Wang Yang had always feared that his involvement would trigger a chain of butterfly effects, altering the story's course two years later. That was why he had remained alone all this time—not just because he bore the notoriously ill-reputed title of hunter, but more importantly because of where the story was headed.
It was like a heavy lock, binding his limbs and sealing away his thoughts.
He always remembered that two years later, the Players would reach the 75th Floor. On that floor, deaths would once again occur among the frontline raid group—and this time, the casualties would be severe. It was also on that floor that Kirito would discover that Heathcliff was Kayaba Akihiko. After exposing him, Kirito would gain a chance to challenge him, and through that single opportunity, Sword Art Online, which had lasted two years, would finally be cleared. By then, only six thousand of the original ten thousand Players would remain.
If the plot were affected and the game failed to be cleared on the 75th Floor, there would still be another twenty-five floors afterward. How many more lives would have to be sacrificed to complete the game?
By the 75th Floor, the boss's abilities had clearly risen by a huge margin. That was why the raid group, which had enjoyed smooth progress until then, finally suffered casualties. It showed that the bosses ahead would only grow harder to fight. Perhaps by the 100th Floor, barely any Players capable of clearing the game would remain.
Whenever he considered that possibility, Wang Yang felt a chill spread through his entire body. It was not because he might be unable to leave Sword Art Online two years later, but because if he changed the plot, many Players might be indirectly killed because of him.
He was an