Chapter 187 - Sleeping Queen

That night, when Drifter, Yuna, Kizmel, Vallerk, Agil, and Wolv met the rest of their guild, they were feeling much more refreshed.

Meeting Ceba had been one of the best things to happen to them in a long time. Not only were her paintings and drawings amazing - and a hefty ego-boost - but the woman herself was a great person to have around.

Ceba was loud, colorful, bubbly, and any number of other positive adjectives. She always had some sort of tool in her hand, be it a pencil, charcoal, or a brush, and a seemingly unlimited stocks of canvas.

In the hours that they spent in that ice cream parlor near the lake, she had drawn at least a dozen paintings. Although, according to her, the only one she put serious effort in was the one of Drifter. All the others were just rough sketches for later.

Of course everyone was eager to meet the painter too, after all the high praise their guildmates offered. It would have to wait, however. Climbing came first.

A relatively well established clearer guild, Violet Hurricane, had found the entrance to the tower. The problem was, the field-boss for the 38th floor was sleeping right in front of it.

That had actually helped narrow down the location, since field-bosses often guarded important spots or passages, unless they were the roaming kind, which this one definitely wasn't.

The field-boss was pretty much rooted on the spot - pun intended. It was a giant carnivorous plant - someone pointed out it looked like the ones in the Mario franchise, and now Drifter couldn't unsee it.

The Hurricanes hadn't understood why the field-boss' name was Sleeping Queen until they approached the seemingly inert plant. That's when it opened its 'mouth'.

They hadn't known a vegetable could have so many teeth. Or any at all, actually, but the Sleeping Queen did have them, and they looked sharp.

When the upper body of a woman - also giant-sized - popped out from inside the plant, the Violet Hurricanes decided they didn't want to tackle that on their own, and called Argo the Rat, who, in turn, called Reaver's Requiem.

Squinting his eyes at the Sleeping Queen, which had now gone back to looking just like a man-eating plant that had way too much fertilizer, Drifter gestured for the guild leader of the Violet Hurricanes, a standard but skilled sword-user, to come closer.

"What did you say the rest of the boss looked like again?"

"A woman. Kinda pretty, if ya ignore the lower body. Black hair, black eyes, pale skin, massive... You know."

The spearmaster shot the clearer an unimpressed look, as did several of the women within hearing distance, and he scratched his head, flushing.

"Anything else? Actually useful to the fight, maybe? You know?"

"Err- It looked a bit like the Wilted Faeries? So maybe it has similar skills? Paralysis breath. It had just two normal arms, no weapons. It really just looked like a normal person from the waist up."

The clearer reiterated, and Drifter was starting to regret promising him first pick of the loot as a finder's fee.

"I guess we are gonna find out in our own. Let's get this show on the road. Kirito?"

"Everyone's in formation."

"Asuna?"

"Ready when you are, Drifter."

His right and left hands in controlling Reaver's Requiem nodded, and Drifter spun his spear with a flourish.

"Time to go. Remember the plan. Reaver's Requiem will engage it first to test the waters, and if it's manageable, you can jump in."

The guild leader of the Violet Hurricanes nodded eagerly, more than a little cowed by the look Drifter gave him. It promised untold pain if he made a mess of things.

"Keep a lookout for the human part, but don't forget it's still a plant-type boss. Eyes on the ground. We are starting in 3... 2... 1... Ring us off, Sinon!"

The Aero Huntress did. An arrow with a blinding white trail flew at the field-boss, the sharp whistle of it cutting into their eardrums. It struck the Sleeping Queen right in the stalk, provoking an immediate reaction.

The 'mouth' of the field-boss snapped, and a low growling was emitted, almost like a dog. Vines burst out from the ground, sweeping all directions.

They found nothing. Plant-type monsters always had a smaller aggro range, and Sinon's skill completely outmatched it. Unfortunately, she couldn't deal enough damage to feasibly cheese the battle and just kill the field-boss with arrows from afar. In compensation for being mostly bound to one spot, plant-type mobs had an unreasonably high HP recovery rate.

None of the Reavers advanced, despite what Drifter said. They waited to see if the human part of the Sleeping Queen would appear, but it didn't.

"I guess we need to get close for it to show up."

"Should we go for real now, then?"

While they discussed, the field-boss recovered what little health it had lost. After a few seconds of searching for players but not finding any, it also went back to its dormant state.

"Go!"

That was when Drifter gave the order to attack. As one, Reaver's Requiem charged forward, and Sinon let fly another skill-empowered projectile.

Just like before, vines swung around wildly, and this time, the Reavers were inside their range.

Drifter managed to duck under one vine and jump another, but some of his guildmates weren't so lucky. Vallerk and Shigio were happy enough to tank the blows with their shields, but Tetsuo got clipped on the side of the head and went down, and Liz had her feet swept from under her and also kissed the ground.

The spearmaster kept an eye on the HP gauge of his guild members. None of them had been hit too hard, so this would be a good indication of the field-boss' power.

His focus was attracted to something else the very next moment, however. Just like the Hurricanes had described, once the players were physically within the aggro range of the field-boss, changes started happening in the Sleeping Queen.

The giant bulb/mouth of the field-boss opened up, spilling acid-green juices everywhere, and a female upper body rose.

Like the guild leader of the Violet Hurricanes had described, it - she - was pretty. The Sleeping Queen had a kind of ethereal beauty similar to the Wilted Faeries, only more human.

It did, indeed, also have proportional-sized breasts, covered by a fabric of dead leaves and plant fibers. Drifter still thought the other guild leader wasn't right in the head if that was what he focused on.

"Shigio, Vallerk, try to attract their attention! Everyone else, fan out and attack at will! Silica, Kizmel, to me."

Taunts and other aggro-inducing skills were used, and the rest of the Reavers continued their wild game of jumping rope - or vines - like they were back at school.

"What's up, Drifter?"

Silica and Kizmel stopped behind him. The spearmaster jerked his head towards the upper half of the boss.

"We need to find out what that thing's deal is. You up to being a little crazy with me?"

"What's the plan?"

Silica grinned sharply, licking her lips, and Kizmel ran her finger along the edge of her blade in an unconscious mannerism. Drifter smiled wryly.

"Kiz, lend Feredir to Silica for a while. Sil, do you see the main roots holding the bulb? We are going up those."

The two girls blinked incredulously at him, before they burst out laughing.

"Alright!"

That was all Silica said, already running her fingers through Feredir's fur coat.

"What do you need me to do while you go up?"

Drifter hadn't given Kizmel a role yet, but he wouldn't have asked her to come over if he didn't have something in mind. Feredir was pretty much Silica's already, and obeyed the young teen more than her.

"You are on rescue duty, Kiz. If we mess up, you bring us back. That good?"

"No problem. Good luck."

Drifter grinned, and tapped Silkca on the shoulder. With a firm nod, she started racing towards the field-boss, the spearmaster right behind her.

-----------------------

"What are they doing? What are they doing?!"

A man in his mid-forties slammed his fist on the armrest of the couch, eyes bloodshot. He was Ayano Tetsuhiko, Dragon Tamer Silica's - who lse real name was Ayano Keiko - father.

Tetsuhiko had been leery of joining the other families of Reaver's Requiem in their gatherings at first, mainly because he was one of the few who never accepted the fact that his daughter was in the Assault Team.

It had taken a lot of convincing on Kana and Midori's - Kirito's adoptive mother - part to get him to agree, if only so he wouldn't suffer through his anxieties nearly on his own.

In the end, the way to convince him had been through his wife, Ayano Sara, who now sat next to him. Sara had been on the hospital, recovering from a sudden bout of sickness, when SAO started. Having the two people he loved the most in the hospital had nearly broken Tetsuhiko.

Thankfully, she was all better now, and much more easy-going than her husband, although her grip on his hand as they watched Silica and Drifter charge the field-boss, Sleeping Queen, still had both of their hands turn white.

Kana wisely kept her silence. Tetsuhiko had been very vocal on his dislike of his daughter's choices to join the frontlines, and even made the mistake of blaming Drifter once. Sara made him apologize eventually, but by then words had already been exchanged, and everyone had left the gathering subdued. The following meetings were very awkward.

Even now, several months later, the two still watched what they said around each other. This was Wolv's house, and they were being hosted by his girlfriend, so the two guests were careful to not make a fuss.

Tetsuhiko's outburst was understandable, however. Weird as it looked, the Sleeping Queen was still a field-boss, and everyone who watched SAO had come to understand just how dangerous they could be. To see the two players not just running to attack it, but actually darting over it would shock anybody.

The large screen, set by Wolv's girlfriend, showed the fight from a bird's-eye view. On it, everyone could clearly see Drifter and Silica running through the mesh of vines of the field-boss, without bothering to attack.

They didn't miss a beat in jumping on top of thr main body of the Sleeping Queen, Drifter on the left and Silica on the right, and running up.

Tetsuhiko was now clenching the armrest of the sofa as tightly as he could. His gaze followed his daughter as she stepped to the left and stabbed a vine that was aiming for her multiple times, all without breaking stride.

"Keiko- Is she laughing?"

Tetsuhiko's jaw dropped. She was. A vine grazed Silica's side and left a red streak, but she simply used it as a jumping pad to propel herself towards the human portion of the field-boss.

She was laughing all the way, and yelling something to Drifter which had the spearmaster grinning as he mirrored her actions.

Mad, both of them. They were fighting a monster Tetsuhiko could only dream up in his worst nightmares, and having fun with it!

"Keiko!"

His daughter sunk her dagger on the side of the Sleeping Queen, and didn't see a vine sneaking around her back to swat her way. Tetsuhiko got up and yelled in alarm, despite the rational part of his brain knowing she couldn't hear him.

He sat back down to the couch with wide eyes when the scene he expected didn't play out. A grey blur intercepted the vine before it could reach Silica.

Feredir's powerful jaws clenched around the vine, and the wolf shook his head wildly, ripping the whole thing off.

"Good boy!"

With just a look over her shoulder, Silica grinned at the wolf. Then she was back to slashing wildly with her dagger while Feredir tore the field-boss apart with his claws. Pina, the little feathered dragon, was happily spitting bubbles while flying overhead.

Tetsuhiko all but crumbled. He knew his Keiko had changed a lot since SAO began. He had watched a lot of it, even if he couldn't be glued to the television 24/7. But now, he suddenly felt as if he didn't recognize his own daughter.