A dark cloud hung over Reaver's Requiem for the rest of the 16th floor. Jokes could only dodge the issue for so long, and even the awkwardness of explaining to Kizmel about the real and virtual world wasn't enough to make them forget Merida's death - nor it should.

Even so, while they grieved the loss of one of their own, Reaver's Requiem was out in the wilderness - or the ocean in this floor's case - the next morning. Merida was dead, but SAO continued.

One definite effect Merida's death had on the players, other than the somber mood that reigned over them for a while, was how closely Sinon and Nautilus were sticking to the twins. They weren't cuddling them all the time - only on occasion - but neither of them was ever too far from Yuuki and Ran.

It wasn't pity. The sisters didn't want any of that, and the Reavers respected them too much to do so. But the reveal that there was a metaphorical blade hanging over their heads, which could drop at any moment, was possibly even harder to take in than Merida's death.

But like with anything, they got used to it. Humans had incredible adaptability. People lived in war zones and had their afternoon tea to the sounds of firearms and bombs. Frontliners saw people die, froze for a second, mourned for a day, then shook themselves and carried on.

The disappearance of one of Reaver's Requiem's oldest and foremost players didn't go unnoticed, and it didn't take long for the other frontliner guilds to find out the reason. Fuurinkazan, the Legend Braves, Shivata, Liten, and many others offered their consolations, which the Reavers gracefully accepted, but declined to talk further.

It was still in a bad mood that Reaver's Requiem found themselves in front of the 16th floor's boss room.

Drifter was going to take out all his frustrations on the creature on the other side of the door. It chose the wrong floor to be the boss of.

The spearmaster looked around. Reaver's Requiem was the only guild with a reduced number of members. Not only had the frontliners not lost anyone else on this floor, but the Assault Team as a whole had swelled up to almost 130 players.

The increase in numbers didn't mean the standards had been lowered, however. If anything, the bar had been set higher than before. Merida had been an elite even amongst the Assault Team, and her loss reminded the recruiters just what exactly they needed to look for in prospective frontliners.

Of course, getting another player on Merida's level wasn't just hard, but close to impossible. No one would say it out loud since it was bad for inter-guild relationships, but the broadsword-user had been worth 4 players on her own.

Still, the new recruits could give the likes of Chuchulainn, Beowulf, Issin, Kunimittz, and the others from the Legend Braves and Fuurinkazan, except Kelin and Orlando, a run for their money. They were all accomplished clearers, most having moved up from sub-guilds to the main ALS and DKB groups.

130 frontliners. Drifter doubted the Assault Team would ever get larger than that. At some point, too many people was just as bad as too few. Besides, players had mostly forgotten about the 10th floor disaster since it had been quite a few months, but the 20th floor was around the corner.

That was another heavy weight on the leading frontliners' minds. Drifter could see it behind Kirito and Asuna's tired expressions when they talked about the future, on Yuna and Argo's closed faces when they overheard some low-level player complaining the Assault Team was too slow.

No later than the 19th floor, a meeting about floor 20 would have to be called. If Lind and Kibaou didn't do it first, then Drifter would talk to Kirito about it. Strategy aside, the main thing they had to discuss about the 20th floor was what to do when - not if - someone died. What to do when frontliners were killed in the boss fight.

"There's smoke coming outta your ears, Drifter. What got you thinkin' so hard?"

A hand clapped him on the shoulder, and Drifter spun to face Shivata. The DKB fighter appeared relaxed, but the spearmaster easily spotted the tension underneath his calm exterior.

"The 20th floor. My mind was just wandering. There ain't much we can do about independent players other than warn them to be careful, but we need to come up with a way to prevent anyone from dying in the boss fight. And countermeasures if we fail to do that. But I hate having to imagine scenarios where people die."

Shivata nodded, then shook his head. The idea of death wasn't what made any frontliner lose their sleep. It was the image of a guildmate, friend, family, dying that did. And worse, coming up with scenarios where someone you cared about perished, and you had to ignore it and keep fighting.

"Think about the boss in front of you now, Drifter. We can pull our hair about the 20th floor later. Don't make a mistake because you are distracted."

Despite everything, Drifter scoffed and rolled his eyes. He wouldn't still be alive if he couldn't compartmentalize and focus. Smacking Shivata on the tight with the shaft of his spear, he jerked his head at the doors.

"Let's sushi this fish."

"That's what I'm talking about."

A smile found its way to Shivata's hardened face, and Drifter's own lips curled up in a grin. Someone had to climb Aincrad, and that someone was them. The worst that could happen was dying along the way. But they would go down swinging.

"To your positions, everyone! We are going!"

It was Lind's turn to lead the raid, and Shivata returned to his guild leader's side. Reaver's Requiem fell in formation, Shigio and Wolv covering the gap left by Merida.

The Assault Team pushed past the doors, and Drifter allowed his gaze to wander for a second.

The scouting party had already shown the room once, but it was still an impressive sight. Green torches flickered to life, revealing the broken and forgotten remains of a sunken palace. Starfish, corals, and algae hung from the walls and statues of long-dead warriors. The ceiling above their heads was a dome of water, and fish and other sea creatures could be seen swimming, none the wiser to the battle that was about to start underneath them.

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The giant figure of << Neptune the Sea Watcher >> sitting upon his crumbling throne completed the picture. The 15-meter-tall fishman watched the players enter the room with disinterest. A webbed hand supported his chin. The other fiddled around with a rusty trident, each prong the size of a person.

Now, Drifter wasn't someone who usually cared for the lore of a floor, but the treasure hunt mechanic of the 16th floor forced him to learn it, and he would admit that it was quite engaging.

Neptune was the guardian of a lost civilization, sunk to the seabed for angering the gods. The murals they found while digging for clues to the labyrinth entrance depicted the rise and fall of Neptune's kingdom, and Drifter felt like he was in an Indiana Jones movie. If it weren't for his other worries, Drifter probably would have enjoyed it a lot more.

Engaging or not, it didn't change the fact that Drifter was going to vent out all his negative feelings on the floor boss. Neptune was still dramatically getting up from his throne when Drifter's spear flew towards his face, hitting him right in the forehead.

"Crap, I was aiming for the eye."

"That's why you should stop trying to steal my job, Drifter. Go play with your pointy stick."

Her bow and arrows glowing pink, Sinon drew two arrows and fired them together with one of her new skills. The arrows spun around each other during flight, before splitting away at the last moment to nail both of << Neptune the Sea Watcher's >> eyes.

"Argh! How dare lowly landbound worms invade my sacred palace and wound me! I will bring down the wrath of the Storm God upon you!"

Unlike many of the other bosses, Neptune actually talked. Unfortunately for him, no one cared. Players were already cutting at his ankles by the time he finished his scripted dialog.

Drifter had recovered his spear and was darting around the room, stabbing Neptune whenever he stomped close. Considering his aggro was locked on him and Sinon since they were the first to attack the boss, that was quite often.

With Yuna's songs as background music and empowering his blows, Drifter switched up Vallerk so the tank could absorb a trident swing for him, before rushing back in to rip into << Neptune the Sea Watcher >> with << Vertical >> and << Tidal Sequence >>.

"Above!"

A shout from Kizmel warned him, and Drifter dove to the left without even looking up, just barely avoiding a giant webbed hand that wanted to squash him.

An << Edge Vaulting >> nailed said hand to the ground, and Drifter smirked coldly as the Assault Team took advantage of the short moments during which the boss was pinned down to empty one of his health bars.

Boss or not, Neptune was just one, and the frontliners were many. He roared and cursed the players again after he managed to free his hand, but all he got for his troubles were more arrows sticking off his face and more blades slashing his body.

"Second phase! Tanks to the front! Titled players, time to earn your keep!"

Drifter scowled at Lind's words. He didn't like being put on a pedestal. But he did his part without mouthing off.

When << Neptune the Sea Watcher >> stabbed with his trident again, a column of water fell from the ceiling, ignoring all laws of physics to coil around the weapon. It looked remarkably like a sea serpent or an eel.

Then the boss swung the trident like a baseball bat, and jets of water exploded off of it in all directions. Shivata, Liten, Vallerk, and the other tanks blocked most of them.

Three of the remaining water jets came towards Reaver's Requiem. Indomitable Knight Nautilus took care of one. He stumbled back from the force, but stayed on his feet, water splashing all around him and drenching Nautilus, Kizmel, Silica, Ran, Yuuki, and a few others.

The second jet went in Agil and Kirito's direction. The Merchant Warrior and Black Swordsman dashed at it instead of away, and there was a collective gasp from the viewers when they swung their weapons and smashed the pillar of water apart.

Drifter one-upped them. The third and last water jet flew at him, and he held his ground. His spear low to the ground, he took a deep breath before swinging.

The pillar of water stopped for a fraction of a second, before it continued rushing forward, unstoppable. It advanced maybe 10 more meters before it lost form and crashed, leaving two wet trails and Drifter perfectly dry in the middle.

<< Sky Render >>. Drifter's newest skill. It was comparable to << Comet Break >> in power, but instead of dashing to gain momentum, he needed to stay still to accumulate power, before delivering a single slash.

"D-Did you just cut that in half?"

"Are you insane, Drifter?! What if that went wrong?!"

There were two very different sets of reactions after the Reavers picked their jaws off the floor. Kirito and Agil, drenched like dogs caught in the rain - they had not been as successful as Nautilus in staying up after blocking their water column - were beyond impressed. Yuna was mad. But Drifter gave her a childish smirk which disarmed her completely. Later she described it as 'unfairly cute'.

"I wanted to try that since I saw the boss using that skill against the scouting party."

The rest of the raid was both a blur and a slow-motion movie to Drifter, right up to the end. He fought with a certain detached coldness. Neptune was just another monster to be cut down. Nothing more, nothing less. If you asked him later, the spearmaster would be able to give a play-by-play of everything he did, but at the time he was moving mostly on instinct and being reactive.

What everyone could agree on, however, was that Broken Spear Drifter was, without a doubt, the star of the raid. Cutting the boss' attack in half wasn't even the most impressive thing he did in that battle. That prize would have to go to when he narrowly dodged another hand slam, and countered with a << Horizontal >> that severed Neptune's hand.

To close off what had basically became a one-man show, Drifter finished off << Neptune the Sea Watcher >> by carving a series of lines on his chest with << Tornado >> and << Horizontal Arc >>.

Spinning his spear, Drifter safely tucked it away on its sheath on his back. Then he turned around to find all of the Assault Team staring at him.

"What?"

"The hell was that, Drifter?!"

"Did you take steroids, man? If so, gimme some! That was out of this world!"

Drifter just stared back at Orlando and Klein, unsure of what they were talking about. He knew he was in tip-top form today, but surely it wasn't that amazing? At least, that was what he thought, right until Dragon Knight Lind of all people complimented him.

"I know I told the titled players to earn their keep, but you didn't need to take it so seriously, Drifter. You made the rest of us look bad. Haha..."

There was stunned silence for a good 30 seconds, before someone laughed awkwardly. Kibaou the Challenger. Then everyone had a new target to stare at.

Drifter turned to Yuna and mouthed 'what is happening'. She responded 'no idea'.