Chapter 297

“Tringring!”

The bell rang, following Argo’s departure.

Seeing Argo’s back slowly disappearing from his sight, Rozen mumbled as he recalled what Argo just told him.

“To think that it happens at this time…”

Was this supposed to be something good? At least, Rozen hoped that there was no problem.

Seeing Rozen looking all serious for a chance, Red Wings’ members gathered around him.

“What’s with the serious face, commander?”

“What kind of news did the rat bring up to embarrass you this time?”

“Is it about the clearers?”

“Or is it about those Aincrad Liberation Squad bunch?”

“In any case, it is certainly not a trivial matter to have the commander this immersed in his thoughts.”

“I think so too.”

The guild member started to voice their opinions, making the bar even noisier.

Instead of explaining what was bothering him, Rozen just yelled.

“What are you guys still doing here? If you have time on your hands, you should go leveling or something!”

Hearing Rozen’s weird remarks, the guild members were silence for a second and then immediately voiced their opinions.

“What are you getting all that serious for?”

“We’ve just cleared that dangerous 25th floor!”

“That Floor Boss was a nightmare!”

“Give us a break!”

“Besides, the clearers in the 26th floor haven’t made that much progress yet, right?”

“Can we at least take a day off to sit back and relax?”

The guild members expressed their dissatisfaction one after another.

This was no trivial matter.

All Players in that room were beta testers, and they paid more attention to their level and hunted more actively than the rest of the Players. In addition, in order to maintain the reputation of being the strongest guild and the high-leveled players, they always got up early in the morning and headed straight to the Outer Field or labyrinth area and won’t return before evening. Some even went leveling all night, all of them were hardcore gamers.

Such players suddenly decided to laze around in the guild base, and Rozen understood the reason behind this weird change.

(It seems that even our guild members were also affected by that ordeal in the 25th Floor.)

After going through the terrible experience on the 25th Floor, even the beta testers were hesitant and uneasy about pushing forward on the 26th Floor.

Then again, the beta testers only explored up to the 10th Floor. After the 10th Floor, beta testers were no different from normal players. They no longer had access to the detailed information like they used to, so it was no wonder if they got discouraged after going through the nightmare in the 25th Floor.

Rozen knew that his guild members lazed around in the guild base out of anxiety; they were seeking something to alleviate the fear and hesitation in their hearts.

Therefore, this matter may be more serious than Rozen imagined.

(I must get to the bottom of this as fast as possible.)

Fortunately, the news that Argo has just brought will most likely help with the current situation.

Rozen then said to the guild members.

“If that’s the case, then I will not force you anymore today, and you may take a day off today.”

As the guild members were delighted by Rozen’s announcement, Rozen quickly added.

“However, there will be a strategy meeting to defeat the Field Boss tomorrow, and none of you is allowed to be absent.”

Upon hearing Rozen’s next announcement, the delighted faces from earlier turned to shock.

“That’s… Aren’t we going too fast?”

“Can we delay it for a little longer?”

“What if it’s all 25th Floor all over again?”

The guild members’ anxiety was apparent, and it was understandable.

In Aincrad, there were a variety of bosses besides the Floor Boss that impede access to the next Floor.

For example, the Mid Boss that Rozen encountered in the 1st Floor and these Bosses were far stronger than the average monsters.

The Field Boss that Rozen just said earlier was a monster strategically placed at the entrance to a Labyrinth on most floors in Aincrad. The main function of this Boss was to prevent access to the Labyrinth of the Floor until the monster was defeated. A Field Boss’s den was usually surrounded by cliffs or ranging streams on both sides, arranged in such a way that there would be no way to access the Labyrinth until the Boss is defeated.

Therefore, before players could enter Labyrinth or find the Boss Room, they had to defeat this Field Boss.

Needless to say, the 25th Floor also had its own Field Boss, but unlike other floors, several Field Bosses suddenly surrounded them, startling them at that time. Red Wings’ guild members probably remembered this, and that was why they hesitated.

However…

“What are you afraid of?”

Rozen said indifferently.

“I’m here with you guys, what are you afraid of?”

That simple sentence immediately stopped the commotion.

Everyone in that bar looked at each other and smiled.

“R…Right!”

“We have commander with us, don’t we?”

“What are we afraid of!”

“As long as we have commander, let alone Field Boss, even the Floor Boss is no match for us!”

“The 25th Floor was indeed scary, but there’s still no casualty, right?”

“Yes!”

The anxiety in the guild members’ face suddenly disappeared without a trace once they realized this.

As long as Rozen was with them, there was still a glimmer of hope. At least Rozen’s record of having no casualty was still maintained so far.

If it wasn’t because of Rozen, these players might have given up on clearing the game.

Of course, Rozen was aware how important he was, but he didn’t really care.

Because back in Chaldea, he was hailed as the last hope to save human civilization, compared to saving a whole world, a few thousand lives were not that big of a deal.

Rozen then looked around and asked the guild members.

“Come to think of it, where did Kirito go?”

One of the guild members immediately responded.

“I heard Kiritowent to the lower floor in order to collect weapons material.”

Collect weapons material in the lower Floor?

“Speaking of which, he did mention that.”

Rozen muttered.

Upon the 25th Floor’s Boss Raid, apparently, Kirito came to the realization that he was not strong enough. Recently, he has been spending his time to improve his equipment in order to become stronger.

“Let’s see what he is doing now.”

Rozen, who was about to send a message to Kirito, got a message. The sender was Kirito.

“Does this guy have a mind-reading ability or something?”

Rozen was dumbfounded for a moment and then opened the message.

However, there was only one sentence in the message that Kirito sent. A sentence that lit the fire in Rozen’s heart.

“I found the same monster as your Rainbow Butterfly on the 11th floor!”