-376- As sharp as ever

When these words left Rozen's mouth, Asuna sensed trouble.

"Oh no..."

This guy's mouth is just too nasty. He bullied me a moment ago, and now he's picking on someone else?

Can you imagine how this hotheaded Kobatz will react when he hears this? Not going into a rage is absolutely impossible.

Sure enough...

"You little...!"

Kobatz exclaimed, drawing his weapon and pointing it at Rozen.

The players led by Kobatz also raised their weapons simultaneously, creating a menacing atmosphere with a resounding air burst, all aimed in Rozen's direction.

It must be said that the players belonging to the 'Aincrad Libration Force' may not be very accustomed to the frontline battle pace, but their quality is still top-notch. When their leader reacted, they immediately followed suit, exerting pressure.

From this, it can be seen that these players must have undergone quite rigorous training in their usual time.

Unfortunately, Rozen wasn't intimidated.

"Even if you're the leader of the Clearing Group, it doesn't mean you can insult us so casually. Take back what you just said!"

Kobatz yelled in anger.

But Rozen wasn't fazed and continued, "You guys want to throw your lives away, I have no reason to stop you. However, as the leader of the Clearing Group, I must offer a few words of advice to prevent others from saying that I turned a blind eye."

Rozen then revealed the answer to his question, "Do you know how we challenged the Floor 73 Boss?"

This made Kobatz furrow his brows, unsure where Rozen was going with this.

Looking at Kobatz's expression, Rozen provided the answer, "We had a joint force of forty-eight players for that battle."

While the Clearing Group had a total of over seven hundred players, not all of them could participate in clearing battles anytime and anywhere.

Solo players had their own reasons for not attending regularly, and regular player groups faced pressure from major guilds, making it difficult to obtain decent loot. Over time, many of them didn't show up for clearing battles."

Each Clearing Guild also had its own reasons and considerations and wouldn't mobilize all their members for every clearing battle.

Some wanted to leave some backup members for their guild, so they didn't risk getting wiped out entirely in a clearing battle.

Others had concerns about equipment and levels and only selected the best players from their guild.

Some were in the middle of important guild missions, and others had found secret monster areas with more enticing experience points and loot than the Floor Bosses, so they chose to skip clearing battles.

As a result, each group of players attending clearing battles usually consisted of only one or two Joint Forces.

Of course, with Rozen's leadership and his impeccable record of victories, these guilds didn't put up much resistance when he requested their cooperation. Only during the clearing battle on the 50th floor did Rozen insist on all available forces, rallying hundreds of players, to finally defeat the Floor 50 Boss.

As for other times, Rozen let them be.

Therefore, during the clearing battle on the 73rd floor, there were a total of forty-eight players in attendance, just enough to form a Joint Force.

"The Joint Force was composed of six squads, covering aspects like damage dealing, defense, and hindrance, and with my command, it took about an hour to successfully defeat the 73rd-floor Floor Boss."

Rozen glanced at all the players led by Kobatz and sneered, "And you, with six shield-bearing players at the front and spearmen at the rear, totaling only twelve players. The front line also has to double as tanks, and the rear line, in addition to hindering, must focus on dealing damage. With this composition and a battle that consumes so much energy, how do you plan to defeat the 74th-floor Floor Boss, which is even harder than the 73rd floor?"

Rozen directly told Kobatz and his group how overconfident they were.

"Is the 73rd-floor Floor Boss really that difficult?"

"It took a Joint Force a whole hour to defeat?"

"And there's the 'Magus' commanding them too..."

"This..."

The players of the "Aincrad Liberation Force" were in an uproar one after another, their expressions changing.

Kobatz couldn't hide his surprise either. Obviously, this reckless guy hadn't considered just how powerful the Floor Bosses could be.

It wasn't their fault; unlike the Clearing Group, the guild "Aincrad Liberation Force" had always been stationed in the Starting Town on the 1st floor and weren't used to the pace of frontline combat, so how could they know how formidable the Floor Bosses were?"

Even though the 'Aincrad Libration Squad' had a tough time on the 25th floor, nearly getting wiped out, that was over a year and a half ago. These players who joined the 'Aincrad Libration Force' recently had no idea what that terror and horror were like.

To think they could clear the Floor Boss with just twelve people?

That's impossible.

If it was led by Rozen, with skilled players like Kirito and Asuna in the team, he would have confidence in clearing the 74th-floor Floor Boss.

Kobatz?

He should really go home and just take a nap.

Rozen walked forward and came to Asuna's side.

"I've said enough kind words for now. If you still plan on throwing your lives away, go ahead and try it."

Rozen spoke indifferently.

"Also, pass on my words to Kibaou. If he agrees to let you continue forward, consider my words unsaid."

With that, Rozen took Asuna's hand, stepped aside from the gate carved with demons, and no longer obstructed the 'Aincrad Libration Force.'

But at this point, how could they find a way to continue forward?

Their morale was already shattered.

"Ugh..."

Kobatz furrowed his brows and struggled hard. If it were anyone else saying these words, Kobatz, with his temperament, wouldn't listen obediently. However, when the person saying it was Rozen, the player who miraculously remained the no casualties title and the most trusted commander, Kobatz couldn't ignore his words no matter how unwilling he was.

Finally, Kobatz came to his senses.

"Let's go!"

Kobatz shouted in frustration, then turned around, leading the way, and left angrily.

"Phew..."

The players in the group all breathed a sigh of relief and quickly followed Kobatz, leaving the area.

Not long after, Kobatz and his group disappeared without a trace.

Only Rozen and Asuna remained, and they exchanged glances, laughing together after a while.

"You really live up to your reputation; your words are as sharp as ever."

Asuna said with a mix of delight and teasing.

"I'll take that as a compliment."

Rozen shrugged, then turned to look at the gate in front of them."