Chapter 151 - Maze Floor

It took Drifter all of 30 seconds to decide he didn't like the 25th floor.

The frontliners advanced cautiously, too spooked by the sudden change of scenario compared to the previous 4 or 5 floors to march recklessly.

Still, Drifter felt as if he was almost alone. Other than Yuna, Nautilus, Kirito, Asuna, Liz, and Vallerk, who were around him, the others were lost in the darkness of the tunnel. His line of sight was restricted to a small bubble around him, and the occasional flickering torch in the distance.

It got worse when Liten and the ALS players, who were leading the way, halted. Drifter stretched his neck to try to look over the heads of those in front of him - again, a futile effort in the near pitch-black darkness.

"Liten? Kibaou? Speak to us. What's going on?"

The answer came in a soft grunt, much more subdued than Kibaou's normally were.

"Fork on the path. Left or right."

The confirmation that they were in a maze resulted in several groans from the frontliners. Mazes were never a good thing. Just trying to navigate the labyrinth each floor was already time-consuming and infuriating, but a whole floor like this?

"Fuckin' hell, how many months is it gonna take us to clear this floor?"

Someone cursed. Drifter couldn't say he disagreed with the sentiment.

"Argo's going to make a killing selling maps of this floor."

Nautilus murmured, and Drifter snorted. It was an uncannily accurate prediction.

"Do we split up?"

"No way. We are going to get so lost if we do that."

"Unless you want to wander around for Cardinal knows how long, we don't really have much of an option."

"Well..."

There was a lot of grumbling from the gathered players. Drifter frowned. Safe zones were usually close to the entrance/exit of the tower, but that didn't really apply in a maze. One wrong turn and...

"Alright, that's it. Guild leaderships, huddle up! Conference time!"

After some grunting and a lot of elbowing people out of the way, the leaders and vice-leaders of all the frontliner guilds eventually met up around Reaver's Requiem.

Drifter looked around and then at Kirito, to see if the younger boy wanted to speak, but the swordsman just shrugged and dipped his head. Drifter nodded.

"Here's how things stand: we are in a maze, tired, our equipment with low durability, and 7.000 anxious players are waiting for us to open this floor. Splitting up to explore is the only reasonable option, but until we find the safe zone, we need to be smart 'bout it."

He looked around to see if anyone had any comments. They didn't, so he continued.

"Finding the safe zone is our priority, and until we do that, we have to collaborate. We split into teams, no less than 2 parties per. And we share everything. The map, traps, mobs we find."

That caused some grumbling, although no one refused the idea outright. The gamer mentality of hogging everything they could was still very much strong amongst the players, especially Kibaou and Lind, but they also weren't stupid.

And Drifter was glaring at them, forestalling any objections the two guild leaders might have. An angry Broken Spear Drifter was something they wouldn't wish upon their worst enemies, much less themselves.

"I mean it. We don't need people getting hopelessly lost and wandering for hours in this maze because we were selfish."

He saw Kibaou scoffing out of the corner of his eyes, but the spiky-haired player kept his silence other than that. Shivata whispered something to Lind, which also calmed down the Dragon Knight. Drifter shot the friendly shield-bearer a thankful look.

"It's just until we find the safe zone and activate the teleporter. After that, it's fair game."

Inwardly, Drifter thought that all that intel would end in Argo the Rat's hands anyway, and she always gave Reaver's Requiem a discount if he showed her his puppy face. A little underhanded of him, but hey, nobody ever said Drifter was a saint.

"Are we all in agreement?"

All the guild leaders and vice-leaders nodded. Even Kibaou and Lind, although the former scowled and the latter had to be prodded by an elbow. Good enough for Drifter.

"Good job, Drif."

While the others went back to their guild's, Drifter turned to Kirito, who nodded and gave him a thoughtful look Drifter didn't quite understand.

Ignoring the oddity, the spearmaster grinned.

"Thanks. Shall we decide who goes with who?"

"Lets."

Their voices carried out in the long corridor, so everyone had already pretty much heard everything that was said.

Splitting up the Reavers was simple, even taking in consideration party compositions for when they needed to separate again as they got further into the maze.

Drifter had barely waved goodbye to his guildmates going to the left path when his group, who had chosen the right one, stumbled upon another fork on the road. Only this one offered three alternatives.

The spearmaster exchanged glances with the group leaders from the other guilds. One of them was Orlando, who had joined hands with Klein and Fuurinkazan to explore. He nodded to the silent question.

"We will take the left."

"We'll go with you. At least until the next division."

The groups from the ALS and DKB also chose their paths. Just like that, their numbers had gone from 130 to 60, and now 20. Drifter was certain that they would halve it very soon.

He was right, although something new finally appeared before that. A creepy hissing sound echoed from the darkness ahead, and the players ground to a halt.

"What's that? I don't like that!"

Enkidu whimpered. It sounded very much like a snake hissing, and he hated snakes. The others also looked uneasy. Drifter fingered his trident, eyes narrowed, trying to see what awaited them.

"I guess we'll find out very soon. Orlando, Klein? Any of you want to take the lead?"

"Nope."

"Don't look at me. Honor's all yours, Drifter."

The spearmaster rolled his eyes.

"Gee, thanks."

The others laughed at how much sarcasm he imbued in the words, and a smile flashed across his face. Laughter was better than the tension from before.

"Vallerk, Nautilus, you are taking point. Silica, Ran, we will stick close to them as one unit. Everyone else, maintain some distance just in case it is a trap."

"And if it's mobs?"

The spearmaster rolled his shoulders non concomitantly.

"If something stabs you, you stab back."

Drifter meant it partially as a joke, but his friends just looked at each other and shrugged.

"Sounds good."

Outside SAO, a group of very worried family members wrangled their hands and screamed that 'no, it didn't sound good!'"

Step by step, the five walked forward. The rest stayed a good 5 meters behind them, so they wouldn't be caught by a trap, if that was what it was.

"Hiss..."

The hissing noise was getting louder. Drifter squinted. Vague shapes had started to appear in the dark. Three of them. He called back to the others.

"Mobs. Everyone ready?"

"As ever."

"Yes!"

"Here they come!"

The atmosphere made Drifter tighten the grip on his trident until his knuckles were white. It didn't get better after the monsters finally revealed themselves.

"Yōkai."

Someone - Kunimittz - whispered behind Drifter. And he was right. The mobs looked remarkably like the creatures of legends - Nure-onna. It wouldn't be the first time Kayaba based enemies on Japanese folklore.

Three giant snakes with the heads of women slithered forward. Unlike their legendary counterparts, they had a pair of arms - also vaguely human, but covered in scales and ending in claws.

The reptilian tongue flicking out of the human mouth was particularly disturbing. So Drifter stabbed there first.

The mob blocked. Clawed hands came up to intercept his trident, and Drifter huffed. With a grunt, he slapped the butt of his weapon with his palm in an imitation of Dirty Play, breaking through the monster's guard. Nailing its hands to its chest, and Drifter grinned.

Next to him, Vallerk stood still as a great wall, the enemy's claws drawing sparks from his shield, but failing to move him. Silica ducked under his arm, her dagger biting deep, leaving three wounds before the mob could react.

The third monster was met by Nautilus and Ran, and a shield smashed in its face while a blade knocked its claws aside, and another pierced its heart.

Weapons glowed in all colors in the dark. Skills that left any master in the outside world envious, for they knew anything they tried to replicate would be only a shadow of what was possible in SAO.

And then they would watch the players fight and realize... System assisted skills didn't matter. Even without them - especially without them, because then there would be no excuses - very few masters could stand at the same height as the players.

Drifter's eyes flashed with steel, and he slashed with the trident at the mob in front of him, then used the momentum to whip around and clobber the snake-woman facing Vallerk and Silica on the side of the head.

The spearmaster stomped forward, until he was almost touching the first monster, and when he pulled his trident back, it raked across its face. The mob hissed, and he stabbed it.

Skills no one else could replicate. But not because of inhuman stats or because they were assisted by Cardinal.

Because their lives depended on it. Watching Drifter absolutely demolish a mob while at the same time hindering two others and assisting his guildmates, the ones who identified with the spearmaster the most were not the weapon masters who spent decades in their dojos training, but people in much lesser standings across the world.

Soldiers, mercenaries, and lowlives. Those who knew how it felt to bet your life in the next second. That was how Drifter fought. Like every blow would be the last.

It wasn't a thought many enjoyed. Especially not his parents. But even they watched in fascination as Drifter leaned his body out of the way of an attack and stabbed a mob through the jaw before kicking it away.

No matter how many times they witnessed it, it was always mesmerizing to see a master of their craft. And Broken Spear Drifter - or just Drifter or even Ogawa Itsuki, whatever you called him - was doubtless a master.

The first enemy fell when Drifter stabbed it through the stomach. Unsurprisingly, it was the mob he had been facing from the start.

A quick glance to the side, and he swung his trident in a Tidal Sequence, catching both of the remaining mobs, and cutting down one of them permanently.

The last barely had time to recover from the skill before a curved blade severed one arm, a long sword piercing its body, and a dagger went into an eye.

Nautilus, Ran, and Silica never found out which of them actually landed the killing blow. As the shards of 3 monsters lit up the corridor, they stood there panting.

Drifter was also a little winded, but he clapped Vallerk on the shoulder and turned to the people who had wisely stayed behind. The corridor couldn't be considered cramped - he was able to use his trident freely - but it definitely wasn't suitable for large-scale fighting.

"What did you think of that, Klein, Orlando?"

The Hero of the Legend Braves rolled his shoulders.

"They weren't anything impressive."

Drifter nodded.

"Yeah. Which means the main challenge of the 25th floor isn't going to be the enemies, but the floor itself."

"The maze and traps."

Klein furrowed his brows. He was a very straightforward man. The samurai would much rather fight his way through an army of mobs than have to deal with traps and the like.

"Ran, sort through the loot please. Meanwhile, let's keep going."

Not 30 paces and a curve later, Drifter was proved right. He had his Searching skill intermittently activated, and caught sight of a glowing red outline of one of the rocks in the path. He grabbed Nautilus by the shoulder just before the shield-bearer stepped on it.

"Wha-"

"Trap."

The ash-haired player froze, and, very carefully, took a step back. Then another, until Drifter nodded. By now, some of the others who had the Searching skill had also spotted the trigger. Issin whistled.

"That's some well-disguised trap. I don't think anyone with less than 400 in Searching can see it."

"What do you suppose it does?"

The players looked at each other, then both Drifter and Orlando shrugged at the same time.

"Only one way to find out."

The Braves, Reavers, and Fuurinkazan exchanged wry smiles. Triggering a trap on purpose sounded like a bad idea. On the other hand, the information could be valuable.

"Everyone, go around it. Carefully. Vallerk, Beowulf? Sorry to say, but you'll have to be our lab rats."

"Meat shields more likely."

The two shield-bearers grumbled good-naturedly. As the two players with the highest defense stat in the group, it was no surprise that the task fell to them.

Everyone else went around the trap, and put a predetermined distance between them and the two test subjects. Far enough that they probably wouldn't be caught in the trap when it sprang, but close enough that they could assist in a matter of seconds.

Vallerk threw one last glance to Drifter, seeking confirmation. The spearmaster nodded, and the mixed-blood player kicked over the rock and waited with baited breath.

Nothing happened at first. Then, just when everyone started to relax, two dozen bolts shot from the walls.

Any unsuspecting player would have been turned into a sieve. As it was, Vallerk and Beowulf spun, one to the right and one to the left, raising their shields to cover each other's backs.

"Ugh!"

"Uff!"

They both grunted from the continuous impacts. A single bolt slipped past Beowulf's guard and grazed his cheek, leaving a red line.

The two players stood still for another half a minute, their shields raised. They only lowered it when Drifter said it was okay.

"That delay was nasty."

"Yeah. It's meant to let most of the party walk through it so it can catch the largest amount of people in the crossfire."

"I'm hating this floor more and more as time goes on."

"Same."

"You tell me. Couldn't every floor be like the 22nd? I already miss the sun."

As the players chatted, Drifter had a frown on his face. Frontliners weren't unfamiliar with traps. But Drifter wasn't liking this one bit.