Seiya Had a Sharp Tongue, Too?

Because of Weapon Parry, Seiya, who had taken a direct blow from the Kobold Lord, plummeted toward the ground like a meteor.

However, due to the properties of Weapon Parry, the Kobold Lord's Nodachi was also sent flying by the immense recoil, leaving him wide open.

The moment Seiya shouted, "Switch," Asuna dashed across the ground at an astonishing speed and quickly arrived before the Kobold as he landed.

The rapier Flying Star in her hand lit up, and a barrage of continuous Thrusts too fast for the naked eye to follow erupted across the Kobold Lord's body, once again draining his HP Bar to its limit!

After SAO skills were used, there was a certain period of stiffness.

In Boss battles, the method used to prevent oneself from being instantly killed while in that stiffened state was the "Switch" mechanic.

Asuna's consecutive Thrusts had depleted the Kobold Lord's HP Bar to its limit, but the Kobold finally regained his footing and swung his Nodachi down at Asuna!

"Switch!"

As Asuna's voice fell, Kirito, who had been the last to descend from the air, dropped down and drove his sword into the Kobold Lord's head from above just as it was about to swing its Nodachi!

That descending strike instantly emptied the Kobold Lord's HP Bar, causing him to shatter into fragments and vanish on the spot.

"Wow! We finally took it down!"

"Great! We did it! We successfully conquered the First Floor Boss!"

With the First Floor's Floor Boss slain, the teleportation passage to the Second Floor opened as well.

Seeing this, the members of the Strategy Group present immediately became excited.

Their successful defeat of the First Floor's Floor Boss not only gave everyone tremendous confidence.

As the conquerors, they would also be the first players to enter the Second Floor and gain earlier access to its resources. The benefits were obvious.

After landing the final blow, Kirito also received the special reward, Night Coat.

However, just as he put it on and prepared to begin his overpowered life as the Black Swordsman, a certain troublemaker suddenly jumped out to stir things up again.

"Why? Since you already knew the Boss's skills and moves, why didn't you share that information sooner? Do you know Diabel was nearly killed by that Boss just now? This isn't a game anymore. If Diabel's HP Bar had been depleted, he really would have died!"

Hearing Ya Wang's words, Kirito, who had already changed into the black coat and was praising Asuna for their perfect coordination, was stunned.

Never particularly good at dealing with people, he was left standing there by Ya Wang's barrage of questions, unable to think of anything to say.

Diabel, who had taken a recovery potion and successfully restored his HP to a safe level, finally came to his senses as well.

When he saw the black coat on Kirito and the open teleportation passage behind him, his expression became somewhat complicated.

"Enough, Ya Wang. This was my own problem. You can't blame them. Besides, if not for Mr. Seiya, I might already be dead."

Diabel had not expected that after working so hard for so long, he would ultimately end up making a wedding dress for someone else.

But honestly, while he felt some regret about the outcome, he eventually accepted it.

He had his own selfish motives for doing so much, and without Seiya stepping in to save him at the end, he truly would have died.

"Mr. Diabel, are you really going to let this go? If those beta testers hadn't concealed the information, you wouldn't have—"

"Ya Wang, I said enough! If not for Mr. Seiya, I would already be dead! Besides, our goal was to defeat the Floor Boss, and now we've done it. We should be happy about that instead of constantly creating conflict between players!"

Diabel was also quite speechless regarding Ya Wang, this troublemaker. Before, he had thought taking him on as an underling might be a good choice.

But now, it seemed he needed to think it over more carefully. Ya Wang was certainly loyal, but he definitely was not blessed with much brains.

And having little brains would have been one thing, but he also regularly made suffocatingly stupid moves.

Diabel understood the full story very clearly. Seiya and the others had already given him face by not exposing his final shameful secret.

Yet what Diabel had not expected was that Ya Wang, this idiot, still intended to keep pressing the matter.

"I truly don't understand how someone like you, whose cerebellum hasn't even fully developed, manages to survive in this world. Before, I merely thought you were stupid, but I never expected you to have no brain at all. Arguing with someone brainless like you is my mistake. Even if I tried explaining it to you, that walnut-sized head of yours probably couldn't understand, so farewell forever."

Seiya waved his hand without even looking back at Diabel or the grim-faced Ya Wang, then walked straight into the teleportation passage leading to the Second Floor.

Hearing Seiya insult someone without using a single curse word, Asuna blankly asked, "Seiya had a sharp tongue, too?"

After two days of contact, Seiya had always struck her as polite and knowledgeable, but Asuna truly had not expected him to have such a sharp tongue.

And that way of insulting someone without a single swear word while still making them furious enough to spit blood was not something many people could Parry.

"That means he's genuinely angry this time. I've known him for so many years, but there have been very few occasions when he's directly revealed that hidden sharp-tongued side of himself."

Seeing Seiya leave by himself without even saying goodbye, Kirito knew his best friend had truly been angered this time.

Just as he was about to follow Seiya into the Second Floor, Diabel suddenly called out to stop Kirito and Asuna.

"Regarding Ya Wang, I apologize to you on his behalf. You should be able to tell that he doesn't mean any harm; he's just a little too blunt. I also thank you for saving me this time, cleaning up my mess, and defeating the Boss. Otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable. Because of my own selfish desires, I nearly caused a terrible disaster. I apologize to you both once again."

As Diabel spoke, he bowed to Kirito and Asuna in apology.

His attitude was extremely humble, and Kirito and Asuna were both quintessentially kind-hearted people. Thus, the little resentment they had felt quickly vanished completely.

"Actually, besides apologizing, there is something else..."