The whirlpool began to weaken the moment the massive turtle shattered into fragments of crimson pixels.
Its screeching roar faded, and only a few breaths later, the vortex vanished completely, leaving behind a calm lake surface as if no battle had ever taken place.
Ren broke through the water, chest heaving violently after the chaos he had just endured.
Under the dim light reflected from the lake, he spotted the overturned green gondola not far away. Luckily, it hadn't sunk.
"…Good." Ren muttered, swimming toward it, his hands clamping onto the boat's edge. With one strong push, his shoulders straining and body taut like a drawn bowstring..bam, the gondola flipped upright again.
On land, a Strength stat of around thirty would have been enough for him to lift it without much trouble.
Though he couldn't compare to players specializing in raw power or offense, on this floor, that was already quite impressive.
Ren gripped the side of the boat and climbed up. Water streamed down his soaked clothes beneath the armor, his black hair plastered to his face, tangled like fishing lines.
He dropped onto the wooden deck, closing his eyes for a brief moment, running a hand across his face as he drew in a deep breath to steady himself.
But there was no time to rest.
In the distance, Asuna was struggling to pull a nearly limp body. Ren narrowed his eyes to see more clearly.
Kirito staggered in her grasp, legs flailing weakly against the water, generating almost no force.
Ren raised a brow. Wait… don't tell me he can't swim?
Immediately, he grabbed the paddle and rowed hard, steering the gondola toward them. As the boat drew close, Ren extended his arm, voice firm. "Here, take my hand."
Without hesitation, Asuna pushed Kirito forward. He reached for Ren's hand, his fingers ice-cold and trembling, slipping as though they might lose grip at any moment.
Ren grit his teeth, tightened his hold, and pulled with all his strength. After a tense struggle, Kirito finally tumbled into the boat, coughing violently, water spewing from his mouth.
Asuna quickly climbed aboard right after, soaked to the bone, panting heavily. Her face was pale with exhaustion, yet her eyes still shone with determination and relief that all three were safe.
Leaning back against the side of the boat, Ren tilted his head upward, staring at the dull gray sky above, letting the simulated raindrops run down his cheeks. Victory… but it had nearly cost them everything.
"I really hope the higher floors won't force us into battles like this again…" Ren sighed, letting the thought drift away with the tiny ripples spreading across the lake.
But at that moment, a familiar blue glow flashed before his eyes, the system notification.
Alongside the bold message: [Field Boss Defeated], rows of rewards lined up below: Cor, Exp, items… so many that the screen nearly overflowed.
Ren glanced over quickly, the corner of his lips twitching upward.
His level had reached Lv.13. The once-empty experience bar was now filled over a quarter toward the next milestone.
And it wasn't easy, the Exp required for Level 14 was nearly 4690, several times more than the early floors.
He had also been flagged as one of the "main contributors" in the fight, thanks to his precise strikes on the turtle's weak point. The bonus Exp from that was enormous.
Next came the Cor. Ren narrowed his eyes as the numbers tallied up.
With the gold he had just earned, plus the giant axe he'd sold to Agil earlier that morning, his total profit for the day reached nearly 72,000 Cor, an unbelievable sum.
Then came the loot.
An image appeared before Ren's eyes: a colossal shield, as heavy as the beast they had just slain. [Great Turtle Shell Shield].
Its defense stats were so high that Ren momentarily froze, the glowing "+430 DEF" line unusually dazzling. More striking was the passive ability:
Passive – Immovable Wall: While standing still, increase defense by an additional 10%.
Ren muttered under his breath. "What a defensive monster… in the hands of a professional Tanker, this would be a true moving fortress."
But he only shook his head. Far too heavy, far too cumbersome.
With his fighting style relying on constant movement, speed, and precision, equipping it would be no different than locking himself inside a cage of steel.
Besides the shield, the system also displayed:
Tear Gem, a transparent blue jewel like a drop of water, used for equipment enhancement or socketing into accessories.
Several scraps of armor with average stats, hardly a match for the set Ren currently wore.
Ren had wished, just this once, that the system would grant him a sword.
A gleaming blade, strong enough to replace Windslash, which was already starting to feel inadequate against the enemies on higher floors.
But no… all he received was a massive shield, far too heavy to be of any use to him.
Ren let out a quiet sigh, his fingers brushing through his soaked, tangled black hair, droplets streaming down his temple.
When he looked up, his eyes fell on his two companions.
Asuna was wiping her face, water dripping steadily from the tip of her nose, yet her eyes sparkled, and a rare, radiant smile bloomed across her lips amidst the mist and spray.
Surely, she must have received something worthwhile, or at the very least, the thrill of knowing her crossbow had delivered the finishing blow to the monster.
Kirito, on the other hand… was the complete opposite. He sat slouched, shoulders heavy, gaze lowered, as if the rewards had not met his expectations.
A trace of disappointment flickered across his face, but Ren knew it wouldn't linger long.
No words were exchanged, but in that brief moment, Ren understood: each of them carried their own expectations when they wagered their lives in battle. And rewards… often never aligned with desire.
After a while, other gondolas rowed closer, gathering into a circle on the lake's surface.
Cheers of relief mingled with ragged breaths. Players checked their numbers, counting survivors.
Thankfully, no one had vanished into the light of disintegration. A few were badly injured, paralyzed by the whirlpool, but all had been hauled up in time.
The sobs of fear gradually gave way to soft, relieved laughter.
The lake, once furious and violent, now lay calm as though no blood or death had ever stained it. Yet in each heart, the ripples still lingered, quietly restless.
Most of the players agreed to return to Rovia to rest. After everything they had endured, both body and spirit were utterly drained.
A small handful still held onto their excitement, eager to explore the next area, wanting to ride the "momentum" of victory and push further, but the majority had spoken: today was enough.
The reason was clear: the number of gondolas was limited, and splitting too many ways would be far too dangerous.
Thus, in the end, most of the group turned back, leaving only a small cluster to take the riskier path forward.
Ren thought silently for a moment before making his choice. His gaze followed Kirito and Asuna, the ones who had fought at his side through the deadly whirlpool.
Without hesitation, he chose to go with them, pressing onward into the next land instead of retreating.
While preparing to depart, Ren took the chance to ask a few members of the Dragon Knight Brigade about the whereabouts of Yuna and Nautilus.
The only replies he received were shakes of the head and puzzled looks. None of them knew exactly where those two were.
Ren briefly considered asking Lind directly, but when he glanced over, all he saw was a heavy back, a gloomy face still shadowed by defeat. Lind clearly needed silence and time more than questions right now.
"…Perhaps later," Ren murmured to himself, shaking droplets from his soaked black hair before boarding the gondola with Kirito and Asuna, ready for a new journey.
He didn't waste the chance to ask Kirito about Klein's group, either. To his surprise, Kirito and Asuna confirmed that they had encountered them somewhere on the third floor.
The news made Ren unconsciously breathe a sigh of relief. At the very least, they were alive, still enduring in this vast labyrinth.
That comfort lasted only a fleeting moment.
The three sat aboard the gondola, oars cutting the water into spreading ripples, the boat gliding slowly into the mouth of a vast lake.
Caldera Lake.
Rowing steadily, Kirito spoke in an even tone, though his eyes glinted with vigilance:
"Caldera Lake… nearly three hundred meters wide, sitting just north of this floor's center.
The surrounding cliffs are sheer, with no way around. To reach the south, we have no choice but to cross it."
Ren remained silent, his gaze fixed on the deep, black surface of the water, so still it felt unsettling.
"In the Beta test," Kirito continued, "this place wasn't a lake. It was the mouth of a volcano, spewing pillars of lava and splitting the land with fiery cracks."
"But in the official release, all the magma disappeared. Instead, the crater was filled with this dark, still water."
Asuna whispered softly. "But a change like this… means we have no way of knowing what's waiting below."
Ren didn't reply, but the firm grip of his hand on the paddle spoke volumes.
"So, where do we go now?" Ren finally asked, glancing around at the sheer cliffs and the endless dark water offering no exit.
"We head southwest," Kirito answered firmly, his paddle cutting steady circles into the water. "There's a safe settlement there… and more importantly, the fortress of the Dark Elves."
Ren gave a small nod, his gaze drifting across the horizon veiled in dense mist. "Kizmel mentioned that place."
Asuna looked between them, brows slightly furrowed. "The fortress… it's right inside this land?" Her voice carried a faint tension, as though the heavy silence over the lake still weighed on her.
The gondola slid onward, southwest, toward looming cliffs that stretched like an immense natural wall.
Above, gray clouds continued to churn, while the torchlight mounted on the boat flickered across the water, casting shifting reflections onto their faces, three small figures, ready to venture deeper into a land whose secrets remained completely unknown.