With Knights of Blood joining the rank of the Clearers, their overall strength was restored to their former state, no, slightly better to be frank because Knights of Blood’s members were capable Players, although their numbers were pale in comparison to the former Aincrad Liberation Squad. As a proof, they managed to find the 26th Floor’s Boss Room in a matter of days. Although what Rozen said before about the fact that the 26th Floor shouldn’t be that difficult was proven to be true, Knights of Blood’s presence made it even easier for the Clearers.
Asuna, in particular, who has proved herself in various Raids, has earned her the nickname “The Flash,” and she was currently one of the top 5 Players in SAO.
Not only Asuna but Heathcliff also demonstrated his strength on the battlefield. Rozen still remembered clearly how shocked the Clearers were the moment they stormed into the 26th Floor’s Boss Room and witnessed Heathcliff was capable of tanking the Boss’ attack all by himself and demonstrated his Unique Skill, Holy Sword, in front of everyone.
Kirito, in particular, was captivated by Heathcliff’s Unique Skill and unable to take his eyes off him until the Boss Raid was over.
Under such circumstances, the information about Heathcliff’s Unique Skill spread across the whole SAO and became the hot topic among Players, making the Knights of Blood’s name even more renowned.
Of course, along with the Knights of Blood’s reputation, so goes Asuna’s reputation. Her peerless strength and her beauty made her became even more famous than Heathcliff, she even had her own fans, as Rozen predicted.
Little did these fans know that Asuna was famous for something else among the Clearers.
Not her beauty, nor her strength, but how cold and logical she was.
After joining the Clearers, Heathcliff never attended any meeting aside from the Floor Boss’ strategy meeting, and he left everything in Asuna’s hands.
As a result, Asuna was granted the right to speak as she was Knights of Blood’s representative, and she has demonstrated her exceptional commanding ability since then.
Just like when she commanded the Knights of Blood’s member during the 26th Floor’s Field Boss Raid, Asuna, who was once a newbie, often gave reliable and useful advice.
However, Asuna’s advice was callous. She didn’t care about the Clearers’ personal reason to the point that she would recommend canceling the cooperation between guilds for a more efficient strategy.
For example, in order to find the Boss Room as fast as possible, Asuna often proposed that the Clearers should push themselves even harder to explore the Labyrinth. Sure, they may rest, but they were not allowed to enjoy themselves. If they had time to have fun, they might as well use it clear the Floors and free all Players from this world as fast as possible.
If it were someone else who suggested this, the Clearers would’ve complained for sure. But since it was Asuna, and her suggestions were reasonable and sensible, they couldn’t say anything back.
Eventually, the Clearers began to secretly call Asuna as “The Clearer’s Ice Queen.”
She didn’t hesitate to be as cold and cruel as possible if it meant she could clear the game faster.
Coincidentally, Rozen, the unrivaled commander, was also called “The Clearer’s King” by the Clearers.
However, The Clearer’s Ice Queen and The Clearer’s King often had their differences, especially in opinions.
It’d be better to put it as Rozen always rejected Asuna’s advice, which made the Clearers uncomfortable.
At first, it was nothing serious, but as more and more strategy meeting was held, so was their arguments. Although in the end, Rozen always outwit Asuna with his logic and silenced her, it gave the Clearers an impression that they were in bad terms with each other
But all in all, Rozen was still the one who made the decision in the Clearers’ rank. After clearing the 26th Floor, the Clearers regained their morale and cleared the next Floors at ease as they did before.
Of course, it was not all flowers and roses either. They encountered quite a fair share of difficulties too.
For example, when they reached the 30th and 40th Floor as there was a moderate increase in difficulty every 10 Floors, but since Rozen was prepared, the Clearers could smoothly clear those Floors.
Everything went smoothly until the Clearers reached the 50th Floor. As Rozen mentioned before, there’ll be a massive increase in difficulty every 25 Floors., and Rozen was right. At that time, Rozen had to take risks several times to prevent any casualties among the Clearers before he finally cleared the 50th Floor, of course, with the help of Saichou and Hanachou that was adequately trained.
Just like that, nearly a year and a half have passed since SAO became a death game, and the Clearers were currently in the middle of clearing the 55th Floor.
One day…
“Ooooo!”
In the 55th Floor’s Labyrinth, in a room surrounded by steel wall. Rozen was closing his eyes as a One-Horned Demon rushed toward him with a huge steel sword in its hand.
“Swish!”
The sound of the huge steel sword slicing through the air was simply unnerving.
As the sword was getting closer and closer toward Rozen, he avoided the attack with the slightest movement to the side without opening his eyes
“Oooo!”
The One-Horned Demon screamed furiously and swung the huge sword in its hand several times, but Rozen always dodged it with the bare minimum movement.
Rozen kept dodging until the One-Hand Demon attacked him with all it got, and after it missed its attack, it couldn’t protect itself in time when Rozen counterattacked with his Sword Skill.
“Shhkkkk!”
Rozen’s sword pierced the One-Horned Demon’s heart and went all the way to its back.
“Ooooo!”
The One-Horned Demon screamed in pain and slowly turned blue as it stopped moving.
“Psshhhhh!”
In the next second, the One-Horned Demon turned into countless polygon shards and disappeared.
Rozen opened his eyes and grinned.
“The final Great Step – Eye of the Mind.”
Rozen finally perfected it.
