AUTHOR'S NOTE
Hey, everyone! First of all, I just want to say I really, really appreciate all the support in my little rant last week. It genuinely warms my heart to read so many nice things said about me, which I'm not sure are deserved since I went beyond being passive-aggressive and into just being straight up rude.
Secondly, I want to apologize to all the readers, but especially those I kinda called out during my rant, even if I didn't mention any names. You didn't deserve that. I know most, if not all of you, just love my story and want to see more of it. In a way, having readers ask for more chapters can be very flattering for me as the author.
Just... tone it down a little, okay? Please. Asking for updates is all well and good, but when you start saying stuff like you wish you knew where I lived so you could come make me write more... it goes from flattering to uncomfortable very quickly.
Also, apparently someone posted my rant in some subreddit, and it kinda blew up? I got a dm telling me to check it out, and I don't really use reddit other than a couple times for shameless self-promotion, but it had like 150 comments, lots of which were people arguing. I just want to say the world is a strange, wild place.
Again, thank you for your support, and sorry for any discomfort I might have caused. I'll try to avoid going off on rants like that in the future, it really was just a combination of irl stress setting of an unnecessary chain reaction on my part.
Now, let's get on with the story! Enjoy the chapter!
///// START OF THE CHAPTER /////
Drifter would like to say that the Reavers had a calm and measured response to Yui disappearing right in front of them a second time in less than an hour. That they took the necessary precautions and prepared all their safeguards.
That's what he would like to say. The truth was, they barely stopped to open their menus and equip their armors and weapons before following her into the darkness.
Torches of bright blue fire lit up as they stepped foot into the dungeon - and it was one, no doubt about it.
A large corridor, at least 20 meters tall and of the same width, stretched into the darkness. Other than the orchestra illuminating the gray stone, it had no defining features.
And--
"Is that... crying?"
Vallerk gripped his tower shield tightly, eyes wide as he tried to peer into the black void where the torches hadn't been fired up yet.
But he was right. All the Reavers could hear it, very softly in the background. It was faint, but the noise was unmistakably that of someone sobbing. A child.
"Okay, that's creepy as fuck."
"Yui!"
"Asuna, no!"
Drifter had to grab the fencer's arm to hold her back. No matter how anxious they all were, dashing alone into the darkness was a fast way to get killed and nothing else.
"Reavers, move! Nautilus, Vallerk, Griselda, Kizmel, up front. Agil, Wolv, Liz, watch our backs. Sinon, Kirito, take turns with Searching. Watch out for traps. Let's go!"
They set a pace that could only be called reckless - but you tried to stop them when one of their own, a child at that, was on the line. It was Drifter could do to stop them, and himself, from just charging blindly.
More torches lit up as they advanced, and the ones behind them were snuffed out, keeping the Reavers always within a cone of light, with darkness in front and behind them. Drifter didn't like it.
He didn't like anything about this. Yui disappearing, her eyes glowing and how she acted like another person when they found her, the heartbroken look she directed at them, like she knew it was the last time she would see any of the Reavers.
He didn't like this endless corridor beneath the Town of Beginnings. He didn't like the fact it was open for anyone to stumble into it.
Most of all, he didn't like the fact it wasn't considered a safe zone despite being in the middle of one. Or was beneath the 1st floor not considered part of it?
"Enemies!"
They had barely walked a hundred meters when Sinon called out the warning. Her hands blurred and shone with a skill as three arrows flew through the air to intercept a long, fleshy thing that was darting towards the leading Reavers.
"Crooooaaacckkkk!"
Whatever it was, Sinon's arrows blew it apart, evoking a very loud and guttural cry of pain. The players halted momentarily as the enemy revealed itself.
It was a frog. A giant green frog with orange warts all over its back, and a gaping pink mouth big enough to swallow a large dog whole, now full of red shards from where its tongue had been blasted apart by Sinon's Searing Steam.
Drifter glanced at the mob's stats finding it comparable to an enemy in the mid 60s floors. His eyes turned cold.
"Kill it."
The frontliners had already started exploring the 70s floors. Any one of them, even Yuna, could take a mob like this on their own, and kill it in a matter fo seconds.
Kirito and Asuna dashed forward, swords glowing with Sonic Leap and Linear. Two lines appeared across the frog's body, and its health plummeted. Then Vallerk crushed it with his shield.
"Keep going. Find Yui."
More of the mobs appeared, dozens of them, and were torn apart as soon as they showed up. The Reavers weren't interested in playing with them.
Drifter's spear flicked forward, impaling a mob through the roof of the mouth before he reverted his hold and switched it to a halberd mid downward swing, cleaving off half the face of another enemy. A change into a lance and a thrust later, and a third mob died.
The frogs would be strong, even deadly, for the average player, and some of the higher-level variations would give even clearers trouble. But they were still too weak in front of elite frontliners.
"Path's branching up ahead."
"Split up?"
"No. There's something very wrong with this place. Can't you feel it?"
Drifter could. Even without Kizmel's warning, he wouldn't have split the guild. Ever since they had sat foot in the dungeon, his instincts had been screaming at him to get out. That they weren't ready for this place yet.
But they had to find Yui.
"Sachi, sketch a map. This dungeon isn't supposed to exist. There should be nothing this high level in the 1st floor. I don't trust the system anymore."
He could see a map being created in his menu, a straight path through the fog. But considering all there was for the name of the dungeon were question marks, Drifter would rather be safe than sorry. Sachi enjoyed painting, specially after meeting Ceba, so she always carried some canvas and tools. It wasn't perfect, but it would do.
"How do we know which way Yui went?"
Asuna's knuckles turned white from how strongly she was gripping her rapier, but she suppressed her emotions. Drifter smiled wanly at her.
"Yui's still safe and sound on the guild roster, not even in combat. The mobs aren't attacking her for some reason. All we have to do is keep going, and we'll find her."
Thank the gods for small mercies. Asuna nodded tightly, and Drifter would have felt sorry for the mobs in their way if nlt for the fact he wanted to slaughter them just as badly.
"We'll keep going straight for now. Call out if you see anything out of the ordinary, no matter how small."
He needn't have said that, the Reavers had done this a thousand times. But they nodded anyway, and kept advancing.
Drifter's eyes scanned the darkness ahead, and his ears strained to listen to the croaking sound that would announce more mobs approaching.
But when the next attack came, they saw it from a mile away.
"What's that?"
The ominous red glow in the distance stopped all of them dead on their tracks. Only a giant arrow saying 'powerful enemy here' was missing.
"Boss?"
"Yui!"
At first Drifter didn't get what Asuna meant. Yui and a boss were two entirely different things.
Then he saw the much smaller blue glow, previously overshadowed by the red, and though the colors were all they could see, he immediately knew Asuna was right.
There was just one thing to do then.
"Let's go!"
Abandoning any semblance of caution, the Reavers sprinted towards their missing member.
"Get. Out. Of. The. Way!"
The first group of mobs they came across was torn apart - quite literally - by Drifter's Reminiscence, his spear shining gold as it carved a straight path through the enemies, sending broken limbs and shredded tongues flying, and filling the air with red shards.
What was left of the monsters - and a fair amount of them had died instantly to critical hits - were swiftly dispatched by Asuna's rapier and Kirito's dual swords.
The closer they got, the stronger the trepidation Drifter felt was. He felt like he was trying to move underwater.
Even before they saw the enemy, Drifter knew they were in way over their heads. It was the same kind of feeling he got when facing a sure-death floor boss. Worse even.
"Kirito, Asuna."
The spearmaster licked his suddenly dry lips, catching the attention of two of his oldest friends.
"When we get there... take Yui and go. We'll stall it."
"Drifter--"
"Just do it. You can feel it too, right? We can't fight properly if we are worried about her."
Asuna bit her lips hard enough Drifter was afraid she would hurt herself. Pain may not be activated under the 50th floor, but this dungeon didn't count, he just knew it.
"Drifter's right. Take your girl and book it, we'll take care of the rest."
Agil tried for a light-hearted tone, but didn't quite manage it. And before the couple could respond, they were there.
Drifter sucked in a sharp breath of air when the torches in this section of the corridor flared to life and he finally caught sight of the enemy.
It was the Grim Reaper, no other description fit. A gigantic cloaked figure, about 7 meters tall, with the top of its head nearly brushing the ceiling as it floated a couple meters above the ground. Whenever its hood shifted, glimpses of a skeletal visage could be seen.
And, of course, it was carrying the biggest scythe the spearmaster had ever seen, the wickedly sharp curved blade at least the size of two of him put on top of each other.
He was almost afraid to look above the monster's head. Forget the ominous red glow around it, the cursor over it was of a red so deep it was almost black.
Fatal Scythe. What an accurate, and yet entirely inadequate denominator.
Drifter would have more thoughts on the matter if his attention wasn't immediately redirected to the two absolutely tiny, in comparison, figures facing the boss.
Well, one of them was facing it anyway. Yui stood protectively in front of another small girl who was curled up in fetal position on the ground, seemingly unconscious. Both of them were glowing blue, though Yui's light was much stronger.
The half of the girl's face that Drifter could see was covered in lavender hair, her eyes tightly closed and brows furrowed, like she was experiencing a nightmare. She couldn't be any older than Yui.
And speaking of Reaver's Requiem's little fairy--
"Yui!"
Yui glanced over her shoulder, eyes brimming with tears, and despite the situation, Drifter felt his heart soaring. Their little girl was back to being who she was, not the emotionless drone from before!
Now to keep it that way, and get everyone out alive.
"Kirito, Asuna, get her out! The other one too!"
Drifter had no idea who the unconscious little girl was, but he wasn't about to leave a child behind, even if it wasn't obvious Yui was protecting her.
His spear glowed red as he prepared a Rage Spike to put himself between Yui and the boss.
"Ugh!"
He then groaned uncomfortably when he was forced to cancel the skill mid-activation, always a jarring feeling, when Yui stepped in his way.
"Uncle Drifter, no!"
Shaking off the cooldown paralysis, the spearmaster briefly glanced at Yui before his gaze snapped back to the Fatal Scythe.
It... wasn't attacking them. Actually, it hadn't moved at all, empty eye sockets staring at Yui and the other girl, and not even acknowledging the players' existence.
Normally Drifter would be offended, but in this case he was glad. The reaper-like boss was far stronger than anything they had ever fought before, strong enough the Broken Spear couldn't see a path to victory against it.
"It won't attack me, Uncle Drifter! Just stay behind me!"
Drifter's eyes widened slightly and he heard some of his Reavers gasping. He rolled his spear in his palms, but stopped.
"Please explain, Yui. Everything, as fast as you can."
He hated how harsh his words sounded, but they were closer to death now than they had ever been before. He would at least like to know why.
"Uncle Drifter... Papa, Mama... I-- I remember. I know who I am now."
Kirito jerked forward involuntarily, and Asuna made a sound like someone had stepped on her foot. Drifter just tightened his grasp onto his weapon.
"We can talk about it later, Yui. But we should get going now."
His eyes never left the hovering boss, but he suddenly felt remarkably calm.
It wasn't because he fully trusted that it wouldn't attack like Yui said. But for the first time since Kirito came up to him in the plaza and said his daughter had disappeared, they finally could slow down and think.
"I can't leave, Uncle Drifter."
And just like that, his heart was back on his throat. He worried at his bottom lip, but it was Asuna who spoke.
"Why not, Yui? Please... please come with us. I just need you to be safe."
Large tears streamed from Yui's eyes, breaking into tiny shards as they fell to the ground. But the little girl shook her head, spreading her arms to once more block the Fatal Scythe's path.
"I can't, Mama. I have to protect her. She is... she is so hurt! She was calling me!"
"Who-- Who is she, Yui?"
Yui didn't even pause to think before answering.
"My sister."