Lin Yuan left the eleventh floor that very night.
The strategy meeting will be held the next day, and he won't be able to arrive in time. The teleportation portal allows other players to instantly reach the 75th floor, but for Lin Yuan, the path between the 64th and 75th floors is still one he must traverse personally.
Diabel was aware of his situation, and the letter also noted that the official strategy was scheduled for five days later.
There is enough time.
Lin Yuan did not fight along the way. He only drew the Nameless when the monsters completely blocked the way; otherwise, he traversed the maze areas he had already conquered as quickly as possible.
Yui stood at the entrance of the guild residence watching him leave, without giving chase.
She already knew what "waiting to come back" meant.
Late on the fourth night, Lin Yuan arrived at the main street of Collinia on the 75th floor. The temporary base was still lit up, and Diabel was organizing the minutes left over from the previous day's meeting.
"Half a day faster than expected." He pushed the map to the center of the table. "The Boss's room has been located, but there's no reliable reconnaissance intelligence."
"No one went in?"
"The door can be opened, but only a dark corridor is visible. Throwing items, familiars, and scouting skills are all ineffective." Diabel pointed to the deepest part of the map. "We're not going to send a small group in to their deaths. The full raid team will enter tomorrow."
Lin Yuan flipped through the meeting minutes.
The Knights of the Blood were responsible for the frontal defense, Fuurinkazan and other high-level squads attacked the flanks. Kirito, Asuna, Agil, and others served as mobile forces. Lin Yuan did not have a system-defined team position; his name was written separately outside the formation.
Who made it?
"The team leaders discussed it together, I was responsible for compiling the information, and Heathcliff confirmed it at the end."
Lin Yuan reviewed it again. There were no obvious problems with the arrangements, and each team had reserved positions for rotation and rescue.
Only his task did not specify a fixed area.
"You can't access the team interface, the commander can't see your HP, and can't use a marker to notify you to switch positions," Diabel said. "Putting you in a shield formation or a damage-dealing team will only lead to misjudgments by others."
"So?"
"Free movement. Observe the Boss's attacks first, and go to where it's about to collapse." Diabel paused for a moment, "But don't rush in alone at the beginning. The goal this time is not to prove who can kill it solo, but to get as many as possible out of there."
Lin Yuan put the record back on the desktop. "Okay."
In the first two levels, the raiding team was unfamiliar with his existence and could only regard his immeasurable power as an accident. Now, Diabel knows how to utilize an unregistered member without letting other players place all their hopes for survival on him.
The next morning, all the players who participated in the strategy had arrived.
Heathcliff stood at the front of the hall, his cross shield held at his side. He did not repeat the already confirmed squad assignments, but added three additional requirements.
"After entering, first check the exit."
"Assuming the interior is a crystal-neutralized zone, everyone must carry sufficient healing and antidote items."
"When the boss appears in an unknown form, do not rely on your experience from the previous 74 floors to make a judgment; observe first."
Lin Yuan listened to the arrangements from the edge of the crowd. As the seventy-fifth floor was another special node, it was not inappropriate to prepare for the worst-case scenario.
After the meeting, each team conducted a final check on the spot. Recovery crystals were redistributed according to their front and back positions, spare weapons were carried by players with lower carrying capacity, and even unusable transfer crystals were not discarded—no one could be sure whether the lockdown would be lifted immediately after the boss died.
Diabel confirmed the identities of the responsible persons one by one before finally approaching Lin Yuan.
What if an attack occurs that even you can't withstand?
I will remind you to avoid it.
What if we can't avoid it?
Lin Yuan looked at the fifty men who had already assembled. "Then let's redirect its attack here first."
The group left the main street and headed deeper into the maze.
The monsters on the 75th floor are significantly stronger than those on the previous floor. The path to the Boss room has already been cleared by the advance team, leaving only traces of battle that have not yet respawned.
Lin Yuan did not draw his sword the entire way.
Upon arriving at the massive stone gate, Diabel made a final check of the team's numbers. The raiding party consisted of fifty people, almost all of Aincrad's top players.
Kirito examines " The Elucidator " and " The Dark Repulser," Asuna grips her rapier tightly, and Klein pats the hilt of his sword.
Kirito walked to Lin Yuan's side and lowered his voice. "Is ' Mountain Severance ' usable now?"
"Once."
"Let's leave it for now," Kirito said. "If we can handle it with a normal formation, let's not rush to add more burden to ' Nameless '."
Lin Yuan gripped the hilt of his sword.
"Can."
The stone gate slowly opened from both sides.
Behind the door was not the dark corridor seen during the reconnaissance, but a vast, almost endless circular hall. Fifty people entered one by one, with overhead lights lighting up layer by layer as they walked.
The last player crossed the threshold.
The stone door suddenly closed behind them.
Someone immediately retrieved the transfer crystal.
"Transfer--"
The crystal did not react.
The next moment, a dense grinding sound of bones came from the dome.
Lin Yuan looked up.
A massive skeletal body coiled in the darkness, its two scythe-like forelimbs outstretched. Crimson lights illuminated along dozens of vertebrae in sequence, eventually converging into a pair of eyes that looked down upon the crowd.
The monster's name appears in the player's field of view.
The Skeleton Hunter.
It released its dome and plummeted toward the expedition team.