Aincrad’s first floor, labyrinth area.
A tower-like structure leading to the next floor consisted of 20 floors.
It has been a month since 10.000 people were trapped in SAO, the clearers have finally reached the 18th floor of the labyrinth area leading to the second floor.
The floor boss was located on the highest floor, on the 20th floor.
“I’d really love to solo the boss if that was possible though….”
Rozen muttered as he stood in front of the entrance to the labyrinth area.
“Goo!”
Rainbow Butterfly exclaimed.
Unlike mini-bosses that Rozen could deal with all by himself, the floor boss was the strongest monster on the floor. Not only it had a huge amount of hp, it also had various attack patterns and skills.
During the closed beta, players around level 5 to 7 would usually form several parties to participate in the boss raid and ended up being wiped out time and time again. Even though Rozen has already reached level 14, there was no guarantee he could kill the boss if he was alone, unless he has mastered Eye of the Mind.
If he has mastered Eye of the Mind, he’ll be able to see through every attack, thus evading it and landed crits in his counterattack. If Rozen could at least do these two things, he’ll be able to solo the boss.
Unfortunately…
“Too bad, I can only maintain Eye of the Mind for 10 seconds, it took several seconds for preparation too, sigh.”
He would’ve already mastered it if it was like any other magic.
But Eye of the Mind was different from normal magic, it emphasized on comprehension.
Therefore, there was no telling whether Rozen would be able to master it or not, all he could do was kept trying until he mastered it.
“Oh well, it can’t be helped.”
Rozen couldn’t rush things up when it came to this particular technique.
“Let’s get down to business first.”
After that, Rozen stepped into the labyrinth.
Any area in SAO had to be explored first before it appeared on the player’s map. Another method was buying a map scroll from another player who has explored certain areas on the map.
The map scroll was already a popular item, even during the closed beta. A lot of clearers sold their map scroll to earn a bunch of Cor.
Map scroll was still popular among players even after SAO has turned into a death game, but the situation was more complicated.
Rozen himself has already mapped up to the 19th floor, only the last floor where the floor boss dwelled left.
Rozen also encountered the mid-boss which haven’t spawned yet even until that moment on the 19th floor. That was where he got his current armor, The Thousand Layer Robe from.
Therefore, Rozen was familiar enough with the layout of the labyrinth area.
“According to Argo’s intelligence, that female swordsman was on the seventeenth floor up until this morning.”
Rozen ran as fast as he could while checking the map to pick the route where the least monster appeared and arrived on the 17th floor.
However…
“Huh?”
Rozen suddenly stopped.
There were several players resting in the safe area in front of him.
That was nothing unusual because the labyrinth area was a very good place to hunt. It was no wonder that there would be players there to earn some exp.
The question was …
“What is with this atmosphere?”
It was like there was a commotion among players.
“What’s with this commotion?”
But it didn’t look like a conflict. These players were talking among themselves. It looked more like cooperation than conflict.
“Cooperation?”
Rozen faintly felt that something was not quite right.
Although most players would love to have a party to hunt faster especially in the labyrinth area, it was weird to see that many players here. There were multiple parties, it was as if they were trying to defeat the floor boss
Or…
“Are they here for her?”
Rozen could roughly grasp the situation here.
At this rate…
“This is bad, Argo…”
Rozen sighed and then made his way toward those players.
They noticed Rozen, and as soon as they saw the Rainbow Butterfly behind him…
“Hey Hey hey…”
“Isn’t that…”
“Hmph…”
They knew Rozen and instantly glared at him full of hostility.
One of them even blocked Rozen’s way to harass him.
“If it isn’t the great beta tester!”
That player mocked him.
“You sure have the guts to walk past us.”
It was a slightly small man, but he was quite buffed, holding a slightly large One-Handed Sword.
The man pointed his finger at his nose and introduced himself.
“My name is Kibaou, you better remember this name.”
Rozen couldn’t help but murmur.
“Seems like this is gonna be a busy day.”
