The morning sun filtered timidly through the curtains of the room, marking the beginning of a new day in Axel. Theo rose in silence, observing for a moment the figure of Darkness, who was still sleeping soundly. There was an unusual peace on her face, free from tensions and with a glow somewhere between exhaustion and satisfaction.
After a while, he now found himself in his own room. As much as he would like to stay with Darkness all day, after spending some time with her, he had said goodbye to give her space to process everything that happened the previous night, as it was a lot to think about, especially for her. Theo had decided to go on a guild mission to spend the day, but then a mission from his system caught his attention.
[Mission
Objective: Defeat Illfang the Kobold Lord and his minions.
Conditions: You will appear directly in the boss room and can only leave after defeating the boss.
Reward: 1 Gacha Ticket]
Theo stopped every thought and almost accepted the mission immediately, if it weren't for the fact that he was still in his civilian clothes. It was the first time he had received a mission of this type. Normally, the system gave missions with prolonged time periods to complete them. And those types of missions were the ones that worried him the most—not because of the task itself, but because of the environment.
He remembered a mission that had appeared shortly after he gained access to the mission system, where the system asked him to hunt a "Wolf" level monster in the world of One Punch Man. On paper, it was a mission that would give him some difficulties for his statistics at the time, but he knew he could complete it. However, the reality was terrifying. He was in a world where a sneeze from the protagonist could vaporize a moon and where the collateral effects of fights between S-class heroes and villains erased cities from the map in seconds. In worlds like that, being "strong" did not guarantee survival; only luck did.
However, this mission was different. It was a closed scenario. A dungeon boss.
"Illfang... the boss of the first floor of Aincrad" - Theo thought, recognizing the name. He remembered that, in the original story, it took a large group of coordinated players to bring him down, and even then, there were casualties. But Theo was no longer a rookie. His statistics had risen, his equipment was made of mithril, and his intermediate magic gave him a versatility that no player in that world could dream of.
"It's time to test the Trench Coat of the Imperturbable Globetrotter gear" - he decided with a spark of determination in his eyes. He didn't feel fear, but rather an electric curiosity. So far, he hadn't found an enemy that forced him to go to the absolute limit. Since, until now, no one had pushed him to that limit.
Setting aside the monsters of this world and only talking about the missions: The Big Bad Wolf gave him more trouble because he was much more inexperienced than now, and above all, he had to worry about protecting Little Red Riding Hood; whereas the witches, with the help of the siblings, were like facing a giant toad—that is to say, they were extremely easy. The siblings gave him more trouble, but this... this was a test of total combat.
Finally, having decided, he began to equip himself. He adjusted his armor, feeling how the material adapted perfectly to his movements. The dark leather coat fluttered in the morning breeze as he sheathed his claymore and secured the imposing shield on his left arm.
He did a couple of stretches, feeling the comforting weight of his new equipment. His mind focused, putting aside thoughts of Darkness and the comfort of Axel. He took a deep breath, stabilizing his heart rate, and accepted the mission.
The scenery changed instantly. Theo now found himself in a vast hall. Enormous stone pillars supported a ceiling that was lost in the shadows, and crystals began to illuminate the great room. In the center of the hall, there he was.
Illfang the Kobold Lord.
The creature was imposing. He stood over two meters tall, with a musculature that seemed ready to burst through his skin, which was covered in deep red fur. His eyes were like burning coals, bloodthirsty. In one hand he held an axe and in the other a reinforced leather shield. Just as Theo remembered, a huge nodachi was sheathed on his back.
At his side, three Ruin Kobold Sentinels growled upon noticing the intruder's presence. These creatures were armored in metal that only left the throat area exposed, and they carried heavy maces capable of crushing bones with a single blow.
Illfang then let out a deafening roar that made the air in the room vibrate. It wasn't a simple cry; it was a declaration of war.
Theo did not back down. He dropped into a stance, lowering his center of gravity. His gaze, previously calm, became as sharp as a sword's edge. And his aura changed drastically. He no longer looked like a young adventurer from Axel; now he emanated the pressure of a veteran warrior who has survived the impossible.
"Fine" - Theo murmured to himself, adjusting the grip on his shield. - "Let's see what you're capable of."
Without waiting for the monsters to take the initiative, Theo shot forward. His speed, boosted by his level, made him look like a black and gold blur crossing the hall.
The three Sentinels moved forward, raising their maces. Theo analyzed the situation in milliseconds. He couldn't allow them to surround him while the boss watched.
"Wind Curtain!" - he exclaimed.
A violent gust of wind erupted around him, creating a semi-transparent barrier that slightly deflected the first mace strike from one of the Sentinels. Taking advantage of the opening, Theo slid under the weapon and launched a Blade of Wind. The compressed air projectile impacted directly on the kobold's exposed throat—the only weak point mentioned in the description. The creature let out a gurgle and fell to the ground, disappearing into a cloud of black pixels and fragmented data.
It was at that moment that Theo realized something crucial. In the original "game," enemies had HP bars that went down by percentages. Here, although the visual effect of death was similar, the combat felt... real. The slash of his magic hadn't subtracted "points"; it had cut tissue and trachea. It was a realistic world of Sword Art Online. There was no margin for error.
The other two Sentinels roared in fury, but Theo was already upon them.
"Flash!" - he activated the spell.
A blinding light flooded the immediate area. The Kobolds, accustomed to the dimness of the boss room, shrieked and covered their eyes. Theo didn't waste time. With a fluid movement, he unsheathed his claymore and performed a horizontal arc powered by his physical strength. The sword blade tore through the metal armor as if it were paper, taking advantage of the superior quality of his mithril weapon. The two remaining minions exploded into fragments before they could regain their sight.
But the real danger had just begun.
Illfang, seeing that his guards had been dispatched in seconds, leaped from his pedestal with an agility terrifying for his size. The bone axe descended upon Theo with the force of a meteorite.
Theo raised his Shield of the Imperturbable Globetrotter. The impact was brutal. The sound of metal clashing against mithril resonated like thunder in the hall. Theo felt his feet sink slightly into the floor, but the shield did not yield. His physical resistance passive skill was working overtime in this exchange.
"He's strong... much more than any monster I've faced in Axel" - Theo thought, feeling the vibration in his arm.
Illfang did not stop. He began a series of frenetic attacks, combining axe strikes with thrusts from his leather shield. Theo stayed on the defensive, using his shield to parry and block, while looking for an opening.
"Lightning!" - Theo cast at point-blank range.
A bolt of lightning sprang from his free hand, impacting the Kobold Lord's chest.
Electricity surged through the beast's body, making it recoil and growl in pain, but it didn't stop it. Illfang was resilient. However, the attack gave Theo enough space to counterattack.
Theo launched a thrust with his claymore, seeking the boss's unprotected side. Illfang managed to block with his axe, but Theo used the Ankle Snare skill creatively, throwing a magic energy trap at the beast's feet just as it tried to jump back.
The chains of light closed around Illfang's ankles. The boss stumbled, left vulnerable for a second.
"Fireball!" - Theo charged the spell and launched it directly at the monster's face.
The explosion enveloped Illfang's head in flames. But instead of being the end, this only provoked the next phase of the battle. The roar the beast emitted was not just of pain, but of blind fury. The air in the room became heavier. Theo saw three new Kobold Sentinels emerge from the shadows of the pillars to support their lord.
Illfang tore off the chains of light with pure brute force and threw his axe and shield to the ground. His red eyes glowed with manic intensity. With a fluid movement, he reached for his back and unsheathed the five-foot nodachi.
The fighting style changed in an instant. The Kobold Lord was no longer a heavy beast; now he was an agile and lethal swordsman. He moved with a speed that defied his size, leaving behind afterimages of his red fur.
Theo grit his teeth, feeling sweat begin to run down his forehead.
"Now the real thing begins" - he thought, as he prepared for the most dangerous phase of the combat.
Illfang the Kobold Lord wasted no time. As soon as his nodachi left its scabbard, the atmosphere in the hall turned electric. The three new Sentinels launched their attack, coordinating their maces to crush Theo from different angles. But he was no longer the same as he was minutes ago; the heat of battle had fully awakened the battle instinct within him.
"Freeze Gust!" - Theo exclaimed, extending his left hand.
A gust of freezing air and ice crystals erupted from his palm, enveloping the three minions. The extreme cold didn't kill them, but it froze the joints of their armor and slowed their movements, leaving them like metal statues that could barely swing their weapons.
However, Illfang was another story. The boss glided through the cold air with supernatural grace. His nodachi gleamed with a metallic reflection as he launched a vertical slash that sought to split Theo in two. The adventurer barely had time to raise his mithril shield. The clash was so powerful that the ground beneath Theo's feet cracked, and the shockwave dispersed the freezing mist from the previous spell.
"He's too fast" - Theo thought, feeling his reflexes begin to reach their limit. - "If I keep going like this, I won't be able to predict his next move. A single mistake and my head will fly."
He looked at the Kobold Lord. The beast observed him with a cold, almost mocking intelligence. The other sentinels were beginning to break the ice covering them. Theo knew that if he allowed the fight to drag on, exhaustion would kill him.
"Fine... you asked for it" - Theo whispered.
He closed his eyes for a fraction of a second and searched deep within his soul. He activated the skill: Inner Beast.
Immediately, the world seemed to slow down. The sound of his own heart thundered in his ears like a war drum. His pupils contracted, becoming feline, and a wild energy surged through his muscles, giving him a strength and agility that defied logic. His senses sharpened so much that he could smell the rust on the sentinels' armor and hear the hiss of Illfang's nodachi slicing through the air.
Illfang attacked again—a lateral slash that would have decapitated any man. But Theo didn't block. He leaned back with impossible flexibility, letting the blade pass millimeters from his chest, and in the same movement, launched a counterattack with his claymore. The mithril steel struck the beast's side, leaving a deep wound that erupted in a rain of red pixels.
The Kobold Lord roared in rage and began a dance of steel. The nodachi moved in complex arcs, taking advantage of its enormous reach. Theo, boosted by his savage state, responded with surgical precision. Sparks of amber and silver jumped with every clash of swords.
The Sentinels tried to intervene, but Theo no longer saw them as individual threats, but as obstacles. While blocking a slash from Illfang with his shield, he spun on his axis and used Blade of Wind not as a projectile, but to envelop his own sword. Theo's next strike didn't just cut the flesh of the nearest sentinel; the wind pressure made it explode completely.
As the fight progressed, more sentinels appeared from the shadows to replace the fallen. Three, six, nine... the dungeon kept throwing cannon fodder to protect the boss. Theo moved among them like a whirlwind. He used Lightning to stun small groups and Flash to gain vital seconds.
Illfang, seeing that his minions were being decimated, decided to gamble everything on one last assault. The boss launched into a frontal thrust, concentrating all his energy on the tip of the nodachi. Theo knew his shield wouldn't stop a direct hit of that magnitude without breaking or injuring his arm. He had to take a risk.
He waited until the last second, when the tip of the enemy's sword was centimeters from his face.
"Paralyze!" - he shouted with all the strength in his lungs.
The spell, which Theo had saved as his trump card, erupted in a web of yellow electrical energy that enveloped Illfang. The beast froze mid-air, with the nodachi pointing directly at Theo's eye. The monster's muscles tensed violently as it tried to fight the magical paralysis.
Theo knew the effect wouldn't last more than two or three seconds due to the strength of the dungeon boss. So he didn't waste the opportunity.
He dropped his shield and gripped his claymore with both hands. He channeled all his physical strength, boosted by the Inner Beast, into a single attack.
"It's over" - he declared.
With a gut-wrenching cry, Theo launched an upward slash that started from the ground and ended in a perfect arc over his head. The mithril blade tore through Illfang's torso, cutting from the waist to the opposite shoulder.
Time seemed to stop. Illfang the Kobold Lord stood still, his eyes lost their glow, and for a moment, the silence was absolute in the great hall. Then, the beast exploded in a massive blast of blue and black crystal fragments that bathed Theo before vanishing into the air. The remaining sentinels, having lost their leader, simply dissolved into smoke.
Theo deactivated Inner Beast abruptly. The side effect was immediate: his legs gave way and he fell to his knees, gasping heavily. Sweat soaked his tunic under the armor, and his hands trembled uncontrollably from the adrenaline dump.
"Damn it..." - he managed to say between breaths.
He looked around. The boss room was empty and silent. It had been, by far, the hardest fight of his life. A single second's delay in the paralysis spell and his head would have been pierced by that nodachi. But despite the extreme fatigue and the stinging pain in his muscles, a smile formed on his face.
He had won. Alone. Against an enemy designed to be defeated by dozens.
"This is the feeling" - Theo thought, clenching his trembling hand, and with a smile he said: - "This is what it means to be a real adventurer." - It almost felt as good as the previous night with Darkness... almost.
He took a few minutes to catch his breath. He sighed as he realized he hadn't gained experience or money in this "realistic" world. However, the system didn't leave him empty-handed. The notification that he had completed the mission sounded in his mind.
Theo pulled out the ticket. It had an iridescent glow that promised something special. Without much thought, he used it.
A golden light, much more intense than any other he had seen, illuminated the room. In the center of the glow, a weapon began to materialize.
[Congratulations, you have obtained: Beacon of the Reed Sea (Claymore) - Level 1]
[Beacon of the Reed Sea (Claymore) - Level 1] - 5-star claymore that is part of the "Deshret Series" and is Dehya's signature weapon.
Level 1 Statistics
Base Attack: 46
Secondary Attribute: Critical Rate
Secondary Attribute Value: 7.2%
Passive Ability: Desert Watch
The following details the effect of the passive at Refinement Level 1 (R1):
After hitting an opponent with an Elemental Skill: Attack increases by 20% for 8 seconds.
After taking damage: Attack increases by 20% for 8 seconds.
Activation Conditions: These two effects can be triggered even if the character is in the party but not on the battlefield.
HP Bonus: If the character is not protected by a shield, their Max HP increases by 32%]
Theo observed the weapon with wide eyes. He looked at his mithril claymore that he had just bought and couldn't help but make a pained face for his wallet. All that gold spent on a sword that now looked like a toy compared to what was in front of him.
He put his old sword in his inventory and took the Beacon of the Reed Sea.
It was a brutal piece of ancient engineering. Its design was wide, heavy, with golden edges framing a blade of dark stone and engravings that glowed with a constant amber light from its circular core. As he wielded it, he felt a surge of vitality course through his body. The 32% increase in his maximum life felt like a transfusion of pure energy, eliminating part of the fatigue from the fight.
"This thing is incredible" - he thought, admiring the amber glow of the core. - "But... how do I explain to Darkness and Chris that I now have a sword that looks like it came out of a heroic legend?".
Theo sighed. He knew the moment of truth was approaching. He couldn't keep hiding who he was, especially after what he had shared with Darkness. But he couldn't just drop everything at once. Above all, he doesn't have to drop the typical "you guys were fictional beings in my old world"—that was something he would keep to himself and hoped he'd never have to tell.
Deciding he had had enough excitement for one day, Theo activated the return. The Aincrad boss room disappeared and, in a blink, he found himself back in his room. Since not much time had passed in the other world, here only minutes had gone by. So, he took off his armor, put on civilian clothes, and decided to go to the adventurer's guild.
What he didn't expect was that upon arriving, he would be greeted by a major piece of news...
======
I'm sorry for the delay, but I was in the middle of my final exams for the term and didn't have time to write. After that, I had a bit of a writer's block trying to figure out how to continue where I left off, so I decided to take a week off to relax from all the stress.
I eventually decided to set the Darkness and Theo plot aside for now and wrote this chapter instead to clear my head.
I hope you enjoyed the chapter