128 Chapter 128 - Both Are Real

Passing on the news about Laughing Coffin to the rest of the Assault Team hadn't gone well.

Drifter, Kirito, Asuna, and Argo had chosen to make it an 'open session'. Meaning, they called an emergency meeting with all the frontliners, not just the guild leaders and vice-leaders, and on the very next day of the fight with the red guild.

There had been much grumbling as the frontliners arrived for the meeting, having been pulled out of their farming and leveling up. The annoyance was replaced with horror as the three Reavers and Argo took turns describing their conflict with Laughing Coffin. Any instinctive denial was squashed by Griselda herself coming forth and telling her part in the story.

Maybe it would have been better if they had kept it to a select few. They had argued about that, Argo being in favor of only telling the guild leaders so as to not spook Laughing Coffin into hiding. But she was out voted by Drifter and the other two, who believed spreading the news and letting players beware was worth the panic.

There was hardly a way to know if they made the right decision or not. Nevertheless, the next few weeks saw a sharp increase of the tension amongst normal players, and in the size of groups adventuring out of safe zones. The amount of players in the wilderness, however, decreased, as many were too scared to go out.

For the clearers and frontliners, there was little change in the routine. Unlike lower level players, they didn't have the option of stepping back. And while the thought of murderers hiding in the dark was unsettling, the top players were confident in their abilities.

But regardless of the actions taken by the players, there was no sign of Laughing Coffin. If it weren't for Reaver's Requiem prestige giving credence to the tale, and Louze in the Black Iron Palace, many would think the Reavers had made it all up.

Oh yes, many people went to 'visit' Louze in the prison. Lind, Kibaou, Shivata, Klein, Orlando, all wanted to see the red player with their own eyes and, in the case of the first two, make sure the Reavers were telling the truth and not hiding anything.

They may not have gotten proper confirmation, but Louze's madness and hysterical behavior put paid to that. The player was properly insane, and the cursor above his head was very red. Laughing Coffin existed, no doubt about that.

Eventually the players forgot about it. Well, they would never truly forget, that would be not only irresponsible, but also foolish. But without any traces of Laughing Coffin even after they cleared the 19th floor, they put the matter to the back of their minds.

The frontliners had a much more urgent worry in their hands. The 20th floor. While every boss raid was dangerous and potentially deadly, the round floors were on another level entirely. Players liked to come up with nicknames for everything, but any they thought up for the 10th, 20th floors, and so on, were so ominous they gave up.

One thing every frontliner understood was that, when the time for the boss raid came, some of them might die. And sure, that possibly was never far away even on normal floors, but that was usually due to mistakes or carelessness. Not on the round floors. On those, even if you did everything perfectly and without a single misstep, you might still die. That was not due to the players lacking anything, but simply how overwhelmingly stronger the floor bosses were.

Needless to say, it was a very wary Assault Team that stepped on the 20th floor for the first time. They had just come from a floor where behind every tree was an assassin, but they were somehow more high-strung here than on the 19th floor.

The contrast was probably on purpose. It had to be. Because when the Assault Team stepped on the verdant grass, feeling the comfortable breeze blowing on their faces, the 20th floor could not be more different than its gloomy predecessor.

In fact, the 20th floor seemed to be almost a carbon copy of the 1st, so much that the frontliners were feeling a sense of deja vu.

Grassy hills extending from one side of the floor to the other, with sparse groups of mobs here and there, none close enough to be a threat. A river ran lazily in the distance, and they could hear a waterfall hidden somewhere out of their sight. The town was about a kilometer away, pretty little houses with smoke drifting from the chimney. Even the tower to ascend to the next floor was clearly visible, although the entrance wouldn't be so easy to find.

"Sooo... Was the 10th floor just Kayaba being overly sadistic, or is all of this just a huge smokescreen?"

"The latter, definitely."

"Yup."

"No doubt about it. This is just the calm before the storm."

"The boss is gonna be hell."

The frontliners were too traumatized by now to be anything but skeptical about the new floor. None of them entertained even for a moment the honestly idiotic notion that Kayaba might be 'taking it easy'. The game master didn't know what that expression meant.

The players had grown wiser.

"Aight, everyone can see the town and mobs, so we ain't gonna stick together this time 'round. See y'all, the teleporter is ours this time. Aincrad Liberation Squad, we are leaving!"

The Reavers didn't contest Kibaou, and watched the Assault Team split apart. Klein and Orlando waved goodbye to them before heading towards the settlement. Kirito looked around.

"What do you think, guys? To the town or let's explore some?"

The Reavers stopped and considered his question. On one hand, they were tired. On the other...

"The sun here is really nice."

"Indeed. There's that hill over there, the one with the lone tree. It looks perfect for a picnic."

"I did make some sandwiches."

Asuna searched her inventory and came out with one of the snacks which smelled absolutely delicious, and that settled it.

Over 20 floors, the Reavers had learned the importance of rest. And, though it took some convincing for some of them, eventually they all understood that taking some time off every few days wouldn't be what condemned them to Aincrad for eternity.

"This really does look like the 1st floor! Even the mobs are similar! Okay, those pigs are a lot bigger than the Frenzy Boars. And their color is different. But still, it's close! You think Kayaba ran out of ideas already? Maybe he is rehashing?"

Yuuki excitedly pointed at a group of three furry animals, each the size of a small car and with tusks that wouldn't look out of place in the prehistoric section of a museum.

"Granite Boars. I can take one. Liz, Agil, Wolv, Shigio, with me."

Drifter took his pick, and Kirito nodded, then aimed his sword at another mob.

"That one is mine then. Vallerk, Silica, Kizmel. Asuna, the last one is yours."

"Got. Nautilus, Yuuki, Ran, we'll try to lead it to that depression over there to restrict its movement."

"Sinon, overwatch. Yuna, Firemare or Song of Stone, depending on the situation. I'll leave it at your discretion."

"Sure thing, Kirito. Dark Melody might also be a good one here. I'll see how it goes."

The Songstress put away her harp in favor of a long flute she had gotten from a quest on the 16th floor. Yuna's Musical Instruments skill was the highest in SAO, to no one's surprise. Song of Stone and Dark Melody were two of her newest songs. The first was a defense buff for allies, and the latter a defense debuff for enemies.

The three Granite Boars were happily grazing, but their demeanor changed entirely when the players got within 50 meters of them. They raised their heads, beady eyes fixated on the humans, tusks glinting dangerously in the sunlight, and pawned the ground. Agil hefted his axe and grunted.

"That's a large aggro range."

"We are downwind."

Sinon pointed out. As an archer, she was sensitive towards that kind of thing.

"Ugh, why did Kayaba have to be so realistic with all those little things?"

"He's a perfectionist. Now, watch out. It looks like they are... Yup, they are charging."

Trusting his comrades to deal with the other two mobs, Drifter hit the leftmost Granite Boar with Serpentcoil Impale, luring it in their direction.

Growling with rage at the attack, the mob lowered its head and charged straight at Drifter. It was as big as a car, and just about as fast as one.

Liz smacked it down. Her glowing hammer caught it right on the top of its head with a Hammer Down, the powerful downwards blow causing the Granite Boar to smash head first into the ground and almost flip over.

Agil and Wolv came from the side, one with a huge axe, the other with a mace the size of a watermelon, both striking the downed mob without a hint of mercy. Shigio stood back on this round, shield raised and a Taunt ready to catch the aggro when the monster pig got back up.

Say what you will about beast-type mobs' intelligence, but the Granite Boar was resilient. After receiving attacks from four of Aincrad's highest-level players, and strong skills on top of that, the mob merely grunted and shook itself. Its HP had barely decreased by a fifth.

"Heh. Dark Melody it is, Yuna! Those things are tough!"

Drifter grinned despite himself. This was more like it! Compared to fighting Laughing Coffin and trying to unravel their plot, if there was even one, this was much nicer. Much more normal.

The thought struck Drifter as odd. When did it happen? When did he start considering this daily life of hunting monsters the people in the outside world had never imagined as normal?

For what mattered, when had he started calling it 'outside world'? Drifter distinctively remembered thinking of it as the 'real world' at the start. Back when SAO was just a virtual prison, and all he wanted was to escape this fake world and go back to the real one.

The thought kept swirling in Drifter's head even as he cut down the Granite Boar. It was a fact. For him, this world where he was right now, the monster he just killed, the grass he was standing on, everything was real.

When had that become his reality?

Maybe it was when Kizmel joined their guild? She was clearly more than an NPC. She had feelings and behaved just like a normal person. She had broken the NPC mold, and, with it, shattered the thin barrier in Drifter's mind.

Or maybe it was even earlier. When they founded the guild- No, earlier still. Earlier than his meeting with Kirito, Asuna, and Sinon.

It was when he started adventuring with Yuna and Nautilus. The first time he saw something else in SAO other than pain and death. A prospect of something new, something enjoyable.

Yes, that was it. While he would never be able to pinpoint the exact moment, the change had happened when he started looking forward to the next day, instead of just wishing for it to end.

It had been the people. Yuna and Nautilus. Argo. Kirito, Asuna, and Sinon. Agil, Wolv, and Shigio. Kizmel and Feredir. Silica and Vallerk. Yuuki and Ran. Lisbeth. Keita, Sachi, Ducker, Tetsuo, and Sasamaru. Griselda.

Shivata and Liten. Orlando, Nezha, Chuchulainn, Beowulf, Gilgamesh, Enkidu. Klein, Harry One, Issin, Dynamm, Dale, Kunimittz.

Akari.

Sasha, Shun, Lala, and Yuka.

Cainz, Schmitt, Yolko.

Kibaou and Lind.

Grimlock.

XaXa and Louze.

Meowlen. Shishio. Diavel. Valedin. Locke. Namate and Merida. Rockal. Morte.

Faces flashed through Drifter's mind. Some close, some far away. Some friends and family, others enemies and mortal foes. Some NPCs, some players.

Some still here, others long gone.

Drifter had never realized just how many people he had met in Sword Art Online. From those he barely knew to those he considered family in all but blood.

"Nice! Everyone, sit down and grab a sandwich! You too, Griselda, stop being so hesitant. You are one of us now!"

Drifter looked at his guild. Asuna distributing sandwiches to everybody. Agil, Shigio, and Wolv setting up a cloth underneath the shade of the tree. Silica and Kizmel patting Feredir while Vallerk and Liz watched. Ran and Sinon trying to reign in an overly excited Yuuki. Nautilus laughing at something Kirito said. Griselda, standing unsure of where she fit, but willingly getting dragged along. Yuna, smiling and waving at him.

Heroes and monsters. Drifter knew them all. They were what made this world real. As real as the one he came from.