Chapter 80: Intense Battle, Final Desperate Gambit!

In normal circumstances, Shengzai lacks the ability to control so many spirit servants at once.

Even after sharing abilities, the Shengzai from the Tokyo Dark Crow world could only control three spirit servants simultaneously.

Controlling spirit servants consumes spiritual energy, but this is a game world—conditions are different.

Seeing eight more star constellations summoned before Shengzai, Kayaba Akihiko was utterly stunned, as if he were playing an RPG and frantically grinding levels.

Meanwhile, Kirito and the others watching from the fifty-fifth floor’s “Dragon’s Nest” fell silent as they saw Shengzai command countless star constellations to charge at Kayaba Akihiko.

Klein had been the loudest critic, calling Kayaba a shameless cheat with no sense of fair play, but now he stared at the scene and said nothing.

Well, Kayaba Akihiko used his boss panel to fight Shengzai in PvP, so Shengzai summoning extra pets is perfectly reasonable.

What? You say he summoned too many pets? This isn’t PvP—it’s a mob fight.

But Klein could only think: as the final boss, Kayaba Akihiko was always meant to be mobbed by a group of players—this is just happening sooner.

Besides, why talk about honor when facing a scoundrel like Kayaba? If not for this bastard, wouldn’t they still be trapped in this death game for two years?

Although Kayaba Akihiko’s HP is high, Shengzai’s star constellations keep rushing forward one after another.

Everyone had assumed Shengzai had no chance against Kayaba Akihiko as the final boss, but now, seeing Kayaba’s HP steadily dropping, all SAO players began to grow excited.

After all, according to Shengzai’s earlier agreement with Kayaba Akihiko, if Shengzai won this duel, they could return to the real world!

Since being trapped in this death game, they had spent nearly two years fighting from the first floor to the current seventy-fifth.

The remaining twenty-five floors are clearly harder than any previous ones.

Though two years of grinding had made SAO players accustomed to their state and more experienced at defeating floor bosses,

each floor boss fight still resulted in some casualties.

How long would it take them to clear the remaining twenty-five floors from 75 to 100? And how many players would remain by the time they reached floor 100?

The skills and mechanics Kayaba Akihiko had revealed were already powerful enough to crush their hope.

When they finally reached floor 100 and faced Kayaba Akihiko with even stronger abilities like “revival” and “regeneration,” could they truly hope to defeat him?

Watching Shengzai relentlessly chip away at Kayaba Akihiko’s HP in the projection, every SAO player began cheering for Shengzai, silently praying he could defeat this demon.

On the top of the floating tower at Aincrad’s hundredth floor, the grand hall was now a ruin from the battle.

In his fight with Kayaba Akihiko, Shengzai continuously summoned star constellations to attack alongside him, finally reducing Kayaba’s absurd HP below the kill threshold.

The cost to Shengzai, however, was devastating.

His twenty-eight star constellation spirit servants had all been slain by Kayaba Akihiko—he was now alone.

“According to my data, all twenty-eight star constellations have already appeared. You have no capacity left to summon aid.”

Though his HP had dropped from ten bars to a sliver, Kayaba Akihiko still looked at Shengzai with confidence.

The gap in level and stats was undeniable—even with just a sliver of HP left, based on Shengzai’s previous damage output, Kayaba Akihiko still had some margin for error.

Shengzai’s HP remained safely in the green zone, but for Kayaba Akihiko, his victory condition had never changed.

One hit would be enough to instantly kill Shengzai.

With the star constellations gone, the fight was now truly 1v1.

“I have no other spirit servants to summon, but thanks to the exhaustion those stars caused you, I now have a chance to kill you, don’t I?”

“Death Reaping—!”

The battle had reached its final, white-hot moment. Kayaba Akihiko struck first, using his long-range scythe-sweep skill again.

But seeing Kayaba swing his scythe into the air, Shengzai—who already knew what skill was coming—dashed forward at full speed.

His constant summoning of star constellations wasn’t just to drain Kayaba’s HP.

Throughout the battle, Shengzai had also been observing every skill Kayaba used.

He didn’t care about skill power—Kayaba’s level and stats meant even a basic auto-attack could kill him.

What Shengzai cared about were Kayaba’s fast-starting, unpredictable skills and his massive AoE attacks that left no escape.

This “Death Reaping” was one of those skills he had always been wary of.

Because the scythe emerged suddenly from surrounding space, its direction and timing were nearly impossible to predict.

But after observing earlier, Shengzai had found one way to counter it: continuous high-speed movement.

Seeing Shengzai suddenly dash, Kayaba Akihiko seemed to guess his intent—next second, a glinting scythe tore through the air and sliced toward Shengzai’s feet.

As the scythe appeared beside his feet, Shengzai’s lips curled—he had expected exactly this move.

In that instant, he leapt off one foot, soaring toward a nearby palace pillar.

“CRASH—!”

The crimson scythe that had appeared before Shengzai’s feet swung empty, but its vacuum slash severed the palace pillar beside him.

As the pillar tilted, about to crash to the ground, Shengzai sprinted rapidly up its surface with astonishing speed.

Before the pillar fully collapsed, Shengzai reached its peak, pushed off with both feet, and shot straight toward Kayaba Akihiko’s face!

Without spirit servants, Shengzai had no ranged attacks. To drain Kayaba Akihiko’s last sliver of HP, he had no choice but to gamble everything.

(End of Chapter)