Kobatz

Kobatz (コーバッツ) was one of the 10,000 players who were trapped in Sword Art Online and was a lieutenant-colonel in the Aincrad Liberation Force (ALF).

Appearance
Kobatz was a tall man who seems to be in his late thirties, has a sharp face, very short dark hair and a pair of sharp eyes below his thick eyebrows. As a leader of the ALF platoon, he wears a set of very high-quality, heavy armor with a crest in the shape of Aincrad engraved on it, complete with a helmet and a red cape to distinguish himself from his men. In battle, he wields a long sword and a heavy shield.

Personality
He was a merciless and stubborn person, driving his men to their limits and forcing them to fight a difficult and pointless battle even when they are exhausted and without proper preparation. He was also an arrogant and short-sighted man who refuses to retreat from battle, claiming that the word "retreat" does not exist for The Army, even though the lives of his men were in danger and retreating would have allowed them to regroup and get reinforcements for the fight.

Aincrad Arc
Kobatz first appeared (though not mentioned) in Volume 1 Chapter 8, leading a platoon of high ranking «Army» players through a forest into the 74th Floor Labyrinth, walking past Kirito and Asuna, who were hiding behind some trees in the forest. Asuna reveals that there has been a rumor that the Army has been changing the way they were working to show that they are still contributing to clearing the game and, for that reason, small elite platoons were rumored to be sent to the front lines. She speculates that the platoon that they had seen were planning to attack the Boss of the Floor for reputation.



Kobatz later encounters Kirito, Asuna and the Fuurinkazan in the Labyrinth, demanding map data from them, thinking that he as a member of the Army had the right to have it for free, even though mapping is a difficult task. After receiving the map of the Labyrinth up to the Boss Room from Kirito, he orders his men to move out and heads towards the Boss Room. During the Boss Fight, he is killed by The Gleam Eyes due to his party entering the Boss Room without appropriate preparations and Kobatz refusing to let his men retreat from the battle.

It is later revealed by Yulier, that Kobatz's team was sent by Kibaou, in an attempt to appear in the good graces of the <>.

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