Floor 69: August 1st, 2024

You know how I mentioned I had avoided a lecture from Raph about giving up our supplies to help out Serra?

I hate it when my actions come back to bite me in the ass.

Anyway, the three of us were walking through the grasslands, heading toward the entrance to the floor's Labyrinth. Since the front lines were just one floor ahead, there were a bunch of other players on the floor grinding, like that one guy Serra rescued. I kept my «Searching» skill active at all times, partially to grind it up a bit and partially to keep an eye out for any cursors. Orange or green, it didn't matter; I just didn't want to be spotted. For that matter, I would have spent my time hiding under the shelter of invisibility if Raph and Serra hadn't been with me.

That's because Serra had the unerring ability to step on my feet the second I went invisible. I swore she did it on purpose, but after the third or fourth time I shouted at her she promised she'd never do it again. I figured I'd thrown some fear into her and smirked, proud of my ability to intimidate. Of course, no sooner did I activate my «Hiding» skill again then my foot was crushed under her boot. "God damn it, Serra!" I growled.

She flinched. "Sorry, sorry." I glared at her, and she shrugged helplessly. "I swear I'm not doing it on purpose..."

I shook my head with a snort of disgust. "Fuck it. You two can explain why you're traveling with an orange player if we get stopped, then."

We walked on for a bit before Serra glanced at me, confused. "Wait, why would I have to explain anything?"

I was at a loss for words, and I turned to Raph. "Explain to her, please. I'm gonna blow a gasket otherwise."

"I told you to calm down, Boss," Raph said with a grin. "But no, you didn't want to talk about it."

"Bite me," I snarled. Raph and I swapped places so that he was walking between me and Serra. That way, she wasn't within easy punching distance.

Not that I'd ever hit a girl without good reason. It's just that she kept giving me such great reasons.

"As you know," Raph said, dropping almost unconsciously into his 'lecture mode', "orange players like Boss are pariahs in Aincrad. And for good reason; they're thieves at best, and murderers at worst. So most green players either stay far away from them or kill them on sight. A green player wandering around with an orange had better have a damn good reason if they don't want to get killed too." He was a pretty good teacher, really; he just had this air of authority around him when he chose to use it. "So what usually happens when we're changing floors is Boss stays hidden while one of us walks with him." When we were 'on the job', three of the Horsemen went ahead, restocking and gathering information on the front lines, while the fourth Horseman and I fought our way to the top.

"Us being the Horsemen?" Serra asked him. I rolled my eyes; oh, fine, so she listened to him but not me.

"Bingo." Raph smiled. "People that see us figure we're alone and don't bother us, and Boss doesn't get harassed."

Serra frowned. "But why do they harass orange players? Everyone should treat others equally. I mean, every orange player started out as a green player, right? So there's no reason an orange player can't act like a green."

I snorted. "Aside from the whole being unable to enter towns or use warp gates? Oh, no, there's no reason at all." Not. Bitter. At all. "Nothing to do with being hunted or having to walk everywhere or always having to sleep in a tree or not being able to sleep for more than four hours because -" I realized what I was saying and slammed my mouth shut before I said something I regretted. Serra's eyes were wide and her jaw had dropped.

Raph, on the other hand, was watching me with pity. "Still can't sleep well, Asmodeus?" I shook my head stiffly, not trusting my voice, and he sighed. "And you still won't talk to me about it, will you..." I just shook my head again.

"Wow," Serra managed to say. "That was something." I flipped her off without looking.

"Can we get going, please?" I asked. "I'd like to get halfway to the Labyrinth before sundown."

Raph shaded his eyes and studied the position of the sun, then swiped his menu open and stared at the map for a bit. "Looks like we're almost at a good camping spot." He pointed forward and to the left a bit. "About five minutes that way, there should be a tree with some stones." The stones could act as seats, and there was a small pit for a fire.

I nodded. "Sounds familiar. That's where we all stayed last time we were out this way, right?"

Raph nodded. "Yeah. You slept in the tree while we took turns on watch." That was one of the nights I had woken up still remembering part of my dreams. It only lasted for a few seconds, but I had still lost my balance and fallen out of the tree. The portion I remembered was a particularly nasty bit, and I had knelt by the base of the tree, retching. Raph had been on watch at the time and came over to check on me. I ended up telling him a little bit - that I didn't sleep well - to get him to drop the subject. He never mentioned it to the other Horsemen, something I was grateful for, but occasionally when we were alone...

"This is going to be so much fun!" I realized Serra was humming to herself. "It'll be just like with my old guild."

"Except we're not your friends," I grumbled under my breath.

Raph dropped back slightly. "Can she take a shift?" I nodded, and his shoulders relaxed just a bit. "That's good. I thought she was just going to be tagging along."

I grinned. "She's actually going to be making dinner. She's pretty good at it, too." I licked my lips, looking forward to the meal.

"Really?" Raph looked intrigued. "Maybe she wouldn't mind swapping tips..." Raph usually cooked for us when the Horsemen were with me; of course, when I was changing floors I only had him with me one out of four times. Sometimes less, if one of the other Horsemen were falling behind on levels. Once, Gain had gone three straight floors with me, just because he never got the kill as the tank. Mao usually spent the least amount of solo time with me, since he was the main fighter in our group, and Uri and Raph usually spent about equal time. My side suddenly stung, and I came out of my thoughts to realize that Raph was nudging me in the ribs with his elbow. "You're monologuing internally again, Boss."

"Bah." I smiled slightly. "Can't a guy have any peace and quiet?" Raph just laughed. "We should probably catch up with Serra, though. If she gets poisoned again, she's shit outta luck."

He studied me. "You're unusually interested in keeping her alive. She remind you of someone?"

A brief image of long black hair and a smiling face flashed before my eyes and I grimaced. "No. If she dies, technically it's my fault." I shrugged. "And then where would we be?"

"That's right," Raph said absently while scanning the horizon for any players. "You refuse to kill unless they're PKers or Lures."

"A guy has to have some standards." I shoved Raph, payback for my ribs. "And don't even say what I know you're thinking."

"Who, me?" Raph said with the most innocent face. "I wasn't thinking anything." I glared at him, and he grinned. "Definitely nothing to do with standards and Serra over there." I just sighed. Sometimes, even though I was their nominal leader, they gave me no respect.

Scratch that, most of the time they gave me no respect. But I knew that if push came to shove they'd have my back in a heartbeat.

Dinner was, as expected, an excellent affair. Serra had either held out the night before or restocked or something, because this was something completely different. It was like she grilled chicken or some other meat and then put some spicy sauce over it and it was amazing holy crap.

Ahem.

I did the basic rounds before we turned in while Raph and Serra were swapping recipes; I came back to find them deep in their menus, talking about different class ingredients. Something about a rare animal called the Ragout Rabbit or something. Nothing I cared about. "Four shifts, three hours each. I'll take first and third shifts. Serra, you take the second, and Raph can take the last shift. That sound good?"

Raph stretched. "Ah, the graveyard shift. How I loathe ye." He very carefully didn't mention the fact that I was taking two shifts, only three hours apart. Serra didn't notice anything, agreeing to the arrangements without a second thought. As the two turned in for the night, I carefully banked the fire and sat on one of the stones. Triggering my «Hiding» skill without really thinking about it, I started keeping the lonely vigil.

Fortunately, aside from a curious night monster that left after I stood up to get a better look at it, we weren't interrupted during my first shift. Yawning, I went over to shake Serra. "Wakey wakey, sleeping beauty," I muttered. Her eyes slowly opened, and she sat up with a yawn. "I'll relieve you when I get up in a few hours. Have fun," I said with a small grin. As Serra sat down on the stone, I jumped up into the tree and wedged myself between a few branches. I shifted around until I was least uncomfortable - these trees were not made for sleeping.

Well, not that other trees were, but this tree was especially... oh, forget it. I've made my point.

Serra had no reason to wake me up, and I was tired enough to sleep without dreaming - at least, anything I remembered. Didn't stop me from waking in a cold sweat, though. After calming down, I jumped down from the tree and walked over to sit next to Serra; she hadn't seemed to move from her spot, taking her job as watchwoman very seriously. I just smirked and tapped her on the shoulder. She jumped, earning a snicker from me. "Not funny," she grumbled. She looked around, trying to find me. "Oh, you're hidden again. 'Night, Modeus."

I sighed as she called me that stupid nickname again and went back to her sleeping bag by the base of the tree. Maybe I could convince her to call me Asmodeus by... hell if I knew. Something to think about while I waited patiently for the three hours to pass. I usually played Solitaire or another card game; I had picked up a pack of cards back on the first floor when I was still a green player, and they had stayed with me for the entire time I was stuck in the death game. Those cards had seen every floor.

Of course, instead of playing Solitaire right away, I sat there and tried to think about how to get Serra to call me by my real name. That only occupied me for the first hour, and when I finally decided she was just too damn stubborn to change, I pulled out my playing cards. Placing them on the stone in front of me, I tapped the top of the deck. I started a new game and watched as the deck glowed for a bit before automatically spreading out in a familiar tiered pattern. I started moving cards around, humming to myself. Unless the game bricked up and I couldn't win, I usually finished the games in about two to three minutes. By the time my shift was up, I had played about fifty games, winning about thirty-some of them.

I walked over and nudged Raph with my toe. His eyes snapped open; he was an old hand at taking night shifts, so his only other reaction was to tense slightly. Because I tapped him on his left side, he knew there wasn't anything to worry about. Something the Horsemen and I had set up; a sort of silent communication system. He pushed himself to his feet and walked off to take a seat on the rocks. I jumped up into the tree again and settled myself down - I was still a bit tired, so it was even odds that I'd be able to fall asleep again.

...helpless. I was unable to move a muscle, and all I could do was watch as the bastards...

A tap on my right side woke me up immediately as I was in the middle of the dream. The same dream, of course; it's always the same dream. I thrashed around as an automatic reaction, dislodging myself and losing my balance. I braced myself for impact, but it never came. After a second, I opened my eyes to find that Raph had managed to catch me as I was falling. He let me stand up and watched me to make sure I was alright. "Okay, Boss?" he whispered.

"Fine," I growled. I needed to be curt; he tapped me on the right side, which meant we were in trouble. "Where?"

"Far." That was good; that meant we had some time before they were on us. Raph went over to Serra and shook her awake, covering her mouth with his hand to muffle her until he could explain the situation. I, on the other hand, started off in the distance. I could see where they were; whoever it was had a lantern of sorts, giving away their position. Stupid. But they could be trying to lure someone into a trap, so I still had to be careful.

It didn't help that the long grass of the plains gave away my position with every step. Even if I was hiding - which I was - the grass would still be crushed down where I was walking. Basically, all an enemy had to do was aim for where the grass was different and I would be screwed. So I needed to make sure I kept out of their line of sight.

As I approached from their side, I could hear what they were saying, but it sounded like it was two players, a guy and a girl. I couldn't make out their appearances, but they were talking to each other; I couldn't really hear what they were saying aside from the pitch, but they didn't seem hostile - yet. However, my «Searching» skill confirmed what I had suspected, that they were green players. I tried to get as close as possible to eavesdrop on their conversation. I turned off «Searching» and triggered my «Listening» skill, crouching low to the ground and listening.

"It's not like it's my fault we took a while..." That was the guy. He sounded a little exasperated, as if he had been repeating himself for a while.

"Oh, be quiet." I froze as every part of me that could clench did; I recognized that voice. "And who was it again that wanted to kill the dungeon boss?"

The guy sighed. "You say that like it's a bad thing. But we killed it, didn't we?"

I swore under my breath and started backing away as quietly as I could manage. I knew who the girl was, and I wanted to go anywhere that wasn't near her. She'd kill me without a second thought, and anybody she was talking to would probably do the same thing. For that matter, they were talking about killing a dungeon boss on this floor, and the only dungeon boss that was nearby that I knew about was pretty damn strong. That didn't exactly make me warm and fuzzy when I realized that.

I made it back to the small tree safely, hoping that Serra was awake and ready to move. Actually, scratch that; I was hoping that Raph was ready to move and that Serra could be convinced to group up with the two green players. Get her off my back, et cetera et cetera and so forth.

Raph looked up as I turned off my «Hiding» skill. "How many?"

I grimaced. "Two, and they're strong."

"How strong?"

"They were talking about killing a dungeon boss, just the two of them." I stared at Raph. "One's Asuna."

"Fuck!" Raph swore loudly. "We're gone." We triggered our «Hiding» skills simultaneously and disappeared. Raph raced off away from the two players, into the waiting darkness.

I was about to follow him when I froze. Then, I turned off my «Hiding» and walked over to the tree instead. "Serra?"

She peeked out from behind the tree trunk. "Asmodeus?" Her voice shook slightly, and I wondered what Raph had said to her that scared her so badly. "Where are you two going?"

"Anywhere that isn't here," I snapped. "You can either come with us or stay here. You'll probably be safe from the players. I happen to know they'll give you the benefit of the doubt." Privately, I was hoping she'd stay at the campsite, but I figured I'd tell her what we were doing. If she didn't realize we had left and tried to follow us, there was a chance she could get herself killed. This was the easiest way to keep her safe. Nobody else would die because of me, not if I could help it.

Serra hesitated briefly before nodding to herself. "I'm coming too."

"Good, they'll make sure you're... huh?" I blinked as what she said finally caught up to my brain. "Wait, what?"

"I'm coming with you two. Is that so hard to understand?" Serra glared at me. "And I'm not changing my mind."

I sighed. "Fuck it. I need to get gone before they see me." I triggered my «Hiding» skill again. "Follow the grass. It'll show you where I'm going." With those words, I took off. If Asuna caught me, I'd be dead before I could say anything in my defense.

Burning your bridges kinda did that.

I raced off, heading the way Raph had been going. After a few seconds, I heard someone running beside me. "About time," Raph said. I glanced over out of the corner of my eye, but only could see grass being flattened. I couldn't see him, but I knew Raph was running alongside me. "I thought you were going to be caught." There was a pause, probably while he glanced behind me. "I see Serra is following us."

"Less talking, more running," I panted out. "And not my fault. She decided to tag along." I grinned. "It's like an annoying puppy that pisses on the floor, eats your food, and won't leave." I heard Serra complain behind me, and I grinned again. That was far too much fun.

Floor 69: August 2nd, 2025

By the time we slowed down, it was almost dawn. We had circled around back to our original heading after we put some distance between Asuna and her friend and ourselves. We kept running, though, trying to get as far away from her as possible. As dawn broke, Serra finally called out to us plaintively, begging for a rest. I slowed down, shifting from a dead sprint to a light jog; by the shift in the grass beside me, I assumed Raph did the same thing. Suddenly, his form shimmered into existence; I turned off my «Hiding» skill as well. "Might as well take a break," I said, stretching to loosen my back.

Serra caught up to us. "So, what was that all about?"

Raph glanced at me, and I nodded. I'd take this one. "I don't know what Raph told you, but there were two players. Both of them were green."

Serra nodded. "Okay, so we would have been extra careful. Why the rush?"

I rubbed the back of my head. "One of the players happened to be Asuna, the Lightning Flash."

Serra's eyes widened. "The Asuna? Like, Knights of the Blood?" I nodded. "Oh, wow! I kinda want to go say hi now..." I bit my tongue and very carefully didn't say anything. Say, about how she could have said hello if she had just stayed at the camp. "I've always looked up to her. She's so strong and beautiful."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," I said with a dismissive wave. "Anyway, Asuna has basically threatened me and mine with death if she ever saw us again."

"W-why would she do that?"

"I, ah..." I looked away. "I might have killed a Lure in front of her?"

"A what?" Serra asked, confused.

I couldn't remember if I had told her about Lures or not, so I gave her the benefit of the doubt. "A Lure is a green player that acts as bait for other green players for the oranges to target."

Serra frowned. "That made no sense."

I looked at Raph, pleading for him to step in, and he chuckled. "A Lure is, like Boss said, a green player that works with orange players. They go and trick other green players, luring them into a trap set by the orange players."

Huh. That was a lot easier than how I said it.

"Oh, I get it now," Serra said. "But I don't get why that would have made Asuna so mad."

I snorted. "Because she has a hair-trigger temper?" I ignored Raph's small smirk, an expression that said volumes about pots and kettles, and continued. "It's because killing orange players is viewed as justice and retribution while killing green players is seen as murder. Simple as that." I looked at Raph. "That's where I met you four, isn't it?"

Raph nodded. "Yep. Boss saved us from a group of PKers too, but Asuna didn't see that part." He laughed. "She asked us to come with her, but we left to go help out Boss. To her, that probably meant we were working with him. Asuna was pretty pissed at us, but fortunately she didn't know who we were. We've changed armors by now, so she probably doesn't even remember what we look like. But Boss is still wearing that same shirt and cloak outfit, as tacky as it is."

"I happen to like my Cloak of Lies, thank you very much," I said with a sniff.

"It's still tacky, Boss. Who wears feathers any more?"

I rolled my eyes. "My lackey the fashion policeman." I looked at Serra. "So, basically if Asuna is anywhere nearby, we bolt, end of story. Even if it means losing the PKers we've been hunting."

"Wow..." Serra muttered, thinking over what we had said. "That's a lot."

I shrugged. "Meh, whatever. Water under the murder bridge." I looked around. "Well, no point in stopping now. Might as well keep going until we reach the Labyrinth. Raph, how far away is it?"

Raph pulled up his map. "About... twelve hours that-a-way?" He pointed off into the distance. "We should make it around dusk, just in time for dinner."

"Neat. Let's roll." With that said, I started walking again. Raph would catch up eventually, and I didn't really care what Serra did. Honest.

You know, people keep telling me I'm a bad liar. Wonder why that is.

Anyway, we made it to the entrance to the Labyrinth just after six as the sun was starting to set, exactly as Raph predicted. I had to hand it to the guy, he was good with guessing. After eating another delicious dinner, this time prepared by Raph, we prepared to enter the dungeon. It was late, but if we got through the Labyrinth I'd be on schedule. Not that I had a schedule, really, but I'd have met my goals.

Shut up, you know what I meant.

The dungeon itself wasn't really as bad as I remembered it. I went through it with Mao the first time and Uri the second time, so maybe it was just a matter of familiarity. I knew where most of the pitfalls were located, and the tribal-like traps could be sprung pretty easily. The second time I went through, Uri had just disarmed the traps, but Raph simply sprang them and then got out of the way. To each their own, I guess.

Serra looked around with interest. "I've never been in here before. It's pretty neat."

I shrugged. "If you like pelts, grass, and plenty of bones, I guess it's a nice enough place." I sighed. "I just keep expecting a meerkat and warthog to come out of nowhere and start singing."

Raph laughed. "Everything the light touches is our kingdom."

"Be prepared," I said with a grin.

"I just can't wait to be king."

Serra was looking back and forth between the two of us with mounting confusion. "What are you two talking about?" That brought our quote train to a screeching halt as we struggled to comprehend that Serra apparently had no childhood.

Eventually, we gave up and continued on our way. My first clue that we were walking into trouble was the rattling of several bone staffs, and I swore. "Damn it." Several masked figures walked out of some hallways, each one carrying a staff that had several bones tied to the top. The bones rattled and clacked almost malevolently with each step the bearer took. "I hate these things." Short little bastards were a pain in the ass.

Raph glanced at me as we backed together. "What's their deal?"

"They throw stuff," I said. "Sometimes an explosive, sometimes a dud, sometimes a poison. It's the color of the little ball they throw." I noticed one of the Masked Shamans rearing back to throw something. "Scatter!"

We split apart and rushed the Masked Shamans; the red projectile hit the ground where we had been standing and exploded, the shockwave rippling out. I dove forward, sprawling on the ground as the shockwave went over my head. I looked up with a gasp to see another Masked Shaman with its staff raised above its head, prepared to attack me; I brought my trident up just in time to block the attack. With a grunt, I shoved the staff to the side and brought my trident up to smash the wood into the Masked Shaman's side; I thought I heard a cracking sound, though it definitely wasn't my trident. Probably the crappy leaf armor the stupid monsters wore. Or maybe the thing's ribs. Either worked.

"Boss!" I heard Raph shout. I whirled around just in time to meet a Masked Shaman's thrown gourd. It landed in front of me and exploded in a burst of spores, the powder covering me from head to toe. It disappeared quickly enough, of course, but not before it managed to poison me. I swore viciously and turned back to the Masked Shaman I had been fighting. We had to finish up this fight quickly and haul ass out of the Labyrinth if I had a chance of surviving. I hadn't been able to restock yet, and Raph had run out of healing herbs a while ago, earlier on the floor. I stabbed out, killing the Shaman and moving on to the next one.

After the last enemy faded away in blue polygons, I let myself relax. "This is bad," I said with a cough. "I'm poisoned and we have no way of curing it." Just because I had told him to cure Serra.

Irony's a fucking bitch, ain't it?

I turned to Raph. "Message the others, tell them to meet us at the entrance to the Labyrinth on the 70th Floor. If I make it out of this without having to use the Corridor Crystal, I want the area clean." He nodded and got to work, swiping open his menu and tapping away. I looked at Serra. "Raph and I are going to be hauling ass, so you're going to have to keep up. I can't guarantee we'll have time to wait for you."

Serra looked concerned. "Are you going to be okay?"

I sighed. "Worst comes to worst, I use my Corridor Crystal to warp to the exit. But I really don't want to do that, so we're running. Raph!"

"Message sent, Boss!" he shouted back. "Ready to go!"

With that, the three of us took off at a dead sprint for the exit to the Labyrinth. I let Raph take the lead, following him almost blindly as I watched my health bar slowly drain. When it hit low yellow, I was using the Corridor Crystal no matter what. We raced past a rather startled Masked Shaman on the fifteenth floor; I thought I heard Serra cut it in half as she passed, but I didn't really pay that much attention.

My worst fears came true on the eighteenth floor of the Labyrinth. "Raph, I'm almost at red," I called forward. We slowed to a stop and I started rummaging around in my pouch. "I need to use this Corridor Crystal right now or I'm not surviving."

Serra tapped me on the shoulder; when I turned to face her, she was holding a small potion. "Here." I accepted and gulped it down; as I tossed the empty vial away, I watched as my health was fully restored.

I looked at her. "...Thanks. For that." It was still obvious in the back of my mind that I wouldn't have been in that situation if Raph hadn't wasted his one cure on Serra, but I didn't say anything. She was clearly trying to make amends, so I accepted her offer. It was a little jarring having her owe me one, anyway. This way, we were back to being even. "Let's keep moving. This should buy me enough time to get out of here."

Raph studied Serra for a second, and then nodded. "Right."

We eventually burst out of the darkness into the night of the 70th Floor. It was a nice moonlight night, and I could see the false stars high above me. Even though they were the bottom of the 71st Floor, they seemed real to me. I sighed; I'd been in Aincrad for far too long. It was my home, now.

As we exited, Raph rushed forward. "Poison," he called out.

From the shadows, Uri's form appeared. "I've got a healing crystal," she said. She ran over to me and pulled out a green crystal. "Heal!" The crystal shattered and I watched as the small poison icon next to my health bar disappeared. I sighed in relief, finally safe. "You're safe, Boss," Uri said. With a sigh of relief, she gave me a big hug.

I winced slightly. "Careful, Uri. You might break a few ribs." I chuckled and returned her embrace. "Good to see you again, though."

"Hey now, Uri," Gain called out. "Let him breathe." Uri drew back, slightly embarrassed, and I deliberately gasped for air. Mao and Gain came over, chuckling; Gain slapped me on the back and I jerked forward slightly. "Welcome back, Boss."

I grinned. "Glad to be back. Speaking of..." This floor was a little colder, so I swiped open my menu and equipped my cloak once more. "Ah, I missed this cloak." I heard Raph snort in the background and I flipped him off without looking. "So, what's up?"

Mao stretched. "It's late, Boss. Maybe we should turn in for the rest of the night and talk about this in the morning."

"I'm beat. Not taking a shift tonight," Uri said through a huge yawn. "Mao, why don't you -" she broke off suddenly. "Why is she here?"

I turned to find Serra emerging from the shadows of the Labyrinth. "Oh, her?" The whisper of steel behind me told me that one or more of the Horsemen had drawn their weapons. "She's alright."

Uri walked up beside me, her sword drawn and levelled at Serra. "And you know this how? For all we know, she's just a good Lure."

"Because she gave me a healing potion when I wasn't going to make it in time," I snapped. "If she was trying to lure us into a trap, it would have been in her interest to let me waste my means of escape." I waved her down, and Uri reluctantly sheathed her sword. "Plus, she's kinda useless."

"Hey!" Serra cried out.

I glared at her. "Shut it. I'm saving your ass here." I turned back to the rest of the Horsemen. "She just wanted to tag along through the Labyrinth." I glanced at Serra again. "Now that she's gone through the Labyrinth, I'm sure she'll be leaving us alone from now on." Sure, it was a bit pointed, but Serra seemed like she needed the directness. "Since the next town is only a few minutes in that direction," I said while pointing.

"Fine, then," Serra said with a huff. "I know when I'm not wanted."

I rolled my eyes. "Evidently not, or you wouldn't have tagged along for this Labyrinth," I muttered under my breath. Serra fortunately didn't hear me, and started walking in the direction I pointed. After she disappeared into the night, I heaved a sigh of relief. "Thank gods. She's gone." I swayed as a wave of exhaustion finally swept over me. "I'm exhausted... 'm jus' gonn' pass out now..." And then my eyes closed despite my best attempts otherwise. I heard Uri say something in a concerned tone of voice, followed by Raph's tenor replying, but I didn't understand what they were saying.

Floor 70: August 3rd, 2025

Four hours and change later, my eyes snapped open. I didn't remember any of my dreams, so I was relatively at peace. I mumbled something and looked around, trying to figure out where I was. From where I was sitting, I saw Mao sitting on a log near me, facing a banked fire. I sat up with a groan, pushing back the light blanket that was covering me. Mao turned and grinned. "Morning. It's seven, by the way."

I sighed. "Sometimes I wish I could sleep longer than four hours at a time. It would definitely kill more time," I muttered under my breath. I pushed myself to my feet and walked over to where Mao was sitting. I sat down next to him with a wince; I saw that he was whittling a small branch. He did that, occasionally, when he was waiting or on watch duty; we all had some way of keeping ourselves busy. Mine was playing cards, his was whittling. To each their own. "Well, it's morning. When are we going over the information and restocking?"

Mao chuckled. "Well, we can handle the second part now." He dug into his pouch and tossed me a small wrapped bag, the usual way I got resupplied. With ease of long practice, I caught it in one hand and opened it, adding the various health potions and healing crystals to my inventory.

I studied the new items for a second. "No herbs?" Mao shook his head and I sighed. "Oh well. Maybe Raph and I'll go searching soon." He needed more health components, and I wanted to create a few more different poisons. "Where are the others, anyway?"

"Right here, Boss." Gain's voice came from behind me. I lazily turned around to find the other three Horsemen standing behind me. Gain was grinning widely while Uri rubbed her eyes with a yawn. They had probably just woken up. "Morning."

I waved. "Yo. So what's for breakfast?" Raph glared at me, and I laughed. "Kidding, kidding."

"You'd better be," Raph muttered.

The other Horsemen sat around the banked fire, talking amongst themselves. We enjoyed whatever food we could throw together - I had a few pieces of the jerky I had saved thanks to Serra. I didn't really pay that much attention to the others, occupied as I was with stuffing my own face. After we all finished eating, I leaned back and stretched. "Right, so do we have any good news?"

The Horsemen looked at each other and smiled. They weren't nice smiles. Mao turned to me; a look of positively unholy glee was in his eyes. "We heard this yesterday afternoon from Argo the Rat, so we know it's good. Rumor has it that the Laughing Coffin headquarters have been located."

I froze and probably took on the same expression they all had. "Oh, has it? Interesting." I started chuckling. "Well, maybe we should pay them a... polite visit." My grin couldn't have been any nastier. "There are some things we have to discuss with them."

Unfortunately for my entertainment, Gain shook his head. "There's a problem with that plan, Boss." I raised an eyebrow, motioning for him to continue. "Word is the big guilds are going to be sending a group of people to clear out the bastards. It's like a group of six or seven guilds, and the leader is the Knights of the Blood."

I swore. "And that's bad for us." I thought for a moment. "Mao, do you think there's a way we could spin this to our advantage?"

He frowned in thought. "I've been thinking about it all night. If we were waiting along the path to the Laughing Coffin hideout, we might be able to convince them to let us tag along. But that's assuming Asuna isn't with them." I shuddered to imagine the scene that would happen if she was there and we showed up. Large bloodstains figured very prominently. Even though we were in a game without blood. She'd manage it somehow.

"Worth a shot," I said with a shrug. "Where exactly is their hideout?"

"Floor 33," Gain replied instantly. "And according to the rumors, the raiding party is going out in two weeks."

I swore. "So we have about ten days to travel just under forty floors. That's not happening."

Uri grinned. "We did the math too. That's why we picked up this." She pulled out a large blue crystal, and my eyes widened. "The Corridor Crystal's already been set for the correct location, just outside the closest town with a warp gate to the Laughing Coffin. We can leave whenever."

I smiled at her. "Now I know why I keep you guys around."

Uri smirked. "And not because I'm so beautiful?"

"That too," I said with a laugh. "But speaking of your pretty face, do we have the last Horseman mask?"

Raph nodded and swiped open his menu; after he tapped a few buttons, a grey skull appeared in his hands and he held it up to his face. "The others gave it to me last night after you passed out." Raph was Death, the grey Horseman. I thought it was a nice twist; he was the one that usually kept us alive. Mao wore the mask of the red Horseman, War, because he was the best fighter, and Uri and Gain claimed the names of Famine and Conquest respectively.

Uri sighed. "I still don't get why I'm Famine. Raph, Gain, and Mao I get, Boss, but Famine?"

I shrugged with a small smirk. "It's 'cause I haven't gotten laid in forever and you're starving me." Uri's face turned bright red while the other three Horsemen burst out laughing. "Mao, how's that wood carving coming along?" It was something I had asked him to work on - it was intended to be a taunt to Asuna at some point when it was finished.

He grinned. "Almost done, boss. The horses are carved out, and all that's left is the center figure." Asuna was going to scream when we gave it to her. It would almost be worth getting killed just to see her face.

I relaxed, laying back. "Well, we've got ten days to burn before we need to be on the 33rd Floor. Looks like you guys get a few days off." I grinned at them. "Don't go running around too far, but you can go do what you want. So long as one of you's with me, I'll be safe." I looked around at them. "Take shifts, draw straws, duel each other, I don't care. Do what you want. I'll be hunting for herbs and stuff like that today, so let me know when you're ready to go."

We rarely took time off the hunt, so this was going to be pretty relaxing.

I'll be using Conquest instead of Pestilence as the white Horseman – it works better with the characters.

Many thanks to everyone who favorited, followed, and reviewed. Special thanks goes to JdkLeBleau728 for being a dedicated reviewer.