Warmth, Yui's Little Gift...

The more monsters they killed, the more of the labyrinth area's map was unlocked!

With that one rule, the monsters throughout the labyrinth area suffered a complete disaster!

For an entire day, the buzzing flight of Azure Beetles, the shrill squeals of Shadows, the shouts of a man and a woman, and the sound effects of sword skills echoed throughout the labyrinth area. Only after night had fully fallen did the various noises within the labyrinth finally begin to subside...

By then, Wu Yan and Asuna had already reached the uppermost section of the labyrinth area. Fragments left behind by freshly slain monsters still drifted around them, but neither paid them any mind. They opened their personal menus, brought up the map, and began examining it.

The facts proved that Wu Yan's guess had been correct. The monsters in the Floor 99 labyrinth had distinct traits. While it became much easier for those skilled at clearing floors once they understood the monsters' attack patterns, for other players—even the elite players of the Assault Team—clearing the area without forming a proper party was no easy task under those monster traits.

This situation formed a balance. Balance had always been emphasized in SAO, and though he hated to admit it, no unbalanced bugs had ever appeared. Under such circumstances, adding some powerful skills and appropriately raising the difficulty of the labyrinth area would have been fine, but Paralysis Skills and breath attacks had clearly gone a little too far. Therefore, to maintain balance, the monsters' strength had increased. Players found them harder to deal with, so the corresponding benefit settings naturally activated as well. Unlocking the map by killing monsters was indeed a setting unique to the Floor 99 labyrinth area!

After a full day of clearing, nearly one-third of the entire