Shattered: A SAO Tale (Sword Art Online)

One Frozen Abyss Guard was easy enough to deal with after they learned to watch out for its sudden attack path changes. Two of them? Still fine. Three? Doable.

Sixteen? That was when they called the rest of Reaver's Requiem to help them.

The Frozen Abyss Guards were elite mobs, the kind you would find in the tower, not outside the labyrinth. And yet, there was a whole tribe of them under the frozen lake.

A dungeon. That was the only explanation. Or a hidden map, as some players liked to call it. Something that appeared every few floors, with only about half a dozen having been found until now.

Hidden maps were open for anyone to enter them, at their own peril. They were several times more difficult than the floor to which they belonged to. Just a few months back, a hidden map on the 22nd floor had ended up with 9 entire parties annihilated, despite their levels and equipment being more than enough for the floor.

While they had never been the ones to discover and first explore hidden maps - until now - Reaver's Requiem had their fair share of experience with them. After all, hidden maps were treasure troves, and just the elite mobs made it worth to go back to them even after several floors.

"Alright everyone, we have to be careful, but fast. Asuna's quest wasn't unique, so we'll have competition soon enough."

That settled that, then. All players were greedy by default, and there was no way in hell the Reavers would give up on a hidden map.

So that was how the guild ended up all squeezed together in the icy tunnel beneath the lake, looking down on an open subterranean expanse that went even deeper than they already were.

"My Searching is picking up 16 mobs. That right?"

Drifter turned to Sinon, who had the highest mastery of the skill, followed by Kirito and himself. The archer nodded silently, and the spearmaster turned around.

"Okay. So here's how we are doing this. See that stretch between the wall and that pillar? That's our battleground. Sinon and I will use our long-range skills to kite that group of four over to there. Meanwhile, I want Asuna and Silica to distract the rest of the Frozen Abyss Guards. Aggro them and give 'em the slip on the other side. Everyone else, we'll wait for the first four mobs to make their way to us. When they do, Nautilus, Kizmel, you will box them in. Vallerk, Shigio, you will be the second layer of shields. Use the pillar as a chokepoint, and make sure no stragglers get through, and nothing catches us with our backs turned. We will make quick work of those four, and repeat until they are down to a manageable number."

A solid, not-too-complicated plan. Something the spearmaster had learned early on was that the more basic a plan was, the more adaptability it had for when something inevitably went wrong. 'No plan survives first contact with the enemy' or something like that. He didn't know, Sasha was the one who liked quotes.

Asuna and Silica were taking on what was by far the most dangerous role. One slip up, and they might find themselves besieged by a dozen elite mobs, and cut from the rest of the guild.

But he knew they were up to the task. It was nothing they hadn't done a thousand times before.

"Ready? Then... Drop!"

The spearmaster was the first to jump down, crouching to absorb the impact, and turning to catch Yuna and then Sinon as the less strength-oriented players joined him.

As quietly as a group of 20 players could, the Reavers approached Drifter's chosen battlefield. Asuna and Silica split up with them, sneaking around and hugging the wall until they were on the other side of the cave.

No problems for now. The Frozen Abyss Guards were roaming around in groups of 3 or 4, mostly away from them. One mob band, their targets, was close enough that they started to sniff the air, the players entering the fringes of their aggro range.

With a quick message to Asuna to confirm the girls were in position, Drifter coiled his arm above his head, while Sinon knocked an arrow onto her bow.

Almost opposite to them, a huge commotion broke out as Asuna and Silica attacked another group of Frozen Abyss Guards in a flurry of skills that ended just as quickly as it began.

The two girls started running, leading the mobs in a wild goose chase. Very quickly, more Frozen Abyss Guards joined, forcing the fencer and the dagger-user to run and dodge in increasingly difficult patterns to avoid getting ganged upon.

Unwilling to let his guildmates face any more danger than it was necessary, Drifter waited until the other mobs were just far enough away to not be attracted by the commotion before letting a Serpentcoil Impale fly.

His bident punched a hole through the back of a Frozen Abyss Guard at the same time as Sinon's Double Shot caught two others on the neck, leaving only one of their four initial targets unharmed.

Even in the situation they were in, with the 4 Frozen Abyss Guards snarling and turning around to charge at them, Drifter couldn't help but whistle in admiration. Double Shot wasn't supposed to let you hit two targets at once, but to hit the same target twice. That Sinon could modify the skill to that extent was a testament to her abilities, and her title. Aero Huntress indeed.

And the archer wasn't done. Before the mobs had even taken 3 steps in their direction, two more arrows were already in the air, the sparking effects of Overcharge blowing the uninjured Frozen Abyss Guard back, while the green streak of Breaking Airflow blinded another.

Not to be outdone, Drifter recalled his spear and changed it into a polearm, meeting the ax of the first Frozen Abyss Guard in a resounding clash.

Around him, the rest of his guild engaged the other three mobs. You would think that, with nearly 5 players per mob, they would make quick work of them, but that wasn't what happened. The Frozen Abyss Guards worked together, so the difficulty escalated by a lot when fighting 4 of them as opposed to just 2. Which was just another reason why Drifter had been so keen to split up the mobs. If they went against all 16 Frozen Abyss Guards together, it was very likely some of the Reavers would die.

The biggest problem was that, unlike most mobs, those elite goblins would help each other. Because of that, the Reavers couldn't use a player's favorite tactic - to gang up on one mob and kill it before it could even retaliate, then move on to the next. They were forced to kill all 4 Frozen Abyss Guards more or less at the same time.

Well, if that was what it took, that was what the Reavers would do. Liz charged at the mob Drifter was fighting with a hammer skill, throwing it directly in the path of the Sachi's Sting.

The former Black Cat had improved immensely since they first met. She would never be a frontliner - Ducker and Sasamaru's deaths saw to it that Sachi was afraid to even consider the idea - but she could give any clearer a run for their money.

Not to be outdone, Drifter slashed diagonally with his weapon, changing the polearm to a halberd mid-swing with Infinite Spear. He would have pressed on the attack, but a yell from Kirito forced him to halt.

"On your left, Drifter!"

The spearmaster didn't even think before placing his halberd vertically in front of him and turning to the left, just in time for the ax of a second Frozen Abyss Guard to dig deep into his side. It would have been deeper without Kirito's warning.

"Slant! Horizontal!"

Kirito's two swords flashed in a blur of movement as he cut the mob. Dual Blades didn't let him use two skills at the same time, but it did erase the time he would need to physically reset his stance after a skill.

With the Black Swordsman recapturing the second Frozen Abyss Guard's attention, Drifter quickly drank a potion to restore his health, and stabbed the first mob with Needle Spear, killing it.

Sieged on all sides, the other 3 Frozen Abyss Guards didn't last much longer. Still, for a group of just 4 mobs against almost the entire guild, they did some damage. Drifter wasn't the only one to get hit, and Tetsuo, Yuuki, and Agil were also nursing some wounds.

"I'm sorry, Drifter. It slipped through us when it noticed the one you were fighting getting low."

Kirito scratched his head awkwardly, flanked by Wolv, Griselda, and Keita, who were responsible for taking out the second Frozen Abyss Guard with him. Drifter just waved off their apologies.

"We knew they worked together, it's nothing. Now, let's kill the others. Asuna and Silica look like they could use some respite."

-----------------------

A hidden map, elite mobs, possibly treasure of critical intel on future floors and bosses. Exciting, all of it.

Kikouka Seijirou wasn't paying attention to any of that. Normally he would, Reaver's Requiem were a public favorite, and his too, but he had more pressing matters to attend at the moment.

Well, that was putting it kindly. He couldn't do anything, just watch. Like always. But he still balled his fists as he and the rest of his staff watched one of the confirmed red players and murderer, Red-Eyed XaXa, stalk an unwitting player.

His nails drew blood from his palm as he heard the shocked gasp from the player when XaXa stabbed him from behind with his estoc. Surely, the man had never expected to be attacked, of all places, on the 11th floor.

Seijirou was disgusted with XaXa's behavior. With all the murderous integrants of Laughing Coffin. And worst of all, there was nothing he could do.

His task force had been combing through hundreds of terabytes of footage since the reveal of Laughing Coffin's existence months ago. But whoever their leader was, the mysterious Boss he had only ever heard briefly mentioned in passing, he had trained them well.

All Laughing Coffin members hid their identity with special items and masks, no matter if they were alone or in groups. Whenever they communicated, it was through messages or in private zones, in which their broadcast was turned off.

Even their informants took the same precautions. Seijirou and his subordinates had only been able to identify a few green players who were working together with Laughing Coffin by passing them information, and most of them didn't even know they were with red players. The murderers simply messaged them asking for information, and paid without ever meeting them.

It was all too organized. As if Laughing Coffin knew that the outside world was watching them 24/7. Which was impossible, because there was no contact between those trapped inside of SAO and the rest of the world.

Impossible, unless some madman, a psychopath without any bounds or sanity, had entered Sword Art Online after the game began. That was Seijirou's current working theory.

It had taken a long time to even get there, simply because he couldn't accept there was someone so insane as to not only throw themselves into the death game, but actively work against the people trying to clear it by targeting other players.

Red-Eyed XaXa finished his sadistic task and broke a Teleport Crystal. The broadcast cut off, signaling the red player had gone directly to a private zone.

Seijirou winced as he unclenched his fists, ignoring the drops of blood dripping down from the tips of his fingers to the carpet.

"Find out the identity of the deceased victim and call the family. And keep looking into the Laughing Coffin players."

"And if we find something? Then what?"

One of his staff asked as she handed him a paper towel for his hands. Seijirou gritted his teeth, thinking of all the useless talk of possible punishments for red players if they ever got out.

"If you find out who they are, I will unplug them myself."

And he would, consequences be damned. He hadn't become a soldier to watch his countrymen die and do nothing about it.

"Yes, sir."

-------------------------

If Red-Eyed XaXa knew about Seijirou and what he said, he would be beyond delighted. Killing people felt good. Making someone hate him so much that they were willing to commit murder?

It felt fucking amazing.

XaXa whistled and kicked open the door to Laughing Coffin's headquarters - a dingy shack on the 19th floor. It was nothing much, but then again, they rarely used it. Only when the boss called a meeting, like now.

"You are late."

Crouching on the floor or leaning on the walls, several hooded figures were already inside the base. All of them had red cursors above their heads.

Most of the players only gave XaXa a cursory glance, but one who was on his heels on the other side of the room spoke up. XaXa sneered.

"Fuck right off. Boss isn't here yet."

The other player's eyes narrowed, and he stopped swirling the vial of purple liquid he was holding.

"Do you want to die?"

"Ho? Wanna have a go, Johnny?"

The other red players shifted with excitement at the prospect of some entertainment. It wasn't like it was uncommon for them to try to kill each other - what would you expect from a bunch of psychopaths? - but Red-Eyed XaXa and Johnny 'Alchemist' Black were two of Laughing Coffin's top players. A fight between them was always fun to watch.

"That's enough."

XaXa and Johnny Black froze when the cold voice washed over them, and all the red players stilled. Laughing Coffin had one hard rule, and that was: you never disobeyed the boss.

A big figure, covered with a frayed cloak and hood like all of them, stepped put from a shadowy corner of the building. None of them had noticed him there. A few strands of dark brown hair could be seen from under the hood, as well as the edge of a tattoo snaking up the side of his neck.

"Boss."

"You can play later. For now, we have something more important to do."

The red players shivered in excitement, and Laughing Coffin's guild leader, the mass murderer known as PoH, pulled out a huge cleaver, dripping with literal darkness. They could hear his smile as he delicately stroked the edge of the weapon.

"It's time the good people of Aincrad heard our name, don't you think?"