Progressive Factor II: Lacrimosa Of A Reaper

Attack on Castle Galey, Part 2

He'd later learn that it was a good thing he didn't stop, but if he had, he could have rescued Qusack earlier.

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Kirito

When he finally noticed Jaymes' disappearance, Kirito was in dire straits.

He joined the dark elves' fight against the Fallen, taking one out with the sword skill Rage Spike when the Fallen's commander made Kirito a high-priority target. The ones he initially fought retreated to the wall to replenish their health, while four fresh soldiers came after Kirito. Kirito hated to admit it, but he was in a bind.

The Fallen were not simple NPCs. Their AIs were more complex, adapting to the situation as it fit. As such, they had better teamwork and reactions than monsters. All Kirito could do was throw the AI controlling them off guard, and that was the first move he made as he picked a target, dashed at them, and threw his empty left hand out. He clenched the hand, and moments later, the Fallen soldier entering an attack pose was disarmed. His weapon was taken by none other than Kirito.

As his Martial Arts proficiency hit 100 moments prior, Kirito earned a new skill, Empty Wheel, which snatched an enemy's weapon and put it in the user's empty hand. Kirito knew he had it now because of Argo's information about martial arts skills; otherwise, he wouldn't have known until the battle's end. 

After severing the soldier's arm, Kirito turned his attention to the remaining three soldiers. With the Sword of Eventide and the scimitar stolen from the soldier, Kirito could fight with two blades, but being that there aren't sword skills for dual-wielders and he can't use one-handed sword skills in this irregular state, all he had was pure skill with the swords. Yet, for some reason, holding two swords at once and using a block-and-counter strategy felt natural for Kirito.

Maybe he'd practice with two swords if he survived this fight.

While one of the remaining soldiers was unharmed, the other two were first to be struck by the dual-wielding Kirito. They maintained their health at around 70 percent. The one-armed soldier retreated to the wall where the four healing soldiers were. If he couldn't defeat the three in front of him soon, he'd be surrounded by eight soldiers, and without sword skills, that situation would be tough. 

At this moment, he searched for the shielder. With his sword skills active, the two of them could take on the soldiers in tandem. "Jaymes! Back me up... J-Jaymes?" What... Where the hell was he?

Crap. He couldn't stand around, so Kirito charged the soldier to his right, but the soldiers changed directions as a unit, keeping Kirito in front of them. Damned AI was learning. If that repeated, they'd eventually press Kirito against the castle wall. Yet he couldn't pull back. Kirito had to face them head-on with the time given to him before reinforcements arrived.

"Kirito, watch out!" He's not sure he heard that correctly, but his body moved to the left as crimson-red light zipped forward, barreling through the Fallen Elves like a freight train. The air thundered as the light roared and knocked aside the trio Kirito was facing. The flanking pair was dropped to the ground while the central soldier was flung into the air. Kirito struck him down instantly as the soldier landed at his feet.

Through the sparkling blue light, he looked where the monstrous attack ended, seeing a red hooded cape, red pleated skirt, and long chestnut hair in the area surrounded by a dust cloud. He knew who that was on sight...but the sword skill Asuna used was not the Chivalric Rapier's. That attack was too powerful for a rapier skill. His answer came when the cloud cleared, revealing a silver lance in her hands. It was decorative in design.

When the hell did she get a lance? How the hell did she wield it so well?

Of the four kinds of spear-type weapons (one and two-handed spears, one and two-handed lances), two-handed spears were more common, followed by the one-handed variant. However, they were not as common as slashing-type swords or blunt-type maces and axes, and rapiers might equate them in number. But like the scythe-class of weapons before meeting Mito, Kirito had never seen a lance on the front lines. They're difficult to use because they were exclusively thrusting weapons with large hilts, and they're limited in weapon selection in shops. In Kirito's opinion, there was no room for hobby skills in the current state of SAO, so to learn the lance was a waste of time.