Yuna hadn't seen the Town of Beginnings this crowded since launch day.

It was like the entire population of Sword Art Online, all 8,000-some-odd players, had funnelled into the central plaza. The nearby cafes were packed to the brim with those players and parties with the foresight to secure the good seats in anticipation for the 3rd floor boss broadcast. Geeou had insisted that they get there early, and now Yuna could truly appreciate his pre-planning. Now that the pattern of boss broadcasts was established, this was turning out to be the main event to see.

Already player merchants were making their way through the crowds in an attempt to peddle foodstuffs. It almost reminded Yuna of sports stadiums just before the main event would start.

"Hot cakes! Come get your hot cakes here!"

"Don't get caught during the show with a parched throat! Hot teas and brews here!"

"Creamed kernels! Closest thing to popcorn Aincrad has to offer!"

Yuna heard Geeou scoff off to her left.

"Seriously? I can't blame them for the excitement, but come on." Geeou said with exasperation. "They're fighting for their lives on our behalf. The least we could do is treat this with a little more respect."

"Oh relax, Geeou!" Silica said before her eyes locked on to a nearby merchant. "Ooh! I'm going to grab some snacks, does anyone want any?"

Yuna stifled a giggle. "I'll take a hot cake, please. Nautilus?"

Her oldest friend didn't respond. She looked over at the ashen-haired boy who, despite the excitement and anxiety in the air didn't seem to be paying much attention. His mind was clearly elsewhere, and if Yuna had to guess, it was about that freeze-up he had when they fought the ((Bullbous Bow)).

"Hey…" She waved a hand in front of his face, snapping him out of his trance. "Silica's grabbing us some snacks. Did you want anything?"

"N-no, I'm fine." Nautilus answered quickly before offering a quaint, albeit empty smile. "Thank you, though."

Silica scampered off to the nearest merchant, dragging a very reluctant Geeou with her. Now that the two were alone - relatively speaking, as the plaza was absolutely packed with players - Yuna turned to her friend.

"You're worrying too much." She said, rubbing his back with her hand. "We're alive, and there was nothing you could do."

"That's just it." Nautilus retorted. "There wasn't anything I could do, because I couldn't do anything. I've never felt so helpless in my life."

"Leonn said it probably wasn't a stun effect, so maybe it was a glitch or something." Yuna said, doing her best to console him. "We'll ask around. Maybe others have had the same thing happen to them."

"How's that going to help us though?" Nautilus asked, worry etched onto his face. "If we didn't have Sinon and Leonn there to carry us, we probably would have died because I froze up."

Yuna shifted her hand from his back to his shoulder. "If we can identify the problem, maybe we can find a solution."

"That makes sense, I guess." Nautilus admitted, loosening up his shoulders somewhat.

"Plus, even if it happens again, we're not alone anymore." Yuna added as she gestured towards Silica and Geeou, who were returning with armfuls of snacks. "We have friends who are willing and able to help us."

Nautilus let a smile escape his lips as he looked at Yuna. "Thanks. You always know exactly what to say, don't you?"

Yuna gave his shoulder a light squeeze before returning it to her lap. "If I didn't, I couldn't call myself your friend, now could I?"

Nautilus chuckled. "No, I guess not. We've known each other long enough."

"We're back!" Silica shouted as she skipped up to meet them. Behind her, the screens above the fountain flared to life.

"Just in time, too." Geeou said as he took a seat, handing out snacks and drinks for everyone before ripping into his own hot cake.

Yuna looked up at the enormous floating screens and saw the 3rd floor raid group charge in. An enormous tree-like monster loomed over them and howled before the two forces clashed. Yuna couldn't help but feel a tinge of worry for her new friends who were now fighting for their lives.

Be safe, please.

I could appreciate the work the design team put into this boss if it weren't trying to kill me.

Kirito lunged to the side as yet another branch swiped at him. As the tree limb crashed into the ground next to him, Kirito couldn't help but simultaneously praise and curse Kayaba and his team of developers. Seriously, it was like whoever designed this encounter decided that this boss shouldn't have just two limbs to assault the players with, but instead it should have ten. It was an interesting concept and one sure to keep everyone on their toes, but now it was just annoying.

Kirito grimaced as he looked up at ((Nerius the Evil Treant)). It was easily 25 feet tall, 30 if you counted the branches stretching high above it, and towered over the raid group. True to its name, the 3rd floor boss looked twisted and corrupted by some dark malevolent power. One side of its pitch-black trunk was twisted into a gnarled and terrifying scowl, with splintered chunks of wood splitting out into a face reminiscent of a stretched jack-o-lantern. Scattered along its length were a number of thick branches that, despite its face pointing in only one direction, were now swinging and striking out at the multitude of players surrounding it. It had no feet to speak of, given the fact it was literally rooted in place in the center of the boss chamber. That was the only thing about this boss that made the fight tolerable; while its branches lashed out at anyone who got too close, its limited reach and inability to move around allowed groups to rotate out in relative safety.

The black-haired swordsman leapt backward to dodge another thrust by the evil treant and wiped the virtual sweat off his brow. An arrow and a chakram flew past him and struck the treant in the face, causing it to roar in pain. Kirito glanced back at the only two players in this raid group of 50 who were truly safe: Sinon and Nezha. The archer had learned her lesson since their fight with Asterius and now carried arguably too many arrows in her inventory, and the former blacksmith seemed to have fallen into a rhythm with his chakram strikes. While there was certainly the air of urgency that came with any boss fight, those two had a look of relative calm as they were free to harry the floor boss well out of range of its flailing branches.

"Groups D and F!" Kibaou shouted. "Switch with A and C!"

"Fall back!" Kirito shouted to his group.

Asuna leapt backward with her signature blinding speed and was soon standing by Kirito's side, whereas Leonn and Liz slowly withdrew, deflecting or blocking as many strikes as they could to allow for a smooth transition. The Legend Braves moved in, taking their place fighting Nerius and allowing Kirito's two tanks to finally retreat. The only ones exempt from the usual rotations were the two ranged weapon users, who kept up their barrage regardless of who was currently engaged with the boss. As soon as the rest of his group - sans Sinon - were assembled, Kirito addressed his friends.

"How are we on supplies and weapons?" Kirito looked at each of his friends.

"I've only used one potion so far." Asuna said as she pulled up the information on her rapier. "My rapier durability is fine."

Leonn hefted his maul up to rest on his shoulder. "I've used two already, but I've got more where that came from. My maul, on the other hand…"

Liz put her hands on her hips and threw Leonn a glare. "I swear!"

"I'm sorry!" Leonn cried, raising his hands to defend himself from the blacksmith's venomous gaze. "I can't help it!"

"Let's do this quick before we have to rotate back in." Liz said as she walked to the side. She sheathed her warhammer and shield, walked to the side, and brought out a small portable anvil before raising her voice to shout above the chaos and noise of the fight before her.

"REPAIRS!"

Almost immediately, Leonn and a few members of the groups who'd recently retreated from the action ran over to Liz with their beaten and battered weapons in hand. The blacksmith immediately went to work, repairing their weapons back to full durability and sending them on their way back to their groups.

"I'm glad Liz is here with us." Asuna said as she looked on at the small line forming behind Leonn. "Her battlefield repairs are really helping during this fight."

Kirito nodded. "I am too. After Leonn's weapon shattered during the last floor boss fight, no one is taking their equipment for granted during a raid like this."

A thought occurred to Kirito then as he looked at the groups engaged with the treant boss, and the black-haired swordsman realized he'd have to approach the one person in the room he really didn't want to have to talk to.

"I'll be right back." Kirito said, sheathing his sword and walking over to Kibaou.

The cactus-haired leader of the Aincrad Liberation Squad noticed Kirito approaching and rolled his eyes before looking back to the fight in front of him. "What do you want, Beater?"

"I want to keep Liz back in reserve during the next rotation so that everyone can repair their weapons if they need it." Kirito said, keeping his face as neutral as possible. He didn't want to come off as demanding; Kirito was all too aware of how hot-headed Kibaou could be if his ego was bruised or his authority was questioned. The last thing Kirito wanted was for the raid leader's temper to flare up and distract him at a time like this.

Kibaou gave a sneer, but ultimately nodded his head. "Fine."

"I'm going to be down a tank when that happens." Kirito continued. "My group is going to need some support or Leonn is going to get overwhelmed. Can you spare anyone?"

"Not my fault if your tank can't keep up." Kibaou growled. "... but fine. I'll move somebody over."

"Thanks." Kirito said with a nod as he jogged over to Liz.

That… went better than expected.

Liz looked up at Kirito as he approached. "Alright, gimme your sword."

"No, my sword's fine." Kirito said. "I want you to stay back during the next rotation and offer repairs again. The current front line didn't get a chance just now."

Liz gave a look of irritation mixed with concern as she placed her free hand on her hip. She gestured with her hammer towards where Leonn and Asuna were now standing. "Then who's going to help Leonn?"

"Kibaou's going to move someone over to help." Kirito explained.

Liz looked troubled at that notion. "I don't know who he's sending over, but watch them. They're probably not used to tanking alongside Leonn like I am."

"I know." Kirito said with a sigh. "I'll step in if things go wrong."

"Don't get yourself killed though." Liz said pointedly before her expression softened and she gave a friendly wink. "Can't have our party leader dying on us."

"I'll try not to." Kirito replied, giving her a nod before running back to Asuna.

Just then, Kibaou gave the order to rotate. "D, F, and G switch in! Korbatz, reinforce the Beater and his group!"

"Yes sir!" A rather burly man in heavy armor shouted as he ran over to assist Kirito and his group, who had just switched in to relieve The Legend Braves. He brandished his sword and shield and stood next to Leonn, who glanced over at his new off-tank. Meanwhile, Liz shouted out to the retreating players for mid-battle repair requests.

"REPAIRS!"

Kirito gave the new ALS tank a curt nod before looking back over at the boss. ((Nerius the Evil Treant)) was nearing the end of its second health bar, leaving only one more to go afterward. So far, the raid group had been engaged with the boss for the better part of 20 minutes. With the average level of the raid group being relatively high, they should have been further along, but the multitude of flailing limbs was keeping all but the most agile players from landing hits.

Speaking of agile players, Kirito counted himself fortunate that the fastest player in the game was on his team. A white blur shot forward, straight between the two limbs that Leonn and Korbatz were occupying, and collided with the center trunk of the treant boss. Nerius roared in pain as it retracted one of its flailing limbs back to strike at the fencer who was now assaulting its face. Kirito leapt forward, dodging the branch that sailed over his head before bringing his longsword up to strike at the limb careening towards Asuna's back. Steel met wood as Kirito parried the branch, sending it off course just enough to miss the two of them. Now the two stood back to back, with Asuna facing Nerius's trunk and Kirito faced outward towards the branches and tanks.

"Thanks!" Asuna said, taking a moment to glance behind her at Kirito. She charged up a sword skill before thrusting her rapier into Nerius's right cheek. It let loose a pained roar, which was almost deafening due to their close proximity to its face.

Kirito glanced up and saw that the second health bar shattered, leaving only one remaining. Looking around, he could see that while he and Asuna could stay in close quarters - quite literally in its face - they were in a poor position to defend themselves without a tank, and there was absolutely no way that a tank would be able to get past the whirlwind of branches like they had. The tanks just didn't have the speed necessary to accomplish that.

Regardless, Asuna seemed to be making the most of the opportunity afforded, as she again thrusted and slashed away at the boss's face with her rapier. Kirito saw another tree limb retreat from its assault on the tanks, so he brought his sword up to parry.

Instead, the branch stabbed a portion of ground underneath it, perhaps five feet away from where Kirito and Asuna were standing. Kirito's eyes widened and he looked at his feet. Several gnarled root-like tendrils sprang forth from the ground, wrapping themselves around Asuna and Kirito's ankles and feet. Though he could feel no pain from the roots and tendrils, he could see that his and Asuna's health were now slowly dwindling from the drain effect. That wasn't even the worst of it; now that they were rooted, their mobility severely suffered and the duo were now sitting ducks for any attacks that came their way.

"We're rooted!" Kirito shouted over his shoulder. "Do you have any of that potion?!"

"I do!" Asuna said, lowering her rapier to her side to allow her free hand to bring up her inventory menu. "Cover me!"

Kirito braced himself - not that he had much of a choice given that he couldn't move - and brought his longsword up, ready to parry and deflect any branches that would come their way. It was as if Nerius could tell that the two in front of it were more vulnerable to attack because now two limbs broke off from the tanks and began to swipe away at Kirito and Asuna. It was all Kirito could do to keep the branches from striking him, using his own sword skills to give his deflecting strikes some much-needed power. He was all too-aware that his strikes didn't have the raw strength to fully parry boss strikes like heavy hitters like Leonn, but he had to at least try. Kirito was putting so much power behind each strike, he could have sworn he saw a chunk of tree branch fly off to the side in the flurry.

"It's done!" Asuna shouted. Kirito couldn't afford to look down, but he could feel liquid splash on his feet and the pressure of the roots release.

"We can't stay!" Kirito shouted over his shoulder as he deflected yet another tree limb. He looked over to see a boy wielding a dagger dash in just as they had, but was only able to land a few strikes before a tree limb reached in and swatted him away.

"Roger!" Asuna said with a nod. She leapt towards their group, raising her rapier to deflect a tree branch that was sailing her way. She landed just past Leonn and Korbatz before looking back to see if Kirito had followed.

Sure enough, the black-haired swordsman was hot on her heels, but wasn't nearly as graceful in his retreat as a tree limb smacked his legs on his way to safety, causing him to spin, fall, and skid upon landing. He grimaced as he slowly stood up.

"Are you ok?" Liz said, jogging up behind him. Apparently she'd finished with the raid's repair work and was ready to rejoin the fight.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Kirito said as Asuna helped him to his feet. He turned to the chestnut-haired fencer. "That worked, but we can't stay too long or those attacks will be too much for us to handle."

Asuna nodded as she turned away from Kirito and back to the battlefield. "Together then?"

"Yeah." Kirito said, turning towards the boss again. "You dash in, I'll cover you. Then we retreat. Rinse and repeat."

"You two make it sound so easy!" Liz shouted as she ran in to relieve Korbatz as her group's off-tank. "Korbatz, Switch!"

Kirito watched the ALS tank block one last attack before stepping back to allow Liz to take his place. Now that Kirito's two tanks were fighting together again, he and Asuna could now make the most of their speed. The duo charged up their sword skills and ran forward, ready to leap between the branches once more to directly assault Nerius's face. They had a strategy now. Hit and run tactics would arguably be the best method of dealing consistent damage to this thing.

Murphy's Law decided to rear its ugly head again, however.

Almost as if on cue, ((Nerius the Evil Treant)) roared with rage as all ten of its branching limbs lashed out at once, knocking back all players who were either tanking the hits or were unfortunate enough to find themselves within range. Kirito looked up to see that the boss's last health bar was now in the red, which could only mean one thing.

"Phase Change!" Kirito shouted.

Just like Illfang on the first floor, the boss was changing up its attack patterns and a cutscene was playing out to accompany it. Nerius's ten main branches began to twist and merge together to form two enormous arms and hands, the tips of each branch forming fists and fingers. With two full arms now fully formed, both fists slammed down onto the ground on either side of Nerius's body. The ground itself began to rumble and split open as the evil treant used its immense strength and newfound arms to lift its trunk out of the ground. Kirito could only watch as the treant's massive roots underneath began to twist and merge much like the arms had, forming two gargantuan legs that now supported the humanoid-shaped treant. Now standing over 40 feet tall, ((Nerius the Evil Treant)) slammed its fists to the ground and let out yet another roar, this one much more fierce and terrifying than the ones that came before it.

"What the hell?!" Klein shouted from Kirito's left. Apparently he was not the only one in the raid party who hadn't been expecting this.

"This wasn't in the guidebook!"

"How are we supposed to kill that?!"

"Orders, sir?!"

Kirito wheeled around to look at Kibaou, only to find that the cactus-haired man had a look of frozen terror plastered on his face. It might have been funny if the raid leader's state of shock wasn't putting lives in peril, though. The raid needed leadership now, before the situation got worse.

"Kibaou!" Kirito shouted, noticing that Lind had shouted the exact same thing.

That seemed to do the trick, as the leader of the ALS shook his head before his face twisted into a snarl. "Tanks get in there! We need to figure out its new moves! Everyone else, get the hell out of the way!"

That's better, Kibaou.

Kirito backed away slowly as the tanks from each of the major groups and guilds formed up. ((Nerius the Evil Treant)) then reared back its massive arboreal fist and swung, colliding with the impromptu shield wall that was currently in place and causing the tanks to stagger from the sheer force of the blow. It then thrust its opposite fist into the ground, causing roots to sprout up and entangle half of the tanks in front of it. Several of the back-line tanks and damage dealers quickly ran in to apply the anti-root potion while the rooted tank wall did its best to protect both themselves and their saviours. Then Nerius did something that the raid had, in the half hour during their fight, forgotten bosses could usually do.

It started walking forward.

Walking, in and of itself, is not an inherently dangerous act. It is, however, when the creature doing the walking is able to crush people under its gnarled, root-like heel. Kirito watched as the once steadfast shield wall started to scatter to avoid being trampled underfoot by Nerius. One tank had managed to dodge the boss's enormous stomp, only to be sent flying when he was subsequently kicked during the next step.

"Watch those legs!" Kibaou shouted, trying to raise his voice over the panicked sounds of a few of the tanks.

Nerius swung once more with its trunk-like arms, catching Leonn and Klein off-guard, the latter of the two having just run in to free the former from the boss's rooting effect.

"Shit!" Klein exclaimed, hurriedly bringing his weapon up in a futile attempt to block the branch hurtling their way.

Just before Nerius made contact, Liz jumped forward and intercepted the attack with her shield, absorbing most of the impact but still getting pushed back into Leonn and Klein, who were all too happy to catch her after the save. Kirito could barely hear his two friends profusely thanking the blacksmith for the impromptu interception, but he couldn't focus on that. Right now, this revamped boss was wreaking havoc on the front line tanks. The boss's attack patterns were becoming more evident as time went on, but Kirito wasn't sure how much longer the tanks could weather this assault. Most of them were already running on empty from fighting for the better part of a half hour constantly. This thing just hit too hard and was deceptively fast.

There's got to be something we can do. Kayaba's cruel but not unfair. He's a game developer at heart. A massive change like this has to come with a tradeoff.

Kirito scanned over the 3rd floor boss's new form. Unlike its old form, the ten branches had become two large arms. While it couldn't fend off attacks from all angles anymore, anyone caught by an attack took significantly more damage. Its legs, while relatively thin compared to the rest of its body, now allowed for Nerius to move around the battlefield. Kirito couldn't help but scoff at how ridiculous, albeit terrifying, this thing looked. It had way too much "muscle" mass - if you could call it that - located in its chest and arms as that's where most of the power behind its attacks came from. It was just too top-heavy, honestly. In fact, all you needed to do was give it a good, solid...

Push.

Kirito looked at Nerius's relatively feeble legs and realized that with all of that weight up top, and with the boss no longer rooted in place, it could be thrown off balance if the legs were weakened. Kayaba was nothing if not realistic in how SAO's combat mechanics reflected reality, so it was at least worth a shot. If they could just get it to topple over...

"Hit its legs!" Kirito shouted. "Knock it off-balance!"

Leonn and Liz immediately charged forward, winding up for their more heavy-hitting skills. Both his maul and her warhammer glowed with a pale light before they swung at what Kirito presumed to be the treant's knee or shin. They collided with a resounding *THUD* and the boss staggered slightly. The nearby damage dealers, including a few members of Fuurinkazan and The Legend Braves, immediately followed up and slammed into the same leg with their hardest-hitting sword skills. Under the constant assault, Nerius began to sway as it was thrown off-balance.

With its left leg under heavy assault by the tanks and damage dealers, Kirito broke out into a sprint towards Nerius, bringing his longsword along his side, ready to strike. Another pair of racing footsteps soon joined his own, but at this point Kirito didn't need to look to see who it was.

"We hit him together." Kirito explained to the fencer. "Aim high!"

"Got it!" Asuna shouted in reply, bringing her own rapier up and parallel to the ground, poised to strike.

Willing their legs to propel them as high as they could, Kirito and Asuna leapt off from the ground. Both longsword and rapier glowed brightly as the two began their descent towards Nerius's hideous visage, but not before a streak of light passed below them and slammed into the evil treant, causing it to lean back from the impact. Kirito glanced over his shoulder to see Sinon recovering from the recoil of one of her more powerful skills.

"Nice shot, Sinon!" Kirito shouted before bringing his attention back to the treant below him. With a grunt, he and Asuna crashed into Nerius, executing their sword skills at the same time as they landed on its face. Between its weakened legs, Sinon's powerful shot, and the two players literally on its face, Nerius began to fall backward. Kirito and Asuna gripped the hilts of their weapons to steady themselves as they began to fall forward with the evil treant itself.

"Timber!" Leonn shouted, eliciting a groan from half of the raid group.

Seriously, Leonn.

Anyone unfortunate enough to be behind the boss at this time had to quickly dive or dodge out of the way as ((Nerius the Evil Treant)) came down with a *CRASH*, landing on its back. The room itself shook from the impact, sending small virtual dust clouds into the air.

"Now!" Kibaou shouted, pointing his blade forward as he jumped into the fray.

Like a swarm of insects, every player nearby started assaulting the downed treant with a flurry of sword skills, with even a few of the more nimble players climbing on top of it for a better angle. Nerius roared at the onslaught, swiping wildly with its arms and forcing those on the ground to go on the defensive. The assault began to dwindle, however, as Nerius slowly shifted its weight forward to stand up. Kirito and Asuna soon found themselves the only ones still managing to hang on to the evil treant, grabbing onto bits of gnarled bark to keep themselves from plummeting to the floor.

"He's back up!" Klein shouted as he fell off the boss and rolled away.

"Really?! I had no idea!" Someone shouted, which garnered a few laughs and chuckles.

"Let's try that agai - OOF!" Kibaou started to shout, only to be interrupted when Nerius reached down and grabbed him. The cactus-haired raid leader started yelling profanities and curses at the evil treant as the boss began to swing him around as an improvised bludgeon. Several of the tanks began to back off, for fear of accidentally hitting (or being hit by) a very angry and dizzy Kibaou.

"Everyone be careful!" Lind shouted. "Don't hit Kibaou!"

Kirito glanced behind him at Kibaou, who was now being slowly squeezed. His hands were free and the feisty raid leader was doing his best to attack the grasping hand, but being held around the lower torso meant that Kibaou had very little leverage to land any good hits. Bounding off of Nerius's face, Kirito leapt over and grabbed onto the treant's wrist right next to Kibaou. Making sure to aim his next strike carefully, Kirito swung with his longsword at the treant's wrist.

"Watch it, Beater!" Kibaou shouted, his face noticeably red with anger. "You tryin' to kill me?!"

"I'm trying to save you, Kibaou!" The black-haired swordsman retorted. "Your health is dropping, if you hadn't noticed."

Kibaou growled before twisting his body - as much as he could, at least - and hacking away at Nerius's fingers. "Fine, just watch where you're swinging!"

Kirito then felt Nerius rear back the arm he was hanging onto, signalling that the arm in question would start swinging soon. Kirito quickly stabbed his longsword into the boss's wrist and held onto the arm and his sword's hilt as best he could, just before Nerius started thrashing about. It was all Kirito could do to hold on for dear life. If he lost his grip, not only would his sword still be lodged in Nerius's arm, but the impact from being thrown off to the side could potentially be fatal. It was like a bad roller coaster ride as Kirito felt his head whip back and forth, his eyes unable to focus on anything except the gnarled oaken arm below him. Everything else was moving so fast it was a blur, and frankly he didn't know how much longer he could hold on.

Kirito's time on Nerius's terrifying carnival ride came to an abrupt end when he felt the arm beneath him give out suddenly. He felt himself unable to move his arms and feet as he started hurtling off to the side. It was only a second or two of flight, but it seemed an eternity before Kirito collided with something. Strangely enough, whatever he was thrown into didn't feel like a wall or a pillar.

Whatever it was groaned.

"You alright, kid?" A deep, gruff voice said.

Kirito looked up to see that he'd been caught by an older man with light blue hair. The impact had to have been too much even for the older player, as he and Kirito were now lying on the ground in a heap. Whether the rescue was intentional or not, Kirito didn't know, but nonetheless he counted himself lucky when he saw the stone pillar nearby. If he'd collided with that…

"Yeah, thanks for the save." Kirito said, scrambling to his feet and giving his saviour a quick wave in acknowledgement. He had to get back to the fight. Last he saw, Asuna was still desperately clinging to Nerius's face and Kibaou was still caught in its wooden grasp. As much as Kirito loathed the man, even he couldn't find himself wishing death on the arrogant leader of the ALS.

Immediately, he ran off to rejoin the fray only to see a message floating in the air.

[Congratulations!]

"Oh." Kirito said rather dejectedly.

The rest of the raid group was gathered together in celebration of their victory, with a large cluster of people assembled around who Kirito assumed to be the winner of the last attack bonus. He couldn't tell who exactly won the bonus, but apparently it was some sort of shield. The competitive part of Kirito wished that his group had gotten the last attack bonus, but with a reward like that, only Liz would have wanted to use it. Not too much of a loss, he figured.

Kirito absentmindedly walked forward, scanning over the crowd for signs of his group. A quick glance at his HUD told him that they'd all survived the encounter, though Liz and Leonn were certainly in worse shape than Asuna, and Sinon was practically untouched. Then Kirito felt his foot accidentally kick something.

He looked down, expecting to find a stray sword or shield that had perhaps been dislodged during the scuffle, but instead he found what looked to be a pitch black piece of wood shaped like the end of a tree branch. An enormous tree branch, that is, as this hunk of wood was a good three feet long and was several inches thick.

That's strange. Anything that a boss wears or uses during a fight usually disappears when it dies.

Kirito knelt down to pick up the strange piece of wood, only to find that the broken branch was heavier than it looked. It wasn't impossible to pick up, but it was nonetheless quite hefty. It might even pass as a primitive club, if he'd felt so inclined.

"Whatcha got there, Kirito?" Leonn said, walking up to the black-haired swordsman.

Kirito looked up to see that following close behind Leonn was the rest of his party. He looked back down at the hunk of wood. "I'm not sure."

"I mean, it looks like a stick." Leonn quipped. "But what do I know?"

Asuna rested her hands on her hips, rolling her eyes at Leonn before looking back towards Kirito. "Can't you pull up its description and check it?"

Kirito nodded and tapped on the branch, bringing up its description. Rather than take the extra effort to set his display to "visible" for the rest of his party, Kirito opted to instead read it out for them.

"((Branch of the Demon Tree)). Soulbound. Having been corrupted by the promise of power and strength, Nerius the Evil Treant reigned over his forest for millenia, siphoning the nutrients and energy of his surroundings greedily. This powerful branch is all that remains of his arboreal reign of terror." Kirito read aloud.

"Soulbound?" Asuna asked, arching an eyebrow in confusion. Sinon and Liz seemed equally confused.

"Wow." Leonn said. "I haven't heard that term used in a game in a long time."

"What does it mean?" Asuna followed up.

Kirito turned to Asuna. "It means that the item can't be traded or sold to vendors. It's a mechanic that older games used to have to keep quest items or powerful gear from being sold or traded around. It can, however, be worked on by craftsmen with permission from the owner, but after they're done it immediately returns to the inventory of its owner."

"That's a weird restriction. Is it a weapon?" Liz asked, pointing towards the branch with her warhammer. "It looks like it could make a decent club, at least."

"That's just it." Kirito replied, staring straight forward in deep thought. "It doesn't display like a piece of equipment or weapon. If anything, it resembles trash drops or crafting materials, but I can't sell it since it's soulbound."

Leonn straightened up and looked around. "... And no one else got anything like it. Might wanna keep this on the down-low, Kirito."

"He's right." Sinon added, stowing her bow on her back. "There's already enough anti-Beater hate going around already without a special drop, even if we don't know what it does."

"Good point." Kirito said as he placed the branch in his inventory. "Let's just get going and unlock the next floor's teleporter."

"Hey Beater!" Kibaou shouted from across the room. He and the rest of the raid were already at the stairs to the next floor. "You comin' or what?"

"We're coming!" Kirito shouted as he and the group quickened their pace.

Once Kirito and his group caught up, they found themselves joining up with Fuurinkazan and The Legend Braves as the three groups started side conversations with each other. The Aincrad Liberation Squad and Dragon Knights Brigade had taken the lead up the stairs, with solo players scattered in between the major guilds or clustering amongst themselves.

"Hey Kirito." Klein said, coming alongside the black-haired swordsman. "What's waiting for us up there?"

"In the beta, the 4th floor was a desert canyon area. Keeping water handy actually becomes an issue on this floor." Kirito explained, hand cupping his chin in deep thought. "If you go without water long enough, you start to get exhaustion debuffs."

"Well that's just great." Klein said sarcastically. "As if this game wasn't hard enough to survive as it was."

"I can carry extra water for us all." Liz volunteered, walking on Kirito's other side. "I've got extended carry capacity, so it won't weigh me down too much."

"That'd be great, Liz." Kirito said, giving the blacksmith a smile before looking over his shoulder at Leonn and Sinon, who were busy talking with Nezha and Dale. "Leonn might be able to help as well. His high strength score means he can carry more too. Maybe not as much as you, but still."

Liz nodded and slowed her pace to talk with Leonn, and Klein broke off to warn his guild about the harsh conditions to be expected on the 4th floor. Now left alone in relative solitude, Kirito's mind wandered.

So much has changed with the game since the beta. The broadcasts, the boss fight changes, the questlines, even the NPCs. Kizmel's living proof of that. Well, not technically living, I guess, but she's almost real artificial intelligence at this point. Then there's this branch. What am I supposed to do with it? It's not a quest item, otherwise it'd say as much. It looks like vendor trash, but I can't sell it. I'm stuck with this thing unless I decide I want to delete it, but that doesn't seem like a good idea. Then there's what to come. Once we pass the 10th floor, then I really won't be prepared. I don't think anyone got past that floor in the beta. Hopefully the changes from here on aren't drastic and are minor enough to where we can handle them.

"Hey Kirito?" Klein asked, staring straight forward and motioning the black-haired swordsman forward. "What'd you say this floor was again?"

"Deserts and canyons." Kirito replied, hesitation clear in his voice. He didn't like where this was going.

"Buddy, you might want to think again." Klein said as Kirito came to his side at the doorway to the 4th floor. The red samurai pointed forward.

Kirito's eyes widened at the sight. The relative topography looks similar enough, with canyons and crevasses littering the landscape. Some patches of trees here and there, but no dense forests to speak of. Even the way the sun hovered over the landscape was the same.

The main difference, Kirito immediately realized, was the sheer abundance of water. It looked like Kayaba himself had decided to fill in every canyon and every gorge with running rivers. There was so much water around that the raid group now found themselves on an island in the middle of a lake, with nowhere to go. There were no boats nearby, no bridges, and no one seemed particularly keen on swimming to the next town in full suits of armor. The only good news Kirito could glean from this new environment was that they would no longer need to worry about dehydration debuffs.

Kirito looked over and saw that his friends and allies, between Fuurinkazan, The Legend Braves, and even among his own group were looking at him directly. Sinon was the one to break the silence that lingered.

"Now what?"