After the Gleam Eyes disappeared, there was no immediate cheering in the Boss's room.
The surviving players were still staring at the center of the hall, as if they hadn't yet recovered from the final blow. Only when the exit to the seventy-fifth floor slowly opened did the Liberation Army members begin to move the wounded.
Lin Yuan did not stay where he was to accept the thanks.
He walked to a stone pillar that was not completely broken, and pulled out the Nameless Sword to examine it again. The blade was still straight, with only very shallow grinding marks on the edge, but the blue patterns inside the spine had not yet been restored.
Lin Yuan tapped the spine of the sword with his finger.
The sound was more muffled than usual.
The Mountain Severance did not injure his body; the entire burden was borne by the weapon. The crystal fragments needed time to re-stabilize, and if it was forcibly used again before then, even if the sword did not break on the spot, it might suffer permanent deformation like the old sword.
Kirito walked over; his HP had recovered to more than half.
"How long before it can be used again?"
"Have no idea."
"That stab was something you just came up with, and you didn't even know it?"
"First time using it."
Kirito looked at " Nameless " and suddenly realized that his sixteen-hit combo at least had a skill description. Lin Yuan's method of developing moves, however, was to first strike with his sword and then judge whether it could be used a second time based on the result.
"Have Lisbeth check it when we get back," he said.
"Um."
Nearby, the players' discussions gradually increased.
" The Black Swordsman uses Dual Blades, doesn't he?"
"A skill I've never seen before; sixteen attacks without a single pause."
" The Nameless Swordsman was even more outrageous. He wiped out the boss's last bit of health with a single strike."
One of the Liberation Army players whispered, "More than a dozen of us couldn't even withstand a single hit from it. He just stood there, and the boss attacked him seven times in a row without even touching him."
The titles "Black Swordsman" and "Nameless Swordsman " spread throughout Aincrad as the survivors left the Boss Room.
After Asuna finished registering the wounded, she came to the two of them. She first confirmed that Kirito's health was out of danger before turning to Lin Yuan.
"Thanks."
"No need, Kirito and I already know each other."
Kirito stood to the side, looking somewhat uneasy. "Actually, if the final strike hadn't been pulled back, we might not have necessarily lost."
Asuna whirled around. "Can't you see how much HP you have left?"
"There's one more thing."
"That's considered a little bit?"
Lin Yuan sheathed the " Nameless Sword" and did not participate. After seeing Kirito nearly die, Asuna no longer hid her worry; although Kirito made excuses, he did not avoid her gaze as he had in the past.
Their story doesn't need a third person to explain it to them.
After the raiding team set up a temporary base at the entrance to the 75th floor, Lin Yuan did not continue upwards. He returned to the lower floors from the 74th floor without using " Mountain Severance " again along the way.
The Moonlit Black Cats received the news earlier than he did.
When Lin Yuan pushed open the door to the eleventh-floor hotel room, the table was already laden with food. Keita held up a battle report he had bought from an intelligence dealer, the title of which exaggerated the story of "One-hit kill of the floor boss" several times over.
" The Nameless Swordsman has returned." Tetsuo deliberately stood up and bowed.
"I heard that you only glanced at the Boss once, and it split in two on its own," Sasamaru added.
Ducker went even further. "Some people even say your sword is two hundred meters long."
"The intelligence brokers have never seen two hundred meters before," Lin Yuan said.
The room was silent for a moment, then everyone burst into laughter.
Fortunately, she helped him into an empty seat and pushed a plate of food towards him. "Eat first. You walked back from the 74th floor; you haven't had a proper rest for at least a few days."
Keita didn't ask Lin Yuan if he could lead the guild to conquer higher floors, nor did he ask other members to level up faster because of Kirito and Lin Yuan's achievements.
"We'll stick to our original route," he said. "Just because you can handle the floor's boss doesn't mean we should rush to the front lines. The guild housing has already been arranged; it's located on the east side of the main street on this floor."
Lin Yuan nodded.
What truly kept him here was never how much combat power the Black Cats could provide, but rather this place where everyone wasn't forced to take risks just because someone suddenly became stronger.
The celebrations continued late into the night.
The next day, Kirito returned to the eleventh floor. He didn't bring any new information about the dungeon, but only told everyone that he and Asuna were preparing to temporarily leave the front lines.
"Where to?" Keita asked.
"The twenty-second floor," Kirito said. "When I explored that floor before, I saw a wooden cabin by a lake in the forest. It was in a quiet location, and there weren't any high-level monsters there."
Tetsuo immediately revealed a meaningful expression, while Xing Ze asked with a smile, "Is it just a temporary rest together?"
Kirito, unusually, did not offer any explanation, but instead turned to Lin Yuan.
"Once we've settled in, would you like to go and take a look?"
Lin Yuan remembered the path leading from the twenty-second floor to the lower level. "Is something wrong?"
"Can't I visit someone if there's nothing wrong?" Kirito retorted. "From the moment you entered this world, you've either been in a labyrinth or on your way to one."
Lin Yuan did not deny it.
"You've always been thinking about how to get stronger, how to go back, but you've never really stopped to look at this place," Kirito said. "Until we find a way out, we still have to live. How about we relax once in a while?"
Surprisingly, no one in the room started making a fuss.
Lin Yuan looked at Kirito. The other man wasn't advising him to forget Fairy Tail, nor was he asking him to accept being trapped here forever. He was simply inviting him to temporarily put down his sword and sit by the lake for a day.
"Draw the location for me," Lin Yuan finally said.
He was unaware that a child without a name, without memories, and without a guardian had appeared in that forest.