Floor Sixty Two took a long time to clear. From a clearer's standpoint this was really bad. Since our guild was filled with people enjoying life in this world we were not as upset at the slow progress.

It offered a great opportunity to train Koharu, she had been steadily raising her level with Silica. She was not ready to take on any floor bosses just yet but it was clear she was an asset to the guild.

The Addition of Koharu to the guild however posed a question on how the parties should be formed moving forward since a max party size was Six people and they now had Seven.

After much deliberation we decided that our first party that would help with bosses would be Me, Kazuto, Agil and Silica. This meant Liz, Sachi and Koharu would be on the second team.

Liz and Sachi could probably help with the bosses if needed but we wanted them to have a fourth before accepting this.

With our guild now having two parties we started looking for two more tanks so each party would have two that were able to switch out when they needed a moment's rest.

There were no solo players this high anymore, even the trash mobs were becoming too difficult for most people to deal with alone and have it be worth the time spent.

We decided to search floor One, most would think this was a really strange idea but we were well aware that after The ALA suffered their massive defeat many members left the guild. This happened quite a few floors back but I was sure we could find potential applicants down there.

It took us several days to find anyone noteworthy. On the Sixth day they found A great shield user named Keiro. He was currently drinking and had a few mugs beside him suggesting he had been drinking a lot.

I was ready to walk past him but Kazuto stopped us and led us over to the table, surprising me.

"I'm Kirito, this is Leafa. So what's your story?" Keiro looked up at us, surprised anyone was interested in talking to him.

"Why do you wanna know?" He asked after sizing us up.

"Were looking for guild members, you caught his eye" I told him not wanting to beat around the bush.

"I can tell by the quality of your gear you are no noob. The fact you're drinking alone suggests that despite not being able to get drunk here you are trying to forget something. Maybe we could provide a better way to forget your troubles."

Keiro seemed confused that Kazuto had sized him up so well and he took another large swig of his drink before throwing it away.

"I hate that you cannot get drunk here." He said. He looked us over once more. I could see that he was looking at our gear, anyone even an untrained eye could see our gear was custom made and those who had been actively maintaining their gear could assume it was high quality.

"We're from the front line," Kazuto told him, smiling seeing his reaction to being approached by players such as ourselves.

"Wait, I know you two." He said a moment of recollection on his face.

"Maybe with you guys I won't have to worry about my friends dying again." It was clear he was talking to himself and not us so we chose not to comment on it at that moment.

I couldn't help but feel like I was being watched so as Keiro took his time deciding on what he wanted to do I started to look around.

Kazuto seeing me look around with my hand on the hilt of my Katana looked around too. We couldn't see anyone paying us any particular notice and so turned back to Keiro in time to see him standing.

"Beat me in a duel and I will join you." He pointed to me.

"Oh you wanna fight?" I said eagerly. It had been sometime since I had a duel and I was eager to test my skills.

"And she thinks I am the battle junkie," Kazuto said in response.

Not wanting to fight in the cafe we headed to the plaza. It was a large enough space that we shouldn't cause a problem fighting there.

I didn't know what to expect from the greatshielder. I had fought Liz who used a shield but hers was much smaller and easier to attack through Keiro's covered nearly all of his body.

Despite the shield looking impregnable I wasn't too concerned. I was known as the fastest blade after all. Once the duel was accepted I wasted no time charging forward striking with a downward slash at Keiro.

Despite my Agi being high he was able to raise his shield in time to block the blow. He smiled seeing this but stopped smiling when the force of the sword impacting on the Shield pushed him back.

"Such strength" He commented, swinging his longsword toward me.

I was able to deflect his sword pretty easily but that didn't seem to bother Keiro. His attacks were rather slow and easy to deflect the problem was that his defence was insane. Despite his large shield he swung it around with crazy speed and precision leading me to believe his Str stat must be really high.

Not wanting to lose, I jumped over Keiro and made a slash across his head. I was glad this was a duel and his health wouldn't fall once it hit red.

Keiro seemed to notice what I had planned too late. He lunged forward so my blade wouldn't connect with his head but that left his back wide open for the attack and I activated a two handed sword skill and stuck him in the open back.

The slash to the back knocked Keiro to the ground, he let out a surprised yelp and cussed lightly.

"I would have tried to turn my body while stepping backwards." Kazuto told him, clapping Keiro on the back and congratulating him on his defence.

"Alright If you want me I will join you. Though I will need to raise my level some to keep up if you are strong enough to wipe me out after a single hit." Keiro sounded a little put out that he had been defeated but eager.

Kazuto added him to the guild. Once added to the guild Keiro excused himself wanting to go level up a little before meeting the other guild members.

Kazuto and I stayed on floor one wanting another tank. Since Seiro was new to the guild we added him to the Second party.

Despite looking for over seven days we didn't see another person who we thought would be a good match for us. We probably would have continued to search if I wasn't once more feeling like someone was watching me again. Once more looking around I could not see the culprit even using my search skill I couldn't see anyone watching us.

Before leaving floor one we paid a visit to the black Iron Palace to pay our respects to those who had died so far.

After paying our respects we left floor one and proceeded to our home on floor Forty Eight. The first place we stopped was the Dicey Cafe to say hello to Agil and Sachi who happened to be there too.

Over the past month and a half we had not spent that much time at our home or even on floor Forty Eight, so we were very surprised when we found out Silica had bought a house of her own, right next to our own.

When we learnt this we had to swing by and say hello. Silica seemed very happy to show us around her home. It was a two bedroom home and like the other houses in this town it had a mediaeval look.

Apparently Sachi had been using the second bedroom since the Dicey Cafe's inn rooms had apparently become rather popular. A lot of people came here to trade with Agil who now had a second shop next to his cafe/inn. He ran his trade network out of that shop and generally the people who traded with him stayed in his inn.

This of course really did make other players talk about how Lindarth was our town now. It was somewhat hard to deny since collectively we had five of the buildings to the south of town. Sachi had expressed interest in making that five a six.

We were woken up the next morning by a knock at our door. I had not wanted to wake up this early and instead of equipping some of my armour I insead equipped a sundress and went to answer the door leaving Kazuto to sleep a little longer.

At the door was Koharu she was accompanied by a man wearing a traditional samurai armour, he had a buckler on his arm and a Katana on his hip, he looked rather intimidating.

"What brings you to our house this early in the morning?" I ask, trying to hide my displeasure at being woken up so early.

"This is Norenta, you are still looking for another tank right?" Koharu asked, the Samurai Norenta didn't speak.

"We were looking to take on one more yep, Can he fight?" I ask, pretty sure that I had not seen a man like this on the front at least.

"I can fight" He exclaimed boldly, his voice deep and reassuring.

"He was once in the DDA (Divine Dragons Alliance) but he left because they kept trying to make him conform to their image."

Koharu told me. While she said this Norenta stayed silent once more. I was a little weirded out by this and so shouted upstairs for Kazuto to wake up.

It didn't take him long to join me, thankfully he got dressed first. He was currently wearing a black t-shirt and black trousers.

"I will test your strength before I join," Norenta said, looking Kazuto in the eyes.

Since this was the first thing Kazuto had heard since joining me at our front door, I was receiving a good morning kiss so hadn't had the chance to explain the situation.

"What is going on here?" Kazuto asked, looking between me and the guests at our door. Once I explained the situation Kazuto went upstairs to change into armour. I expected him to be confused at the situation but instead he seemed eager to have a fight.

Norenta was a scary opponent and I could see that Kazuto was considering using his dual wield to win the fight. Norenta seamlessly attacked and parried Kazuto's attacks.

The fight was a long one and had Kazuto not been at a high level he may have had to use his Dual Wield to win. Over the course of Thirty minutes Kazuto avoided attacks and chipped away at Norenta's HP.

Norenta throughout the fight said nothing and his face was rather emotionless. When he lost he bowed low before falling on one knee. Once on his knee he placed his sword across his knee and waited for Kazuto to respond.

Kazuto had seen this in period drama's apparently but I was confused and surprised by the behaviour. Despite being confused, Kazuto added him to the guild.

Once he was added to the guild Norenta engaged us in small talk for a short while. He didn't talk all that much but he did respond to questions we posed to him. Koharu spent the entire time laughing at the encounter.

Apparently Norenta was quite a shy person. In order to avoid having to talk to people he took on this persona of a Samurai.

Surprising us, Norenta bought a house near us without batting an eye. These houses were not as expensive as houses on higher floors but still would set you back a little so he must have a fair amount of Cor.

"If we're not careful we really are going to be the sole residents of this town." I said laughing and dragging Kazuto back to our home wanting to go back to bed for a little while.

As June gave way to August the clearer's were attempting to clear floor Sixty Nine. Despite knowing where the boss room was, another matter of urgency was to be discussed.

KoB had somehow found out where Laughing Coffin were hiding out. Commander Heathcliff had called all the top guilds to a meeting with the intention of taking on Laughing Coffin.

Despite knowing the risk this Red guild posed I couldn't help but want to flee and not help out. These people would kill without hesitation and I really was not ready for that.

When Kazuto told the Commander he would join the fight I knew I would go too, not willing to let Kazuto go alone.

From our guild Norenta, Agil and Koharu agreed to help out. I felt quite happy knowing that our members were willing to put their lives on the line for the safety of others, even if the thought of losing any of them scared me.

As we left the KoB headquarters where the meeting had been held I once more felt like I was being watched. While on floor one this had bothered me slightly, now it scared me.

If someone had managed to find me on floor one and floor Fifty Five they must have a scary tracking skill. The fact that my own search skill couldn't identify a threat had me extremely concerned.

Norenta seemed to sense someone watching us because his hand was resting on the hilt of his Katana.

We had come to this floor with all of our members so If this person was willing to watch us despite the fact all of our members were here they must be dedicated to following me, or Kazuto.

We toyed with the idea of using a teleport crystal to leave the area but after being followed for a while now I was determined to find out who was following us.

Thinking that the person looking would not show themselves with all of us here most of our members left. Staying with us was Koharu who was particularly good at being stealthy. When we left the city she disappeared hoping to see who was following us.

As Kazuto and I left the city our followers wasted no time making themself known. Instead of attacking they looked terrified.

This person was a girl who looked like she was around my current age now, since our avatars don't age with us I assumed she was maybe Sixteen.

She was looking around with fear in her eyes. I got the feeling it was not us that she was scared of but she had been following us so I refused to let my guard down.

"I know what you are planning and I need your help." the girl said holding her hand above her and away from any weapons she had.

"Is that why you have been following me?" I asked, needing to understand the situation.

"I felt like you two were the only ones that would help me."

I turned to look at Kazuto and was happy to see he seemed just as lost as I was by the conversation. I tried to remember if I had seen this girl somewhere else but I didn't think I had ever met her.

"Please help me. I'm not with them by choice." As she said this I looked at her understanding forming in my mind. To bring the point home she lifted her skirt, under her skirt she was wearing shorts, she pulled the leg of her shorts higher revealing her tattoo. As she showed us the mark she looked around as if she was being watched.

"You are a lure?" Kazuto asked. His face was hard to read but I could tell he was upset as he learnt who this person was.

"Why should we help you? You help laughing Coffin murder people" I couldn't help but question.

"I will explain everything but not here. They know I don't want to help and often keep tabs on me."

This girl looked extremely worried and I got the feeling she was genuinely scared. I looked to Kazuto for his opinion and I could tell he wanted to at least hear her out.

After adding her to our party we used a teleport crystal to return to Lindarth. We took the girl, who was apparently named Lux, to our home and she told us her story.

Just before the Fiftieth floor was unlocked, which was a considerable amount of time ago, Lux found herself trapped in an anti-crystal zone. The party she had been with were killed and she was sure to meet the same fate.

When all her hope seemed lost a player only known as PoH had stepped in and gave her two choices. Die or join Laughing Coffin.

When she agreed to join them in order to save her own life they lifted her skirt and tattooed her thigh, back then she had not been wearing shorts but now she had to in order to hide the mark.

After trying to escape their clutches once she was no longer in danger PoH had cut her arm wanting her to see she was not going to be left alone until she could be trusted.

Lux's job was to go into towns, join people's parties and then lure them into a trap where they would be killed. For some time this was quite successful until people became more worried about Pkers.

Despite people being more worried about Pkers, Lux had not been allowed to leave and was forced to continue her job.

"I have been trying to get away. I tried to only lure strong people in the hopes that they would be able to stop the Laughing Coffin members. When they realised what I was doing they started paralysing the people I lured so they couldn't fight back"

Lux told us trying to help us understand why she had come to us.

"To prove I do not want to be a Laughing Coffin member I can tell you the name of a spy within the KoB, but I want protection."

The news that there was a spy within the KoB was shocking. They were a big guild and they hired a lot of people from the time they were formed to now.

With the raid on the KoB happening that night I was a little worried that this information may have come far too late. I also didn't know if it was our place to grant Lux that protection. While she had not killed the people herself she had definitely led them to their deaths.

Knowing that our friends would not betray our current dilemma we asked Lizbeth, Agil, Silica, Sachi and Koharu to join us.

After explaining the situation to the others everyone was in agreement that this was a pretty tough thing for us to address. We didn't have that long before we needed to assemble.

After quite a lot of consideration and a lot of interrogation for Lux we decided that until this death game was over she would work in our guild and help us clear the game. Instead of luring people to death she would spend the rest of her life here saving those who are left.

She seemed uncertain knowing she would be trained to fight on the frontlines but seemingly wanted a chance at redemption and agreed to help us.

On top of being told who the spy was, Lux told us about other entrances into the base that we could use to potentially get the drop on Laughing Coffin.

We left Lux in the care of Silica and Sachi, with Lux promising she would not attempt to flee the decision we had made.

We rushed to tell Commander Heathcliff what we had learnt. We knew that we would have to tell him where the information had come from but we hoped that he would allow us to continue with our punishment set for Lux.

Asuna was determined to drag Lux into the KoB headquarters to answer for her crimes, thankfully Commander Heathcliff gave us jurisdiction over Lux.

I couldn't help but wonder why he was willing to listen to us but I was glad he did. The spy Kuradeel was dragged before the Commander and asked to defend himself against the claim.

He was so shocked that his identity had been discovered that he was unable to hide his guilt and was sentenced to serve life imprisonment in the Black Iron Palace, until the game was cleared.

Despite getting the drop on Laughing Coffin they were quick to respond to our attacks. As I feared they showed no mercy when attacking and by the time we got them arrested, or unfortunately killed, we had lost Eleven of our own.

Out of all the Laughing Coffin members Twenty One refused to surrender and had to be killed in order to prevent them killing more of our strike force.

I was thankful that none of our guild had been killed. I couldn't hide my sadness knowing that people had died here today.

When we arrived back in the safety of our home I cried myself to sleep with Kazuto holding me close. He had not cried but I could see that he had been affected by the skirmish.