to Diabel, so if he wanted to save him, he could only call upon the friend beside him.

"Tch, you really do love sticking your nose into everything!"

Honestly, Seiya did not have much goodwill toward the blue-haired man. Diabel had been the one blinded by greed and eager for quick success; even if the Boss killed him, he would only have himself to blame.

If Kirito had not spoken up, Seiya would most likely have chosen to stand by and watch.

But Kirito was shouting so loudly now. If Seiya continued pretending not to notice, it would somewhat damage the image he had built in Sword Art Online.

After all, he planned to establish a merchant guild later. If he stood by while someone died, it would definitely damage his reputation in the future.

After switching to the Nodachi, the Kobold Lord became extraordinarily fast upon entering its berserk state, and its movements were completely different from those during the beta test.

It leaped high into the air, directly evading Diabel's attack, then kicked off a stone pillar to the side and slashed at Diabel.

As it sent Diabel flying with one strike, its feet gouged a crater into the ground. Just as it was about to follow up with another blow and send the blue-haired man off for good, a figure suddenly darted between them.

Weapon Parry!

The Nodachi collided with the Windflower Sword in Seiya's hand, sending a shower of sparks flying.

As Seiya was blasted backward, he grabbed the blue-haired man behind him with his other hand and hurled him toward Ya Wang.

Diabel's HP Bar was already at its limit. Even damage from the impact could directly finish him off.

"Asuna, switch!"