<h4>Chapter 742: The two''s journey and thebyrinth</h4>


    Aincrad, 99th-floor...


    At the crack of dawn, the yers starteding out of the teleport za with energetic looks. They started heading towards their respective destinations.


    The yers operating here are very high leveled and some of them are barely strong enough to fight on this floor. Then, there are yers who are lower than lvl80, these are novices who can''t even fight in the fields, forget thebyrinth.


    This didn''t stop the mes burning within their hearts. There are tons of yers who came here from the lower floors just to look at the stone spire that pierced the sky. Their eyes were brimming with hope.


    If they can conquer that tower, they will all be able to ascend to thest floor, the 100th-floor.


    They came here with a singr dream in their minds. They wanted to clear this floor. If levels weren''t a concern, the yers would have stomped thebyrinth into oblivion with their sheer numbers.


    In a sense, these yers were more self-conscious than the raid members.


    With 100 floors, Aincrad looked like a weirdly-shaped pyramid with area increasing the more one descended from the top. At the 99th floor, this floor is a bit crampedpared to the lower floors. The stonybyrinth guarding the stairs to the next floor were encircled by four NPC towns around it. Aside from that, the outer areas were neutral fields.


    With only four towns here, being cramped is an understatement. Any city in the real world would easily berger than the 99th-floor.


    Ding


    Asuna and Wu Yan arrived via teleportation. Their visions blurred for a second and they lost sense of bnce until they returned to their consciousness with thebyrinth staring back at them from the distance.


    The tform is moist, it probably rained a while back. The two looked at the heaven-piercing tower which looked rather impressive.


    They stared at the tower in silence, nobody knew what they were thinking about.


    "Let''s go."


    Asuna sucked in a deep breath. Her stern look unseen since her time as the vice-captain returned. The Demon of Conquest has returned.


    After ditching her title as the vice captain of Knights of the Blood Oath, and the Demon of Floor conquest, Asuna kept only her title as the sh.


    "Are we diving into thebyrinth?..."


    "Yeah, without any dy!"


    Wu Yan walked down the teleport tform.


    "We are high-leveled enough to deal with thebyrinth monsters, barring abnormal situations..."


    Wu Yan stopped and he asked Asuna.


    "Are you sure about this? Yui must be dying to stay together with you..."


    Wu Yan already knows what she''s going to say. He arranged for Sachi and the other girls to look after Yui...


    Wu Yan relied on this to make sure Asuna stays at home. Asuna knows about Yui''s true identity so she knows Yui can take care of herself now. On the contrary, with game master privileges and ess to the game''s databse, an AI designed to understand and repair human mentality definitely knew how to take care of herself and she probably knew more than Wu Yan and Asuna.


    Asuna wasn''t going to stay at home after finding out about Yui''s true identity. But, Wu Yan had to ask this question...


    Asuna nced at him, without a word, she pulled Wu Yan''s hand towards thebyrinth.


    Bitterlyughing, he let Asuna take charge this time...


    _______________________________________________________________


    With thebyrinth only some distance away from the town they are in, the monsters were weak as expected. The medium-sized map posed little challenge to them, Asuna could have taken the monsters solo.


    Wu Yan brought out his healing fairy. The fairy changed little in this one year, it still restores 20% max HP per minute, however, the healing fairy was upgraded to obtain the ability to heal other yers.


    Anyone in a party with Wu Yan can enjoy this healing effect. The healing fairy can also cast AOE healing on the party members. After cooling down, the healing fairy has a moderate chance to cast 20% max HP heal on Wu Yan and the yers around him.


    With the healing fairy, he can rest easy letting Asuna take the vanguard. Plus, she''s capable enough to solo thebyrinth on her own. The monsters in the field were a cinch inparison.


    After reaching the 75-th floor, most yers have already reached their limit, including Kirito. They found solo movements harder and harder, especially inbyrinths.


    The monsters are getting stronger for sure. This is further exacerbated by theplex attack patterns of the monsters here that made challenging monsters alone a very dangerous move for even skilled yers like the raid yers. Moreover, the higher concentration of monsters made hostile encounters all the more dangerous. Encountering monster in packs of two and threes are amon sight on higher floors.


    Kirito ended his solo move a long time ago. He didn''t join a guild but he would always team up with the Moonlit ck Cats when he went into thebyrinths. Other than that, he would also team up with Klein and the other Fuurinkazan members. Klein was over the moon when Kirito joined his party, he dragged the guy intobyrinths whenever he felt like it. An outsider would have assumed they were BFFs or something.


    With the healing fairy assisting them, the two charged into thebyrinth area. Soon, they found thebyrinth''s entry.


    An old-fashioned door weed the duo. The steps were withered by wind and weather. Stepping on it gave yers the impression that the floors would crumble away.


    The iron doors weren''t in great shape too, the iron spikes were already corroded to the stage where they melded together. Like a fortress that withstood a thousand years of history, the dpidated castle stood solemnly to block the yers who came here.


    "Thebyrinth is inside..."


    Asuna looked at the entrance. The moment they enter, they will be greeted by monsters stronger than almost everything they fought, excluding floor bosses. She couldn''t help but get a bit worried.


    After getting to know Wu Yan, she had this nagging anxiety every time they entered abyrinth.


    She''s worried that a mishap would destroy her perfect life.


    A strong hand wrapped around her hand, pacifying her trembling body. She beamed at him.


    "Let''s go!"


    Wu Yan nodded and they pressed on the iron door at the same time.


    Boom


    The heavy iron doors opened up!