Chapter 141 - Half a Floor

"Time to move out, gents! C'mon! Challenger, the teleporter is yours."

Kibaou scowled, but nodded. Hero Orlando rolled his eyes. His spiky-haired counterpart just couldn't ever be happy with anything.

Regardless, Orlando was in a good mood. Everyone had been in perfect condition today, and the frontliners had brought down the 22nd floor boss with zero casualties. Even the close calls had been few, and not that perilous.

"Putting Kibaou through the paces, Orlando?"

"Heh! Just cutting off his whining before it starts."

The guild leader of the Legend Braves slapped Drifter on the back, and the spearmaster staggered two steps forward, then glared at the boisterous Hero, who put on an innocent expression.

Drifter wasn't fooled, but then again, he wasn't really bothered by it either. Like the other Braves, Orlando was a close friend. As they started climbing the stairs to the next floor, Drifter put an arm around the other man's shoulders.

"Let's see if we can't conquer this floor in time for SAO's first anniversary."

Orlando's smile faltered for a moment, and Drifter almost regretted his words. But then the Brave was grinning brightly again.

"Hmm. Let's."

Orlando punched him lightly on the shoulder, amd shrugged Drifter's arm off before quickening his pace to join his guildmates. The spearmaster looked at his back and sighed.

"I think I said the wrong thing."

A small hand grabbed his own, and Drifter turned to look at Yuna, who had been trailing behind them, listening to their conversation. His songbird bit her lower lips and shook her head.

"Never. It's just hard thinking about how long we've been here."

"We all found new things to enjoy. New people to love. But we still left a lot behind."

From his left, Kirito put a hand on Drifter's shoulder. The Black Swordsman had an unreadable expression on his face.

"We'll get it all back. One year, four, five. As long as it takes."

"We are making good time. If we climb much faster, more people will have to die."

Nautilus and Agil. Apparently everyone had been listening in.

"This is our life. But I wouldn't have it any other way."

"We are frontliners, after all."

Yuuki and Ran. The twins grinned. Like dead women smiling and walking to their doom.

It was the prettiest thing in the world.

Drifter looked at each of them, even the ones who didn't speak. If the Legend Braves were friends, then the Reavers were his family. He might not have chosen them, but he wouldn't change anything that brought him here.

"Should've known you guys wouldn't let me feel depressed. Come on then. Aincrad won't beat itself."

The spearmaster smirked. Who amongst them didn't have times where their darkest thoughts and fears took over? But they always forged on through, regardless of everything else. Because they were frontliners.

"I see the light."

"Dramatic as always. You sure you don't wanna go to theater school after we are out, Liz?"

"Nah. Maybe before, I would do something else, but now I can't think of anything I would rather do than forge. All our weapons, our trusted companions... I want to make all of them in the outside world. My family's forge."

The Reavers smiled fondly at their pink-haired blacksmith, the girl herself unaware of the tears her words just caused her grandfather and big brother to shed.

For the frontliners, this had been simply a raid like any other. Already forgotten by the time Drifter stepped foot on the 23rd floor, shielding his eyes with his hand against the harsh sun.

"Woah... This is..."

"Marvelous."

Never before had Drifter used that adjective, but none could have fit better the sight before his eyes.

The frontliners that climbed the stairs before them, and those who came after, stopped, dumbstruck. Stopped and stared, at a world divided.

A world in halves.

The Assault Team had come out of the tower in a square of raised bedrock. To their right was a seemingly infinite desert. Just sand and nothing else until the edge of the floor, wherever that was.

To their left was a towering wall of water. It rose at least 30 meters above the desert, completely still, as if held back by an invisible wall.

Unlike the desert, the water portion of the floor was teeming with life. Inside the contained ocean, the players could see marine wildlife. Fishes, crustaceans, and more.

It was like they were standing at the border between two different planets. One dead and forsaken, another just in the first stages of its life.

The boundary between the two was right in front of the Assault Team. There was no marking, but it was a clear divide nonetheless. The desert ended and the wall of water started. Or vice versa. Touching, but never interacting.

Seconds and then minutes passed, with the frontliners staring awestruck at the border between the two halves of the floor. It was Klein who broke the stunned silence first.

"Damn... Every time I think we already saw everything Aincrad has to offer, something like this appears. I'm glad. It makes everything almost worth it."

The players nodded in muted agreement. Those sights, those manifestations that defied every law of physics there was, were the reason they had bought Sword Art Online in the first place. A chance to experience a new, magical world.

"That's all well and good, but where the fuck do we go from here?"

Drifter rolled his eyes at Kibaou's crude language. But they did wake him up from his stupor, and he frowned.

"I don't see the town. Unless..."

First sweeping past the desert, his gaze then traveled up, climbing the water wall. Then back down again.

"There."

The frontliners followed his finger. He was pointing right in line with the border between wet and dry. The players squinted.

"Those black things? Aren't they just rocks?"

"I don't think so. Look up."

The players did, and gasped. They had been so overwhelmed by the monumental wall of water that they hadn't paid attention to what was above it.

"That's the town?"

"Half of it, at least. How much do you wanna bet this floor's lore is something along the lines of 'a god or ancient monster split the ocean in half and drained it'?"

The adaptation threshold of the frontliners was truly exceptional. While most of the people in the outside were still speechless from witnessing the impossible scenario through their screens, the players, who were seeing it all personally, had already moved on.

"The desert we are seeing is actually the bottom of an ocean."

Vallerk rested his shield on the ground and stretched. The tank felt exhausted. Today was just one surprise after the other.

"I want to relax in the hot springs."

"Me too."

"Me three."

Kizmel, Sinon, and Griselda spoke, and the other frontliners stared at them like they were mad. Although they were likely the most sane of the bunch.

"What do you think, Pina? It's pretty, isn't it?"

The little dragon chirped against Silica's palm. Liz hugged the young girl from behind, resting her chin on top of Silica's head.

"Y'know, I'll probably have to agree with Pina on this one. This floor seems to be either too hot and dry or wet and cold. No middle ground."

"Hahahaha! That's where the fun is, blacksmith! Imagine all the interesting mobs this floor is gonna have!"

Orlando and the Braves guffawed. Yup, they were still the same battle maniacs. No way they would feel down forever.

"I would rather they be the same old, but I don't think that's gonna happen."

"Don't be boring, old man. You always grumble when we have to fight the same enemies too many times."

Shivata sighed from within the DKB ranks. Liten giggled and ousted him unceremoniously, and her boyfriend blushed when everyone laughed.

"We are never going to know if we stay here chatting."

Agil pipped in, his eyes and his companions', Wolv and Shigio, shining. Frontliners or not, their roots would always be that of merchants.

"Lead the way, Scrooge McAgil!"

Yuuki ribbed him, and the Merchant Warrior held up a fist in mock anger. Her sister watched the exchange with a grin, Nautilus' arm around her waist. The ash-haired player was happy to simply watch in silence.

Drifter shook his head fondly at the numerous conversations happening at the same time, each more outlandish than the other. This was how SAO was supposed to be. Had been meant to be, before all the death and despair.

"Hey, this is trippy! Guys, come over here!"

Asuna and Kirito had wandered away during that time - the former dragging the latter by the hand - and jumped down from their bedrock platform, walking the short distance to the water wall.

Like a child with a new toy, Asuna was sticking her hand inside the contained ocean, one finger at a time, and giggling. Kirito, for all his pretended maturity, had quickly folded to his girlfriend's whims, and was doing the same, with similar, if contained, reactions.

"Hey, what are you lot thinkin'?! This ain't no playground for ya to fool around! Argh..."

"My knights, we have more to do than admire the scenery. Maybe just for a short while."

Kibaou and Lind ran after the crowd, yelling and cursing.

"Oy, Asuna was right, this is trippy! What the heck? Look at me! Hahaha!"

Klein and the Fuurinkazan were the first to reach Asuna and Kirito. The samurai plunged his head sideways into the water without a second thought.

"Children, the lot of them."

"Don't act like you don't treasure them all, dummy. Even the annoying ones."

The married couple leisurely trailed behind the Assault Team, hand-in-hand. Broken Spear Drifter and Songstress Yuna. Two of the largest names in SAO.

"They've grown on me, I'll admit. As for our guild, our Reavers... I never thought I would have a family this big."

"Do you dislike it?"

Drifter squeezed Yuna's hand and showed a true smile, innocent and bright. Full of love.

"I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world."

The songstress grinned, a mirror of his own.

"You really are a dummy. But you are our dummy. Mine."

"Always, songbird."

Those short exchanges of affectionate words and gestures had become more frequent after they married, and neither Drifter nor Yuna wasted a chance to let the other know how much they loved them.

"Eyes front!"

Unfortunately, their lovey-dovey time was interrupted by a shout. Near the front of the group, the desert sand was vibrating in circular patterns.

"Left too!"

Issin from Fuurinkazan yelled too, drawing his blade and turning to the water wall. The players stepped back as a shadow rapidly approached from the depths of the ocean.

"Incoming! Prepare!"

In an instant, the formerly disorganized and rowdy frontliners had established a battle formation. The discrepancy in their behavior was so big it left the spectators outside feeling tumultuous.

Over a hundred players, who were not even moments before laughing and enjoying the novelty of the new floor, became once again the battle hardened frontliners.

Gone were the smiles and laughter. In their place were grim determination and closed expressions.

"I guess this is our introduction to the 23rd floor, huh?"

Shivata chuckled, but there was no mirth in his voice. The DKB vice-leader had turned to face whatever enemy was coming out of the ocean wall, with about half of the Assault Team mimicking him. Kibaou and the ALS naturally chose the one from the desert half of the floor, Reaver's Requiem behind them.

The two mobs burst out of their respective environments at the exact same time. Shivata may have made his remark jokingly, but Cardinal was making an effort to deliver.

The monster from the ocean looked like what you thought a siren would look like if you made it evil. Jet-black scales, bloodshot eyes, some sort of dark-purple goo covering its body, and a mouth full of sharp teeth that opened in a deafening screech.

The mob from the desert side was different, but no less fearsome. It was also a humanoid monster, but it was covered in sandy white fur instead of scales. It had an elongated and twitching snout and beady black eyes. Unlike the siren, this one held a weapon, a crude bone dagger.

With the entirety of the Assault Team here, most of the players wouldn't even have a chance to engage the mobs. Drifter himself was in no hurry. Kirito signaled for him and the other Reavers to let the ALS take the lead, and the spearmaster was happy to comply.

The name above the desert mob's head was Ashara Puppet. The last word implied the existence of a puppeteer or a puppet-master.

His gaze then wandered over to the DKB, who was fighting the screaming siren. Amihenta Decoy. Another strange name.

"A puppet and a decoy, a floor divided in opposite halves... This might be the next campaign."

Griselda calmly spoke while watching Kibaou cut off a chunk of fur of the Ashara Puppet. The others agreed with her, but Drifter shook his head.

"Nope. Well, maybe. But I don't think so."

"Why not?"

Drifter smiled and shared his HUD with the Reavers.

"My quest with Argo just updated again."