Floor 66. It felt so close at this point, after all the preparations done for today's raid. At least 100 players were waiting outside of the labyrinth gates, waiting for the time to enter. Each guild was counting off their own members, preferring to leave the independents like yourself to your own devices. There were a few people you knew from prior raids, but you weren't sure if it was okay to consider them friends from that alone. Still, it was better talking with them over no one. Unfortunately, you hadn't found a sign of them anywhere.

Since you likely weren't going to strike up a chat with anyone else, you figure you'd send a message to Liz and let her know how things were going. Despite having stayed up extremely late, she'd likely be awake and pounding away at her anvil at this time. What a trooper.

"Hey, Lisbeth. You awake yet? Just wanna say I appreciate the gift, can't give my full thanks yet but I swear I will when I'm back"

A little hastily written, but it should be fine to send. It might take a little while for her to respond if she was working, though.

You weren't sure what was holding up the raid leaders, but a while had passed and the gates still weren't open. Guess now was as good a time as any to hunt for your partners. Even after looking around for a bit, you ended up being the one that needed to be found. There was a man in heavy armor waving you over to him.

This man was Jera, the stone wall of your group. He wasn't the most outgoing of people, but he had a good heart and a calm mind. He typically used a two-handed halberd in battle. Useful for stabbing and hooking. Honestly, it wouldn't be the first thing that comes to mind for a scout, but being able to tank has proved invaluable in the past.

"Good to see you here." Jera offered an outstretched hand.

"You too, definitely." You gave him a firm handshake. "You see any of the others around? I've been looking for them. Something's holding the raid up, and I'm getting kinda bored waiting."

"Yeah. You mind keeping her busy for me?" Jera then looked around, as if looking for someone himself. "I need to go for a bit. Tell her there's someone I need to talk to in KoB. Sorry."

"Wait, what? Why do you need me to do that?"

"She's been hounding me all morning. Nothing against her, but I'm fairly drained as is."

You nodded your head in agreement.

"We'll catch up inside, I promise." Jera then turned and melded into the crowd of players.

Not too long after, you heard a girl's voice behind you.

"Wait! It was just one simple question!"

You turned around and saw Mavis, a young woman with a lot of energy to burn, running in your direction. Without her, your group wouldn't be nearly as lively as it was. She was the other tank of the group, but instead of wearing heavy armor, she used a durable tower shield and bastard sword to block attacks.

"Nuts, I just missed him, didn't I?" She spoke between strained breaths.

"Yep. Just went into the crowd." You nodded your head,

"Did he say where he was going? I never finished what I was asking him to do!"

"Said he was going to go talk to someone in KoB. Don't know what about, though. Maybe something peaceful to clear his head?"

"Well, that doesn't mean he's getting away from what I've gotta say to him. Besides, I'm a very peaceful person. Right? Right. Anyway, see ya! We'll talk later!"

Mavis then took off in the same direction Jera went.

So much for getting to see them after a while. Luckily, you soon heard the announcement that everyone was ready to go. The tall gates began to creak open, and players began filing in.

Immediately inside was a decaying entrance hall. The space could easily fit multiple dragons, but it came at the cost of light. What few torches remained barely lit the room enough to see the major details. Braziers lay toppled in the middle of the room. Most of the rug had been burned away, and what little was left was too faded to make out any detail. Stone rubble sat in the corners, by each of the towering columns, and blocking off a small corridor. On the other side of the room, two naked mannequins stood guard, silently protecting another gate at the top of a flight of stairs. Torn banners, seemingly with a trace of precious metals in their trim, hung from the space between pillars.

If this site could somehow be completely restored, it would truly be a grand sight. For now, the players got to work lighting the rest of the torches and fixing the braziers. Some bats were scared away by the motion, but otherwise the hall was empty.

Meanwhile, conversation among the players was fairly lively. You couldn't make anything out specifically, simply due to the sheer volume of noise, but at the very least you knew people were pumped to clear another floor. You did see that Jera, Mavis, and your third partner were already standing together on the opposite side as you, so you began crossing over to them.

But suddenly, silence swept over everyone. After you stopped in your tracks, you noticed the raid commander standing atop the steps in the hall, his imposing figure casting a shadow upon the front of the crowd. Despite this, his voice was calm when he began to speak. Soft, even. Yet his status demanded full attention and full respect. His name? Heathcliff.

"I'll be going over the plan one last time. All present members, regardless of guild, should have been provided with a full map of the labyrinth. The path we will be taking is already marked for you. Anyone who deviates from this path will be left behind."

He never really understood tact when lives were on the line. Yet in a situation as dire as Aincrad, being this blunt kept people focused.

"Going by the information we've gathered, the boss will be using two swords for wide, swift attacks. It will also likely have a ranged attack against our back line. We need people at both lines to protect the DPS players. Do not begin a burst until an opening is completely secure. No one acts a hero, and we'll all make it out. Today, we become one step close to escaping this damn place."

The crowd erupted into a deafening roar. Spirits were high.

"Everyone, to your units. Vanguard scouts, we'll be waiting on your word to move out. Good luck and Godspeed."

While most players stayed behind in the entrance hall, your small group of 4 began their foray into the dark corridors beyond. Being better equipped for combat than most scouts, you made up the vanguard team. Your main task was to travel ahead of the main raid and uncover, sometimes even trigger, traps and ambushes that had recently appeared. They were expected to handle smaller encounters with enemies as well. Anything they discovered was to be reported to Heathcliff. All other scouts would stay with the main group to provide support and catch anything you may have missed.

Basically, you and 3 other people were the maze rats until you got to the boss room, using the maps you had made. At the very least, other players would understand if you had to retreat or teleport out of the labyrinth. The opportunity to retreat was your only safety net, since backup from the main group would take time to reach you. Time you might not have. Even if that weren't the case, Liz still had something she wanted to tell you upon your return, so no matter what, you needed to live.

With you were 3 other scouts. Jera and Mavis you had seen earlier, but you hadn't had the chance to meet up with Kaito today.

Kaito was somehow more reserved than Jera, but it played to his favor. Unlike Jera, who had the cool charisma to keep up friendships, or you, who had mainly been going it alone but felt close with Lisbeth, Kaito seemed to enjoy being on his own. He had a small stature, but wielded an axe that nearly matched him in size. Both of you were the damage dealers of the bunch.

"Been too long since we worked together, eh guys?" Mavis was still as energetic as you remembered. "How've y'all been? Anything exciting happen while we were apart?"

Silence.

"Oh, come on, guys! Your lives can't be that boring." She elbowed Jera. "Especially you. I know you've got some news to share, so stop messing with me."

"Whoever said I was messing with you?" He turned to Mavis with a small smirk.

"If you're not, then tell them! Or I will."

She's never been this pushy before, no matter how many times she asked. Did something happen between the two?

"Fine, fine. Just got a bit of property a little while ago is all." Jera finally responded.

"A bit? Just a bit? Tell me how a cabin on a flowery hilltop is just a bit." You couldn't tell if she was enjoying this or not.

"Cabin?" Kaito looked up from the paper map. "Was it that one on Floor 47? Surprised you got the money so quickly."

You were fairly interested yourself. Jera had brought up the idea when you were traveling on Floor 64, but he wasn't exactly the richest of individuals. "How did you manage that, anyway? I hear it ran at least 10 million for the view alone."

"I might've been offered some financial assistance." Jera sheepishly spoke.

"Only after you asked me." Mavis quickly interjected.

"Right, of course."

"You plan on settling down after this floor?" Kaito wondered.

Jera shook his head as he looked back at Kaito. "Definitely not. I just thought it'd be nice to have a place to relax that I could call my own. And… I guess any of you as well."

"Wait, seriously?" You and Kaito spoke in unison.

"Yes. It's been the 4 of us on vanguard duty for the past 7 floors. If I went through that much fire with someone, I may as well keep them close. At least, that's what someone convinced me to do." He gave a harsh glance toward Mavis while she quietly snickered.

"Even so, would you really give free access to your home to someone you'd just consider an acquaintance?" Kaito seemed skeptical of the whole idea, but this was the only concern you really shared with him.

"No, I'm not." Jera returned his attention ahead of him. "So it's convenient that you guys aren't just random acquaintances."

It seemed to finally dawn on Kaito that Jera was being completely serious. "Then… thanks."

Jera considered you two his friends. Even though you hadn't talked much outside of labyrinths, he still believed it. The thought shook you. It seemed like people were all business during these raids, at least before you met Mavis. But at the time, you thought she was just an exception. Now here's Jera, making friends while his life is on the line.

You glanced at Kaito, who had absorbed himself back into the map, then thought about the past few days.

Actually, the reflection could wait. You still had a mission to do.

You and the vanguard soon found yourselves about halfway to the boss room, fighting several groups of enemies along the way. Most of it you got through with ease. Lisbeth's weapons worked wonders against anything the labyrinth could've possibly thrown out. Slowly, however, the enemies seemed to be adapting to your group's tactics. They were becoming more likely to flank and ignore switches, to have heavier weapons to break through your guard, or to lack corporeal forms and be able to bypass most barriers. Each encounter whittled your HP down more than the last.

It likely had something to do with the dynamic spawning. Enemies and trap spawns were based on player activity, typically throwing several small encounters along the path to any destination. Sometimes those small encounters would be replaced with large hordes, dedicated ambushes, or traps within rooms. After a while, those encounters would attempt to predict players' fighting styles and counter them accordingly. Most players, but scouts especially, needed to be ready for anything that would come up.

Every so often, you would hear the echoes of battle ring from behind you. Enemy encounters appeared from behind fairly regularly, and would find themselves tangled with the main raid group. Whenever that would happen, you'd take bets on what exactly they were fighting. Most of the time, you never found out, but it was fun regardless. Having gone on several supply runs in this place already, most enemy types themselves weren't of much note to you anymore.

If players were lucky, though, they would reach long stretches without any enemies to oppose them. You had now reached one of those sections. While her tanking ability was nothing to scoff at, this was the kind of situation Mavis truly excelled in.

"So I was talking a bit with Jera after we bought that cabin. We went back and forth about nothing for a while, but then I had this bright idea that we should make ourselves official. Guildmates, I mean! What do you think?"

"A guild, huh?"

You were never personally part of a guild. Scouts either worked for one of the clearing guilds or floated around as independents. The idea of a dedicated scouting guild definitely came as an odd idea, but also strangely welcome.

"I think I'd be on board with that, actually." You eagerly replied.

"Oh wow, I didn't think you'd agree so quickly."

"Hang on, what's that supposed to mean?'

"Nothing you need to worry about." Mavis then stuck her hand on Jera's shoulder. "Jera, I know you would just love to hang out with me more." Then she turned to face Kaito. "What about you?"

"I'd need time to think about it. Being able to just witness nature on my own is too nice to give up…" He paused for a while. "…but you guys are pretty pleasant people."

"Honestly, that's high praise. Happy to hear-"

Mavis hushed Jera, quickly shifting to a serious tone. "Enemies ahead. Kaito, what's our room?"

Kaito quickly scanned the map he was holding. "Quadrant 3, Room 5."

"How many?" You whispered to Mavis.

"At least eight. I can't help but feel like we're being watched by something as well."

The encounters you had up to this point were 4 enemies at most. 8 in one place usually meant some kind of trap was laid out.

"I'll send a message to the commander. Might take a minute to respond."

Mavis opened her menu and began typing out a message. Since you couldn't really hold a conversation with the party at the moment, lest you attract a large group of monsters, you figured you'd check for a response from Lisbeth. You opened your menu and found a new message from her.

"Glad to hear you're ok, and that you got my gift. Hope it keeps you safe in there. I wanna be able to see you again!"

Perfect time for a heartwarming message like that. You quickly wrote up a reply.

"Been going well, weapon works like a dream. Should be done and TP'ing out soon."

By the time you had finished that, Mavis had already gotten a response from Heathcliff.

"Alright crew, here's the plan. We wait here for a bit. KB's sending a few people up our way, route to us should be safe. Once they arrive, we take on the enemy."

Everyone nodded in agreement. If a large fight was going to break out, it'd be important to check out the venue. This particular room was a main hall, meaning there was plenty of room to maneuver. Large stone columns held up the rooftop, torn banners hung from the walls, and a rotting, stained carpet lined the cold floor. Not much extra stuff to improvise attacks with. The best there seemed to be in that regard was fallen rubble and metal scraps.

Soon enough, you heard the footsteps of four heavily armored knights, faces hidden by their heavy gear. Once you had confirmed details with those two, the six of you entered the room, weapons ready and scouts first.

Or six of you tried, anyway. Once Kaito, the fourth player, had stepped into the room, an iron gate quickly descended on both sides, nearly severing a Knight in two. There was no escape, no backup. Just as the gates clattered shut, angered spirits flooded into the room. They fluttered around the room, their very essence wafting off like smoke. The only thing keeping them together was their armor, a solid spectral shell bearing the same symbols that hung from each banner. Eight of the legless beings surrounded your party.

Jera yelled back to the knights as he took point in front of everyone. "Run back to the others, let them know what's going on! We'll be fine!"

Mavis twirled her sword a bit before standing opposite of Jera. "Y'all ready? Let's bust some heads!"

The two tanks immediately started the battle with a Taunt skill, attracting the Hate of nearly every spirit in the room. They descended upon Mavis and Jera, assaulting them with weapons of all types.

You saw Jera rapidly thrusting his spear to keep the spirits at a distance, goading them to come closer to the ground. He was slowly being pushed back, but was able to avoid any stray hits. When you turned toward Mavis, you saw even more spirits beating on her shield from above, while she kneeled down under safety. She couldn't hold forever, though. Her HP was slowly but steadily draining.

Without much range on your weapon, you would have to rely on something else to deal damage until the spirits came closer to the ground. The best idea you had was to throw something at them, and the nearest item was the fallen debris. A pile of it lay beside one of the several pillars in the room.

While running toward the rubble pile, one spirit blocked your path, holding a spear. Quickly, it launched several thrusts at you, while you parried every blow. With one hard strike, you blew the spirit's spear to the side, giving you enough time to run past it. As you passed by, you noticed it preparing to swing the spear around itself. You heard an echoey growl as it prepared to attack. When it started to yell, you tucked yourself low and rolled underneath the spear's head.

You got to a pile of fallen rubble and quickly put away your katars. First, you punted a large rock at the spirit between you and Mavis. It struck its helmet, shattering on impact and leaving the spirit stunned. Next, you grabbed another piece of debris and started sprinting back toward Mavis. From the corner of your eye, you also saw Kaito vault off of Jera's back and perform a wide swing against the attacking spirits. Several of them went flying back, one of which went phased right through one of the pillars. You also noticed visible cracks and dents in their armor.

Back to Mavis, you chucked the rock high above Mavis shield, striking a couple of the spirits and throwing them off balance. She used the opportunity to deliver a hard push with her shield to knock back a few enemies, then swung her own sword at whatever enemies she could reach.

Once they had recovered, they all floated much higher up in the room. You pulled out your katars again and braced with Mavis for their next move. That's when you heard Kaito's voice shouting at you.

"Behind! Spear!"

You turned your head back to see you were getting charged by the one stunned spirit from earlier. After stepping to the side, you turned your whole body and delivered a powerful body blow, both dodging the spear and punching right through the spirit's rusty armor to finish it off.

That was when the others above made their move. Three spirits, with an echoed war cry, charged downward with their weapons pointed right toward your head. They didn't move in perfect unison, rather in sequence. Using your ears as a guide, you sidestepped the first spirit, but was scraped in the leg by the second as you dived backwards. You had both lost a giant chunk of HP, and was flat on your back staring at the third spirit, still rushing you down. Before they could connect, however, Mavis managed to cover you with her shield.

Looking over at Kaito and Jera, they seemed to be back-to-back and surrounded by four spirits. Not good.

Mavis was now in front of you, between you and the spirit. "Can you stand?"

"Yeah. Looks like the others need some help." You pointed toward Jera and Kaito.

"Let's not hesitate, then."

As you were standing up, Mavis blocked several sword swings from the spirit, then knocked it back with her shield. Both of you then turned and sprinted toward the spirits surrounding the others. They haven't left each other's backs, and have done a decent job keeping the enemies away with their long reach, but they kept taking stray hits. You weren't sure of their HP at the moment. Once you got close, you struck an unaware spirit with a running sucker punch, finishing it off. Mavis then stabbed one in its back shortly after. The two enemies that were standing off with Kaito then rushed him.

He managed to duck one slash, then witnessed Jera kicking away the other spirit while its weapon was raised overhead. Kaito smacked the spirit with the shaft of his axe, pushing it back to a similar range as the other spirit, then with a single swing, killed them both.

The only three enemies left were the ones that had targeted you. You stood side by side with your party, while the spirits did the same. Mavis was the first to charge ahead, shield at the ready. As the two parties clashed, Mavis found herself being yanked by an axe hooked onto her shield. She stumbled forward, leaving her open to the spirits on either side of her. On her right, a spirit raised a greatsword above its head, and on her left, a spirit prepared to stab her hip with a dagger.

Instead of meeting with flesh, however, the dagger only met with heavy plate mail. Jera had placed himself between the left spirit and Mavis. Once the dagger harmlessly clanked off of his armor, Jera cleanly thrust his spear through the spirit. For the right spirit, you dashed in and kicked it away, while Kaito smashed it with an overhead swing.

Mavis then managed to regain control of her shield and bashed it against the final spirit, knocking it onto its back. She then turned around and angled her shield against the ground to form a ramp. Finally, you ran up the shield, leaped high into the air, and thrust your katar right through the spirit's chest. As its ghostly body dispersed into mist, the gates within the room unlocked, and the rest of the raid came rushing in.

Only then did you realize the wounds everyone had sustained. The adrenaline had hidden it all until the end. You glanced at your party's HP bars, seeing nothing higher than Mavis's at about half. The rest were at about a third, with Kaito's nearing the red zone.

"Well, that scrap coulda gone better." Mavis had put away her weapons and was stretching out her whole body.

"We're alive. Couldn't ask for more than that." You pulled out a bunch of potions from your inventory. "Drink up. Should top us off before the boss."

"Appreciate it. These ain't the bitter ones, right?" She took one out of your hand.

"Nope. Not making that mistake again."

The other two took potions, and all four of you downed them in unison. When you had finished, you were approached by one of the guild officers.

"Hey, you guys alright? Heard things got a little dicey."

"We're fine." Jera responded. "We just took some unnecessary damage."

"I'll go talk with my boss. We ran into some stuff ourselves, and are still recovering from it. Since we've got some time to burn, might be worth us all taking a break to heal up."

He then ran off in the opposite direction, disappearing into a crowd of players.

One more message to Lisbeth for now. She might be busy. Or getting annoyed at being messaged so often, even if she was worried for your safety. That's what you thought, anyway.

She'd already sent a response to your last message.

"Don't worry about coming back right away, get through 66 first! That way you can tell me about all the cool stuff you found. I know you'll be safe out there. Good luck!"

Yeah, she's totally right. What she gave to you is to get you to and through Floor 66. It'd be best not to squander this blessing.

"Should've invested in some camera crystals. I bet 66 is gonna look amazing, and I'd love to be able to show you before anyone else. I'll definitely make sure you get to know what it looks like when I return. That's a promise."

And… sent.