In that instant, the heated atmosphere of battle seemed to freeze.
The crash of waves and the clash of steel rang out sharper than ever in the sudden pause.
"What? Retreat? Now?" A player on the deck of a nearby gondola glared at Ren, his eyes full of doubt. "It's on the verge of collapse, why waste this golden chance?"
But immediately, another voice rose, trembling, "Wait… he's right. The turtle...it… it stopped moving!"
Indeed, the colossal body was now crawling slowly beneath the water's surface, both heads raised high, their murky eyes gleaming with an unnatural light.
No more frantic snaps or chaotic fin strikes, only an eerie stillness, like a storm compressing before it explodes.
Ren clenched his teeth, shouting once again, his voice hoarse with urgency, "Listen to me! This is its final skill, if we hold this formation, we'll all be wiped out!"
Kirito turned his head, locking eyes with Ren. For a fleeting moment, an unspoken understanding passed between them.
His instincts told him the same thing: this was far from normal.
Yet the memory of the Beta Test flickered through his mind, sowing hesitation.
Back then, the fourth floor wasn't a vast lake like this, the terrain was entirely different.
But the Boss had still been a giant turtle, wielding a familiar moveset: charging rushes, massive bites, and a few water blasts. Even when forced down to its lowest HP, it had never revealed any hidden skill.
Kirito shook his head sharply. What he was seeing now was too different from Beta.
If he clung to the past, the team might pay the price. His instincts wouldn't betray him.
"Fall back," he ordered firmly, his voice carrying across to Asuna and their small group on the gondola. He gestured for them to row away, breaking free from the danger zone.
Asuna looked startled at first, but within a beat, her eyes reflected trust.
Without hesitation, she called for several other players to follow suit, retreating alongside Kirito.
And indeed, the sight before them seemed to confirm it. The giant turtle was no longer thrashing wildly.
Its two long necks twisted, the heads crossing into a grotesque shape, frothing bubbles erupting beneath the lake's surface.
The sky seemed to sink, the water shuddering, heralding the eruption about to come.
The surrounding players, though doubtful at first, began to waver.
They glanced at Ren, then Kirito, and finally urged their comrades to row back, one gondola after another pulling away in haste.
But not all were convinced.
At the far end, Lind roared, his voice cutting above the waves. He raised his greatsword high, pointing it at the beast. "Don't falter! It's down to its last sliver of HP! Focus your attacks and finish it before it can use anything!"
His blade glimmered in the setting sun, a rallying signal.
Kibaou immediately chimed in, his face flushed with frenzy, "Everyone, obey the commander! This is the decisive moment, don't let cowards shake your resolve!"
Several gondolas hesitated mid-row, torn between two opposing commands.
The stench of bloodlust mingled with confusion, choking the air as the waters churned with tension.
Lind and Kibaou, leaders of two great guilds, had rallied the four largest gondolas.
They had drilled naval tactics on this lake countless times, believing their strength and coordination would crush the beast.
Faced with the monster's sudden withdrawal, neither flinched.
They ordered the boats forward, forming a V-shaped wedge, waves of dazzling skills unleashed toward the heavy shell clamping shut.
Ren glanced at Agil. For a heartbeat, he couldn't tell if the burly merchant would gamble alongside the Aincrad Liberation Squad and the Dragon Knights Brigade, or heed instinct and withdraw.
Agil narrowed his eyes, then gave a subtle signal. "We're pulling out. Vigilance and safety matter more."
A short, decisive command. His companions exhaled in relief, steering their gondola backward in haste.
Inside them, unease lingered, but Agil trusted Ren and Kirito.
From the very first days in Aincrad, those two boys had never let him down. Their instincts always led to survival.
Others weren't so lucky.
Some still fought desperately, their eyes flashing with the hope of landing the "last hit" and becoming heroes. Others shifted uneasily, waiting for a cue to escape.
Then the moment came.
A dry clang of steel rang out. The first greatsword slammed into the turtle's shell, and bounced back as if striking a fortress wall. The player collapsed, hand trembling, eyes wide with shock.
"What the…? Its shell… is unbreakable!?"
The next blows, whether skills or combos, only sparked uselessly against the shell. Not a single damage number appeared. All damage had vanished.
A wave of terror swept the ranks. Weapons shook in trembling hands, eyes glazing in disbelief at the impossible sight.
Kibaou ground his teeth, then suddenly roared, "Retreat! Retreat now…!" His face reddened like a burning cactus.
But Lind was different. His face pale with strain, his eyes still blazed. He refused to accept defeat when the boss was so close to falling.
"No! This is our last chance, don't waste it!"
Gripping his greatsword tight, Lind charged, unleashing two brilliant skills in succession.
But each met only a harsh metallic clang, shockwaves jolting numbing pain through his arms. Lind dropped to one knee, gasping as pain coursed through his muscles.
And the turtle remained curled inside its shell, unmoving, as if mocking every ounce of effort.
The hiss of water suddenly roared to life.
Ren immediately realized the ancient two-headed turtle was no longer staying still.
Its massive body began to spin, the slick black shell tearing through the lake's surface, forming a monstrous whirlpool.
"It's starting…! Get away, steer as far as you can!" Ren gripped his sword tightly, eyes wide.
The vortex swelled, growing more violent by the second. Gondolas were dragged into the spiral, rocking helplessly like broken leaves sucked into an abyss.
Players screamed, struggling to row back, but oars splintered in their hands as crashing waves hurled them off balance.
"Hold the sides! Pull back from the center!" Agil bellowed, clutching the anchor rope to steady his gondola.
But the largest boats, where Lind and Kibaou commanded, were already caught within the vortex's range.
The suction hurled the gondolas into one another. Wood splintered with sickening cracks, players were flung into the lake, thrashing in the foaming water.
"Damn it! Pull it back…!" Kibaou roared, his face twisted in despair as he tried to rally his crew.
But the monster kept spinning, the whirlpool expanding, turning the entire battlefield into a storm.
Ren stood at the prow of his gondola, hair drenched, eyes locked on the maelstrom's heart.
This was the hidden skill he had feared, an attack that could not be blocked, survival depended only on escaping its range.
Screams rose around him. HP bars plummeted as players were dragged under, flashing red in desperate warning.
"Lind! Pull back!" someone shouted, but he only clung to his sword, face burning red with panic.
The whirlpool swelled larger still, swallowing the lake's light.
"Damn it, it's not stopping." Ren ground his teeth, his voice dropping low as if to steady his nerves. "Agil! Gather the survivors, pull anyone out of the water you can. Keep a safe distance!"
Without waiting for a reply, Ren sprang forward. He leapt across the rocking gondolas, his boots barely grazing the wooden edges before launching again, like a cat chased by water.
Then...thud! Ren landed on Kirito and Asuna's boat. Both flinched, eyes flashing with alarm.
"Do you have any way?" Ren asked bluntly, breath ragged. "At this rate, anyone in the water will be crushed. It won't stop."
Kirito tightened his grip on his blade, determination sparking in his eyes. "There's still a way. We don't need to close in… we can attack from range."
Asuna shook her head, her voice sharp with urgency: "But hardly anyone here uses ranged weapons. Nezha and Orlando's group aren't here. No bows, no crossbows… what can we even fire?"
Ren frowned. He knew it well, bows were safe but also a luxury. Arrow slots in the inventory were capped at three, only about sixty arrows. With an extra quiver, barely over a hundred.
That was why bow users, or any throwing weapons were rare at this stage.
Nezha of the Legend Braves was an exception, with his chakram that always returned after being thrown...but that was a rare weapon in the lower floors.
And at this pace of battle, it wasn't nearly enough to finish any boss.
"Not only that," Asuna pressed, "damage falls sharply with distance. And right now, it's at the center of the vortex. Who could even land a shot?"
Ren's brow furrowed. She was right, but the whirlpool kept expanding.
"No need," Kirito said quietly, patting the side of their green-painted gondola. "Our Tilnel can fire arrows."
Ren froze, his frown deepening. "Tilnel? Wait… isn't that Kizmel's little sister's name?"
Asuna nodded, her voice softening. "Yes. We named this boat in her memory."
Ren fell silent, stunned. For a few seconds, he didn't know what to say. The weight of silence pressed down.
Kirito broke it with a firm explanation: "Our gondola is equipped with a firing mechanism, ten flaming arrows. The material came from the Fangs and Claws of the Bear King."
Ren's eyes widened. "Hold on… gondolas here can actually attack enemies?"
He couldn't contain his shock.
Until now, he had believed gondolas were only meant for travel across this river maze.
The thought that they could be "warships," armed with weapons to fight monsters, struck him with both surprise...and a faint, unshakable sense of inadequacy.
Because his gondola… had nothing like that.