Chapter 77: Damn It, You

The Maochangjingyan who had transformed into a red-robed Death God was precisely the same form he had shown to everyone during the public test.

His massive body stood over ten meters tall, floating midair; compared to his first appearance, this time Maochangjingyan held in his hand a huge crimson scythe.

Since this was the battle that would decide the fate of all SAO players, when Maochangjingyan teleported with Shengzai to the 100th floor, he generously left a projection screen on every floor so other SAO players could witness the fight.

When they saw Maochangjingyan transformed into a monster boss, Kirito, Asuna, and the others were already stunned.

But when they saw the HP bar appear beside Maochangjingyan ’s name, every member of the Gonglvezu exploded in outrage.

Because the final boss Maochangjingyan had not one, not two, but a full ten HP bars!

For reference, on the current Gonglve floors, ordinary floor bosses typically had only three HP bars.

Even special floors like the 50th and 75th had floor bosses with at most five HP bars.

Everyone had anticipated the 100th-floor boss, as the final boss, would have more HP—but no one had imagined it would be a full ten bars!

“That bastard Maochangjingyan —he must’ve abused his admin privileges to secretly buff his stats and settings!”

Ten HP bars? Even the entire Gonglvezu attacking together would take forever to bring him down—how could Shengzai, alone, possibly win against a monster like this?

This isn’t fair PvP at all! That bastard Maochangjingyan would do anything to win—he’s lost all sense of decency!”

It was no surprise that Klein shouted out—there were plenty of others in the crowd who were cursing Maochangjingyan just as loudly.

Player-versus-Boss battles are already extremely difficult, and now Shengzai was challenging the final boss, which wasn’t just any boss—it was a level-overwhelming challenge.

The enormous gap in level and stats meant that if Shengzai was hit by Maochangjingyan ’s attacks, he’d die instantly.

With Maochangjingyan ’s ten HP bars, even standing still, he could withstand a full Bantian of attacks from a player of equal level.

In short, what looked like fair PvP was in fact utterly unfair—Shengzai had virtually zero margin for error.

Unless he had a rare survival item, with Maochangjingyan ’s current boss-level stats, Shengzai wouldn’t survive a second hit.

Conversely, Maochangjingyan ’s absurd HP gave him massive room for error.

In short, Maochangjingyan could afford many mistakes; Shengzai could afford only one—and then he was done.

With the exaggerated level and stat gap, even if Maochangjingyan hadn’t sealed his “Instant Death” buff, every single strike against Shengzai would be lethal.

So while this bastard seemed to be making concessions, the actual concessions were nowhere near as great as they appeared.

Shengzai and Maochangjingyan at the top of the Floating Tower had already begun fighting; as Maochangjingyan swung his scythe, Shengzai rolled sideways to dodge, then lunged forward to close the distance.

Shengzai himself knew full well the gap in stats—if he took even one hit, he’d be gone.

So if that was the case, then as long as he avoided being hit, he’d be fine!

In the past, Shengzai might not have had such confidence—but now, after stacking abilities from multiple worlds, his physical capabilities and reflexes were no joke.

“Wenren Sword Style, Form Two—Endless Slash!”

The single-handed sword “Dawnbringer,” forged from quartz blocks and dragon scales, glowed blue as he activated the technique; the next instant, two consecutive slashes formed an “X” that exploded across Maochangjingyan ’s body.

Yet even after taking Shengzai’s devastating strike head-on, Maochangjingyan ’s ten HP bars remained completely unchanged.

As Shengzai finished his attack and prepared to retreat, he sensed a sudden, intense danger—he dropped low just in time as the crimson scythe shot past his face, trailing a streak of blood-red light.

Watching this near-miss, Asuna and the others watching from the “Dragon’s Nest” all held their breaths.

“No wonder it’s Shengzai—if it were me, that last strike would’ve killed me.”

Seeing Shengzai narrowly escape, Klein couldn’t help but admire him—but soon he noticed Kirito wasn’t relaxing like the others; instead, Kirito’s brow was tightly furrowed.

“Kirito, what’s wrong? Did Shengzai make a mistake in his move?”

At Klein’s words, the others noticed Kirito’s grim expression; after a moment, Kirito slowly spoke his thought: “Shengzai’s timing and technique were flawless.”

But we’ve all overlooked one critical question: is the boss Shengzai facing now Maochangjingyan himself—or just a regular AI?

You’ve all noticed, right? Shengzai’s attack came at the exact moment when a normal floor boss would’ve been vulnerable during its attack animation.”

Thanks to Kirito’s reminder, Asuna and the others realized: Shengzai’s attack had targeted precisely the gap between a normal boss’s attack and skill transitions.

A regular boss, if interrupted mid-attack or skill use, should enter a brief stun state.

But now, that stun state was gone—the Death God form of Maochangjingyan , though struck, showed no delay; instead, he reacted instantly, like a player.

Combined with Kirito’s words, everyone now understood what he meant.

Other floor bosses in Aincrad, despite their high levels and stats, were AI-controlled and thus lacked player-level intelligence.

But Maochangjingyan ? He’s got a boss’s stats and panel—but plays like a player. This isn’t just Diyunandu anymore—it’s true abyss difficulty!

Beating this Maochangjingyan is infinitely harder than defeating any other floor boss.

“Spirit Summoning: Azure Dragon—Kangjin Long!”

Not only Kirito and the others outside had noticed—when Maochangjingyan attacked, Shengzai had noticed too.

Maochangjingyan was using a boss’s stats and panel, but fighting with player mechanics.

But even if he hated it, what could he do? In SAO, this guy was the boss.

To return to the real world, he had to play by the other’s rules. Sure, the guy was cheating—but Shengzai wasn’t exactly a normal player either.

(End of Chapter)