Chapter 189 - Things on The 40th

The 38th floor boss raid went okay-ish. There was one scary moment that reminded everyone that, even if they weren't in a round floor or a sure-death floor, this was still Sword Art Online.

But other than nearly giving several people, both in and out of Aincrad, a heart attack, nothing unexpected happened. And the player who stupidly put themselves in a dangerous situation was very throughly scolded.

As the day for their planned outing approached, Drifter could see his Reavers getting more and more excited. It put a smile on his face.

It wasn't anything that special. Just taking a day off to better explore the 22nd floor, without the deadline of having to clear it hanging over their heads. Some fishing, chatting, and eating.

Reaver's Requiem had taken short vacations before. Sure, they were usually half a day, since they tried to stick to the clearer schedule, but they did take time off every now and then. Mostly to go to the hot springs.

This felt like an actual family trip. Not just a bunch of tired soldiers needing to forget a bad day.

It was understandable then that everyone was eager that Reaver's Requiem breezed through most of the 39th floor with a smile on their faces. Even the floor boss was put down without much trouble.

Things changed when they stepped on the 40th floor, of course. Excited or not, no one was going to take a round floor lightly.

"Eww! What's that?! It's gross!"

Nobody could blame Liz for her reaction. The 40th floor was a dreary expanse of black soil and dead trees. But what disgusted the blacksmith so much was the first mob they came across.

The... Thing... Was almost all eyeballs. A mass of toxic muck not unlike the Slimes from lower floors, but covered with bloodshot eyes, at least two dozen of them, and in all different sizes. Some were as big as a fist.

"I don't like that."

"I think I just got a new phobia."

While some of his guildmates complained, Drifter's reaction was much more straight forward: he stabbed the mob.

Usually that worked pretty well in SAO. Don't know what you are dealing with? Stab it. Don't want to deal with that problem? Stab it. Don't like that person? Stab it.

Well, not the last. While it arguably worked, it also caused more problems. But that was the gist of it. Unknown mob? Stab it.

That usually worked. Not this time. Drifter's spear pierced clean through one eyeball and the rest of the mob, coming out its back splashing black goo and red shards.

The mob lost less than 5% of its HP. Just a blip in the bar. And when Drifter tried to pull back his spear, he found out he couldn't. It was completely stuck.

"Damnit! It resists sharp weapons! Blunt weapons forward. Liz, Tetsuo, Wolv, shields, we'll be relying on you. Everyone else, focus on finding weak points. Start with the eyeballs."

Drifter finally managed to retrieve his spear with a mighty heave, but not before a tendril of muck whipped his arm, doing a not insignificant amount of damage.

"I hate everything about what you just said."

"Less complaining and more hitting things."

"That's the problem! I can't hit things! Only stab them. My whole deal is stabbing things twice!"

Drifter rolled his eyes. He knew Yuuki was complaining only for the sake of complaining. It didn't make it less gratting on his ears.

"Then get to it! You're just gonna have to stab it a lot."

The swordswoman huffed, but started slashing, cutting, and yes, stabbing.

Her nickname of Untamed Storm wasn't for nothing. Yuuki pretty much looked like a blur of purple hair and cold grey steel when she got into a rhythm.

Her sister was far less flashy, but no less skilled. Precise Blade Ran, they called her, for her knack of finding chinks in the enemy's defense and slipping her sword into them. She had perhaps the highest crit rate of Reaver's Requiem after Aero Huntress Sinon.

In fact, it was Ran who was making the most progress in finding the Thing's weakness. Her sword lashed out like a viper, not dealing much damage due to the mob's nature, but striking a different eyeball each time with uncanny accuracy.

"Got it!"

It was on her thirteenth try that the swordswoman found the monster's weak spot. She dodged a splattering of goo resulting from a heavy strike from Liz's hammer, and stabbed a fist-sized eye near the 'base' of the mob.

The creature gurgled loudly, the first noise it made in the entire battle, and all the Reavers watched as its HP went from 30% to 0% in an instant.

"That's one hell of a crit. Good job, Ran."

Someone whistled, impressed. That was over 10 times the damage Drifter inflicted with his first attack. Considering the mob was resistant to sharp weaponry, that was quite the feat. Far more than a critical hit could achieve, actually.

"Uhh... Thanks, I guess? It felt... Weird."

"How so?"

"Not sure. It just did."

Ran pursed her lips thoughtfully. She kept staring at the spot where the mob had disappeared, her hand moving as if replaying the battle, until Nautilus nudged her.

"You can think on it later, dear. We're still a ways away from our target."

The ash-haired player's gaze flicked to his map, which showed the path Reaver's Requiem had taken to get to this part of the floor. The dots representing them were surrounded by fog in nearly all directions.

"If that's the type of mob we are gonna find here, I'm kinda regretting letting the DKB take the southwest direction just 'cause it looked gloomy. More gloomy, anyway."

Asuna muttered while wiping her rapier. No remnants of the mob were left on the sword, of course, but it still felt tainted.

"Eh, who knows. Maybe they also have Things there. If not, it might be something worse. This floor's shaping up to be a real doozy."

"If it makes you feel any better, Asuna, Klein and Orlando are already complaining."

Drifter looked over his shoulder to the fencer, smirking slightly when her expression did brighten a little. Orlando was on her shit list recently for an ill-thought joke about hers and Kirito's love life.

"It does, actually. They took the east, right? What are they yapping about?"

"Pack mobs. Something called Roller Beetles. Orlando says they are, and I quote, 'ugly little bastards with bad timing'. Whatever that means."

"Ugh- Bugs. I take back what I said."

Asuna shuddered, as did several others. The fencer wasn't particularly afraid of insects - that was Yuna, and, to a lesser degree, Nautilus - but SAO was often too realistic when it came to mobs - in everything except size.

Seeing a car-sized locust bearing down on you would never not be terrifying, disgusting, or both. Drifter never knew insect mouths had so many independently moving parts.

The spearmaster had no idea what challenges the other Assault Team guilds were facing, but he was sure they wouldn't be much better than Reaver's Requiem's and whatever it was Fuurinkazan and the Legend Braves were dealing with.

Even just 2 hours into their exploration, one thing about the 40th floor was becoming clear: the floor didn't like them, and it was made to be as inhospitable as possible.

Each of the frontliner guilds had chosen a direction of the floor to map, and Reaver's Requiem's was the northwest. The putrid slime monster they met was just the first of the challenges they were bound to face.

"Another Thing ahead. On your mark, Drifter."

"Wait. I want to test something. Sinon, did you see which eye Ran stabbed in the other mob?"

The archer nodded, already drawing her bowstring. She placed one of her special arrows on it, a product of the old couple with the Carpentry skill that Ceba had introduced to them.

"Hit it."

She did. Her arrow flew a straight path towards the mob, glowing red. The broadhead pierced the eyeball with a frankly disturbing noise reminiscent of an emptying balloon, but otherwise nothing happened.

The Reavers watched as the mob started ambling towards them, lashing out with its tentacles. Drifter frowned as Nautilus, Wolv, and Griselda moved forward to engage it.

"What skill was that, Sinon? It was a different red than your Overcharge."

"Second String. It's not that great so I don't use it often."

The archer certainly seemed disappointed but the result. Her skill hadn't done much damage at all to the mob. It's HP gauge barley dipped.

"What does it do?"

"It's supposed to give my arrows extra range. It sorta woks like a secondary engine in a rocket, giving it further impulse when it starts to slow down. It doesn't do any extra damage, though."

"Hm. Why choose it, then?"

"I found out that if I hit the target before that second wind kicks in, it still happens, and enhances crit chance by quite a lot. So not totally useless, but I also have other skills that do that."

Sinon was appropriately proud when she explained. Finding hidden uses or secondary utilities for skills was one of the marks of a good player. It didn't mean it was easy. Drifter patted her shoulder.

"Keep testing it. Who knows, you might find something else useful. Good thinking, though. Now, about the results..."

"I definitely hit the same eye Ran did. No super crit, though. But you already expected that, didn't you?"

Her tone was conversational, and she continued letting arrows fly while she spoke.

"I suspected it. It seemed too easy that a mob like that would have a fixed insta-kill weak point. This is a round floor, after all."

Drifter bit the inside of his cheek. He felt comfortable enough to simply observe while his guildmates fought, but he was ready to jump in at a moment's notice. However, he believed his time would be better spent analyzing the mob for weaknesses.

"So it is. Do you think we can do it again?"

Her voice shook, and Sinon faltered for a second. Not enough to affect the flow of the battle, but Drifter noticed. His expression darkened.

He knew what the archer meant. The miracle of the 30th floor. Defeating a round floor without any losses. A miracle paid in sweat and blood in the floors before it.

"I don't know. We were pretty good back then. We are better now. But..."

"It's still a round floor. Yeah."

Sinon sighed, and all Drifter could do was offer her a weak smile as one of her arrows finally found its mark and the mob shattered, this time when it still had a full 40% HP left.

"Let's focus on the now, Sinon. We will deal with whatever comes later, later."

Saying that, Drifter clapped his hands to catch the attention of the others. The only one who had been close enough to hear his and Sinon's hushed conversation was Yuna.

"Well, I say this confirms my theory that the Things have an insta-kill weakness. It just ain't fixed. So, from here onwards, this is how we'll fight: Vallerk, Shigio, Nautilus, you will trap it in a triangle formation. Everyone else who isn't Liz, Wolv, and Tetsuo, dart in and out and target the eyes. Try not to overlap. You three, just let loose. If you can just beat the mobs to death before we find their weak points, that works as well. We'll adjust our formation if we come across more than one at once."

"We'll get through this, Sinon."

While Drifter explained their strategy going forward, Yuna rested a gentle hand on Sinon's forearm. The archer looked at the songstress, one of her closest, if not her best friend, and hugged her.

"I know. But let's think happier things. Now that we are on the 40th floor, that trip is close. Yuuki can't stop talking about it."

Yuna giggled. Sinon's girlfriend was a constant source of entertainment.

"And you'll finally get to meet Ceba! She'll be ecstatic to be able to paint you!"

Sinon grimaced. Her, Kirito, and Drifter were very similar when it came to receiving attention.

"Yeah... Not looking forward to that."

"Yuuki is."

The songstress teased. Sinon sagged and sighed dramatically.

"Don't I know it."

"Hey, you two! We are moving!"

Kirito called their two ranged combatants. Yuna raised a hand and waved, shooting Sinon one last smile before following their guildmates.

The archer could only shake her head and grin to herself. What was to come would come. No sense in thinking too deeply about it.