The final defenders' first attack covered the entire hall.
Spears, greatswords, warhammers, and scimitars fell simultaneously from different heights, while the arms behind raised staff-like weapons, spreading crimson light patterns across the ground.
"Shields, guard the center! Everyone else, spread out!" Diabel shouted.
Heathcliff faced the heaviest warhammer. His cross shield collided with the hammer's head, and even though the three shield bearers behind him braced themselves against the back of their shields, they were still pushed backward.
Kirito and Asuna cut in from the left.
Kirito parried the spear, and Asuna stabbed him in the wrist; Agil and Klein held back the right-side curved sword.
Lin Yuan did not stop within the formation.
He charged forward along the chains, dodging the three arms with a zigzag footwork. The Nameless Sword struck his chest, leaving only a shallow mark.
More weapons immediately turned against him.
Lin Yuan initiates " No Interval ".
The twelve strikes changed direction with each impact. The spear was lowered, the scimitar deflected outward, and the falling giant axe collided with the warhammer.
But after the twelve sword strikes ended, a new arm had already risen from behind the Boss.
There are too many weapons.
" No Interval " allowed Lin Yuan to stay close, but it couldn't break through the layers of defense.
"Disassemble the weapons first!" Kirito shouted.
The raiding party began to focus their attacks on the same arm.
Heathcliff held off the warhammer head-on, Kirito and Asuna attacked the joints continuously, while Lin Yuan blocked the swords that came from both sides. After the first arm was severed, the boss's health only dropped slightly.
As the arms broke off one after another, the remaining weapons moved faster and faster. When the boss had ten arms left, the raiding party had lost its complete formation.
Lin Yuan stood at the very front.
The spear thrust straight at him, and he met it with the sudden advance he had learned on the eightieth floor, his sword blade slicing into the spear shaft. The chains blocked his path from the side, and he changed direction by following the zigzag line he had created on the eighty-third floor.
The greatsword fell in front of them.
Lin Yuan blocked the sword's edge with his first strike, but only managed to push it away on his second.
His response was different each time.
However, these movements are still just scattered sword paths. They allow Lin Yuan to keep moving forward, but they cannot allow him to truly reach the Boss. Each time his power is used up when changing direction, he must start all over again for the next sword strike.
A scimitar slashed from a blind spot, Kirito's " Dark Repulser " blocked the blade for him, and " Elucidator " followed immediately, severing his wrist. Asuna pierced through the gun arm, Agil smashed the warhammer's joints.
Lin Yuan suddenly realized what was missing.
He always let the previous sword strike determine the next one, but in doing so, he left all his power in the past.
True completion is not about having countless changes.
Instead, it leads all changes to the same destination.
The final guardian had six arms remaining.
Lin Yuan gripped the " Nameless " book tightly once more.
The first step was the sudden advance of the spear guards.
The sword tip pierced between the two weapons, suddenly striking the edge of the heavy shield.
"Is that a spearman's thrust?" someone blurted out.
The force of the collision did not dissipate. Lin Yuan turned along a chain-like arc, and the impact of the first sword was fully incorporated into the second sword.
The second sword strike shattered the giant axe.
Although there is only one sword, " Nameless " appears to people as if it has left behind several completely different sword paths.
The third sword strike uses the recoil from " No Interval " to accelerate; the fourth sword strike deliberately pauses for half a beat, incorporating the heavy-armored swordsman's second burst of power.
The straightness of the spear, the curvature of the chain blade, the heaviness of the greatsword, the alternating fast and slow rhythm of the Dual Blades —everything that Lin Yuan had blocked, seen, and learned over the past two years appeared sequentially on the same sword.
"How could a single sword possibly do all that..."
No one answered.
The six final defensive weapons were deviating one by one, and the entire Ruby Palace was filled with the increasingly intense sounds of collisions.
Kirito's two swords fell simultaneously from the left and right, severing his last two arms.
All that remained ahead were the final guardians' double shields, crossed over their chests.
Lin Yuan did not change direction.
Each collision, turn, acceleration, and pause before was not a separate move. The power accumulated to this moment flowed along the single sword path and into his hands simultaneously.
The Nameless was slain.
There are no system lighting effects.
At the same instant, all the weapons in the players' hands emitted a resounding boom, as if thunder had pierced through the white hall.
The two shields split apart in the middle, and the sword continued downwards, leaving a black line running through the entire body of the Boss's chest.
" All Things Return to One ".
The outer shells on both sides of the black line cracked simultaneously.
It wasn't until the massive body tilted backward that someone in the crowd heard the voice again.
Is this really swordsmanship?
Kirito, Asuna, and all the remaining members of the raiding party launched a final attack. The sword light pierced through the path cut by the Lin Yuan, and the final guardian's remaining health was wiped out in an instant.
Dozens of arms were suspended in mid-air.
The enormous body began to disintegrate into light fragments starting from its chest.
The group raised their weapons, awaiting the game's completion notification, which was two years overdue.
The hall was completely silent.
There is no text indicating the end of the game.
There is no logout countdown.
Kirito opened the menu, but the logout option was still not available at the bottom. Other players also tried to transfer, but the crystal did not respond at all.
"Why?"
The 100th floor boss is dead!
The commotion spread from the crowd.
Lin Yuan did not open the menu.
He looked at Heathcliff, who was standing in front of the throne.
From the moment the final guardian shattered, that person didn't check any interfaces.
Heathcliff put away his cross shield and walked alone to the group.
Fine, intricate data patterns appeared on the surface of the red armor.
The nameplate belonging to the leader of the Knights of the Blood gradually disappeared, replaced by a name that all players had seen on the day the death game began.
Kayaba Akihiko.
Congratulations on reaching the 100th floor!
The sound echoed throughout the Ruby Palace and simultaneously resounded across every level of Aincrad.
But the game isn't over yet.