Nicholas the Renegade died a very pitiful and anticlimactic death.
Pitiful and anticlimactic deaths - of their enemies - were good, or so Drifter had always thought. Maybe that wasn't very brave or gallant of him, but who was going to complain?
Certainly not the 6 Reavers, who paused in the sudden quietness of the boss' death. Then, as one, they all turned to look at Asuna.
"Is the quest done?"
"Yes! Finally."
To date, that had been their most annoying chain quest. Sure, the fight with the Abyss Leviathan had been fun when they looked back on it, not to mention rewarding, but everything else had been mainly fetch quests with a few hunting ones thrown in the mix, and a lot of acting like messengers for NPCs.
The players weren't even that interested in the rewards. Sure, they were nice, but the bounty of chain quests always came from the veritable mountain of Intel they provided about floor, maps, mobs, and bosses. This one had been no different.
Still, scrolling through the drops menu after defeating a boss was always a fun experience. Or at least it should be, but Asuna's brows were scrunched up in confusion.
"Asuna? What's wrong?"
Kirito walked over to her, squinting his eyes as if that would help him see the invisible window in front of her. The fencer looked up.
"We only got one drop from the boss. Divine Stone of Returning Soul."
The others raised their eyebrows in questioning. Sure, it had a pretty impressive name. But it was still-
"A rock?"
The item that materialized in Asuna's hand was... Just a peddle. Polished, sure, but still, just a piece of dark stone no bigger than a baby's fist.
"Is it a quest item?"
Yuna wondered out loud. That could be the case. It sure looked like a lot of other quest items they had come across, like the keys way back in the Elf War questline.
When Asuna didn't answer, they looked up from the Divine Stone of Returning Soul in her hand to her face, and found the fencer with her mouth hanging wide open as her eyes ran rapidly from one side to another, doubtlessly reading the item's description.
Now Drifter was starting to get curious. Quest items often had some impressive and needlessly long descriptions, but it had to be one hell of a backstory to shock Asuna like that.
Those thoughts lasted just long enough for Drifter to notice how pale the fencer had become. Then he started to worry. And he wasn't the only one.
"Asuna? What's wrong?"
Kirito repeated his earlier question, snapping Asuna of whatever state she was in. The chestnut-haired girl looked to her friends with wide eyes and a trembling expression.
"Revival item."
"What?"
"This is it. The revival item."
Of course. The-
"Revival item?!"
The players all but screeched. Drifter felt an urge to snatch the stone from Asuna's hand so he could see it for himself. He held it back, barely.
"Are you sure?"
"As in the thing people were literally killing each other to get not even a week ago?"
"Just our fucking luck..."
The Reavers had mixed reactions to the news, even after Asuna nodded. There was no denying they all desired the revival item. But at the same time, they also despised its very existence, because of what it had caused.
"Let us see, Asuna."
Desire won out in the end. Desire for what was quite possibly the rarest item that there will ever be in SAO. Desire for a way to come back to life. Desire for having what others did not.
"Here. But... Well, take a look."
It wasn't meant to be. After skimming through the lore behind the Divine Stone of Returning Soul, Drifter focused on what mattered: its use.
Without a doubt, it was written right there in the item description that it could be used to revive a dead player. But right bellow it, in bold, red writing, were the restrictions.
"What the hell? One time use, okay. But it can only be used in someone in the same party? Only within 10 seconds of their death, and it has to be on the exact same spot? It can't even be from a distance? Is it even supposed to be used?!"
Sinon was being harsh. Of course, the Divine Stone of Returning Soul was still useful, despite all the restrictions. Because it meant a second life.
But 10 seconds passed in the blink of an eye in the middle of a battle. Especially chaotic ones like the frontliners usually found themselves into.
In those battles, you were so focused on staying alive, that you could barely keep an eye on your party members. Oftentimes, you only learned someone had died after the fight was over.
10 seconds was nothing. Not if you needed to process the death of someone you cared about, retrieve the revival item from your inventory, reach the spot where they died, and use it.
This... This was a double-edged sword. A poisoned knife. Because now, with every death he witnessed, Drifter would think: 'what if...'
Still, he didn't hesitate with his next words, nor the decision he made. His head snapped up, and he grabbed Asuna's hand, curling her fingers around the Divine Stone of Returning Soul.
"Put it into your inventory, Asuna. Now. Not the shared guild storage, we'll talk to them first. And..."
Drifter looked at his friends, his wife. And he didn't regret it. Not one bit, despite how selfish it was.
"Don't talk about it to anyone. I mean it. Not Klein, not the Braves, not even Akari or Argo. Nobody."
If they didn't understand the seriousness of the situation already, seeing Drifter's pale but determined face settled it. Kirito, Yuna, Nautilus, and Sinon all nodded grimly while Asuna stored the Divine Stone of Returning Soul in her personal inventory, as Drifter instructed.
This would be the only secret Drifter ever kept from Argo. She knew everything about him, but she wouldn't know this if he could help it.
It wasn't a matter of trust. The spearmaster trusted his little rat with his life. He trusted her to keep any of his secrets, even if her job was literally selling information. He had no doubt that if he asked, she wouldn't say a word about the revival item either.
But this wasn't about trust. It was about safety. His, of all his fellow Reavers, and of Argo. Because until now, the revival item had been just a rumor, and people had still killed for it. If it ever became public knowledge that it truly existed?
Stolen story; please report.
Drifter shuddered just imagining it. No. Reaver's Requiem would have to know. If only so they could try to prevent Merida or Namate or Ducker or Sasamaru from happening again. Even if they failed. But no one else.
...
The other Reavers knew something was wrong the moment Drifter summoned them with urgency. That feeling was only exacerbated by his expression when they met back at the inn.
The last time they had seen Drifter like this, he had killed Morte.
Some of them were seeing this face for the first time. And they didn't like it. It scared them, the intensity, the fragility.
One by one, the Reavers were rushed into a private room, while Nautilus and Sinon stood outside to make sure not even someone with maxed out Eavesdropping could listen in.
That many precautions certainly did nothing to assuage his guildmates' worries.
The spearmaster didn't say a word after they all gathered. Instead, he gestured with his head for Asuna, and the fencer took out the Divine Stone of Returning Soul, setting it on the table in the middle of the room, and allowing everyone to analyze the item's window.
Their reactions were as predicted. First, incredulous shock. Then loud surprise. And finally, a sort of stifled silence as their guild leader held up a fist.
"You saw the restrictions. The stone is going into the shared guild storage. If, gods forbid, we ever need to use it, anyone will be able to take it out. But you are not to breathe a word of this to anyone outside the guild, understood? Don't even talk about it out loud unless you are sure nobody's around to listen."
He looked each of his friends in the eyes as he spoke, and saw understanding dawning on them. None of them were stupid. They knew what he meant even without him being explicit about it.
It was a lot of trust Drifter was putting on them. He wasn't just sharing that he had possession of the Divine Stone of Returning Soul. He was putting it on the guild storage, where anyone of them could take it out and do whatever they wanted with it.
The others wouldn't even know if one of them did that, it wasn't like the inventory noted down who put in or took out whatever.
This was a sign of absolute trust, and they all knew it. So, as one, all the Reavers in the room nodded or grunted or spoke their agreement. They would never break the faith Drifter put in them.
And the spearmaster could only hope they never had to use the Divine Stone of Returning Soul.
------------------------
If anyone noticed how out of sorts Reaver's Requiem was over the next few days, they didn't comment on it. Or they just chalked it up to how unnatural the quietness after Laughing Coffin went to ground felt.
The red players didn't resurface even once throughout the entire 36th floor. And now, a week into the exploration of the 37th floor, there were still no signs of them.
Drifter didn't know if that was better or worse. Certainly, not having players get murdered everyday was a plus. But it was hard not to think that the mysterious guild leader of Laughing Coffin was scheming something.
All Drifter could do was keep leading his guild to climb Aincrad, and trust that Argo and Akari would warn him as soon as they found something.
Which was why he was currently on the 37th floor with his guild, fighting Dust Lions in a wind-swept savannah.
At least it wasn't so cold anymore. In fact, the temperature was quite pleasant. It got hot when you were swinging your weapon under the sun, but there was a surprising number of trees casting shade under which they could sit down and rest.
Just had to take care of the mobs first. The light-brown felines would put any of their real counterparts to shame in terms of size. And they were swift.
A lot of SAO's monsters were based on real animals, so this was far from the first time Dfifter fought a lion-like creature. But the Dust Lions weren't 37th floor mobs for nothing.
Drifter kneed one of the mobs in the snout, and stopped another via stabbing it in the eye, but a third Dust Lion caught him with a swipe of their claws.
Okay, so maybe fighting them 3-on-1 while his guildmates watched had been a tad arrogant on his part. But there was something about going against three of the so-called kings of the animal world at once that pleased Drifter's inner child.
Agil had bragged about killing two on his own, so maybe that also influenced his decision a little. But what was a little bit of healthy competition amongst friends?
"Tornado! Pinpoint Star!"
A heavy metal staff, one of Liz's latest creations, smacked all three Dust Lions away. Drifter then used Infinite Spear to bring back his favored weapon before targeting the lion he hit in the face with another skill.
One down, two to go. His hands switched place on the shaft of his spear and he spun it a full 270 degrees before letting a Snake Bite end the second mob's life.
With just one enemy left, Drifter charged directly at it. The Dust Lion roared in challenge, and lunged at the player.
Taking a quick peek at his opponent's HP, Drifter didn't bother with dodging. He met the Dust Lion head-on, his body glowing with a Comet Break that seemed to launch him right through the mob.
Agil would later admit that the spearmaster looked just a tiny little bit cool, posing in the ending motion of the skill with a cloud of shiny mob remains swirling behind him.
At the moment, though, the Merchant Warrior decided he couldn't give Drifter the satisfaction, so he cupped his mouth and yelled.
"Nerd! You look like one of Fuumaningum's role-players, Drifter!"
The spearmaster stumbled, turning a scowl to his tall friend as the rest of the guild dissolved into laughter.
"That's dirty, Agil. Low even for you."
The merchant was unrepentant, scratching the back of his head with a grin. Drifter glared, but without any true heat behind it.
"I'm not the one who looks like he's training to hit a homerun whenever they use Tree Felling, old man."
"Ouch. That hurts right here."
It was Agil's turn to make a face, and he clutched his chest in mock-heartbreak. Drifter couldn't hold it in anymore after that, and started chuckling.
"Alright, three's the new record. Who's gonna go next?"
"Oh, me! I bet I can do four!"