"Ha—just barely made it."
At the very moment before the blade that would decide Nautilus's fate came crashing down, a pale blue blade, carrying the flow of water, caught the guillotine's edge.
The slender Nichirin sword held steady beneath the massive guillotine blade, the visual tension exaggerated to the extreme.
When the expected slash to the neck never came, Nautilus, who had thought himself finished, slowly opened his tightly shut eyes.
He tilted his head slightly upward, seeing the situation clearly—though the backlight obscured the man's face, the attire left no doubt.
It was Akimi, whom he had encountered briefly a few days ago in Jeyleum.
What had seemed like a staged spectacle during the BOSS's execution now highlighted Akimi's imposing presence, as if he were a towering pillar holding up the heavens.
"Hah—!"
Summoning his strength, Akimi pushed the guillotine blade back up into the air with sheer force.
In the same motion, he brought his sword down, cleaving through the chains that bound Nautilus.
Finally, he grabbed the back collar of Nautilus's armor and yanked him out of the guillotine's range.
The moment he pulled him free, the guillotine blade came crashing down once again.
With the momentum, it even smashed through the guillotine's frame and embedded itself deeply into the cracks of the stone floor.
Hearing the crash of the blade, Nautilus swallowed hard once more, his legs going weak—he had truly been just one step away from death.
"You should fall back to Klein and the others." Akimi cast him a glance, speaking calmly.
"A monster of this level might be a bit too much for you."
He hadn't phrased it too bluntly, but rather took a slight detour in his wording—though perhaps only by about fifteen degrees.
Nautilus, of course, understood the meaning.
After a soft word of thanks, he quickly bolted toward the door in long strides.
Seeing his prey about to slip away, Grinnell naturally wouldn't let it go.
He swung his bone-cleaver in a wide horizontal slash at Akimi.
But Akimi swiftly stepped back, retreating out of range, then turned with his sword in one hand and closed the distance again.
"Water Breathing, First Form: Water Surface Slash!"
The sharp Nichirin sword carved a wound across Grinnell's side.
Missing its mark, Grinnell let out another piercing shriek.
The shriek acted like some kind of command, causing the horde of Rat Jailers chasing after Klein and the others to instantly turn around and charge toward Akimi instead.
At the same time as the Rat Jailers rushed in, Grinnell launched another attack.
He gripped the bone-cleaver in his right hand, holding it across the back of his neck, crouched low, and pressed the fingers of his left hand against the ground.
The very next moment after it made its move, a faint red glow began gathering along the bone-cleaver—without a doubt, a sword skill.
"That stance… it's the triple heavy slash 'Rift Cleave.' This might actually be an opportunity."
Watching Grinnell's movements, Akimi quickly figured out which sword skill it was about to unleash.
At that moment, he seemed to forget there were still Rat Jailers preparing to attack from behind, his eyes fixed firmly on Grinnell.
"Water Breathing, Fourth Form: Striking Tide!"
"Water Breathing, Fourth Form—Modified: Flowing Ripple Leap!"
In the blink of an eye, Akimi's Nichirin blade clashed three times in succession against Grinnell's bone-cleaver, his body forced back three steps; meanwhile, the five Rat Jailers closing in on him were each pierced one after another by a slender rapier, shattering into fragments and vanishing.
Without the slightest pause after cutting them down, Asuna was already readying another sword skill.
Seeing Grinnell caught in recovery lag from using the heavy attack, Akimi delivered one more slash before pulling back and saying calmly:
"Switch."
"Water Breathing, Seventh Form: Piercing Ripple Thrust!"
The instant Akimi called "Switch," Asuna unleashed her sword skill.
The rapier's tip stabbed straight into Grinnell's chest in a flash, and at the moment of impact, rings of ripples spread outward through the air.
This chain of attacks nearly depleted Grinnell's first HP bar completely, while Akimi had lost only a sliver of health from blocking, and Asuna remained completely unharmed.
But neither of them intended to recklessly press the attack—BOSSes on these higher floors carried enormous risks if challenged head-on, and one slip-up could mean disaster.
Fortunately, Klein and the others had already managed to retreat safely from the BOSS room.
Exchanging a quick glance, Akimi and Asuna simultaneously launched another sword skill to force Grinnell into stagger once more, then turned and sprinted toward the door.
By the time Grinnell regained its mobility, the two were already seven or eight meters away and would soon be out of the BOSS room entirely.
Since a portion of the cage traps in the chamber had already been triggered by Klein's group earlier, Akimi and Asuna's escape proceeded smoothly.
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After topping off his HP with a healing potion, Akimi rapped his knuckles against Klein's breastplate and said,
"By the way, Klein, you've got guts—charging into a BOSS room without backup. If Asuna and I hadn't happened to show up, he'd be done for."
As he spoke, Akimi gestured toward Nautilus, who was standing beside Yuna with a lingering look of fear on his face.
Faced with Akimi's question, Klein could only scratch his head awkwardly, his mouth twitching for a long while without managing to get a single word out.
At that moment, Nautilus stepped forward, bowed to Akimi, and said,
"Thank you so much for your help. I really don't know how I could ever repay you…"
Akimi shrugged nonchalantly.
"It's nothing, just a small favor. But judging from your outfit, you're with the Knights of the Blood Oath, right? Why did you split off from your guild's party to join up with Klein's group?"
"Well… it's because Yuna wanted to try running a labyrinth with higher-level players," Nautilus hesitated for a moment before continuing.
"And on the other hand, I'm actually not a full member of the Knights of the Blood Oath—"
He paused there, glanced at Yuna, and then went on:
"I have a mild case of FNC. I can manage fine when clearing weaker mobs on the lower floors, but once I run into fast-moving monsters, I can't accurately determine their positions. That's why in the guild, I've always been in charge of logistics. The other members pretty much don't pay me any mind—as long as I keep the items and materials stocked."
As he spoke, Nautilus's head slowly lowered, his demeanor steeped in a faint sense of inferiority.
"FNC, huh…"
Akimi froze for a second—but it did make sense why he'd been so laid-back, even singing and eating with that girl Yuna back in Jeyreum.
Truth be told, in SAO, players with FNC were about as disadvantaged as people with disabilities in the real world.
Even the mildest cases caused no small amount of trouble for them.
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