Five health bars appeared above the Silver Duchess as the boss got up, timing it perfectly with the death of the last Gem Knight.
Watching the blue, green, and gold remains of the minions flow towards the boss, even climbing the steps to the throne before disappearing under her dress, Drifter felt an overwhelming sense of threat.
Death.
His instincts, honed through hundreds and thousands of battles, were screaming at him that he was in danger.
But just that had never stopped any frontliner. Veins popped on his neck as his eyes opened wide, pupils the size of pinheads. But he didn't hesitate to roar his next orders.
"Heathcliff, take point! Everyone who was fighting, fall back and heal up! It's coming!"
He wasn't the only one feeling the invisible pressure the Silver Duchess' seemingly placid face put on them. Kirito, Asuna, Heathcliff, Klein, Orlando, Lind, Shivata, and, indeed, all the frontliners had deadly serious expressions, their eyes glinting sharply.
Danger. Incalculable danger. No one said it, but they were all certain. This is where some of them died.
And it was just the second phase. It hadn't even properly started yet. A sure-death floor indeed.
Drifter smashed a high-level Healing Crystal on his chest without a care for the cost. His glare fixated on the smirking Silver Duchess, and he swapped his spear for a javelin.
By now, the Serpentcoil Impale was a familiar sight to everyone around the world. Several people leaned forward in their seats, not wanting to miss the silver flash that had become Broken Spear Drifter's signature move.
He didn't disappoint. The javelin, powered by the sub-skill of Infinite Spear, seemed to teleport, leaving Drifter's hand and hitting the Silver Duchess' chest faster than one could blink.
The boss didn't even stagger. Instead, she looked down curiously at the weapon embedded in her chest, her expression one of slight surprise.
Although the handful of red shards drifting from the wound, and the very tiny reduction of the Silver Duchess' HP bar indicated the attack had some effect, Drifter was more concerned with the changes on the boss' body.
The area the javelin hit rippled like water, the fanciful dress turning into shining silver liquid, pulsating a few times as it expelled the weapon.
Drifter wasted no time in recalling the javelin when it clattered to the ground, turning it back into a spear at the same time. His brows furrowed as he stared at the floor boss, who still failed to show a reaction.
"What is it doing?"
He was answered when the Silver Duchess carelessly gestured with a delicate hand, and three colorful masses of dense liquid escaped the hem of her dress.
The frontliners stared up, and up again, as three massive Gem Knights, each towering at 7 meters easy, took form.
Swords, morningstar, spear.
There were just three Gem Knights, but the pressure they gave was several times higher than the 15 from before. And Drifter's keen eyes widened as he noticed one detail.
"They don't have health bars."
The giant Gem Knights stood in front of the Silver Duchess like a living wall, blocking her completely. Drifter frowned.
"Probing attacks. Shivata, Kirito, Godfree. Go."
The three players he named didn't hesitate, each charging one of the Gem Knights with their respective parties.
The mobs met their offensive head-on, swinging their now massive weapons. The morningstar in particular was visually threatening, the size of a car door and weighting at least half a ton.
Shivata raised his shield and blocked it. An unwise strategy, and an unnecessary risk when he was capable of dodging it completely, but Drifter had asked for a probing attack, and this was one way to get information.
To his left and right respectively, Godfre's KoB party and Kirito's Reavers party engaged the sword-wielding and spear-user Gem Knights. But as their attacks and skill chipped away shards of precious stones from the mobs, Shivata realized what Drifter already suspected.
"They don't have HP. They can't be killed!"
He shouted the last sentence over his shoulder, sure Drifter heard him. The guildmaster nodded somberly.
"We have to focus on the boss. Heathcliff, engage the Silver Duchess! Ambros, switch with Godfree's party and lead the Gem Knight away! Shivata, Kirito, the same! Kite them around while the rest fights the boss! Liten, Vallerk, Nautilus, support Heathcliff! Lind, Orlando, and Klein, get ready to switch with the KoB when they start to falter! Reavers, support parties, we are the third switch!"
Drifter's orders were concise and to the point, trusting the frontliners to figure out how to best carry them out.
Kirito's party would have to be brought back in to the main battle at some point too. The firepower of the Black Swordsman, Lightning Flash, Dark Elf, and Merchant Warrior wasn't one they could do without.
Drifter would also be joining soon, since he doubted anyone would be able to hold out too long against the floor boss before a switch was necessary.
"Yuna, Song of Stone. Sinon, harass the Knights. Their AI is advanced, they might not be entirely directed by aggro. Don't let them join the boss."
Drifter dreaded to think what climbing Aincrad would be like without Yuna's Soundless Melody Unique Skill, or Sinon's equally unique Arrow Path. The buffs the Songstress provided had saved many a life over the years, and the Aero Huntress' arrows had astounding mob control capabilities.
For now, Drifter was focused on the impending clash between the KoB and the Silver Duchess.
The boss let Heathcliff and the others close in on her, and their weapons sink into her body. Again, it rippled like liquid silver, but they were definitely doing damage.
The Silver Duchess stood there and took it all like she felt nothing. Her expression was still disinterested when she raised her delicate right hand, and all the frontliners tensed.
Drifter's eyes struggled to follow what happened next. The Silver Duchess waved her hand like she was shooing away mosquitos--
"Argh!"
And then it was a wall of silver that smashed into Heathcliff, Shivata, and three other players and sent them flying.
All but Heathcliff, who had used his Holy Sword Unique Skill to convert all his attributes to defense, took significant hits to their health. Even Shivata, a pure tank, was teetering on the edge of yellow.
The Silver Duchess' entire arm had transformed into a swirling mass of silver. Albeit she retracted it quickly, none of the frontliners dared to forget that she could just as easily do the same to any part of her body.
That didn't stop the frontliners from pressing on the attack. Sometimes, there was only one way to go: forward. Regardless of how hard or unfair the battle was, the Silver Duchess had to fall if the players wanted to climb.
They descended upon the boss like a pack of wolves. Smart, coordinated, deadly.
They would attack once, twice, at most three times before the boss swatted them away, but little by little, they were making a dent on the first HP bar.
Drifter didn't let their apparent success get to his head, however. He knew it would only get harder the longer the raid went on.
"It's time! Switch!"
The KoB still had some strength left, but there was a cooldown for using healing items. Most of their members were under 60% HP.
"Lind, Orlando, Klein, move in!"
A fresh wave of frontliners rushed forward to meet the boss, giving the KoB players a chance to rest.
"Those who need it, go to Liz to repair your equipment! Liz, always an eye open."
"I know it, boss!"
Volcano Forge may let Liz do blacksmithing in the middle of a battle, but it didn't mean she was immune to damage. It was a bold risk to take, but the buffs applied made it worth it.
"Drifter, something's changing."
This time, the boss hadn't created a wall to smack away players. Instead, she was pointing one dandy finger at Dale from Fuurinkazan.
"Defend!"
Dale didn't need to be told twice. Changes in boss attack patterns were never good news. He raised his hatchet in front of his torso just as the Silver Duchess' finger extended to an impossible length, like a gigantic silver nail.
"Uck!"
It pierced clean through Dale's chest, narrowly avoiding his hastily-raised guard.
His HP drained at an incredible rate. 90%... 70%... 40%...
It finally stopped at 25%, just a hair away from the red zone.
"Dale!"
Klein rushed forward, slashing at the silver spike with a blood-red skill. The Silver Duchess simply retracted her finger.
"Dale, fall back! Everyone else, watch out for new attacks!"
Drifter's throat was hoarse from screaming orders.
"Change of plans, Reavers! We are going in now! Heathcliff, Shivata, Liten, Vallerk, Nautilus, I want you in a rotation! Block what you can!"
The spearmaster himself charged forward as soon as his words were finished. His lance pieced through the body of the boss, who stared back at him with dispassionate eyes.
"We are betting lives now."
They had been from the beginning. But if the first phase was a warm-up against the minions, now was the start of the real fight. The one where people died.
Specks of silver flew through the air, intermingling with red shards. Wounds opened across the bodies of frontliners, and skills shone in retaliation.
Drifter felt the moment the first person died. He had his back to them, and they couldn't even scream before their life was over, but the dimming of the noise, the sudden pause in the movements of all frontliners - it told him everything he needed to know.
Now was the moment to decide. The Silver Duchess still had 3 HP bars left. At least one more phase.
Fall back, or push through? One cost lives now, the other later.
"Attack!"
It took less than a second for the guild leader to make his mind. His eyes were bloodshot, and his spear whistled through the air with each attack.
They would fight now. And one way or another, the boss would fall. No doubt about it.
How many players would precede it, he had no idea.
"Watch out!"
Tilting his head, he barely avoided a silver spike through the eye socket. Looking over his shoulder to the source of the call, Drifter saw that the 3 giant knights had dissolved back into liquid jewels the moment the boss lost another bar of health, and were now slithering back towards it.
"Fall back and close ranks! Tanks to the front! Liten, Shivata, Vallerk, I want a Shield Wall all the way through! Nautilus, Heathcliff, Indomitable Might and Holy Sword as linchpins!"
"Got it!"
"Roger that!"
His eyes never leaving the boss, Drifter watched as it swallowed - yes, swallowed - what once had been Gem Knights.
In the span of a couple seconds, the Silver Duchess had grown from being a head shorter than Drifter, to towering over every player by nearly 10 meters.
As the body of the boss started to ripple and shake, Drifter's eyes widened.
"Brace!"
Then a tsunami of liquid silver engulfed them.
...
[ Congratulations! ]
Drifter stared at the system message hovering above their heads. It didn't feel like a victory. Battles like this rarely did.
Seven players. That's how many they lost. A great improvement over the 25th Massacre.
It still felt like 7 people too many, even though Drifter and every other frontliner knew this was the best possible result they could hope for.
The spearmaster looked at the dejected faces around him. It was hard to celebrate when people you've known for years had just died right beside you.
"Good work, everyone. They would be proud."
He didn't specify who 'they' were. The players who had just fallen? Diavel, Harry One, all the others? Each frontliner had their own ghosts they answered to.
"We'll advance to the 51st floor, and I'll be giving Reaver's Requiem two days off. You should do the same, Lind, Heathcliff, everyone."
Drifter acknowledged each of their nods before going around talking to people. His own Reavers, other frontliners, he made sure to exchange at least a couple words with everyone.
Once that was done, he pulled Yuna close and kissed her forehead. Then, closing his eyes for a second and taking a deep breath, he sheathed his spear on his back and started walking towards the stairs.
By the time they reached the 51st floor, the frontliners had mostly shaken off the doom and gloom. They weren't happy by any means, but it was also something they were far too used to to get all depressed over.
"Great. Mist."
Nautilus groaned, watching the waist-high blanket of fog that covered the grassy ground of the 51st floor.
Other frontliners grumbled too, already dreading the ambush mobs that were sure to populate the floor, but Drifter's mind was elsewhere.
He scanned the 51st floor with a frown. Something was different. He didn't know what it was, but he felt it.
And he wasn't the only one. Kirito, Asuna, Lind, Shivata, Heathcliff, Liten, all of them had pensive expressions.
None of them could say why, though. Until Issin dope-slapped Klein for making a bad joke and the samurai yelped.
"Ow! That hurt! Why did you do that, Issin? I was just joking man!"
"You deserved it."
Klein rubbed the back of his head while glaring at his unrepentant guildmate. Then he saw Drifter staring intensely at him.
"What's up, Drifter?"
The spearmaster didn't answer. His brain was working overtime, until a line of thought connected in a sudden realization and his eyes widened.
"That hurt. You hurt."
"What?"
Klein and the other frontliners stared at him in confusion. He wasn't making any sense. But some had a look of horror as they came to the same conclusion as Drifter.
"Kirito!"
The Black Swordsman understood what he wanted without even asking. A duel request was sent and accepted, and the Assault Team watched Kirito walk forward to lightly cut Drifter's arm, who made no effort to defend himself.
"Ah!"
The spearmaster hissed in pain, and now more players had that same look of dawning realization. And fear.
Drifter stared at the red shards fluttering from his arm. Then he held up the limb for all to see.
"It hurts. I can feel pain."