[Archmagination2002]

They did cut a lot of parts out and didn't explain much, but it still was a enjoyable episode.(unlike campione!)

It was only alluded to and never shown in this episode and nobody has mentioned it here but the battle was slightly different.

Spoiler for Fleshing out of the Battle:

The Kobold Lord pulled out a katana sword instead of its beta sword resulting in it having a different skillset. At the time the Kobold Lord was surrounded on 3 sides by teams of 6 players all being brilliantly directed by Diabel who had taken the front side by himself so he could get in the last blow. Kirito was with Asuna taking care of the spawning Kobold Guards and was the only one to notice(like in the anime) that the sword was a Katana.

During the beta Kirito had lot of trouble with monsters on the 8th/9th who mostly wielded Katana's and so he instantly realized that the group was in trouble. The Kobold Lord activated 'Hurricane Slice', an AOE sword skill that had the requirement of enemy's behind him. The surrounding groups managed to survive because they were in a party and the damage was spread out among them.. Diabel being solo took the whole damage.

The healing potion offered by Kirito was already useless.. remember that this is the 1st floor and that the best healing available was just a simple Heal over Time(Regen) so it wouldn't work quickly enough to keep him alive.

The next part of the battle was where Kirito shined.. he got the stunned people out of the way, but not before an idiot stepped behind the Kobold Lord triggering another Hurricane.. with his experiences against Katana skills Kirito gambled and used a Sword skill to counter, his failure would result in a bunch of deaths.. result was cancellation of skills and stunning both of them.. which allowed Asuna to strike. The battle dissolved into a Kirito counter/stun game with his life on the line. Kirito made a misidentified the Kobold Lords Katana skill being used which made him take strong blow instead of counter/stunning.. then Egil stepped in. The anime supplied the rest.