Sword Art Online - Alternative Reality

The 50th Floor CHP. 4

As the ambient lighting began to rise with the morning sun, the camp that laid out before us began to come alive. My 'Search' skill wasn't high enough to see all the details, but there were probably well over 100 of the clockwork soldiers in the forward section of the base alone. We were currently on a cliffside overlooking the camp, a bit away from the gathering point we had set for the other raid members and supporting NPC parties. It was 7 in the morning, although we planned to commence the raid at 8 once we dealt with any additional assault patrols that may spawn within the hour.

That being said, the majority of the raid force had arrived, currently totaling a usual raid we would use for a floor boss, 48. Four additional 6-man parties were already enroute to join us, with the added NPC guards, we would have a fighting force of just over 100 as well. Despite the tense atmosphere, morale was high, and I could hear excited yells coming from the distance. Other than Kirito and I, it was unlikely that any player had been a part of such a large-scale battle, and ours was completely accidental in the first place. As for the swordsman in question...

"Kirito, didn't we just eat an hour ago?"

Glancing to my side, Kirito was sitting down, dangling his legs off the cliffside, while adamantly staring towards the western side of the camp. He was also chewing on something that resembled a stick. He removed it from his mouth and started waving it around like a wand.

"Technically I'm not eating anything. Here, just chew on it."

Handing over the green-looking bamboo stick, I saw a small portion of it had whitened out, confirming that he wasn't pulling one of his 'pranks' on me again. Taking the gamble, it ended up tasting completely normal, with a satisfying and refreshing mint flavor.

"Hm...where did get this?"

"Some shady merchant sells em back in town. They got a whole bunch of flavors, although I prefer the spicy ones."

"Your ability to find exotic food is as impressive as always. Well, let's get back to the others, we'll probably start the raid early today."

"Hm, hey Asuna, what's the layout of the camp again?"

"Did we not just go over this both last night and while we were walking here?"

"In my defense, I was half-asleep in both circumstances. Although...I wouldn't mind another wake-up call?"

"Maybe when you start paying attention."

"Aw..."

Our path towards the labyrinth was blocked by an impassable mountain range, with only a massive camp nearly the size of the main town providing a way through. According to quests we cleared to gather information on the camp, it was split into 4 zones. The 1st zone and the one closest to us was a staging area, where a sizable garrison force acted as guards while the patrols formed up in the area.

The 2nd zone was within a riverbed that ran across the camp. Although bridges were running from the 1st zone to the 3rd zone since it was embedded in the ground, it was their storage area for the majority of their 'inactive' soldiers. The 3rd zone was supposedly a maintenance area, while the last was more akin to a passageway between the camp and the path leading towards the labyrinth.

The plan was to quickly take the 1st zone and rush through the 3rd to defeat the field boss in the 4th, which in theory, should deactivate the entire army. However, several guilds would have to hold the stairways leading down to the 2nd zone since their numbers would overwhelm us, and it was decided that it was too dangerous to try and clear it out.

Finishing off my explanation, I noticed that Kirito hadn't dropped his stare from a certain part of the camp, and a bad premonition had begun to crawl up my back.