Floor 74: Dungeon
In front of the teens stood the floor 74 boss, The Gleam Eyes. Reina steps closer to Kirito and places a hand on his arm. Gleam Eyes raised his weapon and roared at the teens causing them to run away screaming for their lives. Now out of the room, Kirito and Reina sat against a wall breathing heavily. Reina suddenly starts laughing causing Kirito to look at her, confused. "Have you gone mad?" He asks only to get smacked across the head. "No! That's gonna be one tough boss to beat." She tells him. "You're right. I saw he only had that one big sword and I'm pretty sure it's got special attacks, too." Kirito shares. "We're gonna have to put tanks in the front row and keep switching out just to wear it down." Reina notes. "Yeah, and it wouldn't hurt to have about 10 shield users." Kirito adds. "Shield users, huh?" Reina asks. "What? What's wrong?" Kirito asks, sitting upright.
"You." Reina wraps her arms underneath her thighs and pulls her knees up to her chest. "You're hiding something, aren't you?" She asks, shocking the boy. "What are you talking about?" Kirito asks. "I realized something. The biggest advantage of using a one-handed sword is you can also use a shield, but as long as I've known you, I've never seen you using one. Asuna and I don't use shields cause it will slow down our rapiers. Others don't because they think it looks dumb." Reina explains, looking at him and he looks away crossing his arms. "By the way, where's that sword Liz made you? That's suspicious if you ask me." Reina tells him. "Hmm." Reina hums, staring at him but he continues looking away. "Whatever!" Reina leans her head back on the wall. "I shouldn't doubt you and your skill, after all, I did ditch my guard for you." She shares and Kirito sighs. Reina tucks her feet under her and opens her menu.
"Since it's late. Why don't we have lunch here?" Reina suggests, equipping a picnic basket. "Really? Did you make it yourself?" Kirito asks. "I did, but before we eat you should take your gloves off." Reina suggests, placing the basket beside her and taking off her gloves. Kirito takes his gloves off and Reina hands him a sandwich. "Enjoy!" She tells him. Kirito takes a bite from the sandwich and turns to Reina. "This is good!" He tells her. "I never asked this before but how'd you get your food to taste so amazing?" Kirito asks. "By studying and trying out different stuff for a whole year." Reina tells him, showing him the different tabs. "Aincrad has everything you need. There's about a hundred different seasonings. I made everything just by calculating all the parameters used by the flavor recreation engine. This was made with grogua seed, shugra leaf, and calim water." Reina takes a bottle of green sauce and pours a drop on Kirito's hand.
"It's mayonnaise..." Kirito points out after tasting it. "This was made with abilba seed, sag leaves, and ulafish bones." She pours the purple sauce into his hand. "Th-this nostalgic taste... It's soy sauce!" Kirito says. Reina stares at him with wide eyes before laughing. "Correct. I made the sauce for the sandwich out of that." She says. "Amazing. It's perfect. Have you thought about selling this because you'd make a fortune?" Kirito asks her. "You think it's that good?" Reina blushes and looks down. "Wait, you can't sell it." Kirito changes his mind and crosses his arms. "Why?" Reina asks. "Cause there wouldn't be any left for me." Kirito replies. Reina sighs and shakes her head. "You're still greedy." She tells him. "If you like it that much, I could always make more." She suggests, looking away. They sat in silence until some players entered the area causing the two to get up and be on guard.
Reina gasped and put her hands over her mouth when she saw who it was. Klein and his guild walk in mumbling to each other. When he looks up he spots Kirito and Reina and pauses causing his guild to do the same. "Hey, Kirito! How're you doing, buddy?" Klein greets them, walking up to them. Kirito looks away. "Hey, Klein. Still alive, huh?" He greets back. "Jeez, you're the same as ever." Klein replies and then he spots Reina. "Wait. Whoa! You're a solo player. What the heck are you doing with... Reina?" Klein questions. "Klein!" Reina walks over to him and hugs him. "How have you been, it's been a while." Klein tells her patting her head. "I saw you in March on floor 5 it wasn't that long ago." Reina reminds him. "Oh, yeah. What are you two doing together, don't you have other stuff to do?" Klein asks. "No, not really." Reina replies, taking a few steps back when Klein looks her up and down. "Well, since you're not busy maybe you and I could--" Klein's cut off by Kirito punching him in the stomach.
"Boss!" His guild members shout and look at Kirito disappointed. "Whoa! Are you really that, Reina?" They ask in unison. They tried to surround her and start talking to her but she couldn't make out what they were saying as they were talking all at once. Reina looks at them feeling a little exposed. "Don't worry, it's cool. These guys are okay." Kirito reassures her, holding them back. Klein steps on Kirito's foot. "What the hell?" Kirito asks. "That's payback you weasel." Klein tells him. "What are you and Reina doing together all alone?" Klein asks. Reina laughs causing the boys to stop and look at her. "What's the deal, man? Spill it." Klein insists. "Uh... well..." Kirito trails off. "I'm still here you know." Reina reminds them. "We're together because we've teamed up for this week." Reina explains. "Huh?" The guild member hums. "Kirito, you son of a--" "Wait! It's not what you think." Kirito defends himself. A bunch of footsteps approach. "You guys." Reina nods towards the soldiers walking to them.
"What the hell?" Kirito questions. "It's an army." He notes. "That's the big guild that runs floor one." Klein points out. "What are they doing up here?" He wonders. "They were almost slaughtered on floor 25. Instead of clearing levels, they've been trying to build up their numbers. I haven't seen them on the front lines in a while." Reina points out. "At ease!" The leader tells them and they all immediately crumble sighing heavily and the leader walks over to Reina and the others. "I'm with the Aincrad Liberation Army, Lieutenant Colonel Korbats." Korbats introduces himself. "I'm Kirito, solo." Kirito introduces himself. "Sure, you are. Have you cleared the area up ahead?" Korbat asks. "Yeah, we also got a map with directions to the boss room." Kirito shares. "Hm. Right. Then hand over that map and we'll be on our way." Korbat demands holding his hand out. "Huh? You want us to just give it to you? Do you even know how much of a pain in the ass mapping is?" Klein asks.
"We share our information and resources with civilian players all the time! And we don't charge a thing for it! We maintain order, in the chaos of battle, so that all players can leave this world as quickly as possible. Therefore, it's your duty to cooperate with us! So hand over that map!" Korbat yells. "With that attitude?" Reina asks, crossing her arms. "You bastard." Klein grabs the hilt of his katana. "Easy you." Kirito blocks him. "When we got back to town I was gonna go public with the map anyway." Kirito tells him. "It's cool." Kirito opens his menu. "Oh now, wait. Come on, man. You're being too nice to him." Klein tells him. "I don't care about making a fortune off map data." Kirito shares his data with Korbat. "Hmm. Thanks for cooperating." Korbat tells Kirito and walks back over to his guild. "By the way, if you're planning to hit the boss, I wouldn't recommend it." Kirito tells him. "That is my decision to make." Korbat waves him off and Kirito's eyes widen. "Hey, I just took a look inside that room, pal. And you can't beat the boss if your troops are half dead!" Kirito warns him.
"Look at them! They're exhausted!" He points out. "None sense, my men are tougher than that! They won't quit until I say so. On your feet! Come on, move!" Korbat orders and his men force themselves to leave the area. "Oh, man. Are those guys gonna be okay?" Klein asks. "I'm sure they know what they're doing. They won't rush in without checking it out first, right?" Reina asks. "Maybe we should keep an eye on them anyway." Kirito suggests. Reina looks at Klein and his guild who look at her and chuckle. "I don't know who's nicer, you or me?" Kirito says, walking ahead, and Klein's guild follows him. Reina smiles and goes to follow them but Klein stops her. "So, uh anyway, Reina. I got a favor to ask." Klein tells her. "Huh?" She looks at him. "You know how he is hard to talk to, loner, addicted to combat. But he's a good guy and I know I asked you this when we first met but take care of him, will ya?" Klein says. Reina looks at Kirito and then back at Klein. "Okay. He's in good hands." Reina reassures him with a closed-eyed smile.
The group took down the enemies that were in their way. "That's the last one, the only thing left is the boss' room. Maybe those guys use some kind of teleportation thingy to get back." Klein suggests. Kirito and Reina look at each other and gasp when they hear screaming. "Reina!" Kirito calls to her. "On it!" She replies and they run to where the screams came from. "Hey!" Klein calls after them but more enemies spawn around him. Kirito and Reina run to the boss' room when they hear screaming again. "Idiots." Reina mumbles. "Hey! You guys okay?" Kirito asks when they make it to the door. They gasp when they see the scene in front of them. Gleam Eyes stood over the soldiers, who were in the middle of the room. "Don't just stand there! Use your teleport crystals!" Kirito tells them. We can't! Th-the crystals aren't working!" A soldier replies. Gleam Eyes swings his sword at them sending dust their way. "I've never heard of a trap like this being in a boss room before." Reina says, looking into the room with wide eyes.
"The Aincrad Liberation Army doesn't know the word retreat! Come on! Keep fighting!" Korbat orders. "They're insane!" Kirito says. "Hey." Klein greets, catching up with them. "The hell's going on?" He gasps when he sees what's happening in the room. "They can't use their teleportation crystals. We could distract the boss, but going in there is too risky." Kirito tells them. "But isn't there something we can do?" Klein asks. "Ready? Charge!" Korbat orders and the soldier charges at Gleam Eyes. "Don't do it!" Kirito warns. Gleam Eyes shoots purple energy balls from its mouth which the soldier block with their shields. It then activates a sword skill and slashes the soldiers sending Korbat flying a few feet in front of the trio. "Hey!" Kirito runs up to him. "Hang on, Korbat." He tells the man, whose helmet breaks, and stares at him with wide eyes. Kirito stares at him with wide eyes and Korbat tears up. "I can't believe it." He says before bursting into polygons. Reina covers her mouth and gasps. "No." She whispers.
A soldier screams, catching her attention and she sees him on the ground with Gleam Eyes in front of him. "No." Reina gasps, reaching for her rapier. "He's in trouble, but I can't." She whispers. Kirito looks back at her. Gleam Eyes raises his sword over his head and prepares to strike the soldier. "No!" Reina shouts, running to him and leaving behind a red flash. "Reina!"