Even with the knowledge that Seiya's Unique Skill was a monster on the level of an elite monster, Kuradeel and his group still felt confident in their four-on-one advantage. But seeing the golden dragon coiling around Seiya now, they immediately frowned. The inaccurate intel had made their seemingly easy victory a lot less certain.
"Hmph, it's just a tiger that turned into a dragon. It's different from what our intel said, but you saw it yourselves. It can't one-shot us. Its AI isn't that advanced, so it's not a big deal if we're careful. You're from Smiling Coffin, a terrifying guild in all of SAO. And you've already taken a huge down payment from me. You're not scared now, are you?"
Seeing the slight anxiety on his accomplices' faces, Kuradeel egged them on with a dark expression. He had spent everything he had to hire them to kill Seiya. If they failed here, he would be ruined. Smiling Coffin was a red-named guild that was hated by all, but he, Kuradeel, was not. He was a member of the Knights of the Blood, a famous player in the Assault Team. If this assassination failed, the Smiling Coffin members could just walk away, but he would be in big trouble. Not only would his reputation be ruined, but he would also have to live in fear of Seiya hunting him down. What was even worse was that Asuna might hate him and try to kill him. This was something Kuradeel absolutely could not accept.
"We don't need you to tell us how to do our jobs. Since we accepted the contract, we'll kill him! Ken, Apple, you two distract the golden dragon he summoned. Kuradeel and I will take down the 'Saint' as fast as we can!"
Beast Tamers had a clear weakness: they were always weaker than their powerful summoned monsters. Even if Seiya's Unique Skill summoned a monster with the strength of a boss, two people were more than enough to distract the golden dragon. As for the strongest member of their group, Shadow, and Kuradeel, they could easily take down a beast tamer without his summoned creature. After analyzing the situation, Shadow's face under his cloak curved into a cruel smile.
"Don't waste any more time. Go all in. He's a top player in SAO, so who knows what other hidden moves he has."
At Shadow's command, his two companions, Ken and Apple, immediately distracted the golden dragon, while Kuradeel drew his sword and charged at Seiya alongside Shadow.
"Furious Pierce!"
Seeing Seiya's confident, smiling face, Kuradeel was filled with rage and immediately launched his attack. His sword was covered in a blue light and shot toward Seiya's face like a lightning bolt.
But Seiya just slightly tilted his head and easily dodged the attack as the sword's wind whistled past his ear. Taking advantage of Kuradeel's post-skill-use stiffness, Seiya gripped his sword, drew it, and swung.
A crescent-shaped blue light exploded in the air, and Kuradeel watched as his hand, which was still holding his sword, was sliced off and flew past him. SAO had a pain system that could be adjusted, and most players set it to the lowest setting. Getting a limb torn off by a monster would be too much to bear if the pain were perfectly replicated. Kuradeel's pain system was also off, so he didn't feel any pain, but it didn't mean he wasn't taking damage.
As his arm was severed, his HP began to drop rapidly. Kuradeel's arrogant expression was replaced by one of pure terror. Seiya was surprised that Kuradeel's HP was thicker than he thought and that he hadn't killed him in one hit. Just as he was about to finish him off, Shadow appeared behind him with a poisoned dagger and aimed it at Seiya's temple.
A person's brain was a weak point. Even with his powers from other worlds, Seiya's physical stats were tied to the game's numbers. And even in the real world, he couldn't survive being stabbed in the head, especially with a poisoned dagger. The sudden attack forced Seiya to abandon his plan of killing Kuradeel and dodge Shadow's attack with a backbend. As he bent backward, Seiya propped himself up with one hand and kicked upward, hitting the surprised Shadow's jaw.
The powerful kick sent Shadow flying several meters into the air. If this were the real world, Seiya was sure that one kick would have been enough to kill him multiple times. After sharing the powers from his Tokyo Ravens and Jujutsu Kaisen bodies, Seiya's physical abilities were superhuman. A normal person's jawbone would have been shattered. But again, this was SAO, and physical attacks didn't do as much damage as weapon attacks. Even though Shadow was sent flying, the damage was minimal. Of course, in the later Underworld arc, it would be a different story. The full-dive technology two years later was far more advanced and could perfectly replicate a player's physical abilities and combat skills.
Seeing his HP drop from Seiya's kick and Seiya preparing to attack him, Shadow didn't hesitate and used his trump card, his body fading and disappearing into the air.