A few days later, on the 75th floor, the Teleport Gate Plaza.
A large number of players had already gathered here, all of them, without exception, members of the raid groups.
Ling Feng, Kirito, and Asuna, who were on vacation, were also present.
In Ling Feng's battle with the Death God a few days prior, despite his impressive maneuvers, the level gap was still insurmountable.
Ling Feng's continuous use of Starburst Stream and Eclipse only managed to deplete the Death God's health by one bar.
There was nothing he could do; the boss on the 90th floor was a formidable foe. With Ling Feng's stats not being particularly high, even his two ultimate attacks could only achieve such a result.
Challenging a boss on the 90th floor from the 75th floor meant a 15-level difference. If Ling Feng had been over level 90 and challenged the Death God, a single Eclipse would have been enough to defeat him.
In the end, it was Yui who stepped in, using the Administrator's Sword to instantly kill the Death God with a single strike.
A few days after that incident, the 75th floor boss meeting was convened.
Ling Feng naturally attended.
As expected, after defeating the boss of the 75th floor, the end of this world would follow.
Ling Feng knew how difficult this boss would be. Compared to the Death God, the boss on this floor possessed high offense, defense, and speed. Thus, he did not ask Sagiri to accompany him.
He told her to stay home and wait for a surprise, while he came alone.
Furthermore, this time, he also had to deal with an enemy hidden in the shadows: a Chaos creature.
He had been searching for the Chaos creature for a long time but had found no trace of it, as if it didn't exist.
Today was the day the game would end, and the Chaos creature in SAO would definitely appear to attack the person of destiny.
In front of the teleport gate, Kyouba Kayaba used a crystal to open a portal to the corridor.
"Well then, let's go."
With Kyouba Kayaba's command, all the players passed through the teleport gate.
Upon arriving at the entrance of the boss room, all the players were making their final preparations. Ling Feng, of course, was no exception. He spent all his Kol, buying various enhancement materials and potions.
He enhanced both Fénjí and Wùfēng to level 75. Both swords had already reached the current best performance level in the game, considered divine-tier.
Ling Feng did all this to maximize his strength to its peak.
The boss and Kyouba Kayaba were just minor obstacles; the Chaos creature was his true target.
"For the day of liberation!"
"Ooh!"
As Kyouba Kayaba's final encouraging words fell, the players cheered excitedly, and the atmosphere reached its peak.
It had to be said that Kyouba Kayaba's reputation was indeed high.
His charisma was significantly greater than that of famous figures like Ling Feng and Kirito.
The boss room door was pushed open, and the players, brandishing their weapons, entered one by one, spreading out to avoid being wiped out in one go.
In the dark boss room, the players cautiously surveyed their surroundings.
After a long while, nothing happened. Not only was there no boss, but there wasn't even a single sound.
This left many players confused, but they didn't let their guard down, as the unknown was the most terrifying.
Everyone present had experienced great storms and their resilience had reached a very high level.
Ling Feng was the same. Shortly after entering, he had looked up at the ceiling, but there was no boss there.
This indicated that the boss was not initially on the ceiling.
"Gaa... gaa..."
Only then did Ling Feng hear the sound of bones colliding from the ceiling. Looking up, he saw the skeletal boss, a hybrid of a centipede and a mantis, already above them.
Asuna also pinpointed the boss's location by sound and quickly shouted a warning.
"It's above!"
Everyone looked up, and upon seeing the skeletal hunter's colossal size and appearance, they trembled with fear.
Seeing that he had been discovered, the skeletal hunter no longer concealed himself, let out a roar, and climbed down vertically.
As the skeletal hunter landed, the entire room lit up. Then, with a single strike, it instantly killed two players.
"Just... just one hit?!"
"This is too outrageous!"
Everyone was terrified. These were all high-level players!
Their equipment and strength were among the top hundred players, yet two of them were instantly killed by a single blow.
"Creak... creak..."
After killing the two players, the skeletal hunter immediately charged into the crowd.
The players scattered in fear, intimidated by its oppressive aura.
Only Kyouba Kayaba stepped forward, directly blocking a blow from the boss.
Seeing its attack blocked by Kyouba Kayaba, the skeletal hunter unhesitatingly darted through the room at extreme speed, hunting down other players.
This thing knew to target the weaker ones.
Damn, it was too intelligent!
"Kirito! Let's go!"
Ling Feng said, drawing his sword and charging forward.
"Swish!"
"Bang!"
Just as the skeletal hunter was about to finish off the ant-like player in front of it with a single strike.
A white silhouette, unstoppable, slammed into its white skull.
"Squeak squeak..."
The skeletal blade grazed past the player's body, cutting a large fissure in the ground.
"Holy crap!"
The player's legs went weak, and he collapsed to the ground, his heart pounding as if it would leap out of his chest.
That was too thrilling.
At that moment, the blade was less than ten centimeters away from him.
"Thank you for saving me, Sword Saint."
Looking at Ling Feng, who had landed in front of him, the player quickly expressed his gratitude.
Ling Feng didn't reply, his gaze fixed on the skeletal hunter with a grave expression.
Because his sonic impact attack had only shifted the skeletal hunter's center of gravity and hadn't dealt much substantial damage.
"Swish!"
The skeletal hunter swung its blade again.
"I'll take it!"
Kirito suddenly appeared in front of Ling Feng, his two swords crossing.
"Bang!"
"So heavy!"
Kirito felt an immense force transmitted through his hands, his knuckles splitting, and he almost dropped his swords.
The skeletal hunter's blade had already cut into his shoulder.
The skeletal hunter's strength far exceeded his imagination.
"Boom!"
Seeing Kirito in distress, Ling Feng immediately intervened. A red aura enveloped his sword, and he thrust it forward, hitting the point where the skeletal hunter's blade met its body, repelling it.
"Don't act alone. Only by defending together can you block its attacks. We need to cooperate!"
"Kirito, let's go! Let's show them our coordination!"
Ling Feng shouted loudly, then pulled Kirito up with one hand.
Their sparring sessions these days had not been in vain, and their over a year of mutual understanding was not for naught!
His and Kirito's synergy was no less than that between Kirito and Asuna.
If Kirito and Asuna were a balanced offense-defense pair, then they were a berserk damage output duo.
"Yosh (Okay!) Everyone! We'll block the boss's frontal attacks. You guys launch a fierce assault from the flanks!"
Before he finished speaking, two figures, one black and one white, darted out, unleashing rapid sword skills, a flurry of sword light and blade shadows, continuously blocking the boss's cutting attacks.
"Understood!"
"Roger that!"
"Let's go!"
With Ling Feng and the others leading the charge, the situation finally began to turn around slightly. The players launched a fierce assault, unleashing their full power.
"We can't let them hog the spotlight. Evil shall be ended by me, Kyo! May the Moon's Thunder shatter it!"
"Ravage, reality! Disintegrate, spirit! Exile this world!"
"Sigh, let's go too!"
...
"Boom boom boom!"
The boss room was filled with the constant sound of explosions. Sword lights flashed around the skeletal hunter, and various sword skills were relentlessly unleashed upon it.
After a fierce battle.
The skeletal hunter's five health bars were finally depleted.
"Full assault, everyone!"
Seeing this, Kyouba Kayaba raised his sword and shouted. The players immediately charged towards the skeletal hunter, launching their final assault.
In the blink of an eye, the skeletal hunter was destroyed by the players' full power, dissipating into energy fragments.
After the boss battle, everyone collapsed on the ground, exhausted and resting, with a sense of dejection, doubting whether they could reach the top floor.
The boss on the 75th floor alone had such a drastically increased difficulty.
Out of over a hundred people, fourteen had died. These were the elites among the elites.
The loss of even one was a significant blow.
As everyone's spirits waned, Ling Feng quietly sat in an inconspicuous corner, began consuming health and mana potions, and adjusted his state.
At the same time, a detox crystal was placed beside him, within easy reach.
The real show was about to begin.
Ling Feng glanced at Kirito and noticed that Kirito's attention was now fixed on Kyouba Kayaba, who was the only one standing.
Kirito stared, observing that even under the skeletal hunter's fierce attacks, Kyouba Kayaba's health bar was not yet yellow.
Recalling Kyouba Kayaba's suspiciously fast movements in the duel arena, Kirito's pupils contracted, and he thought of a possibility.
While everyone else was resting and not paying attention to him, Kirito gripped Elucidator.
Instantly, Kirito, sword in hand, used his max-level Sonic Leap, lunging forward like a black panther.
"Bang!"
Kirito's sword struck Kyouba Kayaba.
Kyouba Kayaba looked shocked. He hadn't expected Kirito to attack him at this moment.
He had also been exposed; an unbreakable prompt appeared to his left, something only those protected by the system possessed.
Seeing this, everyone was baffled.
Kirito first explained his deductions to everyone and finally revealed Kyouba Kayaba's identity.
Kyouba Kayaba didn't refute Kirito. Instead, he asked Kirito how he had discovered the truth. After receiving Kirito's answer, he openly admitted his identity.
And then, he narrated his plan.
The players of the raid groups surrounding them were all disbelieving.
Who would have thought that the leader of the Knights of the Blood Oath, who had led them to challenge the boss, was the culprit who had plunged them into the abyss of death.
Some, overwhelmed with emotion, swung their swords at Kyouba Kayaba.
Kyouba Kayaba displayed his incredibly fast hand speed, instantly inflicting a paralysis debuff on everyone except Kirito.
Simultaneously, he challenged Kirito, stating that if Kirito defeated him, the game would be cleared.
Hearing Kyouba Kayaba's words, Kirito, holding Asuna in his arms, fell into deep thought, the painful memories of SAO flashing through his mind.
He wanted to end it! End all of this!
If he waited any longer, more players would die in this game.
He had the opportunity to end it all here, so Kirito unhesitatingly agreed.
After leaving his "last words."
Kirito and Kyouba Kayaba's final duel commenced.