Chapter 102 - Air Attack

"Namate won't be the last. But we'll make sure it wasn't in vain. Wherever he is, he is going to see us free one day."

The only answer Drifter received was a forceful nod from Nautilus. The ash-haired player was as affected by Namate's death as any of the others. But he had long since cried all the tears he had. They all did.

"I'll leave it to you."

It was unknown who Nautilus was talking to. He gently stroked Yuna's hair and patted Drifter on the back before leaving for his room.

The songstress hadn't shown any reaction to Drifter or Nautilus' words. She still had her head burrowed on the spearman's back and her arms wrapped around him.

"I'm here, Yun'. Sorry. C'mon."

Slowly, Drifter shifted and turned around so he could embrace Yuna. He ran his fingers through her smooth hair. She had been letting it grow - more like chosen the long hair option on the menu. It now reached the middle of her back.

Very gently, Drifter guided Yuna towards her room. She was trembling, and he knew exactly why. Fear. Not for her, but for him. His feelings were much the same, only towards her. There was no curing that. All they needed was to hold each other close, make sure the other was all right.

(A/N: Sorry to break the flow, but I want to ward off all the comments I know are coming. I'm not using Namate's death to rush Drifter and Yuna's relationship to a more physical and sexual point. Read and you will see.)

Drifter sat down on the bed and cradled Yuna to his side. She still didn't let go, so he laid down, her head now on his chest as he kept his ministrations.

"Yuna? Yun'? I'm here. I'm not going anywhere."

Eventually, the songstress did calm down. She raised her head to look at him, her eyes bloodshot.

"I thought I had gotten used to it, Drifter. But I'm like this now. I can't help it."

She was so afraid. Drifter forced down his own fears and insecurities. They were not what Yuna needed to hear at this moment.

"It's not something you ever have to get used to, Yun'. I know I hope I never do. The day we can watch our companions die and feel nothing, Kayaba won."

The songstress stares into his eyes, as if searching for a sign of reproach or disgust in Drifter's gaze. She would never find any, not there.

"I don't want the nightmares. Don't leave me, please."

Tightening her hold on him, Yuna rested her head on his chest again, and closed her eyes. Drifter planted a soft kiss on her forehead, his fingers flicking to turn off the lights.

"Never. Like I said, I'm not going anywhere, Yun'."

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Neither Drifter nor Yuna were aware of the outside reactions to seeing them enter one room and the message [ Transmission currently unavailable ] appear. Even then, they probably would have only cared about two sets of reactions: from Drifter's parents, and Yuna's father. Those three were very confused, and one of them not just a little concerned when neither of the players came out even two hours later. After all, there was no way for those in the real world to know that all Drifter and Yuna did was sleep.

But the couple didn't know they were being watched, and those outside had no way to contact the players inside Sword Art Online. So Drifter woke up the next day cuddling Yuna, and froze.

His hands were in safe locations, so that was one less worry - and a tiny sense of loss. Drifter also wasn't a teenager who would panic in this situation, so after a moment of surprise, he settled down and continued holding the songstress.

He hadn't intended to sleep here. Boyfriend and girlfriend or not, they still hadn't gotten to that stage of their relationship, and Drifter didn't want to do anything to make Yuna uncomfortable. His initial intention had been to put her to sleep and leave, but then she asked him to stay... And how could he say no when she sounded so fragile?

Good thing he stayed too. Now that he was more awake, Drifter distinctly remembered waking up twice during the night to Yuna thrashing about and mumbling. Only when he hugged her close did she settle down, with him falling asleep again soon after.

He had seen Namate in his dreams, as he knew he would. Rockal too. And also Diavel, Morte, and everyone else he had seen die. It was always like that. The nightmares eventually faded away, but they always came back, with new additions.

"Hhmm... Drifter?"

While he was still musing, Yuna stirred and twisted her neck to look at him with half-lidded eyes. All frontliners slept light and woke up at dawn. Yuna still wasn't entirely awake when she turned around to kiss him lightly and then snuggled on his chest.

When he pulled her closer and she shook slightly, however, Drifter knew she had fully woken up and realized what she had done. And he just knew she had to be blushing madly, which was why she refused to take her head away from his chest and look at him. Just imagining her red face made him forget the nightmares and put a smile on his face.

"Told you I'm never leaving you, Yuna."

"Yeah..."

They stayed in a comfortable silence after that. Neither was really keen on getting up, because once they did, it would be another day of fighting for their lives. Unfortunately, someone had to do that if they wanted to escape, and they happened to be that someone.

"We should get up."

"You sure?"

"Unfortunately. As much as I enjoyed hugging you to sleep, the others should already be awake by now."

Sighing, the songstress propped herself up. Drifter grinned at her grimace, and reached up to give her a short kiss before getting up.

"C'mon, Yun'. New floor, new mobs, new battles, and all that."

"I'm thrilled."

She drawled the sarcastic response, and Drifter grinned impudently. Namate's death was still fresh in their memory. But it was better to smile and soldier on.

Holding hands, the two walked out of Yuna's room. And then immediately stopped. Across the corridor, Nautilus was similarly frozen in the doorway to his room.

Drifter felt like he had been caught red-handed doing something he shouldn't. The three of them stood still for two entire minutes. Then, Nautilus very slowly, deliberately, raised an eyebrow and smirked.

"Good morning to you too. Had fun?"

"Naut!"

Yuna shrieked, blushing madly, and whacked Nautilus in the arm multiple times. Drifter himself was a little red, but he took it in stride. The ash-haired player's eyes were twinkling, and Drifter's matched his.

"It was a good night's sleep."

"Drifter!"

It was the spearman's turn to be smacked, but he just laughed and captured Yuna into a hug. She struggled a bit before sighing and resting her head on his shoulder.

"I hate you all."

The two men burst out laughing. Drifter held Yuna's waist while Nautilus threw an arm over her shoulder, and they walked down the stairs to the inn's common room while holding her in the middle of them.

A few of the Reavers were already there. Kirito, Asuna, Ran - Yuuki and Merida were heavy sleepers. Liz and Vallerk were in a corner, the blacksmith seemingly going over a design with him, if her wide motions were anything to go by. Sinon was, as usual, sitting at the end of a table with Kirito and Asuna, eating quietly. Not alone, but also not quite in the group.

Kizmel was the one who caught Drifter's eyes. The dark elf was just entering the inn as they came down, and he felt curious about where she had gone so early in the morning.

"Hey, Kiz. Everythin' alright?"

"Hello, Drifter. Yuna, Nautilus. And yes, everything is quite okay. I was just checking out the town."

Kizmel greeted them with a smile and her usual politeness. Drifter let go of Yuna to grab a slice of some kind of pie on a table and bumped fists with the dark elf.

"Anything interesting?"

"About the town itself, no. But I went to the battlements and talked with an old guard. He gave me a monster extermination quest, and I managed to scout some of this floor's creatures."

"Yeah? What about them?"

Chewing, Drifter sat down next to Yuna while Kizmel went around the table to sit across from him. She looked at their cyan-haired archer.

"I believe we will be relying on Sinon a lot for this floor."

Sinon looked up from her menu when she heard her name. By the way her fingers were moving, Drifter guessed she was going over her skill list.

"Relying on me? For what?"

Kizmel took the fruit slice Asuna handed her, and gestured to the air.

"All the monsters on this floor have wings."

...

Drifter wasn't sure how he felt about this floor's mobs. They were cute, cuddly, and would try to murder you if given the chance. Their name was Thorn Nimbus, and they looked like slightly more solid clouds, just floating about ten meters over the ground. Until they aggroed on you, at which point the cloud reversed to show hundreds of thorns, or, as Silica propositioned, quills, like those of a porcupine.

"Dodge!"

The Thorn Nimbus's main attack method was to become a ball of pain and dive at the players, hitting them as if they were pins and it was a bowling ball. A bowling ball covered in thorns.

Drifter threw his body to the left, dragging Merida and Kizmel with him. The Thorn Nimbus smacked the ground where they had been standing, carving a deep gorge on the dry soil. The entire plateau was scarred with such marks thanks to the hundreds of clearers fighting Thorn Nimbus. They did fill up again after some time, though.

"Now!"

While Drifter and the other two were still recovering from the fall, the rest of the guild started their offensive on the mob. There was a period of time after they attacked during which the Thorn Nimbus would be dizzy and vulnerable. Just a few seconds, but that might as well be a lifetime for elites like them.

The entirety of Reaver's Requiem was against that one Thorn Nimbus. It didn't last long, not with Kirito, Asuna, Yuuki, Ran, Silica, and Nautilus all hitting it at once.

That was when they discovered the second feature of the Thorn Nimbus that made them not so cute and cuddly anymore. They exploded when you killed them. Quills went everywhere, flying at the speed of a bullet - Kirito and Yuuki actually managed to deflect a couple, to everyone's amazement, but there were too many.

"Oh crap- Get down!"

Half of the Reavers dove down, the other didn't even bother. It didn't make a difference. They were all struck the same, and their HP dropped. Not by much, but enough to be an annoyance.

"Right. Forget these mobs. We are going south. You said there's some kind of flying serpent over there, Kizmel?"

When they got up, all with two dozen punctures all over their bodies, the first thing Kirito did was declare they were changing targets. When the dark elf nodded, the young swordsman started leading them away from this section of the plateau. Nobody complained. Fighting the Thorn Nimbus was a pain in the ass.

"Sinon, we'll try the same tactic again with the snakes. A Crippling Shot to the wings to see if you can bring it down. Didn't work with the Thorn Nimbus since they didn't have actual wings - or a body really - but might be effective on the other mobs."

The archer shrugged. Her bow certainly had the potential to make things easier on this floor, but it wasn't the end of the world if it didn't work. Kayaba would never make an unbeatable enemy, so it was certain that every mob would, at one moment or another, get close enough for players to attack them.

"Hold on. Agil just messaged me, he's asking if we can meet up."

They were a few minutes on their way towards the south side of the floor when Kirito held up a hand and stopped them. Drifter tilted his head.

"They left before we could check up on them today. Think this has something to do with Namate?"

"Likely. Drifter, Asuna, can you come with me? He's asking for the guild's leadership."

Truly curious this time, Drifter raised an eyebrow. Specifically asking for the top three of Reaver's Requiem made this seem like an official thing. Drifter could think of only a handful of reasons why Agil would want them. Some good, some bad. He nodded, as did Asuna.

"Alright. Ran, Kizmel, you are in charge until we get back. Hunt safely."

After what happened the day before and the sudden spike in difficulty, the others weren't about to let Kirito, Drifter, and Asuna split from them and go back to the city alone. They escorted the trio, much to their amusement, to the gates before going to level.

"Agil wants to meet in that inn east of the teleporter, the one with the big sign."

"Any idea what this is about?"

Instead of answering Asuna, Kirito turned to Drifter, a question in his gaze. The spearman nodded.

"He's either giving up or going all in. But it's Agil we are talking about. I know what I'm betting on."

"Yeah..."

They stayed silent for the rest of the way. Asuna had caught Kirito's hand with hers, and Drifter smirked at their slightly ruddy faces. He still owed Yuna a date, now that he thought about it. Their dinner plans had been completely forgotten after the raid and casualties.

"We are here."

He was brought out of his musings when Kirito spoke. Without waiting, the black-haired boy swung open the doors to the inn. Agil, Wolv, and Shigio were sitting at a table, waiting for them.