It was now the year of 2023. The start of a brand new year. But for those trapped in Aincrad, the occasion was just another holiday where they were separated from their families.
At the very least, spirits had managed to be kept fairly high. Since the Flag of Valor was kept out of the hands of the ALS, the New Year's party went off without a hitch. The players of the front lines managed to enjoy themselves eating and chatting the night away. And when midnight finally hit, fireworks exploded through the sky.
After that, it was just a few hours of rest before the front liners set off to explore the newly opened Floor 6.
For Wyvern's Inferno, their trip to the new floor was delayed a bit. Since they had answered Kirito and Asuna's call to assist in defeating the floor boss of Floor 5, they had lost time from what was supposed to be them completing the floor's Elf Campaign quests. Thankfully, they had managed to clear them quickly after resting up from the eventful night. There were only a couple chapters to it, and once they finished them, Saripha went on to the next floor with the latest key. They would see her soon though since Floor 6 was already unlocked.
It was just past 10 pm January 1st, when the guild arrived in the main settlement of Floor 6. Stachion. It didn't take long for them to realize what the theme of this floor was.
The flooring of the town was split into even squares. What should have been smooth inclined hills were replaced with blocky steps. The squares by the teleport gate had numbers on them, as if they were some kind of puzzle. As it turned out, that was exactly what they were. Similar puzzles were seen everywhere. Even at the inns, you couldn't get into your room without solving a puzzle.
That's right. The theme for Floor 6 of Aincrad was puzzles.
Wyvern's Inferno didn't have much time to spend loitering around the town. The other front liners already had a good few hour lead on them. So Ren prepared himself for the pain he would feel in his wallet and paid a special price to Argo to get the info broker to give him a list of the important quests in Stachion and their location. The guild hurried around town, clearing quest after quest. By the time they were nearly done with the list Argo had provided, they had all reached level 17.
However, their series of quests ended up coming to an unexpectedly abrupt end. In Stachion, there was a large manor at the top of a hill. Inside there was supposed to be a NPC named Cylon who was crucial to a quest regarding the floor itself. But when they arrived, Cylon wasn't there. The NPCs present said he had left hours ago and had not returned since. That was it. No new quest log update. No clues as to where to go next. Nothing.
Wondering what they were supposed to do, Ren messaged Argo. But to his surprise, the info broker seemed just as confused as they were. Cylon was supposed to be there for the next portion of the quest. And it hadn't just been a change from the beta either. She had multiple sources that had already begun the quest and had given info that proved it was at least mostly similar to the beta.
After spending thirty minutes trying and failing to figure out what they had done wrong, Ren and the others gave up. If other parties were working on the quest, then they would get any special info on the boss that came up from it. So they set off into the fields to work on progressing further through the floor.
Unlike the previous floors, Floor 6 had a unique geographical layout. The floor was divided into five sections, each separated by a series of tall mountains that were impossible to go over. The only way past the natural barriers that separated the sections was to go through the mountains via special caverns.
Another key difference was that Floor 6 didn't have just a single field boss apparently. It had one for each section. Five in total.
The second day of the new year, January 2nd, was when the raid occurred for the first field boss of Floor 6. The Lashing Vines. True to its name, the boss was a strange plant-type monster with several long vines that it attacked with like lashing whips. The direction the whips would strike from were fairly easy to predict, but the boss had another attack that made things rather difficult.
"Ahhh! Someone help me!" a player screamed as he was lifted into the air by a vine that had wrapped around him like a tentacle.
"Hang on! We've got you!" Agil shouted as he and his Bro Squad guild ran in. The bulky axe wielder activated a sword skill and slashed at the vine holding the player.
Feeling the damage from the attack, the boss loosened its hold and dropped the player it was holding. Another player managed to catch him before he hit the ground, minimizing the fall damage.
Ren eyed the boss. It was down to about one third of its total HP. If things kept up as they were, they'd have another clean victory on their hands. He sped at the boss, attacking the main body with a Vertical Arc before backing away. The boss seemed to automatically attack anyone that hurt its main body, as that was its weak point. Hit and run tactics were the strategy to go with, and as long as you kept an eye on the vines you could avoid taking any major hits.
With the boss's last free vine occupied on Ren, Alice took the opportunity to move in. She was getting more and more used to her Cruel Cutlass sword, although she still missed her beloved Sparrow's Light.
"Take this!" Alice shouted as she unleashed her Treble Crescent sword skill and delivered three clean slashes to the boss. The giant plant let out a screech as Alice jumped back. She quickly surveyed the area around her. The boss had ten vines in total. As she moved her gaze around, she saw nine of them clearly. But the tenth one stretched out behind her.
Just as Alice was about to turn her head to check where the end of the tenth vine went, she heard a shout from Mai. "Alice, behind you!"
It was too late however. The final vine reached Alice and began to wrap itself around her. Alice attempted to jump away, but her legs got caught and she was unable to escape. The vine lifted her up into the air. "Ahhhhh!"
"Hang on, Alice! We're coming!" Ren called out.
Alice hung upside down from her legs, completely at the mercy of the vine. She saw several male players glancing at her, but it wasn't until she saw red cheeks on their faces that she realized why. She pushed up on her skirt as much as she could as her cheeks blushed in embarrassment. "And just where do you think you're all looking?!"
Not wanting to incur the female player's wrath, the onlookers quickly brought their full attention back to the boss fight. Meanwhile, Ren and Helios attacked the vine holding Alice, causing it to let her go. Alice fell towards the ground, but was caught in time by Liten from the ALS.
"Thanks." Alice said as she got back on her feet.
"Don't mention it." the female tank replied, moving back to her party.
Alice couldn't help but feel a little envious of Liten's armor, since it prevented the chance of any embarrassing moments like she had just experienced. But she was not a tank, and as such a heavy set of armor would only slow her down. So she let out a sigh before getting back into the fray herself.
Minutes passed by as the boss fight continued. The collective barrage of sword skills brought down more and more of the boss's HP. Finally, when it reached its last sliver of health, the raid group pressed on for one final attack. The flurry of blades ripped through the massive plant and brought what was left of its HP down to zero.
An explosion of polygons followed as the players cheered for their victory. The Last Attacking Bonus had gone to Agil, but unfortunately rather than a weapon it was an assortment of peas. While it would no doubt lead to a delicious meal if cooked right, it was unfortunate to not see some kind of equipment drop instead.
Unfortunately, the struggles for the front liners weren't over. Soon after they entered the dungeon to reach the second area of Floor 6, they found themselves blocked by puzzle after puzzle. And being the egotists they were, Kibao and Lind fought over who would be the one to solve it. In the end, both of their egos took a blow as Kirito stepped in and solved it when neither of them could figure it out. His beta knowledge had likely come into play, but both guild leaders couldn't help but be annoyed of getting shown up yet again.
It seemed however that the front liners wouldn't have Kirito to help them with every puzzle. Soon after arriving in the second section of Floor 6, which was a vast desert, Kirito and Asuna split off from the main group and headed in a different direction. No doubt there were some special quests that only beta testers like Kirito knew about, but the others left it be for now. They were more focused on making their way further through the floor.
After an overnight rest in the town of Ararro, the only known settlement in the second section of Floor 6, the second field boss was beaten and the players moved onto the next set of caverns that separated them from the next sector on the night of January 3rd. A few of the puzzles were tricky at first, but having gotten plenty of experience in the first row of caverns from before, the front line players gradually learned the tricks to solving some of the puzzles. But once they got to the final puzzle leading to the exit, almost every player found themselves stumped.
"What the hell is this?!" Kibao shouted. "I don't even know what it is we need to do here!"
The room before the players was a wide open space with most of the room indented lower into the ground. The indented part was split into a 9x9 grid, with certain boxes having strange symbols carved into them. In addition, other symbols were scattered around the room as objects that seemed to be able to be picked up.
"I guess we're supposed to fill the grid in some sort of way." Riku commented. "But how does it work? Is there some kind of rule we need to follow?"
"Ugh, this is stupid!" Kibao complained. "Let's just place them randomly and see if we get any hints!"
"You idiot! What if solving it incorrectly triggers a trap?!" Lind argued.
"Well I don't see you coming up with any bright ideas!"
"ENOUGH!" The shout that came from Alice silenced both Lind and Kibao instantly, as well as quieted any small gossip going on among the other players. Alice stared sternly at the two big guild leaders. "We can't lose our heads over this. Let's just calm down and see if any clues stand out."
Ren nodded his head. "Alice is right. There has to be some sort of rule to this that we're just not seeing."
"Hang on." Agil said, taking a closer look at the grid. "A nine by nine grid… I think I get it." The other players looked to the large man for an explanation. "This is a sudoku puzzle."
"Sudoku?" Kibao questioned.
Ren widened his eyes. "I see! Those symbols are roman numerals! And the objects around the room help form other roman numerals!"
"Exactly. Meaning we need to place them in the grids in the right way to solve the puzzle."
"So how does this work exactly?" Helios asked. "I mean I've heard of sudoku puzzles, but I don't actually know the rules behind them."
"It's pretty simple." Ren explained. "You have a 9x9 grid, which you split into nine 3x3 grids. The goal of the puzzle is to fill all of the grids with numbers ranging from one to nine so that every row, column, and 3x3 grid has all numbers one through nine each."
Kibao then stepped forward. "Alright then! Since we know the rule, just leave it to the ALS! I'll have this solved in no time!"
The other members of Kibao's guild cheered him on, but the rest had concerned looks on their faces. Kibao hadn't exactly proven to be the sharpest of the bunch, and leaving the puzzle to him seemed like it was only going to waste time. But if there was one thing Kibao was, it was stubborn. It seemed impossible to talk him out of doing the puzzle himself.
Thirty minutes passed as Kibao worked on the puzzle, calling out to members of the ALS to move symbols to certain blocks while he watched from the entrance to get a full view of the grid. But it was clear that at this point he was just making random guesses without even the slightest strategy in mind. Members of the DKB were calling for him to give up already and let someone else try. Although none of the ALS voiced their opinions vocally, it was clear even they were thinking Kibao should switch out with someone else.
Helios was sitting against the wall of the room with his guild, resting his eyes. He let out a bored yawn. "Hasn't that idiot given up yet?"
"Kibao really doesn't want to admit defeat." Mai commented, equally bored with how long this was taking.
"He should at least try taking input from people outside his guild." Alice mentioned. "What do you think Re-" Alice stopped herself short as she looked at her guild leader.
Ren's eyes were completely closed as he sat against the wall. He was so silent one would think he was sleeping, except for the movement of his right arm. He seemed to be waving it around randomly in the air in front of him, as if he was scribbling on some nonexistent paper.
"Ren?" Alice questioned with a raised brow. "What are you-"
"Quiet, Alice." Helios said. "He's concentrating."
"Huh?" Alice wasn't sure what Helios meant by that. But after a few seconds, she realized what he was saying. "You mean…"
"Ren's always been the strategist for our group when playing games." Helios explained. "In some of the MMOs we've played, he's seen through weaknesses in bosses that even some seasoned gamers couldn't figure out. And that hasn't changed in SAO."
"Put simply, a puzzle that you'd find in the daily newspaper is nothing for him." Riku said with a smirk.
Alice could barely believe her eyes. She knew Ren had a knack for strategizing, sure. He had proven as much in a number of fights they had been in. But this was still a large puzzle, and the ALS had been moving around the symbols for a while now.
Has he really memorized the starting state of the grid while being able to solve the puzzle in his head?
Another few minutes passed as Alice and the rest of her guild continued to watch Ren work on the puzzle mentally. But finally, the leader of Wyvern's Inferno opened his eyes.
"Got it."
Helios cracked a grin. "Took you long enough, buddy."
"Then next time you try to solve it." Ren quipped back as he got to his feet. He walked over to Kibao, who was still hard at work trying to solve the puzzle. Key word: trying.
"Alright, put the number 3 in that next square!"
"But there's already a 3 in that grid section!" Lind argued, clearly getting annoyed by Kibao's method of just taking random guesses.
"I-I know that! It's all part of my strategy to solve it!"
"Mind if I interject?" Both Kibao and Lind turned their heads to Ren. "I have the solution."
The two guild leaders widened their eyes in shock at this. Kibao's expression quickly went to a scowl. "You hafta be lying! There's no way you could have figured it out that easily!"
"Give me ten minutes. If it's not solved in that time, I'll get out of your way and you can take over."
It was clear Kibao wasn't a fan of another guild taking credit for solving the puzzle. But if he refused, he knew that it would only make him look petty to the other players there. So he gave in with a huff. "Fine! You got ten minutes exactly!"
"Much appreciated." Ren said as he looked at the progress Kibao had made in order to see what needed to be changed. "Well the good news is not all of your number choices were wrong. Two of the eighteen numbers you picked were right."
Ren was pretty sure he heard Kibao mutter something under his breath, but decided to ignore it and soak in the hateful glare coming from the cactus-haired player. He called out to the players from the ALS that had been moving the symbols around to fill in the grids.
"Alright, listen closely. The first row needs to be eight, one, three, two, five, nine, six, four, and seven in that order."
As Ren calmly called out directions, the players moved the symbols around. The other members of Wyvern's Inferno helped out too, wanting to finish the puzzle as fast as possible. The other players in the back simply watched with surprise at how Ren seemed to know the answer to the point that it seemed like he had created the puzzle personally. Little did they realize the answer had actually come after half an hour of going through it mentally in his head.
And finally, after seven minutes had passed since Ren started calling out directions, the final section of the grid was filled in.
Two seconds later, the numbers in the grid began to glow with a faint golden light. As if reacting to it, a carved symbol hanging over the exit glowed as well. And just like that, the stone slab door sank into the ground, opening up the path outside.
Several players in the group cheered that they had finally cleared the caverns bordering the second and third sections of the floor, while Kibao simply grunted out the words "Lucky guess". At the rate things were going, they would be able to clear a section each day, finishing the sixth floor in just five days total. Even if that timetable was pushed back a day due to any unforeseen circumstances, the front line players were progressing at a good speed.
As they stepped out into the third area of Floor 6, they found something very different than the forest of the first area and the desert of the second. Trees and wildlife were abundant, but the ground was wet and marshy. No doubt about it. They were in a swamp.
"Awright, let's hurry on through here!" Kibao said, walking forward into the swamp.
"DKB, move out!" Lind called with an equally commanding voice as he led his guild.
As Ren and his guild were about to follow after them, a notification pinged for them. They opened their menus and found that the Elf Campaign quest had updated for them.
[Go to help your allies.]
Along with the vague message in their quest log, it also showed a spot on the map to go to. It was near the far west end of the swamp, a short walk from their current location.
"Looks like we're going to be seeing Saripha again." Ren commented.
"Oh yeah! Key hunting time!" Mai said with a cheer.
"You guys got something going on?" The question came from Agil as he and his Bro Squad guild stood next to Wyvern's Inferno. "Don't worry. We'll let the others know something came up for you. It'll probably save Kibao's night."
"Thanks. We appreciate it." Ren told the muscular man.
As Agil's party went along the beaten path following the ALS and DKB, Wyvern's Inferno took a different route. They followed the map to the pinpointed destination, which they could only assume was the location of the forest elf base for this floor.
The swampy ground was far from ideal terrain to travel, but it was at least far more comfortable temperature-wise compared to the desert they had been in before. It had only been a couple of days since their last meeting with Saripha, but the guild was looking forward to seeing their elf companion once again. She may have just been a NPC, albeit a very human-like one, but she might as well have been an honorary member of Wyvern's Inferno at this point.
After a short 30-minute walk, as the clock was nearing 11 pm, Ren and his guild found themselves standing in front of a large castle. It was well camouflaged with the swampy area, its stone walls having a greenish-grey color to them. A pair of armored forest elf guards stood at the gate, protecting the castle from any unwanted visitors.
The Sigil of Kales'Oh that Ren had equipped made it rather simple to get it. Simply showing it as they walked towards the gate was enough for the guards to let them pass without issue. The gates opened up and as the guild walked inside, they were met by the same forest elf that had assisted them with the quest since it started on Floor 3.
"It is great to see you all again, everyone." Saripha told them.
A/N: Hope you're all enjoying Floor 6 so far. As you've seen, it's all about puzzles, puzzles, and more puzzles. And there's plenty of surprises in store so look forward to it.
Now onto some other news. Between real world stuff, my fics, and my first original non-fanfic story I have begun working on recently, I just don't have as much free time as I used to. So I'm going to be changing my update schedule of my stories from "once a month" to "whenever I can finish them". Realistically, this will probably change the updates for most of my fics to once every couple of months or so. This fic however is going to be one of my higher priority ones so it should only take 1-2 months for new chapters to come out at longest. Sorry about this for those who eagerly await new chapters for this story but hope you can understand.
Until next time readers.