Chapter 115 - Family Meetings

Drifter caught Kizmel by the shoulders when she came back down, steadying the dark elf. He grinned and tapped her back in silent congratulations when he saw the lines crisscrossing over Aghyellr the Igneous Wyrm's left eye. The boss' accuracy had to have fallen by at least 50%, for as long as it stayed blinded.

Tearing his spear off the monster, Drifter jumped back to avoid a trashing tail, then delivered another cut. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Nautilus' and Asuna's HP fall on his HUD, but it stopped just before entering yellow, so he wasn't very concerned. Probably a glancing blow.

Aghyellr disappeared into another tunnel, then came rumbling out from an opening thirty meters away, right in between the Legend Braves and Fuurinkazan. While some of them ran to assist, the other Reavers took the chance to catch their breath and recover.

"Everyone good?"

"Yup."

"Yes, Drifter."

"No problems here."

"I got clipped by the tail, but nothing serious."

"By the way, great work, Kizmel."

The dark elf smiled, and Drifter glanced at Nautilus and Asuna. Both were sporting large red marks across their torsos, rapidly fading away. There was nothing to be done. With monsters as large as Aghyellr the Igneous Wyrm, sometimes it just wasn't possible to dodge completely. You had to believe your judgment and act as best as you could to minimize the damage, which both players had accomplished perfectly.

"Huh. Who knew Silica could work so well with Klein? Do we need to beat him up?"

"Aren't you being a little too carefree?"

"You are the same, though, Asuna."

Drifter ignored the bickering couple and Agil fanning the flames. It had been his intention to launch a Serpentcoil Impale, but he lowered his arm again when he saw Silica jumping at the floor boss. The tiny girl used Klein as a springboard to climb on top of Aghyellr, leaving criss-cross wounds along the way.

Just as the girl sunk her dagger into its flesh for about the twentieth time, Drifter's gaze was captured by Feredir. The wolf was an old companion by now, and the pet of Reaver's Requiem. He was also an asset in battle although many forgot that sometimes.

Aghyellr the Igneous Wyrm roared and rolled. For a moment it looked like Silica was going to get dragged and crushed, but she jumped. So did Feredir, and Silica landed on top of the wolf, who immediately turned and took her away from the boss.

"Wow."

Suitably impressed, Drifter rejoined the battle. Flipping his spear, he once again prepared Serpentcoil Impale, and this time let it fly. The silver spear pierced through the roof of Aghyellr's open mouth just as it prepared to bite down on Chuchulainn.

The Brave gave him a thumbs-up, Drifter nodded back and retook his position when the boss fled again. His gaze wandered to Silica, who was panting. Feredir was underneath her, with his head between her legs.

It was at the same time inspiring and terrifyingly sad to watch the 12-year-old girl go against a monster like Aghyellr the Igneous Wyrm. It could quite literally devour her in a single bite, and yet Silica showed not an iota of fear or hesitation when facing it. Even after they left SAO, Silica would never be a normal child again.

Drifter directed his gaze at the boss again. This time it had slithered over to the DKB. It was already an entire health bar down. They were maybe 7 minutes into the fight.

"When do you want to go, Kirito?"

"Not yet. Keep an eye out for anyone in need of help. Argo said the ALS had a couple defectors in the last days, so Kibaou will be eager to show off. We need to make sure he doesn't screw up."

"What are we, his babysitters?"

"Don't complain, Sinon. At the end of the day, what's important is that everyone makes it home."

The archer grimaced, but didn't say anything more. She kept firing at Aghyellr with her new skills, slowly chipping away at the boss' HP.

"It's coming our way again. Ready!"

Aghyellr the Igneous Wyrm had just gone into a hole and came out another near Reaver's Requiem. Drifter intercepted it with a Comet Break. Kirito, Kizmel, Ran, and Yuuki came from the sides in a combined pincer move of Sonic Leaps. The others were right behind.

Due to the Aghyellr's high mobility, this was a different kind of battle than the frontliners were used to. Instead of actively going after the boss, the Assault Team was being reactive. Each guild had their own section of the circle to defend, and assisted those nearby when it was needed.

Drifter had his reservations about this strategy at the start, even though he was one of the people who came up with it. But as time passed and Aghyellr's HP fell down to 50% of the last bar, he became convinced it was the right choice.

In fact, it worked so well the Assault Team was left dumbfounded when Aghyellr the Igneous Wyrm collapsed after one last fire breath. It felt entirely too anticlimactic, and the frontliners stood still for almost a minute, waiting for something to happen. But the [ Congratulations! ] message left no doubt the boss was, in fact, dead, and that they had won.

There were a few close calls, but none were life-threatening. Even Kibaou didn't have the chance to be reckless, that was how fast the battle was. The raid was over in just 27 minutes. About half the time of the second fastest floor boss battle.

"I wish all boss raids were this easy."

"Don't jinx it, Merida."

Drifter deftly spun his spear twice before storing it away on his back. Stretching, he pulled out a couple of cold drinks from his inventory and passed them around. The drinks were bamboo flavored and acquired a couple of floors below. Despite the weird taste, it was a favorite amongst the Reavers.

Every day Drifter felt grateful that Kayaba saw fit to simulate taste in SAO. It would have been really tragic if they had to spend years without being able to enjoy food, on top of everything else.

Sipping on the odd concoction that was the fizzy bamboo juice, Drifter serenely waited for Kirito to give the order to climb the stairs to the next floor. He sincerely hoped the 16th floor wasn't on fire like this one. It was annoying, not to mention hot.

...

The 16th floor was not on fire. It was under a lot of water, however. They came out of the tower right in the middle of the main town of the floor, Maclanta - which was definitely not wordplay.

It was a novel sight. The settlement was floating, each individual building on top of a barge, tied together by ropes and bridges. The entire town swayed lightly with the waves, in a way that had some of the Reavers holding their stomachs and groaning.

As far as the eye could see, the floor was covered in water. A full-blown ocean. The only land players could see were odd shapes in the distance. They looked like islands at first glance, but when you peered more carefully, you noticed that they were man-made structures. Drifter spotted what looked like another town, as well as a huge round building just rising out of the sea, and what he was fairly certain was a castle, or maybe a cathedral.

"Think we can bring our boat up?"

"I'm not sure how we would carry it over the tower, Yuna. Besides, we have a lot more people in the guild now."

The Reavers were entirely blasé about the situation. This floor looked a lot like the 4th, so, while unexpected, it wasn't anything new. Already some frontliners were moving towards what looked like docks and shipyards at the edges of Maclanta, to acquire the means of transportation of the floor.

"I wonder how the dwarf storyline fits into this floor."

"I'm sure someone will find out. Where should we go now, Kirito?"

The swordsman looked at his guildmates, then at Asuna and Drifter, who shrugged. Kirito looked around and also rolled his shoulders. It wasn't even afternoon yet, so calling it a day would be too wasteful.

"I guess we go find a boat."

-----------------------

To the people outside, an entire water-type floor was much more novel. It also made them curious about what the first 10 floors of SAO had been like since, from the conversations of the frontliners, it wasn't the first time they had seen one.

Kana and Genji were two such people, although if they knew what the first months of Sword Art Online had actually been like, they wouldn't have been nearly as enthusiastic. Despite how chilling SAO still was, the first months had been another level of horrifying and depressing.

"This... Are they talking about vacations? My, your boy is really strong-willed, Kana."

A woman in her mid-thirties laughed when Drifter made a comment about how the 16th floor reminded him of another floor they already went through, and that they should take a day off someday close in the future to go to the beach there. Then he whispered something to Yuna that had the Songstress blushing and Kana shooting the television a disapproving glare.

Well, it wasn't like she could scold him where he was, so Kana turned her attention back to the guests she was entertaining. There were quite a few of them.

The woman who just laughed with Kana was called Hosaka Miuchi, the mother of one Hosaka Carina Tomo. Or Argo the Rat, as she was called in-game. Miuchi had a good laugh when someone mentioned that particular epithet, saying it suited her daughter. She was a very cheerful woman.

In fact, most everyone was feeling giddy right now, as a result of watching their loved ones survive another boss raid. It was kinda like how people felt after their country just won the World Cup or something like that. You were tense and worried for a long time, but suddenly you are relaxed and very happy.

Kana left the SAO broadcast from Itsuki's point of view - her son was the only one she still thought of by his real name - running in the background and carried four glasses of wine over to her guests. She handed one to Miuchi, another two to Black Swordsman Kirito's aunt/mother Midori, and Asada Izumi - the mother of Aero Huntress Sinon - and kept the last one for herself.

Midori was already an old friend by now. She and her daughter, Suguha, had actually helped put this, watch party was a good name, together. The idea was that the family of Reaver's Requiem members should meet when possible to watch the raids, that way they could support one another through the trying times.

Suguha and her dad were somewhere else in the house, talking with who Kana believed were Vallerk's parents and little sister, as well as Lisbeth's grandfather and older brother. Many - most actually - of the people here Kana had only met today.

Sinon's mother was one such. The woman was younger than Kana, but she looked much older, and had a haunted look even when she graciously accepted the wine glass offered to her. Kana didn't know why that was, and it certainly wasn't polite to ask about it on their first meeting. At least Izumi seemed ecstatic that her daughter was safe.

Of course, there were many of Reaver's Requiem family members that either couldn't come or couldn't be found. The government agent, Kikouka Seijirou had said he couldn't disclose personal details of the SAO victims or their families, which Kana very much agreed with, but she and Midori had asked him to pass along the message to them, with their number, inviting them to meet.

Some had answered, some hadn't. Overall, there were quite a few people at the Ogawa's home today. Other than those already mentioned, there was also a tall foreign woman who was Merchant Warrior Agil's wife. Her name was Trisha, and she owned a cafe together with her husband, and had already offered it as a meeting spot for another occasion.

There was also Silica's father, who had to leave as soon as the raid was over due to a business matter. So had Wolv's girlfriend and baby daughter, mainly because the cute little girl was tired and the house was too noisy.

Asuna's father, a very polite man, had called earlier to say he couldn't come this time, but looked forward to meeting them on another occasion.

"That seems to me like a very... Interesting meeting over there. Wouldn't you say so, Kana dear?"

Miuchi gestured towards the open kitchen, separated from the living room only by a short countertop. Kana looked over and made a face. Her husband, Genji, was talking over beers with Indomitable Knight Nautilus' father, a short and stout man. But the reason Kana grimaced was the third participant of the conversation: Songstress Yuna's father.

"Genji is a grown man, I'm sure he can deal with it."

"Hahaha... It must be very awkward for him. For both of them, actually, and the poor father of Nautilus, who got dragged into it."

"Yeah, well... It's not often that you meet the father of your daughter-in-law without meeting the girl in question first."

That had all three other women laughing, and Kana joined in after a second. The circumstances through which they came to meet weren't the best, but it was nice to have new friends. It was really a pity the family members of some of the Reavers hadn't answered. They were Ran, Yuuki, Merida, and Shigio's relatives.

And Kizmel's, but she was a special case.