Chapter 8

The air surrounding the path through the forest was warm. It was

almost as if the dark feeling that had been present here last night

was just an illusion. The morning sun shined through the

branches, making golden pillars of light which butterflies fluttered

through. Sadly, these were only visual effects, so you couldn't

catch one even if you chased it down.

As she crunched through the soft undergrowth, Asuna said

teasingly.

"You are always wearing the same thing."

Ah.

I looked down at my body: a slack black leather jacket, a pair of

pants, and a shirt of the same color. I had virtually no metal armor

equipped.

"Well, so what? If you have enough money to spend on clothes, it's

better to buy something to eat..."

"Is there a practical reason that you're wearing all black? Or is it

just character expression?"

"W-Well, what about you? You're always wearing that white and

red thing..."

As I spoke, I started scanning the area by force of habit without

even thinking about it. There weren't any monsters around. But—

"I can't help it. This is the guild unifo... huh? Why?"

"Wait a bit..."

I raised my right hand slightly and cut Asuna off. There was a

player at the edge of my Searching area. As I focused on the area

behind me, numerous green cursors started flashing, showing that

there were a lot of players there.

There was no chance that they were a group of bandits. Bandits

always hunted for players that were weaker than them, so they

were rarely seen around the front lines, where all the strongest

players were. More importantly, whenever a player committed a

crime, their cursor would turn orange and wouldn't turn back to

green for a long time. What I was worried about was their

numbers.

I called the map from the main menu and put it on show mode so

that Asuna could see it. The map of the area was enhanced by my

Searching and showed the green cursors. There were twelve of

them.

"That's a lot..."

I nodded at what Asuna said. Usually when there were too many

members in a party, it became harder to fight as a group, so five or

six was the typical number.

"Look at that size."

The crowd of lights that were fast approaching in this direction

marched in neat lines of two. Maybe this would happen in a

dangerous dungeon, but it was rare to see such a large uniform

group on the field.

If we could see the level of the members, we might have been able

to guess what they were doing, but players couldn't even see the

names of other players that they'd met for the first time. It was a

default system that was put in place to prevent players from PKing

—player killing— too freely, but it also left us with no choice but

to simply guess at their level by appraising their equipment.

I closed the map and glanced at Asuna.

"We'll have to take a look at them. Let's hide behind the trees until

they pass by."

"Yeah, you're right."

Asuna nodded with a tense expression.

We climbed up a small mount and crouched behind a shrub that

came up to about our heights. It was a good position to observe

the group as they passed by.

"Ah..."

Asuna suddenly looked at her clothes. The red and white uniform

was pretty noticeable against the green plants.

"What should I do? I don't have any other equipment..."

The dots were pretty close now. They were getting within viewing

distance.

"Excuse me for a bit."

I opened my coat and covered Asuna with it as well. Asuna glared

at me for a bit but allowed me to cover her. The coat wasn't all

that good to look at, but it gave a big hiding bonus. With all this, it

would be pretty hard to notice us without a high Searching skill.

"Well, it's not that good to look at, but it's pretty useful right?"

"I don't know! ...Shh, they're here!"

Asuna whispered and brought a finger up to her lips. I crouched

lower, and the sounds of footsteps reached my ears.

Eventually, we could see the group come up the path.

They were all warriors. All of them wearing the same black metal

armor and green battle garb. Their equipment was all of practical

designs, except for a noticeable picture of a castle on each of their

shields.

The front six had one-handed swords, and the back six had

halberds. They all had their visors down so we couldn't see their

expressions. As we watched the twelve players march in perfect

order, I even started thinking that they were a group of NPCs.

I was sure now. They were members of the huge group that had

made the city on the 1st floor their HQ: «The Army». I could feel

Asuna hold her breath.

They weren't enemies to normal players. In fact, they could be

considered the group that put in the most effort to stop crimes on

the field.

But their methods were a little rough, and they were said to attack

orange players —who were called that because of the color of

their cursors— as soon as they found them and without asking

any questions.

Then they'd strip the orange players of their equipment and

imprison them in the dungeons of the Black Iron Palace. The

rumor about how «The Army» treated people who didn't

surrender yet failed to escape were pretty scary.

They were also known for traveling in huge parties and taking

control of entire hunting ranges, so it was common knowledge

among the players that they "Should never go near «The Army»".

Well, they usually operated on the 50th floor and below, working

on strengthening their group and maintaining order, so it was rare

to see them on the front lines—

As we watched silently, the twelve heavily armed warriors

disappeared into the forest amongst the clanking sounds of their

armor and their boots.

Seeing as all the players had gotten their hands on the software,

you could say that everyone trapped inside SAO were all game

maniacs, who were a race that had no connection to the word

«Rules» whatsoever. Despite that, the fact that these players still

showed such orderly movement was amazing. They might even be

the strongest unit within «The Army».

After making sure that they had gone out of range on the map,

Asuna and I let out a sigh of relief.

"...The rumor, it's true..."

I whispered to Asuna with my coat still over her.

"Rumor?"

"Yeah. I heard at the guild meeting that «The Army» was changing

how they worked and have started appearing on the higher floors.

They were once a group that was trying to clear the game, right?

But after the damage they received while fighting the boss on the

25th floor, they began focusing on strengthening their group and

stopped fighting on the front lines.

—So, rather than going into the labyrinth in enormous numbers

like they used to and causing a huge stir, they've decided to send

smaller, more elite units in and try to show that they're still

endeavoring to clear the game. The report guessed that the first

unit would appear soon."

"So they're advertising their skill. But are they really okay just

charging into an unexplored area...? They looked like they have

pretty high levels but..."

"Maybe... they're going to try to beat the boss..."

Within every labyrinth, there was a boss that guarded the stairs to

the next floor. They didn't regenerate and they were really strong,

but the reputation and popularity gained for beating them would

be huge. It would be very effective as an advertisement.

"So they gathered those people...? But that's still stupid. Nobody

has even seen the boss of the 74th floor yet. Usually, people keep

sending in reconnaissance groups to analyze the boss' strength

and fighting patterns."

"Well, even guilds work together to beat bosses. Maybe they're

doing the same...?"

"I don't know... Well, they should know as well that going up

against a boss like this is meaningless. We should hurry. I hope

that we won't cross paths with them in there."

I got up and was a little disappointed that I had to let Asuna go.

Asuna shivered as she got out.

"It's almost winter now... I should buy a coat too. Which shop did

you buy that from?"

"Hmm... It was most probably a player shop in the western area of

Algade."

"Then take me there when we're done exploring."

With that said, Asuna jumped down lightly onto the path. I

followed. Because of the system, jumping from this height wasn't a

problem for me.

The sun was almost at its highest point. Asuna and I made our way

down the path quickly while paying attention to our surroundings.

Luckily, we got out of the forest without meeting even a single

monster, and a meadow full of blue flowers appeared before us.

The path went straight through the meadow, and at its end the

Labyrinth Area stood proudly.

At the highest part of this tower, there would be a huge room and

a boss would be guarding the stairs to the next floor — the

75th floor in this case. If the boss was defeated and someone

arrived at the living area of the next floor and activated the

teleport gate, then this floor would be cleared.

The «City Opening» would be celebrated by a huge crowd of

people from the lower floors that came to see the new city, and

the whole place would become alive as if there was a festival.

Right now, it had been nine days since people had begun actively

exploring the 74th floor. It was about time that somebody

discovered the boss.

The tower was a cylindrical building made out of reddish-brown

limestone. It was a place that both Asuna and I had been in

numerous times, but you couldn't help feeling intimidated by its

immense size. Yet that size was only one-hundredth of Aincrad. It

was a hopeless wish, but, secretly, I wanted to see the colossal

floating castle from outside.

We couldn't see the unit from «The Army». They'd most likely

already made it in. We walked towards the entrance,

subconsciously quickening our pace.