Caenor leafed through the sheets of paper Asuna had placed on his table in the morning, his eyes moving up and down the pages as he scanned their contents.

Ninety-seven faces stared back at him.

Here was the full guild roster, as promised. It had taken a while, but he had finally managed to persuade Asuna to give him a copy. He got the feeling she still didn't fully believe that there could be anyone remotely suspicious within the ranks of the guild, given that all recruits were subject to vetting and rigorous testing before they were admitted, and there was – at least from her perspective – no way that someone who intended to sabotage the guild would go through so much just to burn the guild to the ground.

Nevertheless, Caenor's recent experiences had molded him into a pragmatist bordering on a pessimist. He would not be so quick to trust the nameless faces that shared the building with him, even if they were all nominally committed to the same cause.

As he flipped back and forth through the pages, his attention was focused on the players' hair – or, to be precise, the length of their hair. Some of them obviously had long hair, and Caenor quickly jotted their names down. However, some of them were more ambiguous, especially if they wore their hair in a ponytail or a bun. It was occasionally hard to tell if a player's hair was merely short and swept back, or actually bunched together with some sort of hair-tie. It was also impossible to rely purely on gender – many of the girls in this game sported shorter hair, much like Lisbeth or Cantabile, and many of the boys had evidently neglected the mess growing out of their own heads.

Not that girls with short hair were somehow inferior or undesirable in any way – in fact, long hair could be an impediment in combat, no matter the sex, and short hair always looked great on the right head. Cantabile, for one, would probably be just about Caenor's type if she didn't regularly act like she despised him.

In the end, Caenor managed to draw up a list of ten "definitely long hair" names, as well as six additional "probably long hair" players to investigate. Their teams were also listed in the roster, so Caenor would hopefully be able to ask their team leaders for extra information before he went after them.

A hard rap on the door made him look up.

"Come in," he called, thinking it might be Cantabile or Altorius – or both – behind the door.

It was neither. Seki bowed slightly as she entered the room, as though she were now all too aware of Caenor's currently lofty position within the guild.

"Seki?" Caenor stood up and went over to her. "How are you feeling?"

"Better than ever. Just wanted to check on you for a bit. I…" She abruptly put a hand to her mouth and leaned against the wall. Caenor placed an arm around her shoulder and helped her to his seat.

"You're clearly not okay," he said as she leaned against the backrest, her eyes half-closed. "Maybe you should take a rest."

"I've taken enough rests," Seki muttered. "I'm sick of lying in bed all day. If my body would stop feeling so… ill, I'd be up and running with you guys right now."

"It's not an illness. If you need more time to recover, then you should take-"

"I don't want to!" Seki thumped the armrests and glared at Caenor, her pale features flush with exasperation. "The longer I stay indoors, the harder it'll be to get back out there. I want to do something. I have to."

"Can't you ask Asuna for a low-level quest or something easy you can do to get yourself back into things?" Caenor suggested.

Seki shook her head. "She doesn't have anything for me – she's busy with planning the next Labyrinth. She told me to look for you."

"I'm not sure I have anything, to be honest." Caenor frowned. "We've just been sparring and hunting for the past couple days. We could do a lower-level raid, if you want, though I'll have to ask the other two. I'm sure they won't mind."

Just then, the door opened, and the other two members of his team materialized.

"Oh, perfect timing," Caenor said as he turned to face them. "I've got a favor I wanted to ask of you two."

Cantabile's typically penetrating glare shifted to Seki. "Is this about her?"

"It is. She wants to do a lower-level floor or Labyrinth so she can get up to speed. If all goes well, she'll be our fourth member."

"And if it doesn't go well?" Cantabile's gaze did not waver. "Will she – will you – want even more raids? How much of our time are you going to take up?"

"Just one raid, I promise," Seki said quickly. "If I'm fit to fight, then I won't need any more. If not, then I'll find some other way to train."

Cantabile gestured for Caenor to follow her outside. The two of them left the room, and as Caenor shut the door, Cantabile sighed and folded her arms.

"Is this the girl who's been holed up in her quarters for half a month?" she asked.

"That's the one."

"And she wants to come with us? When she hasn't even fought a training dummy for two weeks, let alone a mob or human player? She's nowhere near well enough to fight – she doesn't even try to hide it. Look at her. She looks like she'll fall over if you sneeze on her."

"That's why she needs to train in order to get up to speed," Caenor said. "We need all the people we can get."

"Then she should train in her own time, and join us when she's actually ready," Cantabile replied bluntly. "Also, fighting alongside someone who's just going to drag the rest of the team down is worse than not fighting alongside them at all. I don't want to feel responsible for her fucking up and dying."

"So, you're not going to try and help her?"

"I'm saying that there's no need. One look, and I can tell."

"Yes, because you're not giving her the chance to prove herself." Caenor instinctively reached for Cantabile's arms and grabbed them. Cantabile flinched, but did not shake him off. "We just need a few hours of your time. You know how reluctant the other vice-commanders are to release people from their own team. If she's ready, she might be our best shot at a fourth member. We can't do this with just three."

"Yeah, yeah. I…" Cantabile loosened herself from Caenor's grip, pulled at her hair, and twisted her face into a scowl, as if her personal reluctance were battling with the reality of the situation. "Fine. She gets one trial run, on one condition."

"What's that?"

"I get to choose which Labyrinth we go to."

Light gave way to darkness, and the perennial night swallowed them once again.

Seki shivered, her legs oscillating as if the ground were shaking beneath her feet, making ready to split open and swallow her whole. Perhaps such a fate might be more desirable to her than the prospect of having to face what lay ahead.

A chill ran down Caenor's spine. He did not think he was as severely affected by the specter of their last visit to this place, but the discomfort in his chest was unbearably tangible, as was the cold sweat gathering in his soles and palms. He had assumed that he had largely banished the trauma haunting his subconscious self, but it seemed that it was not so easily exorcised.

The dirt and sand matting the floor still bore the footprints of travelers past. He wondered if some of those might be his own, or those of Seki.

Or even, those of Ferramo.

The 60th floor was not a welcoming level, even without the fresh and painful memories cutting large gashes into their psyche. A spell covering the entire floor blocked out the sunlight, leaving only what remained on the ground to light the way. And beyond the teleport stone's dim torchlight, there was scarce illumination to be found.

At least he was prepared this time. He had instructed all of his party members to stock up with as many crystals and potions as their beleaguered inventories would allow. Teleport, light, healing – anything they might conceivably need. It would not make their fights any easier, but they would have enough fail-safes to last them the whole trip with plenty to spare.

He was a team leader now, after all – he had to look the part, and he had to take the initiative whilst letting his ample experiences guide him. That was what it meant to be a leader.

Seki took a deep breath, but her unease did not subside. Caenor put a hand on her shoulder and leaned into her ear.

"We can postpone this if you want," he said.

Seki shook her head. "I have to do this. If I back down now, I'd never be accepted into the team. I have to show that I'm ready."

"As you wish." Caenor glanced at Cantabile and Altorius, who were scrolling through their player menus. "You two alright?"

"Yeah. Altorius just wanted to double-check that his info on the Labyrinth was correct, then we can start moving."

"Right. Cantabile, can I have a moment?"

Caenor led Cantabile away from the teleport stone and, once they were out of earshot, he lowered his voice to a murmur.

"Can we really not do another floor?" he asked, though he knew what the reply would be.

"You said you would let me choose." Cantabile shrugged. "And so I did."

"Yes, but this is the floor-"

"Where she got raped. You don't have to spell it out for me. I know this is gonna be hard, but that's the whole point."

"And it will be incredibly hard for her to get anything done. She would fare a lot better on other floors. I don't know if you know how hard it is to have something like that happen to you, but I-"

"Who says I don't know how it feels?"

Cantabile's raised voice cracked slightly, and her words stunned Caenor into silence. But before he could entertain the notion of prying any further, she spoke again, this time in a much more subdued tone.

"Caenor, listen. We're here to test Seki, and we have to make sure she can overcome any obstacles relating to player killers. That includes making sure that she doesn't freeze up or act like a ragdoll every time she's reminded of something unpleasant. I told you this already."

"But at this rate, you won't learn anything about her combat ability," Caenor replied.

"Fuck combat ability. I've watched her fight before – I already know what she can do. Now I have to figure out what she can't. Doesn't help that you can swing an axe if you're too busy wetting yourself to hit anything." Cantabile sighed. "Alright. Push comes to shove, we get her out and have her rest for a while longer. I know how much you want her to be part of the team, and how much you're worried about her, but if she ain't it, she ain't it. You know that as much as I do."

Cantabile patted his shoulder and turned back to the teleport stone, where Altorius was rummaging through his inventory, and Seki was clutching her axe tightly to her chest, her eyes flitting around skittishly.

"Look on the bright side," she said as she walked away. "If your homegirl can make it out of here alive, she can make it through anything. I can promise that much."

Caenor certainly hoped that would be the case. Yet given Seki's current demeanor, even that seemed like a big ask.

Altorius closed his player menu and nodded at Caenor. His preparations were complete. Caenor could only hope that they were adequate.

"Okay," he said, clearing his throat and clapping his hands. "Let's get a move on."

The Labyrinth of the 60th floor was a microcosm of the atmosphere of the rest of the floor as a whole: pitch-black, unforgiving, and outright depressing at times. There were no torches, nor any natural sources of fluorescent light available. It was a dungeon that preyed more on the mind than on the body – the mobs and bosses might be of the level expected of this floor, but it was no use being a higher-leveled player if you might at any moment suffer an ambush from monsters lurking in the shadows cast behind the many jagged protrusions of the Labyrinth's cavernous interior. This Labyrinth allowed for no chance of respite, and certainly the party of four that now entered would not take any such chances.

"Watch your footing," Caenor said as they passed over a particularly mossy patch of rock. He thrust his fire crystal lamp ahead of him, allowing the bumps and troughs – all potential tripping hazards – to be cast into sharp focus. "One slip is all the golems need, especially if you end up sliding too far through the tunnel."

"Surely the golems aren't smart enough to wait until we're isolated before attacking," Seki muttered. "They're mobs."

"Underestimate this game's mechanics at your peril," Cantabile warned. "The mobs are AIs, and some of them are better programmed than others, especially in Labyrinths. The one corner you're not looking at might be the corner where the monsters are hiding."

"Yeah, but they don't think like humans do. As long as we stay clear of the walls, we should be fine."

"See? That's exactly the sort of naivety that got you…" Cantabile trailed off.

"Got me what?" Seki asked, a tremor evident in her voice.

"Never mind." Cantabile pointed ahead of her. "Look. A fork in the road."

The party stopped in front of the split. One path pointed left, and sloped upwards; the other pointed right, and stretched on in a straight line for as far as the lamp's light would let them see.

"I don't recommend splitting up," said Caenor. "Not in a dungeon like this. We have enough items on each of us to survive, but there's way too many unknowns at the moment for us to take that risk."

"Wise choice," Cantabile commented. "You're the leader, though, so you have to pick one of the two."

Caenor grunted. "If I recall correctly, the last time we cleared this Labyrinth, we went to the left. Obviously, we're not going to go into the boss room without a full raiding party, so that might be a case for us to go to the right this time."

"You have the map for this Labyrinth, don't you?"

"I do, but my personal map only tracks the route I've already gone down. That means…" Caenor flicked through his player menu. "As I thought, we went to the left. I have no idea what's waiting for us in the right side."

"Isn't it better to go somewhere that we know the layout of?" Seki said tentatively. "Not knowing the way through only compounds the danger."

"That's the whole point of us coming here," Cantabile replied nonchalantly. "When we visit Laughing Coffin's hideouts, we won't know what to expect at all. You have to be ready for any layout, any terrain, any type of opposition, and you have to make snap judgments once you've processed everything and taken stock of the situation. At least you won't die immediately when you fuck up in here."

Seki puckered her lips, but said nothing.

"I agree with Cantabile." Caenor clenched his fist, and his wrist-blade popped out with a quiet clink. "Draw your weapons. We're in uncharted territory from here on out."

The others duly followed Caenor's lead, and the quartet began to trudge forwards down the rightmost path. The cavernous and hollow environs of the tunnels meant that every single step reverberated deafeningly in their ears, even if they tried their best to muffle the sound of their boots slapping against the wet floor. It was hence difficult to tell whether any creaks or cracks they heard were of their own making, or if their source was something more hostile. Once in a while, Caenor would give in to his fears and stop to shine his lamp into the abyss… only to find nothing staring back. For now, at least.

"Altorius, get your lamp out as well," Caenor ordered. "If I'm disabled and my lamp goes out, we need you to light the place up for us. Cantabile, have your lamp ready too just in case. We should have more than enough to go around if either of our lamps somehow stops working or gets broken."

Altorius and Cantabile nodded, and pulled out their own lamps.

"Something's bugging me," Seki whispered as they continued to walk as softly as their legs would allow.

"What's up?"

"We haven't run into any mobs yet, and we've been moving for ten minutes. Surely we'd have run into some by now."

"There's two possibilities," Caenor replied. "Either a party got in just ahead of us – which is unlikely, since there weren't any traces of people passing through recently – or the monsters are hiding somewhere. Remember the last time we came here? A lot of the golems and kobolds were crouching behind big slabs of rock, waiting for the opportune moment to strike. Slabs like… this one."

A massive hunk of stone loomed into view. Initially, it did not seem too at odds with the rest of the tunnel – it was composed of the same type of mineral, and both surfaces shone chrome gray as the lamps approached them. Yet whilst the walls were relatively smooth and cylindrical, clearly carved and eroded by natural processes, the stone before them was faceted and uneven, as if it had been chipped at or sculpted via artificial means.

"Awfully suspicious," Caenor noted.

"A sagacious observation," Cantabile said dryly. "But there's more to this than just how obvious it looks – or rather, it being so obvious is what makes this feel wrong."

"What do you mean?" Seki asked.

"This is so blatantly a man-made – or rather, monster-made – structure that, judging by what Caenor said, you'd expect something to be hiding behind it without having to think twice. But remember what I said about the programming of these mobs. They're much smarter than you give them credit for."

"So, you're saying they're not actually hiding here?"

"Precisely. The moment we go around this rock, we'll find an empty space there, and then before we know it we'll be attacked by the mobs, who were actually hiding somewhere else." Cantabile gestured at the area behind the rock. "Altorius, shine your lamp there."

Altorius did so, revealing little else save for more lengths of tunnel wall.

"See?" Seki sighed exasperatedly. "There's nothing waiting there."

Cantabile let out an exhalation to match Seki's own. "Idiot. Look at the wall."

Indeed, upon closer inspection, there was a slight roughness to the wall's otherwise smooth exterior. It was visible now that it had been pointed out, but Seki – and Caenor, though he would not readily admit it – would have otherwise missed it completely.

"One of the cave golem's favorite tricks. They bore a hole into the wall somewhere else down the line, then they dig out an enclave and make the wall thin enough so that they can easily bust out from their hidey-hole once they hear someone coming. That's what makes the wall poke out a little – the cave golems don't want to give themselves away, but they usually end up pushing the rock out a bit too much. Easy to spot if you know what to look for." Cantabile pointed at Seki. "Listen up. Another lesson for you – always scan for hints that someone is hiding somewhere. Never assume a hideout is deserted just because no one is running at full pelt towards you with a sword in hand."

"Right." Seki's eyes were crossed as they focused on the finger hovering just inches from her face.

"Now that we know where the enemy is, we can formulate a plan." Cantabile turned to Caenor. "All yours."

"Okay." Caenor cleared his throat. "From what I know, cave golems travel in packs, and we have no reason to assume otherwise here. Cantabile will go first and trigger the trap – since her weapon has the longest range, she can tap the ground in front of the wall to draw them out. Once the golems show themselves, Cantabile and Seki will be in charge of incapacitating them. Altorius and I will finish them off once they're downed."

The plan now fully formed, the four of them spread out, inching closer and closer to the stone slab. Cantabile brushed her hand against the rock, and looked back at the others. They nodded, and Cantabile reached out with her Morningstar and thumped the ground beside the wall with the spiked tip of her weapon.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Almost immediately, a giant crack materialized in the wall, spreading its tendrils rapidly across the surface.

"Here they come!" Cantabile yelled as the cave began to rumble, the façade of the wall and parts of the ceilings buckling under the newfound pressure. She barely had time to withdraw behind the stone slab before the wall exploded, and a trio of golems stomped into the open. They were the taller, lankier cousins of the golems Caenor and his friends had encountered on that fateful night, though their body shapes were relatively similar. Meaning, of course, that their weaknesses ought to be similar as well.

"Seki! Now!" he called.

Seki let out a roar, swinging her twin-headed silver axe over her shoulder as though she were slicing off the shackles that had slowed her mind and bound her soul for so long, and charged alongside Cantabile into the fray. Cantabile launched a blow towards the frontmost golem's knee, and as the golem keeled over, Seki brought her axe crashing down upon its neck, cleanly severing its head from its body. She did not wait for the golem's corpse to disintegrate before moving on to the next target, aiming a wild slash at the second golem's abdomen.

Caenor opened his mouth, but the words failed to depart from his throat. He knew what would happen next.

The axe embedded itself into the rock. Seki groaned as she desperately tugged at the handle, trying to prise it from the golem's stomach, but to no avail.

Caenor lunged towards the hapless girl, who seemed oblivious to the stony bludgeon that was flying towards her head at considerable speed. He felt his hands push against her body before he himself was flung bodily against the wall, his bones audibly snapping as he rolled onto the ground in a heap. His lamp flickered and faded – Caenor was silently thankful for his prior insight in asking the others to produce their own lighting, though that was of scarce comfort to him now.

Altorius rushed over to him, but Caenor waved him away. "I just need… to drink some potions," he croaked. "Help the others. I'll catch up."

Altorius patted Caenor on the shoulder and held his rapier aloft as he faced the remaining two enemies. Cantabile ducked under the nearest golem's mad swings and bashed her Morningstar against the hilt of the axe, which sent it clattering onto the floor. She then converted the momentum from her movement into an uppercut, spinning her weapon about her wrist and letting it fly upwards, catching the golem squarely on its jaw. The lower half of the golem's face splintered into several pieces, which was the cue for Altorius to jab his needle-like blade into the open wound. The steel connected with a satisfying crackle, and the second golem was quickly decapitated.

Just as Caenor had restored his health to a reasonable level and was starting to steady himself, a second rumbling threw him off balance. The roof sank, and so did his heart.

As good as Cantabile was at sniffing out lures and traps, she had clearly neglected to pay closer attention to the walls when all seemed well. Yet that was not necessarily an indictment on her – the members of the party could have no one to blame but themselves for the predicament that now faced them, in the form of three more golems flanking them from behind, and several more blocking the way forward.

A familiar sight to Caenor and Seki, being surrounded on all sides by golems. Not that it was a memory which they would recollect with any fondness, and not that it alleviated their current worries at all. Having a player killer save them might even be preferable in this case.

Caenor's eyesight recovered just in time for him to watch Cantabile be unceremoniously swatted aside by one of the reinforcements. Altorius tried his best with what little he had, but his weapon was one that pierced and pounced when an enemy was at its weakest; it was by no means suited for the heavy labor that his now decommissioned partner usually performed. A single strike was all it took for Altorius to join Cantabile in the dirt.

From the corner of his eye, Caenor saw Seki staggering along the wall, dragging her axe along the floor in the manner of a beaten warrior whose unwieldy blade hung all too heavily in her fingers.

"Seki!" he yelled. He attempted to reach her, but his toes found a stray boulder and sent him sprawling. The searing agony in his limbs was still yet to dissipate, and his vision began to cloud as the golems crowded around Seki's cowering form.

He could not falter here. He did not necessarily fear the embrace of death, but with so much left to do, so much left unfinished, the regret would sting far worse than the pain. His hands scrabbled at the mud, but his fingers could not find purchase.

His thoughts raced with such overwhelming velocity that, in his reverie, he almost missed what happened next.

A bloodcurdling shriek rang around the tunnel, a scream that seemed beyond human. It emanated not from the panicking of a young girl in a dark dungeon, but from a deeper, more primal instinct.

The golems closest to Seki stopped moving. Caenor had to squint and brush the loose soil from his eyes to see why. It took a while before Caenor realized, as those golems slowly fell backwards, that the rhythmic thumping he now heard was coming from their heads departing from their neck joints. The heads crashed onto the floor, and from behind them emerged the beast.

Her eyes were bloodshot, shining almost as red as the hair that crowned her head, messy and matted with sweat. Her mouth was agape, drool threatening to leak past her chapped lips. In her hands, whose knuckles were clenched stark white, was her trusty silver axe. It was battered and chipped, but its shape somehow held firm.

Another golem inched closer, stepping over the fallen forms of its brethren. Seki's vision was dragged towards the next belligerent. She raised the axe and, with another numbing screech, slashed at the golem's neck. The golem raised an arm to defend itself, but the blade was undeterred swiping clean through the joint and finding its target. One by one, Seki made her way through the ranks of mobs, her axe loyally suffering its master's seemingly mindless, yet nonetheless powerful blows.

However, the steel could only bear so much abuse, and once the axe was subject to a particularly unruly strike, one of its twin heads was instantly shattered. Seki, uncaring and oblivious to her weapon's state, continued to hack at anything that got within arm's length of her, but without the added weight of the twin heads to buttress her attacks, she could only pick holes in the mineral plates serving as the golems' armor.

The remaining four golems evidently decided that the charade ought not go on any longer, and began rushing towards Seki in unison. Seki, whose mental state now seemed as precarious as her health bar, turned to face her end.

From behind one of the golems, a shadow moved. Cantabile, who had regained her footing and her consciousness, lashed out at the golem with a vicious whip from her Morningstar that connected solidly with the golem's back, throwing it off balance. As the golem stumbled, Cantabile threw her Morningstar around and let loose another uppercut, one executed with such vigor that the golem's head – and most of its neck – was ripped clean off.

Caenor felt a pair of hands wrap around his armpits, hefting him upwards. Another pat on the shoulder, and Altorius ran off to join his partner.

With Caenor, Cantabile and Altorius all back in action, the last of the golems were dispatched with gratifying ease. Even as the debris started to glow and disappear, Seki still kept on plugging away, letting fly with swipe after swipe, her axe only a couple of strong blows away from crumbling into pieces.

"Seki! Seki!" Caenor reached out from behind her and grabbed her shoulders roughly. "It's done! It's done. It's over."

Seki's head shot up as she turned to face her friend. Her eyes were wide, her pupils dilated like two large black marbles, the rest of her eyeballs splattered with blood vessels zigzagging in every direction. As she stared at Caenor, her face twitching, her body shivering, tears began to well and pour forth. She buried her head in Caenor's chest, and he pulled her into as tight an embrace as his weakened arms would allow.

For the longest time, all that could be heard in the Labyrinth was Seki's guttural, heaving sobs.