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During the time we spent trapped in SAO, a number of guilds and groups stepped up to lead the way for the others. The first organization to really gain any traction was - surprisingly - Kibaou and his Aincrad Liberation Squad. He managed to assemble a pretty strong guild for the time and was a major player in some of the early floors. We managed to pull a respectable number of players together to form an effective guild ourselves around that time. Back then, it was us and Kibaou - an arrangement that seemed to both amuse and annoy Seriyuha at different times. We thought back then that that was how it would be for the rest of the game.
Then we reached the twenty-fifth floor...
Kibaou's guild fled back to the first floor to bully weaker players, and the Summer Knights were ruined. The clearers were left without a body to organize around, and things took a turn for the worst. That was when Heathcliff emerged and assembled the Knights of the Blood, ostensibly to restore morale among clearers. They were the ones who led the way for almost exactly fifty floors, carving a name for themselves as the top guild in Aincrad. Who'd have guessed that he'd turn out to be a traitor?
It seemed like that prestige faded in the blink of an eye once Kayaba showed his true colors. Nobody said it, but even then I suspected that people would begin to distance themselves from the Knights of the Blood.
But who would take their place? The DDA? Us?
"So we're stalled then," Asuna said into her hands.
Seriyuha sat across from Asuna on the other side of her desk, watching her closely. The two women were in the guildmaster's room of the Knights of the Blood, in their steel tower in Granzam. Much like the tower (and the city itself), the chamber was cold and grey, and Asuna hadn't yet done much to personalize the room. She'd destroyed some of the non-essential furnishings that had suited Heathcliff's tastes, but she'd left the great red and bronze banner hanging behind her. It was a room that seemed to belong to no person but to an entity - that of the KoB's guildmaster.
Seriyuha faced Asuna calmly, arms crossed. "The strategist in my guild believes clearing a field quest that involves dealing with the leader of these Monstergators will clear our way. I agree with her assessment: she's rarely given me poor advice."
Asuna rubbed her eyes, saying, "Was this the same one who had my sword stolen?"
Seriyuha narrowed her eyes for a second. "I did say 'rarely'."
"Oh," Asuna gasped suddenly, "what happened with Silica and her pet dragon?"
"Apparently it went well, she's quite strong," said Seriyuha. "Well, the dragon, obviously."
Asuna rolled her eyes, then sat up straight. "Well, if you want my guild's help with the crocodile field boss, then that's fine. I'll have one of the sub-leaders bring a raid party to meet you. When are you planning to attack it?"
"Tonight, if everyone's on board for it."
"Then that's fine."
Asuna and Seriyuha stood at nearly the same time and reached across the desk to shake hands - a brief and half-heated gesture from Asuna. Then, without waiting for Seriyuha to leave, Asuna turned and strode toward the great windows that stood behind her desk. She brushed aside the great KoB banner and stared out into the city quietly, as if she'd forgotten Seriyuha was even there.
Undeterred by the sudden disregard, Seriyuha walked around the desk toward Asuna. She kept a distance of several meters between herself and the younger woman, and made certain to walk loudly enough that Asuna would hear her approach.
"You feel trapped, don't you?"
Asuna's hands clenched.
"I - I want to get out of here," she said. "I want to help fight, but I can't... Not for almost a week still. It hasn't even been a week since..."
Asuna's knees shook. Seriyuha threw a sharp glance toward the door, to make sure it was shut.
"There's nowhere here but us. It's safe to let it out," said Seriyuha. She took a few steps closer, slowly, until she was within arm's reach of Asuna. "You don't have to always be on guard. I've never gone through anything nearly as hard as what you are now, but members of my guild," her gaze fell to the ground, "people who've placed their trust in me... have died... And I've seen the survivor's grieve. The least I've ever been able to do was help them through their pain. It's all I can do."
Her shoulders - her entire body shaking, Asuna fell to her knees, her hand gripped desperately on the banner as she slid down, as if to stop herself. Giving that up, she wrapped around her sides and clenched herself tight. "He," she sobbed, "he's... He's..."
Seriyuha knelt at Asuna's side, and slowly wrapped her arms around the shoulders of the young girl. Her own body was shaking, but for a very different reason. Asuna cried unrelentingly into Seriyuha's arms.
Asuna was only seventeen.
A widow at seventeen.
The only reason Seriyuha could push on was the knowledge that her own family - her husband and children - were safely outside the electronic hell that she was trapped in. Asuna surely had family waiting for her, but she'd already lost the person she cared for most.
Kayaba Akihiko was truly a demon among men.
Razler yawned and stood up to stretch yet again.
Night quests were the worst. Even if his body didn't experience proper tiredness, his brain still appreciated the nightly rest. Probably this was because his brain was the only part of him in the real world still operating at full capacity.
If only he knew a doctor who could verify that theory one way or another.
Oh well.
He and his allies - the entire Summer Knights guild, a dozen members of the KoB, another dozen from the DDA, a few players from smaller guilds, and last but not least, Silica - were assembled near the head of the river to bring down the leader of the Monstergators. Hinoka had picked up a quest from the captain of the town guard back in the river village, and was very sure that it would make the river safe to ride. The bothersome part was that the Monstergators were nocturnal as a rule, so their leader would only appear at night,
Razler hoped Hinoka was right about the quest: he was missing sleep thanks to her hunch.
The river that dominated the seventy-sixth floor started from a high cliff on the far eastern edge of the map, from some unseen source hidden behind a deep fog, and then splashed and churned over a shallow rocky area before finally falling into the central parts of the floor. There it calmed down as it flowed - mostly, anyways. And one that rocky area stood Razler and the rest of his raid-members, most of them stoic and patient as the rushing waters soaked them. Elise was nearly bouncing on her heels for the fight to come, but Silica was practically clutching to Seriyuha's leg. Even Pina was cuddled tight into her chest. Seeing how terrified their newest ally was, Razler hoped beyond hope that this raid would be worth it.
At the very least, they needed to get a move on with the fight. Being kept waiting clearly wasn't doing Silica's nerves any favors.
Locating his sister from among the crowd of players, he walked over to her and got her attention. "What're we waiting for? Silica's going to have a heart attack if we drag this out much longer."
Hinoka glanced over Silica's way and frowned. "Klein's group hasn't-"
"We're here! Sorry for the hold up!"
"-And now I think we're good."
Razler turned in the direction of the disturbance, and saw Klein and the rest of Fuurinkazan approaching at a sprint. Nearly all of the assembled players turned to look their way, though only Seriyuha actually went out to greet them. She and Klein shook hands, Seriyuha composed and Klein out of breath.
"We almost didn't make it to the river before sundown!" gasped Klein. "Then we got held up fighting mobs and it was just one thing after another. Sorry we held the plan up."
"Not at all, I understand how it can be sometimes," Seriyuha said, a genuine smile on her face, "though please try to keep the sound down. We don't want to draw unnecessary trouble our way, hmm?"
"Yeah," Klein said - a little more quietly. "So what're we here for? The message you sent said this'll get us into the labyrinth."
"Right, it's time I explained that," said Seriyuha.
Stepping away from Klein and his guild, she walked to the head of the group and climbed atop a particularly high rock, so as to be seen from all around. She tapped the shaft of her halberd against the rock, and the sharp click brought silence to the raid. Everyone turned to face her, and she nodded to the assembled players.
"It's time we got underway," she said. "I'll start by explaining why we're all here. I'm sure that by now most of you have heard of the tragedy of the -" she paused, grimacing "- Batallion of Courage guild. For those who haven't, they took it upon themselves to swim down the river and were ravaged by Monstergators. Now, we have strong reason to believe that eliminating Kelenar the River King, the boss of this quest, will stop them from attacking us in the river. The floor labyrinth has to be somewhere, and we're going to find it."
"What makes you think it's down the river?" asked one of the players.
"We've looked almost everywhere else," said Hinoka. "There's no sign of the floor pillar or the labyrinth anywhere on this floor, and the river's flowing somewhere; it's not going over the edge of the floor. Those Monstergators are guarding something, there's no doubt about that."
Most of the raid nodded or gave scattered comments in agreement with her. The very fact that the Courage guild had attempted to go down the river at all was proof that it was beginning to become a source of interest to the clearers.
"Question about that?" one of the KoB members spoke up. "If this guy is a labyrinth guardian, he's going to be pretty badass. How're we going to pull this off without Kirito, Heathcliff, or Asuna?"
"We have a plan to compensate for their absence," said Seriyuha.
Several eyes glanced toward Silica, who was huddling near Hinoka. Several of the players had thrown her curious glances when they arrived, and others had watched her with great interest. Those who had seen Pina's transformation were clearly eager for more.
"But more importantly," Seriyuha continued loudly, "we'll simply find a way to overcome. Massively Multiplayer Online Game raids aren't decided through one or two superstars overpowering bosses by themselves: they're decided through teamwork and strategy. You've already shown your trust in coming out here, but I want to ask for just a little more from the rest of you. If you would agree to cooperate with my guild and adhere to our raid strategy, our battle should proceed more smoothly."
"What does that mean, then?" asked one of the DDA.
"I'll explain that," Hinoka said as she moved to Seriyuha's side, Silica transferring over to Razler this time. "When our guild fights together, we operate as four teams. Seriyuha leads the front line; tanks, Razler is in charge of the back line; damage per second, Lloyd leads the mid line; general assistance for the front and back line depending on who's taking more heat, and Flashy heads up the support group; which... does as its name implies. And I lead raids. We're asking that you-"
"Wait, I remember you!" cried a member of the DDA. "You're that chick that completely lost it back on the twenty-fifth floor!"
Razler glared at the man's back, his hands immediately balling into fists. He was seized by an immediate desire to punch him in the jaw.
Hinoka gasped, her eyes immediately turning downward. "Well Y-yes that's true, but-"
"That was fifty floors ago, why're we bringing that up now?" one of the squad leaders of the KoB barked. His fellows gave a general rumble of agreement.
"I'm not gonna take that from one of Kayaba's stooges-"
"Oh shut up!" cried Klein. "That idiot gets himself killed and this is how you take it? Throwing accusations and falling apart? To hell with that! He faced a lot worse than following another guild's strategies, so how about you man up and deal with it?"
The DDA members grumbled but stepped back amongst each other, and the KoB members quieted down. Seriyuha gave Klein an approving nod and tapped Hinoka on the shoulder.
"Yes, a-as I was saying, we're asking that you organize under the group that you think best suits your talents. It's really just a matter of how light or heavy your equipment is, should all be self explanatory-"
"Anybody who's good at throwing weapons and roguery is good for support, b-t-w," said Keh-keh, "we're not all fairy-tamers."
Razler had to stop himself from slapping himself in the forehead. Seriyuha was frowning and shutting her eyes tight. Sure enough, the other players began to give the girl curious glances.
"'Fairy Tamers'?" asked one of Klein's guild.
"Yes!" Flashy cried eagerly. "Nearly every member of my squad tamed 'Dancing Fairy' pets: they're really handy - especially in Anti-Crystal zones. They can heal and-"
"I promise, the rest of us are lot cooler," said Keh-keh.
"As Hinoka was asking," Seriyuha said slowly and thickly, "please join the group you think is most appropriate."
The individual guilds spoke amongst each other for a minute or two - doubtlessly deciding how to disperse their numbers. Razler watched on, not particularly surprised, as the DDA and KoB guilds moved almost as monolithic entities to join Seriyuha and Lloyd's squads - respectively - where they stood separate from the others, still in their general parties. Sure, a few strays broke away to join another squad, but there was no denying the raid was composed of people from different groups both in fact and in spirit, and that they intended to remain part of their groups instead of parts of the whole.
Herding the clearers was difficult without a single person or small unit that they all respected.
Razler was snapped from his thoughts when Lyle tapped him on the shoulder to tell him that the members of Fuurinkazan were approaching. At the front was Klein, his hand held up in greeting. "Yo, so I guess we're under you for this one?" he asked.
Razler smiled back, though privately he couldn't help but remember that it had been a very long time since he directly led anybody outside the guild. He also couldn't remember ever being given authority over another guildmaster before.
"Yeah, that's about right," he said. "There's nothing serious about what we do, we attack when Hinoka gives us the word and we deal with any adds that join the fight. Lloyd's team covers for our retreat once Hinoka tells us to back off." That was about right. A lot of their task involved waiting around for the right windows to attack. Otherwise people died for no good reason. "So yeah, keep things simple and there's less chance to mess up."
"Sounds right to me," Klein said, a cocky grin on his face.
Razler turned toward Seriyuha and Hinoka, which Klein seemed to take as a sign that the introduction had been completed to satisfaction. While Klein and his guild moved off to their own area at the river's head, Razler couldn't stop thinking about Klein's behavior. Klein had known Kirito nearly as well as Asuna did, if not more, and Razler remembered his anguish when Kirito went off to face death as Kayaba's hands.
He glanced at Klein, who was chatting with his guild, laughing at something one of them said. Surely he was still in pain at Kirito's death? Was he just hiding it?
Then again... it wouldn't be an alien concept to Razler. He sighed, his gaze on his feet.
"Looks like not many people are coming our way," said Lyle. The swordsman was a few paces behind Razler, his hands crossed behind his head.
"Who needs 'em, we're already the best at this," said Elise. She was standing close by, her heel-bouncing seemingly having intensified in the last few minutes.
Razler privately agreed with her opinion - too many new players added to the group only made it harder to coordinate - and with Lyle's assessment of the situation. Though a few of the other clearers did link up with Razler and the back line, most of them joined up with Seriyuha or Lloyd instead. He noticed Silica had moved to stand under Seriyuha's shadow at some point in the procedure, but wasn't surprised. Pina was obviously going to be helping the tanks. It'd probably be fine - supported as they would be - but he still had reservations in putting Silica at the forefront of such an important raid.
He frowned at the ever-growing look of fear on her face. Hopefully she wouldn't panic in the heat of the moment...
Taking her out of the front line wasn't his decision to make, sadly.
The general assembling that the raid had been undergoing began to quiet down after around five minutes. Once everyone seemed settled, Hinoka called loudly for silence.
"If everyone's ready, I'll start the fight. The boss will attack us when I approach the edge of the rocks," said Hinoka.
But before any time could pass, Seriyuha suddenly called out to Hinoka, smiling. "We all know there's a very good reason that most of you agreed to this raid on such short notice, don't we?" she asked.
Most of the players looked immediately toward Silica, who shrank slightly under their scrutiny. Forcing a smile, she waved to the lot of them, Pina perched atop her head.
"Please, Silica?" said Seriyuha.
Nodding, Silica called for Pina to transform, and Razler watched Pina take on her more formidable form for a third time. Most of the players gasped in surprise or cheered in triumph - it was easy to guess who had or hadn't seen the show Silica put on back at Asuna's cabin. Having seen what Pina could do with his own eyes, Razler grinned up at her, eager for more.
"Silica has graciously agreed to lend us her and Pina's power for our fights to come. Treat her as you would any other player, we stand or fall together in this!"
As the players cried out, Seriyuha turned to Hinoka and nodded, and then moved to the center of the front line players. Hinoka, naginata in hand, took a few steps toward the edge of the rocky cliff that overlooked the rest of the river. As Hinoka took some invisible final step, the rocks under Razler's feet suddenly shook, which he immediately took as a sign to draw his sword. The ankle-deep water under him began to churn. He faced out toward the center of the seventy-sixth floor, a shiver running down his back. The worst bosses were the ones that gave no indication where they would strike from.
Something gave a deep, rumbling cry from the top of the cliffs behind the raid. Turning around, Razler looked up into the eyes of a monstrosity of a crocodile - and it stared right back at him. The monster wasn't as long from snout to tail as he would have guessed; it favored girth more than length. As large as Pina was, Razler suspected the creature was bigger still, and by a considerable amount at that. Its mouth branched into three jaws - each lined with razor-sharp teeth - and a long tentacle-like barbed tongue lashed out from it. Its claws sliced into the rock of the cliff.
"Kelenar, the River King". He certainly appeared to live up to his name.
The monster leapt off of the cliff and over the edge of the rocky area on which the raid was standing. With his great size, the monster hoisted himself up so that his entire upper body crested the edge of the dip that the water poured over, his front legs grasping the rocks and grinding divots out of them. The tanks belonging to the Summer Knights immediately formed a tight unit around Seriyuha, and the rest of her squad soon took the hint. The defenders formed a wall of shields on both of Pina's sides, and the great dragon bowed low, snarling at the monstrous crocodile before her.
"Stand together! Defend and attack as one!" cried Seriyuha. With her halberd pointed toward Kelenar, she cried out, "Our only way out is through, so push on through!"
Kelenar's first attack came swiftly: his jaws parted for only a moment, and his tongue lashed out into the mass of players. It bounced harmlessly off of the interlocked shields of Seriyuha and the others, but Kelenar struck again with a wide sweep of his claws that knocked aside some of the tanks on the far left side of the raid. Their flank broken, the rest of the front line couldn't properly block the swing with their shields, but then Pina rammed into Kelenar's claw and lashed at it with her own, forcing the monster back.
"Support, assist the front line, Silica, shore up that side until the front line is re-assembled," cried Hinoka, "Lloyd, assist Silica!"
"Defenders, watch for his attacks and react quickly, we have to work together to stop those swings!" cried Seriyuha.
"Our turn?" whispered Klein.
"Not until she says," Razler said immediately and firmly, "if we go in now we'll only get in the way."
Pina and Silica remained at the left side of the tank line as Keh-keh and the other weapon-throwers from the support team threw a volley of bladed weapons into Kelenar's face, delaying his inevitable next attack. Meanwhile, Flashy and the rest of her unit rapidly tended to the injuries of the tanks with their fairies. Kelenar's next attack was a right sweep, but this time the raid was prepared, and his attack was repulsed without incident.
Razler grasped his sword carefully, waiting for his chance to strike.
"Damn, I hate this part," grumbled Klein.
"Yeah, but we're not built to take hits," he replied.
Kelenar's next trick was a quick thrust forward, bowling straight into the defenders with his massive upper body. He forced a hole in their lines with his massive weight and opened his jaws wide-
"Mid team, fill that hole!" screamed Hinoka.
-and his tongue lashed through the gap in the tanks. Lloyd and Samson caught the barbed instrument, forcing it back-
"Silica, charge from where you're standing, Razler, attack Kelenar from our left flank now! Lloyd, go in with them! Seriyuha, get your unit up again in the center!" cried Hinoka.
"Go time, dps!" cried Razler.
Without hesitation, Razler and his guildmates rushed forth toward the left side of their defensive line. Klein and his guild were soon behind them, and the rest of those who had joined his team followed up as well.
One of the members of the KoB said, "He's going to attack from-"
"You heard what the lady said!" said Klein, "I've been itching for a chance to get in on this monster anyways!"
As the KoB member had warned, Kelenar tried once again to rake the entire raid with a wide sweep of his claws, and Pina charged straight into his attack. The dragon grappled with her much-larger foe, doing some damage but taking much more back. Kelenar's attack was forced off, and Razler and his team engaged from the side, tearing into the beast's right side. Amidst the confusion of their attack Hinoka shouted further orders and Kelenar swept at the opposite side of the raid, but Razler tuned everything else out until he'd heard Hinoka's call to retreat.
"That's it, fall back!" he yelled without delay.
He and his unit moved to rejoin the tanks while Lloyd moved past them, guarding them as Kelenar pushed forward once again. By that point Silica had moved Pina to the center of the defenders, no doubt to help force back Kelenar's extreme weight. Kelenar's forward charge was held back by the combined force of Pina and the tank-players surrounding her -
"Block its tongue for Pina!"
- Seriyuha and a few of the tanks quickly moved in front of the dragon, shields raised, and blocked the tongue's lashing strike.
"Support unit, heal Pina quickly, Silica, prepare to cover the right flank, Lloyd, support the left flank, Razler, prepare to attack again from the left."
All did as they were told, but Kelenar didn't quite behave himself the way Hinoka had expected. Rather than perform his wide sweep again, he raised his great head and let out a long roar, and the water pouring down the edge of the floor immediately intensified.
"Razler, cancel that last and move to the back of the raid!" Hinoka cried quickly.
Razler directed his team to do as told. Expecting reinforcements to come from behind, he turned to face the cliff, leaving Kelenar and his continued attacks to the front line. Not long afterward, he could hear it from above: the deep, throaty growling of the Monstergators that he'd heard from the riverbanks at night. He hadn't yet fought the monsters; the Summer Knight made it to the raid site some time before nightfall. Elise was laughing giddily to her herself not far away, but he was simply focusing on the fact that he could definitely hear more than one of them coming.
It looked like it was time at last to meet them.
"Razler, what's coming?" Hinoka asked, her eyes still on Kelenar.
"Monstergators, several of them and all from behind," he replied instantly.
"Handle them!" she cried, "Flashy, be ready to assist Razler if he needs it!"
Razler tightened his grip on his sword. Flashy's squad was indispensable to the front line; they'd HAVE to do without.
The first of the Monstergators appeared moments later. It was a razor-fanged crocodile that Razler estimated to be fifteen feet long, and descending the cliff at a rapid pace. Its powerful clawed limbs clung effortlessly to the wet rock, and eight others soon followed at its sides or behind it.
"These are up to us, everyone, watch each other's backs!" he yelled.
Sword and shield held ready, he stood firmly and waited as the monsters barreled down the cliff.
"Don't try to block their bites, crocodiles have ridiculous biting strength!" cried Lyle.
"And it was all going so well," muttered Thunder Cavalier.
"Are you kidding? This is the best part!" Elise cried as she grinned ear to ear.
"Things are starting to heat up now!" said Klein.
Razler nodded. Maybe it was just the promise of some action that got Klein smiling again. Either way. Hinoka continued giving orders and Kelenar continued to attack from behind, but Razler and his unit focused their attention to the cliff itself. Klein rushed to meet the centermost Monstergator - the one Razler saw first. The creature focused its gaze on him and lunged, mouth wide open. The monster's attack came swift, and the vicious bite not long after, but Klein sidestepped the charge and leveled his katana horizontally along the creature's side in the same motion. The Monstergator bit down on steel, and had its jaw and side ripped open before it collapsed into polygons. Razler blinked, nearly missing the strike.
"They're only good for one charge, got it?" Klein cried to the others without looking.
Razler nodded, both impressed and grateful for Klein's demonstration, and charged in to join the swordsman. Singling out a Monstergator of his own, he moved in, catching the beast's attention. It began its attack, but Razler sliced the roof of its jaw open before it could even start to open it. Not far away, Lyle stabbed shut the mouth of another with his swordbreaker, and then pierced the its skull with his rapier. And as for Elise - she simply let swing her axe as her own mark tried to attack, sending its mouth flying through the air. Klein was already in the middle of killing a second Monstergator before Razler finished off his first.
Klein might not have been Kirito's match, but there was no denying that he was on a completely different level from Razler. The young swordsman couldn't help but grin as he watched the Klein work.
"Done, Sis!" Razler cried as the last Monstergator died.
"Razler, take your unit to follow Pina!" Hinoka cried without looking. "Silica, go in on Kelenar's right side!"
Klein muttered good-naturedly about the weary getting no rest as he heard the command.
Kelenar lunged forward as he had several times in the battle, but this time with his gaping maw open wide. He lurched his mouth down on the tanks, snapping shut viciously, but Pina slammed into the bite, forcing him back. Kelenar jerked back for only a moment before striking again with a second bite that caught Pina on the sides, bringing the dragon's health down past the half-way point. Kelenar reared back, and Razler felt his heartbeat slowing down - Pina wouldn't survive another bite!
"Pina, Bubble Breath!" cried Silica.
Pina suddenly loosed a flurry of bubbles and foam from her mouth, which surged into Kelenar's open maw. The monster jerked backward, roaring in confused anger. He then charged forward to take his third vicious chomp, but he lunged nowhere near the direction Pina was standing, and his jaws only met air. Razler loosed a sword skill into the monster's closed jaw, and Elise, Lyle, Klein, and all the others followed suit, getting in a quick but devastating volley of attacks before they were called to retreat.
"-And what was that, Silica!?" Hinoka demanded after giving a new series of orders.
"Pina can confuse enemies -"
"You need to tell me everything Pina can do!"
Silica gasped. "I'm sorry! I'm not used-"
"Later!" cried Seriyuha.
After performing his rather literal tongue-lash attack once more, Kelenar suddenly reared back, roared to the skies, and began to climb onto the platform. Rocks crumbled and were thrown into the river as his huge claws dug them free from the ground, and the area shook under his weight. At first Razler feared he would move straight forward and divide the raid in half, but after his upper body was on the platform he angled northward. Hinoka re-directed the party while Kelenar was busy moving his massive bulk around, but he soon turned back toward the raid, crouched low.
"Everyone, be on guard, he might have some new tricks!" cried Hinoka "We've got a wall to our right so expect Kelenar to favor our left flank-"
Kelenar suddenly reached for the cliff with his front paw, and seized it with a grip that made the stone shriek as his claws dug into it. A roar of effort, a groan as rocks were torn apart, and watery boulders were thrown into the raid. From his vantage point near the back of the players, Razler could only see a confused frenzy of activity as several players were buried under the rocks. Some were trying to get out of the way, others were trying to help their friends out from under the stone. Hinoka was issuing a flurry of orders, but her voice remained steady. Razler and his team remained where he was; Hinoka had given them no orders.
In the midst of the confusion, Kelenar turned around swiftly, swinging his tail across the raid, but a timely charge by Pina halted the attack. Hinoka quickly ordered her back to help defend the trapped players, and then called for Lloyd to assist them in escaping out from under the rock. Meanwhile, Kelenar struck again with his charge followed by his tongue strike, and Hinoka quickly ordered an attack from the back line. This continued on for a cycle or two longer - with Kelenar mixing up his order of attacks but not using his boulder throw again - until yet more Monstergators joined the fray. Razler groaned and ordered his unit to fight them once more.
The fighting continued for around half an hour - a long slog of defending and striking at the gaps in Kelenar's defenses. Once Pina's transformation timer finally ran out, Silica was immediately press-ganged into the support unit, where she would be safest from Kelenar's attacks. The members of the raid that weren't members of the Summer Knights slowly acclimated better to Hinoka's instructions, but there was still a brief but noticeable delay between her orders being given and them being carried out, which often resulted in Kelenar dealing or avoiding damage he wouldn't have otherwise. Nobody died - or came close to death - but still nearly everyone immediately dropped from their feet when Kelenar finally burst into shards of light. As the players cheered around them, Razler and Klein smiled weakly at one another and traded fist bumps.
"You're not bad!" said Klein.
"You're pretty handy to have in a fight yourself," said Razler.
Seriyuha allowed everyone a few moments to rest, rejoice, and sort their loot from the raid, but eventually she stepped up and called for everyone's attention.
"That was very well done!" she opened to cheers from the raid. "I would especially like to thank those from outside my guild that made it out here tonight, we wouldn't have made it without you," said Seriyuha. "But don't get too excited just yet; we first have to see what effects this battle had on the floor. If Kelenar's defeat did indeed make the passage down the river safe, we're going to arrange a large-scale coordinating investigation of whatever dungeon lies under this floor. I'd like to ask for your assistance in advance."
Razler heard a general chorus of acceptance from the gathered players - including those from the DDA that had doubted Hinoka going in.
"Sounds like your guild made a good impression," said Klein.
"This time," said Razler. He didn't want to be a killjoy too openly, but it was worth remembering that Kelenar was only a field boss of a non-quarter floor. Strong as he was, he was nothing compared to the monster that the Skull Reaper had been. Even with Pina at their side, Razler wasn't sure they could have defeated a monster like that in their current shape.
Still - it was a good step forward.
With Seriyuha's post-batte speech concluded, the raid moved to put the battleground behind them. As there was no way the players knew of to cross the river back into town at night, they camped at the driest location they could find on the riverside, their general revelry carrying well through the evening. Razler sat around one of the numerous campfires they had set, beaming at the sight of everyone finally enjoying themselves for once. They'd been without real successes for too long... In the midst of it all, he found his sister and sat down next to her.
"Well done, leader!" he said, clapping her on the shoulder. "Been a while since you commanded a full raid, huh?"
"Stressful as hell," Hinoka muttered, though she smiled back. "When it's just the guild you guys are usually good enough to guess what I'll have you do. With all these other guys and" - she frowned - "Silica, there's a lot more to worry about."
Razler had to stop himself from chuckling. Hinoka had taken some time to lecture Silica about withholding information from her - a telling-off that Seriyuha eventually had to rescue the young girl from.
"Good thing you're a pro at what you do."
Hinoka laughed and turned away, her face getting red.
"You should give yourself from credit," a familiar voice went from behind.
Seriyuha sat on Hinoka's other side, and grinned warmly at her. "That went as well as I'd hope. You should be proud. Too many of the other guilds in this game are used to basic switch strategies or trying to one-man-army stronger bosses."
"That won't work on anything without Kirito and Kayaba," Hinoka said instantly. "If we don't start using actual tactics we're not going to make any progress. I sometimes wonder how we got this far to begin with."
"We had a couple of freaks who could solo labyrinth bosses on our side," muttered Razler. Hinoka wasn't wrong though; there was no telling what the level cap was in SAO, but Kirito would have hit it eventually. And then the mob levels on the later floors would begin to catch up with him.
"The next labyrinth will be the test," said Seriyuha.
She stood to leave, and Razler said quickly, "I had a quick question before you left."
"Sure?" she asked, looking his way.
"Is it just me or does it seem like Klein's taking everything too well?" he asked with a glance to the guildmaster in question.
Seriyuha watched Klein, eyes narrowed curiously. "I don't really know him, so maybe he's just the type to handle grief," she said after a time. "Isn't his guild made up of friends of his? That would help him cope."
"Good point," Razler said. He glanced at Hinoka without really meaning to, understanding all to well what Seriyuha meant. Close as he was to Seriyuha, or Samson - or hell, even Keh-keh - there was a very basic divide between him and them. He could open up to Hinoka in ways he couldn't to anybody else, and not just because she was his big sister.
"Get some rest," Seriyuha said quietly but kindly. "Klein has people looking out for him, so I don't think he's in any danger. And I'll try to keep an eye on Asuna."
She walked off toward some of the DDA members, leaving the siblings alone in the crowd.
"If only it were that easy though," groaned Razler.
Hinoka forced a smile and squeezed his shoulder.
"Don't worry, once we start Splasher-busting tomorrow you won't have time to worry," she said.
Laughing, Razler lay back. "Thanks, sis."
The raid returned to town as a large body the following morning, with Elise rather disappointed that the Monstergator-hunting was nearing its end. Seriyuha quickly called for a general meeting of the entire raid at the town square, where she explained that she'd informed Asuna of the fight with Kelenar over private messaging the night before. The only step left was to check to make sure that the river really was safe.
"However we end up doing this, I'd like to ask that nobody test the river before we come up with a plan," she said firmly, looking as much of the raid in the eye as she could manage. "Even if killing Kelenar neutralized the Monstergator threat, there's no telling what's at the end of the river."
"It's gotta be something important though," somebody from the KoB blurted out, "that guy wasn't a pushover."
"It could lead to an anti-crystal trap for all we know," said Hinoka.
"Or just off the floor," said Keh-keh.
Immediately, several members of the raid began talking in worried tones.
"That much we're sure isn't the case," Seriyuha said, both loudly and angrily, silencing the chatter. "The river ends right before the edge of the floor, but it doesn't go over the edge. The water has to go somewhere."
A lower murmur of discussion swept through the crowd. Everyone was agreeing with her in their own way; there'd be no reason for a few players to die to Monstergators in the river otherwise. Hinoka had explained it simply; putting a huge river in the floor just to render part of it completely unexplorable was a waste of design effort and floor-space.
"What's the plan then?" asked Klein.
"We'll jump in together and see where we end up," she said with a sideways glance to the river.
At that, everyone fell silent. Even Razler felt a chill go up his spine as he looked once again at the river. It wasn't deep, but the current was treacherously fast, and he couldn't see the river's end from where he stood. In SAO, they could almost always see where they'd be when they took the next step in front of their feet, but this river was going to sweep them into the unknown. It was easy enough to plan to jump in, but going in...
Not all of the players were content to keep quiet, however; one of the unit leaders of the KoB stepped out in front of his guild and nearly stormed right up to Seriyuha. She stared at him with a near-expressionless look on her face as he yelled, "That's insane! You expect us to all go in on your say-so? My guild won't go without the Commander's word."
"The Flash wouldn't be so timid," Hinoka cried instantly.
"Of course you agree with your guildmaster-"
"No, I actually agree that it's risky," said Hinoka, "but what other choice do we have? We've examined every part of this floor and found no sign of the Labyrinth."
"Asuna's already agreed that an exploration of the river was called for," Seriyuha said calmly. "She's decided to trust my judgement on this until she's able to help directly."
The KoB member stepped back, looking slightly taken aback, but rebounded with a demand of, "What if there is an anti-crystal trap down there?"
"That's why she wants us to go in together," said Klein. "We can't send scouts alone, they'd just get trapped!"
Klein gave Seriyuha a questioning look, and she nodded solemnly.
"I'm not asking that any of you join me if you're uncomfortable with my plan," said Seriyuha, "but-"
"You're not talking to us, are you?" asked Lyle. "Obviously we'll jump-"
"Thank you," Seriyuha said sharply, "but Klein's right. We're past the point of taking no chances at all. If the only option Kayaba's going to leave us it to take calculated risks, then we have to play by his rules. We might reach a point where our crystals never work again. We need to be ready to abandon these crutches, if we have to."
The KoB leader gnashed his teeth, glanced back to his unit, and stepped back. The members of the DDA whispered to each other, but only for a little while, and the smaller guilds begin to shuffle this way and that nervously. It seemed no further objections were forthcoming.
"We do know that the river itself isn't an anti-crystal trap," said Hinoka, "the survivor of the trio who tested it is proof of that... So at least we can teleport to safely if it turns out killing Kelenar didn't eliminate the threat of the Monstergators. Everyone should have a teleport crystal ready, and we'll see where we end up."
Silence drew out, long and tense. Razler tapped his feet on the wooden plank and tried not to look at Seriyuha. Being so uncertain of taking a leap into the river when she seemed completely ready to make the first step left him feeling shameful. He'd come as far as he had by following her lead, so he should have been able to go even further...
Finally, Samson suddenly stepped forward and cleared his throat. "All of us did just get back from a long and hard raid, so maybe we should spend some time restocking supplies and tending to our equipment?"
At this suggestion there was some scattered approval. Most likely nobody had even considered that necessity. It was only then that Razler himself realized he needed to replenish some of the healing potions he'd used in the fight, and that his equipment needed topping-off on its durability.
"And of course," Samson said slowly and pointedly, "if some other errand turns up, then feel free to take care of it. Once those who have the time to join us in the river have gathered here, we'll move on with our next step."
Shrugging, he stepped back. "The Lord be with all of you, either way."
The crowd slowly dispersed as Razler stood there, thinking to himself why Samson would leave an out for the raid members to quietly vanish.
Klein stood next to him, arms crossed. "He just gave them an excuse not to come back, why the hell did he do that?"
"So nobody would feel pressured by having to bow out in front of everyone else," Lloyd said quietly. "And also, this gives them some time to think things over. We'll probably lose some people, but just putting everyone on the spot would be worse."
"Oh," Klein gasped, a shrewd gaze on Samson. "Pretty smart then."
Razler smiled at Samson, who was then talking with Seriyuha. "He's pretty good when he's not busy roleplaying."
Most of the raid spread out into town, though the majority of its members went toward the npc shopkeepers. Only a few - and nearly all from the smaller guilds - snuck away to the teleport gate. Remembering that he needed to pick up some replacement supplies of his own, Razler made for the stores as well, but as he left he caught sight of Silica, and Seriyuha kneeling down in front of her. He did a double take; he'd almost forgotten Silica was still there.
"Does this include me?" he heard her ask.
Seriyuha smiled and shook her head. "No, not until we know more about what's down there. Taking you with us into the unknown would be-"
"But what if you run into trouble and need Pina's help?" Silica urged, brandishing Pina with both arms for emphasis.
Seriyuha laughed quietly and put one of her hands on Silica's head. "You mean your help, don't you? I told you once before that you're more to us than just Pina. We'll manage, don't worry about us."
Silica's face fell. "I didn't want to get in the way... I'm sorry..."
Seriyuha took Silica by the shoulders, holding them firmly but not roughly. "You aren't in the way, dear. One of the most important things a clearer has to understand is their limitations."
Razler expected another retort or for Silica to pout, but instead she nodded, and looked up at Seriyuha with suddenly-fierce eyes.
"I understand. Let me know when I can help again, okay?"
Seriyuha smiled once again and nodded.
Silica raced past him for the teleport gate, and he continued on the way he was going, the scene he just witnessed weighing on him. Hinoka had warned Silica that there'd be limits to what she could do to help them, underleveled as she was, but Silica seemed to give in way too easily. He'd seen similar behavior from Keh-keh: she was scheming
At the very least, she teleported out of the floor. Whatever she was planning, it didn't look like it involved following them down the river.
Shaking his head, he went to go finish his business, and returned to the square quickly. To his surprise, he saw that most of the raid - well over three-fourths of its members - had returned. As he'd noticed before, it was mostly the smaller guilds that had failed to show up. He looked up at Seriyuha, wondering whether she was pleased or surprised by the turnout. Either way, she was in the middle of thanking the group for returning.
As she finished talking she stepped back, and Hinoka took her place. "There's no telling where exactly the river will take us, or whether we'll get separated downstream. Everyone will have to use their better judgement if the worst should happen. Our first priority if we do end up separated will be to find everyone as best we can, but don't take too many risks. If you're uncomfortable about your situation, do not hesitate to use a teleportation crystal to get to safety." She frowned, and glanced to the side. "Assuming we can. We'll just have to see how this goes. I understand that we're winging it pretty badly, but we haven't got much to go on here."
She forced a smile to the crowd. "Any questions?"
Razler looked around, and found the others doing the same. Everyone was glancing nervously at the person next to him, as if to see who would crack first and ask a question.
But ultimately, nobody did.
Apparently taking the silence as a sign that it was now or never, Seriyuha began walking toward the end of the platform. "Well," she said as she stopped right before the edge. That was it; there was no guardrails separating her from the river below. "I think we've put this off for long enough," she said with a last smile to the crowd.
In she went.
Seriyuha landed in the waist-deep water and was almost immediately swept off her feet. Falling backward, she was carried southward swiftly. The Summer Knights were quick to join their leader in the river - Razler and Hinoka included. The siblings jumped together and and touched the water almost at the same time. As he'd suspected, the rocks were slimy under his feet, and he was almost immediately thrown off of them from the force of the current and his unsteady footing. He went under for a moment, panic immediately taking hold. He thrashed in the water for a while, unable to tell up from down as he was pushed along. After a moment or two his head broke the surface, and he gasped for air. Nobody was really sure whether drowning was possible in SAO, but damn did it feel good to get air in his "lungs".
As he settled down from his impromptu bath, he looked around wildly, searching for familiar faces.
Samson was treading water calmly, Keh-keh clutching tight to his back. Lloyd was staring southward with resolute concentration, while Elise cheered and whooped. Where was Hinoka? Was she still underwater? His heart pounded as he searched wildly for his sister, but finally he saw the brilliant red of her clothes, and gasped in relief. He swam to her side, fighting the current with all his might; he wasn't going to lose her in the confusion. He grabbed her by the shoulder, and she gasped and whirled around, but recognized him quickly. The two siblings took each other by the hand and pulled themselves tight together.
Now they just had to stick together and ride the river out. At least there was no sign of killer alligators following them.
Already the town was far upriver, and the river between them and it was full of the members of the raid. Most of them people Razler didn't know by name, but all of them familiar, and all in it together. Razler was a little surprised at how willing everyone had been to follow Seriyuha into the river, but, she was good at things like that.
The riverbanks closed in on either side, signalling that they were rapidly approaching the end of their wild ride. Off in the distance, Razler could see rocky outcroppings beginning to form, splitting the river into multiple smaller streams. Seriyuha reached them first, and was drawn by the current off into one of the middle forks in the river. Samson and Keh-keh were drawn to a side on the far left, and Flashy somewhere between the two.
"Looks like we're getting separated!" he shouted.
"I was afraid of something like this," cried Hinoka, "hold on to me, we need to stay together!"
Razler squeezed Hinoka's shoulder all the tighter. The thought of trying to fight the current enough to follow after somebody crossed his mind for a moment, but he soon realized that might just cause him to lose Hinoka - or slam into the rocks. They were just going to have to trust in fate and luck. The current finally sent the siblings off toward the right, between two of the outcroppings. As close as he was, Razler could clearly see the jaggedness of the rocks on either side, and was grateful that they weren't thrown against them.
An opening appeared in the river ahead, one that they couldn't see into, and the river sloped down into it. Into the dark they went, screaming all the way as the passage weaved left and right like a snake. In a strange way, it reminded Razler of roller coasters from when he was a kid. They were forced against the sides of the tunnel several times, but the stone was smooth. Then, suddenly, they began falling, and landed like rocks into a pool of icy water in the inky blackness. They struggled together for the surface and paddled blindly to the water's edge, but the pool was neither very deep nor very wide, and they were soon crawling onto the wet, cold rock of a cavern floor.
"Well," Razler said as he gasped for air, "I'm not sure whether that's what Seriyuha was expecting!"
"At least we were right that there's something down here," said Hinoka.
A soft glow appeared - the light of Hinoka's menus - which soon became pure light as Razler's sister lit a torch. She handed the first one over to him, and then lit her own. They were in a simple cavern chamber: just a rough "room" of smooth and wet rock, and a passage at the other end. The tunnel they'd entered through ended in a hole up in the chamber's ceiling that spilled forth an endless stream of water that fell into the pool they'd just climbed out from. The pool seemed to neither drain nor fill. Where was the water going? Perhaps the game designers hadn't troubled themselves with such things.
Anyways, they had more important things to worry about.
"So, we're spelunking now?" he asked.
"Not yet," Hinoka said with a glance to the hole in the ceiling, "we should wait and see-"
The sound of screaming began to echo from above - Klein's screaming. The red swordsman quite literally dropped into view after only a moment, and the siblings helped him onto land.
He spent a moment sputtering for breath, before he looked up and recognized who he had joined. "Anybody else make it?" he asked.
"Just us so far," Hinoka said, though Klein was already answering his own question with a glance around the room.
"Well I'm glad you two are here with me. Ending up alone would be the worst."
He took a few steps around the cavern, before turning back to Hinoka.
"So what's the plan? We wait a bit longer and then start exploring? My guys and I jumped into the river not longer after your guild did, so the KoB and the DDA-"
Again they heard screaming from above - this time several voices. A trio - one man and two women - dropped into the cavern with them. All three wore the silver uniform of the DDA, and were prompt to introduce themselves and verify the situation once they were back on land. The now six-headed group waited for a few minutes longer, but the only noises they heard from the tunnel above were the sounds of water surging against rock. It seemed that nobody else was coming.
"So what's our status?" the guy from the DDA eventually asked.
"I already tried private messaging Seriyuha," said Hinoka, "but this place has the same restrictions on that that dungeons do. At least that explains what this place is."
"H-how about our crystals?" asked one of the girls - one who looked younger than the other.
Razler's breath caught in his throat: he'd completely forgotten the risk of anti-crystal traps in the cave. How were they going to check? Trying to teleport out would just take him back to town.
"Heal," her older counterpart said as she brandished a peach-colored crystal. The crystal glowed and shattered dutifully, and everyone present breathed a sigh.
"Guess that bastard is going easy on us for a bit longer," growled Klein.
"I doubt it'll last much longer," muttered Razler.
"I don't think anyone else is going to show up, so let's get moving," said Hinoka. Torch in hand, she led the way down the tunnel at the end of the chamber. Razler and the others followed behind, torches and weapons held ready. "I'm sure everyone else made it into this cavern safely, so our first job is to find everyone-"
"Who put you in charge?" the guy from the DDA suddenly asked.
Razler turned and gave him an incredulous look, but found himself getting stared down by the trio. Was this actually happening? He'd heard rumors that the DDA didn't work well with other groups in general, but this was taking it a little too far.
"What's the problem?" Hinoka asked calmly.
"I'll admit that you did pretty well with that crocodile boss," said the older DDA woman, "but we don't need you bossing us around to explore a dungeon. We're not newbs here."
"Is this really what you want to have an argument about?" cried Razler. "Does it even matter who's-"
"You bet it does."
It wasn't one of the DDA who spoke; it was Klein. The older swordsman was standing behind the DDA trio, glaring forward with his arms crossed. "Right here, right now, I'm taking over this party. My guys are lost here in this cave and I'm not gonna let you five get into a fight over who's leading this show until I know they're okay. So shut up and follow me."
Klein shoved past the trio and maneuvered past the siblings, and led the way for the rest of the group by the light of his torch. Razler and Hinoka shared a confused look, but Hinoka just gestured toward Klein, and Razler nodded in agreement.
The DDA trio, however just stared motionlessly in shock.
"H-hey, who-"
"I already told you," Klein said over his shoulder, "I'm taking over. When we find your bosses you can cry to them about it, but you're coming with us." He propped his sword up against his shoulder as if for emphasis, and the DDA trio finally fell quiet and followed behind, heads low.
"Nicely done," Razler said quietly to Klein.
"Lead enough online groups and you learn how to deal with stubborn idiots," Klein replied with a cocky grin.
He'd never worked in a party directly with Klein before, but Razler was starting to understand how he'd led his guild so far without suffering a single casualty. It reminded him of Seriyuha; Klein just had a natural air for leadership.
The tunnel they were in wound this way and that - much like the one that had brought them there - but it seemed to be favoring going up and in a certain direction, though Razler couldn't tell north from south after the wild ride in the river-tunnel. For a few minutes they only heard the sound of their own footsteps and water dripping on rock, but eventually they heard wet slaps echoing from the tunnel ahead. Razler sighed and readied his sword. His allies were all doing the same.
"Gonna be real glad when I don't have to see these damn Splashers anymore," he muttered.
Around another bend they saw them; five of the splashers in another chamber. Mysteriously there were two Scouts among them, even though there was no clear direction from which help would arrive.
"We should move in and take them out as quickly as possible," said Hinoka. She glanced back toward the DDA members and gestured to the younger girl - who was carrying a large shield - and said to her, "I'm gonna want you to tank for us in case-"
"I'll take care of this," said Klein.
Unleashing a sword skill, he killed one of the Scouts before it could make a sound, turned, and struck the other down in another swift strike. Razler was momentarily taken aback, but he quickly recovered and joined Klein in the fight, the older girl from the DDA coming in alongside them. By the time Hinoka and the other two managed to get into the fray, the fighting was already concluded.
"Nicely done!" the man from the DDA cried as he slapped Klein on the shoulder.
Klein simply smiled and waved at the air. "It's nothing, katanas deal critical damage just after you draw them! That's all there is to it to wiping enemies out in a single strike!"
With the excitement over, they could plan their next moves. The chamber they were in had two exits going in completely different directions. Klein stared down both in turn, arms crossed. With barely any of the map revealed and no clear idea of where they should go, getting lost in the cave was a too-real possibility. Razler was relieved that the burden of making a decision wasn't on his shoulders.
"Wanna just flip a coin on-"
Footsteps suddenly began coming their way from down one of the paths - armored ones. Razler breathed a sigh of relief and sheathed his sword; there was no way it was more Splashers. Sure enough, the party that approached was a pair from the KoB, one of Klein's guild, and Elise, who was smiling broadly.
"Yo, any problems?" Klein called out to his guildmate.
"Nope," he replied, "we ran into a group of Splashers but this crazy chick from the SK-" he gestured to Elise, who had her axe propped proudly over her shoulder "-killed them all."
Elise laughed victoriously and puffed up her chest. "This cave rocks: those stupid fishguys can't get away from me in here!"
"Did you guys see anything else down that path?" asked Hinoka.
"No, the only tunnel that wasn't a dead end came up this way," said one of the members of the KoB - a middle-aged man.
"Then we're going this way," Klein said as he began walking toward the other passage. "Everyone fall in, let's find our buds!"
The siblings followed behind him without a word, and the DDA members did likewise. Looking back over his shoulder, Razler saw the pair from the KoB exchanging confused glances before they joined in with the large group. Elise fell behind but quickly caught up with a light jog, her goofy smile still on her face.
"So, Klein replaced you, Hinoka? How'd that work out?" asked Elise.
"He's just a natural leader," Hinoka said without looking at either her or Klein.
The party continued exploring the caves. The dull monotony of their walking through the winding tunnels was broken only by the occasional Splasher ambush, and the trickle of water flowing through the tunnels ahead. Razler glared at the water a time or two as they walked, the endless, low noise increasingly bothering him. Why were SAO dungeons so boring anyways? It was like Kayaba's team wasted all their creativity building the prison world and failed to save any for filling it...
They came upon another chamber and killed another group of splashers, when they were joined by another large group of players. Three more from Klein's guild, a pair each from the KoB and the DDA, and Keh-keh and Flashy among them as well. The two groups shared introductions, stories, and maps. Comparing the maps that both teams had managed to form of the dungeon, Razler and the others confirmed that the other party had explored every nook of the area they had landed at. But the problem remaining before them was that they had three tunnels to choose from in the room they were in, and it was becoming obvious that the underground water cave was a dungeon of long winding passages that sometimes went nowhere - their other allies could attest to that.
"This is the sort of dungeon you hope you never see in any video game," muttered Razler.
"It's always the water dungeons that suck the most," muttered a younger lady from the DDA.
"So," Klein said slowly as he looked at the passages lying before them, arms folded, "flip a coin?"
"Maybe we should try smelling it out?" asked Elise. Everyone gave her a strange look - except for one of the older men from the KoB guild. "You know, always follow your nose?"
"It did work for Gandalf," the man from the KoB said with a solemn nod.
"Not sure about noses," Hinoka said. Razler's sister was kneeling before the trickling stream of water, "but this stream's been bugging me. Did any of you other guys notice it coming here?"
"Yeah, I told them to follow it but nobody listened," muttered Keh-keh. "I said it was coming from-"
"It's just following gravity, I told you," said one of the older men from the DDA. "These tunnels all slope upward."
"Better than going in circles!" cried Klein. Off he went, following the stream, and he yelled, "Okay, follow me!" back over his shoulder.
Razler no longer questioned it, and Hinoka had stopped frowning and grumbling about Klein taking over the raid. The woman from the DDA who had passed a poor assessment of water dungeons did mutter something under her breath, though. Following Hinoka's hunch and Klein's lead, they party followed the course of the stream from whence it flowed, and so ran into a few other groups from among the raid - and several Splashers along the way. As the Splasher groups were becoming larger in number and more heavily equipped, Razler became increasingly confident that their path was the correct one. Then, they came upon a T-junction. Down one way they saw a chamber much larger than the others, filled with pools of water and terraces of rock formations. And down the other passage, they saw Seriyuha and the largest group of players yet seen approaching.
Seriyuha and her party noticeably hastened their pace, relief in their eyes as they saw their companions coming from across the way. She ran ahead of the others and met with Klein right at the entrance to the large chamber, where they shook hands.
"You're all okay! I was starting to get worried when we couldn't find the rest of you!"
"It was no problem, I babysat everyone," said Klein
Chuckling quietly, Seriyuha said, "Well, I'm glad somebody responsible was watching over everyone."
Razler and Hinoka exchanged blank stares, but said nothing.
The two leaders quickly did a headcount to establish who was missing from the mostly-reunited raid. In the end they were missing only half a dozen players - all from the smaller guilds or solo clearers. Razler gnashed his teeth, not surprised, but not happy either.
"We should find them before we press on" said one of the members of the KoB.
"Could be hard," Lyle said quietly, "this place is a pretty god-awful maze, even though we have an idea of how it works."
"And those Splashers too," muttered one of the members of the DDA.
"We'll just have to trust in their judgement," Seriyuha said, though her tone was heavy and her gaze low, "if they've made it this far, they'll know how to survive in this cave. And you can use crystals in here so they aren't stuck."
The party shifted around in silence for a moment as Seriyuha presumably waited for other opinions. Razler could only look guiltily at his feet. Seriyuha wasn't wrong, but it still felt like they were simply abandoning their allies to pursue the path of least resistance...
"Well," said Klein, "Obviously this is the way we're heading." He gestured into the large cavern to the party's right, and he and Seriyuha walked in together, their respective groups following behind.
The chamber that they were walking into was the largest yet, and already lit by glowing coral formations and sunlight streaming in from cracks on the roof. Water poured in from larger holes above, and multi-floor rock formations were scattered here and there throughout the room, stone ramps winding around each. But more importantly were the Splashers. The enemies that patrolled this room were no Scouts, nor where they the better-armed and armored allies the Scouts tended to call in. Wearing emblazoned metal armor, wielding coral-tipped tridents, and riding atop four-legged lizard steeds, "Splasher Royal Knights" were a very obvious cut above the rest among their kind.
"Hey guys, I think we're going the right way!" cried Keh-keh.
Seriyuha groaned, but Klein burst out laughing. "So," he said with a glance toward Hinoka, "what do you think about this?"
Hinoka rolled her eyes. "I agree with Keh-keh's apt assessment. And there's probably more of these things hiding in wait."
"Well how many could there possibly be? It'd take more than a few to stop us now," said one of the KoB squad leaders.
"Yeah, we've come this far!" cried one of the DDA.
"Not as if we have much choice but to fight our way through," said Hinoka. She paused a moment, looking down, then shrugged. "Basic strategies should work, these are only regular enemies. Tanks up front to hold off their defenses, dps players be ready to capitalize. Unless it turns serious just follow your better judgement. Be careful out there!"
Seriyuha and a few other shield-bearing knights from the raid - the same group that had made up the front line against Kelenar, moved to the front, the rest forming groups behind them. Again, Razler found himself close to Klein, and the two men exchanged smirks as they drew swords. The shields marched forward as a solid line of iron, their pace not necessarily identical, but near enough. The nearest of the splashers took notice of them and raised its trident with a cry, and its fellows in the chamber did likewise.
"Be ready for anything, there's no telling what these things will do," said Seriyuha.
One of the KoB leaders who stood next to her nodded and said, "We're probably facing a mini-boss here, hold together and don't take them lightly!"
The first royal guard snapped its mount's reins and approached at a relatively slow pace, two others coming up alongside him. Keh-keh and the others from the support group began throwing knives and small blades at the creature, but the trio worked together the parry them, blunting the attacks with ease, and then resumed their slow approach. Keh-keh's ranged attacks usually weren't good for much beyond harassing or annoying enemies if they weren't unaware of her, but the royal guards behaved as if nothing had happened. Razler stared at them from behind the wall of the defensive players. It didn't look like they were about to charge, but what were they planning? It was always the unusual enemies in SAO that concerned him the most.
After coming within three meters of the defensive line, the royal knighs swept their tridents along the rocky floor and jerked them up quickly. Razler stared for a moment in shock, but water gushed forth from the stone, blasting into the front line with the force of a fire hose and knocking aside the tanks and their heavy shields. Razler barely had time to scramble out of the way of the water and the players it was sending flying, and found himself separated from Klein. Then he suddenly heard the sounds of players screaming and monsters hissing. Snarling a swear that went unheard in the rapidly-growing tumult, Razler turned to see that the splasher guard trio had finally charged into the knights, their mounts clambering over their shields and pushing them into the ground. The lizards clawed and bit in a sudden frenzy at the trapped players, keeping them pinned as they desperately held them at bay with their weapons and armor.
A pair of players - one each from the KoB and the DDA - that stood directly in front of Razler were knocked on their backs, helpless as the splasher raised high its trident. Razler ran in, parrying the deadly jab and piercing the splasher's chest, rending its armor. The beast jerked back with a scream. Elise's axe swung wide in from the side, and buried itself into the monster's torso. Scales and armor shards went flying as the Splasher was thrown yards away by the force of Elise's swing, and it shattered before it even hit the ground. The riderless "Vile Gekk" that had been left behind by its owner's demise suddenly found small black knives flying into its eyes, and it followed its master quickly as the KoB knight followed up with a jab to the throat.
The knights said their thanks as they stood and rejoined the fight. Razler turned to attack one of the remaining two splasher guardsmen, only to find Klein lopping off the head of the second royal knight's mount in a single stroke. Meanwhile, a member of the KoB hauled another splasher guard from his lizard and threw it to the groun, where Samson crushed its chest with a single punch. Seriyuha and a member of the DDA impaled its lizard in the chest with their polearms, and forced it to the ground as it died.
The first three were dead - but Razler could already see more of the royal guards approaching.
"BACK INTO FORMATION!" cried Hinoka, and the raid was quick to follow her order.
Just like the trio that attacked before them, the next set of royal guards approached carefully. Six attacked this time - the majority of the ones left that Razler could see - their tridents tellingly angled toward the ground.
"Put your weight against your shields and lock them, don't let them knock us aside again!" cried Seriyuha.
The front line came together more firmly, their shields interlocking against one another. The six Splashers let loose their fierce water blasts, and the spouts crashed against the wall of shields with a fury that forced them all to step back against the assault. But their guards held.
Once the water assault subsided, Hinoka yelled, "Their lizards strike low, some of those in front need to lower their shields a bit, the rest of you cover the shoulders of the player next to you!"
"Alternate, everyone, do as she says!" said one of the knights of the KoB.
"Work together and we'll beat these fishy bastards!" roared one of the squad captains of the DDA.
The knights quickly coordinated, angling upward and downward inclines on their shields just as the royal guards and their mounts moved in. The lizards clambered atop the shields as they did before and tried to search for gaps that weren't present. Failing that, they pressed downward with their extensive bulk and merely tried to crush the front line with sheer weight. The splashers weren't so single-minded, but with the lizards' intentions divided from theirs, they couldn't properly move, and were easily killed on their mounts or torn from them, and the beasts followed suit.
"The lizards and the splashers are different entities!" cried Hinoka. "They can't work together properly, they've got different patterns!"
Three splashers were left patrolling in the open, and the raid split into three groups to take them down individually. The parties soon uncovered more of the creatures hiding on the other sides of or atop the pillars of the chamber, and all told they killed nearly twenty of the monsters in total. They gathered again on the far side of the chamber - at the mouth of another, wide, tunnel - where they stopped to catch their breath.
The splasher guards had worn Razler down to a little over half health, and most of the tanks were faring a bit worse than him. While the supports went about healing the other players, he spotted Hinoka out from the crowd and made his way over to her.
Razler tapped her on the shoulder and asked, "What do you think of those things we just fought?"
"They were definitely meant to wear us down," Hinoka said instantly. "It's why they didn't come running at us from all sides of this room, they were supposed to wait and force us to come to them."
Razler swept his gaze across the room, considering how the fighting would have been a little easier if they had stuck together. He could imagine the splashers had a way to punish them if they'd just tried to ignore them as they crossed.
"Now what were they guarding?" Klein asked as he peered into the darkness of the tunnel.
"Let's find out," said Seriyuha.
Once the raid was looking a bit healthier, they all moved on into the last tunnel, Seriyuha and Klein at the lead again. They walked for only a minute or two before Keh-keh suddenly announced that she saw a door up ahead. It came into view for the others soon after: a great, ten-foot door, engraved with images of water flowing on rocks.
There was no mistaking what that was.
"Wait, how could that be?" gasped one of the KoB members.
"This whole damn time were in the labyrinth," muttered Klein.
The door they were facing was unmistakably one which guarded the final boss of the seventy-sixth floor. They'd come so far - without even realizing it.
"That's why those splashers were meant to tire us out," said Seriyuha, "make us easier for the boss to kill."
She turned back to the others. "Well, we stumbled upon our goal a little earlier than planned. The question now is, what do we do with this?"
Razler stared wearily up at the door. He felt... tired. Facing the labyrinth boss was a hurdle they had to overcome but...
He really didn't want to do it at the end of an already-long day.
"Maybe we should put this off for now?" Klein asked with a glance to Seriyuha. "We're all beat and we haven't got Silica or Asuna with us, this isn't-"
"We should wait for The Flash to be able to join us!" cried one of the KoB leaders. His fellows began to shout their general approval, and their feelings on the matter soon spread to the others - even among the DDA.
"I'd... honestly feel a lot safer about it if we had them in the party," Hinoka said quietly.
Seriyuha nodded, arms crossed. "I understand. Rushing into this would be stupid anyways."
She fished a crystal out from her inventory and raised it high. "Very well then! I'll mark this spot with a corridor crystal and we'll return once Asuna can fight again. In the meanwhile we should all rest and prepare ourselves for the fight ahead."
She cast a rueful glance toward the door. "Whatever's waiting for us in there is sure to make Kelenar look like a small-fry..."
Razler began searching his inventory for a teleport crystal, eager to head home and get some sleep, when Seriyuha suddenly cried out. Looking up, he saw his guildmaster smiling back at him and the others.
"I just wanted to thank you all for fighting so well in the last few hours, and I appreciate your cooperation. If we can keep this up, we can get out of this prison yet!"
Seriyuha met with Asuna again that night - at her cabin, rather than her office - where she explained in detail how much progress they had made. She'd remained largely impassive throughout the debriefing, but the revelation that they'd found the floor boss caused arched eyebrows from the KoB Commander.
"Well," Asuna said once Seriyuha finally finished, "it sounds like you've been very busy the past few hours."
"Of course," said Seriyuha, "I had to take advantage of the fact that everyone was already there. Also, I wanted to remind the others what we're capable of."
"Well I'm glad we're getting somewhere, it's just a huge pain that I'm stuck here for a few more days," Asuna grumbled as she stared out the window.
"It'll be worth it, in the end," Seriyuha said with a soft smile on her face. "Seeing you in action again alongside Silica will be a huge boost to the other players, just wait and see."
Asuna scoffed, but Seriyuha could see her struggling not to smile. Glancing down, a small glint caught her eye. It was a simple light blue stone cut in the shape of a tear, hanging from around Asuna's neck and sparkling by the lights of the cabin. Jewelry existed in SAO, of course, but it had been a long time since Seriyuha had seen a piece so simple. She couldn't help but smile as she looked at it, her thoughts drifting back to...
"That's a very pretty necklace, was it a gift?" she asked without thinking.
Asuna's eyes darted back to Seriyuha, and then down at her chest. Her expression softened, and she reached slowly for the necklace. "Ah - yes. It's... It was..."
Seriyuha was jerked sharply out of her reverie, and a leaden weight settled in her stomach.
"I-I'm sorry... I shouldn't have asked," she said quietly, looking down at her hands. Who else would have given Asuna something so personal?
"N-no, it's not that... This necklace... it's our daughter. Our daughter that we adopted. She's... waiting for us - for me. I can't believe I almost... left her behind. How awful of me..."
Looking up, Seriyuha could no longer see Asuna's eyes - they were hidden from her view by her hair. So desperate was she to read Asuna's expression and learn how badly she'd hurt the girl without realizing that Seriyuha couldn't look away.
"Well, we first saw her one day, while we were out in the forest on this floor..."
What followed was a strange and unbelievable tale of an AI that had somehow learned love - a story that left Seriyuha lying awake in thought for several hours that night.
Yeah, I actually didn't forget about Yui while I was writing the second chapter, I just couldn't think of a realistic way for any of the original characters to have known of her then. In the context of that chapter, Asuna was too stuck in her grief to even think clearly about Yui - and would very likely have had a freak out moment upon remembering her (off-camera).
I'm curious, are my battle scenes too short? Do they cut out from the action too soon? I personally don't like overly-long fight scenes, but I was wondering if I go too far in the other direction. As you've seen, for longer fights I generally go into some details for a while and then shift into a more general description of events. If you'd be so good as to mention in a review your thoughts on this (and other critiques), I'd greatly appreciate it.
Thanks for reading!