Shoujo Grand Summoning

To the average player, Wu Yan, the fae swordsman is someone who is so strong he can clear floors on his own, and he did just that, he cleared 1 out of 3 floors in Aincrad. However, that legendary player almost got a stress-induced heart attack when he heard them singing tall tales about him.

With his power, couldn't he just take care of all the floors? He did clear 1 out of 3 floors, after all.

No, it wasn't because those floors were too hard for him.

For Wu Yan, it's a matter of time if he wanted to take down the floors the raid group took down. Yet, the problem of time is indeed the real reason why he didn't do it all on his own.

Clearing a floor solo means finding the boss room without anyone's help. He has to locate that boss room by running around on his own.

There is strength in numbers, although Wu Yan reckons he can take on the raid group should the time ever come to do so. But, he does appreciate the fact that raid groups tend to be quicker in locating the boss.

Hence, it's very normal for Wu Yan to spend days scouring the maze for the boss room while the raid group finds it in a matter of hours. Then, he would receive game notifications regarding the conquest of a floor.

It's kinda like how someone ate the sweet you lined up early for, that's the frustration he felt.

He's not sure how others would feel, he's slightly pissed off that's for sure.

Wu Yan could have told the Black Cats to notify him the moment someone found the boss room. That would save a lot of trouble, Souta would also do everything in his power to fulfill his request. But, Wu Yan wanted to be stubborn about solo clearing so he stuck with doing everything solo.

Also, doing that technically counts as kill-stealing, he deemed it beneath himself to profit off other's suffering. While the other players are praising his solo-clear achievements, he felt embarrassed.

Basically, he's trying too hard to play cool.

He never stopped to think if he can charge recklessly into the maze without the healing fairy by his side.

He would have been slowed down by the need to use healing crystals. He also had to restock more frequently, reducing the time he can use on clearing floors. He wouldn't be able to bag the achievements he has today. The mobs inside the labyrinth tended to travel in larger groups compared to their comrades outside the labyrinth. A player's ability is limited against a group of monsters. It's a very hard thing to fight effectively against a group of monsters without getting hit in the process, excluding cases where the player outclasses the monsters in levels.

Wu Yan's competitive spirit is on fire as he got up early, sometimes during witching hours just to get a one-up on the other frontliners. He wanted to clear the 55th floor as soon as possible.

Inside his subconscious mind, Wu Yan wanted a mock battle between himself and the frontiers. He's very bored fighting against monsters all day long. It was fun fighting against a sea of monsters during the early stages of the game, things got boring somewhere down the road. A mock battle would amuse him, he believes.

The raid group is Wu Yan's rival in a lot of ways.

Wu Yan is the only one who is physically and mentally capable of taking on the entire raid group.

It has been about 3 days after the players cleared the 54th floor.

Even the frontliners aren't capable enough to clear a path into the maze. There are also a lot of field monsters hindering large groups from successfully entering the maze. This is one of the benefits of playing solo, Wu Yan didn't have to worry about waiting for teammates to catch up to him.

Wu Yan is currently the only player operating in the labyrinth. These few days, he lost count of the times he wiped the labyrinth clean of monsters. However, he still couldn't locate the boss room just like today, he has to return empty-handed.

He's very sure he can defeat the boss if he can just find that damned boss room!

"I think Onii-san is the only player with such high confidence…"

Sachi said with tongue in cheek.

Wu Yan chuckled when he saw her PM.

Even the frontliners and raid groups have to think twice about preparations and resolve whenever they embarked on a floor boss raid. Wu Yan is the only player who can confidently say stuff like that and then actually doing it.

"If only I can find the boss room…"

Wu Yan felt helpless.

"I thought the maze is supposed to make the players disappear, it feels like this maze was designed to hide the Boss room, just let me find it, god!"

"I think it's a good thing that they designed the boss rooms in such a way that they appear in different locations rather than a static part of the maze compared to previous floors. Otherwise, we can only suck our thumbs as Onii-san takes down all the floors on his own…"

Sachi's PM contained her absolute confidence in Wu Yan's abilities.

The Black Cats are the ones who understood Wu Yan's abilities the most. The six most senior guild members are the ones who had regular contact with Wu Yan.

"Oh, right, Onii-san, have you heard about a certain event taking place today?"

"Today's event?"

Wu Yan squinted as he looked at the contents of the mail.

"Oh, you're talking about the special field boss appearing today, right? The one that will give you a special item that can revive a dead person…'

"Yes…"

Sachi continued with longing undertones.

Dying in SAO means dying in the real world, there's no second chance.

"But, the field boss appearing tonight will give a revival item. It's an extra life to whoever possesses it."

"Onii-san, what do you think? Is it legitimate?…"

Sachi's question is one that was inevitable. All the players were informed that they would die in the real world if they died in-game. Can this item somehow revive the dead body back in the real world?

Who would believe something like that?

Wu Yan who is familiar with the original story can vouch for the authenticity of this item. But, this item had a catch. This item can be used no later than 10 seconds after the death of a player. After that 10 second delay, the Nervegear will fry the player's brain.

Supposedly, if another player revived the dead player within 10 seconds, the revived player would not get fried by his Nervegear.

Wu Yan didn't know how to properly explain his current grasp on the effects of an item that didn't exist yet. He just vaguely told her his "theory".

"I am guessing an event by the game should be trustworthy. Maybe there's a delay between in-game death and real-world death so this item can prevent that, thereby achieving an effect similar to revival. Basically, I think it is really a revival item!"

"Onii-san, you mean…"

"Ah…"

Wu Yan grinned.

"The revival item should be real but there should be an additional condition of using it within a certain duration for the revival to work or some words to that effect…"

"Th-that sounds accurate…"

"Well, there are more reasons to believe it's real rather than thinking it's a fake. In any case, I think there's a need for further verification…'

"You mean, Onii-san is going to find that boss?"

Wu Yan didn't answer. Instead, he asked her.

"Sachi, have you guys located the boss's location?"

"We did, according to our intel, the special boss will appear inside the Forest of Wandering, it will appear under a certain fir tree. The guild master already mobilized with other guild members!"

"Oh? So the Black Cats are on the move, huh? I guess the other guilds also mobilized as well?"

He opened his user interface and he pulled down his skill tab, confirming a certain skill contained within that tab as a grin floated up to his face.

"Looks like I might get a chance to bump heads with the frontliners…"