The Gleam Eyes

The Gleam Eyes was the boss of Sword Art Online Floor 74. It was the first demon-type boss shown in the story. It was the only boss that was defeated without a strategy meeting, with the Black Swordsman Kirito defeating him using «Dual Blades». This was the first time Kirito had ever used Dual Blades in front of his friends.

Appearance
The Gleam Eyes is a massive, demonic-looking monster, and possesses dark blue skin, a tail resembling a cobra, as well has having horns like on a mountain goat. Its main weapon is an equally massive Zanbato sword, and despite its epithet and the title of the ninth episode, Gleam Eyes does not have blue eyes.

Background
Asuna and Kirito stumbles on the 74th floor Boss Room after mapping for some time. Curious, they take a peek inside and see The Gleam Eyes staring at them. They immediately run away in fear.



They encounter The Gleam Eyes again when they are forced to fight it in order to save the members of Aincrad Liberation Force. After the death of Colbert at the hands of The Gleam Eyes Asuna, Kirito and Klein leap to the rescue and defeat the boss. Though they successfully defeat the boss, it succeeds in taking three lives, making this the first time casualties resulted from a boss battle since the 67th floor's boss fight.

The 74th floor is also the first time a boss room contained an Anti-Crystal Area trap.

Abilities
Its main weapon was a large Zanbato Sword, but it could also fire purple energy spheres from its mouth. It attacked both with its sword and fists, but never actually used its snake tail during its fight. Gleam Eyes was truly worthy of being the boss of the 74th Floor as it could overpower the Aincrad Liberation force, (although Cobert's men were already thoroughly exhausted from exploring the area)succeeded in killing Cobert and two of his men, and even put the likes of Kirito and Asuna on the defense. Able to match the above mentioned players in sword combat, punch Asuna several feet away, as well as send Klein flying despite the latter blocking the attack, Gleam Eyes is a fearsome opponent. Its greatest achievement, however, is that despite being slain by him in the end, Gleam Eyes was able to, even while facing Kirito's unique Dual Wielding skill, reduce the latter's HP down to a mere sliver.

Kills

 * Cobert
 * Two other Players

Trivia
In episode 19, Kirito used a spell to transform into what seems like the Gleam Eyes.

The Gleam Eyes is one of the three in the SAO arc that came closest to killing Kirito, the others being Kuradeel, and Heathcliff.