In the next few days, we turned the Hollow Area into our personal background, and while we maintained a guild house on the first floor, this became the place where we spent most of our free time. The ability to contact the outside world made Mei rather busy for a while. Still, after forming new plans for the foreseeable future, the burden of coordinating actions between the game and the real world fell on me.
But all of that had to be kept behind closed doors, and now I needed to focus on what was in the open.
-"Sir Yue."
~"Drop the sir. No need to be so formal, Yuna."~I smiled at the girl who stood before me.~"You know what this apprenticeship will look like, right?"
-"I heard about it before."-She nodded.
~"That makes it easier then. I need an hour or so to deal with all the matters here, so use this time to familiarize yourself with the rest of the team we will be traveling with. Fu Hua will take you to meet everyone."
-"This way."-Fu Hua motioned to Yuna, walking out of my office to show her the way.
-"Thank you."
After two of them left, a small floating window appeared before me.
-"Can we continue?"-Nuwa asked from the screen.
~"Please."
-"As I said before, thanks to your information from inside, we were able to find Kayaba Akihiko's hiding place, and after a brief stand-off with his 'friend', we convinced them to move into Rath's Ocean Turtle."
~"Be sure to secure Kayaba into our machine in case any accident happens."
-"We already did so. In exchange for immunity and pardon, Koujiro Rinko agreed to work with us while caring for Kayaba's body."
~"Then I'll stop meddling with how you deal with this matter and leave thin entirely in your hands. What about RECT and rights to SAO?"
-"Basically, all patents and trademarks fell into the hands of the RECT branch named RECT Progress Inc. After some digging, we found that the person responsible for all this is Sugou Nobuyuki."
~"Sugou Nobuyuki... I heard of him. Asuna mentioned that he is quite a sinister bastard. At least, that is how I understood her more polite description."
-"She is correct. Without digging much, my sister had already uncovered enough dirt to build a new island."
~"Collect enough to make him sit in prison for the rest of his life, but try not to implicate Asuna and her family."
-"Will do."
~"What are they doing with the rights they got?"
-"There are two major developments. First is AmuSphere, the safer version of NerveGear."
~"Taking over the lucrative market, understandable."
-"The second is a game they are developing, ALO. Because of SAO, many people lost trust in that technology, so many international players stare at their hands, even so, as many people wish for that game to succeed."
~"Place a few eyeliners in there. Knowing how Nobuyuki is, the company will go up in flames sooner or later. This time, we can't let the rights to all of that slip through our fingers."
-"I'll work with Seijirou on that."
~"Then I believe it is all for now."
-"Yes."
~"So let's wrap this up. Thank you for taking care of everything for me, Nuwa."
-"It's my job."
~"After SAO is dealt with, I'll make sure to reward you for all your work and troubles."
-"I'll be waiting."
Nuwa smiled slightly and ended the call.
~"I apologize for the delay."~I spoke while entering the room where Fu Hua brought Yuna before.
-"No, I understand that there are many matters you need to deal with."-Yuna shook her.
-"Drop all that politeness, Yue."-Mebius spoke from a corner where she was playing with some snake-like monster she tamed.-"Don't waste the time."
~"I'll do that. Long story short, we are to act as a vanguard and clear the path for the raid parties. Any questions?"
-"Only us?"-Mito asked after looking around.
~"Yes, the rest of Flame Chasers are busy with other missions."
-"Misions?"
~"Confidential."
-"Oh..."-Mito seemed to want to say something more, but she stopped herself.
~"I know you are unhappy about being kept out of the loop, but there is reason for this. I'll explain and apologize after it's done."
She nodded, though it was evident that she was still down.
~"OK, let's focus on the matters at hand. Fu Hua and I will be acting as tanks on the front, while Mito and Asuna will be the main damage dealers of the party. Mobius, you are our support, and Felis, you are a scout. Yuna, your position is in the middle. Do your job and listen to me as party captain and Mobius as my second."
-"Yes."
~"After fifteen minutes, we gather at the entrance."~Wraping up the briefing, I left and entered my room. Changing into my armor, I wore my gauntlets required by Martial Art Skill and stopped by the weapon stand to pick up my main weapon. I started gathering weapons as a hobby, so most of my room was full of weapons stands and hangers showing a myriad of different swords, spears, and other more strange and classic weapons. After looking around and thinking for a moment, I decided to use a spear this time.
Most likely because of the influence of Hold and many weapon masters present there, I had a strong preference for 'Japanese' weapons, as I came to call them because of Nobu's influence, over ones from other cultures, but when it came to spears, the influence of Xianzhou and Lyue proved stronger, resulting in me choosing Qiang over Yari.
Being on the shorter end of its type, measuring around two and a half meters, it was made of dark hardwood that had a typical leaf-shaped blade amed from silver steel-like material on one end and a short spike on the other. The most eye-catching element was the tassel lashed under the spearhead. Normally, it would be red to match the blood that would drip from the spear, but as there is no blood in the game, my spear used white color instead.
After taking the Qiang out of the weapon rack, I left my room, and as all of that didn't take even five minutes when I walked to the entrance, there was only Asuna waiting there.
-"Yue."
~"What's up?"
-"Well... I wanted to ask if you have some time after the boss battle."-Asuna asked quietly, feeling a little shy.
~"To be honest, I might be rather busy in the upcoming week or so, but after that, I will be free."
-"Then would you mind spending one afternoon with me?"
~"Sure."
I continued to talk with Asuna, waiting for others to appear, ignoring Mito, who hid around the corner after hearing Asuna inviting me out.
When everyone arrived, we took the portal directly to the highest available floor, and from there, we started to make our way toward the boss room. The first issue we encountered was the reliability of the map we were provided, as this floor was unlocked not even four days ago, and there were many unexplored regions and paths, not to mention understanding how and when monsters appeared or their movement patterns. Due to that, we triggered a few traps on our way here, wasting part of our potions, but as each of us was as elite, if not more, as a player could get, we were moving toward our destination at a steady pace.
Fu Hua easily blocked and parried all monsters rushing toward our party while I acted as area denial, using the range of my spear to my advantage. Asuna and Mito moved swiftly between Fu Hua and me, using any opening available to eliminate our opponents, retreating after each successful hit so as not to gain aggro.
Mobius also played her role, be it herding monsters using her tamed beasts or hindering stronger opponents with various poisons and venoms. Felis left most of the fighting to us, focusing on scouting our path and disarming traps along the way. Lastly, one couldn't ignore Yuna's contributions. While our party could function well without any supporters, her presence made our life much easier, especially as this floor's monsters utilized some troublesome acids that needed special items to treat.
The said acids were the second aspect that heavily impacted our combat strength. The entire environment was made to impede players' movement and vision. Most annoyed by that was Felis, who had to constantly clear mists to do any scouting. The only upside was that, thanks to Mobius's reptile beasts, we could navigate the swamps around more easily.
Still, it took us over seven hours to arrive in the vicinity of the boss room, where we decided to camp in a small cave and rest while waiting for the main raid party to arrive. We sat around the campfire and ate the simple stew I prepared, talking about some random subjects.
-"Shouldn't they be here already?"-Mito asked after looking at the time.-"More than half an hour passed since our agreed meeting time."
-"Huh? You are right."-Asuna also looked at the time.
~"It would seem that it's as we expected."~I stood up and walked toward the entrance to the cave we hid.
-"Twenty-eight."-Mobius spoke from behind.
~"It's within our plan parameters."~I placed the spear by the wall and stood at the entrance.~"Mobius, you are in charge. Fu Hua, get ready."
Fu Hua nodded and walked to my side.
-"What's going on?"-Asuna looked at us surprised and worried.
-"Somebody is after us?"-Mito caught up to what was happening.-"The main party must have been blocked, that's why there's a delay... Wait... We are a bait?!"
~"Yes. The thought of killing the 'Emperor' is too great to ignore. Am I right, PoH?"
-"Heh."-A cloaked man walked from nearby bushes.-"Your confidence is annoying as always."
One by one, cloaked figures started appearing around, soon surrounding the cave entrance without leaving any path for escape.
~"Just to be sure, you won't lay your weapons down?"
-"We still hadn't had enough fun, so that would be a no."
~"Sigh."~As the battle was inevitable, I equipped my strongest skills, especially the OSS, that both Fu Hua and I were able to gain after mastering mentoring.
Thanks to unlocking the OSS, two of us were able to replicate most of not only Fu Hua's Taixuan style but also my own version of her style. Additionally, the OSS allowed us to create joint skills, making it possible for us to chain martial arts movements together. With those skills available, we weren't worried about facing PoH and his minions even without aura and other energies that we would be able to use in the real world. After all, reducing the limits of the system on two of us was like giving wings to a tiger.
To gain the initiative, Fu Hua dashed forward, engaging the closest opponent in hand-to-hand combat. Not to be outdone, I also moved, picking a target next to her so that we could easily assist each other. Our opponents also rushed at us, quickly creating a chaotic crowd surrounding the two of us.
In such a disorderly situation, Fu Hua's aggressive Taixuan style that embraced the 'emptiness' and 'no-self' connected to its name was fully unleashed, quickly establishing domination over all opponents in range. More often than not, the Laughing Coffin members couldn't even finish half of their attack before they were interrupted by Fu Hua's carnage.
Fu Hua created the Taixuan style with one purpose only: to slaughter honkai, and while it evolved later to defend the earth, embracing Ying and Yang, in the hands of Hua before her loss of memory and birth of Herrsher personality that changed it again into style empathizing domination and control, in Fu Hua's hands, it remained pure to its purpose.
My own interpretation took from both of their extremes, combining them into a style that pursued control through inaction while denaying the domination and emptiness of its original. Using my strongest point, the Path of Ordination, as its core, I focused on the Taixuan meaning of 'Supreme Mystery' and created martial art that integrated 81 ternary tetragrams that fused divination and combat into one. Not seeking conventional initiative, but using the powers of both allies and enemies at will. The whole battlefield was my board, and the future was in my control.
Swiftly moving between my opponents, I parried, blocked, and attacked so that the chaos on the battlefield continued, making sure to keep all of them engaged in combat and constantly occupied. Every strike and kick chipped away the health of our opponents, and because of the chaos and the high intensity of the combat, no one but PoH noticed that more than seven members of their guild had fallen under Fu Hua's and my cooperation.
Most players in SAO were rather dismissive of the martial arts skill, so few picked it even as a secondary skill, and, to be honest, it was rather weak against monsters and especially bosses, but it possessed a quality that almost no other weapon could provide: interruptions. The ability to cancel opponents' skills was outright overpowered against players, as all the damage one could deal relied on the skills. Adding to that the short cooldowns and quick moves, martial arts was the strongest skill in frontal PvP in all of SAO.
As more of our opponents started to fall, they finally started to notice the direness of their situation, and after someone shouted that PoH was nowhere to be seen, the fight changed from the siege of Fu Hua and me to us two trying to prevent them from escaping. Luckily, the raid main party arrived at this moment to assist us, apprehending those who were kept by us.
By the end of the fight, Fu Hua and I had around 40% health remaining, so their timely arrival was appreciated.
-"The cavalry is here!"-Elysia jumped at me and hung on my neck.
~"Little late for that, but I'm also glad you are here, Elysia."~I grabbed her and changed her position to the princess carry.
-"You all right?"-Mei asked while approaching us with Kevin.
~"Yes. How was your side?"
-"Thirty-two captured, eighteen dead."
~"Casulties?"
-"None."
~"Then we can judge the plan as success. Here, only PoH and four others escaped. Of the remaining attackers, thirteen were captured and the rest killed."
-"It would seem that Laughing Coffin is no more."
~"Indeed. Let's get over this boss quickly, as it's better to deal with the aftermath of this quickly. While there are no more red guilds as notorious as them, I still want to deal with orange ones before they can disband and hide."
-"Let everyone rest for ten minutes, and we can go. I had already notified people in the prison to get everything ready for our return so you can focus on the boss."
~"Thanks."
After taking one last look at the bound red players, I walked with Elysia back to the cave, sitting down to eat what remained of the stew I prepared before. After finishing the meal, everyone began gathering for the boss fight. We also joined them, and following a quick briefing, everyone entered the boss room. In the end, we cleared it without any issues and unlocked the next floor.