At around the same time in the Black Iron Palace, the headquarters of the Aincrad Liberation Force, located in the Town of Beginnings on Floor 1…

There was a certain man seated in his chair. In fact, it shouldn't even be called a chair. It could be considered a throne. The man seated on it was one in his late twenty's. His wavy brown hair that adorned the crown of his head was combed back in a military-style cut. He spoke to the man in full armor kneeling in front of him. "So, Corvatz, why are you here?"

"Yes, Sir Thinker," he replied, still kneeling. "I would like to request that you send us to the frontlines. There's been news that the Labyrinth has been discovered again by the Knights of the Blood."

The man called Thinker nodded. "Right… Why do you want to head to the front lines if the most powerful guild in all of SAO is already on the job?"

"That's exactly it, my liege!" Corvatz was speaking in slightly broken Japanese. He was apparently half-Spanish, half-Japanese. His Spanish accent was still there even though he used the native language of the other players. He continued, "I do believe that the Knights of the Blood is the most powerful guild. However, I cannot help but have a nagging feeling that the commander isn't who he seems but that is not the reason why. I want to be allowed to visit the frontlines so I can check and make sure the Knights aren't slacking off in their duties."

Thinker scratched his chin. "Hmm…"

The rather well-endowed woman standing behind Thinker let herself be heard. "You should let them go, my dear. Corvatz and the others have been holed up here for a while because of those Knights taking the initiative on most floors."

"Alright, if you say so, Yulier," he relented. "Corvatz, you have my permission to visit the seventy-fourth floor's Labyrinth. Perhaps, the Knights will take most of the rewards but at least, we will have the ability to say that we did something during that battle."

"Understood, my liege." The Spanish man proceeded to get up from his knees and bowing one last time to Thinker before he marched out, his armor clanging noisily.

"Alright!" Nautilus burped. "That was some nice food!"

"Indeed," Asuna added. "Yuna, Kirin-shi, your cooking is also quite good."

"Well, I mean, we both have completely mastered our cooking skills so…"

"Yeah, that's true."

"Enough of that!" Kirito announced, changing the topic. "Now that we're full... Nautilus, Yuna. Want to help us search for the boss room?"

Nautilus stood up and held out his hand to Kirito, intending to help him stand up. "Sounds good."

Kirin stood up and held her own hand out towards Asuna who gladly accepted it. "Alright, no one has forgotten anything, right?" she stated.

"Besides the fact that our food has gone into the pits of Tartarus that is our stomachs," Nautilus joked, "Not at all, Lieutenant General Asuna."

Asuna shook her head and took Kirito's hand. "Alright, let's move out then."

Kirito muttered something unintelligible as he disliked engaging in physical contact, however, he allowed himself to remain connected with Asuna as he had slowly gotten used to it although he still relatively disliked staying in physical contact. "Be on guard," he warned. "There's no telling what we might encounter on the other side of the safe zone." The quintet kept an eye on each other as they walked through the invisible wall that separated the safe area from the dangers of the Labyrinth. Kirito's fears were proven correct because on the other side of the barrier, four meters away, an army of Demonic Servants led by a single Lizardman Lord chattered aggressively. Of course, they would. They had discovered their prey. "Hoh, already an ambush? This ought to be a nice exercise before we hit the boss. What do you say, guys?"

Asuna smirked and slowly palmed the hilt of her rapier. "Who do you think you're talking to, Kirito-kun?"

Kirito smirked back as he turned his eyes towards the others. Nautilus snorted, "Please."

"I'll be in the vanguard," Kirin said simply.

"I shall support," Yuna added.

"Alright, Asuna and I will take on the boss!" Kirito announced. "Nautilus, Kirin, go and decimate the others!"

"As you wish," she sang. "Although, even without you telling me, I would've done so~." Kirin, being the fastest of them all (in terms of agility, not reaction time, although her reactions are almost on par with Kirito's), charged directly into the fray with the devastating Vorpal Strike sword skill, which lights the sword in a fiery crimson light.

"Kirin!" Kirito yelped, his voice barely heard over the massive sound, relatable to that of turning on a commercial airplane's jet engine, released by the sword skill.

"I'm fine," she replied. She had impaled a Demonic Servant using that skill and had broken through the lines of the enemy with its sheer power. She had also used that same Demonic Servant's body to injure the others using its body as a blunt force. The Demonic Servant impaled on her sword shimmered for an instant before exploding into particles. In that instant, the other monsters recovered from their 'shock' and proceeded to attack her all at once as she was unable to move due to the sword skill's lengthy post-motion delay. "Oh my," she teased. "So much love for me. However… Kirito, Asuna, Nautilus, Yuna! Shut your ears!"

They all widened their eyes in response and slapped their palms over their auricles just before Kirin's voice rang out in a powerful C8 note, one that would induce paralysis in whoever and whatever heard it. Although her body was frozen due to the post-motion delay, as long as she was able to move her lips, she'd be able to unleash the skills of Chant and the stronger ones gained from her Unique Skill, Songstress.

As expected, all of the monsters dropped their weapons and shrieked as the god-awful sound shattered their eardrums. Able to move again, Kirin gave the thumbs up, smiling hugely which prompted everyone to remove their hands from their ears. Asuna groaned, "Jeez… I still can't get used to that Sonic Boom skill…" Readying her rapier, she stepped into the fray, summoning power which discolored her Lambent Light a sickly green before unleashing a high-speed attack which traced the outline of a triangle starting from the top.

"Delta Attack?" Nautilus surmised, his eyes widening just as his field of view cleared due to the death of a Demonic Servant he dispatched with Rage Spike (it was thanks to Yuna that he was able to kill it with such a weak sword skill because she had already damaged it with Infinity, a dagger sword skill). "This is the first time I'm seeing it in person…"

Asuna smirked, "Surprised, aren't you? I haven't shown Kirito this skill yet."

"It's pretty powerful…" he admitted. "It's an area attack, too. The range of the skill makes it into an area of effect."

"Indeed," Asuna stated, as her body stiffened in a post-motion delay. "Kirito!"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it," Kirito muttered as the Lizardman Lord attacked him using a sword skill that Kirin identified to be Fell Crescent, a rather advanced scimitar sword skill, which the system calls the One-Handed Curved Sword. She knew of this because she had the weapon skill in her inventory although she never used it as she has no intention in increasing her mastery with the curved blade. Kirin watched as Kazuto's sword glowed sky blue as he deflected the monster's attack. She kept her eyes trained on him, just in case he needed any assistance, as the boy held his sword in hand and slashed at the monster's abdomen, opening a line from right to left. He then spun counterclockwise to slash at the monster's left side before revolving in the opposite direction to strike its back. His final strike concluded with a slash on the monster's right side and blue lines taking the shape of a square exploded outwards from the monster's body which proceeded to detonate into particles as it died.

Kirin wanted to ask a question but she was constantly being bothered by a group of Demonic Servants. Sighing, she dodged a sword before stepping back a few paces and getting on her knees. Bending forward slightly and keeping her sword hanging loosely in her right-hand grip, her sword glowed a bright pale blue as she charged forward. Judging from the scream, Kirin had blindly attacked a Demonic Servant with Rage Spike. Her strike killed the monster, despite the skill being a basic one and insignificantly weak compared to the other sword skills. Finally finding the time, she asked, "That's Horizontal Square?"

"Yeah," Kazuto replied. "As you can see, it's basically a square. I mean, there's also Vertical Square but I like using Horizontal Square more. Anyways, you better be glad that monster you attacked was already low in HP. Were it not for that, I'm pretty sure you would've sustained some damage. Rage Spike is a super weak skill. Heck, Sonic Leap is more useful since you can jump into the sky with it."

"Heh," Kirin snickered. "I mean, it's a very simple sword skill despite the drawback of it being weak. Anyways, if Horizontal Square is your specialty, then I'll gladly make Vertical Square my specialty." She turned to face the final Demonic Servant, which did not attack her until then because it was still reeling from her Sonic Boom skill, and she felt her eyes leaking pure murder against the monsters that were part of the colossal obstacle that was preventing their escape to the outside world. Her sword glowed an indigo hue and gripping it tightly, she made four tightly-knit cuts into the monster's body, however, from a forty-five-degree angle in relation to the ground. Similar to Kirito's Horizontal Square, Kirin's Vertical Square radiated an indigo square before the monster disappeared with a screeching wail.

Kirito was silent as he watched Ayanami sheathe her sword after her deed had been done. "Tch…" he muttered. "You're tempting me to make that skill my signature again."

"Haha," Kirin giggled. "Well, now that that's done and over with, let's head on over to the boss room."

Kirito dug into his inventory and yanked out an azure teleport crystal, showing it to everyone who was present. "Alright, guys, you have your crystals ready?"

Kirin nodded, pulling out her own lavender crystal. "We're all ready to go."

"Alright, we're going to just take a small peek at the boss to gather information," Kirito reaffirmed. Everyone else nodded as Kirito led them down the dank corridors weaving past obsidian walls. After several seconds of walking with their arms out considering that they could be attacked at any time, Kirito spots the giant obsidian doors of the boss room and holds up his arm, silently ordering his friends to stop.

"Crystals?" Asuna prompted.

"Yeah, we got ours," Nautilus replied. "Sheesh, you worry too much, Lieutenant General Asuna, Monsieur Kirito."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," he said. "I'm opening the doors now." Kirito gently laid his hands on the door and used his body weight to shove it open. The massive obsidian entryway groaned as it creaked open, the resonant sound echoing angrily across the room. The five players inched into the room, their senses on high alert as they scanned the room for the boss. No one freaked out as braziers set high with the help of columns ignited with blue fire. A small moat at farthest edges of the circular boss room also ignited blue, throwing out an eerie azure glow throughout the room.

It wasn't long before they spotted the boss and it definitely was not pretty. "A demon?!" Yuna yelped.

Kirito's hand immediately palmed the hilt of his sword resting on his back. He scrutinized the boss as the red cursor of the boss glowed to reveal its name, The Gleam Eyes, as well as its four HP bars. The monster roared, forcing its muscles to be as taut as ropes and rippling up its towering form. The boss's skin was a deep blue and its eyes glinted with the same blue-white hue, matching the tint of the flames in its boss room. Its head, resting atop its thick chest, was that of a goat's rather than a human's and had an elongated snout with thick, twisted horns stretching backward from the sides of its head. Kirito forced his vision away from the monster's upper section and glanced on its lower half, noticing the bestial legs covered in long, navy-hued hair. "We've seen the boss! Run!"

However, the boss had other ideas. Screeching, it drew its massive weapon and charged the group of players. "Out, out, out!" Asuna ordered. The players fled the boss room and ran back down the corridors that they had just mapped en route towards the boss room. The blue demon wailed in anger as it watched its prey get away.