Chapter 5

"So basically, Yuuki, Jun, and Tecchi will be the forwards, Talken and Nori will

be midrange, and Siune will be the backup."

Asuna examined the lineup of the Sleeping Knights with their equipment on

display, a finger to her chin. When she'd been introduced to them last night,

they were all in their light ordinary wear, but now they were outfitted with

powerful ancient weapons.

Yuuki had on her black half armor and longsword, like the day before. Jun the

salamander was wearing a blazing bronze full plate that seemed out of place on

his petite frame, and there was a greatsword on his back that nearly matched

him in height.

Tecchi the enormous gnome also had thick plate armor, as well as a tower

shield like a door. His weapon was a heavy mace with menacing protrusions on

all sides.

The bespectacled leprechaun Talken's slender build was covered in brassy

light armor, and his weapon was a frightfully long spear. Next to him, the

imposing lady spriggan Nori wore a loose cloth dogi without any metal, to go

with a steel quarterstaff that nearly reached the ceiling.

And Siune the undine, the only mage of the group, wore a priestly cassock of

white and navy blue, with a round, puffy hat like a brioche bun and a thin silver

rod in her right hand. It was a well-balanced party on the whole, but they were

a bit underserved when it came to buffing and healing.

"So it looks like I ought to take a support role," Asuna noted, loosening her

sword belt to exchange her rapier for a magic-boosting wand.

Yuuki shrugged apologetically. "Sorry, Asuna. It's a shame to put you in the

back, when you're so good with the sword."

"No, it's fine. I wouldn't be good as a shield, anyway. Instead, Jun and Tecchi

will have to get whacked a lot, so be prepared!"

She looked at the two heavy warriors with a smirk. The salamander and

gnome looked at each other, their sizes incredibly mismatched, then smacked

their breastplates in unison.

"Y-yeah! We're on top of it!" Jun said enthusiastically, if a bit awkwardly.

Everyone laughed.

The date was Thursday, January 8th, 2026.

At one o'clock on the last day of winter vacation, Asuna had shown up at the

same inn in Rombal, main town of the twenty-seventh floor, to rejoin the

Sleeping Knights as promised. They were ready to test out the boss monster

that presided over the top floor of the labyrinth tower.

Asuna understood that her role here was less to boost their numerical

strength and more to provide strategic advice that would make the most of

everyone's abilities. In terms of sheer power, every one of the Sleeping Knights

was probably Asuna's superior. The one thing she had that they didn't was

knowledge and experience of this game.

The first step was examining everyone's build and gear to establish a basic

party archetype.

Now that she knew she'd be in the back line, Asuna opened her inventory and

dropped her rapier inside, replacing it with her wand. It was a cheap-looking

item, not much more than a branch with a single leaf at the end, but in reality, it

was taken from the very top of the World Tree. She had to evade the furious

attacks of a mammoth guardian dragon to get it.

"Now," Asuna started, twirling the wand in her fingertips, "let's go check out

that boss chamber!"

The group of seven left the inn and flew into the eternal night sky.

As she would have expected, they were all expert flyers without the need of

flight-stick assistance. Asuna marveled at the smoothness of their ascent; they

didn't seem to be freshly converted to ALO in the least. But that wasn't so much

caused by a familiarity with the genre as it was an intimate understanding of

the full-dive tech that made VRMMOs possible. True, a scant handful of players

were like this, but in her long history, Asuna could count those she knew on one

hand, led by Kirito.

So having six of them together at once made her wonder how such a guild got

formed. In a logical sense, being January 8th, this was the time most people in

society were getting back to work or school. Asuna's school was confident

enough in its curriculum that she didn't have to start the third term until

tomorrow. However, getting all six of them available in the middle of the day at

once would normally be very difficult to schedule.

Given their absurd strength, among other things, the most likely answer was

that they were all extremely hardcore players. But Asuna felt that was not the

case. Asuna did not get that sense of bristling pride from the Sleeping Knights

that was exuded by most guilds consisting of such members. It seemed that

they were all purely enjoying the game on its own merits.

Asuna almost never gave any thought to the real players behind the avatars

in-game, but she couldn't help but wonder now. Meanwhile, up ahead, Yuuki

shouted, "I can see the labyrinth!"

She looked up with a start and caught sight of a huge tower beyond the line of

rocky mountains. The circular structure ran from the ground straight up to the

bottom of the floor above. A number of hexagonal crystal pillars, each the size

of a small house, jutted from the base, their faint blue glow dimly illuminating

the tower in the darkness. The entrance yawned black and forbidding at the

foot of the building.

They hovered outside to make sure there were no monsters or parties

loitering around the entrance. She had already announced the plan for today's

spontaneous boss attempt to Lisbeth and the others, of course. They were

surprised by the Absolute Sword's sudden request, but she was relieved to hear

them all pledge to chip in. Of course, the point of all this was to make one last

big memory for Yuuki and her guild, so they couldn't turn it into too big of a

thing. Asuna's friends decided to give them all the healing potions they could

carry and wished them well.

Ever since the start, Kirito had maintained a knowing, meaningful silence

about the other girl. While he did seem to temporarily fall into a meditative

state, he still saw her off with a smile, and he convinced Yui that it was better to

remain behind with him. In a sense, helping another guild was a form of

betrayal, so Asuna was grateful that her friends were so understanding. This

thought warmed her heart as she trailed in the back row of the team during

their descent to the tower.

They landed on dark soil and stared up at the massive edifice. She'd looked up

these pillars dozens of times since starting the old SAO, always tipping her head

back to inevitably gaze at the floor above, but when up close at ground level—

rather than observing from the air—their tremendous size never failed to make

her feel insignificant.

"So…as we decided, we'll try to avoid combat with ordinary monsters as much

as possible on the way," Asuna declared. Yuuki and the others nodded back,

their faces grim. The party theatrically drew its weapons from waist and back

alike.

Siune, the magically inclined undine, raised her silver rod and began to chant

a series of buffing spells. Various visual effects surrounded the seven party

members, and a number of status icons popped into life beneath their HP bars,

at the upper left of their view. Next, Nori the spriggan cast a spell that gave

everyone night vision. Asuna knew a few status spells, too, but Siune's skill

levels were higher.

Once the preparations were complete, they all indicated their readiness with

a nod, and Yuuki set foot inside the labyrinth.

It started off as a natural cave, but once the walls and floor switched to

manmade paving stones, the temperature of the air dropped, and dampness

clung to their skin. As she remembered from the SAO days, the interior of the

labyrinth was vexingly large, and the monsters were much tougher than those

found outside. Plus, like those dungeons down in Alfheim below, there was no

flying allowed inside. They'd bought map data ahead of time from an info

dealer, but even then, it would take a good three hours to reach the boss

chamber.

Or so I'd expected.

Instead, just an hour into the journey, they stood in a massive corridor that

led to a set of enormous chamber doors at its end. Asuna could only marvel at

the strength of Yuuki and her companions. She had an idea of their strengths

individually, but what made them even better was the precision of their

teamwork. They didn't need words; just a tiny bit of body language would send

the signal to stop or proceed as necessary. Asuna was fine just tagging along in

the back row. They only got into three battles on the way, and they followed

her instructions by dispatching the leader first, throwing the others into

confusion, and allowing the party to slip past and evade further trouble.

As they headed down the corridor to the chamber doors, Asuna couldn't

resist the urge to lean over and mutter into Siune's ear. "I dunno…was my

presence really necessary? It almost seems like there's nothing I can do to make

you guys any better…"

Siune went wide-eyed and shook her head dramatically. "No, don't say that. It

was thanks to you that we didn't fall into a single trap and avoided so much

combat. The last two attempts, we took on every battle, so we were quite

drained by the time we got this far…"

"W-well, that's an incredible feat in and of itself…Oh, wait, Yuuki," Asuna

called out. The three at the front came to a halt. They'd already covered half of

the long hallway to the door, close enough for the gruesome reliefs carved into

the doors to be visible. There were pillars at regular intervals on either side of

the hallway, but there were no monsters in sight, not even hiding in the

shadows.

Yuuki and Jun looked back at her questioningly. Asuna put a finger to her lips

to hush them, then stared beyond the last pillar on the left side of the massive

doors. The only illumination in the corridor came from pale flames glowing from

niches set high on the pillars. Even with the help of Nori's night-vision magic, it

was hard to sense the fine movement of the shadows flickering against the

stone walls. But something in Asuna's instincts said there was an anomaly in her

vision.

She waved the others back and raised her wand, chanting long spell-words as

quickly as she could and holding her free hand up in front of her. When the

chant was done, five little fish appeared above her hand, their pectoral fins as

long as wings. She leaned over the transparent blue fish and blew softly in the

direction of the wall.

The fish leaped off of her hand and began to swim straight through the air.

She had summoned "searchers" that would undo the effects of concealing

magic. The five swam in a narrowly splayed wave, until two of them eventually

plunged into the wavering of the air that Asuna had sensed.

Blue light spread at once. The searchers vanished, and the veil of green air

that they had revealed began to dissolve.

"Ah!" Yuuki exclaimed in surprise. On the other side of the pillar, where there

had been nothing before, three players suddenly appeared.

Asuna's eyes quickly scanned the three. Two imps and one sylph, all equipped

with light daggers. But their equipment grade was high. She didn't recognize

their faces, but she did recognize the guild tag on their cursors: a side-facing

horse on a shield. It was the symbol of a major guild that had been tackling the

labyrinth towers since the twenty-third floor.

It was a bad sign that they were hiding in a stretch of labyrinth without any

monsters. That was a PK tactic. Asuna raised her wand, preparing for long-range

attacks from afar, while the rest of the party brandished their weapons in turn.

But to their surprise, one of the trio raised a hand in panic and shrieked,

"Stop, stop! We don't mean to fight!"

The pressing note in the voice didn't sound faked, but Asuna wasn't going to

let her guard down yet. She shouted back, "Then put away your weapons!"

The three shared a look and returned their daggers to their sheaths. Asuna

glanced briefly toward Siune and whispered, "If they start to draw again, cast

Aqua Bind on them."

"All right. Oh my gosh, it's my first PvP fight in ALO. I'm so nervous."

To Asuna, it looked more like excitement than nerves in her eyes. She

smirked, then turned back to the trio and took a few steps closer.

"If you weren't trying to PK us…then why were you hiding?"

The imp, who seemed to be the leader, glanced at his companions again, then

answered: "We're waiting for a meet-up. We didn't want to get tagged by mobs

while waiting for our friends, so we were hiding."

"…"

It was a likely answer, but somehow suspicious. Hiding spells had a

considerable mana cost while active, so they would need to be drinking an

expensive potion a few times a minute to keep it up. And if they were able to

get all the way to the end of this labyrinth, they shouldn't need to go to such

lengths to avoid monsters.

But she didn't seem likely to spot any other cracks in their story. If pressed to

it, they could dispatch the trio via PK themselves, but causing trouble with a

major guild would be nothing but headaches down the road.

Asuna swallowed her doubts and nodded. "All right. We're here to tackle the

boss, but if you're not ready yet, I assume you don't mind if we go first."

"Yes, of course," the skinny imp answered immediately, to her surprise. She

had expected them to use more obsequious flattery to interfere with their

attempt at the boss. He waved his two companions back and retreated to the

side of the massive doors.

"We'll be waiting for our friends here. So, um, good luck," he said with a faint

smile, then motioned to the sylph with his chin. The sylph raised his hands and

began to chant spell words with practiced ease.

Soon, a vortex of green air swirled up from the caster's feet, covering the

three of them. Eventually the color flickered and faded, leaving nothing behind

but the wall.

"…"

Asuna stared in the direction of their hiding place with a frown on her lips, but

eventually shrugged and turned to Yuuki. She seemed to have found nothing

wrong with that suspicious interaction; her purple eyes glittered with

expectation as she stared at Asuna.

"…At any rate, let's go ahead and test the waters as planned," Asuna said, and

the other girl grinned and nodded.

"Yeah, it's finally time! Let's do our best, Asuna!"

"Let's not test the waters, but go in expecting to beat it on the first try," Jun

cajoled, to which Asuna could only smile.

"Well, that's the ideal. But you don't have to waste the expensive items to

heal. Just let Siune and me do our best to cast healing spells. Agreed?"

"Yes, Sensei!" Jun chirped mischievously. She poked the visor of his helmet

and looked to the other five in turn.

"If you die, don't return to town immediately. Stick around and watch the

boss's attacks. If we get wiped, we'll all go back to Rombal's save point. Jun and

Tecchi will stay at the front and guard, using taunt skills to pull aggro. Talken

and Nori will attack from the wings, being careful not to draw too much

attention. Yuuki will be a free attacker, preferably from behind the boss. Siune

and I will be at the back providing support."

"Got it," Tecchi boomed for the rest of the group.

Once Siune was done re-upping the team's buff effects, the two front

members proceeded forward. Tecchi, who had a tower shield held up in his left

hand and his heavy mace in the right, turned back to Asuna when he reached

the doors.

Asuna gave him a nod, and Jun used the hand not holding his greatsword to

touch the door. He tensed and pushed.

The black, gleaming rock doors creaked in protest, then split, rumbling the

entire corridor with the sound of thunder as they opened. The interior was pure

darkness.

Almost instantly, two pale fires lit themselves just beyond the door. Two more

started to the left and right. At brief intervals, countless flames popped into

being to eventually form a circle. It was an effect that happened on every floor,

a countdown of sorts that allowed the challengers time to prepare before the

boss finally appeared.

The boss chamber was a perfect circle. The floor was polished black stone,

and vast. On the wall in the back was a door that led to the staircase going up to

the next floor.

"Let's go!" Asuna cried, and Jun and Tecchi burst into the room. The other five

followed.

Everyone took their spots in formation and raised their weapons just as a

rough-hewn mass of polygons began to pop into existence in the center of the

chamber. The little black cubes combined into a humanoid form with bursting

noises, forming edges and gaining information and profile before their eyes.

At the end, it exploded into little tiny shards, revealing the full extent of the

boss.

It was a dark giant standing a good thirteen feet tall. Its burly, muscled trunk

sprouted two heads and four arms, each holding a menacing, ugly bludgeon.

The giant took a step forward, sending an earthquake rumble through the

room. The extra volume of its upper half was not matched by the lower half,

and it tipped forward perilously, but the two heads were still held high over

Asuna and the others.

Four glowing red eyes glared at the intruders. The giant let out a deep bellow.

The two upper arms raised hammers the size of battering rams, and the lower

arms slammed massive, anchor-ready chains against the ground.