Shattered: A SAO Tale (Sword Art Online)

It took three more near-death situations before the Reavers managed to bring down the Abyss Leviathan.

Silica got hit by two tail attacks in quick sucession, only surviving because Liz rescued her. Yuuki lost a leg when she had to jump over a bite - and failed. And Nautilus endured one too many hits, including a surprising critical that sent him down to red.

Turns out, Drifter shouldn't have been so hard on his internal assessment of Sinon, because he had also been reckless. The smart move would have been to retreat and call for backup, but he had insisted they take on the boss by themselves.

Lots of things could have gone wrong. But then again, wasn't that the summary of the life of a frontliner? They were a walking contradiction of always taking the best precautions, and yet always marching into the most dangerous situations.

It was rare to find such a large group of individuals as messed up as they were. But if it got them through to the end? Then it was fine.

"Finally! That took forever!"

Ran collapsed to the ground in an uncharacteristic display of emotion. Not that the other Reavers would - or could - call her out on it, since all of them followed her example.

Kizmel's arm had regrown during the course of the battle, that was how long it took. Yuuki, meanwhile, had been relegated to the backlines for reasons of only having one leg, and was now poking at the stump of the missing limb.

"This is weird."

"You tell me. Never fun to lose a limb. It throws my whole balance off."

Drifter nodded sagely, as if that were the only concern. Outside of SAO, several therapists were conspiring to kidnap the frontliners for year-round sessions the moment they got out.

"Loot! What's the loot!"

Silica, despite nearly dying, was happily scrolling through her menu. The young girl wasn't as crazy about drops as the more hard-core players, but she did enjoy distributing them.

Drifter smiled, and opened his menu. In accordance to its status, the Abyss Leviathan had dropped an abundance of items, not to mention an almost literal wagon-load of cor.

Potions and crystals were set aside, and all crafting materials thrown directly to Liz for appraisal. The blacksmith would select what she wanted and send the rest to their guild warehouse to serve as a reserve, or to be sold.

The equipment was what everyone was focused on. The first one Drifter took out was a beautifully crafted pair of greaves, made of some dark-blue ice that made it seen like someone had frozen a portion of the deep ocean as it were.

A short glance at the item's properties later, and Drifter threw it directly to Vallerk. It was a tank-oriented piece of equipment, and the boy's current greaves were lower-level than Shigio's.

"Next... Helmet of the Leviathan. An even split between strength and dex. Ran, Yuuki, Kirito, Sachi, Tetsuo, Kizmel. Me too, I suppose, but the one I'm using is just a little worse stat-wise so I'm out. Only one helmet, so you'll have to decide between yourselves."

Almost immediately, several of the people he called bowed out citing similar reasons to him. Kizmel and Yuuki were the two left, and they stared at each other before shrugging simultaneously.

"You can take it."

Drifter snorted as both spoke the same thing at the same time, and the other Reavers laughed. That was not an uncommon scene amongst them. Some, like Asuna, were charitable to a fault.

In the end, the helmet went to Kizmel after she won against Yuuki in a heated game of rock-paper-scissors.

A pair of boots and a mace followed, going to Silica and Tetsuo respectively. The last item was a beautiful icy-blue spear, with deep green emeralds adorning the shaft and head of the weapon.

And it was a twisted bident.

Before Drifter could even look up from the masterpiece in his hands, Sachi had already shoved it back into his lap.

"It's yours Drifter. Practically made for you."

The others nodded, and even Liz glanced jealously at the craftsmanship of the weapon. It was better than anything she could make at her current level.

"Thanks."

Drifter ran his hand over the weapon, smiling. It was a thing of beauty. And deadly. The best combination there was.

"We should pack up and go back. We need to restock."

"You heard the man. Move out, people!"

...

They could tell something was wrong immediately. Usually, the 32nd floor would be bustling with activity. Parties going in and out, merchants selling their wares, customers haggling.

There was none of that now. Only an eerie silence and mostly empty streets. The few people they saw looked out of sorts. Scared.

"What is going on?"

Griselda asked no one, because the Reavers didn't have an answer. At least, until one of Akari's shadows found them.

It was so uncharacteristic for one of the Fuumaningum role-players to appear in broad daylight that the Reavers stared at him for a solid minute before snapping out of their confusion.

"What happened?"

"An attack. A declaration of war. You were out of communication for a while. Our leader is meeting with Argo the Rat. Both wish to speak with you, Broken Spear Drifter."

Hidden maps blocked messages. That's why the Reavers had warned Argo before going in. And now that Drifter looked at his messages, he saw a backlog from Argo and Akari, both telling him to get back as soon as possible.

Glancing back to his guildmates, Drifter saw the worry in their eyes, certainly reflected in his. He nodded once to the Fuumaningum ninja.

"Lead the way."

...

Turns out the meeting was taking place in the 12th floor, where Fuumaningum had some sort of base.

After passing by several more of the role-players, Drifter was finally led to a room where Akari and Argo were having a heated discussion. Drifter caught snippets of it, words like 'kill', 'fear' and the like. It didn't sound good.

"Akari, little rat. What happened?"

The two jumped, not even having noticed him enter. Then Argo was on him, punching his stomach and ignoring the [ Immortal Object ] message since they were still in a safe zone.

"What took ya so fuckin' long, Dri-bou?"

"The boss hit harder than we thought. We have good intel for you. Later, though. Now, what happened?"

Drifter asked again, ruffling her hair and nodding to Akari. The Shadow Blossom looked... Ragged. She sighed.

"Laughing Coffin."

Drifter's spine locked. His fingers that were brushing Argo's hair clenched until the info-broker stomped on his feet to make him let go.

Laughing Coffin. Always them. Drifter took a deep breath.

"Who did they kill?"

Argo and Akari exchanged glances. Not 'what have they done', but 'who did they kill'. It was scarily accurate when it came to Laughing Coffin.

"A small-sized guild of the mid-floors."

So more than one person. Drifter exhaled.

"How many in total?"

"9. They only let one live. That's how we got wind of the attack so fast."

"'Let one live'? Does that mean..."

Drifter caught on to Argo's exact wording very quickly. His expression hardened even further, if that was possible. The info-broker nodded.

"Yeah. They let one go on purpose, so he could tell everyone about what happened. Even encouraged it."

"They want to raise their reputation. Spread fear."

"More of the second, I'm afraid. It brings the first up anyway so-"

Akari shook her head, fiddling with a throwing pick. Drifter hadn't seen her this nervous even when they went after Morte.

"There's more, isn't there?"

Argo hung her head.

"Yep. They left a message for the Assault Team, through the survivor."

"What is it?"

Drifter snarled, then recoiled. Argo and Akari didn't deserve his vitriol and anger. Only Laughing Coffin.

Neither the info-broker nor the ninja seemed to mind, or even notice. Argo started reciting.

"The game, or the players? Which will you choose?"

This time the spearmaster full-on growled, slamming his fist down on the table. This was a clear threat. If the Assault Team focused on clearing SAO, Laughing Coffin would go after innocent players. If they tried to protect the lower-level players, they wouldn't be able to climb fast enough.

"That's not a choice! It would be suicide!"

If the frontliners spread their forces to patrol the lower floors, they would never leave, and their real bodies would eventually give out.

"No. It's a taunt. Laughing Coffin wants us unsettled and the normal players scared."

"Well, they got what they wanted. I'm fucking pissed right now. And I would bet you can't find a soul in SAO who hasn't heard about those bastards and what they did. People are scared shitless."

Normally Drifter wouldn't curse so much. He toned it down for Yuna's sake, as well as the kiddos in the guild. But right now, he just didn't care, and old habits slipped through.

Akari and Argo ignored that too. Drifter took a few deep breaths to regain his control. Then his gaze sharpened, glinting like his new spear.

"What else do you know. Where did it happen? How? When? How many red players, distinctive characteristics? Can we hunt them down?"

Akari bit her lips behind her mask.

"My people are interrogating the survivor right now. He is terrified, and lost. Possibly suicidal. But we will get all the details that we can."

"And I'm gonna talk to Loute in Black Iron Palace. Fuckin' bastard's batshit crazy, but maybe those months in a cell loosened his tongue."

None of the three even noticed how callous they sounded. Drifter just nodded. It was as good a plan as any, and probably the best they could do in the short term. Pulling people away from the frontlines would be just a waste of time and resources with 30 floors to safeguard.

"Alright. Akari, keep one of your shadows on the poor player if you can. You said he's suicidal, but let's try to prevent more loss of life if we can."

"I'll see what I can do, Broken Spear. But it's hard to stop someone from taking their own life in SAO."

"I know. Trust me, I know. But just try. If he goes ahead with it... I wish him peace."

The ninja nodded, already sending sending message to assign someone to the task. All the other Fuumaningum players were already redoubling their efforts to find Laughing Coffin.

"Okay. Okay. I need to get back to my guild and tell them everything. Anything else, little rat?"

Drifter was already half turned, but he stopped when he saw Argo's expression. It wasn't angry or sad. More like uncertain.

"There is. Of course there is. What's it, Argo?"

The info-broker scratched her chin.

"Not sure, Dri-bou. Just a rumor that started goin' 'round. The timin' is suspicious, that's all."

The spearmaster raised an eyebrow. Argo's hunches were usually right.

"What's the rumor?"

"That there's a special boss in the 35th floor. Hidden map, like the one ya just came from."

"Okay? Why's that suspicious?"

"'Cause the rumor says the boss drops a revive item. And I can't wrap my mind 'round how it started circulatin' right at the time people are most scared for their lives. Everyone's gonna want it."

Drifter's brain had short-circuited at the words 'revive item', but it rebooted when Argo finished speaking.

Putting aside the fact that it was just a rumor and they weren't on the 35th floor yet, Drifter could see what Argo meant. Everyone would want the item, either for themselves, as insurance, or to bring back someone they cared about.

Hell, Drifter could think of dozens of people he wanted to revive. Merida. Namate. Ducker and Sasamaru. Meowlen. Diavel. Those were just some of the first names who sprung to mind.

"If that's true - even if it isn't - people are gonna fight for it. Maybe kill for it. Doesn't that sound like what those Laughin' Coffin bastards want, Dri-bou? Make players kill each other?"

Argo had a good point. A great, indisputable one. That sounded exactly like something Laughing Coffin would do.

"Can't we just tell everyone that then?"

Even as he spoke, Drifter knew he was being naive. And Akari was shaking her head before he finished.

"Not unless we can prove the rumor's false and that it were the red players who started it - both of which are things we don't know. For all we know, it can be real. There's all sorts of stuff hidden in Aincrad."

"And even if we could do what Akari-chan said, plenty of people would still believe it. They would just think we are trynna take the item for ourselves."

Drifter furrowed his brows. They were right, of course.

"Fuck. This is bad."

He paused. Considered their options.

They had none. Not any good ones, at least. So Drifter tapped the table.

"Damage control. Spread another rumor, connected to the first, saying there are restrictions to the item. A time limit. It won't even be a lie, I bet. Kayaba would never put such a broken thing in SAO without equally broken limitations."

Argo and Akari nodded. It wasn't a bad idea. It might dissuade some from searching for the item or throwing themselves recklessly to death in some false hope that they could be brought back.

"And for all that's sacred, find Laughing Coffin."