After the stone door closed, three figures finally emerged from the red light in the hall.
At the forefront was a bull-headed guard clad in armor plates, dragging a long-handled battle axe. The other two guarded the left and right, one wielding a shield and the other holding an iron hammer almost as tall as Lin Yuan. The ground trembled slightly beneath their feet, and three health bars lit up one after another.
Lin Yuan couldn't see the health bar, only the distance.
The shield-bearer stepped forward first. The shield was wide enough to cover half of his body, but Lin Yuan did not take a roundabout route. He took a step forward, and the tip of his sword fell from above the edge of the shield, forcing the opponent to raise his shield; in the next instant, the blade had already moved under the shield and struck the exposed back of the knee.
The minotaur knelt down. He darted past it, finishing its attack with a backhand strike.
A hammer came crashing down from behind.
Before the hammerhead struck the ground, Lin Yuan had already positioned himself to the side of the hammer wielder. Stone bricks shattered, and fragments grazed his cheek, leaving a shallow cut. Without even blinking, his sword-wielding hand moved up the hammer handle, the blade slicing through the massive wrist.
The warhammer slipped from Lin Yuan's hand, but he kicked the handle and used its remaining weight to push it back. The minotaur was thrown off balance by his own weapon, and his sword passed right through the armor plates.
A second burst of blue light dispersed.
The armored guard then charged forward. Instead of slashing straight down, he swept his long axe horizontally twice, blocking both his front and rear escape routes. His stride, waist rotation, and arm strength were far more precise than those of the ordinary monsters outside.
Lin Yuan did not back down.
When the first axe came, he slipped into the attack range from near the axe handle; before he could even switch hands for the second axe, the sword's edge was already pressed against the guard's breastplate. Lin Yuan suddenly sheathed his sword, and instead used the stomping motion of a rocky ox in a ditch, concentrating all his forward momentum at the end of the sword hilt, and rammed it into the seam of the armor plate.
The armor plates shattered, and the guard staggered back several steps. Lin Yuan followed, his sword flashing across the guard's shoulder before the guard could raise his axe, tracing a clean arc.
Just as the guard shattered, a heavy clanging of machinery echoed from the center of the hall.
A circular platform rose from the ground. The colossal beast standing atop it was considerably taller than the previous guards, with black shoulder armor covering its thick upper arms, and horns extending outwards from the sides of its crown. It gripped two massive hammers, and the mere raising of its arms caused the surrounding air to hum.
It turns out the three heads in front were just gatekeepers.
Lin Yuan raised his new sword. He had already seen this tactic of hiding the real moves when the first boss changed weapons.
The sword didn't glow like when a skill was activated, nor did any power values flash before his eyes. Nezha had adjusted his center of gravity to be in the web of his hand; otherwise, he had to generate every bit of speed himself.
The behemoth stepped off the platform, its warhammer slamming down in front of it.
Before the hammer even hit the ground, Lin Yuan could tell it was going to use the impact to shatter the entire ground. Instead of fleeing, he rushed in from the inside of the hammer handle, sliding close to the giant beast's forearm. The hammerhead slammed into his back, red light patterns exploding along the stone bricks, just an inch away from his heel.
"I see."
That's not just brute force. Before each hammer strike, the behemoth would lower its hind legs and then project the weight of its shoulders, waist, and arms. While the rock bull can only charge in a straight line, this beast can change its angle mid-swing, turning to chase its target.
Lin Yuan read it once, and after the second time, he knew exactly when to step aside.
The giant hammer turned, and he had already stepped onto its blind side. The blade slashed into the gap between the black armor and the skin, and the giant beast roared and turned around, only to find that Lin Yuan was not there. The faster it swung its hammer, the more Lin Yuan's footsteps were always half a beat ahead of the hammer's head.
With the third hammer blow, red patterns almost covered the entire hall. Lin Yuan used the first-level boss's sidestep to get close, and with the explosive force of the rock bull under his feet, he raised his sword from the giant beast's chest. The crown was split in two, and the metal fragments were still in the air when he finished with a second strike.
The longsword pierced through the throat.
The behemoth's movements abruptly ceased, its massive body shattering into fragments of light starting from the tips of its horns. Several layers of light shattered one after another in front of Lin Yuan, until even the circular platform lost its red color.
Lin Yuan stood in the center of the hall and waited for a moment. The brazier on the wall turned from red to white, and a door leading to the upper floor slowly opened in the distance. Other than that, nothing fell on him.
No experience, no final blow reward. Kirito said that this world doesn't recognize his name; now, even the victory on the second floor has nowhere to be credited to him.
Lin Yuan sheathed his sword and wiped the blood from his cheek with a bandage. The wound was shallow and would heal in a few days; the sword in his hand, however, remained sturdy, its blade not warped.
He recalled the beast's final hammer blow, relaxed his shoulders and back, and tried to feel the force that traveled from his heels to his fingertips with his bare hands. If he were using a sword, the movement could be shorter and faster.
A muffled shout came from outside the door. The raid team might be on their way, but they no longer had a boss to fight.
Lin Yuan looked at the opened ascending passage.
The second layer is now complete.