Chapter 147 - The Other Half

The raid against the field-boss Ashara's Light wasn't unlike many Reaver's Requiem had conducted before.

To this day, the 2 most dangerous field-bosses the Reavers fought remained to be the Myconid Queen of Embers and Biceps Archelon. Compared to them, Ashara's Light wasn't that difficult.

Sure, the giant scorpion was a lot stronger than the mushroom and the turtle. But Reaver's Requiem too had grown a lot.

New members, new equipment, higher levels, and several more floors under their belt. The Reaver's Requiem of today was incomparable to that of the past.

And it showed.

"Aim for the joints!"

"Yuuki, switch!"

"Left side, Agil, Wolv!"

"Bring it on, you oversized insect!"

It sounded like chaos, but there was order to it. Each member of Reaver's Requiem functioning like a cog in a perfect machine.

A thorny pincer grazed Drifter's side, but he didn't even flinch. His spear stabbed down in an Edge Vaulting, and he jumped over the appendage, slashing twice more as soon as he landed.

Only then did the spearmaster glance at his depleted health bar. It still was 70% full, so he ignored it in favor of getting more attacks in.

Around him, the Reavers were also going all out in the organized chaos that all battles were meant to be. Nautilus knocking aside the stinger with his shield and slicing it with a Serration Wave. Griselda burying her sword almost to the hilt in the field-boss' body with an Avalanche. Sinon firing arrows without stop at Ashara's Light's eyes and mouth. Ran carving a long gash in its belly with a Vorpal Strike.

Little by little, Ashara's Light was falling. It was almost at the end of the second of 3 HP gauges.

"Minions incoming! Those who have to deal with them, step back, heal, and prepare. Drifter!"

"Leave it to me!"

Already knowing what Kirito wanted to ask, the spearmaster stabbed Ashara's Light one last time just because, and swiftly jumped back to avoid retaliation before disengaging altogether.

Every time Ashara's Light's HP fell by 50%, it spawned more Ashara Puppets. Drifter had no idea what the relation between a giant scorpion and mole-like people was. He was sure someone did.

SAO- no, Aincrad's lore was complex and multifaceted. The backstory of the castle itself, of the many monsters and NPCs within, of the quests, the maps, the dungeons, the bosses, the items - they were all incredibly in depth.

There were many players out there who dubbed themselves 'discoverers' or 'explorers'. They weren't frontliners or even clearers, and yet they penetrated deep into Aincrad's highest floors to uncover the hidden lore. They followed and completed every quest, regardless of the rewards, and sought every hidden secret.

Drifter couldn't understand them. If they were so willing to risk their lives, why not do so for something more worthwhile? Why not become clearers and frontliners and escape this game?

And yet, it was because of those explorers that the Assault Team could progress as they did. Not all of them, of course, and not always, but they played a part. Their part. The information they shared was vital to the success of floor boss raids.

Drifter still didn't understand them. But he was grateful nonetheless. At least they weren't hiding. Even if many died for their adventures.

Drifter was a frontliner, and they died for other reasons.

But not today.

As the last few pixels on Ashara's Light's second HP bar were wiped out, the scorpion shrieked and summoned its minions.

Drifter greeted them with a Sky Render. The charged skill almost bisected the first Ashara Puppet, and Silica's Rapid Bite and Stop Cut, along with Feredir's powerful jaws, ended its short life.

From above, Pina chirped and spat healing bubbles at Drifter. The spearmaster shot the little dragon a grateful look he was fairly certain she understood, then Rage Spiked over to the next mob.

This Ashara Puppet was using a pair of awls. Uncommon weapons, but not ones Drifter had never faced before.

With a frown, he stabbed at the mob's stomach, rotating his left wrist at the very last moment to curve his spear in an unexpected angle.

The Ashara Puppet had lifted its hands to protect its body, and the forceful change in direction caught it by surprise. The speartip passed straight through its guard, knocking the awls aside, and pierced through its lower abdomen.

A snap Martial Arts: Low Blow caused the mob to stagger, and Drifter unabashedly followed up with a Dirty Play and Upturn.

The puppet was thrown up in the air, and Drifter pulled back his spear completely, bending his torso for a powerful Vertical. It sliced through the mob, the two halves breaking, flickering shards drifting down around him.

The spearmaster turned his head, quickly scanning the battlefield for where he was most needed. Seeing Keita bashing a mob with his staff, he rushed over.

"Snake Bite!"

One of Drifter's favorite skills glowed, his spear bending beyond what seemed physically possible, the tip catching the Ashara Puppet in the neck and piercing all the way through.

Instantly provoked, the mob snarled and turned around to stab Drifter with its sword. The spearmaster didn't back down, and ripped to the side with his weapon, opening another large gash on the puppet's chest. At the same time, Keita smacked it on the back of its knees with one of the exclusive staff skills, tripping the creature.

Drifter was never going to let such a perfect chance pass. Willingly taking a shallow cut just above his ribs, he stabbed twice at the unbalanced mob's chest, killing it.

Keita stood there for a moment, just looking at him. When Drifter raised an eyebrow in questioning, he chuckled mirthfully.

"Jesus, Drifter. I know you are strong, but when you go off like this... It reminds me why I'm not a frontliner."

Despite his words, there was no bitterness or jealousy in Keita's voice, only admiration and some amusement.

The spearmaster just smirked and rested the butt of his spear on the ground. Even for him, killing 3 high-level mobs in quick succession like this, even if 2 of them were assisted by other players, was tiring.

"You can worship me later. The others are almost finished with their toys too, so get back in position. It's about time we bring the big one down."

Actually, there would be at least one more wave of summonings from the field-boss. Possibly two, once it was down to the red of its last health bar. But even if that was the case, they were getting close to wrapping up the battle.

Truthfully, a single field-boss never stood a chance against an entire frontliner guild. They had, at the start of SAO, been a real threat. But the higher they climbed, the more evident it became that Kayaba didn't want players dying meaningless deaths in secluded corners of Aincrad.

No, what he wanted was the spectacle. The large-scale battles of over a hundred frontliners against a floor boss. Broadcasted for all to watch.

After all, what kind of hero died a quiet death? Those were not the kind of stories Sword Art Online was built upon.

Of course, just because Kayaba and the Cardinal System weren't actively trying to kill every player at every turn - only most of the time - didn't mean the field-boss wasn't going to murder them if they slacked.

That was how SAO was. Always deadly. Just... More deadly on certain occasions.

This was not one of them. Anyone who wasn't cautious or supremely skilled - or both, as was often the case - had died long before they made it to the frontlines.

Reaver's Requiem was full of all kinds of people, with all kinds of personalities. But even the most hot-headed and brash of them knew when to advance and when to retreat. And most importantly, they followed orders to a T.

"Ducker, Silica, go in! Tetsuo, Shigio, Nautilus, get ready to pull the aggro back! Drifter and Griselda, give support!"

With a nod, Drifter re-entered the main battle. Narrowing his eyes, he aimed his spear at the gaps between the carapace of the giant scorpion, where pale green flesh could be seen.

He wasn't sure if that caused more damage or not, but SAO was a realistic enough game that it might. Either way, with his control over his weapon, Drifter could hit wherever he damn pleased, so it wasn't like it was a struggle.

Slowly but surely, Ashara's Light's HP was disappearing. 90%... 75%... 60%... 50%. For the sixth time, the field-boss shrieked and minions spawned, and the Reavers neatly split up and took care of them.

45%.

Agil's battle axe glowed red and chopped off a skittish leg.

40%.

Nautilus roared and bashed a pincer away with his shield.

35%.

Kirito parried the stinger and nearly sliced it off with a Slant.

30%.

Sachi and Sasamaru ducked under a clenching pincer and stabbed their spears upward, deep into the field-boss' mouth.

25%.

A blurry arrow embedded itself on one of the eyes of Ashara's Light. Two others soon followed, White Streak and Breaking Airflow claiming 2 more eyes.

20%.

Yuna's music changed to the faster tunes of Firemare.

15%.

Ashara's Light screeched, and a dozen Ashara Puppets clawed their way out of the sand, attacking the players.

10%.

Two identical swords, two identical Horizontals, cut down the last minion.

5%.

The field-boss crumbled to the ground under the violent impact of Hammer Down from the pink-haired blacksmith.

0%.

Ashara's Light shrieked one last time in defiance, and Drifter, on top of its head, stabbed down while holding his spear with both hands, and twisted it. The noise stopped.

Landing softly on the ground when the field-boss shattered, Drifter looked around. Quite a few Reavers were injured, especially during that last phase when Ashara's Light went slightly berserk, but no-one seriously.

"Amazing job, everyone. Impeccable coordination."

Congratulations were passed around, and people slapped each other in the back and hugged. Drifter lightly bit Yuna's lips and whispered his own praises in her ear, which earned him a radiant smile and another soft kiss, before opening his inventory.

Just as he expected, a shining new quest item was sitting there. It was an old key made of sandstone. The item description wasn't helpful at all, so he just put it back into storage and forgot about it. He would learn more when he got his second quest objective, which he would bet anything was in the spoils of another field-boss.

"Ha! I knew it!"

A shout drew his attention, and Drifter looked up to see a sheepish Kirito scratching the back of his head and blushing from the attention he received due to his outburst.

"What did you know?"

The Black Swordsman, who many sometimes had trouble remembering was just a teenager - but not his friends and family - grinned and held up an item.

It looked like a sandstone rock, about the size of a fist. A few glowing lines were carved in it. Some sort of rune, probably.

"Remember how yesterday Kibaou was boasting about his ALS being close to finding out how to access the other half of the floor?"

"Yup. Not exactly uncommon for him. Why the elation?"

"Hehe. I was pretty sure it was just hot air, and when you told us about the field-boss, I had a hunch. I was right."

The others smirked when they realized what Kirito was implying.

"The rock opens up the teleport gate to the ocean safe zone?"

"Yup."

"And Ashara's Light dropped it?"

"Yup."

"Are you going to rub it on Kibaou's face? If you don't wanna, I can do it for you."

"Oh, me too, me too!"

Everyone laughed at Sinon's proposal and Yuuki's enthusiastic support. There were few who didn't want to take Kibaou down a peg.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's open up the other half of the floor and be the first to explore it."

"Yay!"

...

Reaver's Requiem always drew attention, wherever they went. And when the guild was out in force, like now, even more so.

Most of them had learned to ignore it. Some, like Silica and the Black Cats, were still uncomfortable with all the stares that followed them as they made their way to the teleporter.

"Don't they have anything better to do than ogle at us?"

Drifter snorted at Sachi's furrowed brows and muttered comment. On his left, Yuna shook her head.

"Nope, they don't. They aren't clearers, just players touring the upper floors. And what better attraction than a frontliner guild?"

Well, it wasn't like seeing the Reavers around was that uncommon. Aincrad was big, but with just about 7.000 people still alive, everyone crossed paths with everyone every now and again. It was just that, after a year, more people were willing to travel to higher floors, even if only to the safe zones.

"They will stare even more when they realize we unlocked the other half of the town. Floor? Eh, whatever. Just ignore it."

Liz waved her hand dismissively. By now they had already reached the center of the town, and Kirito pulled out the runestone that Ashara's Light dropped.

"Hey!"

The swordsman shouted in surprise when the item flew out of his grasp and fused with the portal, which glowed brighter than before before settling back down to normal.

Exchanging glances with his guildmates, Kirito stepped into the teleporter, then hesitated.

"Er... Up? Huh!"

Kirito vanished. The other Reavers looked at each other before shrugging and mimicking him, minus the startled yelp.

Half a second later, Drifter found himself in a completely different place, as it happened when you teleported somewhere.

He sidestepped Kirito, who was standing still, and made way for the others who were coming up behind him.

This city was a lot livelier than the one on the desert half of the floor. The buildings seemed to be made of some type of coral and were, as such, of all kinds of colors. The NPCs were humans, but with bright clothes and expressions, and there were a lot more of them too.

"Ooh, this is trippy."

Following Yuuki, Drifter walked over to a chest-height wall. That was when he noticed that this teleporter was at the very edge of the town, right where the ocean ended.

He whistled. It was a long fall down to the desert half of the 23rd floor. This was different from looking over the edge of Aincrad. Here they could see the landing point.

"I wonder... We are in a safe zone. And right below us is also a safe zone. Do you think we would take damage if we jumped?"

Drifter, Sinon, and Ran exchanged horrified glances, and all three grabbed Yuuki and pulled her far away from the wall. The purple-haired girl just laughed.