When the wind rushed out from behind the door on the 80th floor, Lin Yuan smelled a mixture of metal and dust.
This level of the maze has no intact walls.
Broken stone pillars support the tilting dome, and several paths overlap. Spear guards hidden in the shadows will suddenly thrust across two stone pillars, and by the time their spears appear, the players responsible for scouting are often already within their attack range.
The first reconnaissance team therefore retreated.
Lin Yuan did not return to town with them.
He remained alone among the stone pillars, gazing at them for a full half-day.
The spear guard's thrust is not complicated. What's truly dangerous is that before it strikes, it braces its hind legs against the stone surface, pressing its entire weight into a straight attack trajectory. By the time the player judges the direction using the lighting effects, the spear tip has already passed the first stone pillar.
In their second encounter, Lin Yuan dodged to the side the instant the monster's hind leg struck.
The gun barrel grazed his chest.
Instead of striking the spear, the Nameless Sword slid forward along the shaft, piercing the guard's shoulder when the guard could not change direction.
After the monster shattered, no experience points entered Lin Yuan's body.
When Kirito arrived, he saw that his experience bar had jumped forward a bit.
"It's all on me," he said.
"Then let's continue."
Over the next few days, the two specifically sought out groups of spear-wielding guards. Lin Yuan learned their method of concentrating their power into a single line, while Kirito took the final blow. By the time the 80th floor boss room was discovered, Kirito's level had once again widened the gap with the average level of the raiding team.
Lin Yuan did not participate in that battle.
After incorporating the spear guard's sudden advance into his sword steps, he returned to the lower level along the physical staircase and told the Moonlit Black Cats about the route and the monster's movements.
Fortunately, the information was recorded on the edge of the map, and Tetsuo prepared a batch of chest protectors that could withstand thrusts. The equipment was not delivered to the 80th floor boss room, but it saved a reconnaissance team surrounded by gunfire in the 82nd floor maze.
The name of the Moonlit Black Cats began to appear on the supply list of the raiding team.
They still haven't entered the upper-level labyrinth.
Keita knew very well that being able to deliver bandages, food, and intelligence to the front lines did not mean they also possessed the strength to stand before the Boss. No one mistakenly believed that the entire guild could overcome the level gap simply because Lin Yuan and Kirito were powerful.
On the eighty-third floor, Lin Yuan encountered a monster wielding chain blades.
The chains could bypass the shield and retract from the player's side and rear. Lin Yuan's right wrist was entangled during their first encounter. The monster tried to pull him into its encirclement by pulling back, but Lin Yuan stepped forward along the chains and severed the monster's arm with a single sword strike before the distance closed.
After that, he began to learn how to change the direction of the chain blade.
The sword cannot bend, nor can it bypass the shield.
But human footsteps can.
He broke down the arc of the chain retracting into three turns, turning what was originally a straight attack into a zigzag approach from the side. Kirito tried it once and only commented once.
Players won't go that way.
"That's why they're even harder to stop."
The two used this footwork to clear the most dangerous section of the corridor on the eighty-fourth floor.
All the experience gained from monsters along the way was still added to Kirito's stats. Lin Yuan only received action points, collision damage, and fatigue that remained on his physical body.
As a result, the speed of completing the strategy is getting faster and faster.
The boss on the 85th floor was defeated by the Knights of the Blood. On the 86th floor, Lin Yuan rescued a trapped spear team from the flank, but did not enter the final boss room. When he cleared the 87th and 88th floors consecutively, he was searching for abnormal boundaries in the unexplored maze.
No new cracks appeared.
The vague senses left behind after Cardinal was destroyed still linger, but they always point to this world itself, not Fairy Tail.
The only clear path remains above.
In the 89th floor of the maze, the monsters have changed to heavily armored guards wielding swords in both hands.
They move slowly, but with each swing of their swords, they use the weight of their armor to press down further. Even if an ordinary player manages to block, they will be forced to withstand the second wave of force.
Lin Yuan did not learn any new moves from it.
What he learned was to wait.
The first collision was merely to determine the direction; the real attack was hidden after his opponent thought he had exhausted his strength. The not-yet-fully-recovered crystalline layer of " Nameless " also prevented him from recklessly using brute force to overcome all obstacles.
Kirito then incorporated this pause into the rhythm of his dual swords.
One fast, one slow; the two swords no longer arrive at the same time.
They parted ways at the exit of the 89th floor maze. Kirito returned to the 11th floor through the transfer door to collect the supplies prepared by the Black Cats, while Lin Yuan headed ahead to the front lines along the floor paths.
Three days later, the 90th floor was opened.
There are no open fields or towns on this level.
Beyond the main street lies a black fortress that stretches upwards, its labyrinthine levels seemingly built within the same massive boulder. It took the raiding team twelve days to reach its deepest point.
Behind the Boss's door, waiting for everyone was a giant clad in full heavy armor.
It has neither two sickles nor dozens of bony legs.
He wielded only a black greatsword, wider than the shield warrior's body.
"Frontline defense, first confirm the attack pattern!" Diabel ordered.
Three heavy shields were raised simultaneously.
The heavily armored giant took a step forward and brought his sword down with both hands.
The first shield split open from the center.
The second shield was smashed and flew out of my hand.
The third shield warrior, along with his weapon, crashed into the crowd behind him.
The black greatsword struck the ground, its impact spreading outwards along the stone slabs. The HP of the players in the front row dropped simultaneously, and their once-intact formation was torn apart in a single blow.
The boss raised his sword again.
Lin Yuan pressed down on " Nameless ".
Kirito also drew his twin swords from the other side of the crowd.
The two walked into the gap created by the heavy sword at the same time.